The Bonkers World of NackyNoo

Presentation given at Raynaud's & Scleroderma Annual Conference in Chester - 25th Sept 2010

2010-09-26T14:51:00.000Z

My Story So Far.....

Hi my name’s Nicki Hunt, I’m 33 years old, I’ve had Raynaud’s for over 13 yrs and was diagnosed with Scleroderma 10 yrs ago. And I’m petrified! I’ve never spoken in front of a crowd before, so please bear with me and my nerves!

When Anne first asked me to do this presentation my immediate reaction was ‘Really?? Why me?? What have I got to say of any interest??’ I count myself as one of the lucky ones so it took a little while and persuasion from friends, to realise that actually, I have been through a fair bit over the years and I do deal with stuff every day but it's just become part of me and everyday life. But to some this may all be new and maybe I can help others by just sharing my experiences.

My next reaction was the 'oh god - I don't do 'speaking in front of a crowd!!' panic

My final reaction was 'darn it - I owe her one!' Anne very kindly came to speak at the masquerade charity ball I held for my 30th birthday a few years back and unbeknown to me, she'd discharged herself from hospital so she could get to Essex that night and speak to my guests!! So yes, I do owe her one! But not just for that, I’m also extremely grateful to Anne and her team for their hard work, dedication and achievements. So much research is being done and progress being made because of the association and the funds they raise. Don't get me wrong, there's still a long way to go - there's not many people that know what Raynaud’s and Scleroderma are, let alone heard of them! But that's where we can help; spread awareness, raise some money for the cool million. In the words of a well known supermarket ad 'every little helps!'

So, apart from being asked, how did I end up here, talking to all of you?
I was diagnosed with R 13 yrs ago, aged 20. There’d been a couple of defining moments when I realised my circulation wasn’t quite right. I’d been working for a retail company and had the tedious task of working in a cold warehouse, pre Christmas, for sale preparations, marking down the stock. Everyone else seemed to manage with the temperature, except me. My hands were blue, and so numb I couldn’t hold my pen. Another time was on holiday in California – it was 80 odd degrees in the sun but a slight breeze or the air conditioning would send my fingers and toes freezing cold and blue.

3 yrs later I was lucky enough to have a gp who had the insight to refer me to a Rheumatologist at Addenbrookes in Cambridge, just in case there was something more to my Raynaud's. After blood tests and a capillaroscopy, I was diagnosed with scleroderma. Of course my parents and I had done our internet research and had scared ourselves something silly with what we found, so when the consultant confirmed it, we were devastated. How do you process the fact that you have a chronic debilitating condition that could affect you for the rest of your life, when you’re 23 years old and have all to live for?? I had to tell my boyfriend, my friends, my colleagues.... I wanted them to be aware of what could happen to me but I wanted to protect them too... I didn’t want them to be as terrified as I was.

So first I had the standard tests; a heart echo, lung function and chest x-rays. The results of these were all ok, and as far as I was concerned, I only really had the Raynaud’s to deal with. So I carried on with life, bought a flat, got a new job.... all with numerous fears nagging deep in the back of my mind – what would become of me in the future? How would the disease progress? How will it affect my everyday life?

I was told that every case was different but there were a few paths that the disease generally followed. I was pointed in the direction of the Raynaud’s & Scleroderma Assoc and was told I could meet others in the same boat, but I didn’t want to then. I didn’t want to see or hear what the condition could potentially do to me – that would make it all too real & scary.

2 years later, aged 25, changes in me must have become apparent. The company I worked for were keen to have H&S and the ergonomics team look after me... my fingers must have begun to change, stiffen...and odd things began to happen, silly injuries and other tell tale signs that only made sense years later. Not willing to face any of it, I decided ‘the disease wouldn’t beat me ‘and I went off travelling the world with 2 of my best friends! It was only years after my return that my parents, specialists and friends said they knew it wasn’t the best idea I’d had but they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop me from going.

We managed northern Thailand, Bangkok, Ko Samui, Vietnam and Singapore. It was a fantastic experience, despite my struggles but after 9 weeks I was forced home. I had no energy, my joints and bones ached. I was tired all the time, not hungry, finding it hard to breathe but blaming the humidity. I wasn’t sleeping, and I was losing weight by the day. I couldn’t bend down to put my shoes and socks on, I struggled to lift my arms to brush my hair and I could no longer lift my rucksack. But I didn’t want to go home, it felt like giving in to the disease, failing, my fears were becoming reality.

When I got home to my parents I was a mess; I only had the energy and mobility to sit on the sofa all day – my joints and muscles hurt, I couldn’t get comfortable just sitting or sleeping, I was weak and down to around 7 stone in weight. I could hardly walk or get dressed. After a lot of persuading (because as far as I was concerned I was ‘fine’) I gave in and went back to my consultant at Addenbrookes where I was promptly admitted to hospital. I had tests galore; bloods taken virtually every day, tests for tropical diseases, bone marrow biopsy, muscle biopsy, liver biopsy, ct scans, a barium meal, endoscopy, to name but a few. No stone was left unturned. Sticky blood was discovered, I was also diagnosed with Lupus, myocytis (inflamed muscles) and pernicious anaemia (vit b12 deficiency), finally concluding: mixed connective tissue disease.

I was in hospital for 6 weeks; my friends and family were amazing. I was never a day without visitors despite the one hour drive there and back through wind rain and snow. Again, it was only a long time afterwards I found out that they weren’t sure whether I would make it out of hospital at all. They had to come.

A drug plan was set. I was given intravenous steroids over 3 days to kick start me back into action, and a simple walk down the ward corridor, to the bathroom, became my greatest achievement in months. I started hydrotherapy to help build my muscles and gain strength. I went home with a mountain of medications, a cocktail of steroids, immuno-suppressants, blood thinning pills, pills to help my digestion and supplement drinks.

I was issued with a disabled badge and ferried around in a wheelchair for a while. I was back living with my parents, so they could help feed me up, look after me and generally do all they could for me. I began physio for my hands and occupational therapy to provide me with aids to help with everyday life. I was taught how to try and balance my life-style but my recovery didn’t happen over night - it was a long slow process and a lot to deal with. My life was never going to be how it once was.

Unfortunately, as I was beginning to get back on my feet, my boyfriend, of 8.5 years, broke up with me. I was devastated. I’ve blamed myself, I’ve blamed my health, I’ve blamed him but do you know what, it could well be the best decision he ever made. It made me more determined than ever, a kind of ‘I’ll show you’ attitude appeared. I wanted my life to be how it was before the diseases. I wanted to prove that I could still go out, have fun, have a drink, go dancing. And I did, but at a price. My confidence was at an all time low. I used to easily wear myself out trying to ‘prove’ myself; ending up tired and achy, and ultimately pushing myself to the limits. Stress & exhaustion are not positive factors for an already struggling circulation. Ulcers and sores on my fingers became more common, and so did the hospital stays for intravenous iloprost infusions. [Do I need to explain this further? – ask Anne] And as some of you may know, iloprost isn’t a quick fix either - ulcers and sores can still literally take months to heal even after this treatment.

I was in hospital at least 3 or 4 times for iloprost that year but in 2005 it was a little less and I managed to start commuting, part-time, back into London for my job. But there was still the ongoing bore of ulcers, sores, infections, endless antibiotics, lancing of nails, bandaging, not being able to use my hands much, and having to go back to my parents for support.

In 2006 (29) I picked up with a muscular-skeletal virus. It hurt to breathe, sleep, sit still or just about do anything for a good 3 weeks! I couldn't sneeze, yawn, or have a good ole' hearty laugh without sharp shooting pains in my chest (Of course it was my own fault for getting the darn thing in the first place. I’d spent the day sight-seeing in London on an open top bus in the middle of January!) Later in the year, with it not getting a hell of a lot better, there was concern it could be the beginning of pulmonary hypertension, so I was admitted to Papworth hospital in Cambs for more tests and iloprost. Thankfully it was just pneumonia and slight fibrosis of the lungs. But since then it’s been my chest that is my tell-tale sign for over doing it. When I get tired and run down, my breathing becomes shallow and my chest gets tight and uncomfortable.

It was around this time that the R&S Assoc came to a local hospital in Essex and I was introduced to the Broomfield Scleroderma clinic. I could finally have my iloprost infusions close to home – making the hospital stays so much more bearable because it was easier for people to visit.

In 2008 I had a particularly nasty ulcer on the fore finger of my left hand. I’d already had 2 doses of iloprost that year but it hadn’t seemed to help. It got worse, and went black and the pain was horrific, to the point where it was affecting my sleep and concentration. I was admitted to hospital again; more iloprost, antibiotics and now morphine. After several more weeks of excruciating pain and the blackness increasing, I was told there was nothing more the local hospital could do. I was at an all time low again, back at my parents, not being able to fend for myself again, spaced out on pain killers, fearing that I may lose half my finger, whether it be from amputation or just rotting away. The worries mounted up; would it happen to other fingers too at a later stage? What was to become of my hands?

I was sent to the Royal Free to see Prof Denton and his team, where I was taken in for 11 days and a new plan of action was formed; more iloprost, more antibiotics, a stint on statins and a stint on Viagra - which has of course, caused untold amounts of laughs. I was also refered to have an operation on my hand to take away the tiny nerves endings at the base of my finger, so the blood vessels would remain open; a digital sympathectomy. Finally I started to feel brighter, things were being done again, there was a little bit of hope, so I grabbed back on to it! A while after the operation and another dose of iloprost, the blackness scabbed and began to come away. Now I would get the answers to my fears. What would be left under the scab? Would it be hollow? Would I lose my nail forever too? How grim would it look?? 3 months after the op, the scab came away and I was pleasantly surprised with what was left. It’s not unattractive, just a little shorter, bent and got an odd looking nail growing on it.

Since then, I went to see friends in India, which was amazing but guess what? I came back poorly.... I had a bad chest & cough. Xrays came back clear, there was no infection, so it was just put down to the changes in climate, humidity and air-conditioning. The long flights and long internal train journeys probably didn’t help either. But hey it’s all par for the course now.

This year I to tried to escape the British winter but ended up in Spain for their worst winter in 60 years! And of course, I arrived with an ulcer on my ankle caused by my winter boots. I tracked down an English speaking doc who conferred with the Royal Free and I ended up on 4 weeks of antibiotics, and taking a trip to Spanish A&E for x-rays and bloods tests, to check for infection in the bone. Again, this struck a chord – I was gutted that my feet had now been affected like this for the first time – how would it progress? And I also feared being beaten by my health again and having to come home to have intravenous antibiotics....but thankfully it didn’t come to that. 6 months down the line it’s just about to clear up at last!

So that was then, what about now and day to day stuff? This was the hard part to write but it’s been a bit like therapy for me - reminding myself that these conditions affect me every day and are never far from the forefront of my mind. It doesn’t consume me because I don’t let it - I find something else to do, busy myself with friends and family, find myself a project to work on. But there’s no getting away from the fact that with my now wonky misshapen stiff fingers, most simple things have become a bit of a chore.

There are plenty of gadgets available to help with buttons, undoing jars, chopping & grating food, getting plugs out of sockets but there’s many other simple things that can be taken for granted – trying to use the latest touch screen technology, trying to grip coins and push them into the car park money machines, trying to flush the loo using those push button flushes – you know the circular ones you have to push inwards or downwards – who invented them??? I struggled filling the car with petrol, because I can’t squeeze the pump, but dad’s just made me a great little gadget for that  As for putting the butterfly backs on my ear-rings, that can take minutes rather than seconds, providing I can hang on to the darn things at all. Trying to get your cash card out of the hole in the wall, can also be tricky, with or without gloves on. As for reaching into my bag and trying to avoid knocking my overly sensitive fingers with anything hard or sharp – that’s impossible! I could go on forever with examples....

We learn to adjust though, it takes time and can be frustrating but we do it because we have to. I always find it amazing that I can still type reasonably fast. Every one of my fingers has had an ulcer at some point but where those fingers can’t take the touch of a key for weeks on end, another one seems to take its place.

I feel like I’m slow at everything now. Getting dressed, going to the loo, eating my dinner! I have gotten a lot better at asking for help though; asking strangers to open a bottle of drink for me and to the point where I’ve even asked a taxi driver to undo the back of my dress when dropping me home after a wedding – I’d have had to have slept in it otherwise! My friends will automatically take my bags from me, and are ready to do up the fly and button of my jeans when necessary. But they still call me a nightmare because I am a little too independent for my own good at times – they would much rather help than see me struggle. But I like to struggle, and then ask if I have to!

So what have I learnt?
Don't hide away from these conditions, talk to people, be honest, and tell them how you feel. I always thought that by expressing the way I felt was moaning but you know what, we have a right to say how it is! Explaining what the diseases do and how they make you feel will help people to understand.

They may never fully comprehend I go through as I open the fridge door or prepare to step inside a supermarket. Or how frustrating it can be just trying to put on a pair of tights but unless we actually explain when we're asked how we are, or what's happening, how will they ever know?

I bet we've all used the standard 'I'm fine' line, which I'd say is perfectly ok to say to strangers but not to friends and family. Sometimes it helps to be honest, to explain if you're not fine and tell them how you feel. But don’t get me wrong, I still do try to protect my friends and family to a certain degree. I hate them worrying.

Admitting you need help in any way or seeking out an ‘outsider’ to talk to, like a counsellor or psychotherapist, is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength and courage. If talking doesn’t completely help and you need anti-depressants to see you out of a bad patch, then there’s no shame in that either. In my experience, seeing my psychotherapist is the best thing I've done and I've tried all sorts of things in the past! Crystal healing, yoga, acupuncture, flower power, reflexology, etc....but there's nothing like telling someone your fears to make you realise that you are human and some of your thoughts are only natural.

I recognise now that everyone's problems are their own and it doesn't matter whether you think yours are big or small compared to anyone else's, they’re yours and you are entitled to feel exactly how you feel about them.

For a long time I thought R& S defined me, but it doesn't. There’s so much more to me than these conditions. OK I don't ski anymore, not because of the cold, there’s solutions for that, but for fear of falling and further damaging my hands. I don't go on bike rides as I don’t wish to risk death by not being able to squeeze the brakes! I don't play tennis/badminton anymore without the risk of thwarting my opponent with the racket when it slides from my dodgey grasp! But, I can drive, I go to work, but I’m lucky that I can work from home when I need to. I’ve found I’m quite good at baking cakes. It's not easy and can take forever but where there's a will there's a way! I can still go out and party with my friends, I still go on holidays, live my life to the fullest I can. And of course there’s always something around the corner, to test me but I’ll deal with that when it comes to it.

