November 22, 2009 · 1 Comment
I think it was the driving last week that rendered my neck unable to flex very much right and not at all left. And in fact it was probably not the driving alone but the number of pillows to which I rested my head. The up shot being a massage last night to solve the stiffness. You will all be pleased to hear, I am certain, that I can now flex and bend, twist and turn my neck again – well until I get to work and realise how much work is to be done! No doubt my shoulders will spring up to my ears in no time!
So whi
le the massage was effective it has to be said that it was equally weird. The fellow who does it is a middle aged man from India – he is raved about on the internet so at no time did I feel unsafe but goodness it was funny. He has his massage table set up in the basement of the health food shop, where there is a bare neon light, a fan heater and 3 rather grim chairs. And the most enormous stack of mags in the corner – all of which have an article about him in. Well that is what he says and I wasn’t about to challenge him. So while I don’t like the massage places that make you feel in some way inferior a little less rust on the light fitting may not be a bad idea!
We have a little conversation to start with and he explained the process. Popped out and let me get changed. The first step was the brushing. I am not adverse to a bit of exfoliation but this guy uses a horse brush! And in fact I now have my very own to use at home (part of the deal). Apparently it stimulates the lymph – I think it just scratches your nerve endings. None the less once fully scratched, the massage began. And my goodness there was a lot of huffing and puffing. I mean a LOT. So while I acknowledge I am not slight and waif like, I am also not a 6foot rugby player! However the funniest moment was when he jumped onto the bed, stood over me and then pummeled my back. Together with the huffing and puffing it was a little …. odd …..
It all finished with an Indian head massage. Which involved scratching, rubbing, massaging my scalp with coconut oil. I was mighty pleased that I hadn’t washed my hair.
The outcome of his efforts was a well oiled cervical spine and upper thoracic, but also a well oiled head which made me quite the strangest looking woman on the tube at 7.30pm on a Saturday night. And that is no mean feat!
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: indian head massage, life, massage, travel
November 21, 2009 · 1 Comment
Italians are just a little bit bonkers on the roads.
This will not come as a surprise to many but it did to me. It is not so much that the are angry, raged drivers but they drive really, really, really fast and come within an inch of your bumper to let you know that – well – that doing the speed limit is just a tad too slow.
Wise or not, I was the driver for a week or so on our jaunt from Venice-Spoleto-Orvieto-Casperia-Siena-Florence. The wisdom of the decision to have me as the driver was interesting…. I drive once a year and mainly on the left sid
e of the road! But hey we had a laugh and I only crossed to the wrong side. Of course it was ever so unlucky that it was under the wise eyes of the Caberneri! Excellent.
We did invest in a GPS – when you a hire a car you no longer get a handy map – so it is either trust the signs (sometimes a leap when your language skills don’t extend beyond, hello, goodbye and please) or get a little black box that tells you when to turn left, right or go straight on in a calm, clear voice.
You can choose who you would like as a voice – you can have English Tim or Irish Sean for instance. In the most part Sean was a certain help. Well .. with a few notable exception. He went through a period of extreme optimism he thought that our Fiat Punto had some how morphed into a 4-wheel drive and would be able to drive into a gully with super steep sides, through a creek and up the other side , there were also the right hand turns that were in fact the tightest of hairpin turns and the one way street that would have preferred us to be facing in the other direction!
None the less it would seem we survived. the car was not scratched and we did see some gorgeous and beautiful places.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: gps, hire car, Holiday, italy, life, london, tom tom, travel
One of the major themes of the last 2 weeks has been food. And boy did we explore this aspect of Italian life. It is a complete mystery to me how the women manage to stay so thin!
I mean…. espresso….. pasta…..gelato…risotto…. pizza…. not to mention Tiramisu, panacotta and did I mention the pasta! My jeans are definitely going to be super tight, may have to stick to dresses for the next few weeks while I pound the pavements for a little bit.
We managed to travel from Venice to Rome and each place we stayed had a specialty of which they were very proud. Although possibly the greatest foody excess was in Casperia. Casperia is a hill village made up of cobbled streets, no cars (although I think there were Donkeys at some point in their 1000 year history) and is just as mystical
as the name suggests. And it was here that we did a cooking course and met some truly hospital people. – one day at Gusto Burgo and one at the place we were staying La Torretta . We learn’t how to make multitudes of pasta, panacotta, Tiramisu … among multitudes of other high calorie, high carbohydrate dishes…. What surprised me is that really the ingredients are so simple just combined in a way that makes them irresistible. I can completely understand how it is that people become so impassioned by the Italian view on food.
After two weeks though it has been lovely to have a piece of Vegemite toast and a dsah a coffee from breaky this morning.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: cooking course in italy, food, italy, la torretta, life, travel
So – it has been an age since I have blogged. Mainly because I have been swanning about Italy for the past 2 weeks. I am back – slightly tanned and ever so slightly more weighty than when I left and am now going to try and catch you up on the life and times of me!
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: Holiday, italy, life, travel
Last night was the 31st October, and boy what a scene it was on the streets of London. The tube was full to the brim with vampires, witches, fake blood…. but here is the curious thing. Are all female ghosts, witches, spacemen short-skirt wearing, fish net stocking clad people? It is like Halloween is the chance to wear your skirt up to your k
nickers, your top so low there is not a lot left to anyone’s imagination! You don’t see the same in the fellas – no tops off – they seem to relish in lots of make up and props.
