Hope & a Home for Cambodian Children - barmAID final get together

You must have all seen the launch of barmAID - the 'spoof' of LiveAID that we hope will raise a lot of money for the less fortunate in Cambodia? Why barmAID lots keep asking. We have LiveAID, BandAID etc. so I came up with (if you read it fast as one word) barmaid - barmAID. Get it?

Money will be going to provide houses, livestock, orphanage support, schooling, HIV disease management - you name it. It makes you feel very proud about what we are about to do.

SO quick sales pitch PLEASE if you have not bought your tickets drop me a line brian.kennett@bt.com and I shall get some to you in exchange for a mere SGD50 which includes your first drink. Or go on line to the donation site and please put in the free text barmAID - https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/btasiapaccsr

PLEASE - anything you give really will make such a difference to so many!

Every single other cent goes to our charities - Tabitha Foundation and Hope For Cambodian Children. 

Come on do some good today!

But also let's have fun along the way - it always seems to be the best way to get people to part with their money ha ha ha - hence barmAID, hence connecting up with great mates of ours from Standard Chartered Bank and Henley Group this year - great friends.

It's getting close to 26th so we decided to get together for a final run through for the night - Craig & Jane Armstrong, Dougy, DJ Damo & Ivy, Howard and my little gang. Very nice Saturday afternoon at Brotzeit down at Raffles City.

Finalising drinks, drink tickets, fancy dress. singing comp, silent/loud auction, raffle, the band, the video, the thanks, the layout, the decorations, the patron's speech, the tequila... the list goes on.

It's going to be BIG - but it's going to be FUN - and it will mean SO MUCH to others.

Dougy and I - practicing for the press photo shoot on the day.

DJ Damo's lovely little daughter Ivy. 

Indulge me - quick story. Met Damo for 1st time through barmAID planning. Lovely fella, had some beers etc. Go to Amy's 'Parent's Day' at her school and he's sat there. What you doing here mate? My daughter goes to this school. Wow never seen you here before, which one is your daughter? That one over there, Ivy. You mean the one sat next to my daughter Amy, they're best mates at school. F*ck me! 

Small world kicks in to play yet again!

Bottom left to right is - Howard, DJ Damo, Craig and Jane - such lovely people!!!

Notice no Ollie with us today as he was off at SOTA (hopefully his new school) taking some exams and doing his talent academy. Good luck Ollie!

Yours truly - yes we're having a few frothys - hey it was a lovely Saturday afternoon.

All that organising was very thirsty work.

OK now I go a bit crazy on photos of those two mates that have not seen each other for about a month with our trip to UK and Amy's week long jet lag afterwards. So here they are re-united.

Ivy clearly won't be biting too many apples at the moment - but man she's good with a straw.

OMG - come on how cute is this!

OK this is an above and below caption. They started to play this game - almost like British Bulldog (remember that). As we're outside a shop centre there is 1,000's of people going back and forth doing their shopping. So the girls took up a new game of dodge the shopper, standing at opposite sides of the sidewalk and then pointing when there was a gap and running through it crossing over in the middle. So in effect the ends have change, repeat the process.

So these faces above and below are 'gap spotting' - I think Ivy spotted a big one!!!

Another one - dear me! 

So Kawaii girls.

Gives a bit of a better perspective as to where we were.

We're sat outside/inside on those tables and chairs. Left is the walk way with main road as the 'border', behind the girls is the other main road crossing at the intersection you can see top left. That road goes to where Ollie is at school taking exams hence choosing this location.

So as you can see MAIN intersection - therefore 1,000's of people walking back and forth.

And the white building top right is...

Answers on a postcard...

It's Raffles Hotel.

Howard and DJ Damo chinking a glass or two.

Gawd knows what they're drinking though? 

I say landlord we'll have two pints of your brownest sloppy sh*t please!

Still they look happy, bless em.

The girls going nuts again - seems they are now not crossing in the middle, but running the gauntlet together. By they way you see their mouths re opened, almost as if they were screaming and shouting. Cough Cough - yes indeed they were.

My little angle Amy. 

Back to the girls.

Either they're doing the Birdy Song or put too much deodorant on that morning!?

Last ones of our very hectic organisation session - yes yes I know it looks like all we did was drink and play. But why would you want to see a photo of 6 adults chatting about what t-shirts to print.

Exactly!!!

So hence these photos of a lovely afternoon.

DJ Damo - goes mad and starts hurtling the girls round. Can you imagine the squawks and screams coming from the two of them for this???

Sorry to Mary not a single shot of her for this day - don't know why, no excuse - I just didn't - SO sorry Mary. xxx

The Di Stefano's said Hi for literally one hour

Had we have got to Rome - we would have been there the same time as Mario, Di and the boys.

You have seen my blog re that one - say no more!

Shame.

But bless them they flew back to Melbourne via Singapore. We nearly missed them but were able to have an hour or so with them before they flew back. 

What fun as always.

So lovely to see them, our great great friends - we miss massively!

But when we meet up, it is like we have never been apart!

Love em!

Seriously though, how grown up are these guys getting now.
Amazing!

So grown up they're ordering their own cocktails now.

Check it out.

Some fruity thing with flamed meringue on top.

Dear me!

