Lake Windermere

1. The many swans around the lake.
2. Walking around the lake.
3. Wordsworth house seen on the way.
4. Second smallest house in Britain.

Our final morning was spend at Lake Windermere walking around the shops and looking around the lake enjoying the glorious weather (if only it had been as dry when we climbed the mountain!!). Andy gave us the guided tour as we drove there as Alex and I sat in the back snapping like Japanese tourists hehehehehe.

The whole weekend was a fantastic break, it was great being with people who's company I totally enjoy. In both sunshine and rain, lake or mountain , rowing boat or bunk bed - I was happy being around my friends. It's times like these that make you realize how precious friendships are.

I also bought a book about the Mini (not the BMW sort but the good old fashioned British Mini car) and I'm loving it, I want a Mini now!!

Night Out in Keswick

All 9 of us went out into Keswick in the evening after our long mountain climb. The first picture was of Kelly and I at a Sports Bar, everyone was singing along to the Karaoke and enjoying the final part of the night. Before that we went to Casa Bella for a lovely meal, sandwiched between the Kelly and Lindsey picture is Alex's potato skin starter - random I know!
The final picture (left clockwise) is of the group: Alex (well his eye!), Lindsey,Simone & Ted, Helen, Pete, Andy & Kelly. I'm not in the picture for obvious reasons.........

Lake District - Helvellyn Mountain Walk [more pics]

1. View as we walked up the mountain.
2. Andy wrapped up in his waterproofs.
3. Streams making their way down.
4. Another view as we climbed.
5. Me, braving the weather up the mountain.

Lake District - Helvellyn Mountain Walk

The weather changed for the worse today but we still decided to climb towards Striding Edge, Helvellyn. The Information Centre said the winds were gale force (50mph +) so climbing to the top would be dangerous. The start of the walk was OK but soon got colder and wetter the higher we climbed. Trouble was - Alex and I really didn't think we would actually go on walks when we got to the Lake District! So we didn't exactly arrive prepared, Alex was in denim (which loved the water!!) and I was in my slippiest trainers (but at least the trusty Royal Mail storm proof coat saved the day!) It took several hours to walk to the lake at the "Hole in the Wall" but the lashing of rain, poor visability and deflated spirits prevented all but Simone and Ted from going the last part ontoStriding Edge itself.

The pics above show us setting off all nice and dry, that soon changed as you can see in the drowned picture of us and finally a rather wet Alex as we begin our decent.

Below is a picture of the area we were walking along (this picture was found on the net).

*980m high

Lake District - Derwent Water.

Saturday was the first day we all spent in the Lake District, we were staying at Keswick but took a little trip down to Derwent Water and hoped aboard two rowing boats. Here is a picture of Alex, Ted, Kelly, Andy and Simone in their boat. Helen, Linsey and I were in the other boat.
Although we may have lost the race, we had great fun trying to row - "dip and lick" became our chanting as we tried to navigate around the lake. The discovery of "Shaggy Island" made interesting paddling - OK, so we named the tiny island ourselves ......... It was still good fun!

Girls Aloud - HMV Signing - PART 4

1. The HMV wristband.
2/3. The two 12", four CD2, one CD1, one Promo and Nicola signed "The Show Promo. At the bottom of the picture are the flyers.

Totally enjoyed this afternoon, I felt lucky to be one of the fans to have stuff signed and to finally have a quick chat with Sarah and Nadine. Full credit to the Girls for doing the signing at HMV.

Girls Aloud - HMV Signing - PART 3

1. Nicola gets busy signing my "Long Hot Summer" CD's.
2. Kimberley Walsh gets her signature down to a fine art.
3. Nadine has time for a photo opportunity.
4. Cheryl may be looking down but she's also looking great.
5. Sarah is shocked at my 12".

The waiting was totally worth it, this was my first record signing and it was worth not having my afternoon sleep. It's got to be hard for them to sign record after record as well as try and talk to the fans. The security men were friendly and did their best to keep everything organised and flowing so we all got something signed or had a quick chat with the Girls.
I thanked the Girls for coming to the Midlands and said it made a change from going to London. Nadine and Sarah were chatting to me and said it was nice to come somewhere different rather than the "same old same old".

