FINALLY... PUTTING A CORK IN IT....

Now that I am finally seeing straight again, here comes the update on our lives etc etc etc. Both of us came back from Thailand only to be stuck down simulataneously by some horrid respiratory thing that caused near-mayhem. I reckon it had was what had already started creeping up on me before Bangkok, but apparently it was misdiagnosed, which means the first four days of antibiotics was pointless. I came back sicker than I was. Needless to say, I think Pete might have proceeded to catch it from me. It was pretty tragic. Both bedside tables filled with mounds of antibiotics, cold, cough, throat and what not else medication, with whoever was feeling less awful than the other doing the refills for water, making dry toast etc. Not the most fun. That said, at least we were able to climb the walls together. Ah well. At least we're both beginning to feel a little better, and even managed to get the final instalment of pictures from Ireland (sigh, don't laugh la. It's been a mad couple of months) off the ground. These are the final snapshots of Cork and some... when I caught my first fish (almost!). I was kinda distracted when the fella took my fly and, sigh, he got away (really!). Either way, fell head over heels for fly fishing and Pete n Dave promise no less than two straight days of it in the summer. I cannot wait. I think it took both boys completely by surprise how I took to it like a, erm, fish. haha. I guess they figured it was a boy thing... When I outfish them in the summer, then they'll know! Muahahaha! Now, all I have to do is get used to being in the boat and throwing out my line without hooking someone's head/coat/line. Pete says I am actually half decent despite (and he didn't even add "for a girl"!!). It was amazing being back in Cork. Have to say, I am actually starting to think of it as a second home. Was kinda strange how I remembered where everything was and could just about navigate around myself. I guess some places just grow on you real quickly. Wish we had more time there though. Oh, realise in hindsight that some bits of the Birmingham video might seemed to not have had a head or a tail. Sorry, my state of mind was on the way out of the door when we threw together that post. The initial shots are of Warwick Castle, which is down the road from where Gwen lives, and the life-like statues/bears etc are part of the Madam Tussaud exhibit. It was pretty amazing. My heart almost forced itself up my throat once though, when what I thought was a statue suddenly turned around and asked if I was having a nice day! Could have died. Turned out to be one of the favourite tricks of one of the curators. We also checked out the Rose and Crown near Warwick, where Gwen works part time and does the flowers for. Also managed to pack in a trip to the Cotswalds, and a trip down to the Royal Shaespeare Company and the church where the good man (who apparently was, incidentally, bi/gay) is buried. It was pretty amazing being there, not least so I could tell the man to his face, erm, grave, how annoying some parts of As You Like It are. It was great, despite, like Cork, having spread ourselves a little too thin this time. Felt like we were perpetually on planes and packing. Next time we promise ourselves more time to breathe and settle down. Plus, it will be the summer, which will be great. Seeing the Emerald Isle in a different light and all that. Plus, fishing! I swear, the time will not fly (pun fully intended) quickly enough.... Love, Art

FLIGHTLESS IN FRICKING ASIA...

