It’s Arrived!

My presents have arrived!

GM even wrapped them.  Actually this is only one of my two surprise presents, but it consists of two items.  How exciting.  The other surprise is still on its way.

Ta-dahhh!  GM bought me a tripod and a remote switch for my camera.  I’m so happy because I’ve been having trouble with holding the camera steady, particularly in night shots where I have to keep the shutter open for longer.  So many of my Oman shots were blurry and I was getting really frustrated, not to mention dead tired from having to hold my body stiff and steady for every single shot.

Look, my Kiss X2 on the tripod.  It looks like a dog!  Doesn’t it look like it’s looking at you with its head tilted going, “Arrwl?”  Hahaha.

This is one of the first shots we took with my new remote switch.  I love it, it’s really handy.  Actually the first shot I took was one of my foot but my hand is less disgusting hehe.

I did a test night shot using the tripod to hold the camera steady and also using the remote switch so that I wouldn’t inadvertently shake the camera whilst pressing the shutter release button.  It came out really clear.  I’m really pleased.

Hmm I love presents =)

Surprise Pressies

I’m going to have to hold on putting up my Oman pics until the weekend.  I’m really busy!!

For starters, I’m on an intensive week long course.  The lecturer gave us reading and homework.  I kid you not.  I’ve not had homework for many years now!

I’m too lazy to do it now though so I might do it on the train in tomorrow.  Hehe.  Always last minute.  Anyway I need a rest, I only got home an hour ago.  After my class today I actually went to work.  At 5.30pm.  Can you imagine?!  They really don’t pay me enough for the level of diligence and commitment I display.  Almost everybody had gone home, even my manager, so it was nice and quiet and I managed to clear my inbox, fired off 10 or so emails and set my “out of office” on.  So now I can rest easy and not worry that people are wondering where the hell I am.  Also now that I’ve delegated my urgent stuff to other people I know that it’s all being dealt with so I’m happy haha.  Actually working late isn’t as bad as I thought after all.  I got home at 8pm but it kind of feels like a normal evening rather than a truncated sorry scrap of an evening.

Anyway!  GM made me my dinner and tea and it was ready as I came in through the door =)  What a treat!  And he came to me just now and told me he bought me two surprise things.   I wonder what they are.  I will post once I get them! =)

P-T and GM Go First Class

After our very pleasant Concorde Room experience as detailed in my previous post, we made our way to board our flight.  Obviously as First Class passengers we were invited to board at our own pace – no jostling elbows with impatient cretins dying to get strapped into their 17.5″ seats.

It was all very civilised; a short queue to the entrance of the plane where we presented our boarding passes to the cabin crew who, upon realising we were in First Class, immediately perked up and adopted a far more animated and friendly tone, making small-talk whilst ushering us personally to our seats.  I almost expected them to hold my elbow whilst lowering me into my seat, fasten my seatbelt and smooth down my skirt for me.  Luckily they didn’t go that far.

GM and I were seated in the middle section but I moved across to this seat for take-off as suggested to me by the head steward – to “take advantage of the glorious weather and admire the view”.  He even apologised for making the suggestion in case it was silly.  Well no, it wasn’t silly at all.

And that’s the space we got for each of our seats, i.e. loads.  First Class wasn’t full that day so it was really good and felt like we were part of a very exclusive club.

The mechanisms for the seats with which we could completely flatten the seat to make a bed when we wanted to.  We could also adjust the headrest and puff up the lower back section of the seat to fit the curve of our backs.

Before take-off the cabin crew came round for our drink orders and served us Arabic coffee, dates and canapés.

Clockwise from left:  beef on some sort of cracker (best one of the lot), mystery blob on bit of meat on rice (nasty), cranberry jelly (?) and a grape with blue cheese (nice) and some kind of fish cakey thing on pea puree and I can’t remember what the brown bit on the bottom was (okay).

After take-off we were given more drinks, a menu from which we were meant to pick our meal and amenities.

For toiletries we were given a velvet Anya Hindmarch toiletries pouch.  The first pic of this post is of the inside of the pouch – I like the blue and white photo print.

It contained an eye mask and socks.

As well as mouthwash, toothbrush, toothpaste, ear plug and Penhaligon’s toiletries – body lotion (really lovely), facial moisturiser and lip balm.

