No snow

While the rest of the UK seems to be drowning under blankets of snow, sadly it has not hit Surbiton... Once we had got back to London I was quite happy for it to snow down here but it seems to have missed us :-(. And now it is raining so that will be it until the next cold snap. Sigh - I do love it when it snows!

Happy Christmas!

Hi all,

Well I hope you had a good christmas. As I type Kevin and I have just returned from our christmas up in Wem. Winter has hit the UK now and there is lots of snow around. Not in our area yet and luckily we didn't hit any snow on the way back down. We went up to Wem on Friday morning - very early, so we were up there by 10. Then on Christmas day it was off over to Telford to spend the day with Kevin's sister and family. Haven't spent christmas day with a four year old for a few years now - had forgotten how noisy they get! Then on Boxing day it was back to Wem as Kevin's aunt and uncle were coming over. Then on Boxing day evening Kevin got ill... No one can work out if it was food poisoning (both his mum and sister strenuously deny it was them!) or too much rich food but he was not a well boy. While Kevin's mum, dad and me sat and watched a frothy version of 'Under the Greenwood Tree' poor old Kevin was in the bathroom feeling very unwell.

So we had an extra day in Wem while he recovered but are now both very happy to be back in Surbs. Hoping for some snow, planning to hit the sales and go and watch King Kong - happy holidays indeed!

And a somewhat formulaic response from the band...

Hi MeganThanks for dropping us a line. We do appreciate the effort you made to attend the gig and take note of your concerns. Take care.Cher!
Freddy

The UK and a smoking ban

So the Labour Government over here is struggling with trying to bring in a smoking ban for pubs etc (a la NZ and Ireland). It was going to be an all out ban, but they wimped out so now we are in a stupid situation where if a pub is serving food it has to be non-smoking, but if a pub doesn't serve food it can be smoking.

So everyone is leaping up and down saying it is going to be unworkable (which it probably will be), and that all the bar staff in the pubs that don't serve food will be unfairly affected by even more smoke than usual... People on the radio were talking about rest homes - in theory they are public spaces, but they are also people's homes - there are just so many glitches that everyone but the Government seem able to see.

If NZ and Ireland can bring in these bans, it is crazy that the UK won't. It needs to be either or... Watch this space!

Fat Freddy's - what a disappointment...

Well I was so excited to be off to see Fat Freddy's again, this time with Kevin in tow, his mate and NZ girlfriend.

Except that they didn't come on stage until 10.50 - which when you live in London is pretty unheard of for a gig, unless they actually advertise it as a DJ set. So even tho it was in Hammersmith (which is the same side of the river as us), we had to leave by 11.45 to make sure we could at least get a tube to Richmond, and if we were lucky (which we were) get buses from there back to Surbs. Either that or be looking at at least 35 quid for a taxi... Wasn't impressed at all. Added to the fact they had some crap guy lip synching to country music on for half an hour from 10-10.30 and he was unbearable. Except to all the really drunk NZers there who had been in the venue since 7pm when the doors opened...

When they finally came on the performance was pretty lacklustre as well. I suspect they were hungover from winning some BBC award the previous night. But I think in future I'll take my chances and buy a ticket to see them on the day - I paid almost 17 quid for just under an hour of music. Not impressed.

Have emailed them as well via their website so it will be interesting to see what (if any) response I get. Mhairi also emailed them - she didn't even bother going - living in North London and going to West London to see a band that isn't scheduled to start until 10.30 (but they were late) is just a non-starter on a week night unless you fancy spending hours and hours on night buses getting home.

Rob Lowe and a sneeze...

We went to see A Few Good Men last night which was really really good. Featuring aforementioned Rob Lowe and Suranne Jones (ex Corrie actress for those who watch Corrie...). At one point in the play Rob Lowe was standing right at the front of the stage, and the whole theatre was quite. Except for me about 5 rows back from the front trying to stifle my sneezes! So I think I can safely say that Rob Lowe has heard me sneeze!! :-)

Nursery rhyme reminiscences...

I got talking to a friend at work today about nursery rhymes (don't ask how - I'm not even sure how we got on to it!) and she sent me a link to The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash - check it out here.

I used to love this rhyme when I was young (er). I can't remember what book it was in, but I think it may have been in a big yellow book I had of nursery rhymes and stories that one of my brothers (either Bruce or Jonathan - can't remember now) gave me and it had lots of cool ones like that in it. And re-reading it now, it is just great - the dragon eats the pirate! And Ink and Blink gyrate around him cos he ate the pirate! It is just brilliant - can't imagine many rhymes for children being written now where a dragon eats the baddie - that would probably be considered completely un-pc...

So I've now bookmarked the poem and will keep reading it when I need something to cheer me up - I think it is just cool :-)

And back to 'Kiwis come home'...

I've started to read the North & South's I bought at Kiwifruits, and have read the article about New Zealanders returning home after their OE's.

I thought it was quite interesting, but again just seemed full of very typical stereotypes of London - and also the age group they seemed to be writing about. Too many descriptions of London's 'grimy streets' (they aren't all grimy) and the UK's drinking culture (which yes we do have, but I don't see as being much worse than that in NZ - just different in that in the UK more people drink in pubs). In fact from memory one person commented that the culture in NZ seems to be around families and sports more while in the UK it is more around alcohol which I thought was a bit rich. Perhaps that reflected more accurately her age group rather than the whole of the British pysche... Then there was the woman who had spent 20 years here and didn't see anything wrong with NZers only hanging out with other NZers over here 'because where else could they do that?'. Well NZ springs to mind... mind you she was also praising the existence of The Church and recommending that people make a visit to it. Anyone who has seen or lives near The Church and has seen the volumes of paralytic Antipodeans exiting from it on a Sunday afternoon would have to query the wisdom of that statement. There's not much pride in being a NZer when you are barred from pubs around it because of the behaviour of your fellow countrypeople...

It would have been interesting (I guess cos it is more relevant to me) to have had interviews with slightly older NZers who are still in the UK or who have just gone back. Most NZers go back around the time they hit 30ish, but it is the ones who stay (like me and most of my NZ friends here) that are more interesting I would have thought...

Still it is obviously a burning topic at the mo as I read an article on Stuff about it recently as well. Still haven't seen any of those ads on the tube yet tho...

Megan the brave

So on Friday night I went to my first gig by myself! Very proud of myself I was. I went to see Hard-Fi at The Astoria.

I had bought the tickets ages ago for me and Kevin but then he was offered tickets for another gig he wanted to (a Canadian band, Stars) and as Hard-Fi are UK and play loads he figured he could see them another time. So I wasn't going to go, but was then listening to them a bit on the ipod and really enjoying it, so after a bit of encouragement from Mhairi (who has been to a couple of gigs by herself) I decided to go. I sold the second ticket through a very cool website, Scarlet Mist, which has been set up so people can buy and sell tickets at face value, and not have to go to a tout and pay exorbitant prices.

And the gig was really good. Once I had got in and found a spot I realised that the whole venue wouldn't be talking about me standing there by myself and I relaxed a bit. Not sure I'd like to do it loads, but now I've done it once...

The heart of New Zealand...

in the heart of London. Had to go to Covent Garden at lunchtime and ended up very close to Kiwifruits, the NZ shop...

Always fatal :-). Still I kept my spend to under £20 which was not bad for me! Two issues of North & South, a big bag of Twisties (I don't think I'll ever grow out of them!), two chocolate fish, two buzz bars and a can of Watties Creamed Corn - can't get it over here and it just makes toasted sandwiches the best!

They are on to such a money spinner there but I just can't not spend when I go!