Sorry for the radio silence. Just back from a work/supposed-to-have-been-short-holiday thing in Bangkok. Bushwhacked. Explains why you have not yet seen the promised photos from Ireland/England which now seems forever and a half ago. Sorry. In other news, Bangkok did not quite go as, well, planned. Got there, worked my butt off, and got the stories done. Never saw the outside of the UN building or the hotel room, but ate nothing but Thai food and managed to get a decent number of stories off before Sunday morning when the man was meant to get in so we could have a nice two-plus days together. Meant. To. Get. In. In what felt like a horrible mish mash of Tom Hanks films, here's what actually happened. He got off work at 2am Saturday, and since he had to leave for the airport about 3 or so hours later, decided he would simply stay up.... So there was poor ole Pete, sleep deprived after a harrowing week. Anyway. So the boy gets to the airport, checks in, goes through the usual waiting-for-a-flight motions. Gets to the gate. Gets on the plane. The plane - Thai Airways, no less - leaves the terminal, taxis to the runaway, starts down it with an (apparently) awful, air-leaking kinda sound before it ends up turning around, with the pilot announcing that the plane ain't going nowhere thanks to "hydraulic failure".... @*(&*(&(^$)(*#%(*((*)(#$ So the boy and other passengers that have connections from Doha to Munich to catch get spat back out, when they are told (I am not kidding) that Biz class will get put on SQ, and the rest have to "fend for yourselves, or wait for our next available flight". which turns out to the half a blinking day later. According to Pete, it was nothing short of mayhem, with the airline not even offering a dang meal coupon to them. Either way, he waited around, and got updates that ranged from "it will take an hour and a half to fix the plane", to "we are bringing in a plane and it will take four hours". He tries to see if there are other flights, but no, nothing. Flights are full. Argh. The boy was, of course, as grumpy as someone who is stuck at an airport because their plane has "hydraulic blinking failure", and I decide to try and see if he can just go home and crash, and I'll come back instead, since I am sick anyway - but no, no dang flights are available for that day from Bangkok. He's stuck in the terminal and can't get to BKK. I'm stuck in a hotel can't get to Singers. The plane, as it were, can't get nowhere. At least not while its dripping all kinds of shite onto the tarmac. Double argh. So what was meant to have been a three day break for us, turned out to be a one-long-nap and one-busy day. Sigh. Ah well. The trip had its (few, but pleasant) moments. Deciding on the Hyatt Club proved to be a great idea - great location, brilliant service. Pete finally managed to get in close to 5pm (which put an end to the Chatuchak idea). We had a short nap and then hit the lounge for sunset cocktails before hitting Suan Lom Night Market to shop a bit. Ended up getting Thai street food in an Italian restaurant after (don't ask) and then both conceded defeat and went back to the hotel to chill and see who'd crash first. Had a nice lie in the next day and chilled at the hotel before hitting some of the swanky shops in the vicinity. Then we had a lovely Thai-Chinese meal in this really cute streetside restaurant that was amazing, thanks to Satwant (thanks babe!) and did a wee bit of shopping in Silom, before parking off for a few drinks at a bar with a live (lip synching) band. It was, coincidentally, right across from a strip bar called, aptly, Supergirls. Decided against going in for the show, but did get shown the extensive "menu". Will resist going into details on what is, decidedly, meant to be a NC16 blog, but they involved ping pong balls, flame throwng and the creative opening of beer bottles. You know the sort. Eventually ended up finally at a pool hall when I got my ass royally whipped on the table by lasses in five inch heels and two inch skirts. After three games I think my ego was sufficiently bruised to concede defeat and head back. It wasn't quite the usual Bangkok getaway. No endless shopping. No cheap massages. Still, it was nice. I think even if all you do is chill, sleep and wake, there is definitely something therapeutic about doing it somewhere other than home, when the cell phone isn't ringing/beeping off the hook and you're not going to bump into any one you know. Looking forward to our next PROPER break though. Art Ps: Yes, the rest 0f the vacation photos from Ireland will come now. So let's kick it off with Birmingham. Enjoy. Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

RUB A DUB DUBAI...

kay, so I have been bad. Work has been insane... Life even more so. But we're starting to get hatemail over pictures promised and not delivered, so here goes, instalment number 2. Non-chronological, but seriously, are you really fussed? This one's the furthest from the first it can get - Pete's (21st) birthday pitstop in Dubai on the way back home. Shall not even venture to try and describe the state we were getting in, but needless to say, we didn't let it get in the way of hitting the dunes hours later (literally). Thanks to the Reuben and the gang at FTC, we were kitted and sorted before we could say "cure". Kinda appropriate then that we were stuck in a GMT time warp between St Patrick's Day and Pete's Bday because we had every excuse possible to be somewhat trippy yet gagworthy when we were coming down a slope at a 180 degree angle in a four wheel drive (I have new respect; note to Dermot and Mary from Pete: 4WheelDrives can do more than cart home truckloads of groceries... Really!?!). The. Dunes. ROCKED. Okay, so I will admit I got a bit green. Pete did too! But of course, the biggest challenge to our egos was Rajveer, the 6-year-old that belongs to Reshma and Ranjit (our ex-neighbour and single malt-kaki), who came along, and was COMPLETELY unfazed by 12-storey high dunes that had me begging for the mercy of anything or anyone who would listen... Sighs, to be young and fearless. I was too roughed up when we got back to the desert camp to brave the quad bikes, but I had a great time with the camels while I waited for the boys. Wait. That sounded very wrong. Ho Hum. But really, it was awesome (and would have been even more so had we not been completely hungover and jetlagged). Pete's already booked himself for a trip back... next week preferably, he says... Caught up with long lost cousin Mehirr and his fiance Amna, as we already mentioned.... It was really really great fun, especially since the last time I saw him was when I was 12 (which was, like, oh, maybe, erm, less than a decade and some ago....).... Very very strange but also oh so cool. Hit the city two nights in a row, had great food, good drinks, bought brilliant spices. And before the nights were through managed to find ourselves on national radio (one of half a million things he does).... They played a couple of songs from Kal Ho Na Ho (to anyone who was at our wedding, it was, like, the recurring theme - the songs the kids all danced to) dedicated to Ravi (Pete's, erm, Indian name) and Arti Williams... It was utterly hilarious. Okay, so enough of the rambling. Here's a peek into the mayhem.... Much more to come in the next 48 hours... Really! No, really! Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com Hugs, Art

DO IT LIKE THE IRISH!

