Knitting Project - The Shrug

My current knitting project (which has taken a very long time) is a shrug. I got the pattern for free from here and thought 'Yep, ok this is the next step from hats and scarves'.

Here is an almost-finished progress shot:

I've nearly finished the second 2x2 ribbed section! Yay, the home stretch!

The mock ribbing middle section took FOREVER and I tried to knit during idle time e.g riding on buses, the tube etc..

I kinda think I picked the wrong type of yarn because a shrug should be a light piece of clothing and already I feel it's too bulky. I'm going to complete knitting this anyway so I can see the final product. Then I'll sew up the seams and then decide if I hate it or not :S

I love this ad!

I frequent Liverpool Street station often. It's close to work and a major hub for City workers. I saw this ad tonight on TV and I just WISHED I was there to see it happen in the flesh! *winces* Too bad, I was sitting at my desk pencil pushing and paper shuffling.

Now this is not a real flashmob. Just a fake one, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They all dance well! The station looks HUGE on the video but for anyone who's been there, it's a decent size, but not that big.

Life in the Laundromat

As a child, I always wondered why people on TV needed to use the laundromat. I thought that everyone had a washing machine and/or dryer at home? Or they could hang their clothes on the clothesline... cos you know eerr, everyone had a backyard. Well I'm now in the real world kiddies, and nope not everyone does. This is especially common with the cramped living options available in London. Prior to living here, I'd never seen a clothes washing machine in a kitchen but here, it's a common sight.

Our current apartment in London doesn't have a combination washing machine/tumble dryer :( and most of the time, it's not an issue. But it's now in the dead of Winter and we need dry bedsheets. It's too cold to have the windows open to help evaporate the wetness and it's just plain inefficient (not to mention drying on the skin) to have the heater on constantly.

The next option? Find a laundromat!

It was a bit difficult to find one nearby as where we live is not densely residential but luckily over the bridge is a small ghetto. *looks side to side* Yep, the home of our closest laundromat. Also nearby is the tube station where Smee's friend got mugged. Nice....

Forget the glamour and glitz (really?) of those American TV shows where people hang out in the laundromat and meet hot chicks.

Oh and forget about it being spick and span. Broken floor tiles and suspect characters are what you will find. But hey, we desperately needed dry bedsheets and I absolutely can not stand the smell of musty, mouldy clothes.

I took my knitting with me to make the time go faster and Smee took his laptop and did some work.

I was pretty pleased to find the place empty and we could have our choice of machine. Also, most people tend to drop off their belongings, go somewhere and then come back.

Operating instructions. Pretty simple.


Me and Smee re-creating a laundromat romance scene.


Me folding up the clothes. Looking very much like I'm doing laundry duty at jail.

Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I ♥ my Uggs!

I held off for as long as I could in regards to the Ugg boot trend. I mean, it's a relatively new boot in the eyes of Hollywood and celebrities alike. Me? I was brought up in a land where sheepskin footwear had strong associations with bogans and dole bludgers. It's a hard thing to shake off.

Sure, I had a pair of pink sheepskins moccasins (or 'moccas' as I endearingly nicknamed them) when I was young. From the age of 8 to 9 I wore them everywhere - in the house, out of the house, to the parentals workplace, to the library.... I don't think I ever wore them to school despite my peers being quite bogan-y. Even back then, I knew that I didn't want to lower myself down to the plebs. In Australia these things can be bought off the shelf at markets all over the place and no one can deny their warmth and comfort.

When the celebrity trend started (thank-you Pamela Anderson) my initial reaction was 'eeerrrrrrrrr'. My opinion still remains 'eerrrrrrr'. However, I have succumbed to the Ugg-wearing masses. I'll emphasise it's not succumbing to a trend (although that helps) but because I can no longer stand having snap-frozen tootsies. Being in cities where it's common for winter temperatures to hover around 0 degrees has left me at the end of my tether.

Of course I'm not a moron who will go and buy those exhorbitantly priced 'Ugg Australia' branded boots. £180 (approx about AU$380) for a pair of sheepskin boots? Wtf?! On top of that, it's an American company (Deckers) and their boots are made in China? Pfffffft. I'll put my money to the Aussie-made stuff and support the farmers, thanks. My boots cost me AU$140 :D

I settled on chocolate brown.

Since getting back to London I've walked to work in them many, many times and my feet remain warm and toasty :D I'm practically living in them now in this dreary winter! Embrace the bogan!

Har Mee

Smee made Har Mee after carefully saving our prawn shells over the past few months. It was pretty damn good! (Not that I'm biased or anything :D)

The bowl without pre soup stock.

