The Stag...

David on Brighton Beach.

And then there was one...

Tracey left on Saturday 5th July :-(.

We met Maya and Chris for lunch as it was Maya's birthday, but then went back to my flat so Tracey could finish squeezing in everything she had bought back into her bags.

A mess up at the airport meant that we didn't get a chance to say goodbye - not the best way to end her trip. We were both really upset and sad about it.

But it was a great month - as the photos prove!

High among the tree tops..

On Tracey's last Friday I took the afternoon off and we went to Kew. Its latest attraction is a walkway amongst the trees - very very cool.

It hasn't been open that long, but you can already see that once it is a bit more well established it will be hard to tell the supports from the trees. Most impressed.

Only annoying thing was that the lift was broken so we had to walk up loads of stairs to get to the top!!

The support for the walkway

The support for the walkway
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey on the walkway

Tracey on the walkway
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Dublin bound

Sunday we caught the train from Belfast to Dublin - took about 2 hours and was a much nicer way to go instead of bus. We ended up going to the wrong train station (I was slightly unprepared...) but we still managed to get on the train in time!

Monday was an orientation tour around Dublin and a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. Followed by some beer and dinner at the Porterhouse. Both very enjoyable - and Tracey managed to down her pint of Guinness at the same pace as me - most impressive!

Tuesday was a trip to Croke Park and a tour of Kilmainham Gaol. Both of which I've done before, but still really enjoyed them. Again we got a bit lost finding Croke Park but we got there in the end...

Interesting landing coming back into Heathrow as our Aer Lingus flight pulled up at the last minute from the runway and we had to circle back around. Then we saw another Aer Lingus flight do the same thing... most strange.

Tracey at Croke Park

Tracey at Croke Park
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey pitchside, with Hill 16 in the background.

Kilkeel

On Saturday we got a bus to Newcastle and from there on to Kilkeel. We had an hour to kill in Newcastle so we went for a stroll along the seafront - where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea... The weather was a bit grim (as you can see in the photos!), but it didn't actually rain much.

Despite Kilkeel being a fishing town, Tracey and I managed to not be able to find the harbour... But we did have an incredibly delicious lunch of fish & chips, and then wandered around for a couple of hours. Its a fairly bleak town though - I wouldn't want to be a teenager there...

Not so much fun was the drunk man on the bus from Newcastle to Kilkeel - kept asking where we were from, where was the bus going and could he have our sunglasses...

The mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea - Newcastle

The mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea - Newcastle
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Back to our roots

We flew out to Belfast on Friday night - flying EasyJet from Gatwick and it really wasn't delayed that much at all. I think we were very lucky!

Our taxi driver into town had a plastic tiki hanging from his rearview mirror - turns out he is a NZer who has lived in Belfast for about 30 years - so he certainly didn't sound like a Kiwi!

I see a little silhouette of a man...

We Will Rock You is possibly one of the most cheesiest musicals around - but it was great! A very thin story pieced together around Queen's greatest hits - fantastic! Again we had great seats, and we were all up singing at the end - Tracey more than me and Maya, but we did get up!

I am now really quite keen to get Queen's Greatest Hits...

Nail biter!

On Thursday me, Tracey and Kevin headed off to the Oval to watch the Black Caps vs England in a one-day international.

Our seats were only 3 rows back from the pitch (is it a pitch for cricket?) which was great. I'm sure we must have ended up on tv!

Absolutely brilliant game - I've never been at such a nail biter before! To go right down to the last ball on the last over... and then to win through an English error! There were lots of very cross English fans as we left the ground...

And off we go to Austria... Innsbruck highlights

We got the train from Salzburg to Innsbruck - I dozed but Tracey enjoyed the views I think! Highlights included:

• The cable cars and going up to the skiing areas. Fantastic views - and the cable cars were just well cool!
• The expedition to Achensee - "home" of The Chalet School. From the steam train that pushed us up the hill(!), to actually seeing the places the book was based on. Maybe slightly nerdy but for two sisters who used to get so excited when we found a book we didn't have at a church fair we were very excited!
• Swarovski Kristallwelten - I'm not even that big a fan of Swarovski, but this place was cool! Lots of lovely sparkly bling to look at... and I even bought some!

