Bank Schmank

Bank holiday aka winter woes. After a stunner of a week, Saturday came around bringing with it wet and windy fronts and chilling temperatures. I have to say it wasn't the most life changing of weekends but that is not to say that is wasn't enjoyable. On Saturday I ticked off one from a long list of galleries that I've been wanting to visit. I stood in line for a ticket to the Anthony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, which I have to say was well worth it. The night was spent at Beverley catching up with the girls, and having a good old chinwag, greeted by cornfritters in the morning. In a fit of domesticity, Mish and I went on a baking frenzy, whipping out pretty pink cupcakes and gingerloaf, breaking a wooden spoon on the way. Monday I lazed in Fran and Thea's new palace; it is lovely!!!

Inflating In Every Way

Due to the insignificance of May 19th, Matt, Sam and Ricoh took it upon themselves to bestow the day with some sort of excuse to look forward to this day by having an inflatable party; entry being, as I have already so mysteriously insinuated, something inflatable. With Nadya supplying the dolphins, (Cocoa and Murray; explanations can be found at racialrelations.com) and beach balls to go with, we set off to Tooting Bec. Murray, almost towering over me with his lovely plastic scent and ever so dreamy eyes, was cause for much pointing and ecstatic excitement from children and strangely not that many wierd looks from anyone else; perhaps it is not uncommon to see marine life on the bus. By the time we arrived, Murray and Cocoa's entrance was overshowed, although not ignored, by a massive killer whale and almost lifesized tractor; the paddling pool was filled with a clam shell, cows, guitars, bananas, wings, and many other exciting things that were perfect for creating a soft landing!! What a great party, and such a conveniant bus trip home (yes I can hear you girls sniggering!)

Sunday was a typical one at the Sweep, waking up closer to the afternoon than one would like, to find Thea sprawled on the couch, and later the Fran and I (and Fran's Nicki for this occasion) joining her, and eventually making our way through a Sunday brunch of some sort. It was the last weekend at the Caravan for Fran and Thea, and I have to say it was spent in a very typical Franeeli fashion. We had an English Bickie Tasting, more for my benefit but secretly a good excuse for the girls to eat lots of biscuits. On Friday they had come back with Iced Jems, Wagon Wheels (yum), Jaffa Cakes, Custard Creams, HobNobs, Party Rings, Fox's Golden Crunch Creams, Jammee Dodgers, Tunnock's Tea Cakes, Garibaldi, Coconut Delights (delish), and Bingo (the game, but the little machine that shoots out the numbers was a little problematic). Sunday evening was spent ploughing through this large shrine to our favourite pastime, and in true English tradition, with tea and British drama. Now it would seem that all we did was eat, which to be fair was quite true and our only excursion out was to go to Tesco, but we did cut and glue ribbon for Thea so it was not completely unconstructive.

Where's Waldo?

Well I reached the end of what has been a very grey and grim week; (although as I speak the skies are turning a brighter shade of blue and the sun is actually giving London the time of day!) My mission this week has been to find somewhere to go for Bank weekend next week, but as to be expected everything is ridiculously priced. I was looking to go to Auschwitz; morbid I know, but I met a couple people in Salzburg who had just been to Dachau and I felt rather inspired to go. Evidently, airlines are making a lot of money from the Polish population here.

The ticking of my travelling clock is definitely increasing in volume. Upon being offered a year contract at the company which I have been temping with, I realised how limited my time here really is; 196 days to be exact. As summer approaches, weekends fall to the way side, and my list of destinations gets increasingly longer. The more time that I am here, the more that London life grows on me like the veins in blue cheese. My initial reservations and in fact complete adamant nature that I did not want to end up being in London have been squashed with a satisfying squish, and I have come to love life here. I would certainly never bring up kids here, but at a time when life is as breezy as it is now, it certainly agrees with me.

