Karen, Co-Incidence & More Fun At The Crown & Anchor

Well I came third in our Friday night social evening game of Texas “No Limits” Hold’em last week so I was very happpy.  It was a great fun evening too, with the chill con carne and pizza going down well, and masses left for Saturday night’s X-Factor first week of Bootcamp gathering. And down to the final tables both games on Monday at the Crown & Anchor, third in the cash game – £12.50 which covered my night’s entertainment and dinner LOL.

Tickets are selling steadily and well for the “Really Useful Internet Day” next Saturday – yes! that’s right, only 8 days to go now, as I write this on Friday 2nd October.  OUr gang have had a good crack at the tickets in advance, and several of my internet marketing buddies are mailing over the weekend, including @NeilAsher and @MarkAnastasi, thanks guys!

Neil’s done an interesting promotion, where he gives value to his mailinig list by analysing my sales page, and that of another mate of his at the same time, highlighting the bits that stand out and how different styles work for different markets.  Here is what he sent to his list

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Portobello Road, Paintings, St Pancras & The Papillon Club

Well the fun quota is about to reach maximum toleration levels this weekend.  Later today, I get on a train to London with Sarah, to go and meet Jennie Armato and Paul Clarke, for dinner. I’m interviewing Jennie for my new Money Gym book and then we are going to one of my favourite restaurants in London – Galicia in Portobello Road for aperitifs.  Real Spain and full of local spanish people especially early every evening.  Then onto Osteria Basilico – which is Italian LOL -  for dinner.

Then off very early on the Eurostar from St Pancras, which has the longest champagne bar in Europe, Judith tells me, and which opens at 7am I notice from the website.  We leave at 8.30 sharp so best not go there….

To Gard Du Nord in Paris where Heather is meeting us and taking us to our hotel – for some reason she doesn’t trust us to make it through Paris on our own.

Not sure if we are seeing “Carmen” on Friday or Sunday, but on Saturday we are going for dinner at a charming and apparently marvellously eccentric restaurant & rooms on an island on the Seine, described by the owner Odette thusly …

“Our medieval house, located on Ile de la cité, one of the best area of Paris, was built in 1512. It became a restaurant, as well as a guest house during the 18th century.  Odette et Georges welcome you in their french restaurant where all products come from french organics farm every week. You will discover the Odette’s specialities like “Hot Foie Gras”, “Mini Scallops”, “Duck breast with Orange sauce”…”

I have no idea what else is planned but I’m sure it will be great!  Our package included tickets to the Louvre, and as the last time I was in Paris was before the Triangle thingy was built, I will definately want to see that as well as revisit the Monet paintings.

We are staying at the Antin St Georges Hotel, which looks perfectly nice and is in the Bastille area, pretty funky from my recollections of previous visits, with lots of live music bars.  Very close to the Opera House which is essential so Heather can look after us LOL.

Don’t you just love the way you can look everything up on the internet nowadays?  I think it takes a lot of the fear out of travelling if you can visualise where you are going.  Well it does for me as I’m a bit of a worrywort (now there’s an old word for you Judith!).

I’m struggling to write this as I’ve hooked up on Facebook, with a dj who DOMINATED the South Coast in the 70’s and 80’s and funny enough, his name is Paul Clark too (see above for my dinner plans).  Paul use to play in every decent soul and jazz funk club in the South East and had a residency at both the Inn Place and the Papillon club.

The Inn Place is legendary and lasted through Soul, Jazz Funk, Punk, Hard Times & New Romantic, so you get a feel for how popular it was and how long it lasted. The loos opened out onto the lane behind, and the cistern was ALWAYS leaking, so it was very swamplike in the ladies.  You had to enter the club via a precipitous staircase that was practically vertical and felt more like a ladder, hell in high heels and they always were high in those days (unless they were silver sandals!)

Now, if I told you that Kim and I used to go to those clubs from Worthing, and that £1.50 got you a return train fare, and a coca cola AND get you into the Inn Place (35p as I recall), then you will realise we are talking about my teens here!

We used to go to jumble sales and buy mad stuff and rush home to put it through the washing machine and tumble dryer before wearing our amazing outfits that evening.  My dad used to wait at the bottom of the stairs to see what we were wearing this week and CRACK UP!

Good days, great clubs and the music was awesome.  Check out this page of their Top Tunes – it autoplays so just sit back and enjoy – I’m talking to you Peter Stanley!!

