Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Saturday 19 November - Ice-skating by day; roller-skating by night




Current location: Vauxhall, London
11.11pm, Skating around in circles to the sound of Madonna. Emma and I joined some of my lovely netball team for a roller disco in Vauxhall and, oh my goodness, it was hilarious. Turns out Emma could barely stand up on the skates (she resembled Mr Soft) but we all had the most amount of fun ever. I LOVED it!!

Earlier in the day, I had been ice-skating at Tower of London with Pippa too, so I was feeling pretty sore-legged as we may our way back to Emma's to carry on the party.

Friday 18 November - Friday night with (some of) the Higgos



Current location: Balham, London
11.11pm, Finishing dinner at my sister's house. Another one of my sister's, Pippa, had also come up from Cornwall to Kate's house, so three-quarters of the Higgins daughters were there, as well as Jim, Andy and a friend called Al. As well as the world's most beautiful niece, Ella. Or Princess Ella, as she is now known.

Sunday 13 November - I can't beLEAVE it's Autumn!



Current location: Lewisham
11.11pm, Pinning leaves to my pinboard. Andy and I met some friends (Jack, Ruth, Alex Ormerod and his girlfriend Jen) in Hyde Park and the colours of the leaves were just magnificent. Andy took some AMAZING pictures (see his blog here) and we all jumped around and tried to catch falling leaves. I love England in Autumn!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Friday 11 November - 11/11/11


Current location: Penzance, Cornwall
11.11am, In my kitchen with my mum, talking about my great-grandad. Today is important for this blog, because of course it is the 11th day of the 11th year in 2011. But it's also an important day for remembering those who fought in, and died in, World War 1. My great-grandad, Joseph May, fought in the Battle of the Somme, and was one of only two of his platoon that returned; he lost almost all his friends there. He was also gassed and sent home but, as soon as he was well, he was sent back to France! What an amazing man – and he was only one of millions. This haunting, excellent image of men in the Somme is from Royalulsterriflescom.

Today – occurring only once every hundred years – is supposed to be lucky, so I hope that it is does bring good luck to you all. It's already been a good one for me as, today, I hit 30,000 page views...something I wouldn't have even considered when I started this blog back in June 2010! I also hope it's an especially great one for both my friend Bree and my uncle Dennis - Both fab people in very different ways, and both celebrating their birthdays today.

Happy 11/11/11!

Thursday 10 November - Friends, family and farmhouses






Current location: St Ives, Cornwall
11.11am, Playing on the beach with my sister Pippa and nephew Zac. He is almost three and doesn't stop smiling, much like his gorgeous older brother Vinny. After a posho lunch, we went to pick Vinny up from school and then played some more, before I went to visit my lovely friend Kate. The two of us then headed over to Lily's new house! It's so exciting that Lily and Adam are moving and, even though they have a fair amount of work to do before it's a home, they are going at it with lots of enthusiasm and excitement. A bit of paint-stripping later, I headed home to watch TV with Mum. Just how a Cornish day should be.

Wednesday 9 November - Cornish cliff walks




Current location: Penzance, Cornwall
11.11am, Having my haircut in my local hairdressers in Penzance. I've come home for five days to catch up with my lovely family and rejuvenate my soul with some cliff walks and nephew time. Mum and I went for a walk to boat cove, and talked about how we look like each other. It's true, we do.

Monday 7 November - Pretending to be German again



Current location: Lewisham
11.11pm, Lying in bed, feeling full. Andy and I went to the Bavarian Beerhouse in Tower Hill, for schnitzels, goulash, steins and memories of living in Germany and Austria.

Friday 4 November - Ramsgate weekend!






Current location: Ramsgate
11.11pm, Sitting in an AMAZING house in Ramsgate with lots of my best friends, laughing a lot. Twelve of us had come to Ramsgate for the weekend, to stay in a beautiful four-storey house. It's hard to sum the weekend up, but the main element has to be laughter. We set off Chinese fire lanterns, we drank a lot of vodka schnee, we cooked a bit dinner for everyone, we played tennis, we walked along the 'beach', we went to a cancelled fireworks display, we played on the 2p machine in the arcade, we made a party in a pub, we played sardines, we drank a lot of wine, we ate a lot of pizza, we had one of the best weekends of my life. I was having far too much fun to take many photos, but above are one or two of our nights out. I love these people more than words can describe!!

