Started at M Bridge and was sent to S Steps at 3pm because they needed more pushers. (See? I made the right decision to be pusher!) I saw the manager’s little baby. He’s so cuuute! 6 months! He already wants a 2nd one. It rained a bit this afternoon but I was lucky none of my 4 tours were caught in the rain.
I was making good tip in the morning, 6£ and 5£, and then it stopped. (school groups… grrr! They never tip!) I try to include the word «tip» in my tour, ya know: “A student left an umbrella at the TIP of the steeple of King’s College Chapel” or “Do you need a TIP or two on punting?” or even “The self-hires TIP a lot but the super ferries are quite stable.” Maybe their sub conscience… You never know, it could work! The best one is still “The Anchor is where we all go for a beer after a hard day’s work and the chauffeur that made the biggest amount of tip buys the first round. It’s also entertaining to sit here around Mill Pond…” and I just go on with the tour, hoping they’ll get the clue.

Je remarque de plus en plus combien les pietons sont dangereux, en plus mes freins marchent pas dans la pluie, alors j’pense que je vais me pogner une clochette, meme si j’suis juste ici un autre 4 semaines... My god.... dans 4 semaines exactement, le lundi 28 aout, j’serai en avion pour revenir au Canada ! Ahhh ! Gotta work on my ToDo list ! Demain j’ai off et ca va me couter cher ! Je vais skier a SnowZone avec du monde de Scudamore’s, en avant-midi, et ensuite la plupart d’entre eux viennent au Wine Tasting, pour lequel je suis maintenant rendue a 29 personnes. Weee!

Don't trust the weather forecast

So the British weather is absolutely unpredictable. The sky was blue with white clouds this morning, but the weather forecast said we would have lots and lots of rain. I called Sal & Dan to let them know we wouldn't go punting to Granchester, and I spent the day chillin', updating my blog, cleaning my emaild accounts. Turns out it didn't rain at all.
Saw my first Ali G video, Sunday, and I finally understand why everybody calls me “MeJuuuley” at work. Borat is even better. We ate the Salsa dip at their place and later I burned all my pictures and videos of England on a CD that I will treasure forever. I might play a slideshow on my laptop if I do a goodbye party in my backyard the last week I'll be in England.
Je suis arrivee a Cambridge super tard mais juste a temps pour aller en bicyclette avec un ami jusqu'a Granchester, ou yavait deja 3 groupes en train chanter autour du feu et manger des saucisses. On est retournes en punt, a la fin de la soiree, les bicyclettes dans le bateau.

Sat.er.day.

5th. day. out of 5. Always the hard one. Still pushing at Silver Street, I did another 6 tours. Vers la fin de la journee, mon poignet recommencait a faire mal (uh-oh) Apres le travail j'ai ete ramassee par Andrew, et pour la premiere fois depuis 3-4 semaines.... J'ai passé du temps relaxe avec Vero et Andrew, j'me suis ecrasée sur un sofa comfortable, j'ai regardé des niaiseries à télé (Team America: World Police), j'ai mangé du chinois take-away et j'ai dormi sur un matelas gonflable extra comfortable. Ahhh... La température semble etre mauvaise demain. Ben de la pluie toute la journee. Va peut-etre falloir que j'annule mon picnic a Granchester, avec Sal, Dan, Véro, Andrew.

Happy B-day Sal!

Pour la premiere fois j'etais pusher a Silver Street, ou j'aurais jamais cru qu'on aurait besoin de ca. Contre toute attente, j'ai fais 6 visites et j'etais crevee a la fin de la journee. Je rencontre encore du nouveau monde, j'me melange entre les 7 Ben et les 15 Tom. Arrivee a la maison j'ai fais de la salsa dip maison a l'avance pour mon picnic a Granchester que je vais faire avec Vero-Andrew, dimanche.
I then called my favourite B-day girl, Sal, who was already getting tanked at the Regal Weatherspoon (massive pub/restaurant that used to be a movie theater). Being me, I obviously forgot my ID so she had to come out to save me. "it's my birthday. Let her in. She's my friend." I had a great time there with her friends but I went to bed early. Happy 30th B-day Sal!

Flashback of May 2006

L'organisation du wine Tasting s'en vient ben. J'etais pusher encore, alors j'profite de mon temps entre mes tours pour aller "touter" mes amis pis les convaincre de venir. Aussitot que j'ai atteint le nombre de 7-8 personnes, tous les autres voulaient embarquer (gang de moutons...) . Je suis maintenant rendue a 14 de mon bord, 13 du bord d'Andrew. 27!
Today was a big flashback of the month of May because it was RAINING! Finally. I did my first 3 tours between scattered showers, but then I ran out of luck and did the 4th one in the rain. By 4pm, everybody was unpacking boats in the rain or hiding under the bridge in comfy blankets and cushions. It started getting interesting so I got my camera out. Jonti showed up with friends on a self hire, soaked after a swim, Seb jumped off the bridge twice, dressed in a small lifejacket and his underwear, and Michelle got pushed in. These things don't happen at Silver Street.
Tonight I'm playing dressup with Sal. I have her silver jewellery and her black tube top, my black pants and my silver belt. Black & silver looks sophisticated. And I did my own make up. B-bar and fez tonight, hanging out mostly with my two favourites, Tom "babyface" and Nick "the cripple" (he's in crutches since he jumped the bridge on monday... and he'll be jumping it again as soon as he can walk in a few weeks). After witnessing the most dangerous double-bike-ride ever at 1am, I had a FRESH night's sleep. At laaaaast!

