| sort of an update |
[Sep. 7th, 2007|10:59 am] |
We left Leicester on 14/7 and have been travelling and doing loads, but Mike is about to kick me off so he can watch an AFL game so I might not get to write much. I will start a chronologican dot-point summary...
13/7/07 - last day at school. Night out with friends Ceri and Chris. Tearful farewells everywhere (actually I was the only tearful one come to think of it).
14/7 - left our house at Overton Rd, More tears, not jusrt me this time, all our lovely Indian family we adopted, Kavin and his parents Geeta and Ojash, and Mike was teary too. We really miss them! Drove to Bury St Edmunds to stay wit5h Uncle Bon abd Auntie Gabriele. Highlights during this stay - trip to Dunwich via Westleton where some of my ancestors lived (didn't see their house tho), Ely - Oliver Cromwell museum, drive through the Fens, Norwich - this city has more churches than pubs. amazing.
18/7 - drove to Anne and Keith's (dad's cousin) at Ayot St Lawrence. On the way I had a costume fitting at Angel's Costumiers in London for my part as Princess Elizabeth in Churchill's War. Brown army suit. During stay with A&K we went to a talk by Abba Buruma, costume designer, visited George Bernard Shaws house, went to Bletchley Park where they broke the Enigma code among others, saw the play Mrs Warren's Profession outside at Shaw's Corner, it ended up starring a girl Mike knew rom Bitesize.
22/7 - spent the day filming in London. I got my own trailer (sharing with Princess Margaret) ate loads of lovely food, and stood on the balcony of "Buckingham Palace" (actually Lancaster House) with Churchill and King George. Highlight of this was the King saying to Churchill "did you ever wanna be a rock star?" (he is American) and Churchill (who is Irish) replying "oh yeah" and the king replying "FUCK YEAH!" and punching the air in rock-star style, as the thousands of virtual people on the green screen cheer. Very surreal.
23 & 24/7 - we went to Paradise Park at Newhaven, discovered it by change. Massive park with gardens, museums about the formation of the world, dinosaurs, fossils, rocks etc. really good.
24/7 - drove to Edward and Tara Cassidy's at Langton Maltravers, near Corfe Castle in Dorset. I had no idea who these people were, but they were sooo lovely, mum picked them up in Adelaide somewhere. During this stay, we saw a white chalk horse (of which there are many) walked along Weymouth Beach in the rain, went to Tolpuddle Martyrs museum, saw Cerne Giant and Homer Simpson, got steam train from Swanage to Corfe Castle, drove through Sandbanks (most expensive place to live in the WORLD!), SAW cORFE MINIATURE VILLAGE.
mIKE'S GAME IS ON NOW SO WILL TRY TO CONTINUE LATER! |
|
|
| TORCHWOOD |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:50 pm] |
this is cut and pasted from the email we sent parents and known Dr Who fans...sorry for being lazy and doubling up. This all happened Thursday 10th May.
Well... we got up at 5am, Mike had made sandwiches the night before and we'd packed a huge suitcase with costume options in. Drove to Cardiff, pulling over on the way to report Mike sick and me looking after him (mopping up vomit etc). Felt really awful lying but hoped it would be worth it. Got to the Cardiff docks really early. Drove into the city in search of a charity (op) shop to buy non-striped ties and a nice jacket for Mike, got all that, went back to the site. Met nice people, some professional extras that do this all the time, lots on Casualty, Dr Who and Torchwood. Had an amazing breakfast served around 12pm. Got squished into a car and driven to the other side of the river to Cardiff Bay where they were filming. The plot was Toshiko (Japanese character) has fallen in love with a guy who was frozen during WWI and had been thawed out, but they have to send him back to his own time to repair the rift which Owen opened last series. Or something like that. We sat in the car for a while, then had to get out and stand in various places around the bay where Tosh and the WWI guy were. It was pouring with rain all day I must add. Then we were told to go back to the car and keep dry and we realised that was just a rehearsal. We sat in the car and watched through the fogged-up windows and rain the two main actors rehearsing for ages. Too far away to hear anything. There were 20 of us extras all up, 5 of us in this posh car thingie and the rest in a mini bus. After a while they asked all of us in the car to get out so Tosh could get in. At this time Mike and I both spoke to her...Mike held the back door open for her to get in and she didn't look happy so he said "would you rather sit in the front" and she said "yes please" and smiled at him and sat in the front and said "thanks". Then we were told to get all out stuff out the car as well so I opened the back door and got my stuff and noticed Tosh was sitting on a jacket which had been provided by costume for someone else to wear so I said "excuse-me, sorry, I just need to get this jacket" and tried to tug it out from under her, but she ignored me so i just gave up and ran away, then i told the guy whose jacket it was and he went back and got it. So that was out brush with fame. We were due to be in 2 scenes with 2 different costumes (most of us were just told to change our jackets/coats). Our car group stood under the tent where all the filming equipment is, waiting for Tosh to come back for quite some time. Then the director (or it might have been 3rd director) who looked a bit like David Tennant apologised to us all and said none of the extras were going to be used because it was too difficult with the rain EXCEPT me and a young guy called James. So i said Mike was my husband and he'd stay around too if he could be used at all so he said he'd keep that in mind. So we waited a bit more for the car to come back with Tosh, but then the director man came back and said he was signing us ALL out after all. So the car came back and not only Tosh got out (still looking miserable) but OWEN too who looked fresh and smiling (mind you he hadn't been standing in the rain all day) and they walked past us, and we all got back into the car and waited for a driver, but then some of the other extras got out of the minibus and walked around a bit and we didn't know if they were being used or not. So we sat there for a long time, then we were all told to get out the car and into the bus and then the lot of us were driven in the bus back to the base, signed out and went home at around 6:30pm. Had a Wimpey burger for dinner on the way back. Mike was told he would make a fantastic next Dr Who, unfortunately it was the young very inexperienced guy James (who said at the start of the day he didn't like waiting around much!) who said this and no one with any say in the matter.
