James McAvoy... so near yet so far...

I've just been watching Atonement on Sky Movies (one of my favourite movies EVER!!!).

So I thought I'd share a secret with you seeing as I'm reminded of it (not a v exciting secret really but hey!)... ok, you know the scenes where Robbie walks through the French countryside towards Dunkirk with his army pals Tommy and Frank? When Robbie finds the murdered schoolgirls in the orchard?

Weeeellll... 95% of those "French" countryside scenes were filmed within a 9 mile radius of my house!!!! I get a bit of a kick whenever that part comes on :D although if I'm honest it looks much better on film than it does in real life!

James McAvoy - 6 miles from my house!!!!! *SIGH*

This is a typical Fenland landscape... oh, if only Mr McAvoy was a regular feature...

It's picturesque sure, but can be very bleak in winter

In "real life" this is the Denver Sluice - it controls water levels on the tidal river to stop the Fens from being flooded

The massive skies are so AMAZING in my neck of the woods, I'm so lucky to live here even if it is pretty boring - we really do get sunsets like this! (digitally added smoke is an optional extra!). On a clear day you can easily see upwards of 15 miles into the distance.

The filming was reported in my local newspapers at the time but of course it was all top secret... if I'd have known that James McAvoy was so close I'd have been there like a shot and watched it ;) I swear, that man IS going to be my husband one day. Well to be honest I'm undecided between James, Josh Hartnett and Declan Donnelly but you know, a girl's gotta have choices!

And this is my 25th post!! Happy silver post to my Blog! :D It's been a long time coming, but what better way to honour it than James McAvoy and a tribute to my homeland?!

xx

Last day of Summer 2009???

Feelin' hot baby! Today has been scorchio!! It was THIS hot when I left work today:

Half of the car had been in the sun though!! After I had driven the couple of miles home, the real temperature was:

One downside is that I have been stuck inside the office all day (hurrah for air con!), but I did manage to actually feel some of that lovely summer air when I took the post, wow that was the highlight of my day ;)

And the nice weather's going to end tomorrow, boooo. I'm sure it knows when a weekend is looming.

The other downside is the fact that it STINKS here atm. It almost takes your breath away haha! I think all of the local farmers have decided to take advantage of the balmy weather to do a spot of muck spreading. As if they don't annoy all of us enough by causing massive traffic jams because they insist on taking their tractors onto the roads when we are all going to and from work!

The whole town is suffocating under the heady aroma of Eau De S****e. Nice.

Sunday blog again!

I hope you've all had a good week my lovelies!

I've really slacked this week with blogging!! It wasn't my intention, just been one of those busy weeks. I've been reading blogs now and again but not getting round to writing one myself...

Well, following my last post I am pleased to report that Harry Potter was AMAZING!!! I absolutely loved it! I think that it's the best HP film yet by far and Steph loved it too. I actually wanted to cry in two places (how sad is that!!) but I didn't because I thought "OMG you can't cry at a Harry Potter film!!"... some people around me were though.

If you're not into HP you'll think I'm completely mad... but I loved this scene :D

Steph & I about to meet Mr Potter :)

Also, I haven't forgotten about my remaining Germany posts, I will get round to it eventually... it's just that I have a terrible habit of writing too much once I get started, and I find that hours have suddenly vanished!

On Thursday I went to see my Counsellor for the first time. I had a bad time in January/February and my GP referred me so that I could talk things through and exorcise some ghosts that have haunted me for years. Six months later and I finally got an appointment. BTW, this is not an NHS bashing comment. In light of recent STUPID comments by a certain politician, it is probably a good time to make it clear that I LOVE the NHS!! I have certainly had cause to use it many times throughout the course of my life and the service has been brilliant... it's just a sad fact that there are lots of depressed people around at the moment so I had to wait my turn! I am much, much better than I was but know that I need to get everything out of my system once and for all.

