Jack Frost Nipping at my Nose...

What a roller coaster of a week! Had some great great days/evenings, but have also both been sick as dogs in our own particular ways.... also, poor old Mark's mum had been ill on the lead up to Christmas (was sick and very tired), although she had a reprieve at the last minute and made it to Caroline's for Xmas dinner...

Last weekend we (Mark and I) struggled against our respective colds, and entertained Jez and Marta from Madrid. Was SO great to see them both - and we were soon back on old form, and extracting the urine-a-go-go.... was a really fun night! I cooked chilli, and then we walked into the village and met Jamie and Chris in The Red Lion for a few pints. Jez and Marta left in the early hours of Xmas eve (they had to get to Norwich in time for a panto with Jez's family), and Mark and I both headed to work for a few hours.

That afternoon we headed to Lowestoft... Mark had taken a turn for the worse (very very snotty and feeling a bit feverish), and so we were not exactly in the festive mood by the time we arrived. We had a nice evening though - Mum cooked fish and salad, and we were all entertained by Henry's mounting excitement at the impending arrival of Father Christmas. Bless his little heart, he bought back so many memories of my own childhood, and that terrible feeling when you think that you will never ever get to sleep, and Father Christmas consequently won't come and visit. We had to put out the "Santa Stop Here" sign in the front garden, and sprinkle "magic Rudolph dust" on the lawn (which basically consisted of 'oats to tempt the reindeers' and glitter 'to light their way' - a gorgeous innovation by Henry's school teacher!). Tracy and I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to him again this year, and yet again he piked up on the fact that Father Christmas was smoking... I find Henry an unusually perceptive child (but I guess we all find our own particular little acquiantances particularly sharp). I asked him whether he thought that Father Christmas would get wet when he came over the sea to his house - he said that he *would* get wet, as the full moon was out and it would pull on the water like a magnet??!!! Where on earth does he learn stuff like that?!

I got up at 7:30 (to the sound of Henry's ear piercing screams of delight), and watched him open his presents. Sam called at 8:30, so I made my excuses and went to visit Nanny and Grandad (both ill with colds - Grandad more seriously with bronchitis!), and Alison and Kevin and the children... all very pleasant. After Aidan decided to give us a rendition of some song or other with his new electric guitar, I made my excuses and left! Mark was unfortunately suffering quite badly, and didn't surface until gone 12:30. We had a lovely Xmas dinner in the afternoon (joined by Nanny Brown); I have never had goose before, and thoroughly enjoyed it - especially the crispy skin with chinese 5 spice rubbed into it! Yummm..... We spent the rest of the day watching the boys play with their new toys (of course, Henry only wanted to play with Oscar's toys, and it seems that Tracy would have been better off buying Oscar a few small blocks of polystyrene, since the ones out his toys kept him amused for hours!). I was spoilt, and am now the proud proud owner of a set of GHD hair straighteners from Mark! yayayay!!!! Mum and Dad also spoilt us with lots of vouchers from John Lewis, and Tracy bought me a rather cool digital picture frame which I am looking forward to filling up!

Boxing day was another fairly sickie day... I didn't feel top notch, but we came back to Cambridge to watch the boxing day football (Cambridge Utd vs Histon). This was a fairly tense match, not least because Mark's family were divided in their loyalties! heh... unfortunately, it was Mark and I that had to do the walk of shame on that occasion (1-0 to Cambridge in the end) - although I have to say it was a very close match, and Histon in no way let themselves down! In the evening I cooked Sausage and Mash for Mark's parents, and we had a nice evening watching TV and exchanging gifts in front of the fire. Unfortunately, Nanny Brown ended up in hospital; she had been vomiting all day Boxing Day, and has what looks to be a clot in her leg :-(

Yesterday, I had to return to work. Unfortunately, I only made it for half of the day. I had woken up feeling a bit nauseous, but by lunch time I could no longer contain it - one sniff of the soup I had taken for my lunch had me running for the loo. I spent the afternoon in bed, and only managed to get up for a cup of tea and to watch a movie later in the evening. Ah well - I think it did my waistline good, but have no clue what prompted it!!! Perhaps all the yucky stuff I have been swallowing with my cold :-(

Feeling a good deal better today - looking forward to the weekend. I have my parents coming tonight for the weekend, and I am planning to hit the sales with them tomorrow! Yay! On Sunday, Mark's parents are joining all of us for lunch, and in the evening Jane and Jamie are coming over to see us. Can't wait to see them - has been a long time, and it might be the last time I see them without a tangible baby! The baby is due on the 2nd January, so I am hoping it doesn't put in an early appearance! I will get my marigolds out and some hot towels, just in case... ;-)

Plans for the new year at the moment are to spend it with Kevin and Heleen and their two young children in Hitchin. However, the way we are both feeling, a lay on the sofa might not be such a bad idea!

Hope you are all well - have a great weekend!
A really Happy New Year to you all - especially my far flung friends in Brisbane, Copenhagen, Madrid, Cambodia, Den Haag and Beirut...
Much love
Hayls
xxxxx

Its all so Bloody Rock and Roll... heh ;-)

Whoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! Reformed rock chick on the loose! ;-)

Well... sort of... somewhere under the thermal vest and court shoes there is a rock chick trying to get out. After much whinging and procrastinating last night, my cousin Mark talked me into driving to Norwich and back in one evening to go and see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the UEA (his treat). Boy am I glad I did! It was ace... a real harking back to the good ol' days or something - days when I actually listened to music in the house, instead of bloody BBC Five Live on the radio! Have fully decided that the first installation in the new kitchen will no longer be an oven, or the much awaited dishwasher... it will be a stereo, with BIG speakers! ;-)

Anyway... back to reality. ;-)

I had a fairly nice if lazy weekend - football on Saturday (we lost 1-0, but a fight in the bar afterwards made up for the lack of excitement... heh). Sunday was spent cleaning in the morning, and loafing around Robert and Emma's in the afternoon, as Mark was at work.

Tonight am out for one of many Christmas parties in the next week... am out with the netball crowd (expecting a fairly big and rowdy bunch of us), and invading a local pub for a shclap-up-meal... am hoping it surpasses the lunch I had in a different local pub last year, which consisted of powdered soup and turkey twizzlers no less...

Last week was the first of my parties of the season - lunch with the Monis crowd in Bath... Yes - Bath IS a bloody long way to go for lunch!!! It was very nice though, and John and I made the lost of our destination by leaving the crew in the pub and going swimming in the Thermae Bath Spa. This was lovely - an open air rooftop terrace, with a gorgeous heated pool - nothing beats being rained on while bobbing around in a steaming pool overlooking the lights of a beautiful city. I can highly recommend it! The usual shenanigans occured at the Monis do - Toppo "overshared", Geoff got all twinkly and EM told bad jokes... and of course I got giggly - some things *have* changed though.... I didn't get ridiculously drunk and make a fool of myself this year! ;-)

Anyway... had better get on. Have to go to London tomorrow for meetings, and Thursday is the Cambridge office Christmas Party... then the weekend stokes up again with Football on Saturday, and dinner in Hitchin... no rest for the wicked, hey?!

Much love for the festive season
Hayls
xxx

BRMC - Whatever happened to my rock n' roll (punk song)

Meet The Parents

We had a nice and calm weekend with my parents in tow.

Friday night Mum and Dad didn't turn up until fairly late (various train-related complications), but we managed to end the night on a good note - an entirely pleasant Slimming World vegetarian shepherd's pie, a couple of bottles of vino, and a good session of putting the world (well, Lowestoft) to rights...

Saturday:
Mark worked, but I took Mum and Dad into town for a spot of Christmas shopping and a trawl around the shops. Was lovely, and very very Christmassy - am still finding it all a bit of a shock since coming back from Asia! We had a nice lunch in Pizza Express, and spent a large portion of the day exploring the new John Lewis store in Cambridge. I managed to buy a nice black dress (in a size I can't normally fit in, so that made *my* day!), and even started the Xmas shopping for all the kids in my life!

In the evening, we went to The Indian Ocean in the village for a yummy dinner - a couple of drinks in The Red Lion, and a not too boozy finish to the night.

Sunday:
We went to Newmarket and had a look around the shops there - its my first visit to Newmarket town itself (as opposed to the racecourse, which I have frequented a handful of times). I was quite taken with it, and suspect it may be the place that I finish my Christmas shopping at! A good, but small, selection of shops (lack of choice can focus my mind better) - including my fave (TK MAXX... yay!). Best of all though was that the shops were almost entirely empty... bliss compared to the madness of Cambridge on Saturday!

We had a nice roast dinner in The Red Lion in Cheveley (not sure we could find it again - but the roast beef was outstanding!), and then dropped Mum and Dad back to the station. Mark and I went home, did a bit of kitchen planning, and then settled down for an evening in front of the fire (by God we needed the fire! Its so cold...). Had red wine, nachos with cheese and dips, chocolates, and watched Star Wars I (for Mark) and The Magdalene Sisters (for me). A lovely evening...

