Reward $$$ Have you seen this man?

Well I suppose it's about time I mentioned Mr Bedingfield, one of my passions in life - I was gonna wait till he was back in the limelight but he seems to have disappeared. So if you've seen him, please let me know.

My fascination began in Autumn 2002, not at the start of his career but the following year. When he stormed onto the music scene in 2001 with a three week No.1 hit 'Gotta Get Thru This', I hated the song with a vengeance. John and I used to have numerous requests for it whilst DJing at private parties and I remember my reaction: ARGH! When that single was followed up with 'James Dean' I didn't like that either. I also didn't like Daniel's image at that time: extremely short hair and a goatie. When his third single 'If you're not the one' came out, I liked the song but it still didn't take a hold of me. It took a few more months and then one night, Daniel appeared on the Royal Variety performance and sang 'If you're not the one'. I recall thinking 'how have I not been attracted this guy before now?' He was only on stage for a couple of minutes but that's all it took. The rest is history.

In January 2003 I ventured onto Dan's website and joined the forum. It was like having another family and after a little while, I made a couple of good friends as well as many other acquaintences. My friendship with Debs, alias username Spursbear, who is the same age as me, came about after I happened to ask her whether her username was anything connected to Spurs the football club. She replied saying she was a lifelong fan, and so there was an instant connection, me having been a fan since about age 10. The strange thing is that she lives in Oldham and yet still has a season ticket. Now that's dedication! I hadn't been to a Spurs game in years but decided that it would be great to return to White Hart Lane, and at the same time meet up with Debs and her hubby Mick. It was so unlike me to be so forthright and confident, to suggest meeting a virtual stranger after only emailing for a few weeks. She agreed and so we met outside the Spurs Superstore before kick-off. It was short and sweet but it was enough to break the ice and again, the rest is history. I'm now a member of the club and go to games whenever I can, meeting up with Debs and Mick in a pub or Whites members bar a couple of hours before the game. Poor John gets dragged along, despite not really being a footie fan but he can't complain as I pay for his ticket most of the time.

Another friendship made via the forum was with Steph, alias Stephy-Lou, who is from Havant Hampshire. She is only a babe at 20 years old but a complete nutter, so I can relate to that! I've only met her once and very briefly at one of Dan's concerts in Hammersmith, but I'm sure we'll meet up at some point in the future.

It wasn't until March 2005 that I first saw Daniel in concert. Not happy with just one, I saw him four times in one week!! The first two were in Manchester where I'd arranged to go up and stay with Debs. John came with me so that he could be company for Mick whilst us girls went out and had a jolly good time.

The first time he came out on stage was amazing-there he was in the flesh (drool drool). Dan was amazing live; he has so much energy and he has a fantastic voice. When he came through the aisles, I managed to stroke his back - it was like OMG I actually touched the bloke I adore! Not that I feel my age anyway, but it was like being a teenager again. On the second night we didn't have such good seats - we were up high to the side. It was agony as no-one up there stood up and danced and I just hate sitting down at a concert. There isn't really much of an area outside Manchester Apollo where you can wait to see artists after the show, but nevertheless, we did wait and saw him from beyond a fairly deep crowd. We also met up with few other people from the forum including Magz and her daughter Cheryl from Glasgow. The one thing that spoilt the first gig was Manchester Apollo's policy on photography. Lord knows how I managed to get in with my large SLR Canon camera with zoom lens but I did, however, midway through the concert, one of the security guys obviously spotted me taking shots and came to confiscate the camera. I also managed to leave my bag inside the arena; it had dropped through the seat when I got up and as I had something else to carry, completely dismissed it. It wasn't till later when I was outside, I realised. I panicked because all my cash and mobile phone were in it. I went up to the security guard who had a bit of an attitude problem but after a bit of persuasion, radioed inside for someone to look for it. Fortunately, I got it back and tried to make the grumpy man feel bad by profusely thanking them for their help.

We had a day's rest on Thursday and the plan was for Debs and Mick to come down and stay at our house for the Friday and Saturday for the concerts at Hammersmith. However, we then decided that they may as well come down straight away and then we could spend a day together before the two gigs. So we ended up going bowling and going out for a curry at the Polash in the evening.

Friday evening at Hammersmith was fabulous! I'd bought my Mum a ticket as she also loves Daniel and so she joined Debs and myself. We were in row P but it still a good view and I remember how much my calves ached after all the jumping I'd done during the show! Afterwards, we waited for Daniel outside and got a good position at the front of the railings. We waited an age for him to emerge but of course, it was worth it. He took his time ensuring everyone got an autograph and when he finally got to where we were, and was literally right in front of us, it was like OMG is this real? He got to my Mum first and quite embarrassingly grabbed hold of Daniel's coat and said ' come here and give us a kiss'! He remarked how gorgeous my Mum was to everyone around us and then it was my turn. I had nothing for him to sign and so held out my arm, and he signed that! I also managed to kiss him on the cheek but unfortunately no tongues! Hehe! I was doing pretty well I thought.

May I just say that Hammersmith was totally the opposite to Manchester with regard to photography. They didn't bat an eyelid.

Saturday night was really special. I'd blown quite a bit of dosh by buying second row tickets on ebay, but I desperately wanted to be up close to the stage. I don't regret it for a minute - it was great! Annoyingly there were even a few spare seats in the front row and near the end of the concert, myself and Debs moved up to the edge of the stage. I managed to hand Daniel a small gift which was a South Park keyring featuring Kenny, the one who always dies. I knew Daniel was a big fan of the show and when he saw what it was, he smiled at me and raised his thumb in approval. That was a nice moment. Being so close, I managed to get some really good photos which are always great to look back on. After the gig, we again waited for Dan outside in the cold. He was just as long this time, if not longer (what does he do in the shower?!!). I got him to autograph my ticket this time but really regret not getting a hug (they are world famous according to numerous girls on the forum!) I hope I'll get another opportunity in future. That sure was an amazing week - one of the best of my entire life.

