Haircuts, The Queen and other stories.

Today I got a haircut and I realised that the last time I did this was the day I went to The Queen's Garden Party and I had intended to blog about that at some point.

I know, this seems unlikely given that I don't think I've blogged since March (just checked, it was in fact March) but I always think "I should blog" until I realise that I haven't done anything of note ever and put it off until after something in the future that I think will be blogworthy. The Garden Party was one of these things. Also Ireland trip with parents.

And so, here we are. I am going to attempt to blog about these things! Lucky you! Also, I am going to see how many times I can use a variation of the word blog in this blog post on blogger. I will be able to tell fairly easily because google chrome does not recognise Blog as a real word. Not even if you capitalise it.

I think mostly people get to go to these things as some kind of reward for community service or soemthing? I don't know but basically I got tickets to have tea with The Queen because I put my name in a hat at work and won. I always win things I don't want/that will cause me pain or anxiety. One time I won a bike from the Candy Bar at Hoyts Manners Mall by spending heaps or something. It turned into this giant thing because I think I spent the money in combination with my friend and then we couldn't exactly share a bike and when we tried to sell it no one would buy it. It turned into some giant drama as everything does when you're like 11 and my parents ended up having to buy the other people out or something? I don't remember but I did end up with a bike and it did cost them money.
Mostly I didn't want to have tea at Buckingham Palace because I like to wear jeans and tshirts and very rarely wear fascinators. Also heels. But it was Amelia's birthday and as she likes to dress like a lady and because her visa expires in September I didn't have a whole year to get over my childishness I sucked it up and put a stupid headband thing on my head!

Here we are in the cab excited/terrified.

Waiting to go in, still unconvinced.

Illegal photo on the lawn, been standing in the sun for about 3 hours by this point,
feet too sore to be embarrassed.

It really didn't turn out to be as big a deal as I had decided it was going to be in my head. I ate some sweet pastries and got a glimpse of The Queen as she ran past us into the royal tea tent. Seriously, she's real speedy for an old lady.

Speaking of Liz, there was heaps of stuff going on for her jubilee celebrations but London being London it was also raining all of the time. Consequently I didn't go stand outside anywhere and wave a flag, I just watched it on the teevee.
We did have tea and scones one day at work. Also cupcakes:

Yummm.

Today after my haircut the hairdresser man kissed me on the cheek. Twice. Is this normal? He's not like European or anything and I'm pretty sure I would have remembered if he did it last time. Is it necessary? We are strangers! Am I overreacting?
It was super awkward I'm pretty sure. Like, I manage to make it awkward even if I know people really well or they're like family or something. I mean, there are people who have been kissing me on the cheek my whole entire life and I still find it awkward.
I find it awkward if my Dad kisses my cheek.
I just don't know how to deal with these things like a normal person, I usually just like offer my cheek in their general direction once I realise this is a thing that is going to happen and it's often mistimed. And I never know what to do with my hands which creates further problems.  Maybe I am just a giant weirdo? I THINK I NEED SOME FEEDBACK ON THIS.

I'm not sure the best way to move on from this paragraph so I'm just gonna jump right in (on?) to the next subject!

My parents arrived in Ireland a couple of weeks ago for what was supposed to be the beginning of their 5ish months over this side of the world shopping for French canal boats and generally gallivanting around Europe on their big O.E.
It started off well, they landed on the Friday and I flew to Dublin to meet them on Saturday morning. I was pretty nervous about what it would be like to interact with them as an adult/without my brother and sister/whilst sharing a hotel room. It mostly went ok! I did regress to a teenagerness on a couple of occasions, however my Dad also had at least one tantrum so I think we're even.

On the way to the homeland.

Potato Famine memorial, Dublin.

Kissing the Blarney Stone.

The Shannon? In Limerick? A castle of some kind?

The plan was a roadtrip Dublin-Cork-Limerick-Galway-Derry-Belfast and then fly to London on Sunday. Unfortunately around Tuesday it became clear that my Grandma back in NZ was going to die. This kind of put a damper on the trip and on Wednesday instead of driving to Derry we made our way back to Dublin. My parents had already booked flights home for the Friday and I changed mine to head back to London then too. The last couple of days we just kind of randomly drove around and cringed every time my mum got a text message. Incidentally, her message tone is a really long and annoying Tui chirping sound. Never wanna hear a Tui again.
The message we had been waiting for came around midday on Thursday.

It still hasn't really sunk in for me. I haven't had a proper cry and it feels heaps different from when my Grandad died last year. I think a big part of it is that I got to watch his funeral live online but I wasn't able to do that this time. My parents are on their way back over here now and they are bringing a video of it so maybe when I watch that it will make it real.
Also a fun thing: Going to work on Monday and everyone asking how my trip was!