So yes...when the episode is shown next January (in UK at least) with Tosh and the frozen WWI guy, and you see them chatting in the rain at Cardiff Bay, just remember WE COULD HAVE BEEN STANDING IN THE BACKGROUND!
i swear since we arrived in England on the 16th June we have not had a single day where it has continuously rained for the entire day until yesterday. Oh well, good for the farmers I suppose.
Love Pru and Mike xxx |
|
|
| third time unlucky |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:44 pm] |
I have to add that that night we went to the Savoy was one of the best nights of my life, I was so happy sitting in the park eating my egg sandwich I had tears of joy in my eyes.
Our third attempt at seeing last-minute amazing theatre didn't go so well. I booked tickets to see Robert Lindsey in The Entertainer at the Old Vic for last Wednesday. Mike got of work early and we had stacks of time to go down there, but there was an accident on the M1 and we got stuck and didn't get to Highgate until 7:45, the performance starting at 7:30 and still at least 1/2 hour away on tube and foot. So we went for a walk through Highgate Wood and looked at 105 and 196 Muswell Hill Road where Dad used to live, and had a drink and some cheese at the Woodman pub and watched a football match on the big screen. Not exactly what I'd been looking forward to but it still ended up a nice evening nonetheless. It was a warm night, the last few days it's been cold and rainy again. I quite like cold and rainey really, and I've just washed my scarf so it's fit to be worn again so I'm nice and cosy. |
|
|
| the baby squirrel etc... |
[May. 30th, 2007|03:42 pm] |
After we went to the toilets at the Savoy, which were worth the trip to London on their own (I got a photo on my phone)we found a park to sit and eat our egg sandwiches that Mike had made. He also got us a can of drink each and some crisps (chips) and chocolate. We spread all our bits out on our bench, and I put my drink on the ground by my foot, AND THEN a baby squirrel sat on my foot and tried to steal my drink. It was so cute, and we named it Squidge, and it sat between Mike's feet and ate bread, and about 20 Italian tourists walked past and stopped and looked at him. Mike had never had 20 Italians looking between his legs before. The gardeners passed and they said it was unusual for one to be so tame. We could pat him and everything.
Then we saw the show which was amazing, then we went to the Savoy toilets again, and then we went home, got back to Leicester about 2am.
The next day at school Mrs Fisher the deputy-head was boasting that she was going to see Ian McKellan in King Lear at Stratford-upon-Avon in a couple of weeks time. I thought "I'd like to see that" but assumed it would have sold out months ago. I went on the internet and there weren't any tickets, so i rang just to see if there was anything, and the lady said she had a couple for 48 pounds, sitting apart, and then she said "if you want to sit together there are 2 8 pound tickets for tonight's performance left" and I said "YES PLEASE" and we were off again. It was brilliant. On the way to Stratford in the car I read the study guide, comic strip version and the proper play, but we needn't have done because the acting was so brilliant and natural there was never any lack of understanding. Ian McKellan played King Lear, and Sylvester McCoy played the fool, and William Gaunt was Gloucester. The latter 2 were in Dr Who so that kept Mike happy. We were right up the back but could see everything perfectly, and I took our binoculars which helped. Ian McKellan took his clothes off briefly which was impressive. It was pretty amazing seeing a Shakespeare play in the town where he was born with such high-profile actors in...if we'd wanted to we could have thrown stuff at them really easily. I wouldn't take kids from school there. |
|
|
| AMAZING PLAYS WE HAVE SEEN |
[May. 21st, 2007|05:14 pm] |
We have been on two spontaneous amazing trips to see amazing plays recently, with another one coming up next week. The two we have been to recently are as follows:
1 - PORGY AND BESS at the Savoy Theatre in London on Wednesday 2nd May. Directed and adapted into a musical (as opposed to an opera) by Trevor Nunn. The Savoy Theatre was the first in London to have electric lights and was built by D'Oyly Carte for Gilbert and Sullivan to put their shows on. So seeing a Gershwin show in THE G&S theatre was a big tip of the hat to Mr Peter Pole, he would have loved it there and we were sure he was watching...probably through one of the extremely ornate air-conditioning vents. The show was brilliant and closed that week which is why we rushed to see it...we got cheap tickets through a special offer in the Telegraph, all thanks to Sarah Kennedy on the radio who Mike hates but we have to thank her for this.
Brilliant show aside, there were 2 other main highlights to the evening. Actually I'll just tell you the whole night. Mike met me after school, 2 very busy stressful days because we had and OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) inspection and I was in charge of the library because Mary's husband died (she didn't mind about that but then she got bronchitis from quitting smoking so had to have a lot of time off). We drove to Highgate tube station (past dad's street Muswell Hill Road) and parked LOU-Pole on the street (she was so good, didn't get broken into or anything) and got the tube to Charing Cross. Popped out from underground and saw the cross which was cool. Mike had made sandwiches and had drinks and chocolates so we went looking for a bit of park to sit in and ended up in lovely gardens i think it was "The Embankment Gardens" or something like that just behind the theatre. oooh but FIRST we needed the toilet so we picked up the tickets from the theatre and asked if we could use their toilets and they said they weren't open yet so just go to the hotel and use theirs. Well ladies and gentlemen, "the hotel" was THE Savoy Hotel. Dunno what came first out of the theatre and the hotel but they are both beautiful and amazing. The toilets were absolutely stunning. There was a lady sitting in a booth outside to take people's coats and things, and inside each cubicle had its own individual light switch, and there were basins with modern flower arrangements around them, and dressing tables with lots of mirrors and little stools, and to dry your hands there were individual fluffy white towels that you used then put in a basket underneath and they got taken away and replaced regularly. oooh and they had boxes of tissues with "The Savoy" embossed on them. It was amazing. I have to say the soap wasn't very moisturing but maybe that was because my hands are rubbish from touching books all day and washing up all weekend.
