beloved bel

Guess who's here to visit?  Liwen and her hubby Darrell :) They arrived last Friday and we met for dinner, to welcome them to London and to celebrate my new job starting Monday.  We eagerly brought them to The Balcon on Pall Mall having been there for K's birthday if you remember. Another good dinner with really good service but they were so jet lagged that after dessert, I could almost sense Darrell nodding off.  So we decided to call it a night and meet the next day at Borough Market. Saturday morning - Borough Market.  Thankfully there was some sunshine.  We had brunch at one of the Spanish Cafes, and then walked around before ending it with a Monmouth Coffee.  It's said to be the best in London and I brought Min and hubby Derek here two years ago too.  Darrell is a coffee lover and so he was quite glad to try a latte. Pics time... ... while waiting in the long queue After Borough Market, we decided to go to a...

I haven't been blogging much.. that is because I have been so busy at work that my life for the past month, especially the last two weeks have been just work, home, sleep, work work WORK... the cycle continued.  It was very frustrating and I was just looking forward to that light at the end of the tunnel on Friday 15th June.  June 15th marked the last day in my team and come tomorrow, I would be having a brand new start in another team!  Hurray! I wasn't looking to move but since the opportunity came up, I decided to take it because as K and all my friends around me said, I haven't been happy in this team ever since I joined anyway.  Deep down, I believed that God heard my prayers (He still does!) and literally delivered me out of the pits.  Like a Joseph in the bible.  I keep joking to my family to "please call me Joseph-ine!" I remember blogging about it (a depressed post ) back in December and saying I wished this season would be over soon and tha...

http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/ Today is the end of the Jubilee celebrations and how better to end it off than to have an afternoon tea party in the company of friends, while watching the celebrations on our TV.  It has been quite an emotional afternoon, in the good sense of course.  I don't think I've ever seen Queen Elizabeth on TV (and heard the national anthem God Save the Queen) more than these 3 days combined, but this Jubilee weekend has made me grew to love and admire this lady.  She is 86 and reminds me so much of my own granny, and her strength is amazing.  Imagine being sworn in as queen at the age of 26.  (I mean, what was I doing when I was 26?)  On Sunday when she and Prince Philip went onboard the Spirit of Chartwell boat to watch the River Pageant, it was cold and windy but they stood throughout the 3 hours event.  It was said she was offered some hot tea and a seat, which she both said no to.  I love my grandma but ...

Yay to a long weekend here in London!  There is so much anticipation in the air.  Many houses on my street are all decked out in union jacks with pictures of Queen Elizabeth and bunting hanging all around.  Ready to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee! I was feeling all excited about the fanfare and celebrations but didn't quite know what to do haha.. so on Saturday we decided to go downtown to soak in some Jubilee atmosphere. Bunting and beer - that's what the British love Today is the river pageant and lots of people have camped overnight out in the rain, hoping to see the 1,000 floatillas and of course the Royal family and the Queen herself.  I was planning to go and have a look too, but looking at the rainy and gloomy weather, the thought of watching it on TV with a cup of tea seems like a better idea.  Hmm let's see. Two days of holidays.. hurrah!  "Long live the Queen!" :)