Wasn’t sure exactly what was meant to be happening today other than doing the same sort of run we did yesterday and go to a market, though no one really confirmed it.. Was up early again to make sure we were ready for what ever we were up to. We were soon joined the rest of team cheapskate down in the bar.. no one else appeared though and we soon found out why, they had all decided to be ready for 10am and not earlier like we were We didn’t really want to wait around for ages for them, and in particular do the same drive we did yesterday, so we decided we would do something of our own and then meet up with them all later that day.. Paul decided to see what was around so had a look with sat nav and found a few mountain passes near, so we all thought we’d go and explore! We found some amazing roads, wish I had the opportunity to drive on them, Matt drove the entire weekend! Though to be fair I was a little scared about driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road Still I was able to get the pics!

We continued on our little adventure into a near by town. We were quite happily driving along until we encountered a hail storm! It came down like it was snowing expect it wasn’t snow Lasted ages too!! We were trying to drive up this hill, but we got stopped by the French car in front of us struggling to get up the hill! The car moved forward a little then rolled back a lot more than it was going forward!! Luckily we were able to turn around before the car came any further towards us! We gradually made it down the hill, but then got stuck with all these other cars.. Chris and Jax, Paul and Simon managed to get down to the bottom ok and get away from all the other cars. We eventually made it out and drove a little way down the road and the entire place was clear of hail!! Unbelievable!

After our very brief stop, we climbed back into the cars and drove some more to find the next pass which wasn’t too far away. The weather was still playing around and not wanting to behave, as it started snowing

                       

After that final pass, we decided to head to to the town where everyone else was meant to have been. It was still snowing when we got there, so wanted to find somewhere inside we could sit for a while and have something to eat. Chris and Jax wanted to go somewhere where they could have muscles for lunch - yuk!!!

    

We tired to find where everyone else was but they had moved on.. So we decided to head over to the market on the other side of the river. It was a medievil marketwhich was quite interesting. There was meant to have been more there, but a lot of them had packed up and left as the weather wasn’t the greatest.. After wondering around several times it was time to head back to the hotel and see if the others were there..

Pics on the way back and at the hotel..

                                

The plan for this evening was a picnic in Stu and Alex’s hotel room We all gathered around there for 5:30 with all our food and drink, although we quickly dicovered there wasn’t enough room for everyone in the lounge area!!Ray then had the idea that we use his and Gails room, as it was a lot bigger and had seats for everyone, no one would need to sit on the floor like the other place We all grabbed what we could and wondered down the corridor to their room.. it was huge!! Plenty of space for everyone! Music was put on, and the party started again, loads of chatting and loads of laughter! It was soon time for Chris to start to annual French Weekender Quiz We all teamed up in pairs and have to answer 20 questions to do with driving and MINIs Was good fun, we didn’t win though Paul and Simon did, though they had an advantage as all the questions asked about BMW or MINI Simon was bound to know as he used to work for them! After the quiz we all carried on with drinking and eating and having a laugh until it was getting rather late..

Pics from the party..

                            

The final early start of the weekend.. had to get up very early to get ready and pack everything up. Had a shock when we lookced out the window at the cars parked down below in the courtyard.. it had snowed over night and had covered the cars in a nice layer of thick snow Funny thing was, there was no snow around the cars on the ground, like the snow had decided to only land on the cars

           

We all gathered out by the cars and packed everything up. I had al ittle snow ball fight with Paul which was fun! I got him in the ear with a snow ball, yet he was unable to hit me with one! Teehee! Spaci was one of the first to leave as he had to travel back to Switzerland.. so we all said our goodbyes before he went off and we began our jounrey back to the Ferry terminal. Everyone had stopped for fuel but Matt and Chris and Jax decided we would carry on without the others and just take our time on the way back. Paul and Simon had been trying to catch us up and find us but we’d gone a dfferent way to everyone else.. We got to the terminal with loads of time left to spare so we decided to go to Cite Europe for food and for shopping. While we were there, Paul and Simon turned up to find us and told us they had also gone a different way to all the others as they had all been speeding off, which is what Paul didn’t want to do.. Though thanks to the others, Paul got stopped by the Police 2 times within several minutes as there had been a reported of red MINIs speeding!! Paul wasn’t very happy!! Not surprised really!

