Easter 2009

I never really had a green thumb. The closest that I've come to being any kind of grower was planting and harvesting a crop of pechay during Gardening class in 3rd year high school. However, seeing my first ever English garden last Easter Monday made me appreciate the huge effort put into creating a place that is beautiful and calm. As our friend Monette would say, it was like walking into an impressionist painting. Although the Easter Bunny (more about this later) told us that the best time to visit was in May, Exbury Gardens in Hampshire still had a very nice display of spring flowers.

The place also had a mini steam train that tours the area. It being Easter, Exbury had a staff dressed as a white bunny wait in one of the train stops to give out chocolate eggs to visitors. Guess what, she's Filipino! Hahaha. She was the one who said that our visit was a bit early and that the best blooms are yet to come.

Here's some of our pics from the trip.

Catch-up post

So, this blog gathered some serious cobwebs the past couple of months... Here's a 60-second catch-up

December 08 - Managed to spend a really good break in the Philippines with short trips to Sagada and Tagaytay.

Jan 09 - January might be the most news-worthy month of 2009, with Great Britain seeing the worst snowfall in years. I was actually snowed in for a couple of days and had to make a short slippery trip down the hill to get some food. Other than that, most of my free time was spent catching up with friends and getting back into the groove of things.

Feb 09 - Today must be the best Valentine's Day ever. :-) Despite being over 10,000 miles away, dear hubby managed to surpise me with pressies twice with help from our friends/neighbours. Very cool.

The (real) IT Crowd

I was on a training course last week and the instructor included this joke. Classic :-)

Definition of recursion
- If you don’t get it, See “Definition of recursion”

Summer's over

The clock officially turned back by 1 hour today and we're back to regular GMT. But whatever joy the extra hour in bed brings is spoiled by the thought of (much) shorter days and colder nights. At it's worst, it will be dark by 3pm and up to now, I'm still not used to it. In my past work, I sat across a big window overlooking a hill dotted by grazing cows and every time darkness sets in, I always felt the urge to pack up and call it a day. Not the best urge to have when you still have to be productive for two more hours. It is not just the darkness. Hay fever sniffles is now replaced by bouts with the common cold. My nose never worked so hard before I came to the UK. The past two winters have been mild and by the looks of the temperature we've been having the past weeks, we might pay for it with this coming one.

All these put together make a very convincing argument to hitting that snooze just one more time. Maybe I should get one of these and get a 30-minute sunrise on demand.

In search of the natives

One day, we decided to go on the Northern line to Camden Town. You can see pictures of Buckingham Palace and Big Ben in Google and to be honest, the real thing is not much different. As for Camden, the place just has character coming out of its multiple-piercings-chained-to-the-nose-bearing ears. I didn't take too many pictures because I did not want to look too out of place, which I think I did anyway because I was still wearing office clothes. Not exactly "Slave of Satan" material. We were looking for a place to sit down for a bit and have a quick snack and ended up in a place was called 'The Diner'. My quick snack became a perfectly cooked bacon cheese burger with a huge chocolate milkshake. Yum yum yum.

However, we later found out that the best place to eat in Camden is in one of the markets. To go there, go past the bridge over the canal where the locals usually hang around to watch tourists gape. Proceed towards the stables market near Gilgamesh resto and there you'll be spoilt for choice for quick cheap grub. You'll be visually stimulated by the ornate wood panels as well. Here are some pics:



Pargad also got to reminisce about his high school days while browsing through all things dark and angry. Basta, if you can only visit one place in London, do Camden.

'Hala, nagwala na si Ma'm'

I initially thought of posting an entry on sheep but that can wait.

A video of Mrs. Arroyo staging a presidential tantrum came out and has been shown in most Philippine tv channels (according to a web article).



Clearly, the lady president was not impressed with her staff. I was half expecting her to shout, 'Off with your head!'. I laughed my head off! However, to be fair, her team let her down there and I think she had a very good reason to be upset. It was an ideal time for her to be magnanimous, though.

Also, wasn't it weird to see the podium background being dismantled? It was like the smoke has lifted and you're reminded that the seal is really just a bunch of art materials put together. A bit of styrofoam here, a bit of paint there. How strange.

Visiting Winchester

Having spent Valentine's Day 2008 apart, with me in Manchester and Jack in London, we decided to have a belated celebration the following Sunday and visited the city of Winchester. Jack's sister, Rose, worked there for a while, so I am sure that these pictures will take her back. Highlight of the visit was seeing King Arthur's Round Table. Felt unreal... Will be sharing a couple more pictures via email. TTFN!