You must appreciate these photos....

We were tailed by a police car for several streets and police jumped on us the moment we stopped, and asked whether hubby had been drinking. Well, of course we said no!

Actually, we did have a glass of cocktail during dinner. K brought us to an exclusive private dining place which is really IN in Bristol. And the thing which impressed me most about this was was they could actually shut their doors and make their customers wait in the freezing cold in the middle of winter! And their customers would actually wait....... till exactly 7 pm.. for the door to open! I was complaining of the cold, but deep inside, I was thinking of BRAVING it no matter what just to check out WHY. WHY can they do this and people still patronise? They dont even provide you with those outdoor heaters! And if you come after 7;30pm... too bad. No dinner for you.. and you cannot leave early. Sounds worse than a dinner appointment with your future in laws.

That place had great ambiance, and impressive concept... too bad we did not bring cameras!

.... and what was those "dots" almost got us into trouble?

The famous suspension bridge of Bristol.

Bath-the place

Since we got to pay like £10 per person to enter this place, hubby was snapping anything, everything like crazy............


The sunset-- light reflected on the cathedral outside the bath. I missed this magnificent sights as I was ....

................acting "cultured" and busy looking at stuff like this... (which to hubby is just pieces of old stones...and therefore he was so bored and went out to the "pool")






The main bath-on top, and the even more "holy" one-below. You are supposed to see bubbles/steam coming out.






I like this one... of "warriors" and "kings" watching the bath-ie the pool. I wondered if it was Yang Kuei Fei is bathing here naked....how else could you get men fixing their eyes at a pool of water?

Bath-after the sun sets

These photos were taken after the sun sets. No, we did not photoshop or did anything like that. It is pretty obvious we are amateur photographers. I still have not understood why the sky here remains THAT BLUE after it turns dark!!!


The churches above... and the river Avon below. Bath just look so magical after the sun sets. The photos did not manage to do justice to the sights.


Statue of a busty and big sized woman...I wonder when busty and big will be in fashion again....

Burton on the water...

The little bits of leaves left on the tree convinced me to come back again next autumn-- right in the middle of autumn!

The Cotswolds photo

This photos did not do justice to this little "village" which we found just off M5. Houses were built on both sides of the hill, and it is really charming! Reminds me of Ohara in Kyoto... with English architecture, and type of trees. It is a pity that we did not manage to catch the Autumn foliage at the best time.


The photo below is at Burford, at the famous traffic light at the bridge. Only one car can pass at a time. To the left, there is a glimpse of river Avon. Burford is where we went again to shop!!


The above photo is taken in the middle of no where, when we decided to take a turn into a small road and take a short break.

This is the church at North Leach, if IIRC.

The steam cleaner was good

Good... not as powerful as i hoped. But for £15 quid, it has finished cleaning 1 coat, 2 jackets and 1 scarf so far. If I send these to dry clean, it would be £5-10 quid per piece. So, what more could I ask?

Thank goodness for the Italian guy who discovered steam cleaning!

Cotswolds and more shopping

There is something called -Pent up demand.

We have not been buying stuff for pretty much of one whole year! That is really difficult here, considering you have 4 seasons.

On 27tth, we hit Swindon after picking up MS and SH. These two are really shopping gurus, and I must kowtow them for their knowledge of the trade. I really hope that hubby will get influenced and start to understand the art of shopping.

Swindon is a more downscale village compared to Bicester, which means things are more affordable, and you feel less like a failure in life-watching people buying thing by bag loads when you cant afford most of the things. The last time we were there, I almost wished I am gay. Those gays couples seems to have limitless credit card limits.

We bought quite a lot of stuff from Swindon.
Hubby got his a pair of new Nike for less than £20, but he still complained that it is not cheap enough. Difficult to please. His standard is cheap is £5 for a pair of Nike, as the is the price MS and SH managed to get last Boxing day. I also forced him to buy a Gap thing- you know that thing that is long and go around the neck. I know it is scarf for women, but for men- it is really long! He keeps on complaining it is long, "mah fan" etc etc. But is is to keep away the cold!! Darn. At 80% lambswool, you cant even buy that much raw material-yarn for £5(less than 1/3 of original price). If he does not want it anymore, i can tear it apart and knit into many many things. hehe.

Me? I have been really good. RADLEY WAS CHEAP!!! So was TULA! Prices for handbags started from £14! I really had to resist temptation and convince myself that nothing suits me. I got another pair of boots for £20 from Clarks, less than 1/2 price too! :).

