Snow Again

So it’s the weekend before xmas and London is experiencing something that doesn’t normally occur here - snow. And snow in December is even rarer, so I’m told.

This time, I’m prepared - I have the mountain bike(mtb) now and with 2inch wide knobbly tyres instead of 23mm slick road tyres, life should be much easier to ride through it. I can confirm this to be true now as well.

We had a small bit of snow on the Thursday night which made life a little interesting for a few hours as it didn’t settle for long before melting. There was some left by saturday morning, which is what you can see in the pic above.

Then, on Monday afternoon, we watched from the windows at work as the next batch of snow “dumped” on London. Suitably equipped, (as you can see below), I headed home in it while the rest of the roads and trains ground to halt and chaos ensued (right).

With many stories of people taking up to 4 hours to get home, I cruised home in around 45 minutes and included a few stops to take pictures. As you can see, the sides of the roads were fairly clear as the buses were moving extremely slowly and the snow on the roads was just slush - much like the old icee’s from the deli, only not coloured red or blue.

Once home it was time to have some fun in our quieter snow covered streets. Like being back on our bmx’s as kids! Great fun!

And speaking of home, this is the view from home...

Work and Santas

Well, as “silly season” rolls on it has been a bit of a busy time with xmas “functions” of all sorts...

Life at QBE has continued to be an improvement upon ‘life at Axa’ on both the work front and it’s party front. Three of our biggest offices combined for one large xmas bash in London that was (mostly) black tie. I have to take my hat off to the venue’s staff as they catered for all of us and were very timely with the service of what must have been a massive task to prepare so many meals! After this and some presentations and speeches, nearly a thousand people kicked on well into the evening after our three course sit-down meal.

The following day contained its usual round of hangovers and funny stories, with the official photos of the night doing the rounds on the company intranet. I appeared in only one pic and am happy to say that it was neither horrible nor embarrassing in any way.

A few days later, was our divisional luncheon, which included “secret santa” and other gag presentations. It was a fun luncheon that then progressed into the bar section of the restaurant and continued into the evening. I was warned that Qbe were good to their staff in this way am I’m glad not to be disappointed.

With the work xmas do’s out the of the way, it was time for a social xmas gathering for another fun night - The Santa Crawl. The basic jist is that entry to this event is open only under the following criteria:

1. you MUST wear a santa suit

2. you donate upwards of £5 to the British Red Cross

Once you meet the entrance criteria, it’s “away you go”. We began in The Feathers as the Santas gathered. Shar, Katrien, Jess, Stella, Belinda, Tim and Rosh started here with me and well over a hundred other santas. After some time and a few drinks, it was time to move on to pub no.2, The Slug and Lettuce, where Marty n Karyn joined us all. We all continued on and eventually reached pub no.3, The Jugged Hare, where the night continued until the end.

One notable event of the night was a small group who had stopped at the first pub while doing the Circle Line pub crawl and were amazed to see it filled with Santas. It took almost no coaxing for them to join our pub crawl as some of them bought the few spare suits that had been brought along. Two of their members decided to make this a scavenger hunt type night by trying to buy/aquire their santa outfits from other santas already doing the event. All monies went straight into the pot for the British Red Cross, and to their credit, they both had their outfits completed by the end of the night.

At the beginning of the night, it was a bit of a running gag that if any unsuspecting five year old should pass us in the street, they may be somewhat confused or even traumatised by so many Santas. As luck would have it, we encountered such a child out the front of the Jugged Hare. Her rather amused mother had her line up with about twenty of us for a photo. This poor little girl really did not know what to make of the scene around her, so I told her that we were really just his elves and that Santa had given us the day off from the North Pole. At this, she smiled and asked “what did you make for me?”

I simply said that she would need to wait til xmas morning to find out. This didn’t go down too well as she wanted to know now. Thanks to her mum wanting to move on, we weren’t interrogated any further.

Later in the night, with the last tube trains approaching, those of us with a bit of a distance to travel, or not wishing to pay the exorbitant cab fares, headed for nearby Victoria station. We certainly attracted attention as a band of about fifteen Santas converged on the Burger King there for a bit of a feed before dispanding towards our respective tube platforms...

Ps. We managed to raise several thousand ££'s for the British Red Cross

Walking the Thames II

Thinking of you, Aunty Judy... and Uncle Allen...Ah, the joys of English public transport... Is it any wonder I prefer to ride everywhere?

The day started well enough, with blue skies punctuated with plenty of clouds as I made my way to Paddington Station for a train to Culham. I was meeting Pani, Nell, Helen & Heather for another leg of the Thames Path.

You may recall the group of us that did this back in June/July this year. Well, it’s no longer summer here, and with the xmas silly season fast approaching we didn’t have as many takers. “The Plan” was to head out from Culham and head north up through Oxfordshire to Oxford itself.

The first hiccup came when the ticketing machine gave me the wrong set of tickets, which meant that I had to line up again to collect the right ones. (I had pre-bought other train tickets for later in December and it gave me them.) So now with the right tickets, it was time to wait for the boards to show me which platform - 13 as it turned out. I made my way there only to find a train that had it’s lights out and no doors opening. Strange...

I looked around for some sort of train staff, to see one at the other end of the train wave and suddenly blow a whistle. I then had the joy of watching the front half of the train pull away from the platform... Next train to Culham... 4pm, which makes getting to Culham by 10am somewhat difficult.

