Harry Potter

Happy Halloweeeeen!!

Wednesday 30th October – Sunday 3rd November 2019

After a week or so checking out the sights of London but mostly recovering from the Moroccan flu, I was off to the U S of A to visit my bestie Katie and her family in Maryland. Katie I’ve known since, well, let’s just say over half my life! They moved to the US for one hell of an adventure, and for her husband Jules’ work.

I’d love to say the trip was off to a brilliant start but besides the pain in the arse checkin cos I’m a rampant over packer AND the 7 hour layover at JFK AND the three gate changes for my flight, there was some confusion (my fault) about my arrival date. Katie being the brilliant friend she is drove an hour and a half to pick me up from Baltimore, only to hear I wasn’t arriving until the next day. Major travel fail!!

Besides all that, seeing the smiling face of a friend you’ve known forever is one of the best feelings in the world! Once my head wrapped around being on the other side of the road, I could take in the lay of the land. Maryland to me looked a bit like Forks from Twilight, yes I’m way too old for those movies but whatevs. Woods bordering the highway, trucks in every lane and good ol’ American style diners along the road. Our stop off for real Mexican food, real because the chefs actually looked Mexican, was a welcome change from my diet of donuts and airport coffee, the only thing open between midnight and 7am at JFK. There was gin on the plane though, did I mention that??

Poor Katie had to sit next to my stench all the way back to their place in California, a suburb of Maryland which is quite confusing when googling the place. There weren’t any objections to me showering before picking up her youngest Drew from preschool. Little Drew is the cutest and funniest little dude you’ll ever meet, only after not seeing him for 6 months, he ain’t so little any more! It was on the way back from his pick up that I really opened my eyes and checked out the neighbourhood. Massive three story houses, all decked out in Halloween decorations. No tall fences blocking out the neighbours, literally an open white picket fence suburb. I absolutely loved it. And when the big yellow school bus stopped out front for all the kids to hop off, it was like a scene from an American family movie.

It didn’t take me long to love the neighbourhood. But that aside, seeing Hugo and Penelope, Katie’s older two and being part of their lives again was the best thing for my jet lagged arse. Alas, arriving on Halloween eve, it was pumpkin carving time!! My lack of skills was more than evident, carving BEFORE getting all the seeds and gunk out, rookie mistake. Should have just copied the kids, they seemed to know what they were doing! Have to say, was pretty impressed with all our handiwork and add the tea light candles to the pumpkins and god damn they looked spooky!!

My crash course in American culture started with an intro to their most favourite sport (I think?!?), baseball. The local team the Nationals (Nats for short), were in the final game of 7, winner takes all for the uh, I want to say premiership?? No wait, it was the World Series. Which is mighty confusing considering only American teams were playing… Anyway, wish I could say I watched history in the making but my jet lag kicked in and after pumpkin carving those eyelids just wouldn’t stay open, I think I nodded off even before the first home run. But no need to worry, the Nats won so there were lots of replays over the coming days!! And have to say, I may have actually understood the game by the time I left!

After a much needed 12 hour sleep, I awoke to the kids all off to school and a patient Katie waiting for my jet lagged arse to get out of bed to head off on the start of our key lime pie hunt. If you’re wandering what the hell key lime pie is, don’t worry, I was too!! Since arriving in the US, Katie and her friend Kylie (snap!) had been hunting down the best key lime pie in Maryland, which gets me to what the hell is key lime pie?? Think lemon meringue pie but more limey, with the meringue bit optional. Heading to a place that claimed to have the best in the state, you can imagine the severe disappointment to find they had none left… grump. The hunt quickly turned into a coffee gathering of every female Aussie in Maryland when one after another the Aussie’s walked in, greeted with “fancy meeting you here!?!”, our party of three quickly turned into about 10ish. Loved meeting all these wonderful ladies from all over AUS, with a couple of Americans thrown in for good measure. Quickly learnt that I was saying Maryland all wrong, it’s not Mary-Land, more like Merry-Lnd, and life in the US is busy as hell, kids doing 10 sports each, vacation planning, social and craft groups… or maybe not that different to life in AUS but as someone who had been off traveling solo for a while, it was nice to just listen to normal life conversations, and it was mostly listening, I was so jet lagged I could hardly string a comprehensible sentence together. Lucky for me, the day was about to get to extreme excitement levels, nothing like Halloween to wake you up!! First of the hallowed eve festivities was Trunk-a-Treat, a smart take on Trick-or-Treat where parents and friends of Drew’s preschool open up their trunks, a boot of a car in Aussie lingo, decorate them spooky and hand out candy. The cuteness levels of preschool kids dressed up in Halloween costumes is extreme, of course with Drew being the absolute cutest ever little minja (as he pronounces it!)

