Hallelujah it's Sushi

Maisie had sushi at the very first opportunity she got. Sushi review: "delicious"

The diet coke was to combat the jet lag- it didn't work particularly well as we have been waking at three in the morning, until last night (small fanfare).

We have been staying at our dear friends place in the wild west, Tititrangi, which was just lovely. Charlie the dog was delighted with our nocturnal wanderings, every time we opened our bedroom door he was there running round in circles expecting biscuits. When he started the cat would feel left out and start meowing for his biscuits; it was like our own personal early morning circus. The pay-off was having an excuse to go to Kakamatua dog beach, which was one of our favourite spots to take our dog.

Hello Lady, hurry hurry

Dodgy in Dubai...

The drive to Manchester couldn't have been easier and as we were so early, there was no queue at the check in. We got there before a school sporting trip to Australia, phew. Wandered round the duty free, and settled on giraffe burgers and water, we know how to live.

Flight uneventful, weird seeing our hostess in the Arab emirates gear, and talking with a strong scouse accent. Arriving in Dubai, off the plane and into a wall of heat (6.30 in the morning and 40 degrees) wow! We were all very dozy.

I was particularly amused in the queue for the toilets in Dubai airport. Typically there were only 3 cubicals for the ladies. One was a 'squatty potty', as we like to call them, and not that pleasant as people dont know how to use them properly, so it was being ignored by the ladies. BUT one of the cubicals was being occupied for a very long time, and the queue was getting longer and longer. So, much to our surprise, the woman in charge of the loos, started knocking on the door, shouting "hello lady, hurry hurry". The poor woman in there was probably too traumatised to come out after that!

Shuffled onto the plane, we were seated in the middle block of 4, and I was next to a spare seat - result! A small, very quiet woman took the seat. Unfortunately, she negotiated a swap so she could join her family, and I found my sellf sat next to a large Aussie bloke reading a book about pineapples. I was amused when I saw his movie choice was Snow White, and relieved when he didn't make a fuss when the hostie and I managed to spill a glass of water over him.

All in all, not a bad journey.

Pleeeease can I come with you?

The dog has taken to sitting by the luggage with big eyes. He know's something is up. He's dearly hoping we wont leave him behind…well I have news for him, and it's all bad.

A call out for friends to request English treats has left little space for our clothes, never mind the dog.

We have more Shredded Wheat than shreddies; its the largest exodus of penguins from the northern hemisphere EVER (fortunately only the biscuit variety.); to keep the penguins happy, we have some weird mushy Swedish herring stuff, which I'm not convinced will be allowed in the country (at least people will be able to see us featured on 'Border Patrol'); and enough tea bags to keep all the ex-brits in NZ happy for a year.

Only one sleep until we start our journey, all pretty excited/nervous all at the same time.

Hope we don't forget toothbrushes...

Lupin loopy

Well, the weekend started off really well with a trip to the Little India Restaurant at the Lovers Leap in Stoney Middleton. What more could a girl want, beer and a curry on a Friday night.

I really like going out on a Friday after a week at work because it feels like stealing some extra weekend.

Saturday was taken up with vampires and seeing the new Twilight movie 'Eclipse'. Here's our review:

Maisie says "Amazing, loved it, magical, surprising"; Leanne says "Strangely erotic, nice touches of adult humour, fairly faithful to the novel, will see again"; Rachel says "loved the shots filmed in the forest, wasn't convinced the werewolves were real, and I want some red contact lenses".

Sunday - yes, you guessed it - Chatsworth. The lupins have taken over from the tulips. Maisie thought they looked plastic, Chess was unimpressed and more interested in seeing if there was any ice cream left. Discovery of the day was the gate-like sculpture, it reminded me of my sewn artworks only in wrought iron.

Well Dressed

With all the footie excitement, it's been easy to overlook the local annual well dressings. We were driving through Litton and happened upon this one - the Children's Well.

Well dressing is a custom of the Peak District dating back hundreds of years. The origins are largely unknown, but the dressing often have religious connotations. The wells are decorated with flower petals, berries, moss, and seeds pressed into clay in a wooden frame. Some villages have been using the same clay forever, cleaning it each year.

Maisie is off at White Hall outdoor activities centre this weekend, we are having an easy weekend with the tennis, and the big match on Sunday. I suspect there will be a shortage of BBQ charcoal throughout the country.

I have been enjoying my new job, and walking up a hill for 20 minutes to get to my car park is keeping me fit.

World Cup fever

The country is full of flags and expectation. England are cracking under pressure and haven't performed...yet. However, New Zealand have performed their socks off - yay All Whites. Maisie is not impressed with the football, she keeps asking "how much longer?" When I said "only three weeks", she wasn't too pleased. AND - Wimbledon started. Damn shame I got myself a job - it gets in the way on watch sport somewhat!

We had a trip to Chester and Colwyn Bay last weekend. Nana Gran is out of hospital and as fit as we have seen her. We took her for a stroll in the park which was fun (she's the one in the wheelchair). She would say "go that way, go on that side of the road" and ey ey ey after every bump in the road. Thankfully, we fixed Dad's TV which had been broken all week, mainly because the remote was lost down the side of a chair cushion. So it was a successful weekend all round.

Gaga ooo lala

LADY GAGA WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting in line, us adults were teasing Alex & Maisie about watching 'your tube' and threatening to cut some shapes with our great dance moves.

The best quote we heard in the queue: "some of these people have turned up in their underwear!" (from women who were younger than us - very reassuring). I offered to get my togs (swimsuit) out of the car to wear, or get about in my M&S undies. Daughter and niece were mortified; other queuers giggled (maybe a little nervously!).

Security check consisted of asking Leanne if she had any pop in her bag!

The advantage of being middleaged - they didn't notice her Swiss army knife!

Warm up act "semi precious weapons" were rubbish, would have been better with me playing Mull of Kintyre (my only tune so far) on the guitar. There was an overuse of the f word, as if they thought they were original and cool. Their song "tell me something that I don't know" made me want to shout "you can't sing" but maybe they knew that already.

Then the obligatory long wait for the main event while the arena filled up. There was an air of anticipation, and the smell of revolting burgers filling the atmosphere (Leanne said "you poms will eat anything"). We queued up for some cokes, chilled to the dj playing Michael Jackson. Suddenly, the lights were off, and we were into countdown. There was a very cute story to the concert about the journey to the Monsters Ball. Not much dancing by the Sheffield crowd, good singing though, and we all dutifully held up our paws and showed our teeth.

Amazing stage show, so many costume changes. I was a little concerned when the piano was on fire but it turned out to be just forshadowing for when Gaga's bra was alight! Never realized she was such an acomplished musician. Then it was all over and into the scrum, aka carpark, running the gauntlet of cut price gaga gear, into the car... life went back to normal.