Starsuckers!

Last night I caught up with my friend Alex and we went along to the BFI London Film Festival in Leicester Square to see the movie STARSUCKERS!

It was a movie documentary based around the media and how it influences us and encourages in our choices and will one day mean we vote for politicians who are famous people, because everyone wants to be famous....right?

Parts of it hilarious, parts of it like you are at a lecture, parts of it cringe worthy or down right scary. It seems a little one sided, but is a point of view and points of view are important in making an informed decision.

So you decide, preview it here on -
You Tube...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnJQua9SmV8

And then it was darker

Autumn, well at the moment I am loving it, actually well I was until we "fell back" an hour and daylight saving was no longer our ally in saving the world from darkness at 4pm. I walk home from work, or part of the way at least, and I had been very much enjoying watching the squirrels run about and the gradual arrival of the winter Canada "Guard" Geese into St James's park. Seriously they stare you out like, "hey lady if you come one step closer to this fence....I so seriously will bite your hand off, go on I dare you".

View of London and Autumn St James's Park from my office

Then all of a sudden on Monday night I went to walk and the park was pitch black at 5.30pm, no chance of walking through to even see my hand let alone the squirrels. It was dark but not unsafe, still lots of people around, walking, jogging, with personal trainers and sitting on the benches. It was then I realised, oh my goodness, when will I get to see the squirrels after work again, as I really might not. I suddenly missed them.

View down my road at home with all the leaves gathering on the paths

It also made the enjoyable thought of walking home after work, sound not so fun anymore, because I cannot see beautiful London with the horse guards parade on Whitehall with the London eye peeking over the top, the lights on it are red this time of year. I thought to myself that maybe I would get up earlier and walk in the morning instead. Then I thought HA - who am I kidding, when all else is put against sleep, I am sorry but sleep ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS wins.

Aside from that we are having a beautiful Autumn as you can see from my photos, lots of leaves changing colours and the weather has been quite balmy too and no rain really at all. So not too cold to stand outside the pub or walk to the night bus if you miss the tube close at 12.30am.

I am going to get out at the weekend to take some more Autumn photos before all the leaves disappear when the trees shake themselves free of leaves, as if shivering with the cold, to show their bare skeletons for winter for what will be my last London winter. Sigh.

A week in the life

Ok prepare yourself, an example of my life, this is last week! Oh its not that exciting really! You will be snoring by Wednesday, so its good to read right before bed, as an alternative to counting sheep perhaps.

MONDAY

7.45am - drag myself out of bed, cram in a cup of tea, muesli, shower make up....etc

8.30am - out the door

8.40am - on the Northern line tube and reading standing up (change to District/Circle line for 2 stops)

9.15am - arrive at work, set up desk, get tea and start my workday

1.00pm - working through lunch, again, have soup from home

5.00pm - leave work, walk 15 minutes to Charing Cross station so only have to take one line home

6.00pm - check emails briefly, avoiding computer as have pulled a muscle, do a load of washing

7.15pm - off to Pilates class

8.30pm - dinner and TV, potter bits and bobs the usual

11.30pm - Bed

TUESDAY

7.45 - 9.15am - same as Monday

1.00pm - lunch (soup from home)

6pm - leave work and walk to Goodge street stopping via Tottenham Court Road to check out shops

7.30pm - Northern line home

8.00pm - home, TV, wash hair and late dinner with Mark

WEDNESDAY

7.45 - 9.15am - same as Monday

1.00pm - lunch (soup from canteen - root vegetables...mmm...(urgh Not!)

5.00pm - out the door

5.30pm - physio massage at Snow Hill, near St Pauls

7.00pm - mad dash back via Kentish Town and down to Camden to meet Mark

7.30pm - "Date Night" dinner at Andy's Taverna, mmm Greek food

9.00pm - "Couples Retreat" with Vince Vaughn at the Odeon - its ok, but only ok.

11.30pm - home at last...sleep time

THURSDAY

7.45 - 9.15am - same as Monday...bored yet!