To get into the Halloween spirit, Katie took Drew bear and I through a tour of the local neighbourhoods, stopping off at all the houses who had gone above and beyond to get into the Halloween spirit. Love me a massive Maryland house, add the Halloween fancy and I might just move into one of them…

Back at Katie’s, (or home as I’ll now call it, wherever I lay my head at night is home being the homeless nomad I am), with all kids home and accounted for, it was time to get into the Halloween spirit. I did find 5 minutes in London Town to put together a lame arse version of a vampire costume. Ok, well, the costume wasn’t lame, my attempt to put on white face makeup which turned into clumps on my plane dried skin, losing the glue for my fangs and having jet lagged size bags under my eyes meant my attempt to look like a scary vampire resulted in me looking more like a tired old lady in a bad wig.

Luckily the rest of the household looked bloody brilliant in their costumes, the house was lookin’ spooky and the candy was ready, only half devoured by Katie and I earlier in the day… or was that the day after???

I’ll give it to the yanks, they know how to do Halloween! Although being unseasonably warm, the neighbourhood was out in force, the candy was plenty, houses turning on the scary and the streets over run with kids trying to look scary but mostly looking happy, who wouldn’t be when you’ve got a bucket of candy bigger than your head??

Not sure there was much tricking, just lots of treating! And as expected, the costumes were epic!! A family dressed up as The Incredibles was one of my faves, as were the inflatable dinosaurs but the best dressed award goes to this little vampire who well and truly showed me how it’s done!!

Not that I’ve done many Halloween’s but that night will go down as my all time favourite forever I think, loved the spirit of the neighbourhood, all the souls dressed up and goulish looking houses, my favorite though was these kids who just made it beyond fun!!

Needless to say, the next day I was wrecked! After a Fleabag and Halloween candy binge in the morning we headed to St Mary’s, an old style American village for the yummiest Bahn Mi I’d had for a while, strangely from an Italian style bakery called Enzo’s, as well as a sneaky doughnut that tasted like Oreo heaven. No photos of the food, eaten too quickly but here’s us, enjoying some sunshine!!

After getting our tourist on, we returned to normal life of Drew’s pre-school pickup around 2.30pm and kids jumping off the big yellow school bus around 4 each day. I say this all with a massive smile on my face, having been traveling for months solo and with friends, which is an amazing life I’m so grateful for, but there is so much joy also being part of a family, being settled in a home, surrounded by people you love and having some routine each day, not to mention home cooked meals!! All this while also getting to experience another culture. While I’d always thought the American culture wasn’t all that different to ours, I’m happy to say I’m mostly wrong, as firstly evidenced with sport. Being a Friday, it was baseball game night for Hugo, and after a Panda Express run it was off to watch the game. Not only is baseball a sport you probs wouldn’t see much of in AUS but the passion of the friends and family who turn out to watch in nearly minus degrees is next level!! Loved every minute and had a few giggles along the way, all while watching Huggie who in a few short months went from having never played before to being one of the stars of the team!!

