Libel, lies and TV cameras

After I badmouthed Abel and Cole on the blog over the weekend, it was a bit embarrassing when Jenny from downstairs came up and said: "I've just noticed a box up against the fence under our front window." And then Abel and Cole emailed twice and rang up once to investigate in detail what went wrong. (I am blind, basically.) So they're getting a reprieve.

On the Embankment outside Westminster tube last night I got stopped and interviewed by Channel 4 for a new documentary about "pushy parents". Did I think Britain's parents were too pushy? I said no, not really. The interviewer was a bit flummoxed by that answer and said: "What if I told you that parents are paying up to 42K extra to live near a particular school etc etc?" and I said: "Well... is that the parents being pushy, or is that a problem with the education system?" And she said: "Oh, it's the school's fault now, is it?" And then I started to babble incoherently, going on about who am I to judge how other people spend their money, I wouldn't send my (imaginary) children to a private school but then I don't have any and in NZ the state schools are OK. You like to think you will have something sensible and concise to say if anyone ever asks your opinion but as soon as they thrust the camera in your face, it all goes pear-shaped.

The annoying thing is that as soon as they took my name and contact details and let me escape into the tube, I had plenty to say. Which is this - at the pub after work the other day, I had a long chat with a nice, normal woman a bit older than me who was not a crazed social climber but had reluctantly decided to pay 2700 quid a term to send her son to a fee-paying school because when she went to look at the local primary school she was shocked by the state of it and decided she didn't want her vulnerable 4-year-old spending the next 6 years there. Then she said she and her husband were looking forward to the kids going to university because it would be a saving!

When I got home, Jules and I went for a run and ran together for once because it's getting dark now. As we ran down Abbey Road, a woman called out: "Go girls!" and Jules turned around to look at her. "Ooh, sorry...just saw the pony tail!" she said, and we all cracked up.

Intimate details of my little grey life

Yes, I know I haven't had much to say recently. But the question is...how interesting is it that I've got a new winter coat? It's kermit green, by the way.

Highlights of the week

Pride and Prejudice at the Curzon Mayfair. Not perfect but not a disappointment either. Particularly if you like to watch Matthew MacFadyen striding out of early morning mist in kneehigh boots and a big coat. Sample dialogue -

Lizzie: I...couldn't sleep.

Darcy: (tortured bark) Nor I.


Dinner at Bengal Spice, West Hampstead.

Saturday morning run: 8 km for me, 9 km for J.

Lowlights of the week

J is told that contractors at his work can only take 23 days off a year. But if the contractor budget gets blown by contractors not taking enough days off, they can force you to take 10 days in December with no warning.

And it has been noted that sometimes at 9 am he is still having breakfast. Hurrah for the public sector is what I say. Eating breakfast after 9 am is encouraged - why else would they send the trolley service around at 10? And again at 3, for that matter. Of course, there is only so much plain brown toast with jam you can eat, even if it is only 26p.

Either Abel and Cole didn't deliver our weekly organic fruit and veg box or someone nicked it before we got home. So that's their third strike: week one, tiny green apples, week two, grapes with white hairy bits (although apples fantastic after I complained about previous ones), week three nothing arrives at all and there is no customer service at the weekend. We're defecting to Waitrose, who deliver when you're at home and are also cheaper.

Interesting fact of the week: a slug can survive a week in the fridge. Think he came out of the savoy cabbage.

Friday Cat Blogging

Wilbur at breakfast, originally uploaded by Rachel Jean.

Wilbur at breakfast, courtesy of Judith.

We made it to Kew Gardens!

waterlily Kew Gardens, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Cannonball Run 8000 and other valid uses of government resources

My work colleague Tiff was driving off on the Cannonball Run 8000 yesterday, a classic car race between London and Rome over 48 hours. Sarah and I, the only ones of the team who were in the office, went to wave her off. We made banners out of Directgov flipcharts. It took about half an hour to make them and they said: Fairydust and a fond farewell...to Peter Dan and Tiffabell. (Tiff and Dan were dressed as fairies in their promotional shots, so the Peter Pan thing was not completely random.)

Sadly, when we got to Earls Court the guy at the gate said: "The cars? They've just left - you've missed them." So we went shopping at Sloane Square instead. It is all the fault of the official website - it said the start was at 11.30 but it also had a clock that was counting down to midday, so we assumed that there would be what Tiff described as "poncing around the cars" at 11.30 but the actual flag waving would be at 12. We were wrong, obviously.

It's a glorious day today and we ARE going to Kew Gardens. I know I've said this before, but today it's really happening. Going to get on a boat at Westminster as we've never been down the river in that direction.

Jules thinks I have stolen his vote. Not sure what his logic is, except that I bothered to vote and he didn't get around to it. So that's two votes for the leftist pinkos, at least in his mind. It's a good thing we have Officer Wom to keep the peace.