• Disappointment was the ski-jump being closed as they had turned it in to a fanzone for Euro 2008. So my pics on Flickr were as close as we could get :-(
  

Crystal tree - Swarovski

Crystal tree - Swarovski
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Pretty sparkly bling...

Tracey in the carriage

Tracey in the carriage
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Waiting to head up to Achensee

Conductor checking tickets - while the train is moving

Conductor checking tickets - while the train is moving
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Checking tickets en route...

Enjoying a beer on high!

Enjoying a beer on high!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

What a fab spot to enjoy a Stiegl!

And off we go to Austria... Salzburg highlights

Which is not part of Germany just in case you were wondering... (Our guide for the Sound of Music tour was most insistent on that!).

I can't do a full on post on the whole week so here are the highlights - lots of photos on Flickr...

• The aforementioned Sound of Music tour. Great fun - even not being a die-hard fan it was still good!
• The Spaniards!! Euro 2008 was on while we were there and Spain was playing Greece in Salzburg. They were the best bunch of fans - so entertaining! And they went on to win the whole tournament (beating Germany in the final), which made both me and Tracey very happy!
• Stiegl beer - yum yum
• Schloss Hellbrunn. Trick fountains were such fun, and we were there on a very hot afternoon. Brilliant.
  
• Learning about Red Bull - well not much, but it is made in Austria, and they do have a thing about bulls in that country... There is a model of one at the Fortress as apparently when they were under siege and down to their last bull they painted the same one different colours and paraded it along the battlements to fool the besiegers that they had lots of food. So the besiegers went home...
  

Me and the view

Me and the view
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

From the battlements of the fortress

The Bull

The Bull
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Aforementioned bull!

Portsmouth Naval Memorial

On Sunday we headed down to Portsmouth to see the Naval memorial, where Mum's cousin Tom Willetts is remembered as one of the crew who went down with The Hood. I'd always been meaning to go down to take a look and send some new photos home - guess I just thought I had more time. So Tracey and I did it together which was lovely.

Even now the number of people named on these memorials is quite staggering - and a lot of the panels still had fresh flowers placed by them, or had recently had new plaques added in.

Thought this was very interesting!

Thought this was very interesting!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This one was just interesting! I've googled it tho and there doesn't seem to be much of a story there - but obviously there is as this was only placed there in 2002...

Portsmouth Naval War Memorial

Portsmouth Naval War Memorial
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The plaques at the bottom list the sailors names. This is just WWII - there is another piece of it dealing with WW1...

Mum's cousin

Mum's cousin
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I never promised you a rose garden...

But we went anyway...

Tracey had found out about the Royal National Society Rose Gardens so we headed off out there on the Sat. The weather was looking a bit dodgy but it didn't rain. Given that the summer here is not shaping up to be too much, and the fact that the garden had only just opened for the season, there were quite a lot of flowers out.

Some of the scents were gorgeous - it was well worth a trip.

Purple! Lovely...

Purple! Lovely...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Have no idea what this is, but it was purple and very cool!

Tracey and roses...

Tracey and the archway
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Stunning rose

Stunning rose (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Wicked!

The first of the two musicals we saw was Wicked - which was just great! Fantastic seats (thanks Tracey!), and the show was really well done. Not quite as political as the book, and the happy ending was a bit 'Hollywood' for me, but on the whole it was a really good adaptation.

And I guess with a musical you have to give it a happy ending...

I wouldn't fancy playing Elphaba though - having to green up every day must be really bad for your skin...

Tut Tut Tut

Tracey and I went to this after work - which was great. And not busy at all. Friends of mine had been during the weekend and apparently it was heaving, but Tracey and I got to wander around almost by ourselves.

