Birthday in Brighton

Weekend before last was my birthday, so for a birthday getaway Neil and I went down to Brighton on Friday morning for a two night stay away. Brighton wasn't where we were originally thinking of going, but had a last minute change of heart and thought we'd head there, mainly due to every ones recommendation of the town and also being the last weekend of summer. So Friday morning we jumped on the train from Victoria Station and made the short fifty minute train journey down to Brighton.

Brighton has to be the funnest place to go for a weekend away! There is a lot to do there, and isn't what you except a beach side town to be like at all. Brighton pier has all these arcade places, small snack bars and sweet shops, there is even a roller coaster! On a pier! It's nothing like I imagined, and coming from Christchurch where we have New Brighton, our 'new' Brighton is nothing like the real English Brighton at all.

The first day we just spent getting to know our way around and general exploring. We went for a nice walk along the pier, then along all the back streets of Brighton to see some of the more unknown shops and cafes. We came across a lovely looking restaurant where we decided to come back for my birthday dinner. It was a wonderful way to be spending my birthday, just walking around seeing this new place, relaxing, not having a care in the world and not having to keep an eye on the time. This birthday was definitely the best thanks to Neil making it such a wonderful day.

Games on Brighton Beach

Saturday morning Neil and I went to the Royal Pavilion, where King George spent his time in Brighton in the late 1700's early 1800's. This building looks like a typical English Kings far less glamorous version of the Taj Mahal on the outside, and on the inside it seems to have had a lot of Chinese influence, all in all though, this is a lovely place to walk around in and explore and even luckier the audio guide is free for use as well. After spending about an hour touring the Royal Pavilion we headed out to see some more of Brighton, and dodging the rain we went and had a look at all the talked about Lanes. The lanes are great, they have small nifty shops and cafes, market stalls are crammed into these little narrow lanes and there are people everywhere, but the atmosphere is fantastic and it was great to see a less commercial side of Brighton. After this we headed back to the sea front we're we spend some more time walking along the promenade and playing in the arcade on the Pier.

Royal Pavilion

Saturday night we headed out for a few drinks to check out some of Brighton's bars. First stop was a place called the Black Dove, a small cocktail bar with a '40's themed approach, it was a fantastic way to kick off our Saturday night out, and the cocktails at the Black Dove are amazing, anyone planning on going to Brighton this is definitely my recommendation for a pre-drink night out. We then started to make our way more into central Brighton, though we didn't get very far as we managed to stumble along the Mucky Duck, and it was karaoke night, so the rest of the night Neil and I spent singing along to karaoke.

Sunday, last day in Brighton, and though sad to be leaving we had seen what we wanted and had a great weekend away. So Sunday was a take it easy day before having to catch the afternoon train back to London, we went for one last walk around, which was so nice to just mill about. Still dodging the rain, when we had a sunny break we made a stop for cream tea (tea and scones). After we'd spent the best part of an hour or so drinking tea, eating scone, and talking about all sorts we thought we'd make our way back to Brighton Pier for one last walk around the pier and the beach. We also thought we'd try our luck one more time on one of those games were you use that claw thing to try and get out a soft toy. They had an Angry Birds one there, and we'd probably spent enough money over the course of the weekend to go out and just buy one of the birds, but I had 30p left in my purse and thought I'd give it one last go before heading back to London. So putting my 30p in the machine moving the claw over a bird to get it, the craw went in, gripped a hold of the bird and lifted it into the air. At this point this had happened enough to us already over the course of the weekend, but both of us froze to see what happened, I think we most likely stopped breathing. The claw started to move towards the drop point and dropped the bird in!! Neil and I both yelped with excitement! We'd finally one a toy from these machines!! So off we went for a walk along the beach with our new Angry Bird in hand.

On Brighton beach with our new Angry Bird.

After the fabulous birthday weekend away it was time to be packing up and heading towards Brighton station to head back to London.

Brighton is a wonderful place to get away for a weekend, or even for a day, and I would most definitely recommend it. By far this weekend trip away has been one of the best weekend getaways I’ve had and also the best birthday I’ve had x

I'm still here

I have been a bit blog anti-social lately and not writing as many blogs as I would like, London life is so busy and sometimes I wonder where all my time as gone. I don't want to be one of those people that seems to always have the "I'm to busy" excuse for everything, but sometimes when it comes to writing a new blog or going out and doing something around London, London will take priority.

I find myself reading other blogs and I do wonder where all these bloggers seem to get their time from! I am rather envious of this and would love to sometimes have a day that went on for a few more hours, or even just have a devoted couple of hours for me time at some stage during the week.

So my goal for the next two weeks, is to catch up on all my blogs I am yet to write, as well as still get out and keep exploring (I have a day trip to Oxford coming up with some girlfriend's this weekend and I am very excited). So note that I am still here, and watch this space for exciting new blogs.

xox

House and home

Before I started to travel, I was definitely a home body, I loved having a place that was something I could call home, and even though I don't own a home it’s always nice to have somewhere that you feel you can just be you and have everything how you want it. Moving half way around the world hasn't taken that out of me, though I have relaxed a lot more about the living situation, I still miss having that home feeling. I have been living in my current flat for 14 months, I think that's about the best approximate time frame and while I have been here 14 months I still feel like a stranger.