Since we are on our own, we needed household stuff! We got a 1/2 price bale of 6-towels from M&S to replace our fungus infested ones. We bought toasters for £5 (will recoup the money from our electricity bills very quickly), a steam cleaner for £15 and finally a mirror from Sainsbury for £4.99!. We went back to Oxford very happy, but very exhausted.

Yesterday we hit Cotswolds again. The guys were very happy as they thought we are done with shopping. Unknown to them Burford is actually a shopping haven. SH got a 100% cashmere jumper for only 40 quid (original price more than £120!). I got a scarf for £14.95, I think the original price was over £40! Hubby insisted I get one as my "pashminas" were bought in HK for about HKD20 each and are getting really worn. I got a nice cream colored one. I think we can share it. He should look quite suave with in in his suit. :)

Then we hit Coventry, on the pretext of visiting the famous Cathedral. Coventry is another shopping haven!! But i supposed we were too tired and out of budget to buy anything there. We were searching all over the place for the Body Shop, but it is a real disappointment. Prices were much more ex than last year's.

I liked the ruined Coventry cathedral. There is something beautiful and sad about it. Hopefully MS will send us the photos soon :)

The early bird caught the worm(S)!!

Yeah! That is right. I only wished earlier. Regretted spending almost an hour in River Island, the bulk part of it queing, for two pieces of not exactly dirt cheap shirts-£15 per shirt-which I had not tried, and therefore has a high chance of return. Bought 1 black shirt for myself with black bead details-I think it is quite cool. hope it fits!

Then I hit Dorothy perkins to use up that £5 card member voucher. I got a nice blouse for £10, still not sure to keep it or not cos i always look 5-10 years older with shirts, another of the long sleeve turtle neck jumper, this time in grey. The black one works fine for me, one of those pieces of clothing that you would LUVVVVV cos whenever you put it on, people ask you if you lost weight. :) But this grey look weird. I realised that I bought 1 size bigger than the piece I am currently wearing. I think the trick of turtle neck knit wear is to buy them TIGHT, then wear 1-2 times at home to expand them, and they will fit your curves.

I also bought another pair of black pants. £7!! Heheeee. I think it is the revenge of the fat woman. The only pants that fitted my BUMS were those from Sense, which cost me S$49.90-59.90 a pop, that I had to STOCK up in different colours when one fits. But over here, my only problem seems to be the British cut at the bum is too big for me, especially the lower bum. You get what I mean? YOu wear pants, and then there are some lose cloth just below your most pointed part of the bum! I understand why after I watch British women. They have saggy bums. Sigh.

I tried to fit into a low cut jeans too.. perfect everywhere but.....it is a no no. It had the curse of the golden flower effect-upside down. Imagine if you go to toilet... and then a piece of wayward tissue get STUCK there....... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

MY most glorious purchases were from BOOTS!!! I got enough shampoo, and hair styling stuff like gel etc to last me a year :) at less than 1/2 price! This gal saw this big packet of Toni and Guy gift thingy, and grabbed one because she liked the hair brush. I went around the store and grab grab grab grab... before analysing and doing the maths. That was a good idea, and it shows that EXPERIENCE counts! The Toni and Guy thing was probably the best bargain, and when I walked back there 30 minutes later to see if there are other packets on the shelf... there were none left! The price? £ 7.50 for 2 x 250ml shampoo and conditioner (usually costs £4.99-5.99 each), 3x stylying gel/waxes etc.. dunno how much it costs usually, I only know it is not cheap, and that hair brush. Hee hee. Now I got myself a nice hair brush. NO longer have to envy my sister's. Did I mention I also got a complete set of N7 make-up thingy for £7.50??I wont need to buy make up for the next 1-2 years :)



Verdict of today's trip. Successful!!And now.. I begin to think that I am a shopping queen. I am now a very happy gal.

Shall I walk to town to shop?? Tomorrow is boxing day!!

Tomorrow is Boxing day.

Today, I shall make all preparations to go shopping!!! Boxing day is THE day for shoppers. Last year, I was scared of the crowd, and really regretted.

This year, I shall buy and buy and buy. Getting my credit cards and my cash ready.

Another car rental day.....

I think their car is jinxed or something. This is the 3rd planned trip, and guess what? This time their petrol tank "exploded", and as a result, the whole petrol station got to close down because of the fire hazard. No joke. I think their car is becoming legendary.