In July 2005, Dan did a one-off open air concert at High Lodge, Thetford Forest in Suffolk. Well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him again being fairly close to home, so I booked tickets for me and my Mum. The scary think was that I'd have to drive there, and I'd never been that far on my own ever before. However, prepared with a map and a printout of directions taken from the internet, I managed to get us there, albeit taking almost three hours! It turns out that the route the internet gave me via M25 and M11 was the longest way; I should have used the A12 and all the minor roads. Never mind, the main thing is that I didn't get lost and we arrived just after 6pm when the gates opened. There were already loads of people there who had grabbed the front positions but we managed to slot into a space about 25 foot from the stage. There were clearly some fans there, but many were just along for a night out. I had spotted a couple of girls from the forum right at the front but couldn't get through to them to say hi. The concert was fantasic - possibly the best of the year. Dan was very interactive, at one point asking fans for their requests. He sang a lot of Bob Marley and covers of the Eurythmics and also Pump up the Jam by Technotronic - my fave dance track of the 80s. As always he ended with three versions of Gotta Get Thru This and all you can do is jump up and down to it. You sure feel like you've had a workout after one of Dan's shows!

In between my first 'encounter' and the concerts just mentioned, there was obviously a lot going on in the charts and Daniel was frequently on TV, of which I have pretty much all on video.

Albums

• Gotta Get Thru This (2002) No.41 US, No.2 UK. Sold over 3m copies.
  
• Second First Impression (2004) No.8 UK

Singles

From Gotta Get Thru This:

• "Gotta Get Thru This" (2001) No.10 US, No.1 UK
  
• "James Dean (I Wanna Know)" (2002) No.4 UK
  
• "If You're Not The One" (2002) No.15 US, No.1 UK
  
• "I Can't Read You" (2003) No.6 UK
• "Never Gonna Leave Your Side" (2003) No.1 UK
  
• "Friday" (2003) No.28 UK

From Second First Impression:

• "Nothing Hurts Like Love" (2004) No.3 UK
• "Wrap My Words Around You" (2005) No.12 UK
• "The Way" (2005) No.41 UK

Guest appearance:

• "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (as part of Band Aid 20) (2004) No.1 UK
  
• "Sabrina The Teenage Witch"

Fact file:

Daniel was born on 3rd December 1979 in New Zealand, moving to the UK when he was three months old. His parents are missionaries and social workers and have set up a children's charity called Global Angels. http://www.globalangels.org/pages/3002/Home.htm. He has three siblings, Natasha (who has her own singing career), Nikola (who is also said to be heading the same way), and Joshua who is apparently good at everything. Daniel is a Christian and openly shares his faith during concerts and occasionally in his songs. He was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) at the age of four but wasn't allowed to take medication for it until he was eighteen. He has said the experience has been reflected in his song-writing.

On New Year's Day 2004, Dan nearly lost his life in a severe car accident while visiting his parents in New Zealand. As a result of breaking ten bones in his vertebrae, which would normally have killed someone, he was left with serious head and neck injuries for which he had to have a brace screwed into his skull to prevent any head movement. Ouch! Apparently, someone from another car went to help and was a few seconds away from moving Daniel, which would have killed him instantly. However, a nurse from another car rushed up and ordered that he shouldn't be moved. To Daniel, she is his guardian angel. That was a really stressful time for me and even to this day, it still upsets me. I don't know what I would have done if he'd died.

He won a Brit Award in 2004 for Best British Male Artist.

I must say I'm a tad worried for Dan's future. He'll always sing, write songs and be there in the background doing numerous charity gigs as he does, but whether or not he'll stay popular enough for the charts is another thing. His first album was so successful but the second was nowhere near so. By the time he released the third single off 'Second First Impression', it didn't even make the top 40 with sales of just over 3,000 I believe. This particular single called 'The Way' is so popular amongst the fans; it's really one of his best songs. However, it must have only been the die-hard fans that bought it. Since then, Daniel has supposedly been working on another album but despite rumours, nothing more has been heard about it. What's more, WE ARE STILL AWAITING THE FIRST DVD!!!!

What is it that makes Dan special? Well it's definitely him, the inner person. He is charitable, deeply spiritual, family orientated, a genuinely lovely person, honest and unique. However, he doesn't always get good press. The media we know, can be unkind at the best of times, but I really get upset when some arsehole from a music magazine or a newspaper columnist, slates his music and even worse, his personality. It's only because they don't understand him and that he's so different to most people. On occasions, he may say something he doesn't mean and it may come across the wrong way, but this is how the A.D.D. affects him. He wrote about this subject in the song 'Sorry' which was dedicated to his sister Natasha for the hurt he had caused her in the past. Daniel was quoted as saying "There’'s stuff in my music that I'd literally never tell my closest friend, and yet somehow it just feels right to put it into a song and tell the entire planet. It takes something that is ugly within yourself, some base instinct, or a pain that is really deep in you, and then it permits all that to enter the public consciousness. For me it's an almost spiritual experience."

Daniel hasn't allowed himself to become pigeonholed into one genre of music. He started with a garage track, has done drum and base, pop, and ballads, and on tour regularly includes reggae rock and religious songs. This is another very unique part of his culture - it is very difficult to name many artists who can do this.

Another talent Dan has is beatboxing (also known as human orchestration). Definition: the vocal percussion of hiphop culture and music. Considered by many to be a fifth element of hiphop, it is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms and melodies using the mouth. It can also involve singing vocal scratching (the imitation of turntable scratching), the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments and the replication of a vast array of sound effects.

I could probably talk about Daniel forever and a day; there is so much more to tell but I suppose I'd better stop now! I just hope that he comes back into our lives some time soon, it's been too long. Even if he doesn't make the charts, I hope he still tours.

DAN WHERE ARE YOU?

Bank holiday weekend

My intention was to do a boot sale on Sunday with my friend Suk; we left the decision until Saturday with regards to the weather and the forecast was good. I'd been gathering stuff from every room in the house including the loft all week, so there's much left to do except load all the boxes into the trailer - there was no way we were gonna get all the stuff in the car; in fact it filled 3/4 of the room (the trailer is 8 x 6 foot)!