Some quite amazing artefacts - lots of gold! Quite a lot of it which he would have worn in life as well which is just sort of mind blowing really...

Sunday 8th June...

VERY slow day for me... But we tidied up before we left - but lugging all my presents home was hard work when I was really suffering...

But it was worth it :-)

Debris

Debris (1)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

What a lot of empty bottles - where did it all go??

Lindsey the morning after

Lindsey the morning after
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Essential kit for the morning after - sunglasses! Now where is the Irn Bru...

Simon the morning after

Simon the morning after
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The host no doubt relieved that it is all over with!

Post party brunch

Post party brunch
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I tried to eat - but it was pretending more than anything!

7th June - now why is that important again...?

It's my birthday of course!!

I had a fantastic day. It fell on a Sat and as it was a momentous age I decided to 'reclaim' my day - the theme was 'Its all about me...' and it absolutely was!

Lindsey came down from Glasgow on the Friday night, so on Sat morning I had a chilled out time with her and Tracey opening all the presents my wonderful family had given Tracey to bring over, plus the ones from Lindsey and Tracey of course. And then Kevin turned up with more gifts... :-)

We headed off to Simon's place to get ready for the BBQ - I have a fab friend who so generously let me use his house for the party - it was great having such a wonderful space (both indoors and outdoors) to use. And the weather behaved - it wasn't boiling hot, but it didn't rain!

I had a great day - everyone turned up, everyone got along and we all ate much food and drank lots of Pimms and bubbles (Lindauer of course!). And then when it got dark we had an open fire and danced on the deck... finally staggering off to bed just as the sun was coming up...

So not so well the next day - but I had never planned to be! Some photos below, and more on Flickr...

Tracey & Julia dancing - about 3am

Tracey & Julia dancing - about 3am
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I think I was attempting to get a bit arty by going black and white...

Enjoying the bubbles and beer...

Kristie, Tracey, Chris, Maya, Sophy, Mhairi and Jackie
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Deck crew...

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles

Me & Julia cracking open the bubbles
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Now the fun starts!

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia

The Gals: Maya, Tracey, Lindsey & Julia
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Early on - the sun is out, we've got our Pimms - all is right with the world!

Cake baker extraordinaire!

Cake baker extraordinaire! (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Mhairi and the fab cake she made for me - chocolate honey cake. Everyone LOVED it!!

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon

Lindsey, Tracey, me, Julia & Simon
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Couldn't have done it without these guys - and Owen taking the photo!

Tracey & me

Tracey & me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

All frocked up and waiting for the guests to arrive...

And then there were two...

On June 3rd Tracey arrived for her big UK adventure :-).

First up was a ride on the London Eye and then a stroll around the streets of London in my attempt to get her an idea of how London is laid out. Not sure how well it worked out, but we had a lovely time strolling around!

I also saw the new Battle of Britain memorial on the Embankment which I hadn't seen before. I think I have a thing for war memorials, but I found it very moving.

Street art on Tate Modern

Street art on Tate Modern (1)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic street art on the walls of the Tate

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament

Tracey outside the Houses of Parliament
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

In full on sight-seeing mode!

Battle of Britain memorial

Battle of Britain memorial (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tracey in the pod

Tracey in the pod
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

With Westminster and Big Ben behind her...

A wedding in Paradise

Oh ok then - Virgin Gorda to be exact...

I headed off to Tortola - which involved a flight to Antigua, then a small plane to Tortola. Waiting for a taxi at Tortola I met two of the other wedding guests from London so we shared a taxi to our hotel where we met up with Kristie and her family. We had a night in Tortola and then headed off the next day to Virgin Gorda where we were going to be based for the wedding.

