So it's all over, the last book has been read and digested and I've sobbed over the deaths of (ssshhhh you don't really think I'd give away the plot do you). Anyone who knows me well will have a good idea of who may have died as I am feeling inconsolable. It didn't take as long to read as I was expecting and I did really enjoy it, although feel a little let down and very sad that it's all over.
Mrs H3 and I had a good evening at Bluewater last night. We went for a nice meal in De:Alto and then queued with all the other nutters for Waterstones to open at 12:01. We took part in quizzes, raffles and got scars painted on our faces, had balloon swords and hats made and generally got a bit hyperactive on the haribo sweets that were being freely dished out to all and sundry. Hopefully some photos will follow when Mrs H3 sends them to me.
The weird thing is that I have the urge to curl up in bed and read it all over again, except of course I have other things to do, like Phil's 40th birthday party. I have the day off tomorrow too so maybe I'll reread then.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Countdown
My life is full of things I'm counting down to at the moment:
Only 3 days till I find out who lives in Harry Potter 7;
Only 14 days till I fly out to Italy;
Only 17 days till Jo and Paul get married;
and just to upset everyone
Only 159 days till Christmas!
Only 3 days till I find out who lives in Harry Potter 7;
Only 14 days till I fly out to Italy;
Only 17 days till Jo and Paul get married;
and just to upset everyone
Only 159 days till Christmas!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Harry Potter Weekend 1
So this weekend saw the release of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film. When we booked the tickets the release date was Friday, so Lynne and I booked our usual day off to see the film, do a bit of shopping and have a meal, but they changed the date to Thursday and of course I couldn't wait a whole day (yes I know I'm sad, you don't have to tell me), so I had to go and see it on Thursday morning as well.
We started our retail therapy day in Debenham's at Lakeside (as my friend Am suggested that it might be a good place to find a dress for the wedding) and after trying on half a dozen lovely dresses - I was delighted to find that a size 22 fit perfectly, my fears of still being a 24 completely unfounded - found a gorgeous dress by John Rocha which was a halter neck in cream with black flower pattern on it. I went to the till where I was informed that my card had been declined. I couldn’t understand why this was (I had bought some knives from the same place only about 40 minutes before), so ran over to the Abbey (which was luckily across the way) where I was told that the link system had gone down and my chip had been locked. All I needed do was unlock the pin and all would be well. The woman made it sound like it was obvious that was what had happened – although I’d never heard of it before, so I unlocked my pin and off I went back to queue for the till. Nope my card was declined again. The woman at the till phoned Visa, who gave her a telephone number for me to call and she kindly let me use their telephone to do this.
I then spent 7 minutes in a queue before finally getting through to (yep you guessed it) an Indian call centre. They informed me that my card had been suspended after some suspicious transactions (this brought back memories of my last day in New Orleans when they did exactly the same thing, yet again without any warning). They reeled off a few and some I recognized, some I didn’t, but I was having trouble understanding what he was saying – and as I pointed out, because I wasn’t at home, but in the middle of a department store, I couldn’t remember without looking them up. At this the man told me that he felt the activity was suspicious and he’d cancelled my card and I would now have to wait for a new one to come through after the account was checked. I asked how I was supposed to pay for my dress. He said I couldn’t using my card, but that if I went to my local Abbey branch with my passport I would be able to draw out some money. I tried to point out that I was nowhere near my local branch, and neither do I take my passport shopping with me, but to no avail. My card was cancelled and there was nothing he or I could do. I was furious!
As it had taken so long to sort this I had to leave the dress in Debenham’s, because we needed to get over to Bluewater for the film. After the film had finished I went to Abbey to see if there was anything I could do to get some money. Luckily they were very helpful and so I withdrew enough money to get an outfit, plus food shopping for the week etc. So we then wandered around Bluewater, trying on dresses in every possible shop. Disappointingly, Monsoon only had 1 dress in a size 22 in the whole shop, and although Lynne told me it looked nice I really hated the colour so that was a no go. In Ann Harvey I actually fitted into a size 20 dress (although a bit too tight across the tummy, and there’s no way I’m wearing pants of steel in the Italian heat) and I bought a new swimsuit which was in the sale, and is really flattering. One thing I had noticed with all the outfits I’d tried on (and with most of the clothes I've got from ebay recently) was that the bust didn’t fit quite right so I went to Leia and had a fitting for a new bra. I had changed much more than I had realised and a new bra made a world of difference. I bought 2 bras and 2 pairs of matching knickers (in pale pink/pale blue and cerise – I know I should have got sensible black, but it was so nice to have a choice of colours for a change) and headed off back on my dress crusade.
