Scary Movies

Last night I watched Paranormal Activity for the second time. Why did I do this? I have no idea. I am a chicken when it comes to horror and thriller films, I close my eyes and block my ears and try extremely hard to think happy thoughts. Paranormal Activity is by far the movie that scares me the most! When I first saw it at the cinema, I left feeling rather nervous and found it very hard to sleep for a week because every bump in the night or breeze outside I thought was some ghost or demon trying to come after me, not to mention while I was watching the film I screamed at the end because of something that happened that gave me such a fright (I won't say what for those that haven't yet seen this film).
So last night I would have been found hiding under the duvet cover with me eyes tightly closed and my hands firmly blocking out any noise that was coming from the screen. Ghost movies like this seem to get me shivering in my boots every time, I don't know why, just gives me the heeby jeebies and yet I still can't seem to stop myself from watching them. Maybe it's the adrenaline rush, like why do people go on rollacosters if they scare them to death? Maybe for me it's horror films. Who knows?

I must say though that I am kind of excited to see Scream 4, 11 years ago was when the last Scream film was released and I remember not being old enough to get in and see it so my friends and I tried our hardest to sneak in the cinema; we failed miserably. So as much as scary movies leave me with sleepless nights and thinking that some sort of monster is coming to get me, I'll keep watching them.

London and spring

The weekend was absolutely stunning! After a long hard winter, I had managed to convince myself that I may actually never get to see the sun again. Well the sun finally decided to grace us all with its presence just in time for the weekend. So while I had to work on Saturday, I made sure that I was out in the sun for Friday afternoon and all day Sunday.

Richmond Park is where I spent the majority of my lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, for those who have never been it is a must! A great big park located in South West London, it's like being out in the wop wops, when you're still in London. So my friend Heather and I meet in Victoria, grabbed some picnic snacks and cider from the supermarket and headed out to the park, for a lovely picnic lunch and an afternoon stroll. We did spend around 4 hours walking around and I don't think we even made a dent in what's to be seen out there. Though the highlight was when we stumbled across two deer in the middle of this open field. We tried to sneak up to them, well to get as close as we could without thinking that our lives were in danger and also scaring the deer away. So after getting a few good snaps of the deer and having a lovely walk around through the park, we decided it would be a wise move to try and find our way out before it got dark as we both had absolutely no sense of direction! So all in all Richmond Park was absolutely wonderful and I'll most definitley be heading back there to spend a lovely sunny day.

Later on in the early evening I caught up with Neil and went for another wee walk through one of the local parks. It was so nice to see some sun for a change, so I wanted to make the most of it. So we got an icecream and sat in the park for a bit. It was still too nice of an evening to head home so Neil took me to a bar on the canal in Maida Vale which was really nice to sit there, drink a cider, and enjoy the lovely spring day. Just when I thought it couldn't get anymore like a perfect spring day, a swan went swimming right by us along the canal.

Spring you are my most favourite time of the year.

Cheese and Vegemite sandwiches

The one thing I've learnt, well really am still learning about London is how to save my money. It's so expensive to live here! I was thoroughly warned about how broke I would be while I was living in London by many different people before I left, so I did come over here with the expectation that I would never have any money. I thought I'd keep some of you amused by telling you about the way that I'm currently living in London and the things I am sacrificing in order to try and see some of the world. So one of the biggest things I found to be wasting money on was food, mainly buying my lunch. I might have spent anywhere from £3 to £5 buying my lunch, which I didn't think was that bad, then when I actually took a moment to think about it that's £60 - £100 a month! That's flight somewhere! So I quickly resorted to making my lunch everyday.

Vegemite you can buy here from most major supermarkets, granted it's only the small jar, but give me a small jar of Vegemite over none any day. Normally I would use Vegemite just for my toast in the mornings and maybe the odd roll, but the past couple months I've been making Vegemite sandwiches. I soon got bored of this and upgraded my lunch to cheese and Vegemite sandwiches which is something I do enjoy. Please note that it wasn't every single day I was eating these, there is the odd day every now and again where I might splurge and buy something for a few pounds, but I was definitely eating a lot of sandwiches, so many sandwiches in fact, that it has actually got to the stage now, that while writing this, even the thought of cheese and Vegemite sandwiches is making me feel ill. This morning while making my lunch I thought to myself that I would be fine to have the old trusty again for lunch today, but the fact of the matter is the weekend made no difference, I went to work, ate my sammies and actually felt yuck! Cheese and Vegemite sandwiches have taken a turn for the worst and now the old trusty snack I can't bear the thought of.

