Beep Beep

Have just spent the last week in India visiting my friend Sam. Hats off to her for committing to be there for a year. I found one week exhausting enough! To say I have been in India is really overstating it. I have been to two cities in one region of the southern half of India. What that taught me was basically how huge and diverse India is and I think you would possibly need many years to say that you've 'seen India'. I can understand why people go back again and again. It can be a hard place though. In the city of Chennai the traffic is horrendous. I just kept thinking 'my Dad would HATE this!' The one road rule is that there are no road rules. One Indian woman said to me that Indian drivers are the most skillful in the world and that if you can drive in India you can drive anywhere. Frankly I'd be scared to attempt driving in India. But traffic is the order of the day in Chennai and EVERYONE uses their horns ALL THE TIME!! Mind you for al the craziness there seemed to be some order to it and people actually got where they needed to go. In fact they did so in some amazing ways. People seem to be quite skilled, for example, at riding a motorbike whilst talking on their mobile phone or even text messaging. Sam and my favorite moment was when it rained and we witnessed many people riding bikes and motorbikes while at the same time holding an umbrella to keep the rain off. The women seem to be able to elegantly ride side saddle on the backs of motorbikes in Saris. It is not uncommon to see three or four people on a single bike. I watched with horror as a father rode his motorbike with his THREE children balancing effortlessly in various positions (none of them wearing helmets!) They even posed for a photo for us. Our main means of transport during the week was the 'Auto-rickshaw'. This is a sort of 3 wheeled motorbike with a little covered bench seat at the back - just big enough for two passengers, but often chauffering more than that. By the end of the week I had decided that the way to deal with traffic in India is simply to see it as part of the fun, sit back and enjoy the ride!

Avenue Q

I went to see a show on the West End the other night. Was it Chicago? Phantom of the Opera? The Lion King? No none of the classics. Nothing predictable. In fact I went and saw a puppet show. But not just any puppet show. This was Avenue Q; an incredibly funny, extremely adult spoof of Sesame Street. Honestly I saw puppets doing things I never imagined possible! But it was hilarious and I have to admit remarkably touching in places. I highly recommend it as a show to see if you are in London (or New York for that matter!)

The Toilet Museum

Spent a couple of days in Manchester visiting my friend Cath. Based on her recommendation and that of her brother Cameron, I paid a visit to the Toilet Museum (AKA the Museum of Science and Industry). It is located underneath an old 1830's warehouse and comes complete with a reconstructed 1800's sewer (model rats and fake excrement included!) which pumps out appropriate odours to give you the authentic experience of the day! As if that wasn't enough, there are also working models of toilets through the ages. My personal favoite was the one pictured - the first water flushing toilet, invented in Halifax. There are other good things to see at this museum but this is definitely the best bit!

The culinary delights of Ireland

Who would have thought that the culinary leg of my journey would take place in country Ireland. I have eaten the most amazing food during the course of the last week. I was treated to an absolutely gorgeous meal at the Nuremore Hotel near Carrickmacross in which the wine complimented the food more perfectly than I had ever experienced. The delight of that meal however was made more enjoyable by the fact that I was with my friends Sarah and Sarajit who have themselves opened a fantasic restaurant in nearby Ardee. Sarajit is arguably one of the best chefs in Ireland and with Sarah's expertise in food, wine, cheese and her understanding of what makes restaurants work, they have definitely got a success story on their hands. The menu is varied to suit all tastes but I find the curries to be the real highlight, aswell as the Indian bread which is out of this world. The Bailey's cheesecake is also to die for. Anyone living in or planning to visit Ireland would be well advised to make a visit to this restaurant a must. The name is The Fushia House and it is located 5 minutes from the M1 just near the Ardee by pass road. If you have to come out of your way to get here, do it! You will not regret it.

Laughing in French

Anyone who has learnt another language knows that one of the true joys is when you finally get the jokes, or learn how to tell a joke in that language. There is so much comedy to be had also in the mispeaking and and the minunderstandings. The French woman who doesn't understand that the French word 'Vierge' can be interpreted in English as both 'Virgo' the astrological sign and 'Virgin' and accidentally uses the wrong one to describe herself. The Australian woman who mispornounces the word for queue and accidently says that she was making an 'arse' in the bank. If you are able to laugh at yourself then there is much fun to be had with language.
One of the things that made me sad when Jerome died was that we had so many jokes together. Jokes that only he and I laughed at most of the time. Without him those jokes died too.
But last week, staying with my friends Magalie and Arno in Normandy, I rediscovered my ability to laugh in French. We laughed alot but there was one night in particular when we were laughing so hard about the untranslatability of certain idiomatic expressions, it actually started to hurt! Side splitting laugher is such a gift and I feel as though a little piece of what i lost when Jerome died has been given back to me.