New Hair Cut

I did it again. In the process of growing my hair, I got bored and got them all chopped off. Ok, not that dramatically, but I am back to showing off my neck.

I just cannot believe that I can never make up my mind about whether to wear them long or short. I guess, like Manny noticed, I do look different with my hair around my face or up in a ponytail, and there is no real in-between. Oh well, nothing stops me from having a yo-yo hair length.

Pornography, Drugs and Bigamy

Now that sounds sinful.
Last night, Alex exitedly said there was a documentary on John C Holmes, the porn star renowned for the size of his penis. I was not too interested so I went to bed with my book; but I did listen to the documentary. It started out arguing the size of his penis and the number of girls he slept with; legendly 14000, probably more like 3000, (that's still more than I can possibly imagine).

If I thought that guy was not for real, I was in for a surprise. Next on the topic was his widow, an ex-teen porn star; and then I got confused because they started talking about another wife he had kept secret; if the sudden news is not surprising enough, he actually had a girlfriend who lived with his first wife, while he lived with the second wife.

Not weird enough? He was a coke addict, lived the high life, doing cocaine parties and hanging around with Eddie Nash (owner of a night club and drug dealer in LA). So far, it's no surprise, but he was so much into the white stuff that he started loosing 'his ability', and instead went into crime, fraud and prostitution. He joined the Wonderland gang, and when he smoked an entire delivery, he had to make it up to them by setting up a heist at Nash's club. Nash suspected John's involvement and took revenge by killing four members of the Wonderland gang, (event known as the Wonderland massacre). John who was present, was thrown in jail for his involvement in the murders. His secrets came to surface or rather his lies were uncovered. Out of jail he went back to porn, being the 80's, AIDS was the hot topic, he was diagnose with the virus. He chose to live his last years doing more coke till he died in 88.

Of course you may have seen the movie Boogie Nights (1997), when I told Alex they should make a movie out of this man, he said they had...

What I find the strangest is that none of this shocks me. Either that or it is so out there; that it becomes unbelievable and just stunning (in a cool way), that one person can live like he owes nothing to no one. He does what he wants when he wants and people around him either accepted him with his sin and madness or chose to live along with his lie; somehow that's respectable.

Royal Ascot

24/06/06

The day did not start its best, meeting at 10h10 was a tad too matinal for me. I dragged myself out of bed at 8h45, jumped in the shower, struggled with the brushing, put the room upside down looking for my black shawl (which I did not find), applied make-up in a foggy mirror and ran down to the station with my small heels, while Alex finished getting ready. We eventually made it on time and the girls were waiting for us when we reached Ascot. Orla brought me a perfect little black hat that matched my dress perfectly.

I was very pleased to meet Alison and Nikki's little sister Sarah; and Jo, who is leaving for Kenya for a 6-week volunteer project on Aids education, tha's brilliant, and it comes at a great time, since I am planning to take one next year, I will definitely catch up with Jo when she returns from Kenya. It was lovely seeing Joanna, Peggy and Nikki again as well.

The new grand stand looks impressive. Here with Alison and new beau, Greg.

Joanna, Peggy, Claire, Orla, Nikki and seating are Jo, Alison and me.

Alex with Barclay's ex-colleague Philippa from Australia and her friend. Philippa actually did the hats herself! How talented is that? The hats were brilliants, feathers, bow, comb; apprently she asked her friends what colours were their dresses, and she sawed hats for each one of them matching perfectly their outfits. Philippa is going back to Australia at the end of summer. I might ask her to do one for me. She will start her hat business back home, I don't think she'll have any difficulties with that much talent.



Before the races started, the Queen paraded around the racecourse in her carriage. I have some good shots, and it actually feels nice to be able to say I've seen the Queen!

Then the races started, we bet, we laughed, we cheered, we won some, we lost most of them; but we had all the fun we planned on having and drunk lots of Pimms.

At the end of the day, I am pink like a cooked lobster, so I will show off my tan another day ;) Quite looking forward to the summer skin and the freckles.

O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park

21/06/06

It's the big day! It's the day that I get to watch The Strokes live!!!

Alex and I went to London early so that we could enjoy the festival to the fullest. There was really a hippie feel about it, in spite of the festival being more punk rock.

The gig was opened with three sexy things from Los Angelos called 'The Like', they sounded good, a few tunes sounded very cool, I'll buy the album to find out more. They were followed with very entertaining Gypsie Punk 'Gogol Bordello' from New York, who were particularly popular with Italians.

Dirty Pretty Things and The Raconteurs were not as exciting as the CD, then again, I only like a few songs of theirs. I think Belle and Sebastian were the best perfomers of the day. Don't get me wrong, The Strokes were great, but out of all the gigs I've been to, the Festival was not that good, it is only memorable because of the whole festival experience, whilst Belle and Sebastian were solo gig quality good.

Finally the stars of the day, The Strokes, came on stage, we were very near the front so we could have the best view, but when they started playing the crowd went so wild that I just too busy trying not to fall and be stampeded to actually enjoy the music, so after picking up a girl on the ground (who was being stepped on), I walked a few meters away from the stage where the crowd was a bit better behaved. They played 'automatic stop', 'Reptilia', 'The End has no End' and 'I can't win', when the drummer played 'Three Lions', the whole crowd came singing the chorus, including me because it was fun! They finished the festival with Lou Reed's 'Take a walk on the Wild Side'.

We got home drained and strung up at the same time, on the journey home I was humming Queen's 'another one bites the dust' there was so much dust raising from the ground while we were dancing, that my face and hands were grey with dust, and my mouth tasted dusty, and my nice new trainer looked like I had run along Route 66 accross Arizona. One regret, we missed Guillemots, they were playing at a different stage, that's truly a shame, they are so awesome; I hope they have a tour of their own soon. Oh well, what a great way to spend the longest day of the year.