Would you like a shisha?

First day of work out of 5! I'm a pusher all week... let's see if I'll survive the physical challenge. I did 4 tours today, and it's still very hot. So a little update on my life: I'm getting people together to go to the Wine Tasting I'm planning, next Tuesday. I'm already at 12 people from Scuds and 13 from Andrew's job. NICE! I can't wait to be there and drink and eat and be merry. 6 wines, 6 dishes, and all my friends.
Also, the Jaffa Net Cafe right in front of my house is kewl. The man that owns the place gives me free internet hours and drinks and lollypops. He even offered me a shisha! "I must take care of you, my children have gone, I take care of you. Life is short. Want another free apple J2O?" I have about 15 free hours left in my account, there! Nice...
À part ça tout va bien, je travaille fort et je suis en forme. J'pense qu'à cause de ça (attention es garçons immatures) ça affecte mon cycle menstruel. J'étais 3 semaines en retard et ça m'a duré 2 jours seulement! Awsomeness. Si seulement c'était comme ça à l'année longue... J'attends toujours des nouvelles de Grand-Maman, prochaine fois que j'serai chez Vero et Andrew je vais appeler au Canada. I mean... I didn't talk to my Mom since July 3rd!

Je t'aime Grand-Maman.

J'ai enfin pris le temps en cette journée libre d'aller m'asseoir a CB2 et lire mes courriels. Ca fait du bien de parler a la famille un peu, sur MSN. J'ai des nouvelles de Grand-Maman Aline qui est mourrante. Un e-mail de Maman qui date de samedi. J'éspere que ca se passe bien, Grand-Maman est entourée de ses enfants et de ses petits enfants. Je voudrais etre la, j'aurais pensé etre revenue a temps. Je voudrais bien un vol d'avion rapide gratuit, aujourd'hui.
Mon coeur est avec vous, je suis avec toi Grand-Maman. xoxox

I met up with good friends, Becks, Marcello, Tom and Nick, and we went punting on the Granchester river. Nick managed to take my mind off my Grandmother by breaking his left knee. We quickly brought him to the hospital. *** For the full story, e-mail me *** I spent some more time at the jaffa internet cafe and went to Nicole's Goodbye Party at TaBouche. She's our nicest cashier/boathand/supervisor. We all signed a Scuds paddle that she might not be able to bring back to South Africa. We'll miss you Nicole!

A fire, sausages and a guitar... that's all I need.

5th day’s work is always a bugger. I wasn’t a pusher, so I did 3 tours and touted a bit. I didn’t get thrown in yesterday or today. I kinda wish I did. I’m still hot from morning to night. Every day. I miss the Canadian winter! According to Becks it’ll cool down soon and then it’ll start raining again, just like my three first weeks here, in May.
Après le travail, plein de monde disait qu’on allait punter jusqu’à Granchester pour faire un BBQ dans le parc, pour la fête de Ondrej (André). Alors j’ai apporté d’autre sangria! On était 2 punts énormes et on s’est rendus vers 10h30, on a bu, mangé et joué de la guitare. Yayyy ! C’est l’fun, ça me rappelle le Lac Lyster et le camp Larouge et Leader Action. J’ai fais la paix avec le superviseur de Magdelene Bridge, Horse, qui est normalement bête et plate, qui dit jamais svp ou merci. Je lui ai dis que je vais l'ecouter, même si yé gentil de temps en temps. Y m’a souri pour la première fois. *ting!* Tabouère c’est exigeant! Retour à la station vers 2hAM.

A little fall of rain can't stop a family picnic

First one in! I haven’t felt comfortably cool in about 10 days… I’ve been taking cold showers everyday this week. The sky was gray this morning so everybody was crossing their fingers for some rain, but the sun just came out to take the piss out of us. I made some delish salsa dip for Nic’s B-day picnic on Laundress Green, the park right by the punting station. Just as he got there, it started pouring rain! Oops! So a few girls and me and whoever happened to be in the kitchen, we ate all the salsa dip, because I thought he’d give up. Turns out he didn’t.
Arrivée @ 9h00, partie à 4h30. Nice. Je suis allée le rejoindre et j’ai rencontré toute sa famille et ses amis. Ma famille me manque là... Moi aussi j’veux un picnic avec Maman! I want my Mommy! La température était pas pire, alors on a sorti trois self-hire punts et on s’est promenés d’un bout à l’autre de la rivière Cam. La pluie nous a rattrapés pendant un bout. Pas grave! Ça fait changement! J’voulais vraiment pousser Nic à l’eau (even if I must go down as well) parce que c’est la tradition. Mais je risque de me faire lancer à l’eau 100 fois ! Je suis sortie à «The Slug and Lettuce » (ayoye) et Soul Tree avec la même gang, après avoir eu un peu de sangria maison avec Tom.

