Asbo

Today I went to Portobello Market with Joaquin, Antonio (his brother) and their Dad. Initially it was great, but then the skies went crazy and the rain started to come down at short intervals, raining out the market. My shoes got soaked right through. When I took them out just now, I noted that the water puddle inside was a weird maroon colour. YUCK. Still, I was pleased with the entire trip, namely cause I got to replace the amber ring I lost a few weeks ago at Joaquin's house in Kent. The ring is prettier, but not the same. That and the weaving in and out of shops, with Antonio playing with all the binoculars and Joaquin gravitating to all the camera shops.

On the bus back, I did my first ever outright asbo (anti-social behaviour). I ate a packet of fish and rice (from the market) on bus number 7. I finished by the time the bus got to Edgware Road. I wonder if the smell was sufficiently irritating for everyone else on the bus, but I was really hungry D:

Am currently drawing a long, hot bath to soak in.

Carrie

I managed to spend pretty much my entire day today in bed. I just didn't feel like doing anything at all. Joaquin was busy, and the usual suspects were all gone from London (Cielo, et. all), so there went my usual sort of normality supports. I managed to nap so much in the morning, that I gave myself a backache. It's on my upper back, next to my neck, which is highly unusual. If I wasn't sleeping, I was reading The Hiding Place in bed (so far, OK a read), going to the bathroom, or eating shortbread from the fridge because I was hungry. There is also a mild possibility that I am mildly depressed again, but I can't quite tell yet.

Anyway the only thing that sort of dragged me to reality was that I'd arranged to meet with Jon at Atariya for a long overdue dinner. After stuffing our faces (I don't think I quite had my fix of sashimi though), we walked to HMV near Wardour Street and wandered about in the DVD section, and picked up a bunch of movies. After careful deliberation, Jon (the sugardaddy for the night since he's working now and gets paid) bought Osombie, RoboGeisha and Carrie. We walked back to my place, I picked up some Gu Chocolate Souffles from Waitrose and we settled down to watch Carrie on my laptop. After that, we ended up watching two episodes of an Idiot Abroad. I introduced it to Jon. We saw the Egypt episode, and I decided I wanted to show him the India episode.

Tomorrow Joaquin comes back from Kent, so perhaps it will be a more normal day.

Bathroom Musings and Croatia

Today after 6 days away in Croatia, I came back unexpectedly to find my normally un-occupied (not since Tiff and ZW moved out) house, occupied by my landlord's handyman. He'd swopped my broken loo (complete with chopstick flushing mechanism that I rigged up) for a new one and was in the midst of changing the little ventilation fan that never worked since we moved it. He was also sweating buckets, given the current heatwave in Europe that seems to have hit the UK.

After he left, I still had to wait a few hours before I could shower off the grime of a sweaty Croatian night (how savage a life without air conditioning is!) and a Ryanair flight. Because apparently he put new putty around my bathtub. I had no idea why since the only thing wrong with the old putty was that it was starting to look a bit mold-ey. So anyway I finally JUST got to shower. It was then a noticed a few things: the new toilet bowl is far skinnier than the old one. The old cistern was a large model, which meant we could balance lots of stuff like multiple loo rolls and a bowl of potpourri on it. The new one is a skinny bitch.

I also realised George (the handyman) had gone and removed the two lights above the bathtub, making the bathroom much darker than before. This means no more reading while soaking in the bathtub, though to be fair since it's so warm I probably won't take warm baths like I used to in Winter and Spring. I also noted that the towel that I had been using as a bathmat on the floor was missing.

While pondering all these great, life-changing differences to my daily shower, I grabbed the conditioner bottle twice and started scrubbing my hair. I wondered why it wasn't foaming up like normal, and why my hair felt so awfully slick. It was then I realised I was trying to shampoo my hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. I also then realised the only difference between Aussie shampoo bottles and conditioner bottles is that one is cream and the other is white. This is unlike Tresemme where shampoo bottles are black and conditioner bottles white. This makes it highly unlikely for any sort of silly mix-up, like the one I had. As a side note I was also shampooing my hair with 8 fingers and 1 thumb, because I cut my right thumb pretty deep on some sea walls yesterday at the beach. I also manage to cut my left palm on another rock.
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 I enjoyed my last 6 days in Croatia, especially with such kind and understanding company (Joaquin). I however did not enjoy almost constantly feeling sick from the heat (headaches) and getting tummy aches/bloating from the food. Also the apartment which I booked, which was in an awesome location, had no air conditioning - which meant many nights of shit sleep and insomnia as we struggled to rest. I also learned that Croatian sounds like Russian, Croatia will join the EU in 2013, and Croatia has a long way to go to properly develop its tourism industry.

