Sicily

On Tuesday we went to Sicily to Visit Josh and Katie who are teaching there. Before we went, I was a bit worried as all the websites warned that this was "the coldest month" to visit in, and how awful the weather would be- This was proven to be true when the pilot took two attempts to land the plane because of the strong winds.
Very bumpy landing!
When we disembarked, it was also raining sideways.

We went from the airport to the car hire place (Autonoleggio!) and picked up the keys for the hire car. At this point I was starting to think we were mental. We had to drive one side of the island to the other (Palermo is not near Messina, it transpires). We got the car, put the postcode into the sat nav and it immediately found several hundred places called "Villa franca". I had a paddy and Jay rang Dai and Josh for the longitude and latitude coordinates.
Once we got on the road it didn't improve immediately. We had to drive through Palermo and it was really busy- they clearly don't have rain like that often, as people were all over the places, and you couldn't see the road markings for all the standing water. Before we got out of the town there was an accident with a jackknifed lorry, and we had to drive on the pavement to get round it (We were directed to!) by the time we got onto the motorway I was a nervous wreck.
Then we had the roadworks, Detours, tolls and rubbish signage to contend with. Jay was a very calm navigator and map reader. Even when I had a minor panic attack about crossing a level crossing with no barriers.

Driving on the motorway was actually really quite good and straight forward. It was just the crazy mountain roads that were awful!

When we reached Vila franca we found josh by accident- He was on his way back from the shop. He got in and directed us to the B&B- I've never been so grateful to park the car and go to bed in my whole life!

In the morning when we went for breakfast Hayley and Dai were already there, so they showed us how everything worked and we had nutella on biscotti with our tea and faggotini.
I loved the italian breakfasts!

After breakfast Katie and Josh met us and took us to the weekly local market for a look around. All of us bought sunglasses.

I really wanted to buy some trashy boots but stopped myself because I had no way to get them home.
Green spangly snakeskin. oh yes!

After the shopping trip, We went for Gelatto and coffee. The others went to the arcade to play some air hockey, Katie and I went to the bank and she showed me around the town.
In the afternoon, We took the bus to Melazzo and the plan was to go and see the Volcanoe Stromboli and some of the volcanic islands. Unfortunately when we got there they said thet the weather was too bad (?!) so they weren't taking any boat trips.

We went for a pizza to think through a new plan- I had Ham, Gorgonzola and Pears on mine (Kirstie, I take it back, Fruit on pizza does work- I might even try Figs. But pineapple is still disgusting!)

After eating more food than I think I've ever eaten in one sitting before we decided that the best thing to do would be to walk up the enormous hill and go to the castle on the top.
It was worth the walk for the views.
That I will concede.

In the evening, we took the last bus back and sent the boys to buy some beers. Hayley Katie and I went to the shops to get me some new leggings (Mine broke! ) and to get some balloons and beers for little surprise do for Josh's Birthday.
We had cheese and wine and nibbles and played 10 questions- were you stick the cards with the names of famous people to your head and have to guess who you are by asking "yes or no" questions.
It's much more difficult that in looks.
It was made even more difficult by drinking fraggolini which is a delicious strawberry wine.

I had a very bad head on Thursday.

Katie and Josh had to work on Thursday so Hayley, Jay and I took the car to the Roman theatre further up the coast.
Jay drove- which was really good of him because I never wanted to see another road ever again after Tuesday night- And the views were amazing from the motorway- We knew we were driving the coast road, but because we'd done it in the dark we didn't realise that to the left of us the whole way from the airport was the sea and all the volcanic islands.

In the evening we bought more fraggolini and mooched about in the B&B. This time Hayley cooked us pasta for dinner, so I was rewarded by not having a very sore head on Friday Morning.

On Friday, Katie took us to see the Castle in Villa franca and for a walk up the mountains behind the town. I think friday was the hottest day of the trip- All of us ended up sunburned to hell!

On the way back to town we had Ice cream- I am now a gelato connoisseur - I highly recommend the tuti fruity, nutella, Tiramisu and one which looked like trifle (It had bits of cake, raspberry ripples and some kind of sherry like alcohol on a creme anglais flavour ice cream- AMAZING) however, they do one called "English cheesecake" which tasted very strongly of bananas. eurgh. Lesson learned.

We went to the beach for a bit and looked for volcanic rock (Mine caused my bag to be searched at customs) and other interesting beachy things (Hayley has been collecting sea glass).

Then we went to the games arcade! Katie and I had a go on the dance machine and then we all played air hockey and won loads of tickets which Hayley exchanged for sweets (Although the lady did try and persuade her to have a london phone box key ring..)

Katie and Josh had to work in the afternoon so we went for a mooch (And I had a nap) back at the B&B. We met up with everyone at about 9:30pm for dinner- we went to an american style diner called "Happy Days" and it was amazing!
Hayley and I shared Prosecco with our trashy burgers and potato wedges.
We did not have room for pudding.
After a lengthy and delicious dinner we went back to the B&B for more drinks to toast Josh's Successful application to teach English in Munich- So, when they finish in sicily they'll be jetting off to a slightly colder part of Europe.
Hayley and Dai have been applying for jobs in Europe too- I'm feeling very unadventurous.

Saturday was a day of travelling. Massive drive back the length of sicily to the airport, return the car, get the bus to the airport, flight home.

We landed about 11pm and then we had to get the train. This is usually pretty straight forward.
We got done over by engineering works and had to get a train to london bridge, then the tube to St Pancras and then the normal train home! Urgh. It took about 2 1/2 hours rather than the usual  1hour 40 minutes. we rewarded ourselves with a shish kebab (My first one ever and it was quite delicious!) from millennium take away and a taxi home.
We finally went to bed at almost 4 am. About the same time that Hayley and Dai made it to Cardiff.

