Monday, August 16, 2010

Its been too long!

It has been a long time since I blogged... since I was in hot hot Senegal... and it was the World Cup. Probably less said about that the better (being English and all that)... Anyway, lots has happened since then. Here is the evidence.

This year, including our own, we have so far "done" 6 weddings... and the year is not over yet.
With the uni ladeeees at Tush's Sandhurst wedding... disaster struck when my wedding gift (which, amongst other things, involved a large quantity of M&S Percy Pigs) was stolen from her sister's car after the wedding. May the nasty robber suffer tooth rot and expensive dental bills.A rose between... 2 gingers
Pete and Rachel's St Andrews wedding was lovely jublee....
... they even had a birth (almost) AND tourists... amusingly tourists who loudly sang "here comes the bride" as the Rachel walked into the church... leaving the guests wondering if they had scrimped on "music" and opted for some strange sing a long wedding march....
... with some bubbly in the quad.
... taking a break from the festivities in Boots... where we purchased drinks with "Scottish money"
... we also ate money too... ... and visited Tescos (that well known St Andrew's tourist hotspot)... where Mr Geer became distressed at not being able to buy a bottle of Whiskey at 22.04 (if only he was 4 min earlier all would have been well, think he had to settle for a slab of Cheddar cheese, mature of course). Hils and I were entertained by the man wearing a kilt in Tescos, and so arranged to photograph him on the sly... hence Hils is in the foreground.After several hours of highly energetic highland dancing we were in charge of taking the flowers home... Spearsy is looking rather dishevelled at this point.
Before the wedding we dodged Americans on the famous golf course. We couldn't be bothered to queue up and have our photo taken on THE bridge (apparently its famous and Tiger Woods has stood on it and EVERYTHING)... so we took this charming photo of us in front of THE bridge. Magic.Wedding #6 was in a very frufru church in Krakow, Poland. It also had tourists. One didn't seem to realise it was a wedding and was ambling down the aisle taking photos of the fancy ceiling as the guests were being entertained by a string quartet and waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle. I think she must have worked it out in the end and cleared off in time!
The wedding also involved a castle with a canon... which was fired before diner.
There were edible place settings - as demonstrated by Mr Geer... and quite stunning floral table decorations... alas I didn't manage to photograph the food... a 4 course feast, followed by the largest, poshest buffet ever (cold meats, fine fish, cheesy cheese mmmm), a huge table of cakes and gateaux... and then a BBQ at 11pm. Not knowing too many guests and being in such close proximity to so much food did result in some over eating on my part. Oh yes and I almost forgot... the vodka. Lots of vodka. I made up for the girls who faltered. Their delicate throats not able to cope with icy cold shots. I on the other hand, having been trained in the ways of vodka drinking by Mongols was more than able :O)
After the wedding we went on a "communist tour" and got to stand on this little plastic car outside a HUGE steel works (now owned by the Indians). The little car was slightly scary to be driven around in, given the ease with which I am sure it would disintegrate upon the slightest impact.
MK festival was fun
Strange people in glowing pods playing random music accompanied by fireworks in front of a huge metal tree.
Even stranger hairstyles (we didn't have a go)Barbie hair-dooo?
An inflatable tent which wasn't a bouncy castle... but was very relaxing
Riding weird animals on the "magical menargie" who would have thought there could be so much culture in MK?
Then there was the visit of only cousin in the whole world - JACK and only auntie in the whole world - Auntie Alison.
For those present at Jack's 1st birthday... he has aged somewhat. He is now 11 and doesn't like to be reminded how CUTE he was... but oh yes he was... such a cute baby!

Perhaps not so cute now?
Took him Karting. 3 mini space men?Storming round... and then...
...write off. Fortunately only cousin in the whole world was unharmed and seemed to quite enjoy the whole crash experience... and was soon armed with a new car and went back on the track!
We biked down the canal to Bletchley and got the train back. A good 13miles...

