Yesterday saw over running engineering works, and it went on all day!
My journey in the morning was ok because I had a seat...
...in the evening however, the train only had 8 carriages as opposed to the usual 12. I couldnt see an empty seat anywhere, so I ended up having to stand.
Luckily the train was only 8 minutes late getting to Chelmsford...
...I was going to use the exercise bike yesterday, but didnt bother after the resistance training that I did on the 17.20!
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
cold enough for my winter coat
Today was the first day that it has truly been cold enough to wear my winter coat...
Luckily the coat is quite generously sized so it still fits ok ;o)
Luckily the coat is quite generously sized so it still fits ok ;o)
Sunday, 7 November 2010
days seven ate nine
We were at sea the next day, and the only thing I had booked that day was the ice show (that I had queued up for for over half an hour to get the tickets on our first day).
James had booked himself a spa treatment which was a facial and a shave (which was due to finish five minutes before the start of the show)...
That morning we had gone to bingo again...
...and again we didnt win anything! Well apart from $5.00 on the pull tabs that we were given when we bought our tickets - we actually went posher than the paper tickets by buying a tracker that actually plays the cards for you - all you have to do is yell bingo when you win!
James spa treatment was booked for 1.30, so we went and had lunch and then James went up for hisfacial shave. I meantime went down to the casino to cash in the win and promptly spent another $20 too on the Wheel of Fortune Machine, and no I didnt win a sausage! And yes I know that the only true winners are ever the casino!
Anyway I made my way down to where the ice show was, got an aisle seat and when next to it so James could easily find me when he came down. I put my fleece on one of the seats to save it.
A Norwegian party were sitting behind me and one of the ladies asked if she could sit in the seat next to me, I said no it was for someone who had just popped out to the toilets and that he would be back soon. It was still 10 minutes before the show was about to start and there were spare seats around so I didnt feel too bad!
Just then an announcement comes over the tannoy saying "no saving of seats" and I felt someone prod me in the back (I turned around expecting it to be James) and it was the Norwegian bloke saying "did you hear that no saving of seats" I just turned around again hoping that James would be back soon.
The show started and James still hadnt turned up, I kept getting text messages from him saying that he was on his way...
The show itself was really good, but I dont think that James would have enjoyed it.
He still hadnt turned up by the end of the show and afterwards the Norwegian bloke said "thanks for not allowing my wife to sit next to you that was very considerate of you" I thought to myself blooming cheek I queued up half an hour for these tickets and if I want to save a seat then I will!
Anyhow not wanting anymore aggro I waited for him to leave before I went back to our cabin, when I got back there I found a note saying that he couldnt get into the show (because there was lots of people standing at the back and were blocking the aisles :o().
I easily found him in the buffet and he looked all shaved...
...when I asked if they had used a cut-throat he said he didnt know because she had covered his eyes up - LOL I guess it was so that he couldnt see all the faces that she was pulling while trying to navigate around his mis-shaped face ;o).
That night we had our second formal night, I knew that I had put on loads of weight because the zipper on the dress that I had bought didnt go up half as easily as it had in the store.
FYI I still havent dared weigh myself yet!
The next morning we were in Boston, and because we were returning from Canada, all non US citizens had to report for immigration (they didnt make us do this when we went to Canada - I guess that there were far too many Americans on board and would have been a complete nightmare).
They said that the immigration people would turn up at around 7am so we got down at 6.30 and there was already a queue of 20 people. More people were joining the queue behind us apart from a load of Germans who decided to jump in the queue where one of their party was saving "their" place. There was a huge South African guy who took exception to this and was yelling out to all who dared jump in the queue in front of him "go to the back of the queue you are not getting in front of me" A couple of people from the ship did come down to see what the commotion was about and tried to fob us off by saying that they had asked to go through immigration early because they had an early tour.
A couple of people did listen to him and go to the back of the queue - but largely Royal Caribbean did nothing to stop the queue jumping - and they werent prepared to do anything about it either!
James even made a complaint at customer relations (after going through immigration) about it too but the guy who he spoke to didnt really understand what he was saying, and wasnt really interested either so he gave up.
