Jaclyn's visit

So about a month ago one of my dearest friends Jaclyn came over to the UK. She was booked on a Contiki tour for the month of June, but lucky for me had arranged a week to spend with me before the tour began. I can't even begin to explain how special it was to have her with me again after so long. She was the first close friend I'd seen in a year and a link back to my life at home. Not that we saw each other every day, but we were always in contact and saw each other whenever we could.

So we met up in Trafalgar Square in the morning and made our way to our hotel, via buckingham palace, as we simultaneously caught up on a year's worth of happenings. After dropping our bags off we made our way to the nearby Victoria and Albert Museum, which I hadn't been to yet and Jaclyn was keen to see. Once again I was blown away by the brilliance of the museum scene in London. This one was another beautifully put together collection of historical artifacts from various eras, all in a magnificent setting. Well worth a visit. Also the gift shop is soooooo nice and I ended up buying a really cute pair of earrings.

Inside the V&A museum - the classical era (my favourite)

After that we went to pret-a-manger for lunch and then went back to the hotel to check in to our room. We decided to go to a show that night, and upon learning that Kit Harington's play 'Dr Faustus' was showing that night, deciding what to see was fairly straightforward! Rather than booking online we decided to just show up and hope there would be tickets available. We were in luck! Managed to get great seats for less than we would have paid if we had booked online. Score!! So we sat back and prepared to see the famous actor in real life....

Strangest play ever. It was so, so weird and not far in to it Jaclyn and I exchanged a "what the heck" glance. Sure, it was great to see Kit Harington live (especially when he took his shirt off! haha HELLO abs), but we didn't know what what going on half the time. I think it was about the Doctor's inner turmoil between leading a selfish, sinful existence or leading a good, caring life, but I can't be sure. Half the time the actors were standing around sans pants (just undies), and some of the script was in old-english and some was modern. It was entertaining for sure, and laughable because it was just so bizarre. So we were glad we had been, but not sure we'd recommend it!

The stage, from our seats

The next day we went to Harrods in the morning and then went to the Hilton Hotel near Green Park for a spot of high tea. This was wonderful. All the treats were delectable and the tea was great. After that we went to see Big Ben and the houses of parliament and then went to the London Dungeon! This was something I hadn't done but had always been curious about. And it was really good. It's basically just a journey through London's past and significant events that happened, all told by actors in sets reflecting the era they're talking about. It was really enjoyable and there were even a couple of little rides included which were great fun. And at the end we got a free drink in the dungeon bar, so that was a bonus! After the dungeon we walked along the South Bank, saw the London Eye and then went on a Jack the Ripper tour we'd pre-booked. This tour was ok, the guide was very outgoing and funny and the history was interesting, but I'm not sure that I'd recommend it because you're shown all these random sights like houses and spots on the pavement, but there's nothing to see because, obviously, it all happened so long ago. By the end of that we were fairly knackered so went back to the hotel to sleep.

Taking a sip before diving into the delicacies

The Dungeon entrance

Next morning we were up bright and early for our flight to Dublin!! We arrived in the Emerald Isle early afternoon and after checking in to our hostel, went for a walk to orientate ourselves a bit. First impressions of Dublin were that it looked quite run down and didn't look all that nice at all, but the closer we got to the city centre the livelier and more enthralling it became. And AHHHH the Irish accent is sooo nice!!!! Anyways so we walked up O'Connell Street, crossed the River Liffey and made our way to Trinity College to see the library. When we got inside, my goodness, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I love any library (because books) but this was just on another level.

Dublin's River Liffey

Trinity College library

After seeing such breathtaking beauty (lol) we walked through Temple Bar which is the tourist hub of Dublin and where there are loads of Irish pubs, restaurants, street performers, markets etc etc. After that we grabbed some dinner, made our own chocolate bars at this place where you could choose whatever you wanted in your bar and then we weren't quite sure what to do with our night so we ended up going to the movies and saw Bad Neighbours 2, which was a bit of a laugh.