Pietons, tassez-vous du chemin!

Le réveil était dur. Je suis royalement tannee des pietons qui regardent pas des deux bords de la rue avant de traverser. Les cyclistes ont autant priorite que les voitures, sauf que les voitures vont pas avoir mal si elles frappent les pietons. Ils sont dangereux ! Je peux dire serieusement que je dois m’arreter brusquement au moins une fois par jour pour eviter d’envoyer un pieton a l’hopital. Et mon unique frein, le frein arriere, est pas fort fort.
A Magdelene bridge j’étais encore pusher. 5 tours, et il fait encore extrêmement chaud. Là je sais pas ce qui se passe avec la rotation mais on était seulement 3 personnes qui faisait des tours, Becks, Julien et moi. Les 10 autres faisaient QUE « touter ». Ben excuse moi ben là, mais j’ai besoin d’au moins 15 minutes entre chaque visite !
Aujourd’hui j’ai vu des enfants bruyants, mais surtout des adultes bruyants. Elementary school teachers, celebrating on the river, playing pirates. Hilarious ! Some kids got in a triple-punts water fight and I got stuck in the middle. We had a booking with about 20 punts in front of St John’s and I was sent home around 7pm. Great! Had a cold shower as usual, a hot meal, and then I found the laptop was suddenly working again and I quickly saved everything on my USB-key! Early sleep, I work at 9 tomorrow morning.

Mula, mula, mula, mula! Everything's good and everybody's your friend!

Silver street, j’ai touté pas mal! ... Peut-être que j’serai pas sur le salaire minimum aujourd’hui ! Mais je pense encore qu’etre « pusher » c’est ma meilleure solution pour faire plus d’argent. Après une longue longue journée on est tous allés à B Bar et Life (again, I know) pour trois anniversaires à la fois, mais avant j’ai eu de la sangria-maison, avec irish Kate. C’est la première fois que j’invite quelqu’un chez moi (en général, ma maison fait dur... SAUF pour la cour arrière qui vient enfin d’être clairée de sa montagne de mauvaises herbes en décomposition. Maintenant reste plus qu’à se débarasser des poubelles pleines à craquer depuis 4 semaines.) La soirée a passé super vite et après Life tout le monde est allé manger un burger. Avant de rentrer à la maison, j’ai arrêté au « skate park » en face de chez moi à regarder Ben et Nic (le b-day boy de dimanche) faire des jump en bicyclette.

Hottest day in 45 years, 7 tours

Strawberries in my cereals… yum! Why didn't I do it before? According to the radio and newspaper, today was the hottest in the last 45 years. And guess what, today was my busiest day in 45 days. It was my first try as a pusher (push a tour, take 15 min off, push, take 15 min) and I was KNACKERED! 35 degrees Celsius and a lot of humidity. This week is just like Perù! I pushed 6 tours in 7 hours, four of them back to back, and I didn’t always get my 15 min breaks. I was so hot that I jumped off Magdelene Bridge with Becks, and Rory got it on video with my camera. I'll figure out a way to put it on the web, I'm taking more and more videos.
L’eau est sale et dégueulasse mais c’est quand meme rafraîchissant. Je suis revenue travailler vers 21h00 pour un booking, une trentaine de super ferries étaient sur la rivière, dans le noir, pour une grosse conférence. C’était un vrai chaos vers 23h00 quand tout le monde revenait. Yavait un océan de punts a Mill Pond !! J’ai fais un peu de tip, dont 5 dollars US que j’ai perdu tout de suite après. I was knackered.

Word of the day: "knackered"
A knacker is a person in the trade of rendering animals that are unfit for human consumption, such as work horses that have died in harness or are too tired to work any more. This leads to the slang expression "knackered" meaning very tired.
'Knackered' also means tired, exhausted or broken in British slang, and is still commonly used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Chillin' in the park / POTC II review

Monday
I walked home from Claire’s, only to go back the same way to Michelle’s place, to get my bike. I did half the groceries and most of the laundry, and then I went tanning in the sun in my tube top to lose my farmer tan again. I was relaxing in the shade, drawing, and I started thinking about my summer of 2006, as always. Thinking about all the friends I made on the river, about what I’ve done and what I have left on my ToDo list. It will be harder to leave everybody from England in August than it was to leave Canada, knowing that I’ll probably never see them again. After some more vedging in my room, checking if the laptop works once in a while (bollocks!), I went for some late pizza and some beer on Parker’s Piece with Sal, Dan, his little brother and a French girl called Fanie. Which is funny in England. Because they say "fanny" when talking about the female genitalia.