Nearly an hour later, after a coffee and bacon n egg sarni, I was on the next train to Oxford , which stopped at Appleford - one stop before Culham. From memory, the path of the Thames went slightly south west from Culham past Appleford then turned north towards Oxford. Problem solved and I’d meet the others as they passed Appleford.

As it turned out, Pani and Nell met me at Appleford as Helen and Heather were running late. With cars parked, we finally set out along the Thames Path.

The Thames itself was rather full considering the rains that we’ve had recently and in some points it had a good flow. It did make it hard on the rowing crews we passed enroute to Abbingford (above). Plenty of green on the way to Abbingford, which is quite a picturesque village/township.

We crossed the river at the Abbingford lock to discover that the Thames Path itself continued on the other side - and not in particularly appealing conditions as you can see here (right). I didn’t mind as my hiking boots were brilliant (again).

Continuing along, things became somewhat browner than green at times. I guess late autumn has that effect. The path itself improved for the next few miles until we got closer to Sandford-on-Thames. We could tell we were getting closer to civilisation as there were some large powerlines interrupting the countryside as well as more obvious farming. Oh, and the ‘occasional’ manor was being replaced by more riverside housing.

Across the lock at Sanford-on-Thames is the Kings Arms (pictured below), and thanks to the weather, this is where were finished the day. A warm fire in a pub, ales and hot dinners will always out do the lure of the evening dark closing in with the rain...

A bit of a pity as we only had a few miles left to reach Oxford, but there’s only a limited amount of daylight in the English winter with the sun setting at around 3-3.30pm!

It also turned out that Pani and Nell lived “up the road” from me, so gave me a lift home. (And by “up the road”, I mean about a half hour’s ride away...)

Moving right along...

Bit of a catch up thanks to things being so busy in the last month and for a very good reason - a new job. This meant that Axa were trying their best to get their “pound of flesh” before I left, making things rather busy. Nothing like being given new work up to and including your last afternoon!!

On top of that there was a lot of paperwork to sort out with the new company: QBE European Operations - Casualty Division. I’ve now been with QBE for two weeks and things are going well. I’ve been to the Lloyd’s Box twice now, which has been an interesting experience. Lloyd’s of London is a fascinating set up and the whole “inside-out” building is quite something (left). By the way, the ‘box’ is more of a cubicle on a very open floor. Each underwriter has a ‘box’ or several boxes, while all the brokers move around the floor from box to box with their business. That’s the basic rundown.

I’ve also attended the first of three QBE Christmas parties. This one was black tie, and I received my invite to it the day before. Time to get a tux. I had no time during my lunch break on the day, so with the party starting at 6.30pm, I was ducking into Marks & Spencer where they have mix n match dinner suits. £49 later and I had a full dinner suit. Shortly after this I was at the party with the entire casualty department and many of the brokers we deal with. A great night for meeting people. And the bonus is that I now have a tux for the main QBE Christmas do, which is also a black tie event.

Off the subject of work, a Halloween party was the first other event of any note, but it didn’t quite go to plan. Thanks to the mail strikes, Row, Mark’s and my costumes did not arrive in time. At least we weren’t the only one’s affected by this for the night. Marty n Karyn made quite an entrance as Morticia Adams and Hannibal Lecter (right). We still managed to have a good night despite some of us not having costumes.

Speaking of Marty n Karyn, we had a bit of an Aussie night when Karyn made chicken parmigianas. I picked up some Coopers, both pale ale and sparkling to go with it. (all pictured here) I also brought desert, which was chocolate brownies from Hummingbird - the rather famous cake shop on Portobello Road.

[In case you’re not aware, the only way to get a chicken or veal parmigiana in the UK is to make it yourself.]

Why had I bought brownies from Portobello Road? I’d spent the day there with Jules, obviously...

Jules had been over from Melbourne to visit her family in Italy before spending some time in Ireland and the UK.

We caught up on the Sunday and after a spot of brunch headed along to Portobello Road. Perusing the shops, we came upon a small bakery that Julia had told me about months ago - Hummingbird. They are famous for their cupcakes of all things, and they are very good. Their presentation is not quite as you’d expect from a humble cupcake, but the actual cakes themselves are impressive.

After indulging, we continued along Portobello road and into a smaller market that was opposite the Kombi Cafe (pictured right), which is effectively just a coffee machine in a Kombi van. We poked through some old vinyl records having a good laugh at some of the atrocious old covers, and then some of the other stalls before returning to Hummingbird for seconds (and the brownies). At the time, they were closing so takeaway it was to then enjoy the cakes in a nearby cafe that was open. It was then “see you later”s as I went for the tube to Marty n Karyn’s while Jules headed for Heathrow.

The rest of the time has been fairly busy, but not with too many notable events or happenings. Nice afternoons or evenings in pubs with Shar or with Row n Mark (on Guy Fawkes)...

A trip out to Aston in Birmingham to watch Aston Villa v Tottenham, where I spent some time keeping my head down in an Aston Villa pub. If they’d known I was Spurs, I’d have been lynched! The match was great to watch, but the getting drowned waiting for a train afterwards could have been better...

There's No Place Like Home (Pt. III)

And so you’re probably thinking that with this questioning of exactly where home is, that this would be an opportune time to do a cheesy thing and quote Peter Allen by saying “I still call Australia Home”. Well, it would be correct to a good extent, although I’m still not sure where in Australia that would be. I now have yet another city in Australia where that just may be...

Sydney: Touching down around midday and after being collected at the airport by Mark, it was back to his and Jen’s place for an afternoon with them, Mum n Dad to meet Oscar. Oscar is the little fella on the right here. Mark and Jen’s brand new son (as of 4 days before my above mentioned landing). He is also my nephew. Being about a week old meant that he didn’t do much, but it was kinda cool to meet him even if he won’t remember.