As for relationships; old friends & family are my comfort zone. They know my history; I don’t need to explain myself to them. I sometimes find it hard meeting new people, trusting them. It’s my confidence but I’m getting it back slowly, and you’ll probably think I’m crazy for saying that, seeing me up here talking in front of you!

But someone new? A new man, even... How will they understand all of this? Why would anyone else want my condition to become part of their life?? How will they cope with the fact that I often have indigestion at night and sleep on a hundred pillows?? What will they think of my awkward caresses; finger jabbing with these wonky hands is a given! Without talking these things through with people, these issues can fester and get so big in your own mind. Negativity breeds more negativity, try seeking out the positives. And if you find the courage to share your thoughts with someone, it becomes real and they'll help you to deal with it, in their own way. Just hearing 'why wouldn't anyone want to love you?' can sometimes be just enough.

I’ve just been to Cape Town to organise a work event similar to today’s format but about electronic trading. I knew the 12hr flights there and back were going to be tough and I knew the day of the event was going to be exhausting but on the days I felt rough I gave in to it and on the days I felt good, I explored the city and partied into the early hours!! I’m actually very surprised that my body’s managed to keep going after my crazy weekend. But I now fully expect that after doing this talk, the relief will be immense and my body will crash like a tonne of bricks, but I’d rather live my life as an adventure than worry about it being a threat.

I’ve never really dwelled on the 'why me?s' – it’s just the way it is. I like to think that I was chosen to test my resilience, courage and strength.

I hope I haven’t bored you all to tears with all the 'me me me' talk but I can’t tell you how to cope, or how to feel. I could have easily listed gadgets to help with day to day practical problems, but you can go to the internet for that. Instead I’ve just given you a brief insight into my world and it’s probably been more therapeutic for me than you but if anything I’ve said helps any of you in some small way, I’ll be happy that I’ve done my job.

Thank you for listening.

Cape Town

2010-09-22T11:03:00.006Z

I have just had the best trip to Cape Town, for work!

Last Tuesday I walked into the office and the air was FULL of tension... I hadn't even taken my coat off before Daniella asked for a quick 'chat' in the hallway.... Did I have anything planned for the weekend coming? Could I go to Cape Town with her to run our briefing there? - Inital thoughts were ' long fights', 'will be knackered', 'not so sure'...

Oh it was sooo much fun! We took a flight on Friday night (13 hrs) and arrived at 8am Saturday. Jumped in a car, straight to the Table Bay Hotel on the V&A Waterfront. Sun shining. Had a freshen up (and wandered around my room loads, just unpacking and taking it all in! Like a 'kid in a sweet shop!'), cuppa tea and a bit of chillaxing before Daniella and I hopped out for some lunch and then back to the hotel to meet the event manager for some briefing prep. After that, bikinis on and up to the poolside for a lay down and a quick cocktail!

A power nap later and we meet Kevin & Keith in the hotel bar at 7. Then we head for dinner at CARNE (http://www.carne-sa.com/), where ostrich, wildebeast and kudu were sampled, with good south African red wine of course.... Then on to Long Street to try out the 'Waiting Room' (http://www.capetownlive.com/live/venue_view.jsp?venue_id=7793), then to the Jade Lounge (http://www.jadelounge.co.za/) for a boogie AND Fez club. My word, we drank some! Wine, vodkas, jagerbombs, chamapgne... bed by 3/4am? :-/

Sunday - Brekkie at 11, then hook up with Richard, who takes us out in his car for the day, sightseeing. All a tad jaded but appreciate the amazing views of Table mountain and amazing view points at Signal Hill, Cape Point, Camps Bay, Chapmans Peak. Then on for a lush lunch - fresh local calamaries - delish!

Penquins were a 'must' for Daniella, so Richard obliged and took us all to Boulders Beach (http://www.bouldersbeachlodge.com/) to see the cute little fellas. Then back to the hotel for work and event prep....followed by room service and an early night!

Monday - event day. Up and at it by 8am, through til 8pm (with a short cat nap from 4.30-6pm! Oh and quick break to go buy arnica cream after I whacked my eyebrow bone with a chair!). Followed by dinner with the Peresys gang, then more drinks in Long St, in an Irish bar of course! (memorable moments; 2 x taxis = 1 breakdown, Keith trying to give money to a beggar & Daniella's answer to Kevin's question: 'Have you ever been to strip club?'.....) V. late night; got in around 4/5?

Tuesday - attempt to sleep in a bit but the Jagerbombs kept me wide awake and pukey! So out for brunch with Stuart & Kevin around 12, followed by some more work, then off to the airport for fight home :(

Fab weekend!! :-D

Cape town is an amazing place, very beautiful but still has a long way to go wrt security... had some dubious moments... Would def go back and recommend though!

what really happened in 2008...

2009-01-04T00:16:00.003Z

January - Dan & Miho left for India. Hospital (Broomfield) for iloprost.
February - Champneys with Jo, my birthday drinks = v. drunken school night; Sal slept on her stairs (lightweight due to marathon training!); Kate puked on train & in taxi.
March bought Sal's b/day, Jo's b/day at Sanuk, El&Aimees' wedding and a trip to France with the boys (which I have notes on but have failed to blog yet).
April - Sal does the Marathon in style (we race around the course trying to see her at vital points but only see her once!), TradeTech Paris, Hereford for a long weekend (22 of us old skool - great fun; long walk on very hot day; black tie dinner on Sat night; great roast over the road on Sunday), office move.
May - Wild night out with Sal and Claire Desousa at the Burlington club (Chris joins us), Thomas Alan Marshall born, James and Fiona's engagement party (can't remember when they got engaged though! I didn't attend - was ill :-( ) Mat's b/day weekend; Southend for Aqua thingy, Terrace Bar and curry.... late night! ;-) BBQ at Mat and Manda's. Claire Seward's with Sal for BBQ, Sunday afternoon beers for a brief visit from the MacCarthys. Day out at the O2 with Mat, Rhys, Mart, Shaun & Manda for Indian Jones, SATC, Gaucho's and Boyzone!!
June - Christopher christened! Life Coach with Sal. Amika with Sal; ended up somewhere else in London (good fun though!). Aldeburgh (as blogged).
July - Hopsital (Broomfield - iloprost), cousins gathering at Monc's. Fat Pig with Sal. Sal's BBQ. Aber (as blogged).
August - Hospital (Broomfield - more iloprost), out day before Hog Roast (very wet!!!) Picked up Sal from V festival but didn't make it myself :-( Mat & Amanda get engaged!!! Yay!! Spain with JP to meet Mat and Amanda for celebs. Caroline's mum dies.
September - Funeral. Tenants at 50 Westbury Rd leave, promptly! M&M pregnant!!! How exciting!!
October - Em home for a weekend ; dinner at Ivory Rooms. New tenants move in. Up to Scotland for James & Fi wedding in Dunblane - great fun!
November - Button Common fireworks (very wet - just manage the pub, M&M announce pregnancy!), Stu & Kathryn wedding, week in Centre Parcs with Moulds, Nat, Earl & Thomas. Wedding dress shopping with Amanda :-) Hospital (Royal Free - iloprost and lots antibiotics - 11 days!!!)
December - Vix 30th B/day Wig party, Chris & Sarah's wedding, caught terrible sickness bug just before Xmas!! Xmas eve at The Bear in Stock with Claire, Chris, Dom and some old skool crowd. Xmas and Boxing Day with ma, pa, gran, gramps, Sue, etc. Week in Suffolk for NYE celebs - eventful!

Lambs Whoopsies

2008-07-28T18:47:00.004Z

Chocolate covered raisins really. (thanks Manda x)

Went to Aber this weekend - had a great time despite the ultra sore finger, pain-killers and crap frame of mind, but that's what friends are for!

Here's some of the highlights:
Friday
- 8.5 hour drive for Amanda. OK so that's not a highlight but the singing, number plate game (OYC) and the shouting at slow drivers was.
- Oxford. Low point (lots of traffic) but this was when the roof came down!
- Arrive Aber and it wasn't raining.
- Salt for dinner with the gang (Manda, Mat, Shaun, Rhys, Dave, Mart & JP).
- Cocktails in the cocktail place that I can't remember the name of. All get v. tiddled on cocktails. Lots of photo taking & killer pool.
- The Mill for shots, more photo taking and juke box playing.
- The rest of the night is a blank for me as I went off to bed, but there was definitely more photo taking of Shaun in shop door fronts!

Saturday
- All up for brekkie.
- Shopping (but I went back to bed)
- All change cos the sun came out!!
- Lunch in Varsity - curly fries.
- Mini Putt Putt Golf - v. entertaining (and a little competitive!)
- Dinner in Le Figaro where Monk fish became the new....??
- Cocktails in the cocktail place again, shots in the Mill again, with singing.
- Dancing!! (at what felt like someone's wedding but it was a club apparently)

Sunday
- No sleep
- Beach. Lush. Mat & Rhys buy the best picnic ever. Volleyball.
- Out of it on painkillers
- Drinks in Rummers, curry.

Monday
- Home :-(
(oh and phone consultant cos finger gone black!)

Thanks to Rhys for organising, Shauny for being my fab roomy, Manda for being my best mate and Mat, Dave, Mart & JP for entertaining me.

...drugs & rock n'roll

2008-07-13T22:03:00.003Z

WARNING - Lengthy blog alert! Apologies.

So I thought I best blog this time around as I always seem to block out what happened the last time I was in hospital.

This is the 3^rd time I’ve had iloprost in Chelmsford’s Broomfield hospital under the watchful eye of my consult Dr Mukherjee (love his name – reminds me of Mr Majeeka. He’s a little ‘off the wall’ like him too). First time was November 07. I saw him in an out-patient appointment and he took one look at me and told me to go home to get my PJ’s, he was getting me in as an ‘emergency’. Well that didn’t freak me out too much!?! I was in a right old state though, have to admit. Exhausted, gammy fingers, washed out, just generally knackered (sound familiar?)

The second time was pre-arranged. Initially for the beginning of January (08) but they told me a few days before that I couldn’t go in cos Dr Mukherjee was on his hols (how dare he?). Well that gave me the right hump for the whole of the month; I’d got myself all geared up to go in and deal with all the depressing stuff and then they bloody postponed it!! Grrr. Wasn’t impressed. Ended up going in at the end of Jan. Things I remember from that experience; at the beginning of my treatment my blood pressure kept dropping and they kept having to stop the drug infusion, so I ended up hooked up to it for 10 hours rather than 6 so that we could get a good amount into me on the second day. And then after 3 days of having the canula in my right hand (v sore), they couldn’t get a new one in me so I had to take the iloprost via nebuliser for the rest of my stay. Boo. (I’m not convinced about the nebuliser – I’m sure you can just breathe the damn stuff out just as easily as you breathe it in… I didn’t get the same side effects either. Some of you may think is a good thing, but to be honest, if I get the bad headaches, flushed face, dodgey tum then at least I know the stuff’s doing its job. After all, it is supposed to force open all the blood vessels in your body so you can’t really expect anything less)

Day 1 – Monday 7^th July
So here I am, sitting in the same ward and room that I was in the first time at Broomfield (I’ve had this treatment about a zillion times before at Addenbrookes but Chelmsford is so much closer for visitors). It’s 16.38 and I’ve been here an hour and a half… waiting….. I’ve spent the whole damn morning waiting! I got at call at 8.20am to say that they were booting an old lady out of my bed and that they would need to leave a bit of time in case the old dear’s transport didn’t pick her up on time, and time for them to do a ‘“Gordon Brown” deep clean’ of my room – I wouldn’t mind but they missed a few bits. Anyway, I sat around all morning waiting for the next call…. I called them at 1pm, only to be told to come in around 3pm….. urgh.

I’ve seen Dr Mukherjee; he wanted to give me some anti-biotics for a suspected chest infection. I told him no. I’ve been on some tough old pills since the end of April, I refuse to have more. We’re gonna see how the week pans out. I’ve pressed my buzzer once already – just to try and hurry the whole process up and remind them that the drug’s got to be on for 6 hours and that I don’t want to be sitting with it on all night, only for them to come in at 6.30 tomorrow morning to wake me up and take my blood pressure!

Still nothing. Lex has rang, that cheered me temporarily. Amanda has text’d too. She asked how I was feeling. I replied ‘well I’ll cry if I think about it all too much’ – which is the truth. So I’m not thinking, I’m just typing.

Did I tell you that the weather is absolutely shocking (currently storming)? Well it is and I’m glad cos if it was hot and sunny I’d be even more pissed off. I can just about see the sky from my room. There’s dark low clouds and now I’m watching for lightening….I’ve cracked open my first bag of Jelly Babies. If I keep up with all this typing this blog is gonna be sooooo long. I’ll try and keep it short. The dvd watching (Gavin & Stacey series 1) should ensure that I’m otherwise occupied.

Oh great, the gutter outside my window must be blocked, water is pouring down the side of the building/ my window and onto the ground. If I listen to water like this all day every day I’m gonna be pee’ing for England.

It’s 17.02 a nurse has just been in. She took one look at me and said ‘I’m gonna send Helen in to do your canula, as I know I attempted it loads of times on you last time… she won’t be long…’

17.29 - Helen is an angel sent from heaven. 1st attempt and a pain free canula is in – I love her. I’ve told her that she can come back on Wednesday to do the next one. She mentioned the ward is closing in a few weeks – I need to find out why and where I’ll go next time. I’ve ordered tuna salad for dinner and I’m finishing writing up my Vegas blog from last year… I’m feeling like there’s been some progress.

17.55 - All my admission forms have been completed, I’ve been officially admitted now. Found out that they are closing 2 wards, losing 150 beds, all in preparation for the ‘new PFI’ whatever that is? Private Funded sthg or other, which is due to open here in 2010. Due to be NHS but this nurse (Rach) thinks the whole of the NHS will become private soon anyway…. Interesting….

