Amsterdam - The Pictures

You have been warned! I saw this sign outside a pub.
Looking for a career change? Hire out a window in the redl light district!
View of the Margere Bruge, or the "Skinny Bridge"
And close up
So much Heineken! This was taken at the Heineken Experience.
Tulips, flowers, galore.
Dam Square (the main square in Amsterdam)
Ship model in the Reijksmuseum
Tiny Fokker F50 we flew on to Amsterdam. 50 passengers only!
Rembrandt painting in the Reiksmuseum. This is the one attacked by some loony in the 1970s with a knife. You can still see the slash marks just slightly above the dogs head, bottom right near the drum.

Amsterdam

Hello all,

Just wanted to check in. We are at the airport in Amsterdam, waiting for our flight. We are mega early, but better than late!

I have had such a lovely weekend. Really relaxing, full of sightseeing. Amsterdam is a great place. I love the architecture, the canals, the peace and quiet (well, anything is quiet compared to London anyway!!). I will post more when I have more time and some photos as well. Hopefully tomorrow when I am at work.

Until then... :-)

English versus Australian English

I thought I would enlighten you all in the ways of the Pom (another word for an Englishman/woman). Over the last two and a bit years I have been in London my accent has softened. To the English I still sound Australian, but to my Aussie friends I sounds English. I can't win! I like the way my accent sounds at the moment. I never had a harsh Aussie accent to start with.

English Australian English

lolly ice block/ice cream
sweet lolly
trousers pants
pants underpants
thong g-string
flip-flops thongs
rota roster

That's all I can think of for now. I shall post more when I can get my brain in gear.

We had lots of kiddies in at work today. I made them giggle when I told them the computers only had tiny brains and could not cope when the kids put too many fingers on the touch screens.

Little Hats!

You can see my mobile phone here for scale.
As promised, here are two pictures of the 32 hats I knitted for Innocent Drinks. They were incredibly satisfying to knit as I could finish one off completely in about an hour. And they were for charity, which is even better. I miss them though, but now I am getting on with other knitting projects. I am two thirds of the way through a scarf for a Christmas present for a friend and I still have Scotty's second sock to finish. :-) So much to do!

The hats are so small because they go on the top of smoothie bottles...

Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amsterdam

Scott and I are off to Amsterdam on Friday night. :-) I have been looking on the web for things to do. www.amsterdam.info seems a good source. They have an advice section which states:

Avoid using cannabis in public. It is unsafe and illegal. It is not allowed to smoke in the public (you can get a fine, but usually just a reminder from the policeman), and it is not polite either to roam the streets, shops or restaurants while stoned. You can easily bump into a bike or a tram and die.

Not polite to roam the streets stoned? Awesome. :-) That made me giggle.

Anyway, we are really looking forward to going. We are flying out of City Airport which is quite close to us (we can catch the Docklands Light railway home rather than overland trains/buses etc). We should be home within an hour of landing!

Pics from the Lord Mayor's Show

The Lord Mayor's Coach in all its glory!
No parade is complete without a marching band wearing wigs, right??
Pearly Kings and Queens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_King
This is a view of Scott's building with a smooshed map of Australia on the blow up globe. Made me giggle.
Magog, of the Gog and Magog pair. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_and_magog for more info!
This is my new favourite street name. Actually, my second favourite. My favourite is still Poultry!

Greetings All!

I had a lovely weekend. Scott had to work for quite a bit of the weekend. We headed into the City earlyish on Saturday morning. We arrived at St Pauls just on 11am and we found ourselves a spot to watch the parade. I love parades. There is something about them that brings out the child in me. Everyone is happy to be there, there are people yelling and blowing whistles, there are horses and marching bands, and museum artefacts. There was even a Delorian car (like in Back to the Future). The parade itself went on for about an hour. I was happy to see the highlight of the Show again, the Lord Mayor's Coach. It's was great to see it out of its normal spot in the Museum of London.

It is funny how a lot of people do not know the history of the Lord Mayor's Show, or even know that it's on. I did ask some friends from home who are living here if they wanted to come, but I guess no reply to my email meant that they had no idea what I was talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_mayors_show Yay for Wikipedia!

We are off to Amsterdam on the 24th of this month. It will be a lovely break, one I am really looking forward to. We have not been "overseas" since we went to Sweden in January. Scotland doesn't really count as we didn't need our passports! We have three days booked there (including my parents' birthdays on the Monday 27th). Amsterdam is a lovely place. Then we are off to Bristol and Cardiff two weekends later. And then to Pompeii in January when Scott's dad is here. So not much travel in 10 months, then three trips in the space of 8 weeks!!

I met up with Sarah and Orlaith yesterday. We were going to try out a stitch and bitch group at one of the cafes in the West End but Sarah had a doctors appointment, so we have postponed it until they get back from Oz. We ended up wandering about, having coffee, getting on buses, going to a bank, knitting in cafes and generally having a lovely time. I had tomato sauce handprints on me after Orlaith smooshed her pasta into my skirt at lunch time. :-) Babies are gross. But cute, so it makes up for it.

Knitting projects at the moment:
* tiny hats for charity. See www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/supergran for details. Tiny hats for smoothies! Strange idea, but they are cute, easy to knit and for a good cause. What more do you want?
* socks for Scott. I am on number 2!

Knitting projects for the future:
*gloves
*beret out of bottle green mohair
*handbag from sari silk
*hot water bottle cover
*afghan (a throw for the bed)

A random post for y'all, but that's the kind of mood I'm in!

Photo Splurge

Isa holding Orlaith at our anniversary dinner. Orlaith took quite a shine to Isa.
Orlaith and Sarah.
This is a Roman hobnail boot footprint in a tile which is sitting inthe archive I visited. Slightly blurry but you get the idea!

Sunset near my work.
Sarah, Me and Isa after anniversary dinner.
Me, Aliza and Rob at Aldgate East tube station after eating much curry at Brick Lane
Squirrel! In Regent's Park, spotted trying to see if I had any food for him.
Lovely view of lake in Regent's Park.
Train going between Heron Quays and Canary Wharf stations. I took the pic for the gorgeous colour of the sky. It went from a pink to a brilliant navy straight above me.