Hello! Oh god, annoying! Just wrote a massive entry and then it disappeared! Aaaah! Oh well. Well I hope everyone had a great Easter, as you can see from my last entry, I worked like a maniac last week, so here' s a bit of a run-down on my week.. Monday - worked all day for Laura, Louis and I organised his toys and made a bag up of them to give to charity, played soccer in the garden and made crumbed lemon sole and chips for his supper. Tuesday - took Louis to the Diana Memorial Playground at Hyde park. We walked there - about 30 mins - and played Indians and Pirates. I was One-eyed Jess (a Pirate) and he was White Thunder (an Indian). I have a feeling I got that name from a trashy romance novel, hee hee. Then in the afternoon, I had training at Montgomery Place (MP) which is the bar where I am a waitress. Basically got the bar ready to open for Thursday, like polishing glasses etc. Wednesday - Worked for Laura all day. Went to the playground again but this time with one of Louis' friends and her Chilean nanny. We sat and watched them play while we chatted. Made shepherds pie for his supper and then went to MP for cocktail and wine training/tasting. Their cocktails are great! There's about 50 or so of them, divided into different themes etc, all based on classic 30s/40s and prohibition era etc. Funny though, as a cocktail is 60ml in Australia, but 50ml here, weak! Thursday - worked for Laura in the morning to help her out before they went to Provence for Easter at lunch time and then I went to work at MP at 2pm until 1am, as we opened that day at 6. They serve finger-type food in the evenings which is all really nice, and we got to try it all before we opened that day. Friday - was meant to be working all day from 10am until 1am but got to go home in the middle of the day for 6 hours as we were pretty quiet. Worked that night which was fun, a big table of kiwis and another of 2 english guys with really toffy accents - love it! - who had been skiing in Geneva that day and had just flown back, gee tough! Saturday - worked all day again, we're open Sat/Sun lunch, and serve New York style stuff but high-quality, eg. Sashimi tuna on rye, gourmet hotdogs and burgers and big waldorf and cob salads. Sunday - didn't have to work until 6 so I went down to see D+V for Easter. Had roast lamb and beef for lunch, Clare, Mark and Lily, and Teresa and Dan were also there for lunch. Apple pie for dessert, and they stocked me up with some delicious Easter egg presents! Monday - worked again at the bar from 3 til 11. Had a fun time chatting with some locals, told them about my plan to see a polo match, and they said they would take me as they know lots of polo people, ah fun times! Yesterday I slept until really late to recover and just pottered about the house. I live in the "Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea" so I joined the local library which is free. Gudrun cooked miso soup for dinner and we watched a Jane Campion DVD - Angel At My Table - on her laptop. Did have some plans to get stuff done today but its already 1:30 so I guess I'm being pretty slack. (well I did waste 30 mins writing the entry that disappeared!) Going to organise an appointment to get a National Insurance # - like tax file - and register with a doctor. I also really need another pair of jeans but the shops here are just a nightmare.. everytime I go into TopShop I leave out of frustration, too many rude shop assistants and 16 year olds! Working 37 hours or something over the next 4 days at MP. I think Laura and co are coming back maybe Sunday or she might stay longer if the weather is nice. A little bit more about MP for those who are interested... its fairly small, very intimate etc, with candles on tables at night and stuff and there are black and white pictures from old movies on the walls etc. Its all very high-tech, with computerised tills that send orders to the bartenders and kitchen. There's a lift that sends the food up from the kitchen downstairs and I have a buzzer so when the food I have ordered is ready my buzzer vibrates. I'm getting 5 pounds an hour which is not much but pretty standard for hospitality. There's a 10% service charge on all table service which is the majority of sales, which we get at the end of the week, on top of tips which are pooled. So I think I will get around 20 pounds a shift in tips. I got 78 for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last week. I'm working a lot at the moment as there is only me and another waitress, but they are hiring more people as I told them that I can really only do part-time, so 4 shifts a week. Its all very multicultural. The 2 owners are English, and the Operations Manager and one of the bartenders is also English. But the Head-bartender is Italian, the 3 chefs are French-Algerian, French and Korean, the Kitchen Porter and Bar Back are both Hungarian, the General Manager is Albanian and of course the 2 waitresses are Australian and South-African. It already feels like a little family, (probably because I've worked the equivalent of about a month at Vodka!) The Operations Manager, Polly, has started calling me Blondie and I think the General Manager Redin thinks I'm a bit nuts! Sarah, he totally doesn't appreciate my dancing! The other day he said to me, "what happened to the sweet and innocent girl I hired?!" Good to know that's how I come across in an interview! Missing the Vodka Bar family of course! Last Saturday night I went to a club in Islington called "Egg" (Stupid name!) with one of Tav's friends, Adam, and some Adelaide girl/friends of his, Carrie and Alice. (Carrie is Emma Hack's sister!) Was fun, but it cost 15 quid to get in, rip off! Junior Jack was playing ("baby make your move, step across the line, touch me one more time, come on dare me!") but it wasn't a special appearance or anything, just standard for London! We had a good time dancing, but my feet were super sore from traipsing around London in my boots to get there, so I had had enough by about 2 and starting yawning but managed to keep dancing for a while until about 3:30. All in all a good night, but no comparison to the VB atmosphere! Anyway, I think that is enough for today... I will have to actually go out and do some exciting things so I can write about more interesting stuff! I've added a few photos as well, as you can see I'm scraping the barrel! Lots of love xx p.s Found out from the toffy English guys who had been in Geneva that Robbie Willams lives on Clarendon Rd, which my street, Elgin Crescent intersects with! "Alex is very well connected!" said by his brother Toby! Hee hee