Looking forward to tonight as going out for a few drinks in the village for my birthday. Have invited lots of people, but so far looks like there will be a poor turnout (combination of the night of the week, and the fact that I couldn't afford to pay rent-a-crowd to turn out! ;-)

Hope you are all well
Lots of love
Hayls
xxx

Return From The City of Angels

Well... I'm back! YAY! Don't all scream at once! ;-)

We survived chaotic Bangkok (said City of Angels, as it is known), we positively thrived in Cambodia, and chilled in Laos. A glorious holiday, yet again... and yes, the usual stories relating to weird eats (I excelled myself this time by eating fried wood crickets and silk worms (pictured), along with the normal frogs legs and weird fruit and veg), cheap shopping/haggling tales, temple visits, and lovely local people. A variation on our normal routine is that I decided to spice things up a bit by leaving our passports and traveller's cheques in a distant hotel.... a very exciting mid-holiday thriller... would the money get through or not? Would we have to spend the rest of our lives in Cambodia sans passport or money? Heh... all is well that ends well. We got our stuff back, but not until after a rather scary non-encounter with a man that couriered them for us to Phnom Penh, and then proved increasingly difficult to track down! (thankfully he was unaware of quite how much moulah he was actually carrying!). Mark loved my style... ahem.

Anyway - this is just a heads up really! I will bore you RIGID with photos as soon as I have pulled my finger out and sorted through them (there are far too many of me looking a little "tired" (read drunk), and far too many blurred ones taken by me when "tired").

Hope you are all well... got my parents coming this weekend for a pre-birthday bash (the big day is next week). This year am unsure whether to fully embrace what can only be described as true "middle-age", or for the first time ever try to pretend that it isn't happening!

Much love,

Hayls

xxxxxx

Bo Fo' Sho'

A bit naughty... but very funny!

Here we go again...

that luang, vientiane, laos
Originally uploaded by peterstuckings

First off - huge apologies to my fervent fan base (I am assured by at least... errrr... one person, that my blogging has been sorely missed). I have no excuse, but may still blather on about work commitments and kitchen extensions and the like. Anyway...

This is a "Hello" and "Goodbye" call. Mark and I are off on our travels for a couple of weeks - touring Bangkok, Cambodia (Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville), and Laos (Vientiane). So, brace yourselves for a plethora of photographs of me looking like a big sweaty navvy (or a truckload of Irish tarmac-cers as Lynn so beautifully put it), Mark looking as though he is about to tell me I am using the camera wrong (I invariably am, and he invariably is), and lots of beautiful Asian sunsets and the like. Also be prepared for pictures of chocolate covered spiders, and me sucking the toe of a reluctant chicken (not *that* kind of photo - it wont be attached... dear me, that sounds worse!).

Anyway - big big love to you all. I hope we make the flights safely, and I will keep my fingers crossed that we don't drown in any caves, get whisked away by typhoons, or come-a-cropper in any motor vehicles (apparently moto and cow collisions are rife! ;-) Lets also keep our fingers crossed that I don't get the dreaded lurgy, and end up crapping myself in public (a common occurrence, I am led to believe!). My Mum was a bit concerned that I would run into President Mugabe in Bangkok where he has knowingly murdered lots of monks - but err... I think her geography is a little bit off.....

See you all soon - and be good in my absence,
Hayls
xxxxxxx

Wonderful, Wonderful København!

I have had the BEST weekend. Really lovely.

Went to visit Sofie in Copenhagen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen) for the weekend - stayed in her lovely (and newly decorated) flat with her and Jean and the cats (Tosser - fnarrrrrr.... and Tilde). My sister Tracy joined me too. We had such a lovely and relaxing time!

Poor Tracy was a bit poorly with an extremely severe ulcerated tongue and inflamed gums - a most painful condition, which meant that she could not eat as much of the gorgeous Danish food as she would have liked, and we couldn't partake of as much nightlife as we would have under normal circumstances! Have spoken to her this morning, and it turns out that she also has an abscess in her gums, and the most severe case of ulcers that her doctor has ever seen! She has to go to get blood tests today to try and find out why her immune system appears to be shot to bits!

In actual fact though, Tracy's pain did us a bit of a favour - we had a lovely chilled out break... a lovely Saturday night in with Sofie and the cats, and some good home cooked food. We flew out Friday night, and Saturday Sofie and I walked up to the amazing bakery at the end of her road (normal Danish pastries you see in shops here are NOTHING compared to the real thing!) and got breakfast. We all then headed into the city and looked around the shops - Tracy went into purchase overdrive, and splashed lots of case on the gorgeous Scandinavian fashions there (I managed to largely resist, as had little room in my tiny rucksack!). We had a look around the gorgeous department store (Magasin), and had THE most delicious lunch there. I have never had a more delicious sandwich in my life - I kid you not! Chicken and bacon with some weird apricoty and mustardy sauce... amazing!

Saturday afternoon we headed down to my fave area, called "Nyhavn" (on "New Harbour" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyhavn). Gorgeous brightly coloured old-fashioned buildings, with lots of restaurants and bars, where you can sit in seated areas outside and watch the boats on the water. Lovely... we had nice apple cake and hot choclate in the autumnal sun. Saturday night, Sofie cooked THE most delicious meatballs (kind of boiled meatballs in curry sauce and rice), and we had some wine (not even too much!) and put the entire World to rights...

Sunday, Jean took us to the Imperial Hotel in Copenhagen for brunch (http://www.imperial-hotel-copenhagen.com/restaurant/brasserie/) - a delicious affair, consisting of hot breakfast foods, cheeses, pate, meats, pancakes, danish pastries, fruit, yoghurt etc... and our fill of tea and orange juice. Delicious! After that, we returned to "Nyhavn" to catch a boat trip around the harbour - a fantastic hour long trip around all the waterways in the city! Something I have never done there, and really enjoyed! I hadn't realised that the city was so big actually! Again, more hot drinks in the harbour area, and then on to the Frederiksborg park. Another new insight for me in Copenhagen. It was such a lovely and warm late afternoon walk... the highlight being a whole area of trees covered in beautifully coloured children's dummies and blankies! Apparently, it is a danish custom to tie your dummy to these trees once you have outgrown them. Gorgeous little pictures of children, and notes written detailing the date and circumstances of their final submission! Lovely...

A lovely supper prepared by Jean preceded a sad farewell to them both, and for Tracy THE most painful flight home. The cabin pressure caused an abscess to burst in her mouth :-(... not good. A sad end to a wonderful weekend!

I must say I LOVE the Scandinavian way of life - the food, the interior design and their love for children speak volumes to me. I MUST drag Mark there with me next time. He was (and still is) in the Lake District this weekend, camping with his mate Noel. The naughty boy is missing our three year anniversary today, spending it snuggled up to Noel in a tent instead... mind you, aside from the beard I am sure he will hardly tell the difference! ;-)

Love to you all.
Haylois
xxxxxx

PS. and I only managed to put on a pound and a half! Must have been the 15 meatballs I managed to squeeze down on Saturday night, and the ten danish pastries yesterday... heh.

PPS. Sorry I have been so shite at the blogging lately - will pull my socks up. I have missed out on telling you all manner of things - my Grandparents Diamond wedding party was lovely, and I had such a fun weekend with my parents and my sister and Nephews last week - Tracy, Henry and I slept in the garden in a tent last week, and told nighttime stories about farting princesses (that was Henry's idea)... oh to be four, when such great mirth can be drawn from simply saying the word "blow off" out loud! ;-)

Leaps - The Broken Family Band

From Couch to 5k

This guy (Robeeeeerrrrrrrrrt) has created a 9 week program, to help you to comfortably run a 5k distance without killing yourself. I am on week two of the interval training, and I LOVE it! Each weekly installment can be downloaded to your MP3 player or Ipod (there are links for both formats - see the menu at the top of the website). It saves you having to carry a stopwatch on your 3 times-a-week half hour runs.

The music is excellent!

http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/page4/page4.html

Hayls
xx

Hey There Delilah

I LOVE this!

Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry

My hit of the week!

Long Time Coming

Not blogged in a little while - no specific reason, just a lack of time!!

Not been up to too much either.... had a great weekend. Managed to catch up with both my cousin Mark (from Norwich) and my sister Tracy and her boys.... however, my liver still hasn't quite forgiven me!

Saturday, Mark (cousin) and I went in his perky little camper van to Granchester for a drink in the afternoon. Very pleasant - although I am quite un-used to arriving in a car park to a throng of impressed faces! Some woman even pressed her face to the window of the Camper van, and she didn't even seemed embarrassed that we could see her doing it! Very odd! Funnily, my little Seicento does not inspire much but the odd sniff of disgust... poor little Jarvis. ;-) I cooked us plenty of different curries, including a very interesting and rather nice "fat free" batch of onion bhajis - these worked amazingly well!!! The rest of the evening was spent is a beery haze... am sure we put the world to rights several times over, and sang a few songs about it along the way.

