Chicken Pox!

I've been having fever, headache, body ache, and sore throat since Tues. Yesterday evening my back and decolletage felt itchy, I thought I was bitten by mozzies. Afterall it's mozzie season... This morning I discovered little reddish things on my arms and my back. Told hubby I was a bit concerned, as when I was a kid I didn't get a full-blown chicken pox, only on my chest. So we went to A&E at the hospital nearby. And yup, doctor said it is chicken pox. No wonder the body ache was the worst I've ever felt in years... So I've been sleeping a lot. I think I'm not getting worse, as the red dots don't seem to multiply much after this afternoon... (touch wood!)

I hope I get better quickly, as I don't like being sick... :(

Flu

Having my first flu in UK. I haven't been feeling well since Sunday evening. Yesterday it got worse. I had fever, my bones ached until it felt like they're breaking apart. I'm still unwell today. Honestly, I've started feeling sorry for myself, with hubby still jobless and us not having anywhere to live... :(

I do try to be positive, as I know there are others who are worse of. I'm attributing this negative feeling to the flu. I can't remember the last time I had a bad case of flu. I hope it's not swine flu or bird flu or whatever form of animal flu I'm having.

The good thing is, there's Sky1 and E4 on tv in our hotel room. Otherwise I would have been bored to death.

Going Places: England

When we first moved back to England, someone who booked the accommodation for us didn't do his/her job properly. Long story short, we ended up staying with parents-in-law (PIL) near Bicester. It's a typical small town with some lovely little rambling arcades housing individual/local shops that are getting rarer in England, as more and more high streets are looking "similar" as local businesses are being taken over by big name stores. It's amazing to see how many pharmacies have been taken over by Boots.... I digress...

So. The bakeries at Bicester had some good business from us as hubby fed his daily Belgian Buns addiction and I filled my tummy with traditional macaroons (the ones that have edible rice paper stuck at the bottom, shaped like a horse-shoe or round with a red cherry on top). Nearby there is Bicester Village, which houses many designer outlets, where (almost) last season designer clothes/shoes/toiletries are available for a fraction of the original price. No wonder the people dressed up posher than places we've been to. If we weren't still living on our suitcases I would have bought things from Molton Brown, L'Occitane, etc. as they are seriously super cheap there. In the end I only made a necessary purchase (a black t-shirt, a cardigan, and a mini-jumpersuit from French Connection). I've told hubby that once we're settled somewhere here we have to visit the Village again, which is also conveniently situated on the way to PIL's place. :)

PIL's house is situated outside Bicester, at a scenic countryside opposite marshes, with beautiful back garden that has many kind of birds visiting the bird feeders and bird bath at different times of the day. There aren't many things around there. There's a garage nearby, a hotel-pub, and a farm where they get their fresh free-range eggs. Nothing suburban about it. It's a perfect retirement place, though not so much a place for "youngster" like us, as in a way it's quite secluded, mobile phone and broadband receptions are very patchy.

I have to mention that I didn't really like the people in Bicester. Having lived in Auckland and Perth, where people are generally more health concious, I find that there are too many smokers there, my nose didn't like it. Hubby said that it's understandable, as there's an army base around there. What I find mind-boggling was the fact that people with babies/children were smoking next to their children! I also didn't like the way the older smokers "waved" their smoke in front of me. How inconsiderate and unhealthy... Little incidents with car insurance people and letting agent there made me resent being there. But that's two whole loads of different stories for maybe next time...

After 2 weeks there we moved on to High Wycombe, where we used to live. The town looked much better and cleaner than before. On the first day we checked out the new shopping centre to get some food. Lo and behold, we bumped into familiar faces: our old neighbours, the couple who lived on the other side of our old semi-detached house! Strange, that. We chatted a bit and exchanged some news. They said they got along really well with the couple who bought our house. They also said that our old street is much quieter now that the noisy teenagers have gone away. Part of me wish we had kept the house before we moved to NZ, though logically it was the right decision. Otherwise we could have been in negative equity now, as house prices here have gone down as much as 30% - a good time to buy...

Anyway. We made a surprise visit to a church we used to go to. Boy, how things have changed! Apart from seeing some new faces, the most noticeable thing was the presence of MORE children. And the children we knew have all grown much taller. I suppose 3 years is quite a long time. It felt like it was only yesterday we said goodbye to them... how time flies... It was strange to see how things and people were "the same, but different", if you get what I mean...

After High Wycombe, we moved on to Gloucester last week, and I'm writing this in Bristol now. More about them later.

Q&A Frizz Double-dose Frizz-fix Super Serum

I love sesame prawn toast even though I'm allergic to prawn. Solution: I only eat them on special occasions, and only AFTER taking my antihistamine. And followed by more antihistamine if necessary. :)

My point is, most of the time I try to be positive and do my best to handle every situation. There are many things in life that aren't within my control. Nevertheless, I choose to be positive and be thankful for things that are under my control.

At the moment I'm being thankful for always carrying Charles Worthington's Q&A Frizz Double-dose Frizz-fix Super Serum in my luggage, wherever I am in the world. It's my trusty weapon in combating frizzy hair and static flyaway.

I've used this brilliant serum on and off in the past few years. It's my most favourite hair serum amongst many I've used. I use it on my towel dried hair, before blow-drying it. I find that using one pump (2-3 drops) of the serum is enough to give good result on my long hair. I add an extra pump after my hair is dry on days when my hair is being super stubborn.

The bottle said that it "contains new-generation silicons that control stubborn frizz". As you can see on the ingredients list, there are MANY variety of silicons in this serum.

Verdict: Musically approved, though I'm not so keen on the parabens. I suppose the parabens won't harm my hair since hair is dead thing anyway, like nails.

Ingredients: Cyclotetrasiloxane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethiconol, Cetyl Dimethicone, Phenylpropyldimethylsiloxysilicate, Cyclomethicone, Lecithin, Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Ethylhexyl Mehoxycinnamate, Retinol, Phytantriol, Octyl Cocoate,Blycine Soja (Soyabean Oil), Phenoxyethanol, Isobutylparaben, Methylparaben, Glycolipids, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben, Propylparaben.

On a more personal note, I'm doing quite well considering what has been happening in the past month. Amongst those: being a VERY unhappy recipient of F sign given by everyone in a passing car while walking somewhere near parents-in-law's place (yup, first racism incident here), having to take antihistamine before eating a chicken kiev that contains pork gelatin (I'm allergic to pork) prepared by mother-in-law (MIL) - couldn't tell her in case she went into panic and have a heart attack (don't ask), hubby twisted his ankle, etc. Anyway, we're staying in hotel at the moment, looking around different areas while hubby is job hunting.

All for now, it feels so good to be able to blog and read other peoples's blogs again. :)

Being Vagabond and BLT

= Broadband, Life, Trials and Tribulations

FINALLY we have our own internet connection! It's Pay As You Go type (= prepaid broadband). As of today we're still of "no fixed abode" so we figured the portability of the "no-plan" mobile broadband suits us well.

Hubby is running some errands so I'm taking the opportunity to write a bit about what's happening.

Firstly, I forgot to mention Hermes Fabourg in my last article about perfume loot from Singapore. It's still untouched in it's wrapper. When I put on the tester in the shop it actually lasted the whole day. Quite a strong perfume that suits cold/wintery days. Not that it makes that much difference here in England, as the weather is generally much cooler than Perth (obviously...). Last week we had some sunny warm days, so I'm not complaining. I've always loved English weather, I love cooler countries better than hot ones.

Oops, hubby is back. I better hand back the laptop as he needs to continue job hunting again. Till next time! :)