The boyfriend and I went to Berlin just before christmas.
I had never been to Germany before. In all honesty, I had never been very interested in it.
But after a four day mini break there, I have completely fallen in love with the place.
While there I did four v. amazing things:
1. Actually saw all the major cultural things of a city
2. touched a penguin
3. had the best gin and tonic in the world.
4. wore flat shoes the entire time
In achieving all these things I feel I embraced a lot of what Berlin has to offer.
The boyfriend and I went on a boat tour of the city, which was a lovely (and warm) way to do it. And then we walked through a lot of it. Went to the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish Museum (holocaust tower was really chilling - being shut outside in a completely lightless, heatless lonely place. very unsettling).
Went to christmas markets. Ate a lot of sausage. Drank a lot of beer. Went on a giant snow slide. Generally embraced Berlin culture.
We went to the zoo. Best zoo EVER. Way better than shitty London Zoo.
In Berlin zoo the animals are so close. and they walk around. and play. In London, you barely see any of them. They are all asleep.
But not in Germany. Knut (who was fat - disappointing) was playing a lovely game with some rope. A rhino came and sniffed me (the boyfriend ruined it by pulling me away). And when it came to the penguins (the ultimate part of any zoo) i leant over and touched one. actually about five.
They were all swimming this way. then that way. then back again. they were LOVELY.
Another major part of Berlin, it seems, is the night life, bar culture and techno clubs (which the boyfriend and I inadvertantly got involved in).
The bars are brilliant. Friendly, great atmosphere, and everywhere. Not expenisve. Best place seemed to be Oranienberger Platz. Good stuff there. Good food, friendly people. It was all great.
And despite the very impressive public transport (way better than London - cheaper, cleaner, more reliable, though a lot of graffiti) we did do a lot of walking.
and i had had four very large and painful wisdom teeth removed a mere few days before. So the boyfriend strongly insisted (methinks on stern advice from the Wiganer) on flat shoes.
And my gosh. They are wonderful. Don't get me wrong. This is strictly off the record. My true position is eughhhh, how vile, flat shoes, me NEVER. But in the sub-zero temperatures of winter Berlin, fluffy boots are heaven.
And just make moving so much faster. As the boyfriend pointed out - i developed (and I am ashamed to admit this) a short person scuttle.
All in all, if you are reading this and are not in Berlin GO THERE. And if you are in Berlin, stop reading this and go outside. It's brill.
Thursday 17 January 2008
SPICE GIRLS!!!!
Last weekend the Wiganer and I went to the greatest show on earth.
Dressed in truly authentic 90's gear, we headed to North Greenwich and went to the o2. To watch the greatest band in the world. The Spice Girls.
Never wanting to do things by halves, the Wiganer and I looked really quite good. I (obviously) went for baby spice (though truth be told, if i had owned a union jack dress, hands down I would have been geri, ginge and all).
The Wiganer, not wanting to have to wear the tracky bums, not being ethnic enough for scary, or tall enough for posh, went for an eclectic 90's mix, with obscenely short (yet high-waisted) skirt, leopard print tights, crop top (oh, we all had one. I had two) and a side-ponytail.
So dressed as the 90's (and mildly resembling prostitutes) we got on the tube.
That was an experience. Having dressed at home with both spice girl albums blaring, we felt in the zone. Stepping out into the cold January evening in deepest darkest Brixton, we suddenly didn't feel quite so cool.
But ho hum, we soldiered on.
Got to the o2. Little disappointed at the lack of fancy-dress effort. But at least we stood out.
o2 is amazing. Shops, bars, restaurants, nice toilets, a cinema, tutankhamun. what more could a girl want from one venue.
decided to start the night with style and got some cocktails. Met some very nice geordies (Wiganer attracts northern folk).
Boguht a couple of t-shirts (obviously) and then went to find our seats.
So we were sat down. quite far away from the stage. Beady eyed Wiganer has already spotted the Beckham kids.
And the lights go down. and the stage lights up. And then THE SPICE GIRLS ARE ON!!!!
An hour and a half later and all my life goals have changed. I don't care what happens as long as I growup as a spice girl.
