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| ADVENTURES IN CROATIA : 4 ZADARHere we are with my fourth post regarding our little five-day break in Croatia - the final part of our week was Friday, which saw us travelling right up through the bottom part of Croatia, from Dubrovnik all the way up to Zadar, in order to catch our plane back to London...and as we arrived with three or four hours to spare, we decided to see the old centre of Zadar, where we understood some Roman remains still stood... ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| ADVENTURES IN CROATIA : 3 DUBROVNIKThe second half of our five day jaunt to Croatia, a few weeks ago, was spent in the romantic southern city of Dubrovnik - a wonderful little old port, with loads of islands off its coast to explore, and a simply fabulous Old Town in the centre, paved with creamy-white marble, and furnished with golden sandstone buildings all decorated with gorgeous medieval carvings - the whole city surrounded by high fiercely-fortified walls, which today, are one of the best walks in Europe... ( Come and see this beautiful little city...Collapse ) | |
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| ADVENTURES IN CROATIA : 2 SALONA - A RUINED ROMAN CITYDuring our two or three days in Split, we made sure we had time to go out to the ancient ruins of Salona, just in the suburbs of the city - and after seeing all the beautiful artefacts in the Archaeological Museum in Split the day before, it was great to put everything we saw there into the context of the place itself. ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| ADVENTURES IN CROATIA : 1 SPLIT - A ROMAN CITYLast week, we decided to make a return journey, after five years, to one of the most interesting Ancient Roman sites in Europe, and one which you don't hear much about really - Split, the city that grew up inside a Roman Emperor's Palace !! We also decided to combine it with a visit to uncharted territory for us - Dubrovnik, down in the South of Croatia, on the Dalmation coast !! We flew to Zadar in the north of Croatia, and hired a car to drive down to Split which is about half way down. There we would have three days to explore both the ancient/modern city of Split and the ancient ruins of Salona, just there in the suburbs, and photograph everything we needed to, before driving the rest of the way down to the very south of Croatia, and the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik. We'd have two nights there before driving all the way back to Zadar for our return flight home to London on Friday... ( Come and explore with us...Collapse ) | |
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| GUINNESS AD - IN CESKY KRUMLOV !!Oh my - just look at this !! This turned up on Facebook, posted from a friend who has been to this little medieval town himself, along with us, during their annual Festival of the Five-Petalled Rose - he couldn't believe that Guinness had used it to film their latest advert - but, yes, it's true... Adam and I are of the opinion that they used the main shots from Cesky Krumlov and the neighbouring town, Cesky Budjevice, (for the clock tower anyway) and spliced scenes together !! The centre Square is most definitely Cesky Krumlov anyway...so do come and see this beautiful little town for yourself... If you have enjoyed my posts about our various holidays around Europe before going there, do come and see this short video, and if you've missed out on my photos from this amazing little corner of Eastern Europe, then by all means, do go to the link below and read all about this Medieval town and its annual festival - costumes, jousting, locally-brewed beer, spit-roast pork in the street - you name it... http://wendylady1.livejournal.com/tag/travelling%20in%20central%20europeWhat fun !! | |
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| FASHION POLICE FILES UPDATE...  PRE-FALL COLLECTIONS : 1 & 2 NOW POSTED !!For all of my new LJ friends who have come here as a result of the latest round of friending that has been going on lately, here is an invitation to come on over to my fashion blog, and read my latest red-carpet-prediction runway reports from the Pre-Fall Collections that have been going on over the last month or so. Come and drool over the latest evening and cocktail party dresses, and try and predict who will wear what and when... Part 1 is here:- http://wendylady2.livejournal.com/139447.htmlPart 2 is here:- http://wendylady2.livejournal.com/139668.htmlThe Golden Globes are happening tonight of course, and my report on the Best Dressed and Worst Dressed will be up over the course of the next week or so - I take my time as I have a full time job, and have to fit this in around it, and I also like to be thorough with lots of good detail shots - so keep a look out for that !! Do feel free to befriend my fashion blog if you like what you see - you have to be a friend in order to comment and chat !! | |