TO BE CONTINUED.... next entry: Highlight number II: THE BABY SQUIRREL.
and if I have time: LEAR! |
|
|
| **** RETURN TO OZ **** |
[May. 21st, 2007|05:06 pm] |
|
Just so you know, we will be back in Adelaide at 9:40am on 21st October 2007, Cathay Pacific flight CX105 from Hong Kong. We are a bit depressed about going back but it will be nice to see people and animals we know and love. (And afford to eat properly, or at least stay with people who can afford to eat properly.) Especially as I never managed to get a hamster over here...or even touch one. Oh but we DID get to pat a baby squirrel which sat on my foot. I will tell you about that in a new entry so this one about the flight stands out hopefully. |
|
|
| continuation of Easter holiday adventures |
[May. 16th, 2007|04:42 pm] |
At the Munich airport I bought a 1-litre bottle of gin for 11 euro. I wasn't sure whether to get a pack of 4 little bottles of Bavarian brandy for 13 euro, then I saw Gordon's gin for 13 also,THEN I saw this cheap dodgy brand for 11, and considering I like gin more than brandy that was that. It tastes fine and I'm still getting through it and it's very necessary after a day of trying to coax Ryan out from inside his jumper, or dodging missiles being thrown by Keith who is in remand custody, or spelling c-a-t or p-u-p-p-y (pronounced "poohpeh" in new-Leicesterish) over and over again for Katrina, or all of the above and more. Also it was a momentous occasion because I've never bought anything for myself duty-free. So now we don't go to the pub any more (no smoking laws come in on 1st July hooray!) I just have my gin at home and i'm happy.
We got back to Leicester around 4am, slept for a bit then on Friday drove to Southampton where Kirra and Michael are(until this Monday!). Michael kindly took a very late lunchbreak and met us and we parked LOU-Pole at their place then caught the train into London where Mike had an audition at the National Opera Studio for a non-speaking/singing role of either a shepherd, guard or a soldier. He had to walk across the room, then push a sofa gracefully across the room, then stand in a circle and say his favourite colour (red). He thought he did all this better than most of the people there, but unfortunately didn't get the part, probably due to his height (or lack of). After that we trained back to Kirra and Michael's where the poor people had been waiting for us to eat (it was about 10). I have to say Kirra and Michael are probably the most kind, caring and generous people we know. On par with mum I guess. Very similar actually in their self-sacrificial ways and always remembering to send cards for birthdays and anniversaries so we feel guilty when we forget or just don't. Anyway they were lovely and we stayed the night then on Saturday walked to the "beach" (Thames Estuary) and looked around the funfair. Kirra and the Michaels went on a terrifying-looking rollercoaster while I waved and took photos. We had fish and chips for lunch the Mike and I said goodbye for probably the last time we're with K&M in England and drove to my cousin Rachel and her husband John's flat near Heathrow. R&J were out at a church meeting (they're Baptists) so we had to wait for a bit, and while we were waiting the people in the flat below theirs had a huge widescreen tv that we could see perfectly through their window. Dr Who came on so mike got to watch the whole episode without sound, which he was rather distressed about. More fun that way I say. When Rachel and John came back we watched the dvd John had made of Auntie Ruth's 70th Birthday party which wouldn't work on our tv so that was good. We went to bed at about 11:30. I'd had a niggly headachefor the last few days, so Kirra had given me a tablet "derived from morphine" to take half an hour before bed to get rid of it. Because I didn't know when we were going to bed I took it just before I got into bed. If I'd had a good 8-12 hours sleep it probably would have worked a treat, but because we had to get up quite early to go to church with R&J, it was still doing its thing and I felt terribly queer (as Daphne Du Maurier would say). My entire body was numb and i could hardly walk and i felt all dizzy. I had a cold shower and tried to have some coffee and breakfast, but couldn't stomach much (and there were CRUMPETS there dammit which I couldn't eat). I had a lie down before we went off to church, and the car journey was awful even though it wasn't particularly bumpy or windy it felt like it. The church service was nice but really long...i'm forgetting now but I think it went for a good 3 hours. i felt awful and wan't good at standing up and sitting down. Then the highlight for all the Baptists was a visiting preacher from America who shouted at us about going to hell and damnation, and it was all a bit much and I had to run out and vomit everywhere. After the service I had another nap and felt much better once i woke up. While I was asleep Auntie Ruth rang Rachel, and she put her on speaker phone so she could make lunch. Dad had told Ruth I had pleursy so Ruth was worried about me, and Rachel said "she's fine, she felt a bit unwell this morning so she's having a lie down" to which Ruth replied "she's probably pregnant" so Rachel quickly took her off speaker phone, but not before Mike had heard that. Oh well, I'm not, and my cough and headache and everything is gone, I am the peak of physical perfection (but a bit tubby 'cos since Mike's been back I've had to stop my rice and spinach diet brought about by not being able to afford much else). Once i was up we watched our wedding video, and then it was time to drive back to Leicester and reality again. We had a great time with R&J and K&M though. hopefully we'll see more of Rachel and John in September.
gotta go as Mike on his way. |
|
|
| more Munich |
[May. 15th, 2007|05:21 pm] |
Cast your minds back to Wednesday 11th April. What were you doing? Actually we're genuinely interested to know what you were doing, except mum and dad because they tell us what they do every day anyway, but no one else does. Well we were in the ALPS! Big spikey snow-capped alps. Bavarian alps to be precise. Claudia and Marcus (beautiful people) drove us there, we stopped by a big lake on the way, then went higher and higher and ended up having lunch at the place where C&M got married 4 years ago. It has been built up a bit more now which they were a bit sad about, but it was still beautiful sitting outside in the sun with the snowy bits only looking a hop-skip-and-a-jump away (probably more realistically a day's walk). I got sunburnt which I thought was pretty amazing. After lunch (schnitzel...the best ever...better than Mawson Lakes pub even) we drove down to another lake. But not just any lake, a whopping huge one with islands on, and on one island was a palace. It was built by King Ludwig II who was a mate of Wagner's and modelled on Versailles. Only the middle bit got finished though, the left and right wings never got built and a lot of the inside is incomplete because he ran out of money and then drowned mysteriously. King Lud was a big fan of Louis 14th (?) The Sun King, even though it was way before his time, and he made the rooms in his palace identical to Versailles, except one hall of mirrors which was bigger and better than Versailles. We were on the last tour and it was just us and an Italian family, who couldn't speak English or German, so I tried to translate for them using Charades. Outside the palace are 2 fountains based on fame and fortune, and one of them has people turning into animals (I think fish? I forget, it was a long time ago. Maybe frogs. We have a photo of it.).
