Since last I was here we have been loads of places and the usual picture trail will describe. As an overview, we have just returned from Monaco, been for a whistle stop tour of London, and spent endless days in Middlesborough playing with little houses and students.
Gail continues to enjoy her work and as I write this she is again in prison.
My couple of days a week job is getting busier as the scheme I designed and built begins to gain popularity and our elderly users tell other elderly people. For anyone interested, the organisation is called Wise and it has a web site. http://www.w-ise.org.uk/ .
But enough about us, on with the pictures. Oh. Gail is working in a prison today, she's not in prison as such, she can leave any time they let her.
So. I have just had a hunt and realised that a lot of the pictures we took over the past while, and therefore the memories, are locked in Gail's smartphone. Gail is in prison so I can't ask her to email them to me. They take your phone off you when you go to prison. They are strict like that. Anyway, these are shots from my blackberry and the now pretty-well redundant digi camera we still take with us, sometimes.
Here we are in Ramsbottom, Lancashire. This is a wonderful little mill town and I wrote a story about our day there http://www.readwave.com/a-day-in-the-pennines_s73819 We had a delightful time walking, dining and shopping just before xmas. These two trains are santa specials bringing people (and one Santa each) in from the west, Manchester and such places.
We did use the camera when we went on the London Eye and here is a happy shot of Gail in a pod. The pods on the Eye are a confined space. Sealed away from the outside world... Like a prison cell, but with a view.
A view like this one, I took more, but everyone has seen photos of London,, so boring .
When Gail was off learning stuff I took myself to the V an A for a few hours. A bloke could spend a year in that place. I spent an hour looking at their history of ironwork displays. I'm not even interested in ironwork.
That whitish lump thing is Mount Charles, Monte Carlo to the locals. We learned many things in our 4 days. Other than bonjour though, sadly, no French. English is the master language, I am halfway between wondering why everyone doesn't speak English and deciding if I want to learn French or Spanish.
We stayed at the Fairmont. This is their bar come dining area. The food was great, the margaritas, sorry, white egg margaritas, no salt rim, shaken, no rocks, were the nicest in the world. We had enough of them to get us dancing on the carpet to the piano crooner late one delightful evening.
The casino next door to our hotel was the one that saved Monaco from ruin. It is high Rocco and sumptuous. This was Valentines night and Gail got a rose and walked out with a 50 euro win which made the whole night a pleasantly memorable one.
This is inside the local shopping mall. The supermarket is in the basement and the name brands in the mall include all those chanel-gucci , hugo-hilfinger sort of fashionista places. You know, the ones you can only go into with an invitation to buy an outfit that you can only wear once. I would love to find a charity shop in Monaco, it would be amazingly stocked. Didn't see a one.
Our Hotel is on the right, this is the F1 hairpin corner on the Princess Grace bvd . We have walked the entire circuit and will so enjoy the next grand prix TV coverage.
Our hotel's pool. It was February, a bit too chill for a swim but we were tempted as it is heated.
Every day from our room we saw little sail boats and racing fours getting towed out, raced and towed back into the harbour.
We often, when we travel, have a light snack. This is usually because we have over indulged previously or intend to do so. These bed picnics take many forms but in Monaco we opted for Iberian smoked ham, mortadella, marinated vegetables, baggette, soft and hard cheeses, and the obligatory wine. Hmmm, perhaps not such a light snack... Wonderful tho.
The following are all around the palace up in the old town
This is the side face of the Casino
These are our hotel and roof garden
a mojito and a regular margarita. The way a very nice night starts.
One of the street cafe's ideal for watching the passers-by and for great and not expensive dining. If you don't want to act like a foolish tourist or an ostentatious oligarch, you can find coffees for 2 to 3 euros, mains from 11 euros and even reasonably priced swimming and street wear kit. Monaco is stupidly expensive to rent or buy a home though. 7 million E for a three bed place with a view, and that's a small 3 bed only one parking space.
There is one nice beach. They import the sand.
Some of the shops are different
casino frontage
And that is all the photos I have access to, that are worth posting.
As far as I know, the next few months will be just us going to work,, when Gail gets out of prison, Looking for more student let properties. Having the odd long lunch and just , you know, having a ball. We are expecting some visitors and later this year we are going to return to Australia, for about 4 weeks, possibly for the last time ever. It's such a long way from civilisation.
But who knows,
We really should work at making a life plan. If only we were not having such a good time not having a plan , we may be encouraged to make a plan.
So that's the 1/4ly update, lets see how long before the next one.
I will post one.
Maybe something interesting will happen to make it worthwhile. Keep checking in won't you?
