Holiday!!

Woohoo! The time has come for holiday! We deserve it this year. Today we are just travelling down to Heathrow we don't fly out til tomorrow but still we are very excited. To be honest it was smooth sailing all the way. The strike on the railway didn't affect us, neither did the closure of the tube stations or roads to Heathrow due to insane rain and flooding. So happy days. Mentioning insaneness there is always one and this time it was a crazy on the tube whistling Monty Python and playing the harmonica. To sort of quote Justin Timberlake he was trying to 'bring crazy back' by trying to get others to join in but being London they did a good job of ignoring him!

Currently we are at our regular Heathrow hotel - Park Inn, better room than before though. We're trying out a different one on the way back so it may not be our regular for much longer.

Tomorrow - we fly!!

The Times Travel Show @ Earl's Court - 8-9th Feb

Earlyish start today - train to London at 9am - breakfast ready and off we go! Breakfast was lovely, brioche, fruit salad and smoothies - fit for the train. Smooth sailing - though passing lots of flooded areas and we were at Earls Court before we knew it!

It wasn't overly big but set up in different regions of the world with tasting sessions and the extreme taste zone. We wandered the world - literally and headed to some taste zones.

We tried some pulled pork from the North America zone - was very nice, not sure about the citrus element to it though. We also tried some guacamole and nachos from the Central America section along with some cacao liquor - that was a little like medicine. We had some cheese from the Europe zone and some wine from the Czech Republic. But the weirdest things we tried were hands down the curried crickets and toasted grass eating ants. The crickets were surprisingly nice - dry and crisp with a curried aftertaste - not at all offensive. Not sure why some refused to try them so we had seconds! The ants on the other hand left a nasty aftertaste and kind of popped once you bit through the crusty shell. Not seeing us eating those in the future when we have to start relying on eating insects. It will happen!

We collected loads of brochures for inspiration - heavy they were and headed to the hotel which was fine for one night. Not too far from Earl's Court tube was hotel Oliver, we watched some Winter Olympics on the relatively hard bed before heading over to China Town. We frequented some bars for Belgium beers which were nice then went to the Chinese supermarket for some Chinese rice wine and Sichuan peppercorns! It was awesome in there, though we were probably the only Brits in there!

Our meal was amazeballs! And ridiculously cheap! We had the set menu, starter platter, duck, Sichuan prawns, beef in black bean sauce, rice and veg for £20 each - with drinks!! Awesome!!

After some more Belgium beers we headed back - our whistle stop tour was great! Shame the train on the way back Sunday took a little longer but a few crosswords and we were home. Now to start exploring holiday ideas!!

Two weeks from hell...

Well a lot has happened in the last month! After a very hectic, but very cultural, half term in London being back at school has been mental. So where to begin...myself and Sarah spent half term grabbing bites to eat and seeing shows. Now when Sarah suggested going to see John Barrowman's show i thought it was a stand up one man band style show, bit of singing, few jokes...but no, La Cage aux Folle turned out to be about a transvestite club! Having said that it was very funny and the guys had amazing legs!

Thursday of half term was day of doom, my birthday! It wasn't too bad i suppose, went to the National Gallery, then for some food, we do love Wagamama's, then on to see the Jersey Boys. It was again awesome and we had a good view, however the boys themselves are no where near as hot as the Vegas lads!

The week wasn't going too bad till the end when a not very nice blast from the past rings out of the blue with some horrific information, which, like he always manages to do, screws everything up that was going well now!! Boooooooo, consequently i was not a happy bunny and things needless to say turned sour! Oh well, all men are arseholes! I knew that so technically i shouldn't be too surprised that things went belly up!

This did mean that i had plenty of time to do work...which was lucky as our school had the dreaded phone call from the big O...Ofsted! Ahhhh, after spending two days preparing beyond all belief they arrived. I was starting to feel a little cheated having not been observed the last time they visited and it was looking the same this time, until my last lesson they could have potentially turned up in and low and behold in they walk. Thankfully the kids were perfect, the lesson went really well and the feedback was good, so obviously i was extremely pleased! We are still waiting now though to find out the results for the school, so fingers crossed...

