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- Disability is God given but Handicap is man made
My blog
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Guy Fawkes Night
Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 10:38PM / Standard Entry
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- Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
- The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
- I know of no reason
- Why Gunpowder Treason
- Should ever be forgot.
- Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
- To blow up King and Parliament.
- Three-score barrels of powder below
- To prove old England's overthrow;
- By God's providence he was catch'd
- With a dark lantern and burning match.
- Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
- Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Myself and my neighbours are putting on a bonfire tonight to Celebrate bonfire night, the actual day is Monday but as that is a school night and festivities go on late we have it on the closest Saturday.
We have a huge bonfire ready in the garden to light when it gets dark, and have been out to buy fireworks.
Its traditional to have food, normally potatoes wrapped in foil and baked in the embers of the bonfire, but most people bake them in the oven these days, but I remember having them that way as a child, all burnt on the outside and still raw in the middle. It is traditional where I live,"The Black Country" to eat Groaty Pudding, which is soaked groats, beef, leeks, onion and beef stock cooked very slowly for 16hrs in the oven
When we were young it was a much bigger event, each street had their own bonfire, and the kids living in the street had the job of going out and finding wood to build it.
I remember the 2 boys next door getting in trouble because they had taken the doors that their dad had only just taken off to sand down and repaint, he went mad when he found them on the bonfire
Mind you had to post guards on your bonfire because the kids from other streets stole your wood for their bonfire, we were lucky in our street that we had older boys who could stop up late to pinch wood and guard our bonfire
Our Fathers were the ones who bought and let off the fireworks and our mothers made the food. I remember all us kids looking forward to this night for weeks, we would be dragging back any broken branches we found for weeks before, if we wouldn't find any we would break a few.
Oh those were the days......I hope the one we have tonight will be remembered as fondly by the kids who are coming
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Satelite Navigation at its best
Friday, Nov 2, 2007 4:55PM / Standard Entry
I travel a lot with my job and have bought a Satelite Navigation system to get me to the various places I need to go. It is wonderful and I now wonder how I managed without one,
I used to write directions on Post it notes and stick them to the dashboard, if they fell off or I was travelling in the dark I was scuppered
On wednesday this week I had to travel to a store in Charlton, on the outskirts of London. I thought that it would take me around the motorway arround London the M25 and then into London from the opposite side.
BUT NO.... It took me into the centre of London at 8am right through the middle and out the otherside. As I was driving towards London I kept thinking, I'm sure it won't send me through the centre, I'm sure it won't ,OMG yes it is.......
I saw and passed through places I had only seen before on a Monopoly Board. I think I went past or near to most of the railway stations
I Just skirted the congestion charges (Phew) but as I was driving if I had turned off the road I was on I would have been hit with a charge.
God bless it ,my sat nav, it guided me wonderfully through and I didn't get lost once, but with the heavy traffic, I just wish it had taken me the other way
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Hong Kong part 2
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007 2:00AM / Standard Entry
After a good nights sleep I woke up bright and early full of anticipation, it was my Birthday and I was going to Jackie Chan’s office for a visit and I hoped he was there and I might actually finally get to see him in real life….
I went to the MTR closest to the office and took my friend to a shopping centre close by to occupy her, she is not a MA movie fan, in fact she wouldn’t know JC or JL if she fell over them, while I went in search of the lesser spotted Chan (a rare creature).
I went into the office full of anticipation; there was a definite buzz in the air I had not seen before on my previous visit. So I was really hopeful of getting to see him.
When I spoke to Kath his web mistress I found out he was there but he was asleep and didn’t know when he was going to wake up, I stayed as long as I could but I had got to get back to my friend, as she is not good on her own, so I couldn’t stay until he woke up.
I left cursing my friend, I know it wasn’t her fault, but if she had been a bit more independent I could have called her and said make your own way back to the hotel. I’m staying until he gets up….
We then went to Stanley Market and had a lovely lunch there and bought lots of goodies.
After that we returned to the hotel to get ready for our evening meal on the Peak. We went up to the Peak and much to my surprise THEY NOW MAKE YOU PAY 20$HK TO GO TO THE TOP. What a rip off, I’ve never had to pay before. We ate at one of my favourite restaurants, Café Deco, it’s not cheap but the view of HK Harbour while you are eating is to die for.
The next morning we had to leave to get our flight to Penang, We were travelling to Penang via Kuala Lumpur,
When we arrived we managed to get into the wrong customs queue, instead of the transit one we were on our way into KL until someone rescued us and took us to the correct one, I think there was an alert out for 2 mad women roaming the airport trying to get out lol.
We had a long wait for our flight to Penang, about 6 hours, but we managed to transfer to an earlier flight, we were really worried that our luggage wouldn’t make it, but there it was when we landed no problem.