Thank goodness, the winter promotion with Enterprise is still on, and get get to rent a car for about £10/day. So, £20 for two days. If I knew this were to happen, I would have rented it for another 2 days, then we can go around on Christmas and Boxing day, and not rely on public transport. £10/day is cheaper than public transport for the two of us!!

So this is christmas and what am I doing now? Staying at home, of course. No public transport. Catching up with some work, and wondering if it is worth doing any of those new year resolutions.

Books...and shopping

Today I went to the local library to get some books. Got to keep up my reading thing :)

I finished reading Save Karyn- cover to cover yesterday evening :). AUthor? Karyn Bosnak.
Was this a film? I bet so, funny i did not notice it at all. That shows how pathetic my life is for the couple of years. Missed films. Missed books. Missed everything. Thanks to the books, Chimes did not manage to make me part with 1 single penny, despite everything screaming sales! I am also putting off that 29.99 boots from clarks, because I am going to swindon on 27th to SHOP!!!!

Yes, SH, and I will shop shop shop.. while the men got to bear with us, since we were working so hard to save them tonnes of money. I am gonna see if the stuff will really be much cheaper there. I know boots like that would cost probably around 20 quid is Bicester, and Bicester is having sales from early January! If SH is going, maybe i could visit her and go with her. I can see why the men regret introducing the two of us. In fact I think hubby regret introducing me to any of his friends' WAGS cos I alway hit it off with them, and we always end up happily going out for shopping trips.

I originally planned to get some good books from teh shops, but greatly disappointed. I believe you can judge a nation/city/town by the stock of their bookshops. The nearby bookshops have lots of poetry, literature, history, philosophy-great, but these are not what I am looking for at the moment! For that, I got to plan a trip to the book Mecca in Oxford, or charring cross.

vomit blood

While I was typing out being sabotaged and remaining Zen like to make sure no wrinkles pop out, the joker was filling up a form.

He asked me .....

Hubby: What does BA stands for?
Me: [Frown..... thinking.. British Airways???]
Hubby: Then what should be my title for education qualification? BA?
Me: BA is Bachelor of Arts
Hubby: then mine is what? BA?
Me: [Blood is and puke is creeping up my veins and my esophagus--FROWN!!!!]
Hubby: or BSc?
Me: [FROWN!!! To use my qi gong to force the puke down-back to where it came from, wrinkles appeared] Beng. BEng.
Hubby: Oh, BEng, is it? Got Hons or not?
Me: [damn it, are you trying to joke with me???Trying to remind me that your degree is more high class is it??] Of course lar, otherwise people think you did not even get 3rd class.

And as I was typing the above
H: Your qualification? Got hons? (referring to my qualification)
Me: [STARE, smoke coming out, more wrinkles cracking my face]..

now... go back to slap on more of my night cream, and vomit out that proposal so that that idiot cannot sabotage me tomorrow in office. Sigh..........................................

Sabotaged

yeah, I see first hand how people can try to sabotage your progress. tactics used including
-asking irrelevant question
-drawing you into endless "discussions"
-challenging every decision or suggestion and force you to defend it
-do anything under the sun to waste your time
-back stab you in front of boss

Yeah. some bloody idiot attempted all these moves. Stupid idiot. Why would he waste so much time picking on a "part-time" worker whose main aim in life is to SEE her hubby climb the corporate ladder while she check out the bargains, places to pick strawberries and new countries to roam? (aka tai tai) He is after all the boss's golden boy, and it is soooo sooo obvious that he gets preferential treatment all the time!

I am taking the crap as a compliment.

Retaliation?

nah. A tai tai's main concern would be how many lines on her face. Anything that cause wrinkles are to be avoided.

Learn French!!

I am determined to learn enough to order dishes and wine/champagne in a restaurant properly.

BBC's website actually have free video lessons!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/
I love BBC :)

Other than french, they have other languages as well. Italian will be next.. what else.. Japanese? Thai? Well, any country with yummy food. :)

Now that I am learning a new language my brain cells' death rate could hopefully slow down.

urrrrr.. how do you say good bye? Bonjour? no? Sayonara??

By the way, Oliver is supposed to be a boy's name and Olivia a girl's name?

Oliver is now in top ten hit of fav boys name. Thanks to Jamie Oliver?? hehehe Jamie Oliver is my ou xiang of a man who can cook and do great deeds!!!
Olivia?? Urgh....
My most shocking discovery, (thanks to my baby name googling colleagues) is Lucy is making a comeback!! LUCYYYYYYYY!!! Awww.

Extremely cold and foggy day!!