With Mum n Dad departing in the late afternoon, the three of us (Mark, Jen and I) relaxed with some takeaway before Sheryl arrived to while away the evening over a few wines. We eventually left Mark n Jen to it and headed back to Sheryl’s where we had a nightcap or few as we caught up on what we’d been up to since we’d last seen each other - this was shortly after high school if you’re curious, so at around 5.30am we called it a night after talking up a storm.

The next day saw a very tired Sheryl head in to work a bit late, while I spent the day with Mark, Jen and Oscar. Okay, so not much with Jen and Oscar as they went through that first week cycle of sleeping, feeding, etc... but Mark and I managed to catch up for a bit and succeeded in puting some of the baby gear together - feeding chair and other items.

Later, Sheryl and I left them to it to go and have dinner in Glebe. We then had a couple of drinks in a nearby tapas bar and continued where we left off the night before. I honestly don’t think I’ve spent so much time talking with someone before. To be fair, it has been well over a decade since we’d seen each other, despite renewing contact about a year ago.

How come we were suddenly catching up like this, you ask. Simple really... As Sheryl lives about 10mins from Mark n Jens’ it made sense to take up her offer to stay there instead of being nearly an hour up the coast where Mum n Dad were staying...

Thursday saw Mark, Jen, Oscar and myself head that near hour up the coast to see Mum n Dad - how’s the view from the apartment they were staying in? Nice work Pete!! All up a very pleasant family day together til the late evening after dinner. Oscar was incredibly well behaved right up until he woke up part way through the drive home - he then showed us just what a non-behaving baby can be like... I know it sounds wrong, but I’m glad I wasn’t staying there the night!

Friday turned out to be a very relaxed day - Sheryl and I had a late breakfast in a nice cafe in Glebe before strolling down to the nearby shopping centre. Have I mentioned how good the warm sunny weather had been yet?? Anyway, we spent a couple of hours poking about while I picked up all the items I had been requested to collect for those friends back in London - Mint Slices, Cheetos, CDs, a drinks tray with a kangaroo on it, etc... Later, after going through a new second hand furniture shop, it was the discovery of banana bread over a coffee in a nearby cafe/bookstore. “in” a cafe is probably the wrong term as we were outside in a palm-treed courtyard at the back of the bookstore. But, I digress... the banana bread - about an inch thick, toasted and buttered was pretty impressive! That evening we had a casual dinner in a nearby pub followed by a nightcap (or few).

Saturday began in pretty much the same way as Friday but at a different cafe. This time with an art gallery - lunch/breakfast... pretty much the same thing. Hell, it was a Saturday and you don’t have to get up early on Saturday if you don’t want. Anyway, after a bit of a domestic afternoon, we headed off to Frase, Tine & Klaer’s for dinner. You may remember them from my trip to Copenhagen earlier in the year. We met Mum n Dad there for a late afternoon and evening with dinner. A good night together. On the way home, Sheryl was happy to drop me off in the city to be able to catch up with Tony, Tommy, Col, Clarkey and Horsey for a few hours before heading back. Again, we spent the evening chatting away while watching Rage, or whatever late night music video programme was on...

Sunday, was yet another sunny day, so we headed to the Opera Bar at Circular Quay for lunch and to just spend the day lazing in the sun with a few wines. This is where I took the photo at the beginning of this post. A perfect day with barely a cloud in the sky. With the sun going down, we made our way back to Mark n Jen’s for dinner and a funny night of all sorts of stories. A good evening for my last night (for a time) in Sydney, and Australia, for that matter.

Monday saw Sheryl leave for work while I headed off with Mum n Dad for an early lunch in a tree covered courtyard of yet another cafe. After this it was time to head to the airport and the flight “home” to London. Several movies later (The Boat That Rocked, He’s Just not that into You, Star Trek, Kung Fu Chefs and High Fidelity if you’re curious) and I was touching down in London on a cold and overcast 9C morning...

Home? For now it is, but while I’ve never thought of Sydney being such a place it’s now quite on the cards that it could be...

There's No Place Like Home (Pt.II)

Paul Young sang: “Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home”... and for now this seems to be the case.

Melbourne: Ah, Melbourne weather, where would we be without it? Greeting me with an hour of drizzle at Tullamarine. Welcome home to Melbourne, Son...

Sime Brown collected me and we had a good chat on the way back to his and Chelsea’s new home. This is where I met their 9 month old son, Myles. The things you miss while you’re away for two years... Great to catch up with them as I hung my hat at theirs for the next week. This was to be a fairly busy week.

First up was lunch with Cuz out at Abbotsford. On returning to the city, I then went for a wander through the alleyways/arcades that link Flinders street through to the Bourke Street Mall. I continued to stroll about the city checking Melbourne out again. Much has changed while much hasn’t.

Later that evening I caught up with Maryanne at Transport for a few drinks before we crossed Fed Square to dine at Chocolate Buddha. We finished up back at Transport for a few for the road.

Thursday saw jetlag finally catch me as I slept til around midday, so it was a cruisey afternoon with the book and Charlie (Sime n Chels’ hyper-energetic pug dog). Lian Hearn’s "Heaven’s Net is Wide", if you’re curious. An excellent read and it is the prequel to the "Across the Nightingale Floor" series. But I digress... The evening was spent with Sime n Chels - dinner and some couch time with little Myles. Interesting what you can learn from a 9 month old... Don’t play with them too much after they’ve just had a bottle. I’m sure you can work out the result...