Sunday was HOT! Tracy came over in the afternoon with the boys - quite a military operation for the poor girl. My god, kids needs SO much stuff just to function! ;-) The boys were absolutely gorgeous all afternoon for their own entirely different reasons. Oscar is just a gorgeous little bundle of "hand slaps" and chuckles. Henry just cracks me up constantly. His views on "world peace" inspired him to tell several people in the park down the road from me that he loved them... am not sure this sort of behaviour should be encouraged! Especially since he shouted to some poor unwitting guy who walked past that he "loved him SO much"! We also played charades with him. Tracy said that on the day before, he had looked at his card and then did a long series of head twitches and weird cranial manoeuvres. After several minutes (she was unable to guess what he was pretending to be), he said that he was being an aeroplane. His thinking was that "aeroplanes don't have heads, so I was trying to hide mine!". Heh...

We spent the evening admiring my new funky pink and green garden lights from the Habitat sale (£45 quid lights, down to £9.50!), and eating/drinking far too much off the bbq. Very pleasant!

Not much going on this week really. Tonight I am going running with Emma, and then Robster is cooking us pumpkin curry (I am having a netball "holiday"). Later in the week am seeing my friend Sophie, who is back from her lummy holiday in France.

Anyway...
Lots of love
Hayls
xxxxx

PS. Am a complete "slimming world" convert - and have managed to lose a full ten pounds in the last couple of weeks, despite eating more food than I have eaten on a daily basis for a very very long time! I LOVE it! ;-)

Just Catching the Flight...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6904640.stm

Kate Nash - Foundations

Excellent single!!!

The Gospel According to Saint Christopher

The patron Saint of travellers, he say "NO". He said it loud. He said it proud. "Thou shalt not get to your friend's baby's christening... instead thou will sit on the M25 for six hours, only to return home empty-hearted/full bladdered and starving hungry...". He pointed his big staff at us (ooooh errr...), and thus it was so.

Saturday started so well. I picked up Emma, we both looked good in our posh 'christening' outfits (not christening gowns before you ask - I couldn't get my old one on. heh), and we hit the road - intending to arrive in Croydon in plenty of time for Tesla's little boy's christening.

In fact, we had factored in SO much time that we would get a chance to eat lunch, and even sneak a look around the shops, before I met little Namar (and indeed his Daddy, Nile) for the first time. I have not seen Tesla herself for almost four years, since she lives in The Netherlands. I was SO looking forward to this 'gospel' stylee christening (Tesla's Dad is the bishop at the church). It was going to be great!

As it turns out... we hit traffic on the M25 at 12.... we sat and sat and sat, and five hours later we managed to get off at the next junction (a mere 4 miles away). The highlight of this marathon chatting session was only managing 'half a wee', having climbed down a grass bank in heels, and responding to Emma's call of "get yer knicker's up, the traffic is moving!". This caused me to dash up the slope, jump behind the wheel (Dukes of Hazzard style), only to drive 30ft, before we ground to a halt and stayed there another two hours. Never has a handbag looked so tempting as a possible toilet!

After 45 minutes, we managed to get around the roundabout at the top of the slip road we got to, and drove home (arriving back in the evening!). Since the M25 provides one of just two river crossings in the sensible regions of London (i.e. without having to drive through Oxford circus, or taking the Woolwich Ferry - which doesn't really count as a viable means of crossing the river), the whole world had decided to take the A13 route to the Blackwall tunnel. For the first time in a long time, I just had to admit defeat and do the sensible thing and turn round!!!!

There are a couple of things that put our plight into perspective though... a) the reason for the closure was the death of an 11 year old boy, who had fallen off the back of his Dad's motorbike, and sadly died. Much carnage was caused by the cars trying to avoid this child in the road. That is reason enough not to complain TOO much I guess, b) was the poor be-suited guy close to us, who appeared to have a flat battery and had several bridesmaid dresses in the back of his car, and what looked to be all the musical instruments and disco decks for a wedding... his distressed face and the fifty or so fags he smoked at once told the whole story!

Other than that... great weekend! ;-) Ahem...

Actually - I *did* finish off Saturday nicely. Emma and I felt we deserved a delicious meal at Wagamama after our journey from hell (chicken Gyoza bought the smile back to my face, like only Gyoza can!). On Sunday, I cooked a delicious (even though I say so myself) for Mark's parents, and we had a nice afternoon and evening just chilling in the garden with a few beers, and trying to plan our new kitchen extension. In fact, it seems that other than Saturday, I spent the whole weekend eating, as have just remembered that I also went out Friday night for a meal with Mark. We went to Bruno's Brasserie.... I have said it before, and will say it again - why hadn't I been to that place sooner?!! Dinner there is SUPERB!

Anyway... speak soon, love
Hayls
xxxxxx

Not Bad For a Village Team

Last night I actually missed netball (sob) in favour of watching Histon FC play a pre-season friendly against the "mighty" West Bromwich Albion. This is supposed to be a team that *almost* made it into the premiership last year, and you would have expected them to walk all over poor little Histon FC. As it turned out - the two teams were very evenly matched! In fact, in the second half, Histon walked all over them! Excuse my enthusiasm - it *is* the first match for quite some time... ;-)

Anyway - am pouting as am up that bloody tower in London today, and I don't like it! It feels very precarious in the current London climate. Sod being brave and not letting terrorists win! I am pooping my pants up here! 38 floors is a long way to jump! ;-)

With much love and looking forward to home time,
Hayls
xxxx

Gretna Green-fingers

HUGE congratulations to my very good friends Jane and Jamie - not only have they managed to impregnate themselves (well Jane anyway), but they have also eloped and gone and gotten themselves hitched in a secret wedding! In true Rickaaaay and Sam stylee, they ran away to Gretna Green and had their wedding in secret - therefore denying me the opportunity to wear a big pink hat and throw rice (perhaps this is why?!). Apparently this has been a long planned event, so there is not even a whiff of shotgun smoke about it... shame, as it would have made the whole story a lot more fun!

Joking aside... my sincerest best wishes to you both. You have always been a stunningly well-suited couple - sickeningly in love, and always supportive of each other. I wish you both a very long and very very happy future together. I think we will have to wait until Jane has had the baby to have a sort of 'post event hen-party' - and I won't hear any of your nonsense that this is precisely the sort of thing you wanted to avoid, Jane! We can make it just the two of us - and have a grand night out in Oulton Broad (just for old time's sake). You bring the Concorde, and I'll bring the Thunderbird (Red, of course!).

Much love
Hayls
xxxx

The Broken Family Wagon

What a fantastic gig last night! Went to see The Broken Family Band at The Junction in Cambridge, and was yet again blown away by them. An amazing band that somehow manage to be The Magic Numbers, The Pixies and The Kings of Leon all at once! Steve Adams (lead singer) is such a cheeky little character (chipmunkish - God I hope he never reads this), with an excellent rapport with the crowd - this is their hometown after all. I will be purchasing their latest album forthwith.

My own personal wagon crashed though last night. I was being SO good, and up until 11pm I had only drunk half a pint of bitter (as I was driving). However, on arrival home we popped open a bottle of whiskey (actually, "smashed open" is probably a more apt term for whiskey). I don't think we made it to bed until 1am, and this morning I have a tongue reminiscent of Gandhi's left flip-flop. This also means that the diet has malfunctioned today too - you can't soak up whiskey with bloody bananas and grapes! I have eaten cheese, slammed between pieces of buttery bread - and lots of it. I am almost feeling like a human and its just gone midday ;-)

Anyway... enough self pity. Tonight, my cousin Mark was supposed to visit. However, it seems that the numb-nuts has double-booked me, and he is flitting off to a far more exciting night out in London instead. I am perhaps thinking that this is a good thing, considering my delicate disposition. It may mean that a long overdue visit to the cinema is in order, or failing that, a night hugging the sofa.

The weekend is looking like a busy one... got Mum and Dad and Nanny Hutch coming tomorrow, which should be lovely. Nanny wants to see where I live, so they are bringing her over from Lowestoft by train. It will be quite an epic journey for her, but I am planning to make it worth her while by burning lots of food on the bbq (weather permitting!). Sunday, I have the Race for Life (urgh). Looks like I will be doing this alone this year! Neither Emma or Tracy are running now (Tracy has hurt her toe, and Emma just did the clever thing and failed to sign up), and it seems that none of the family are coming to watch me disgrace myself either (bit too much of a trek for my pares, 2 days in a row, and Mark's family have previous plans). In some respects, it might be better that way, since I will be less concerned about beating last year's time if it is only me to witness the failure!