The lights, the dances, the costumes, the sets, the banter, everything was fantastic. Wiganer and I danced and sang, and generally looked like fools. But we just had the most wonderful time.
Personally I liked geri's outfits best (being a tart at heart, I can never resist a teeny weeny skirt), though Mrs Beckham did not disappoint. She looked really lovely, and managed to belt out her few lines (definitely couldn't have lasted a whole song, but her catwalk was lovely).
Slightly embarassed by scary's solo bit. she was grinding against a very frightened looking boy from the audience. poor sod, probably didn't bank on that when he gave in to going with his girlfriend).
sporty had (as usual) the worst of the outfits. although at least they gave the tracksuit a bit of sparkle. really has got the best voice.
baby was just baby. same old same old but lovely all the same.
they knocked out "headlines" early. as the Wiganer put it "wanna be getting that shite out way early". Definitely best song - spice up your life. threw out some v. exciting shapes to that one.
All in all it was truly great. And I will not hear a bad word about the girls. they were everything i could have wanted and more.
There was only one unexpected thing about the evening. and that was the number of a) middle-aged women, and b) the number of little kids. It was Johnny Vaughn, on Capital breakfast who cleared this conundrum for me. Spice hits are all over kids party CDs so they all know the words.
And to explain the middle-aged audience, all of them were sprightly 20-somethings when the spice girls first appeared. but now, 10 years down the line, they have all got a little older, plumper and more tame (the ones next to us did NOT apreciate the dancing - low point was wiganer's thrusting).
Wiganer and I swore however, that it doesn't matter if we have to wait 100 years for another of their comeback tours. we will never diminish in our love for the girls.
Dressed in truly authentic 90's gear, we headed to North Greenwich and went to the o2. To watch the greatest band in the world. The Spice Girls.
Never wanting to do things by halves, the Wiganer and I looked really quite good. I (obviously) went for baby spice (though truth be told, if i had owned a union jack dress, hands down I would have been geri, ginge and all).
The Wiganer, not wanting to have to wear the tracky bums, not being ethnic enough for scary, or tall enough for posh, went for an eclectic 90's mix, with obscenely short (yet high-waisted) skirt, leopard print tights, crop top (oh, we all had one. I had two) and a side-ponytail.
So dressed as the 90's (and mildly resembling prostitutes) we got on the tube.
That was an experience. Having dressed at home with both spice girl albums blaring, we felt in the zone. Stepping out into the cold January evening in deepest darkest Brixton, we suddenly didn't feel quite so cool.
But ho hum, we soldiered on.
Got to the o2. Little disappointed at the lack of fancy-dress effort. But at least we stood out.
o2 is amazing. Shops, bars, restaurants, nice toilets, a cinema, tutankhamun. what more could a girl want from one venue.
decided to start the night with style and got some cocktails. Met some very nice geordies (Wiganer attracts northern folk).
Boguht a couple of t-shirts (obviously) and then went to find our seats.
So we were sat down. quite far away from the stage. Beady eyed Wiganer has already spotted the Beckham kids.
And the lights go down. and the stage lights up. And then THE SPICE GIRLS ARE ON!!!!
An hour and a half later and all my life goals have changed. I don't care what happens as long as I growup as a spice girl.
The lights, the dances, the costumes, the sets, the banter, everything was fantastic. Wiganer and I danced and sang, and generally looked like fools. But we just had the most wonderful time.
Personally I liked geri's outfits best (being a tart at heart, I can never resist a teeny weeny skirt), though Mrs Beckham did not disappoint. She looked really lovely, and managed to belt out her few lines (definitely couldn't have lasted a whole song, but her catwalk was lovely).
Slightly embarassed by scary's solo bit. she was grinding against a very frightened looking boy from the audience. poor sod, probably didn't bank on that when he gave in to going with his girlfriend).
sporty had (as usual) the worst of the outfits. although at least they gave the tracksuit a bit of sparkle. really has got the best voice.
baby was just baby. same old same old but lovely all the same.
they knocked out "headlines" early. as the Wiganer put it "wanna be getting that shite out way early". Definitely best song - spice up your life. threw out some v. exciting shapes to that one.
All in all it was truly great. And I will not hear a bad word about the girls. they were everything i could have wanted and more.