Where does time go?

I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since we started the new year at school, time has flown, mainly because it has been so busy. Well people have been counting down to the next holiday since the first day back so needless to say we'd all rather be somewhere else! It seems like a lifetime ago when we were travelling around the US, oh how I'd wish to be back there again! For the weather as well as everything else!

Been down to London to visit and my what a traumatic journey that was! Typical the one weekend i have to go down, there was a crash between 3 lorries on the section of the M25 i have to go on, so they shut the whole motorway! Hours and hours later i eventually got home at 11pm after leaving at 3.30pm! I honestly thought i was going to have to sleep on the motorway in the car surrounded by foreign lorries and the thought of that, coupled with a lady saying she thinks we're here for the night, almost made me roar! Hopefully my next journey down at half term will be a lot smoother!

What am i doing in London during half term i hear you cry! Well Sarah and I have tickets to see the Jersey Boys, yay, on my birthday, yay!!! Beats trying to come up with something inventive to do for the day or sitting dressed in black mourning it!! I'm sure I'll fit in time for a few drinkies too!

Anyway back to the week in hand, the weather better hold out for our Alton Towers field trip on Friday, keep forgetting we are going it's come round so quick! As long as the kids behave it should be a good day, and anyway we go for free so can't complain!! Wonder if Hazel will get pooped on by a bird again, haha.

Anyway back to the Sunday night dread feeling before work Monday morning, and i don't even have any Las Vegas' to watch as waiting for season 4 and 5 to arrive! Hurry up Amazon!!!

San Fran Foggy!

Before we knew it this morning we were travelling over the Oakland Bay Bridge and entering San Francisco - all before 9.30am! Turns out they are trying to make the first section of the bridge earthquake proof so they have rebuilt it and are going to move the rest of the bridge over to join the new section over the labour weekend. Moving a bridge in 3-5 days - is that really going to happen? We'll see!

Ron then drove us on a tour round the San Fran neighbourhoods. We saw some lovely Victorian houses, which they call painted ladies (we'd use that term for something else), went up Twin Peaks to look at the very fogy view of the city and also around the Castro district. I was glad we went round there as didn't get the opportunity to last time i was in the city, since we found out so much about it in lectures it's always nice to see for yourself.











Golden Gate Park was our first stop. We had time for a stroll around, in the cold i might add, saw the Japanese Tea Garden, Sarah 'walked like a man' through the centre of the square before making our way down to Golden Gate Bridge.

As ever the fog was still strong and you could see the glimmer of international orange through the mist. Whilst some walked across the bridge then went for lunch, we all went down to Pier 39 and had a few hours to potter about. Windy it was!











After fresh fish and chips we found a great left handers shop! Sarah was not amused! It was well good, full of gadgets, the guy in there said that in the US only about 10% of lefties are female - don't know how true that is - he also said that I'm losing my London accent, sounding a little like i was from Newcastle! He advised i visit London more often to not lose it completely, how sweet. We saw the sea lions and gazed across the bay to Alcatraz which we are visiting tomorrow.











Turns out our guide was telling us on the way to the hotel that the guy who hides behind the bush and jumps out on people was arrested as one person took it that badly and called the cops - I thought he was a homeless person - didn't realise he does it all the time, he scared the living daylights out of me the last time i was here!

Very excited as went to Bubba Gumps for dinner, overlooking he bay when the sun went down with a great night view of Alcatraz. The shrimp was lovely - as was our server, Luke. We had split a fab pudding of a giant chocolate chip cookie sundae, mmmmmm. Turns our Luke was also a leftie - maybe it was meant to be! To top our night off - aside from the 2 hour chat in reception with some of the others when we got back - another city, another free public transport ride! Though this time it wasn't out of pity - the trolley's pay thing had broken! Oh well!!

Months of being silent...so unlike me...

