Happy Birthday Ben

Today is Big Ben’s 150th birthday. Not sure how a giant clock celebrates it’s birthday but I think that starting by chiming 150 times would be cool (well, not for the neighbours). Big Ben is one of my favourite sights in London. It is quite spectacular to see as it is taller and much bigger than I expected (which is the total opposite of the Mona Lisa painting which is much smaller than I thought it would be).

If you are an iPhone user and love the big clock as much a I do, then you can download your very own Big Ben app for FREE today only.  Otherwise, you can enjoy some pictures I have taken of my favourite timekeeping landmark.

On a side note, if you are a tourist and go to see Big Ben, watch your pockets as I hear it is a big place to get pick pocketed. It is quite smart if you think about it – a bunch of tourists get dropped off in front of the clock, gaze upwards ignoring their pockets and the fresh stack of British pounds they just took out of their hotel safe….tempting.

On another side note, it is also my Father in law’s birthday today as well so, Happy Birthday!!.  I must point out however that he isn’t turning 150 and isn’t bigger or taller than I expected

WTF? Friday

I do realise I have a lot of post about pee but when you have a hubby with a mini bladder its hard not to pay attention to things like this.

This is a website (Runpee.com) that lets you know which part of a film you can run to the loo without missing anything important!  They give you both the time in minutes into the film as well as a brief description of what is going on so you know when to duck out. If the pee break they suggest falls within an point of the film that might be a spoiler they actually scramble the description so you can decide whether or not you want to know what will happen.

Now they just have to integrate this with a site like seat guru (a fantastic site that tells you which are the best seats on an airplane) that tells you which seats are closest to the loo and we would be all set!!

Part time tour guides

We have had friends visiting for a few days and since they have already been to London we were trying to think of things to do with them that they hadn’t already done.

We decided to head to North London and do Camden, Primrose Hill and then Little Venice (stopping at multiple pubs, a pit stop for Sunday roast, more pubs then a chicken kebab to finish it off)

Luckily we got a fantastic day without a cloud in the sky. Below are a few pictures from our adventures. As you can expect, Camden was packed but we found a new area that (we think) had just opened called the Stable Markets.

We then headed to one of the prettiest spots in the city (and the highest point in London), Primrose Hill which on a day like Sunday was spectacular.

We then hit a cute little pub for a Sunday Roast then on to Little Venice to watch the canal boats.

Anyhoo will get back on the blog wagon again I promise, especially with tomorrow being Friday and all (where does the time go?)!

Not my next career path…

We were out this weekend with friends visiting from Canada and we passed a very swanky London hotel and we had my first ‘celebrity sighting in a long long time.

We saw James Cordon and his girlfriend which I was way too excited about as I love James Cordon as he is an actor/writer of one of my favourite series called Gavin and Stacey (watch for it in the US I hear they are going to try to remake it) and a sketch show called Horne and Cordon.  He has done other stuff like starred in the west end in History of Boys and I am sure many other stuff before I knew who he was.   His girlfriend is also in Gavin and Stacey as well as stars in a show called Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps which I think, is the most fantastically British named TV show that I have ever heard of.

Needless to say I will never be a paparazzi based on this shot (he’s the one in red hugging his girlfriend) and I think being a news reporter is out of the question as when we walked by them I didn’t say a word just gawked at them (she was wearing a cute pair of Louboutin shoes).

It must suck to be out in public just minding your own business, getting your posh convertible valet parked in front of a swanky London hotel then have to be stared at by frumpy passers by, I almost felt bad for them.

WTF? Friday

This is just wrong….this ‘dog-o-matic’ is a dog washing machine.  For the low low price of £22 you too can have your pet hate you…

Who thought this was a good idea?  Putting a cute little dog in a box then having soapy water spray at them from all angles and essentially make them fearful of anything you ever try and coax them into for the rest of their life? Poor little Rusty I am pretty sure he thought he was on an elevator ride to doggy heaven, look how excited he was to get out!!

However it is hilarious when you put a cat in it!!

Just kidding I think its a terrible idea for both pets..although I know a few humans whom could benefit from a good spray down like this.

Source: Mail Online

What colour Care Bear was the bugbear?

I was introduced to yet another new word this week (I seriously must have missed some vocabulary classes growing up).  I am not sure it is a ‘British’ word per se but I can’t say I had heard it before. The word I am referring to is bugbear.

A bugbear by definition is like a bogeyman; an imaginary monster used to frighten children (although to me it sounds like one of the Care Bear’s arch nemesis).

However, in the context which I came across it (two times) this week it was used as a metaphor for something annoying or irritating.  ie Classic British bugbears include queue jumpers, traffic wardens, automated phone systems and noisy neighbours.

My personal bugbears are: words I don’t understand, words I can’t pronounce, slow internet, hangovers and cleaning toilets…just to name a few.

From dink to sink to nink…

Yes, that is right both the hubby and I are out of work  and are officially a no income no kids household…and I guess that means I have dropped from pank to just an ank.

I have realised that there are phases that you go through when unemployed similar to that of the grief cycle (denial, anger, acceptance)

I started with acceptance and for about a day I thought ‘hey this is cool I will take some time off and do all those things I couldn’t do with a job’.  Then I couldn’t remember anything I wanted to do other than going to the spa and that was too expensive.