Anyway... back to the grindstone. I have been forced to order myself lots of goodies off Amazon today, just to get through the day!
Take care and much love,
Hayls
xxxxx

Wednesday Stuff

Last night I played netball over at the recreation ground. Only a few turned up, and we were rewarded with a pretty impressive thunder storm (including hail and fork lightening). What a bunch of troopers though - we managed to play on throughout, much to the dismay (I think) of a new girl that attended. I doubt we will be seeing her again! ;-)

Am fully back into diet mode, and have even managed to stay off the booze for THREE whole nights (count 'em!). My resolve will be sorely tested tonight as I am going to Robert and Emma's for dinner (I am cooking my fave thing at the moment - Pork in Apricot and Almond Sauce - a weight watchers special - see below!). Am dragging Emma out for a run tonight before dinner - am hoping that my efforts will pay off this weekend. I might even do the Histon Fun Run this Saturday (a mere 3k), which might help my training for Sunday's 5k run.

Anyway... trying desperately to resist the biscuit drawer at work. I find myself absent-mindedly opening it "just to have a look" whenever I go into the kitchen to make tea. Please God, if you exist, please give me some bloody will power! I actually want to go on holiday later this year, and not feel in danger of being the subject of a false whale beaching alarm call! ;-)

Much love
Hayls
xxxx

PS. Recipe for tonight's dinner:

Spiced Pork with Apricot Sauce and Almonds

Ingredients:

• 5 spray low-fat cooking spray
• 500 g Pork Fillet, Raw, lean, (1lb 2oz), sliced
• 1 large onion(s), thinly sliced
• 150 ml cider, dry
• 150 ml apple juice, unsweetened (1/4 pint)
• 1 portion stock cube, vegetable
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger root, fresh
• 5 g lemon grass stems, (1 tsp) finely chopped
• 200 g apricots, (7oz) fresh, halved and pitted
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground black
• 15 g almonds, flaked (1/2oz)
  

Instructions:

• Heat a large frying pan and spray with low fat cooking spray. Add the slices of pork fillet and cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until seared and browned. Add the onion and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
• Pour in the cider and allow it to bubble up for a few moments, then add the apple juice, stock cube, ginger and lemon grass. Heat until simmering, making sure that the stock cube has dissolved.
• Add the apricots, reduce the heat and cook gently for 12-15 minutes. If the sauce liquid reduces too much, add a splash of water. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve the pork sprinkled with the almonds.
  

Notes
You could use lean pork steaks instead of fillet – they tend to be a little cheaper.

Cornish Past-tease

See what I did there? ;-)

Had a wonderful trip to Cornwall last week, and yet again have not had time to download photos from trip. We did so much, I can hardly remember it all - and thankfully managed to avoid most (if not all) of the rain that fell on this sunny country last week. A quick run-down...

We spent several days on various beaches in and around Padstow - including Harlyn Bay, Watergate Bay (I managed kayak surfing in both those places!), Trevone, Treyarnon and Porthcuthan. The kayak surfing was a bit of a revelation to both of us - Mark bought a sea kayak before we left, and after much persuasion I actually had a go. LOVED it the first time I gave it a go (much to Mark's surprise), and played on it for well over half an hour before capsizing and getting a lung full of sea water, which put me off a little for the rest of the day. However, my next attempt later in the week at Harlyn Bay caused much pouting - even more than the Widow Twanky accommodation debacle in Romania (if you don't know what I mean, you may have to read back a few months)... Mark said that my bottom lip may have caused a solar eclipse in some parts of the world (did you see it Jen?). The waves were ENORMOUS, and I felt extremely out of my depth, in all senses of the phrase!

We spent a rainy day at the Eden project, which was simply stunning. Words cannot convey the surprise at rounding the corner and being met with the sight of the biomes in that valley - an enormous and stunning place! Unfortunately, we visited this on the one day that it poured with rain, precisely so that we could stay out of it. Unfortunately, we didn't bank on half of Cornwall having the same idea, so it was less relaxed than I would have liked! Parts of the tropical biome were like Oxford Circus on the Saturday before Xmas!

We also had a lovely bike ride along the Camel trail, which runs from Padstow out past Bodmin Moor. We went to Wadebridge (cute little town), and then right round the estuary to a place called Rock. We then caught a ferry back to Padstow - which was a lot quicker and easier than the outward journey! Particularly since my hire bike had broken gears!

All in all a fab break. The Camp site at Dennis Cove is well worth staying at - lovely facilities and just a short walk into Padstow itself. Padstow is one of my fave places ever - the shops there sell all of the surfer type clothing I love, and the restaurants and cornish pasties/fish and chips/cream teas there are amazing! It sure beats Newquay, which had my first visit this time - what a dump?! It made Great Yarmouth look like a classy resort! Not my scene at all... although the beaches near there are pretty spectacular! I even managed to take my running gear, and got up early on three mornings whilst I was there, and ran a few miles along the Camel Trail each time... just me and all the lovely sea birds etc... in the estuary. Lovely! We also had a nice visit from Robert and Emma one morning - they were camping in Cornwall too, and stopped to bring us croissants and have a cuppa with us on their way to St. Ives.

On the way home on the weekend we stopped off at Wookey Hole nr Glastonbury; a beautiful cave complex (although has been made into a rather cheesy tourist attraction, in more than one sense). The posters and attractions were very bizarre and extremely eighties in design - a big plastic King Kong greeted you to a garden area, and there were huge caves of Cheddar Cheese undergoing the 'cheddaring' process!

Anyway... am back to Earth with a bump. Got lots of work to do, have the Race for Life this weekend (gulp) and lots of family health stuff going on... (Mark's Dad has cracked a couple of ribs, Mark's cousin unfortunately committed suicide, and Nanny Brown is back in hospital). On a much brighter note, I have to pass on congratulations to Jane and Jamie, who are expecting their first child in the New Year! Very exciting! Also congratulations on their house move - and Jen, am very excited (although also a little sad) about your impending move too! I have fond memories of your little blue house :-(

Anyway... MUST get my photos up soon.
Much love
Hayls
xxxxxx

Anybody would think...

I have been busy at work or something? And you would be right... fully up to my eyeballs and no time to blog! Can this be true?! Sadly, yes....

Had a nice couple of weeks since we came back off holiday - although not seen an awful lot of Mark, which is always a bad thing (so is a good job that our camping trip to Cornwall is pending!). Been uber uber busy at work and at home - lots of trips to Lowestoft, and netball games etc... I appear to have broken (or badly sprained) my finger in our last match (we won 21-4 though!), which has put me out of action for a couple of weeks on that front. It does give me time to gear myself up for the Race for Life, which is in just 2 or 3 weeks time! Here is the link if you feel the urgent desire to sponsor me.... ahem.

Last weekend was rather nice - I had Arpi and John from the London office come to visit, along with John's partner Rich... we had a really nice day exploring Cambridge (including a punting tour, during which we got heavily rained on!), and an absolutely amazing meal at Bruno's Brasserie - why haven't I been there before??!!!!!!!!

Not alot else is going on, other than work work work really... Last night we did have a rather amusing excursion in the canoes in the river. It was my first time in a 'one man' canoe, so to speak - and a) I had trouble wedging my rather ample bottom into it, and b) I couldn't steer the darn thing for toffee! However, when fork lightening started, I amazingly manged to paddle at Olympic speeds across the river to the bank... I don't think you will be seeing me in the Olympic Canoing team (is there one?) - not in 2012 at least! ;-)

Anyway... had better get on. Will try to upload my piccies of the Outer Hebrides before I take even more in Cornwall!

Take care
Love
Hayls
xxxx

Uist, Lewis and Harris

Well... did you miss me? (don't answer that!)...

I have been away for ten glorious days island hopping (and camping) around The Outer Hebrides (Oban, South Uist, North Uist, Harris, Lewis and then back to Ullapool). What a glorious corner of the UK that is! I can't say I particularly enjoyed the ten hour drive to the ferries and back, but it was more than worth it. I even have a tiny bit of a tan (although that will probably wash off with a bar of soap)... have come back feeling very relaxed. Before I went away I also had Sofie and her Mum (Susanne) satying with us a couple of days - was lovely to see them both, and we had a nice night out at The Phoenix in the village. Thank you Sofie for all the little gifts you left me! I hope you enjoyed the Lilt and Hula Hoops! ;-)

I have LOTS of work to do today, and will bore you senseless with photos and a big write up as soon as I get a chance. This is just a "hello" heads up, and to pass on my congratulations on all the new little girls that have been born in my absence;

• Congrats to Adele and Jamie on the birth of little Ella - so sorry to hear that you haven't been well Adele, but am sure you are in very capable hands with Jamie on call!!! Can't wait to have a cuddle... the photos are absolutely beautiful - she looks like a little darling.
• Congrats to Nerida and Miles on the birth of little Tessa May - looking forward to seeing some piccies!
• Also... congrats to Janine's friend Lucy and her husband, Mark, on the birth of little Annabella (Janine please pass this on). The pictures are gorgeous, and I must say Lucy that you look stunning after the birth!....

