Hey Squirts, Nic here!
Helen has been chewing my ear off saying that it has been a while in between posts so here we are again.
Remember: CLICK PHOTO ALBUMS (the small ones with the border) TO EMBIGGEN AND SEE THE WHOLE ALBUM!
And as per ususal – SCROLL DOWN AND LOAD ALL THE CLIPS SO YOU CAN WATCH ALONG.
It has been a busy few weeks and it looks like there are a few more on the horizon before they let up. London weather is as rubbish as usual. We are in June – almost the height of summer – and it is raining and you can’t leave without a jumper just in case it changes.
Helen’s magazine – Food & Travel – runs competitions and a couple of weeks ago she sent me through the email address and correct answer and told me to enter it as she was too closely associated with the magazine to enter. I did and what do you know – I won the prize. On the back of all this I decided it may be my lucky day and entered 2 more competitions and – won them too. I won tickets, T-shirt, badge and collectors CD from up and coming band – Late of the Pier and won tickets to another band at the Barfly. I should have bought myself a lottery ticket! Anyway, back to the story. I won a 4 course lunch for 2 at the Sloane Square Hotel in Chelsea – just at the end of Kings Rd, the most expensive suburb in London. It was put on by Nautilus Wines and we got there for lunch and were greeted by the PR team – who were all Aussies and Kiwis. Handed a glass of champers we noticed it was a lunch with just 4 other couples and about 4 PR people. We met everyone and sat down for lunch. They had their personal sommelier flown from NZ there to talk us through the wines which were matched with each course. It was very nice and there ws no bottom to the wines so we drank like camels. When it was all over we were given our choice of any wine in their range to take home so we got 2 bottles too. But getting home, I have never had a headache which I would usually get in the morning but coming upon us at 8pm in the evening.
Last weekend Twickenham Stadium hosted the Rugby World 7’s which Helen and I attended. It didn’t take too much convincing to get her to give up a cherished weekend day to come along and it was worth it. The games were fast and the teams skills were pretty good. Australia made it to the Grand Final and took out the trophy in the end. As you can see in the picture we had been able to track Andrew Walker who was last heard of when he went Walkabout from the Wallabies.
Also last week I got tickets to go and see the film Gone Baby Gone. It was supposed to come out last year but due to the Madeline Mccann kidnapping and how similar the movie was – even though it was made 12 months before. We got to the cinema late so we were ushered to the Royal Box to watch the movie. At the end there was a special Q&A with Casey Affleck – Ben Affleck’s (who directed) brother who is the lead in the film. Would have liked to get a photo with him but we were stuck in the box.
At quite last minute Helen was asked to review a hotel on the Isle of Wight which is just off the coast of Portsmouth. We headed down after work on the train and once in Portsmouth we caught the ferry across the channel and into ‘the quiet life’. The Isle of Wight (IW from now on) was a compete change from London Life. Getting offthe ferry we walked down the 800m jetty and caught a taxi to the hotel – the Seaview Hotel. When we arrived we must have looked like the out of towners. They knew Helen was arriving so we were greeted at the front door by the manager where he checked us in and were taken up to our room.
The hotel, from the outside, looked like any other beachside hotel which you would find in Brighton but with histore going back to the 1800’s. There were pictures and posters of the Titanic which passed through the IW, and many other ship memorabilia. Our room though was something very different. I was skeptical that we would be staying in a musty old room but I was very very wrong. The room had just been furnished, had electric doors, touch lamps on mirrors, flatscreen TV and the pist de resistance – a tv in the bath with speakers around the room. I had just found a must that will need to be included in my next house. They went the extra mile with a note wecoming us to the hotel and to enjoy our stay.
Really impressed with our room we were a bit peckish so we headed down for dinner. We were there for 2 days with all expenses paid so we could eat anything tonight and know that we had another meal the next evening where we could order our second choices.
What was different was that all the waiters were told our names so for the entire meal and stay we were addressed as Miss Alexander and Mr Hargrave. The restaurant manager was brilliant – originally a sommelier from France he gave us free reign of the wine list. I spotted a £60 Cloudy Bay bottle of white from their limited stock and promptly ordered the bottle for us. For entrée I has IW scallops with Black Pudding and mash and Smoked Salmon on risotto. For main we both had fresh fish from the island. Desert was chocolate fondant and I had the trio of Passionfruit – milkshake, icecream and mouse.