A quick snap of the adults.

Have to say my beer looks bloody boring compared to what the kids are drinking!

Mario, Di and the boys had to leave to the airport.

Ollie wanted Monkey nuts so off to Raffles and The Long Room for a beer and monkey nuts, including monkey nut fight. I think you'll see all my lot have monkey nuts in hand about to throw em at me.

Buggers!

Canterbury and Cuba all in one day...

Day No.3 in UK and off to Canterbury for an explore and some shopping and family lunch.

Canterbury is just a beautiful city, steeped in history as you walk within the walls of the old city, see the market places, historic buildings and of course the cathedral.

Did you know it was originally called Durovenum Cantiacorum by Roman conquerors in 1st Century AD. After that we got it to Canterbury when it was a Jutish settlement - but it was derived from the Old English Cantwareburh (which means Kent people's stronghold) - how about that!

Christianity took over Kent in 597, and that concluded with the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and when Thomas Becket (see Dover Castle blog) got whacked in 1170 it turned in to a sort of holy pilgrimage location for Christian's across the Globe. In fact where do you think Chaucer's 14th century story, Canterbury Tales, came from - yep the pilgrimage to Canterbury.

Take out the people and the building and possibly this is what it would have looked like back then. In the distance you'll see the stone building which is Westgate Towers, one of the entrances to the walled city and then the straight walk up, the now, High Street to the Cathedral.

Sneak peak down the side street - this place is bloody amazing.

It's just overpowering when you stand and look.

Everywhere you turn there is history.

Beautiful stained glass windows on the houses along the river.

Higgle di Piggledy houses from medieval times in the main.

See what I mean above the heads of the shoppers, not one shop is the same.

What a lovely lunch we had with my Mum, Nan, , Sis, Bro and (new sis to be) Claire.

I really cocked up though as I ate one of the nicest slow roasted pork belly dishes ever, and I didn't get a bloody photo for food blog. Dickhead. It was bloody good!

Out the back of the restaurant is this - a VERY old building sitting on the river. Now a restaurant/coffee shop as well. But in the olden times there was a witches ducking stool. 

Yep if she survives a drowning on the stool she is a witch and needs to be burnt at the stake.

If she dies, she's not a witch - well done!

How bizarre.

Guilty until proven innocent by dying - hmmmmm!

My beautiful girl Amy.

Just coming back from the loo and looking out the window.

Gorgeous AmyBoo.

Whilst we were having lunch she was busy colouring in a picture that the waitress then took and posted on the restaurant wall. So even though we are now back in Singapore, some of Amy's artwork is still in Canterbury a hanging on a wall. I think she was quite proud of her work, do you?

Didn't know this, but Michael Caine has a restaurant here in Canterbury - interesting.

Went a tad arty with this one.

A sort of monument come statue in the square outside the gates to the Cathedral.

Turn around and you get this above the gate to the Cathedral - how amazing is this stuff.

My old symbol of work when working for Her Majesties Customs and Excise - the portcullis. I think it was on my old work hat as the badge.

We bought sweeties at this Olde English Sweet Shop - selling all the old favourites. Here's my Mary tucking in to a bag of chocolate honeycomb. I think she said something like I need to eat it fast before it melts? Good one babe.

I love these two - messing about with foreground and background focus again on the new camera.

Here's my little girl and my brother - nicely both wearing pink (yes I did have a strong word with DK re this - ha ha).

And this is where the Cuban reference kicks in - as we're sitting in a Cuban Bar, drinking Cuban beer in a lovely sunny back garden off the High Street. Lovely! Chilling and chatting and playing with the kids. What a fantastic end to the day in Canterbury. Just lovely!

I don't think Darren could wait any longer to have his drink by normal means of picking it up and sipping. Not DK, he's so manly he snorts his beer!

Sis and Ollie - nice!

Although Nikkie said delete it I hate my photos, I think this is a belter Sis.

Don't know what happened here.

Amy became a wickle baby, sucking her wickle thumby.

Goo Goo, Gaa, Gaa.

My choice of beverage.

When in Rome...

Well when in a bar in Canterbury that is of the Cuban origin...

2 Cristals thanks love!

Sorry - but indulge me as this is pretty cool.

I found a new function on the camera for taking sports shots.

So I asked Ollie to go to one corner and run to me - click, click, click, click...

What's fun is if you scroll down fast, it looks like he's running at you - cool!

Kids playing. New game from Amy is...

Yep Zombie faces - oooooohhhhh scary Amy!!!

And Ollie doing his Zombie face - whoa Ollie EVEN SCARIER, how did you pull that face mate?

And the final one - a keeper for the family album thank you muchly.

A beauty of my kids with their Uncle and soon to be Aunt.

Plain lovely innit!!!

Sad but Happy - Happy but Sad...

Of course we went to see my Darling Nina.

Still it is just a piece of stone, with some grass, and some flowers and an old photo.

It was lovely to 'see' her and have some long chats with Amy about Mummy Nina - that meant a great deal to me. Thanks to my Mary for being there too with me/us.

So sad, but happy.

That same evening we had a couple of pints sat in the garden at The Green Man. What a lovely evening. But it was our last, as we were saying goodbye in literally about 30 minutes after this shot.

So Happy, but Sad.