"There are only two kinds of people I don't like, those who don't respect other people's culture, and the Dutch!" - Austin Powers

Hello Dear Readers,

All two of you.......
Thinking of starting the blog up again, we'll see.  Last week I took a last minute business trip to the Netherlands for a conference with a scientific publishing company. 

My personal favorite, the daffodil!

I was in Leiden, which is close to Keukenhof, a spring tulip garden.  We had  short break from the meeting to go out and see the flowers, which were wonderful.  The perfect time of the year to go as there were still a variety of flowers out for us to see.








The garden had several different areas with lots of plantings, from whimsical bunnies to a river of hyacinths.








I haven't been to Holland since I was a little girl, but it doesn't seem that much has changed, there are still windmills everywhere, in special gardens and also on random plots of land next to the street.

It was a quick in and out trip, but on the day I left I walked into the main town of Leiden to have a look around.  There were canals,  windmills and cyclists everywhere.  I would love the next mayor of London to have a look at how they do cycling there (cyclists seem to have the right of way over everyone).

I took the Eurostar back which was such a pleasant experience, I love train travel over here, so civilized.
 The only drawback was that I got the 'conference cold' which hasn't been bad enough to keep me out of work, but just made me very groggy and tired.  I think I'm just about over it now, just in time to go to Cyprus on Sunday.

Planning to send another post from Cyprus so watch this space.


Cheers!

All Change!

Hello Dear Readers,

Well I made it through my Radioactive Iodine treatment with flying colors, and it looks like I will not need another treatment, hooray!  The adult ward was being renovated so I stayed in the teenage ward.  The means an Xbox in the room as well as an amazing wallpaper in the shower (the size of a small room) that had a palm tree and beach scene.  I took the radioactive pill on Friday and was released on Monday. See photo left for my "medicine bottle" with the giant radioactive symbol on it.  It puts Mr. Yuck to shame, remember the Mr. Yuck stickers for poison?

Anyway, it was the longest weekend ever, with nothing but an ipad and some books to keep; me company. Chris, Pat and Sarah came to visit me, and Chris snapped this photo of me from behind the safety of the lead door.

I'm knitting on a pretty hot cardigan.  Hot in the sense that it set off the geiger counter when I left, but it was ok for me to take home. 

Right now we have some big changes in the flat, Patrick has moved out and my friend Lucy is staying with us (along with her two cats) until the sale on her flat goes through.  The English house buying process is unbelievalbly complicated, so you have to track down about 20 different people, possibly including the Queen, in order to get it done.

Here is Patrick's room minus all his stuff, it's a little sparse at the moment:

And of course it should leave plenty of room for our new housemate who is coming on Wednesday. We have an Italian student staying with us for 6 months. Hey ho, the more the merrier.  Her name is Letizia and perhaps she will feature on the blog next weekend.

Neck still continues to heal, but still an ugly red line on it.  I will keep you updated with photos.

Cheerio!