That picture was stolen from Bisoumoi's blog.

It was much much more foggy at my place, and I bet much more cold as well. It has got to be the coldest morning I had to be outside, and walked to work. By the time I arrived, my thighs and calves were NUMB with cold, despite my usual tights, pants and coat. I know that sounds not a lot, but tights have been practically enough for me to survive the previous winter. I was not standing still, mind you, I was walking really really fast.

The morning seemed so surreal. The cars were frozen with a thick layer of ice. The fields, roofs and trees' twigs were white. There were even ice on the path, and ice forming on the roof of my colleagues' cars (who probably arrived 1/2 hour earlier). I wanted very much to flip out my handphone to take a photo, but chickened out. My mind was still fresh with the image of SH's chilblains!!! Now I fully believe that central London could me many more degrees warmer than the outskirts.

Hmmm. shall I brave the cold this weekend to go out?? I could watch a nice Christmas musical, meet some friends, buy my tang yuans, and have been promised juicy gossips by a guy who usually does not gossip. Which means, if he is gossiping, that it got to be worth gossiping... hmmmm...

Argh.. tomorrow is going to be colder than today. sigh. Another day of walking in near 0 temperature. Maximum day temperature is only 2C. On Friday, max temp =2C, min temp =-1C.

sick leave

still feeling ill.

I think this is the retribution for eating too much. My tummy still feel unwell, and I still feel like vomiting. Really poor sleep yesterday, with the urge to puke. Sigh.

Being off work today means there will be loads to do when i go back to clear for the Christmas break.

Friday is winter solstice. And it is going to be cold. Day time temperature will go no higher than 6C!! I feel dont feel like going out with that temperature, not after SH showed me her chilblains. Ouch!!! Really bad. All she did was not properly clothed and walk a little longer than expected outside.

Maybe I should just cheat and get everyone to come to my house instead. But then... i still got to go an procure the tang yuans, in china town, no less which is like almost 2 hours away. But hmmm, I really feel like making those with gula melaka inside. :) Got cravings. I also need to top up my roti prata supply. I have got the hang of making those KAWAN frozen roti prata taste and look like the real thing, and manage to fake some dhal with Sainsbury's lentil and parsnip soup. The effect is REAL COMFORT FOOD!...

Ill day and dreams of summer strawberries

Today I have been ill. No particular reasons. Just felt dizzy, and on my way to shop for christmas presents, I felt ill at the bus-stop, nauseous and dizzy. I quickly walked home before I get a chance to faint.

The moment I reached home...... to the toilet I went.. and.........puked.... puked.... puked...
Probably ate too much steamboat yesterday. We had MS and SH over, and we had hotpot! Just dumped some LauGanMa szechuan hotpot soup base into a rice cooker.. add ingredients, and fed ourselves silly. Ate and ate until we could not move anymore. Hotpot in winter is sooooooooo comfy, and a good "cure" for my chili cravings. I will definitely do it again over Christmas :) and also CNY.

Oh yeah, some very "chinese" friend of hubby actually remember than 22nd Dec is "guo dong". Haha. Hmmm.... A "banana" like me does not attach much significance to that, but I will consider cooking some tang yuan and taking in some lonely hearts who attach Guo Dong as togetherness with family and friends. Then... we can have enough people for another hot pot session... (heee ... heee..., and also I get excuse to cook/eat Tang Yuan, since the joker does not eat it)

SH told me about their fruit plucking in summer (when I was not around!!). They had such good fun. Cherries, strawberries, blue berries, blackberries.. all my favourites! There is a big farm somewhere near oxford, and you could visit for free and eat as you pluck. (Fresh berries!!!! ) You only pay for what you bring home! Of course, most of what they plucked went into their tummies. :) I am definitely going to do this next year. I will want to pluck everything. From strawberries to lemons and apples and pears. Apparently they had so much apples around their house, that no one was bothered to eat them! Yumm....

That is all I could manage to "document" today. Firm reminder to visit orchards right after Easter to dig asparagus.... and then visit again, and again, and again to pluck pluck pluck all the way to the last fruits in autumn.

depressed day

Today is a very depressive day.

One unhappiness after another. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.

SOmetimes, it is good to put down what you are unhappy about to let it off. Sometimes, it is just best to leave it pass, so that there is no trace to remind you the anger/hurt/sadness you have.

Life is so short, and so precious that it is not worth spending time documenting every single sob story we hear, every regret we have. List down your regrets in detail, and your will never ever have a chance to forget your regrets, and then you can regret and blame yourself for the rest of your life, and hate yourself more each day. Banging head on a hard wall works better.