In other news, Claire and Iain survived the 9-day, 207km stretch of the Pennine Way, but only just. At the end, they sat outside a pub with massive glasses of rehydrating fluids and Claire repeated: "Thank God that's over. I'm so glad that's over. Thank God we're at the end." So I will cross that one off my list of possible walks - that pair are pretty staunch walkers so it's not a good sign if they found it tough.

Ashes parade: glorious, tremendous and fabulous

Just the other day I was saying to Jules: "You've never worked in the West End, have you? You don't know what you're missing!" and then today the Ashes parade came right past us down the Strand. We left work with one minute to spare and ran down the street and up the steps to the Strand just in time to see the parade (or should I say two open-top double-decker buses) come past. It was a bit understated at first - there was no music playing and people were just standing around clapping politely. A definite lack of woohoo-ing and thrown undergarments.

But then we all shuffled down into Trafalgar Square, which was jam-packed. I couldn't see the big screens for a lot of the time, let alone the stage, but the sound system cranked up so you knew what was happening.

Good points:

• an effective montage of key moments of bravery from English batsmen, set to the Tom Petty song that goes "You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won't back down"
• the MC's commentary, along the lines of "It's a glorious day here in London, and English fans are the best in the world, our boys are simply fabulous, hurrah for England, isn't everything tremendous!"
• Andrew (aka Freddie) Flintoff, in dark shades, clearly still drunk as a skunk, slurring his words and apologising for it while the MC said: "Don't worry, Andrew, everyone's just happy to see you!"
• conga lines of people dancing in the fountains
• the red and white confetti

The main bad point was the grudging inclusion of the women's cricket team in the parade, including comments from the MC like "Let's have the whole team on the stage now, that's right, everybody...aaaand the ladies can come as well". His whole tone of voice suggested "aren't we progressive and thoughtful, and isn't it kind of us to include the girls?" You have to wonder if the women, who also won the Ashes this year for the first time since 1963, would have got any sort of parade if the men hadn't won.

We all lost each other in the crowd and came back to the office one by one.

In other news, I discovered a very cute government service - a hedgehog road safety game for kids.

On the Ceiling by Nigel Planer

When you get free tickets to a West End play by a playwright everyone knows (if only because he was Neil in The Young Ones) with stars most people know (even if you don't yourself) and you arrive to find you're in row Q of the stalls and not behind a pillar, it's all good.

Basic premise for anyone who missed yesterday's entry: Ron Cook and Ralf Little play two journeyman painters employed to help Michelangelo with the Sistine Chapel. Their employment conditions aren't the best and their employer rarely deigns to show up. Are they going to have to save his hide and will he ever remember to pay them?

On the Ceiling is genuinely funny. The script is brilliant - natural, crude and fast-paced - and there are some wonderful moments of physical comedy. But even better than that, there are spine-tingling moments when the two fresco painters reflect on what it means to work on this particular project.

There's a good review on The Stage Online.

Of course it's easy to say when you've got in free, but in my view this production is well worth 15 quid, the price of all tickets in the September sale.

Friday Otter Blogging

A trainee delivery otter on Koh Samui, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Visiting the zoo/wildlife centre on Koh Samui is not recommended unless you enjoy seeing miserable tigers being forced to jump through flaming hoops - but the otters seemed to enjoy their errands.

We have free tickets to "On the Ceiling" at the Garrick Theatre tonight. It's through some civil service recreation association. Members could offer tickets to their colleagues, so one of mine did. It's a comedy about two journeyman painters employed to help Michelangelo with the Sistine Chapel.

Plan for the weekend: Kew Gardens by boat/London Wetland Centre.

Nike training run update: they didn't put the red carpets out so there was no timekeeping by chip. Possibly fortuitous as it was very hot and I had a stitch.

Photo-free Wednesday

Hmf - "Flickr is having a massage", it says, so I can't post my fabulous new otter picture from Koh Samui. My photos from Pompeii were a bit disappointing - suspect it is time for some lessons and a new flash digital SLR :-)

We have booked ourselves on an Intrepid trip to Egypt and Jordan in February - 17 days from Cairo to Amman - taking in Luxor, Aswan, Mt Sinai, Wadi Rum and Petra on the way. Feels strange to book so far in advance but necessary as everyone wants to go in the winter when it's cooler.

In other news, I got an automated reply to my email requesting a ticket to Prime Minister's question time from Glenda Jackson. Basically it said "You are hopelessly naive if you think I actually read my email, let alone reply to it. Please send me a letter with a stamp and I might think about replying, providing you really do live in my electorate, which I doubt." So I will do that, grudgingly, but it irritates me. Why would you post your email address on a public-facing website if you don't want the public to email you?

Summer continues to be glorious. Off on another Nike training run tonight - any advance on 33 minutes 6 seconds?

There's no beach at Sorrento but don't let that stop you sunbathing

DSC02718, originally uploaded by Racmol.

