Pain, pee and pixie cuts

Ok, Sunday morning, just after 8 and everything is nice and quiet. Barb, Mike and the kids left over an hour ago after staying the night, and although it's too late for me to get a sleep in, at least Christian can. While my husband dozes in a nice warm bed, I will be running around, doing dishes, picking up toys and washing the mountain of urine soaked bedding left to me by my thirsty niece. We had thought it a stroke of luck when all three kids fell asleep by 8pm, but it turned out to be the worst that could happen. Chiara may have gone to the toilet before bed, but she drank a little more than we'd thought at dinner and, well, the rest is obvious!

Question : What is the most painful thing, in the whole entire world? And this even eclipses the 'pinching the eyeballs while removing contacts' thing. Oh, and to make it even worse, this is entirely voluntary too.
A bikini wax.
Now, I've never waxed in this area before. I've not even really been a shaver before since Christian doesn't like stubble. I just keep it neatly trimmed like a lovely manicured garden (sorry, I'm trying to be as delicate as possible about this subject for those of you who may be a little squeemish and haven't as yet figured out that this blog isn't really for you).
Now, Barb is a trained beautician and waxes my legs for me and also does my older sister's brazilians' (does anyone know why they're called brazilians'? Really, it's a rather silly name. I'm not all familiar with the Brazilian flag but is it just bare with a little strip down the middle? Sorry, I digress...). Anyway, so Jo convinces me that I should give it a go and Barb says she'll do it. And then the pain begins. My God, I cannot even begin to describe it. Jo says it hurts less than childbirth and gets easier the more times you do it. I'm sure there are a lot of things less painful than childbirth, but this would be the most painful of all of those things!
Anyway, we didn't even get close to doing a brazilian because I was almost fainting from a combination of pain and blood loss (did you know that you bleed rather profusely the first time? I didn't, but it stands to reason I suppose. That hair is supposed to be there, and when you violently rip it out your body is going to respond). So we cut the whole thing short and I will never ever be doing that again. Ever.

And last but not least, I got all my hair cut off yesterday (the stuff on my head, obviously, since I'm sure if you've gotten this far, you've just read the above). Barb says it's kind of styled into a pixie cut but I think it's a bit too long at the front for it to be called pixie. But it started with P and it made the title sound good so we'll just leave it at that! I then bought a hair dye and dyed it as black as it would go. I wanted to dye it this colour a while ago but Christian prefers me red so I obliged him. But now, it's my turn to do what I want and so it's midnight black.
I'll try and get some pics for you soon.

And that's been my weekend so far! Hopefully, the rest will be rather uneventful!

Take 3

Not too much to say, not too much has happened. I spent today with Tash who was held up at knife point on Thursday. She's doing ok, but doesn't want to spend much time alone, which is understandable.
I'm chatting with Boo tonight on the phone which will be fun. We haven't spoken on the phone since when I was in London so it will be great to catch up. Our timing has been terrible lately, as she said we've resembled ships in the night.

Anyway, since they seemed rather popular the last two times I posted them, here's some more odd spots.

Odd Spot#124 : The mechanical shark in the movie Jaws was nicknamed Bruce

Odd Spot# 351 : Due to its eye placement a donkey can see all of it's hooves at the same time

Odd Spot#117 : When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1884, Parisians referred to it as 'the tragic lamppost'

Odd Spot# 229 : Horse racing regulations require no racehorse's name to contain more than 18 letters

Odd Spot# 378 : The low rumbling of distant thunder is called 'brontide'

Odd Spot#413 : Barbie got her first car in 1962

Odd Spot# 157 : The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows

Better late than never

I was very excited on Monday night when I got a chance to sit down and watch the F1 race we had taped the night before. It was an action packed race (yes, they do happen in motorsport so just keep your mouth closed please...), there was rain, crashes, spins, daring overtaking moves all culminating in Button winning by a 40 second margin!
Yay!
There was much jumping up and down and screaming by me and it even managed to get a smile from Christian. It took 113 races but he finally did it. It must be wonderful to have all that hard work, effort and determination eventually paying off.
So Jensen, if by chance you ever stumble upon this site, congratulations mate!

Also on F1 news, Webber has been signed with Red Bull so hopefully he'll actually have a car next year that doesn't fall to pieces or blow up every single race. Hurrah for him too!

That is all.

Happy birthday to ME!

Hurrah, it was my birthday yesterday! As my brother-in-law put it 'Rejoice, you're now 90% of 30!'. I think I'll just rejoice it's my birthday, not that part...