Ok.. cut that crap short. Bring on the cheers!!!!

Lets just say, yours truly, the cheapskate tai tai, managed to wrangle a FREE haircut from a Vidal Sassoon salon. Yes, you are right. say after me.. Vidal Sassoon. Yes, that shampoo guy.

double s, double o.

When I was a kid, I always wondered whether sassy came from SASSoon, as the SASSoon styles are so SASSy. It is like, "Wow, you got a Sassoon haircut....that is so Sassy!" or a Miranda priestly wannabe acted smart aleck and say to a tai tai.. "ooooo.. i recognise that Sassy hair", wink wink. hahahah

Talk rubbish symptoms surfaced.

It is so sad that when I get off work, all my talk rubbish gang is fast asleep. cant call anyone. Cant talk rubbish.

Who am I going to irritate?? Where am I going to pass my bad influence?

Hmm.... that remind me that there is a saint holed up somewhere and pledged to spend all his Christmas holiday on doing a paper!!!! I was like what??? You kidding me???

er.... why are there no photos of my cotswolds trip? Yours truly is an true idiot. Had a digital camera, took tonnes of photo, and then...........

................

.................

..............

dunno how to upload.



Files too big.


An idiot like me should just stick to my primitive phone camera.

Two things in the mail.............

Today I received 2 things in the post:

1. A thank you card from my Japanese beauty therapist. She hoped that I had enjoyed the visit. Hmmm... talk about hospitality. Must be a Japanese thing. Now I kind of feel I should be visiting her again. :)
2. A letter from Met Police. Requesting witnesses, whether I had seen anything on that fateful night. Sigh. Unfortunately not. I saw nothing. My head was buried deep in my work those few days, I would have seen or heard nothing even it it happens right in front of me. Well, scary isnt it. Crime was just at my door step. All I remember was how foggy the 6th of November was. Damn robbers cum murderers were smart. There were so much bangs and noises from the fireworks which went off like crazy in this neighborhood, that by that that of the night, we would all be immune from any soft of noises. i do feel kind of guilty actually. I saw fireworks, but not a woman in distress, whose life I might have saved (if I saw her). Sigh. May she rest in peace.
   

What an anticlimax!!!

I have been feeling really really tired from my work. And have been using whatever left that from my strength to read THE devil Wears Prada.

That Miranda Priestly was indeed worth her Pradas and Chanel. However, the ending was an all too predictable thing. Hate these kind of books. Maybe that it why is a chick lit. Sigh. Just like Lipstick Jungle. Good too read to keep up with what corporate America's latest fetishes are... but.......

just forget the story line.

A revelation from the dead.....

Sumerians..Egyptians etc etc

Visited the British Museum (yes, again)

This time I came out with a conclusion.

We eat too damn much!!!

Look at the pottery of the earlier civilisations, their "vessels", their "plates", and their "bowls". Phi tried to tell me those storage jars might be "cups", but I was determined to have none of it. Look at the size of that God damn bracelets! I cant fit in!!

Sigh.. I MUST LOSE WEIGHT

THE MUMMIES and sumerians were telling me to.

Note: TAlking about death. I saw a woman walking pass, stopped, placed flower on the hedges of the house across the road.

So, it is that house. I had tried to imagine that it was further away, but no, no. With all the leaves dead and off, I can see the house so clearly. Poor woman.

My reading list :books

15 Nov 2006-2007 Quota-110 books
Since 15th Nov, I have read:

1. The Low GI Guide to managing PCOS: By JB Miller
2. The Constant Gardener
3. The Devil wears Prada
4. Perfect Mothers, Invisible women-susan Van Scoyoc-totally thought provoking. Will shove to all my perfect woman wannabe friends.
5. Saving Karyn-Karyn Bosnak
6. My Sister's Keeper (1st Jan 2007)
7. The Officer's Ward-Marc Dugain (20th Jan 2007)-most of it was about life in a hospital, after handsome men had their face blasted out in the WWI. The most surprising element was bone graft was already practiced. Least surprising?-over promises by good natured doctors. Take home message. Men would proclaim passionate love and then could forget everything, and let the past be the nothing more than history. Yes, they can really forget and move on. Women would trivialize relationship, proclaim it is over, and yet still hang on to it.
8. A book, which according to the author, I should never tell anyone I read it.
9. Project Management-forgot which author... which means it is a lousy book.
   