Friday was a busier day than expected. A pub lunch with Shar’s sister, Amanda (which is how Shar and I know each other) in Fitzroy Street in the sun. Chicken parmagiana was the go, simply because it’s been two years since I’ve had one. The English just look at you should you mention such a thing. Anyway, a good catch up in the warm sunny afternoon. I then trekked further down the street to meet cousin Hadrian at the Prince of Wales for a couple of beers in the sun (right). This catch up was a little unexpected (timing wise), but great to see each other again.

It was then a bit of a flurry to get back to the city despite the fact that we got caught in peak hour traffic. Unfortunately, leaving Hadrian in it while I darted up a few blocks to St Kilda road and onto a tram - I was still late, but thankfully I arrived at the same time as Steve, so all good. So at the Riverland bar on the banks of the Yarra, and after the shock of a pint of Asahi costing $15, we had good bit of time to catch up before Bubs and Cuz (left) arrived. We scored a table just as they did arrive so all that was left to do was while away the evening together. Myles had been a bit unsociable earlier, so Sime n Chels missed this one out, and as such I decided to accept Cuz’ offer to crash at hers for the night instead of risking waking Myles on my getting in. It was once there that we realised that I’d not seen her apartment as she’d bought it after I’d left. Needless to say, we chatted on til whatever time it was that we called it a night.

Saturday morning and it was a nice stroll through Fed square to check out some street theatre with a coffee. It was then time to head back to Sime n Chels place, but not before checking out a bit more of Melbourne as I took the scenic route to get to the bus stop for the ride back to theirs.

The afternoon took me into Yarraville with the Brown family, where we caught up with Hadrian at a street-side cafe. Once again enjoying the sunshine, its warmth and company. With Sime, Chels n Myles heading home in the late afternoon, Hadrian and I continued back to his place for another hours or so. All too soon, I was saying “see you later” to Hadrian and on a train back into the city to catch up and have dinner with B. Drinks at Riverland again, dinner in a DeGraves Street restaurant before a nightcap in a nearby bar, and it was very nice evening. Very much like we’d only seen each other yesterday than 2 years ago.

Sunday saw Chels n Myles, drop Sime and myself off at the Belgian Beer Cafe amidst the threat of a shower. We settled in here for the afternoon where we were joined by Nick n Riss Filsell with their young daughter Emily, Hannah, Cuz and Jackie. Alex & Owen joined us a bit later which, considering that he’d just done the Melbourne Marathon that morning, is fair enough. Despite a quick shower (what’s Melbourne without at least a sprinkle of rain), it was a nice sunny afternoon with everyone. Great to see everyone again.

Quite a few drinks later and several farewells, I was to find myself further along St Kilda road having dinner with Maryanne again, as she couldn’t make the afternoon.

Monday had an understandably slow start and was a cruisey relaxed day in much the same way as Thursday was. Again, dinner and some couch time with Sime, Chels, Myles and some funny Aussie television, but this time that threatening rain from the day before was a nasty storm. No matter to me, as I was flying out the next morning to sunny Sydney.

Is Melbourne home? It was for over 5 years and certainly could be again...

There's No Place Like Home (Pt. I)

And I know I’m not in Kansas anymore... right Toto? Well, while Toto won’t be thinking about it, the past couple of weeks have me wondering as to just where home is...

Over the past two years in London, ‘home’ has always meant Australia, and usually meant Adelaide (and sometimes Melbourne). Yet within hours of touching down in Australia again, and speaking with friends, the term ‘back home’ was suddenly referring to London.

Right now, after the past two and a bit weeks, I could possibly end up in Sydney of all places, but more on that later.

Adelaide: Hometown. A strange feeling being back. “A tourist in my own town” it definitely was, even if the only change appeared to be the extension of the Bay trams through Vic square and King William Street (above). That, and where I was staying - still with Mum n Dad, but in their new home in Belair - that’s their “back yard” in the photo at the top of this post. It’s not everyday that you get a koala in your backyard either, but we did on the Sunday afternoon.

It was great to see everyone again. Within a few hours of landing in Adelaide, it was off to Matt’s 40^th - a great gathering of people. A fantastic lamb on a spit too! And just good to hang out with Matt, Mandy, Curl, Suze, Charlie n All until the wee hours of the next morning. Nothing like a good ‘bbq’ with mates. That’s the man himself as we nicked the best parts off the spit, and damn, they were good! I’ve never had a bad bbq at Matt’s in all the years I’ve known him (and that’s now over a decade!)

The following two days saw me catching up with mostly family and a few other mates that weren’t at Matt’s bbq. It was great to ‘meet’ Sandy n Garth who’ve I’ve not seen since I was a lil’ taker - they’re cousin Zara’s parents, if you recall my mentioning her in previous posts. To also great to have a gathering with Uncles Allen n Ian and Aunties Judy n Bev and see them all again. Trish n Neil as well.

An afternoon at the Robin Hood Hotel with Mike, Matt, Mandy and Rina was a nice way to round out the day before dinner with Mum n Dad. Yes, I did get to spend some time with them during a hectic couple of days. They did head off to Sydney the day before I left Adelaide (impending grandchild was calling!), but it did give me a bit of time to wander Adelaide and be that Tourist in My Own Town.

A quick lunch with Monty was a highlight of strolling the sunny streets and the Mall. I did take a pic of the Mall Balls too, but only to show the folks back here - yeah right...