The week panned out like this:

Thursday: To Virgin Gorda: Settled in to the Villas (I was in Villa Del Sole - and being the first to arrive it meant that I had the pick of the rooms!). It was up the hill from the other villas, but we had a lovely view out over the ocean.
Friday: Kristie and John laid on two sailboats for us, and we had a day sailing and snorkelling around Virgin Gorda. The theme was 'Pirates' - unsuprisingly given where we were! Absolutely beautiful. Highlight for me was seeing a sea turtle while snorkelling - absolutely amazing!
Saturday: Spent getting Caribbean Wind ready for the wedding (5pm), then attending the wedding! Then having a fantastic party, ending up in the swimming pool, and generally having a fab time.
Sunday: Very quiet day as everyone recovered from their excesses of the night before... And I got my back fried by the sun as I floated in the sea for ages trying to feel like a human being again...
Monday: A trip to The Baths - a stunning part of the coast, with great snorkelling and swimming (like everywhere else on the island).
Tuesday: Everybody headed off. I had a night in Antigua, which while beautiful just wasn't a patch on Virgin Gorda...

Highlights: Spending a week with a fantastic bunch of people who were all so much fun and so friendly. Going to somewhere that looked like it was straight out of a travel magazine - not my usual travel destination at all! Seeing Kristie and John get married - a beautiful, simple ceremony on the beach, the sunsets. So lovely.

I really really really want to go back...

Some photos below, but more on Flickr (as always)

The Girls on the last night

The Girls on the last night (3)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Devil's Bay, The Baths, Virgin Gorda

Devil's Bay, The Baths, Virgin Gorda (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And this beach...

Marina Cay - Pirate Day

Marina Cay - Pirate Day
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Heading to Marina Cay on the sailing 'Pirate Day' to pick up the last few guests. Look at that water!!

John & Kristie during the ceremony

John & Kristie during the ceremony
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Sunset from Villa del Sole

Sunset from Villa del Sole (4)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Says it all really!

Beach life

Beach life
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me in the process of getting my back fried...

Party planning

So before we could have the main event on June 7th, the party planning committee had to get together one last time to test the BBQ's (and build it in Julia's case!), test out the lighting etc.

And generally just sit around and have yet another lovely evening at Simon's place! Some photos below, and more on my Flickr account...

The planning paid off - Owen worked out how to best operate the gas BBQ!

The proud owner - success at last!

The proud owner
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

It took a wee bit longer than the 20mins it said it would take in the instructions...

Now where does this bit go...

Busy building (3)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Simon checking on the chefs...

Simon checking on the chefs...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Does this really make any sense?

In a knitting shop the other day (which has opened up down the road from one of EY's offices), they were selling Organic Sheeps wool...

Now really - isn't that just pandering to white middle class PC-ness?? Does it really make a difference to the wool depending on whether the grass is organic or not...

And it wasn't cheap either!

No I'm not being lazy...

I just haven't been doing very much lately as I'm saving my pennies for my holiday, closely followed by the arrival of Tracey :-).

So this week I'm off to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for my friend's wedding - very excited!!

The wedding is on the beach next Saturday at Mahoe Bay - followed by the reception at the Carribean Wind Villa. Which is also where I'm staying :-).

So expect (hopefully), many fantastic photos upon my return...

Err... that would be the great flood of Tooley Street

Further to my post below check out some of the photos and a clip from youTube here. I've also read that 7m litres of water gushed out...

No wonder my office was shut!

Bonus!

So apparently they were doing some work on the water mains around my place of work over the weekend, and managed to burst a big one. Leading to flooding of my office. Leading to us not being allowed in today.

And sadly as my laptop was at work I (along with several hundred other people no doubt) got to have a bonus day off work! Can't argue with that :-). Especially as I'd had Friday off as well so got a 4 day weekend - bril!

Sadly they think we'll be able to go back in tomorrow...

More film recommendations...

So on Friday after the ceremony I ended up going to see Son of Rambow - which was just fantastic. Tells the story of two boys who try to recreate Rambo - very well done, and very funny. Some of the stunt scenes had me laughing out loud - a tad embarrassing when there were only 6 of us in the cinema! So I would definitely recommend that if you need to come out of the cinema with a smile on your face and feeling that life is pretty good.