18.13 - I’m 55.8Kgs. No idea what that is in stone, so I’ll have to wait til I get out to find out but I know that’s better than the last couple of times I’ve been in. (8st 8lb – actually not that good)

18.36 – Dinner was unimpressive. Dry tuna salad; dry cucumber, dry tuna, 2 weenie bits of tomato and dry potato salad.

Day 2
So I got switched on at 19.15 yesterday and came off at 01.30. Blood pressure stayed above 100, headache kicked in about 4 hours in and I got to the max amount for the day. Funny jaw thing happened about half way through too… I took a sip of lemon squash and it freaked me out, it’s a really weird feeling. Thankfully they put a ‘do not disturb’ on my door this morning and I woke at 7 then 9.

A man from the chaplaincy popped by to say hello earlier – I’ve seen him the other few times I’ve been in but not really chatted before. He’s a lovely chap, we had a good natter. I didn’t give him my full sob story but he did comment on how smiley and cheery I am despite my condition. It’s only when strangers speak with you for a few minutes and then comment on things that it makes me realise what I do have to put up with. He gave me a god-squad card telling me how special I am – very sweet. So I gave myself a pat on the back for a few minutes, then remembered that there’s thousands worse off than me.

After yesterday’s dinner experience, I was pleasantly surprised with my roast chicken lunch. The chicken was plump and succulent, there was stuffing, and fresh cauliflower and broccoli, and plenty of gravy. Now I’m not saying it was great but it was definitely an improvement on last time. I think the new pre-ordering system is working.

The plan was that they’d start me off a few hours earlier they did yesterday so they could gradually work me back to a 12 noon start on Friday so I can get out on time for dinner at Amanda’s. They switched me on at 16.50 but it’s 21.18 now and it’s had to be stopped for 3 half hours already cos of low blood pressure – grr!

On a positive note I had some visitors today, yay! Vix and Christopher came to say hi in the afternoon – Christopher takes great pleasure in getting his mum grubby, he’s so cute. He had a biccy-peg to chew on, it didn’t look overly appetising (much like a small dog chew if you ask me) so I stuck with the delicious chocs they bought me! Jo popped a long for a few hours too, and bought me some clear nail varnish as requested – well I may as well try and make part of my hands look nice amongst all the bruising I will come out with. Then Mat and Manda came in the evening. We played doctors and nurses and found Mat’s blood pressure to be quite high (166/107), which of course, is worrying me now cos I have nothing better to worry about!

Wednesday – Day 3
Blood pressure dropped to 88/53 at midnight, so I got the hump and told them to switch it all of and give up for the night – I hate being beaten! An hour later they checked my bp again and it was the same – damn it!

They put the ‘do not disturb’ on my door and I got woken at 9, so that was good. But I was woken to be told that I’m being kicked out of my room and am going onto the ward cos there’s a patient with and infection and my room is the only room with an ‘uninfected’ patient in. So we’re waiting for the ‘“Gordon Brown” deep clean’ to be done, then I’m on the move.

It’s 13.33, I’m in a ward bed on an end with 2 old ladies – don’t get me started on how I don’t want to get old. I think I’ll get away with my tv and dvd watching without headphones; I think they’re all deaf. It was third time lucky with the new canula, but even then it didn’t quite got to plan – when they attached the drip it didn’t connect properly and half way through my sausage and mash I had to be reconnected cos blood was pouring out of my hand (dam canula’s at the base of my thumb/wrist, making any left handed action tricky). But on the plus side, I’m switched on and providing all goes well (fingers crossed, as well as they can be), I should be done by 7pm…..

Just seen Mr Majeeka. Told him I’d had funny feeling in my neck and shoulders, he’s put that down to the iloprost. Told him again about my chest so he listened to it and said that it does sound like I have limited capacity lower down and that’s because of the fibrosis I have in my lungs, which is because of the condition, and sthgs just irritating it. He’s gonna send me for a chest x-ray and has written up for some inhalers. It could be asthma or the fibrosis making it like it is but either way they should help. He also wants to see me before Spain to review my finger and chest. Said he’d like me to see a hand surgeon for a ‘sympathectomy’ or to just open up my wound, get the gunk out and for it to heal.

Thursday – Day 4
I’m over half way!! Yesterday went without a hitch. Sal and Andy swung by at 7pm and managed to stay til 9, so that was really nice.

Today has also been hitchless. Apart from another bed move. Claire popped by around 11 ish, I had my chest x-ray , they switched me on at 12.30 and mum popped by. Then Kate rocked up at 2.30ish and stayed for a bit. I got switched off at 6.30 then Mat and Manda came in.

Friday – Day 5
The ward was supposed to close today but 9 patients got bought in last night from other places – the poor nurses were having a shocker. The lady that came in next to me had sliced her thumb artery and nerve with some scissors. She’d been to Queens (the new hosp in Rom) and said it was horrendously unorganised, and then they didn’t have the facilities to operate on her, so had to be bought here. Her description of her injury made me wanna spew.

It was 4^th time lucky with today’s new canula so my arms are looking a patchy green colour with all the bruising but hey. They switched me on at 12.15 and all went well so I was out by 7pm to get to Amanda’s for dinner with the girls – horay!

Until next time…

Vegas

2008-07-13T14:14:00.001Z

I've finally finalised my Vegas blog entry - it can be found at http://nackynoo.blogspot.com/2008/02/viva-las-vegas.html

My little fury friend....

2008-06-30T14:27:00.002Z

... made an appearance in my house again today. There I was, happily tapping away on my laptop, when Ollie sauntered in through my back door, popped his head round the corner to say 'hi' and promptly ran up the stairs and hid under my bed... I promptly shoo'd him out!

Sun, sea, scrabble & cider

2008-06-30T12:27:00.001Z

Aldeburgh... a few notes:

Fish and chips.
Privileged to have sheets.
Beers.
Scrabble (Dave: Raj -> Jar. Mat having all the vowels)

Town, shopping, fish and meat.
BBQ, cider and pimms in the garden.
JP arrives, dresses the statue.
Burnage (Mart one side of the face)
Dancing in the hallway.
Amanda's drunken'injury (to save the school jug!)
Mat's loud drunken swearing.
Mart, Mat & Dave go to some gig.
The 3 amigos go for dinner in the Lighthouse.
JP sleepwalks home.

Hollyoaks. Max dies. Gay.
Prezzos. Sort out the pennies, literally passing pound coins across the table.
Clean the house, then home.

Very pleasant - thanks to Amanda, Mat, JP, Dave and Mart.
(And of course Mr & Mrs Sadler)

For pics click here

The Intruder (part 2)....

2008-05-06T14:12:00.002Z

... was sitting on my doorstep when I left the house this morning... he (although he looks like a she cos he's so pretty) obviously finds my sofa quite comfy!

The Intruder

2008-05-03T00:14:00.008Z

So I come home from a lovely night at Phil & Vicki's with Mat and Amanda (note: Christopher is no longer a baby, he is officially a small boy at 24 weeks! Still very cute I hasten to add), and I find crap on my sofa!

I was happily going about my ways, filling the water filter, when I turned back into the lounge to find the offending article on the sofa. I, of course, have to double-take, at least twice, before my brain confirms that it is actually cat shit on my chair (yes it smells too!). I freeze. There is something (so obviously a cat but my brain is running wild) in my house. I have a quick look around downstairs, find nothing but am too scared to go upstairs in case I find that it has ruined my house (by crapping everywhere & shredding the curtains), died in my bed through malnutrition (although it has only been 12 hrs since I left the house) or is just going to appear from no-where and make me jump. I call Manda, her and Mat come back to save me.

They confirm it is poo on my sofa, but can't guarantee that it's a cat's - if it's not, I have a poorly person in my house that needs to drink more water and eat more veg. We send Mat upstairs first. He finds nothing, then Manda follows - I just stand downstairs with the front door wide open (useless). Amanda finds a spider in the bathroom, but we doubt that could crap so well. I venture upstairs and re-check under the beds, nothing. Inspector Senjack finds cat hair on the outer edges of the fan-light window that her and Mat have previously mocked me for leaving open. Bloody good job I do - my house could have been destroyed!

I have paw prints on my car (thankfully no dents).

I blame my dad. He has a habit of walking in and leaving the front door wide open, when we all know full well that the neighbourhood cats love to explore through an open door - we learnt that the day I moved in!

Cat crap makes me gag.

I get into bed, fearing that the cheeky beast is hiding out in my house still. After all, he may have come in via the fan-light window.....

Viva Las Vegas!

2008-02-12T13:43:00.003Z

Sunday 4^th November
After an unexpected week in hospital, Jo and I jumped on a plane to Vegas (via LA). Not sure how it happened but we managed to get Economy Plus seats to LAX, bonus! But the flight was FREEZING, not impressed. We whizzed off the plane at LA knowing that we only had 50 mins to catch our next flight. We made it through the massive queue at immigration, had the whole finger printing issues, then grabbed our bags, ran through customs, dropped out bags off and dashed through security for our next flight. Only to find that after we had run for our lives, the plane’s doors were closed and it was ready to go. After some frantic waving and another 7 or so people rushing up behind us to get the flight, they let us on! So there we were, all out of breathe and knackered, as we set off taxi-ing back from the gate… All of a sudden the plane stops and our luggage has appeared on the back of a small truck which is zooming towards us…Brilliant – I can’t imagine that LHR would have a) opened the doors and let us board the plane or b) stopped the plane enroute to the runway to put our bags on!! Took a cab to the Luxor (pyramid shaped casino/hotel – huge), tested out the inclinator lifts (which go up sideways) and had a salad in the Mexican restaurant in the hotel (which also has a food court, steak house, oriental restaurant, IMAX cinema, museum, casino, etc.). Went to bed at 8pm (4amUK time), woke up at 2 but snoozed til 6am.

Monday 5^th November
Up and out by 8am. Had a buffet breakfast in our hotel – I’ve never seen such a huge variety of food for brek! Walked to the Mandalay Bay hotel (next door) via the shops. Found their pool but it was only open to their guests, booo – it looked lush. So we headed back to our pool for the rest of the day, and booked some meals out, trip over the Grand Canyon and a Cirque du Soleil show.
That night we had dinner in the MIX (top of THE Hotel – 64 floors up). Amazing views of the strip and great food. Met with 2 old guys: (Pat Sharp – the Letch, and Hank). Eventually shook them off and headed back to the Luxor to watch the poker. Stuck with Jefferson from Dublin and Jo chatted with Ret (not Butler) from Canada. Had a dabble with the Irish boy and got to bed about 4am.

Tuesday 6^th November
HUNG OVER. So much so that we stayed in our room all day! Ordered room service for breakfast but after eating it all, Jo spewed. We did manage to get up and out for 7.30pm to go to the top of the RIO for dinner in the VooDoo lounge (52^nd floor). Booking was originally for 9pm but we only managed to pull it forward to 8.30. We were starving but went to the bar and ordered some water! It was there that we bumped into some guys we previously met in the lift. We started chatting and soon found out that they were there on business and were eating at 8pm. When they asked us to join them for dinner we jumped at the chance. There was 6 of them: Mark, Matt (Martinez – a marine, who’d been to Sailors in Newquay!), Lance, Tony, Jason & George. Again, another very funny evening, with fishbowl cocktails, lobster, steak, chocolate fondue – all on the business! Great! There was a really cool band playing in the bar after so we had a boogie and went out onto the roof terrace and admired the views of the city. Chatted with some Ozzie guys and then went back in to find our businessmen gone, or so we thought…. We got in the lift to find Lance and Tony chatting up some poor girl that had obviously got in at the ground floor where they were supposed to be getting out.. So they spent the journey with her back up in the lift trying to talk her into going out with them. She got out and they started their work on us. Unfortunately we were so tired and our feet hurt so much we blew them out. We had to give them 11/10 for effort though as they tried to persuade us the whole way back down the strip to our hotel in a taxi that they paid for, despite the fact they only needed to go 2 blocks down to the club they were going to!

Wednesday 7^th November
Had breakfast in the Excalibur (next door) and went back to our pool for some sun. Had a snooze in the afternoon then headed out at 7pm to TI (Treasure Island) where we had a massive scrummy dinner in Kahunaville. We hit an oxygen bar for 20 mins with back and scalp massage included, then we were off to see Cirque-du-Soleil’s ‘Mystere’. It was absolutely AMAZING. I’ve never seen people bend so much. There were trapeze artists, people doing immense things on a trampampoline, dancing, two bendy guys doing crazy lifts and stuff – it was immense. We then took the tram to the Mirage, where we found a bar for a few drinks. It actually felt like we’d intruded a wedding reception or some kind of work function, everyone was all dressed up. But we went ahead and ordered drinks and soon attracted some male attention. A drunken pilot no less. He attached himself to Jo and his two mates and I entertained ourselves. We followed them to a club in the Mirage but 3’s a crowd and it ended a little messily… bed at 4am.

Thursday 8^th November
We took a helicopter trip over Vegas and the Grand Canyon – OH MY GOD! How incredible. It was absolutely fantastic. There were 6 of us and a pilot. Jo and I were sat in the back between two burly old blokes but this didn’t deter our view. It took approx 45 mins to fly to the Canyon via the Hoover Dam – the sky was clear and the views were amazing. We landed in the Canyon and had a champagne picnic with a few other ‘copters from the same firm and then we got in the front for the journey back to see the sunset and fly over the strip at night. Awesome.
Back on ground we went to see the Sirens of TI (show in front of the hotel/casino), wandered through the Venetian to see the canals and the amazing ceiling that looks like sky. We popped into Caesars Palace for drinks in ‘Shadow’ where we had a Cosmo and then went for a swanky dinner in ‘Nero’s’. We went on to the Bellagio and Jo makes some xmas pressie purchases in Dior. The Bellagio rocks. It’s another massively vast casino but it looks posh and glitzy, cheesy old gold glitz but it’s great. Back to our pad for our first bit of gambling, of the speedy variety, electronic roulette!

Friday 9^th November
Paris for breakfast. Back to Dior to change the bracelet, then on to Fashion Show Mall for an exhaustive shop – spent a fortune. Home to bed at about 6 (we were sooo tired) with room service (pizza and Haagen Dazs).

