Melbourne Day 3

Stand up paddle boarding on the yarra river.

Melbourne Day 2

Bit of an early start today, jet lag got us up at 4.30am, just in time for dinner in the UK!
We played computer and whatsapped family and friends until 6, them we went swimming, had a shower and got ready to go out.
We watched the sun rise!

We went for a walk to the pancake house from breakfast.
Mine was awesome, I gad cheese bacon and potato pancake with salad. Traff thought he'd ordered a stack of pancakes with scrambled eggs and mushroom. He got no pancakes.

We got some bits to do our own breakfast at the hotel in the mornings, booked traffs tattoo and had juice from the juice bar.

Then we walked up to the library for the free 3 hr walking tour. It was really really good.
She showed us loads of amazing bars, cafes, parks, museums and told us the cities history.

After the tour we headed back to the food court for some cheap eats - I had korean bbq bento, traff had Thai fried rice with pineapple and tofu and jenni had Chinese. All the food looked and smelled amazing!

Then we went for a drink.in a hipster bar.

We walked home via the supermarket for more beers (alcohol is pricey!).

We had planned to play pool but I fell.asleep at about 10,pm.
Life and soul of the party...

Lithium battery phone chargers

I'm annoyed about this but not surprised, but if I.post it here and save someone £16.99 then i've done my bit.

I was warned the air china were really strict on what's allowed/not allowed on the flights and some of their rules are really different to everywhere else.

Tats warned us that when she had a layover in Beijing last year they confiscated external phone chargers at the hand luggage search.
I didn't charge mine, as one of their conditions to be allowed to keep it is that it's sealed and clearly shows their power wattage.
That done I thought i'd complied and asked at the air china desk if it needed to go in my hold or hand luggage. He said hold.

Still got it confiscated in china.

Tbh, I just wouldn't bother.

Melbourne Day 1

We landed at about 3pm. Jenni and T med us from the airport,with a glittering sign and a car.
We were super grateful be because we had forgotten to arrange an airport transfer to the hotel.

The hotel is awesome, really quirky and the staff are very kind.

We washed, unpacked and then headed to look around china town.
We had dinner in.one of the rooftop bars and then walked around the city's alleys to see the graffiti.
All followed up by a couple of live bands on cherrys bar.

Then back to the hotel for a few games of pool, then a lying down sleep. So appealing!

Beijing airport

The first 10 hour leg of our 22 hours pf flying was from London to Beijing.
We only had 11 hours there from.landing to re boarding so we ended up staying in the airport.
We ate in pizza hut.
Traff had a Hawaiian pizza and picked the ham off.
I had bacon fried rice, matcha ice cream cake and hot milk tea with red bean paste bubbles.
After that we explored the airport, slept and showered which was an interesting new experience that I don't think i'll be ready to repeat in 9 days.
Communal airport showers with exposed wiring and questionable temperature control. You have to try it.
I also tried a matcha and pomegranate latte from starbucks.

Air china are interesting. We told them that we were vegetarian. Which is true for traff and a lie for me. I'm just anxious about aeroplane food because I got food poisoning on the 16 hr flight back from Malaysia.
So each meal has been steamed vegetables, fruit salad, bread and sometimes rice. Mostly wilted spinach. I have been countering this healthy eating with alcohol.

Christmas tree

I get nostalgic occasionally over objects. I think everyone does.
But the bit memory finder for me is our family Christmas tree.
When i'm at my parents I love nothing more than to look through the decorations on their tree and work out where they came from.
Our tree is tacky. And plasticy and gaudy. But its very personal and holds a whole lifetime of memories.

There's a ceramic cooling tower to mark the passing of Didcot a, an awful Dalmatian that my sister bought at a jumble sale aged about 4. A plastic drum my granny bought. We had one each and mine was red and probably long lost now. There are some very retro 70s baubles from my parents first Christmas together, bought from Woolworths on Oxford street. All the baubles have a story.

So i'm sat at my parents, waiting to fly away for Christmas and now feeling that i'm missing out on making more family memories.
Next year.
Australia await.

Prosecco

Sunrise over Wiltshire

The wreath is up!

Xmas crafts

I received this gift at work. I love the idea though!

Old work xmas party

Rainy adventures on Bedford

STEAM xmas market

Today, we tried to buy a crack den

Ray asked me on Friday if i'd come to view a house with her on Saturday morning.
It was on for 120,000. Houses on.my street go for between 140,000 and 170,000 so it was a bit of a steal.
2 bedrooms, fitted kitchen, over 3 floors, 7 minutes from our place and 10 minutes from town.
It's actually right by the TARDIS graffiti I posted before.
But the clue that all was not quite as it seemed should have been that there were.mo photos on the website.

On the way we passed a house which has painted out windows, about 8 locks on the front door and there is always an ambulance outside. I joked that it was a crack den so whatever happened at least this house would be better than that.

We arrived to view and it looked ok from the outside. Leaky gutters and some damp patches on the exterior from the overflow pipe. A crack in the conservatory wall, gang tags on the garage (we get those too so it's just a feature of the area).
Good size house, nice location, structurally sound.

Inside was where the fun started. I can see past if bring filthy, and the previous owners possessions being everywhere.
Kitchen and bathroom were actually ok and the floors were good. Very 70s free standing feature staircases, new double glazing, new looking boiler.

However, there were some pretty crazy issues.
First issue was the door fitted in place if a window on the 1st floor. Although this could have been gotten round by installing a slide to the garden.
Bowed and mouldy kitchen ceiling, which was replaceable.
Damp and mould on lots of the walls, so much that the plaster has fallen away.

What had to be seen to be truly appreciated was the number of live, high voltage cables danging from the ceiling in every room,including the bathroom.
The house had been previously used as a cannabis factory, among other interesting uses, so the meter was bypassed and every inch of wiring needed to be removed.
Or I guess you could just turn it into a bizarre bdsm brothel.

An interesting way to spend a morning.

Visitors!

Tina and Abida came to visit today! We had Chinese food and put the word to rights.
It was really awesome to see them, but a bit weird too, I used to see them every day and text all the time- I need to up my texting game.

They brought biscuits.
And xmas presents!
Sooooo spoilt!

I opened them early because there was sooo much peer pressure.
Tina made me a a small patchwork wall hanging.
This is a skill I need to learn.