It was only an assessment session this week where she told me what it involved and then asked me for some background info before we start proper in a fortnight. As soon as I opened my mouth I cried and kept crying for almost the duration of the session... I couldn't believe it! I TOLD myself that I wouldn't cry, whatever happened. I really HATE crying in front of other people. What a wally!!

Thinking it all over later that evening I started to feel really angry with people and situations long since in the past, generally stuff that I've buried somewhere deep in my brain. It kind of surprised me, not least because I'm not an angry person. I do get mildly annoyed (quite frequently haha!) but this was real burning anger, an alien feeling for me and not pleasant. Instead of punching the life out of a pillow or something, I chatted to my lovely Aunty Sue. She probably understands me the best out of my entire family. It helped. I love you Aunty Sue! xx

Oh, I didnt get to see any meteors either because it was cloudy. Gutted!

Odelle & I at the start of the night!

Last night I went on a girls night out in the next town to celebrate my friend Odelle's birthday (her birthday is on Tuesday) and had a brilliant time even though I didn't drink as I had to drive home (I live around 20 mins drive from where Odelle lives). There were 7 of us and we started off at a pub and then went to a local Chinese restaurant where we were booked in for one of those "All You Can Eat" meals. The food was LUSH, and always a good opportunity to try lots of new dishes :)

We had a bit of a supernatural moment though - still in shock about it!! We were all sitting chatting between courses ... and our friend Donna's wine glass suddenly shattered in her hand!! It literally seemed to pop and wine flew up her arm. We all sat open mouthed silence for a few seconds trying to comprehend what had just happened. Luckily Donna was fine as the glass had fallen onto the table, although she was a wee bit wine soaked (luckily white not red!). We tried to explain to the waitress what happened but she clearly thought that Donna had been messing around with it.... though to be fair exploding glasses are not an everyday occurence!

We went back to the pub afterwards and sat in the beer garden. It was such a hot night (still 21 degrees C at 1am when Jayne's hubby gave us a lift back to Odelle's) and it wasn't too busy either so we all just sat, completely chilling out... bliss! It was a bit strange being the only sober person though - for a change!

It was about 1:40am by the time I left Odelle's and although I was tired it was one of the nicest drives I've ever had, even though I've used that stretch of road hundreds of times before. I'm 45 mins from Cambridge and 90 minutes from London but live in a rural area. The drive between Odelle's town and my town takes you through the deepest darkest Fens with no light pollution, and the stars were absolutely breathtaking. I have honestly never seen such a vivid blanket of stars before. The moon hung bright and low in the East. When I got home I went into my back garden and stared upwards for ages. It was so quiet and still, a perfect summer's night :)

I got to bed at about 4am I think, and got up at 11:30am, though to be honest I probably would have slept a lot longer if the phone hadn't woken me. Haven't managed to wake up all day really! I've even had to resort to coffee, and I never drink coffee :)

I'm going to toodle off to bed now - oh gosh as usual I've rambled on far too much - have probably sent you to sleep too! This is what happens when I write a post without a clear objective... Note to self: MUST CONCENTRATE!!

xx

Harry Potter AT LAST!!

Oh, I am sooooo excited!!!!

Steph and I are FINALLY going to see Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince at the cinema tomorrow night!!!

I will post on my love for all things Potter another time, but will leave you with this little peek. I know most people have seen it now but oh well ;) enjoy if you haven't!

xx



Ummmm.... for some reason the right hand section of the video is cropped/missing... maybe that's why it was the only Potter trailer that I could embed into my blog!!??

Sloth day and random thoughts...

I felt like blogging just now as have lots of random thoughts floating around my head (so apologies in advance if this post is weird). Don't feel like writing a massive blog like yesterday but rest assured Part 2 will follow soon!

I have been sooo lazy today.... I did all of my housework on Friday evening and yesterday and even have an empty washing basket, wooo! :]

So with my empty day I did absolutely NOTHING. Just as I'd planned after the trials and events of the last few weeks!