The things I am doing to try and scrape by, shesh! All in all there is definitely a positive to this and that is the travel. I am really starting to feel that I'm finally getting ahead and really getting to see more places, although these next two months are a bit crazy, as I did go a tad over bored on the travel and book a little too many trips away. Might have to resort to some extra budget saving systems, but tonight when heading home I did have to go via Sansbury's and pick up some ham, ham sandwiches tomorrow people! I'm moving up in the world! I know, not so budget, but it was ham or noodles at 10p a bag, and I don't think I could do the noodles thing right now especially since all I eat for dinner is mainly pasta, why? because it is cheap! .... next week budget noodles will be on the cards though *sigh*

I think to anyone who isn't traveling my savings way might seem a bit nuts, especially since I could quite happily go out and on a last minute decision just book a trip away. I often get the rather puzzled look which is a look that could only come from two thoughts "You must have a lot of money if you can travel so much" or "How the heck are you travelling so much, I thought you were meant to be poor?" To the people that think this your answer is the title of this page... Cheese and Vegemite sandwiches (and also not a lot of new clothes). Most of the time I feel like the only other people who understand this is my fellow travelling friends, who all know far to well that if you're going to travel so far around the world you may as well actually see it! I'd rather be poor and travelling places than have money and doing nothing, not that I would do nothing I'd spend it on clothes and waste it on nights out.

So as much as I can't stand the thought of a cheese and Vegemite sandwich again, there is a positive to come from this now very much love hate relationship and that is I'm starting to see the world! So dear cheese and Vegemite sammies, you do actually do a lot for me and I owe you big time for helping me save to see the world, but right now I don't ever want to see you again!

And that's my tip number 1 for saving in London.

Hanging out with your wang out

I guess no where is really safe now days and living in London you do come to expect the unexpected, but I certainly wasn't expecting what happened to me last week. I thought I'd write a wee note about my interesting moment last week, as some of you might find it extremely amusing.

So last Tuesday night, I'd just been around to see Neil and was on my way back home. Now where I live I'd like to think isn't a 'rough' area, it certainly isn't a flash area of London, but I don't think it is awfully bad, however compared to some of the surrounding suburbs it isn't too crash hot.

Anyway, so I'd jumped off the bus and made my way down my street, I noticed a slightly dodgy looking man standing on the side of the road looking a tad strange. The thought did run through my mind to cross the road, but he was only about 10 houses away from mine, so being so close to home I thought I'd just carry on as usual. So here I was walking along, in my own wee world, iPod in, minding my own business, I thought I'd just walk past him not even acknowledge that he's standing there and I'll be home in half a minute. So I'm walking past Mr Dodgy, and I just glace at him and he's standing there, on the side of the road, between two cars, facing me/the footpath with his wang hanging out of his jeans, and no he wasn't going for a wee, he was actually just standing there with it all hanging out!!!! My poor eyes burned in my head, and I got one hell of a fright, so I quickly up'd my walking pace, grabbed my keys out of my bag, before heading up my footpath swung around to make sure he wasn't following me, ducked inside and locked the door. I was feeling a bit violated after this, but what could I do.

So that's my wee story about one interesting event that happened to me last week, that I thought I'd share with you all to have a wee giggle over.... though at the time I didn't find it funny at all. Let's just hope now that the all the dodgy people stay away from my street!

Paris

When I first arrived in the UK I never really had great intentions to go to Paris, well I would have always gone, but it wasn't at the top of my list for places to see and I thought if I left it to the last minute that would be fine, as long as I saw everything else first. So when I booked my tickets, it was a bit of a off the bat decision. I'd booked bus tickets which is a bit of a painful way to get there, but the cheapest by far, so I booked an overnight bus to get there and the afternoon bus for my return. So on Wednesday night I was all packed and on my way to Victoria Coach Station ready for my long bus journey. I can't say I had the best sleep in the world, but it was enough. Waking up and being in France is an amazing feeling, it was dawn as we were driving south towards Paris and along the highway was hundreds of Blossom trees, I've never seen anything like it, it was beautiful, and a wonderful way to spend a sleepy morning on a bus. 

After a 10 hour bus journey, not much of a sleep and a very sore bum from the seat, I was in Paris!

I had arrived, jumped off the bus and made my way to the Metro, managed to get a day pass and a map for the train and I was sorted. Now I was on my way to get lost in Paris! I had a little map of Paris and a map of the Metro (the underground in Paris), so you would have found me sitting on the Metro trying to work out which would be the best station to get off at. I got of at what seemed to be like a central-ish station and just thought I'd walk around and see what I could find. With no sense of direction, a backpack on my back and a small tourist book and map in hand I just walked, and I must have looked like a typical tourist. The bag I had to carry around for the day as I wasn't due to meet my cousin until after 7pm that evening, but I was so grateful that I had a comfy fold out sofa waiting for me that a day with a backpack on my back was no problem.

