Rabbity thoughts
Friday, August 30, 2002
As is typical of my kind of luck, I met a lovely girl, who finds me attractive and I think is beautiful and lovely, and of course she lives the other end of the country. I just wont do long distance anymore, it hurts too much. So I had to tell her that and she wasn't happy, and neither was I.
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
So I've finally finished the story, read it in order with pictures here.
Day 5
Sunday morning I woke early to catch the tour bus to take me to Sugarloaf. It's the place where Jaw's jumped from one cable car to another in Moonraker the James Bond film. On the tour were Valerie from Paris, Tod from Kansas, Maria from Mexico City and four Japanese business men, all of us were in Brazil on business with the exception of Tod but they were a good crowd and it was nice to share the experience.
In the afternoon I was going to go and sit on Cococabana, but the subway was closed so after going for a quick walk along coast and passing a camera crew filming a very scantily cland lady, I just sat on Flamingo beach and enjoyed the sun. After dinner in the resturant I just went to bed.
Day 6
Finally the day that I was actually in Brazil for was here. At breakfast I bumped into Ana Bosco from BBC Brasil in Sao Paulo who was there to assist with the production. We went for a stroll along the beach and I showed her a few of the sights as it was her first time in Rio. We then had a meeting at TVE including Isabel, after which we three went shopping.
The funny thing about shopping in Brazil is the way as soon as you enter a shop one of the assistants claims you as their own, asking what you'd like, you then having found your purchases have to find this assistant in order for them to take it to the register, where someone else takes your money while someone else bags your stuff and this happens in every shop including record shops where all I want to do is browse. Lucio had the best story about shopping in a bookshop...
"Can I help you?"
"Do you sell books"
"Yes"
"List them all"
They soon walk off after that.
So having brought a few CDs which were stupidly cheap, we went off to meeting the TV people at the cinema at 3pm, of course being Brazil they didn't turn up until 4.30pm. I then had to wait for an hour and a half for all the TV stuff to be set up before I could begin my own process of setting up my own equipment. Bare in mind we were due to be on air at 7.30pm. This is where all the trouble began. Try as I might I couldn't find the satelite, first I tried the balcony of the cinema, no signal, then the roof of the outside broadcast truck, no enough signal for an ISDN line, only enough for a voice call. I was beginning to think that this equipment which had finally turned up Friday night and which I had dragged halfway around the globe wasn't going to work, and that the sole reason I was there was going to be a huge wast of time and money. I then went up to the cinema's projection room and tried to get it out the window there, not enough signal again. The trouble with satphones is they need line of sight, and they also have to be off the ground away from people or they irradiate them. With a last desperate attempt I climbed up this very narrow ladder on the outside of the cinema to where the letters ODEON shined out to the street... no signal.
The satphone by this time could wait I had 45 minutes until we were on air so I had to get the backup working. I unpacked the Scoop from it's bag climbed into the OB truck and after some conversations translated by the very same Marcela who had shown me around Rio on Saturday I got the power, audio and phoneline I needed for it too work. I plugged it all in a turned it on, it didn't work, it wasn't initialising, shit. I just stood there smiling at the Brazillian technical crew, while turning this thing on and off hoping it would work and it did. I dialled threw to London and it connected. Thank bob. We had the backup. But as the backup was appauling quality I thought I'd try the satphone one last time.
Time 7.05pm, I climbed back up on to the roof of the truck. When I say climbed I meant it, there was no ladder I had to climb onto the door off the cab, from there onto the roof of the cab and from that onto the back of the truck. I sat there and set the satphone up again, still not enough signal strength, sod it, I'll try for the satelite there's just no way I can see as there's a damn big building in the way. I pushed it right to the end of the truck and turned it towards the hidden satelite, and there strength started to rise and rise and rise to just below where I needed it to be. Ever hopeful I plugged the ISDN in dialed and crossed my fingers.
"Hello Bush control room" came back the friendly familar words.
"What's the time?" I said back.
"Eh?" came the reply, I then explained that for the last hour and a half I'd been trying to get this thing to work and that we were on the air really soon and needed to know the time.