Saturday 10^th November
Breakfast in Mandalay Bay and then back to our pool for the last bit of sunshine. Whizz to the shops to make some returns, then whizz to the Wynn (5* lush) for a browse in the fancy shops, back through the Bellagio and then down to New York New York. Dinner in the swanky ‘Nobhill’ in the MGM Grand (saw the lions: Pepper and Chilli – freaky naming coincidence). Studio 54 for dancing and random men meeting. Jo tiddled with sore feet, back to hotel, drunken Blackjack (I kept winning despite being distracted by the nice man next to me, much to Jo’s disapproval – ha ha). Bed at 3am.

Sunday 11^th November
Up and out. Boo. Caught at security with a large bottle of Clarins cleanser in my hand luggage – I honestly thought it was my new iPod nano wrapped up. Bugger.

An excellent trip but needed a week to get over it! – thanks Jo xxx

Phenomenom...?

2007-09-17T21:58:00.000Z

'Long time no blog!' I hear you cry... apologies but I've been busy!!

Since getting back from Spain there was V weekend, where I spent a fab 2 days with my buddies watching some ace bands such as, The Killers (in the pouring rain), Lilly Allen, Pink, Mika, Snow Patrol, the Editors, Kasabian, Kanye West and probably some more that I've forgotten... Oh and there was a drunken night on a boat for Martin Jago's 30th - that was a fun evening! (very drunk and Sal managed to get her V ticket stolen!)

Then it was bank holiday weekend, so the Hunt Hog Roast took president and I exhausted myself socialising and collecting £800 for charity... it was a great day and the weather finally came round from being miserable for the past month to being sunny and somewhat warm!! The 3 new additions to the clan were all in attendance; baby Heidi (Just and Bob's), Oliver (Gem & Alastiar's) and Ella (Nick and Lou's)... bless, they're all gorgeous and seem to be doing very well. Amy even made a brief appearance to say goodbye after her whirlwind trip home from NZ.

Then there was the weekend trip to Bournemouth in the new motor with Sal and Claire. Lots of roof down action and general giggles out in town and on the beach, with some great 'tunes!' on the way back to sing loudly too.

This was followed by a weekend of Proms in the Park with the newly married Gav & Click, Martin, Lucy and Dan. Another great evening, with SOOO much food and drink. Entertainment provided by Dick and Dom, Terry Wogan, Will Young, Tony Hadley and Leslie Garrat. Somehow managed to get drunk but wasn't going to drink that night - whoops! The next day was the Police at Twickers with Mat, Manda and Rhys - also good fun with a lot of singing and jigging. Shame that I forgot that my dad owns flats close by and we could have driven to avoid Manda's severed tendons in her ankle swelling up even more. We just managed to get the last train home from Liv St after I bent a copper's ear about getting Manda out of the queue to avoid her ankle being crushed....and because I knew my London buses! (saddo)

And that weekend brings us to the one just gone, spent in Sheffield with the lovely Waggotts, all 3 of them. It was great. Matilda is a cutie beyond belief, so placid and happy.
We did our usual fair share of walking - always good, stuffed our faces and generally caught up with each other and had a good ole giggle. Em took us to an Indian where her old builder 'Darcy' appeared and talked of Facebook become a Phenomenon, or however you spell it - he kept saying it wrong too, hence the inspiration for this title - ha ha. We also discussed which supermarkets are better value for money and which has the nicest veggies and organic selction - a sure sign of us getting old!

I also need to mention that my parents have a new puppy... she's a Border Terrier and is a little sweetheart.. and she has become the apple of my parents eyes... too much Lottie-love if you ask me! ;-)

Villajoyosa

2007-08-16T13:03:00.001Z

Wed 8th August 2007
Nix, Nat, Pauline, Lex & Caroline. Up and out at a ridiculous hour. Arrive Alicante, hire car, drive on E17, N70 in various directions! Papa Hague, beach, very warm clear sea. Amazing coloured old Spanish buildings on the beach front. Dry River. Pub quiz, cheating, Sangria. Late dinner in El Guitarra, very drunk.

Thurs 9th Aug
Beach, lunch, beach. Pizza in El Gusto, T-Class bar, photo session, bed!

Fri 10th Aug
Beach, lunch, Caroline to airport, beach. Swanky bar with view and dinner at Restaurante Madrid for a potent Paella, a wonder up the beach front, followed by ice creams!

Sat 11th Aug
Beach, lunch, beach. Meet the delightful Polly and her mum in Althea, after a cold train ride, for an amazing Fiesta of fireworks. Chats, moisturise! Bar in Althea, Pauline’s’ bag purchase, train, bed (3.30am)!

Sun 12th Aug
Beach, late lunch El Guitarra, re-open kitchen. Cheesecake – the biscuit! Windy beach, video clip, immense hailstorm! Swanky bar, pizza, bed.

Mon 13th Aug
Beach, lunch, beach. Café with Polly, her mum, papa Hague, Jo Brand and Pete. 80 cents a glass of rose. Tapas in Villa, swanky bar, hammered. Taxi to Benidorm. Tequila, followed swiftly by coke (with vodka!). Nix & Nat - BLIND DRUNK! So much so that parts of the evening are missing and the snogger has no face! Podium dancing, photos, randoms. Ricky Martin, Barney with the purple dinosaur! Ricardo stuck to Pauline’s face – name forgetting, dirty stop-out. Bouncing ring. Bed – late.

Tues 14th Aug
Hung-over.
Alicante with Papa Hague, Polly, her mum and friends for Tapas. Drinks in the square, Lex and Barney meet for drinks.

Wed 15th Aug
Beach, 40 degrees. Home :-(

Summary
Fantastic week. Papa Hague = star. Polly = angel.
“Who’s stealing the time?”
“Dirty, dirty, dog”
Nat with all the keys.
Nat’s song – who the hell is it??
Posh benches, Son of a b….
Laughs, good times.
When we going back??
Thanks girls xxx

Honkers

2007-05-25T15:41:00.001Z

Thursday 17^th May 2007
Empty flight from Heathrow, had 3-4 seats each, so great to stretch out. Quite turbulent, lots of seatbelt sign on-age and off-age. An hour or so before landing the pilot tried to drop us out of the sky – must have hit an air pocket. Lots of screams!

Arrive Friday 5pm in torrential rain. Met Warrick at airport express station in Central. Massive Q for cabs. Got all the major gossip over and done with whilst in the queue!

Had dinner in a Thai restaurant, ‘Chedi’. Then had strawberry daiquiris in a secret hidden place called ‘*******’ (must find that out!). They were DELISH. Jetlag meant I stayed awake from 3-6am.

Saturday 19^th May
Went to Stanley Market until 3pm, when the heavens opened again and continued on well into the night. This meant that lunch in ‘Bacca’ turned into an all-dayer with a vast amount of sangria drunk by me and Mads! Secrets were told and arguments were had – I’d love to have been a fly on the wall and replayed it back the next day! (Others ha blown off dinner – El & Aimee were sick, B couldn’t be bothered!)

Sunday 20^th May
Hung-over. Brunch at Staunton’s, back to W & Mads to watch ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’, ‘Walk the Line’, their 4 minute Wedding montage, ‘American Pie 2’ and some other film with Drew Barrymore!

Monday 21^st May
Mads and I get the Star Ferry (from the new terminal) to Kowloon for a spot of shopping. Met Aimee back on the island in a tiny Teashop for tea and cake. Yum. Stayed in for dinner chez W & M.

Tuesday 22^nd May
Guess what? More rain but nice and warm. Went for a fab pedicure: white leather sofas to sit in, sinks in the floor, tv’s to watch and a free manicure! T’was great: nice scrub & dig for toe-jam. Browsed shops, had a spot of lunch then got a cab to cousin Clare’s. Dinner in with Clare, Vic and Jake. Scrabble and bed. Slept like a baby.

Wednesday 23^rd May
Went to meet B for lunch but she blew me out, so shopped instead. Met Edward & Stephanie (work) for coffees. Caught MTR and bus back to Redhill Peninsula, with man picking toes next to me on MTR… gross. All the gang, me, Clare, Colin, Warrick, Mads, El & Aimee met for dinner in ‘Red Pepper’ (Szechwan) followed by beers in the ‘Brewery’ where it rained! So we sat out with our brollies intermittently going up and down! Stayed with El & Aimee up the Peak. No view but sat up with El til 3am chatting.

Thursday 24^th May
V. hot (33 degrees). Great views from El’s. Played on the Wii and jumped on the back of El’s bike round to Clare and Colin’s. All go for lunch in Stanley: Pizza for hangovers. Ice cream sampled: strawberry & basil, black sesame seed & lychee, and lime & ginger. Crazy. Too hot to attempt sitting by the pool so Clare and I sat and snoozed in front of the tv in the aircon instead. Dinner in and Colin dropped me to the airport. Boo.

Another great trip! Thanks guys xxxx

Sad news: Unfortunately on my return, I found that we'd lost Pepper to doggie heaven. She was then closely follwed by Chilli ten days later :-(

American Affinity with Tarmac

2006-12-17T23:34:00.000Z

Daniella & I hit NYC for the J&J Xmas party this week. We flew American Airlines. Well I say ‘flew’ but we actually probably spent more time in planes on the ground than in the air! We were due to depart on Monday 11^th Dec at 12 noon – some passengers didn’t arrive at the gate in time so we had to wait for their luggage to be pulled off. Then we had to wait for Air Traffic Control to fit us in for take-off – approx an hour spent sitting around on the runway. We eventually arrived around 2pm (of course the pilot cleverly made up some time – yay for him! My hero!) But no. We didn’t get off the plane when we landed, we sat on the tarmac for an hour because we had to wait to be pulled into the gate. Joy.

On arrival at JFK passport control, we had our photos and finger prints taken (not ‘taken’ as in they chopped off our fingers and ran off with our holiday snaps), but guess what?? My finger prints didn’t match with the last time I entered the country. I did try and tell the guy that I didn’t use my index fingers last time (one was heavily bandaged) but he insisted that I use them this time…Surprisingly enough this resulted in a mismatch and me being frog-marched off into a room and being interrogated – well that’s what I thought would happen. I did get frog-marched into a room but they took sympathy and simply had to wait for my records to ‘pend’ in the system and then make some notes on my file – I imagine they just put ‘dodgey fingers – will always be a problem.’ Dani, who wasn’t allowed anywhere near me for this was shoo’d off to collect the luggage. So much for us arriving and attending a meeting at 4pm, at this stage it was 3.45pm. We did make it to the ‘networking’ drinks by the skin of our teeth though – brownie points for us! Courtney took us to the ‘Pound & Pence’ pub for some food – bless, she obviously thought we were homesick already. Bed by 11.30pm, only to be up again at 6.30am for a meeting. So Tuesday we spent from 7.30 – 6pm in the office, then headed to the shops! Had a Mexican for dinner (– that’s food, I didn’t shag one!) Bed at 11, in the office for 9.15am thru to 5.30pm and then the J&J Xmas party!

Marie (my big big boss’s wife) was so excited to have us all there – she’d never seen the office so packed out and kept claiming that it was ‘like having all her babies come home’ – I didn’t realise she’d had so many kids! Basically, because it’s a management/technology based consulting firm, most employees work ‘on-site’ in large institutions (no, not mental ones, ones such as UBS, Merrrill Lynch, etc.). So there were about 6 tables of 8 for a swanky sit down meal (that’s 48 people for the non-mathmaticians) and Tom (the big big boss) said he’d wait and sit down last as he could happily fit in anywhere but there was a chair short – of course me and my big mouth told him he was probably best off to sit in the corner on his own then! Thankfully he laughed, while I cringed inside…

It did mean that I was mentioned in the first sentence of his speech, so at least everyone knows who I am now, when I get fired!

Thursday came and went in a blur – literally. I woke to find that I couldn’t open my right eye. Not good. Had a bit of a panic about it but put it down to being exhausted and having spent too much time staring at my computer screen. After a day at work (mostly spent with a tea bag on my eye!), Dani and I headed straight for the shops again for a few last minute bits, then it was off to the airport to pick up our 11.45 flight, or so we thought…..

The first ‘tell tale sign’ that there were going to be problems was when we weren’t allocated a seat at check-in. The next, was when we were told at the boarding gate that we’d have to wait for at least 6 people not to show for the flight because they were heavily over booked (due to previous flight disruptions earlier in the day). 10 mins before the flight I was given a seat #, and then 5 mins later Dani was too. We sighed with relief, we really didn’t want to have to catch an 8.30am flight the next morning, even if they were going to pay for the cab, hotel and give us compensation. Little did we know that might have actually been the better option with what was yet to come!

So we boarded the plane, and the usual happened; passengers didn’t show so we had to wait for luggage to be pulled. Then the pilot kindly told us that during the safety check they’d found some issues with the brakes. The BRAKES??!! Great. Then there was the age old Air Traffic Controllers not letting us go as well…. Resulting in us not taking off until 3.45am! That’s 4 hours just sitting on the plane. I asked for an eye-mask so I could try and get some sleep but was informed that they were only provided for first & business class passengers. I was not impressed and told the steward that I expected more from this type of service & airline. He concluded by telling me that I could buy a pack which included the eye-mask from duty-free but they couldn't sell duty-free until we were in the air!!!! Again, NOT IMPRESSED.

When we eventually took off, I hit my stewardess call bell and got ignored for 20 mins. Then when someone did arrive he had the cheek to tell me that he wasn’t going to get my duty-free because he was there to serve me drinks and dinner (4am dinner?!?). I told him I’d been waiting for over 4 hours for an eye-mask and that was all I wanted. He asked again if I wanted food or a drink and I sulked a ‘no’ at him. I was SO tired by this stage that I could feel my eyes welling up and I (shamefully) began to blub…10 mins later I was handed a travel pack with eye-mask, and didn't have to pay for it! (I’m so spoilt!)

So we got home late, with most of Friday a right-off, and Saturday a blur of head-ache, tiredness and going back to bed. But I did manage a quick trip into Brentwood, a visit to Adele’s for ‘Mould’ Wine, and then the Imperial Peking and Sams for the B/wood gang Chrimble doo…. Marvellous!

5 Weeks til Christmas!!

2006-11-18T13:56:00.000Z

Firstly I must congratulate the Waggotts on the arrival of their beautiful baby girl, Matilda. Well done all! Can't wait to go see them all next week.

So the post-holiday blues took about a week to go, although I still have pangs of disappointment about not being there. But mostly I've been keeping myself busy (now there's a surprise I hear you all cry!) What with going back to work, eurgghh, and getting my birthday plans a little more organised, I don't actually feel like I've been away!