Had a nice long bath this morning, watched the Sex & The City movie on Sky then watched Allo Allo and the EastEnders omnibus, grazed on cereal and biscuits, cooked dinner at 4pm, spoke to my friend Odelle on the phone, tried in vain several times to upload my Germany pics onto Facebook (why why WHY wont it let me??? Stupid Facebook! Grrrrr!) and basically just lazed around. I haven't seen anyone all day. Oh, and I just ate a strawberry French Fancy. Yum. Good old Mr Kipling :]

Was great watching the Sex & The City Movie again as Lisa and I were lucky enough to be in NYC when they were filming it. And we even got to watch some filming down a side street on the Upper East Side one freezing cold night!!!!! Get such a buzz when I see that scene in the finished movie :]] We did the SATC Official Bus Tour too on a different day and it was fabulous (and I have said "Fabulous" as a form of punctuation far too many times since).

Anyway, I can't remember the last time that I have been such a sloth... I LOVE lazy Sundays!

Have been wondering how my mum, stepdad and sister are getting on camping in Dorset. They have never been camping before and when I last spoke to my mum on Thursday she said that it had been raining for 40 hours solid and their tent had started leaking :/ and Olivia was really missing Twilight (I borrowed her DVD a few weeks ago and couldn't give it back before they went as I was in Germany and was ill before that so she doesn't have it for her portable player. Oops. Sorry Liv xx)

Speaking of Twilight, I must be the only person in the world who hasn't read them yet, although I do have the first two books and keep meaning to start. I think I'd have gotten more from the movie if I had. I thought it was ok. Beautifully shot but the girl who played Bella reminded me visually too much of Emma Watson (Hermione in Harry Potter). But then I was ill with swine flu at the time. Could have been hallucinating. Think it deserves a second viewing ;]

Am annoyed with my BlackBerry too as it keeps freezing and the address book function is kaput so I can't enter new numbers etc. Can upgrade now if I want and I have my eye on the iPhone, but can't afford it at the moment. Will wait until next month when I have cleared my credit card bill of July's travels. Oh, I am just too sensible for my own good sometimes.

Wish it wasn't Monday tomorrow.

Oh, before I go, have you heard this new song by A-Ha?? I am currently slightly obsessed by it. I can remember my cousin Claire playing their music back in the 80's... that makes me feel so old!

xx

30th July - 2nd August 2009: Day 1 - Road Trip!!

As you have probably guessed I've made it safely home from my travels! I missed Blogger, how silly I know, but I did! Am really looking forward to catching up with everyone's posts :)

As for my recent travels, wow, what an amazing experience from start to finish... I don't think I've laughed so much or felt so insanely HAPPY for months - some of my favourite people ever all together makes a very happy me!

I've decided to break the weekend down into different posts as otherwise there would be just too much for anyone to read ;)

Firstly, Gizmo cat was a very good boy when I took him to the Cattery last Wednesday and I got him into his travelling basket without any fuss. Actually I was a bit sneaky and managed to disguise the procedure by scooping him up and giving him a big cuddle, then carried him into the kitchen while he was blissfully purring and just popped him into the basket. It took him a couple of seconds to realise where he was, by which time the lid was down and securely fastened! Result - no stressed cat and no stressed me!

Thursday. I was up at 6am and due to my good preparation the night before I was soon ready for Jen and Adrian to pick me up at 7am. They were running a wee bit late and arrived at 7:20am. Why is it that when you are given a time for something people are always stupidly early or running late?! It's no biggie, I wasn't annoyed as these things do happen... just mildly irked I suppose as I HATE waiting! Oh well, at least I was ready :)

Then we were off. It was a lovely sunny morning and everything went well until we got caught in traffic on the M11 past Cambridge, and then we hit traffic again on the M25. There was an accident on the opposite carriageway which resulted in 16 mile tailbacks, and then people on our carriageway were inevitably "rubbernecking" which caused jams for us, but after about 30 minutes we were on our way again.

It didn't take long to reach Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel, and there was time to buy some drinks and magazines etc before we were called to start boarding, yay! (Inevitably we had already eaten our packed lunches and most of the sweets!!)