Such cool Irish bars in Temple Bar

The next morning we were up at 5am (so hard) to catch our coach for our day trip out to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher! This was a really awesome day, made even more so by the two most hilarious tour guides ever. The Irish sense of humour is great and the Irish people are the friendliest I've come across in my travels. So our trip took us across the entire width of Ireland, as Galway in on the West coast while Dublin is on the East Coast. We stopped in Galway for an hour-long walking tour and got to explore the city a little bit. And what a lovely city it is. Cobbled streets, bunting all over the place, street performers doing irish music, crisp sea air...it was so nice. I would love to go back and actually stay there at some point. After Galway we made the rest of the trip to the famed Cliffs of Moher which were really a sight to behold.

Around by the sea in Galway - this area reminded me of Ahuriri which made me miss home!

Cute streets of Galway

The Cliffs of Moher

Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean

The next morning we got up and went to Phoenix Park, which had a big war memorial garden. This was nice to walk around and, much to our surprise, there were deer roaming freely around the place! And they came right up to us. After that we walked over to Kilmainham Gaol which is a hugely significant site in Irish history. We did a tour of that which was just excellent, once again with a hilarious and lovely Irish guide. It was really interesting to learn a bit about the uprisings in Irish history and to learn about what the country has had to face - which has been a heck of a lot! After our tour we headed back to the hostel, got dolled up and went to the Arlington hotel for a 3-course meal and Irish folk show which was a great time. After that we went out to Temple Bar and danced the night away in a few Irish pubs, where we seemed to meet a lot of English people.

Deer frolicking freely in the park

The central hall at Kilmainham Gaol

Next morning we were up early to get our flight back to London. After arrival we went to our next hotel to drop our things off and then went to get some food for lunch. And it was then that we discovered the most delicious food I've ever had. Seriously, it rivals Cafe Anatolia for me, and that's saying something because those kebabs are my favourite food. It was a restaurant called 'The Real Greek' and we had this sharing thing that came out in two tiered stands. It had stuff like lamb kofte, hummus, falafel, haloumi skewers, spicy chickpeas....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and it was all so flavoursome and healthy and delicious and I need to go back. This was also the bankside restaurant (they are all over London) so we were sitting along the Thames, watching all the interesting people of London go by. It was fab! After that we went and saw Tower Bridge and then headed back to the hotel because we were pretty tired.

Taking photos of some of the MOST AMAZING FOOD 

Next day after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Churchill War rooms. I wasn't quite sure whether I'd enjoy this but it turned out to be one of the best things I've done in London. Despite the epic wait to get inside (seriously, the line was crazy long), it was so worth it to see the underground bunkers which have been kept exactly as they were during WWII and to learn all about Winston Churchill. The whole time I was thinking 'man, Dad would LOVE this'. It took us about 2 hours to get around but it flew by because it was so fascinating. After a bite of lunch (Pret again, because YUM) we went to Madame Tussauds. This was both fun and creepy. It was fun taking pictures with our favourites, and there's a 5D movie at the end which is super cool. But we both found the wax figures creepy because they're so lifelike and look as though they'll move at any minute! After that we had to say our goodbyes as I had to head back to Lane End for work the next day :( It sucked saying goodbye after such a fun week together, but I'm so thankful that we got to have all these wonderful experiences together, and create all these memories.

Number 10, Downing Street from when Mr Churchill lived behind it

Joining the cast of Star Wars

Newest member of One Direction

According to Mr Bolt, this pose with make you run faster

Tea with Audrey

Kisses for Johnny

Next up: Belgium! For tomorrowland! Only 28 days to go...!

xx

New Years Eve + Day

Happy 2016!!

I cannot believe its a new year already, and that I've been halfway across the world for over half a year now. And that means I've used up 1/4 of my visa already! Gawsh. Anyway, I was lucky to get NYE and New Years Day off work which meant I could make the most of my first New Year's celebrations over here. Nicole and I booked tickets a while ago to this awesome sounding ball in Battersea Park (right next to the Thames) so I got the train in to London on NYE and ventured out to Wimbledon to meet up with Nicole to spend the day getting ready, catching up and then eventually heading out to this ball.

Getting ready in Nicole's room was fun - it's nice to get all made up sometimes!

