You have all the L-U-V - Madonna

Wooo!  Guess what Her Awesomeness was upto last weekend?  Checking out the MDNA 2012 Tour at Edinburgh!  That's what!

Man, what a show.  Will give it 8/10.  

But first,  the negative bits:

1) Madonna loses 2 points for the conclusion!  That's coz she didn't have one!  Somewhere during the final song she musta said 'bye bye Scotland'.  But that's it.  All of us just sat there for about 10 minutes, thinking she's coming back but only the lights did!  We didn't know until then that it was the end.  It was like she just decided impromptu not to go back to the stage. Bad, bad girl!

You better not defend her by saying that she ran away because of the rain!  It's Scotland for heaven's sake. What do you expect?  Come prepared!  It's not like we've been having a fantastic summer weather-wise anyway.   And it wasn't like it was pouring down.  Plus, she had some poor devils mopping the stage at every possible interval!  Meh..

2) The show lasted for less than 2 hours. WTF!!!

3) Audience interaction was minimal.  But then again, this being my first concert, I don't know if stars did talk much to the audience.

4)  She mostly stuck to the songs from the MDNA album!  A lil medley of the previous top hits would have been nice!

5)  Why was there no opening act?  A DJ is not enough!  Especially if he isn't playing my favourite Madonna hits!  Bah!

6)  Did she not bring her son on stage in one of the other cities that she toured? Well.. Edinburgh wasn't certainly that city! 

The positive bits?  Plenty.

1) Loved the grandeur of the show.  The graphics, the dancers, the stage.. everything was just fantastic! 

2) Lurrrrved the opening.   She had some men dressed up in occultish clothes and  chanting Kabbalah maybe, with a large, heavy-looking golden lantern swinging back and forth over the audience's heads!  Totally had goose bumps!

3) Take a look at the 4th picture down here!  Another super fab moment for me!  Men dangling in mid-air drumming away to glory.  Literally.  While they are there hanging, drumming away, the props below them was moving like the bars of an equalisation display.   A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  That was her probably singing 'Give me all your Luving'.  Or was it 'Hung up on you'?  Can't be sure.  I was too into the visual treat.  I guess I want it to be Hung up on you as its my favourite song!

4) Not much shock-value on this show.  She did briefly wiggle her black-stocking clad bums and unzipped her pants for less than a min.. but that was it.

5)  I was a bit skeptical during the first song tho, wondering if it was really her.  There was so much energy in her first act.  It involved a lot of fending off and shooting of attackers kinda acrobatic acts that she did really well.  It defied her age. Plus there were no close-ups on the screen of her face.  But if it was her.. well done.

6) She looked the best in the cheerleader costume.  Typical Madonna look!

7) The organisers probably learnt from their mistakes in London.  All was well in Edinburgh!  Except the stupid (non) closing!

Yay!  Totally worth every penny of my hard-earned money!  (Tho I wish I got called into the Golden Triangle.  But then again, I've never been the one for getting 'lucky' ever!  Meh!!). 

Concert Virgin. And what a name to pop the cherry with!

You know how everyone saves up for a holiday?  Well.. I have been doing that for a concert!  Yep!  Going to one that am christening 'La Concert Extravaganza'!   Perhaps the costliest concert that I will go to in a while! But meh.. you live only once right? I feel the tingle of excitement beginning!  Am planning my wardrobe (It's going to be a weekend trip to another city).  And am looking forward to all the things that the Girl Gang would be upto! Giggle. Giggle

I live here!

My friendship with the elderly neighbour started when I first came to view the new flat. (Does sixties count as 'elderly'? Maybe not?). She was tending her garden.  And in response to her smile, I screamed ‘If all goes well, I’ll be your new neighbour for a few months’.  Don’t ask me why I did that, but I did.  But then again, instead of recoiling, she screamed back ‘I’ll be looking forward to that’ as I walked away. There's a good sign. 


While I completely forgot about her when I moved in 2 weeks later, she remembered me.  Enough to come and stand in front of my kitchen window every morning for the first 10 days and wave at me.  In response, I would go out and small talk her!

Now, this neighbour has a strange habit of walking her cat on a lease.  Or should I say it the English way - a lead? You can tell that the cat wasn’t exactly thrilled by the concept of a human being walking with it everywhere. Add to that the pesky incidence of being pulled back by its neck when it wandered off a little too far from the human.  A cat needs his privacy, you know. And freedom.    Once in a while it tries to shake her off by hiding under a car and refusing to come out in the hope that it will see my neighbour’s feet move away.  But that never happened.  You see, G had plenty of time on her hand and possessed in plenty that virtue called patience which comes only with age. I'm thinking, the cat might eventually give up and get used to being followed, but for now, he’s doing his best not to.

G btw, was born and brought up in this house.  So, during the first week of my stay, she told me what the neighbourhood was like in the past.  She said how there was a hound race track where Sainsburys, Boots and Currys was and how a small ‘shopping complex’ was converted into the present day Asda.  As compensation the residents were offered a round-the-year ski slope (for beginners) and a football field. Meh.  But the best piece of info that she gave me was how there was a railway track that ran here once upon a time and how that it has now been converted into beautiful walk.