I ended up in Marks & Spencer where I found a beautiful dress, but of course sod’s law was that they had every size (from 8 – 28) except for a 22. I tried on the 24 and it fit pretty well, although a bit loose around the bust. I found a lovely organza hat which went perfectly (and packs flat – perfect for traveling!) and as soon as I saw it all on I knew it was the right dress for me. I bought the 24 as it was the only one in stock, but have ordered a 22 which will be in store for next Thursday so I can try that on and choose the one which is the best fit – I’m thinking the 22 should fit perfectly round the bust. Now I just have to find some sandals or something to wear with it – not sure I have anything suitable atm as I don’t really wear strappy sandals and Jo has (understandably) forbidden me from wearing Birkenstocks or fit flops
We finally got finished shopping about 9.20pm and then headed off to De:Alto for a lovely meal (see diet blog for details) and a chance to sit and relax after our hectic day. All in all a fantastic day.
And the film? Well it was OK. Firstly, it's a bit weird that the longest book in the series has been made into the shortest film. Yes, the book was a bit of a filler, but the film has hacked the story that was in it to bits. Loads of stuff is missing, and what is in there has been considerably changed (and not necessarily for the better). However, it is still an enjoyable film in the way all HP films are, just as long as you forget about the book (best to make sure you haven't just reread it before you see the film), and of course yet again darker than the film before it. I didn't think that it wrung the emotion the way that the book did though, although really none of the films ever have. It was good to see favourite characters making a reappearance and has now really got me desperately waiting for the the final book next weekend.
Of course, not content to wait for the postman (the wait for the previous 2 books being far too traumatic) Mrs H3 and I have preordered the book from Waterstones at Bluewater and are going to be spending Friday night there waiting for the doors to open at 12.01. Of course once I have my book I will be completely incommunicado until I have finished the last page (and finished the sobbing - which could take some time).
We started our retail therapy day in Debenham's at Lakeside (as my friend Am suggested that it might be a good place to find a dress for the wedding) and after trying on half a dozen lovely dresses - I was delighted to find that a size 22 fit perfectly, my fears of still being a 24 completely unfounded - found a gorgeous dress by John Rocha which was a halter neck in cream with black flower pattern on it. I went to the till where I was informed that my card had been declined. I couldn’t understand why this was (I had bought some knives from the same place only about 40 minutes before), so ran over to the Abbey (which was luckily across the way) where I was told that the link system had gone down and my chip had been locked. All I needed do was unlock the pin and all would be well. The woman made it sound like it was obvious that was what had happened – although I’d never heard of it before, so I unlocked my pin and off I went back to queue for the till. Nope my card was declined again. The woman at the till phoned Visa, who gave her a telephone number for me to call and she kindly let me use their telephone to do this.
I then spent 7 minutes in a queue before finally getting through to (yep you guessed it) an Indian call centre. They informed me that my card had been suspended after some suspicious transactions (this brought back memories of my last day in New Orleans when they did exactly the same thing, yet again without any warning). They reeled off a few and some I recognized, some I didn’t, but I was having trouble understanding what he was saying – and as I pointed out, because I wasn’t at home, but in the middle of a department store, I couldn’t remember without looking them up. At this the man told me that he felt the activity was suspicious and he’d cancelled my card and I would now have to wait for a new one to come through after the account was checked. I asked how I was supposed to pay for my dress. He said I couldn’t using my card, but that if I went to my local Abbey branch with my passport I would be able to draw out some money. I tried to point out that I was nowhere near my local branch, and neither do I take my passport shopping with me, but to no avail. My card was cancelled and there was nothing he or I could do. I was furious!