Getting ready was heaps of fun and we got an Uber (my first uber experience) to Battersea at 7.30pm. When we got inside we were amazed by the decorations. The Ball had a 'New York New York' theme and was decorated accordingly, with yellow cabs, brick paving and graffiti (sounds kinda trashy, but it definitely wasn't). There was an acrobat performing when we got there, which was cool and then at 6pm the doors to the main room opened and the dining room (157 tables!!) was revealed. It was all done very well with table centerpieces and all that jazz and the room itself was stunning, with fairylights running the length of the ceiling and a huge stage at the front decorated with a NYC skyline backdrop. Nicole and I were seated at a table with two Russian girls, an English couple, an American couple and an Australian couple (ew, couples) who were all friendy enough (though the American and Australian guys were kinda annoying). 

This was one of the bars inside the venue (there were about 4 dotted around the place)

Pretty fairylights all over the ceiling :)

This pic gives you an idea of the dining room. There were 2000 people so it was pretty packed!

Before our meals were served there was entertainment on stage which was really good. It was just dancing and singing but it was all very well choreographed. The best part was when the song 'New York New York' played and women in showgirl outfits with big headpieces came out and did the exact dancing you imagine goes along with that song. Dinner was then served and it was exceptional! Our entree was a salmon and vege dish with beautiful presentation. Our main meal was a hunk of beef with a potato cake thing, baby carrots and very flavourful gravy and for dessert we got cheesecake with poached pear. After that we had a massive cheese platter delivered to the table. Oh and each table had a selection of wine, beer and waters. And a bread basket!

Entree

Main

Dessert

Once the formal part of the evening was over the band came on stage and started playing songs that we could dance to. Nicole and I went and danced for ages and stayed up front for the countdown. They had a big screen with a live-stream of the epic London fireworks which started at 12, so that was cool to see. It was such a cool event because everyone was in such high spirits and everyone was dancing. Such a cool buzz! Nicole and I stayed till 2am and then got a taxi home, so it wasn't a super late night for us. Once our heads hit the pillow we were out.

The next day we went to the Nutcracker on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall. This was simply spectacular. The actors/athletes were phenomenal, I was marvelling at their athleticism the whole time (and wondering if any of them were Olympic athletes cause their jumps, lifts and turns were amazing). It was a silent show, but easy enough to follow. It was more of a showcase of the skating than a performance of the Nutcracker, but it was very well done. I had this cute old Russian (I think?) lady sitting next to me who was chatting to me during the intermission telling me how she was having a nice day out with her daughter. What an old darl. After that Nicole and I got lunch in Kensington and then parted ways at the underground station as we went in different directions to get home. It was a busy 24 hours in London, full to the brim with spectacle. Every time I go in to London I love it even more - I can't wait to move in! So it was a great start to 2016 for me, I hope the rest of the year follows suit.

The Royal Albert Hall,

The ceiling in the Royal Albert Hall - what a venue! It's a circular shaped concert hall and it's sooooo pretty inside with all the arches and elegant decor.

The rink - we had a great view from our seats.

Tired girls watching the show.

xx

Christmas

Well this post is long overdue! Apologies for that. The build-up to Christmas at the Grouse & Ale was absolutely manic. We had Christmas parties, which require much more set up and later finishes, on the daily. It's been very tiring, but I've still managed to have a great time and make more special memories over here.

At the start of January my friend Aaron came to London for a night to visit me. He came from Ireland, where he'd been visiting his girlfriend who was doing a university exchange in Limerick. Not long before he came to Europe he'd returned from a 7 month deployment in Iraq with the NZ Army, so it was really nice to see him and hear about what Iraq life had been like (incredibly hot and boring, by the sounds of things!). I met him at Gatwick Airport and we got the train from there to Victoria station, then walked to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and on to Leicester Square where we stopped for a spot of lunch. We went to Jamie's Diner, the american style diner owned by Jamie Oliver. I had the pulled pork with cornbread and coleslaw and Aaron had a basket of roast chicken with chips and coleslaw. Very tasty!!

My lunch at Jamie's Diner, Leicester Square.