Then they commented on me being in my postman's uniform saying "Wow a real live postman ...... in shorts as well!" Sarah asked if I'd bought all the formats I'd asked them to sign and I said "Yeah", they replied with a "Thank you so much for supporting us".
The picture above with Nadine made me laugh because she was busy signing the CD's then just automatically looked up with this big grin on her face ready for my phone to take a picture - bless her , she was on auto pilot!
Cheryl, Kimberley were busy signing to have a chat and poor Nicola almost forgot to sign my 12".

Bonus: *We were treated to meeting Cheryl's dog as he was paraded before us as we waited to meet Girls Aloud.

Girls Aloud - HMV Signing - PART 2

1. Cheryl, Nicola and Kimberley really get into the signing.
2. The Girls hard at work while Sarah chats away.
3. Sarah proving she signs CD's as well.
4/5 Girls Aloud pose before the large crowd at HMV Birmingham.

Girls Aloud HMV Signing - PART 1

Alex had arrived in Birmingham nice and early to get a few more copies of the Girls Aloud single "Long Hot Summer" and got us a wrist band ready for the 5pm signing at HMV. I was busy getting wet delivering mail in Coventry as the bottom picture shows!
It was a rush getting over to Birmingham so I just caught the train in my uniform and tried not to stand out too much.
Meanwhile ITV were recording fans for a TV special about "Being Girls Aloud", which will be shown later this year - watch out for my bright orange coat!!

My Summer Song

The Coral "In the Morning" is THE Summer song for 2005, I never tire of hearing this tune. It's one of those songs that ALWAYS makes me happy and lifts me into "Robbieworld".
Now thanks to Alex, it is part of my record collection. It might take me a few years to learn the lyrics but I'll give it a try!

Girls Aloud v Spice Girls

Now this IS heaven.............. a night of Spice Girls/Girls Aloud music!
This Friday in London @G-A-Y, they have a special night of music from the two best girl bands in the world.
Pity I won't be there to shake my ass, I'm also gonna miss out on seeing Girls Aloud perform @ G-A-Y this Saturday 20th August.

Here's the review from the G-A-Y website:

This Friday (19th Aug) THE CAMP ATTACK CLASSIC HALF HOUR THEME IS GIRLS ALOUD vs THE SPICE GIRLS 2 Of The Biggest Girl Bands Battle It Out alternating between their biggest hits GIRLS ALOUD Hits include SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND, NO GOOD ADVICE, LIFE GOT COLD, JUMP, THE SHOW, LOVE MACHINE, I'LL STAND BY YOU, WAKE ME UP, & the new single "LONG HOT SUMMER" SPICE GIRLS Hits include WANNABE, SAY YOU'LL BE THERE, 2 BECOME 1, MAMA / WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SPICE UP YOUR LIFE, TOO MUCH, STOP, VIVA FOREVER, GOODBYE & HOLLER.

There isn't really any competition between the two groups - both are awesome in their own way. The Spice Girls hype was out of this world and had an effect on a generation, whereas Girls aloud look stunning and make great "pop" songs.

Big Brother 6 : Craig Evicted!

I've waited long enough for this ............. finally Craig has been booted out of the Big Brother House, pity he lasted so long!
His personality was sooooooooooooooooooooo annoying, he makes even Eugene seem interesting!
At least Anthony will be able to sleep safe from the bunny boiler now................

Spice Girls Gone Wrong!

The World Wide Web is a wonderful place but dig deeper and it can be quite scary, and I'm not talking about chat rooms or porn!
I was searching for some Spice Girls pictures so I could do the next Blog "Desperate Spicewives" but just look at a few of the pictures I found on the web..............

http://www.dyxploitation.nu/issue1/romp2.html <<<< too rude for my innocent Blog so only click if you have a bit of humour!