As promised, the first instalment of shots, and what better way to kick it off than with the wedding, which I swear was the craziest wedding I have ever been to... A big congratulations to Eoin and Hilary: You guys looks absolutely amazing and we were so thrilled to have been able to share in such a special day (though our livers are still recovering). To everyone: The pictures here are in low resolution so we could put it up quickly, but if you see some you like, holler and we'll shoot off the high res ones to you... But for now, enjoy...

BACK!

Hello hello! TW has finally returned from its annual Eire adventure, with thousands (literally) of photos in tow. Not gonna have a chance to put them up till we do some major editing though (think about it - at least 5 gigs spread over three cameras, can die), some expect bits and bobs to appear over the next couple of days (read: weeks) together with the usual rambling commentary. Despite our concerns that the weather would be shite, turns out we brought some of the tropical sunshine with us... We actually got blue skies and sunshine almost every day, and Pete even got a sun tan! Imagine, we go to Europe for the winter/early spring expecting everything from hail to snow and prepared for a bitterly wet vacation, and Mr Williams comes back brown. Freaky. Either way, here's the short version. Caught up with Gwendy and gang in Birmingham, hit Warwick Castle and the Cotswolds, and even saw Shakespeare's grave (kinda creepy that). Then it was off to Galway where Eoin finally made an honest woman out of Hilary in what might have been the maddest wedding I have ever been to (helped, no less, by the solitary insane Asian gal in attendance). Pete caught up with his NCAD crew and suffice it to say that it was nuts... Staggered down to Cork after to hang with Gladys, Dave and the rest of the troupe. Went out to a gorgeous place called Ballyhass Lakes, where I learnt to FLY FISH! It was awesome. Crap luck though - caught a huge trout only to have it take off with my line coz I wasn't concentrating (bleah), so now I have my own "the one that got away" story. Pete and Dave had better luck - caught a few between them for our dinner/breakfast. Photo evidence to come. Topped off the break with a stopover in Dubai for Pete's birthday, where we did a spot of dune bashing (BRILLIANT). He also got to mess around on the dunes with a quad bike, and then we had this amazing BBQ in the middle of the desert (complete with belly dancers). We also managed to track down and catch up with my long-lost cousin Mehirr, and met his fiance Amna, which was great. Loaded up on great Lebanese/Arabian/Asian food and enough spices to cook for a small country. Anyways, more to come, we promise... But for now, mounds of laundry await. Bleah. Later. Art

FOTOS AND FINAL PREPS...

Pete's been trying to get me used to our extended family of Canons, and I've been trying to get a little pratice on the S2s before taking the EOS 300 on a spin and wasting a whole lot of film because I'm so used to clicking away on a digital camera and then deleting away the crappy shots. Kinda intimidated by the prospect of having to thoughtfully compose a shot because every single one (sighs) is gonna be costing me money... But I guess in the good ole day, that was how photography went. Anyways, figured I would post some of my practice shots. Comments, feedback, tips or thoughts are most welcome. These two were taken down by the pool on Sunday, and I'm pretty proud of the one with the butterfly since I only had once chance to capture the moment before the little thing flew away. Taking the EOS 300 out for its virgin adventure in a couple of minutes, and scratching our heads trying to figure out where would be 1) nice to take photos, 2) bustling on Chinese New Year, when the country seems to go into virtual meltdown. Wish me luck... will post a couple more pictures if any of them turn out well. Actually, while I very much welcome the Year of the Pig (since the luck of the Dragon is meant to get much better, sorta kinda - and believe you me I need all the luck I can get, and Pete's luck is meant to be pretty good too), the whole Chinese New Year/Chingay deal has kinda made preparations for our trip kinda tricky, since the country is on "off mode" today through Tuesday, and next weekend Orchard Road is closed for the Chingay Parade, which can only mean mayhem. Anyways, we're still managing to tick some things off the list, including the kids' presents and a whole lot of made-in Singapore curry powder.... Don't ask. Okays, gotta run - running out of daylight hours to take pictures. Here's wishing a Happy And Prosperous Chinese New Year to all who celebrate it! May your lives be filled with fortune in the year of the pig! Gong Xi Fa Chai, Wan Shi Ru Yi!! Art & Pete Ps: A warm welcome to Raps, who finally found us... Good to see ya again mate... Enjoy the blog!