Saturday night I went to bed early as we needed to leave at about 5:10am. However, I just tossed and turned pretty much all night and I guess I only got about an hour's kip. As I was already awake, it wasn't difficult getting up at 4:40am! John and I went to pick up Suk in Rayleigh and load her boxes into the trailer. By that time, the trailer was literally filled to the brim. On arrival at Nevenden, the place was chocker with cars and vans and we had to wait a further half an hour to actually get in to the field. This is the worst bit: unpacking. It must've taken over an hour. John stuck around for a little while despite being adamant he was gonna just drop the trailer and scarper. The weather was glorious - perfect for a boot sale and the punters came out in their droves. It's amazing how many Eastern European and Africans there are in the area, because boot sales really attract them in masses. Haggling really gets lost in translation with some, and I really find the Africans the most infuriating - the prices asked are rock bottom anyway, yet they still insist on halving everything. I'm sure they'd even haggle if you asked for 2p! After midday the crowds thinned out and by 1pm I started to pack up, having telephoned John to come and pick us up. Suk's hubby and daughter had arrived by that time.
I totted up the money I'd made and the profit was £94.40. Not bad, but I thought I would have made a lot more - maybe my fault in letting things go for so little, but you just wanna get rid of it.

We stayed round Suk's for a couple of hours and enjoyed a cuppa with some home made fruit crumble with fresh raspberries and blackberries picked from the garden. It was the yummiest crumble I'd ever had! Once home again, all the remaining boxes had to be removed from the trailer and John put the disco stuff back in. We have one party to do next month for John's Aunt and Uncle's 60th Wedding anniversary, which should be our last. I will now sort out all the stuff I have left from the boot sale and give most of it to charity most probably.

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and dosing off - I was so knackered. Al let me know the day before that the 'Big Brother Winners' Week' programme was on at 9pm but I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I set the video and went to bed. This time I did sleep - 12 hours in fact!

After going shopping this morning, we went to the cinema just before 2pm to catch 'Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest'. I've been meaning to go for ages (being a massive Johnny Depp fan) but the holiday got in the way and then several busy weekends have stopped me. Unfortunately I was still so tired and there were moments during the film that I found myself dropping off (sorry Johnny). I found the film too long and although it was non-stop action, it wasn't as good as the first one, and definitely nowhere near as funny. The third film in the trilogy will be out next year.

I'm back home now and just watched Big Brother Winners' Week on tape. It's good to see what everyone's doing with themselves now they're out. I'm gonna have my dinner in a mo and I dare say I'll be falling asleep on the sofa later on. I dunno where the weekend's gone - three days over in a flash and back to work tomorow. Poo.

Fun at work

What a fab day at work it was today! They have a team who organise theme days, trips out, competitions etc etc and today's theme was the Wild West. Normally these end up being a flop as nobody dresses up and there are no activities going on on our floor. However, today was an exception. I don't think I've ever done so little work in all my 21 years of service! A lot of people including myself came dressed in check shirts, jeans and cowboy boots and hats (the hat was borrowed for my pic), some had Indian headresses, one bloke had a complete cowboy outfit and bless her, Paulina who visited us from another floor, was dressed in a squaw's outfit. Oh and I also found a sheriff's badge at home which I wore. I believe I acquired it in a game of pass the parcel which Al had arranged when we had a kids theme as a girlie night in!

At 10am they organised a sausage hunt. I volunteered to be the 'hunter' for our section and each person was given a clue to its whereabout. Martin Kelly, our manager, had hidden the sausage earlier on. The clue was: RANCH JUDO RISE. ???? After wandering around bemused for 5 minutes, nobody had worked it out so we were given another clue - the fact that it was actually an anagram of the sausage's hiding place. With Jill's help, she immediately identified the word 'under'....& I chipped in with the fact that the J must be the beginning of someone's name & so just a few seconds later, we had worked out that the sausage was under Jo's chair! I was the first to get to it and so won some chocs for the team and also a bottle of wine for myself for taking part. As I don't drink wine, we raffled it and raised a bit of extra cash for the Essex Air Ambulance. Katy won it.

A little while later, everyone was given an empty toilet roll holder to make a totem pole. They provided stuff to decorate it with; shapes, lolly sticks, bobbles, coloured paper, felt tips etc. Well, the office then turned into Blue Peter! I was in my element - I love makng stuff. t was amazing how different they all ended up. Hayley made us giggle as she made a person rather than a totem pole, with a plum for a head and made a handbag out of staples, a feather and an HSBC logo. They got a lady from another floor to come and judge them all and guess what? I WON!!!
I couldn't believe it - I hardly ever win anything and that was two in a day!!! This time I gave my bottle of wine to Hayley which she was grateful for.

A few of us took part in the Wild West quiz on the intranet but it was pretty hard. We only managed about 8 answers out of 30. Vicki got on the phone to her other half who had access to the internet but she ran out of time as the quiz needed to be submitted before 3pm.

Lastly, all the correspondence sections had a massive game of pass the parcel. Can you imagine?!! Jo and Jason were both playing harmonicas for the music. Two parcels were going at the same time and twice a flying one across the desk nearly took someone's head off! Poor old Sarah Daintree was trying to take a call from a grumpy customer whilst all this was going on.
Eventually there were two winners (not me this time). Some people who received raffle tickets when opening a wrapper , ended up with tins of spam and beans.

At the end of it all, I managed to complete only one piece of work in our queues, sorted the post and wrote a few letters. Still, I'm not gonna worry about it - work were encouraging staff to participate in the day so what do they expect?!

A pleasant day out

Yesterday (Sunday), John, me, & my Mum & Dad took Kasey and Ebony on a day out at Groombridge Place & Enchanted Forest in Kent. It's actually in the village of Groombridge which is near Tunbridge Wells. It absolutely tipped down with rain on the way there but died down by the time we arrived. However, taking no chances, our illuminous orange rainproof macs from Alton Towers were close at hand.