As it had taken so long to sort this I had to leave the dress in Debenham’s, because we needed to get over to Bluewater for the film. After the film had finished I went to Abbey to see if there was anything I could do to get some money. Luckily they were very helpful and so I withdrew enough money to get an outfit, plus food shopping for the week etc. So we then wandered around Bluewater, trying on dresses in every possible shop. Disappointingly, Monsoon only had 1 dress in a size 22 in the whole shop, and although Lynne told me it looked nice I really hated the colour so that was a no go. In Ann Harvey I actually fitted into a size 20 dress (although a bit too tight across the tummy, and there’s no way I’m wearing pants of steel in the Italian heat) and I bought a new swimsuit which was in the sale, and is really flattering. One thing I had noticed with all the outfits I’d tried on (and with most of the clothes I've got from ebay recently) was that the bust didn’t fit quite right so I went to Leia and had a fitting for a new bra. I had changed much more than I had realised and a new bra made a world of difference. I bought 2 bras and 2 pairs of matching knickers (in pale pink/pale blue and cerise – I know I should have got sensible black, but it was so nice to have a choice of colours for a change) and headed off back on my dress crusade.
I ended up in Marks & Spencer where I found a beautiful dress, but of course sod’s law was that they had every size (from 8 – 28) except for a 22. I tried on the 24 and it fit pretty well, although a bit loose around the bust. I found a lovely organza hat which went perfectly (and packs flat – perfect for traveling!) and as soon as I saw it all on I knew it was the right dress for me. I bought the 24 as it was the only one in stock, but have ordered a 22 which will be in store for next Thursday so I can try that on and choose the one which is the best fit – I’m thinking the 22 should fit perfectly round the bust. Now I just have to find some sandals or something to wear with it – not sure I have anything suitable atm as I don’t really wear strappy sandals and Jo has (understandably) forbidden me from wearing Birkenstocks or fit flops
We finally got finished shopping about 9.20pm and then headed off to De:Alto for a lovely meal (see diet blog for details) and a chance to sit and relax after our hectic day. All in all a fantastic day.
And the film? Well it was OK. Firstly, it's a bit weird that the longest book in the series has been made into the shortest film. Yes, the book was a bit of a filler, but the film has hacked the story that was in it to bits. Loads of stuff is missing, and what is in there has been considerably changed (and not necessarily for the better). However, it is still an enjoyable film in the way all HP films are, just as long as you forget about the book (best to make sure you haven't just reread it before you see the film), and of course yet again darker than the film before it. I didn't think that it wrung the emotion the way that the book did though, although really none of the films ever have. It was good to see favourite characters making a reappearance and has now really got me desperately waiting for the the final book next weekend.
Of course, not content to wait for the postman (the wait for the previous 2 books being far too traumatic) Mrs H3 and I have preordered the book from Waterstones at Bluewater and are going to be spending Friday night there waiting for the doors to open at 12.01. Of course once I have my book I will be completely incommunicado until I have finished the last page (and finished the sobbing - which could take some time).
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A Bit Late ...
I meant to post this video from My Chemical Romance for their latest single 'Teenagers' earlier, but due to my bad memory and lack of time, completely forgot. Still, better late than never ... enjoy!
Nice to see the lads on T in the Park at the weekend - shame they didn't show much of their set, but hopefully it was all recorded and it'll be shown at some point during the future.
Nice to see the lads on T in the Park at the weekend - shame they didn't show much of their set, but hopefully it was all recorded and it'll be shown at some point during the future.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Birthday Parties
Amazingly it was Aiden’s 2nd birthday (already) last Monday and so we had a party for him on Sunday. He was aware that something was going on, but wasn’t quite sure what, until he realised that the presents people were bringing were for him. He also got to blow out the candles on his cake (3 times as he enjoyed it so much) and I managed to get a couple of cute pictures of him. The weather stayed good for the party and a relaxing time was had by all. This was followed by Kim’s 50th birthday on Tuesday, which we helped her celebrate at her new local. A good evening, but a tiring one with a very late night.
Scrapbooking
Yep I’ve actually done some. I know, a miracle, especially with the little amount of time I’ve had, but the weekend before last there was a cyber crop at Scrapstars, and whilst I didn’t really have time to take part, I thought I’d at least try to get 1 of the classes done. The result is below.
The photo was one of the ones taken of the sinful sisters on our trip to the Ritz back in August 2005 (once again can’t believe how the time has flown) and uses papers from a collection by Dana Zarling and flowers by Melany Violette.
Getting into the swing of things, I then went on to do another LO, which had nothing to do with the cyber crop, but was inspired by the overlay by Jason Gaylor that I found while I was looking for elements for the previous LO. This photo is of statues by Lily Sawtell (who also did the Kiss statue that I scrapped during the Mad Hatters cybercrop). The papers are by fotosusu.