We finally got off of the ship and were waiting for the start of our culinary walking tour, we had a walk out of the terminal (as we had an hour to kill) but couldnt really see anywhere that we could walk to.
We got on the trolley bus that was taking us into Boston for the start of the tour. My favourite stop had to be Marias Pastry Shop as we got to try little samples of all of her pastries, they were delicious ;o). We tried samples in the other shops (there was a coffee shop, greengrocer, cheese shop and an off license where we got to try some Limoncello) we went to but nothing else was as nice as those. From the off license James bought a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka as a present for his brother.
We finished the walking tour outside Quincy Market, where I got to eat a totally unhealthy corn dog - incidentally they didnt serve these on the ship at all which I was totally gutted about.
We went to have a look around the shops just after I had finished my lunch and the heavens opened - the rain didnt seem like it was going to stop anytime soon - so we decided to call it a day by about 2.30 pm (the ship wasnt doe to leave until 5.30).
We got back to the ship and half expected them to confiscate the vodka (when they x-rayed our bags) as it was illicit booze (but they didnt seem to care by that point).
Our final day was another at sea day, but we decided to try our final hand at bingo (both sessions)...
...as the grand prize still hadnt been won in the morning -James thought it was rigged so it would have to go to a final session - the prize was $3000 (we wanted some of that ;o)).
There were several British people working on the cruise and one of them happened to be selling the tickets for the final mega big prize bingo, I decided to have a bit of fun with her...
...when I got to the front of the queue I asked for an "electronic doobrie" - she said to me "did you say doobrie" and I said "yes, I thought I would give you some Britishness ;o)", then she asked where we were from and I said Essex, and she was from Essex too - unfortunately it still didnt help us win the big prize - but it did bring a smile to her face ;o)
On our last day we were given the gratuities that we had pre-paid - I was expecting a book of ten vouchers that you could hand out to people who you wanted to tip - but no we were given four vouchers each - one for thecleaner stateroom attendant, one for the head waiter (we didnt know who on earth that was) one for the waiter and the final one for the assistant waiter, so we gave the stateroom attendant her ones and divided the other six (giving three each) to the waiter and assistant waiter (after all they did keep plying James with extra starters) ;o).
When we were given the vouchers we were also given our labels together with instructions for disembarkation - we were astounded that we were in one of the first groups to be able to leave the ship ;o).
Hooray this meant that we would be able to get any last minute shopping at the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall before making our way back to the airport...
to be continued...
James had booked himself a spa treatment which was a facial and a shave (which was due to finish five minutes before the start of the show)...
That morning we had gone to bingo again...
...and again we didnt win anything! Well apart from $5.00 on the pull tabs that we were given when we bought our tickets - we actually went posher than the paper tickets by buying a tracker that actually plays the cards for you - all you have to do is yell bingo when you win!
James spa treatment was booked for 1.30, so we went and had lunch and then James went up for his
Anyway I made my way down to where the ice show was, got an aisle seat and when next to it so James could easily find me when he came down. I put my fleece on one of the seats to save it.
A Norwegian party were sitting behind me and one of the ladies asked if she could sit in the seat next to me, I said no it was for someone who had just popped out to the toilets and that he would be back soon. It was still 10 minutes before the show was about to start and there were spare seats around so I didnt feel too bad!
Just then an announcement comes over the tannoy saying "no saving of seats" and I felt someone prod me in the back (I turned around expecting it to be James) and it was the Norwegian bloke saying "did you hear that no saving of seats" I just turned around again hoping that James would be back soon.
The show started and James still hadnt turned up, I kept getting text messages from him saying that he was on his way...
The show itself was really good, but I dont think that James would have enjoyed it.
He still hadnt turned up by the end of the show and afterwards the Norwegian bloke said "thanks for not allowing my wife to sit next to you that was very considerate of you" I thought to myself blooming cheek I queued up half an hour for these tickets and if I want to save a seat then I will!