You know that feeling when you come home from work and it's nice to just relax and unwind after a long day, I don't really feel like I can do that here. It's hard coming up with a compromise about living conditions when you know you're travelling and as long as you've got a decent room that's the main thing. The room that I am renting at the moment I actually really like granted it's small, but that's OK for me, right now I have no need for anything big and spacious. The whole house is actually rather nice, and I do think it is somewhere that has great potential to be a lovely place.

Prior to finding the flat that I'm in now, I did feel like I was in dire straits trying to find somewhere to live in London. It can be hard when you're on your own; you need to find a room that seems comfortable, warm, welcoming and most of all in your price range. Goodness when I was on the lookout did I see some horrible places, and I did start to become extremely worried that I wouldn't find something that was in my price range that wasn't freezing cold, mouldy, grubby, or the size of a shoe box. So I think that's why as much as where I am doesn't have the most comfortable vibe, it's nice and I'd much rather be here than living in some grottsville.

I think it just boils down to that situation when you just don't really seem to click with the people that you live with, and that's me right now. I just can't seem to click with my flat mates and it makes the living situation harder than it should be. Don't get me wrong I do get along with them, but it's always those small meaningless conversations, and though I do get along with some more than others (there are 4 other I live with) it still doesn't really seem to work. Though this is not all without effort and I have tried to be friendly and extra nice, I do like to think that I get along with a lot of people, it's just a little bit unfortunate that I've managed to find a bunch where I can't seem to break that sense of unease.

I do very much look forward to the day when I will have something that will be home to me again, and hopefully my own home. Though for now I still consider myself lucky, I have much better living conditions than a lot of people in the world and I am grateful for having a roof over my head, it's just a shame that I really can't enjoy this house like I should be able to and that I look forward to the day I move out of here and into something much more me.

Madame Tussauds

On Saturday a few girlfriends and I went to Madame Tussauds for a girly afternoon out. Zaira had managed to use some sort of magic to get us two for one vouchers, though unfortunately her magic didn't work in making the queue go any faster, note to self (and others) Madame Tussauds on a Saturday afternoon has a rather large line, and it will take you two hours to get in. The two hour line didn't really seem to affect us, I hadn't seen the girls for a while so two hours went by rather quickly with us all having a good catch up chat.

Once we were in, it was a great adventure... we got to meet celebrities! I don't like to count the fact that they are made of wax. So we had our photo with Bruce Willis, got up close and personal with Leonardo DiCaprio and took some hot snaps with Christina Aguilera. After the first room, we managed to somehow get on the X Factor, the Madame Tussauds version. So we all put on our sunnies (because that's how we roll), and sing and dance the Peyonce (that was our band name), version of Single Ladies, by Beyonce. Though we must have looked and sounded absolutely horrific the judges gave us great feedback, especially Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowel.

 After our X Factor experience, we headed on through to see more celebrities. We got to see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Audrey Hepburn. There was also a sport and world leaders section which was fun, especially when Jayne decided to comb Hitler’s beard! The musical influence section was a bit of a hoot; I had my picture taken with Michael Jackson, and gave Justin Timberlake a peck on the cheek. 
 

 After all this excitement, we headed towards the scary part of the tour, so scary that only Jayne and I were brave enough to do it. Now I don't want to give away too much and spoil what goes on for those who are yet to go to Madame Tussauds, but walking through dark rooms with horrible noises and people that could either be wax or real all around, it is a tad creepy, but definitely worth it!

We were nearly at the end of our journey for the day, and we got to finish it off with a little cab ride through some of the history of London then a 4D experience like none other I've been to!
Madame Tussauds is a great afternoon out, and I would recommend it to anyone young or old, there is plenty to do and see there and would be great to go on one of London's rainy days when there isn't much happening outside.

London and riots

This time a week ago London was not the place to be, what started out as a small protest in Tottenham, turned into 3 days of riots, looting and stealing. The usually bustling, lively city of London went very quiet and eerie by the time Monday afternoon came around, supermarkets closed, people were sent home from work, shops were boarded up and everyone was walking around with a sense of unease. I was finding it hard to believe what was going on around me, and though I never saw any trouble over the days or rioting, it was bizarre to try and get my head around the fact that something like this would happen somewhere like London.

Monday was a strange day, you didn't want to watch the news and see these terrors ripping apart this amazing city, but you couldn't not watch the news as you needed to know where all this was going on and every now and again throughout Monday evening you would've found Neil and I peering out of the bedroom window on lookout for when they would decide to come and steal, destroy and burn down shops in our area. Thankfully they never did come, though there are always those poor people who have now lost their homes, jobs, and places of sanctuary.

Everyone is still talking about it, all blaming one another for what happened and it's hard to know whose fault it is. The communities blame the police, but the police had no power to lay on brute force. Then there are the people that started this all, where do you even begin to solve that kind of a problem. The government, at what point did they fail for this to all occur. I'm not starting a debate about this, there is far too much of that happening right now on the news and Internet for everyone. 

For now though things seemed to have calmed down again in London, it is still a wakeup call though, that something like this can just spring up without any warning. Let's just hope that for now and a long while that London will remain riot free.