Tuesday
Pas de stress aujourd’hui, j’aurais dormi jusqu’à midi, mais y fait beaucoup trop chaud et j’ai pas d’air climatisé. Alors je me suis réveillée en sueur vers 8h30. J’ai fais l’autre moitié de l’épicerie, j’ai passé à la job pour prendre mes heures, j’ai fais du ménage et j’ai écris une liste de tounes qui vont me rappeler l’Angleterre. Bare with me, les chansons sont pas toutes géniales. Après avoir fais une sieste juste parce que j’avais rien d’autre à faire, j’suis allée manger au resto avec Véro et Andrew à The Vine, près du centre d’achat.
Finally, after a week and a half of waiting, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest! And as I expected, the sequel was far from being as good as the first movie. I could write a whole chapter about the things I would never have even dreamed of putting in the movie. But very briefly: a lot of action, but not as well planned as the 1st movie, more stupid jokes than smart jokes (the 1st movie was brilliant!), too much of Keira Knightly. Johnny Depp was still amazing but a good actor doesn’t change a bad story into a good one. I was also weirded out by the last 15 minutes and I’m not sure if I want to see the third movie…

I'm now a pusher

The job is really getting repetitive and the weather is just not cool… really HOT! Je commence à avoir des bobos partout là, le punting c’est vraiment pas un movement naturel pis le monde se fait mal au dos... J’ai mal après 5 jours pis en 2 jours ça se rétabli. Aujourd’hui c’est le 5e jour. Ow. Je travaille fort fort fort pour avoir un peu d’argent quand je reviens, aussi ben en profiter, les livres valent tellement plus que les dollars canadiens ! Si je peux revenir avec 500 pounds c’est déjà pas pire, ça me donne environ 1000 piasses ! Et en étant pusher au lieu de "tout chauffeur", je vais faire plus d’argent.
I asked someone that worked here for years, how many times a year they clean the blankets and cushions... and she said never. Then I saw a little girl playing with a cushion and stuffing her face in the blankets… I felt like screaming Noooooo!
I feel bad that I haven’t been doing much for SAFA, my student association back at Ottawa U. But I have been SO busy here and I never have access to the internet. So the best I can do is to draw the cartoons of all our faces, for the Arts website and CD-ROM, and to send it to them. The laptop doesn’t start, since a few days ago, so they’ll get the drawings like… 2 weeks late. Hopefully, they haven’t sent the Arts CD-ROM to the 1st years yet. At the end of my really boring work day, after 2 tours, I went to meet up with Vero & Andrew and their friends from work, and we punted on the Granchester River and had pizza at Claire & Adrian’s place. We even tried bridge jumping! Wookie is very good at it, I was just hanging from the bridge for 30 seconds…. I’m getting tired of the job, but I still enjoy punting very much. Isn’t it funny that the first thing we like to do, on days off, is more punting?

Du fromage et des baguettes! Super!

Silver street today, in at 10, out at 8, very long and hot and busy Saturday. I did 5 tours but got very few tips, as always. I gave a bilingual tour because of ONE French girl, but I don’t get paid double for the whole translation. It’s a lot of work, mate! I also gave a tour to an almost-blind old lady. I ate about… 3 lunches? I’m not making much money so I will ask to be a pusher only, to be paid 7£ per hour. It’ll really make a difference, I suck at touting. Depuis mon makeover ma bicyclette est chez Michelle… man, j’ai de la misère à m’imaginer comment je faisais pour toujours marcher au travail, le premier mois ! Je m’ennuie de mon becyk! La foire et le Marché français sont encore au parc, avec leurs fromages, leurs saucisses et leurs baguettes. Andrew m’a dit que ça s’appelle Pop in the Park. En marchant j’ai croisé les parents et la petite soeur de Michelle, pis honnêtement, j’avais vraiment le goût d’aller dans le Twister alors j’ai laissé la petite Melissa me traîner jusque là. C’tait super le fun.

First fall in the river

So the beauty of starting at 11am: You sleep late, you come so late that all the punts are already packed and ready, you don’t have to tout on the empty streets… BUT you finish late at night. The weather was nice, chilly in the shadows, warm in the sun. I keep saying how proud I am that I never fell in the river by accident… Well, there’s a first for everything! I was on my first tour of the day, when suddenly my hands slid down the pole, just as I was leaning back with all my weight to go faster. Bloody sun screen! Last thing I saw was the blue sky, before going in.
On croirait qu’après avoir tombé à l’eau le tip serait énorme, non? 1,50 pounds !! …j’te jure, j’ai presque crié à haute voix "That’s it???".
C’était super occupé en plus et j’ai bien manoeuvré le bateau. Après avoir fini mon 2e tour vers 6:00pm, j’esperais pouvoir peut-être partir tôt, avant d’en faire un 3e. J’avais malheureusement une autre visite à faire à 7:20pm... et ensuite une AUTRE visite è 8 :45! ARG! J’suis donc partie vers 9h45 du soir. En marchant à la maison j’ai découvert que Parker’s Piece, le grand parc sur ma rue, était transformé en Marché Français. Y seront là pour 3 jours, et ya des rides ! Je me suis acheté un wrap de Fagitos, en face de ma maison, pour la première fois... tellement épicé! Pis y faisait déjà assez chaud de même!