I've had a couple of wild nights out with Claire and Dan, the last being a trip to APT (James and Lex were there too) in London - very entertaining, and very drunk! It's amazing what a few vodkas can do, my chat-up lines have come on a long way, the latest being (to two blokes) 'are you a couple?' ha ha I'm so funny! It seems to work though, it gets you talking, even if they do hate you for a few minutes after the initial shock of being asked that!

Last night I had the girls round for a Body Shop party, where I managed to earn myself £50 worth of freebies, and £50 worth of stuff at half price - that can't be bad for just providing a warm cosy venue with alcohol!

The Wonderful Wizards of Oz

2006-11-05T14:46:00.000Z

So here’s the brief diary I kept of our 3 weeks in Hong Kong and Oz:

Friday 13th October
JP nearly got bumped off the flight to Hong Kong! (We were soon to learn that JP isn’t lucky when it comes to checking in, security and quarantine!) We checked in mega-early, so much so that they weren’t ready to take the luggage for our flight, so we must have been one of the first there. Manda & I had booked together and pre-booked our seats, but JP hadn’t. He was told that he couldn’t be allocated a seat, let alone have one next to us, because the flight was over booked! We found this highly unreasonable, seeing as we were the first there, but we kept our cool and gently persuaded the check-in woman that JP would be travelling with us then to HK rather than the day after! Phew - he had a seat, but not with us.
We settled down and had dinner in 'Est Est Est', courtesy of Uncle Mick, which in itself was great, but made even better by the fact that the waiter gave us the wrong bill and we paid £13 less than we should have! The laughter started here, with discussions on what we’d like to do on our trip. There were shouts of ‘I wanna go to Perth!’ (Manda) ‘I wanna see Penguins!’ (Nix), ‘I’ve got a Kit-Kat in my bag…’ (JP).
By 9.50pm JP had made 4 calls to Anne (his newly promoted 'girlfriend') – we thought this was a show of things to come, but we were wrong, the pay-as you-go texts and phone calls were soon to become the bane of his life!
‘Manda missed out on a man with his pants out, tucking himself in at the Currency Exchange desk – it was shocking.
When we boarded the flight (after thinking we had hours to play with), we found that JP’s seat had been changed so he was next to us – shame he missed out on the emergency exit seat that he’d previously been allocated!! It didn’t matter too much though, as he’d already fallen asleep by the time we hit the runway to take off!

Saturday 14th October
Congratulations to Amanda who made the flight to HK with minimal disruption to other passengers. (Thank god for the valium!)
On arrival to HK we jumped on the Airport Express train to Central station and picked up a cab to my cousin Clare’s house in Redhill Peninsula (Tai Tam). After telling the taxi driver where we needed to go, we attempted to settle back and take in the sights of HK by night, but an interesting conversation followed…..
Taxi driver to JP: Taiwan?
JP: Er no mate, we’re from England.
Taxi driver: (more incomprehendable chatter including)…Taiwan?.... Aberdeen?
JP (now ultimately confused): No, we’re from London, England…
Silence…. Confusion (do we look like we’re from Taiwan??)….. my brain was ticking…. And slowly it became clear…..
NH: Oh, do we want to go through the Aberdeen tunnel to get to Redhill??? Yes! Yes, please!!
Very funny. Probably had to be there to appreciate it, but hey, this blog will be full of incidents like that! Anyway, it was day later when we found that he wasn’t even asking about Taiwan, he was asking if we wanted to go via ‘Chi Wan’ (or thru the tunnel)!! Derrr!
We arrived at the Browne’s residence (very nice btw – 4 bed, 3 storey place, over looking the bay), promptly dumped our bags and headed out to Stanley for a great meal with Clare, Colin, Vicky and Jake. (Thanks very much again for that Colin).

Sunday 15th October (cloudy & hazy, 28°)
All slept like logs and ‘Manda woke at 7am on the dot! Tut!
We jumped in a cab with the intention to going up the Peak, but with the haze so bad we decided to head to the Star ferry and cross to Kowloon for the Jade market, a wander through the streets, another market and then lunch in the Peninsula Hotel (swanky!) We jumped back on the ferry to Central and headed for the Lan Kwai Fong street carnival and the pub. It was around 3.30pm, I’d had an attack of the ‘sways’ (swaying floors, buildings, any general surroundings – later found to be part of ‘jet-lag), Manda felt sick and we were all desperately flagging and in need of a doze…. So we had a pint! Warrick, Ashley, Mat, Mandy and baby Madeline came and met us in the pub, closely followed by El. 2 drinks later, JP and I slightly pissed – whoops. We all jumped back on the star ferry to see the Central illuminations. Dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant ‘Nha Trang’ – delicious. Home and tucked up in bed by 11. JP fell asleep on the 5 minute ferry trip, and in the cab home but we failed to catch him in any pictures because ‘Mand and I erupted in giggles every time she reached for the camera.

Monday 16th October (sunny am, hazy pm)
Hit the Peak. Went up in the tram, had lunch in Café Deco with amazing views over Hong Kong harbour. Jumped in a cab to take us back to Stanley for the market, only for us to be driven 10 meters before the cab stopped, the driver jumped out, apologising profusely because he needed the loo and that it was always tricky finding enough time or suitable places to stop! After starting off again, he stopped at the lights and jumped out again!! This time he was tucking in some dodgy wires around ‘Manda’s door – it was then we noticed that this man obviously rushed around doing everything in his life at 100mph, as he’d put his top on inside out as well. More giggling ensued. We were also to find that this man loved to sing and liked Tom Jones and ‘Lobbie Lilliams’!
It’s probably also a good time to note that JP had picked up the local language (OK, I mean accent) and spent most of his time imitating the Chinese, much to mine and ‘Manda’s amusement but it also made us quite scared, especially when we were confined to the small space on the plane amongst a load of them!
We skipped Stanley market and opted for snooze, dinner and shower before we headed to the airport for the over night flight to Brisbane. Amanda took a valium before boarding and then one on the plane. Unfortunately having 2 pills close together gave her a ‘speed’ effect and caused her to become a giggling nightmare – we were surprised she didn’t get kicked off the flight.

Tuesday 17th October (cloudy)
We watched the ‘Lake House’ on the plane and blubbed – it’s a good movie. I don’t think any of us had much sleep.
On arrival at Brisbane airport JP was questioned on his intentions in Oz and why he wanted to go to Fraser Island - ‘Manda and I got away with no questioning whatsoever, surprise! We were also greeted with lots of cute Beagles, otherwise known as ‘Sniff & Sit’ dogs. Basically they’re the quarantine police for food, if they think (by sniffing your bags) you’re bringing food into the country they sit next to your bag and their owner promptly questions you and searches your stuff. They were SOOOO cute. Mand and I both want a ‘Sit and Sniff’ dog now and may even call them ‘Sniff’ (Amanda’s) and ‘Sit’ (mine) but we figured that may get a little confusing for them, so we’ll have to rethink that. Anyway, JP and ‘Manda got pulled aside and searched after declaring on their forms that they hadn’t bought any food into the country. After being questioned by the guy on whether they’d packed the bags themselves and whether they knew EXACTLY what was in them, JP just stood silent – he didn’t have a clue that he had peanuts, cereal bars, etc. in his!! Oh well, as least they didn’t get arrested!
We picked up a huge Toyota Camry (that’s a car btw) and set off for Hervey Bay, with me berating myself for the whole journey because I forgot my driving licence! What a pleb. After 4 and a bit hours we rocked up in Hervey Bay and found ourselves in the Lisianna Apartments. V. basic, v.dated but v. cheap, with 2 bedrooms and clean, just what we needed at $85 (approx £40) a night! We had dinner in the local pub (they had a quiz on but we didn’t dare enter and show the locals up) and were promptly in bed by 10pm! Oh yes, and JP got pissed on 2 pints, classic!

Wednesday 18th October (sun & clouds am, sunny pm)
We slept like babies, except JP who claimed he didn’t have jetlag but woke at 2.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep! Derrrrr! We were up and out by 9am off to do whale watching. It was a great day on the boat with the whales putting on a fab display. We saw a couple of mums and calves, dolphins and even a shark.
We had a delish dinner in the Marina, and I managed to spill a whole glass of water in Amanda’s lap. It was OK though, we discovered her trousers were waterproof!
‘Flash Harry’s neon coloured butt bucket’ - The things they advertise on TV!?!? Caused a good old giggle though!

Thursday 19th October (sunny! But on a coach most of the day!)
Up and out early for a day trip to Fraser Island (the biggest natural sand island in the world). Our group of 40 hit Fraser Island via a ferry and were transferred to a massive 4 wheel drive coach. It was pretty damn cool. The highlights of my day were the trip in an 8-seater plane over the island (and the pilot!) - I sat up front, the amazing lakes and the fact that Angry Anderson (you know, the guy that sang ‘Suddenly’ for Scott & Charlene’s wedding) was in the group!! I’m easily pleased, I know… Surprisingly enough JP managed to fall asleep on the bumpiest coach ride through the sandy rainforest but we didn’t manage to get a pic cos we couldn’t hold the camera still!
I finally washed my hair after 6 days (I became known as the soap dodger cos I’d also forgotten to brush me teeth on one occasion – highly unfair!), and we headed to the ‘Black Dog’ for dinner – sushi, yum!! We had a fit of laughter on return home, as we spotted that the sign for the apartments read ‘easy access up rear stairs’ – we had JP lean over and block out the ‘stairs’ so we could take a pic, but he got distracted by the shrubbery that he was leaning across and stated ‘ this bush smells lovely!’ Hilarious! Little things… eh! We laughed, and laughed, nearly pee’d our pants.
Animals seen so far: Giant cricket, bats, dingos, cockroach, spiders, whales, shark, dolphins, sting-ray, turtles.

Friday 20th October (sun & cloud)
We handed the keys to Rigby’s wife and set off at 8am, headed for Byron Bay. We got distracted somewhat by a trip to see creepy Dave’s sister, but it wasn’t too much hassle and was probably only an hour added to our journey. We met her in the equivalent of a Bas-Vegas pub just outside Brisbane. ‘Manda fancied a cigarette so the 3 of us headed out the back to the very tiny secluded smoking part of the pub. There were about 15 of us squeezed outside, and it felt like it was about to kick off between the local yokels – it really was Bas-Vegas in disguise! We somehow got collared talking to a Kiwi farmer, who practised his chat-up lines on us, they were pretty bad but my memory is shite so you’ll have to see them on Amanda’s site! On departure from the smoking area, I had my ear tongued and my arse slapped – not bad for 5 minutes work! (actually, it was gross!)
We arrived in Byron Bay at around 6.30pm, found a motel and found some dinner in ‘Fresh’. This was then followed by some very strong vodka, lime and sodas in a pub/bar with a live band. And of course, I got chatted up by another freak who works for the construction company building Wembley (and also the World Tower in Sydney) – I told him that was nothing to be proud of. Amanda and JP just sat and took the piss.

Saturday 21st October (raining!)
We had to leave the motel because it was fully booked for the next night, and we struggled to find anywhere else to stay because it was the weekend. We ended up with the hostel/back-packing option, i.e. a four bed room share, sharing facilities with one other bedroom of 2. At $30 a night, we thought we had it made, but how wrong we were!
We scuttled off to find some brunch, and promptly found ourselves reading the papers in a cute café. JP managed to entertain himself and a 4 year old by pulling faces thru the glass at each other. Well the kid’s mother must have been entertained too, as she told the little girl to hand her business card to JP – he’d pulled a yummy mummy via her child! Nice one!
We wandered to the beach via the shops, and the sun appeared briefly, enough for us to want to rush back to the room and get our swimmers on…. First we found a load of roll-up tips on the side table, and then we opened the bedroom door to find the 4th body for our room share! Oh and did I mention the smell?? JP was nearly high after just walking in and straight back out again! We decided we weren’t cut out for sharing and promptly left, giving the proprietors a shite story about needing to get to Sydney quicker and getting our money back. We hot-footed it out of there!
After driving in and out of Ballina (the next big town), which was full of churches and not much else, we ended up in Yamba – soon to become known as ‘Williesville’.
We had another fab meal in an award winning restaurant, where JP tried the roo, and we were tucked up in bed with a cuppa tea and a movie by 9.30pm! For some unknown reason I became particularly scared that night and my mind was racing. I gave myself the willies because the door didn’t have a chain/latch and the bathroom window wouldn’t close properly. It didn’t matter that the motel was next to the police station, I was convinced that even if you rang 999 the call would just be diverted to some random at his home! I just had a funny feeling about the place. ‘Manda clocked that I was scared and she ended up a scared too, so we had a fit of the giggles and woke up JP, who told us to shut up and not to be silly – great help! So I ended up sleeping with the light on, after checking and re-checking the doors and window. I finally won the fight with the bathroom window at 2am and decided that if I was gonna die that night, I may as well be asleep when it happens. As it was, we didn’t die, and I probably would have been protected by my bullet proof magnets anyway!

Sunday 22nd October (rain)
We drove on to Port Macquarie in the pouring rain. Arrived around 4.30pm, found a motel with a dodgy loo - well we thought it was dodgy, but we just weren’t flushing it right apparently! We had a giggle about how we were all gagging for some action and the thought of a ‘handyman’ (in shorts, with tool kit) coming to fix the loo was highly exciting! I was thoroughly disappointed though.
We ate Italian for dinner (when we finally found somewhere that hadn’t stopped serving food at 8.30pm!) and, once again, were tucked up in bed by 10pm watching a movie (Scary Movie 2)! JP spent most of the evening in bed complaining about how much it was costing him to text his bird. He wasn’t even convinced that they were getting through to her….brilliant. Kerching, kerching.

Monday 23rd October (sunny)
We hit a pancake place for breakfast, hunted out the Post Office and headed out of town via the Koala Hospital…. Ahhhh bless the poorly Koalas. They’re so cute. They’d all been bought in because they’d either been run over or burnt by a bushfire. They even have some permanent residents because of damaged claws, etc. Some of the stories made me cry, so after an emotional half an hour, we jumped back in the car heading for Newcastle. Newcastle was a dump – bit like Tilbury to be honest. We stopped to lie on the beach, but that only lasted for 15 minutes cos it was so bloody windy! We drove out, deciding to hit Sydney a day early, JP called his sister…..
She offered to have us stay with her for the night, as our apartment in Sydney wasn’t ready for us until Tuesday, so JP took charge and lead the navigation for getting us through Sydney to her house. This caused more amusement for Amanda and I, he’s such a faffer!! So we laughed lots and took the piss for a good 15 minutes until we found our way there.
We had a Lebanese meal in Glebe Point Road – scrummy.