Ronan - I also wish you well with your op - hope you are not being pumped with TOO many drugs right now, and that they didn't do the 'face and finger shortening' procedure in the end! ;-)

Anyway... GOT so much to do
Lots of love to you all,
Hayls
xxxx

Sweet and Stour

A glorious weekend. Friday night, Mark and I drove up to Wissington (about 8 miles south of Sudbury) and camped in a lovely little campsite on the banks of the river Stour (http://www.riverstourtrust.org/Rushbanksfinal.html). Had a lovely bbq (in the rain), and spent the night listening to a rather loud cuckoo and an over excited bull, who seemed to be getting more than his fair share of oats in the field of cows next to us ;-)

Saturday morning, we dropped the canoe in the water, and paddled up past Stoke-by-Nayland... beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, and delicious sandwiches and coffee ;-) Canoeing is something that I never would have imagined myself doing, but is now something that I hope is always part of my life. I just love the feeling of solitude, and the beauty of the waterways in England.

Saturday afternoon, we dropped over to Sudbury to visit the River Stour trust, which turned out to be closed (but gave me an almighty blast from the past!), and then made our way to Flatford Mill. This is the setting for "The Hay Wain" painting by John Constable... gorgeous little village, totally over run with tourists, but simply stunning - somewhere I hope to return to and explore a litte more! There looks as though there are nice walks to both Manningtree and Dedham - both lovely places in themselves.

Saturday night we had a lovely evening with Tracy and the boys. Walked up to The Trowel and Hammer (Mark and I spent some of our first date in there!) and had a couple of beers with the boys in the beer garden, and then had a lovely dinner and far too much wine over the kitchen table at Tracy's. Was nice to spend the evening on our own (the three of us), chatting about everything and putting the world to rights.

Sunday, we joined up with Mum and Dad and went to the street fair in Bungay - another gorgeous little market town not that far from Beccles. I bought a Rhubarb plant, that am looking forward to cultivating, and managed to buy and eat lots of delicious homemade fudge (always my fave foodstuff). We had lunch in The Waveney in Beccles, a sleepy afternoon at Mum and Dad's, and Mum finished us all off by feeding us with homemade Spanish satsuma cake and a huge roast dinner... bliss ;-)

It seems though that a bbq in the pouring rain may have taken its toll... I seem to have developed a stinking cold (boo) - not a good start to my very busy week! Yesterday, had a lovely family lunch though, despite my cold - my Cousin Liza is over from West Virginia, and so I met her, her siblings Mark and Emily, My Aunt, my Mum and Liza's friend for a Thai lunch in the village here - was very nice, and good to catch up with them all. Mark's jaw seems a good deal better, although he is incredibly thin, mainly due to lack of food (he can only eat soft foods) and almost certainly due to a certain amount of stress. He looked better than I was expecting though, so that's good.

Anyway... must get on. SO much to sort out at home and work, and no time left to do it!
Much love,
Hayls
xxxx

Hell's Belles

Well, last night we played the Ellesmere Belles in the league game that I was so concerned about.

The final score was 31-4.... TO US!!! YAY!!!! With this first game under my belt, I no longer feel nervous about future ones, and I was quite impressed by what a slick bunch we seemed. To be fair, the Ellesmere Belles were deeply under-prepared (they had only been playing since Christmas), and were deeply out of their league with us lot, who have been playing since last year. I have a feeling that not all future games will be like this one.... it was a nice start for us though, and a real confidence boost. Well done to all involved - I actually thought we played very professionally.

Roll on the weekend....
Hayls
xxx

Pasties and a G-string

Well - it was pretty predictable really. Lowestoft is a small town, and it generally only takes a few days for these things to come out. Kevin has indeed got himself another woman in tow, and Alison has been informed. Most of all, its the kids I worry about... these poor little buggers put all their faith in their parent's relationship, and this is what is thrown back in their faces. Of course, in a way, you have to be careful with second-hand information (especially in Lowestoft)... but it makes so much sense that there was someone else involved. Nobody walks out on a wife and three children over a row over a shelf without something else going on?!!!! Anyway.... I just hope Alison can manage to hold herself and the children together. Her eldest - poor Liam (my Godson) has his SATS this week - I just hope he can manage to get at least some of it right. Or at least, I hope the school have the foresight to see that all of this could seriously affect his grades, and that they take this into account.

Anyway... not much else going on here... my first league netball match tonight (waaah!), and work up to my eyeballs!!! On a nicer note, went to see Adele yesterday - she and the bump are doing really well, and I am on call for her next week as this is her 'due date' and Jamie is on nights at the hospital... fingers crossed that I won't be needing my rubber gloves! ;-) Would be ironic if I had to act as midwife to a doctor's child!

This weekend we are possibly going camping (near Sudbury of all places!), and will be popping to see my parents on Sunday. Looking forward to it!

Lots of love
Hayls
xxxxxx

Hmmm....

Well it's been an interesting weekend... :-s

My mother called it "Sunday Bloody Sunday". I can't go into details (as am nipping orf to netball), but highlights include:

• Cousin Mark falling off bicycle when slightly inebriated, and smashing jaw in two places. After a night alone trying to administer his own version of beer-induced first aid (paracetamol and water?), he landed in hospital. He has had a successful operation to fix jaw with a titanium plate, but it looks like he has a long and painful path ahead of him... somehow, I think this may all be connected to his breakup with Lindsey...
• Nanny Brown had to go to hospital after coughing up blood. It seems in the end thought that this was due to some effect of the oxygen thingy she has to use now because her lung function is so crap, although she was checked out with a lung x-ray.
• My Aunt Alison and her three young kids have been left by her husband; possibly a short term thing, and possibly not. Not sure what is happening here - nothing a big fat kick up the ass can't sort out I think for someone who is making the mistake of putting work before family. Perhaps. Anyway... poor girl, and the kids in particular, are devastated.
• Kurt moved out to... not in a deleriously happy manner. Och...

Anyway... will update stuff tomorrow.

Off to play netball in the wind and rain. Oh joy!
Hayls
xxxx

Apology to Jennifer

Yesh.... Really sorry. It *was* a bit evil to put that photo of you on for your birthday.... I feel just awful about it... in fact I hardly slept last night due to the guilt. Perhaps this one will make up for it?!

It at least shows you in a more realistic light?! ;-)

I like to call this piece - "Jenny on the Block" (these Australians just feel so at home behind bars... HEHEHEH). Actually this is a long awaited revenge for allowing your husband to scare the kahoonies off me that night on that ghost walk around Port Arthur.... shudder! hahahah...

Belle parole non pascono i gatti...

or "fine words don't feed cats...".

These words will though. Tonight I am cooking this recipe for friends, and wanted to share it with you (especially those that are too far away for me to cook it for you). It is by far the best recipe I have come across in the last year - great for those pesky vegetarians that *will* eat fish (ahem... Mark), and loved by all that have tried them...

Le Migliori Polpette di Tonno: The Best Tuna Meatballs by Jamie Oliver
Just about everyone I know is a fan of meatballs, so I though I’d give you a recipe for these, as they are something a little different. I’ve seen them made in Sicily in the same way, using a mixture of swordfish and tuna- not canned tuna though. These have to be made with fresh fish and they are subtly seasoned with Sicilian herbs and spices- this recipe is just as good as the meat versions!

For the Tomato Sauce
· olive oil
· 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
· 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
· 1 teaspoon dried oregano
· 2 x 400g. cans of good- quality plum tomatoes
· sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
· red wine vinegar
· a small bunch of fresh flat- leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped

For the Meatballs
· 400g fresh tuna steaks (Hayley note: because you smash them up in this recipe, you can afford to buy slightly cheaper cuts of fresh tuna - the frozen ones in Iceland and the like and the like are very good for this purpose)
· olive oil
· 55g pinenuts
· 1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
· sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
· 1 teaspoon dried oregano
· a handful of fresh flat- leaf parsley, chopped
· 100g stale breadcrumbs (Hayley note: you can buy tubs of ciabatta breadcrumbs in Tesco's “Ingredients” range).
· 55g freshly grated Parmesan
· 2 eggs
· zest and juice of 1 lemon

First make your sauce. Place a large pan on the heat, add a good glug of olive oil, your onion and garlic, and fry slowly for 10 or so minutes, until soft. Add your oregano, the tomatoes, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then blend until smooth. Taste--it might need a tiny swig of red wine vinegar or some extra seasoning.