Anyhow not wanting anymore aggro I waited for him to leave before I went back to our cabin, when I got back there I found a note saying that he couldnt get into the show (because there was lots of people standing at the back and were blocking the aisles :o().
I easily found him in the buffet and he looked all shaved...
...when I asked if they had used a cut-throat he said he didnt know because she had covered his eyes up - LOL I guess it was so that he couldnt see all the faces that she was pulling while trying to navigate around his mis-shaped face ;o).
That night we had our second formal night, I knew that I had put on loads of weight because the zipper on the dress that I had bought didnt go up half as easily as it had in the store.
FYI I still havent dared weigh myself yet!
The next morning we were in Boston, and because we were returning from Canada, all non US citizens had to report for immigration (they didnt make us do this when we went to Canada - I guess that there were far too many Americans on board and would have been a complete nightmare).
They said that the immigration people would turn up at around 7am so we got down at 6.30 and there was already a queue of 20 people. More people were joining the queue behind us apart from a load of Germans who decided to jump in the queue where one of their party was saving "their" place. There was a huge South African guy who took exception to this and was yelling out to all who dared jump in the queue in front of him "go to the back of the queue you are not getting in front of me" A couple of people from the ship did come down to see what the commotion was about and tried to fob us off by saying that they had asked to go through immigration early because they had an early tour.
A couple of people did listen to him and go to the back of the queue - but largely Royal Caribbean did nothing to stop the queue jumping - and they werent prepared to do anything about it either!
James even made a complaint at customer relations (after going through immigration) about it too but the guy who he spoke to didnt really understand what he was saying, and wasnt really interested either so he gave up.
We finally got off of the ship and were waiting for the start of our culinary walking tour, we had a walk out of the terminal (as we had an hour to kill) but couldnt really see anywhere that we could walk to.
We got on the trolley bus that was taking us into Boston for the start of the tour. My favourite stop had to be Marias Pastry Shop as we got to try little samples of all of her pastries, they were delicious ;o). We tried samples in the other shops (there was a coffee shop, greengrocer, cheese shop and an off license where we got to try some Limoncello) we went to but nothing else was as nice as those. From the off license James bought a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka as a present for his brother.
We finished the walking tour outside Quincy Market, where I got to eat a totally unhealthy corn dog - incidentally they didnt serve these on the ship at all which I was totally gutted about.
We went to have a look around the shops just after I had finished my lunch and the heavens opened - the rain didnt seem like it was going to stop anytime soon - so we decided to call it a day by about 2.30 pm (the ship wasnt doe to leave until 5.30).
We got back to the ship and half expected them to confiscate the vodka (when they x-rayed our bags) as it was illicit booze (but they didnt seem to care by that point).
Our final day was another at sea day, but we decided to try our final hand at bingo (both sessions)...
...as the grand prize still hadnt been won in the morning -James thought it was rigged so it would have to go to a final session - the prize was $3000 (we wanted some of that ;o)).
There were several British people working on the cruise and one of them happened to be selling the tickets for the final mega big prize bingo, I decided to have a bit of fun with her...
...when I got to the front of the queue I asked for an "electronic doobrie" - she said to me "did you say doobrie" and I said "yes, I thought I would give you some Britishness ;o)", then she asked where we were from and I said Essex, and she was from Essex too - unfortunately it still didnt help us win the big prize - but it did bring a smile to her face ;o)
On our last day we were given the gratuities that we had pre-paid - I was expecting a book of ten vouchers that you could hand out to people who you wanted to tip - but no we were given four vouchers each - one for the
When we were given the vouchers we were also given our labels together with instructions for disembarkation - we were astounded that we were in one of the first groups to be able to leave the ship ;o).
Hooray this meant that we would be able to get any last minute shopping at the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall before making our way back to the airport...
to be continued...
Friday, 5 November 2010
a toffee nut sprinkles promise
The feedback that I have received (thanks Al & Eileen) has been 100% behind documenting all of my Christmas drinks - and in honesty that was the answer that I wanted ;o)
I had a late night last night as we had a quiz night (as set up by our Accountants), I didnt get home until 11pm. Because I get up mega early I was dead on my feet (even on the best of days I manage to get in by autopilot).