Thursday 3 November - More pub quizzes!











Current location: Soho
11.11pm, In a bar in Soho. I'd been to a movie-themed pub quiz with my work friends and, even though we had done some helpful lunchtime 'revision', we still managed to come second from last. I don't think I'm very good at quizzes, even though I do love them! Our team (One Night in Harris, named in honour of Craig Harris, the boy version of me at work) drowned our sorrows with free beer and not-free bourbon and laughed at popcorn that looked like ghosts.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Tuesday 1 November - Priscilla, Queen of the Desert


Current location: On a train, South-east London
11.11pm, On our way home from watching Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, with Andy and my sister, Kate. It was absolutely hilarious and full of glitter, sparkles, songs, Australiana and lots and lots of make-up. Loved it.

Saturday 29 October - My birthday!





Current location: Brighton
11.11am, In Brighton with Mum, Dad and Andy, eating cookies. By this point I had already had such a fun birthday, even though it had only just started. I had lots of fun drinks with the work peeps and some other friends on Friday night, and received a gorgeous Patisserie Valerie cake from Susie (which is even sweeter and kinder than it sounds because she can't eat cake!). Then it was off to Brighton, where we shopped, ate, drank, went to a comedy show, went for a walk, opened presents and had a very celebratory time! Then Andy and I headed back to London the next day to enjoy a Sunday roast with my friends. I've already been super spoilt and next weekend 12 of us are off to Ramsgate for more birthday fun! I feel very lucky and loved and happy.

Wednesday 26 October - Pub quiz 2 of 4




Current location: Lewisham
11.11pm, In the Ravensbourne Arms, doing (and losing) a pub quiz. I was with my friends from netball and also my housemates, but we got split up into two teams because there was too many of us. Weirdly, though, six rounds (and four bottles of wine) later, both teams came out with exactly the same score...which made us joint last. Oops.

Monday 24 October - It's a small world



Current location: Angel, London
11.11pm, Pub-quizzing, in what is to be the first of four pub quizzes this fortnight! I was with my friend Emma, who has come to visit... I met her in Berlin last year, she now lives in Oslo, but was in London visiting before going back to her hometown in Australia! That's a lot of countries, but I love how easy the world has become to travel around, especially in Europe.

Saturday 22 October - Baking and pubbing




Current location: Lewisham, London
11.11am, Making muffins. No ordinary muffins, however, but savoury sundried tomato and cheese muffins. Deeeeelish. I've had a lovely week since coming back from Australia on Sunday – a week that included drinks by the river with friends, nights in watching Grey's Anatomy, being reunited with Andy since he got back from Berlin, and sending two magazines to press. But then it was the weekend again, so I baked muffins and then Nicky and Megan (my American friend from Berlin) and Andy and I went to my new fave local pub, the Ravensbourne Arms, and played board games before heading to Chiswick for our friend Gemma's birthday! Phew, a busy London weekend!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Saturday 15 October - See ya later Aus!



Current location: Fremantle, Australia
11.11am, Having breakfast with Teegan and Chloe in Fremantle. Teegs has been an absolute hero this trip – considering I didn't even know her before I came out here, she has become a really good friend really quickly, helping me out with everything from luggage and airport runs to laughter and beer. After breakfast, we packed up the last of my stuff and went to the pub so say a few more farewells in the sunshine. This trip has been absolutely phenomenal... I can't believe how easy it has been so just slip back into my friendship group, and I have love love loved the Australian way of life. I hope it's not too long until I'm back again, as I am madly in love with this country and its people!

Friday 14 October - Busy day of hellos and goodbyes





Current location: Byron Bay
11.11am, Leaving the lovely holiday home we've been staying in. It was time to go because I had to fly back to Perth in the evening, and there was a lot to fit in before then! Bree and Nick and I went to the beach to go surfing again, and then headed back to theirs to pack and travel to Brisbane. There we met Karyn again (who lives in Australia's most amazing apartment!) and had more cheese, wine, giggles and lots of love before they all drove me to the airport. An amazing goodbye gang, who I will miss a lot. x