To finish off my trip with Peter n Judy was great too, even if it was shifting cars and a ride to the airport. You may remember them from my exploits in Dover last year. First time I’ve driven a car in the last two years too, and it was a tad nerve wracking considering the last time I drove in Adelaide I ended up in hospital after a head-on collision!

Sunshine and warmer weather does help me think of this as home, although I’m glad I missed the usual February month-of-35C+ weather.

Alas, time wasn’t on my side to do all I wanted, but it’s not like I won’t be back...

Run Forrest

Two games, eleven goals. Not something I would expect to see from Tottenham, but this is what we saw. Darren, Adam, “Chinner” and myself set out from London for Preston to watch the league cup match against Preston North End, one of the first football clubs in the UK. So after an adventurous drive up and some time in a nearby Preston pub we got to witness Spurs hand out a 5-1 drubbing. This was Wednesday. On Saturday one of the country’s other previous big name clubs, Burnley, came to White Hart Lane and were duffed up 5-0. To say that things were lively in the pubs after this result would be an understatement, however, with Sunday’s impending half marathon I did make an early exit from the festivities.

The Thursday and Friday that were in between these two matches were still entertaining. Thursday evening saw Martin, Shar, Mark n Row and myself gather for the Guinness celebration of Arthur Guinness birthday, which went on well into the night.
Friday was a similar event as we finished packing up the office in Aldgate for the move to our new office in Mark Lane down by Tower Hill. This is just across the road from the Tower of London with a good view of Tower Bridge as well - a nice view if you’re on the right side of the office! Naturally, there were some celebratory drinks to farewell Aldgate.

Not exactly prime preparation for a half marathon, but then again, none of my preparation could be termed ‘preparation’. More just ‘recovery’ to enable me to get around the course and complete the event. This is what I basically did.
My housemate Paul came along for something to do and certainly wasn’t disappointed once he noticed the amount of fit women in lycra running shorts. With eleven stages full of bands and DJ’s along the 13mile route through sunny Greenwich, this run was extremely popular with the ladies too. More women had entered this event than any other running event in the UK (so I was told). Definitely one to be in better shape for next year!
If you’re wondering, I got around the course without too much difficulty, although the two “hills” were a bit nasty. 40minutes slower than my best, but that wasn’t really the issue. And thanks to Axa’s fundraising matching scheme, I will make the needed £300 for WSPA, so that’s all good. Thanks to all who donated, and if you’d like to you still can at http://www.justgiving.com/aussierunner
Later that afternoon, I met up with Karyn n Marty for a bit of time in Knightsbridge just near that well known “department store” (begins with ‘H’ if you’re not sure).
You’ve probably noticed the sunshine in the photos above - yep, London has been warm n sunny of late, although “warm” is really only 18C...

Monday evening saw me catch up with Shar and her visiting sister Kelli-anne. A quick dinner in Chinatown was followed by finally getting to see Les Miserables. I really knew nothing about this other than it was set in revolutionary France, as well as some of the music that Mum n Dad played over the years since they saw it. A fantastic production and one that I would have no qualms in seeing again should the chance arise.

Time to get packing...

Dispelling the Rumour

Okay, so as I sit down after completing my first outdoor run in several months, I’m feeling okay. 7kms covered (and it beats running on a treadmill!!). As such, all I have to do for next Sunday’s half marathon is to this twice more - 7km x 3 = 21kms if you’re wondering.
Why the madness? Well, I committed to a sponsorship entry for WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals), and because I don’t really want to welch on that commitment. Besides, considering the pain that so many innocent animals are put through, what’s the discomfort I’ll feel?
Obviously, sponsorship is necessary, so if you’d like to “chuck a fivver” my way I’d appreciate it and you can do this by using the link on the right or just click here: http://www.justgiving.com/aussierunner

Right, now down to what I’ve been up to this last few weeks...
Mostly just the gym and running on treadmills, cycling on stationary (exercise) bikes or swimming. Oh, and a few leg exercises to help re-build my leg.

The football season has kicked off and while I’m not intending to go to as many games as last season, I’ve still been at it. It’s been some good fun catching up with the folks I met last season as well as a couple of bods over from home. The good part about this time of the year is that we’ve been able to take advantage of the beer gardens at the pubs in just the way they’re supposed to be used - in the sunshine! That said, there have been a few evenings after the games that have gone on well into the night, which tends to happen when the team win their first four matches of the season.

Also on the social front there’s been a couple of nights out with the folks from work where we’ve ended up in a nearby Indian restaurant for the obligatory curry. While Aussies all go for ‘kebabs’ or ‘yiros’ after a session out drinking, the English go for curries. It’s not that strange if you know the reasons it began, which has more to do with the early closing of pubs and the ‘curry houses’ still being open and licenced...
There was one afternoon where we had a team bonding session, which was done by going to the London Dungeons. No Dragons, but plenty of medieval England and the like as you go through the entire complex. Not particularly scarey although you do cop a fright or few from the actors and going’s on. We then headed down to a restaurant on the banks of the Thames that overlooked both Tower Bridge and the Tower of London...

There was also a good night out at a fantastic Spanish restaurant in Fulham. Shar, Juliana and myself soaked up the atmosphere as well as some cerveza and excellent tapas. Daylight savings really is good while it lasts.