We were also given a set of pyjamas each – a dark blue long-sleeved  t-shirt with camel trim and matching dark blue drawstring trousers.  It wasn’t very attractive but was very very comfy.

And here I am all changed up waiting for lunch.  There’s a little seat opposite me where a companion could sit if we chose to have lunch together.  GM was right next to me so it wasn’t necessary and I used it for putting all my bits on.  When the main seat is completely flattened it joins up to that little seat so it’s extra length for the “bed”.

The stewardess pulled out my table from the side compartment and laid it with tablecloth, cutlery and condiments before serving lunch.

For my starter I chose to have warm brioche with shrimp and something sauce.  I can’t remember.  It was pretty good.

GM had duck slices with pomegranate and potato salad.   He liked it.  He says it’s better than mine and tasted like proper food, not like the usual microwaved stuff in economy.

For mains I had spiced chicken with couscous and vegetables that were very like ratatouille.

GM had lamb shank with vegetables and he tells me it was really good.   I think perhaps GM is better at ordering meals than me, all his food’s always good!  Or perhaps I’m just more fussy hehe.

I ordered a dessert from the seasonal menu which was this Valentine’s panna cotta with strawberry sauce.  It was nice.

GM had sticky toffee pudding.  It was great, I loved it.  It wasn’t too sweet, had chewy and caramel-y edges whilst being sufficiently moist and fluffy on the inside.  Very good.

GM has advised me that he ordered all the starred “favourites” items from the menu…… no wonder all his choices were good!

We were provided with bedding, a duvet and pillow and after lunch we made our beds.  The cabin crew would offer to make the bed for the passengers but I couldn’t be bothered to wait and made mine myself.  At this point my bed wasn’t completely flat yet.

And here I am, bed completely made and getting ready to sleep!

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that a flat bed makes a big difference.  I slept soundly for approximately six hours.

When I got up I was offered snacks.  There was a choice of sandwiches, scones or cakes.  Of course I had cakes!  With apple juice.

From top, clockwise:  date and nut cake (good), pistachio (?) macaron (good) and petit four (too sweet).  That was a good snack.

GM had assorted sandwiches.  He says they were okay, like a pack you’d get from Marks and Spencers.

After our snack we reached Abu Dhabi where the aircraft stopped for a little while to let Abu Dhabi bound passengers get off.  We weren’t allowed to get off the aircraft as it was a very short stop but it was no hardship to sit on the plane in our big seats and read or whatever.  The man in front of us chose to stand up and stare at the Abu Dhabi passengers as they got off and new ones got on because they had to walk past us to the doorway of the aircraft.  It looked to us like he was showing off a bit.

Anyway before we took off for the 40 minute flight from Abu Dhabi to Oman, we were served yet more canapés and champagne.  Although instead of champagne GM and I had Coke and Sprite respectively.  We don’t really drink and I didn’t see why I should just because it was there for the taking.

Clockwise from top: Beef satay (quite tough, not great), samosa (nice) and asparagus on bread square (good, I enjoyed this one).

And that was it, a very restful and relaxing flight from London to Oman.

P-T and GM Go Concorde… Room

Happy belated Valentine’s Day!  Very belated…..

GM and I went on a Valentine weekend trip and it was pure bliss.  A total change of pace from our normally hectic trips abroad, this holiday was relaxing, luxurious and indulgent.  I want to do more trips like this in future!

We left from  Terminal 5 which is British Airways’ home at Heathrow.  The First Class check-in section was in a secluded area on the right of the massive hall.  We were personally ushered to the check-in desks where there was no wait, and after a painless and quick check-in there were plenty of leather booths on the side for us to stop at and arrange our documents.

So this is how rich and powerful people manage to conserve their mental capacities for their important activities; they never have to waste time and effort worrying and stressing over such trivial annoyances as queues, bad service and lifting their fingers for anything at all.  Oh so that’s how it works.

After our check-in we sailed through our designated First Class passengers security check which took around 5 minutes – signficantly faster than the normal queues for the cattle class commoners which can take up to half an hour or more, depending on your luck.

