Happy Halloween!

Photo belongs to She With A Capital V

Kentish fun!

Having had my multiple personality experience from Friday night (see previous post), most of this weekend was spent in Kent enjoying some of the sights of the county.  Being an Essex girl, there is always a little bit of rivalry banter over the merits of Essex versus Kent where I'm obviously always going to support the delights of Essex.  However, I do acknowledge that Kent has some absolutely stunning scenery, it is not known as the Garden of England for nothing.


We were visiting Mike and Sylvie who have only recently moved to their beautiful new house where we were lucky enough to spend the night. Dinner on Saturday night was at The Castle Inn in Chiddingstone which was absolutely delicious. The landlord is great too - friendly, amusing and full of chat.  Unfortunately, as it was already dark by the time we got there, we didn't get to enjoy Chiddingstone village itself by daylight but from what we could see, it all looked very pretty. Will definitely be going back!


And today was spent enjoying Leeds Castle apparently the 'loveliest castle in the world'.  It is very lovely but not sure if I would be so bold as to say it is THE loveliest castle in the world having visited other good castles but then again I don't work for their PR team!  A few photos below.  

Leeds Castle through autumn leaves

Near the entrance

One of the beautiful drawing rooms

Castle shoe cupboard - 1920s style

Me on one of the window seats. Not quite Downton Abbey!

This evening has been spent carving our pumpkins for Halloween. I'm off to finish mine.  It's supposed to be a cat. Except one of the eyes has gone a bit skew-whiff so I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be now!  

All photos belong to She With A Capital V

Are you talking to me?

Living in and around London town, nothing surprises me about the sights and sounds to behold on the last train home from a night out. Last night's experience, however was up there in terms of sheer randomness. And possibly one of the strangest things I have seen in a while!

I definitely hadn't had too much to drink so I certainly wasn't seeing or hearing things. And no way had I fallen asleep and dreamed it all.  But the chap who sat opposite me from getting on at Vauxhall station till the last stop, had a full on conversation...with himself.  Yes. With. Himself.  Just like I would be having a chat with a friend. The best bit though was at some points during his self conversation, he would reply back in French. Ah oui, en Francais!  


And yes I did look out for a telephone earpiece, headpiece, blue-tooth device and other possible transmission instruments where he could be hearing other voices to talk to but the only voices this chap was hearing were the ones in his own head.  


I did consider joining in so that we could have had a party but didn't want to intrude what with three being a crowd and all that. 


Maybe if I hadn't been on my own I would have had the courage to talk to him (to them?!) but I wasn't sure how he would have reacted to me butting in on his conversation.  It's obviously not usual behaviour to be talking to yourself on a train and my risk assessment at the time told me to carry on reading the news on my phone! 


Just in case you were interested, 'they' were talking about what a good evening they had spent at the bar they were in and how nice the people he had met were...


Just another night out in London!

A sponge is an animal not a plant

There were three stand out things from yesterday;

1).  I learnt that contrary to popular belief, a sponge is an animal and not a plant.

That a sponge sponge from say somewhere like Kalymnos looks very strange, almost 'alive' when wet and used in the shower. Strange in a watching kind of way. Winking even.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't and hadn't been alive, alive and that it had been made to look alive.  But what with Halloween approaching you just never know really...(!)

2).  If you're good friends with someone, it doesn't matter how long it has been since you last saw them, how far away they live, what you and they have been up to, it all just works when you see them again. Fits even. It obviously all depends on whether they are a pretty decent human being to begin with but you wouldn't be friends with them if they weren't. 

3).  That the old saying of 'tell me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are' is really true.  

Great seeing you Marc. And fantastic to meet your friends and gorgeous sister.   Hope to see you soon. 

C'est la vie

It's all very well being 'forty and fabulous' but there's feeling 'forty and fabulous'. 


Quite frankly, since the high of my birthday celebrations, I have felt more like 'forty and forlorn' of late.


I don't know if it is the sudden drop in temperature, the darker days, gloomy mornings, hormones, the fact that I've been unwell the last few days or a combination of all of the above but I feel rather flat. A bit like an old banger - tyred out (did you see what I did there?), rusty and in need of a new engine.


Last night, I met up with a bunch of friends who I hadn't seen for ages and it was great being with them all. It cheered me up even.  But it also made me feel a bit, well, I don't know, introspective.  


Everyone seems to be doing really well and so high achieving. And I just seem so normal, pedestrian, ordinary even!? I don't have the delights of any progeny to talk about, my career has plateaued, I still like a glass of wine or three, I like a laugh. And er, that's kind of it.


I know I have lots of good things happening over the coming weeks and months and we are getting married next year (woop!) so la vita bella.


And maybe that's why I feel this way. It is all good. But what cancer does to you (well me anyway), is that it makes you fearful of having or wanting it all in case you lose it. Or it loses you. Or you never even get a chance to have it.  It's a bastard this disease. So much so if it had a face I'd punch it. Hard. Physically you may be all sorted but mentally it's a different ball game to try and win.


Ah well. Musings over and time to get on. It's a start of a new day. C'est la vie.  


I'm off for a coffee. 

Forty and Fabulous - photos!

A selection of photos from my recent birthday celebrations...

Homemade champagne breakfast - with mushroom!

Birthday Lego Darth Vader - what every girl needs!

Cocktails at Trader Vics

Fish too big to fit in my handbag...

Spidey on the cocktails

Spidey (or rather Mat) showing off his climbing skills

Last night a DJ saved my life...

Mwah!

Dorothy and the rattiest Toto ever seen!

Ruby slippers and Spidey Feet!