Extreme Makeover

Steps @ 9AM! I did 3 tours and it was a HOT today. I saw Phil on the river, turns out he woke up a few minutes after we abandoned him in the punt last night. After a short day (I left at around 6pm) I had a quick pizza at home and sprinted to Michelle’s house with salsa dip and nachos. After playing around with their compy, meeting the parents, the bro and the little sister, Michelle found a nice black and sparkly top and some jewellery for me and did my make up before we went to B-Bar and Life. After a night of fun, I came home very, very late but… I have a late shift tomorrow! Yay!

First time in Granchester

How many times have you done 11 hours of work in a day? Probably not very often. Well, I’ve been doing that more and more recently. Today I started at 10am and finished at 9pm. After work I met up with a bunch of people at the yard and we got on a big punt with blankets and cushions and punted all the way to Granchester! I finally did it! On the way we crossed a choir of 5-6 people singing "Stand by me" in harmony. Beautiful.

Clare's Bridge. This is the River Cam not the Granchester river. And it's obviously not nighttime.

By the time we arrived in Granchester, the only light we had to guide us was the bright full moon. After building a bonfire in the field and burning a lot of "dead wood" *, we punted back to the yard. Between the crashing in the branches, the wee-ing out of the punt (boys…) and the singing with mobile phones, Phil and me somehow managed to fall asleep. He was snoring like a big baby, so we left him comfortable in his blankets and abandoned him in the punt after unpacking it, at 2AM. Sweet dreams!
"Punters in the niiiight, exchanging glasses, lala lalalaaaa…"

* The lone mobiler with us that night, Alex, managed to convince all of us to break and burn the Scuds paddle.

I love mondays!

J’ai passé l’avant-midi à l’ordinateur chez Vero et Andrew, j’les niaise en disant que l’internet c’est la seule raison pour laquelle je vais les visiter chaque semaine! Je suis retournée à Cambridge pour faire des commissions, vérifier mes heures de travail et me faire pogner par la pluie en becyk. So j’ai passé une partie de l’après-midi chez Nic, à jaser, se montrer des photos et secher un peu. Il a lui aussi dessiné un portrait de Jack Sparrow, dans les dernières deux semaines. What a coincidence! Still stuck in the rain, I cycled home and put some make up on to go to the Wine Tasting #2! Turned out we were only Sal, Dan and me, instead of 8 peeps. And the total at the Bun Shop was 7 people instead of 13. More food and wine for us! Hurray! Paul, the wine man, said that if I could gather 15 people, he could do another wine tasting in August. I’ll definitely try!! He was as funny as the last time and the food was delish. I didn’t even have lunch, and I was still very full at the end of the night. We walked home a happy trio, around midnight.
Tuesday: nothing to report, really.... Laundry, groceries, iTunes list getting long... Todo list getting short.

BREAK!

Came back from Beck's party to work @ 11, too many chauffeurs, not enough tourists, and a loooot of wind. Therefore, after being sent home, I went to see Vero & Andrew in Haver-hole for a BBQ at Alex and Eric’s house. Best food ever, nice garden, annoying little neighbours, hilarious old man (Eric’s father). We talked for hours and he had so many funny stories to tell about Africa and lions and elephants!

Un autre weekend...

Enfin une journée à Silver Street. Une petite pluie constante a fait peur aux touristes. C’est lors de ces journées plates qu’on se donne plus la peine de se forcer, c’est impossible de faire de l'argent. On a jasé, jonglé, pratiqué notre français-anglais-espagnol... Yen a une, Alice, qui parle super bien le francais ET l'espagnol parce qu'elle pratique depuis des années. Les autres anglais devraient faire la meme chose. J’ai fais des tattoos avec mon marker permanent mourrant, et j’ai apporté mon portrait de Jack Sparrow pour la gang de filles. Yétaient pas mal impressionnées. Andrea might watch the first movie of Pirates with me (she’s never seen it… I know... ridiculous…) and I’m planning on going to the movies next Tuesday for PotC 2 "Dead Man's Chest". Even if I show up alone, in a costume, like the biggest geek in the world, I’ll do it!

Satuday I got up early to go jogging. Yes, me, jogging. Back in Canada I told myself I would jog every single day during my summer in England. I jogged once! Then I worked from 10 to 9 at Magdelene Bridge. That's one long work day... Only three tours, but a lot of touting! I still meet new people, either olda ones from previous years or beginners. I untied and pushed away a punt before realising the guy in the punt was a newbie I've never seen before. AND it was his first day! Hah! "Oops, I thought you were somebody else. I'm Julz, would you like a paddle before you drift away to Jesus Greens?" After work I stuffed my face with a big pizza in 5 minutes, and I biked all the way to the party at Becks' house, the coolest australian girl. Turned out we were about 7-8 people, I had a very good time and slept there. Thanks Becks!

