I said I was going to show pictures of the apartment I stayed at in Paris, so here they are!

First, the bedroom. It’s really warm and cosy and comfortable. Doesn’t have a door but, instead, a red curtain across the doorway. All that red makes it look very exotic! Really loved it.

Then, the hallway, which separates the bedroom from the living room.

Then, the living room, which is the same room as the kitchen. It’s just one huge room with one end being made into the kitchen.

Very nice and lived-in look, so much better than staying at a hotel! Well, if you don’t mind cleaning up after yourself. :P

No photos of the bathroom, cos it’s quite small and hard to get a picture of. But there’s a mini bathtub in there so even the bathroom felt cosy.

Do I sound like a property agent selling rentals? lol.

Anyway, in case you haven’t read my other posts, I found this apartment through Airbnb. So many nice apartments listed there, so hard to choose.

I picked this one cos it’s very near the city centre and reasonably priced.

The climb up and down every day was crazy, though. Six storeys up and down a spiral staircase!

I kind of liked it, though. Felt like I was actively burning off the calories accumulated from a whole day of pigging out at little French restaurants. But I always got so bushed by the time I reached the top.

Here’s what the building looks like on the outside.

At six storeys high, it was one of the tallest buildings I saw in my entire stay in Paris, lol. The French don’t really have skyscrapers.

And the apartment is a couple of minutes’ walk from the La Chapelle Metro Station. Don’t know if that name means anything but it sounds sweet!

Well, that’s it, really. Nothing much more I want to say about the apartment. Here’s a link to it. You can read my review there!

So annoying that the website didn’t keep the formatting so all my paragraphs got crammed together. Pfft.

Anyway, going to Bath tomorrow! That’s supposedly some lovely place in England everyone tells me I have to visit, so I felt I had to do it or face untold wrath.

It’s quite far, so staying a night there. Can’t wait!

I really did think about it for a long time, whether to buy an iPad 2 to replace my still-newish iPad 1.

I thought about it for about three days.

Hey, that’s long, considering that I would have tried to buy it on launch day had I not been thinking about it. After it launched, for three days, I looked at all the advice given by my readers, weighed pros and cons, and read reviews.

What decided me finally was reading about how, because of the new processor, cool apps will be made for the iPad 2 that won’t be able to run on the iPad 1.

I totally do not want to be stuck not being able to play some great new game that I must play!

Of course, even after deciding, I was still hesitant. It’s a huge cost, after all. The one I want, 32GB 3G, costs £579 (S$1174).

So I told myself, “Okay, I’ll walk down to the Apple store later and if they have one available, I’ll get it. If not, erm, I might ask Elyxia to buy one for me from Hong Kong. (lol)

I really wasn’t expecting the store to have it three days after launch. So it was quite an easy deal to make with myself.

I even waited till Piers knocked off from work at 5 pm so I could drag him to the store with me. Needed someone to either congratulate or console me.

We reached the store at 5:30 pm and started playing around with the display units. I couldn’t muster the nerve to ask if they had any in stock for sale.

Just 20 seconds after we laid our hands on the display sets, a guy walked over and the following conversation ensued:

===

Apple salesman: Hi, is there anything I can help you with?

Piers: Yes, you wouldn’t happen to have any iPad 2s in stock now, would you?

Apple salesman: What version did you want?

Me: 32GB 3G.

Apple salesman: As a matter of fact, we do have that. Your timing is perfect cos we just received a new shipment an hour ago.

Me: Oh! Great!

Apple salesman: We’ve only got the black one, though.

Me: That’s fine!

(Two seconds of silence while he figured out if my response meant I wanted to buy it or not. My eager, expectant look finally tipped him off.)

Apple salesman: Oh, right! I’ll be back in a second with it.

===

Is that miraculous or what!

This morning (about 10 am), Piers called up the store again (cos now he wants one) and they’re all sold out again!

They say they might get another shipment soon but it’s unpredictable. Might or might not.

So, anyway, just like that, I am a broke owner of an iPad 2!!!

Now I will do an unboxing, although I don’t know why anyone would want to see an iPad 2 unboxing because all Apple gadgets have the same stuff in their boxes.

Okay, I’ll do a bit more.

Here’s a physical comparison of the iPad 1 and 2 side by side. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which is which.

Reviews will come later after I’ve had more time to test it out.