As it seems to be part of the American culture, and correct me if I’m wrong, but as a parent your weekend pretty much revolves around kids sport. And I’m not complaining one bit, I got to enjoy being part of it all and making the most of Katie’s hard work getting her kids into teams, which is mostly definitely easier said than done in the US. Our Saturday started with porridge (oh my yum!) and we were off to Drew’s T-ball game. I know you shouldn’t laugh at kids playing sport but little 5 year olds in big helmets trying to hit a ball off a stand is just so cute you can’t help but giggle. Add Drew in full catcher gear and the cuteness levels were maxed out!!!

After a cuteness overload it was off to watch Hugo kick arse at baseball again, this time with all the bells and whistles!! Each kid stepping up to the plate with a theme song and announcement, first time I’d actually heard the baby shark song. Yes I’d heard of it but had deliberately gone out of my way to make sure I never heard it. Pretty sure I’d only just gotten The Wiggles out of my head from when Marcus and Annabelle were kids. Two games down and it was time for a pit stop at a quintessential American diner, not sure if it was set up for tourists or for was just like that for reals, either way we all loved the diner experience, the meat ball sub and chocolate milkshake get a special mention!!!

And here’s where you realise I am a bit of an arsehole cos besides the yummy food and cool setup, my attention was drawn to a Dad with his two kids which is lovely but the dad was quite obese and the kids who both looked younger than 10 were not looking very healthy either, all smashing hamburgers, massive sodas and flushing it all down with ice cream. And when I say smashing, I mean it. Probably an American stereotype I was taking notice of but it irked me. Parents have a responsibility to give their kids the best opportunities in life AND keep them healthy. I could say more but I’m not a parent and I know single people ranting about what parents should do is not appreciated so rant over, but still…

Fully fed and satisfied, we were off again to Hugo’s soccer. And yes, it’s called soccer in the US, no being silly and calling it football. Hugo was once again the star of his team and one cool dude pulling off a head band to control his blonde locks. My soccer watching was however distracted by taking on Drew in a friendly match on a nearby pitch. Yeah, don’t try play soccer against an energetic 5 year old, you’ll get your arse kicked!!

All sported out for the day, kudos to Katie and Jules for being awesome parents and running all over town to keep their kids active, it was home and getting ready for more sport, but the viewing on a TV kind. Katie and Jules friends were into rugby and being the World Cup final between England and South Africa we were off to their house to watch. Having been recently schooled in rugby by the Geordie and being a newly minted British citizen, I was ready to go my hardest barracking for the English Lions, Scotland were out so the Lions were my second favorite. Unfortunately the streaming of the game didn’t work but we only cared for about 5 minutes as we all knew that England had their arses handed to them by the South Africans. The rest of the night was spent chatting by a fire pit, eating yummy food and cuddling my new bestie Delta, can’t remember what kind of dog he was but god I loved him. It’s bad to steal someone’s dog yeah????

Being the super Mum she is, Sunday morning Katie whipped up pancakes for us all, I could get used to this!! After a bit of a chill morning we headed off to the Harry Potter corn maze. No you didn’t read that wrong! If you don’t already know, I’m a huge Harry Potter geek and was luckily enough to be joined by a family of Potterheads, well the kids anyway!! After a pit stop for pizza and pasta, the ravioli of which deserves its own picture, as does the sign…

It was then off to the corn maze! Dang, forgot my Gryffindor jumper in Oz! On account of me being a Potterhead, Katie had been nice enough to wait for me to arrive before day tripping to the maze, it did mean the maze had been well and truly worked through by other visitors but the whole setup itself was a whole lotta fun, I think the kids enjoyed it too!! There was a sorting hat (Hufflepuff apparently), a slingshot quidditch, a Nimbus 2000 broomstick swing, platform 9 and 3/4, butter beer and cheesecake on a stick – ok maybe the last one isn’t so Potter but who doesn’t love cheesecake and on a stick??? Was too full to try one but something to dream about…

After living out our Potter dreams we were BITC and homeward bound… with a stop at Coldstone, unlike cheesecake, icecream just melts into the gaps… What an epic start to living in the USA!!!