Return of the pirates

Thursday at Magdelene Bridge again, rainy, sticky again. I brought my pen and did about 12 tattoos (check the pictures I got some cool ones for the boys). A lot of the mobilers got together and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at the movie theatre. I was SO jealous! And they came back with the soundtrack in their heads, talking like pirates, ready to go punting with water balloons to attack people on the river… I thought I was such a loser last year when I drew Jack Sparrow’s tattoo on my arm, but 3-4 of the guys asked to be branded today! I can’t wait to go see it, now… they’re talking about it too much. I am rarely satisfied with a sequel and they're giving me high hopes! Après avoir fais 2 visites je suis retournée à la maison me changer et j’ai soupé à Weatherspoon avec Kate-O. C’est cheap et c’est bon. I put a skirt on again, thank you very much, B-Bar, Life, de retour 2AM devant une porte barrée. Oops... I went around the house and got in through the kitchen window.

Back to work!!!

Back on the job at Magdelene Bridge, in a wet and sticky weather. According to everyone, I didn’t miss anything. Maybe a heat wave, too many chauffeurs, not enough tourists. In 10 days, not only was my tout board almost destroyed, but more than a dozen new chauffeurs got hired. Too many names to remember! It started raining real bad around 2 pm so we sat under the bridge for a little while, wrapped in blankets. A few Chinese tourists on self-hires came back from the pouring rain, soaked, without their pole. We should’ve made them go back and get it! Poor Natalie was on her first tour, on her first day. (“I quit!”) She also looked like she fell off her punt. The weather got better at the end of the day, and by the time I left (8pm) I had done 3 tours. Je suis allée voir la 2e joute de la semi-finale, avec Sal, Dan et Danielle, à Regal Weatherspoon. C’est gigantesque ! Supposément le plus grand pub/resto, à l’origine c’était un cinéma. C’est super beau et grand et la bouffe est cheap en plus. France vs Portugal, la game était intense, et ce sont les français qui ont gagné. J’ai hâte à la finale!! (France vs Italie). J’ai fais un tour au Granta Pub avec Danielle (la cousine de Sal). C’est super cute au bord de la rivière, j’étais jamais allée avant.

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig!

Je suis arrivee a Cambridge vers 9hAM. J’ai prêté ma chambre à la cousine de Sal pour 2 soirs. Ma chambre était en ordre ce matin, et toutes mes choses étaient là. J’ai fais du lavage, j’ai vérifié mes heures de travail à Silver Street après avoir dit un petit allô à Tom, Becks et autres... et après avoir réalis que 10 jours c’était assez pour que ma « tout board » soit en mille miettes! J’ai passé l’après-midi à l’ordi à CB2. A big thunder storm started when I was in the internet cafe... I sooo hope Tom was caught... uh WASN’T caught in the pouring rain! I had some lasagne with Sal and Dan and the cousin Danielle, and then we watched the Italy vs Germany football game and… Italy is going to the finals! I didn’t really watch football at the beginning of the world cup, but I’m slowly liking it more and more, and I’m excited about the last game. If only Canada was in...

MENORCA, Spain - Part III

Saturday – 1st of July

HAPPY CANADA DAY ! We relaxed once more, and drove to Fornells for a very, very cheap Menu del dia (Menu of the day). Starter, main course and dessert for 7,50 EUROS at El Pescador. It was sweltering hot outside so we quickly went back to Puerto de Addaya for a swim. On est allés souper à El Castillo encore une fois, pour aller voir la joute de football : England vs Portugal. Faisait encore chaud, spécialement dans le resto. Il restait 10 minutes de la joute quand on a pu s’asseoir comfortablement à l’ombre, dehors. England lost because of unfair penalties at the very end. C’était donc leur dernière joute, à la coupe mondiale 2006. Louis a réussi à se pogner 3 paires de lunettes de soleil de l’Angleterre et j’ai demandé une casquette gratuite... yen ont plus besoin de toute façon! On a commencé le ménage aujourd’hui pour pouvoir aller en bateau en matinée demain.

Sunday – 2^nd of July

Tout le monde debout très tôt, on était au quai à 9h00. Pas pire, hein? Plus de ski nautique, plus de tube et quelques baignades. Yavait absolument pas de vent, alors c’était plus facile de skier cette fois-ci. We went to the same shallow sand bank that we did last Sunday, about 40m from the shore. And then we saw… the Von Trap family! The whole family was walking through the field, in a queue. Do, a deer, a female deer, Re, a drop of golden suuun! And they stopped near the boat on a rocky beach where a lone man was tanning naked by his kayak. First thing they did, they took their clothes off. On était déjà de retour à 1h pour la dernière baignade, pour nettoyer et preparer nos baggages. On s’est bourrés de pizza, on a jasé, on a bu ce qui restait et j’ai fini par faire une sieste tellement j’étais épuisée. On a tristement quitté l’appartement et la superbe villa à 7h, pour arriver à l’aéroport une heure trop tôt, passer la première barrière à 8h40 et embarquer dans l’avion à 10h40. J’ai pas fais l’eurreur de demander du jus, cette fois, j’ai pris un rum & coke. C’est gratuit! On est arrivée chez les parents d’Andrew à 2h du matin après une longue ride d’une heure. Merci Andrew!