We came 9th out of 20 teams so we didnt do too bad ;o)
Anyhow I went into Starbucks in Houndsditch, and asked for a venti skinny toffee nut latte (this is my other favourite Christmas drink) and the lady doing it said that she was looking for the sprinkles (so I piped up) that the sprinkles were the best part of it, and she said that they end up throwing them away at the end of the year where they dont get used up...
...so I said thats such a waste, and she said that if I come in in January they will give me what they have left ;o)
I had a late night last night as we had a quiz night (as set up by our Accountants), I didnt get home until 11pm. Because I get up mega early I was dead on my feet (even on the best of days I manage to get in by autopilot).
We came 9th out of 20 teams so we didnt do too bad ;o)
Anyhow I went into Starbucks in Houndsditch, and asked for a venti skinny toffee nut latte (this is my other favourite Christmas drink) and the lady doing it said that she was looking for the sprinkles (so I piped up) that the sprinkles were the best part of it, and she said that they end up throwing them away at the end of the year where they dont get used up...
...so I said thats such a waste, and she said that if I come in in January they will give me what they have left ;o)
Thursday, 4 November 2010
got my gingerbread latte
Following yesterdays upset, I got to Liverpool Street Station this morning and was greeted by this A-board ;o)
So I sauntered along to Houndsditch (where my nearest branch is) and was pleased to see that the holiday menu boards were up ;o)
So yes I have had my first gingerbread skinny latte of 2010 ;o)
The question is shall I just document the gingerbread lattes or diversify to all the Christmas drinks?
So I sauntered along to Houndsditch (where my nearest branch is) and was pleased to see that the holiday menu boards were up ;o)
So yes I have had my first gingerbread skinny latte of 2010 ;o)
The question is shall I just document the gingerbread lattes or diversify to all the Christmas drinks?
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
snot fair
I had an e-mail yesterday from my beloved Starbucks, saying that because I love the Christmas drinks so much, they were letting me know (early) that the drinks were out tomorrow (or rather today). and at selected stores you could get a free Christmas tumbler if you were one of the first 20 customers...
...you can imagine how excited I was, I actually looked forward to coming to work today knowing that I could have my first gingerbread latte of the the season ;o)
I get to Liverpool Street Station, and I saw that they still had their A-board saying "our red cups are coming" I thought thats strange and had a peek through their door and couldnt see the red menu boards either. I thought that perhaps they hadnt put them out yet (no matter I have a nearer store to go to).
So I get to Houndsditch poised with my Starbucks card in hand and look in the window and again they didnt have the red menu boards up either - I have a look in the food cabinet and there are no Christmas delights in there either :o(
It then struck me like a thunderbolt, that the Christmas drinks are probably only available at the selected stores :o( And I slunked my way to work...
Damn you Starbucks for toying with my emotions like that!
...you can imagine how excited I was, I actually looked forward to coming to work today knowing that I could have my first gingerbread latte of the the season ;o)
I get to Liverpool Street Station, and I saw that they still had their A-board saying "our red cups are coming" I thought thats strange and had a peek through their door and couldnt see the red menu boards either. I thought that perhaps they hadnt put them out yet (no matter I have a nearer store to go to).
So I get to Houndsditch poised with my Starbucks card in hand and look in the window and again they didnt have the red menu boards up either - I have a look in the food cabinet and there are no Christmas delights in there either :o(
It then struck me like a thunderbolt, that the Christmas drinks are probably only available at the selected stores :o( And I slunked my way to work...
Damn you Starbucks for toying with my emotions like that!
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
ordering what I couldnt get on holiday
Because of the way that the cruise worked, I was unable to buy what I wanted while I was away...
..namely my Jeopardy calendar, but thanks to the internet or rather Amazon I was able to order this online.
So I am back to being a happyish bunny again ;o)
..namely my Jeopardy calendar, but thanks to the internet or rather Amazon I was able to order this online.
So I am back to being a happyish bunny again ;o)
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