Karaoke and New Year's

Well today is Pancake Day, or the day before Ash Wednesday. It is tradition in England to have Pancake's for dinner since you aren't suppose to have meat. And, apparently, they eat their pancakes with lemon. Not sure about that, will have to wait and see.

Well, onto Matt's Karaoke Party and New Year's Eve.

The Karaoke Party

Matt is John's best friend and the groom in the wedding we will be attending in May and then in Portugal in September. His birthday falls on the same day as my sister Amanda's, the 28th of December. By tradition, he throws a karaoke party in Bristol, where he lives, every year. John and I left his parents house on the 27th to stay at Mike's, John's aunt's boyfriend, house. First of all, we checked the price on this house afterward and it was worth about a million dollars. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have stayed in a house worth a million bucks.

You walked in and there was an elaborate hallway with stairs wounding up. To the right was a living room about the size of my apartment in Torrance. Huge carpet, hardwood floors, full windows, and a fireplace. If you looked up, you had the elaborate ceiling decorations of the Victorian Era to gaze upon. Down the hall past the stairs was the dining room on the right, and then the kitchen. Again, elaborate, everything you could imagine technologically, tile floors, etc. To the right of the kitchen was, I guess you would call it, a conservatory. It had three sofa's, all glass, bookshelfs, and a coffee table. Then there was a wooden deck outside with table and chairs and and an expansive back garden. Upstairs took you to three bedrooms, one bathroom, and an office. My bedroom was about as big as mom's living room, decorated ceiling, gorgeous chandelier, etc. I was in heaven. The heat was on timers so we were never cold. My only picky thing was that there was only one toilet for the entire house. Other than that, I want one, can I have a house just like that please for next Christmas! Anyone, . . . anyone?

Well, after staying there a night we headed off to Matt's Karaoke Party. He had actually rented a Karaoke room upstairs in a pub. Due to tradition, the first song of the evening was 'Daydream Believer' Everyone from Bristol that I knew, and quite a few I hadn't met yet, were there singing. Only the boys could really sing, the girls tried, including myself, but we had fun doing it. I would have to say Nick and John, not my John but Al's brother were the best in my opinion.

I couldn't sing, my voice was gone due to my cold, but I still belted out as best as I could, 'I Will Survive', 'Sweet Home Alabama', 'Walk Like an Egyptian', and 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot'. What was surprising was how many of the English people there had no clue who Pat Benatar was. They had never heard that song before!
John sang many songs, but I remember him singing, 'Waterloo', 'I Would Walk Five Hundred Miles' and together we sang 'Imagine Me and You' by the Turtles. At the end of the night, again as tradition, everyone got up on the stage and sang 'Hey Jude'. It was so much fun and I can't wait again for December 28th, next year I plan on being healthy!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Year's Eve


The plan was to spend New Year's at the Winchester, or somewhere local. John and I decided we did not want to fight the crowd in Central London. So we went down to the Winchester, met up with Chris, Dee, Dan, Simon, and everyone else and sat and drank until 10 minutes before midnight. Then we walked the 39 steps to Nicola, Gid, and Helen's apartment and celebrated with them and the rest of the people at her party. It was great. They had the TV on and we could hear Big Ben go off, see the fireworks on the Thames, and tried singing to the best of our ability, 'Auld Lang Syne'. After that different DJ's, including my very own John, played dance music and we all cut loose, dancing like mad! Such a life and such friends I have over here.

It was the best New Year's I have had in a VERY very long time.