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| PORTMEIRION  WELCOME TO 'THE VILLAGE'...We decided to go away for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day this year, as we had the opportunity of a four day break, which in retail is extremely rare at this time of year, as you may guess !! Adam took it into his head that it would be interesting to go and see one of the most iconic TV locations in Britain today - the little hotel-village of Portmeirion. The older readers in here may possibly recognise this place from the late 60s cult TV Sci-fi drama " The Prisoner" starring Patrick McGoohan, and a whole raft of other British thesps drafted in to play Number 2 to Patrick's Number 6 ( I am not a number - I am a free man !!)(The amazing panoramic shot above is an amalgamation of two panoramas taken by my friend Russ, who accompanied us on this trip and contributed several of the photographs herein...so thank you Russ !!) We decided to drive up to North Wales, on Sunday 30th December, and stop on the way to take a look at Ironbridge near Telford, another place we wanted to see, so I'll natter about that in my next post. For now, come and see the amazing architectural surrealism of Portmeirion in all its glory - it's a long one, so be prepared for about eighty-five or so big pics... ( Here's what we found there...Collapse ) | |
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| TO ALL MY LJ FRIENDS... IMPORTANT : COME AND LINK TO THIS POST...Wishing all my brilliant LJ friends a Very Happy New Year... I have had a bit of an epiphany today - If like me, you have had that shrinking feeling where LJ is concerned, let's do something about it - let's take matters into our own hands and get ourselves known out there:-I got wind of this from a couple of other journals who are hosting similar things to this, so I thought I would too, as I think it's a great idea... If, like me, you are getting a bit low on LJ friends, and would like to attract new readers to your journal, post in here with a brief description of your own journal - what you like to write about, what you like to read about, and what kind of people you would like to be friends with. Then, most importantly, go and post on your own journal with a link to this post, and urge your existing friends to do the same - hopefully, we will all get to know some new people and make some new friends in here..let's make this go a bit viral...feel free to make new friends galore !! I mentioned two other people hosting similar ventures - here are the links to their posts :- http://users.livejournal.com/lindalee_/1336803.htmlhttp://blue-eye.livejournal.com/1145005.htmlPlease support them, and me in this, as I'm sure you agree, we could probably all do with some new friends - it's lovely to meet new people... | |
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| TO ALL MY FRIENDS... Christmas is once again upon us, and - hey look - we're all still here, despite the general nonsense going around about the world ending, just because some ancient Mayan couldn't see past yesterday's date !! Live Journal is so quiet these days isn't it - even I don't post nearly as often as I used to, which is a shame, because this used to be such a lively place - with discussions and debates, and interesting posts - and a dedicated place on your Home page where you could find interesting journals as well as the most popular communities...but not any more !! The demise of the LJ Spotlight has had a really detrimental effect on my fashion journal - I can't get it highlighted every so often to boost readership levels any more, so my readership has suffered a natural drop-off, and now I only get around 200-300 hits per day instead of the usual 900-1000 - quite a drop in numbers, as you can see... Where is everyone ? This weekend, it's still raining I see, so perhaps I will post a couple of posts today, concerning my recent Christmas decorating at work, and at home...come and see when the posts appears !! How about we all post some photos of our own homes decorated for Christmas - I could do with some Good Cheer !! | |
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| "SONG OF THE LONELY MOUNTAIN"
Oh - I can't wait to see this movie - someone quick - get me this soundtrack for Christmas !! | |
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| CANTERBURY TALES : 2  DEAL CASTLE - HENRY VIII 'S BORDER CONTROLHere we are down in Kent again - this time, we're off to one of King Henry VIII's Tudor Rose-shaped fortifications that he ordered to be built all around the South coast of England - very wisely actually, in view of two important facts:- Firstly, he had just divorced himself from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, in favour of a newer, younger model, thus pissing off his greatest ally against France, the King of Spain. Secondly, he had just established himself as the Head of the newly created Church of England, thus pissing off mightily the Pope - possibly the most important man on the planet at the time... Therefore he knew that England stood a great chance of being invaded by Spain/France/the Pope's forces - or any combination of these !! ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| CANTERBURY TALES : 1 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL - A MEDIEVAL MASTERPIECE !!We've enjoyed a couple of weekend trips to the fine city of Canterbury recently, with our good friend Russ, who lives in nearby Herne Bay, so I thought I'd regale you with the highlights of the various historic places we've seen there, starting with a mega-post concerning one of Britain's finest churches. Put aside a good half hour to read this and absorb the inspiring beauty within. It must be said that whatever else we do, us Brits can produce a fabulous cathedral... ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| AUTUMN COLOURS AT RHS WISLEY : THE 'TASTE OF AUTUMN' FESTIVALYesterday we went off to enjoy the rich Autumn colours and taste the great food at the ' Tastes of Autumn' Festival, down at RHS Wisley in Surrey - and as you all know, this is where Adam works. He used to be the Head of Wisley Shop, but is now their Buyer of Books, not just for the Wisley shop, but for all the RHS Gardens, from Rosemoor down in Devon right up to Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire. He changed his job recently and therefore is now responsible for, amongst other things, getting great writers in to sign their books and speak about what they do best, especially when there is a fabulous foodie festival going on and loads of people about !! This year, Adam managed to get one of our great garden designers, Cleve West, to come and speak about his new book on allotment gardening, called ' Our Plot', and so he had to go in to work on Saturday, for about six hours, to make sure that Cleve had everything he needed for two one-hour long talks and book-signing sessions. What a great opportunity for me to go along with him, and have a good look at all the great produce stalls, buy a few goodies, and photograph the stunning Autumn colours currently on show around the garden itself !! ( Come and see the lovely Autumn colours...Collapse ) | |
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| OCTOBER UPDATES...As I don't update in here nearly often enough - I thougt that I would do a slight recap on everything that's happened over the Summer, and tell you about up and coming posts about the various trips we've had and places we've visited lately... ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| ROMAN VERULAMIUM... A DAY OUT IN ST. ALBANS !!Yesterday, Adam and I, accompanied by our other Ancient Roman fan-friend, Russ, decided that a day-trip out to St. Albans would be just the ticket !! It's only about 45-50 minutes drive out from where we live in West London, and has perhaps one of the best Roman mosaic floors ever found in Britain - astoundingly, we've never seen it - and as you all know - I just love a good mosaic floor !! Here's where we went, what we did, and what we found there... ( Come and see all the pretty artefacts...Collapse ) | |
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| MADNESS PERFORM FOR HER MAJESTY...
For anyone who missed that amazing concert last Monday evening, this is one video you simply MUST see - it's just fabulous !! Put it on full screen mode to get the full effect.
( I wonder what Queenie thought of this ?!! ) | |
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| CHELSEA IN BLOOM :- PETER JONES : OUR COMPETITION ENTRYHere we are with this year's entry into the annual ' Chelsea in Bloom' floral window-design competition - this was designed by my colleague, Mary, who went for the very patriotic Queen's head on a postage stamp image, densely packed with velvety dark red roses, many of which have been studded with tiny diamanté crystal pins in the centres - and it is absolutely beautiful !! This is in three layers from back to front - the background is an MDF panel wall-papered with a baroque design of silver on dark blue. The second layer is the white frame, hanging in the centre of the window, which is the edging of the stamp, and that has been covered with white mixed flowers, including creamy-white roses. Then the final layer is the very front one which is the actual Queen's head, covered in dark red roses, studded with crystals... You can vote for your favourite window design by going to the Chelsea in Bloom website here - this is the gallery page, where you can scroll down to choose your favourite:- http://www.chelseainbloom.co.uk/gallery/Please lend yo your support by voting for Peter Jones' Queen Elizabeth stamp !! | |
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| PETER JONES ON FACEBOOK... COME & VISIT...For anyone with a facebook profile, who has ever visited our lovely store in Chelsea, and even if you haven't, do us a favour and click on the like button - we get to keep our own personal store fb page if we get 100,000 likes within one month !! Come and like our Peter Jones Facebook page here:- http://www.facebook.com/PeterJonesSloaneSquare | |
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| PETER JONES : SERVICES WINDOW 46 - 52 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2011 Time to update my work files in here as I haven't spoken about any projects since Christmas, and there have been several things I have had involvement in over the last six months... Seeing as next week I am about to create another Peter Jones Services window in the same window-space, I thought it would be prudent to post about this window I did in August last year... Just to give you a little insight into what my work here at Peter Jones involves sometimes, I will talk about the planning process for a big window like this !! The window was to promote some of the services we offer - the Home Design Service, the Kitchen Planning Service and the Bedroom Planning Service - all of which required a little room-set to bring it to people's attention, and if there's one thing I really enjoy about my job, it's planning a little room-set !! ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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| PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE AWAY THE FREEDOM OF THE INTERNET ...