The next morning we were greeted by surname – will never get used to that – for breakfast and then headed out to explore the island. The day before we only caught a glimpse so we headed off and walked down the ‘beach’. We walked for about an hour, while trying to find sand in between the stones and pebbles. The tide started to go out and it was a savior. The water receeded and I was introduced to what the English do – they go paddling. Not paddling like we would – but just removing our shoes and making sure we did not get wet anywhere above the ankle. The water and sand was refreshing as I had not felt it for about 12 months. We stoppedfor a bite to eat at acafe which served IW crab sandwiches – very tasty.
We decided to go and play a bit of ‘crazy’ golf so we paid and picked up our gear we walked to the ‘course’ which was the most decrepit looking putt putt course I have ever seen. You will be able to tell from the pictures how bad it was. The course was concrete with huge cracks and the holes were filled with dredged up water. Anyway – after dishing out an arse-whalloping to Helen we gave back our clubs and I walked to the left of the clubhouse/ice cream van and lo and behold there was another course which was in pristine condition with Astroturf and the works. We had played on the plebs local course which you didn’t need to even pay to play. Helen is here acting out disappointment.
After that disappointment we moved onto another (just joking – no, really). Helen had wanted to visit the Flamingo Park on the IW. We got there and bought a bit of birdfood to feed the locals with. Apparently it keeps them at bay. I was pleasantly surprised and we went and saw the meercats, touched an albino wallaby – from Tasmania – must have been inbred. The local birdlife all ate out of our hands and I even managed to severly piss off a bird which would have eaten my face if it got the chance. Finally we went to feedthe penguins – as you will see, much closer to them than any zoo.
Check out this mental bird:
We then headed back to the beach to do some scavenging. The tide was really out – about 800m from the shoreline. There were ample rockpools to go scrounging around in and we caught 2 fish, 4 crabs and no bloody fingers. It was a really nice day out with really no other people out and about. It was a really nice warm day and if we were in Brighton it would have been absolutely mad with people all fighting for a spot. As you can see from the photos, there was never to be that problem. It was a great day out and I headed back early to get myself aquainted with the tv in the bath before dinner. While in there I had a few candles lit for tv watching mood lighting. I closed my eyes and thought I heard the beginning of Mission Impossible – where the fuse is burning down before the explosion. Unfortunately it was really my hair and I realised I was having a Michael Jackson moment and had to put the fire out on my head. No harm done though.
We headed to the bar and had a cheeky drink before dinner. We chose another bottle of wine andsurfed the menu. We had asparagas with ptoatoe and garlic foam and tagalatelli with wild mushroom for entrée. For mains I had the fillet of beef and cottage pie and Helen had what I had the night before. Dessert was rubarb trifle and rubarb sorbet. The difference wa that on the top of the trifle was the candy you had as a kid which fizzed popped in your mouth. I had something weird too. I had pineapple mouse with cracked black pepper ice cream and sweet pepper and chilli sauce. Interesting.
The next day we checked out and left out bags so we could track down another hotel which had been told Helen would be on the islnd and had wanted to meet for a drink so we headed around the coast of the island and came across the Manor. It was a spralling manor which we easily got lost in. unfortunately we turned up Sunday when we ringinally said we would be Saturday so the manager was not there but we did relax with a drink and had a quick bite for lunch. The hotel was of a much grander scale then the Seaview Hotel but the food was not up to standard so we bade them farewell and headed back to the hotel for Helen to view some of the other rooms then got the ferry back to Portsmouth.
Before heading back to London I took Helen to visit my factory store in Portsmouth with had just opened after a refit. We checked out the outlet centre then got the train. On the way back some idiot kids forgot what stop we were at and once the train just started to leave (one stop before we were home) they decided to pull the emergency break and hope they could get off. Unfortunately they were hunted down and hopefully given ASBOS. Unfortunately for us the train was at a standstill for 1 hour – 5 mins from our last stop. Idiot chavs!!
I just got the updates of the next factory store openings that I will be doing – which will keep me very busy.
