Paris and all that jazz..

Ah Gay Paris! Exactly what I needed, a nice girly holiday with Mum, to a place we both had not visited before. The place is full of history, culture and simply experiencing Paris for all its glory and sins has given us, mum and daughter, a whole new set of memories to cherish forever more.

The city has its fair share of fans and haters, but for all the pomposity and showmanship, it has class, debonair and eccentricity that makes the city of love all the more alluring to a tourist, well it certainly intrigued me.

The trip was all the more special for mum being there, as I rarely see her- because she lives in Singapore. Girls just wanna have fun! And boy did we! We arrived in Paris in the wee hours of the morning-British time 6am, French time 7am.

My knowledge of French, is limited and fairly basic, mum's non-existence. I can read French, holding a conversation, however, err let's not go there. So it fell upon me to be the Navi. As soon as we got there, we weren't disappointed, started our holiday travelling on the metro to our hotel, a street musician boards the the train looking to make a quick euro by waking up the morning commuters.
Not the best idea in my opinion trying to wake up a bunch sleepy French people, needless to say he went away without a cent. He'd earn a bit more if he sold
coffee instead.                                                         

 

Talking about coffee, we certainly enjoyed the cafe culture was relaxing and it had to be done- when in Rome, I mean when in Paris!                                We went around the usual tourist routes, tour bus and so and so fort. I did however convince my mother to take a late night trip down to the famous windmill in the land- Moulin Rouge! Yes, rather naughty and not seeded as you may think, after all I was with my mother! She's cool, we had a laugh walking around Paris red light district (during the day time initially). We were waiting to cross the street, stood outside what we later deduced was a pole-dancing club. The bouncers were beckoning us to go inside and take a look. No way! We giggled like two school girls and dashed across to patisserie.

Our hotel was located in the an area called Monmarte. It was a beautiful , hilly location with historic buildings dotted around the area. It's main attraction was the Basilica Monmarte., a uniquely designed catholic church with a stunning view of the city.     

Another first, we had our portraits drawn by a couple lovely street artists.

We stood there with in the lovely sunshine, down a cobbled alley way beside Monmarte church. They were every so sweet and funny and me being me, asking loads of questions. The guy who drew my picture- Andy, was a native to the district. his grandfather used to own the restaurant that was behind us. The guy who drew mum's picture- Boris, a Russian friend of Andy's and they work together getting a few euros to get by as artists. I admire them for doing what the want, and I personally thought they were good.
Mum and strolled off with our pencil sketches and merged back into the tourist crowds. Souvenirs shops, wandering the ancient pavements and side streets. Pungent metro stations and back to our hotel rooms, worn out but not defeated-yet. We'd drop the shopping bags in our room and head for the cafe for some drinks and food. It was during our midnight stroll,
I found out that my mum was better at finding the way back than I was..

I'd say that was a brilliant getaway. Paris was fun! London's still my favourite city! Wink wink nudge nudge aye! I dare say some French might find the Brits interesting?! If this union jack topped red bently is anything to go by!

Daddy's little girl..

Father's Day 2011. The pillar of any family, after the mother (of course!) The man, you'd first run to when you needed to feel safe and know you'd be protected from any harm. Growing up he was my disciplinarian, in my formative years he was my best mate, in my young adulthood he's....gone!

I chose a very different life to that of my entire family, I chose to live half way across the world. Not because we didn't get along, in fact it was the opposite- we actually were a regular working/middle class family. My parents worked hard to put my brother and I through good schools and we were brought up right. But because I was and still am a very ambitious individual and I knew what I wanted from a young age, I decided to move to England and pursue those aspirations and I've worked very hard to achieve them. My papa, let go of his little girl and supported me in my decision to do what I wanted. He was proud, he told all his friends, with his head held high, "my daughter is a Journalist".

Like any family we've had our ups and downs, but we never lost sight of what was important in life- family, good heart, good work ethic, sense of fun and humour!
It has been nearly 2 years, but I still find it so hard to come to terms with it all. No more birthday cards, one less name on the Christmas card and, today, no more phone call to wish him a 'Happy Father's Day'

This is a picture of me, with my papa's sunglasses, and guitar. It's my one of favourite. Not only was it taken by my papa, it shows our sense of fun as a family, it shows what we enjoyed to do. We had fun, we had sad moments, angry tiffs, but we still loved each other.
He worked hard (2 jobs, 7 days a week) so that we could have a decent standard of living. Growing up in Singapore was great; it is a different perpective, a different way of life, a life for a child was so much fun in the sun, sand and sea.  My papa was full of wise words, he was the coolest, not always able to control his temper, but he was only human. I'm a lot like him, not so much the anger bit, but personality- I'm daddy's little girl. he thought me boxing, he encouraged me to be a footballer, a runner and all round sporty chic and never to deter from my academic pursuits and be a decent person to everyone around me.
I miss him.
But I'm also very lucky to have an adopted dad (he's my guardian, to dispel confusion) A friend of the family, someone I've always considered as a second dad.
I'm very lucky, the family I was born into are amazing and the family I have adopted are equally marvellous. I never loose sight of what I want, what my parents- all three of them, aspire me to be. I'm blessed and loved!

"You don't know you're born"

So the last time I was here, life was pretty dandy. I suppose to certain extent, in my little world, it still is. There has been some major changes, shock and tribulations that I had to deal with. Some of it may have even pushed me over the emotional scale a bit, but I have picked myself up and continue to carry on (must add my thank yous to dear friends and family)

I have slowly learnt to move on and take two, even three, steps back from it all and re-evaluate the situation. I can deal with this, It is manageable, a little problem compared to the major disasters that has been gripping the countries that lay in the pacific and the middle east.

Just check out these websites for the latest news updates. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12796972 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia_pacific/

We don't know we're born in this country and in fellow peaceful nations around the world; the people in Libya can not sleep until Gaddafi is out of power, Egypt go to the polls to vote for a better life, the Japanese are barely surviving after that devastating tsunami as well as fighting to avoid another nuclear meltdown and the Aussies and New Zealanders are rebuilding their lives after the worst flood and earthquake disasters ever to hit them.

The moon will make its closest approach to earth in almost 20 years Photo: ALAMY

www.telegraph.co.uk

Oh and what's with the supermoon this evening? The moon has not been this close to Earth in 18 years?!