Mimi lived next door to me almost my entire life. I used to go over to her house and sit with her a lot when I was young and read. Not gonna lie, sometimes I went over there to watch TV when I wasn't allowed to turn the TV on at home. Also, baking.
We called her Mimi.
I'm not sure why or how it happened that we called her that but this was a thing that was already established by older cousins before I came along. I realised at some point that most people didn't have a Mimi, they had a Grandma or a Granny or a Nana maybe, and so usually if I was talking about her I would say "My Grandma" to avoid the inevitable reactions when I said "My Mimi".
Jenny mocked me for ages whenever I said "My Mimi" until she realised that wasn't actually her name. To be fair, she probably continued to mock me even after I explained it to her.

I always liked that Claudia Kishi in The Babysitters Club called her Grandma Mimi too. It was real validating.

People told me sometimes that I looked like her. People who knew her when she was younger. I don't know if that's true but it was something I liked to hear.

I realised the other day that I have no Grandparents left, it was a weird thing to realise when walking down the street.

Need these glasses.

I'm totes just pretending to sleep in this photo, I was already hilarious even when I barely had any hair!
Look at me! I can barely contain myself! I still laugh at my own jokes.

Apparently the making stupid faces in photos thing goes back awhile also.

 SORRY THIS POST TOOK SUCH A DEPRESSING TURN GUYS!

Also, I moved flats! Actually I moved on the Friday night before I went to Ireland. I loaded all my possessions into a taxi, much to the drivers disgust, and made the trek about 10mins down the road. Now I live in Islington at Amelia's flat. It's pretty great/has way less stinky boys and a couch that is bearable to sleep on.

The Wilsonettes have a new home, along with some spectacular artwork.

Also I have like a little balcony type thing. It's actually enclosed.
You can kind of see the netting if you look closely. Lucky, don't wanna accidentally fall.

Maybe I will blog more regular now? Maybe you won't hear from me for another 4 months? Anything is possible! (Probably the second one though, let's be real).

MAKING A BLOG POST.

Today on my way home from work I was on the tube and totally engrossed in some article I was reading on my phone but also trying to pay attention to the stations so I would know when to get off.

Russell Square happened, so I knew that my stop was next.

After moving for what seemed like the right amount of time we stopped so without looking up I stood up to get off.

Then the train started to move again.

At this point I was moving towards the door so I tripped over the guy next to me and would've fallen flat on my face if I hadn't been already reaching for the pole.

At first I was real confused because I couldn't figure out why we were moving and then I was real embarrassed because obviously all the people were looking at me.
I tried to play it cool, like I totally meant to roll my ankle and I wasn't in any pain or anything.

Went back to reading the article, casually leaning on that bit where you can lean/put your suitcases and shit.

Pretty sure I pulled it off.

Also, I was listening to this song on repeat the entire way home:

I'm not sure if that means anything.

Reasserting my internet presence.

Oh hey guys. Sorry about the whole not blogging for like a month thing.

I at least THOUGHT about blogging a couple of times if that makes you feel any better?

So, a few things happened I guess:

1) It turned to winter. It is now basically dark by 4pm every day and I have to wear a coat to work.

2) My cousin and his wife came to visit and I was a tourist for a couple of days which was fun.

3) Lots of British Government workers got mad and had a strike/march about pensions and stuff, then some silly people used it as an excuse to start fires, one of which was in a building on the street where I work. This caused building management to put us on "lockdown" which basically meant we could leave but not get back it, except then I saw them letting people in, so I don't know what it meant actually. It was a bit of excitement anyway.

4) I booked my ticket to NZ for Jan/Feb. YOU ALL GET TO SEE ME SOON, LUCKY BASTARDS.

That's about it... I guess less things happened than I thought.

HERE, LOOK AT SOME MOBILE PHONE SNAPS.

Cousins head/Big Ben: Being a tourist.

Occupy London/part of my hand.

This years tacky xmas lights down Regent Street. 

This is for Louise! Sorry, I did not write a review.
I did get to play with some amazing fake snow though.

This street usually has all the cars driving on it.

I walked up the road to see what all the fuss was about. Everyone  just seemed
to be standing around really politely.
It was weird and less fiery than  I had expected.

They did put this fence around the fountain to protect the horses though.

My secret santa at work gave me this hat.
It was a lucky dip type situation so no one even knew who they were buying for.
Seems like it was meant to be.

I wore the hat for the entire xmas party and also all the way home on the tube. Alone.
The fact that I also drank all the drinks could have something to do with this.

This post has no title.

I really like public transport but I hate all the people I have to share it with.
Because of my inability to grow up/manage my life so I'm not awake at 2am/wake up earlier that 8.15am I always have to catch the tube with all the people. If I was a better person I could go to work at like 7am when all the other failures were still in bed then I would not have to push people out of my way/stand so close to strangers/sweat so much before 9am.
Also then I would get to leave work at like 4pm which is infinitely better than 6pm. I am going to work on this.
Also, I hate people who start to stand up WAY before it's necessary because they're afraid they're gonna like get stuck on the train or something. People do this on the buses in Wellington too. There is plenty of time for you to get up and get to the door once the vehicle stops, it is not necessary for you to stand up and push past me as soon as we leave the previous station/bus stop. WE WILL NOT HOLD YOU HOSTAGE. Especially because half the time I am getting off too. Just chill man.

