London - up close & personal

Yes it was definitely much better this time around. I was happy and content everyday (yes, even if it did rain 7 out of 9 days) :-) Did a lot of walking in the markets, museums, streets, parks... you name it. Where I was staying at Bayswater is very convenient and I'd highly recommend it. The only time I left the city was the last full day out (Saturday), and we went to Hampton Court Palace just over a half hour's train ride away. I hope these pictures speak for themselves... (I've named most of them, so just roll over them for descriptions at the bottom of screen)

Huh?!

The day's getting weirder and weirder... first I got phone calls from random numbers and one 'Anonymous' which I never pick up. Then this guy buzzed my door and since I didn't order anything, didn't let him in. As luck would have it, the delivery guy met my friendly downstairs neighbor and guided him to my door.

Imagine my surprise to find floral and basket arrangements addressed to me (double checked)! Lovely message but it wasn't signed! Birthday's over so what are these for? The one time I got flowers was probably more than 5 years ago! I'm a practical person but this sure feels good!

Halloween Party...

...which I didn't go to. Bah, my costume didn't arrive in time but that wasn't the only reason. It was rainy and cold, and my own general crabby mood weren't ideal for attending a party. Well next year, then! Found a mistake I made at work & having to reveal it wasn't pleasant. Hate it when that happens.

Heard that Jackie was a first rate Mafia Princess and judging from the prep work, I bet she had all the boys running after her! Not sure if Marta & Hazel dropped by like they said they would and Bea was just like me, chickening out for our own reasons.

Got it this afternoon!

RWC 2007

Ah, my second team also did not win but coming into the tournament with 80-1 odds and making it all the way to the Finals is awesome enough. Michelle & I were at The Sunburnt Cow and even 2 hours before the start, the place was already packed. Had to find a perch to eat our brunch and just managed to squeeze in at the bar (I was almost behind it). Met English guy Alex (and later on his friends) and a good time was had by all. Me in my Union Jack jacket and boys in Red Lion shirts were completely surrounded by Boks fans. Why are they in an Aussie bar? Michelle chose the place thinking it was neutral enough and since Nelson Blue (Kiwi) wasn't showing the match... And since there is a good number of Saffas in the city, why isn't there any South African pubs? Anyhow, we refused to give up our spot (no blockage whatsoever) and stood all the way. Needless to say, I didn't agree with that call and yet again, it was another high drama RWC final. Then English guy kept asking us to go to some tiki bar where his friends in a band play, but we wanted to check out Halloween costumes instead. Throughout the rest of the day English guy kept calling & calling and I thought "Hmm, he's obviously drunk".

Anyway, Michelle & I ended up watching Into the Wild which I found tragic & disturbing. What a waste it was for an idealistic young man to ultimately realize that what he tried so hard to discover he already had/knew all along. His last revelation (won't tell you, find out for yourselves) was truly heart breaking. Everyone should go see this movie.

That time of the year again...

Yea, so I already feel like a hundred but this time I had a great kick off - drinks at 230 Fifth's rooftop bar. Heard all about it & it seriously deserved all the hoo hah. Too bad the weather wasn't cooperative and good thing management provided thick fleece blankets for patrons. We started out with about 10 peeps & as the night progressed, only Beth & myself were left waiting for Jeremy to fly in. The appetizers were surprisingly good (and Malaysian! - didn't know that before) and when the man finally showed up, we moved to the rooftop and cocooned ourselves. The view was really worth the cold that night. Quentin & Amy showed up & we called it a night at 12:30 am.

After brunch at Pastis, Jeremy, Bea & I played tourists & boarded those red double decker buses that locals laugh at. It was fun running around town doing the Uptown (to Harlem proper), Downtown (got off in Chinatown) and the Night Loops after dinner. Walter was supposed to meet us for dinner at Bar 89 in SoHo but he missed the train, and then Bea decided to ditched us! So I took Jeremy to Nyonya & he liked the food (don't know anyone who doesn't, seriously). We hopped onto the Night Loop bus as soon as we saw it coming down Grand Street and as it was shorter than we thought, we squeezed in a movie as well. We didn't like The Darjeeling Limited at all (disjointed storyline, too weird) and I definitely enjoyed The Royal Tennenbaums more. So glad Jeremy finally got to see the city beyond the PATH train and Cortlandt Street. I think he had a really good time & I'm looking forward to more of London next month :-)

Went home on Sunday and mom cooked all my favorite dishes for dinner. No cake this year but got the new iPod Nano! I was so surprised, thinking geez I'm to old for presents!

Utterly Devastated

Just like the final score, the Haka was too close

The All Blacks lost - again! Is there some curse on the Kiwis or why the hell can' t they win the RWC?! We started the day happy with brunch; happy that all of us were finally brought together for the ABs (yes, even Benny came out after his sabbatical).

We decided to go somewhere new on the Upper West Side and The Parlour was filled with Frenchies (I won't go there again!). Once more, we were the minority but Sanjay, Aaron & co. from the Kiwi Club joined us. I screamed my head off and probably injured Liam & Hillary from gripping their shoulders and knees. Alas we lost by 2 fucking points - it was really unbelievable. Being on top all these years and when it really counted, we didn't deliver. Geez another 4 years?!