We are missing their first reunion event in Brighton on 6 August because we are off to Spain for August, but I will certainly be checking out the next one.

Have fun, we always do!

(But I don’t know how much more I can take LOL)

Nicola

p.s. RIP “Elias”, the huge but generally gentle doorman at the Inn Place and the Escape Club.

Slumdog Millionaire – An Absolute Joy!

Slumdog Millionaire – A Personal Review: For two glorious hours the other night Steve and I sat in Brighton’s darkened Cineworld and were transported to the slums of India watching Slumdog Millionaire.

From the first opening credits to the end our senses were assaulted by the most amazing cinematography, thrilling plot, dense colour, transformational music, scary twists, feelings of hope, despair, lots of humour and the most brilliant acting.

We had our interest piqued by our business partner Judith Morgan, no mean amateur film critic, who sang it’s praises on her blog, then I watched in amazement as my Twitter alert flagged up hundreds of people talking about the film (I have an alert set to monitor the key phrase “millionaire” among others).

We came out speechless with admiration for Danny Boyle (loved the gritty Trainspotting too which introduced us to the rather gorgeous Ewan McGregor for the first time) and today I’m on the hunt for the film score – which combines deep house dance music with indian themes and a sweeping scope of classical influence which defies just description.

18-year-old Dev Patel, previously one of the stars of the brilliant “Skins” which started again on tv last night, has been catapulted to stardom along with his very beautiful co-star, indian model Freida Pinto.  As the Guardian reports:

“As Boyle struggled to find an actor among the buff, beefy Bollywood wannabes who attended the India castings to accurately portray a kid born into abject poverty, it was eventually his daughter, an avid Skins fan, who suggested Patel. His only acting experience to date was as the two-dimensional character Anwar, a teenage Muslim whose obsessive desire to get laid played out a comedic dichotomy with his religious guilt, the denouement of which was losing his virginity to a married Russian while on a school trip; hardly the stuff that dreams – Bollywood or otherwise – are made of. But it was the perfect fit: unlike Bollywood’s finest, Patel looked like he’d never been anywhere near a free weight or a protein shake in his life.

“Yeah,” he laughs, “I guess I’m lucky he was looking for someone who looks like they grew up in a slum, someone lanky and skinny and not particularly handsome!” ”

As it’s announced that Slumdog Millionaire has picked up TEN Oscar nominations, here’s what Yahoo News had to say:

“MUMBAI, India – India’s film industry basked Friday in the glow of 10 Oscar nominations for “Slumdog Millionaire” as the rags-to-riches story finally hit theaters to rave reviews and predictions of blockbuster sales.

The film, set amid the fetid alleys of Mumbai’s notorious slums, continued its surprise run of success since it swept four categories at the Golden Globes, including the prize for best drama.

The movie got the second highest number of Oscar nominations Thursday, including best director for Danny Boyle, best picture and — generating the most buzz in India — three music nominations for Indian composer A.R. Rahman.

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Brett McFall Upstaged By A Seagull!

When I took Brett McFall to Brighton for lunch, we recorded a little video for Alan Forrest Smith, who was in Brett’s neck of the woods on the Gold Coast of Australia.  We were trying to concentrate and be professional but there was this seagull who just could not get enough of the camera.  Enjoy!

A Rainy Day In Brighton

How can a rainy day in Brighton make you money while you sleep?  Well, Brett McFall came down to Brighton to spend the day with Nicola Cairncross of The Money Gym and here Brett will tell you how…If you would like to find out more after watching this very short video, click the link below the screen….

2 Days | Central London | £25.00 to Great Ormond St Hospital

Nicola’s Crib

I am blessed to live in a tiny town called Shoreham-By-Sea, in West Sussex, looking out over said sea with the river behind us.  Shoreham was always somewhere you drove past en route to Brighton, from Worthing, and I had no idea, till a friend moved here, how lovely it was.

Now I have just spotted the house I want on the foreshore – it’s art deco and beautiful, tucked between two 1970’s eyesores (which have their own charm admittedly) here it is……it’s got my name all over it.  Manifest, manifest!  I don’t know how yet, but it’s in my sights now and on my dreamboard.

And here’s a little video showing Sarah and I setting up from Shoreham Station one crisp sunny morning, for one of our Money Gym workshops.