Tuesday 24th October (sunny)
We arrived at the Meriton World Tower and dropped our bags of with Dan, Miho, Stu, Chris & Sarah. JP & Manda dropped the car off and then we all (minus Chris & Sarah – they were off to find alternative accommodation) took the ferry to Manly beach. It was pretty damn windy so we didn’t stay on the beach long but we did end up in a nice restaurant for lunch. So nice, we had cocktails.
We came home and checked into our 5* penthouse apartment on the 76th floor of the World Tower. OH MY GOD – the views were amazing!! After finding out that the gang were all meeting up again in Manly to see Warrick, we decided to give it a miss and just take in the views. Well actually, we (Manda & I) ran around the place gasping at the size of it, hid in the walk-in mirrored wardrobes, giggled and farted. So much fun. We had 3 king bedrooms, with JP having the ensuite with double shower, spa bath and twin sinks. It was so high that I did become a bit wobbly at the thought of it all, but we pushed the thoughts of ‘how the hell do we get out of here if a plane crashes into us’ out of our minds.
We went for sushi, then ‘Manda and I ended up in the pub over the road. It was here that we met the Aussie and Kiwi (aka Rob & Glenn). I was happily burping into my pint of Guinness when they walked in - somehow this attracted their attention, whoops. I tried my best to dissuade the long haired goateed wonder (Rob), by telling him that I hadn’t washed my hair for 6 days, lemonade made me fart and orange juice upset my stomach, but it didn’t help, I ended up in a drunken snog with him in the street at 3.30am anyway. D’oh.

Wednesday 25th October (cloudy/rain)
Hung over. Walked to Darling Harbour and visited the Aquarium. How cool is the Aquarium?? If you ever go to Sydney, you must go, it’s so good. We saw fish, turtles, crocagators, sharks, and all sorts – it’s a great day out. Even with a hangover.
What you mustn’t do is go for a massage – Mand and I nearly died of pain after having a 20 min Thai neck and shoulder massage. I have never been handled so hard in my life! My neck was in agony for a good 3 days after having it done, and I don’t think it relaxed me at all, in fact, I felt positively sick during it.
That night we ate delish seafood (bought at the fish market) courtesy of the McCarthy’s in their apartment, and I got ribbed about the previous night’s escapades for most of the evening. JP, Manda & Stu headed out on the booze til 3.30am.

Thursday 26th October (cloudy, 17°)
Zoo. Met up with Murray, Lieghann, Felicity, Chris, Dan, Miho & Stu for the Zoo. Stu had teased us with the promise of Koala holding but we were highly disappointed to find that the Koala hugging wasn’t on offer. Boo. It was bloody freezing, so we headed back to the Rocks to meet Eliot & Aimee (who’d just arrived) for some drinks. They were both hammered by the time we got there.
We ate in Doyles (fish restaurant) over looking the bridge and opera house for dinner – great food. Highly recommended. Eliot had to force himself not to shout in an Aussie accent for most of the night.

Friday 27th October (sun/cloud)
The Wedding. Thankfully the weather cheered up, and it was positively warm! Shame about the bloody flies though! No wonder the Aussies are portrayed wearing hats with corks, even I wanted one at this point! They’re incredibly persistent, aiming for eyes and mouth every time! Bastards. We were constantly close to causing ourselves injury by slapping our faces and swotting each other. Anyway, the wedding went without a hitch, the bride looked stunning and the groom looked pretty damn good too. The view over to Sydney Harbour from the reception was amazing, the food was great, the speeches good and the DJ…. Oh yeah, he was crap, but we gave him our own play list and that sorted that out!
After the reception we headed to the Establishment for a further drink, where I accidentally bumped into the Aussie I snogged. Well I say I ‘bumped into’ him, I actually saw him, and avoided eye contact! He blatantly saw me, as I missed a call and a text from him – whoops! Oh well. Anyway, Chris and Sarah had a row, Dan & Miho went home, so that left me, Stu, El & Aimee to find somewhere else to go, but they were even queuing to get into our local pub – it was Friday night after all! In the end, Stu and I ended up drinking vanilla vodkas back at room 7603, with Amanda and JP. Unfortunately Amanda was drowning her sorrows cos some scumbag had stolen her credit card details and tried to spend £7K on it!

Saturday 28th October (sun/cloud)
Went to a cool place where you pick your own meat and cook it yourself on a great big BBQ. Lots of people from the wedding congregated and cooked their grub. After this we went to the Rocks weekend market, all very nice and crafty, but bloody cold!!! Thought we were gonna see the boys for dinner that night, but it seems that it got arranged without us – I wasn’t impressed. Hurt, was how I felt. So I had the hump and we had a wander round Darling Harbour before heading home.

Sunday 29th October (cloudy)
We were due to pick up the car and head to Melbourne, but after careful consideration and internet research we decided against it, as the weather was proving to be even more poo down there. We got an extension for 3 more nights in the luxury pad and planned to pick up the car on Wednesday instead. Dan, Miho and Stu checked out of their apartment, and came grovelling with the contents of their cupboards, fridge and freezer.
Mand and I headed to Paddy’s Market for some shopping – it’s very close to China town, so I had to refrain from saying ‘mental oriental’ out loud! We then went to the Opera House, but the sun came out, so we sunbathed on the concrete ledge for a bit, had lunch in the Opera Bar, with a band playing and the sun shining, bliss. They did the best fish and chips ever! Did some more sunbathing on the ledge, then headed to JP’s sisters for dinner.

Did I mention that I have been re-named George? Manda found the boys saying ‘George Grindian’ (Indian) hysterical, so changed my name.
Did I also mention that the Sydney cab drivers are RUBBISH? They obviously don’t need to pass the ‘knowledge’ for their job, as they know no-where!! And they all have the strangest accents – one minute they sound Greek/Egyptian/Chinese (whatever accent from where they originated), then the next minute they have the pure Aussie twang. Weird.
AND, JP’s impromptu decision at HK airport to buy a new camera, was dampened by the fact that he deleted 84 pics from it when he accidentally reformatted the memory card – Derrrrrr!

Monday 30th October (sun & clouds)
We decided to do something touristy, so we did the Sydney bus tour. Great, except we’d actually already seen most of the sights on the trip during the previous week. Of course the other bummer was that when we got off at the famous Pie place, I realised that I’d lost my ticket, so I couldn’t get back on the bus! Whoops. Anyhow, ‘Mand and I went and did the Opera House tour, and JP went off to the Barracks. Before the OH tour there was an entertaining moment with a fat woman and her butt munching shorts – see Amanda’s pics. The Opera House tour was made far more interesting by the woman who was leading it. She was obviously a wanna be actress – VERY theatrical. And she had a hole in her trousers.
We went to China Town for dinner – great food, so much so that JP couldn’t stop eating. And we met up with the Aussie and Kiwi for drinks afterwards. Rob talked him way into coming back to see the view from the apartment. Well he saw the view and we had a few more snogs…. But I kicked him out before it got too late (or went too far!), after all, I didn’t fancy him.

Tuesday 31st October (sunny)
Got up late. Hung over. Phoned Quantas and changed the flight so that we flew home from Sydney rather than Melbourne - the weather was still poo down there.
We hit Manly beach for the day, JP left early to go to his sisters, and Mand & I had dinner in the Bavarian Beer Bar, with mandarin absolut, soda and crushed limes….hmmmm. I arranged to see the Aussie at around 9pm, but unfortunately Mand & I both fell asleep – whoops. We ended up meeting around 10ish, in the VBar, then we went to a really dodgy pool bar (where Rob & I whipped Mand & Glenn’s butts at pool, 3-0!). I still wasn’t overly convinced that I liked the Aussie THAT much, but he stayed and ‘tucked me in’ anyway…

Wednesday 1st November (sunny)
We checked out of the lush penthouse suite, and checked into the homely pad of Lesley & Ian – the roof terrace is to die for. Great views of the city skyline and a fab suntrap! (Oh but I left my mobile phone at the apartment so had to go back for it – my mind must have been on other things!) We sat on the roof terrace for the best part of the day (apart from when I went to have a nap), until the builders arrived to re-seal it. Mand and I ended up vegging watching tv, and giggling like naughty school girls while she farted on the white leather sofas, causing major reverberations!
We had dinner for £3.40 each in an Indian on Glebe Point Road – great food and great value for money! Oh and I got the piss taken out of me for my shag-fest for most of the day!

Thursday 2nd November (sunny!)
Coogee Beach. Us girlies went for the last day full on burn! And we achieved it with flying colours! Mostly red, and mostly Amanda! I burnt my shins but that was nothing compared to Mand’s burnt front!
We treated Lesley and Ian to dinner at the Boathouse – all rather swanky, and that was it, the end of the holiday :-(

Friday 3rd November (raining – reflecting my mood)
I spend most of the day sulking and saying ‘ I don’t wanna go home’, much to everyone’s annoyance. We shopped before heading to the airport – shoes were to be bought.
We checked-in, and following on with JP’s luck in the airport, the poor check-in lady (Syd Dec) broke 3 other check-in desks trying to print of his boarding card, and he got seated on his own for the flight. Mand and I somehow ended up with emergency exit seats!!

Oh how I wish I was still in Oz!

Pics can be found here

1 week to go!!

2006-10-06T17:00:00.000Z

Where has the time gone?? I've got SO much to do before we set off for Honkers & Oz next Friday, but hey, I thought I'd use my time wisely and update my blog!!! Deerrrr!!

So I've had 2 completely sleepless nights this week - what's that all about?? Literally had about 3 hours sleep on both occassions and that was from 7-10am!! My brain is just whizzing about all sorts of stuff, but the majority of it is sheer excitement, things to do for my 30th party (call caterers, book DJ, bar man, wording for invites), things to sort for my new tenants at Westbury Rd (they move in the day after we depart!), arranging my 'magnet' order, getting my pills and jabs (Vit D & B12) up to date before we go, getting my legs waxed (a major priority now - they are SOO hairy, I can't stand it any longer!!) picking up contact lenses, packing, etc. etc. Too much to dooooooo!! Oh and work, I'm fitting that in too!

Last weekend was a bit crazy for me - so much for taking it easy, I ended up out and drunk on Friday and Saturday night! Friday bought Al out for the evening, so that in itself justified a celebratory drink or two! We all ended up in the Brewery Tap, followed by the Swan, then Sakura. I would have been fine if Manda and I hadn't started on the Raspberry Sambukas!! We had a good old giggle, shared some gossip - well she shared some details about a certain person, and I just opened my mouth and put my foot in it generally! Ha ha! Ended up home and passed out by 2.30am, knowing full well that I was due to be out again the next night, whoops!

Got up around 1pm on the Saturday, felt remarkably good considering but after about two hours out of bed I started flagging. Managed to drag myself to the city for a girly dinner in Pizza Express with Kate, Sal and Claire, then went on to Narrow Street for Robin & Claire's engagement party. After the 2nd double vodka and cranberry I was well away again! A good time had by all, with plenty of singing and dancing all round.

Sunday bought the usual morning with Sal, Claire and I in our pjs watching Hollyoaks, and other C4 trash for the morning, lunch and afternoon! We finally got dressed at 4 in order to go to the Whelan's for a delicious roast cooked by Nick. The wine was opened and soon enough everyone was 'pickled' again, except me, who ended up taxi-ing everyone home in Dan's 3 litre convertible BMW - lush!! love it!! I want one!!!

This weekend I'm supposed to be taking it easy and packing and prep'ing for the trip..... somehow I've been talked into dinner with Nick, Lou, Dan, James and Claire, followed by Sam's or Sugarhut - uh oh!

Anyway, better get back to organising my life!

Kate & Steve's Wedding, and the mighty Hog Roast!

2006-08-30T11:01:00.000Z

So this Bank holiday weekend was a corker!
It started off with a fabulous day in High Easter celebrating Kate & Steve's wedding day. It was a grand affair with a pick up from the Radisson in a red double decker bus, taking us to Maidens Barn, where we found a gorgeous venue with wooden beams, some beutiful flower decorations (by Ms Reid) and a gospel choir, lots of Pimms, sunshine, a stunning bride, groom and brdiesmaids and a fab band called Pastiche, for a night of wild dancing with the 'olds'! It was a fabulous doo! Great food, plenty of booze and a good ole 'knees up!'
Not forgetting the great bus ride home full of terrible singers, screaming classic songs at the tops of their voices, and the lengthy stint in the bar back at the hotel til 4 am, where champagne was drunk and dirty dancing re-enactments were had! (Claire and Tom - that was MAGNIFICENT entertainment for all in the bar!) For those not there, think if 'the lift' in DD... not only were Claire and Tom not in water for this, Claire was wearing a dress!! Tom got a boob in the eye and there were a few other minor injuries, but they triumphed in the end, with a magnificent lift, coach/advised but some other randoms in the bar, but it all ended in a heap on the floor..... hysterical!

Part 2 of the weekend was my parents BBQ/Hog Roast. Surprisingly, only 3 bottles out of the 45 were drunk of the red wine, but we completely polished off all the Pimms! And to think Dad thought we were going to be short of booze?!! The hog was delish and it seems like all had a good time - the adult bouncing castle went down a treat!! As did the dancing at the end of the night.
The 'olds' showed themselves up, with 2 of my parents friends having drunken falls - honestly! (eyes rolling) Anyway, not sure whether it'll be a yearly occurance, I think ma & pa got a bit stressed about the whole thing, but it all went well and now they've got a party under their belt, they know what to expect next time!
Oh and I raised £350 for the Raynaud's & Scleroderma Assoc in raffle ticket sales and donations - Brilliant!

Smile

2006-08-30T10:25:00.000Z

A smile costs nothing, but gives much.

It enriches those who recieve, without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mightly that he can get along without it, and none is so poor that he can be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business, and is the countersign of friendship.
It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and it is natures best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile, give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

Did you know...