Thursday 12th C&M had an appointment so Mike and I got the tube into the city and looked around. we got the best seats outside a cafe to watch the glockenspiel on the clock tower which is quite famous, at 11am little figures come out and move around and it plays a tune...at least we think it was supposed to be a tune. I guess it's old. Worth the wait at least. While waiting I had a white Bavarian sausage with sweet mustard. Apparently you must eat them before 12pm, this is because in the olden days they would have gone off by that time. It was ok... the mustard was nice. I don't like the texture of sausages when the skin bursts when you bite it, and I always worry what's in them. Actually Mike had one too I think, just not the mustard. Lucky I'm writing this now, it's going fuzzy already. Now that Mike's got his new job and I have to sit around waiting for him hopefully this will get updated good and proper.
After the clock we went to the toy museum which was lovely, then we climbed up a church tower (St Peters?) and walked around looking at shops. I considered buying a Derndle (traditional Bavarian costume) but couldn't justify it and wasn't sure where I'd wear it, unless someone had a German-themed fancy-dress party which would be asking for trouble as Prince Harry proved.
For dinner we had amazing pasta salad that Claudia made, then we went to the airport and that was that.
But that's not the end of our amazing Easter holiday, there is more, but Mike will be outside now so maybe tomorrow. Excuse all spelling and typos, spellcheck on this livejournal thing is rubbish.
Love Pru xxx |
|
|
| sorry.... |
[May. 11th, 2007|05:33 pm] |
I am a bad bad blogger. I'm sure our millions of readers are on the edge of their seats waiting to hear the rest of our Bavarian adventures, not to mention our encounters with Ian McKellan, the Torchwood cast and our trips to the Savoy toilets. And Mike's fantastic new job selling insurance which he loves so much he is unable to put his glee into words when we see each other at the end of the day. In fact he doesn't speak at all, he must just be wanting to get back there and learn more about ripping people off.
Well I'm sorry, you'll have to wait because I'm sitting at school waiting for Mike to pick me up and I'm sure he'll be here any minute. I promise this will be properly updated one day.... maybe next year when I'm trying to avoid uni homework.
Love to you all! |
|
|
| Springtime, for Prichael, and Germany.... |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|03:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Leicester | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
Back in the library at school now, this will be rushed sorry.
Our last full day in Holland was good, Mike and I were left to our own devices while Nelly went to her auntie's birthday party. We got the tram in to the city and started off at the Rijk Museum. We ended up spending six hours there. There were two types of audio tours, one by the curator and one but a Dutch actor/artist, so we got one of each and kept swapping so we got double the commentary. The museum is famous for its Rembrandts but there were heaps of other works or art there that were just as good. And it was all Dutch artists, ss opposed to the London National that has things by Monet etc, these people manage to fill a gallery just with stuff from their own country. As the museum is being renovated, we could only get onto one wing, which was lucky otherwise we'd have been there for weeks. I felt rather hot and tired and hungry by the end of it, but it was very worthwhile. Afterwards we went to the Heinekin factory for Mike, but it was just closing and they wouldn't let us in, we had to watch the last group leaving with their free beer. We tried to find a puppet theatre that was on the map in our Lonely Planet book, but there was just a school in its place and no one knew anything about any puppets. So we went to the film museum and watched "The Night of the Hunter". A 50's American film about a man that pretends to be a preacher but goes around killing people with a flick-knife. Rather strange.
Saturday morning 6th April we got the train to Monchengladbach where Anita and Stephan met us around lunchtime. They'd just had a row with Hannah (age 15) because they don't approve of her boyfriend's friend because his parents do nothing but online gaming all day. The boyfriend is ok but he is always with his friend and his parents and they are bad. Apparently Hannah's had a different boyfriend every 6 months since she was 11....alright for some! Anyway her mum thinks she always picks types that are not quite as intelligent/skilled/motivated as her, so that her ego is inflated and they like her because she's better than them, or something like that. It all seemed reasonable to me but Anita is quite worried about the whole thing. Anyway Hannah was lovely with us, gave us a tour of the town, including an icecream shop that makes spaghetti icecream, and a couple of churches, and a funfair. By the time we went out to dinner at a German pub with Anita and Stephan and Philip, Hannah had had another row so stayed home.
Easter Sunday was lovely, the kids hunted for hard-boiled painted eggs in the woods near by, and the Omas (grandmas) came for brunch, and then we went on a long bike ride with the dogs Bronco and Leon through the woods to a beer garden past Gallwoay cows. In the afternoon Hannah took us to her riding stables and we watched her ride her horse Nervada, and I had a go riding bareback! Galloping across the fields....or rather being led gently hanging on for dear life.
Monday morning we took the dogs for another bike ride (they weren't on bikes tho), before my bottom had had a chance to recover from the bike and horse the day before. Then Philip went to a friend's house while the rest of us went to Cologne. We looked around the cathedral which was amazing and Mike, Stephan and I climbed the dome...500-something steps and watched the bells ringing. There was a market by the river Rhine selling books and antiques. I was temped to buy a tuba but talked myself out of it. Got a book about Australia for Hannah and Philip as they're planning to go there soon. In the evening I named all their fish while Mike talked to the guinea-pigs. Oh also they have a cat called Ferris who sits on command and begs at the table.
On Tuesday we said goodbye to the lovely kind Kamphausens (actually we said bye to half of them the night before) and got the train to Munich. We didn't get there until 2pmish. Claudia and Marcus met us, they are the most lovely beautiful people ever. They took us straight for a coffe at a posh Austrian coffee place, then we went on an open-top bus tour of Munich, then walked around the city, then had dinner at a Bavarian resteraunt. I had Knoodles - dumplings, the were amazing.
i want to go home now so shall finish Munich tomorrow. |
|
|
| Tulips from Amsterdam.... |
[Apr. 5th, 2007|08:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Amsterdam | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  jubilant | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sting | ] |
We are staying with Nelly in sunny Amsterdam. Having a fantastic time. I've got 2 weeks off for Easter holidays so we're here then we're going to Germany to visit more friends, then London to see cousin Rachel, then back to school on 16th April.