Livingstone – Scotland – August 4
Street – Somerset – August 12
York – Midlands – October 10
All dates could very possibly change.
In other news there is a good chance Ed will be coming back to London for a visit. He is going to do a Scandinavian sojurn before and I am sure he will love it – even if it cleans out his bank account thouroughly. So looking forward to more detail on that front.
And now for the pain in the arse newsflash. In 3 weeks Helen and I are heading to New York. We booked our flights with Zoom Airlines – the same as what we did before we traveled to Australia late last year. And at that time they called a few weeks before we were to leave that the departure flight had been cancelled and they did not have another flight for us. Well the same happened today. Same call and same excuse. We went into over drive and luckily I was able to find the same dates for flights. Unfortunately it is with American Airlines which I have used previously and did not like at all. If we had to change dates we ould have lost all our hotel bookings, sopranos tour and restaurant reviews that we had organised, but luckily I was able to get a full refund and book with AA. So the trip is still on, hiccups and all.
Now for Nic’s Education Corner
Here is a TV show which I watch religiously - don’t let that put you off. The guy who hosts (Simon Amstell) is a great comedian which I have a clip here of too. Check it out:
Never mind the buzzcocks
And a few weeks ago I talked up a clip from a new movie coming out (a few blogs below). I now have a second clip but of a different sort. I have included it as our new favourite superhero is Iron Man and this is a different side to him. See if you can work out what movie they will be from.
Trailer Park Tuesday
I went to see this film last week. A very good English film.
Here is a blast from the past. Wonder where the news reader is now?
My next dark horse for what will be unseen movie of the year:
And a Documentary worth tracking down:
American Teen
And for those of us trapped overseas I have the perfect way to pass the time. Watch this first part and just follow the links to the rest of the episode. You will have to drop into the middle of the season though…
Fans Vs Favourites
And I showed you a clip last time – and here is the real thing….
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.
Until next time…. Back up the tree I go.
Helen has been chewing my ear off saying that it has been a while in between posts so here we are again.
Remember: CLICK PHOTO ALBUMS (the small ones with the border) TO EMBIGGEN AND SEE THE WHOLE ALBUM!
And as per ususal – SCROLL DOWN AND LOAD ALL THE CLIPS SO YOU CAN WATCH ALONG.
It has been a busy few weeks and it looks like there are a few more on the horizon before they let up. London weather is as rubbish as usual. We are in June – almost the height of summer – and it is raining and you can’t leave without a jumper just in case it changes.
Helen’s magazine – Food & Travel – runs competitions and a couple of weeks ago she sent me through the email address and correct answer and told me to enter it as she was too closely associated with the magazine to enter. I did and what do you know – I won the prize. On the back of all this I decided it may be my lucky day and entered 2 more competitions and – won them too. I won tickets, T-shirt, badge and collectors CD from up and coming band – Late of the Pier and won tickets to another band at the Barfly. I should have bought myself a lottery ticket! Anyway, back to the story. I won a 4 course lunch for 2 at the Sloane Square Hotel in Chelsea – just at the end of Kings Rd, the most expensive suburb in London. It was put on by Nautilus Wines and we got there for lunch and were greeted by the PR team – who were all Aussies and Kiwis. Handed a glass of champers we noticed it was a lunch with just 4 other couples and about 4 PR people. We met everyone and sat down for lunch. They had their personal sommelier flown from NZ there to talk us through the wines which were matched with each course. It was very nice and there ws no bottom to the wines so we drank like camels. When it was all over we were given our choice of any wine in their range to take home so we got 2 bottles too. But getting home, I have never had a headache which I would usually get in the morning but coming upon us at 8pm in the evening.
 |
| Nautilus Lunch |
Last weekend Twickenham Stadium hosted the Rugby World 7’s which Helen and I attended. It didn’t take too much convincing to get her to give up a cherished weekend day to come along and it was worth it. The games were fast and the teams skills were pretty good. Australia made it to the Grand Final and took out the trophy in the end. As you can see in the picture we had been able to track Andrew Walker who was last heard of when he went Walkabout from the Wallabies. |
| Rugby 7's |
Also last week I got tickets to go and see the film Gone Baby Gone. It was supposed to come out last year but due to the Madeline Mccann kidnapping and how similar the movie was – even though it was made 12 months before. We got to the cinema late so we were ushered to the Royal Box to watch the movie. At the end there was a special Q&A with Casey Affleck – Ben Affleck’s (who directed) brother who is the lead in the film. Would have liked to get a photo with him but we were stuck in the box.