Once we were fed and finsihed with our shopping, we continued driving to the final stop.. the ferry terminal. When we arrived there, we found all the others just getting there too, though we had time to shop before hand

We didn’t have long until we were boarding the ferry for our hour long crossing.. It was sad to be leaving France after such a fantastic weekend, and sad to be saying good bye to the people we went with.. still shouldn’t be too long and we’ll see the majority of them all again! And I’m almost certain there will be a French Weekender IV, which we will be going on I’m sure! :p

Pics from the final day..

                                      

And finally, a pic of everyone who attended the French Weekender and made it a fantastic weekend!

  

A MINI adventure with great friends in France - THE END!

Saturday morning was a very early start! The alarm was set for 7:30 which was really 6:30 proper time Got ourselves ready and headed down stairs to the cars to meet everyone. Today was the day of the photo competition which had been set up by Andy and Natalie. It was called Canine Capers. We were given a sheet with places we were meant to be visiting on the day, and while we were there, we had to take a photo. The list of photos we had to take were dog related - French Poodle, British Bulldog, Wolfs Lair, Pit of the Dog and Dogs Dinner.. This may sound simple enough, but coming up with ideas for these pictures was really hard!!

We were all meant to have downloaded the TomTom itinerary files to go to the places on the sheet, Matt hadn’t done this so we had to team up with someone else who had a TomTom with the files on them.. Chris and Jax asked us if we fancied teaming up with them, they weren’t taking part in the competition but were going along for the ride. It was set out a bit like the Italian Job, where we were all given a time slot to leave the hotel and start our journey, we were given the countdown, and then we were off

Once we were on our way, we were soon caught up by Paul and Simon. Team cheapskate - as Simon liked to call us, all together for the day! Very pretty good fun! Plenty of random and funny banter on the radios on our trips out and about

Our first stop was mean to have been a rather cool looking castle, but Chris and Jax’s sat nav went very wrong and took us through a tunnel and the castle and away from it instead of around it to park up and explore After much debating about turning round and going back, we decided we should just carry on - seeing as we getting further and further away from the castle! We crossed the border into Belgium and decided to find somewhere to have a snack - it mainly for Jamie as apparently he had to be fed every hour! Mad kid!! We found a nice little cafe where we all had drinks and Jamie had a cheese toastie whilst sitting there drinking away, we were trying to figure out how and where we were going to get pics for the photo competition.. someone up there must have been listening to our conversation, as at that moment, a woman came in with a French poodle!! That was picture number one sorted!! What was even better was that she sat down and started to feed the dog! Dogs dinner pic sorted!! Now for the rest..

After our little stop, we then carried on with the route. The roads we drove around on were amazing, bendy twisty roads, perfect for a MINI adventure! Although one road we did encounter, none of us were too keen on, very narrow and full of very deep potholes! That didn’t stop us with out adventure though! Our next stop and final stop was Hitlers Bunker - I believe that’s what it’s called! Seeing as we never got a chance to explore the first place, we decide it was only right to explore this place. There wasn’t a huge amount too it so it didn’t take us long to explore We wondered into one under ground room which is where Hilter would have slept.. I was one of the last people to go in there and I soon as I entered I screamed the place down!! Jamie had hidden behind the door and decided to jump out in front of me and scare the crap out of me!! Everyone of course laughed at me! Matt came up with a strange idea for the Pit of the Dog photo. He asked Jax to lie down on one of the benches in the room we were in so he could get a pic of it.. not sure what he was trying to say about Jax!!