Tonight I've just been to see Shine A Light - I'm not a huge Rolling Stones fan so I wasn't sure why I said I'd go, but it was fantastic. We saw it at the IMAX, which was a bit like being at the gig - a full on aural experience! And boy - can Mick Jagger move those hips!! Definitely one for some of my older siblings/extended family...

ANZAC Day

I took today off work for a couple of reasons - it had been a while since I'd been to the wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph, I haven't had a holiday since I did the West Highland Way last year, and I thought it would be nice to go again for Mum & Dad.

We've been having real April weather here - some sun and lots of showers, but today was lovely in the morning. I got to Whitehall quite early so was in time to get a poppy (from the NZ RSA which I thought was a nice touch), as well as an order of service - I often seem to have missed those in the past. It was a lovely ceremony - very simple. The troops march in, wreaths are layed, the Last Post is played, a few prayers, the National Anthems and that is it. I really noticed this year that the number of men and women who would have been in WW2 is greatly reduced from when I first went years ago. There were not many people who looked like ex-service people this year. But the crowd wasn't a bad size - and the NZ anthem had a few people singing it so it wasn't just me there...

Afterwards I went and laid my flowers for Dad and Mum - they look a bit pathetic next to the wreaths, but I'm really pleased I did it. Some photos below, but more on my Flickr site as well.

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them".

Wreaths + my flowers...

Wreaths + my flowers...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Saluting the national anthems

Saluting the national anthems
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Cenotaph with wreaths

Cenotaph with wreaths
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A hint of summer

Bit of a red letter day today - was wearing a short sleeved top around the office, and even sat outside after work for a glass of wine.

Summer may be coming after all!

Fantastic Peter Doig

So on Sunday I toddled off to see the Peter Doig exhibition with Mhairi and Nicola - as usual just squeaking in before it closes...

Absolutely loved it! Very supernatural quality to a lot of his paintings - I found them really eerie and quite scary some of them. Was sorely tempted to buy the catalogue (which is unusual for me), but I'll wait until I've been paid and go back and get it when I can afford it!

But just stunning paintings - and obviously appealed to the horror fan in me :-).

Portishead - so NOT a disappointment!

On Thursday it was off to Brixton Academy to see Portishead - who have finally released their third album, 12 years after their last one!

We were upstairs (which meant we got to sit down) which was great (especially for my pregnant friend!). And they were really really good. The lead singer is apparently really shy - I had thought she was being a cool rock chick by standing with her back to the crowd for a long time when they first came on, but that wasn't the reason. She also has an amazing voice, but unlike Hollie Smith, the band didn't drown it out and it was just fantastic. Their new stuff worked well too I thought. This review is from their Manchester gig, but it could equally have been the one we saw.

It made sitting through the torturous support band worthwhile - some truly awful band playing what sounded like Eastern European gypsy music. And we were there for almost all of it - it was enough to drive a severely hung over person to drink!!

Hollie Smith and camels...

Mhairi, me and her friend KT went off to see Hollie Smith at a club in West London. We met at the Grand Union pub for dinner beforehand. As we approached it, Mhairi told me they were famous for their pies... given that I have a bit of a pie fetish at the moment that was very exciting!

So I had to have the mini-pie platter - a mini-fish pie, a mini-vege pie, a mini chicken pie (very nice - I don't normally like chicken pies) and a MINI-CAMEL pie!! Oh - and chips. Just to top off the healthy meal... And in case you're wondering the camel pie was rather nice. Although very rich - I'm not sure I could have done a whole one...

Hollie Smith herself was somewhat disappointing - she has such an amazing voice, but her band was too loud. The drummer especially was very annoying and overpowering. So it wasn't as good as we had been hoping.

Although I did notice that Kiwi boys seem to have finally updated their style - there was a real dearth of rugby shirts with turned up collars which was good to see!