P.S. Already loving the “trucks” here, check out this beast!

January 2, 2020 0

Haggis and Harry

Friday 13th September 2019

Lucky for me, being spoilt with a hotel room also meant being spoilt with a hotel brekkie. Bacon, yum, eggs, yum, sheep’s brains, yum… you wouldn’t think sheep’s leftovers smooshed with some grains and fried would be so delicious, but yummo, love me some haggis!

BOTB and we’re just cruising along and there on an island is an epic castle… kinda like Dunluce in Ireland, home of the Greyjoy’s. Once again would love to climb all over it but a picture out a bus window was as good as it gets…

Back in our seats and we’re headed to Glencoe. Dan the sometimes Man reckons it’s one of the most beautiful places in Scotland. We’ll see. On our wee trip to Glencoe Dan the story Man told us the tale of the Massacre of Glencoe. All started with the King trying to get the unruly Scottish clans in line, to do so they all had to pledge their allegiance in person. The chief of the MacDonald clan was a day late to do so. Apparently the excuse of a horse breaking its leg is akin to the excuse of a dog ate my homework. Anyway, the British and the enemy Campbell clan snuck into the MacDonald’s village and killed them all in their sleep. Ok, there’s much more to it, but in short, that’s the story of the Massacre of Glencoe. There’s a lesson kids, don’t be late, and apparently if you’re a King you can kill whomever you want, and Kings are meant to be servants of God…Right. So after such a delightful tale, Dan again the Man played a Scottish folk song about the massacre that was so beautiful it bought a tear to my eye… maybe I do like Scottish music and this country is perfect…

The trip to Glencoe was some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen in my life. As Glen means valley, the scenery was valleys and mountains on the left and a loch on the right… always a loch, I don’t think there was more than 5 minutes of travel in which there wasn’t a loch in view. I really just wanted to hike in the mountains and swim in the lochs, but unfortunately I was in-prisoned on the bus. Maybe Dan the prison Man won’t notice if I don’t get back on the bus…. and anyways, Glencoe is the home of Skyfall where James Bond lives so I could always go hang there… Upon arriving at Glencoe, rather than join the others in the visitor center, I decided to hike up the hill to the viewpoint, joined by Robert, the dude from the bus who sat opposite me, also traveling solo, really friendly and up for a chat. The view of Glencoe was magnificent, magical, all those WOW words. The sun shone in streams down the mountains and valleys, I could hardly believe just how stunning it was. Pictures don’t do it justice, not even close. This is the Scotland I love. Build me a little house on a hill overlooking Glencoe and I’d be happy for life. Throw in my very own Jamie Fraser and I’d never have reason to leave!!

After admiring the beauty of Glencoe, it was BOTB and before long, another stop at the Tears of Glencoe, a gorgeous waterfall that given the story about the massacre, really did make you think maybe the mountains were crying, or maybe that song just still had me overly emo…

Another short leg down the road and we hopped off the bus at The Three Sisters, a stunning mountain range that’s home of the Highlander, the infamous place where MacCleod does battle and dies… must go back and watch that movie. I was in absolute awe of how pretty the mountains were, I think I must have said WOW a million times that day…

After being wowsers at the mountains and waterfalls it was onto Fort William. For those peeps that watch Outlander and already got my Jamie Fraser reference, you’d know that Fort William plays a starring role in the first season. I was keen as mustard to see the fort and walk around the ruins like Claire did in the 1950’s… Dan not the Man completely burst my bubble when he informed us that it was NOT the same fort from Outlander and in fact, all that remained was a couple of walls. Talk about a party pooper. Rocking up in Fort William and immediately legging it over to the fort, Dan the serious Man was not joking, literally a couple of brick walls with a few canons so the walls could pretend they were a fort… Disappointing but it did make me wonder if I actually belonged in the time of forts and castles… Maybe our stop on the last day at Craigh Na Doon would send me back…