Anyhoo, I spent most of the day shopping for party stuff and cleaning. And then my sister and her kids got here and I realised I shouldn't have bothered with the cleaning. Those kids are cyclones in disguise I tell ya!

I had fun even though there were quite a few people who didn't show up. Lots of people were late too so it went quite late and with this morning's early rise, I'm stuffed. It seemed we had more pizzas than people but really there wasn't much left over. Unless you include the cake...cake or death? As Smerk put it, it was death by cake!

Anyway, here's some pics I took. And sorry, I didn't really get one of me in my boots...sorry.

Smerk and I with Chiara. Smerk was such a good sport putting up with the kids. She got jumped on and tickled and had cushions put on her head and she never complained.

Kat and Dan comparing shoes.

Mike (Brooksey) playing the Super NES while we play Apples to Apples

Max sleeping with my snuggle pillow

Christian and Lance, no doubt talking about something nerdy.

Barb with her new hair colour. She dyed it bright pink the other day but it soon faded so she tried copper. Next will be purple.

Today I have Chiara's 4th birthday to go too which means lots of fun fun fun with lots of sick sick sick kids.

*sigh*

Interest...ing

Interest rates went up again today. This is good news. For me. Not for most other people. But I was overjoyed when I heard the news. This means that house prices will eventually come back down from the clouds and Christian and I may be able to actually afford to buy a house. With prices in Perth surpassing Melbourne and only just behind Sydney as being the most expensive place in Australia to buy, the future was looking bleak. The average cost of a house in Perth just reached $400k. How crazy is that??? But with the interest hike, people will soon panic, sell up and downsize and then it will get cheaper again. Can you see my point now about interest rates increasing being good? I knew you would. You strike me as being the intelligent type.

I got my measly tax return back this week and so I finally got the Maybe Baby I've been wanting for a while. It's this tiny little microscope that you spit on (a little bit anyway) and when the saliva crystallises it tells you if you're ovulating or not. If it's 'that other time of the month' the crystals form into little fern shapes but if you're not ovulating they just make bubbles. It's really cool. It was pretty expensive up front ($85) but it's better than paying 20 or 30 bucks every few weeks for the more conventional ovulation kit.

I'm sure you guys will be fascinated by all this.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I haven't been online for a while, I'm going through one of those stages where I prefer to read a book than sit up staring at the computer screen all night. It's nothing personal - please don't cry. I'm sure in next to no time I'll be annoying you all on a constant basis again.

Okie, that's all for tonight.
*hugs*

Oh, by the way...

I found this rather funny.

Nerd Alert! Nerd Alert!

*sigh*
How quickly the weekend goes. One minute you're leaving work on Friday night and it seems the very next minute you're heading to bed on Sunday, dreading the next morning.

I had a good weekend though. On Saturday we went out to dinner at La Porcetta, an Italian restaurant that's always pretty good, followed by an evening of playing pool (and God forbid, I had to play! We only had four of us there so I got included automatically).

On Sunday, Christian had a bunch of mates around to play Magic cards (don't anyone say a word! I mean it!).

On the left is Tiho, Christian and sexy Mike, and on the right at the front is brother-in-law Mike, Dan and barely visible Scott.

While the boys were entertaining themselves, Kat and I went out for a bush walk, taking Max with us.

Max (short for Max factor 2000) belongs to sexy Mike and is a gorgeous dog. She has such a nice nature, never runs off or barks. I'm not sure exactly which breed she is, Mike just describes her as half goat, half doormat. We went into the bush surrounding the Weir and then Kat and I decided to go up to John Forrest National Park. After dropping Max back off with the boys we made our way up there and went for a hike to the falls and the tunnel. The falls weren't exactly spectacular after such a dry winter but the tunnel is always so much fun.

Some pesky kids were riding their bikes through it which wasn't the smartest thing in the world as the ground is pretty uneven and half way through it gets so dark the only thing you can see is the light at the end, but we managed to make it through unscathed.

Our little hike ended up being roughly six kms (maybe slightly more) so it turned into a good walk. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining and we had a great time. Then we headed back home to watch Father Ted and Eddie Izzard which rounded off the evening rather well even if I do say so myself!

Say what?

On Sunday Christian and I went down south to help a friend out with his rally practice day. Apart from getting covered in red dust and getting extremely sunburnt (it's winter for Christ's sake!) we had a great day.

