More famous sightings, borrowed goods and other observations

Another week in London and that means more ecletic ramblings for you to hear: I saw Ricky Gervais from 'The Office' in Soho the other day - another one to add to my famous-people-spotting list. I finally indulged in my first jacket potato since my arrival way back in May - a firm favourite with the poms. I quite enjoyed but perhaps not the delicacy they rave about.

Another brolly was lost thus another one gained from The Glassblower - I have not bought a single one since I landed. Go the unclaimed lost property!

Off to Paris tomorrow with the girls for Mon's 25th birthday - excited. Pics and descriptions to come.

A congratulatory shout-out to my Uncle Beau as well - he landed a role in the new Guy Sebastian film clip - Jennifer Hawkins is also starring. Uncle is one happy man at present...


Bonjour from Paris aka channeling Faulty Towers

Finally it arrived, Mon's birthday weekend in gay Paris. Everyone but I was a little worse for wear due to the festivities at the pub the night before but I managed to destract Mon from her headache. As we lined up to get through customs at Heathrow, a security guard noticed an unattended bag, RIGHT NEXT TO MONICA AND I, and yelled out for the owner to get it. It was a very pompous and well dressed man (Mon says he was speaking on his mobile in German, I said French and we both then think we heard an English accent...), who simply didn't want the burden of carrying the (very small leather) briefcase through the line and preferred to slide it gently to the front each time he met with the bag. As you do.We both beeped in the metal detector due to our bangles and got a nice little rub down from the gloved security guard as a result!

The flight was delayed for an eternity but finally we boarded, got to flying and landed in Paris.Two things stike you when you step off the plane in Paris - the fresh air and the pugent smell of urine. The underground was a curious mix of the latter and Clearasil pimple cream! Mon and I naviagted surprisingly well and found our lovely apartments with ease. It was great to see Pam and Stevie, and Lara who I haven't seen in a bit and to meet Erin, the girls' friend from home.

Mon and I staged a nice little Parisian inspired picnic in our room (which I might add came equipped with a fancy mini dishwasher) aka cheese, cheese and more cheese. Later we wandered round the local streets - once again we managed to be located very close to the red light district - quite the re-occuring theme in my travels.

We decided to purchase a 2-day bus tour ticket which meant we could travel round the city (Paris is huge), getting off at different significant locations and have some excellent historical commentry via the provided headphones, without being bored to death. By this time Paris was rather icy, especially on top of an open-air double-decker bus. The sites and history of the city are amazing, and we were to learn, mostly built for the 1900 exhibition...

Next stop was the Louvre and it was straight to Mona Lisa. And yes, we may have indulged in a few bars of the Craig Mc Laughlin classic 'Mona', perhaps, as we viewed this iconic painting. Actually the whole weekend was a bit of a musical act, with a song to follow nearly every statement, observation and comment made. Another highlight was Venus di Milo and the ancient Roman and Greek pieces - this made me want to be in Greece again. The Louvre is a stunning building in itself. The ceilings are so detailed and visually spectacular. We noted the Da Vinci Code tour option (no jokes) but declined. The day included The Eiffel Tower - only around not up as it was very overcast, The Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame and general wandering. Sunday was more site seeing on the bus and a cruise on the Seine - this was a great way to see the city.

Along with breaking into song, staged photos and siteseeing, food was a rather large part of the trip - well Monica is a 'foodie'. We generally stuffed ourselves stupid with cheese, bread, pasteries, more cheese, potatoes, bread, coke and a little more cheese for good measure. The last day (or so Mon and I thought - more to come on that later) we staged a last supper as such. Mon was dying for some snails - everyone else joined in the fun except for Stevie and I - we were happy to watch. We all proceeded to gorge on huge meals and were quite the sorry looking bunch afterwards, barely able to move.

We said our goodbyes and Mon and I trudged off to the airport, sad to be facing real life back in London. We were a bit confused with checking-in at the airport, perhaps it was to do with the fact that Mon actually booked us on a Nov 29 flight back home, rather than an Oct 29...We laughed and nearly cried, especially when we were told that we could not get a seat till Monday 1pm. We arranged all this for a plausible fee, but a fee nonetheless, and called our respective bosses to let the know we wouldn't be in the next day due to a slight booking mishap. Mon was determined not to have to sleep at the airport so off we went to a local airport motel - the plastic, cheap and nasty variety. We were going to go for Formula One (yes they are a worldwide chain, folks) until we found out that you don't have your own bathroom, so we opted for Etap, the closest in price. Firstly the woman on the desk was arrogant and rude - not our first encounter with such in France but certainly our worst - and on arrival to our room we learnt that you certainly do get what you pay for. Etap is French for shitty motel room, indeed! The shower was a hole in the wall and the loo was a separate little box - no actual bathroom with a functioning door. There were a collection of hair samples on the top bunk bed - a CSI crew would have a field day with their rolly-pick-up-hair-device. Hence Mon and I shared the double bed but not before scouring it for stray hairs etc. Tres clean!

We decided to make the most of our situation and trekked down to the convenience store for tucker and booze - mini cheeses, red wine, butter and pre-sliced bread from a basket that we believe may have been complementary but which we still continued to empty completely as they would not sell us whole baguettes - a girl's gotta eat. What followed was a slightly raucous night in our stylish room, including not one but two more trips to the shop for booze. The room did somewhat resemble a rubbish tip in the morning, but such rock star behaviour only seemed fair after our ill-treatment my the night receptionist...

Mon's very cheap suitcase had my now got a ghastly rip in it and she was required to wrap it in a large plastic body bag - or as we christened it, 'The Schapelle Bag' - my bag also needed wrapping due to its myriad of straps. Once again, we have pics. So we arrived safe and sound and with a fierce tendency to add 'le' in front pretty much everything we say. London welcomed us with a beautiful grey day and now that the clocks have changed it is virtually black at 4.45 in the arvo. Le fabulous...


Pumpkins and moaning bosses

Halloween fever over here - even the pumpkin soup in the supermarket has special themed packaging! Discovered some great stir-fry packs over here - fresh veggies, noodles and sauce that you simply chuck in the wok and there you have it - A-grade stir-fry...mmm. Hope there is such a product back home when I get back.

I did some voice over lines for a TV ad today at work - they liked the idea of an Aussie accent. Allegedly they thought it conjured up images of sun, health, salads etc (the product is for a healthy breakfast cereal) - shame I am pasty, bloated and so not fit...

Wretched boss at work told me how much I let the team down by being away yesterday due to Paris flights - one co-worker said they only noticed 4 hours in to their shift that I was gone! Ha. Next time I will be sure to swim back if stuck...Birmingham trip is off but Katie and I are having a productive Saturday at the markets and the Tate Modern. Sunday is a road trip with the female housemates, probably to Bristol. That's if I survive the week at my horrid job...