"11.15pm" good that meant I still had fifteen minutes. I shouted down to Marcela that I needed power and another feed of the audio and I needed it up here on the top of the truck as soon as possible. There was no way I was moving anything as I'd got it working so I was going to do the transmission from the roof of this truck in the middle of a square in Rio. And I did and I just sat there with a smile throughout the whole transmission, with Brazillian crew just looking at me thinking I was a completely mad englishman. The backup scoopline failed to work at all needless to say.
Afterwards everyone thought I was great and there was a small party, I could relax, it had worked and I'd proved myself. We then went off to dinner, bizzarely in the taxi back to the hotel afterwards, a song by my favourite band that I never heard on the radio ever was playing and Ana said "oo I like this one". Odd
Day 7
Went to Sugarloaf again in the morning, only this time with two beautiful Brazillians, Ana and Paula. Paula had to buy some flat shoes first as she'd only got heals with her and was in agony. This time it was a clear day and as it wasn't tour we could just sit and enjoy the view.
Then it was off to the airport for the twenty hours of traveling home, Rio to Sao Paulo the flight was empty. I said goodbye to Ana and she gave me really big hug. Lucio and I then jumped in a Taxi and drove at high speed across Sao Paulo to the other airport. There we managed to claim back our $50, although they gave it to us in Brazillian Reals which you can't convert anywhere other than Brazil. We then checked our bags for the flight home, Lucio was staying in Paris to meet his wife so used the excuse of them losing our luggage on the way out to get his bags off the plane in Paris, I just checked them all the way home, as you can't lose your baggage twice. The plane was empty, I had 4 economy seats to myself so slept most of the way. At Paris I said goodbye to Lucio and waited for my next plane, it was delayed of course. During takeoff I had a nosebleed. And on arrival my baggage didn't, it was stuck in Paris again. Although it was on the next flight in 2 hours I wanted to go home so filled out the form and went and met my parents.
Brazil was fun, the people are lovely, and I'd like to return.
The baggage turned up the following day safe and sound. Don't ever transfer in Paris.
The End
Sunday morning I woke early to catch the tour bus to take me to Sugarloaf. It's the place where Jaw's jumped from one cable car to another in Moonraker the James Bond film. On the tour were Valerie from Paris, Tod from Kansas, Maria from Mexico City and four Japanese business men, all of us were in Brazil on business with the exception of Tod but they were a good crowd and it was nice to share the experience.
In the afternoon I was going to go and sit on Cococabana, but the subway was closed so after going for a quick walk along coast and passing a camera crew filming a very scantily cland lady, I just sat on Flamingo beach and enjoyed the sun. After dinner in the resturant I just went to bed.
Day 6
Finally the day that I was actually in Brazil for was here. At breakfast I bumped into Ana Bosco from BBC Brasil in Sao Paulo who was there to assist with the production. We went for a stroll along the beach and I showed her a few of the sights as it was her first time in Rio. We then had a meeting at TVE including Isabel, after which we three went shopping.
The funny thing about shopping in Brazil is the way as soon as you enter a shop one of the assistants claims you as their own, asking what you'd like, you then having found your purchases have to find this assistant in order for them to take it to the register, where someone else takes your money while someone else bags your stuff and this happens in every shop including record shops where all I want to do is browse. Lucio had the best story about shopping in a bookshop...
"Can I help you?"
"Do you sell books"
"Yes"
"List them all"
They soon walk off after that.
So having brought a few CDs which were stupidly cheap, we went off to meeting the TV people at the cinema at 3pm, of course being Brazil they didn't turn up until 4.30pm. I then had to wait for an hour and a half for all the TV stuff to be set up before I could begin my own process of setting up my own equipment. Bare in mind we were due to be on air at 7.30pm. This is where all the trouble began. Try as I might I couldn't find the satelite, first I tried the balcony of the cinema, no signal, then the roof of the outside broadcast truck, no enough signal for an ISDN line, only enough for a voice call. I was beginning to think that this equipment which had finally turned up Friday night and which I had dragged halfway around the globe wasn't going to work, and that the sole reason I was there was going to be a huge wast of time and money. I then went up to the cinema's projection room and tried to get it out the window there, not enough signal again. The trouble with satphones is they need line of sight, and they also have to be off the ground away from people or they irradiate them. With a last desperate attempt I climbed up this very narrow ladder on the outside of the cinema to where the letters ODEON shined out to the street... no signal.