But before we tell you about the wonders of Holland...NEWS ABOUT OUR FUTURE!
Basically since being in England I've been working full time, and Mike was away for 4 months on his tour, and now he's unemployed and we have no money, and we've hardly travelled (well we have but not as much as we'd intended to). SO we have decided to keep working (or for Mike to start working) until July 13th when the summer school holidays start. Then resign from our jobs (which will be a bit sad for me because I love the people at school and the park) and move out of our house on Overton Rd (which I love) at the end of July, and drive our lovely car Lou-Pole around England until September. THEN we will go to Europe and look around there, nor sure how yet, if we'll do a tour or drive (scary) or make our own way on transport. Probably a tour. BUT we will definitely be in Romania for Ana and Pete's wedding which we're so looking forward to. Then we'll toddle back to Oz in October and be back in time for Ann-Marie and Antonio and Mike's Birthdays we think. And Amy's and so forth. And maybe even Gavin's. Then in November I am going to do a STAT (is that what it's called?) test and apply to do a teaching degree to become a secondary school teacher in English or maybe history at either Adelaide Uni or Flinders. I want to be like a female Mr Hewton. (BY THE WAY I MET SUE TOWNSEND! WE'RE BEST FRIENDS.) So it's a 4 year degree and Mike will get a great job and all will be well with the world. We've resigned from Optus because we weren't able to extend our career breaks any further. We will miss Optus friends but of course will be able to see them still away from the ball-and-chain headsets.
SO.... Holland. We flew here on Sunday morning 1st April. As Nelly was in NY for work she very kindly put us up in the A-Train Hotel where her friend Jacob works. It was in a great location, across from central station and walking distance from everywhere. Sunday we walked around along the canals in the sunshine. We visited the Pianola Museum which was brillant, the highlight being watching a roll playing of Rhapsody in Blue which was recorded by Gershwin. We popped into a little art gallery which had amazing surreal paintings that were kind of freaky, one series was about designer children so one of the paintings had a boy with no arms or eyes sitting on a hospital bed while the parents looked in an eye catalogue.
Ooooh while I think of it JANE HORTON WE LOVE YOUR PHOTOS OF HILLS PEOPLE! Mum sent us pictures of Dr Crawford, Mary, Michelle, Andrew Thomas, the chip shop boys etc and it was like having Stirling here in Amsterdam. I especially miss Dr Crawford since I've been suffering from TB/phneumonia/pleuresy/broken rib the last couple of months, and although the health care is free it's a very frustrating system.
Anyway after the art gallery we went to the torture museum, which was really good. Much smaller and less showy than the variety of dungeons run by Madame Tusseauds, but with a deeper message, basically that torture is bad and it still happens lots and Americans especially are bad because they have the death penalty and they tortured David Hicks...it didn't actually mention him by name but you could tell they were referring to him.
After an afternoon nap we were ready to do grown-up Amsterdam, namely a toddle through the Red Light district and a sit down in a coffee shop. Mike has asked me to add he wasn't allowed to sample the merchandise. Actually he didn't ask but there you go. The joint we bought just made my eyes red and puffy after a couple of hours and that was it. We'd planned to try mushrooms but by the time we were ready all those shops had closed.
Monday we went to the Bodies Exhibition, which we hadn't seen in Aus or UK. It's that German guy who invented the polymer method of preserving bodies and a bunch of Chinese scientists have done it to lots of Chinese "specimens" so you can see all their bits. Apparently it's quite controversial and there's been a big ethical debate, but to us it seemed genuinely educational, and I'm thinking of signing up to be polemerised when I die if they'll have me. Then we went on a canal boat cruise, and had a drink in a coffee house (as opposed to coffee shop, just coffee) which was pulled down to make room for a metro line then rebuilt after. Forget the name but it'll be on a photo somewhere. Then we collected our luggage from the hotel and caught a tram to Nelly's house. Her son Sylvester is all grown up, age 19 and is running his own business of importing t-shirts then having them individually air-brushed with designs chosen by the customer. His website is http://www.district6.nl/4th/. Today he flew off to Dubai to see his dad and do something with the business over there. He has been on a reality TV show where 3 guys had to live on a farm in the style of 100 years ago. He had to catch and kill a chicken, which he didn't seem to mind. Nelly has been cooking us amazing food. Tuesday we went to a flower garden which was HUGE, we overdosed on flowers. At the end was a display of hats which was really good. And we had our first croquettes which were amazing. Yesterday we went to a street market, we were very restrained, Mike got 1 dvd and some shaving razors, and we got some food. There were some lovely clothes but even if I'd had the money I'd need space to put them and somewhere to wear them etc, I think it will just be jeans and t-shirts until October now so no need for new stuff. Mike ate a herring, I tried one piece but left the rest to him. Then today we went to Madouradam in the Haague. It's a miniature village, and although miniature absolutely massive compared to the dinky little ones in England or near Victor Harbor. It had an airport, canals everywhere (with giant fish), massive skyscrapers, palaces, cathedrals and a sewage works amongst other things. Last night Nelly's brother Andre came round for dinner, I forgot to take a photo of him sorry mum I was too busy scoffing spaghetti but he looks the same. He works for a meat company. Anyway smells like dinner is nearly ready, we will try and update again soon.
Love Pru & Mike xxx |
|
|
| Review of my play! |
[Jan. 23rd, 2007|03:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | school | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
The link for this is: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132407&command=displayContent&sourceNode=132390&contentPK=16413146&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
THIS FRAUDULENT FARCE WENT DOWN WELL WITH AUDIENCE
CASH ON DELIVERY
LEICESTER DRAMA SOCIETY
LITTLE THEATRE, LEICESTER, UNTIL JANUARY 20
REVIEW BY LYNETTE WATSON
10:15 - 17 January 2007
Michael Cooney's Cash on Delivery is centred on Eric Swan who has been defrauding the DSS by claiming benefit for fictitious lodgers.