As I mentioned in an early post, Row n Mark are now officially engaged, and last weekend we celebrated this with a bbq at their place. The weather behaved itself despite the forecast of rain and made for a very pleasant day and evening.
This was the second bbq at their place in the last few weeks as Marty, Karyn and I helped Mark n Row ‘roadtest’ their new bbq after the last one went up in flames. Yet another pleasant day despite the constant visits from some European wasps...
The following day, we headed out to TopGolf to settle what had been a rather foolhardy challenge. TopGolf is a driving range, but one that contains giant holes all over it. Each hole has a central flag is is divided up into many quadrants. The simple gig is that your golf balls are “chipped” and they register when they go into these holes. Depending on which hole, and how close to the flag you get, the more points you can score. So not only can you go for the further holes, you can also practice your shorter game with the nearer holes. This made for some interest as while Marty has played much golf, Karyn (a golfing beginner) spent a fair amount of time either even on points or just a few more!
The challenge I mentioned was between Mark n Row. Simply, Mark stated that anyone can get a ball into one of the holes, which Row had vouched for her complete lack of golfing ability by stating that she wouldn’t. On the night the challenge was made, we had been enjoying quite a few wines...
When we all saw the setup for the first time, we were pretty sure Mark was going to win. The entertaining part was that from Row’s bucket of 20 balls, the first seven didn’t even make the distance of the first row of holes. Mark was getting a bit worried. Finally Row got a proper hit on a ball, yet even that one missed. Another miss-hit and after ricocheting off of the side barrier of our stall Row finally had a ball go in for 3 points (and £100 less).

A fun day out and it was even warm n sunny!!

Who 2?

I’ve finally done it and succumbed, but with a valid reason, despite it still feeling quite wrong... I’ve joined a gym. Years of laughing at gym goers for forking out loads of money to go do things that you can in the outdoors like riding or running, etc...
I did it from a 5day guest pass that someone at work offered me. I could make some use of the exercise bikes for rehab of my, so why not? While getting the walk-through, their physio came over for a chat. A benefit of membership is physiotherapy - what better way to get some fully supervised rehab to put my leg back together for only the monthly cost of membership. Oh, and that cost won’t begin for at least a month and a half. Win win.

Unfortunately, this has made the past few weeks rather quiet as I still recover from getting hit by the car. I have managed to get out n about to do some things...

There’ve been some enjoyable evenings out with folks at either dinners like the one with Karyn, Marty, Row n Mark where we learnt of Mark n Row’s engagement. Should be a good engagement do in a few weeks time!
A night out in Richmond on the banks of the Thames with Daniel, who was over from Adelaide for the week.
An evening with Belinda at Gordon’s Wine Bar in the outdoor area as some semblance of summer, A Sunday arvo in Covent Garden with Shar and Okanya...

I also joined nearly all of the above at the Great British Beer Festival, but this was over two nights as I had two separate invites to go. It’s not quite like a “festival” though, more like an exhibition where they fill up the Earl’s Court exhibition centre with dozens of stalls for brewers from all over the British Isles to “exhibit” their wares. Effectively, it’s a massive beer tasting for everyone there. Pay your £3 for your pint glass and go try 1/3rds, halves or full pints of the 450+ ales and beers to try. It made for two quite entertaining nights as well as discovering some of what the British brewers have to offer. With some sizable queues at nearly all stalls, it really was more of a tasting event than a “lets-get-drunk” event...

I’ve also managed to go see some shows while I’m at it -
Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu
This is a Chinese production company performing China’s longest running theatrical event. Staging, visual and lighting effects, dance, aerial acrobatics and kung-fu combine to tell what is essentially a simple story. It is an excellent show, that is visually engaging, and the feats performed by the cast are very impressive. In the foyer afterwards, you even get to handle the remains of some of the items that were broken during the show. These are the metal bars, wooden staves and remnants of a certain concrete block. If you wish, you can keep them as a souvenir (which I didn’t). The four boys were very impressive too. They play the young version of Chun Yi and some of what they do is pretty amazing. Well worth seeing.

U2
Wembley Stadium was the place last night, and along with 88,000 others, Karyn, Marty, myself and Ernie saw what I would say is the most visually entertaining band I’ve ever witnessed. Much has been made of the 360° “Claw” staging, but it certainly delivered - so did the band for that matter.
You can see it clearly during the support act, and yes, that is a giant 360° video screen hanging under it. That screen actually extended towards the floor of the stage at several times throughout the night to display a range of effects.
Now, I’ll admit that my liking of this band waned several years ago and I effectively switched off after their album Rattle & Hum. I also can’t stand the song ‘Beautiful Day’ having spent copious amounts of times hearing it used over and over again for skydive videos. This did come in handy as it made for an excellent toilet break during the show. I must admit that I quite liked a lot of the new music that they played, and I guess it must seem odd to go to a show like this and hear several songs that you’ve never heard before...
They did crank out several songs from the time I used to really enjoy them, so that was good to see (and hear) them played live. All up, a great night, and one that will probably see me back in a cd store to investigate some of their newer albums...
While the pics look further away than they are, unfortunately, the camera battery was pretty much dead so I didn’t take many - I did try to catch a few seconds of video (which I'm still trying to load up here) despite the darkness and its struggle to focus...

The weekend continued with an evening in a pub with Karyn, Marty and Ernie again, but this time joined by my housemate Paul. The evening weather making for a nice night on the edges of Parson's Green.

Sunday afternoon and the Premier League has kicked off a new season, so in the sunny weather it was down to the beer gardens in Tottenham to catch up with the Usual Suspects before (and after) watching Spurs beat Liverpool 2-1. Finally a good start to a season! (and I don't just mean the after match festivities in the pub where Petter and I led a good round of "There were five Swedish Gooners in the Air" (amongst other things).