We were mainly based in the city of Pula. Pula, a city on the Southern-most bit of the Istrian peninsular, has no beaches. Just rocky seafront. We learnt this the hard way. Pity because I have not seen such beautiful, clear, blue water in a long time. If it was Singapore, they'd have turned the whole place into an artificial sand beach (not sure if that's a good or bad thing though). We went to two beaches, Verudela (where I fell horribly sick from too much sun) which was mad crowded with both tourists and locals, and Valkane which was less crowded/built-up and far more nicer. It was also the place where we spent almost the whole of yesterday and where I cut myself.

Joaquin and I also visited the island of Brijuni, where Tito used to vacation. On the island there was a strange museum made of half Tito photos and half taxidermied animals. The tour we were on also took us to see a safari of animals left behind from old gifts to Tito (second-third generations), with an elephant and a Llama. LOL?

We also visited the towns of Rovinj and Fazana. Rovinj was beautiful, with an old city centre, cobbled alleyways and that sort of thing. Fazana was more like a smaller fishing/tourist town, that was charming in its own way. In Rovinj I had the best grilled squid, complete with lots of garlic and oil. In Fazana I had a short 30 minute Istrian massage which was immensely enjoyable. One memory of Rovinj stands out: sitting by the waterfront watching the seagulls float about just meters away, as a hobo fed them lots of bread. And watching little kids throw pebbles at the seagulls. And watching the seagulls fight among themselves. I felt so unbelievably calm and contented at that moment.

Yesterday I had another such moment at Valkane beach. I managed to stumble my way, falling once, (on a pebble beach) to where the sea was about thigh-high and sat on a rock for the longest time. I loved being able to feel the cold of the sea and the warmth of the sun at the same time. I sat there for the longest time, shifting to a side to lets some German kids play. During one of those moments when I was shifting about on the rock, I cut my palm, but was too chilled out to mind much. The young boy was collecting rocks with his older sisters, so I gathered rocks for him too. I liked yesterday.

Month of July and some of August

I don't think I've ever posted so little before in the entire history of this blog. The good part is that I have never been so stable and happy as I have been in a long time - that is for this past year. The bad part is that as a result, I feel less like writing things down. Yesterday I passed one of those growing up bench marks, hence I feel a bit more in the mood to reflect a bit. Yes, that's right, this person who permanently feels incompetent and overwhelmed has gotten herself a job. Hooray! I guess it's nice that even if I don't have confidence in myself, someone is still eager to hire me.

Anyway July was pretty much travelling month. After getting back from Turkey, I had the grand total of 2 days to rest and get ready to meet my Mum in Barcelona. From Barcelona we spent a few days, then we went off to Girona and to see Figueres. Then we flew back to meet my Grandma and Dad in London. The next day (10th July), we went to Hampton Court Palace where I found out my results. I had given Tiff my LSE details and she called me just as I was viewing some artwork by Titan, and the call ended with me screaming in joy cause I got a first class for my beloved dissertation.

The 12th July was my graduation, and that was an interesting day. Woke up early, got dressed, etc. Felt like Harry Potter when I wore the robes. After the ceremony, I met up with friends who had especially come to take photos, people like Dexter, Tiff and Shu who had their graduations at later times and dates. That was very nice. Lunch with my family was at the now-renamed Pu's Brasserie, for old time's sake I suppose. I remember napping after getting back, and then going out into the damp evening to meet my Aunt and Uncle in Hakkasan for dinner.

The 13th July to the 20th July was spent in North Italy. Saw lots of places, and went back to Florence, which I loved. My Dad drove through the Tuscan countryside, and we ate like pigs. I can see why Tuscany is so lauded for its beauty. We also visited a town called San Gimignano, which was overflooded with tourists, but still incredibly pretty. On the last day, in Milan, I ran into HM and her family in the Cathedral, which was a nice coincidence. The only problem being that when I met her, I sort of screamed, and then babbled stupidly about the dead saints I saw around.

Now finally after getting back to the UK, I'm going in and out of Kent with Joaquin. So far we've been spending at least 2 nights a week in Littlebourne, and seeing bits of the countryside at a time. Last week we went to Dover Castle, the week before that we explored Canterbury itself. Today we went walking about Littleborne for about 2 hours. I got stung by some strange plant that made my wrist itch and swell in bumps. We saw horses, cows and one Rolls Royce going at 80 miles per hour on a bike path. Tomorrow we're going on a longer ramble around Wye.

