We went to London to see the Queen!

We had a big day out this week and went sightseeing in London!

First of all we popped up to the Queen's house to see if she was in. I think she was as the flag was up, but we didn't get to see her. I was impressed with how clean her net curtains were though!

The Queen's Guards were putting on a bit of a parade outside. The American's were complaining that they weren't wearing red, but I bet it gets a bit nippy outside in the winter, so they had long coats on. There were loads of people outside. It was like a match day or something. I bet the Queen gets annoyed at having so many people hanging round outside all the time. It's bad enough for me when the kids are on the trampoline next door.

We went along to look at the Houses of Parliament too. I've seen them before, but I'm generally in a rush. It was nice to have a proper look. Although the smell of partially treated sewage from the Thames wasn't the most pleasant.

The floating restaurant in this picture was pretty impressive. I'm not sure I would like to go on it though as I like to eat my food without the smell of poo surrounding me generally.

When we were crossing Parliament Bridge we noticed that the sunshine made some interesting shadows on the pavement. We had a bit of a giggle at what are now known as the Westminister Willies!

 We visited Nelson's Column, looked at the Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar Square and went up to Picadilly Circus. We also saw a lot of other cool stuff and did a shitload of walking! We have come to the conclusion that we need to go back and spend some more time enjoying the best of British!

Oh and I know they say the Welsh are short, but this bloke takes the piss!

Big city adventures

I'm currently on the train to London for a big city mini adventure. It's not as exciting as it sounds but I am going to get a quick glimpse at Big Ben and Westminister Cathedral.

Will keep you posted on how it goes!

Creative is as creative does

I started my creative writing course last night (hence my paraphrasing of Forrest Gump!) and I think it went quite well. I enjoyed the exercises I did and reading the front page of a few books to get an idea of what makes a good book.

Ok, I didn't actually contribute to any discussions, but I took a lot in and it definitely made me think. I felt a bit intimidated by the group I was in as some of the others were quite vocal and liked to use words that I didn't really understand. Also, we did a free-writing exercise and I thought I did ok by just writing the first things that came into my head (like we asked), but when we had to read some out, some people seemed like they were going for the Booker Prize on week one!

It's a ten week course which covers a different aspect of creative writing each week. I'm not looking forward to week 5. Poetry. I hate poetry and have no interest in writing it, so the exercise I get given that week may be interesting.

I also have to write a short story to be assessed. So maybe if I feel good about it at the end of the course I'll consider publishing it here on my blog.

The last few days I have been mad busy and have to go up to London tomorrow for work which is going to be pretty tiring. But on Saturday I am meeting my friend for some lunch in town and a bit of shopping, so that will be a nice change. I also need to write a job application, so will probably have to spend some time doing it on Sunday to make sure I meet the dealine. I will let you know how that goes!!

The big city

I haven't been on for a while as I've been so busy in work and extremely tired but need to make the effort!

In the last two weeks I've been to London (on my first train and tube!) and here is one of the things I saw there.

I thought I was seeing things when I saw this horse!! The area where the conference venue was located was full of diamond shops which I would have liked to have had a look in!

I also got to see the Eurostar waiting at St Pancras station which was very exciting and the station itself was beautiful. I'm hoping to go back soon to take lots of pictures and explore.

I also stayed in a hotel this week which was nice. It was full of rich people and people playing golf. I was glad to get home to be honest.

I'm reading the Crimson Petal and the White at the moment. It's taking me a while as I've been so busy but is beautifully written and I can't wait to get more into it!

Hopefully this week will be more exciting!