Not knowing where I was walking to and what direction I was going I thought I should perhaps try and find a popular landmark. I'd started to walk through some gardens when in the distance I could see the top of the Eiffel tower, so I thought I'd track that down. I was walking the long way there, but it was worth it, because before I knew it in front of me was the Arc De Triomphe. It was great to come across this, a little something unexpected on my walking journey. After discovering this and then looking over to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I thought I'd take some back streets now. Walking through the back streets I started to feel completely lost, but having the whole day in front of me to find work out where I was, I wasn't too concerned and it wasn't too long before I found the Seine (the river that runs through Paris), and then sure enough over the other side of the river was the Eiffel Tower. Saturday was the day I'd arranged to go to the Eiffel Tower and see the view from the top, so I didn't head over to check it out, instead I thought a nice little stroll along the river would go down a treat. 20 minutes must have been about how long I'd walked along the river for when I came across a nice pond with chairs all around followed by gardens and old buildings. So now was the perfect time to take a break and rest for a while. It must have been just before midday when I managed to come across the famous Lourve. A giant glass pyramid with fountains around the edge then surrounded by the huge old Lourve. 7 hours was about how long I still had before I had to meet Clinton, my cousin, so I thought a good way to spend some time would be to get a ticket and see everything the Lourve had to offer, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo.

The Notre Dame, that was my next destination and the last for this day of walking around, I was shattered now and had done more than enough walking around for one day. Notre Dame has to be one of the most amazing churches I've ever seen, the design of it is just out of this world, I took countless photo's. It was so nice to walk around this area. I came across this bridge where the whole side of it was covered in locks, love locks, and now you're wondering what are love locks. So what you do, is you and your loved one get a lock and either engrave or write on it both of your names, then you bolt your lock to the fence then throw the key in the river below. Locking your love together. I thought it was so sweet, but then every now and again I like cheesy romantic stuff like that and Paris is meant to be the 'City of Love'.

Another sunny spring day in Paris, and this day I had a lot in store. Montmarte is where I was headed for the start of the day, an area just north of central Paris. First stop in Montmarte was the Sacrè Coeur, a great big white church at the top of a hill. Stop number two was the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge wasn't as big and glitzy as I thought it would be, but was definitely worth the walk. If I ever go back to Paris I'd love to go and see a show there, I do imagine that at night it would be very well lit up and sparkly, but during this sunny day it seemed like nothing too special. The first half of the day was over and now I was back on the Metro on my way to Père Lachaise. The largest cemetery in France, Père Lachaise is the home to many famous people. I spent a good part of a couple of hours wondering through this cemetery, there are so many amazing tombs and graves and as gloomy as it sounds, it's actually extremely picturesque. So I stopped by Jim Morrison, I did get a wee bit lost trying to find him, but then in the distance I could hear Doors music and I knew I was getting close. There were lots of people around Jim Morrison, but I guess that's to be expected. I also found the tomb of Oscar Wilde, again with a lot of people sitting around. Père Lachaise may not be at the top of every one's list of places to visit while in Paris, but I'd definitely recommend it, as a place to go and spend a couple of hours walking around in, it is very nice.

Dusk had been and gone. I'd eaten dinner and now I was ready for a wee night adventure, seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It was a mild night, not too cold and clear skies, I could have walked around much longer if I wasn't so worn out from the day I'd already had of walking around. The Eiffel Tower at night was something I've always wanted to see and to see it sparkle was great. Managed to get another tone of pictures, my poor camera was getting the most use I think it's ever had! After seeing a very bright sparkly Eiffel Tower I was headed back home again for bed, great way to spend a Friday night huh!

Saturday, my last full day in Paris, up early in the morning I was going up the top of the Eiffel Tower today, and trust my luck this would be the only cloudy day I would have on my trip, all in all it was still a spectacular view. It's funny though how you don't really think your scared of heights until you're in this tiny lift with about 6 other people with full view of your trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower! Once I was up there though I came right, still a wee bit on edge about the fact that I was so high off the ground. The pictures I took while I was up there didn't turn out to be the best thanks to the cloud, but still they are great for me to look at and think that I saw Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
With my feet firmly planted back on the ground, and feeling much safer, I was heading just around the corner to Les Invalides, where I would get to see Napoleon's Tomb.
Next stop was a cafe called Angelina's, a famous cafe in Paris. Anyone who goes to Paris must go here. I meet Clinton, as he told me that he wanted to make sure I'd had a Chocolat Chaud or as you would say in English a Hot Chocolate, and this would be the Hot Chocolate that rocked my world! I think now every time I'll have a hot chocolate since it will never be the same. Out of this world amazing would be the best way to describe it.
The rest of my time in Paris was spend exploring some more back streets, eating plenty of pastries from cute French bakeries. But before I knew it I was packed and on my way back to catch the bus back to London.
All in all Paris was simply wonderful, a lot more older and unique than London and I would recommend Paris to all. I have much more exploring around the world, but I would definitely like to see Paris again.