Ninja Turtles!

Partying like its 1999

Spiderman *hearts* Dorothy 

Andy Warhol, James Bond, Frank, Dorothy and Toto

What a gorgeous group!

Fantastic box of Heroes with Woody and a couple of scientists

Dorothy and Sherlock laughing at an elderly Hulk

Captain America and cupcakes!

Lost count indeed!
Scrummy cupcakes from Bobo's Bakery

All photos belong to She With A Capital V

Forty and Fabulous

Je me suis bien amusée cette semaine as the French would say. As you may have gathered, not only did I turn forty (40) this week (yes you heard correctly at the back), I have had a fantastic time celebrating this momentous age.


I have never actually had 'an episode' to do with any of my landmark birthdays other than alcohol fuelled ones. And quite frankly, as I have already mentioned, each birthday that comes around I will be celebrating with gusto.  Life is really too short not to. Aside from updating my profile on here, there has been no real change I am aware of with turning forty!


To celebrate, yesterday was my 'Heroes' party at The Well and what a fab time I had!  Mat and I have spent the last couple of hours chuckling at the hundreds of photos taken just by our cameras.  I am so lucky to have such an amazing bunch of friends. Old friends, new friends and friends to be made, they are all heroes.  As I have already mentioned, I was Dorothy for the evening complete with wig in pigtails, glittery red shoes and Toto in a basket.  I like to think I conveyed a certain 'cuteness' in my blue gingham dress but given the trowel I used to slap on my blue eye shadow and glittery red lipstick, drag queen came to mind...


How much did I love my hair?! I loved wearing the pigtails and made me miss my lovely long hair. I may now buy a variety of long cheap wigs just for the hell of it.  Ru Paul watch out!


Anyway, once sorted I will post some photos on here to give a flavour of the party but joining Dorothy among the 'heroes' on show included; Snow White, Captain America (x2), the Incredible Hulk 10 years on complete with pot belly and grey hair, Lara Croft (x2), Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, Blade, Magnum PI, a box of 'Heroes' chocolates, Superman, an Avatar in all her blue glory, Minnie Mouse, bloke from A Clockwork Orange, Catwoman, Sandy from Grease, Wonder Woman, Stephen Seagal in Under Siege, Sherlock Holmes, a naughty nurse, Bruno (don't ask) and many more.  I was hugely impressed and touched by the amount of effort people had made.  


There was lots of dancing, lots of silliness and general lots of fun had by all. Obviously, now that I am older and not necessarily wiser, things were a little 'delicate' this morning!  There were so many funny things from last night, I could probably create a new blog for it. I find myself having a little chuckle just thinking about it all!


On my actual birthday, the day started with a champagne breakfast. And carried on from there...


Lunch was at 'Hibiscus' restaurant in Mayfair which was absolutely delicious. Michelin starred but thankfully not stuffy as that is not really us. Then more drinks at the Punchbowl pub (Guy Ritchie's pub) again in Mayfair. It's alright. It's a pub full of suits.  Mat didn't  rate the beer and my vodka and diet coke was ok but nothing to write home about. Don't believe the hype. 


Then we were on to 'Windows Bar' at the Hilton in Park Lane. Except we ended up at 'Trader Vics' in their basement because some company had hired 'Windows' for the night. Ended up sat next to someone from the FT who was berating the poor general manager about the lack of nibbles and food. I agreed except I would not have been as eloquent. My brain at this point was too alcohol addled to come up with words longer that 2 syllables! And then lovely surprise, Fi, Sarah and Caroline bearing flowers and gifts. And more drinks in the pub! What a fantastic week. 


Amongst all this and alongside me all the way has been Mat - making everything special, looking good in a Spiderman costume and having the patience of a saint. My very own real life, all singing, all dancing, all climbing... hero.

Nascence - the event of being born

“At the age of 20, we don't care what the world thinks of us; at 30, we worry about what it is thinking of us; at 40, we discover that it wasn't thinking of us at all. Anonymous


"Everyone is the age of their heart." Guatemalan proverb


"Don't just count your years, make your years count." Ernest Meyers


"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."  Abraham Lincoln

Live. Love. Laugh. 

To Autumn

From John Keats' poem, 'To Autumn' (1820)

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells..........."

........And where all this hot and humid weather results in unusual smells!!

I thought I would add that last line in even though poor John Keats must be spinning in his grave reading it.  One because 'smells' rhymes with 'cells' and two because all this strange summer weather in autumn ain't normal and needs commenting on somehow.

October, my birthday month is not known for me applying sun-protection for fear of being sun burnt. Not in Surrey anyway. A few days before my birthday I have never been known to be wandering around in flip-flops.  All this lovely weather is very welcome but just a little bizarre.

Apparently, by the end of this week, it will be snow, rain and high winds galore  so am making the most of all this great weather.

Mat and I have been doing lots of prep work for my birthday celebrations due on Saturday. Not going to reveal too much on here but suffice to say it should be a very good laugh.  

There are many things in life that you have to do because life is too short to not do so. One of them is to put on a costume and just have a bit of a laugh. I am incredibly touched by all the little stories of creativity I am hearing from my friends and the effort they are going through to look the part for my party.  It is truly humbling and I feel very lucky to know such cool folk.

I just hope the party lives up to the hype... Yikes! Watch this space.

The only blot on the landscape is some shoulder/back pain I have been experiencing although thankfully, it has not been as sore today.  I think it may be where I have been over-doing it lately particularly with the climbing so have been resting. It seems to be doing the trick but have alerted the relevant people anyway.

Watch this space indeed.