That was the end of the route and supposedly the end of the photo competition.. it was still quite early so we gradually made our way back but stopped off at a maccy D’s on the way back for a late lunch and then to the super market next door to get breakfast for the next day On our way in, we had noticed a MINI dealership close by, so after we were finished in the super market we decided to pay a visit to the dealership It was very unlike the ones in the UK.. no one wanted to come over and see if we needed any help - I know we were the foreigners but still All the people working were sat around in an office not paying any attention to what was going on in the show room! I found some really cool looking cans which looked like soft drinks cans, but had MINI UP printed on the front of them, one can for each model of MINI.. no idea what exactly that were advertising, the can had paper inside it, but of course, I can’t read it! I decided I wanted one, so Matt nabbed a couple for us to keep as the cans look very cool! It was then time to head back to the hotel and meet up with everyone else. We were the first ones back so we went back to our rooms and waited.. though I hung out the window and watched for them all They eventually turned up and we all met up downstairs at the bar.. Andy got his laptop set up so we could all load our pics onto it ready for judging the competition.. We didn’t win Doesn’t matter, the pics that other people had taken were far better than what we came up with.. although to be fair, I think the majority of them cheated as they all somehow managed to have either a toy bulldog or a keyring of a bulldog! Cheats!!

That evening we were all meant to be having a meal together, but the place we were going to eat had a problem with us all eating there, we had to all have the same meal which was odd.. It was then decided that we would go for a meal else where.. Most people wanted to go to a beer place which wasn’t a place i wanted to go to, and thankfully, team cheapskate felt the same too so we decided to find somewhere else to eat After ages of searching we came across a nice Italian place which was fine for me! Had a really nice evening with everyone, lots of chat and laughter!

Pics from the day

                                              

I’ve not been on a French Weekender since 2006, as the one that was arranged last year, both myself and Matt weren’t able to attend as we had both purchased our new MINIs. So after a year of getting money sorted, we were able to book up for this years one

The adventure started after work last Thursday.. I was able to leave work early (despite having loads more work to do) so I could get back and finish packing. Matt turned up soon after I got home and we started packing my things in the car - I didn’t pack light! We had arranged to meet the majority of the weekenders at a Harvester not far away from the ferry terminal, so we could have a bite to eat and a chat before leaving. We were the second car there, after Stu and Alex. Going on what we were like the first time with food on the French Weekend, we had decided to nip to a super market after dinner to buy loads of supplies for the weekend, plenty of drink, chocolate, biscuits, crisps etc

We met everyone back at the Harvester for more drinks before deciding it was time to head for the Ferry. When we arrived, we had to wait a little while before we were allowed to board, so we stood around in the cold chatting Eventually we made it on. Myself and Matt couldn’t park with the others as there was no room so we were instructed to go and park in front of all the lorries - surprisingly there was just enough room for a MINI right at the front of the ferry We grabbed all the things we might need for the ferry and went to check in and leave our stuff in the cabin. I wasn’t impressed with the cabin we were given.. we had 4 beds and no little bathroom, we had to used to shared one just down the corridor! hmmmmm! We then went off to meet everyone else in the pub for drinks and chats about the weekend ahead. While we were there we found that Ray, Gail and their grand daughter had been given a 2 bed cabin, so we decided to swap.. no point in us having a 4 bed one for just 2 of us! I was very glad we did though, we got our own bathroom! Bit small but I didn’t mind! With it nearly 1am, we all decided it was time to head off to our cabins and try and get some sleep ready for the driving tomorrow..

Didn’t get a lot of sleep that night, being on the ferry didn’t seem right Also didn’t help that when I did get to sleep, I was woken up by the captain saying that we were an hour away from docking, so we had to get up and ready.. As soon as we were ready we gathered by the stairwells until we allowed down onto the car decks to get into the car. We were first off, coz of where we were parked Pulled into a car park near the exit of the terminal so we could all meet together before convoying off to find breakfast

Pics after getting off the ferry..

Once we were all together, we then began driving to find somewhere we could have breakfast. Getting through Le Havre was interesting as it was rush hour, took a while before we were able to get out and start the proper driving. We soon found somewhere to stop and have some breakfast. I felt very embarrassed ordering our food as I’m not the best of french speakers, though I managed to say what I wanted, just couldn’t understand what she was saying to me..! I really should learn French for the next time I’m over there!

