Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 1876

The last few days have been very eventful, we had our Christmas work function on Friday which was a great night. Got to meet many of the girlfriends, wifes, husbands of fellow workers while having a lovely meal at The Manor inn (Quorn), of course far too much alcohol for some people. But there were no fights, no embarassing moments so everyone will be back to work on Monday. (After a weeks holiday!) Saturday night was watching Kevin's cousin Louise sing in a karaoke semi final that unfortunately she got voted off. I felt so sorry for her as everyone was there supporting her. She only went in it for a laugh and ended up in the Semi finals, so she did well. There were young kids also in a kids karaoke competition that were so ... read more

Our first christmas in London ... read more

At Christmas one of my closest buddies, Scott, arrived over from NZ (we've actually swapped countries so he's an Englander living in NZ) and I took a few days off work so we could head up North together. It was just after Scott's birthday so I bought him a bottle of bubbles which we enjoyed on the trip up. Was the best train trip I've had probably ever ;-} The train was pretty packed (I think some poor souls had to stand), but we were cosy with our seats, our plonk, and the gourmet picnic that Scott brought along. The views up were amazing. The good old English countryside put on a grand show. There was a lot of frost around (it looked like snow to me) and the further north we head, the clearer the ... read more

Christmas morning started with a wake'n'bake crumpet champagne breakfast followed by lots of lazing around before Cosi Claus started handing out the presents. Everyone came away with something worthwhile and we started eating the decorations, the festivites had begun. Early afternoon after a few drinks and delicious mini churizos we decided it was time to get our moneys worth out of the overfilled shopping trolley we (and by we I mean Jim and I) had stuffed in preparation at Waitrose the previous day. Roast ham, roast chicken, roast potatoes, peas and carrots, broccili and cauliflower with a cheese sauce, rounded out with some fresh bread and washed down with a nice wine was our feast of the day. After eating as much as humanly possible we kicked back and watched some comedy before hitting round 2, ... read more

Well I just had my first non-white Christmas. How boring. There was no snow. The grass was green and there are still some flowers hanging in a basket out the front of the pub. What is wrong with this place. On a side note did you know that in Australia they play all the same Christmas carols we do -I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, Let it Snow, Frosty the Snowman - this is in a country where most of the population hasn't even seen snow. They also don't have chimneys so Father Christmas has wheels on his sleigh and comes in the back door. We worked a short shift on Christmas day then opened our presents and had a big roast dinner - we as in the staff at the pub. It was nice to ... read more