At quite last minute Helen was asked to review a hotel on the Isle of Wight which is just off the coast of Portsmouth. We headed down after work on the train and once in Portsmouth we caught the ferry across the channel and into ‘the quiet life’. The Isle of Wight (IW from now on) was a compete change from London Life. Getting offthe ferry we walked down the 800m jetty and caught a taxi to the hotel – the Seaview Hotel. When we arrived we must have looked like the out of towners. They knew Helen was arriving so we were greeted at the front door by the manager where he checked us in and were taken up to our room.
The hotel, from the outside, looked like any other beachside hotel which you would find in Brighton but with histore going back to the 1800’s. There were pictures and posters of the Titanic which passed through the IW, and many other ship memorabilia. Our room though was something very different. I was skeptical that we would be staying in a musty old room but I was very very wrong. The room had just been furnished, had electric doors, touch lamps on mirrors, flatscreen TV and the pist de resistance – a tv in the bath with speakers around the room. I had just found a must that will need to be included in my next house. They went the extra mile with a note wecoming us to the hotel and to enjoy our stay.Really impressed with our room we were a bit peckish so we headed down for dinner. We were there for 2 days with all expenses paid so we could eat anything tonight and know that we had another meal the next evening where we could order our second choices.
What was different was that all the waiters were told our names so for the entire meal and stay we were addressed as Miss Alexander and Mr Hargrave. The restaurant manager was brilliant – originally a sommelier from France he gave us free reign of the wine list. I spotted a £60 Cloudy Bay bottle of white from their limited stock and promptly ordered the bottle for us. For entrée I has IW scallops with Black Pudding and mash and Smoked Salmon on risotto. For main we both had fresh fish from the island. Desert was chocolate fondant and I had the trio of Passionfruit – milkshake, icecream and mouse.
The next morning we were greeted by surname – will never get used to that – for breakfast and then headed out to explore the island. The day before we only caught a glimpse so we headed off and walked down the ‘beach’. We walked for about an hour, while trying to find sand in between the stones and pebbles. The tide started to go out and it was a savior. The water receeded and I was introduced to what the English do – they go paddling. Not paddling like we would – but just removing our shoes and making sure we did not get wet anywhere above the ankle. The water and sand was refreshing as I had not felt it for about 12 months. We stoppedfor a bite to eat at acafe which served IW crab sandwiches – very tasty.
 |
| Isle of Wight |
We decided to go and play a bit of ‘crazy’ golf so we paid and picked up our gear we walked to the ‘course’ which was the most decrepit looking putt putt course I have ever seen. You will be able to tell from the pictures how bad it was. The course was concrete with huge cracks and the holes were filled with dredged up water. Anyway – after dishing out an arse-whalloping to Helen we gave back our clubs and I walked to the left of the clubhouse/ice cream van and lo and behold there was another course which was in pristine condition with Astroturf and the works. We had played on the plebs local course which you didn’t need to even pay to play. Helen is here acting out disappointment.
After that disappointment we moved onto another (just joking – no, really). Helen had wanted to visit the Flamingo Park on the IW. We got there and bought a bit of birdfood to feed the locals with. Apparently it keeps them at bay. I was pleasantly surprised and we went and saw the meercats, touched an albino wallaby – from Tasmania – must have been inbred. The local birdlife all ate out of our hands and I even managed to severly piss off a bird which would have eaten my face if it got the chance. Finally we went to feedthe penguins – as you will see, much closer to them than any zoo.
Check out this mental bird:
We then headed back to the beach to do some scavenging. The tide was really out – about 800m from the shoreline. There were ample rockpools to go scrounging around in and we caught 2 fish, 4 crabs and no bloody fingers. It was a really nice day out with really no other people out and about. It was a really nice warm day and if we were in Brighton it would have been absolutely mad with people all fighting for a spot. As you can see from the photos, there was never to be that problem. It was a great day out and I headed back early to get myself aquainted with the tv in the bath before dinner. While in there I had a few candles lit for tv watching mood lighting. I closed my eyes and thought I heard the beginning of Mission Impossible – where the fuse is burning down before the explosion. Unfortunately it was really my hair and I realised I was having a Michael Jackson moment and had to put the fire out on my head. No harm done though.
