What are your other interests?

[Lu]

Lol yea I also heard that, and that Rowan Atkinson came late

[Lu]

(brb gotto go and feed Mark's parents cat pills)

[Lauren]

Barbara wrote: "The expectation is that 2 billion people would be following the ceremony one way or the other. I can't even begin to imagine 2 billion people watching me. I wouldn't leave the house."

Yeah, me neither. I think I would have had a heart attack in the car or something. Mind you, she looked really tense during the vows. I think she was grinding her teeth a little.

[Barbara]

I don't know if Rowan Atkinson came late. I think I saw him entering the church, because I was very amazed at how grey his hair was. Or maybe that was someone else.
Anyone notice the Prince of Orange and his wife Princes Maxima of trhe Netherlands????
I saw them and was very proud of my own royals.

[Lauren]

I heard Orange and Maxima announced and thought of you :)

Was busy with a book review while I was watching so didn't see everyone.

[Barbara]

Even if you were glued to the screen you would have to look very intensely otherwise you would have missed it. That is a pity with the British very little interest in the other royals. normally these kind of events it is a joy to watch all the royals of the different countries and what everyone is wearing and who gets precedence over who in the seating arrangements, but with the British royal events they don't show the other royals. Partly because they don't care but also because there are no more important royals in the world than the British so they forget about the rest. But that was the same with the parents of Kate. Normally the parents of the party that is marrying into the royal family is broadcasted more than it was today. Found it a bit annoying. It is always touching to see the mother of the bride getting emotional and stuff like that. I missed that.

[Lauren]

Lu wrote: "(brb gotto go and feed Mark's parents cat pills)"

Hahahahahahahaha! I think that needs an apostrophe :)

[Lauren]

I can only think of Rowan Atkinson sneaking into the back of the church Mr Bean style :)

[Barbara]

I think I saw him in a group of people. Besides if he was really late, they wouldn't have let him in the church. This isn't the kind of affair were you can quietly sneak into and take a seat on the last row which you normally do when you're late.

[Lu]

Lauren wrote: "Lu wrote: "(brb gotto go and feed Mark's parents cat pills)"

Hahahahahahahaha! I think that needs an apostrophe :)"

Lol I blame my flu :P

[[deleted user]]

Hallo ladies!!!!!
I havent been on for a while, took leave with all the public holidays... but I'm back

I watched the whole wedding and loved every bit of it! But I'm into all of that, so that explains it.

Lauren, I also thought of Barbara when the announced Orange and Maxima :)

How have you all been?

[Lauren]

Hey Niecole, glad to have you back!
Meant to ask you about the Royal Wedding the other day, but didn't want to disturb you in case you were studying :) Were you also checking all the protocols like Barbara?

[[deleted user]]

Haha some yes :)
I loved how the schedule was put out, Kate had to leave the Hotel at 9 minutes to 11, not 10 minutes but 9... that was so cool!!!!

[Lauren]

Wow, that's very exact. But I suppose this isn't the kind of wedding where the bride can be late.
I kept wondering if she'd trip.

[[deleted user]]

I was thinking the same thing, when she got out of the car, what if she tripped!
But luckily everything went really well.

Yes, everything was very exact... I love the rules and regulations :)

[Lu]

I wonder if she wore sneakers underneath the dress, I would

[[deleted user]]

Maybe she wore like ballet flats... or imagine a pair of biker boots hehe

[Lauren]

I'd wear flats. It's embarrassing enough to trip in front of 1 person, nevermind 2 billion with the prospect of photos and videos sent out worldwide.

[Barbara]

That has been practised over and over again. So I do not know what kind of shoes she wore but she knew the ins and outs of every step she had to take. That is why they always kick a bit (very elegantly) when a royal bride gets out of the car or carriage. That is to kick the dress out of the way.
Same as with the carriage ride they made. She practised that also and they had great trouble in fixing the damn thing because apparantly it is something like being on a boat. Some people get really nauseous from the movement of the carriage and she was one of them so they had to do all kind of things to the carriage to keep it from moving too much.

[Lauren]

Even with practise I wouldn't trust myself not to trip in heels. But then again I can be clumsy lying in bed.

Where do you learn all this stuff Barbara?

[Barbara]

Reading books :P

I like royalty, always have. It is the fairytale in real life. And I love the glamour surrounding it. Besides we have a rather large royal family in the Netherlands so you grow up with it. Also I do read books and magazines about royalty and watch television shows. But it is part growing up with it. Like when I went to university there were a couple of royals attending the same university and our crown prince had just finished his studies but his girl friend of the time still attended so he was in town a lot and we saw him quite often. We even helped him escape his bodyguards. And then you hear stuff and see them in real life. But it is mostly reading and watching documentaries.