My disappointment from the fort was replaced with major excitement when the group reconvened at the train station and it was all aboard the Jacobite train… wait, isn’t that a song?? Not really sure why it’s called the Jacobite train, if I wasn’t 40,000 feet in the air while writing this I’d Google but even Google cant reach here, well at least not on Ryanair… I digress… my excitement for the train was because it went over the bridge from Harry Potter!! You know the one in the second movie with the flying car and Ron and Harry are trying to catch up with the Hogwarts train?? Yeah nah??? Check out the pics and vid below and you’ll know what I mean. Actually called a Viaduct for reals, would Google the actual name but can’t, seems I don’t function without Google…

In between getting carpel tunnel from snapping a million pics, on the train I was lucky enough to sit next to Robert and chat with a fun American couple Christi and Todd. Now it was on this trip that I learnt Robert was one of the coolest dudes I’d ever met, too bad about the 20 year age gap! Mr Craig (Robert not Daniel) had seen live in concert Queen, The Rolling Stones and The Who, all for under £10, AND had a ticket to Live Aid. If you know your music history or have seen the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, you’ll know that Live Aid was one of the most epic concerts of all time. Unfortunately Robert broke his leg a few days earlier so didn’t go and regrets it to this day. Don’t blame him, I would too!! He also saw INXS live, dude is a bit of a legend. The train ride itself was bloody brilliant as Ron would say, steam train through the beautiful Scottish countryside, great company and a bar cart serving gin. When Robert was the only other to order a beverage I knew we’d be BFFs for this trip!!! Disembarking at the train station, it’s was pics galore with the beautiful piece of machinery, and with some encouragement from Robert, I used my Aussie charm on the conductor so I could to climb inside the train engine area, no idea what it’s called…

Another gentle nudge from Robert and I was into the tower where they control the train tracks and having a go at pulling all the levers. Yeah, this guy knows how to have fun!!

In the town of Mylaig, which is pronounced like My Leg, which for some reason I found hilarious, we found another member for our crew. Apparently Robert spotted Peta on the train chatting with some older ladies but thought maybe she was keen on some younger company, she was also cute as a button which may have had something to do with it!! Over some fries and a gin at the local, us three got chatting and I realized that this trip would not be the quiet trip I’d thought, I had just met two of the friendliest, loveliest people ever… who also liked a gin or two and could have a good laugh. Peta is a high school teacher from Brissie, only 10ish years older than me and Robert is Scottish, 20ish years older than me in age but at least 5 years younger at heart.

From My Leg it was BOTB and we headed for the ferry over to the Isle of Skye. Dan the music Man was trying to be funny, it was Friday the 13th and we were going on a boat so he cranked the Titanic theme song, pretty sure I was the only one laughing because by the looks of the waves and the grumpy clouds over head, it was not going to be a fun ride!!! Onto the ferry and for some reason I thought the top deck was the place to be. The ferry did some mighty rolls, spraying us with delicious ocean water and blowing the hairs off our heads, well trying anyway. Mighty fun, only downer was that I couldn’t find my phone so not only did I not get any pics of the ferry madness, I spent the whole ride with my fingers crossed it was on the bus, otherwise how would I survive… joking, not joking…