10. Children and trauma A parents guide to helping children heal Cynthia Monahon
11. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
12. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
13. Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Questions (New Scientists) Read: Sept 07
14. Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix- Oct 2007
15. Heidi (yes, again!)
    

Must read:
Sex and the city
The Wisdom of Crowds
Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook (Hardcover)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
The Inheritance of Loss-Kiran Desai!!
HARRY Potter series!
QI: The Book of General Ignorance
The Time Traveler's Wife
Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?: And 114 Other Questions

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Adult Edition
Brokeback Mountain
Morrie in His Own Words: Life Wisdom from a Remarkable Man



To read again:
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

TO OWN (and yes reread again.. and again)
Lucky-Alice Sebold (this is a book everyone should read!)
The Lovely Bones-Alice Sebold
Tuesdays with Morrie


Yes, it is a shameful list. How can I tell anyone that I have not read Harry Potter???

Facial-done by a Japanese!

This is the first time I had a facial done by a Japanese woman. Haha

I decided to go for Jurlique day spa, since the treatments in the nearby university's health centre is fully booked till next week!.

Overall impression:
The spa is less impressice than I imagined from its name-Jurlique day spa. It is a no-nonsense place with treatment rooms, and soothing music though.

Service?
Big improvement compared to my thirsty facial! This time I was offered a drink when I arrived-although it is just water plus slices of lemon in it while waiting for my therapists. After my therapist, a very petite Japanese woman who look not a day older than 25 introduced herself and brought me to the therapy room, I was offered another cup of water without me asking. I think she saw my cracked lips! haha. Compared this to my previous experience where a call for water during a hot summer day in a spa ended up with a "there is nothing I can do for you!" I think this is attentiveness, this is hospitality.

Skills?
She got the most gentle pair of hands. Perhaps too gentle. At times, I just wished that she would use a bit more pressure, especially on the shoulders and certain acupoints on the face. And although Jurlique stuff are nice and mild, I think Elemis' stuff smells much better! I thought she applies too much moisturiser/cream on my face-looked oily. But no...it felt just right after 1 hour.My skin was so supple and soft. Talk about plastering money on face.

No extraction. That is my main complain. And it is not as relaxing as I wished. 30 minutes is not enough time i think.

Extras??
I was offered another drink. (Three!!), at the end of the facial by my therapist. She later showed me to the lounge on the top floor, where I could sip my camomile's tea and relax. That was really good, as I often feel giddy after facials.

Effect?
Damage to my wallet-£35!!! I could get a very very good facial at this price in Sg BKK, or Malaysia!!!!

Ego booster #1....... therapist said I got very very smooth skin. :)

Ego booster #2; Another Japanese therapist saw me in the hallway spoke to me in Japanese! haha. She thought I am one of them! :D

I think my face is less saggy, after a good massage. Sigh.. age. Age age. What will happen to me if my earnings cannot catch up with my need for facials???

Do/Will I JURLIQUE?

No thanks. very expensive stuff.

I am not a rose kind of person. Rose water on my face is just too much. I was so conscious about the smell on my face and my hair the whole evening. I even find the light rose scents on Lancome stuff a bit tooo.......eeee. So.. I can never be Jurliqued.

I miss my shiseido. I think that is my scent. Addictive scent. Which made me look forward to my night routine.

I need a facial, which I should I go?

The sports centre at the nearby university have a therapist offering massages. a 30minute aromatherapy facial massage would cost me £18.60 after discounts.

My other option is 30 minute facial session at the Jurlique day spa (Jurlique Anti-Stress Facial), one of the top day spas in london. Damage? £35.

Hmmmmm

how?


Oh yeah, the university sports centre have very cheap massage!!! I got to find out if they are good.

face is sagging because of tiredness. That is why got sarcastic remark from ah neh.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be shopping in Tesco?"

What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be shopping in Tesco?

"...Exclusive London department store, Harrods, sacked its Santa after complaints that he racially abused an Asian family and made unpleasant remarks about their daughter, a London Evening newspaper reported Wednesday. The store's Father Christmas shocked shoppers with his outburst on Monday, the report said.

When Santa saw an Asian couple and their children, he reportedly blurted out: "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be shopping in Tesco?" - a British supermarket chain.

As the furious family turned to leave the Knightsbridge store, he made suggestive comments about the couple's teenage daughter, asking her to come and sit on his knee."

Haiz... why are there people like this? Offending people without provocation? Although I suspect that the "victim" is Ah Neh( I got most problems from them!), I still think that no one deserved this unprovoked. I have two incidents lately, and really thought that these people need to be taught a good lesson.