After filling our rumbling tummies with food, we hit the road again and made our journey to meet Chris, Jax, Paul and Simon who had gotten the speed ferry earlier that morning. We all somehow managed to get split up on the way to meet them and myself and Matt were the first ones there at the car park to meet the others who were already there waiting for us to show up Soon enough, everyone else began to show up.. we all gathered round our cars to get more pics before heading off in separate directions to lunch. we ended up staying with Chris and Jax, Jax’s son Jamie, Paul and Simon, although Simon wondered off somewhere just as we found somewhere to eat It was a nice little cafe, that just about fit us in Again I felt embarrassed ordering what I wanted and trying to understand what the waitress was saying back.. knew I would be struggling again through out the rest of the weekend.. ah well! Once we were done, we headed back to the cars to meet with everyone and the head off to Reims to meet Spaci - one of the swiss MINI memebers

Pics from the lunch stop..

When we arrived at Reims, Spaci was already there waiting for us, watching as we got there from the seats in the stadium on the other side of the road.. We weren’t planning on staying too long, though just long enough to get pics of all the cars lined up together..

After our short stop, it was time to finally make our way to our hotel.. Hotel le Château Fort

http://www.hotelfp-sedan.com/index-gb.htm

This place was amazing!! A huge castle/fort! I thought staying there would be really expensive as it looked it, but it really wasn’t! There were loads of places within it to explore and look around - which I think some of the other weekenders did, but we didn’t, would have done if we had been there longer than a weekend!

We all got split up again on our way there and took a while to find the entrance to the place as at the time it seemed complicated to get into! Eventually found our way in, and had to drive though a little tunnel to get into the court yard to park our cars. We went in and found our rooms. Our room was on the 4th floor, with a great view of the court yard - even though the window was right on the floor surrounded by metal gate.. The room was lovely and big, with one of the walls made out of the original castle stone, looked pretty cool!

Pics getting to the hotel and the hotel itself..

That evening we had arranged to meet everyone in the lobby/bar to decide what we would be doing for food that evening.. it was Ady who found some places around near where we were staying, so we picked one and tried to find it.. We got lost though Darren plucked up the courage to stop an on-coming car and attempt to ask for directions, even though he doesn’t speak French!! After a lot of pointing to a map, the guy driving the car got out and walked us a short distance down the road to the place we were looking for! Turns out it was either his or his girlfriends families restaurant!!

There wasn’t a table big enough for all of us so we had to split up amongst 3 tables.. I sat on the bigger table with Matt, Simon, Paul, Darren, Chrissie, Ady, Michael, Jenna and Mandy Good bunch of people to enjoy the evening with! The menus were passed around and after having it translated for me, I decided I wasn’t going to have anything from it, as none of it sounded very nice!! I was right not to pick from the menu, everyone elses meals didn’t look very appetising!! I was very glad they kept bringing out bread throughout the evening, so I munched on that!

Pics from the evening..

Several hours later, the meal was finally over (they seemed very slow in the restaurant!), and we slowly made our way back to the hotel - we managed not to get lost on the way back! We didn’t stick around too long, as the next day was going to be an early start for the photo competition that was planned!

So as some of you know, I like going to bingo and yes I know some of you think it’s an old woman’s game (yes Scotty, I’m talking about you!! ), but it’s really not and is really good fun. I won’t ramble too much on about it - made a blog entry last year for it , so no need for another

Anyway, last Friday, myself and Matt decided we should go. Got there and paid our money our tickets and headed in to find a seat. Got some food and waited around until the early session started. Like always, I always wish it could be my turn to win, after all, I had been there many times before and never won anything, where as Matt had! Someone must have been listening to me or something as finally on the second game into the evening I actually won!! All the numbers were being called out when I suddenly realised that I only needed one more number! And in the time it took me to realise this, my number was called!! I won £50!! Pretty happy with that!!

The games carried on into the evening, with prize money now up to £100. It was getting close to the end of the evening and was time to play the final late session. Numbers started coming out and again I soon realised I only needed one more number!! Luck was with me that night as it came out and I won £100!! Twice in one evening!! I was shaking loads cause of the adrenilin rush from it Matt wasn’t pleased with me though.. the first 4 numbers called he had all on one line and only needed one more to get a line He was a bit surprised when I shouted out!! Tee hee!!