While the tomatoes are simmering, chop the tuna up into 1-inch dice. Pour a good couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large frying pan and place on the heat. Add the tuna to the pan with the pinenuts and cinnamon. Season lightly with salt and pepper and fry for a minute or so to cook the tuna on all sides and toast the pinenuts. Remove from the heat and put the mixture into a bowl. Allow to cool down for 5 minutes, then add the oregano, parsley, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, eggs, lemon zest, and juice to the bowl. Using your hands, really scrunch and mix the flavors into the tuna, then divide the mixture and squeeze it into meatballs slightly smaller than a golf ball. If you dip one of your hands in water while shaping, you’ll get a nice smooth surface on the meatball. If the mixture’s very sticky, add a few more breadcrumbs. Keep the meatballs around the same size and place them on an oiled tray, then put them in the fridge for an hour to let them rest.

Put the pan you fried the tuna in back on the heat with a little olive oil. Add your meatballs to the pan and jiggle them about until they’re golden brown all over. You might want to do them in batches- when they’re done, add them to the tomato sauce, divide between your plates, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and drizzle with good olive oil. Great served with spaghetti or linguine.

This Explains A Lot For Me...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/6621331.stm

Jokes aside... what an amazingly cheerful individual. It's truly humbling... mind you, my hobbit feet are something that *might* make the centre pages of The Histon Crier one day ;-)

Happois Birthdayois!

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!!! bwahahahaha...

Hope you have a fantastic day - shame I am not there to celebrate it with you. Have fun, and whoop it up, girlfriend! Don't worry about getting old... you don't look a day over 46 in this picture. :-D

(*note shocked face of poor husband... hehehehe).

How Soon is Now?

Ok... so haven't blogged for a while, so will have to be a very quick run down!!

Weekends...
Had two nice weekends. The first was spent mainly helping my cousin Robert and Emma clear their garden. We managed to turn a veritable jungle into a quite pleasant little corner to sit in, and (most importantly) drink wine and eat sausages in.... The second was spent doing our own garden (we have a lawn now, thanks to Mark's hard graft - yay!), and going to the last match of the season for Histon FC. This was an away game in Farnborough - great atmosphere, a good win for Histon, but was freshly appalled by the behaviour of men the same age as my Dad, and the way they behave on the back of a bus when out of the sight of their women-folk... seriously perturbing :-

Work...
Work is uber busy at the moment (have a product release soonish), but has been a nice atmosphere at work due to unseasonably good weather. Nice trips into the village for lunch, and looking forward to a night out tomorrow with the boys to an Italian restaurant in Cambridge.

Netball and running...
Well... the netball is going well (start of Summer season last week, and we start playing league games pretty soon - gulp). The running however is going very badly. I have got to pull my finger out!!! Felt like puking after a 3 mile run yesterday. Note to self: SORT IT OUT!

Idle gossip and general chit chat...

• Kevin and Heleen have had baby #2 - a little boy called Oscar Samuel. Great name! (obviously, all babies called Oscar are cute by definition).
• Kurt (our Danish lodger) is wavering on decision to move out into rented cottage. Living a life like Eastenders currently... this would be nicer from a distance, but I don't half feel sorry for the poor silly old sod ;-)
• Old friend Philippa is having a baby which is due in September - fantastic news!
• Adele is blooming - and now only has four weeks left until baby due day. She still has a bump smaller than the average size of my stomach after lunch though!
• Mark (cousin) and Lindsey = sadly off, by the looks of it. Really hoping that Mark is going to be OK, although I think this one has been on the cards for a bit.
• Mia still keeps inviting her boyfriend round to pee all over our house (in case you are unaware, Mia is my cat/child substitute). She should really a) get a better looking boyfriend, and b) should get one with a basic hygiene certificate. His dating days are numbered!
• Sofie is planning her trip to the UK at the end of the month. Am looking forward to playing host to her and her Mum for a couple of nights, and seeing how many bags of hula hoops and boxes of cheesecake she can fit in her suitcase home.
• Helena has not updated her blog lately. If the situation persists, her Mummy will not get a birthday present this week. I have set the parcel I posted to self-destruct on non-appearance of photographs of Jen and John's trip to the UK. Ahem...
• Grandad's last remaining sister (only family member, apart from the kids etc.) is unfortunately in hospital, in a pretty critical condition. Such a shame as I always really liked Aunty Mable. Am wishing her and her family well, and keeping fingers crossed for them all.
• Cousin Liza in the US (West Virginia) has moved home - good luck Liza! We wish you all the very best in your new place!
• Andy and Srey Neath got married in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). See the wedding photo attached - they both look amazing! Wishing you all the very best you two. xxx

Anyway... will try and keep things a bit up to date. Speak soon,
Hayls
xxxx

These are a Few of My Favourite Little Things...

Vogue...

Here are some of the latest piccies I uploaded to flickr last night...

Henry, Oscar and Lola, April 2007
Jen's trip to UK, March 2007
Our trip to Krakow, Poland, March 2007
Christmas and New Year, 2007
Autumn, 2006

Some of these are a bit old... I have been a bit rubbish at uploading!

Fetishsm Begins At Home...

Be careful what you put in your baby's cot!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6567445.stm

My mum must have stored bottles of wine and lipsticks in mine ;-)

C'est Si Bon

Whatever that means???

I thought that after the excesses of the last few weeks, I would try and get things back on track - well back to obsessive dieting and exercising in any case! That seems to have got off to a slow start this week... but at least it is on the cards! ;-) On a more sorrowful note, Jen has left my time zone this week... she is safely home, am glad to say (not quite out of the jet lag zone) - and am going to try and upload some piccies tonight of her stay with me a couple of weeks back (and mine and Mark's Poland trip).

First off, before I start telling you what I have had for dinner the last few days, check out this gorgeous picture of little Namar and Tesla that she sent me this week! He is 4 months old, and is reportedly quite close to crawling already! Bless him... hopefully will catch up with them both soon.

Had a great week and weekend last week. Friday night, we did very little (I can't even remember what it was we did do, so must have been exciting!). Saturday, I headed over to Lowestoft for the weekend. Spent the morning with Janine and Simon, and little Lola (who is more gorgeous than ever - a very kissable and chatty, smiley little pixie faced darling). We spent some of it looking for Forsythe (their cat) who seems to have gone AWOL (mental note - must ask Janine if he has turned up since!). In the afternoon, we went over to Tracy's and took the boys and Lola onto the beach for a play on the sand (Oscar and Lola's first experience of sand au naturel - which was a joy to behold). After a little walk in the beautiful sunshine and, some yummy chips on the seafront, Janine headed off and we dropped the boys over at Sam's new house - he has moved into another mansion stylee house backing onto the broads. This one needs a lot of work, but is massive... 7 bedrooms!! The perfect bachelor pad?!!!! In the evening, Tracy and I went to pick up some supplies at Asda, and spent the evening in her kitchen stuffing our faces, quaffing wine, and putting the world to rights...

After an evening putting the world to rights, Tracy was a bit tense all day Sunday (one of the drawbacks of over-analysis I guess)... we went with Mum and Dad to order their conservatory furniture, and had a look round a garden centre (I have the gardening bug again!). We had a lovely lunch in The Waveney Hotel in Beccles, which has a gorgeous seated area by the river and very acceptable food too. In the evening, I just headed home and cooked dinner for Mark and I.

Not much else happened this week. We went to see Histon FC win again last night (it's so predictable now!! hehe...), and am looking forward to celebrating their promotion into the Conference league this weekend!!! YAY! Actually... it will be the Blue Square Premier League next year, but that's just splitting hairs... they have done amazingly well for a tiny village's team!
We also managed to catch and "scare" the phantom pee spraying tom-cat last night that has been terrorising Mia and making our house smell like cat wee central... Mark frightened the pants off it, and dunked it in some cold water (didn't hurt it), but then he was awake most of the night racked with guilt as it looked so sad when he had done it! Perhaps he is softer than he thinks ;-)

I went to Addenbrookes yesterday re: my clicky jaw, and found out that I DON'T need surgery - hurrah! However, I may need to wear a gum shield in bed and at my desk at work, which will supposedly re-align my jaw.... how alluring! ;-) Robert also got some very good news re: a lump in his groin, which seems to not be as serious as he thought. Poor Sofie however has had some tests and found that she has an over-active thyroid, and MAY need surgery... fingers crossed she doesn't and it will be treatable by tablets. I am really looking forward to seeing her at the end of the month; she is coming over to Cambridge to stay for a few days with her Mum, so that should be a nice change of scenery for both of them. It's been a right week for medical matters!

Anyway... dinner with Emma tonight, including a run along the river bank... looking forward to it!! Lindsey contacted me this morning, and our misunderstanding is cleared up... thankfully. I just hope that she and Mark sort themselves out - or at least are happy without each other. Either way, I wish them both well. We also have a moving out date for Kurt, and Jez and Marta move back to Madrid next month, so it looks like life is looking up for them all too....

Hope you are all well...
Lots of love
Hayls
xxxxxx

PS. BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nanny Hutcho who was 81... I mean 21... this week. And also, to Mark's dad John who was 71... err... 21 too.

Easter Parade

What a fantastic weekend. I had such a lovely Easter - it is such a shame to be back at work! Ah well... no rest for the wicked!