The satphone by this time could wait I had 45 minutes until we were on air so I had to get the backup working. I unpacked the Scoop from it's bag climbed into the OB truck and after some conversations translated by the very same Marcela who had shown me around Rio on Saturday I got the power, audio and phoneline I needed for it too work. I plugged it all in a turned it on, it didn't work, it wasn't initialising, shit. I just stood there smiling at the Brazillian technical crew, while turning this thing on and off hoping it would work and it did. I dialled threw to London and it connected. Thank bob. We had the backup. But as the backup was appauling quality I thought I'd try the satphone one last time.
Time 7.05pm, I climbed back up on to the roof of the truck. When I say climbed I meant it, there was no ladder I had to climb onto the door off the cab, from there onto the roof of the cab and from that onto the back of the truck. I sat there and set the satphone up again, still not enough signal strength, sod it, I'll try for the satelite there's just no way I can see as there's a damn big building in the way. I pushed it right to the end of the truck and turned it towards the hidden satelite, and there strength started to rise and rise and rise to just below where I needed it to be. Ever hopeful I plugged the ISDN in dialed and crossed my fingers.
"Hello Bush control room" came back the friendly familar words.
"What's the time?" I said back.
"Eh?" came the reply, I then explained that for the last hour and a half I'd been trying to get this thing to work and that we were on the air really soon and needed to know the time.
"11.15pm" good that meant I still had fifteen minutes. I shouted down to Marcela that I needed power and another feed of the audio and I needed it up here on the top of the truck as soon as possible. There was no way I was moving anything as I'd got it working so I was going to do the transmission from the roof of this truck in the middle of a square in Rio. And I did and I just sat there with a smile throughout the whole transmission, with Brazillian crew just looking at me thinking I was a completely mad englishman. The backup scoopline failed to work at all needless to say.
Afterwards everyone thought I was great and there was a small party, I could relax, it had worked and I'd proved myself. We then went off to dinner, bizzarely in the taxi back to the hotel afterwards, a song by my favourite band that I never heard on the radio ever was playing and Ana said "oo I like this one". Odd
Day 7
Went to Sugarloaf again in the morning, only this time with two beautiful Brazillians, Ana and Paula. Paula had to buy some flat shoes first as she'd only got heals with her and was in agony. This time it was a clear day and as it wasn't tour we could just sit and enjoy the view.
Then it was off to the airport for the twenty hours of traveling home, Rio to Sao Paulo the flight was empty. I said goodbye to Ana and she gave me really big hug. Lucio and I then jumped in a Taxi and drove at high speed across Sao Paulo to the other airport. There we managed to claim back our $50, although they gave it to us in Brazillian Reals which you can't convert anywhere other than Brazil. We then checked our bags for the flight home, Lucio was staying in Paris to meet his wife so used the excuse of them losing our luggage on the way out to get his bags off the plane in Paris, I just checked them all the way home, as you can't lose your baggage twice. The plane was empty, I had 4 economy seats to myself so slept most of the way. At Paris I said goodbye to Lucio and waited for my next plane, it was delayed of course. During takeoff I had a nosebleed. And on arrival my baggage didn't, it was stuck in Paris again. Although it was on the next flight in 2 hours I wanted to go home so filled out the form and went and met my parents.
Brazil was fun, the people are lovely, and I'd like to return.
The baggage turned up the following day safe and sound. Don't ever transfer in Paris.
The End
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
The story is coming along slowly only three days left to write ;-) The birthday wasn't too bad, I still haven't beaten my 12th for fun on the actual day, but I do have a a big celebration lots of friends type thing planned for Saturday in Camden town, so drop me a line if you want to come. Oh yes and Steven my old flatmate brought me a ray gun that blows bubbles which is just too cool :-)
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Day 4
The weekend to myself in Rio, I went for a stroll along Flamengo beach in the morning, and met up with Marcela in the afternoon. She took me to Ipenima beach where we sat and ate cheese on sticks sold by a man with a portable stove. The thing about Ipenima is there are cool parts and not so cool parts to hang out on. We were of course in the cool bit which was really crowded, other parts of the beach weren't, but then like going to your local bar cause you know you'll find your friends there, it's much the same with parts of the beach.
After that we went to just below the corcovado, where there was the most beautiful view of the city. I then went back to the hotel for a knap.