We had to drown our sorrows somewhere else and Pam very generously hosted us at her Manhattan-luxury balcony. The plan was to drink till it was time to go to Brandy's Piano Bar but the lot of us didn't even make it past 10:30 pm on a Saturday night!

But here's the consolation, courtesy of Helen:Nick Evans & Luke McAllister...and of course, my Dan Carter

La la la..

Sigh, one more oopsy-daisy moment... And let's not forget about "You Don't Know Dick"

Also, is this a fair assessment of Gen Y?

Two Tuesdays

This is the first time where it's Tuesday again. It was somber, with a lot of us in black and the sky was as grey as people's moods. Our building's PA system helped us observe the four moments of silence as we looked out our windows into the ceremony at Ground Zero. This year it was at Zuccotti Park, where we sometimes go for lunch. I didn't want to take pictures, feeling intrusive if I did. Some people from work chose not to come in.

I couldn't help but watch the History Channel relive that day. This is the only shot I'll have on this...

Kathy and Vinny's Wedding

Didn't get to her church ceremony in Brooklyn, but the lot of us were at her reception at The South Shore Country Club. A bit of a trek out there, thank god Scherrie picked Hazel & I up from Brooklyn's Flatbush Ave. subway station & then drove to Staten Island. Kathy was absolutely gorgeous, so "grown up" looking & we all felt like proud parents indeed. It was especially fun to see our boss boogeying the night away...



More pictures to come when we've settled down (preparing for a huge review in a few days).

In London town...

Regent St., SwindonSwindon streetAvebury stone circlesAncient horse carving, Avebury
The Red Lion, AveburyBig Ben from Trafalgar Sq.

Real tubeUnderground

The National GalleryPiccadilly Circus
Beautiful rowDowning St.

Westminster AbbeyBig Ben
London Eye (half)Buckingham Palace/The Mall

... to see the Queen put on her crown. No, not really. It was for work. Of course, it's all about work these days (I mean, weeks, months... whatever, feels like ages now). It's all consuming - I need a vacation!

I needed to get to the Swindon campus first, so I decided to fly in by Sunday morning & have a day to adjust. Bad idea for someone who can't sleep even during 19 hour flights, but hey, I have workaholic/masochistic tendencies, I think. I did manage to fall asleep on the ride to Swindon from Heathrow - therefore missing some good Wiltshire countryside scenery ;-(

Hung around the hotel a bit before deciding to check out the town center. Cab dropped me off at the Regent Street pedestrian walk/strip mall area & all that shopping took me about an hour, tops! Was starved by then but pubs stopped serving at 4 pm & restaurants don't open for dinner till 6 o'clock - what is a famished tourist/workhorse to do?! (Was regretting decision not to call Jeremy at this point.) Back to The Ivy & managed to keep awake for dinner service, then crashed. Encountered an English curiosity here - what's with the separate hot & cold water taps?! I either had to scald or freeze myself & felt a bit silly swinging my hands from side to side in the sink.... but the strong water pressure (therefore made a really great shower experience) that pelts you made up for this.

Had dinner up at Bath on Monday night & was taken around the GORGEOUS town. The very sad fact was that all this ooh-ing and ah-ing about the architecture, Abbey, Pulteney Bridge & Bath Weir, cobble stone streets with overflowing flower pots, wonderful shops & restaurants etc. occured after dark. Therefore no pictures. I have to come back some day. The bunch of overworked us were in each other's good company though. Even when we almost ran out of gas & was banking that Chippenham's gas station was still open.

Tuesday was the first time I was really a drive-by tourist - Jeremy driving & me snapping pictures. He took me to Avebury, famous for its own ancient stone circles, mounds, crop circles & giant carvings into limestone hills. Had a pub lunch in supposedly haunted The Red Lion (where Harley bikers congregate at certain times), back to work till 9:30 (!) and had dinner in Old Towne.

An early Wednesday morning pick up (missed breakfast) to the Hammersmith, London office was a killer. Meet & greet, work work work.... Met up with Elaine in the evening & thank god for her taking me around to Oxford St., Marble Arch, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Sq., Trafalgar Sq. & Chinatown.

A miscommunication Thursday caused us an hour's wait (each separately, she at the tube ticket counter & I on the street) at the Piccadilly Circus station. So off I went walking blindly towards Pall Mall and oh, nice arch.... and oh, that speck at the end looks like a mighty lot like Buckingham Palace. But I was too lazy to actually make it there.

So I doubled back towards Big Ben (having seen it from Trafalgar Sq. & what I now know is Whitehall) and walked & walked. Hey, there's the London Eye; hey, why are people staring into a gated area (found out today that is Downing St. where the PM lives, duh); Houses of Parliament (I knew) and hey, that's Westminster Abbey! By then I was walking in an almost circle & exhausted. Hopped onto bus 25 back to Trafalgar & got lost again before getting underground (no air conditioning - how do people get by in the summer?!).

Checked out at 6 am & thankfully found Niall's chocolates at the airport (not at Tesco). Oh that reminds me - I couldn't find Gerardo's Tesco white chocolates & cheese biscuits either (Cadbury ain't bad, right?). And I forgot to get his money from JD. I am a bad, bad travelling 'saleswoman'.