Not spent my winnings yet, in a weird way I don’t want to, think it’s cause I’ve won it and I don’t want it to disappear! It’s nice having extra cash you’re not expecting!! Might go again this week, see if I can win any more!!

Back in December, a thread appeared on MINI2 about going to the Top Gear track. Having enjoyed it the previous year, I decided to stick mine and Matts names down. I was quite excited about it as last year when I went, I hadn’t been allowed to drive due to that fact Matt had just got his MINI and didn’t want anyone else to drive it.. so I though this year would be pay back and I would drive my lovely car instead! tee hee

With the year going as quick as ever, it didn’t take long for the day to get here! The day before, when I finished work I spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening cleaning the car and making it look really nice and shiny! Decided not to drive it anywhere that evening in case it got little speck of dirt on it :O That even I had a message from my friend Sam who I had invited to come along to Top Gear as she owns a MINI (through working at the MINI factory) and wanted to come along on some of the runs. Unfortunately, she said she couldn’t go any more as she was too tired! Lame excuse I think! Shame really as I hadn’t seen her in over 4 years!

Saturday morning soon arrived and I was up at the stupid hour of 6:30!! Far to early for a weekend but hey I was off to Top Gear! My nice shiny MINI was now dirty when I went out to it! It had rained the night before and had left lovely dirty rain marks all over it rubbish!! I had asked Becky to come with me and Matt on the day so we went to go and pick her up on the way. Met a few friends at the MINI Factory before convoying off to another meet point at Chievely Services. When we got there we were greeted by the site of 4 MINI transporters! So it seemed only right that we park near them! Nicky J, her husband and kids were there when we got there too! I had never met Nicky before so it was nice to finally say hello in person! We chatted for a while before heading into the services to grab drinks and munch! Pics from the meet point..

When we came back out, many more people had gathered with our MINIs ready to head off to the Track. I was getting more and more excited!! Paul led us there, though we ended up losing everyone as we got into Guildford! Also got very lost when we got to Top Gear as we kept missing the turning!

Finally at 10:30, we arrived at the track! We had to join a queue of MINIs from SCNM so we could hand over our money for the day and pick up some forms and information sheets. After that was done, we all headed over to the rest of the MINIs parked up by the big jumbo jet! Many MINIs had already been on the track (we could tell by the way they were facing ) so we went and joined the queue facing towards the track ready to get on and have a go! Had to wait ages to get onto the track as there were so many cars waiting, but soon it was my turn!

We were led out onto the track by the pace car and slowly made our way along the first stretch so everyone was onto the track. Then we were off, zooming away, god it was fun!! I know they said that we weren’t meant to go fast but the pace car and the car in front of me were going pretty fast, and I was going at 80mph at one point to stay with them!! Becky had come round with me while Matt stayed by the side of the track and took pics! I think most of the time we were going round we were both going ‘eeeeeeeeeeeeee’ with big grins on our faces! We were allowed to go round 3 times, I wished we had longer though. 3 laps for me wasn’t enough Unfortunately we had to come off and park up with all the other MINIs who had already been on. Pics of the MINIs going round the track..

Pics of me going round the track

     

I got out the car and started talking to Karl, who I had been following round the track. We were both pretty excited about having been around but disappointed we didn’t get a longer go out there or get a chance to go back on.. In the middle of our conversation, a car alarm starting going off, was looking around to find where it was coming from and then realised it was coming from my car! Stupid me, I had locked the car before Becky had had a chance to get out! :O She was trying to get my attention as she couldn’t get out and in the process setting off my alarm! Ah well, at least I know it works!

After I let Becky out the car ( ) we wondered around for a bit, trying to find people and also to find Phil at MINI Pirate. I was meant to be getting some side stripes fitted while I was there but with the weather being so bad, we both decided it would be better to leave them until another day! Was disappointed, but I haven’t got long to wait until they get fitted again

It got too cold and wet so we went and sat in the car. We were also joined by Matt. Sat there eating our snacks and having a chat We decided we should go as there wasn’t much else to do now and with the weather being how it was, we kinda felt a little miserable and just wanted to get home! Over all I had a great day round the track, just disappointed with the weather, not being able to catch up with many people or get my stripes. Still, I’m up for it next year!