There was only one unexpected thing about the evening. and that was the number of a) middle-aged women, and b) the number of little kids. It was Johnny Vaughn, on Capital breakfast who cleared this conundrum for me. Spice hits are all over kids party CDs so they all know the words.
And to explain the middle-aged audience, all of them were sprightly 20-somethings when the spice girls first appeared. but now, 10 years down the line, they have all got a little older, plumper and more tame (the ones next to us did NOT apreciate the dancing - low point was wiganer's thrusting).
Wiganer and I swore however, that it doesn't matter if we have to wait 100 years for another of their comeback tours. we will never diminish in our love for the girls.
Thursday 3 January 2008
Christmas Roast and all the trimmings
Wiganer and I decided to have a Christmas gathering.
We invited 12 people with the intention of cooking whole roast.
All was fine until realised I was having my teeth out two days before. That seemed to instigate a further trail pf problems.
Firstly, getting a turkey. Not that easy. Finally manage to locate one that was a) right size and b) not requiring a mortgage to buy. Sadly it was in a giant ASDA about 10million miles from where we live. and i was by myself.
So had to carry 8lb frozen turkey home. It nearly killed me. And I never believed a piece of frozen food could create so many bruises.
Problem number two. Left turkey to defrost in fridge. Sadly fridge is mal-functioning and therefore seemed, if anything, to freeze turkey further.
So left it in the kitchen. Again, due to negative temperature of flat, really was not defrosting at all. Wiganer suggested putting it in microwave. I vetoed that. Didn't want to poison guests.
Eventually decided to leave it in bedroom. Just hoped it wouldn't amke it smell funny.
Also, decided to name turkey Rosemary (rosie for short).
Morning of dinner arrives. Got up at half 8 to switch on oven (door doesn't close properly so had to calculate extra three hours for rosie's cooking).
Went to set up table. Then realised that we had invited 12 people. And only have 2chairs in whole flat.
Spent hour frantically ringing everyone we know for chairs. Boyfriend came to rescue. Bless him.
Wiganer and I checked on Rosie. Thought oven door looked funny colour. Opened door. Appeared to have rather large fire going on in there.
The flames managed to jump out of thte oven, set fire to a teatowel hanging nearby (NB don't keep flamable material near ovens) which in turn nearly set fire to wooden shelf.
Lucky Wiganer nearby. Managed to get fire under control. And in all the excitement oven door became fixed! Hurrah!
After that, day was fairly accident free. I managed to accidentally get quite drunk before guests arrived (blamed painkillers of teeth) but was just merry, not dangerous.
And dinner turned out marvelously. Was lovely. And as we calculated a bit wrong, there was more than enough of Rosie left of the Wiganer to have many a turkey sandwich.
We invited 12 people with the intention of cooking whole roast.
All was fine until realised I was having my teeth out two days before. That seemed to instigate a further trail pf problems.
Firstly, getting a turkey. Not that easy. Finally manage to locate one that was a) right size and b) not requiring a mortgage to buy. Sadly it was in a giant ASDA about 10million miles from where we live. and i was by myself.
So had to carry 8lb frozen turkey home. It nearly killed me. And I never believed a piece of frozen food could create so many bruises.
Problem number two. Left turkey to defrost in fridge. Sadly fridge is mal-functioning and therefore seemed, if anything, to freeze turkey further.
So left it in the kitchen. Again, due to negative temperature of flat, really was not defrosting at all. Wiganer suggested putting it in microwave. I vetoed that. Didn't want to poison guests.
Eventually decided to leave it in bedroom. Just hoped it wouldn't amke it smell funny.
Also, decided to name turkey Rosemary (rosie for short).
Morning of dinner arrives. Got up at half 8 to switch on oven (door doesn't close properly so had to calculate extra three hours for rosie's cooking).
Went to set up table. Then realised that we had invited 12 people. And only have 2chairs in whole flat.
Spent hour frantically ringing everyone we know for chairs. Boyfriend came to rescue. Bless him.
Wiganer and I checked on Rosie. Thought oven door looked funny colour. Opened door. Appeared to have rather large fire going on in there.
The flames managed to jump out of thte oven, set fire to a teatowel hanging nearby (NB don't keep flamable material near ovens) which in turn nearly set fire to wooden shelf.