1.30pm - quick trip tp M&S to see if they have the dress I need for next week (nope) but I got sushi for lunch, how I miss Sushi Train!!

6.00pm - out the door

6.20pm - meet Jade and Shauna at National Portrait Gallery for 60's Photography Exhibition - Beatles to Bowie (it was really good)

8.30pm - dinner in Covent Garden

11.00pm - home and missed Question Time, drat oh well 8 million others watched it

11.30pm - bed time....though it could have been later

FRIDAY

7.45 - 9.15am - same as Monday...bored still....but I did get a bacon sandwich

12.30pm - lunch at the A&E Pub with Rachael and Amy

2.00pm - back at work

5.30pm - out the door and straight home

6.45pm - walk to Gospel Oak to catch the train to West Hampstead

7.00pm - Red Lion pub for drinks with Matt and Cristina for their leaving do, then on to Alice Bar next door

1.00pm - home and crashed out, one cocktail too many

SATURDAY

10.30am - get up have a cup of tea, potter, bugger around do bits and bobs of tidying, shower, dress etc.

1.00pm - tube down to Waterloo, grab hot choccy then train to Clapham for shopping in TK Maxx (outlet store)

4.30pm - done, Mark has new jeans, work trouser, socks and undies. I got a new dress, handbag and leather gloves. All at bargain basement prices!

5.30pm - Oxford Street, just briefly when we realised the time, Marks work shoes will have to wait

6.30pm - back home getting ready to go out

7.00pm - tube to Oxford Circus and walk down to Club Bar and dinning in Soho

7.30pm - Dinner with the Ibarras and all the others

12.30am - miss the tube and walk to catch the night bus

1.00am - home at last.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

SUNDAY

10.30am - out of bed and cup of tea

11.00am - Mark makes breaky - bacon sandwiches

11.30am - shower, dress and out the door for the tube to WORK

12.30pm - at work...work...work....ah work

4.30pm - quick shop at Sainsbury's for dinner stuff, we have spagetti bol...

5.30pm - home, put a wash on, tidy, watch some Meerkat Manor

6.30pm - put on dinner and chill with Mark watching TopGear and Emma

11.30pm - early night...lights out!

Ok firstly no I am not a Mum nor pregnant!

Working mums unite, we can do it all! Can we? Yes we can, urgh or No we cannot, or does it depend? As I am not a working mum well its really hard for me to say, however I have a take and an opinion on it as you never know maybe I will be; a working mum. Maybe I will be a stay at home mum, or rather working full time as a mum. Why am I discussing this, well I was reading an article in Maddison (thanks Anne, getting my Aussie magazine fix, because a weekly Grazia, Look and Heat is just not enough) about working Mums and it spurred me into thinking.

Mums it seems go back to work for the social interaction that it gives and the fact that their brains get a work out beyond nappy changing, burping, baby food and the Wiggles. However going back work wise is going to definitely be easier depending on the job you are doing. The article interviews three mums and one of those Tracey Spicer (Sky News) definitely has it easier then the average accountant/lawyer/company manager and 9-5 mum. Her day enables her to work at home for one whilst baby is entertained by the Wiggles. Hummm, really. Then day 2 she has a lunch meeting again baby in tow...oh yeah. Straight away to me its a bit biased, the average mum simply cannot do that in her job. Feeling the pressure.

I know one such average Mum and she does work from home one day a week for convenience, and her little girl gets trotted out to childcare, because otherwise she would get nothing done as her daughter would constantly demand her time and attention. When she is in the office she works hard to do her role while she is there, but is exhausted to have to run home at 5pm on the dot each day, she doesn't have the luxury of putting in extra time (which she did prior to being a mum without a second thought), to be there to be seen.