I Am a Goat

I am feeling rather bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after two days of invigorating mountain air and enough vitamin D to ensure that I am several steps closer to having some resemblance of colour, Birkenstock tan marks included. Aside from one freak storm, I was blessed with blue skies and temperatures soaring to ice cream diet temperatures (ice cream which was a strong contender for Granada's Claire!). Salzburg (or Sainsbury as my darling Ma keeps referring to it as; imagine an entire weekend at a supermarket, how great would that be!) is nothing but charming, with Mozart accosting you around every corner, crouching alleys leading to catacomb spaces, American women Austrian spirit dressed Maria Von Trapp style, overlooked by Monchsberg peak upon which sits Europe's oldest fortress, Hohenslzburg, and stunning snow capped mountains. Many a mountain was climbed and several occasions found lost, ridiculous amounts of photos taken (approximately seven per hour),and only one wierdo. The beautiful Mirabell gardens are lovely, and if you wander off the beaten path in the forest you may come across a group of old men and a cooker having lunch. They may be forest dwellers or perhaps have just decide to create homeliness for the day. Of all the Mozart sights of interest, I only went to Mozarthaus; a bizarre museum/artistic representation of his childhood in the residence where he was born, including a scary half man half baby doll and a drawing insinuating that he had an ear piercing!! Itziar and I had quite a giggle and some of the strange exhibits. A little south of the town centre is Hellbrunn; a palace, gardens, and trick fountains created by a Prince-Archbishop with a splendid sense of humour for whimsical days in the summer. The trick fountains are well worth the visit, involving seats that shoot water if guests get too rowdy, and doorways that shower unsuspecting visitors. As it dates back to the 16th C, it is all powered by water pressure; an amazing feat of engineering. You are guaranteed to get wet, which is unfortunate for all these Europeans that like to wear white pants! Somewhere in the grounds is the Sound of Music pavilion, which I spent hours looking for but neglected to find as I arrived late and had limited time due to the fact that the Salzburg Marathon was on that day so the buses weren't running until after 3pm.

I must admit that Salzburg offered more than I expected, and would have perhaps even like an extra day there; the hills were definitely alive with the sound of my smile! As it had been a month and a half since my last trip I was definitely getting a little caught up in the mundaness of everyday life, and this short but sweet excursion has reminded me of why I am here.

TASTY TREATS

To be fair, I dined mostly on ice cream and pretzels, but there were a couple newbies to my list of regional delicacies. With my lust for liquorice I was rather excited by this hard bread thing that looked like a giant cookie with fennel seeds. The lady at the stand warned me that it was hard, and boy was she right!! To tend to my amorous feelings for almonds, there was the Echte Salzburger Mozartkugel involving marzipan, nougat creme, and chocolate; the sweet ambassador for Austria.

Where did the weekend go?!

Bank holidays, gotta love em!! Even if you dissipate into blobaliciousness for an entire day, there is still a whole nuther weekend to go. On Saturday night we dropped by the Walkie, argh; somehow we didn't manage to move beyond this antipodean hole, but a good time was had despite bad music, and various other disturbing factors. Sunday was an extremely productive day involving a couch, bad movies, and chocolate; with the promise of exciting excursions on the extra day gifted to us by the holiday Gods, the lack of productivity was not too worrying. To our disgust, the skies opened up on Monday, and we were forced to convene indoors, but with the caravan being the size it is, it always feels like a party, and permanently looks like we've just had one. Thankfully, the rain cleared, and I headed down the road for Milo's birthday BBQ. The girls decked the surrounding area with hilarious photos, serious food was sizzled on a real charcoal barbie (later used to keep warm), and many a cheer had.

Tea Time

The name "Tunnock's Teacake" has the air of old fashioned brown raisin cake and one would assume a rather lack lustre presence about it; but when I peeled back the red and silver foil I was pleasantly surprised that it was not a serious affair at all!! This Scottish invention is very similar to a Mallowpuff, only with a more buttery biscuit base and the marshmallow has a consistency that is somewhere between shaving cream and a cloud. Apparently a favourite of Supergrass, Tunnock's is a Scottish legend, established in 1890 Thomas Tunnock who paid £80 for a shop in Uddingston. After sinking my teeth into one of these dulcet delights, I now understand why it holds such a whimsical place in British consciousness.

Aquatic Adventures

Feeling a little fretful, Mish and I signed up to an aqua aerobics class at the Latchmere Leisure Centre after work yesterday. Would there be a whole lot of uber fit people? Are we going to be able to keep up? Was the instructer going to be a steroid-filled muscle Nazi? Initially, there was only two people signed up which was a little worrying as it meant that we couldn't just blend into the background, but when it came to it, there were around ten other people. The instructor was this lovely woman who kept us entertained, and certainly looked like she was having as much fun as we were; initially you just feel so ridiculous so we were giggling away, but as the class progressed, the more intense it became and the more water resistance resisted; there were points where my muscles were definitely planning a revenge. It was a little problematic as I couldn't see without my glasses, and if the lively instructer was yelling comments my way I couldn't tell, so I made Mish come to the front with me so that everyone else could watch us make fools of ourselves. I geuss aqua aerobics has a certain nerdy old people connotation, and to be fair there was certainly no pretentiousnious or snobby gym junkies, which makes it absolutely perfect for a geekorama* like me : )

*geek: a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken. Dictionary.com