Ok, rant over.

I was going to blog yesterday about how I am stalking Alan Carr/went to his show twice but then I couldn't find any words to write so I gave up. Basically there is a website you can sign up to and get free tickets for stuff, like the live at the Apollo I went to a few weeks ago. Both a chick I work with and my cousin asked if I wanted to go see Alan Carr. I wasn't trying to go 2 weeks in a row, it just happened...

Anyway, he's pretty funny? I dunno, I think I had seen his show before and he seems pretty genuine and doesn't change his personality when the cameras are off. Plus he always offers his guests alcohol.

In the first show he interviewed Nicole what's her face from The Pussycat Dolls or whatever, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and the guy who won X factor last year whose name I can't remember but it doesn't matter because you won't know who he is anyway (Matt Cardle! I just remembered!). He sang too. He also pre-recorded an interview with Dermot O'leary/UK's answer to Ryan Seacrest/host of the X factor. The whole of the UK goes mental for X factor guys. Like right now they are complaining that the ratings are real low because only like 10 million people are watching on Saturday. That's like if the whole of NZ stayed home on a Saturday night and watched NZ idol two and a half times. Or something that actually makes sense.
The 2nd week was Mary J Blige, David Walliams and Westlife, plus some terrible pop group called the Saturdays who I've never heard of before sang this.

Westlife getting Alan Carr drunk was probably the highlight:

I don't think they show it all, he definitely had more shots. They finished the whole bottle.

Also yesterday I got some pretty exciting mail from Clare. It was one of those postcards that is also a DVD so people can see videos of places you may or may not have been on much sunnier days than when you were maybe there. Do people ever buy these for non joke purposes? I don't know, but I enjoyed it.

The closing shot is probably the best part/sums it up:

Come to NZ, we have gross brown grapes.

Seriously/ You couldn't find any nice looked grapes in the whole place? OH NZ.

I am going to finish with a selection of photos I found on my phone on Sunday after I went out on Saturday night. ENJOY.

Anniversary.

I have officially been in London for one year... Did you guys notice? Is Wellington real lacking without me there? I bet it is.

I think I'm happy with my decision to come to London. I don't miss Wellington. I don't feel homesick. I only miss people.

Also NZ snacks/gossip magazines/novelty gifts, but I think I'm set for those for awhile thanks to some sweet (literally) mail I received this week (thanks Sarah/Ben/Roxanne):

And just when I think Jenny can't get any creepier, she proves me wrong with this amazing/accurate likeness:

I am not doing anything or spending any money any time soon as I need to buy a plane ticket to the other side of the world... Therefore it is unlikely I will blog anything interesting any time soon. Sorry about that folks. Feel free to send me mail though! I really like it!

Lions and Horses, no Bears.

London can't make up it's mind which season it wants to be right now. When I was in Nice it got super hot, now it is cold and my flatmate even turned on the heaters the other night. OH LONDON.

On Saturday I went to Camden Markets.
I'm unsure whether I have been there before, it's possible but I don't think so. The first time I came to London in 2005 to visit my cousin he took us many places but I often had no idea where I was. We def went to some markets but I think I would remember these. Mostly because of all the horses.

All stable themed and shit.

This guy was my fav.

It seemed like there might be lots of cool things but there were far too many people for me. All the people everywhere.

Also shoes sticking out of buildings.

Walking down the main road reminded me of walking along Venice beach for some reason, except with less beach/sun/Americans. So nothing like it then maybe? I dunno.

Also apparently the Lion is like Camden's mascot or something.

Yes, those people are sitting on tiny motorbikes.

I think England is pretty obsessed with Lions in general though? Richard the Lionheart and all that?

Then there was a toaster on the escalator. Really want to make stickers and put them places maybe.

When I have the window open in my room the wind blows through the whole flat and it's pretty loud and annoying. I can make it stop if I shut some doors but other people open them all the time. It makes me mad.

Nice is nice. Hah.

I went on a trip to Nice with a gaggle of girls.

We stayed in a sweet apartment on top of a giant hill.

This was the view from our deck.

I did not actually experience Nice, this is because I spent too much time lying in the sun/swimming in the pool/eating all the food. I'm not bummed about this because I also had some real good naps on the couch and I can probably go back there sometime and be a tourist.

This was the view from the side of the pool.

I got a little sunburnt on my legs but I put sunblock on mostly.

Other people left the apartment a lot more than I did, however I did venture down the hill on Friday and we all caught the train to Cannes.

We ate some real great French lunch and I had profiteroles the size of my head:

After lunch the ladies went to sit on the beach and I decided to be a tourist. I went on this weird train/car thing that seemed like it shouldn't drive on actual roads but it did anyway.

It took me up to the top of a big hill.

There was a church up there.

Also the commentary told me lots of things about the film festival/famous people who spent/spend time there and stuff. I think it was maybe quite old though because they didn't mention anyone who became famous after like 2007. Also I learnt that there is an island there where they held The Man in the Iron Mask one time. Didn't have time to go there though.

Now I am back in London and back at work, which is great.