It certainly doesn't help with the boys club ideal of being at work till 6-7pm even though they probably could do their work in less time and too leave on the dot at 5pm, but they do have that option of staying later and looking like they are working harder. This simply adds pressure to those mums too.

http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/mum_in_profile.html

Look at the article above, out of 23 mums in question only 2 of them have real jobs (ie not celebrity mums), like you and me and well most of the planet. Even then those 2 are CEO's of their own companies and most likely have the ability to delegate effectively where required along with dictating their own hours. Don't get me wrong, I am not dissing these women, they are doing a great job, its just not the norm.

Its articles and interviews like this with the Celebrity type mums saying you can do it all is just not fair for real working mums and puts so much pressure on "normal job" mums. They have a different lifestyle and they will have it easier until we can dictate our hours and ensure flexible family working.

I am not even a mum yet, but the pressure is there and I can only imagine what it will be like. I do like the ability to stay late at work when I need to get in a deadline, but what about when I won't be able to do that? What will I feel like. I know I should feel like I have done enough and now its time to go home to what is important and that is the family. I know it will be busy and hectic juggling both, but I know I will do both as well as i can and be ok with the fact that if something has to suffer it will be my job.

Women are most critical of themselves and well I know its a good thing to have such high standards and aim for them but at what cost? I don't want to compare myself to a celebrity mum as I will have a breakdown of sorts, I already try to do everything and more, and I will still want to do all of that and more again when I have children! Oh dear, but I know now, it will be ok if I cannot.

So if your a mum and your reading this, its ok to be exhausted, its ok to be thinking I cannot do this and its ok to do your best, you don't have to be super mum and don't even try, it will give you bags and wrinkles, thus will hinder your yummy mummy status. I am not a mum yet, but when I am, I will heed (maybe eat) my own written words here - guaranteed.

Pub quizzes are us!

Well I have not written on here again, for a while. This time its because well I am injured and its nothing new, just my rotten old shoulder injury that I endured in Australia come back to haunt me. Luckily for me its most painful when perched in (how to describe) marionette pose over a computer keyboard - so for at least 8-9 hours on any given day!

Thus work, which for most people is a general pain in arse, now is a pain in the shoulder also. Duh, the marionette pose, well its the closest I could think of for the "at computer" positioned over a glowing plastic electric....book (!!)....stance... Oh, you know what I mean!

I don't have health insurance over here, so its a great comfort that a £95 physio fee is out of reach, but I am fortunate in that I have 2 friends who are masseuses and one of those just finished her physio degree. Whew.

Anyway, tonight Mark and I trouped down to the local pub, me with book in hand (am back onto historical fiction so it was Phillipa Gregory - The Other Queen), so Mark could watch Lyon troop all over Liverpool in the football. Fortunately the football was not on, but we decided to continue our plans to stay and have dinner anyway.

These were then interrupted with the publican inviting us to join in the Tuesday night pub quiz. A music quiz...Dad where were you!! We were appallingly rubbish and rightfully deserved our wooden spoon (coming 5th - it wasn't very busy). Its lowest moment had to be when I got one of the listening ones - Doris Day singing for the film Calamity Jane (2 points) - oh my goodness how did I know that.

Though to be honest it was mostly English music and older stuff, anyway, thems is my excuses. Oh and we called our team - if you could call it that - "Pooh is us!". Hahahaaaaa. Note to self avoid the pub on Tuesday. Self duly noted.

Cornwall, just a couple..

Some photos from Cornwall, and please see more at;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/weekendtourists/

Bodmin Moors, Dozmary Pools, where the Lady of the Lake was...but who knows

Flowers at Lizard Point, the southern most point of England
Dad in Plymouth where the Mayflower left from to head to America

Mark in the caves at Port Issac which was one of the most beautiful little towns I have ever seen

And the amazing view from Port Issac around to Port Gaverne which is a sheltered harbour

On the way past Devon and the pretty town of Totnes, this is to the castle

Mark at Lands End, the Western most point of England

And me at Tintagel Castle...what is left of it, again lots of stories of King Arthur here.