We can’t be expected to walk miles in search of a seating area only to end up next to the feet of some weary traveller who’s commandeered four chairs to act as a makeshift bed.  Not us posh folk.  Right after the security check was the lounge, The Concorde Room, which is for First Class BA passengers only.  It was probably only about 10 steps or so from the security check to the guard dog (woman posted there to keep riff raff such as Business Class passengers out haha) at the entrance of the lounge.  Absolutely right too, I wouldn’t want to wear out my Louboutin heels traipsing around the terminal.

My photos don’t do The Concorde Room justice at all.  It was very spacious and plush with a lovely looking bar area.

There was vast amounts of seating available to cover every preference.   Soft comfy couches.

High chairs and tables.  A terrace with a view of the airport.  A private dining area with serious looking booths.

GM and I chose to sit at the lounge area on squishy sofas facing the bar.  Mainly because I liked the red roses arrangement on the table – it suited my Valentine mood perfectly.

There was also a room with pcs and a spa with complimentary treatments.  GM and I didn’t have that much time to spare though so we elected to have breakfast instead.  This is the menu – all items complimentary.

Posh teabags.

I love herbal teas so I read this menu with much excitement.  I eventually chose the Oasis which was described as “a healing blend of green tea and spring flowers”.  Mmmm.

Or maybe not.  It tasted like what you’d think diluted pee is possibly like.

GM had eggs benedict.

I had soft-boiled eggs with soldiers.  The dome thing was for keeping the second egg warm whilst the first one was being eaten.

Good start to the weekend?  Yes!

Snow Angels

It was a clear, bright, sunny sky over a snowy landscape this morning.

The air was crisp and clear but it wasn’t as beautiful as yesterday because the snow was pristine and unspoilted then but by this morning the snow had mostly been trampled on.

My train station was still closed, as with many other stations in the area but GM and I walked up there anyway to have a look.  It’s nice going out for walks in the snow, makes for a change.  As you can see, they’d already tried to clear the tracks so you could actually see them today but obviously they didn’t clear them enough for the trains to be able to run.  So that’s another day off work for GM and I!  Actually that’s not strictly true because I had to work from home today as my meeting was changed into a phone conference.  But at least I didn’t have the nightmare of trying to get in to and out of work on the limited train services and I could sit on my comfy couch in my slouchy home clothes and do work that way!

Yesterday afternoon after I’d written my previous post it snowed really hard for a while, it was like a near blizzard.  It was beautiful to watch from within the comfort and warmth of my home.

The familiar trees outside my window looked so different in the almost blizzard; so stark and striking against the grey sky.  I love this photo.

My neighbour’s kids made this snowman hahaha.  It’s so ugly it’s almost cute (I hope they never read this).

Remember I said yesterday that if Jo was here we could go and make snow angels together?  Well, because Heri egged me on to do it, when GM and I returned from the train station and grocery shopping, I found a patch of clean, unmarked snow and did my snow angel!  It was so fun doing it, I felt like a kid again.  In future I will make snow angels whenever there’s enough settled snow to do so!

I made another snow angel in the patch of grass out front, underneath the tree.  Unfortunately, it hurt to make a snow angel there as the snow was in the shade and had turned icy.

This is what I was looking at as I laid on the snow, flapping my arms.  I felt so carefree and happy, it was amazing.   I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed these two snow days.  Yesterday, especially, felt really special to me and I’m glad that I got to experience a day when most Londoners put down their stress and worries, shrugged their shoulders in deference to Mother Nature and went out, reverted back to their childhoods and really enjoyed themselves.

The world may criticise and say, “Why can’t such a developed city as London deal with only six inches of snow?”  Well, firstly, this is the first time in 18 years that we’ve had this much snow so that gives you an indication of just how much practice we’ve had dealing with this sort of situation.  And secondly, one or two snow days out of 18 years isn’t bad.  I think giving us these two snow days has gone some way towards rejuvenating our souls and spirits; people were actually smiling and talking to strangers, I had people posing for my shots and telling me the train station was closed with a smile on their faces.  I saw families sledding and having snow fights.  I’ve rarely seen so many happy, excited people in one day.  It certainly has made me feel tremendously fortunate to have been here to experience this.

A prettier snowman built by another family yesterday.

I leave you with the image of me, throwing my cares to the wind and revelling in something that costs nothing but feels like heaven.