2006-08-08T16:59:00.000Z

...that Kelle Bryan (ex Eteranal band member and currently appearing in 'Love Island') is a Lupus sufferer too?
Read her story at http://kelle.so-addictive.co.uk/

Life in the country...

2006-08-08T13:26:00.001Z

I know I should appreciate the fact that my parents have a gorgeous house in the countryside, surrounded by fields and wildlife, but it's been a bit of a struggle to get over my pneumonia with all the hayfever to contend with.... then the ploughing dust and the field fires but now, now we have muck spreading! It STINKS! We think it's chicken shit. And there was me thinking that I could do some recouperating whilst sun-bathing.... tut!

I'm such a spoilt child.

The delights of Cornwall

2006-08-07T11:29:00.000Z

The marriage of Johnny-fart-pants and Hannah was the best ever excuse for a trip to Newquay for a few days, followed by their wedding celebrations in Carlyon Bay (nr Fowey, pronounced 'Foy-ee'!). They got hitched in Vegas last year, so they had a doo-sie with friends and family to celebrate, and what a doo-sie it was!

Set in grand hotel grounds over looking the sea, we were greeted with Champagne and canapes, followed by a huge slap up BBQ of fresh king prawns, lobster, scallops, thai chicken skewers, peppered steak to name but a few tantalising things - finger licking good! Oh and not forgetting the white chocolate coated physalis, and choc coated strawbs - yummmmm! The booze flowed well, accounting for some crazy looking faces pulled in photos, and some wild dancing. Quote of the night goes to Claire: 'I just just get hyperactive when I drink....' - so you don't get drunk then??

Following a good night's sleep in our glorious penthouse apartment in Fowey, we had a slap-up brekkie in the Maria Hotel and a quick walk around town (oh and a big fat cornish ice-cream for me cos we couldn't find anywhere suitable for a cream-tea!). A post-wedding reception BBQ on the beach was then to be had and after a game of frisser (frisbee) in the sea, some burgers, and some snoozing, we blagged a lift back into Fowey for some Pimms on the water's edge before heading for our flight home..... what a day!

Preceding all of this, we had a few days in Newquay. According to the taxi drivers (Muppet Motors), it's not the same as it was (well it doesn't really look all that different to 13 yrs ago when we used to go there during our mis-spent youth!), it's all now chavy hen and stag doo's with a 15:1 ration on males to females - marvellous! It probably didn't help that it was the Rip Curl Board Masters event while we were there so the the place was HEAVING! But as far as we were concerned it was good fun! We even got asked for ID when we entered Sailors - ID??! Brilliant! The 'spring chickens' were obviously on form!
After a late night for the girls on Thursday, Friday was spent sleeping in, walking into town for lunch and onto the beach for more snoozing in the sun, followed by a delish dinner at Lewennick Lodge with views to die for from the Pentire hedland.
Of course we had to make sure that we had a pic of Sal outside Burger King with a cup... so when I finally work out how to get pics off my phone and onto my laptop, I'll make sure I send you in the right place to look for them!

Another top weekend - did me the world of good to get out and about during my recovery!
Well done girls!
xx

Dear Mr Blair....

2006-07-27T10:31:00.000Z

Dear Tony

When was the last time you visited an NHS hospital for emergency treatment rather than just schmoozing with hospital executives and nurses??
After a 6 day stay in Addenbrookes and a recent afternoon/evening in Basildon's MAU (that's a 'medical assessment unit'), I thought it might be time to re-iterate a few things to you.....

1) Nurses do NOT get paid enough for their job.
Honestly, it's a thankless job and I'd like to see you clean up an elderly person who has just shat himself in his chair (wearing just a hospital gown meant it could have only gone down his leg and onto the floor!). The poor fellow had pressed his nurses call bell and was trying to get attention so this didn't have to happen but it took a good 10 minutes before anyone came to his aid and unfortunately by this time it was too late. Not the most pleasant thing when you're in a bed opposite. And what about the poor chaps dignity? Is he not entitled to keep it?! Why did it take so long for someone to attend to him? They were short staffed. Why were they short staffed? Perhaps there were people off sick? Perhaps someone screwed up the rotas? Perhaps there just aren't enough people wanting to be paid such a pittance for such a tough job? This may come as a surprise to you, but hospitals can't run without nurses - who would provide all the caring & support for patients? The smiles, the encouragement, the shoulder to cry on. How would people get better without this? Obviously we need doctors too, but without the nurses in the equation there's no hope.
I admire and respect nurses/carers - I don't think I could ever do their job. All the nurses I have come in contact with are so lovely and only too willing to help in some way. Obviously there are the stories of elderly people who are mistreated, etc. but I truly believe that most nurses are so stretched in their work that unfortunately things do slip and get forgotten - they don't mean for it to happen.

2) Some UK hospitals are no better than some 3rd world hospitals.
After watching the news recently with reports from hospitals in war ridden Lebanon, it scares me to think that some of their hospitals looked in a better state than ours.
Basildon MAU could be a war zone in itself. With a lack of nursing staff, dark dingey wards, old tatty beds & bedside furniture, unironed bed linen, old curtains (with blood stains) which are hap-hazardly hooked up, making it difficult for a smooth closure around the bed, it's a wonder anyone gets better in an environment like this.

3) When is Jaime Oliver going to sort out hospital food?
It's bland, unexciting, tasteless and dull. And take my fave tea-time choice, cheese and crackers, the cheese is packaged up so tightly that even an able-handed person needs scissors to open it! Do you not want us to eat?? On a similar note, you get it served on paper plates with plastic knives and forks - is this a health & safety thing? Are we not to be trusted with the real thing? Maybe some patients aren't, but if that's the case, maybe the patients are in the wrong place, perhaps they need to be in a psychiactric unit rather than loose on the wards? Or perhaps it's to do with MRSA? In which case I would say 'learn to clean better and let's try saving the environment!'

4) MRSA - the smallest of changes save lives.
So you know about the old blood stained curtains in Basildon, well in Addenbrookes they now have a paper type curtain that can be wiped down easily and destroyed if need be (it probably has some bug free coating or something on it as well) - surely it can't be that hard to implement this in other hospitals? Why is all this taking so long? MRSA has been in the news for years. In Addenbrookes, there's posters on entering the building (from any angle) stating that all visitors should clean their hands with the disinfectant soap provided when entering. The dispensers can be found at the end of EVERY bed, on entering EVERY ward, on arrival at EVERY entrance to the hospital - there are no excuses for people not to be cleaning their hands in this stuff. In Basildon, I didn't see a single dispenser anywhere, not even in the toilets when I washed my hands, it was just regular soap. Surely this isn't a hard procedure to put into place? This one change could save a hospital's reputation, but more importantly, can save lives!

There's plenty more to say with regards to waiting times, and I'll try to keep it brief. I was in Basildon for 5 hours. I was assessed by a senior nurse quickly on arrival, I had bloods taken, observations, diabetes test, ECG and then was given a bed. I then waited about half an hour to see a doctor. She assessed me, and wanted to send me to have an x-ray. It was roughly an hour later before I asked if I could discharge myself as I had been waiting for so long. 'Well if you are able to walk by yourself down to x-ray then you might get seen quicker....' was the response. I walked round, there was no-one waiting, I had my x-ray. It's a shame the other 4 patients that were due for x-rays weren't able to walk round, they're probably still sat there now waiting for a porter to take them! I went back to my bed and waited nearly another hour before the doctor came back to me with my x-ray and blood results. This could have easily all taken place in less than 3 hours, and my bed would have been free for someone else to have been seen.... what a waste.

Yours thinking that the NHS needs more focus and attention

Nicki Hunt
(Soap box borrowed from Kevin Fraser)

This weekend I have been...

2006-07-10T13:51:00.000Z

...up a mountain & mostly breathless!

Just spent the weekend with Sal's parents in the Alps - it was georgous!
Quick flight to Geneva, followed by a drive into the mountains to find ourselves in the middle of the French Alps at their lovely 5 bedroomed home. It's absoluting amazing up there, only 2 other buildings and the mountains to be seen. All very remote but absolutely amazing. The house/chalet itself is also wonderful, with all traditional wooden surroundings, great views of the mountains and some gorgeous home grown/cooked foods provided by Shirls and Roger!
Will definitely being going back there again - if they'll have us!

There are pictures, but you'll have to speak to Claire about those :-)

P.S. Mostly breathless, cos I was suffering from pneumonia.... unbeknown to anyone (including me) at the time!

Could it be magic

2006-06-25T10:13:00.000Z

Could it be magic??? Yesterday was a fantastic day! Firstly, Mand and I booked our Oz flights - whoop whoop! 3 whole weeks 'down under'! Departing on Friday 13th October - it's OK, the flight doesn't leave til 22.15, so we'll only be flying in this time zone for about an hour before we get into France, so then it'll be an hour ahead, leaving just 45 mins flying during Friday 13th!
Anyway, I digress, only 110 sleeps to go!!!

And then we went to see Take That - oh my god!! I was 16 again!! They were brilliant! Sex on legs - I think the phrase 'I just came in my pants' was said by many! Still great entertainers, with some good old routine dancing and dancing in the rain (not us, them!), re-lighting of fires, fireworks - marvellous!! Plenty of singing and dancing to be had by all.... it bought tears to the eyes. Ahhhhh Jason, Howard, Mark and Gary - we still love you!!

So it's off to my cousin's for a BBQ and England v Ecuador this afternoon. What a great weekend!

Cyrpus, 21-28 May 2006

2006-06-25T10:09:00.000Z

OK so this is a late post....

So the week began with 2 out of the 3 (being me, Waz & Puff) of us being completely knackered at Gatwick on the Sunday: Sal had a wild night and only managed an hour or so’s sleep and I had managed to have a lovely day with the girls for Miho’s hen lunch in Islington, followed by more booze in the pub, then on to Mat and Kev’s birthday drinks at the Light Bar…. Or so I thought! Unfortunately for Lex, Dan decided to break off their engagement that day and I received a phone call of despair around 7pm so jumped in a cab to Kennington. After some sobering up, so Eurovision song contest, some consoling and chatting, I found my way to back to the Light Bar in time for everyone to go home! Aid and Manda kindly provided a lift back to mine, via KFC (can’t actually believe we found one open at 1.45 in the morning, but it was GOOD! Got in around 2.30am, went to bed and got up again at 7 in order to pack and be ready for pick up at 9.15!!

So we get to LGW, Sal on time and with passport – always a bonus these days!
We arrive in Paphos late Sunday evening to dump our bags in the hotel (Alexander the Great) and dash out for some food. After finding our way into town via a very empty ‘Bar Street’ (being pounced on all the way by reps trying to coerce us into their establishments) we found ourselves in a fairly naff restaurant for dinner. I’m sure Claire will disagree as she was the only one who actually enjoyed her meal!

Monday we were allocated our sunbeds for the week – marvellous. Cushions on the loungers, a brolly and waiters passing by to serve to you drinks all day, the beach in front of you, the pool behind… what more could we ask for?? Did I mention it was about 27 degrees without a cloud in the sky (all week!!)?? Dinner in the Chinese (delish!) followed by drinks in Café Vienna – very civilised, and home to bed reasonably early.

Tuesday, more sunbathing, dinner in the Rib House, and a grope on the way home! (don’t ask!)

Wednesday saw dinner in Café Vienna followed by cocktails in ‘Topps’, where we drank with the Manager Stelios, and 2 of his mates. Sal managed to get wasted on Long Island Iced Teas and Claire and I ended up in the Rainbow Bar (one of the only 2 places that stays open beyond 2am) for a boogie. Shoes were removed, and dancing was to be had! Needless to say, black feet were found on arrival to bed (of course there are photos of this – 2 out of 3 taken the whole holiday, not a bad effort!) and we lost Sal to the beach! (She would rather forget the whole evening but I’m afraid it has to be logged if only to note that this was when key no. 3 was issued by reception!)

Thursday – Hung over. When I finally arrived at the sunbeds, the dynamic duo had worked their magic and chatted up the water sports guys (David & Avram) and had managed to wangle a free pedalo provided we did the boat trip and took the jet skis out another day… Of course we chose the top class luxury pedalo with slide! They’d also caught the attention of the Glaswegian ‘scuba diving’ instructor (Paul), who we later met in ‘Aces’, with his mate (Tim) to watch the England friendly v. Belarus. A fairly tame evening with me being the only one interested in the football,… the others’ interests all lay elsewhere!

Friday bought the boat trip. Snorkelling was the order of the day… but on arrival in Coral Bay it was concluded that you’d probably only really see some flaky coral, a few old boots and the bottom of the boat! (not quite up to the Egyptian waters – get me! the snorkelling snob!) Oh and apparently it was bloody cold – yeah I didn’t go in! Anyway the boat ride was good and a great way to top up the tan. After a spot of lunch Sal and I ventured on the jet skis – marvellous! We got some good speed up (by girls standards apparently!) and we felt like we’d done a full body work out for the whole 20 mins that we were out! Very good fun. We found ourselves in Chloe’s (Chinese) for dinner, and then off to the Felix bar to chaperone Claire’s meeting with Paul. Of course we arrived to find him with Tim (I’d say ‘nice but dim’, but I think I actually mean Tim ‘been there & done everything… better than you’) so Sal and I plotted a plan to move on without him. We were successful and found ourselves in the Waterhole, where Sal spotted the dishy PR guy and we witnessed a major fight – I’m talking English v. Cypriots, scuffling on the flower beds, wooden planks being hurled at each other, police, blood and so on! All in all a good way to get chatting to 2 South African guys (Deano & Sam). We were going back to theirs to be taught poker but their mates seemed a bit stroppy and they didn't have a pool for a late night dip so we decided against it!

Saturday bought more sunshine, the girls on the jetskis and the banana! And an evening out in town with all the buddies we'd made throughout the week, perfick.

Our final day was mostly made up of laughter... laughter on the jet skis. Claire and I jumped on together, and within seconds there was hysterical laughter... I'm not even sure what was so funny but I know at one stage I shouted 'I'm gonna pee myself laughing', and the response was 'I already have!'. We bumped heads, she nearly broke my wrists, I got life jacket chin rash, and we didn't even go that fast - oh well. Another work-out had!