BOTB and my phone was patiently waiting for me on the seat, enjoying the rest from my never ending reel of photos and videos. Off the ferry and I was at the place that was the reason for the trip to Scotland, to see the stunning Isle of Skye… unfortunately during trip from the mainland, an epic storm had rolled in and Dan the wet Man informed us a hurricane was on its way. Couldn’t tell if he was joking… At the 5th BNB stop I was lucky enough to be herded off into the same place as Peta. I was given a big gorgeous room with a double bed, big screen on the wall and en-suite… Winning! Knock on the door and ooops they’d given me the wrong room, my room was actually a broom closet for the next two nights, doh, luck had run out!! Anyhoo, regrouping for dinner, Peta and I wandered down the road to the only place that was open for some delicious Scottish food and possibly the worst waitress I’ve ever experienced in my life!! Grunts when asked questions, eye rolls when ordering and apparently getting the bill is just asking too much. Robert joined us for a few drinks, much to the waitress’s dismay, and before we knew it, we were the last ones left. Ok so maybe the waitress now had a reason to be grumpy! Little did we know that finding a taxi for Robert back to his BNB in the middle of nowhere would be as hard as it was for the waitress to get the bill… Calls to three taxi companies later and there was a dude on his way, I think I may have woken him up. He was nice enough to drop Peta and I off on the way, well Robert was, the grunts from the driver suggested otherwise. Getting back to our BNB and looking forward to a warm bed we were delighted to find we’d been locked out. Awesome sauce. The delightful (I’m lying) inn keeper said the door would be open until 1am, it was a little after 11am. Do time and manners work differently here?? After some rather loud knocking that could only just be heard over the hurricane like winds, we were in. Yes the inn keeper was in her nightie and we felt like AH’s for waking her but there’s no way in hell sleeping outside was even an option. Dan the Man was not joking about the hurricane being on its way….

September 30, 2019 0

Warriors and wizards

Saturday 15th June, 2019

When warriors and wizards beckon, you skiddadle! Up and onto the tram in lightning speed, only to realise there’s a tram that goes directly past the National Gallery, my destination for the morning. Oh well, nothing like a walk to build up an appetite… for warriors. First time warriors have won out over bacon, actually, first time anything has beaten bacon, I think I’m sick…

So maybe this tram detour was a good thing, time to stroll along Southbank, smell all the yumminess from the restaurants… I think bacon is winning again… but in an effort to be on time for the session, my stomach takes a back seat for possibly the first time in my life and I’m wandering up to the gallery spot on 11… how is it I’ve been to Melbourne a zillion times and never seen how magnificent the National Gallery is?? Possibly because I’ve been too consumed with football or shopping, or maybe because I’m now at an age where I’m appreciating culture…

Heading into the exhibition I smugly thank my lucky stars I bought a ticket online and didn’t have to join the massive cue. Then around the corner, oh, another massive cue of smug peeps just like me. Cue to buy a ticket, cue once you have a ticket, and another cue around the corner to enter, lucky I’m not impatient…

Not sure if it was the wizarding world beckoning or just a general lack of interest in old bowls, the first room of the exhibition was a bit of a snooze, except for this dagger, wonder if it’s Valyrian steel…

But the next room is the money shot. The terracottta warriors themselves. Not sure what I really expected, knew there were only 16 on show but maybe I expected more of a cultured display, if that’s even the word?? Each warrior had its own pristine white mirrored display case, which had some epic inception type reflections, but they seemed a bit, lonely?? Maybe that was just my reflection. Nevertheless, they are magnificent. The expressions on their faces, their different hairstyles and moustaches, each serving a particular purpose – an archer, a warrior, an official, a swordsman, even in terracotta it was clear that back in the day you were one thing. Your role defined who you were in the world and how your life would be. Sometimes I wonder whether being just one thing would be more freeing than trying so hard to be so many people – a daughter, sister, aunty, cousin, friend, marketing manager, traveller, psychologist, widow… but maybe I am just one thing, I’m Holly. Ok – not sure how I went from warriors to defining my life but anyways… these dudes were impressive, I could imagine that in their thousands lined up they would have been quite the sight. But somehow there’s also a sadness to it all, how many people gave their lives to make these warriors? Certainly all the craftsman that got locked in the tomb so they wouldn’t share the secret of its location, and the concubines that had to be buried with the king for his afterlife… we certainly do live in a very different world to when these dudes were created. Grateful!

Teamed with the exhibition of the warriors was the art of Cai Guo-Qiang, a contemporary Chinese artist… may have had to google that one!! Not a massive fan of contemporary art, or possibly just don’t even know what it is. But wow, the first room looked a little something like this…

All these starling birds hanging from the ceiling to look like they are flying together in a murmuration – that phenomenon when they seem somehow connected, change direction together, seem to know exactly what one another are doing. Go google it!! And yes, I had to google to remember it was called a murmuration… The birds weren’t moving but still spectacular, even more so given the birds weren’t painted but covered in paint from explosions, hard to explain, you had to see the video!!! All the other pictures from the artist were colour explosions on canvas, didn’t quite wow me like the starlings but each to their own.

