I went to Sainsburys this morning to do the food shopping, I was all set up for it to be packed in there because England is playing Japan this afternoon - surprisingly it wasnt busy at all - it was far busier in there last Sunday (I still cant think why!).
James has been saying for ages that he is surprised that they havent been filming Coronation Street in HD, and sure enough it will be showing in HD from Monday just in time for Gails trial ;o).
The World Cup hasnt even started yet, but all of the stores here are selling "products" to help you support England...
I have seen loads of stores offering the likes of free tvs and laptops (you buy it first then get your money back in the (unlikely) event of England winning), I thought that this was purely a UK thing (as England hasnt won in like ages), but surprisingly enough we saw similar adverts in Paris!
I must say I have got sucked in with all of the patriotism ;o) I was in Sainsburys and bought some knickers (they made me smile), here I am sporting them Superman stylee ;o).
They arent the tackiest ones that I have seen, and yes I will be wearing them - but I wont be watching the football!
I was on the train yesterday morning (all of the windows were open) and we were just pulling out of Shenfield Station, and a feather came through the window and landed on the shoulder of the bloke sitting opposite me.
I guess there must have been a bird flying overhead but what were the chances of the feather coming through a window that opens inward? (think of a v shape).
Very spooky!
The diet starts again now...
...in typical me style I will still be eating chocolate every day ;o) If I dont eat it every day then I just know that I will have a bad day and will end up eating a whole kilogram bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk, this has been done before!
I havent dared to weigh myself after the trip to Paris, but my work trousers do feel tight, and I cant pull my jeans up anymore without undoing them!
Oh well back to checking the calories again (not that I had stopped anyway)...
The one thing that truly surprised me about Paris was that it is now non smoking. The few French people I have encountered all smoke, so I can imagine that there were loads of complaints when that law came in ;o).
We made sure we got to Ebbsfleet International early (I think we got there two and a half hours before the train was due to leave), we werent allowed to check in until 90 minutes prior to departure, so we sat in this little (one woman) coffee shop waiting to go through those magic gates.
We were finally allowed to check in and all that was waiting at check in was a Caffe Nero and a W H Smith, to say James was disappointed was an understatement!
The train arrived on time, but the driver didnt announce when we were going through the tunnel! Admittedly the previous times (we have only been on Eurostar twice before) we went to Disneyland Paris, so perhaps they just announce it for the benefit of the kiddies onboard. I know that were not kiddies but I STILL WANTED TO KNOW!!!!! I may have to sue them for the mental disturbance caused to me ;o) "mental note" - do not mention this blog in my citation (as I dont think it will help my cause ;o)).
We finally got to Gare Du Nord, found the Metro, queued up to buy our train tickets asked for two tickets in French and the lady replied to me in English ;o).
Most of the French people I came across were friendly enough, there were only a couple of really rude people. I was expecting more rude people but James thought everyone was quite rude...
We stayed in a 3 star hotel just off of the Champes Elysees, in truth the hotel was a let down. There was no tea or coffee making facilities, the only English speaking channel on the tv was CNN. All that would have been excused if the breakfast was fantastic! HUH the breakfast was awful...
...we got a wicker basket containing 3 pastries each - and they wouldnt give you more, there was cheese and sausage slices, jam, marmalade, bread for toasting - the lady running the breakfast room was only putting out 4 slices of the cheapest white bread at a time (I guess there was a limit as to how much bread we were allowed), and there were softish boiled eggs (it was a lottery as to how soft your egg was going to be).
The funniest thing was that the lady came around each morning asking what room you were in (I mean as if anyone would come in there for breakfast otherwise?).
We did the usual touristy things like the Eiffel Tower a bus tour and a boat trip down the Seine.
Paris was really expensive too - I bought what I thought was enough Euros and we had to use the credit card towards the end!
c'est la vie ;o)
Its my birthday today, and a scary one at that...
Not too sure how I feel about no longer being 30 something, it will be a ride and hopefully a fun one at that ;o)
I cant believe that I am nearly 40...
forty FORTY F-O-R-T-Y that is seriously old!
I was out with three of my friends yesterday for afternoon tea at Claridges, we had a great time ;o) About an hour into it we heard "happy birthday" being played on the piano, we wondered who it was for, and wouldnt you know that it was for me ;o) They bought out a chocolate shaped like a handbag with a candle on top with "happy birthday" written on the plate. Everyone clapped ;o).
I got a sphere of life necklace for my birthday present. Its an expensive year as my friends are also turning 40 ;o)
At least we are all turning old together ;o)
Yesterday on my way home I saw this outside the Willis Tower, as part of this ;o)
Its a typical bank holiday weekend...
...rainy :o(
We hadnt decided about what to do tomorrow yet, hopefully we can do something fun.
A new series started on Channel 4 last week Iron Chef UK, we were both excited as we love the US version, and in typical UK style they have (seemingly) ruined it.
Instead of the (successful) one chef vs one challenger - we have one chef vs four challengers (the Iron chef cooks four dishes and each challenger cooks one each)- but it does go on for the whole week, and I guess that I should really watch more than two minutes of the show before passing judgement ;o).
