Freeze Right Here

Happy new year! I've started 2009 off with a cough, laryngitis, and a massive sinus headache, causing me to smush the left side of my face all day at work to relieve the pressure. 2010 is looking to be a fab decade already.

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If you didn't know, I won a raffle at work a few months ago for 2 roundtrip Business class tickets to London, as well as 3 nights at the 5 star May Fair hotel with breakfast. This was obviously amazing being that I was going to the UK for the holidays anyway. I started the trip off with some chilled out time at the Delta Sky Lounge. This place was my dream airport waiting area - it was quiet, Jeopardy was on the TV, and they had free drinks and nibbles, including the best chocolate truffle of my life.

I'd been seated in First Class once before when I was about ten years old back when my dad could still swing upgrades as he worked for Customs (this flight was great until the transfer when we were seated in the last row of the plane next to the toilets.) I also took business class one way home from Vegas once on a work trip as there were literally no coach flights available out of there for the following two days so I actually didn't have a choice (poor me.) I must tell you, for an airplane I felt like I was getting the royal treatment. I even fell asleep for part of the time (thank you 160 degree beds.) I watched (500) Days of Summer, didn't blow me away like I thought it would but it was cute.

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Although plans had changed and I wasn't staying with Dave for the first night, he still came to Heathrow to meet me and help with my bag (having a husband is fantabulous.) We headed to Laura's new flat in West Hampstead then promptly went out for Nando's (great website by the way.) We bought Lime Coriander and Medium sauce to cook with, I'll let you know how that goes.

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Laura and I caught up (and drank almost a whole bottle of Smirnoff in the process) before going to meet peeps at The Borderline. It had started snowing and was past midnight when we called the taxi; her roommates had come home declaring "You can't go out! It's SNOWING!" No offense, but sometimes Londoners are real lightweights when it comes to snow.

With Alex, Ben, and Dan Dan

Emily and AlexLaura and Andy

Graham (and sort of Liz) There were two people in a Donkey suit at the bar. Bummed I didn't get a side shot.

More donkey

Dancin'

I asked the DJ to play Justice for Dan Dan and he responded with something like "Who?" And I was like you know, the band with the cross symbol. Still nothing. He turned Liz down on The Ting Tings too. Variety man! And that is why I prefer The Roxy.

After Laura and I returned home and ate about 12 pitas in a 5 hour time period, it was time for me to meet Dave in Romford (well, Gidea Park on the train if we're being technical.) He came with Ricky, Antony, and Amy (who we were staying with) and we trekked across the ice to their house. Then we spent the night making fun of Christmas Number Ones and playing Rock Band.
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The following day I went to Camden to meet Joy for a catch-up. We walked around for a bit but the snow just started pounding. I've never seen London like that, and Camden actually looked quite pretty. Dave and I booked it back to Romford, worried that our train would be massively delayed, which by some way of a miracle it wasn't. The five of us did a pub quiz, in which we came in 7th - which there was actually a prize for, being that we were the halfway team. We won a pound, so only nine pounds lost in all. Then Dave, Antony, Amy and myself had a game of Monopoly which I won! I beat a banker, a doctor, and a maths PhD student - how about a round of applause then (the key is getting all the crap properties, browns, blues, and purples ya know?)

jg

The next week was spent in St. Osyth at the in-laws'. We did some shopping in Colchester, went to the Red Lion for Christmas Eve (as well as a pop in on Xmas as everyone gets a free pint), spent Christmas Day at Tony and Melinda's friends' house (and played lots of Beatles RB and Rock Band 1), went to Daniel's to see our niece and nephew, and M&T had their friends over for a dinner party (and more Beatles Rock Band harmonizing.) We also went to Colchester vs Southampton. The field was so foggy by the end that we couldn't even see the goal on the other side of the pitch (Dave has the photos so the upload will follow.) My favorite part of that game was listening to the guys in the stands heckle Eddie, the sulking mascot who I think was supposed to be an eagle. And also seeing the team tackle him after their goal.

Eddie

Back in Romford for a night, Dave, Ricky, and I watched 7 episodes of Flight of the Conchords Season 2 in a row. Because 'Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor' never gets old.

Ricky is a paramedic and was telling us ridiculous stories of how violent some of the callers are, as well as people calling for unnecessary "emergencies." I think my favorite was about a Somalian guy who called 999 because his legs hurt or were tired or something and didn't want to take himself to the doctor. When Ricky asked if he would have called an ambulance in Somalia for this, he responded "No, we only call the ambulance if it's an emergency." Doh.

The next day Dave and I checked into The May Fair. It was a trendy, boutique-type hotel with a simple, modern room and a big shower. They delivered a complimentary bowl of fruit to our room which was really nice and knocked on the door each day to see if everything was okay. The only bad thing I have to say was that the breakfast service was terrible. There's too much to complain about so I won't write the details, but if you ever book a room there, do not pay for the breakfast, there's a Sainsbury across the street and a Starbucks around the corner. No celeb spottings by the way.

In our free hotel room

On New Year's Eve we joined Laura and other peeps at Tabernacle near Old Street. I recognized the bar when I got inside as I remember having this conversation there. It was a low key New Year's, with Laura and I grabbing for burgers - reminiscent of the year we ate about 30 tuna sandwiches at the end of the night at Salmon River. (In this blog I've already discussed Laura and I stuffing our faces with pitas, hamburgers, tuna sandwiches, and vodka - do you see a pattern here?) The night ended with Dave and I taking a trip to Finsbury Park instead of Green Park (whoops.)

The next few days were mainly spent walking around central London as the hotel was in a very accessible location. I surprisingly did not blow all my money in FOPP, but I did buy Human Traffic on DVD for 2 pounds, as well as Franz and Stereophonics live DVDs for cheap too (in duty free HMV I also bought the latest Muse, Editors, Doves, and finally La Roux.) I heard about 294 languages in Primark and the only girls I heard speaking English I could barely understand. After ages pushing through people and queuing, I only ended up buying tights (love my new blueberry ones!), two plain long sleeve shirts, and some underwear. A good 12 pounds spent then. I also saw Shiraz for post New Year's drinks at the pub (though I don't know if he understood anything I said being that I lost my voice), a drink with Jay at All Bar One, Italian dinner followed by drinks at the pub with Laura, Dan Dan, and Alex, and a pub lunch with multiple hot chocolates with Sunil. Lots of pubs then. And you bet I hit Hex on the quiz machines.

There were giant inflatable things on Carnaby Street this year Crazy Billy hanging out the window

Posing (and freezing) on South Molton StreetI forget which arcade this isBig ballsReflectionMe and Winston was like peas and carrots

Hanging with the guys

On the last night we checked into a hotel (Park Inn) near Heathrow as I had to leave early the next morning. I forced Dave to watch Celebrity BB to see who was entering the house. What is up with Heidi Fleiss' face?! It was three years ago that I went to see celebs go in myself. Time flies!! Anyway, the local buses were quite confusing, particularly for getting to Terminal 4 but I made it in the end via the 4 pound shuttle. The Sky lounge at Heathrow was much better than the one at JFK, they had a full buffet breakfast that was bangin'. On the way back I watched The Office wedding episode (finally), Up (sad at times, cute, funny, but a bit slow moving) and Inglorious Basterds which was excellent (Spock included.) I also watched Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor...again.

I didn't do my "Top 60" of 2009 yet. That's next up on the blog queue. I quite like that 'Tik Tok' song, dear me.