[Lauren]

Hmm, it's a slightly alien culture to me. My mom liked reading about the royals, but my knowledge never really extended beyond Charles and Diana, and as a result it never seemed like a real-life fairytale to me. Most royals aren't good looking enough, for one. Even Prince William is balding for heaven's sake. And Charles and Di's marriage was a terrible failure.

Without any relationship to the tradition in royalty, they didn't mean much to me. At best they were celebrities who hadn't done anything to deserve their fame. Like Paris Hilton.

[Barbara]

In the Netherlands it's different. The royals here have always earned their keep so to speak. At the very least they have always been a unifying factor in our country. But they have always been in the thick of things. They have very little politic power nowadays but if something happens they are there and help out so to speak. Also we have always had very little scandals in our royal family. Ok there has been an illegitimate child here and there but the last one who had illegitimate children was the father of our current queen and she is in her seventies so it isn't anything too recent. And besides that our royals are very normal and almost approachable unlike for example the English royals. Every weekend you can find the queen horse back riding in Scheveningen and when her sons were children she went cycling with them in Drente, one of our provinces and a very much loved holiday area. When the queen was younger she even went on her bike to school. She even got mad once at our crown prince when he was around 10 in front of the whole nation when he was being a bit obnoxious to the press. So even though they are our ruling family they are also one of us. You should see them on our Koninginnedag. This is the day that we celebrate the queen's birthday. On this day she visits two towns which have organized games and music and it is filled with traditions and stuff. It is hard to explain because I think it is typical dutch but it is quite fun. She visits these two towns with her 3 sons and their wives and her sister and brother in law and their 4 sons and their wives. (She has two other sisters but their no longer in line for the throne and so they no longer have any official public obligations) You would think that they have all seen it by now since they have been doing this for 30 years but they still have fun doing it and their is a strict schedule to keep which they never manage because every one wants to try the games and stuff so they always run late.
So that is why I find it very interesting. We have been very lucky in our royals and they are very interesting.
That they aren't very good looking only makes them more like us. The only thing I hate is people finding royals pretty or handsome because they are royal. Like Diana when she was alive and William. They both aren't very good looking but every one says they are.

[Chrizette]

I have just discovered beading - more specifically bead weaving. Wow, I have been missing out! Just love, love, love it! Unfortunately I am finding it hard to find shops and beading classes. If anyone can help I will be eager to hear from you. I have also started a little beading blog to show what I learn and how I (hope) grow. http://beadsoupmix.blogspot.com

Does anyone else bead? Please PM me, would love to chat about it. :)

[Lu]

pretty blog! Will try and share it around a bit :)

[Chrizette]

Lu wrote: "pretty blog! Will try and share it around a bit :)"

Thank you, Lu. That would be great, it is a new blog, so I do not get lots of activity yet :)

[Pierre]

Faith and I are sort of back-packing in South East Asia. We sailed our old boat here (had to get SA Reserve Bank's permission to do that).

Africa sure calls. Especially dear South Africa. Here's some Kwela for you. It was very popular when we were children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BghcwU...

And here's some traditional South African songs, which sound to me like Stellenbosch or Cape Town varsity students getting together with a guitar.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=kom+sing...

To keep in touch with our family, Faith has put together a website which covers about forty of our voyages illustrated with over a hundred pics.

http://sites.google.com/site/yachtsenta/

We have two biological children, Brett in Pretoria, and Ingrid on contract in Munich, Germany.

And an adopted son. Ha-ha, Themba Nguni adopted me as his father. After he matriculated I blew my entire royalties from my first novel on sending him to teachers training college.

Clever Themba, as a high school teacher in Newcastle, used his salary to put himself through Unisa, majoring in maths and science.

Hoping I have given you interesting things.

All the best for 2012.


Pierre

[Varla Fiona]

My newest interest is fencing. I started at the beginning of September and this past weekend got to learn from and fence against a Swiss fencer who was 10th in the world. I have bruises to prove it!

[[deleted user]]

This is rather interesting!!!
I've always wanted to do something interesting like that... I've always been interested in archery...

[Varla Fiona]

I really am enjoying it, even though I get interesting collections of bruises almost every week!

Archery is also something I would like to do. My friend has a long bow. I keep telling him to let me play...

[[deleted user]]

Sounds very cool!

[Lu]

I recently got into cross stitch. So much fun! But I am struggling a bit with my eyes, so it is on the back burner for now.

[Carolien]

I hate anything that involves needle and thread, hopeless at it.

[Lu]

I find it soothing :D

I also painted my first painting a few days ago. Love trying new hobbies.

[Carolien]

Enjoy, I stick to baking and I have started making my own sourdough bread (like everybody else) in lockdown. I also learned to make bagels - a bit of a process, but very good.

[Lu]

I'm useless at baking, which is probably for the best, I would eat everything in sight!

Drool over just the thought of sourdough!