Red Hot World Buffet does a good line in sweets.
After that we needed to maintain the sugar high by making some quadrupole chocolate ice cream
Traumatising the staff in John Lewis with some not so discrete hat trying on. We were in hysterics and have many many photos of ourselves in various stunning hats! None were purchased... of course! Anthony had disappeared by this point... in extreme embarrassment.Weather was hot hot. So mucho ice cream was required. Ant is of course considerably more refined than us Wooldridge descendants.
Groo's 80th Birthday Tea at Fortnum's. Divine. There was a direct correlation between age and consumption. We made sure none was wasted tho and we all took home posh doggy boxes with the left over yummys. We also had time to peruse the aisles downstairs in the shop. Somehow resisted that £1,000 bottle of champers. Crazy prices!
He just loves hugs
Ant took to hairstyling. The Mohawk was a big sucess!

After all that excitement we did a "car boot" sale (behind Super Sausage). We made £140 profit... selling our unwanted tat to a range of customers: the ghanans who were buying up shoes for £5 a pair to sell in Acra (I have no idea where the profit in that is), the serial tat collectors (often overweight), the serial car booters (already been to one at the MK bowl first thing in the morning) etc etc.That's all for now xxx

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Count...

In case you were wondering... this is The Count. He plays in the BDO, which is very different from the sexed up Sky Sports PDC (get me with my darts acronyms). I find it slightly scary I have heard of The Count, but never watched BDO darts. Too many Thursday night darts nights perhaps?

Monday, June 21, 2010

Football, islands and nomads

So Friday's match didn't go so well, although Senegal support didn't falter. My football knowledge is increasing greatly... mostly through Spearsy, but also through some observation. I am now well versed on what (in Spearsy's opinion) England need to do to win on Wednesday. So should Capello call me then I will be able to advise.

Senegal staff flying the England flag
Half time... I think Spearsy looks a bit like "The Count" (from the darts)
Saturday was fun. We went on an outing to Goree, a small Island just off the coast of Dakar. Was lovely wandering around the narrow cobbled streets and enjoying the art and views... and an ice cream too :O) Goree played a role in the slave trade... although the extent to which it did is somewhat debated (according to source of all knowledge - Wikipedia).

Fort on Goree with Dakar skyline in the background
Kids splashing around in the harbour!
Goree harbour. Slightly reminiscent of St Ives, Cornwall, UK I think (OK... perhaps not super reminiscent... )
Steps in the fort
Old mottled building
Huge canons! According to Spearsy these were built to keep the Brits off the island... but I'm not entirely sure this is an actual fact or a Spearsy fact.Atlantic art
Bougainvillea everywhere!
Old fire hydrant!
Saturday night I learnt to cook Yassa Poulet (chicken and spicy onions) and played around with these kids! I also witnessed Anna having her hair done. For a 3 year old she was super patient... sitting in a chair for several hours whilst 2 ladies plaited her hair into hundreds of very thin plaits and put little plastic multi coloured beads on the end. In the photo the kids are sporting their UK gifts: Anna is covered in Dora the Explorer stickers, Ludo has a huge bubble wand, and Babocar is wearing a Ben 10 watch type thing!
On the move... we passed literally thousands of animals (goats, sheep and cattle) making what is apparently a twice yearly 600-800km migration (on foot), to different pastures and markets.
The cattle are just beautiful, albeit skinny... and at +$200 a piece they make their owners very wealthy...Nomad support carts follow the herders carrying water (sometimes in inflatable rubber dingys - random), supplies and the women and children. Despite their families wealth (in terms of animals) these children are always on the move and are therefore rarely, if ever, in school.At Hotel Paradise Spearsy attempts to emulate the herders...
It is a slightly random place. Not quite as random as Family Kingdom in Freetown... but the walls are covered in murals... feels like we are at pre school!
Alas, despite the colourful wall paintings its not exactly a classy joint... here it seems a bird has made a nest in the bathroom window... nice.
And to finish the long blog of many photos here are 2 Senegalese mini munchkins