One minute reprimand

Text message conversation between Paul and I after I got home on Monday night to find an empty jar of Nutella in the sink with tell-tale signs of having been eaten with a spoon (as opposed to spread on toast).

M: "Excuse me, but did you eat the entire jar of Nutella?"

P: "No! Well ... Yes. It was a moment of weakness ... Prince of Tides was on ... "Lowenstein ..."

M: "That was full! That's really bad. And you wonder why Nutella isn't ever on my shopping list. But ... hey, I'm so pleased that I have a man whose moment of weakness is a jar of Nutella and Prince of Tides. There are so many other moments of weakness you could expose yourself to ..."

He didn't respond to this last text message. I bumped into him on MSN later and asked whether he disliked my comment about moments of weakness as I thought it was funny/cute.

He replied by saying that it was funny/cute but as the beginning was bad he didn't respond so well.

Mel says, "The beginning was a one minute reprimand. Then it ends in how fabulous I think you are."

Paul says, " That is really funny. Almost makes me want to cease retaliating."


Can't half tell that we've both just read "One Minute Manager."

We are lame!

Our mission ... should we choose to accept it

With the exception of our ski trip, we've been particularly lazy of late. Our weekends have been consisting of ambling out of bed much later than we would like, sitting in front of a computer screen for more hours during the day than we would like, washing, hanging and folding more clothes than I ever would have liked, staring at the television for far too many hours, procrastinating for far too long before we decide we're actually going to leave the house and do something for the day only to find ourselves out somewhere (not particularly anywhere of note) wandering around wondering what to do. We have managed to get some running in which has been good and a few movies and restaurants ... but that's about it. Weekends come and weekends go. All too fast, yet all too slow for my liking.

Around this time last year Paul and I had the perfect weekend routine happening. One day would be just him and I together - walking, sightseeing, discovering, taking photos, eating out, indulging etc and the other day we would do our own thing. This could be for Paul; playing music, tinkering on his laptop, watching endless episodes of Star Trek, going to the gym, window-shopping and for me it would be; walking, photography, cycling, shopping, meeting up with friends, blogging and cooking ... lots and lots of cooking. It was perfect harmony, like ying and yang, two peas in a pod yada yada yada.

For various reasons our applecart is upset. So this morning (after waking up far too late again) we gave ourselves a challenge. A mission ... should we choose to accept it. That mission was to write down a list of 10 things to do in London ... and do them gosh darn it. Just do them! Simple. Right? We'll see.

So this list of top 10 things are (in no particular order)


Madame Tussauds
London Zoo
London Eye
Windsor Castle
Bluewater Shopping Centre
Kew Gardens
Billy Elliott @ the Theatre
Cycle along the Thames
London Dungeon
Go to a concert

For those who live here, or have visited London, feel free to add some suggestions to our mission. We're open to them.

To Florence for a P

Well, not quite, but almost!

Budget airlines are really big here and a couple of days ago Ryanair announced flights for 1p. Of course, the obligatory tax and levies were to be added on top of that, but given that these only equate to approximately £20 at the most that's a pretty cheap flight!

As timing would have it KW confirmed her itinerary with me for her and her new (new to me, not so new to her anymore) beau's OS holiday. What a perfect opportunity to 1. take advantage of fantastic airfare prices, 2. catch up with the delectable Miss KW and 3. check out the new beau who seems to have swept the Delectable One off her feet.

So on 1st March I'm flying into Florence, meeting The DO and the NB the following day, catching a train up to the DO's Dad's rented villa in a village near Florence for the evening and then training it again up to Milan for two nights where the DO and her NB are off to catch some sporting action and I'm off to catch some action of the shopping kind. All at the remarkable price of approximately £48.00. Train fares and accommodation not included.

I totally disagree with anyone who says living in London is expensive.

The 4 S's

Sun. Ski. Snow. Saucisson.

That's French for sausage.

Sausage rolls in France are different to the sausage rolls I'm used to. They're pretty much just some flaky pastry (think croissant) wrapped around a hotdog type sausage. I think I prefer the English version with it's big fat lump of sausage (sic) meat encased in not so flaky pastry.

Seven days of sun, ski and snow can really take it's toll on you. Our holiday was exhausting. But ... fun. We had a fantastic time. As we were in the South of France the sunshine was spectacular yet, we were lucky enough to still have a reasonable ground cover of snow. It didn't snow once whilst we were there - actually, I can barely remember seeing a cloud in the sky the entire time, but with a big dump prior to our arrival and the snow cannons working overtime in the night the snow did manage to hold up quite well for the full 7 days.

A typical day for us started with an 8am breakfast and then a 9:30am ski lesson (Paul in beginner, me in intermediate - but he quickly caught up!). Then if Paul's legs held up he'd come and do some extra hours on the slopes with me from 11:30am. Lunch, then maybe another ski, maybe not, 4pm obligatory snooze, pre-dinner drinks at 7pm, dinner at 7:30pm and then apres ski activities in the evening (generally organised by the rep that was looking after our group).

We met some great people and had a lot of good laughs. I am pleased to say that I'm very confident on blue runs now and getting there on the red runs (sometimes!). Paul started as a beginner but due to either a really really good ski instructor - or just sheer talent (I can't decide) he's managing to keep up with me pretty easily on the slopes.

Montgenevre is gorgeous. A picture perfect snow resort with imposing mountains looming behind a snowpacked playground and a cluster of old and new chalets and hotels, a good range of beginner and intermediate ski runs and some great off piste skiing as well, (or so I'm told by our new friends Jeremy and Helen - crazy snowboarders from Devon who jump over creeks and logs and hoon down black runs like they are tiny anthills). The village is really small and all of the village shopkeepers are charming and lovely and have the patience of saints when it comes to dealing with the non-French speakers like us.

There are a bevy of great bars and restaurants to choose from and it's just a short 2km stroll through gorgeous snowcovered parkland into Italy (and the village of Claviere).

We managed to take some nice photos so here's a link for your viewing pleasure. If I can work out how to load a video clip the next entry will be of me and my new-found-friend-Helen daggy dancing to a song from the Blues Brothers whilst out on one of our evening excursions.

Enjoy!