What we had forgotten about was that we had booked transport from the Airport to the hotel, so I go digging in my bag at Penang airport looking for the phone number Expedia had given me for the tour company picking us up.
I call them on my mobile phone and the conversation when something like this :-
Me Do you speak English?
Rep A little
Me We have arrived at the airport early as we managed to change our flight from KL
Rep We were not expecting you until tomorrow!
Me No we were always arriving today
Rep I cannot call the driver out now it is too late, arrange a taxi to your hotel and we will get the rep to see you tomorrow morning.
Me OK but will we be reimbursed for the fare?
Rep Not sure, which Hotel are you in?
Me Golden Sands
Rep Where?
Me Golden Sands
Rep do you mean *******, (can’t remember the name she said)
Me NO GOLDEN SANDS RESORT
Rep We do not have a hotel in Langkawi with that name
Me I’m not in Langkawi I’m in Penang Airport
Rep But I’m in Langkawi
Me This is the phone number I was given by Expedia (at this point I was losing the will to live)
Rep But I’m in Langkawi
Me Oh forget it we will get a taxi.
We then join a long queue for Taxis, it appears that you pay at a desk and get a voucher which you give to the driver, I think this is a good system it stops you being ripped off.
While waiting in the queue a man comes up to us saying our name, the girl from Langkawi had called the office in Penang, who called him to say we had arrived early.
We had to wait for our transport to arrive, which wasn’t a problem but the airport was DRY.. No beer….. I had to drink Tea……
The moment we arrived at the hotel it was throw the bags in and go for a meal and a drink.
I’ll write about that later
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hong Kong trip part 1
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 4:52PM / Standard Entry
Well where do I start about my holiday to Hong Kong and Penang, the day of travelling started well, we caught the train to London and the seats we had booked were fine, we took some food and drink with us to have on this train.
We met a woman at the station who was going on holiday but realised, luckily before the train came she had forgotten her money, so her daughter had to race to the station with it before the train came.
Getting across London was a bit of a bind, and we were pleased it wasn’t rush hour but we made it onto the Fast train to Gatwick.
Not sure if you know but this was our trip we had booked the flight business class, at the airport we went to the business class lounge where drinks and snacks are free…. You could have any drink you wanted, there was even wine in a cooler and there was somewhere to go and have a shower if you wanted it. I have found out you can pay extra at most airports and use this lounge, even if you are travelling cattle class
We filled our boots on this before heading for the flight, we were called first for the flight and we had chosen seats on the upper deck and they were wonderful, they came round with champagne and canapés before we took off.
During the flight the service was excellent and I even managed to sleep most of the way, which is very unusual for me.. I was given Chinese tea whenever I asked for it and a choice of breakfast.
Although I really enjoyed the experience of business class, and the special offer price we got the seats for was amazing, I’m not sure I would pay for it again the price difference would go a long way towards another trip, if I ever win the lottery it’s the only way I will travel
We landed a bit early in HK and I couldn’t wait to get off the plane and breathe in the air of my favourite city in the world. Being business class our cases came off first and we went to buy our Octopus Card and the train ticket into Central HK.
When we arrived at Central station, we were going on the MTR to our hotel, but my friend, who is a bit older than me was very tired at this point so we decided to take a taxi.
BIG MISTAKE… we queued for nearly an hour to get a taxi, I think it would have been quicker to have walked.
Once we got to the hotel we just unpacked a few things as we were only staying for 2 nights before we moved on to Penang. We then went into Wan Chai to find somewhere to eat, after just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere for a while, we chose somewhere, it was a bit pricey but the food was ok.
When we came out of the restaurant to go back to the hotel we realised that we were in the red light district and outside all of the bars we passed on the way back to the trams were girls of all shapes and sizes advertising their wears, I found this hilarious and was even saying hello to most of the women but my friend is a bit straight laced and her face was a picture, I think she managed the 4 minute mile speed to get to the tram stop.
Sorry ni pictures of this bit but there will be as I post more about our trip.
Laney
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Re My last Entry
Sunday, Sep 30, 2007 11:20PM / Standard Entry
The sneaky little devil you know I said my son was having a party.........
The party was for me... A surprise birthday party before I go on holiday
My niece and nephew arranged to take me to the cinema and then for a meal to get me home for 7.30 then when I walked in he said come and say hello to my friends.
When I walked in all my friends were there shouting surprise... I never knew they could keep a secret that well.....
There was a marquee up in the garden and one of his friends had made loads of balloon animals and hung them up in there and there was lava lamps it was great.
I finally got to bed about 1.30am but my son and his friends and some of my friends continued until 6.30am, when I came downstairs this morning it was like a warzone bodies everywhere, but a good time was had by all
And I never even had the slightest idea that it was being planned
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- Age: 55
- Gender: Female
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