First, we explored the beautiful formal gardens around the house and had a bite to eat. Then we got into a boat which took us up to the Enchanted Forest. The name conjours up some wonderful ideas of fairies and goblins and such like but it was a bit of a disappointment. Instead there were dinosaurs which appeared to be made out of cane, some swings, some gypsy caravans, a wigwam, some ponds and a totem pole. Really not that much for kids to do despite the recommendation. The rain started again too, quite heavy at times.

During the walk through the woods, there was a deer with lovely antlers standing by a tree, reasonably close. We passed it off as being stuffed as it didn't move for ages. Then suddenly it did move and we were so surprised - usually deer as so timid, most would have run away at the sight of humans. I guess they are used to people. A bit further on there was a few more deer and then in an enclosure, a zeedonk (half zebra half donkey). It basically looked like a donkey with stripey legs! There was a baby donkey with him. Aah! So cute! They eventually came over so we patted them for a while.

By this time, the sun was out and it was getting really warm. We headed back to the gardens again and Ebony wanted to have a game of chess with giant pieces. We had a rest for a while and then headed out. On the way we noticed a small exhibiton of the film Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. There was a small box which contained some old fashioned hats so this was a good opportunity for our 'silly hat moment'. The best one was of John and my Dad (shown above). Hehe!

The plan was to find somewhere on the way home to have a bite to eat but there wasn't much doing. One pub we stopped at said outside 'Food Served All Day' but when he went inside they said they'd finished at 4 o'clock!! So instead, we decided to go all the way and have some dinner at my parents'.

Eazamanaa!!!!!!!!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I'm so thrilled that Pete won Big Brother 7 last night. I think this is the first time I have (and so many others) have predicted the winner so early on. Not only that but I managed to predict the order in which the last six were evicted.

Pete is so unique and not like any bloke I've ever come across. I'm not referring to his tourettes, but his spirituality, naivety, sensitivity, his 'un-guylike' manner, his craziness, he's caring and affectionate, hates arguments and bitchiness, and his passion for animals (except for big hairy spiders apparently)! Not only that, but he is very fanciable as well. Pete was the one that kept me laughing. I've gotta say though, Glyn did entertain me too and thoroughly deserved to be runner-up. He has come a long way during the last 93 days and BB will definitely change his life.

This has been the best BB yet. With the exception of the flop that was BB4, it's got better and better each year. It's difficult to think of all the best bits but a few that come to mind are:

Glyn's cooking skills
The prison task
Hot topics hot topics wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiith Imogen Imogen aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Big Brother Big Brother
Pete's intimate moments with insects and the rat
Nikki's allegience to the State of Susie (tandrums)
Nikki complaining about the air-con
Susie being put 'on hold' in the diary room when it was automated Big Brother nominations
Richard's argument with Lisa in the bedroom, when he threw a wobbly as an imitation of her
Sezer being evicted
Lisa being evicted
Grace being evicted (vile bitch)
Pete falling in the pool
Pete & Nikki being reunited
Glyn saying how he could be 'ejaculated' from the house
Susie's expression every time Jayne belched
Richard's nominations and one-liners
Glyn swimming to the music when he was supposed to be cleaning
Pete at the diary room disco
When housemates had to choose presents for each other
Nikki's tantrum when her mp3 player didn't work
Glyn's reaction when BB started talking Welsh
Richard receiving his letter from home, & Pete finally receiving his
Most of Pete's diary room visits

Oh boy, there's probably so many more but I just can't think! I do wish Pete happiness and success for the future - I wonder whether his band will get any exposure now?

Ho hum, another year over. What am I gonna do with myself now? Oh Yes....the X Factor starts tonight!!! :-)

My Dad's 60th birthday

After weeks of planning and lying, the day had arrived. Sunday August 13th. My Dad was turning 60 and we'd arranged a surprise bbq party in our garden.

A week beforehand, I checked the weather forecast on the internet and it wasn't good: rain pretty much all weekend. Obviously that's the worst possible scenario for a bbq and I was praying they'd get it wrong. Saturday arrived and that was a complete wash-out. The forecast was still bleak for the Sunday and true to form, the morning chucked it down with rain. I woke up not feeling at all enthusiastic or motivated due to the miserable weather (I'm sure I get that S.A.D. syndrome). John and I dashed around for hours getting everything prepared: food, drink, glasses, plates, table, chairs, decorations and waterproof cover for the garden. The day before John went to Macro and bought a large marquee tent thingy sized 6m x 3m, which almost covered the entire lawn. The trouble is it was so chilly, even with this covering, I'm sure guests wouldn't want to sit out there. More praying and pleading was required and it was like a miracle - at midday the clouds parted and some blue sky peeped through following by the sunshine. Hallelujah! Now we just needed it to stay that way.

Guests started to arrive from 2pm. Even doubtful Uncle Mike (Dad's brother) and Auntie Rachel turned up from Shropshire which I was thrilled about. My cousin Sarah and her fiance Gary came from Luton. My Mum called me secretly just after 3pm to say that they were about to leave. After 10 minutes I checked the road and when I saw them coming, dashed into the garden to tell everyone to keep the noise down. My Mum put a blindfold over my Dad's eyes, telling him that there was a big present in the garden which she didnt want him to see. When the blindfold was removed, he was greeted by over 30 friends and family. He was truly surprised - he said he had no idea whatsoever.

The day progressed really well, the weather got warmer and sunnier and the party was a great success. My Dad was gob-smacked when after opening his present from my Mum (which was a passport with a clue attached), he found out he was going to Rome in three weeks time. When my Dad is overwhelmed, he hardly says anything - but as he said he has always wanted to travel to Rome, you know he's inwardly very excited. Later he was presented with a specially made cake and the embarrassing moment when everybody sings Happy Birthday to you completely out of tune!

So that's that. I hope my Mum managed to sleep last night coz she's been so stressed out with it all, despite the party not even being at her house! I suppose we'll have to do it all again next year as it'll be my Mum's 60th next September 15th. However, I can't see us having it outside.

