simonssite.com

Yeh, I’ve been lazy recently sorry and haven’t been updating this.

So we had a brilliant time in California really. I spent an afternoon on the beach, and got a little colour, but not too much. We basically spent the rest of the week chilling and relaxing - no more shopping or anything like that.

The scenery really was amazing there, and I would definitely go back there for another holiday. It would have been nice to check out some of the local bars, but unfortunately Ailse isn’t old enough to drink in the US - being only a young 18 year old!

Someplace Ailse and I did manage to go to though was In-n-Out Burger  - it’s meant to be the best fast food you can get. They take their quality very seriously - for example never freezing their burgers, and peeling the potatoes for their fries in the restaurant itself. There’s quite a few of them now. The only thing that drove us a bit mental was that they wouldn’t take cards, and there were no ATMs nearby that were working. So basically we had to drive around for 30 minutes after we’d found the place trying to get cash out of a machine. Very frustrating!

That’s one of their burgers on the right there - now I wouldn’t say it looks high quality but at least the lettuce looks nice and fresh, doesn’t it ? Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself it was not incredibly unhealthy. On our last day in California, we headed over to Newport Beach, where they film exterior shots for The O.C. Unfortunately we couldn’t seem to find the right ‘bit’ - the bits we seemed to find were pretty shady, although we did find a really nice old fashioned American diner to have lunch in. That’s a picture of it below.

On our last night, we went to a great restaurant called Hush. It was EXTREMELY expensive, but very nice and funky, and I think it was where the cool Laguna Beachers go. We all took a taxi so got just a little bit tipsy. Next day it was off to the airport, and a flight back to Dallas. Didn’t really do that much in Dallas - just had a quick look round the shops and got Jill and Tobey an engagement present. After that it was back to London for a day, before heading to Belfast on Wednesday.

I really love Belfast. The good news is that my flat has been sold, but they’re happy to keep me on as a sitting tennant, so that’s great. No hassle with moving. Highlights of my time in Belfast? Well I did manage to go into work and make a tape up of almost everything I’ve shot there. Just a couple of programmes I didn’t manage to get out the library, but I can do that on my next trip.

We went to The Factory for a party celebrating the filming of a new film, Johnny Was. Samantha Mumba and Eric La Salle were there, as well as Lennox Lewis apparently. It was a bit busy for our liking. So we (Christine, G and I) headed off to The Fly where I must say I reckon I could have pulled twice, but neither of the ladies were to my liking. Saturday night we were off to a new bar called The Spaniard, and then we went to a barbecue at the Potthouse. Nothing exciting happened that night really! Photos from Belfast are here.