Final few pics off the majority of the MINIs, from right up by the jumbo!

Not that long ago, myself and Becky decided we wanted to go and see a show. We had a look at this last minute website and found the Lion King was on in London. With us both being Disney fans we decided we wanted to go and see it! Booked the tickets and only had to wait 2 weeks until we were off to see it!

After work last week on Wednesday, I rushed to meet Becky at the park and ride in Oxford, ready to get our bus to London. The bus was packed full of kids just out of school, so we both had to sit with randomers who obviously didn’t want anyone sat next to them! The journey there took quite a while as we were heading into London in rush hour - not a very good thing! We had planned on getting there with plenty of time to spare so we could grab some food before hand, but this was starting to look very unlikely! We arrived just after 6 by Victoria Station and began our search for the theatre! We had both never been there before and had no idea where we were going! Me, thinking a head, had printed out some directions and a map to help us find it. But with us being girls, and not being able to read a map properly ( ) we got very lost!! We were heading in what we thought was the right direction but when looking at the map we soon found we clearly were going in the wrong direction! With time running out we quickly decided to get a taxi (if we could find one!!) as they would hopefully know where to take us! Luckily we found one who had just dropped some people off so we grabbed it and told him where to go! We didn’t go very far, but the journey cost us £10!! The money was going up and up even though we were in traffic for most of it! Quite rude I think to charge more when you’re not moving any where!!

When we got there we had to go and pick up our tickets before we were allowed in. We made it just in time! We grabbed some snacky things before finding our seats as there really was no time to go and find somewhere to get hot food from! We had some pretty good seats, could see the stage very clearly.. until a group of French students turned up!! There were loads of them, taking up 3 rows of seats in front of us! They were getting in the way and shouting loads too! Thankfully this was all before the show started, so we asked if we could move - a few other people had been able to as they didn’t want to sit near the French people! We were able to and actually got even better seats then the ones we were previously in! Though I was now stuck behind and man who blocked off part of the stage with his big head and he smelt really bad!!

Any way, the show soon started and everyone went silent! It was amazing!! I had goosebumps the entire way through watching it! Even sang along to the songs in it with Becky! Pretty sure most of the audience where singing along too! The costumes were fab!! It’s a shame you can’t take pics to show how great they really were!! Particularly liked Timone and Pumba! They looked exactly how they did in the film (well except for the fact they were really people dressed up as them ) It really was fab being there and seeing it all! Becky really enjoyed it too! I would go again if I could!!

It lasted quite a while and ended after around 2 hours!! We then had the task of having to find our way back to the bus stop!! Becky didn’t think getting another taxi was a good idea and instead, decided we should walk the way the taxi had taken us.. Thinking back to it, it really wasn’t a good idea!! It took us ages!! We ended up walking along the Thames, past the London Eye and Big Ben and then eventually ended up at Victoria Station. Though this wasn’t where we were getting or bus. The sheet I printed out from the website said it was down a street very near to the station, which was true.. but we couldn’t find it!! We must have spent around 20 minutes wondering around all these different streets trying to find the bus stop!! My feet were killing me as I was wearing heels and had been walking around for ages in them! (must remember that next time I go to London, I must wear sensible shoes!! ) Eventually we found our bus stop, and just in time too, as not long after we get there a bus turned up to take us back to Oxford!! We didn’t get back home until 1:30, which wouldn’t have bothered me so much if it had been the weekend! Staying up that late on a work night is not a good idea!!

So despite the randomness of getting lost around London, I actually had a pretty good evening seeing the Lion King, and I would definitely go and see it again! :D

I haven’t been roller skating since I was in Primary School. My dad used to take my sister and me to our local Sports and Arts centre where they used to have sessions at the weekends for people to go skating. Was fun as it was like a little disco, skating around to music with the lights down low but with funky disco lights.