Next gig up July 6th Divine Comedy at Somerset House.

Royal Windsor Race

19/06/06

Ron invited us all to the Royal Windsor. We finished work early so that the girls could change into pretty little dresses and make-up.

I had no time to check out the favorite runners for the evening, but I had learnt a thing or two at Cheltenham back in March, so I thought I'll use my little experience and gut feeling.

The place was nicely planned, we had a view of the finishing line, and down the corridor was the bidding place, and from the balcony, we could see the horse around the circus, so that an expert eye (not me) could probably weight the shape and nervousness of the horse (I could tell, but I did not know if it was a good or bad sign).

Dinner was not great, but the company was and champagne was flowing, and I had a few winners, so it was a brilliant night.

I predicted allt he right winners, but because I am a cheap gambler I did not make much money. It does not matter, I only bet, so that I could have the satisfaction and feel the exhilaration when you cheer your horse to the finish line.


The pretty bunch from Verbatim, there's few pretty ones missing from the picture, but these beauties are the ones I work with most often. From left to right, Julie, Beth, Emma, Carrina, Hannah, Ann and me.

The evening ended at 10 PM and I was not drunk, but I was hungry, came home to finish Alex's KFC, bluntly putting an end to the glamorous evening. lol.

Papa & Maman visiting

17/06/06

It was lovely seeing mom and dad again. I had not seen them since Christmas. Proximity Saintes-London is great, just what I needed; I only wished Alex could be equally near his family.

Alex and I met Mom and Dad at Waterloo, then we took them out for dinner on the South bank, in a restaurant called Giraffe.

Then on Friday evening, I met up with them in Covent garden. We watched the various entertainers, jugglers, musicians, tricksters and this very funny guy who gets the crowd involved in his show and tricks passing women to kiss him.

They were coming to attend the wedding of Nina Peggs in Reading; Nina is the daughter of their good friends Iain and Alice from Penang.


On Sunday, it was Father's Day, so we took them out to have lunch along the Thames. After lunch, it was shopping for mom and me and footie for Dad and Alex. I cooked a lovely dinner that we ate watching France playing badly against South Korea.

The evening ended with a very eerie phone message: "Helen Picot, this is a very stupid man from Malaysia, now in France, looking for a very stupid woman". Since not many people have my home number, it got me all paranoid. Turns out that the very stupid man, is indeed very stupid, Richard, you could at least say your name when you leave a message!!! And he was indeed looking for my mom. I should have guessed, he always refers to mom as the very stupid woman (but for the uninformed, he actually loves her, they're buddies).

That wraps up the weekend with mom and dad. Can't hardly wait to see them again in July; but for that trip I am more looking forward to seeing Mamie Ese, Papi Jacques, Eugenie, Marie-Odile, Agathe, Marion, Nicolas, Emilie, and everyone from Ardeche.

Cuban Carnival - London South Bank

11/06/06

What a gorgeous day. The sun is shining, it's warm, there is not one cloud in the sky. I would have taken a picture to prove it, but it'd have turned out just blue.

We met up with Amanda, Angela and Michaela on the South Bank. The carnival was smaller than expected, but lovely nonetheless. The music was great, drunk a Mojito, that's a refreshing rum and mint leave ice cool Cuban drink.

Moving along the bank, we reached a larger stage with a Venezulan DJ playing music on stage. Strange considering it's a Cuban festival, but we ain't complaining. There were two great entertainers, who, according to Angela, are making appearances at every festival. The old guys, dressed in 60's attire had some pretty good moves.

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Angela with 8-month old fun-loving Maurice.

The two entertainers and a fascinated professional photographer.


Amanda, Alex and Michaela; resting in the park at the foot of the London Eye before heading home after the afternoon-long party.

One the way back, I stopped with Amanda to listen to Richard from 'The South' (assuming of America, e.g. Louisiana) , he sang the Blues. I thought he was really good and bought his album, also got his autograph, in case he makes it one day. I am not a big Blues fan, but the album turns out to be worth it.

Cardiff 28/05/06
The famous and unseen keep of Cardiff, hidden away from sights by a castle, which is not that great by any standard. But I liked the keep in its compound. Build 2000 years ago by the Romans, it is still in a good shape.

I thought it would be lovely to see Cardiff nine years later. And now that we've seen it, we're determined not to come back! lol... Come' on they don't even have The Warm As Toast (twat) Cafe anymore.


Moving on to Bristol where we were meeting with Eimear, Zoe and Christie. We had a lovely and fun dinner down the street from Eimear's.

The next day Eimear gave us a tour of Bristol, and she did a great job as a guide and we met up with Ash and house mate for lunch at Bristol suspension bridge

I liked the modern Bronze statue of the Madona and child, in the cloister of the cathedrale.

The Feeling & Genius

They are cute and talented!!!
Ouh la la... I enjoyed the sight as much as the music. he he!

Alison, Sarah and I took time to catch up before the gig started.
The Genius were on stage and since i did not know what The feeling looked like, I got the girls to come around. I really enjoyed the Genius, they are very cool and easy to listen to, they reminded me of Queen and a bit of the Beach Boys kind of fun in there as well.

While enjoying and dancing to Genius, this very cute guy kept walking past; I did not think much of it, being surrounded by 20-somethings, I expected them to be young and attractive lads. It is not until The Feeling came on-stage that I realised that I'd been brushing shoulders with the very cute lead singer!!! Raaaaagggghhh. there is no justice, I could have asked for his autograph 3 times.

Oh well, Sarah, Ali and I were right in front of the stage and it was brilliant. The music was great and the songs were lovely. Can't hardly wait for the Genius album to be out and on sale, you can check them out at www.myspace.com/thegeniusband