Zombie photos!

These are the professional photos that were taken on the Peterborough Zombie walk on 1st November 2014.
I posted them at the time, but I was using FB to host my photos and didn't realise that the links break every time it moves on a month and archives posts.
bah!
I will get round to re-uploading the images and fixing any broken photo links, but for now, I'm just going to respost these as I was super proud of mine, Traff and Andy's Zombie efforts.
:D

I think this will have to become a yearly tradition!

Things I have been given at work

This week I received some historic event announcement posters for all the particle discoveries waayyy back until 1998, I used them to decorate my work space.
:D

I don't really like the pink walls so the more of them we can cover up the better!

I was also invited to attend a Creationist Science lecture. I was very tempted to go- I'm always curious about what other people think and I'd like to hear the reasoning for some of their more unusual ideas.
Unfortunately I'll have just landed from sicily so I doubt I'll be able to go.
Still, it's always nice to be invited to attend something.

Home made glass etching paste

Karl and I persuaded Helen to whip us up some home made glass etching paste using a recipe we found on the internet.
We found some glasses in the cupboard at work and tried out paste out on them- The recipe said to leave the paste on for 3 days for best results.
We left it on for a week and got no results!
Dammit!

Back to the drawing board for this one but it did look quite promising all yellow and stinky.

We found the pro stuff on amazon so we'll have to bite the bullet and pay £10

Snail shaped pancakes!

This was an experiment into gluten free pancakes- Gluten free pancake mix is waaayyy thicker than normal mix so it makes interestingly fluffy american styles pancakes!
:D
Not always snail shaped.

The Lion king in London

On Sunday Ray, Mum and I went to see the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre- Ray and I got the tickets for our Mum as a Birthday present.

The show was amazing- I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that! I loved it! all the disney songs too.
:D

After the show we went for cocktails at Bar 21

And then nachos and more cocktails in maxwells.

Prior to going to the theatre, we hand planned to go for lunch together in Covent garden. Ray and Mum drove into london together, whilst I got the train on my own. I got the train very early as I didn't want to be late.
As it was I was in covent garden at 10:30, ready to meet them both at 12. I had a mooch about, looked in the shops, watched some of the street performers and then went to take the reservation at 12.

They had a bit of a nightmare and their tills were down- Ray and mum were running late due to traffic anyway so I made a new reservation for 12:30 at a different restaurant.
Had another mooch about, and then returned to take our table. I sat there, reading my book getting more and more anxious until 1pm, when they rang to say they still hand't even parked at Paddington. I ended up eating dinner on my own and getting chatted up by the waiter!

RAL

I am very lucky, because my work allows me the opportunity to visit lots of interesting places- On Friday I visited RAL in Oxfordshire- it was a bit of a throwback Friday! Always nice to visit somewhere you already know your way around!
It was especially lovely because I saw lots of people I knew, I saw Debbie and Ian and Eddy- and was recognised by some of my Mums old colleagues- although I'm ashamed to say I didn't know who they all were!

The day was action packed- It started with a lecture on the standard model- and the issues with it, then lectures about the work being done at CERN.

The was followed with a computing workshop- looking at the data collected by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and looking for evidence of particles produced in the collisions.
It all looks very time consuming, and I can certainly see why they cannot every be certain.
It was really interesting, Bit I did feel a bit sorry for the post doctoral students working there doing research- I think it would be infuriating!

We had lunch in the visitor centre- roasted vegetables and rice! Very healthy. I followed it up with 2 slices of cake- All that learning was hungry work!

In the afternoon we got to go and see the ISIS particle accelerator (Unfortunate name but brilliant work!) and had a tour of the buildings.
That would be a very cool job!

Snow & Visitors

On monday evening I got a few interesting and very welcome surprises.
:D
Welcome surprise number 1 was that when I got home Jay was in my parking space, and welcome surprise number 2 was that when I looked out of the window at 10pm the whole street looked like a snowy christmas card.
very festive for february.

The park was also impressive- Although by the afternoon most of the snow had melted- but the pond was still frosty and the duck footprints were really cool!

The weather being not ideal for getting out of my flat alive, Jay and I watched loads of TV- I have now seen the 1st 2 series of Sherlock and started to watch Luther- both of which I like very much.

On Wednesday night we went to the pub with both Karls and Jenni- Excellent company and an excuse to eat chicken goujons and JD BBQ sauce.
Jenni was on the cocktails. I behaved myself.

The height of hiking fashions

Tats got a picture of me on top of the downs- I look super sophisticated, no?
Check out that view!
Maybe don't look so closely at my very cheerfully bright ensemble...

Hiking round the Dunstable downs

Tats is starting to prepare for her trip to Asia, where she's climbing mountains in Japan and South Korea. So, we're looking for marginally less flat places in the very flat east of England to walk about on.
We walked a 5 mile circular route on the downs- starting at the visitor centre, and following the Icknield way- which is part of the ancient route to stone henge- the downs also has it's fair share of barrows on the top of it for the important neolithic dead.

It was very windy- something to do with being on top of a hill I suspect- and muddy, after all the snow over the last 2 days.
We had an ace time, and I'm feeling very fit and healthy.

After our walk we had planned to have cake and tea in the national trust cafe- they do an excellent coffee and walnut cake- but it was busy so we headed back home and stopped off at the white horse for key lime pie.
:D
And to defrost.
sooooo cold! I'm grateful it didn't snow whilst we were out, we saw the gritters on the way home, so maybe we can expect some more white stuff this week...