So it has been a long time since i have written on here. The end of term at school was sooooo busy it was unreal. What with sports day, PSHE day and applying for a temporary promotion there was very little time to do much else!! Well the secondment was successfully achieved so there will be lots of work from September - boooooo, my form didn't do too well at sports day but they worked brilliantly on the world of work PSHE day building our doctor and presenting to the year group what doctors do. I think you'd agree that Dr Jones is awesome and is now a resident member of our classroom!!! Though he does scare the living daylights out of anyone who walks in, haha!!



So now school is finished what else has happened over the past couple of months? Well, the highlight of July has to be Take That at Wembley. They were brilliant, felt like we were back in our teens singing louder than the music! Despite what some thing they are clearly better off without Robbie, their career has completely taken off and they certainly put on a great show. Just got to wait now for the DVD to be released as it was filmed the night we were there!




It is now the holidays, yay, and I'm in full swing watching day time TV - loose women, daily cooks challenge, the hills, not to be missed TV, lol. But not for much longer!!! Down to the big smoke later on today to visit the family before flying out to LA, woohoo. Sooo excited, LA for 3 days then on tour round Western America. Obviously looking forward to revisiting Vegas, who wouldn't be and we have Alcatraz booked for San Francisco but the places we stop in between look amazing on the Internet. Definitely a very geography-fied holiday! Perfect for rock collecting! Yes a very sad hobby of mine, lol. Can definitely tick come more things off my places to visit and things to do list after this holiday! Definately going to be one to remember...

Long time no posts!!! But lots happening...

Yes I know it's been a long time since this has been updated but its been a busy time!! To sum up for you here are the highlights of the past few weeks...

White water rafting was definitely cool. After a journey where it rained the entire way there, the sun actually came out for the two and a half hours on board the raft, for it to then rain the entire journey back!! After our safety talks we were kitted out in very sexy wetsuits, buoyancy aids and helmets and then carried our rafts down to the water. Though it is on a natural river it was a man made course so rapids were guaranteed. Being the only lady in our raft i did slip out at one point and floated off clinging to my paddle!! Though at times seemed to be paddling harder than some of the men in the raft!!! After going round the rapids in our rafts we were then shown how to jump in and float down the rapids clinging onto nothing but our life jackets!!!













So i can now tick white water rafting off my things to try list and one that i would definitely do again.

Half term has also now passed, back to work Monday, boooo, but it has been a busy and eventful week. After finishing school last Friday the weekend started with a Help for Heroes charity concert at Nottingham barracks on Saturday which was brilliant. The bands were very talented and the music was exceptional. I particularly liked Baker Street and their 80s medley! I'm glad we didn't have to sing along to the national anthem as horror of horrors i don't actually know the words!!! Shhhhh don't tell!!! But i would visit again - all those men in uniform, I'd be crazy not to!

Sunday i drove down to London to stay with the family and visit those still in the big smoke. That evening was spent rooting around in the loft looking for old pictures to embarrass my sister on her 40th birthday and these had me and the folks in stitches. As it turns out myself and my sisters have a history of digging holes in the sand - sand pits in the garden, trenches in Spain, a giant hole in Tunisia that was so big it had steps down into it, a very odd tradition. I also found out that mum was offered 300 camels for my sister by a little Tunisian boy!!! That had me in creases as we had pictures of the camels!!!

Monday we saw a fab modern day circus show, La Clique, which was very odd in places but the acts were again very talented. I'm not going to go into the finer details however star spangled banner played on a whistle not blown by one's mouth was interesting!!! The days that followed was spent shopping, drinking and visiting an old uni friend which was fab. It's times like this that i actually miss London. Though that thought did not cross my mind when wedged into a train and standing on the busy corner of Leicester Square trying to find someone only a foot away but couldn't see them due to the sea of tourists!!!! Living away from the capital definitely makes me appreciate it more when i visit.

Anyway it's back to school, booo, but for the final term before the 6 week holidays yay...let the countdown begin to the summer holiday!!!