Then I moved to panic and hit the ‘holy crap I need to get another job we aren’t earning income’ stage which include whoring out my CV to any and every job site that would accept it.  This was followed by a series of rejection letters for positions I applied for….its okay, I really didn’t want to be a ambulance driver or a bricklayer anyway.

Then I hit the distraction stage  where I decided to ignore the fact I was out of a job and be a tourist in London…although each day no matter where I went I ended up window shopping along Oxford Street planning all the new outfits I will buy when I have a job again.  I then distracted myself with domestic chores and spent two days cleaning the flat (including de-greasing the oven, descaling the kettle, washing the sofa cover and cleaning out my cleaning products).  Followed by a cooking day where I made banana cake with a cream cheese icing and a month’s supply of spaghetti bolognese…both turned out well but not spectacularly better than the store bought equivalents I have lived on for 3.5 years.

I am looking forward to the next phase which I call celebration.  The huby has been bettering himself these past two weeks by taking a course during the day which meant I have had to navigate unemployment on my own which has been boring.  As a result I have compiled a list of things for the hubby and I to do to take advantage of this forced holiday.  Some of them include going to the Science Museum, doing the Jack the Ripper walk, hiring a paddle boat in Regents park and maybe even get out of London and see some of the English seaside….oh yeah and look for jobs.

I presume the unemployment cycle will finish with employment but hope it doesn’t happen until the celebration phase can be fully enjoyed….who said beggars can’t be choosers?

Happy Victoria Day

Totally forgot today was a holiday in Canada – today is Victoria Day which is a day to mark Queen Victoria’s birthday.  Her official birthday is May 24th so the holiday falls on the Monday closest to the 24th of May so it makes for a long weekend.

Us clever Canadians however have nicknamed it May two-four weekend which refers not only to the date, but also because we call a case of beer a two four as it contains 24 bottles…and most of the time a few are consumed over this weekend (a few cases that is). It also means that summer is on it’s way so we can pack away our touques and parkas (for the most part).

For the first time in my life I actually am finding the name 'Moosehead Beer' a bit strange, there are no actual moose heads in this beer

As a teenager May 2-4 was the last long weekend before school ended for the year which was often celebrated by a large group heading to a dodgy camp site with recently purchased tents, disposable BBQ’s and 2-4’s of beer.  I can’t tell you what else goes on…mainly cause I can’t remember.  As we got older and had access to better accommodations this weekend was often spent at someone’s cottage which included the same amount of beer, BBQ’ed meat, fewer tents but the same amount of headaches and stories to regale everyone with when back to work/school on Tuesday.

So to all of the Canadians full of beer and BBQ I wish you a Happy May 2-4….

Fish and chips and pillows?

Why don’t they have plain white vinegar here….well they have vinegar here, malt vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar but not plain white vinegar.

I need it for two reasons…

1. It goes in both of my favourite summer salads (pasta and broccoli) and the only reason I haven’t made them in 3.5 years is because I can’t find the right vinegar (and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I haven’t really made anything in the past 3.5 years that wasn’t pre packaged, cooked, seasoned etc)
2. Its good at cleaning and disinfecting stuff and is cheap…I think at home you could get 5 gallons for 25 cents or something like that.  The reason this has come up is because I bought these pillows that you can wash in your washing machine and they suggested putting a bit of vinegar in the wash to kill the dust mites …now I am terrified of dust mites and want them all dead so need vinegar (but am happy to resort to bleach if I have to)

The wrong vinegar...for both my salad and my pillows

I have checked everywhere for my familiar white vinegar….well everywhere being our three major grocery chains and they don’t have it so that leads me to believe that white vinegar is something of a North American phenomenon. I did read that some people use malt vinegar and newspaper to clean their windows in the UK so is malt the equivalent to white vinegar? Could I really wash my pillows in malt vinegar?  I fear the hubby will wake up craving fish and chips if I do that….

How fancy…

Over here they have this fantastic phenomenon called ‘fancy dress parties’.  When I first heard of these parties, I assumed you would dress up as you would do for a black tie event…ie your fancy clothes, hence the name fancy dress. Good thing I wasn’t invited to one of these before confirming as this is not the case…  Fancy dress here essentially is a ‘costume’ therefore a fancy dress party is a costume party – of which they seem to be big fans of.

Themes range from dressing as a particular decade, dressing in something that starts with a particular letter of the alphabet,  dressing up as dead authors to dressing up as your favourite London tube station.  We have been to a few since we got here with the most recent being  last night with a  ‘beach ball’ theme meaning you could go beachy or go as if you were going to a ball (or both)…I went for the tacky retired Floridian (sorry Mom and Dad) with a big hat, beach wrap with parrots all over it and butterfly jewellery.  The hubby went for a Bermuda look with shorts with a blazer, shorts, leather loafers and socks to the knees.

The best bit about the prevalence of said parties is that you will often be on the tube when on walks someone dressed as a nun, school girl, punk rocker and no one really flinches…however to be fair, in London I guess they could be real nuns, school girls or a dude with a real mohawk.  I am keen to throw a Canadian themed party this year and see how may people come dressed as hockey players or mounties….you won’t find too many of those on the tube.