Monday – 3rd of July

To my surprise, we didn’t wake up Andrew’s parents when we came in at 2am. I had a good night sleep and an amazing brunch @ 10am. I relaxed a bit, showed them some of our footage of the waterskiing and tubing, and I visited the neighbour who is a an artist. According to him, my Jack Sparrow portrait supposedly has a lot of depth. …kewl! It also has a lot of Depp. Calembour! After a good shower and a nice chat, we finally left the beautiful house to drop off Jo & Louis at the airport. I’ll see them again in… 2 months! Crazy… They will do a wine & cheese back in Ottawa, very soon, to show all their pictures of Italy, Austria, Tcheque Republic and Menorca. Parlant de vin, je voulais aller au Wine tasting #2, (1^er lundi du mois...) mais ce n’etait pas ce soir, après tout. C’est la semaine prochaine. Alors au lieu de «rusher» à Cambridge pour ça, a 7h, j’ai relaxé chez Véro & Andrew et j’ai couché là.

MENORCA, Spain - Part II

Tuesday - 27^th of June

Journée encore plus relaxe à jouer au Nintendo DS, à dessiner un magnifique portrait de Jack Sparrow (mm-hmm Johnny Depp...) et à se baigner. J’ai fais une petite promenade en voiture avec Andrew pour acheter plus de pain et de vin (amen). I should really learn to drive standard... it could come in useful, if there’s an emergency, or if I rent a car in Europe. After lunch Andrew offered me 35£ if I ate all the cold cut meat leftovers and all the chocolate spread that was left (3/4 of a big pot). Time went by, the rules slowly changed, I hesitated way too much. Then it turned into a 8 hotdog + chocolate spread challenge, and we gave up. I would have done it really! After dinner, when the lights were out in the pool (11pm) I went skinny dipping with Jo, and had a good night sleep with the balcony door open for fresh air (bad idea…). I woke up with mosquitoe bites everywhere.

Wednesday – 28^th of June

Time is going by really fast. I’m half way through my Menorca ToDo list, and today was very productive. We visited Monte Torro, where the highest point of the mountain is a tall stuaue of Jesus Christ. Then we went to the old capital of Ciutadella (the new capital is Mahon). The drive up the mountain was painful for the old noisy, dodgy car, and the building at the top looked like an old castle. Nice! According to Vero & Andrew it’s so much more touristy and renovated than it used to be. We drove down to Ciutadella and went in the old market to have lunch: I had a chicken salad y un poco de “chiperones” (tiny squids).

Apres avoir acheté quelques petits souvenirs (encen, ceinture) on est retournés vers Addaya. Le char a lâché à mi-chemin, sur une grande route de campagne. Smegging car! Faisait pas si chaud que ça pis on a pas attendu longtemps avant que la gentille madame vienne nous fournir une voiture plus grande et de meilleure qualité. On est revenus à temps pour un petit rum & coke, une petite baignade, pis ensuite on est repartis à Fornell’s, où se trouve «Ca Na Marga’s », un restaurant avec des T-Bone steak géant pis de la super pizza. Le ox t-bone à Louis était énorme! Mais tout était tellllement bon. On a recommencé à se lancer des défis jamais accomplis et on a pris des tonnes de photos.

Thursday – 29^th of June

On s’est levés TARD, et pourtant on avait de la bouffe prête pour la plage San Tomas en quelques minutes! (Ça nous aurait prit pas mal plus de temps avec la maman d’Andrew :P) On est tellement efficaces. « Vamos a la playa! » Les vagues allaient jusqu’à 1 mètre et demi, c’était super le fun et parfois même dangereux! Yavait pas mal de nudité à cette plage là aussi. Y en a qui sont élevés comme ça, tsé, des seins, des fesses, ya rien là! It was very sunny, sandy and salty. After a swim or two in the sea you get itchy, and you get sand up your bathing suit, but you still go back for more waves! My sisters and me, we got tired of worrying about our bikini tops, so we took ‘em off! (I was careful to keep the water up to my neck). We came back around 5pm, I finished my book 24 Veto Power and started 24 Hell Gate. I finished my Jack Sparrow portrait (lovely) and then Vero made “patatas braves”, big juicy prawns in garlic butter, and more sangria. I have a lot of fun with the Andrew and Louis, fooling around about spanish sausages and inside jokes, we get along so well! We all have the maturity of 10 yr old kids.

