Day off

Hello. Yesterday I had the day off work in preparation for the fact that I have to work all this weekend. I was going to meet Sarah for lunch, but she cancelled as she spent all day in hospital. All is fine, so we have rescheduled for Tuesday next week before she heads to Oz.

So I spent the day doing not much, which was fine by me. I slept in a little, and I caught up on some emails, went to the library in search of some books.

Last night's dinner was full of miniatures... we had mini Courgettes (zucchinis) and mini carrots! Yum...

A fab weekend....

Hello! Yes, as the title says, I did indeedy have a fab weekend. Saturday morning we slept in and then headed off to St Paul's Cathedral. It usually costs £7 to get in the door, but Scott can get free tickets with his work so we got in for nuthin! I understand that they need £ for the upkeep, but £7 per person? I don't think so! Anyway, we found out that the very top viewing area is out of commission due to the bombings (for safety, not because someone had bombed the place), so we could go to the Whispering Gallery and to the next one up. The Whispering one was interesting as you can stand on one side of it and whisper something to the wall and someone over the other side of the gallery can hear you. No secrets! That was approx 250 steps up. Another 250 steps up was the outside gallery, which gave us great views over the city of London and the Thames. I took lots of photos. After St Pauls' Scott and I headed to the east end of London to an area called Wapping. There are some great old pubs there, including one built in the 1590s called the Prospect of Whitby. We stood on the back deck, which is right on the Thames and watched the boats go by. The tide was going out, and I watched the archaeological record being created. I was watching two glasses being thrown about by the waves, and then getting half buried in the sand. So in future years, some archaeologist may find these odd pieces of glass.....

Sunday was fun too. We got up early and headed into the Tower O London. The City of London Archaeological Society runs something every year, where they open up the Thames foreshore in front of the Tower. People can go looking for artefacts to see what they can find. Scott and I had such a good time wandering along looking for interesting items. We found all sorts of wonderful things, including some medieval stoneware, Tudor pottery, Victorian dinner ware (all fragments!), a part of a shoe sole, various pieces of metal and all kinds of other weird and wonderful stuff. I was told that a carved piece of bone I found was used for ice skates due to the odd shape. Plausible story I thought :-) We got quite a haul. Not quite sure what we are going to do with it all, but still! And I have to lug them all into work tomorrow to show Alison at work what we found.

Drinks tonight with people from work should be lovely!

:-)

Friday night in London

I have my copy of Harry Potter. I lined up with the other keen fans to get a copy when it was released at 12.01am this morning. Scott was out drinking with people from work, having such a great time that he missed out on buying Harry with me. As he was walking down Oxford Street to the bookshop he was hit in the leg by one of those street sweepers, and then kicked in the face by a girl being lifted up by her boyfriend. So, needless to say he was not a happy boy when I finally got to see him. So we got to bed at 2.30am! Poor Scotty.

One of our housemates is really getting on our nerves. The joys of living with other people, right? Apparently this morning Scott had put a load of washing on and left the kitchen door open. The kitchen door is opposite the two other bedroom doors in the flat. Mark pretty much said that Scott was a liar after Scott told him he forgot to close the door. Meanwhile it was 11am, and he was not being noisy. Mark is such a .... Well, I really shouldn't say it one here! Delicate eyes may see!!

HARRY POTTER

THE 6TH BOOK IS RELEASED TODAY AT MIDNIGHT.

CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS?

maybe? :-)

Another day at the office.

We had a fire alarm set off in the museum today. Oh joy. Apparently one of the tradesmen pressed the wrong door release button (he pushed the emergency one rather than the normal one) and set the fire alarms off. So, in all the fun, I went to lunch late. But I did get talking to a lovely elderly gentleman about when he used to work in the docks as a maintenance guy. He was telling me about all the times that whiskey used to go missing from shipments, and that no one ever knew about it (in other words they all knew but to whoever asked they had no clue as they were working elsewhere).

No other news really. I have to work all weekend. But we have a new exhibition on childrens toys which should be fun. I think I will sneak in there today and see what I can see!