Now don't get me wrong, Brazillian food is gorgeous, not quite as lovely as Brazillian women but good nonetheless, but although my tastebuds liked the food my digestive system wasn''t quite as keen, so I ended up having dinner in McDonalds just to give it something it could recognise.
Now I know I'm in Rio but being on London time I had an early night, so you'll have to forgive me.
The weekend to myself in Rio, I went for a stroll along Flamengo beach in the morning, and met up with Marcela in the afternoon. She took me to Ipenima beach where we sat and ate cheese on sticks sold by a man with a portable stove. The thing about Ipenima is there are cool parts and not so cool parts to hang out on. We were of course in the cool bit which was really crowded, other parts of the beach weren't, but then like going to your local bar cause you know you'll find your friends there, it's much the same with parts of the beach.
After that we went to just below the corcovado, where there was the most beautiful view of the city. I then went back to the hotel for a knap.
Now don't get me wrong, Brazillian food is gorgeous, not quite as lovely as Brazillian women but good nonetheless, but although my tastebuds liked the food my digestive system wasn''t quite as keen, so I ended up having dinner in McDonalds just to give it something it could recognise.
Now I know I'm in Rio but being on London time I had an early night, so you'll have to forgive me.
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Right I'm determined to finish this or I'll forget.
Day 3 continued...
We checked in to the hotel at around 10am, as I'm due to be there all weekend I got a room with a view. From it I could see the Paode Aqucar (Sugarloaf) and football (scoccer) pitches which they play on all through the day and night. At 4 in the morning you can look out of the window and see brazillians playing football, it's no wonder they won the world cup, they don't just love supporting and watching the game, they love playing it too. We had an appointment to meet the Executive TV producer, Soninha, at the cinema at 11.30 so we pootled over there.
At this point I'll take some time out to tell why I was in Brazil in the first place. We were doing a tri-media production on tobacco, on radio, on TV and online. My job was to get the audio from the outside broadcast back to london using an ISDN and satelite phone. Which meant the total amount of actual work I had to do was about three hours worth. There was other work which involved be social and going to meetings to discuss things but I don't count that as real work although really I should. So I had just one job to do and that was the sole reason for the BBC paying for me to be there.
My main fear was that I wouldn't be able to see a satelite, you have to have line of sight with these things or they don't work, so I got out my compass the one I got as a christmas present when I was 7, and had a look at the map with the satelites on it. Both of the satelites that I could use looked like they were going to be behind buildings but I couldn't be certain it was a case of cross my fingers until monday. I checked out the backup line, which is a very low quality ISDN type of device that uses a normal phone line, which after ten minutes of persuasion worked. So then it was off to lunch.
We had lunch in a big almost victorian style place which have lift operators and huge mirrors it felt like eating in a different century after coming in off the hustle and bustle of the street.
On the trip to the TVE studio Soninha and Isabel were joking in Portugese about matchmaking with a girl called Marcella to show me around Rio at the weekend as I'd be alone in the city. And sure enough they did, when we got to TVE they introduced me to her and she promised to show me around Saturday afternoon.
That evening Lucio took me to Copacobana on the subway, where we had a drink in a bar and marvelled at the amount of prostitutes that were sitting in resturants with hideous old men.
Day 3 continued...
We checked in to the hotel at around 10am, as I'm due to be there all weekend I got a room with a view. From it I could see the Paode Aqucar (Sugarloaf) and football (scoccer) pitches which they play on all through the day and night. At 4 in the morning you can look out of the window and see brazillians playing football, it's no wonder they won the world cup, they don't just love supporting and watching the game, they love playing it too. We had an appointment to meet the Executive TV producer, Soninha, at the cinema at 11.30 so we pootled over there.
At this point I'll take some time out to tell why I was in Brazil in the first place. We were doing a tri-media production on tobacco, on radio, on TV and online. My job was to get the audio from the outside broadcast back to london using an ISDN and satelite phone. Which meant the total amount of actual work I had to do was about three hours worth. There was other work which involved be social and going to meetings to discuss things but I don't count that as real work although really I should. So I had just one job to do and that was the sole reason for the BBC paying for me to be there.
