Whey aye man...

Today sees me in Newcastle. I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front, as I keep mentioning, but as I'm not actually expecting many people to read the thing I'm hoping I'll be let off. This is partly because I've been pretty busy, but also because weirdly I haven't actually been anywhere recently other than London and Crewe and I thought I'd save the posts for places a little further afield. Like the norf (OK, not that much further afield, but I'm off to Hong Kong and China in a few weeks and that's bound to provide all sorts of entertainment - Assuming the government allows me some internets). So this is just a flying stop with two overnights, but after a 6am start and a 11pm finish today this'll just be a quick one as I need to get on to the 600 emails I've not been responding to all day (OK, I'm exaggerating, it's 182) before bedtime and round two tomorrow.

I've actually had a very good day. For professional reasons I won't mention who I've been visiting, but I will say that they've been extremely welcoming and for about five hours I've been gawping/staring/drooling at male models parading this particular brand's SS14 season collection - I was obviously looking at their clothes the whole time.

For anyone who's never been to Newcastle, may I recommend this link to the Geordie Dictionary. The Newcastle accent is without doubt my favourite in the world, closely followed by the Welsh accent.


And to anyone who hasn't been listening when I say that you rarely get to see the sights of anywhere that you travel to for work, please see below my attempts at a picture of the Angel of the North.

(Don't worry, I wasn't driving...)

(There's not enough Instagram in the world...)

And lastly, the sign in the hotel room mini bar which gave me much amusement this morning (I should probably point out that I wasn't hoping for a swift one before work...)

I fail to see how on Earth any mini bar can ever be "empty for your use and convenience"...

Tara now, pet.

Steven Seagull...

So for the last few weeks I've been training Steven (seagull) to meet me in the garden when I get in, in return for bread (and eternal friendship). Friday night saw an unexpected appearance from Zebedee (squirrel), to which I was delighted (Steven didn't seem too impressed). I'm pretty sure this is how Snow White got started.

Don't panic! There's another one in a few weeks.

Happy May, Happy Summer... Happy, Happy, Happy. Firstly, sorry for being a bit rubbish on the posting front. The problem with being all over the place is that it's tricky to write blog posts, but I do think of you often and I hope that's enough for now or until I work out a better way of keeping on top of it. Last week my best friend Karen (a fellow blogger – Check her out at http://missionstyleuk.blogspot.co.uk/) came down to the seaside for a visit and kindly added a link to my blog from her blog. This resulted in me getting a squillion hits in one day, so thanks Karen and hello if you're just joining me.

So, today I thought I'd just give you the highlights from my Bank Holiday weekend. Not the most interesting of posts, but I did meet a crazy lady called Gloria (you'll soon learn that this is a running theme with me) who smokes 80 a day and broke into Brighton and Hove Food Festival. I also ended up at a random Leona Lewis concert (I don't want to talk about it, although I obviously will) so I guess you can't really knock me for variety.

Saturday and the shields...

I basically spent most of Saturday standing in a field hitting a shield and trying to avoid getting rained on or burnt to death – The weather was pulling out a UK Bank Holiday special. I can't tell you what I was actually doing all this for yet, but all will be revealed in a few weeks I promise. In Karen's blog post she also mentioned the time I ended up between Victoria Beckham's legs and this is loosely related. I'll get to that too one day, I promise...

A visit from Sis...

So my sister came down to see me (after the aforementioned shield bashing) and I took her shopping on Sunday. We found some great finds, mostly in New Look as a result of her always wearing black and me wanting to treat her to a new wardrobe but not splash out on a fortune. Here's a picture of us below in my garden. Not very exciting, but at least you can put a face to a name.

The previous evening had involved having some friends over, playing cards (not drinking related, we must be getting old) and a couple of drinks (there you go). My sister, who has two young children back at home, stayed up til 2am. What a trooper.

The rest of Sunday involved Table Tennis...

A non-judgemental nod at the Hove Lawns BBQ-ers...

And a last-minute ticket to see Lady Leona Lewis...

Basically I skipped out of the Table Tennis tournament to drop my sister off at the station and by the time I'd come back I'd been roped into going to see Leona Lewis at the Brighton Centre. Like I said, I don't want to talk about it, but as much as I'm not a massive fan of her songs (she opened by telling us how “Hearts are made to be broken...” so it wasn't exactly Chaz and Dave) you can't knock her being a phenomenal singer. There, I said it. Tell no one.

Food Festival Monday...

On Monday I went to Hove Foodies Festival. I've never been before, but I've walked past a fair few times and my nose has been a fan of the smells for years. A highlight for me was a very alcoholic “Red Snapper” (see menu below) from the Bloody Mary Bar. Don't judge me. They were yummy. Add horseradish and it goes to a whole new level. This cannot become a habit. I went back twice. The man judged me, but seemed to take it as a compliment.

The second highlight was salted caramel fudge. I discovered salted caramel about a year ago when Karen (aforementioned bestie) rocked out some popcorn from Waitrose. Then last week, Karen and I (you can sense a theme here) enjoyed some salted caramel ice cream (seriously, it's like crack – apparently) from Alfresco's in Brighton. The poor guy on the stall didn't know what to do with himself. I made sure he cut it into small pieces so I didn't have to share too much. I'm a true friend. I gave Gloria a piece. I think we bonded.

And the third was a hog roast roll from Jamie's (Jamie Oliver) stall, but that was inhaled within seconds so I didn't take a picture.

So, that was my bank holiday. Sunny for the most part and after the wind burn from Saturday I'm sporting quite an impressive “tan”. Today seems to be a little different... Believe it or not the picture below is our “view” of the sea.

But it's OK... Only 18 days 'til the next UK bank holiday.