Friday – 30^th of June

A bit of chillin’ in the morning and then we got ready for a trip on the boat, with water skis AND a tube. We left at 12:30, which means it was the hottest time of day. I don’t remember ever tubing in waves like that, or behind a boat that fast! That was intense! And my eyes were red because of all the salt water splashing in my eyes. We also tried water skiing, Jo, Louis and me, and we filmed most of it. Good memories for mum and dad! We did a bit of snorkelling by the beach we visited on the first day. A lot of tiny fishies but no colourful corals. J’ai mis plus de crème solaire que jamais cette semaine, le soleil est tellement fort. On a encore pris tout plein de vraiment belles photos, avec la bonne caméra d’Andrew. Ce soir là on a mangé des fruits de mer avec du riz, et on a but une tonne de sangria qu’Andrew a concocté lui-même. Delish!

MENORCA, Spain - Part I

I just spent one of the best weeks of my life (best weeks being Lac Lyster, Florida 1998, England 2004, Arts 101 week 2006) Here goes!

Friday ~ 23rd of June
After a short 3-days-of-work-week, I left the Cam to meet up with Jo-Louis in Haverhill. They have gorgeous pictures of their trip around Germany, Austria and Italy. They were ready to leave for a nice 10 days on the Mediterranean Sea with Vero, Andrew and me. Delayed flight from Gatwick to Mahon (Menorca), but at least we all were in the same row thanks to a lovely flight attendant. We landed in Menorca around 9:30 and rented a "car" for our journey to the villa of Puerto de Addaya. Andrew's parents are very welcoming and had a dinner ready so we had food @ the airport, the plane AND the appartment. We talked on the balcony until 2 am... So many stories to be told! I can't wait to see the scenery of all the small white and terracota villas and the marina in daylight, tomorrow.

Saturday ~ 24rd of June
More british vocabulary: bechers (pronouced beekers) are small round plastic glasses. And baguettes are now called french sticks. Le reveil etait trop tot pour moi, surtout apres avoir dormi sur un matelas gonflable. Puerto de Addaya est magnifique, avec une piscine au centre pour une trentaine d'appartements ou vivent surtout des couple anglais riches et retraites. On a sorti le beau bateau des Peps: a Chapparal SSI 210... le "Peps Paraiso", 45 miles/h, joli et comfortable. On a descendu l'ancre a Pregonda Beach (nudes everywhere!) ainsi qu'une petite greve de roches ou j'ai sorti le snorkel. On avait Mike & Jackie comme guides, sur leur bateau.
Pregonda Beach: Just as we were having our lunch with Cava (menorcan champagne), a naked woman on an inflatable mattress swam almost all the way to our boat, until Roy couldn't hold it any longer: "Would you like a cheese sandwich!? ... She must be spanish." And she replied "I'm english actually!" Anyways. I never saw so many nudes, some of them upclose, in a week. Listening to spanish music on a fancy boat, slowly tanning (yes mom, I put sunscreen on) and reading a book... Man, I'm retiring in Menorca when I'm 50... nah, 40! We had a swim, a good dinner, a few drinks and a good night.

Sunday ~ 25th of June
More boating today! We stayed almost as long as yesterday but stayed in the shade a bit more. BIG difference! I put my CD on and saw Roy dance on the "Cuban Pete" song (The Mask). Thank god we got some footage of that on video. At Es Grau beach, today, we also saw many nudes including a Spanish man with a really big... umbrella. We stayed at a beautiful shallow sand bank for a while, chatting with two couples from Puerto de Addaya (neighbours).
On est revenus a temps pour aller voir la joute de football d'England vs Ecuador sur un gros ecran au "El Castillo". Le restaurant supporte l'Angleterre all the way, car le gerant est anglais, tout comme la majorite des gens de Addaya. J'ai enfin eu des fish & chips, on etait assis avec les voisins encore, et un gars d'Ecuador est arrive, saoul, pis y s'est endormi assis devant Bernie. Cave. On a gagne 1 a 0, les parents d'Andrew sont partis pour l'Angleterre, on a fete pas trop tard a l'appart. "Vindalooooo! Vindalooooo! Vindaloo, vindaloo, naa naaaa!"

Monday ~ 26th of June
Chillin'. Premiere journee vraiment relaxe, on a fait une epicerie bonne pour 2 jours a Mahon. On a lu, on s'est baignes dans la piscine et tout le monde sauf moi a commence a s'amuser avec les 2 nintendo DS d'Andrew, a faire des mind games, des sudokus et Bubble Bobble. The mediterranean meals schedule is slowly changing to Breakfast @ 10am, Lunch @ 2:30pm, Dinner at 8 or 8:30pm... and snacking all afternoon. I played cards with Jo and we talked a lot. I'm reading a book called "24 Declassified : Veto Power", inspired by the TV series of 24 that I was obsessed with until the really rubbish season 5. The story isn't too bad, but the writing... yish. I bought a postcard to send to Scudamore's, they will get it in 2 weeks, therefore, after I got back. Zut!

Pictures will be up soon, I'm switching from Flicker to Google.