Back in Durham again!

Yeah, after my wonderfully cheerful comments about being in Durham before, you wouldn't exactly think I'd be thrilled about being back, would you? I wasn't at first, but last night was so much fun, and we're all getting on so well... Me, V, J and JH all went out to Chase for cocktails, then to Studio, where we met F and D. It was so much fun, we were laughing, dancing - brilliant. And I got to have a cocktail that contained Finlandia, which just made me laugh. Dr Finlandia... though I did wake up with a fucking awful hangover that's only just disappeared. I haven't drunk properly for far too long.

Except in London, of course. See what I did there, seamless linkage...

God, this is going to be a long entry, I need to babble on about London, which deserves a book to itself. Seriously. The trip had everything - drama, tears, laughter, dancing, Johnny Depp...

So, me and JH drove down in the car (as opposed to... well, a motorbike I guess) which was fun in itself, because we were listening to all kinds of cheesy music, from Abba to S Club Juniors (JH's choice, not mine). We spent the afternoon sunbathing in V's garden, and then the drama began... We've been saying for months, literally, that we wanted to go to Madame Tussauds so JH could get her photo taken with Zac Efron. We were going to do that on the Thursday afternoon, then get some dinner and go and see Wicked. We invited V's sister to come with us, seeing as she doesn't get out a great deal with her baby and all. We had it all planned, and we'd been facebooking and stuff about it for ages.

And what did V have to come out with the afternoon before? "Oh, we're not going to Madame Tussauds because my sister can't afford it, we're going to stay in and play with the baby all morning then maybe go see some free touristy things in the afternoon."

Um. No.

We left it at that for a bit, though me and JH had a quick conference and made the decision that we WOULD be going to Madame Tussauds, whether V came with us or not. We went out that night to Oceana, which was very amusing, especially as V's friend James is a total manwhore and we spent half the night having a who-has-the-dirtiest-mind competition (I think I won, woop).

So the next morning dawned, and even though we hadn't got to bed till about four/half four, me and JH were up very early. When we announced to V that we were going off into London to be tourists and go to Madame Tussauds, she was NOT pleased. We were all ready to go, all dressed and excited, and she was sat there on the sofa in her pyjamas looking like a slapped arse. Even though we'd told her our plan the night before, she didn't seem to believe we'd actually do it.

But we did. Half an hour later, we got off the tube at Westminster (best tube station ever by the way, you get out of it and the first thing you see is Big Ben - love it, and it was JH's first sight of proper London. I'm proud of myself for getting her there). Anyway, we got off the tube there, and we both had an identical text message, along the lines of 'I don't want to say anything else about it because I don't want to ruin the holiday, but I am very disappointed and I'd never have done anything like this to you guys." Oops.

Well, tough luck. We didn't go to London to sit indoors and play with V's niece! ...though saying that, we did a bit the next day and I fell in love with her, I now want one of my own. Of course, I think you have to find a man first... oh well, never mind.

Anyway, we felt the briefest spasms of guilt, then off we buggered, happily into the touristness. We went to Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, and of course, Madame Tussauds. It was SO much fun. In fact, I think this calls for a picture. Yeah, by the way, now I know how to put pictures in, it might be a bit difficult to stop me... actually, I'll wait for a better picture... Johnny Depp...

Yeah, we went to Madame Tussauds, which was SO much fun, even though I wimped out of the Scream thing. I went into the crypty bit though, which was great - Robespierre was in there! Fantastic. Especially as he bore a distinct resemblance to Our Boy Troy. And I got my picture with Johnny Depp, yay! JH nearly died of happiness when she got her picture with Zac Efron. Ah, though, Johnny Depp... GOD.

Awww, look how thrilled I am.

Anyway, we went from Madame Tussauds to WICKED! Where we met up with a slightly sulky V and her sister, but Wicked made EVERYONE happy. It was AMAZING. Incredible. Yes, I've seen it before... but Kerry Ellis was better than ever. She's SO good. Honestly. I've never seen anyone who can sing like that. Fantastic.

I could go on with superlatives for quite a while but I won't. Just suffice to say - Wicked is wicked.

So yeah, the next day was shopping day. No need for me to say a lot more than I spent far too much money - but I now have lovely Converse! And a gorrrgeous leather jacket that I'm actually in love with and never want to take off. In fact, I am wearing it now.

Final day was Thorpe Park, which although being brilliant, did have a lot of queues. Oh well, I'm good at queuing - you kind of learn after waiting for Nightwish for eight hours. And I have to practice for Helsinki, where it could be a twenty four hour jobby. The rollercoasters were fantastic though. I've been wanting to go on Colossus ever since it first opened and I saw the ads on TV, and now I finally got to! Yay! Ten inversions... couldn't quite manage walking in a straight line after that one. And Nemisis Inferno - I love the Nemesis family!

The car journey back up was kind of annoying this time, though. V sang along to everything. Constantly. She literally didn't stop for five hours. I was ready to kill her by the end of it. In a service station while she was in the toilet, me and JH had a quick discussion, and JH agreed to let me put Nightwish on as a break from V's singing. We were left astounded when Amaranth came on and she started singing along. I knew I should have turned it down more often... Nightwish only lasted until The Poet and the Pendulum though. Four minutes in, as it goes into the quiet bit:

V: "Well it was OK, not as disturbing as you were making out."
Me: "Um... it's not QUITE finished yet..."

After another few minutes:

JH: "Oh my god, it's been going on for EIGHT minutes, is it nearly over yet?"
Me: "Nearly... cough cough."

At the twelve minute point:

JH: "Right, it's going off!"
Me: "Oh come on, there's only another three minutes!"

The CD was then forcibly ejected, and was nearly thrown out of the window. It was replaced with High School Musical - I was traumatised. I actually had to lie down, the contrast between Nightwish and High School Musical was so much. TOO much. As Na said, I'll need rehab after that.

So yeah, we got back up to Durham, and nobody killed anybody! Yay!

I don't know what to have for tea. V is doing sausage pie, but I'm trying to be healthy. I think I'll have tuna and sweetcorn, possibly with a salad, possibly just by itself, I'm a fan of that. Haven't had that for aaaaages.

Ooh, went to Mr Scary Psychiatrist Man today - and I don't have to go back again! Yay! He just informed me that the good way I've responded to my pills shows I'm definitely bipolar, but that means I only need to go to the GP to get repeat prescriptions! YAY! Now to tell my mother... eep. Oh well, I'll think of that tomorrow.

Before I go off in search of tuna - I really hope there's some in the cupboard - just want to say WELL DONE to Nikki, who has her place in Guernsey! Extra yays, and if I was in Liverpool already I'd give you a hug!

Right. Time for tea, I think. I've been eating/spilling-down-myself grapes for the past hour or so and they're just not filling the gap. I need FOOD. God, I'm like a child...

Misty x