A bit of a mystery

It wasn't until a couple of days ago that John and I noticed that something was amiss with the pond. Usually when you stand next to it, the fish automatically relate this to be being fed and come to the surface. But, when we threw food into the water, no reaction whatsoever. Eventually a few fish would retrieve the food. It was then that we realised all three of our large koi carp were missing, together with a load of others. The first reaction was 'you bloody thieves, what are you gonna steal from us next?' Over the years we have had a van broken into and a cd player stolen, the garden raided with statues and plants stolen, money stolen from the house, an attempted break-in of John's car and a fire deliberately started at the end of the garden. However, a while later John found fish scales on the lawn, and bits of fish in the shrubbery. This seemed to indicate that it was an animal which had gotten the fish. But what the heck is strong enough to get three large koi out of a fairly deep pond? A fox has been suggested but I've never heard of foxes liking water. A heron is another possibility, however, they tend to wade into water from a shallow part - our pond is a sheer drop with rocks all around it. It wasn't until yesterday when I heard seagulls above the garden, that it could be them. They are nasty pieces of
work and are scavangers so who knows? Watever it was, has freaked out the fish big time as the ones remaining are very relunctant to come to the surface fr food.

We're both very upset, especially as John has had many of these fish for about 20 years, one in particularly we named Harry McFinn 'The Scottish koi' - he was the biggest boy of all and the only one with a name. I will miss his 'sucking' of the water and his impressions of a dolphin! Poor things. I hate to think they were mauled to death by something.

Testing

Testing testing.

For some reason my blog won't update using Mozilla Firefox but seems to now be working using Internet Explorer again. What is going on?!!!!!!!! Argh! Seems the frustration of this site may get the better of me and I'll move elsewhere like my mate Al did.

US of A (part 3)

Day 9, 10 & 11. At 9am we met up with Denis, the boss man of Water Planet who organises the swimming with wild dolphins. For a hour or so, he talked about his experiences, gave us loads of info about dolphins including dos and don'ts, and showed us photos. He started this project/business as like me, he hates seeing dolphins in captivity and said he couldn't even talk about it because it makes him angry. It's amazing from his stories how people can be so ignorant; one of the major problems is that due to the dolphins natural curiosity, they approach man and man thinks it must feed the animal . Once a wild animal gets used to man feeding it, it relies on it as a source and doesn't naturally hunt for itself. Wild dolphins can live up to 40/50 years but in captivity, the average age is just 20. The poor animal can't use its sonar in a pool and has to live in chlorinated water rather than salt water. It disgusts me. I detest animals being used for human pleasure.

There were four other people in our group: a family of three from Colorado and a French/Canadian lady. Also joining us were two young girl doing internships with the project.
Believe it or not, one of the them (Jess) was from Leigh On Sea and even more amazingly, works part time at Shoebury Leisure Centre which is literally round the corner from where we live! We hadn't met ANYone English prior to that point and then you meet someone who lives almost on your doorstep! The girls showed the others how to use masks and snorkels in the pool; John and I were fine as we'd done it many times before and John is in fact a qualified scuba diver.

At 1pm we went out for our first encounter. We didn't have to go far before we saw several dolphins swimming round some boats and very annoyingly the people on them were trying to encourage the dolphins to be petted and fed. ARGH! However, Denis gave the go ahead for us to get into the water. It was a delight to be so close to them. Despite it being a glorious day, the waves were enormous and it wasn't long before I became really really ill. I called John over and said I'd have to get onto land. We weren't too far from the beach so that's where we headed. There was no shade and he temperature was in the high 90s. I obviously had nothing with me coz it was all on the boat. Fortunately, there was a row of rocks close by and I managed to crawl underneath one to get into the shade. John swam back to the boat to get my glasses so I could at least see; also one of his shirts so I could cover my shoulders, and a bottle of water. I felt like I was dying - I've never felt so sea sick in all my life. The sessions were four hours so they would collect us at the end of it. I said to John that he may as well just leave me under my rock and go back to the boat but he didn't; instead he went for a snorkel near the rocks. I still felt dreadful when the boat came back for me, in fact it wasn't until about 8 o'clock that evening that the queasiness went away. A trip to the chemist was a must if I was going to be able to enjoy the next two days. I bought some motion/sea sickness tablets that were apparently 'less drowsy' - fingers crossed they would work.

On the second day I took a tablet one hour before we were due to leave. I woke up with a churning stomach as I was so worried that I would feel ill again. I needn't have worried though, I was fine. The dolphins were playing a little hard to get today and we made a detour to Shell Island for a short while, had a walk through the sand dunes and a quick dip in the sea. Meanwhile it started to thunder and once back on the boat it was clear we were heading into a rain storm. We turned around to avoid it and then stumbled across some dolphins. At last!
From then on, it was in out in out in out of the boat, in attempts to get ahead of the dolphins. They weren't too interested today and it was hard work but John did manage to get me in several photos right up beside one. We did get caught in the rain at one point - it was freezing! It was warmer in the sea. We were supposed to go out on a two-hour sunset cruise that evening but it was absolutely tipping down, so instead the 'gang' got together for a drink.

On the third day, the dolphins were hard to pin down again. Many of the ones we came across were feeding and therefore weren't curious by our boat. It seemed that each time we jumped into the water, they had moved further away. It was sod's law that the best day was the first day when I got ill and missed out. However, it is an experience I will never forget and one that I can cross off my 'to do' list.

As soon as the last session had finished, we went back to the hotel to take a shower and change at the poolside (as we'd already checked out) and then set off in the car again. The plan was to get to Pensacola by the evening, stay there the night, then drive the rest of the way to New Orleans the following day. However, it only took us an hour and a half to get there so we decided to keep going and make up some time - we had no itinerary for Pensacola anyway and it meant we could spend a little more time in New Orleans. We got all the way to the outskirts in good time but the road system was horrendous! Every time we spotted a hotel at the side of the expressway, we exited off but could never manage to actually get to the hotel due to the road system. John is usually ice cool but he was getting really annoyed. After what seemed like an age, we eventually managed to pull up outside a hotel. John went in to enquire about availability and cost - it was a massive $122 per night including tax. This would blow the budget but because of all the hassle, we decided to stay there.