It was VERY strange crossing the French border while still firmly on English soil!

Boarding!!

This is a bit of a strange observation, but we were all surprised that the crossing was not as smooth as we were expecting. It was just like a normal train track (duhhh!) and bumpy in places - we were all expecting a super smooth ride, especially as we weren't aware that we were even moving until we looked out of the window! It was pretty cool too when the announcement came that we were exactly half way under the Channel between the UK and France :)

Leaving the Channel Tunnel in France presented us with our biggest problem of the whole trip. We got right royally lost. Yes, on the very first roundabout to exit onto the French road network!

We quickly learnt that the French roadsign system was total and utter pants. Never have I been anywhere so confusing. We needed to get to Brussels via Calais but two exits on opposite sides of the roundabout contradicted each other - the road numbers were the same on both so which one to take??!! Our travel directions were no help so after going round and round a few times we decided to take the one with the biggest [no local route] sign, hoping that it would be the one pointing tourists in the right direction... WRONG.

To cut a long story short we realised that we were heading down towards Paris rather than making our way across to Belgium, and finding somewhere to exit the motorway proved a problem too, especially as we ended up paying several toll charges to get back onto the right road! An hour later we ended up right back where we started...

In the middle, the green dome of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Brussels

Flanders fields

Tea dilemma somewhere in Belgium: we were desperate for a nice cup of tea but of course no British tea was to be found at roadside service stations. Jenny solved the problem by getting some teabags from the car! They still charged us 2.99 Euros each for a cup of boiling water though...

Filling up with diesel was amusing as we didn't realise that you have to pre-pay in Belgium. All three of us were out of the car trying to figure what was wrong with the pump haha! Very good idea, I think, as it solves the problem of fuel theft and plus you don't have to search for change if you go over 20.00 :D

We then drove through the bottom of Holland (which took 22 minutes!) and into Germany. Holland was very strange. We live in an area called The Fens and have grown up knowing that the Dutch drained the Fens in the 1600's, but actually seeing Holland was surreal as it was exactly like being at home. Crazy, crazy similarity!

We realised that the 8pm eta was somewhat optimistic thanks to our "detour" in France and stopped at another service station in Germany to eat from the Burger King outlet before preparing ourselves for the long drive to the Stuttgart area.

Rhine Valley, Germany: I loved this. A solitary white Church on a HUGE hillside. (I've cropped the photo) The cross is just about visible on the summit. Beautiful scene.

The German leg of the journey went pretty quickly considering that it was the longest part by far. The Autobahn system was brilliant and put British roads to shame. It was a little disconcerting at first as there was no strict speed limit (they have suggested limits for wet and dry conditions) and some very nice cars sped past us like F1 cars!! Speaking of F1, we drove past the Nurburgring and Hockenheimring!

We were completely blown away by the beauty of the Rhine Valley. Absolutely stunning. I shall never forget it. We amused ourselves by wondering if a place called Ludwigshafen actually existed? We had seen this place signposted ever since we crossed the German border and hours later we still hadn't passed it!! [it does exist, I just googled it haha!]

Sunset in Germany :)

It was only really when darkness fell that we started feeling a little fed up and tired. Luckily we were about an hour away from our destination by this point, although strange roads in darkness always seem never ending.

We eventually left the Autobahn and made for the small town where Louise and Gerhard live, and I was pleased that I could remember some of the streets from my visit last year. We finally reached our Hotel, the delightful Hotel Schober, and received a wonderful warm welcome from one of the lady proprieters (two sisters run the Hotel) who had been very concerned as we were so late... our 8pm arrival had turned into a 10:45pm check-in!

If you are looking for a nice, friendly hotel in Germany, look no further! It was great, although a travel kettle is highly recommended for dedicated tea drinkers :)

11:45pm and bed. Sleep was difficult despite exhaustion as it was soooo hot and humid, and nerves were beginning to jangle somewhat! Next installment: wedding!!!!