My main fear was that I wouldn't be able to see a satelite, you have to have line of sight with these things or they don't work, so I got out my compass the one I got as a christmas present when I was 7, and had a look at the map with the satelites on it. Both of the satelites that I could use looked like they were going to be behind buildings but I couldn't be certain it was a case of cross my fingers until monday. I checked out the backup line, which is a very low quality ISDN type of device that uses a normal phone line, which after ten minutes of persuasion worked. So then it was off to lunch.
We had lunch in a big almost victorian style place which have lift operators and huge mirrors it felt like eating in a different century after coming in off the hustle and bustle of the street.
On the trip to the TVE studio Soninha and Isabel were joking in Portugese about matchmaking with a girl called Marcella to show me around Rio at the weekend as I'd be alone in the city. And sure enough they did, when we got to TVE they introduced me to her and she promised to show me around Saturday afternoon.
That evening Lucio took me to Copacobana on the subway, where we had a drink in a bar and marvelled at the amount of prostitutes that were sitting in resturants with hideous old men.
Thursday, August 15, 2002
Day 2 continued...
The thing about not having any luggage, is that you basically don't have any off the stuff you need, which means you have to go shopping and armed with the promise of $50 from the airline that's exactly what we did. Buying underwear is something I usually do on my own, but now I not only had to do it with Lucio, I also had to get him to translate everything for me "no have you got a different size" etc, we must have come off looking like a very odd couple.
During the day we visited the radio station Eldorado with whom we have a co-production with, and now I know why they sound so bad. I used to think it was the line they were using to send the audio to us, now I know it comes out of there studio like that. We had lunch in a resturant where you fill your plate with stuff and then they weigh it to work out how much to charge you.
Sao Paulo is an interesting city, it's all about work, there is no tourism and probably with good reason. The air is so thick you can practically see it, and it proceeded to bung up my nose within hours of arrival. 20 million people live there but there is no real center, there's no focal point it's just a sprawling mass of new and old buildings right next to each other, it's fascinating and other than not being able to breathe I quite liked it.
Day 3
Woke up early as I was still on London time, fortunately Brazil is only 4 hours behind the UK so the jet lag wasn't too bad. We had to be out of the hotel at 6am to catch out flight to Rio. We met Isabel at the local airport and discovered out flight was delayed but only by an hour. The flight itself was empty, so I sat on the right by the window to get the best view flying into Rio, and what a view it was. Now it's famous for a few things but two of them are the statue of Christ that overlooks the city and Sugarloaf, the place with the cable cars. We flew so close that I we almost knocked his head off and and I was suprised that he didn't spin around with the wind rush. Then flew as near to Sugarloaf and started to fly very close to the water just as I thought we were about to hit it, the runway appeared and we landed.
Rio is beautiful.
To be continued...
The thing about not having any luggage, is that you basically don't have any off the stuff you need, which means you have to go shopping and armed with the promise of $50 from the airline that's exactly what we did. Buying underwear is something I usually do on my own, but now I not only had to do it with Lucio, I also had to get him to translate everything for me "no have you got a different size" etc, we must have come off looking like a very odd couple.
During the day we visited the radio station Eldorado with whom we have a co-production with, and now I know why they sound so bad. I used to think it was the line they were using to send the audio to us, now I know it comes out of there studio like that. We had lunch in a resturant where you fill your plate with stuff and then they weigh it to work out how much to charge you.
Sao Paulo is an interesting city, it's all about work, there is no tourism and probably with good reason. The air is so thick you can practically see it, and it proceeded to bung up my nose within hours of arrival. 20 million people live there but there is no real center, there's no focal point it's just a sprawling mass of new and old buildings right next to each other, it's fascinating and other than not being able to breathe I quite liked it.
Day 3
Woke up early as I was still on London time, fortunately Brazil is only 4 hours behind the UK so the jet lag wasn't too bad. We had to be out of the hotel at 6am to catch out flight to Rio. We met Isabel at the local airport and discovered out flight was delayed but only by an hour. The flight itself was empty, so I sat on the right by the window to get the best view flying into Rio, and what a view it was. Now it's famous for a few things but two of them are the statue of Christ that overlooks the city and Sugarloaf, the place with the cable cars. We flew so close that I we almost knocked his head off and and I was suprised that he didn't spin around with the wind rush. Then flew as near to Sugarloaf and started to fly very close to the water just as I thought we were about to hit it, the runway appeared and we landed.
Rio is beautiful.
To be continued...