So anyway, a while a go, myself, Matt, Ian and Jo decided we should go rollerskating. Like I said I hadn’t been in a while and Matt and Jo had never been before so thought it would be cool to go! There isn’t anywhere around here to go - don’t think you can go to the place I used to go to, so Jo looked into places near her. She found a place called RollerCity not too far away which sounded like fun so booked us tickets to go!

On Sunday, we all gathered round Jos for some munch before skating. Was like having a little picnic in the dining room We ate and chatted until it was time to get our skates on ( ) and head over the RollerCity. I was getting really nervous as it had been so long since I had been so thought maybe I would forget how to do it and fall over and make a complete muppet of myself!! When we got there we had to wait around in the cold for ages as the place wasn’t open yet for us to go in and skate, so we occupied ourselves by talking about how bad we were all going to be Finally we were allowed in! We swapped our shoes for skates and after getting them on, then had the mission of standing up! Managed it but felt all wobbly for a while Started to head over to the skating arena when I realised Matt hadn’t come with us.. he was unable to move, sat down on the bench I had to go back and get him and help him back to the floor We eventually got there and I got him to the rail by the wall, then let him try and get round on his own while I went to skate round for a while! I had completely forgotten how much fun it was! My nerves had gone and I was going round like I’d been skating every week for years! Was so much fun! I caught up with Matt again, he wasn’t getting on with it very well, so eventually gave up, took off his skates and went to watch instead! Bless him I carried on going round with Ian and Jo which was fun! Jo fell over several times which I know is harsh but it was pretty funny! I almost fell over too We were all skating round one way when we got told to go round the other way, I decided it would be a good idea to jump round which as a mistake as I almost ended up on my bum! Thankfully I corrected myself though! We soon decided it was time for us to give up as we were getting tired! Jo had to have one last fall though.. we were over by our locker when she grabbed hold of me and said ‘I think I’m going to fall over’ and as soon as she said it, she fell backwards!! She landed on the corner of a step too which looked really painful, though she laughed about it which was good!!

Over all I had such a great time, and would love to go again.. think there will be plans soon for another outing although I don’t think Matt will be joining us out there on the floor

A few weeks ago, I was asked if Matt and me wanted to go and see Stomp perform in Oxford. I’d never seen them before but had heard it was a very good show, so I agreed. The tickets came the week before, then last Saturday we went to go and watch it! My dad drove us there and for some incredibly daft reason he decided to park done some quiet little side street that was possibly the furthest point away from the city centre as possible.. apparently we needed the exercise Not fun walking such a distance in heels I can tell you!!

We eventually got there and went straight in. We hadn’t realised how high up our seats were! Bit of a bugger really as throughout the whole of the show, everyone on the upper level where we were, were all perched forward on the edge of their seats trying to get a better look as they person in front of them was blocking their view from doing the same thing!

Anyway, Stomp was absolutely fantastic!! I loved it from start to finish! It was about 8 people all stomping ( ) around the stage, using anything from brooms, to bits of rubbish and kitchen sinks to bins to make sounds from! It was truely amazing! It wasn’t just about them making sounds out of things, there was a comedy side to it too. None of them spoke, but used actions and gestures towards to audience and the people they were performing with. The main theme of it being this big built dominant guy picking on this weedy little guy, it being funny by the way they were reacting to each other. They would interrupt each others little performances which would just make everyone laugh, and see who was better at interacting with the audience It’s kind of hard to explain, you’d really need to see it to understand

STOMP has no words - everyone can understand it. It has little or no melody in the traditional sense, so it doesn’t matter if your taste in music is jazz, classical, dance or pop. STOMP is about rhythm, which is common to all cultures. Everyone knows rhythm, if only from the beating of their own heart - it is the basis of all music.

STOMP is about a group of people, with very strong personalities, who work together using simple building blocks to create something complex , something everyone can identify with: everyone has, at some time, to engage in group activity, whether they like or know the people they are working with or not. It’s the little idiosyncrasies, the differences between people, and the games of one-upmanship that ensue, which define the group dynamic.

