Missing in action

Goodness me, where to start? Been missing in action, or rather missing due to action of sorts.

Firstly, birthday came and went in true regal stylee. Certainly acting my age in terms of venue, surroundings and activities. But certainly not acting the age, more like shoe size with regards to behavior and this was without the aid of alcohol!

It started with a drive to Paris with a friend. We nipped around le Paris in le morning, followed by lunch on the Champs Ellesse near Arc de Triumph with my cousin and his friend.

The weekend was spent in Loire Valley; a quaint little place 1 hour train journey outside Paris. It’s known as the Garden of France mainly due to the acres of vineyards; very soothing to the eyes. I think I got drunk just looking at it! Also known as Valley of the Kings owing to the sheer number of Chateaus.

So, I spent the day like a princess and went on what only can be described as a Chateau crawl with my cousin and 2 other friends. In 2 days we managed to get around 9 Chateaus all varying in age, style and substance. Had a feast fit for a queen in the lawns with the backdrop of a glorious 16th century Chateau complete with moat and a zoo full of 50 odd bloodhounds!

It was non-stop giggles and laughs from the outset, with each minute of the journey an adventure of stupidity. We also decided we had to converse in French. Even if you did not know the word in French, just say it with a French accent was order of the day.

I did insist we must play hide and seek inside one of the Chateaus, instead we found a maze in one of the grounds and played in there.

The following weekend, the same crew came over to London and we embarked on a musical marathon. By that I mean we attended a couple of West End shows. Sad I know, but again, it was non-stop laughs.

We checked into the hotel, which I booked for 2 of us, whilst my cousin made his way to the separate hotel booked by his company.

The hotel I had booked was the toilet bowl of hotels! We literally fell into the hotel room, looked at the bathroom, swiftly turned on our heel, went down to reception and handed back the keys. Unfortunately we could not get a refund.

In the process I called my cousin to make arrangements for us in the hotel he was staying, as there was no way we were going to stay in the one I had booked.

Meantime, cousin was at his hotel having drinks with the hotel staff whilst waiting for us. He managed to upgrade all of us as he had acquainted himself with the hotel manager. We swiftly arrived, quickly got dressed and made our way to a club.

Three in the morning we were running the length of Oxford street singing songs from classic musicals and managed to gather a small crowd along the way. Tres bizarre.

Hours later, we peeled ourselves out of bed to breakfast and on to hit the summer sales.

First of the musicals was Chicago. Thirty minutes into it we had all fallen asleep! My cousin and I were so embarrassed; we changed seats in the interval.

Lunch and a little pick me up and then onto Phantom of Le Opera. I have ALWAYS wanted to see this one and it was worth the wait. Desperately holding back the tears at the end, after hearing sniffles around the audience I just let my tears flow. I thought it was a happy ending and he got the girl! Not only did he not get the girl, but they teefed his boat and mask!

The others returned to their respective countries after the weekend, but cousin extended his trip until the following weekend. So the remainder of my week was an onslaught of more stupidity and drinking with the mad hotel staff. My cousin is the most charming person I know; he has this uncanny ability to talk his way into anything and we always seem to get complete strangers to join us wherever it is we go.

What else?.. ah yes how can I forget? It’s holiday season, so my dearest friends from Dobuy have been visiting London for their annual holidays. Spent lunches and dinners with them catching up. Gosh I miss them so dearly!

And how can I forget Badu? Being a mahoosive Erykah Badu fan, I was lucky enough to see her perform at the superb open-air venue of Somerset House. Certainly less intimate than her previous London venues, but undoubtedly far more spectacular. She rocked the crowd in true Badu style.

Well this brings us up to speed.

Tomorrow I shall be spending the morning trying to beat my father at chess. So far he has thoroughly thrashed me apart from last weekend where I finally made him sweat a bit! He actually resorted to cheating by making up a rule as he was making a penultimate move! I let him have that “rule” only as an excuse for him beating me again. This week I have been prepping on some new opening moves.. so lets see how it works. I may try the strategy of some of his pieces mysteriously disappearing off the board...lets see how that works – tee hee!

The afternoon will be spent with one of the coolest people I know and only in town for a couple of days before flying to the Middle East. She can only be described as an Arabic version of Carrie from Sex and the City. She is also one of the most adventurous human beings I have the pleasure of knowing. Her current “great idea” is to fly to Iran and learn how to ski, or to go to the gaza strip (again!)! Obviously I am trying to talk her out of it and persuading her to move back to London.

Alors, that's le latest. More le soon, a' bientot!