While we were there our other friend Ricky, who lives in Bracknell (Ricky is also ex-army so knows Aaron as well) met up with us. It was cool to see how stoked they were to see each other. Once we left the diner we went to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum just across the road. This place was awesome - heaps of weird and wacky displays and you're allowed to touch everything too. There's also a mirror maze, spinning vortex thing to walk through and a lazer maze at the end which was a lot of fun. 

This model of Tower Bridge is made out of TOOTH PICKS! Amazing huh?!

Taking selfies in the mirror maze

Buddies

After that, we all went back to the hostel we were staying at, had showers and then ventured out to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland Carnival. I'd been to this the week prior during the day with Ricky, and we'd both said we'd have to come again at night. And I'm so glad we did because it's 1000000x better at night when all the lights are on, everyone is in high spirits, the smell of fresh waffles, bratwurst, and crepes is all around, there's live music playing and all the rides are in full swing (quite literally for some haha). Winter Wonderland has been one of the best things I've seen/done in London so far. It was so much fun. The boys loved it too, and were having a great time playing all the fairground games. An Australian girl I met in Edinburgh, Amelia, was also in London that night so came to join us too. It was nice having a little crew of friends to experience it with. 

The carousel bar - yep that's a bar in a rotating merry-go-round.

Pretty lights, great markets, good times!

The best part of Winter Wonderland, in my opinion, was the Bavarian Village. It's a section that's been done up like a wooden German village. It looked so awesome! Beers are served in steins and at night, as we discovered, a huge hall is erected to replicate the tents at Oktoberfest. There was a stage with live music at the front, then just long lines of tables that everyone was sitting at, and all the drink and food stalls around the rim (but still inside the tent). The four of us went in here and had a few drinks and were just blown away by how busy it was and how awesome the atmosphere was. It was a Wednesday night yet it was packed to capacity. So many people were in Christmas jumpers (which is a BIG thing over here) and it was just such a cool buzz. 

This quick (terrible quality, sorry) video gives you an idea of what it was like inside the Bavarian village hall. 

Aaron gave me this teddy he won in a fairgound game, and this is it on the train back to High Wycombe with me. It was such a pain to carry on the train that I took it into a charity shop in Wycombe so I didn't have to cart it on the bus back to Lane End. I haven't told Aaron yet, hopefully he doesn't mind! I'm sure a little kid would love it more than me anyway, so hopefully it made a nice xmas present for a little one :)

The next day we checked out, went to the train station, had breakfast and then Aaron had to leave to head back to Gatwick for his flight back to Ireland. It was a quick visit but it was so much fun! Cannot wait for more visits from friends and family next year!

I was dreading Christmas day a bit this year because I had to work and I knew it was going to be insanely busy and hard and tiring and all that. But it actually wasn't too bad! We had plenty of staff on and I got to do the bar with Ron which was a nice change. It was stupidly busy but we coped. Apparently we did 150 people. Afterwards, 7 of us stayed on for a Christmas meal. There was Kevin (head chef), Ewan (sous chef who lives-in), Alison (waitress), Carlos Posse (used to work at the G&A and came back to help for the day), Kas (our Lithuanian floor manager), Costin (Romanian dessert chef who lives-in) and myself. Usually the owners Carlos and Joy work on Christmas day and sit down with the staff but this year they were with family because Carlos's brother is very sick with cancer. The meal was delicious! We had carrots, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, mini bread loaves, stuffed turkey wrapped in bacon, red cabbage, braised beef, pork belly and all the relevant sauces and trimings. It was GREAT. And for dessert we had chocolate mousse in brandy baskets, christmas pudding with brandy sauce, panacotta and cheese. Lovely company as well.

Our dinner spread - not the best lighting but the food was excellent, trust me!

My kiwi friend Biana came in to the pub on Christmas eve and gave me this kiwiana cracker! (Sorry I don't know how to rotate the picture on here). I also got a christmas gift from Costin, Linda and Tamsin and cards from Ian, Sue, Tamsin, Ron, Linda, Jaclyn, Carlos&Joy and Mum &Dad. Mum and Dad also sent me a lovely Christmas present which arrived on Christmas Eve! 