London Marathon, Mile 18, April 13th 2008

London Marathon, Mile 18, April 13th 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Marathon running in the cold...

So on Sunday 13th Julia and I headed into town to watch the London Marathon again. Bit different from last year - where we'd been sweltering in temps of 24 deg, this time it was about 9 or 10. Freezing!

We found a spot by mile 18, but rather annoyingly missed our fastest friend Sam (who finished just under 3.5 hours), and I saw the back of another friend, Julia spotted a friend she hadn't realised was doing it, and the other two people I wanted to see I missed completely!

But it was still good fun, although we didn't stay out too long - too cold for us! We retired to a pub to have lunch and proceeded to sit through more heavy showers and hailstorms! Rather the runners than me...

And its snowing!!

Woke up this morning to the following views from my flat window... Crazy climate - no snow all winter, then a few flakes a couple of weeks ago and now this. And given that we had temps in London of around 14-16 deg during the week...

But I love it! It is sooooo pretty :-)

Garden under snow... April 2008

Garden under snow... April 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Blossoms under snow... April 2008

Blossoms under snow... April 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A few snaps...

Yesterday Nicola and I went to see the Vanity Fair exhibition on at the National Portrait Gallery - which was great. I quite often buy the mag so it was interesting to see some of the photos 'in the flesh' as it were.

After that we lunched then wandered around many shops - and Nicola showed me some really rather cool streets off the beaten track which I'd never found before. But it was rainy and cold and busy so our enthusiasm for shopping diminished as the day went on...

Henry Moore at Kew Gardens

Last Monday Julia and I went to Kew to see the Henry Moore sculptures which have been on display at Kew since September but which finished yesterday.

It was a freezing day, and in between the snow and sleet showers we wandered around and looked at the sculptures which I thought were fantastic. I did wish I had managed to go on a sunny day as I think they would have looked even better in brilliant sunshine.

But they still took my breath away - a couple of snaps here, and more in my Flickr account...

Large Upright Internal/External Form

Large Upright Internal/External Form
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

One of my absolute faves.

Double Oval

Double Oval
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

These were also very cool - hard to get a photo of them without someone's body parts in it though :-(

Glory of Snow

Glory of Snow
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic alpine flowers which made the grass look blue (as you can see!).

From South to North to South again...

via many transport means...

Shanks' pony
Train to Vauxhall, tube to Highbury & Islington, train from H&I to Homerton to collect a very swollen faced Maya from the hospital, back on the train to H&I, then tube to Vauxhall, then train to Wimbledon, then taxi to Maya's flat, then bus back to Wimbledon to get the train back to Surbs. Leaving poor old Maya to crawl into bed and feel very sorry for herself...

Oh - and its about 4 deg outside and I managed to be caught outside in two hail storms and one snow shower...

Gotta love this country - we have a really mild winter with no snow, when it gets to Easter and a 4 day weekend the temperature plummets and now we might get snow!

Birthdays!

Its been a week dominated by birthdays - Wednesday I was out to help Jackie celebrate her birthday at Lowlander. I'd never been before but it was a great wee cafe - definitely one I'll be going back to. We all had a lovely evening and I had a lovely bowl of Moules with Frites. Very nice!

Thursday it was off out to Rasa to help Julia celebrate her birthday. Another lovely evening - although I felt a bit sorry for the table sat behind ours... And the meal was absolutely delicious as well!

And still 3 days left of Easter - I love long weekends!

Firsts...

So in the last month I went to a podiatrist for the first time - where I learnt that I walk funny, and should be using innersoles... I'd been having 'toe issues' so thought I should get them checked out.

And today, after doing something horrendous to my neck on Saturday morning I paid my first visit to an Osteopath! Who did lots of moving my head and neck around, and it does seem to be a bit better. I think it was getting there anyhow, but it was nice to have it checked out - and I could really feel the bit that was unhappy when he zeroed in on it!

Oh - and he did acupuncture on it as well so that was another first as well!