I took her advice and went for walk down that old railway line.  Some pics below:

That arrow is pointing towards my Uni

I started from the Ruthrieston Station

That's the Pitfodels Station.  It's for sale!

That's the Bielside Station.  It's now a store house for some company.  The highlight of this station is a fake clock in the place of where the original was!

Some views

Oh well.. few advantages of staying in a neighbourhood you can't quite afford!

The Great Yorkshire Show

Ah.. what can I say?  The first big trip for July was the one to The Great Yorkshire Show.  Being a procrastinator who puts off reading about events until the very last moment, I didn't read much about it.

What you need to know about the show is that it is BIG in England and according to wikipedia, was established for the following purpose:  'Exhibition of Farming Stock, Implements etc, and for the General Promotion of Agriculture'. I was only going to attend it for a day.  Be warned peeps, entry is not cheap (You would think so, given that it is a farmers' event..but..meh..).  Fun day anyway. 

It was an interesting event inspite of the terrrible weather.  Weather was so bad that the 3-day show ran only for a day.  The other 2 days were cancelled.  Sad thing too, coz it was only the 3rd time that such a cancellation happened in its 154-year old history! Sad.  But seriously, I totally understand.  I actually saw a woman's Saab stuck in the squelchy mud, holding up the 4x4s that were following behind her!  Poor woman! Imagine what the farmers and breeders who brought animals to the show must have gone through!

Anyway.. the show was great!  Lots of stalls, food, animals, vehicles, people(!) and high spirits (pun)!

Member's Guest 2012 - That's me!

Hmmm. I wonder if the price is reasonable!

 They took the 'At the gate' ticket purchase a little too seriously!

Holy Cow!  Look at their sizes!

The monster equipments!

 But the chauvinists decided to place the wee equipments next to the women's (dainty) institute! 

Aww!  The Hairy Coo family!

The Pamela Andersons of the Cow Family!

The prize...

.....that these guys were aiming for!

I squealed! Apparently, there was a collective sigh as people watched this plane go by!

The Sheep!  The one in the centre is quite a poser, tellin' ya!

There was a falconry show too!  You should have seen the handler's hands!  Absolutely bruise-ful!

The Rabbits!  Yes!  The 2nd bundle of fur too! Not a cat! Not a pedigree dog! But a Lionhead Rabbit! Aw!

Guess who's the designated driver here?  Btw, I totally missed the hound show at this place!  I ran for shelter from the rain!

Whaddya think?  Check out an entire family at the cowshed!

Food!

Hrrrmphhh! The price on that ancient monster of a stove! Or as they say in the UK, a cooker!

The Show - Do you see the guys in their bowler hats?

Toldja! It was an experience!

Lake District - Britain's Kodaikanal

After turning down several invitations to the supposedly pretty Lake District, I finally got a chance to drive through it!  Don't know why, but somehow living in Scotland, has made me a little skeptical about the beauty of England's countryside.  I mean.. can it get better than Scotland? But wait, before you give me dirty glances, I didn't accept those invitations because.. I couldn't!  Either I couldn't take time off work or was travelling somewhere else.  Or people simply changed their minds!  But I finally went.

Not that my trip to Lake District counts as a trip.  It was more of a whirlwind drive-through.  But I've liked what I've seen so far and would be keen to go hill-climbing or camping sometime.  Keep you posted if I get to do it.  And... my opinion about England's countryside!   But.. here's the best part. The city centre there - Ambleside - reminded me of Kodaikanal.  The buildings, the setting, the shops etc. But ofcourse the people were all Caucasian, spoke no Tamil and wore western clothes! Meh...

The fake jumpers! Check it out, none of their feet is off the ground! 

The mandatory PUB

 Pun,pun!  Word play! Amble and Rush! Hee hee!

 Weird camera angle.  Or  is something wrong with that building?

Woohoo to Glamping!

Thanks to A.S (he's becoming quite a star on my blog, isn't he?), I got a shot at Glamping the other day.  For the uninitiated here's a little gyan about Glamping:

Say, you want to go camping in the wilderness but can't be bothered putting up with bugs, bad weather, sleeping bags and minimalistic food.  And say you want space inside your tents. And  more than just emergency lamps or noisy Petromax lamps for lighting.  Or more than just campfire to keep you warm.   Well.. you can want all you want and get it too!  Yes!  You can get all the comforts of staying at a hotel.. no wait.. make that.. all the comforts of living at home while enjoying the remoteness of beautiful wilderness! Welcome to the world of Glamorous Camping, peeps! The world where you pimp up your tent not just with electricity and the comforts of electricity like  lighting and heating but also get a fully-equipped kitchen, separate sleeping quarters.. and a sitting room! Don't say anything about roughing it out in the wild and make me die laughing!