I probably legged it through the contemporary part of the exhibition quicker than a normal joe blow but time was ticking… mapping my way to Princess theatre, I coincidentally had to go past Hozier Ave again and that adidas jacket that I still had very strong feelings for… I was kinda cold, and didn’t bring a jacket today on account of all the buttons falling off my other one, damn those $$$ jumping out of my purse again but it looks good and winter is coming…

So finally back at Princess theatre there’s a few other lucky punks lingering but arriving at 12.25pm as the box office opened worked in my favour and I was first through the door, lucky I didn’t wait til 1!! I was a lucky punk today, scored a ticket to parts 1 and 2, woo hoo, cost me a small fortune but experiences are worth it, and adidas jackets…

So by now you’ve probs noticed a severe lack of bacon in my day, and coffee… finally tickets in hand, it was food time. Funny how even though I can be rushing somewhere a million miles an hour, I can still take note of yummo restaurants and somehow without a map find my way back, maybe a not so bad sense of direction after all, at least when it comes to food!! The place I noticed in my mad dash, MEATBALLS! Kid you not, what it’s called! Knew this place couldn’t disappoint, how do you go wrong with meatballs?? Well, if I’m cooking maybe but just forking out dough this time. By golly, it was heaven on a plate!! Keto diet firmly out of the window, it was pork and fennel meatballs in a home style Italian sauce with fresh parpadelle pasta, basil and Parmesan…one of the yummiest things I’ve ever eaten in my life!!!

And then, it was wizarding time!! I don’t hide the fact I’m a massive Harry Potter fan, never too old for magic! My ticket was in the Grand Dress Circle so the bit right at the top but could still see everything. Obvs no pictures allowed during the show and they are pretty adamant you #keepthese rets from the story so won’t spill!! Set looks like this and let’s just say, there’s moments where I did truly wonder if I was seeing magic!!

Part 1, although a little slow at the start while setting the scene for 19 years later, it ended in a cliffhanger which made part 2 all the more exciting! First part was a bit over 2 hours, understand the two part thing now!!

So, with just under 3 hours to burn before part 2, being kinda tired from all my “legging it” and still kinda full from meatballs I had no desire to do anything overly useful, with a Starbucks right in front of me, seemed like a good option. Comfy seat, good coffee and power for my phone. Got two out of three! And some down time to blog. Somehow, probs due to the lunchtime carb overload I was kinda hungry again so was on the hunt for cheap n healthy, and close!! Once again, I somehow recalled the Grill’d I’d run past earlier and strolled on over. Have to say, while it turns out a low carb BBQ brisket burger (with bacon) and zucchini fries ain’t cheap or overly healthy, damn it was good!

And yet, still I had another hour to waste and more power needed, and not the football kind, they lost. So back to Starbucks to try my luck on an Almond latte, had been trying to get on the almond milk bandwagon unsuccessfully so far… and with a coupe of Splenda sugars in there, ain’t half bad!! Took the same seat, plugged in and hey look, there’s my water bottle I left last time! Good to see the Starbucks staff are diligent with their cleaning up! Don’t mind me, I’ll just blog away…

So in what was a pretty awesome day so far, my only conundrum was that with an iPhone 7, you can’t charge your phone AND listen to music at the same time as they use the same jack. Serious design flaw. But when that’s the worst thing to happen in your day, pretty bloody good!!

And back to the theatre for part 2… May have had a little stitch from climbing all the stairs with a belly full of everything, but wow, just wow. The effects were amazing, the story bloody brilliant and the whole thing, well, magical. Loved delving back into the world of Harry Potter. Surely they can make this story into a movie?? So many parts I loved but I had to solemnly swear to #keepthesecrets… just get yourself to the theatre and see if for yourself!!!