There are several Stomp companies currently performing around the world: up to three working from the UK and three in North America. Each company has its own style, its own feel: this is because even though the show is very tightly choreographed and orchestrated, there is a lot of room for every performer’s own personality to shine through. The show is as much an expression of eight individuals with very strong personalities as it is a vision of rhythm.

http://www.stomp.co.uk/

It really was the best thing I’ve seen in a while, and I’d recommend it to any one!

Last week I had been talking to my dad about buying cheap things for my house so we have a lot of the stuff we need when we get the house. My dad mentioned about going to an auction as you can get some pretty decent stuff there for good prices. Him and my mum go to them quite a lot and have come back with some pretty cool things including a huge coffee table, a spinning DVD/VHS and CD rack, very large mirror etc I thought it would be a good idea to go so I agreed to go with them on Satruday morning.

We had to get up really early so we could get there in time for the auctions to start and to have a look round at everything to see if there was anything we wanted to go for. Dad had to go and register so we had a numbered card we could stick up in the air when we wanted something There were different rooms for different things, with auctions for those rooms starting at different times in the day. We had gone into the ‘furniture’ room and I’d found something in there I wanted to go for :p A decent looking chest of drawers. I already have a good one at home, but I need another one for the new house - well Matt does really Made a note of it and the time the auction was starting and went for a wonder else where. We ended up in a ‘junk’ room where an auction was just about to start. The room got pretty packed, crammed in like sardines!! It started and it all seemed to get pretty quick!! There wasn’t anything in there I wanted to bid for so I was looking around the room at the people who were bidding! Loads of traders there who the auctioneer seemed to know, they only had to give a quick nod of their head and the price went up!! It was fun watching it all happen!!

We decided to leave half way through and go looking else where. It was really busy, which mum said was very unusual as it’s usually very quiet when ever they go. We realised why it was so busy though. People had shown up to get on the telly! BBCs Flog It were going to be filming there that day! Any chance to get on telly!

It was getting close to the time the auction I wanted to be in was going to be starting so we headed over to where it was going to be. The chest of drawers I wanted were quite early on so I didn’t have long to wait. The book that everyone got when they register had all the items listed and how much they thought they could go for. Mine was listed at £20. I decided that would be the highest I would go. It started and before I knew it, it had gone up to £50, before I had a chance to show my little card and make a bid Mum reckons it’s becuase of all the people that showed up for the telly! What rubbish!! We plan on going again when they’re not filming so hopefully it’ll be quiet and I’ll actually be able to bid on something!!

For a while now, myself and Matt had been looking into getting some new bits for the cars. One in particular being the new JCW side scuttles. We’d been enquiring about them a lot, trying to find out when they were due to be released for sale. Last weekend, we had to take my car to the dealer to get the passenger side wheel arch trim fixed as the clips holding it to the car had broken. While we were there, we went to visit the guys in the sales department. We asked again about the side scuttles and finally got the answer we were after - they were finally on sale! We asked for 2 sets, one for me and one for Matt. Matt decided to buy mine for me as an early birthday present, as he doesn’t know what else to get me! She gave us a price which seemed far to high but we went ahead and ordered them. She called the parts department and ordered 4 lots which I didn’t quite understand, so questioned her about it when she got off the phone. She explained it so it seemed it was only 2 sets she had ordered. Still thought £240 odd was a bit too much for 2 sets but never mind.

A few days later, Matt received a call from the dealer saying they were ready to be collected! He went to pick them up and got his fitted while he was there. Like I though, the woman who placed our order had ordered 4 sets and not 2!! Matt took them away with him anyway and thought maybe we could pass them on to friends who might be interested, but no joy! So the 2 spare sets are going back to the dealership and Matt will get a refund.

Anyway, onto the point of me starting this blog entry (think I ramble far too much ). Last night I met up with Matt for Valentines day. We had a table booked for 7 so we had no time to sort out my new parts before dinner. After the lovely meal, and being very stuffed from it all, we drove to a dimly lit Sainsburys carpark so Matt could fit my JCW stuff to the car. It took longer than we thought as taking the indicator bulb off was quite tricky. All worked out though! Have to say, they look far better than the crappy plastic ones that were there before!

Pics of before and after!

  

Now, for the next mod! :D