On Outings and New Loves

On Friday, the husband and I headed out into London for a bit of a celebration, as it was our anniversary recently and his birthday next week. He wanted to go see Epica, so we headed off to the O2 Forum in Kentish Town for a night of good metal.

While Epica have filtered into my playlists here and there, I have to admit that I was not overly familiar with their music and could not really call myself a fan. I had also not heard of the two supporting acts before.

When we walked in, Oceans of Slumber were on stage already and well into their set. Unfortunately, it was not a sound that grabbed me. The lead singer had an amazing voice, but, to me, it seemed like the rest of the music did not support her voice – instead, it seemed to be a bit of a competitive situation on stage, as if three different bands were trying to play at the same time. I was surprised to discover they have been going since 2011 and have 3 albums under their belt already.

I will try and listen to their studio albums before passing final judgement some time, but it will take some convincing for them to make it into any of my playlists on a full time basis.

Next up was Myrkur. I’d never heard of them, unfortunately, but within 10 seconds of their first song, I declared my undying love, and immediately followed them on Spotify.

I would offer up my soul or a bowl of lentils for more of this, and look forward to listening to Myrkur a LOT more in future.

Epica put on a fantastic show. They are engaging and entertaining, and really know how to get the crowd involved in the show. Simone Simons has a lovely voice and a fantastic energy, and they are certainly fabulous musicians too, and will also definitely become a more regular feature of my playlists. But, for me, the show was stolen by the synth/piano player, Coen Janssen, who rolled the synth around like a scooter when not playing, and acting out the songs in the most comedic ways. He had me in stiches at time, and it was wonderful. It is great to see a metal band who, while playing fairly serious music, doesn’t take things too seriously.

All in all, a great night out, and the O2 Forum is definitely a great venue – small enough to be intimate while big enough to fit big sound without feeling crowded and claustrophobic.

One of the perks of travelling as much for work as I do is that I get to rake up hotel loyalty points, which allows us to stay in places that may not always be possible. For my birthday, we visited Cardiff and stayed in a hotel there using loyalty points, so for the husband’s birthday, I decided we would do the same. We were fortunate enough to get a great room at a hotel in Islington with a lovely view of the London skyline.

On Saturday, we went for a walk-around Greenwich, which I think is one of my favourite areas of London. The husband had not been there before, so I had to go show him around the Old Royal Naval College, which was also the set for a famous scene in Thor: The Dark World and makes for gorgeous photos too.

Spring finally decided to arrive in England yesterday, and, when the sun shines, this is truly a glorious place to be.

Our next big outing will be going to see Ensiferum and Ex Deo at the O2 Academy in Islington on 1 May, and the ability to do these things is one of the main reasons we wanted to live in the UK and so close to London. I am ridiculously exited for this concert, because Ensiferum has been one of my favourite bands for the last 8 years or so, and I have recently fallen a little bit in love with Ex Deo.

On Leviathans and Small Treks

It has been three months and 4 days since my last cigarette.I started smoking not long after my 13th birthday, and smoked pretty much consistently since then. And I have pretended to try and quit before, each time a roaring failure because the love for smoking was stronger than the will to quit. But our new life has meant a big reduction in stress, and so, finally, the will to quit has grown stronger than the love for smoking. I still miss the action of smoking, taking a long drag on a cigarette, inhaling the smoke deep into my lungs and then feeling like a dragon as I exhale – but not as frequently as I used to. I now only think about having a smoke once every few days. I am sure as the months go on, the frequency will reduce even more until I no longer think about it at all.

What I don’t miss is struggling to breathe and smelling like a nightclub and coughing and having to find an ashtray and the constant constant constant craving and burning money. And this will motivate me to remain quit, even when I dream about smoking all night long.

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It is probably no secret by now that I am currently a tiny little bit obsessed with The Expanse series, both TV and books. I fell in love mid-way through the first episode of Season 1, but reading the books really cemented the obsession for me. I am only ⅔ through the third book now, but I had this epiphany last night about why I love the series so much – other than the fact that it is an absolutely brilliant space opera, of course.