You never know I might just take up this scrapping lark as a real hobby!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
The Muse (best) Concert (in the world … ever!)
I really wanted to give a review of the Muse concert and didn’t have time to do it justice. Now it was weeks ago (gosh how quickly the time flies by) and it hardly seems that important any more.
However, I will say that now having seen them I fully understand why Muse win so many awards for being the best live band in the world – they truly deserve the accolade – they were totally awesome, without a shadow of a doubt the best band I’ve ever seen live. I was completely captivated from the minute they emerged to the strains of ‘Dance of the Knights’ by Prokofiev from which they thundered into the fantastic ‘Knights of Cydonia’ to the last strains of ‘Take a Bow’. The stage show was astounding, the visuals a treat, with lasers, lights, fantastic background pictures and even trapeze artists on giant balls moving across the stadium. It was a mixed set, capturing all the hits and I loved every single minute of it. My seat was directly opposite the stage and the acoustics weren’t great at times when the wind blew the wrong way, but I didn’t care. I had a perfect view of the whole stage and both giant screens without having to stand up for the whole concert – the first time that has ever been the case. I managed to get to the Stadium in time to see the end of the Biffy Clyro set, who seemed pretty good (good enough for me to download their album, although I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet) and was completely settled by the time My Chemical Romance came on. It was another fantastic set from them too. They were obviously really enjoying themselves and away from the constraints of the Black Parade tour were able to include a real mixture of old and new songs. As always a real treat watching them perform and I’m hoping that some friends of mine that went got some decent photos of Gerard and Bob.
What wasn’t so great was trying to get home after the show. Wembley Park tube station was closed for some reason and so I (and about 70,000 other people) had to walk a mile to the next nearest station. It took so long that I only just managed to catch my last train home with minutes to spare. I finally got home just after 1.30am, and then remembered the workshop I was doing that day. If I’d been more organised I should have arranged to stay in London for the night, but I’d left all the stuff I needed for the workshop at home. As it was I was completely shattered when I finally got to work at the pub in the evening, and unfortunately had a workshop the following day so didn’t even get a lie in on Tuesday.
However, I will say that now having seen them I fully understand why Muse win so many awards for being the best live band in the world – they truly deserve the accolade – they were totally awesome, without a shadow of a doubt the best band I’ve ever seen live. I was completely captivated from the minute they emerged to the strains of ‘Dance of the Knights’ by Prokofiev from which they thundered into the fantastic ‘Knights of Cydonia’ to the last strains of ‘Take a Bow’. The stage show was astounding, the visuals a treat, with lasers, lights, fantastic background pictures and even trapeze artists on giant balls moving across the stadium. It was a mixed set, capturing all the hits and I loved every single minute of it. My seat was directly opposite the stage and the acoustics weren’t great at times when the wind blew the wrong way, but I didn’t care. I had a perfect view of the whole stage and both giant screens without having to stand up for the whole concert – the first time that has ever been the case. I managed to get to the Stadium in time to see the end of the Biffy Clyro set, who seemed pretty good (good enough for me to download their album, although I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet) and was completely settled by the time My Chemical Romance came on. It was another fantastic set from them too. They were obviously really enjoying themselves and away from the constraints of the Black Parade tour were able to include a real mixture of old and new songs. As always a real treat watching them perform and I’m hoping that some friends of mine that went got some decent photos of Gerard and Bob.
What wasn’t so great was trying to get home after the show. Wembley Park tube station was closed for some reason and so I (and about 70,000 other people) had to walk a mile to the next nearest station. It took so long that I only just managed to catch my last train home with minutes to spare. I finally got home just after 1.30am, and then remembered the workshop I was doing that day. If I’d been more organised I should have arranged to stay in London for the night, but I’d left all the stuff I needed for the workshop at home. As it was I was completely shattered when I finally got to work at the pub in the evening, and unfortunately had a workshop the following day so didn’t even get a lie in on Tuesday.
Only me …
Blimey it’s been so long since I’ve posted here that you probably all think I’ve died or something. Of course I haven’t, I’ve just been really busy with work etc. and had no time to blog properly. I’ve just realised how long this post is going to be so have decided to split it into more manageable chunks. So read on ...
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