Chinese Wedding Mayhem

Firstly, big congratulations to Dickson and Szu-Yuen on getting married..... now *singing* “Dix and Su went to the chap-el and they got mar-aarrr-ried…..” And then they had a Chinese banquet...

Dix & Szu with Joe toasting

Mark and I attended with quite a few of our friends. We had been warned we were not to eat during the day, though having gone to Mark’s friend Ahmad’s for a quiet BBQ lunch, it was a bit hard not to. The dinner was a whopping 10 courses, but all really healthy food really, just put in the middle of the table for us to help ourselves.

But back to the beginning, we got there for 6.30pm, and we were not late – amazing. We greeted the bride Su in full Chinese traditional dress and groom Dickson with their families and we were ushered up to our room on the 3rd floor. The restaurant is one of the nicest in China town Soho and is on 3 floors, the wedding was rather large (only 300 odd people) so the entire place was booked out.

The Happy couple sing

I think we were all banished to the top floors, due to the common knowledge that we’d hijack the Karaoke to dance and sing away, as a combined unit, till the wee small hours, jostling those on the lower floors to the point they’d think there was an earthquake. They were right indeed that we did do.

The food was lovely, we had beef and pork, then scallops, lobsters, fish, abalone with Chinese mushrooms, a rice dish, a noodle dish, followed by a sweet bean custard (looks like chocolate….but definitely does not taste like it) with lotus root biscuits (YUM) and oranges. It was all quite something all coming out over the space of about 2-3 hours.

Goodness knows what they were singing...probably Guns n Roses

It all started going mad when the Bride and Groom had to toast the tables (its tradition that they must do a toast with every table – so much chinking of glassware), they came up stairs, with their parents who were more than encouraging and they had quite a few. Our room had four tables, and there were about 36 in total, and going easy was not an option. Then during dinner Karaoke was put on, so eating became our second priority.

You name it they did; Mark and I did a duet for Dancing Queen, we had Bohemian Rhapsody, I predict a Riot (the microphone was shoved my way for that one and there was much jumping around), Welcome to the Jungle, Walk alone (just to annoy Barnaby as its Liverpool’s song and he supports Everton, who are another team from the Liverpool area), Take on Me, New York New York, Valerie, Final Countdown (Mari loved it), a bit of Girls Aloud, and serious amounts of Guns and Roses…for all the guitar hero soloists in the room (seems most of them).



Towards the end when all the other guests had left (except our room) we coaxed Dix and Su into doing a song, well it wasn’t difficult really and they did Especially for You, THE Kylie and Jason song – hilarious. By then it was nearly midnight and we all had one last request, in unison we all screamed Mr Brightside. After that little number with about 25 of us jumping around, causing minor cracks to open in the walls, we were exhausted and it was time to go home. It was a great night out, even if we did catch a night bus home on a school night.

Randomness

Excited that a book about Thomas Cromwell won the Man Booker prize this year, extra food for my addiction to historical fiction centered around the 15th centry and Henry VIII. Looking forward to reading that.

Pissed off about pushy people on the tube, its not crucial to move 1 foot closer to the door and interupt me to do so, and right when we have only justed moved off from one station so you can get out 1 foot ahead at the next - two minutes away still! Your only going to be one of those people on the escalator who stands, so you will SAVE NO TIME, nadda, yip...in fact you might actually go backwards!! grrrrrrr.

Am tired...so tired. Hate being tired. More cause stress, job in want of going permanent and its mine for the taking (including taking into consideration of my situation) BUT at a cost. Hummmm feel bullet biting coming on and rock and hard place deliberations going on, so not fun.

Looking forward to a browse at the Ted Baker sample sale tomorrow morning, might be more for Mark than me, I never find things on sale, the new seasons shiney new and perfectly shelved and hung garmets are so more tempting. Given its a sample sale will find nothing in my size and won't be tempted by new stuff as its only a sample sale.

AND NOW....bugger it going to bed. PS did anyone get my email....*sniff sniff*