Along the way we drove through numerous towns and I was struck yet again by the wonderful names they have. In fact, my dream job would be making up names for small Australian towns.

Here's a selection of towns we drove through on our short trip to Benger.

Mundijong
North Dandalup
Pinjarra
Waroona
Yarloop
Wokalup
Warawarrup
Coolup
Cookernup
Wagerup
And numerous other towns ending in 'up'!

Roadkill

I passed some roadkill the other day that looked suspiciously like a lobster...

That is all.

Can you hear the melody?

I'm not a big music fan. I listen to my mp3s in my car but I don't really listen to music at home and I rarely have the radio on. However I'm going to now share with you some of my favourite songs (unless of course you'd like to leave now - the door's over there *points*)

These songs I feel are timeless. No matter how often I hear them, they always feel fresh and leave me feeling upbeat and chirpy.
* Amazing by Alex Lloyd
*She will be loved by Maroon Five
* Where you end by Moby
* Everything you want by Vertical Horizon
* Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf or any of the covers

The following are songs that are special to me in various ways.
* Throw your arms around me by Hunters and Collectors. About six months into our relationship Christian and I panicked slightly after realising that we didn't have a song. We finally settled on this one as it symbolises embracing the moment and living for today.
*Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden. From the moment this song was released I knew I wanted to walk down the isle to it. Six years later I finally did and Barb almost burst into tears when she heard the first notes, as she knew I'd been wanting it for so long. It's kind of replaced the above as 'our' song.
* Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Thunder Struck by ACDC. These were the two favourite songs of our friend Rob who was killed in a hit and run while he and Christian were walking home from basketball many years ago. Whenever I hear them it takes me back to an innocent time when we could laugh without wondering what the ultimate price would be.
*Pachabel's Canon. My favourite piece of music ever. It is enchanting, uplifting and so beautiful it can move me to tears.

On a final note I would like to say Happy Birthday to Christian and Barb, who brought so much pain and tearing to their mothers on the 8th of July ;-)
We went out for brekkie last weekend for Barb's celebrations and yesterday we had a barbie here for Christian. We had a lot of fun and ate way too much cake, and we also had several drinks. I must say I was definitely tipsy when I lit the bbq and if it wasn't for the more pressing concern of cooking various animal remains, I most likely would have crossed the line into 'inebriation'. However I paced myself after that and so remained slightly tipsy for the remainder of the evening. Christian also had a few drinks, staying clear of the Southers though as he really didn't want to do the whole 'bucks night alcohol poisoning' thing again. The vodka he consumed did make him slightly better at playing Guitar Hero than he normally is and it's a shame I couldn't find my camera. You'll just have to imagine how amusing it was!

Ha Ha, very funny Christian

As most of you would know, I'm a huge Jenson Button fan. I received an email from Christian tonight titled 'Button injured in horrific F1 accident'.

Now, I missed the US Grand Prix on Sunday. I did hear that there was a huge crash into turn 1 and most of the field were taken out, including Button. Even though I had seen the update on his blog talking about the accident, it just didn't click with me that this was a joke. I was slightly panicky as I opened the email and missed the grin on Christian's face. This is what awaited me.

Needless to say that I wasn't immediately amused. Christian pissed himself laughing while I called him a prick. After a minute or two I was laughing too, but it wasn't a very nice thing to do!

Yay for the weekend

I was sent on a first aid course yesterday for work which meant I got a free refresher course (yay!) plus I missed out on pension Thursday (double yay!). While I was there however, I was shocked by a few things.
Firstly, out of the sixteen people attending the course, only two of us had done first aid recently enough to remember it (a couple of people had done it in high school but didn't remember anything about it). I was shocked by those odds. I have done eight first aid courses during my life, I really believe it's a necessity. There have only been a few times when I've had to use it, but if I didn't know what to do, the consequences could have been a lot worse than they were, especially when my niece was choking. What would these people have done if a loved one had collapsed, and knowing CPR could have saved their life? I am such a firm believer in the fact that everyone should have the basic skills.
Secondly, I was shocked that EAR has been disregarded. Apparently they have just completed a five year study into CPR and have come to the conclusion that if a person is not breathing and shows no signs of life (you don't even check for a pulse anymore) you commence CPR immediately. Gone are the days of mouth to mouth and gone are the days of a different rate for babies, children and adults. It's all the same now.
Crazy huh? But I can see their logic, but dammit it's hard to put behind you all those habits of the past.