Btw, mine was a self-help family Glamping trip.  But apparently, you can also rent a fully set-up Glam tent.  Heard that its quite the commercial concept in England. Am I surprised? No.  With the weather pissing down (another one of those rude British expressions! GAh!) most of the time, no wonder people improvised the camping concept! I mean, you don't want to stay indoors in a 7 by 4 foot tent space all the time while its pouring cats and dogs outside, do you?  If you can't go hiking or walking in the hills, the least you want to so is sit inside and talk about the things you used to do with your friends! Unless, ofcourse you brought a TV along, like our neighbours did, be anti-social and watch it while annoying the next-door campers because its too loud!

Hmmm.. my only regret is that I didn't help set up the tent!  Would have loved that!

Here are some pics!

The Campsite

The Glam Tent

The fully equipped kitchen

 Lady of the Tent. Yay to home cooking!

The Greenhouse

Had one of the most quirkiest restaurant experiences ever the other day and thought might as well share it!  This restaurant peeps is one of a kind.  Not because it claims to be a veggie restaurant and has beef on the menu (I was assured that it was fake beef!) but more because of the owner who is quite a personality!

I have to start at the beginning. First of all, the building; Now, this is not the type of restaurant that you simply walk into because it caught your fancy.  Or because you are feeling adventurous.  Or simply because you are tired of scouting-strolling and willing to eat at any restaurant with an empty table.  Unless someone is taking you there (like in my case) or you googled Veg restaurants in Manchester and came up with this address, you are so not going to walk into this place.  You know why? Coz this is what it looks like from the outside –

As you can tell, it is a dilapidated, derelict, abandoned sorta building.  I almost asked A.S. who suggested the place if he was sure the restaurant was still in business.  But decided against asking as A has great taste when it comes to restaurants. I gingerly followed him inside.

Once you enter, picture this:  An elderly, lower middle class family’s sitting room, decorated for Christmas (stars, serial lights, fake vine tree instead of a Christmas tree) and expecting guests.  The walls have been left bare and decorations interesting.  Quite quirkily creative.

Now I have to tell you that while there aren’t too many customers coming here, (we were the only 3 in the restaurant for the full 3 hours that we were there), Robin (the owner) makes the most out of who do walk in.  For instance, both C and I ordered water for drinks.  While I was talked into buying a beer, C was given a glass of apple juice (nope, not on the house) for not succumbing to sales tactics!  Robin’s sales acumen should be further appreiciated in the fact that he was well aware that quirky is what will sell at his restaurant.  He got A.S. to buy hemp beer.  And its name?  Cannabia!  Kid you not!  And if you must know how I upgraded from water to beer, it was like this:  Robin wanted me to check out the most ‘popular’ of all his beers. ‘Just have a look’, he said. 

Needless to say, I fell for the marketing strategy and bought it.  And.. took the bottle with me when I left the restaurant.  Why won't I?  Btw, the name of the beer is Lucky! 

Now, Robin runs his restaurant like the way your old retired uncle would organise a family dinner.  He doesn’t come to your table to take your order.  He comes over to the table, makes small-talk, casual-chats about interesting drinks and eggs you into ‘trying’ some.  He will laugh about his menu that has a list of ‘fake’ meat and ‘fake’ fish and about the importance of healthy eating while ‘suggesting’ what item is worth giving a shot.  He will also mildly chide you, if you spend time on your mobile phone and being anti-social during the most social of all customs - eating together.  

Btw, check out the menu.  He he.  Apparently it contains information as well :P

Anyway, the food surprisingly was not too shabby!  The starters were the prize winners.  The portions were adequate, the presentation brilliant and the taste not bad at all!  Now, remember we are talking British food here!

Between the three us we had Deep fried Avacados, Hazelnut Pate and for starters:

But.. I must admit that it appeared that Robin, wasn’t as keen on the main courses and he was on the starters.  My rice stuffed vine leaves tasted quite ok, but the vegetables that were served with it was anything to be desired.  One large piece of boiled cauliflower, one piece of broccoli and 2 whole potatoes and that’s it!  What the heck?!


Oh and here’s the best bit.  Robin is just no good at desserts.  It was only after I ordered the cheesecake and dug my folk into it that he told me that the cheese used in it was tofu!  Yuck!  Why spoil cheesecake with Tofu in it? Needless to say, I didn’t finish it.  The crumble that AS ordered was not brilliant either though he did manage to finish it.  CS was the wise one who didn’t order any desserts.  She was still finishing the big salad that came with our main course.  But hey, if you are feeling experimental, totally go for the Tofu cheesecake. 

Overall, I must admit that I enjoyed myself.  I mean, it made an impression enough for me to write about it.  Well done A.S. for suggesting the place! And meh… let’s give it to Robin for trying an exclusive veg and vegan concept without calling it an Indian restaurant!


That's Robin there on the menu board.  Quite a close likeness to him. Tee-hee!

Btw, does anyone find it weird that all British pubs that offer ‘authentic’ British food have curry and naan bread on their menu?