The bowl post soup stock.

Blatant posing by the har mee bowls.

Looking at the size of our bowls, yep, we had difficulty finishing them.

Winter Wonderland

I totally adored the Christmas markets when I went to Berlin. (*sigh* Mike the Hottie) They were the most charming things ever. I felt like I was in a child's Christmas book. London has it's own version too, although they were set up as a imitation of those markets found on the Continent. Given that I did not get my fill of Christmas Markets and mulled wine last year (yes - that was only 3 days ago), I got my fix at Hyde Park.

They do state that these markets are 'German-style' and yep they got the little wooden stalls just right.

Hehehe... I couldn't resist taking a photo of this old dog wearing a pink Burberry scarf.

Sausages being cooked over hot coals. Mmmmm... the smell.

We never say no to a sausage.

We had no desire to ice-skate, sit on the ferris wheel or enjoy any of the children rides/games. It sure is a place to bring the kiddies. I couldn't find anyone who would let me rent a few kids for the day.

Afterwards we just walked around the West End and wandered down Carnaby St where I saw the cutest Frosty the Snowman decoration.

Saatchi Gallery

Smee and I had noted this exhibition about new Chinese art in the paper but forgot all about until the final week. There we some very interesting displays which you can read about on the above link but here are some of my highlights:

A model of some renowned buildings including St Pauls Cathedral. But it's made of doggy chews!

A painting of some world leaders together. The smart bit is - Mao Tse Tung and Winston Churchill never sat down for this picture! *gasp!*

No, that's not a real man on the floor. Nor a real angel (I like how the wings look like chicken wings).

Big naked woman.

A little macabre. People hanging upside down. But they're not dead, it's all just symbolism for something... something...

The following exhibit is pretty much the reason why we went to the museum. Imagine a whole bunch of world leaders as a bunch of geriatrics in a nursing home. All are confined to wheelchairs. Well there's not need to imagine, they're here!

Me thinks that's Yasser Arafat.

Me thinks that's Fidel Castro.

Not being all that knowledgable about political leaders, I couldn't really identify many of the others. I think there was a Mao and Saddam, but to me, it didn't really look like Mao or Saddam.

The video below shows how the exhibit was set up. I say it's pretty cool!

Happy New Year!

It's that time of the year to say 'Happy New Year!' or more specifically 'Happy Gregorian New Year!' I'm not keen on the whole ringing in the new year in the freezing cold, so I was more than content to have a subdued celebration.

Smee and I had a few peeps over for drinks and nibbles. Nothing overly fancy. Spag Bol was one of the dishes! Luigi (not his real name) brought his authentic spag bol, none of that run of the mill, imitation stuff. Nope, this came from a real Italian.

The sauce had simmered for a good three hours. And yes, the spag bol was indeed very nice.

My contribution were rice paper rolls *boring*

The Portuguese couple (I think I'll call them P1 and P2) brought cakey and wine.

A few drinkies and some very well fed stomachs later, it was time to mosey on down to the bridge for some fireworks. Not the best bridge to view the London fireworks, but hey, it's a bridge and we didn't have to fight massive crowds nor sit there for six hours minding our spots.

The highlight of our two minute walk to the bridge was passing a couple engaging in coitus. You read that correctly, they were having a good old fashioned root. Doggy-style to be precise. No, they weren't naked, just pants down around the ankles. They thought they had found a secluded lane, but little did they know that the surrounding area is indeed fairly residential. At first we walked past them with barely a glance but then doubled-back to confirm that we weren't hallucinating. Did they see us? Sure they did. Did they stop? Nope. I was going to take a photo but was quickly hauled away by Smee. Clearly these two people had some loose ends to tie-up before embarking on any New Year resolutions. I didn't bother warning the people walking behind us, but they had a similar reaction to ours.

I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. For a city this size, you would think that the fireworks would be super dooper spectacular, but in my humble opinion they're quite crap. I hear that the Bonfire Night fireworks are much better. The Thames is a decent length of river and really, it would be a good idea to have fireworks at different sections. However it all just seems to be concentrated at the London Eye. You can imagine the crowds and possible fistfights on Waterloo and Westminster bridges.

Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong and that fireworks are elsewhere on the river but I couldn't see any others east of the London Eye. Btw, fireworks in Greenwich don't count - too far! I think Sydney NYE fireworks set such a high standard, anything else is just blah blah in comparison.

Here's a video of what I saw. That is not me cheering in the background.

The view of the London Eye as we headed back home.

We retired back to the flat for some Caiprinhas. Aaaah.... nice.... Happy New Year y'all!