Lucky Wiganer nearby. Managed to get fire under control. And in all the excitement oven door became fixed! Hurrah!
After that, day was fairly accident free. I managed to accidentally get quite drunk before guests arrived (blamed painkillers of teeth) but was just merry, not dangerous.
And dinner turned out marvelously. Was lovely. And as we calculated a bit wrong, there was more than enough of Rosie left of the Wiganer to have many a turkey sandwich.
Wisdom Teeth
SInce september, apart from the internet, my other ongoing saga has been my impaceted wisdom teeth (yes not one, not two, but all of them).
My teeth are the bane of my life. By the age of 14 I had already had 8 teeth out (my mouth is really quite small).
I then got braces. Full blown traintracks.
Now, there are some people who kind of look ok with braces. Those people who you don't really notice have them. I was definitely not one of them.
In fact I was the opposite. They REALLY looked bad.
So after that three year (yes THREE YEARS) torture I thought all would be well.
But no. So at the age of 21 I went into london bridge hospital to have the bastard teeth. All out. So never again will they bother me.
I opted for the general aneasthetic. I am a big juicy wimp. And I'd never had one before so why not?
So after I go to sleep and have teeth out I wake up.
I really did feel fine. And thought I would try to stand up. I completely fell of my bed. and ripped the drip out of my hand. And two nurses had to lift me back on.
Then I was wheeled back to my bed, and, as told later by the Wiganer, who, bless her came to look after me, looked HORRIFIC.
Apparently i was whiter than white except for the substantial amount of dried blood completely covering the lower half of my face (really good Wiganer had sense to bring face wipes).
Then, as if i was not disgusting enough they then, without any explanation at all, handed her a small pot. Which contained my teeth (not washed or anything - one was stil surrounded by bits of my gum; the others, all fairly bloody).
So that was all gross.
Eventually got home (having been convinced that i was fine, and subsequently fainting. twice)
Had to wear flat shoes. made a bit of a fuss about that. am only 5'2.5 (rounded up to 5'3) and so have never to date been out in public without at least 4inch heels). Was probably quite a good idea though. was really very unsteady.
But after a day was fine. Went shopping. had a little dance. cooked an entire christmas roast for a party. (Party atmosphere greatly enhanced by the constant display of my now removed wisdom teeth).
So all in all, removal of wisdon teeth not as bad as people make out.
My teeth are the bane of my life. By the age of 14 I had already had 8 teeth out (my mouth is really quite small).
I then got braces. Full blown traintracks.
Now, there are some people who kind of look ok with braces. Those people who you don't really notice have them. I was definitely not one of them.
In fact I was the opposite. They REALLY looked bad.
So after that three year (yes THREE YEARS) torture I thought all would be well.
But no. So at the age of 21 I went into london bridge hospital to have the bastard teeth. All out. So never again will they bother me.
I opted for the general aneasthetic. I am a big juicy wimp. And I'd never had one before so why not?
So after I go to sleep and have teeth out I wake up.
I really did feel fine. And thought I would try to stand up. I completely fell of my bed. and ripped the drip out of my hand. And two nurses had to lift me back on.
Then I was wheeled back to my bed, and, as told later by the Wiganer, who, bless her came to look after me, looked HORRIFIC.
Apparently i was whiter than white except for the substantial amount of dried blood completely covering the lower half of my face (really good Wiganer had sense to bring face wipes).
Then, as if i was not disgusting enough they then, without any explanation at all, handed her a small pot. Which contained my teeth (not washed or anything - one was stil surrounded by bits of my gum; the others, all fairly bloody).
So that was all gross.
Eventually got home (having been convinced that i was fine, and subsequently fainting. twice)
Had to wear flat shoes. made a bit of a fuss about that. am only 5'2.5 (rounded up to 5'3) and so have never to date been out in public without at least 4inch heels). Was probably quite a good idea though. was really very unsteady.
But after a day was fine. Went shopping. had a little dance. cooked an entire christmas roast for a party. (Party atmosphere greatly enhanced by the constant display of my now removed wisdom teeth).
So all in all, removal of wisdon teeth not as bad as people make out.
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