Anyway... a run down for the weekend!

Good Friday
Got up uber early (with Mark, as he was off to work), and made my way to sunny (very sunny) Norwich for the day, and for what turned out to be the night as well. This was such a lovely day our meeting up with friends I haven't seen for ages. Arrived at Annie and Jack's nice and early for breakfast, which was simply delicious. Annie excelled herself as usual, and laid out a mighty feast - croissants, bread, organic yoghurt, honey, jam, fresh raspberries, fresh grilled pineapple, toasted coconut, cereal, hot cross buns etc... all washed down with some delicious fruit juice and fresh coffee. Was lovely to catch up with them and hear more about their holiday in NZ in catch up with some family chit chat. My house looked pretty good too (I have some new tenants), and spied one of them leaving the house - she looked young and pretty, and I think she is living there with a friend of a similar age. All is good!

At lunch, I went to see Jane and Jamie. Was GREAT to catch up with them. They both look well and happy as usual, and are in the process of buying a rather gorgeous house quite close to them - bigger than their current one, and has a huge 60ft garden. I think that the inside of the house needs some work doing to it, but am sure it is nothing that they can't handle. Jamie cooked some delicious pasta sauce and tortellini... divine!

Later in the afternoon, I picked up my cousin Mark and took him round to see Nicki and Carlos's new house; again, it needs some work doing to the inside (they have already done the lounge, which looks GORGEOUS), and has a MASSIVE garden, which they are setting about doing! Cousin-Mark seemed ok, although a little perturbed (perhaps more than he lets on) about the absence of Lindsey in his house; she moved out at the weekend, and I didn't actually manage to see her. It seems though that I may have inadvertently upset her with some of my frank advice over Christmas, so am regretful about that situation (but not necessarily what I actually said). In the evening, my plans to drive home were dashed... we ended up drinking in Norwich at the rather pleasant Bird Cage pub (used to be the Pottergate Tavern, and has been massively refurbished), and then Bedfords... it all ended up not so glamorously - my cousin and I stuffed Pizza from Caspians, and then went back to his and had garlic mash and more beer (for some reason!).

Saturday
I got up dead early and ran Cousin-Mark down to the station, as he was off to watch Newcastle vs Sheffield UTD play at Sheffield. I drove home, got scrubbed up, and went to Mark's parents for the rest of the morning, and spent it sunbathing in their garden. Went to see Histon FC in the afternoon with Mark's dad (2-1 win to Histon, yay!), and then just had an early night really!

Sunday
We drove over to Lowestoft in the morning, straight to Mum and Dad's. The weather was gorgeous again, so went for a walk along what used to be the "Waveney Way", but is now called "Angles Way" or summat?! Anyway... it was a lovely afternoon - walking near the Broads and the Somerleyton estate. We had a nice couple of drinks afterwards in The Dukes Head in Somerleyton, which has really nice beer garden that we sat around in. In the evening, we went to Tracy's for dinner (gorgeous pies from her shop), drank wine and played some silly games with Henry. Highlight of the evening was when I noticed that the boxes that the pies come in have "open flaps and munch" written on the side of them (with no lack of irony) - I sniggered, Mark sniggered, Tracy sniggered... my mum kept reading it out loud in a monotone voice, without getting it. We cried... bits of pie came out of my nose. It was a mess ;-)

Easter Monday
We had a REALLY lovely day in Fritton Lake, with my Mum and Dad, Henry and Oscar. Poor Tracy can't take any time off over the Easter weekend, as this is easily the busiest weekend of her year, so we wanted to do something fun for Henry. Fritton Lake is just lovely - only £5 each to get in (much less than most), but everything thrown in for free. Free use of rowing boats and pedalos on the lake, putting, horse rides (for £1 extra), a play park with a bouncy pillow thingy (a variation on a bouncy castle), and loads of lovely grounds to picnic in... Henry had such a good time there, and we had fun watching him. Was really pleasant - I can highly recommend it.

In the afternoon, we visited Nanny and Grandad, which was nice. Got the football scores for yesterday (Histon won AGAIN! Deffo on for promotion to Conference!), and Mum cooked us a lovely roast dinner.

Wish I could repeat that kind of weekend ad infinitum!
Hope you all had a good Easter!
Lots of love
Hayls
xxxxxx

Bonnie Scotland

Had a fantastic few days with Jen last week, and am REALLY looking forward to a long Easter weekend.

Here is the low down on my last few days...

Wednesday
Flew up to Glasgow last Wednesday evening. Very easy flight, and was picked up by Jen and her father-in-law (known as "WJ"). We went straight off to meet John and his friends David and Lindsey in their local pub to watch the Scotland V Italy match on TV. We had a really nice evening. Can't believe it was around 3.5 years since I saw David and Lindsey last, and 3 or so since I saw Jen and John - as soon as I saw them it was if we had only been together last week. I guess that is the measure of true friendship!

Thursday
Got up in the morning and was immediately greeted by little Helena. An amazing feeling, meeting one of your best friend's children for the first time (I was almost a bit nervous!). She was gorgeous - a little bundle of golden curls, and lots of attitude! In my previous experience, first borns are a little nervous, perhaps a little clingy, and prone to crying fits. Helena is loud, opinionated, and gutsy as hell! This girl knows no fear! Head first off the climbing frame? No worries!! Fall over and graze your knees? No problemo! She is adorable, and not far off talking whole sentences. This is a girl who knows what she wants out of life. Nobody will be putting *that* particular baby in the corner!

After breakfast, and an introduction to The Wiggles and Dora the Explorer, we headed off in the rain to the Kelvingrove museum in central Glasgow. We had a very pleasant second breakfast in the cafe there, and a wander around some of the exhibits (well... a look at ONE computer exhibit that Helena was rather taken with), and even saw a real life stuffed Haggis, complete with long hair and a fluffy tail... hmmmm....

At lunch time, Jen and I had a look around some of the shops in East Kilbride (unfortunately I didn't manage to avoid Primark, and filled up with more cheap smock tops than any human would ever feasibly require). In the afternoon, we took Helena to one of those soft play centres with the balls etc...? That was really good fun, and we managed to stick jelly tots all over the inside of the car on the way home... heh.

Jen cooked a delicious Spanish chicken stew type thing for dinner, and she and I headed down to their local for a nice smoke-free few beers (has made me unable to wait for July 1st now, when the smoking ban starts!). The evening went well until Jen abandoned me and went to bed... and then it descended into chaos as I sat up until silly-o-clock chatting to John's pares about god only knows what. Good fun though!

Friday
In the morning we all took Helena to a lovely wildlife park for a look at some of the weird and wonderful animals they have there. I was amazed by how many creatures they had there that I have never seen before? Is Scotland *that* foreign?!?! They had Coatis? And some weird Laughing Thrush type bird, the likes of which I have never seen or heard! At lunch time, Jen, John and I headed to the rather packed local and had a delicious lunch (boy, did I need something to soak up the wine and beer from the night before!); mine was Haggis and all the trimmings for starter, and then a delicious cheese and bacon burger with chips... you can see how my diet went this last week! ;-)

In the afternoon we had to leave poor Helena behind (poor Jen was perturbed by this), and we headed back to mine via Stansted. Mark picked us up at the airport (was nice for them to meet at last), and we all went to the local for a few pints and the curry house for a curry. Felt extremely bloated on return home!

Saturday
In the morning, I showed Jen the delights of the village; the bakers, the toy shop and gift shop etc... then we popped to see Mark's parents, and then headed over to Bedford to watch the mighty Stutes play! I *think* Jen quite enjoyed it, and was worthwhile going to see them win! I think she liked watching Lance sail through the air with his usual grace ;-)

In the evening, we met up with Nigel and his mates in town (Russell and Jim); we went for drinks in The Eagle and The Pickerel, which was really good fun.

Sunday
Jen and I went shopping all morning (spent far too much moulah!), had a nice lunch in the Cornish Pasty shop, and then met up with Mark who took us punting up the Cam... was SUCH a gorgeous afternoon, and perfect weather for taking out the punts!

In the evening we went for dinner in The Plough at Coton - I swear they do the best fish and chips I have ever tasted!

Monday unfortunately came too fast and had a good snivel over saying goodbye to my beloved Jen at the train station... she was heading off to London to catch up with more friends of hers.

The rest of this week has been pretty uneventful. Went to see Histon FC play again (and win!) on Tuesday night (YAY!), and Chris from work joined us, which was good. Last night I just shopped at Tescos for Easter eggs, and then spent the entire night trying to catch a tom cat that has been peeing in our house! Poor Mia is traumatised by said cat - so we had decided to trap it in the kitchen overnight and give it a good scare! What we hadn't reckoned on was it wrecking the joint before making a Houdini style escape (GOD KNOWS HOW), so now I think it's in real trouble now! Darn thing!!!