Sam Soon against Ah Neh.....

Yeah. I did it again.

This time to a big company. The company which is supposed to give me one loyalty point for not taking plastic bag.

Most of the time, I dont take plastic bags. My two pints of milk and loaf of bread were perfect dumbells (esp the milk!), I could imagine my arms getting slimmer as I swing them on my way home. Slim and safe. No one will attack a woman walking like that with 2 pints of milk in her hands.

BUT they never gave me a single point! One evening I was curious and asked them, "How come I did not receive a green point? I have never received any so far" in a very friendly way when I got my receipt at the till.

Damn ah neh. Dunno why he must offend me.

Told me, " I dont know! If you want your point you can call customer service"... that kind of challenging looking, like it will be stupid to spend money to call for 1 point which worth is 1 cent. Do I look that cheapskate??

He picked the wrong person. By now, after 1 year here, I know these ah neh style. Not the first time.Whether the locals like you or not, they are always polite enough not to make you feel that you are discriminated. But ah neh in London, but not central London is one kind (Oxford street types are ok). Plus I was really pissed off that this is supposed to be for the environment, there is a big campaign about it, and yet here in my local stores they don't give you what was promised.

So I sent an email to their customer service (email is free)..


"... blah blah blah
..blah blah blah..
....Your staff told me to call you if i want my points. Do I really have to call you to get that 1 point or find out whether I can get my G***n point? I have figured out it will be much cheaper to text to the papers, to check if I am the only person not receiving the points or others have the same experience too".

I received their apologies. Now I get my points when I dun take plastic bag. Why can't they just be nicer in the first place?

Today I got another experience, another ah neh. All I wanted is to take home 1 form to apply for a credit card from the pile there. Not only he did not allow it, he also asked sarcastically whether i am above 18. As I have been in good mood but in a hurry, I was still polite and friendly. I just wanted to grab a form and go!

"Of course", I said.

From my short reply to his insult,he probably thought that I cant speak English. I am easy to bully, or probably the new cleaner on the block. I was wearing sports shoes due to my ankle pains, and an old blouse ( thanks to the mould). I am easy to bully, or probably the new cleaner on the block. To add insult to the injury, he tried to lecture me about there is something called "Data Protection Act", and implied that if I take home the form, I would fill in other people's details, and commit fraud!!In my fury, and my hurry, I just put back the form and walked off.

Hmmm. I am not sure if I want to complain, because

1) I sensed a racist discrimination in they way he spoke to me-enough to get him in shit
2) By trying to make me fill up the form and return immediately, he tried to coerce me to sign up for a financial product on the spot, not allowing me sufficient time to consider it, or go through the information which is necessary to make informed judgment-enough to get his whole team in shit
3) The way he said about the danger letting me bring a credit card application from is indirectly insulting my character, and i suspect this is a form of discrimination-even more shit.

Saw what happened to the Harrods' Santa?
Asked " asian couple" : "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be shopping in Tesco?" SACKED.

I never want people to lose their job, and wouldn't want my complain to cost someone their rice bowl. Too vicious. But I want to teach that chap not to be mean to a woman, just because she is not exactly of a SYT age. Because she gave you a 2 word friendly answer to your sarcasm about her age, it does not mean she cant speak enough English to retort you or is the cleaner of the university. Like I told my brother over msn, you want to bully people also think of the location you are at.

So shall i complain of or not?

I am dying for a good facial

Yes, I am dying for a good facial!!

Where can I get good and cheap ones in London??

I will need to wait if I want another free facial from my Nectar. It does take quite a while to accumulate 3000 points, at the rate they give 2 points for £1 of shopping. How much grocery will you get for £1500?? DO I have the space to keep them?

Sunday ROAST and the newly crowned shopping queen

Went for a sunday roast at the local pub as part of a mystery shopping assignment. Yummy! I think I start to like roast pork-western style. This pub-George and Dragon (Ok, there are lots of George and Dragons all over England) has very decent pricing. £3.95 for a sunday roast meal- with two generous slices of pork/beef/turkey, baked potatoes, parsnips, carrots and green peas. Also included were Yorkshire pudding and some meatball like stuffing.

Although we were disappointed that they only served ONE type of food ie Sunday roast, we had no more complains after tasting the food. I loved the parsnips and the baked potatoes! The baked potatoes where so nicely browned and was crunchy outside, soft inside. And the parsnips-I never knew they could be so good! My best parsnips so far were the ones I made last winter (yeah, winter =parsnips), which was baked with ginger beer and some oyster sauce. (Creative cooking!!!)