Wrapping up at the theatre at 10.30pm, I did have an invite to a friends gig in Clifton Hill but feeling exhausted from all that magic, I trammed it back to my Air bob and raided the hosts stash of Ferrero Rocher, she did say to help myself to anything?? But one Ferrero in and I’ve regretted not heading out. Could have done with some tunes and a couple of gins to round off an epic, massively enjoyable day!!!

June 17, 2019 0

Nerd Alert

I’m a massive Harry Potter fan, don’t care that I’m probs too old but really, are you ever too old for magic?? Having last minute booked the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour at 4.30pm, the rest of the day was about finding fun in London while I waited…

First stop for brekky, Shoreditch. Kyles housesat here and loved it and I’d read a bit about its hipster style, more of an alternative type hood in London. After a 2 second google of the best brunch, couldn’t go past a place called The Breakfast Club and getting lost on the way was an awesome chance to check out the neighbourhood, definitely on the short list of places to live if I were to find myself moving here. Just really chill and quirky, and not full of pretentious hipsters like I half expected. And by gosh, I am a hipster because I’ve missed my smashed avo on rye. The food, the music, the staff, the He-Man wallpaper in the toilet…awesome funky place that hopefully I’ll get back to before leaving!

Next stop, THE British Museum, not just any old museum, THE British one…

I beelined for the Egyptian display, always my favourite at a museum along with dinosaurs but I guess they didn’t have any dinosaurs in Britain… so impressed, amazing sculptures, tombs and mommies (not mummies right?!?), and lots of stories with each display, would have loved to live back in those days, as a well off man or a goddess, us normal joe blows didn’t get much of a chance back then. How they were able to erect the pyramids, create these humongous sculptures, some say aliens but in reality, just bad OH&S that meant people were slaves and it didn’t matter if they lost their life for yet another larger than life sculpture of Ramses II.

After letting my imagination wonder in the times of Osiris and Ra, I found the one things that drew me to the museum, The Rosetta Stone. Had heard so much about it, like a code breaker for Egyptian hieroglyphs and being a nerd that wanted to be a computer hacker and instead settled for being a boring Java programmer – this was absolute bewilderment. If it wasn’t for the masses of crowds around it, I would have stared at it all day. Just looks like a rock in the pic but up close it is absolutely magnificent…

Nearly all museumed out, I did a quick browse through the Japanese history gallery, love the history of the samurai warrior but TBH, wasn’t overly impressed with what was in there, obvious the Egyptian section was the show stopper. With really only seeing about a quarter of the museum but unable to read or look at another thing not from this century, it was time for a strong coffee, double shot. Strolling through the streets of London, I adore the lines of houses and stumbling on this place, the University of London, hmmm, wonder where the psychology department is…

Finally ended up at Carnaby Street, a cobbled street of cool cafes, funky stores and finally, good coffee…

Before I knew it, the time had come to indulge in all things Potter and not be embarrassed even slightly that I’m a thirty something adult in an Gryffindor sweater excited as a school girl… arriving in Watford and getting on the dedicated Harry Potter bus, I loved seeing other adult nerds dressed just like me, probs without the goofy smile though.

The Warner Bros studios are beyond amazing. Every Harry Potter fan MUST visit. After entering the Great Hall decorated for Christmas then through to the different sets, costumes, props and a dream come true, flying on a broomstick!! Video to come… oh, Harry and I have the same size hands, completely useless fact…

I can’t put into words how awesome this place is and how magical it feels just being here, bloody brilliant, as Ron would say… and of course butter beer and butter beer ice cream for dinner made me even sadder that my letter from Hogwarts never arrived…

They recommend you allow three and a half hours to tour the studios, after four and a half, I called it a day. Really could have stayed there for hours more, so much to see and read about, and the self guided audio tour means you can be part of the magical world of witches and wizards for however long you like. Forever please???