Day 12. Firstly we headed to the Visitor Centre to look into somewhere to stay that night. The two ladies behind the counter were real dears, so friendly and helpful and kept throwing coupons our way. Would you believe it? A hotel right in the midst of the French Quarter for just $39 per night!!!!!!!!!! We could have stayed there three nights and still wouldn't have paid as much as we did the night before. Whilst we were there, we also booked a swamp tour for the following day.

So we headed out with a map exploring the French Quarter, which is the main tourist area of the city. Luckily, this part was untouched by hurricane Katrina. I instantly loved the place and the camera was happily snapping away. Later that day, we went to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, which funnily enough, didn't seem to be advertised anywhere. The only reason I knew about it was because I researched it on the internet before the trip. It was situated in a really strange place too, right at the end of a residential street outside the main part of the city. A tour of the warehouse started 15 minutes after we arrived and the first thing they allow you to do is dress up in costumes and take photos. Cool! I LOVE dressing up! After that they showed you a ten minute video of the history of Mardi Gras which was really interesting, followed by a tour of the warehouse where they store all the old floats, costumes and figures. It was great - a bit like being at Disneyland! Of course, I had my picture taken with all the kids' characters: Nemo, Mr & Mrs Potato Head from Toy Story and Donkey from Shrek. It was so colourful and fun - maybe one day I'll decide to grow up!

The happening place in the evening is Bourbon Street. It's full of restaurants, clubs and pubs with live music in nearly every venue. Not as much old jazz as I thought though - it was more of a variety of rock, country, pop, blues and jazz. We had a coupon for a restaurant where you buy one entree and get one free, so we headed there. I'm glad we did because the food and service were fantastic! I ordered crabcakes, mash potato and green beans in a crawfish sauce, which is soooo adventurous for me but it was absolutely delicious with lovely presentation. The best meal of the holiday.


Day 13. Today we went on the Honey Island swamp tour we had booked. I was a really enjoyable two hours, but for the group of American school kids who always had to talk over the guide when he was giving information. We saw numerous alligators, egrets, herons, turtles, and other types of bird. The guide tempted the gators with marsh mallows to get them closer to the boat. One of the large ones (15 foot long) was tempted with a hot dog sausage. He assured us that this would not be sufficient to make them rely on a human to feed them. Thank God for that, otherwise my principles would've gone right out of the window!

After lunch, we walked around the French Quarter again and wandered in and out of the shops.
There are such a variety here - all the posh antique shops seem to be in one street, the art galleries in another and so on. There are of course many souvenir shops as well. New Orleans is well known for voodoo and later on, we stopped by the Voodoo Museum. It was only a tiny little place with a hallway and two rooms but it was brimming with weird stuff. However, we did learn that contrary to what we believed, voodoo is not actually a sinister thing at all.

This evening's meal was a different story. Actually it wasn't the food, it was the service. We waited an age for our salad, and after we'd been there an hour, we were still waiting for our entrees. We complained but the waitress wasn't very good with people (we discovered she was from Bulgaria). After a few more minutes, a guy came over (possibly the boss) and explained that they were having problems with their gas, whereby it was really low and the food was taking ages to cook. He apologised and brought us over complimentory drinks. I was already tipsy from the melon daiquiri I was drinking so a second would have put me on the floor! Lord knows how much rum the barman was putting in the glass, and John had to help me out.

Day 14. We left New Orleans via the garden district which has some beautiful colonial houses, and took with us some good memories. I'm so glad we included it in our holiday - some people may have been put off that the hurricane was only last August but tourism is the biggest way to contribute to the rebuilding. On the pre-arranged itinerary was Oak Alley Plantation, northwest of New Orleans. It was quite a drive actually but well worth it. The house is set at the end of a tunnel of oak trees - the man who bought the land did so purely because of these trees and built a house for his wife there. The guides were dressed in 19th century costume and we snapped a photo of them in front of the house.

After a couple of hours, we were on the road again heading for Vicksburg to visit the large Civil Way Military Park there. We arrived at 4pm and thought it might be too late to go into the park but at the gate it said the park gates close a 7pm so that was perfect. Set in hundreds of acres, the park is kept pristeen and dotted around are all kinds of monuments dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the American Civil War battles which took place in those very spots.

Day 15. On the road again heading for Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. We exited off the main road and took the scenic route called the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is historically a route taken by the Natchez Indians. It was basically all trees until we reached Tupelo. Elvis's birthplace is free to visit (makes a change) and is just a tiny white shack. God knows how a family managed to live in it; there wasn't room to swing a cat! Of course, there was a tacky gift shop nearby and I decided to get the tee-shirt I saw at Graceland previously.

Our final night would be spent back in Memphis, ready for our flight back home the next day.
We had an mad idea to try and get a room at Heartbreak Hotel at the end of Lonely Street provided it cost no more than about £150. Unfortunately they only had a themed suite left which was $340, which was a bit excessive and would leave us with no money left whatsoever.
Never mind. We still took the necessary photos outside the hotel and underneath the Lonely St sign.

As I mentioned before, the only happening place in the city is Beale Street so that was our evening sorted. The place seemed even more 'buzzy' than before and to make it a memorable night, we decided to hit BB King's Blues Club. It was $5 each to cover the entertainment and we got there just at the right time to get ourselves a seat. We ordered food and drink before the band came on at 8:30. Apparently BB King himself makes the odd appearance but we we're THAT lucky! However, the music was great, especially when they played a couple of numbers which everyone knew, one of which was Soul Man. It was a great atmosphere and a nice end to a fun and varied holiday.

That's All Folks!!!

US of A (part 2)

Day 6. Well you can't come to Chattanooga and not see the choo-choos, now can you? We had the address but had trouble finding the location. Eventually we discovered that we'd gone passed it because the old railway station building had been converted into a Holiday Inn. The platforms, the traditional steam choo-choo and a couple of other trains were still there outside, at the back of the hotel. It was a lovely setting actually and my camera was happily snapping away.