No desserts. Disappointed.

Disappointment ended when I ordered the Baileys in Chocolate cup! It is really a bit too much to drink liqueur in broad day light with lunch, but the advertisements with Baileys in the chocolate cup tempted me! I loved Baileys-esp if they are in Haagen-Daas. It was a really small portion served in a small piece of paper-like those for making cupcakes :) Yummy. Got to sip and snip the chocolate delicately. heavens!

But the real heaven started when I ventured to the stores nearby. You cant prevent your self from going in and showing some support when the shops all have a sign "Stop Tesco from killing the town". Awww!!! Half of me says-show support, at least browse. Half of me wondered, if you are good, how can tesco threaten you??

I was in for the best shock in my life.....

And while walking home, giggling like a mad woman, and kicking myself for not discovering these places earlier...I congratulated myself as THE shopping queen!! The £1 books and this bagful of stuff sealed my status. hahaha. At the rate this is going, my colleague who bought 30 pairs of shoes in 2 weeks got to start sucking me up for tips. :D

Life as a tenant-a price to pay to roam the world

"If you want to roam the world, you got to put up with the life as a tenant, ie renting your home."

That is what I have been telling myself, bravely. Sigh.. at one point, I almost cried on my while walking home, thinking how every step would bring me closer to a hell hole, a toxic home which might do unrepairable damage to my health, both in the near future and in years to come.

The mould is still there, and it still bothers me. With the advice of people from CAB, we managed to coaxed/persuade/threatened (haha) landlord to come and check it out and do something about it, and not just push the blame to "the way we live".

It was very clear when they came in, that we live in horrible conditions. Just look at the way his wife and son rubbed their noses!!

They brought along their dehumidifier, and the indicator showed how damp the flat is was! The readiniwas high seventies, when teh humidity outside is only in the sixties! That was with the windows slightly open, and the heaters blasting away.

They also found dampness in the loft, and promised us to call the management of the estate to check it out. They did not give very conclusive answers to what they are going to do with the broken/loose tiles which logs water in the bathroom, and the faulty washing machine. (Typical of LANDLORD, very very unwilling to fork $$$ or £££ for anything!!!)

Hope it will all turn out well. With the dehumidifier cum air purifier on, this place is more livable. I am less itchy, sneezy, and cough less. From last afternoon to the time before we went to bed (about 12), the dehumidifer extracted about 3 litres of water (some our small flat!!), and it is still going crazy trying to extract more. I shudder when I think of the electricity bills. 400W machine, running 24 hours a day. No joke.

I paid only £1 for that pile of books......

"£1 for 1 bag of books"

Saw this in my local library. I walked pass it, and thought that from previous experience, I might not be able to find anything there. But.. slowly, one by one, the gems appeared.

The stuff I got:

1. SAVE KARYN-a true life shopaholic's journey to debt and back. (Scary book, but I better read this before I become a TRUE shopaholic. My sis needs it too i think)
2. The officers' ward-Marc Dugain. Heard of this book before. Now I get to own it.
3. Children and trauma- I almost spent a lot of money on this one a year ago.
4. Your rights at work-no harm knowing
5. Buying a second hand car- for my hubby and buddy!
6. What to do when the doc says it is IBS
7. Perfect Mothers-invisible women: need this for my new project
8. Top 10 ALgarve--- I want to visit this place!
9. Insights guide to Switzerland! 2002- a bit old, but good bed time reading
10. Children's food bible--- really easy peasy recipes inside!!! Hahaha

All that for 1 quid. If I was greedy, I could have stuffed more into the bag. Ok, the actual reason is because i could not carry so many books, as I have already borrowed a few other books, including The Constant Gardener :), and The Devil Wears Prada. Now I am going to go through all this books, plus a few others related to my project.

That bargain had temporarily alleviated my cravings for more shopping. The satisfaction that came with it :) I think there are hardly more depressive things in a cold, Christmas season for a woman who just started a new job and desperately need more clothes than stopping her from buying the good bargains. I could just stare at the window displays of shoes, coats, and bags things which I had waited for a discount (and now there is a discount!), but I cant buy now because it might all turn mouldy at home! Hubby needs a new coat too! And some sweaters! He really need new clothes! Sigh...

On the positive side, life seems normal again. I could read. I am finding time to read. I am now catching up with all the readings which I should have done.

Back to my books now...