The Amalfi coast is a funny place. It's described as one of Europe's most spectacular pieces of coastline and it is definitely spectacularly steep.

We caught the bus from Sorrento to Amalfi via Positano, and it winds along the top of the cliffs all the way. Sometimes you look out your window over a sheer drop to the sea and sometimes you're looking into a valley with olives growing on terraces and houses clinging to the edge of cliffs with swimming pools jutting out over nothing much.

In general, the beaches are small if not non-existent. You will see a couple of hundred steps leading down to a tiny cove big enough for three sun umbrellas. But the water is a beautiful deep blue colour and the pink, white and yellow houses liven up the place like anything.

At Amalfi we visited the cathedral and had a nice cheap pasta lunch in the backstreets somewhere and generally enjoyed wandering about up the steep little streets. Amalfi used to be a lot bigger and more important until half of it fell into the sea, and you can imagine that happening again quite easily.

We got a boat back to Sorrento which also came through Positano. I took a great photo (I hope!) of the beach, which you can't see as it's hidden under a solid mass of orange umbrellas. My photos will be ready on CD on Tuesday - the trials of not having a digital camera!

The plan was to go to Capri that evening but it was cold and windy on the boat back from Amalfi so we decided we couldn't be bothered with another boat trip and had a slap-up meal in Sorrento instead. Got rejected at the posh place we wanted to go to because we didn't have a reservation. Jules pointed out that it was my birthday, and the waiter went out the back to relay this information to someone but it made no difference! But the place we ended up was lovely so that was ok. The woman on the dessert trolley who was wearing an Italian-matron-type black sack, said reprovingly to me: 'And nothing for you' as she handed Jules his cake. It was definitely a statement, not a question, but I was not going to be put off that easily. ('No, I would like THAT one.'etc) The cheek of it!

Can't help noticing that Italian women seem to undergo a dramatic transformation at some point and give up their tight white jeans, high heels and sleeveless tops for a large homemade floral or black sack. Perhaps you just can't buy clothes any more if you eat too many desserts and this is what the black-sack woman was trying to warn me about.

Positano

Positano, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Nobody has viewed our new photos on Flickr and I'm all despondent :-(

Does everyone know that if you click on a photo in a blog post (like this one), it takes you to see all the rest of our photos? You can also comment on the photos or mark them as favourites, which makes the people who sat up half the night uploading them feel a LOT better.

My first official RunLondon training run time was 33 min 6 secs so things could be worse.

We're off to have brunch in Islington and visit the Intrepid concept store now to research our next holiday so I'll write more later.

Ciao,

Rachel

Sorrento, Naples and the Amalfi Coast - Part One, Pompeii

Plaster cast of donkey driver, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This photo illustrates the reason why I wanted to go to Pompeii and I wasn't disappointed. I told myself on the way in that even though I had a vague recollection of reading somewhere years ago about bodies preserved in lava, the Lonely Planet didn't mention them so I shouldn't expect to see any.

In fact, like all the bodies at Pompeii, this is not actually a body but a plaster cast. What happened was - when the site was being excavated in the 19th century, someone found an interestingly shaped cavity, and the lead archaeologist decided to pour plaster into it and see what it was. In this way, they discovered bodies of people and animals and also the shape of household furniture and roots of trees and all sorts of things. Essentially the lava formed a hard coating over the body and then when the body decayed, a body-shaped cavity was left.

It's quite something to see - and very moving because you see the posture of the person when they died, which makes them seem more human, more like us. You can also see the shape of their clothing on some of them.

We spent about five or six hours wandering around Pompeii. I knew the figures - 20,000 people lived there and around 2,000 died - but I wasn't expecting the site to be so huge. Usually when you go to see ruins they are just that - ruins. At Pompeii you get a real sense of individual houses, complete with fountains and murals and mosaics. And they haven't finished excavating it yet. It made me feel like signing up to do an archaeology degree at Birkbeck - we got a flyer through our door that said that Birkbeck undergraduates do digs at x, y and Pompeii. The moment passed, which was a relief.

I failed to see a cave canem mosaic although I later discovered there was one in the House of the Tragic Poet, which we somehow managed to miss. Miss Scott would have been disappointed in us!

Will write more later and upload some more photos when I get my own ones back on Tuesday - all the current ones are Jules's. I'm getting them burnt to CD for ease of storage.

In other news, I went for my first RunLondon training run in Regent's Park today. I was almost the last one home - the people who go on these training runs are clearly far too fit. Anyway I think it took me about 32/33 minutes for the 5.1 km but will find out tomorrow when the official time recorded from my digital chip (attached to shoe not surgically inserted!) appears online. You get your own page of the website where your times are all logged. The idea is that you go once a week and improve your time - but the chances of that seem small as the only other two 5km timed runs I've done (in 1999 & 2004) took 32 or 33 minutes each as well. I only have one speed and it is not very quick!