Next on the agenda was Rock City. This was a beautiful setting also, up high on what they call 'Lookout Mountain'. Walkways wind around, up and down amongst plants and flowers, there was a bouncy rope bridge stretching across the canyon, tunnels, a pretty waterfall and a huge rock overlooking forest, from which you can see seven different states on a clear day.

Here endeth our itinerary for Chattanooga and we went on our way. Within a couple of hours, we arrived at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where we firstly stopped at the visitor centre the get a map. We were also advised to find somewhere to stay for the night outside the park before we went any further, which we did.

The first part of the Smokies (as they are affectionately called), was the Cades Cove area. Almost immediately, we spotted a black bear in the trees at the side of the road. What a good time for my camera to play up! ARGH! Somehow the setting had moved to 'automatic' instead of 'program' which meant that the flash kept popping up when I zoomed in to take the picture.
By the time John sussed what was happening, the bear had moved and the only shot I got was of his back half, with its head behind a tree trunk. Bloody typical! There was loads more wildlife in this area including several types of deer and wild turkeys.

We found a trail to a waterfall which indicated on the post that it was a 2.5 mile hike. We thought this meant it was a 2.5 mile round trip. Of course, we we wrong. We walked and walked and walked. We asked several people coming back how far it was to go and the news was never good. After what had seemed an age, we still hadn't go half way. Then the thunder started to rumble overhead. It was early evening already so on the advice of another hiker coming back, we decided t turn around. Bugger! What a waste of energy! Still, at least we saw some otters in the river a little earlier.

Later that evening we struggled to find somehere to eat along the road where we were staying, but did eventually decide on this little place which was empty. What they didn't tell us is that they were just about to close (9pm)! but being good American hosts, did not turn us away. We enjoyed a very nice meal: I had grilled catfish flavoured with spices and a little garlic with mash potato and sauteed green beans. John had a pot roast. The waitress had a great Southern drawl.

Day 7. Today we decided to do a hike to a waterfall which wasn't quite as far. Only a 2.3 miles round trip. We got there early as well so that it wasn't too hot and sweaty. It still still seemed a long way and when we got to the waterfall, it was pretty but not what you would call spectacular. I took shoes off to have my photo taken at the foot of the falls, as requested by John, and not realising how slippery the rocks were, promply went arse over tit in a classic 'You've Been Framed' moment!!! Fortunately, I somehow managed to fall forwards rather than backwards, so my shorts area did remain dry.

Following the may, we explored a road which lead to Clingman's Dome. We had no idea what it was but when we got there, it was just a lookout point over the mountains. However, as the cloud was so low (we were literally in them), there was absolutely no scenery to be had! A couple of other places we stopped at were Mingus Mill and the Mountain Farm Museum, before heading out of the National Park.

The town of Cherokee, famous for its native Indians was a coupld of miles down the road so we parked up to have a mooch around. After buying a couple of souvenirs, we enquired whether there was anywhere we could experience a Cherokee Indian reservation. We were told the only place that might interest us was the museum so we headed there. The museum included a tour of a reservation but it was now after 5pm and they were due to close. How annoying! There was no way we could stay and do it tomorrow and the schedule wouldn't allow it.

We continued on our way to try and get as far as possible that evening. We needed to be in Panama City Florida by the end of the next day as we had already had a hotel booked. We got all the way to Atlanta, which was good going and stopped around the southern outskirts to find somewhere to kip and eat. I was starving - it was after 9pm. I can't believe the place we ended up at but we were desperate. Despite it still costing $45, the room stunk of stale smoke, there were cigarette burns in the manky carpet, there was no plug in the sink and the paint was peeling off. BUT, at least the bed sheets, bath and toilet were clean. I could put up with it for one night, but I didn't sleep very well.

Day 8. Today involved a very long and tiring drive down to Panama City beach, Florida, which is on the Gulf Coast. When we got there we found it hard to find our hotel and John was forced to ask twice where it was. After settling in I unpacked my suitcase for the first time this trip. Most hotel rooms have an iron and board so I took the chance to give my clothes a going over. The rest of the day, we checked the area out, went down to the beach for a paddle and went out for a meal in the evening. Being a Saturday it was absolutely packed everywhere, and you had to queue to get into a restaurant.

US of A (part 1)

Pardon the delay - it's been a hectic week and weekend trying to catch up with housework, sorting though our photos, tidying the garden, shopping and organising my Dad's party which is next Sunday. I'm knackered; I've hardly sat down the last couple of days.

So, the holiday....

Day 1. Arrived at our hotel in Memphis, Tennessee some time during the evening. Went out for something to eat, then retired to bed.

Day 2. Already pre-booked a tour of Graceland so that's the first thing we did. Still had to wait over an hour as it's so busy, so John and I bought a few souvenirs in the shop. The tour was really good although in my opinion there are too many people in the house at the same time. There are some really cool rooms and quite quirky ones too. The house it not as big as people think, in fact it's extremely modest considering what a superstar Elvis was. In fact, I can't think of ANYone who is MORE famous than Elvis. Maybe just Jesus Christ??? It was quite emotional seeing Elvis' grave but it does look beautiful. He is buried next to his parents and grandmother.

As well as the house itself, there is an Elvis car museum across the road, and you can also board his private jet called 'Lisa Marie'.

I have a far bigger appreciation for the man now I have seen his house and learned more about his life. I think the fact that he was such a down to earth, approachable and generous man makes him all the more special. It's such a tragedy he died so young. Just imagine what it would have been like to be at one of his concerts. WOW!

After the Graceland experience, we headed for the famous Sun Studios where a young Elvis recorded his early work. We learned how the studios were facing bankruptcy and so had to sell Elvis to RCA to make enough money to survive. From what I recall, they pocketed a mere $35,000. Yes it may have been a lot of money then, but just think how much they would have made if they'd kept him!! It goes without saying that many other big named artists recorded there, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, BB King, Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins and more recently, U2. We had the opportunity to pose for photos with Elvis' microphone, the actual one he was licking in the photo on the wall! It was a really interesting tour and the guide was good at telling the stories.