Seen quite a few performances lately too. I watched a production of Sleeping Beauty by the Peter Schaufuss Ballet Company and was not impressed at all. I spotted lots of mistakes, plus some of the choreography seemed outright vulgar. A few days later, I watched the Maris Liepa Gala and BOOM, huge contrast. The production by the Maris Liepa foundation and its guest performers was incredible. Met Cielo and Ian afterwards to rave about it in Chipotle over dinner. Then on Sat, 4th Aug, Shu and I watched As You Like It by Iris Theatre in Convent Garden which blew me away. I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan but wow, definitely one of the best plays I've ever seen, rivalled perhaps only by Woman In Black. The acting and singing were superb, the costuming lovely, and the set (the audience moves with the scene changes in the garden of St. Paul's Church in Convent Garden) mind blowing. Sunday Joaquin and I also saw Spamalot, which was the realisation of an old dream I had when I was into a huge Monty Python phase.

Should add that on Sat, Joaquin and I went to see the Africa Village by the African Olympic Committee, and got free Egyptian food lol. Reminded me a bit of the Shanghai World Expo, but on a smaller scale. Sunday, we went to Colombia Road Flower Market with Shu. I bought 3 lavender plants for £5, Joaquin and I got a small venus flytrap for his brother for £3 (that I dubbed Percy), and Joaquin bought me a huge bunch of lovely sunflowers for £5. Amazingly cheap! Was quite an experience too, with all the shopkeepers shouting over each other to advertise their wares.

Amazingly, I feel mentally winded now from typing so much. Phew.

Seagulls in Piccadilly

On Saturday Cielo and I hung out for the whole day. We went to Broadway Market, and had Banh Mi. As usual we talked about all sorts of off-colour things, and managed to chase away the middle-aged couple sitting next to us on a bench facing the canal. It was also the first time I had (and seen!) Banh Mi with fish. Cielo had jellied eel too, in an old eel and pie place that was filled with other curious souls trying jellied eels. GROSS.

At the other end of Broadway Market, we came across a commotion. Lots of screaming and people standing about, watching. Afterwards, I bought a Big Issue from a seller and managed to get the story from him (in a heavy English accent which Cielo couldn't understand, LOL). Apparently two dogs had started fighting and the owners were freaking out. The owner of one of the dogs tried to pull her dog anyway, but the dog was hysterical and bit her by accident. And hence the police, and paramedics were called. Lovely, British tax dollars at work. Meanwhile the other owner and dog (the aggressor) had run away before anyone could stop her.

Afterwards, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus because I wanted to go to Lillywhites to buy some running gear. As we were crossing the street (from Boots where I bought some Spongebob plasters!), we spotted a seagull flying about with something massive in its mouth. Just as we were waiting by the road to cross the street, the seagull dropped the object it was carrying onto the road, and we managed to get a good look of it. It was a pair of wings, grey, with pink bird legs - but no body! Instead where the body should've been was a mass of skin? and blood. WTF.

For dinner we met Hadi and ended up queuing something like two hours to eat at Pitt and Cue. I had to agree though, that the food was good. But as to whether it was worth the incredibly long wait, is another thing. The seating was quite cramped too.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went with Joaquin and his friends, Ting Yu and Wai Lam to Dover. We visited Dover Castle (£15 entry!) and it was super rushed. Still I liked the place. We split up and because we wanted to see different things, so Wai Lam and I rushed to queue up for the Operation Dynamo/Dover Castle tunnels bit. I don't think I was ever so anxious as I was when we queued up, because they only let a limited amount of people view it at a time. When it finally got to us, the man was like 'I'm so sorry, but there's just too many of you!' and he'd already chased the people behind us away. I begged and pleaded with him, and he relented and let us in (number 35 and 36 out of a group that was meant to be just 30) and God I think my heart almost exploded with thankfulness. Seeing the tunnels was great, and we leaned why the entry to Dover Castle was so expensive: the tunnels were decked with the most high-tech sort of projectors and all to tell the story of the evacuation of Dunkirk. I was very impressed. Never seen such effort put into a museum exhibit before.

Today I realised that I watch more Olympics visiting Joaquin in Kent than I do when I'm in London where the Olympics are actually being played. That is, I have access to a television whereas in London I don't even have a proper broadband connection. Pffft. Spirit of the age indeed.