Each book, so far, starts with a number of different stories seemingly unrelated on completely different tracks, and things apparently spin out of control and then the stories start intertwining until they end in one beautiful point, and it reminds me of spiral galaxies or tropical storms or star aloes.

(images not my own, found on bing search)

I travelled to Leicester for work this week, which gave me a good opportunity to try out the camera on my new phone.

While I missing having a camera button on the phone, I am getting used to having to take a couple of extra steps to take a photo, and I am quite happy with the quality of the pictures.

Forty Six

I had my last business trip this past week and another spectacular week in Cape Town. I will miss visiting here so often.

Thirty Nine

My daughter and I had an outing to the Pretoria Zoo this week.

While I have a fundamental ethical problem with animals in cages, I know that (some) zoos also contribute to conservation and the Pretoria Zoo is a lovely outing. I have many fond memories of visiting this zoo, both with my grandmother and with my daughter when she was younger.

Thirty

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be able to spend so much time in Cape Town for work. It allows me quick little holidays with scenes like this.

Twenty Two

Another terrible trip to Cape Town

I love Houtbaai. I love the beach here, and the feel of the area. One day, when I grow up, I would like to live here. Well, either here or in Germany. But here would be good. I would love to be able to see that beach, that view, every day.

After this visit, I started writing on my current WIP again, which is never a bad thing.

Nineteen

I was fortunate enough to have a hotel room with a balcony this week while in East London, and this was the view from my room every morning.

My kitchen was also installed this week while I was gone, and now looks like this:

It is not complete – there are still many things to finish, including the plumbing, but the feel is there. I cannot wait to start using this beautiful space.

Eighteen

I had another lovely week in Cape Town, and again, the scenery played along.

As much as I love the travelling, it can also be very challenging, especially when travelling three weeks in a row. It also gets quite lonely, as you are really removed from your ‘normal’ life, and don’t really have a point of normal during that time.

But just look at that view!

Seventeen

This week was the first of three weeks in a row of travelling for me. Fortunately, the scenery tries to make up for me being away from home.

four

I was fortunate enough to spend the past week in the beautiful city of Bucharest, Romania, for some training. While I didn’t get out too much, I did have a spectacular view from my hotel room and I at least get to see a bit of the old city.

Three

I spent the week with a customer in one of my favourite buildings in Jozi – the Carlton Center Tower.

A long, long time ago (in what feels like a previous life) I used to spend every Friday and Saturday late afternoon on the 50th floor of this building, looking down at the world. It was a safe place for me. I love how small everything looks from up here, the city feels at peace.

Not so sleepless… in Seattle

  I recently had the privilege to visit Seattle for work. Here are some of my favourite photos from the trip.

  

From top left:

1. My Abe Lincoln Lego Minifig expressing his happiness about being in the US, 2. Actual Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory*, 3. The twinkly-light-wrapped trees on the streets of Bellevue, 4. Skyscrapers in Seattle city, 5. Pike Place Market, 6. Tulips tulips everywhere (Spring time), 7. Giant elephant garlic at Pike Place market, 8. Interesting squid floating sculpture, 9. random Robot in chalk on pavement, 10. At the waterfront, 11. Daffodils! (Spring time), 12. The exhibition outside the Chihuly Garden and Glass with the iconic Space needle, 13. Flash in the annual pillow fighting celebrations, 14. the entrance to the WA state conference center, 15. Snow-covered mountains as visible from the SeaTac airport.

 

* As a non-US fan of the Big Bang Theory, I didn’t realise it was an actual place, but, as a fan, I had to eat there.

29 of 30

I attended a company-organised team building event at Gold Reef City today. I haven’t been there in years and years, and had a great load of fun. I also took a couple of nice photos, and could not decide on which one to choose for today’s post, so I thought I’d share a couple.