J U M P !

Well, I was going to tell you about the fabulous show we saw tonight but after switching the news on while the kettle makes the bedtime cuppa, the images of flooding and damage in other parts of Seoul and elsewhere, bring sobering thoughts.

Apparently, Seould has had the most rain in a century and since Tuesday, as much rain as they would expect throughout the whole of the rainy season ! !
They're geared up for wet weather with brolly makers doing good business. When you go inside somewhere there is a stand by the front door, similar to an umbrella stand to park it, however you push your brolly down and then pull it forward and eh voila!, the brolly is sheathed! Unfortunately, think of all the plastic just thrown away!

So, I'll just tell you that if you get the chance to see the comic martial arts performance, Jump, . . . . . you know what I'm going to finish with.

A small handful of characters act out with hardly any script the story. It's a bit like a Whitehall farce with a karate chopping and leaping family.

With a bit of unexpected audience participation (no, Dad escaped) and in this instance it was Gary from Canada, did you know he was coming here Matthew?! The children's gasps and shrieks and giggles added to the hilarity. I've not heard that in a long time!

According to the brochure they appeared in the Royal Variety Show at the London Coliseum in 2006 and had a long run at Peacock Theatre, London.

Again, I tell you, type it into your Googly thing and seek them out.

Haaaaa So ?!

Mum/Mil/Hil xxxxx

This is service you can afford by Cyril Lord ! !

Way back when . . . Stephen would take me to the cinema, usually to watch the latest spaghetti western. Amongst the many adverts was one for a carpet shop with, 'This is service you can afford by Cyril Lord!', as it's jingle. Catchy enough to remain with me forty years later!

So on my return from breakfast this morning I was unable to open the door with the card key and even a replacement from front desk didn't work. An hour later and at the last count, two women and five men are on the job, Bob ! Make that six ! We've had new batteries, a lot of wire joggling, even a whole new door lock but we're still back on the wire jiggling. Now if jiggling the wire is going to make it work then I'm not sure that's fixed ? !

We've had a few phone calls but I imagined them going something like this.
'Hi sweets! Yes I didn't get too wet this morning. No, I'm just on a boring job with a broken knob. Giggle! Cheeky ! ! No,some woman's tried shoving her credit card in the lock again! I know ! Eejit Europeans ! ! So, fancy a pint tonight? !'

I want to ask them where's the battery tester, why didn't they have everything to fix it with them? We're on the eleventh floor here so not good time management traipsing up and down for the next spare part. This is a big established hotel, this must have happened before ? !

All I can say is, ne, ne, yes, yes when they fill me in on the progress. Times like this, a gal wishes she had some electronics in her knowledge bank.

Hour and a half later, jobs done and we're all bowing to one another.

Go mab seom ni da!

Thank you!

Normal service will resume shortly.

I thought I was going to amaze you all with that post ! Dad has retired early and I've been beetling away figuring it all out.

To say I'm miffed with the result is a slight understatement.

Our engineer is working on the problem and we hope to have a better looking blog just as soon as she's had enough tea !

Go mab seom ni da.

Thank you.

Mum/Mil/Hil xxx

S E O U L M A M A

Sorry about the cheesy title but I couldn't pass it up now could I ? !

Since arriving in Seoul, Friday morning, Dad has shown me some of the sights. I'm not a very good traveller so I've been walking around with a head full of cotton wool till now. Luckily, we are staying in downtown Seoul so I'm hoping to re-visit these places over the next two weeks.

My first impressions are of a modern city with friendly citizens. It seems quite cosmopolitan with voices and faces from around the globe but predominantly Asian. English isn't spoken universally though it hasn't really been a stumbling block. We have a city map with a dozen or so phrases to help us out and I imagine as with anywhere, people smile to see us trying.

Dad's apartment has all mod cons, however, we think the kitchen is merely for fixing your g&t in ! Having said that, Dad did cook a mean beef stew on Sunday which we finally finished up tonight ! It was almost Korean, in fact, being more of a broth! We had our evening cuppa, afterwards, with something sweet. Or so we thought ! They looked like oblong croissants with a sugar glaze on top that was kind of green and speckledy ? ! They smelled of garlic. I tried my best but I'm left staring at the remains and now badly craving something sweet ! ! !

Tonight's shopping expedition was to Lotte, a large swish department store with big price labels. In the basement foodhall, the fresh food departments were shouting their wares ! Most bizarre ! We paid £4.00 for a lettuce which I shall extract every fiber of till there's just the memory of it for a sandwich.

Dad came home tonight with tickets to see a show called 'Jump', on Thursday night and 'Grease' on Sunday. Hopefully to be followed by some Korean cuisine ! I think there will be lots to keep us busy until I leave.

Two items to remember each time we step outside; bottled water and an umbrella. The air is very clammy but I keep telling myself it's good for the skin ! Some people have those filter masks on but not always up around their mouths and noses. Maybe it's the heat?!

The flora and fauna are exotic looking but we hear bird scaring devices a lot which means not much in the way of wildlife yet. Tonight we spotted four tiny kittens lying in the ridges of a small building's roof tiles. Maybe they love the heat. No Pol, they're still there !

Dad is very well appointed. Well, you knew that !

His office block is a five minute walk;

church, which is Myeong-dong Cathedral, twenty minutes; downtown shopping centres and markets ten minutes; a cooling walk along a river, ten minutes;

an historical site, which is actualy National Treasure No. 43 (they love their numbers) and includes the delightfully named Coquetry Chamber (more of this another time)ten minutes and a temple just next door. No need for any form of transport so far.

I knew nothing before I came here. I was actually expecting rickshaws or something similar ! As in any city, the car is Lord, with a few scooters thrown in for the effect. To cross the roads you wait for the silent green man, no helpful beeping and you'd better be fleet of foot ! I haven't been mown down yet but I've felt the scooters swish around me !!

Strangely, when making a transaction, they ask for a signature, no pin numbers ! Dad wonders if credit card fraud isn't a biggy here?! Since being here I have heard sirens maybe four times and we're in downtown Seoul ! No accidents? No crime?
People make a slight bow from the waist in greeting and offer you're change as they did in South Africa, with open palm that is offered to you, not thrust at you ala well, you name it? !

I would recommend Seoul to anybody, from everything I have experienced so far. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.

Now, if only I can get this blog to behave ? !

Mum/Mil/Hil xxx

After you've gone . . .

I fill the kettle too much

I look for the gates to be open

I walk the house for signs of you

I wake wondering what's wrong
            something is different
                     something has changed

I'm the one to run to the postman's knock in my pyjamas
      (a funny place to hear a knock!)

I share the joke with myself, knowing you'd laugh.

I listen to the silence
           and I wait . . .
            

Day Two of the hols.

First day of the hols.