Work has been hectic this last week. Everyone is panicking about the end of the financial year and so chaos has ensued. I am so tired but I have an RDO on Monday so hurrah for a long weekend! Plus the Commonwealth Bank five hundred meters up the road from us was held up on Wednesday so everyone has been a bit on edge about that. There have been lots of armed holdups in the area lately, mainly targeting chemists and liquor stores, but when you work at the bank, you have to realise the risks.

But enough of that. It's the weekend and I'm happy.
Oh, and if anyone gets bored over the weekend, check out Litmocracy as Boo and I have submitted new work, Boo another drawing and I've had a go at some poetry (Eeek I know but it'll keep everyone off my back until I have a chance to finish another story)

Have a good one guys.

Getting back to nature

While our hubbies were busy doing nerdy things today, Barb and I joined Dad and the kids for a stroll around Mundaring Weir. The Weir is about 15ish kms from me and is a favourite picnic spot near Mundaring. I took some pics while I was there, and Boo will be delighted to see that not all the kangaroos around here are dead on the side of the road.

The view through the trees

Chiara, Darcie, Me and Will, Barb and Caleb

Darcie, ever the poser!

You can't really tell here, but this mummy roo has a joey in her pouch

Three of the ten or so roos that were in the area grazing

Also, I went to a shop called Red Stripe Clothing today in Northbridge which is Perth's own Goth shop, a little like Electric Cabaret, minus the pirates. I went in search of boots and I've ordered some in, so it will be a couple of weeks before I can get you all photo's. However, a heads up to Boo and Mouse. When you come to visit me, bring lots of money! The shoes there are so cheap! They don't have New Rocks, but a very similar brand from the US, my boots only cost $190 AUD. And Boo, you know the shoes you love with the star through the sole? They have about ten different types of them there and they're only $80 AUD. It's just a wonderful shop! redstripclothing.com is the url if you want to have a looksie.

Oh, and finally, because I finally got a photo, here's Barb with her shaved head. It's grown back a lot in the four weeks since she shaved it for Shave For a Cure, but you'll get the drift.

What the deuce?

Stewie Griffin is my hero.

And without further ado, here's some of my favourite Stewie quotes.

Stewie: There's always been a lot of tension between Lois and me, and it's not so much that I want to kill her, it's just, I want her not to be alive anymore

Lois: Stewie why don't you play in the other room?
Stewie: Why don't you burn in hell?

Stewie (to Death): Email me at lois must die (all one word) at yahoo.com

Stewie: You know, I rather like this God fellow. Very theatrical, you know. Pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence ... gotta get me some of that.

Stewie (after tripping Peter): Ha ha ha, oh my God! I almost didn't do it, I almost didn't do it! I thought, is this in bad taste? But you know what, I went for it. I went for it and I'm so glad I did! Ooooh, worth it, totally worth it.

Stewie: Nothing says "Obey Me" like a bloody head on a fence post!

Stewie: Oh yes, you have a lot to think about: public drunkenness, grand theft auto...Brian: You forgot the part where I made you smash your head into the windshield.Stewie: I don't remember-Brian: (Slams on brakes, causing Stewie to fly forward into winshield)Stewie: Yes, well, I suppose I walked right into that one.

Ok, I'm done now.

A B C...

I went shopping the other day and picked up a really nice black halter neck dress. I was very excited! However, I then realised that I would have to buy a convertible bra to go with it. Me and bra shopping do not go well together.

I went to Bras-n-things and actually found a black strapless bra in an 18E. I tried it on and my boobs were so squished. The lady came in and measured me and said 'No wonder you're squished, you're actually an F cup'.

I almost cried. Finding E cup bras is hard enough as it is, but F cup? It's almost impossible. Luckily for me they had an F cup in that bra (Hurrah!) so I can wear my dress out tomorrow. Christian was a little shocked when I told him my new measurements - I don't think he could quite believe his luck. I on the other hand am giving even more consideration to breast reduction surgery. Most of the time I rather like my boobs, but there are times when they're just a damn inconvenience.

I'm sure there are ladies out there who would agree with me on that one.

Who thinks I'm being unreasonable?

Ah, the joys of the Internet. I can always rely on you guys to give me an honest opinion on if I'm overreacting or being completely reasonable.

Christian and I had a bit of an argument yesterday concerning a certain friend of ours, Dan. Now, Dan is a nice enough guy, except I can really only handle him in small doses. He has some habits that irk me and says and does things at times that really shit me. He also has no grasp of the concept that married people like to spend time, alone with their partner.