Monday saw a trip to the London Dungeons with the folks from work for what turned out to be a decent bit of fun, before we had dinner across the river from the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Sunset turned this into a pretty cool view from the restaurant. As for the Dungeons themselves, well, they weren't particularly scary, but were still a bit of fun and the whole set up and show was very entertaining. A bit of education regarding London's goulish past thrown in by the actors who did their best and definately got some good job satisfaction from people's reactions.

And this brings me to tonight... 29C today in London - "bewdy!". Parson's Green again, but this time on the actual park itself with Shar, Charlotte, Juliana, Martin, Jess, Stella and Tobias for a fun evening in the balmy evening with a few drinks.

A Quick Run Down (Literally)

Allen and Judy, my thoughts are still with you and the rest of the family.

Well, I guess it was bound to happen considering the amount of traffic on the streets of London, but it could have been worse than it was. It’s not every day you find yourself in an ambulance after getting hit by a car and knocked off your bike, but this is where I found myself about a week and a half ago.
The Details: he came out of a side street and straight into me. The first I knew of him was when he hit me - flush on the side, jamming my leg against the bike and subsequently damaging my knee quite badly. This sent me into the gutter, across the footpath and into a wall on the other side.
The driver did stop, being a cyclist himself. He called the ambulance and while that was enroute, both a police car and van arrived with their notepads and 1001 questions.
A brief stay in hospital and I’m now out and about learning how to walk properly again while the ligaments in my knee (and all the grazes and bruises) slowly heal up...

So, as you can imagine, things have been a bit preoccupied of late, although I have managed to get out and about for the past few weeks.
One such trip was a night out with Marty n Colin to see That Petrol Emotion. Nope, like you, I’d never heard of this band either. They’re from Northern Ireland and were pretty good too. We were in the venue’s bar afterwards when we noticed that the band were amongst those in the bar. After a brief chat with Marty, the challenge was for Marty to introduce me as having travelled all the way from Australia for this gig. The band had re-formed after 15 years, so it wasn’t hard to say that I wasn’t going to miss them this time around. Naturally they were pretty happy about the idea. That’s the lead singer in the pic with me n Marty.

What else?...
Had a night out with Shar at the Comedy Store for a night of improv with several comedians. Think along the lines of a live version of “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” or the old favourite, Theatre Sports. I mention “Who’s Line” because one of the comedians was Josie Laurence who had actually spent some time on this very funny show. I’d also seen her at the Shakespeare’s Globe several years ago. A very funny night and one we’ll no doubt repeat.

There’s been a few more nights down the White Horse pub, and this is where we found ourselves last Friday night with Karyn n Marty, Rachel, Juliana and Stella.
We also spent a day at Camden Market now that they’ve opened up the area that was burnt down last year. All nicely rebuilt, but nothing that really stood out in the way of the stalls in this area...
Other than checking out the new Ice Age move in 3D last night, that’s been about it. I’d recommend the film too. Not so much for the actual storyline, but the 3D animation is incredible! You won’t be disappointed.

Oh, and one last thing. During our brief, but nice summer (yep, it’s now raining here again) we gained a sort of new housemate who likes to sun himself on our fence...

Spring Days

Well after two long phone calls with both Adelaide n Sydney and while watching the lightning and the rain outside, it’s time to do something a little productive today while I take some time out from life in general. Looking outside it’s a fair contrast to the weather of the past few weeks which has been nothing short of summer (for England) with sunny days of nearly 24C (or the 30C weather predicted for the forthcoming week!).

We’ve certainly taken advantage of these balmy days with daylight savings keeping the sun up til around 9.30pm at night. There’s been just a few evenings where I’ve joined Shar and Charlotte down at the White Horse pub in Parson’s Green. I’ve certainly enjoyed the rides there after work, just bombing alongside the Thames through Embankment, Westminster (giving Big Ben a wave), Chelsea and Fulham. Usually this is with a myriad of other riders as we all leave work to ride this tree filled route by the river.

The riding has been good lately, and culminated in last weekend’s London to Brighton event. Riding the 55 miles to Brighton on a nice Sunday morning is all well and good, but in typical style I added an extra 40kms onto the journey by simply riding from home to the start in Clapham (and back again).
Some great countryside to pass through and I think if I do this event next year, I’ll do it in a completely different manner. It wasn’t quite the sort of event for more serious riders, like last year’s London to Cambridge, as this one had some 27,000 entrants. Most were more casual riders making a bit of a day of it, which is exactly what I’d do next year - stop off at some of the townships and their pubs along the way, to then make an afternoon and overnight stay in Brighton. That way I probably wouldn’t have minded the massive traffic jams, or even the traffic itself (as in the cars that were still using the roads).
Oh, and I’d definitely use the mountain bike to take advantage of the extra gears that would make the climb up the Ditchley-Beacon Hill far easier! Still, I managed to ride up it to then enjoy the views of the surrounding countryside and sea. The trip down the other side that led into Brighton was good fun as I reached just over 65kmh at one point.
With the sun shining it was then time for a nice leisurely stroll along the beachfront of Brighton amid the smell of fish n chips, overhead gulls and plenty of beachgoers in their hired stripy deck chairs on the gravel beach. Onto the event coaches and it was time to travel back to Clapham for the ride home.