Trying to extricate himself from the problem by "killing off" his make-believe tenants, develops into an orchestra of mis-timings, mistaken identities and hasty invention that result in an incredibly convoluted plot.
A drunk council official, a mad mother, two corpses, cross dressers and a temperamental washing machine all contribute to two hours of frantic mayhem.
Successful farce depends on pace and knife-edge timing, both of which were lacking in parts of last night's first night performance.
Following a tentative start, the action gathered momentum and lifted considerably during the second act.
Director Roy Johnson pulled out all the stops, leading his cast deftly through well received, stereotypical set pieces.
Clive Hawley's Eric was delivered in expressive style and Philip Royley's portrayal of Norman Bassett (Eric's real lodger) was excellent.
Colin Woods gave an hilarious performance as Mr Jenkins, the council official and a special mention must go to Prudence Pole, who made an impressive debut as the social worker.
You either love or loathe farce, and judging by the audience reaction, they loved it! |
|
|
| cow |
[Jan. 10th, 2007|05:14 am] |
nice cow (on the right)
this was in Thailand ages ago...but I'm just getting the hang of this photo thing now!
|
|
|
| MY LIBRARY |
[Jan. 10th, 2007|04:25 am] |
This is my library where I work, the lady is my friend Liz, an English teacher, and the strange boy is one of my students.
|
|
|
| more news... |
[Dec. 22nd, 2006|03:45 pm] |
I'VE BOUGHT SOME EARMUFFS. It's getting really cold here now, finally. Perfect timing now we have a room with heating, and our new cosy bed arrived yesterday. Mike came back last night too so that's good.
My bus caught fire on Wednesday and we had to evacuate and 2 fire engines came to put it out.
I must add that it's not all cheesey Christmas stuff over here, some of it is just lovely and magical. We've been to a Christmas Tree Festival at one of the churches where lots of people have spent ages decorating trees in different themes and you have to vote for your favourite. I voted for "A Cracker of a Tree" which was a tiny tree with a Sayo tied to it. They've also had quite a few Christingle services which I'd never heard of, where kids walk about with oranges with cloves and sweets stuffed in to them. I didn't get to go to any of those due to work and rehearsals which was a shame. Today on my way to the library three girls were singing carols a capella and they sounded so beautiful. There's lots of buskers around.
I've stuck all our Christmas cards on our wardrobe doors at the new place, it looks really nice and homely.
I think that's about it, I've got 11 minutes left so I'll see if the library lets me put my photo cd in.
Love Pru and Mike xxx |
|
|
| Merry Christmas! |
[Dec. 19th, 2006|04:08 pm] |
Hello everyone! Sorry these updates are so rare and patchy, this will be very patchy as I'm in the library (public one in the city, not at school because it's holidays) and they'll kick me off soon.
SO.... what we've been doing in order of excitement:
1 - WE HAVE MOVED! Our new address is 6 Overton Rd, Leicester, LE5 0JA. This means we are now paying rent so will have even less money than before, but there are so many pros it doesn't matter. Our new room has heating and a double bed (at least one is being put in tomorrow) as opposed to no heating and bunks. And a lock on the door. The house has a working washing machine, fridge, big kitchen, big bathrooms, nice friendly people and big living areas. Mike is allowed to get a TV and we don't have to pay for the licence (yes you need a licence to have a tv here!). I'm still not allowed a hamster but they said yes to a fish. I've only been there 2 nights but it's lovely and I'm so much happier.
2 - WE HAVE A CAR! She is a maroon Fiat Punto and her name is LOU Pole. LOU also has heating and I've just bought some special spray for the windscreen when it's iced up and a special sponge to wipe off the fog from inside.
I guess that is the big news really. England is a great place to be for Christmas, they really know how to do it over here. Decorations everywhere, cheesy Christmas songs in all the shops and on all the radio stations, lots of parties, mince pies coming out your ears etc etc. We've finally worked out how we'll be spending Christmas, we drive to Bury St Edmunds Christmas Eve to spend it with Uncle Bob, Gabriella, cousins Clarissa and Isabel and Isabel's partner John and daughter Mia and maybe Clarissa's boyfriend James and Michael the baker and Donna...both friends of Bob and Gabrielle. Then Boxing Day we drive to Monmouth to have lunch at the home of Helen and Lionel, Helen is sister of my Auntie Ruth, who is wife of Uncle Russ. My cousin Rachel and her husband John will be there, and Uncle Russ and Ruth and Helen's daughter Becky i think, or maybe her daughter Ruth...well one or the other. My cousin Joni isn't going because he boycotts Christmas and watches dvds instead but apart from him we'll see all the immediate family...except cousin Emily in Dubai. So I think it's worked out well. Then staying at Ruth's house in Portishead that night then back to Leicester on 27th 'cos i have a rehearsal at night.
The play I'm rehearsing for is "Cash on Delivery" with the Leicester Drama Society. It's a typical farce like all the ones ACTAD do, except without Brian Godfrey. It goes on from 15th to 20th January.
Mike is still on tour in Sleeping Beauty. I'm getting photos put onto cd and I'll try to load up some pictures of him in his red fairy Scarlet dress. He looks lovely. The company are happy with him but there have been lots of dramas (excuse the pun) with other cast members, there are only 5 all up and 2 of the girls have to drive the van (they wouldn't let Mike drive with his Oz licence) and they keep crashing. A few prima donnas.. Mike says if this was a HMC show they wouldn't be allowed to audition again. He gets on well with Chris, the other male cast member, and the 3 girls off and on. Anyway that's what he's up to until February, then the plan is for him to get a highly paid starring role on tv - preferably as the next Dr Who, and i will be paid to buy dresses for red carpet events.
New Year's Eve we've been invited to my library boss' house at Calke Abbey (not to be confused with Cork in Ireland as Mike was). He's having a bonfire at night and during the day we go on a walk around the grounds, should be lovely.