We headed to the bar and had a cheeky drink before dinner. We chose another bottle of wine andsurfed the menu. We had asparagas with ptoatoe and garlic foam and tagalatelli with wild mushroom for entrée. For mains I had the fillet of beef and cottage pie and Helen had what I had the night before. Dessert was rubarb trifle and rubarb sorbet. The difference wa that on the top of the trifle was the candy you had as a kid which fizzed popped in your mouth. I had something weird too. I had pineapple mouse with cracked black pepper ice cream and sweet pepper and chilli sauce. Interesting.
The next day we checked out and left out bags so we could track down another hotel which had been told Helen would be on the islnd and had wanted to meet for a drink so we headed around the coast of the island and came across the Manor. It was a spralling manor which we easily got lost in. unfortunately we turned up Sunday when we ringinally said we would be Saturday so the manager was not there but we did relax with a drink and had a quick bite for lunch. The hotel was of a much grander scale then the Seaview Hotel but the food was not up to standard so we bade them farewell and headed back to the hotel for Helen to view some of the other rooms then got the ferry back to Portsmouth.
Before heading back to London I took Helen to visit my factory store in Portsmouth with had just opened after a refit. We checked out the outlet centre then got the train. On the way back some idiot kids forgot what stop we were at and once the train just started to leave (one stop before we were home) they decided to pull the emergency break and hope they could get off. Unfortunately they were hunted down and hopefully given ASBOS. Unfortunately for us the train was at a standstill for 1 hour – 5 mins from our last stop. Idiot chavs!!
I just got the updates of the next factory store openings that I will be doing – which will keep me very busy.
Livingstone – Scotland – August 4
Street – Somerset – August 12
York – Midlands – October 10
All dates could very possibly change.
In other news there is a good chance Ed will be coming back to London for a visit. He is going to do a Scandinavian sojurn before and I am sure he will love it – even if it cleans out his bank account thouroughly. So looking forward to more detail on that front.
And now for the pain in the arse newsflash. In 3 weeks Helen and I are heading to New York. We booked our flights with Zoom Airlines – the same as what we did before we traveled to Australia late last year. And at that time they called a few weeks before we were to leave that the departure flight had been cancelled and they did not have another flight for us. Well the same happened today. Same call and same excuse. We went into over drive and luckily I was able to find the same dates for flights. Unfortunately it is with American Airlines which I have used previously and did not like at all. If we had to change dates we ould have lost all our hotel bookings, sopranos tour and restaurant reviews that we had organised, but luckily I was able to get a full refund and book with AA. So the trip is still on, hiccups and all.
Now for Nic’s Education Corner
Here is a TV show which I watch religiously - don’t let that put you off. The guy who hosts (Simon Amstell) is a great comedian which I have a clip here of too. Check it out:
Never mind the buzzcocks
And a few weeks ago I talked up a clip from a new movie coming out (a few blogs below). I now have a second clip but of a different sort. I have included it as our new favourite superhero is Iron Man and this is a different side to him. See if you can work out what movie they will be from.
Trailer Park Tuesday
I went to see this film last week. A very good English film.
Here is a blast from the past. Wonder where the news reader is now?
My next dark horse for what will be unseen movie of the year:
And a Documentary worth tracking down:
American Teen
And for those of us trapped overseas I have the perfect way to pass the time. Watch this first part and just follow the links to the rest of the episode. You will have to drop into the middle of the season though…
Fans Vs Favourites
And I showed you a clip last time – and here is the real thing….
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.
Until next time…. Back up the tree I go.
1 comment:
Great blog but didn´t get to read the hole thing as it´s longer than ¨The Lord of the Rings¨.
You and your scams can´t believe you won that comp. Andrew Walker was he an NRL player?
Didn´t get to watch the vids though as the internet that I´m on at the moment is running like a snail.
You´ve scaled back on your blogs this and last month though.
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