Other memorable things/moments:
‘Bread please’
Sal’s sunbed row with the ‘old crow’ next to us.
Professor Klump
The missing curtain, initiating ‘I think we should complain’
Bad aircon – once again, our own error (it only worked when the doors were completely closed!) but it was a bit naff too
Plastic bowls at brekkie – are we 5??
Ready Steady Cook & Weakest Link
The aeroplane giggles – carotene story and shepherds v. cottage pie….
‘I love a lilo!’
Kerfuffle
Sal’s row with the concierge man!! Turkish delights...
Midnight at the Oasis – Brand New Heavies
Claire’s sleep talking: ‘Nic, Nic…. Oh no sorry, thought you were someone else!’ and the laughter, crazy laughter!
Handing in 5 door keys at the end of the week...

Top week girls – fab time! When’s the next one??

Affirmations

2006-04-26T12:12:00.000Z

I recieved an email today that I must read when I feel blue:

"Nicki
You're one of the diamonds that we all look for!
Thanks
Andrew"

How nice is that??! Bless.

I need a holiday!!

2006-04-17T12:12:00.000Z

God I'm rubbish at keeping this thing up to date!! But doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!

So, what's been happening...
New Year was spent in Sheffield with Em, Dave, Kate, Steve, Sal and Claire. Great time was had by all, mostly due to the NY crackers (aka a gift at the diner table containing a forfeit, something to wear and a joke) and the 'sock' game. I ended up wearing a pigs snout and tiara, Sal had Dr. Spock ears (far too realistic for some in the pub) and long gloves. There was a wig for Steve, bunny ears for Kate, witches nose and tiara for Claire, beard and bunny ears for Em. All simple things but highly entertaining! Oh and 'Shaguary' and '2000 and sex' came to fruition, as Em and Dave are 'up the duff' - yeah!!

The following week was Martin's 40th party - another great event, all in 'bad taste'! My boss arrived over from the US for 6 months the day before, so of course I dragged her along to find out what she was in store for in the UK. Poor girl. As it is, she's never seen any of the brentwood gang again, so she may never know what they're really like!

After that, I got sick again (boring!). Some dodgey muscular-skeletal virus apparently. No fun: hurt to breathe, sleep, sit still, well just about do anything really for a good 3 weeks! As it is, I still can't sneeze, yawn, or have a good ole' hearty laugh without a bit of pain now! Rubbish! (Of course it was my own fault for getting the darn thing in the first place - spent the day sight-seeing round London on an open top bus in the freezing cold! Derrr)

February became the road to recover with some weekends out with Claire and Sal to buck up the spirits: Chemistry followed by Dom Evan's birthday bash. Chemistry was nothing to write home about so I doubt we'll be doing that again and Dom's birthday was a great night of old school remenising - Ms Seward won the award for most snogs in the room, and I swear those knickers found down the sofa weren't mine!!

I've had a birthday: 29th! Fab day spent at the Tower of London, followed by a lunch by the Thames. All very civilised, am obviously showing my age already. Saw the Crown Jewels from both sides.

March bought Amsterdam - a trip for work turning into a weekend of food, drink and joints with Waz and Puff. Of course the weekend didn't go without a hitch, Waz forgot her passport and missed the flight on the Friday!

Went out for Sal's birthday to see some wierd thing called Amato Saltone in the deepest darkest depths of London Bridge station (right behind the Dungeons) - all very wierd and wacky, but good fun all the same. Even managed to play a part in it myself, even if it was just answering a ringing phone and relaying a message to the audience!

Grant and Sue left for Canada, so had a bash at chez Sadlers where I finally felt like I caught up with the gang again! Mand and I even started plotting our first trip to Calgary to visit the Sadler clan, perhaps in 2007.

Dan & Stu hit 30 so celebrations were to be had in the form of a London dinner and cocktails. Lex and I had a good ole catch up (oops forgot to mention that she's now engaged to Dan!! That's been the biggest shock of the year so far!!)

Grandma hit 94 at the beginning of this month so all were summoned for a day of food and chat at the farm. Bless, she loved it. All the grand and great grand-kids were there in force. And of course I'm now in charge of arranging a date for the 'cousins doo' later in the summer... mission impossible! (Oh yes, and cousin Andy is all loved up! Right gooey mess!)

Finally spent sometime with 'Manda this weekend. We've not really seen each other much, what with her working like a maniac and me being generally busy. Of course I got all the blame for the amount of time/money spent in lakeside! - it was good fun and she did get some tiny size 2 Timberlands out of it! (o, did I promise not to tell anyone?! he he ;-)

So that brings us to now, Easter Monday, where I have mostly been cleaning and sorting the house. You may think this is a little dull, but I've been busy and my house needed it!! Off to see Caroline and the little ladies later this afternoon.

For those that know me, you know how I love a holiday, and I've only really had 1 so far this year (and that doesn't really count as it was only a weekend!) so the plan is to have a week off in May with the girls... can't wait!! And then there's Australia in Oct/Nov - werhoooooooooo!
I'll leave you with those pangs of jealousy!

Long time no blog...

2005-12-28T22:55:00.000Z

So, since my last entry... my finger.... well..... so my index finger on my right hand caused me untold amounts of grief (but surprisingly, no clubbing!), but then my little finger on my left hand caused me twice as much trouble! So much so that it had to be lanced (pierced so the pus came out) and I was out on 625mgs of antibiotics for a week! I had both pinkies bandaged and couldn't do a lot for myself, so went to my parents and felt sorry for myself for 2 weeks - bless.

Anyhow they're both well and truly on the mend now; index on right hand is scab free with some nice new pink skin and the little'n on the left is about to lose the scab anytime soon - attractive. Yes, I thought so too!

So yes, been through a bit of a 'pants' phase, but have had some good break-throughs over the past couple of weeks - I could analyse them for england, but won't do it here! ;-)

Oh and I met a guy in Sams.... of all places.... he's buggering off to 'Nam soon.... not sure what to make of the whole thing yet, but he seems to like me, illness and all (he had no chance of not finding out about it, I was a bit fiesty on our first meeting!), so maybe I'm not that bad after all.....

My finger - part 1

2005-11-15T12:32:00.000Z

Well seeing as this is 'blogging' is a form of diary, I thought I'd note the date my index finger (right hand) decided to keep me awake all night, and try and record how long it takes for it to re-shape itself (personally, I give it a good 8 weeks). I'm still not quite sure what the medical term is for this painful process, but I know it's look is described as 'clubbing' by the doctors when it's finished. Maybe I should go 'clubbing' more often to prevent it happening...

RAYNAUD'S AWARENESS MONTH

2005-11-15T12:27:00.000Z

The Raynaud's & Scleroderma Association is a national charity supporting sufferers of these conditions and raising funds for research and welfare projects. Did you know that Raynaud’s affects over 10 million people in Britain, a huge number compared with around 85,000 multiple sclerosis victims and an estimated 5.1 million eczema sufferers. Scleroderma is much more rare affecting approximately 7,000 sufferers in the UK (see, I AM special). Raynaud’s is a distressing condition in which the blood is temporarily prevented from reaching the fingers and toes. In its most severe form it is very painful, and in secondary Raynaud’s ulcerations can occur which may become gangrenous and lead to amputation (otherwise, in my case, they just take a good 6 months to disappear, normally with the help of some sunshine and salty sea... it could be worse!). Scleroderma is a disease affecting the connective tissue. Scleroderma means hard skin but the hardness is not limited to the skin - the internal organs and their blood supply may become damaged. The cause is still unknown and treatment is inadequate.

http://www.raynauds.org.uk/
Hope that's cheered you all up!

List # 1- memorable moments 2005

2005-11-09T20:20:00.000Z

Now we all know I love a list.... and this is a great place to store them!

January - Suffolk for New Year, Stockholm (FPL conference)
February - Katherine Marshall hen night, Katherine & Warren wedding, Fancy dress party for my birthday (28th)
April - Sheffield to Em's, Milan (Long w/end for John Moulds 30th), Becky's hen weekend, Aber (Rugby 7s, Easter weekend)
May - Tao Brook born, Kate & Steve engaged, Em's hen doo.
June - Em & Dave wedding, Becky & John wedding, U2 concert in Manchester, Moonwalk for Breast Cancer, Dinner with cousins.
July - Turkey (1 week, with Claire), Natalie Scotchers hen doo, Felicity Grace Stolworthy born, Ethan Daniel Georgiou born.
August - Warrick & Madeline engaged, L'estartit (1 week with Mat, JP, Bobs, Justin & Chad - http://www.matsadler.com/2005/08/estartit-2005.html), Pauline's 40th b/day, V2005
September - Started working back in the city, Dan & Miho wedding, Vicki's hen doo, Sally Down's 30th B/day, Carrie Mears (Reid) born, Warrick & Madeline's engagement doo, Phil & Vicki married
October - Champneys (5 days with little Jo), Chris's 30th b/day, Phil & Vicki's wedding reception.
November - New York (8 days work & play, with Amanda, Mat, JP & Hannah), Warrick & Mads leave for HK....
December - Coldpay in concert (and selling my tickets for £205 on ebay!!), Toby Parker born, Braden Sadler born. NYE spent in Sheffield with Sal, Claire, Kate, Steve, Em & Dave - fab time had by all (the sock game and the gift with 2 things to wear, a forfeit and a joke enclosed, were brilliant!!)

Up the Eiffel Tower in New York...

2005-11-08T21:49:00.000Z

I've just come back from New York - it was fantastic!! I was a NY virgin, so I did it in style...
Managed to wangle a business trip for a conference, extended my stay for the weekend and a few of my pals joined me out there, perfect!

Arrived at Newark on Sunday 30th October 05 at 3pm. Sat in cab with a massive grin on my face, I couldn't believe I was there... the skies were clear and the sun was shining, the view over the Hudson to Manhattan was amazing, it felt like a dream.

Stayed in the Marriott Financial Center (2 blocks from Ground Zero) for 3 nights. Fab hotel, convenient for the conference and the J&J offices (oh and I didn't have to pay for it - bonus!!). Worked at the FPL Americas FIX Conference for 2 days - knackering! Despite waking at exactly 4.50am each morning (no alarm needed!!), I did manage to stay awake enough to go for some good meals and a few drinks....

So after spending 3 days/nights exploring downtown (and working, honest!), I then headed up to a new hotel 3 blocks down from Central Park, not quite in the hub of Times Square, but close enough to feel the crazy buzz.... Definitely a different kind of feeling to the financial district with it's suits and tall buildings, this was more manic, more energetic. I was encouraged to take Friday off work.... what a shame.... ha ha! So I spent the morning taking in the sights and smells of Times Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central, picking up a smoothies, and coffees on the way.... big smile on my face the whole time and a crick in the neck beginning to develop from all the architecture that needed admiring. And of course, I managed hit the shops briefly before the 4 crazy kids joined me at 3pm.

Yeah for Friday afternoon - Amanda, JP, Mat and Hannah join! Whooop whooop! So before they can kick of their shoes and take a nap, I drag them to Times Square, walk them past the ice rink at Bryant Park and then to the Top of the Rock (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/). It's the old GE building at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza and you get to view NY from the 70th floor. It was only opened on the Tuesday, and I managed to get 2 for 1 on the cost of the tickets - bonus. We went at night and the views were FAB!! Hannah flagged, bless, so we went for a quick bite to eat at McGhees, just round the corner from the hotel.... had burgers and listened to far to much Gwen Stefani for Amanda's liking... JP just about managed to stay awake...

Saturday - up early, HUGE breakfast in Carnegie Deli (so huge that JP had to have a doggie bag for his corned beef bagel.... which he lovingly took around with him for the rest of the day.... and it even came back to the room, where it made friends with Wayne and Fred!). Jumped on the open top tour bus (http://www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing/), saw all the sights and places we'd have never had time to get to. Sights included: Greenwich Village, the New Times Square, Empire State Building (aka Eiffel Tower - I kept getting my words muddled!!) the Flatiron building and Union Square shopping districts, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side, East Village, Rockefeller Center, Trump Towers (where you can skid in your socks... eh 'Mand!) and a Western Union sign in Japanese... (eh? what was that guide thinking about!!?!).
We jumped off the bus downtown so they guys could see Battery Park, walk along the river's edge, see the Statue of Liberty (did you know that she was a gift from the French and she got shipped to NY from France in 350 pieces? Do you know why she's green? And what the 7 points of her crown represent??), have a beer, go to Ground Zero, Century 21 and then hop on the Statten Island ferry...... phew!! Oh and we saw firemen!!! Lots of lovely firemen......sorry, distracted there for a minute.... We jumped back on the tour bus back to the hotel, had a quick rest then jumped on the subway and hit the West Village for dinner in an Italian restaurant.

Sunday (JP's 44th birthday & New York Marathon day - not that we saw ANY of it! whoops!) - Attempted the Empire State Building (I got it right..!!), but with a big haze over it and the visibility ranging from 0-1 miles, we gave it a miss... Went to Macy's (Amanda bought some really nice carpet shoes), had a beer in Grand Central, hit FAO Schwarz and Mat lived his life long dream of dancing on the piano like in the film BIG.... we have photographic evidence....
To celebrate JP's birthday we hit the Dreams Hotel and had cocktails (well Vanilla vodka with lemonade for the girls, and beers for the boys) on the top floor over looking some of the city, followed by a scrumptious Asian meal in Tao (http://www.taorestaurant.com/) where we gave the waitress all the decisions to make and we lost Hannah to alcohol oblivion. We then had an after-din drink in one of the bars in the Hudson Hotel, where JP fell asleep and we had hysterics taking pictures of him! On arrival back to our room and perking up somewhat, he then spent a good 10 minutes running and diving onto his bed.... followed by a quick search for the Carnegie deli bagel and letting out a cheeky fart.... I think you had to be there....

So the final day came, and we made it up the Eif....Empire State building - AMAZING!! Mat has fab pics, I'll link you to his Flickr page when I've fathomed all this out...(http://www.flickr.com/photos/matjkd/sets/1322518/) Then there was a trip to Central Park, where we did a pony and trap ride, found the Dakota apartments and Strawberry Fields.... then it was time to head home.... :-(

All in all a BRILLIANT week, I love New York and definitely wanna go back. Thanks to Manda, JP, Mat and Hannah for all the laughs and making it even more memorable.... love ya xxx

p.s. what did I forget/miss out??