Computer is now flashing at me to get off. Sincere apologies to everyone we haven't sent cards to or who get theirs late. New Year resolution will be to try and keep on top of this.
Lots of love from Pru & Mike xxxx |
|
|
| a few highlights in no order |
[Nov. 1st, 2006|08:44 am] |
firstly, a joke: What did the vampire travel across the sea in? A blood vessel!
Mike is in Wrexham now, he is doing really well. Last week of rehearsals for Sleeping Beauty and then he's on tour. He is playing the King, Scarlet, the red fairy Godmother, and Black the Gardener (as in Black and Decker). Only 5 in the cast and they all play several roles. I read the script and it's a proper English pantomime, Joan would approve. Anyway hopefully we will get a full written report from Mike soon.
Last weekend I did something I vowed never to do because I was always so embarrassed when mum did it. I pulled my socks over my trousers to walk to work. It had to be done, I didn't do it the week before and my trousers got covered in mud, so this time only my socks got muddy. I've bought some water-proof hiking boots now too.
Last week was half-term holidays. I went to Bury St Edmunds to visit Uncle Bob and Auntie Gabriella on the Monday. We went to West Stow, a Saxon village, and they took me to the theatre in Cambridge to see Felicity Kendell in Amy's View, a play by David Hare directed by Peter Hall who set up the RSC.
Gotta go now as lesson has just changed and people will notice I'm not putting books on shelves. More later! |
|
|
| Liverpool and beyond... |
[Sep. 11th, 2006|02:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Leicester | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | rejuvenated | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Birds twittering | ] |
Sorry there are big gaps between writing. I think they will get bigger as I seem to be working almost 7 days a week now at my 2 jobs and also as I get settled into a routine there doesn't seem to be as much to write about as we're just in Leicester but we are still doing stuff and maybe someone out there will be interested. I haven't written in my travel journal book that Jeff and Tracey gave us for our wedding since we got back to Leicester so either we have a lot of catching up to do or maybe we will give up on the diary... last few days I've just come home and slept...I missed the last night of the proms on the radio because I was asleep, very annoying. Anyway lots to write about for now at least.
We went to Liverpool on Thursday 10th August (gosh over a month ago now!). We stayed in the Youth Hostel just across from Albert Dock where the Beatles Museum is. The museum is great,we spent most of the day there. Had a look at the shops in the city centre and got dad some Euthymol toothpaste (1st tube posted today via seamail) then went back to the hostel to eat our Tesco picnic dinner. In the evening we went to the Cavern Club. It has been done up to look just like the original with the tiny stage but they also have another section that has a bit more space and the atmosphere is probably like the Jade Monkey or Jive or those sorts of places. We saw 3 bands play in this other section: Nemeste from London, sort of heavy rock, not really our thing but good for what it was, Digital Garden from Leicester, they were good and I think they'd brought their fan club with them and Screaming Citizens. I loved the Screaming Citizens. I bought a CD but haven't been able to listen to it yet because the CD player in our room doesn't work. The lead singer also played flute really well. I wished I was there with a group of friends to jump around with because I felt a bit dicky by myself 'cos Mike didn't want to dance. On our way out a Beatles cover band were playing on the little stage, they were good, a bit podgy but good. We saw the lead singer of Digital Garden outside trying to take a picture of himself with a John Lennon statue so Mike took it and chatted to him and he said he runs an entertainment venue and does work on story tapes and might be able to get Mike a job reading for them which would have been great. We got his number and Mike rang him when we got back to Leicester but he never rang back. Bastard.
Next day we got a coach even further north to York. It is a beautiful city with a big wall all around it and so much history. We definitely want to go there again and see more of it. We went on a "Secrets of York" guided walk with a guy dressed up as a monk. The walk was very interesting, the guide wasn't great, he seemed as if he'd rather be in the cast of Emmerdale or something. As part of the walk we saw the 12th Century Holy Trinity Church in Goodmangate which had box pews. We also saw some stone Roman coffins and a big house where a King Henry (maybe 8th?) stayed etc. Mike then went to the York Dungeons (he said ok but not as good as London) while I caught up on emails in the library. We met Chris Arnott at the train station. Chris is a farmer (beef cattle and sheep) and married to Sarah who mum met when she worked at a pottery in her 20's. They were so brilliantly kind to us and it was really lovely spending the weekend with them. On the drive back to the farm (in Acklam)we saw quite a few fat ponies tied to the side of the road, which belonged to gypsies, and then we saw the gypsies themselves sitting around a camp fire. No sign of Johnny Depp unfortunately but then again we didn't get very close. On Saturday Chris and Sarah's son Joe came home for the weekend and the 5 of us went for a long walk through the countryside to a little pub where we had lunch. We saw a hare and lots of pheasants and a crack willow tree that makes noises. Walked home up steep hills (I decided not to bother with Ben Nevis) and had a relaxing afternoon. Alice (daughter of Chris and Sarah) came home from her job at Castle Howard. The other daughter, Emily is in the Himalayas so we didn't see her. I helped with dinner by scraping potatoes (I'd never scraped a potato before, it was good fun).
Sunday Chris drove us back into York to catch the bus up to Edinburgh. It was a bit sad to leave the farm and such nice people. We've offered to look after the farm so Chris and Sarah can visit mum and dad, and we've also been invited back to play in the SNOW when it comes. Loooong ride up to Edinburgh. We managed to get beds in a backpacker's hostel very central so that was lucky as we hadn't managed to pre-book anything. First show we saw was stand-up comedienne JoJo Sutherland's Funny Money. It was free as was lots of the comedy. Fairly funny in a worrying sort of way, all about being in debt. We then saw Closer than Ever. We didn't think it was as good as when George Street did it but it was still very good. One of the guys in it went to WAAPA. And one girl in it looked EXACTLY like Marii Marshall.Does anyone know where she is these days? In UK doing professional theatre by any chance?? And changed her name? Finally we saw Andrew O'Neill:Winston Churchill was Jack the Ripper. This was really brilliant, one guy putting forward his theory of why Churchill could be Jack the Ripper and he really knew his stuff. Also he threw in a Dr Who reference so Mike was super-happy.