On the subject of exploration, I had a day off Thursday week ago and spent it taking Shar’s visitor, Naomi, around London to the sights she wished to see.
This began in Knightsbridge for Harrods, which I’ve not been to since I last came to London 5 years ago. This place is still impressive, especially the Food Hall! From here we headed for a stroll through Hyde Park and made our way to Westminster via Wellington's Arch, Buckingham Palace, St James Park and a red phone box.
We paid Westminster Abby a visit and then continued along the Thames past Big Ben, through Embankment to arrive at Covent Garden.
After watching a bit of the street theatre and browsing the stalls and shops, it was time for a coffee and to sample a pastry at Pauls (the famous patisserie). Seriously good as always.
We then filled in the remaining time for the day by just hanging out together in the park by embankment to enjoy a chat and the antics of a Big Issue seller who was convinced we should be engaged...

Last Sunday night was Naomi’s last in London so after the London to Brighton ride that day, I met up with Naomi, Shar, Charlotte and Rachelle for a few “send off drinks”. For obvious reasons I caught the tube there and back, but it was a good night and a good way to finish off the weekend. That's Charlotte and Naomi with me on the left.

With a retirement and a resignation at work this week, there’s been a few extra nights out other than Wednesday evening’s trip to the White Horse. We also had Charlotte’s night out as her final week in London comes to a close and she heads back to France. Left to right here is Rachelle, Jess, Charlotte and Shar in Eclipse nightclub in South Kensington.

Now several weeks ago, it was the end of the football season and a couple of us headed north for the final game. Read on for our merry long weekend...

Two Pools - Liver and Black

The last match of the football season saw Spurs away to Liverpool, and on Petter’s suggestion we decided to make a bit of a weekend of it. So, with Paul, Marty and Karyn, we all met at Euston station after work on Friday to hop a train up to Liverpool for the long weekend.
After a rather uneventful train ride, we checked into our respective accommodations and then met up again in a pub in the heart of Liverpool’s nightlife. Certainly an interesting night out as we checked out a band before hopping a few different bars and clubs to sample a Friday night out in Liverpool. It had some interesting moments and I do have to admit that it’s hard to talk to someone when you can’t keep a straight face at their accent. Cross Irish with Welsh and then raise it an octave (or two) - I’d love to be able to replicate it because it is so unique, but not quite in such a bad way as the Geordies...
Anyway, after having a few problems with gaining entry back into both our accommodation and room (as someone was trying to use their own house keys instead of the B&B’s), we called it a night.

A slow start to the day, but we were soon back in the heart of Liverpool where we had a look around before meeting Marty n Karyn for ‘brunch’. With discussion of where to go next, it turned out that Marty had lived nearby to where my grandmother had grown up, so we decided to go take a look along Aigburth Road (right) near Sefton Park, which is HUGE and still has small girls running about in it just like it did 90-odd years ago.

It soon came time to head back to the station in central Liverpool as Petter, Paul and myself were headed to Blackpool for the evening and night. Petter hadn’t been to Blackpool before (not that we had) so checking out this seaside resort town had made its way onto the agenda. In just under an hour we were there.

There’s not too much to Blackpool itself other than the coastal amusements, rides, pubs/bars/clubs, hotels, restaurants, etc... that line the shore. This extends from the north pier to the south pier and beyond - that’s well over a mile in length, and this doesn’t include the few streets behind this that aren’t on the seafront itself. We basically wandered the foreshore checking it all out from the north pier to the south pier, which is where our accommodation was for the night.
Once checked in, we effectively did the reverse, but this included stopping firstly in a small restaurant (for some superb fish n chips - when in Rome...) and then a host of the pubs and bars. We soon discovered that Blackpool seems to be a haven for bucks and hens nights, as well as just being an active night out. I’m not sure that quite knew how to take it when a member of a hens night proposed to him, but we were constantly asked to help out with the lists of tasks that they all had for the evening. That’s Petter obliging one of the hens... In the end, once we discovered that it was now over a mile walk to get back to our lodgings, we cabbed it back.

The next morning, our host provided a very full English breakfast and we began the day with a quick 18 holes of golf. Okay, so it was putt-putt, but it sounded good. Afterwards, we headed back to the station for the quick trip back to Liverpool and to then to Anfield.
In the Arkles pub nearby, we met up with many others who had travelled up from London for the match before heading into Anfield for the game itself. I was certainly happy with my front row seat and to be pitchside when the 40,000+ Liverpudlians struck up “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was pretty amazing.

Afterwards, the fun began as our accommodation for the night fell through. We weren’t the only ones left roomless for the night as there were several people gathering at the offices of the apartment block where we had all booked apartments for the night. Only problem was the office was locked and the guy we’d spoken to earlier was nowhere to be seen.
So the Scandinavian church it was for the night. £15 each, and a landlady who wasn’t convinced that Petter was actually Norwegian until he produced a Norwegian drivers licence. It’s funny how when you learn English that you also seem to pick up the accent of the place you learn it - hence Petter’s English being with a cockney accent and not sounding anything like the chef on the muppet show...
We may have had to make our own beds and do our own breakfast dishes, but who’s going to complain at £15 for the night?!

Anyway, with that sorted we met Marty n Karyn for a final night out in Liverpool. Dinner first then Marty showed us a venue that had about six different venues and levels to it with each area catering for a different taste. We ended up in one of the lower levels on ‘teapots’, which is where they mix up a cocktail that fills a teapot, which you then serve out to everyone (see pic) or have four goes from it yourself. A groovy spot really.

The next morning was reasonably slow, but we all met back up at Liverpool station for our respective trains home - even if they were a replacement bus to the midlands first before a speedier train back to London.

Don't forget to check out http://www.justgiving.com/aussierunner or the little widget at the top right of the webpage here. You know it's worth it, even if you throw a fiver (£5) into the pot.