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Published: January 9th 2008
Donna & Rach
Just so you know who's who!Hey all!
Well I guess most of you are still on holiday, enjoying the brilliant sunshine and warm weather, while I'm now back at work in the freezing cold! It's definitely weird being back at work so quickly after the festive season, but that's how it rolls over here....long holidays come in the summer time! So only another 6 months to go!
I've had a pretty cheery couple of weeks. It all kicked off with the Lienert crew getting together - Donna and Conrad arriving from NZ, Tim coming down from Newcastle, and all of us partying it up with Jess in Watford the weekend before we went up North. A great night out at the Walkabout, and my Tim got a quick introduction to a Kiwi night out on the town.
The following week Jess and I headed up to Newcastle on the bus, which we were even lucky to catch. Jess's train got held up and we missed our original bus, but managed to change our tickets to another one they had put on 30mins later, and luckily it seems we got the last 2 seats! Poor Jess sat next to a strange man and behind
her she had a little girl who got travel sickness....eewww....and I had the pleasure of sitting next to a seven year old girl who admitted to me she had a talking problem. When it got to much, I managed to slip on my ear phones or just turned away and pretended to go to sleep!
We stayed with the Lienert's Uncle Colin and Aunt Betty for a few days, and on the night we arrived there was a bit of a shin dig down at their local pub just around the corner. There was lots of food, booze and even Kareoke...oh yes...I had to get up and sing of course. Unfortunately the voice has gone a bit rusty since I don't use it as much as I use to, but Big Tim and I managed to belt out Fairytale of New York to get everyone in the Xmas spirit. (Just to avoid confusion, I left my Tim back down in London, so any Tim I talk about from here on in is Tim Lienert!!) Conrad thoroughly enjoyed himself and managed to show everyone how much he had drunk by displaying it all over the floor of the pub and
then later on in his room. Donna and I had the pleasure of putting him to bed later on, but left him to clean up his own mess the next morning. We managed to score a free lunch out on him though.
I managed to fit in quite a bit of time with Renee which was great, and her and Dave put me up on their couch for a couple of nights. Was great just to hang out with her and have a laugh, as they are both back off to NZ this year. We went to Durham one day, which is a beautiful little city just out of Newcastle, that has a massive big cathedral and castle on the top a hill, and has cobblestone streets surrounding it and a big meandering river with little pubs along side. That night the Lienert clan met up with us and we had a few drinks out on the town in Newcastle - but god....you should see the girls. Think I mentioned this in one of my first blogs about how the girls wear practically nothing all year round, but it is seriously true. Either it's mutton dressed as lamb, or
The Lienert Clan
Tim, Donna, Conrad and Jess girls wearing teeny tiny tops and extra short short skirts....I don't know how they do it in such freezing temperatures! Crazy!
Xmas Eve saw us all get quite a bit tiddly and by the end of the night Jess had turned into Rambo with black eyeshadow all over her face..???... Xmas day was pretty chilled out. Tim woke us all up at around 9am by whacking a saucepan with a wooden spoon, and then it was time to open presents. I was very spoilt and got some nice little goodies from my mum and dad, plus my Tim brought me some perfume and a massage voucher, and the Lienerts gave me some great goodies from home - including White Chocolate Scorched Almonds!! Yum!! We had a champagne breakfast and then a huge xmas dinner, but the afternoon was spent playing Wii - the interactive computer game, which was loads of fun. That evening we went around to Aunty Doreen's where we ended up getting quite merry while playing Bingo!
After our time in Newcastle we headed up to Edinburgh, or should that be Edin-brrrrrrrr - yes it was very cold! That night we joined in the Torch Procession
Kareoke Time!
Jess, Donna & Uncle Colin which sees over 30,000 carrying fire torches through the main street and up to Carlton Hill, and trust me it looks amazing, like a river of fire running through the city. Unfortunately my camera doesn't take very good night shots so I couldn't get a shot that captured the true effect. At the top of the hill people throw their torches at the big wooden ship and burn it to the ground, but by the time we got there it was still raging but nothing of the ship was left. Then they set off a fantastic fireworks display from the top of the hill, but Donna and I were on top of the hill and had a very up close and personal show - enough to get completely ashed!
We got some sightseeing in, but the best was doing the Walking Tour, which is free, but you tip the guide at the end in regards to how much you think they should receive. Our guide was great and told us some fascinating stories about the city and specific buildings. I would highly recommend anyone travelling around Europe to do a walking tour in any city that they go to,
Xmas Eve
Finally home from the pub...Donna is trying to be a star...? as you can easily wander around yourself and not know half the history of buildings that you walk past, that could have been part of significant events in history.
Last time I was in Edinburgh I did a Ghost Tour where we got locked inside a tomb, but we did another one this time where we went into underground vaults. To be honest it wasn't as good as the first one, and it felt more like they had made stories up, rather than them actually being true - but apparently they have been accredited by psychic/ghost investigation programmes over here to really be haunted. They even had a room full of torture equipment and we were told what they were used for - very gruesome indeed. There were iron masks that would be heated up and then stuck to your face, which of course would melt the skin to keep it in place and where the mouth piece was, they would poor down boiling water, hot oil or worst of all, hot metal! They showed real chastity belts, but told some sad stories of these. They were usually used when husbands went away for a period of time and
Rambo or The Crow?
Jess got an early xmas pressie - black eye shadow, and decided to try some out....yes she was drunk. they had the only key, if he was killed while he was away the woman would have the unfortunate fate of wearing it for the rest of her life. You can imagine that if she had become pregnant before he left that she would actually a) not be able to carry the baby or b) die during childbirth as the babe would not be able to be delivered. They could not get people to unlock it as it was seen as a criminal offence and people would be executed for it. Thank goodness we don't live in times like that now!
New Year's Eve rolled around quite quickly and I spent the day exploring the museums and the parks by myself as the others went to the castle. I even saw the stuffed "Dolly the Sheep"! In the afternoon we went on some pretty scary rides at the showground they had set up, and it was then off to dinner where we had an exquisite meal and then on to the street party for the countdown and to see the amazing fireworks that are lit from Edinburgh Castle. There were thousands of people on the street, some in more
Xmas Dinner
Kelly, Tim's girlfriend, did an amazing job. Roast beef, pork, yorkshire puddings, veggies, bubbles and even party poppers!! Oh and don't forget the xmas crackers! worse states than others of course! Everyone seemed extremely happy and friendly and there were definitely lots of hugs and cheek kisses exchanged. But ladies you have to see the guys in their kilts - wow - but unfortunately for them, when their mates get drunk, all is revealed, and you end up finding out what a Scotsman wears under his kilt!
It was a great break away from London, and it was awesome to hang out with the Lienerts and Renee. Big thanks to them all for putting up with me too!
As for all of you - I hope that you all had a great one... must admit getting texts from my brother telling me he was out at our beach house in front of the bonfire with a good supply of alcohol made me feel a little homesick, but hey I still had fun!
I know some of you have plans to come over this way this year, so make sure you let me know when you are planning on coming, because I would love to catch up. I have lots of travelling to fit in myself this year so want to make sure
Torch procession
My camera didn't work very well with these lights, but this is in the city centre. I have tried to research the history of this event but couldn't find anything. Basically 30,000 people carry torches up to Carlton Hill, some dressed as vikings, and set a big wooden ship on fire! Cool! I will be here to see you!
Take care and chat to you all soon!!
Big hugs
Rach xoxox
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