I also had to work boxing day, but only from 11-5pm which wasn't so bad. It was quite busy though! Going to the pub is such a big thing over here, regardless of whether it's Christmas or not. Even on Christmas day we had all the regulars popping in for pints. Not staying as long as usual, but still popping in. Boxing day night Costin and I went round to Linda's home for another Christmas dinner. It was really yummy, we had roast turkey and lamb, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, peas, yorkshires and all the trimmings. Then chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert! Linda has a beautiful family and their hospitality was so nice. We played UNO and Trivial Pursuit afterwards which was fun.

Even though I've been away from my friends and family this Christmas, and I miss them terribly, it's still been great. I'm so thankful for the friends I've made over here. They're some of the warmest people I've ever met and I feel really blessed to have them in my life. CHEESY I know, but very true.

xx

Just English things

When I moved to England there were a few things I found strange, as is the case whenever you get to a new country! Each country has it's own way of doing things, and it turns out that while England and New Zealand are super similar in a lot of ways, there were a few things that stood out to me when I first arrived on this side of the globe.

1) Traffic lights - In NZ the lights change from green to orange to red, orange meaning it's time to slow down cause they're gonna be red soon! Over here it's the other way round. Lights go orange after red, just before they go green again, to signal to drivers that they can get ready to go again.

2) Street signs - This one confused the heck out of me! When I arrived at Kings Cross Station after 30 hours of travel and knew I had to find Kings Cross Road a few blocks over, I immediately looked for street signs on poles. But lo and behold they were nowhere to be seen! I was slightly freaking out at this point because I had no internet on my phone to use google maps, and I couldn't see a street sign anywhere. I ended up asking a woman at a market stall nearby, who pointed me in the right direction. Then as I was walking towards the hostel I spotted one! The street signs are stuck on the side of the buildings! No white poles with blue street signs on them like in NZ. Since then, I've discovered that this is customary across Europe.

3) E-cigarettes - I don't think I saw a single e-cigarette in NZ. In England they're everywhere, especially in London. I saw hundreds as soon as I got out of the train station. Some people call them 'vapes' because they're 'vaporizers' and people use them for vaping.

4) Greetings - One of the most common greetings here in England is 'Are you alright?' or 'You alright?' which I found odd at first. In NZ you'd only ask a person if they were alright if they looked upset or if they'd injured themselves or something! So the first few times I was greeted in this way over here I was like 'yeah...I'm fine...why?' and was wondering if I had an upset look on my face or something! Fully used to it now though and when I eventually return to NZ I'll probably find myself using it, and getting a strange look in reply! Haha.

There are lots of other things, but these are all I could think of at the moment. I need to write them down when I think of them. So this will probably be a post I'll add to in future. And here are some more pictures of my time being a tourist in London...

Weird floaty Yoda wanting our money in Trafalgar Square. 

Me outside Buckingham Palace.

Squirrels are everywhere! I got excited when I saw my first squirrel.

The changing of the guards outside St James' Palace.

That's all for now. Be back soon! xx

What NZ does better

I've been over in England for long enough now to comment on things that I believe New Zealand does better than our English relatives. I've heard customers over here refer to New Zealand as 'little Britain' in the sense that when they've visited NZ they've felt that it was like Britain on a smaller scale. I've also heard it said that NZ is like England was 50 years ago. While I see a lot of similarities between the two, I think that New Zealand has a really solid identity that makes it beautifully unique. And there are some things that Aotearoa does that I think are just great.

1) England never really sleeps. Well, London in particular, but in comparison to NZ the country doesn't really. By this I mean that shops are open really late and don't close on any day of the week. In contrast, for most of my life in Hastings and then in Palmerston North, you'd barely find anything open on a Sunday. While it's convenient that things don't close, I think it's nice because it means more time spent at home with family. More time making memories and less time focusing on money and consumerism. Which leads in to my second point...