Remember - 'Anonymous' aren't all just a load of evil hackers - at least they are trying to do something to raise awareness - let's help them by reposting their message everywhere !!
ACT NOW TO STOP THIS MADNESS !! REPOST THIS TO YOUR OWN BLOG... | |
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| THE DANCE OF THE SPIRITS
This is fabulous !!
I have never really seen the Aurora Borealis in full action like this - this was filmed in January when there was a whole spate of sun-spot activity and major solar storms.
You have to view this in full-screen mode - it's just amazing !! The music is lovely too... | |
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| HAPPY NEW YEAR !! What an utterly spectacular fireworks display in the centre of London last night !! If you didn't see it, come in here and view the BBC video - it's worth seeing !! I loved all the pics from around the globe as various cities did their own thing at midnight too...so I have collected a few of them together for my New Year post today...Happy New Year everyone... ( Come and see all the fireworks....Collapse ) | |
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|  It's Christmas again !! How fast the year has gone... I can't quite believe that this journal has been running for six years - I've just posted an opinion poll over at my other journal - 'The Fashion Police Files' (and if you are a friend of that journal you will already have seen it on your own Friends Page) - anyway, when I did, I realised that that journal has been running for five years, and it was started just under a year after this one... Have a lovely Christmas everyone and a really great New Year !! I hope that 2012 will bring you everything you wish for... | |
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| PETER JONES CHRISTMAS BLING !! COME AND SEE...Our Christmas windows and decs have been installed since the beginning of November, but because I've been so busy, what with loads of stuff to write about over at the Fashion Police Headquarters, and loads of Christmas shopping and other related stuff to do, the pics of our lovely department store have been on the back burner for a while...however, this weekend I have a little time to devote to showing you all just what I have been up to for the last two months... ( Do come and see what I've been up to.Collapse ) | |
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| WARNING: - There is currently a phishing attack on Live Journal - if you haven't read about this already on your own Profile/update page, read all about it here - do not enter your username and password into any pop-up that you come across on LiveJournal... http://lj-support.livejournal.com/840844.html | |
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| NEVER A TRUER WORD... Spoken in Jest...*Runs away laughing... | |
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| TOURING THE CANARY ISLANDS... TENERIFE, GRAN CANARIA & LANZAROTEAfter we departed from Madeira, we spent an entire day out to sea as we crossed the bit of ocean between Madeira and the Canary Islands - the next morning, we were greeted with this amazing sight from our balcony at about 7am...the sun was just rising to our left, and to our right, there was the blackest cloud I've ever seen - a massive thunderstorm over the island of Tenerife, and this beautiful rainbow appeared as the sun hit the waterdrops...stunning !! Our first port of call in the Canaries, and our second on the whole cruise, was Santa Cruz in Tenerife, followed the next day by Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, and then on our third day here, in Arrecife in Lanzarote...the ship did its sailing at night, and on most days, we were already in port by the next morning. ( Read more...Collapse ) | |
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