Anyway... have a great Easter! I am planning to catch up with lots of friends and family over the weekend, and can't wait to leave off today!
Much love
Hayls
xxxxxxx

PS. BIG love to Srey Neath and Andy who are getting married in Phnom Penh this weekend. SO sorry we couldn't make it, but hopefully we will catch up with you guys soon. All our love xxxx

Silence

Well, Am here in sunny (slightly foggy) London, but no real thanks to my TomTom. It went suspiciously quiet at the very moment I got a little lost today! Fingers crossed for the journey home!

The Road to Auschwitz

We had a great weekend in Kraków, Poland this last weekend. This was my treat for Mark's birthday, and am chuffed that it all went to plan...

Got up at ridiculous-a-clock (3am or something) on Friday to catch the early morning flight out of Stansted. All pretty straightforward really... Kurt dropped us off at the airport in plenty of time for the plane (we parked at Mark's work), landed in Kraków on time, and the taxi was waiting for us at the other end to take us to the Hotel Pod Wawallem (thanks for the recommendation, Nigel!). That lunch time we mooched around in the rain for a bit, and sat in a cafe and had a few beers... then headed home for a snooze before a night out in an underground bar called The Tower Bar (these smoky little cellars are everywhere in the city), and then to a rather nice fish restaurant called Farina. We both had delicious food there - starting with a lovely seafood soup, bread with mushroom pate and truffle oil, and then a steamed Dorado fish with spinach and courgettes and salt roast potatos... followed by a naughty ice-cream with caramel sauce and a decent bottle of Malbec. Very nice!

Saturday, we got up fairly early for the trip to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau; the two WWII concentration camps in the area. My goodness... words do not do it justice. A very humbling experience, and extremely moving. The sites were situated about an hour and a half away from Kraków by mini-bus, and we were shown around in a small group by an extremely sombre female tour guide. We walked around the camp itself, saw the 2.5 tonnes of human hair the Germans had collected from their victims to make fabrics for clothes with, and saw the thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes they had stockpiled from their victims. For me, the most harrowing part was the children's clothes and shoes, and for Mark the prosthetic limbs (of which there were many) made him realise that each of these very personal items represented a lost human life. The weather that day was befittingly cold and bleak... when we get our photographs online, I will let them do the talking for us. Not sure I can say I "enjoyed" the trip, but it was deeply moving and very interesting.

That evening, we went for a few drinks in the city, caught up with the football in an internet cafe, and then went to a polish folk-style restaurant for dinner, called Chlopskie Jadlo. An interesting assortment of food here! First off they serve you bread, with a mug of cottage cheese and (wait for it), a mug of lard!!?!!!! Is it possible that ANY country would serve this instead of butter these days?! I secretly found it delicious, but made sufficient puke noises for Mark's vegetarian benefit ;-) I then had a lovely pork and plum dish, with red cabbage and potatoes... delicious!

Sunday, we got up early (thankfully realised the clocks had changed - which could have ended in disaster with regard to flight times - made me wonder *how many* people missed their flight as a result of that!). We walked in the morning to the "wrong side of town", to find Oskar Schindler's factory. This was in a fairly bleak industrial part of town, inhabited mainly by very vocal polish drunks and their dogs... the factory is pretty amazing to see, but is made hardly anything of by the Polish tourist board - although we got the impression that this was due to change in the next year. I am amazed that they hadn't jumped on the bandwagon when the film was released? Anyway, we were given a brief tour by a polite young man that seemed to be something to do with the regeneration programme, although we weren't quite sure... lunch time we headed to the ancient Jewish quarter called Kazimierz and visited an interesting Jewish bookstore (bought our reading material for the flight home; books about Schindler and Auschwitz). We had some delicious lunch (spinach and mozarella on toast) in a little square there overlooking the Old Synagogue, and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around in the sunshine (glorious weather on Sunday) and sitting in the main square and drinking iced coffee and the rather gorgeous polish cheesecake. In fact my cheesecake quota and Omnicek beer quota was fairly impressive over the course of the weekend ;-> (......and garlic - the Poles LOVE their garlic!).

We had a rather nice pizza in an Italian-polish folk restaurant, watched the sunset over the Wistla river by the Castle, and then sadly got our taxi back to the airport... fantastic! We had a lovely weekend, and Mark loved it too (which was the main thing!).

Tomorrow, I am off to London for work, but then am heading off on my own to visit Jen in Glasgow on Weds night - cannot wait to see her!!!!!!!!!!! Like many of my friends, it has been far too long since I saw her last! SOOO looking forward to meeting her child, Helena, too.

Speak soon - wish me luck for the drive tomorrow. Let's hope my TomTom makes it! ;-)

Best wishes
Hayls
xxxx

I Am Not Alone!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6465643.stm

Does he murder poor defenceless goldfish, though?!

Elvis has left the building...

Elvis is dead. This may seem like old news to some of you, but believe me - the death of my goldfish "Elvis" was wholly unexpected, particularly under the circumstances surrounding his death. Did Priscilla bludgeon him to death with a plastic pond plant? Did one of the Hungarian mafia peck him to death (the shoal of silver minnows in the tank)? No. He was murdered though, it appears.... and the culprit is.... Me. So it would seem.

So this is my confession... but I am pleading diminished responsibility for my actions... you see, your honour, I was asleep!!!! Christ-on-a-bike I have excelled myself this time guys! I don't know how many of you are aware of my little problem - in fact if you are a friend of mine, chances are that you will have experienced this first hand (PLEASE resist the temptation to share your stories here!). Saturday night, I escaped the bedroom clad in just knickers (thankfully large ones) and wandered into poor Kurt's room - who by chance, happened to be having a night off work and was blissfully asleep. I took the lid off the fish tank and did something that resulted in the death of just poor Elvis (perhaps he died of shock at the sight of me in my underwear?), and then proceeded to try to climb out of the window. Thankfully (or not!) Kurt was awakened by the sight of me trying to step on his bedside table to get out of the window! He managed to shout at me ferociously enough to send me running out of the room onto the landing, where I proceeded to run up and down for quite some time - freaking poor Kurt out in the meantime! Oh dear...

Anyway.... heh. Change of topic. Have not blogged for a long time as have been very busy! Forgot to mention is was my Sister's birthday on the 8th, so HUGE happy birthday to her... and it was Mark's 40th last week on the 15th. We have had a very busy week celebrating his birthday, and it still hasn't finished yet... Last Tuesday we went to see the local team play, and I managed to bribe a mention for Mark on the tannoy and a signed card etc... which Mark was delighted with! Wednesday, I drove to London and had yet another exciting (I got lost again!) journey home - which has perturbed me enough to invest in a TomTom 510 GPS system for future trips! On return home, I went to Robert and Emma's for a delicious dinner...

Thursday was Mark's birthday, and in the evening I took him for a posh dinner at The Hotel Felix, which was bloody delicious! I had the "Rustic Potato and Salt Cod Soup with Curried Cod and Sourdough", followed by "Slow Roast Belly of Gloucester Old Spot Pork, Savoy Cabbage, Fondant Potato, Home Made Black Pudding, Apple Puree, Calvados Jus", and a "Pomegranate and Ginger Brulee, Poached Rhubarb, Yoghurt Sherbet and Vanilla Fudge"... a simple menu, as you can see! Mark had fancy spring rolls and pink bream... We had a really nice time there - can highly recommend it for special occasions.

Friday, we met up with quite a few people down at the pub in the village, which was lovely! We were joined by Robert and Emma, Jamie and Adele, Chris and Francesca, Doug, and Toby and Sofie... was a real laugh.

Saturday, my parents came over for the day and we joined Mark's family for a really nice lunch in Pizza Express on Jesus Lane. We took my parents to a garden centre in the afternoon for a look around, and in the evening we went to see the amazing progress at Jamie and Adele's new place and met Kurt for a couple of drinks later.

Sunday (after I cringed over my Saturday night sleep-walking shenanigans), we went to see Julian and Antonia's new house in Stotfold (I say new - they moved in 18 months ago, and we haven't seem them for over two years!), which was nice. We did a bit of shopping in Hitchin, and then we went to Toby and Sofie's place so that Mark could test drive Sofie's car with a view to buying it... in the evening we popped to Mark's parent's place for Mother's day stuff, and went home and watched a rather funny DVD - "Thank You For Smoking".

Yesterday, I went on a first aid course for the day - which was quite alot of fun! The other attendants were all porters and groundsmen at King's College, and they had me in stitches! The church hall where the course was held was just around the corner from Mark's Sister's place, so I popped in to see Caroline and the kids on my way home...

Anyway! Better do some work... got a busy week! I have Friday off this week as I am taking Mark away for the weekend (he doesn't know where he is going yet!). I am really looking forward to it! I also have an interview this week with Age Concern - am going to be doing some voluntary work for them hopefully... will teach me how to handle Mark I guess ;-)
Much love
Hayls
xxx