Dan is over at my house usually one or two nights during the week and then on the weekend he'll come round, stay at least one night and will be over at least one other time during the weekend. To make matters worse, he doesn't have a car at the moment and so he'll need to get picked up and dropped off at home and when he stays the night it's usually more convenient for him to get dropped off while we're on our way out, instead of making two trips. So he's usually here until mid-afternoon.

This weekend for example, he comes over on Friday night, stays over and then leaves about one in the arvo. Tonight (Sunday) he is coming over to watch Formula 1.
Now what made me so frustrated and, to be honest, a little pissed at this was that he had borrowed his mother's car and so didn't need to wait around for Christian to drop him home yesterday. Still he stayed, sitting in the loungeroom playing fucking playstation games, even while Christian was out working on the car.

Christian and I both work fulltime, we keep different hours so we miss each other when I've gone to bed, he's staying up and then when I get up earlier in the morning. We don't have a hell of a lot of quality time together as it is, and Dan intrudes further into that time.

Now, obviously our argument stemmed around these facts. I told Christian I was a little annoyed that Dan was over so much and I thought it was a bit odd that he spent all his spare time hanging around with a married couple. Christian found nothing odd in this and said that we could still have sex while Daniel was asleep in the morning and he couldn't see what my problem was. I said there was no way in the world I was going to have sex if Dan was asleep in our loungeroom and that Christian would just have to go without, plus it wasn't just the sex thing but just spending time together. I also asked if Dan had any other friends as he gets on my nerves.

It went on and on for a bit and I stormed out in a huff and spent the evening sulking. I guess it just points out the really obvious differences between men and women. Hopefully Christian will start telling Dan more often that he can't come round because we're busy (because God knows Dan doesn't listen to me when I tell him that - if I can't itinerise exactly what we're doing he says that we're not doing much and comes round anyway, little git).

*sigh*

Iri, this is for, ok babe!

I have bowed under the immense pressure of a discontent Iridium and so here are more pics of the trip.

Boo and I in matching PJ's

Oh my God, that girl has pink hair!

Tru, with 'The Line' clearly visible, doing cool balancing stuff with a sword.

Alex with a Nessie hat (I know someone has one of me in that hat but thankfully it hasn't surfaced as yet)

Me collecting my very own Nettie's Nessie Water

Cool graffiti at top of The Big Hill

Iri, I have more but I'll save them for another day. Hope these are ok!

Is it almost THAT time already???

Well, tomorrow will come and I shall have to return to work.
*sigh*
That's always the worst part of a holiday, isn't it? The going back to work aspect. Well, there's no point dwelling on it I suppose, I just need to try and make the most of today.

I had some exciting news over the weekend. It seems that Kat (my friend who I went to Sexpo with) and Sexy Mike have gotten together! Hurrah! I don't know how it's going to work out as they work together but I wish them all the best and they seem very happy.

I went out with Sarah yesterday and I had a good time (I'm not too sure if she did, but I hope so!...). Soccer got cancelled last minute and so we had to try and kill the whole afternoon in the city which we did by going to the museum (dead things are cool) and going to see XMen 3 (and yes, we did stay for the extra scene). There was a bit of a fiasco regarding dinner and a poshed up fish and chip shop but in the end we arrived at bowling fed and watered. And then we waited. And waited. And finally Kat and Mike turned up and we could start our games. Things slowed down for a bit when us girls started looking at photo's from the trip but eventually we managed to finish the games.

Today I have planned a hike up around Mundaring Weir but it all depends on if I can convince Christian it's still a good idea. He's not a biggie for walking places (he just doesn't see the point - if he wants some exercise he prefers to play a sport) but I'm sure I can guilt-trip him into it somehow!

Wish me luck girls! If we go I'll take some pics to show you!

Photos of trip!

Ok, I thought I'd post a few of my favourite pics from our little adventure.

'The line'. Need I say anything else?

I really like this one taken of Boo and I at the ruins at the base of the Big Hill

Not the clearest of pics as I borrowed it from Tru's album but it shows how damn windy it was atop the Big Hill!

Poor Alex, looking jet lagged, bemused and slightly scared after spending his first hour with us.

I just think this is such a Reservoir Dogs walk! Don't they look tough!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Matt is a real sweetie for putting up with me! Who else would don a tiara and get out of bed especially to give me cuddles?

Smerk and Alex before the radio interview. We had trouble keeping a straight face the whole way through it!

Tru, dressed to kill, or at least to inflict serious heartbreaking injuries.