So, it's the beginning of another week. I have Thursday off, but I am working all weekend. It should be a good weekend, as there is a birthday party on, and I am yet to see one of those on at the museum. There are quite a few different events held here, such as corporate events, birthday parties, and lectures. So there is usually something going on.

But, it is back to work. Just wanted to let you know that I am well. Scott and I had a picnic in our park yesterday. I carried the saucepan over with the bowls and we had our dinner there. IT was a nice change and really fun.

:-)

Well, after yesterday, I think I have come to realise, that you have to get on with life, no matter what it throws at you. I avoided the disaster zones yesterday, but there were so many caught up in it all. I have a lot of mixed feelings towards what happened here in London yesterday. I am angry that people thought that blowing up a bus and three tubes that they would be making a point. I feel awful for the families of those who lost loved ones, who do not know what happened to their friends and family yesterday. There are a lot of unanswered questions today, and will be for some time. I am happy that Scott and I avoided being caught in the disaster. I am impressed with the way that the emergency services worked yesterday under the extreme pressure of the situations they faced.

All of that may not make much sense, but today, not a lot of things do. Tubes are returning to normal, apart from the ones blown apart. Buses are running. But many people are not going to work today. Either their offices are closed or they just cannot face going on public transport so soon. But on the other hand, people did make the trek into work, to show that they will not be intimidated by these terrorists.

I entirely agree.

I will not be intimidated by the work on some maniacs who tried to disturb the peace in London.
I will not stay at home on the off chance that something might happen.
I will not live my life in fear, in London or anywhere else in the world.

Explosions

Hello. Well, London this morning was rocked by a series of explosions. I was at work at the time, so I watched some of it unfold on the television screen while buying my lunch. All I know is that there were 7 explosions, all seemingly timed to go off during peak hour. It is unbelievable. It just does not seem real. I feel awful for the people caught up in it all. It really makes you appreciate life, doesn't it?

The day before the day off

Hello!

Yes, I have the day off tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it, as I worked all weekend. I was in the children's gallery all day on saturday, and on the ground floor on Sunday, with spells in the kiddies' section then too. All in all a good weekend, but tiring! I am not used to working weekends anymore, but at least the museum was reasonbly busy. At one point I think I had 18 children in the gallery, which was noisy, but fun. There is a water feature in there that the kids can play with, and dig through the small pebbles to find hidden treasures. It is structured so that the water flows down towards the stones through a series of channels, which are like rivers flowing towards the sea. You can dam these rivers with blocks and make the land flood.

:-)

Another one...

Hi again,

I am still at work, sitting in the cloak room at the moment. I have been in the children's gallery for most of the day, so I am taking a break from all the stinky children. I have had fun though. I don't mind being in there, but it does remind me how much I miss my friend Maree's kids. Those two could always make me laugh. :-)

Speaking of children, I would like to wish my lovely friend Mickaela congratulations. She and her fiance (husband in 6 days' time) are expecting their first baby in February next year. I am very excited for them. I am surprised that she is the first one out of my three Melbourne friends to have a baby, but that's life right? Full of surprises. Well, that will make it three babies I miss out on meeting while I am out of the country. My cousin Tegan had a baby girl in April, Maree is having her third in October, and now Mick. :-)

Toodles!

The weekend...

Hello there!

I am at work, on the first weekend I have worked since I left home! But I had the day off on Thursday and again on Tuesday so it shouldn't be too bad!

I went out for drinks last night with most of the people from work. There is a great pub behind the builing, with excellent atmosphere (sometimes hard to find!). It was really lovely to be able to talk to people outside a work environment. And besides, all the people I work with at the moment are really lovely anyway! :-)

Scott is at work with me today. He was meant to be working at the Florence Nightingale Museum, but that fell through and the agency asked if he would like to work the entire weekend at my museum. So he said yes. :-)

Not much more to tell really. Not going to Live8, as I didn't even bother to try and get tickets. I am sure I will see the highlights on the news tonight.

:-)