With still a few hours left of the day (yes we did cram a lot in), we visited the location where Martin Luther King was assassinated. What was then the Lorraine Motel, they have retained the frontage of the building as it was, and with the same two cars which were parked outside. The back of the building has been converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. A wreath is present on the balcony in the spot that he was shot. Opposite is the building where James Earl Ray pulled the trigger from a partially opened window. This is also accessible to the public and they've recreated the room as it was - basically a shithole with a manky loo and bed!

On our way back to our accommodation, we stopped at Peabody Hotel (very posh) where they have residential ducks. Yes, ducks! Every day at 11am they come down from their penthouse and swim about in the lobby fountain . At 5pm the red carpet comes out and they return in procession to the rooftop. It was just a fleeting visit but you've got do it haven't you?!

Late afternoon and we planned to go over to Mud Island to see the Memphis Belle. However, we ended up going round and round trying to find out where you've gotta go to get on the tram thingy across the water. We went into the nearby Visitor Centre and discovered the last one was going across at 6pm and it was now 5:55! So that was a no-no.

There's only one place to go in the evening - Beale Street! It is mad and just crammed with people, mainly tourists I presume. Full of shops, restaurants, clubs, pubs, street performers and bright lights. After walking up and down, we stopped somewhere to eat. As it turned out, not a brilliant choice - the place was half dead, the waitress had no personality and they seemed to out of half the stuff on the menu. We then waited an age to get our meals with very little in the way of an apology - very unAmerican-like!

Day 3. On our drive out of the city, we passed the pyramid building which has the distinction of being the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. Standing 32 stories tall, its base would cover six football pitches.

Three hours on the road and we arrived at our next destination: Nashville, Tennessee.

It was extremely hot - over 100 degrees (as it was in Memphis) and any walking outside is a struggle. Therefore our late afternoon visits were limited to the State Capitol Building, and the nearby Korean and Vietnam War memorials.

The evening took us to Broadway, the most lively street there appeared to be in Nashville - not a patch on Memphis I must say! We found a bar which did food and also had some entertainment. I'm not a country music fan (except for a handful of particular songs) but this duo was pretty good and I found myself tapping my feet. John, however, LOVES country music, so it was more his cuppa tea.

Day 4. Seeing as Nashville is the country music capitol of the States, I suppose we couldn't not go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a complete history of how country music started, right back to the 19th century. Relating to more recent times, there was a Ray Charles exhibition and more of Elvis' possessions such as is gold piano and another one of his cars. There was the option of also doing a tour of RCA Studio B so we took advantage of that, particularly as we enjoyed Sun Studios so much. RCA wasn't quite as good, although we did get a chance to sit at Elvis' piano and I also sat in his favourite red chair. Cool!

Later we went to Centennial Park where they have a life-size replica of the Parthenon. This was just for a few snapshots, although I was more wrapped up in a couple of squirrels playing hide and seek round the truck of a tree!

Another driving session and we arrived at Huntsville, Alabama. It was 4pm when we stopped at the US Space and Rocket Centre - unfortunately it was due to close at 5pm so we only had a hour to get around, and at $18 each, it was quite a pricey hour! Even though I'm not into science in a big way, I do find space interesting and it was really enjoyable.

Day 5. My pre-arranged itinerary was going to plan so far, but went a little wrong after arriving at the Wheeler Wildlife Reserve just before 9am. What I had overlooked is that all the migratory birds come here for the winter, and as it was the middle of summer, there wasn't much wildlife to enjoy. After a short nature walk, where we only spotted a bug, a couple of small birds and a butterfly, we went on our way!

Forty minutes outside Huntsville, there were some highly rated caves called Cathedrals Caverns. We took in the tour and it was well worth it. I've been in a lot of caves in my life but these were probably the most spectacular, sporting four world records: the largest entrance, the largest stalagmite, the largest stalagmite forest and the largest frozen waterfall. The main 'hall' where it got its name 'cathedral' was awesome (say it in an American accent and you get my point). However, you couldn't capture it in photo form what you were actually seeing with your own eyes.

Onwards and after another drive, we arrived in Chattanooga, home of he choo-choos! There is a few touristy things to do here, and we decided to pay for an all in one ticket to participate in their main three attractions: Rock City, Incline Railway and Ruby Falls. It was already 3pm so there wasn't enough time to do everything that day. A tour of Ruby Falls was about to leave so we decided to go for that first. Two lots of caves in one day! However, these ones were completed different - the walk through was nowhere near as fantastic as Cathedral Caverns and it was particularly annoying that they decided to take everyone's photograph (with a view to selling them later) which meant we all had to wait ages before we got going. The end result was quite something though. First you hear water getting louder and louder but you can't see it. Then the guide turns on the coloured lights and then such a pretty sight is before you! A stream of water falls from the roof of the cavern 145 feet above into a pool. The falls were named after the wife of the man who discovered the cave.

We just had time to take the mile ride up the mountain on the Incline Railway. This is the world's steepest passenger railway: the final stretch to the top is on a gradient of 72.7%. The views from the top are great, although it was very hazy this particular day. What we didn't realise that on the way from Memphis over to Chattanooga, we lost an hour in time - we had crossed from Central time to Eastern time and it was now 7pm as opposed to 6pm. Doh!

Back home again (poo!)

Just a quickie. Arrived home yesterday - had a good time in the States and it was really varied with visits to cities, the beach and the mountains. It was so so hot though - America was having a heatwave too, even in the north it was reaching a 100 degrees or more. Haven't had time to sort through any photos yet, of which there must be a couple of thousand. Been busy unpacking, doing washing, ironing, food shopping and also rather sadly, watching the last two week's worth of Big Brother, which my very good mate Al taped for me! I forgot to tape last night's for myself coz I was dropping off with tiredness but I'm now watching the end of tonight's, so I'm up to date.

Once I'm into the swing of things, I'll write a full report of the holiday. But for now, I've got work to look forward to tomorrow (groan), so I'd better get myself to bed pretty soon.

Bye for now.