2) The lifestyle. New Zealand definitely does this better. People over here seem to be all about the money, and are definitely more uptight about things. Again, London is the exaggeration of this and it's not as bad in other places but it's still more so than back home. In London everyone's in a rush, life is mostly all about work and hours are long. But even out here in Lane End, the office lady Pam is in the office by 8.30am every day and doesn't leave till after 7pm, sometimes even as late as 9pm. That's 11 hour days. She doesn't work on the weekends but still, those are long days! Also kiwis are a lot more relaxed about things. Small things that have caused big issues at work here would be shrugged off in NZ, or noted but not stressed about. NZ is definitely more kick-back than England. No one would argue any different.

3) Smoking. What I've come to appreciate about NZ since being here is the way that smoking is perceived in the culture. Back home it's pretty anti-social and definitely frowned upon. There are also sooooo many anti-smoking campaigns from local and national governments and it's not as common as it once was. Which is GREAT. Over here though, smoking is VERY common. Most of my workmates are heavy smokers and I've yet to see a quit-smoking or anti-smoking adver in the newspaper or on TV. C'mon England - get your country healthy! It should be a priority!

4) On a similar wavelength is drink driving. Working in a pub I'm more exposed to this I suppose, but it's pretty shocking. So many people drink drive and no-one seems to bat an eyelid. A couple of weeks ago one of the ladies that works in the office was obviously very intoxicated (we're talking couldn't walk straight, obviously couldn't see straight, was blurring her words etc etc) and when she went to leave everyone just said 'bye, see you later'. No one asked her whether she was ok to drive, no one offered to call her a taxi or anything. I had seen her state but didn't see her leave, otherwise I would have said something. I think that's really terrible, and found it quite shocking. And so many customers do it. From what I've seen, there isn't the police presence that we have back home, and there's no media reinforcing the message that it's not acceptable. No good.

5) Weather. New Zealand weather > England weather.

Here are some pictures of my time in the London Eye (which is over-priced and over-rated in my opinion).

Me and Ben

The Albert Bridge over the Thames

Big Ben and the parliament buildings (And a red double decker bus! This photo is so London.)

Nicole, Colleen and me with London in the background!

xx

The regulars

The pub culture over here is something else. Pubs are everywhere, and rather than being a place where people go on the odd occasion, or once a week, going to the pub seems to be part of the daily routine of a lot of English people. Well, in my experience anyway.

At The Grouse & Ale we have quite a number of 'regulars' who come into the pub every day. It's quite an eclectic group of individuals, and they all know each other which makes for a nice atmosphere. I thought I'd share a bit about our regulars in this post, to give a better sense of the people I have met during my time at The Grouse.

Wayne and Jannina - Wayne is a short, ruddy-faced blonde man with a really rough English accent. He comes in every day, without fail, and orders a fosters with a dash of lime cordial. The way he speaks is very emotive, he's expressive and always laughing. I think he's a landscaper of some sort. His wife Jannina is also short and blonde, but she always looks like she's sour about something. You never know what to expect from her - whether she'll be in a good mood or whether she'll snap her order at you (which is always a white wine spritzer, soda, no ice). I think she's a teacher. They both smoke like chimneys.

Ollie - Ollie is a lovely 50-something Irish man with a great big bulb of a red nose. He's one of the kindest customers, always saying 'and would you like a drink for yourself, Dale?' when he orders his pint of fosters. He has a son called Dayle, which he told me not long after I started working here. He often brings his gorgeous little brown and white cocker spaniel Georgia in with him (Yep, dogs are allowed in our pub. Actually, dogs are allowed in most places in England. It's weird), who is very well behaved and just sits there watching him the whole time. Sometimes she even gets up and sits on one of the chairs and stares out with her big brown eyes. She's a lovely little dog. And it's clear that Ollie and Georgia are the best of friends because if Ollie passes her lead to someone while he goes to the bathroom, she gets all anxious like 'where is my master gone?!' until he gets back. Ollie reckons the All Blacks are going to win the RWC.

Smed - I have no idea what Smed's real name is, but he's a very friendly little tubby man who works as a builder. He kind of reminds me of one of the 7 dwarves. lol. He always gets a pint of guiness and often brings his dog Willow in with him. Now Willow isn't quite as welcome as Georgia because Willow is a GREAT DANE. She doesn't bark or cause any mischief but she's just so big it's a pain to get around her at times!