Monday 14th - Mike had haggis and I had vegie haggis for breakfast. I think I'll stop writing day-by-day and just list all the shows we saw, and then anything else of interest. So...
"What I heard About Iraq". Excellent. 5 actors quoting politicians, soldiers, civillians etc talking about Iraq war right up until that day. It was just continuous statements, in the format of "I heard (Donald Rumsfeld say blah blah etc)". Hard to describe but really good, sort of thing that should be compulsory in schools. I guess anyone who's really interested can google all these titles and read the reviews that will put things much better thank I can.
"Over the Hill" Matt Byrne. It was really good to catch up with Matt. He also had Maggie Moore with him and a guy called Damien from Murray Bridge doing tech. It was just lovely seeing faces from home.
"Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf" Toby Hadoke. This was a poignant comedy piece all about a guy that is obsessed with Dr Who. It was very good.
"Causing a Scene" Free improvisation show...not bad, I've seen Darren and Gavin do better.
"Griff Griffiths and Nigel Taylor: The King And I" the title was a trick to get people who like musicals to come and see these guys doing stand up comedy. They hardly mentioned the King and I at all. But it was still funny I guess.
"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" - we really liked this. Mike has worked out his cast already so please no one else do it before we get back.
"Catchy" - a musical about the plague. Pretty awful.
"Assassins" - This is one of Mike's favourite musicals. I hadn't seen it before. It was put on by school kids and was pretty crap. Going by this show I don't think I like Assassins but Mike assures me it's a good show if done well. I couldn't work out what point they were trying to make, and all the way through all I could think was "If all these presidents were killed so easily by crazy people for odd reasons why is George Bush still alive??"
"With a Song In My Heart" - tribute to Richard Rodgers, 6 people from amateur theatre around Hertfordshire. Similar to "The Lorenz Hart Story" but without a plot, just the songs. Very enjoyable.
"Cast Aside" - this was brilliant. A play about pretentious drama graduates putting on Shakespeare, really funny and accurate.
"Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus vs Malcolm and Mirriam" very funny 2 hander show, first half was Malcolm and Miriam doing a presentation on relationships. It was quite sweet really. 2nd half was Die Clatt...Europe's worst ever pop group singing funny offensive songs. An American lady sitting in front of us made some snide comment and from then on the two guys on stage were awful to the Americans. It sounds mean but a lot of the performers in Edinburgh seemed to be sick of Americans by the time we got there, they seem to live up to their stereotypes.
"A Brief History of Scotland - We Done Loads" - crap. Not worth the sprint to get to it from one venue one little bit.
"My Brother and I Are Porn Stars" - 2 New Zealand people. We saw a good review somewhere which is why we went but it was not very good...we kept waiting for a hidden message or moral ending or a plot or something but it didn't happen. Kind of disturbing but in a bad way.
"Bat Boy - the Musical" - BRILLIANT. I really loved this. I thought it would be Mike's thing as well but he didn't rave as much as I expected but he did enjoy it. The group were from Cambridge, some from the uni and some from the G&S society there. A very professional production, I couldn't fault it at all and the show is great. Good way to end the festival after a couple of crap shows.
OTHER THINGS WE DID IN EDINBURGH:
went to a tartan factory
Auld Reekie Ghost Walk - they promised no one would jump out at us then at the end someone did. Bastards.
Edinburgh Castle
Mike went to the Edinburgh Dungeons - all dungeoned out now hopefully.
Frankenstein (a bar)'s Rocky Horror Night. Had people dressed as the characters singing along to the kareoke soundtrack. Would have been great to be there with Marii and Georgia and Deirdre and Lisa and Sally...or Sally and Amy and Alanna...not really the same just sitting meekley in a corner. Oh well.
Royal Mile guided walk - this was really good, much better than the scummy ghost walk. It was in daylight for one thing. Lots of history and it was a big long 2 hour walk from Edinburgh Castle right down to the palace (we didn't even know there was a palace!) and it was free.
We met Will Anderson, he was handing out flyers for his show. We didn't go to see it, we saw the Porn Star one instead, regrettably.
So that was Edinburgh. Friday 18th August we got a bus to Hull where Sandy Cappleman (another one of mum's pottery friends) met us. On the bus ride I made friends with an old man called Neil who had been in Edinburgh because his sister was in hospital. He was a bit sad and kept wanting to chat about happy things. We stayed with Sandy and Mick in Hornsea for the whole weekend and had a lovely time with them. On Saturday Mick took Mike and I on a guided tour of Hornsea, we walked along the beach and to the mere where there were swans and ducks and boats etc. He showed us the house where mum stayed and a war memorial with one of his relations on it and houses that he's helped paint etc. In the evening we went to Bridlington for a fish and chip dinner and a walk along the seaside, and afterwards went on to Bempton Cliffs for a MOTH NIGHT. We caught moths and looked in special moth books to try and identify them. The highlight though was walking around the cliffs with a special bat-detector machine looking for bats. The machine picks up their sound waves and there were hundrends of them. We saw a few fly over our heads but mostly we just heard them. I asked the main moth-man if he preferred moths or bats and he said bats were ok but he has a special place in his heart for moths.
Sunday Sandy and Mick took us to a country estate called Wassand. They have a key to the walled gardens so we looked around there. It was a rainy day on and off but it held off for us to walk through the forest. We tried to find the "lost village of Cleeton" which we saw signs for but it was well and truly lost. Had a quick looks around some markets then went home to relax. Then Monday it was back to Leicester.
I could write about stuff we've been up to since being back in Leicester but I'll do it another time because you've got enough to go on now and Wendy and Jay will be home soon. I like my 2 new jobs at the school and park but they are very tiring. I'm also in a play that starts rehearsals in November so will hopefully keep me a bit busy while Mike's away. Mike is getting really good at puzzle books and will hopefully win us a trip to Rome.
Bye bye for now, please feel free to email, we're not very good at replying but we love to hear from people!
Love Pru & Mike xxxx |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
prichael's journal
