TAR - ZXL Version

Well..since today is Wednesday aka TAR day whenever the season is on..i shall attempt to blog in TAR fashion..(Sad to say, they do not have TAR on UK tv..but thanks to my frens back in Sg..i've been pretty much updated on the series..it's a Family edition this season..is it not..?)

*TAR music comes on*

Some of you have been wondering..wat have i been doing since my work at TP ended after they'd closed for the winter..well..besides nuahing (& getting even fatter)..i've been doing a bit of travelling as well..

And so, for some 2 weeks in Nov..i was travelling around England..with 2 other pple..no, not fish..nor her sis..

Anyway, what many of u do not know is tat my parents were in UK recently..I would be the first to admit tat we're not exactly the happy-family-poster-material..without going into details..all i will say is..we'll make good reality tv show.. *.*

I had rented a car for the duration they were here..& I have new-found respect for TAR contestants who can arrive in a totally foreign country & start driving around..

Armed with a trusty road atlas(the one i used previously when i drove up to Rye but ended in Reading, which is in the opp direction) & my good ole LP..i began the ambitious plan of a driving holiday in UK with my parents in tow..with my dad refusing to drive (he says he's not familiar with UK roads) & both parents declaring the wordings on the atlas too small for their 'lao hua yan'..i ended up being the driver AND the navigator..imagine trying to figure out which exit to take on the motorway..while driving at 140km/h..definitely not recommended..

There were also a few driving firsts for me this time round..driving thru heavy fog(finally used the fog lamps for wat they're meant for - fog, & not for 'high-beaming' pple)..wiping frost away from the windscreen after a 30min road break(not quite cold enuf for snow yet..so u end up getting frost instead)..driving into central london..

& i must say it's was quite daunting for me to drive in central london..while i can navigate fairly alright on foot among the main shopping belt, ie. Piccadilly Circus..Oxford Street..Bond Street..driving is a totally different matter..with the one-way streets & dead ends tat seemed to appear at every other corner..and traffice jams even at 10pm(yes, Xmas shopping has started)..it's the same reason why u would not recommend a tourist in Sg to drive to Orchard Road..

anyway, i think i can declare myself to be 'quite a competent' driver after all these..can jio me for road trips next time..(bee, u reading this?)

One major 'roadblock' tat my parents have been facing throughout their whole trip is the weather..they're not used to the bitter cold(i warned them about 10,000x before they flew over)..the ave day temp was in the single digits..dropping to minus on a few nites..it's worse when we're in some confined areas, eg. in the car..where both of them will be wrapped up in layers & layers of winter clothing & asking for the heater to be turned up somemore..& i'll be wearing a single layer & be on the verge of perspiring..(i've always had a better-than-normal tolerance towards cold & i reckon these months had upped my tolerance further more)

And then, there're the mealtimes.. where every meal became a detour..Chinese or Western? It's more comforting to eat Chinese food but they are hard to find(esp out of london) & typically more expensive(with no guarantee they'll taste authentic)..while Western food is abundant & relatively cheaper..my parents cannot accept the idea of eating a chicken caesar tortilla wrap for dinner..@_@

& of cos..there's no Phil standing at the pitstop welcoming us & telling us tat we've won a vacation to XXX, courtesy of XX airlines..only me heading off to the nearest internet station for my dose of ZXL Times..