Sorry... Here´s an update!

Hi everyone!

I´m sorry for being a bit slack lately as far as blog writing is concerned, but here´s an update on what I´ve been up to for the past month.

A few weekends ago I drove down to Hitchin to visit Andrew and Jess. I arrived early afternoon on the Saturday, and after catching up over a cuppa, the three of us went on an excursion to the Asian Grocers and the supermarket! Andrew had been feeling creative and so decided to cook us up a Thai feast for dinner. Their friends Kelly and Dave also came over and we had a night of eating Thai and playing Singstar on the playstation. It was girls against the boys in Singstar, and I´m afraid to say that the boys won! I´m pleased to say that it was also the boys who cooked the three-course meal and they did a fantastic job. We had Pad Thai, Red Chicken Curry and Chicken and Cashews. As Jess, Andrew and Kelly are vegetarians, the ¨chicken¨ was actually quorn, some kind of soybean product, and I have to say that it actually tasted like chicken!

The next day was quite overcast and a little drizzly, so Andrew, Jess and I decided to go to the cinema and see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I think this movie may have already been and gone at Australian cinemas, but I would highly recommend it to hire on DVD when it comes out. It was hilarious! I can´t remember the last time I laughed so much watching a film.

The following weekend, I decided it was time that I ventured into the city of Birmingham. There is a train station which is only a fifteen minute walk from my flat, so I caught a train from there into the city. This was the quickest and easiest way to get into Birmingham (the road in and around the city are VERY confusing!). I spent the afternoon shopping at The Bullring, and I´m ashamed to say that that was as much of Birmingham that I saw! On the plus side, I had a great day of retail therapy!

The Selfridges store at the Bullring is very unusual looking!

Outside the Bullring

A Church outside The Bullring

I´m going to be here for another month or so, and will probably return after doing a bit more travelling, so I figure that I´ll have more opportunities to see what Birmingham has to offer.

Moor Street Train Station, just across the road from The Bullring, is an Edwardian building which has recently been restored.

Actually, last week I drove into Birmingham for a CPD seminar about arthritis in cats. I managed to find my way to the venue from work ok, but finding my way back home was another story. I had to pull over a couple of times to check my map. There is a lot to be said for Sat Nav in big cities!

On a completely different topic, I´ve received some very exciting parcels from home recently. Two were from Mum, containing several new scrub tops for work, which have been a big hit with the rest of the staff and all of the clients- not a day goes by that I don´t hear at least once ¨ I love your top!¨

I received a third parcel this week from my good friend Lucy. She is the creator of ¨Brownie Point" Brownies and she sent me seven different varieties of her goods in the post! This is one parcel that I alone will be appreciating- they won´t be making it to work, that´s for sure!And that is about all of my news for the past month. I have booked a trip to Ireland for August after I finish work here, and another trip in October for Spain, where I will do another Intrepid Tour. In September I´ll be getting a visitor (Uncle Scottie is broadening his horizons!), and next weekend I´m going camping in Wales with Elise, so hopefully it won´t be as long this time before another update.

I hope that you are all well. Thanks for all your emails (and brownies and scrub tops!), hopefully I´ll hear from some of you soon.

Love,
Lis xxx.