It did all make for an entertaining tube ride – although all were looking so much more convincing on the ride home after a few drinks!
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, halloween, life, london
So the Royal Mail is striking again. Unsurprising. The royal mail striking on a Friday and a Monday is also … unsurprising! It would seem that most strikes (could be my biased memory cells of course) seem to happen on a Friday or a Monday.
Not often is there a strike on a Tuesday for instance….
If the tube goes on strike – rarely in winter, often in summer… well unless it is just before Christmas…. which is of course the popular time for some Airport unions to go on strike…. given the high number of travellers at this time it is certainly the optimal time for baggage handlers to down tools.
I must say the predictability of these unions to go on strike be it Christmas, summer or on a Friday does little for the small amount of sympathy I can muster to their cause. And I just don’t understand how they think inconveniencing the customer is going to galvanise us into supporting their demands. Hospitals that hugely dependent on the post to remind patients of appointments are having enormous problems, patients are missing appointments…… hard to imagine much sympathy there!
At home I haven’t really noticed that I don’t get post regularly. The internet has meant I can pay bills, communicate without the need for a stamp (which I can only ever by between 9-12 on a Saturday).
So really maybe it is time to change the Royal Mail. Get rid of the two class of stamps (this still amazes me! Only the UK could have a classiest post system), nobody really needs post on a Saturday, for those that are tech savvy switch to email bills (saves paper which has got to be good) ….. so if you haven’t already guessed the strike next week is going to have little or no effect on me, nor does it make me feel great sympathy for the workers, and if they are not careful the customers for whom they are claiming to help will have find alternative means of communication which lead to the redundancy of the very institution they are claiming to save.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australian, life, london, royal mail, strike, unions
So I have been meeting with some lovely women from the MBA every quarter for the past year – so I suppose this was our AGM in fact – a stupid MBA joke I am sure.
And with each weekend we have caught up with each other over coffee, shoes and generally vast amounts of food, occasionally with a pedicure. 
Milan was no different, from Paris, Amsterdam or Barcelona. Lovely fun, good chats. Things have changed over the last year – some are pregnant, some have landed dream jobs, in dream cities, some had the dream job and still love it. Then there is me who seems to have no real clue but with things turning out okay anyway. Lucky!
One of the girls is a Milanese girl – so it was lovely to see her home town. It is an odd city. Lots of grunge, graffiti and lovely shops, great gelato and pasta of course. All quite contradictory and not at all like the other major Italian city’s. It all seemed very workable. Well except for the rather crazy parking. I mean people just seem to stop at any old angle, take the key out of the ignition and call the car parked!
The only sacrifice to tourism was the trip up the very spiky Duomo. You can go right up onto the roof which is made of Marble – impressive! And the view is quite spectacular as the sun sets across the skyline.
So I had a lovely weekend with the girls.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: girls weekend, life, london, MBA, milan, travel
The weekend zipped past in a flash – well there are not many that don’t at the moment! What marks the last few days remarkable is that I have been bumping into my past at a rather rapid rate.
On Saturday I went along to a friends for dinner and along the dinner table were people I had only seen once in the last 20 years. I felt quite anxious – but it was completely delightful to see the group of boys, their wives and in some cases their little people. The dinner itself was great in such a suprising location – the hosts new business is a laundromatt and that is where we ate, drank and became a little bit merry!
Last night I had a lovely dinner with a Sydney-Physio buddy who I had not seen for 6 years or possibly more! Goodness I felt completely out of the loop as he talked me through wedding photos, peoples expanding family’s and careers that are ticking over. And no I had no desire to be back in the Physio world! However, gorgeous to hear the news. 
The final moment in memory lane arrived in the post (a miracle since the Royal Mail seems to be forever on strike)- a book of girls from my schools 20 year reunion. It was both curious to see that everyone defined themselves by family, children, husbands. Although it is probably me reading into things!
All this looking back is interesting but really it is a bit like wearing slippers, they are super comfy but really you don’t wear them very exciting!
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: friends, life, london, memory lane, old friends
The quirks of the English language are many. Even for those who have it as their only language, it can be truly confusing. I had trouble at school wit
h there, their and they’re, then of course where, wear and we’re all sounding the same but with completely different meanings and spellings. Joy!
I am clearly not the first to pondering the idiosyncrasies of the English Language….. check out the joys of Abbot and Costello’s Whos on First…
So the confusion that has occurred for me is: when is next week? Imagine it is Saturday……….. next Thursday is the first Thursday you come across, then at some point it becomes this Thursday, and next Thursday the one after. And clearly this will at some point become this Thursday – probably once you pass the first Thursday, which will of course have by then have become last Thursday!
Another quirk. Consider ‘next week’. When does it begin and end? Does it become this week once you hit Monday?
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, english language, life, london
Today I have been sick. Poor me! And I have the perfect word to describe it…. Poorly
It is a distinctly British word that covers those days where you are not properly-vomity sick but sick enough to have a bit of gastro, not to eat and to curl up on the sofa with a hot water bottle and a blanket!
Tomorrow will be another day…..
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, life, london, poorly
