10 year celebrations - 29th April 2010

I have been in London and working for GLTC for exactly 10 years this month,

like an aged casket of whiskey, it seemed only wise to get drunk.

So we all went out to the Cinnamon Club, upmarket curry place, with cocktail

bar to celebrate this and Cathy & Ashaka leaving us for pastures new..

In an effort to make the most of the curry theme, I chose cocktails with as

much spice as I could find on the menu, such as:

Fool's Gold - Complex and clean, cardamom, Gabriel Boudier saffron gin

& edible gold leaf

The Cinnamon Club menu


Ashaka/Alex Burke








And then to finish off the evening I received a lovely surprise of a

gift voucher for Hotel du Vin for me and Tim to use. Very nice.

And a lovely mug, with all their faces superimposed on a slanket.

Very funny.

Sir Richard Steeles - Another Doctor for the list - 23rd April

A trip to Steeles this weekend to meet up with our Austrian friends, Gordon and Lisa, resulted in our seeing a Doctor Who - Sylvester McCoy.

And topping that movie maker Tim Burton. No Helena Bonham-Carter though, but then she's complained about the pub's noise.

Paris Showroom Trip - 15th April 2010

I took a trip on the Eurostar to Paris on Thursday. The person we were supposed to meet at a showroom 40 minutes outside of Paris was grounded at Heathrow due to the volcanic ash.

The showroom was a swish affair, with a large round coffee bar, as well as a proper bar. And when in Paris, it's only right to try the wine.

Unfortunately the journey that took 40 minutes there, took twice as long back, thanks to lots of people trying to get out of the country via the Eurostar, as there were no planes. We missed our train. We were told by a helpful lady working for another train company that the earliest train we would get home on was Saturday. Eeek. Sam, who I was with had her hen do at the weekend, so we needed to get back. We were advised to go to the check-in and flash Sam's engagement ring.

We were told that we couldn't get on a train without a ticket. A lovely rude man told us to get out of his way, as he had a ticket. Nice. So using our finest acting skills (we should be at RADA) we shed a few tears and looked genuinely upset. We were eventually told that the earliest train was now Sunday. Double Eeek.

But they said they would let us through and take the seats of someone who hadn't turned up. (Like us on the train before.) It might be the next train, or the train after that, but we would get on a train that night.

So we made it, 2 hours later than we should have, but 3 days earlier than it could have been.

Then on the tube we bumped into the rude man again - who made some sarcastic comment about you made it then.

Yes, yes we did.

David Cameron and Gary Barlow at my old school - 16th April

What is the world coming to, Cameron, Hague and Barlow at my old school. Nightmare.

I say that all the other leaders should have to visit in the interest of fairness.

It was in all the newspapers.

And on Sky - See here.

Burt's first trip to another country - 5th April 2010

Ok, so it was only to Wales. (And no, Cornwall does not count as another country, despite the Cornish looking for devolution. Scotland it is not.) But Burt has officially been outside the English border.

Burt at the Gower Coast, at a nice campsite called Pitton Cross Caravan and Camping Park.

We took several hikes, walking from the campsite, all the way round the coast to Rhossili Bay.













Worm's Head









Rhossili Bay





Baaaa!!!!!

After all that exercise we deserved a trip to the pub. The Worm's Head was within walking distance at a mile and half. And after the amount of whiskey we downed that night, we didn't even notice the walk back. Note to all, welsh whiskey (Penderyn) is not a patch on the scottish stuff. It tastes like firewater.

We bought two folding bikes so we could nip around without having to unhook Burt. Thanks to an Amazon cock up, rather than one orange and one gold bike, we ended up with two tangerine machines.

A trip to Port Eynon though was seriously knackering. Those welsh hills! And with only one brake and a coasting brake the downhills were scary.








We also took a trip to the beach at Mewslade, a few miles walk from the campsite. Tim tried his hand a fishing while I played with my camera settings for a few hours.































































The two black specks of the ravens that live on the coast here.

Practising my close up shots. I got a ladybird.

A Kittiwake.

We also spent an lovely afternoon with yet more glorious sunshine at Fall Bay. A hard to get to beach, with a steep steps down a rock face to get to it. Worth it though for a beach all to ourselves.

The driftwood we carted all the way back from Fall Bay, up the rock face and back the three miles to Burt. It's now an art piece in our bathroom