Thursday, August 08, 2002
In case you're wondering, yes I am in Brazil. I'm in the BBC office in Sao Paulo and I'm going to write this down it's not going to be one of those epics though as I'm not that good with words.
Day 1
Well it began at 4am when I had to rise to make sure I got to the airport on time. My Dad dropped me off and I sucessfully met Lucio the head of the Brazillian section. We checked in and said goodbye to our luggage. All well so far. The plane was delayed an hour and a half leaving, which mean't we missed our connecting flight in Paris we arrived at 9.40am twenty minutes after it left. For some reason the French had decided to dig up one of their runways during the busiest flying season. We spent all morning waiting in the transfers line, when after an hour an a half of queing we got to the front they said we could either go on the waiting list for the flight at 11pm that night, or fly the following day. We went on the waiting list as Lucio had a meeting he needed to get to. Our luggage was safe they said, so we went off to spend the afternoon in Paris. 10pm that night we were pleased to discover that we'd made it onto the flight and had been upgraded to business. "YAY!" Were our bags on the flight, yes they said. We took off and after watching Spiderman I fell asleep.
Day 2
It's a 12 hour flight, I slept lots, business class is very nice :-) Arriving at 6.30am Sao Paulo time we went to collect our bags. Guess what, I know you have already due to the amount I've mentioned them, they hadn't arrived. One of mine was in Paris, the one with my clothes. The other one of mine containing half the equipment I need for the work I've come here to do, was probably in Paris, although the big label they put on it had come off, but they found it and said it's probably mine. Lucio's was gone completely. We fly to Rio tomorrow morning, they promise to send them on, but without us there to explain to customs what they are we could have problem getting the equipment into the country. I've got my fingers crossed, we do have a backup way of doing the job and it's not happening until Monday, but I've got one thing to say. Don't fly air france ;-)
Catch you all soon.
Day 1
Well it began at 4am when I had to rise to make sure I got to the airport on time. My Dad dropped me off and I sucessfully met Lucio the head of the Brazillian section. We checked in and said goodbye to our luggage. All well so far. The plane was delayed an hour and a half leaving, which mean't we missed our connecting flight in Paris we arrived at 9.40am twenty minutes after it left. For some reason the French had decided to dig up one of their runways during the busiest flying season. We spent all morning waiting in the transfers line, when after an hour an a half of queing we got to the front they said we could either go on the waiting list for the flight at 11pm that night, or fly the following day. We went on the waiting list as Lucio had a meeting he needed to get to. Our luggage was safe they said, so we went off to spend the afternoon in Paris. 10pm that night we were pleased to discover that we'd made it onto the flight and had been upgraded to business. "YAY!" Were our bags on the flight, yes they said. We took off and after watching Spiderman I fell asleep.
Day 2
It's a 12 hour flight, I slept lots, business class is very nice :-) Arriving at 6.30am Sao Paulo time we went to collect our bags. Guess what, I know you have already due to the amount I've mentioned them, they hadn't arrived. One of mine was in Paris, the one with my clothes. The other one of mine containing half the equipment I need for the work I've come here to do, was probably in Paris, although the big label they put on it had come off, but they found it and said it's probably mine. Lucio's was gone completely. We fly to Rio tomorrow morning, they promise to send them on, but without us there to explain to customs what they are we could have problem getting the equipment into the country. I've got my fingers crossed, we do have a backup way of doing the job and it's not happening until Monday, but I've got one thing to say. Don't fly air france ;-)
Catch you all soon.
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Okay more relaxed about it all today, I have to panic if I don't I'll forget to do stuff. It's going to be fun, see you in a week or so :-)
Monday, August 05, 2002
The idea of going to Brazil is great. The idea of going there with an organisation that can't even think to say oh you might need some jabs (I had to think about it myself) and has probably not thought about half a dozen other things that will no doubt become a problem, scares the hell out of me. I mean I don't even have flight cases for the equipment I've got to take, madness.
Friday, August 02, 2002
You may remember me telling you this story a couple of weeks back, about bumping into someone I once knew and thinking they were someone completely different. Well last night I bump into the girl I thought she was (if that makes sense) so I know for certain they are in fact two different people. I couldn't remember her name either but discovered, by asking, that her name was in fact Natalie, it was a little embrassing that I couldn't remember it, especially as she could remember mine.