And finally, I suppose I should post this one of my attempts to dress 'goth-like'. I believe I failed miserably and ended up looking more like a 1920's harlot.

Ok, that's about it for now. I've got more I can post later but my fingers are frozen stiff and it's hard to hit the 'upload' button!

When No means 'No, I do not want another piece of fucking cake!'

Ok guys, Mum and I came home five days early from our trip as it was one disaster after another and I had just had enough.
The day I left Edinburgh I had started to get a sore throat and I just got sicker and sicker as the days passed, making me feel miserable enough as it was without the numerous other incidents that occurred along the way.

We arrived in London Monday afternoon and Mum astounded me once again with her complete lack of direction, getting us lost on the way to Buckingham Palace (in fact we ended up about as far away as you could get from the palace without actually leaving London) which was very convenient as it started raining, heavily the moment we got into town.
The next morning we took a tour on one of those open topped buses which started out fine, albeit cold and we saw the dungeons, Madame Tussauds (sp?) and took a cruise up the Thames. Then it started to rain, again and we got absolutely soaked therefore leading us to the decision to not do the London Ghost walk for fear of hypothermia setting in.

Wednesday morning we set off for Berlin and when we arrived we discovered, after catching a taxi, that our hotel was 4km away from Tegal airport, not the airport we had just flown into. And so a 40 euro taxi ride later we were dropped off in front of the dodgiest hotel ever! And I mean dodgy. Mum and almost ran for it right there and then but we soldiered on and found our room to be not quite as dilapidated as the outside indicated. We went for a quick walk around the immediate area and figured out which trains to catch the next day to get us into the city centre (mum was amazed that I only took 90 seconds to work out the underground system as we have nothing like it in Perth).

The next day however turned out to be a public holiday and the whole city shut down. We had one full day in Berlin and we couldn't do much at all to explore. We caught a crappy bus tour that just pointed out the sights and then we went to the zoo and aquarium. I was rather shocked to see that they still keep lions etc in concrete cells as I'm used to Perth zoo which is world renowned for it's conservation and habitat-simulating methods. It was rather depressing all in all. We then walked up to Checkpoint Charlie and then headed back to the hotel where I proceeded to finish re-reading Hippo and started again on MoH. Oh and I also stood up too close to the radiator in the bathroom and now have a nasty bruise on my shoulder blade which hurts like all hell.

Berlin was rather disappointing to tell the truth. I was told by my cousin that there's heaps of old buildings, which I adore, but I found that not to be the case at all. As it was so heavily bombed during the war and then rebuilt, most of the buildings are quite modern and ugly. Plus the people there are awfully unfriendly.

Anyway from there we headed to Frankfurt where my second cousin and great aunt picked us up and took us to Biblis, a quaint little town near Heppenheim made all the more lovely by the nuclear power plant half a kilometre from the town centre. Obviously 'Chernobyl' doesn't translate!

This is where most of my troubles started. I was still sick with a cold, my asthma was playing up because of all the goddamn cigarette smoke in Germany and only my second cousin spoke a splattering of English. I am a social creature and found it really hard to cope trying to communicate with a few words and gestures. Most of our conversations revolved around the weather and simple concepts like 'what a pretty butterfly'. Plus there's the fact that I was missing Christian terribly by this stage and hadn't had a cuddle since I'd left Edinburgh.

Now, one thing I've learnt about the German's (or maybe it's just my rellies) is that they love to eat. And they want you to eat lots too. You will eat all that you can possibly fit in just to keep them happy but it's not enough. They will then proceed to stitch your arsehole closed and keep on shoving food into your mouth. It's ridiculous. I got so frustrated by having to say over and over 'No thankyou, I'm full. I can't eat any more.' (although it went more like 'Nein danke, I can't eat any more' with lots of gesturing). I seriously started to lose my temper after two meals with them.

That first night I ended up at the hotel in tears and almost hysterical saying I wanted to go home. I think mum was a bit worried about my sanity at that point as we rang Qantas the next morning and changed our flights to Sunday night. The hard part came trying to explain to the rellies why we were running away. Mum ended up just blaming it on me being sick and hoped for the best.

That's pretty much the main reason's why we came home early. Lots of other little things went wrong along the way and it rained every day except for the last day I was in Biblis but I'll leave them for now. I can only fit so much whinging into one entry after all!

I'm home now thankfully and enjoying just being back on familiar ground. I would give anything though to spend another few weeks in Edinburgh, as that was so much fun!