Kronenbourg Phil - Phil is a big, bald guy with an even bigger beer-belly who comes in most days for his pints of Kronenbourg. He's about to get married so all we've been hearing about lately is his stag do and the wedding, which half the pub is invited to. I think a lot of the other customers find him irritating, from the looks I've seen them exchange, and the comments I've heard. He's not too bad, but not a favourite of mine.

Marina and Dave - Now this couple is one of my favourites. Marina is a short, fat Irish woman with a blonde bob and a heart of gold. She's so friendly and always greets me by name and calls me darling. She made sure to tell me when she drove past the All Blacks on the M40 the other day too! She's an avid rugby fan - supporting Ireland, of couse, and came in wearing her green Irish rugby jumper the other day when they were playing. She's a gem. Her husband Dave is great too - he tries to copy my accent (terribly) and pokes fun at me, playfully, which is fun. Marina always gets a small chardonnay and Dave gets a fosters.

Graeme and Nicky - I wasn't quite sure about these two at the start, but I've warmed to them. They come off as a bit posh, and apparently they sometimes complain that the music is too loud, or that they can hear the washing machine upstairs, so they are a bit high maintenance. Graeme is a very articulate man in his 60s who gives an air of being very well-to-do and wealthy. Yet he drinks fosters - the cheapest beer! haha. He's friendly enough though, and greets me by name. I don't know what he does for a living but I reckon he's an accountant or something like that. I'll ask Ron. Nicky is a bit quieter but she's also nice and greets me by name now. She drinks strongbow - the cider we have on tap.

Two-pint Steve - This guy is everyone's favourite. He got his nickname because he always comes in for two pints of guiness and two packets of crisps. And he always comes in around 10.30/11pm and stays until closing. He's a decorator by trade and has 2 daughters, and grew up with 3 sisters, so my workmates say he comes in to get away from the women for a bit. He's a really good guy, Steve. I did a couple of closing shifts on my own when another staff member was away and everyone was saying to me 'oh you'll get two-pint coming in around 10.30' so I was very curious about meeting this guy. And, embarassingly, when he did come in, another customer told him I was excited to meet him. lol. But Steve is really nice and easy to talk to. He's very interested in sport so we talk about rugby a bit, and he's always interested in what I've done while I've been over here. Ron and Linda always toy with him and give him grief, but he loves it. He's a bit of a silver fox too - good looking for an older man! haha.

Skels - His name is Dave Skelsey but everyone calls him Skels. He's this super tall, chubby bald man with a very distinctive (and loud) voice. He's a really playful, cheeky guy who always stands at the end of the bar, blocking the staff exit on one side. Sometimes I'll go up to him and say excuse me but he purposly won't move, just to be a pain. It's all in good fun. He drinks fosters too and sometimes brings wifey in with him. She's a riot as well - seriously all she does is laugh when she comes in. You can hear her laughter from a mile away (and from upstairs in my room it's particularly noticeable). They're both lovely people.

Colin - Awwww Colin. He's an old dear that one. Comes in as soon as the pub opens every day for his pint of deuchars IPA. He always says 'Hello Dale' and 'Bye Dale' when he leaves, and gives me a great big smile. His son died about a year ago in a car accident, poor old thing. Ron said he has aged a lot since that happened. He only ever gets one pint, so I think he just comes in for the camaraderie. His son left him some money and when he was alive he wanted to buy his Dad a car, so Colin has honoured that and bought himself a nice new red Kia with the money his son left him. Sometimes Colin orders ham egg and chips, but can't have them without vinegar!

John - Wears a flat-cap and is a terribly heavy smoker (seriously, sooooo many people smoke over here, it's terrible). He's a bit of a seedy old chap, making off-hand comments towards me sometimes. But I know to just ignore him. And he's told me to ignore him! He's only got about two top teeth left. And he's always laughing and picking fun at people, and talking to all the customers that come in, whether or not he knows them!

So I don't have any photos of the regulars, cause that would be weird. But I do have a couple to share..

This is my Romanian workmate Costin, who I talked about in my previous post.

These are some typical English houses in Lane End - always brick and always joined together. Each of the houses in this picture is effectively two houses. 

That's all folks!
xx