I’m happy and excited, although at the same time annoyed at Apple for releasing upgrades so freaking quickly. My iPad is only seven months old!

People have been asking what I’m going to do with the old set.

I don’t know yet! Sell or give away, depending on how broke or generous I feel when I get back to Singapore.

Anyone wants to buy it, though? =P

This half-naked baby was spotted frolicking about on Bournemouth Beach on a quite cold day (about 13°C).

While useless, weak adults were all layered up.

Are they feeding babies special things these days?

I found a ladybird in the bathroom that seemed intent on killing itself.

I suppose it was my fault. I had found it very cute and had tried to take a zillion photos of it. The orange focus assist light, blinking on and off nonstop, must have scared it.

It was hard to focus on it because it wouldn’t stop crawling around on the ornamental plant it was on. My camera kept wanting to focus on the endless leaf sprouts instead. So I kept trying and trying, as I followed the stupid gallivanting ladybird with my camera.

After this went on a few hundred times, the ladybird finally jumped off the plant and crawled around the window sill on which the plant was sitting.

Next to the plant, I had a lit tea light candle.

The ladybird started crawling towards it and then went up the side of it.

I yelped in fear for it. If it had kept on going, it could have fallen into the melted wax or gotten burnt by the flame.

I grabbed the nearest thin object I could find, which turned out to be my electric toothbrush head, and brushed the ladybird off the tea light. (Using the cap side, not the brush side!)

Then it crawled confusedly up and down the window sill for a couple of minutes.

It was still hard to get a focus on it because it never once stopped moving, so I turned on the camera flash, which probably startled it even more.

Finally it stopped moving and started puffing its wings.

“Oh no,” I thought, “It’s going to fly!”

Beside the window is the bath tub, which at that point was filled with very hot and foamy bathwater, waiting for my bathing pleasure whenever I was done paparazzing a ladybird.

The moment the ladybird took off from the window, it went straight at the bathtub and then dived in headfirst.

I shrieked again out of fear for it. I thought it was dead for sure, either drowned or boiled. It had disappeared under the foam and I couldn’t see it.

Quickly, I fished into the water for it and finally caught it in my cupped hands after several tries.

It was still alive, miraculously.

Fearing another suicidal incident, I opened the window and let it fly out into the night, never to be seen again.

So sad.

It was such a cute ladybird, too. Thought I could have had it as a pet.

March 25, 2011, England

iPad 2 launch day.

At about 5:20 pm, Piers and I walked through the Bournemouth Town Centre to buy a toaster because his old one had wheat bugs in it and he had thrown it out.

I had considered buying an iPad 2 on launch day but at the same time didn’t want to queue for hours (or days) just to get something I can get later without queueing.

We passed by the local Apple retailer and there was a longish queue. Not that bad.

But not short enough.

We went and bought the toaster, then went to the supermarket to get groceries.

An hour later, we walked back past the Apple store again and the queue had shortened to about 10 people. Fewer, I think.

I was like, “OMG I can get an iPad 2 NOW.”

But Piers had been trying to dissuade me from buying one for days.

“You already have an iPad! You don’t need another one!”

“Yes I do!”

“It’s so expensive! Don’t waste your money!”

“But I need one!”

“Why?”

“Cos the iPad 2 is thinner and lighter and has a camera!”

“So what!”

“So I need one!”

Something like that.

Anyway, I didn’t jump in the queue because I was holding grocery bags and Piers was holding grocery bags in one hand and a hugeass toaster under another arm.

We went back to the store later but it was already closed.

So we went back to the apartment again and Piers said, “Don’t be sad. Look, you have a new toaster! You can blog about getting a new toaster! Everyone’s gonna be so jealous!”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, “That’s very exciting.”

It’s so exciting I’m gonna do an unboxing.

OOOOH.

AHHHH.

GASP.

WAHHHHH.

OOOOOOOH.

Okay that’s all for the unboxing.

Now a very short review.

This amazing Breville toaster can toast four half bagels all at once and the bagels all came out nice and toasted!

Wow, what an awesome toaster!

Okay, enough.

In the meantime, how?

Should I buy an iPad 2 in England, or wait till Singapore gets it? Or get someone to buy one from the USA?

Or should I even buy one at all?

Decisions.

I want one, nevertheless! =D