Michael Owen: keeping the World Cup in perspective

The highlight of Michael Owen's first tv interview after ripping his anterior cruciate ligament in two was when he described how he agonised over how to explain to his small daughter what had happened.

The resulting phone call:
Michael: Daddy has broken his knee, darling.
Michael's daughter: Look, can you call me back - Postman Pat is on.


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michael owen
postman pat

Regent's Park and back

Went for our first 7-mile run this morning - down to Regent's Park and back.

Plan for the rest of the day - lie in heap on couch and eat things. Oh, and watch football. Obviously.

regents park
run
couch potato

The Secret Language of Sleep - find your sleeping pose

Now...this can't be right, surely?

Find your own pose!

Spain 2 - Tunisia 1

Wom - supporting the World, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Have...you...seen...my coat of many colours?

World Cup 2006 and the Gascony Ave gloryhound

Wom in Tunisian colours, originally uploaded by Racmol.

After seeing his native team soundly beaten yesterday, Wom has bounced right back, now wearing full Tunisian regalia and jealously guarding the remote.

And now Spain has just equalised - how do I explain that we don't have any red and yellow tea towels?

Wildlife at work

Wildlife at work, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Courtesy of Jules, here are the ducks who have made their home on the roof terrace outside Marshall Wace on top of the Adelphi building. The hedge funders have made them a shelter complete with straw.

Oxford - home of the bicycle

Oxford bikes, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We took the train up to Oxford on Saturday to see the Alfred Jewel, which lives at the Ashmolean Museum. There was also a black and white photography exhibtion on there, called something like 'Oxford by night', and every single photo had a bike in it. Then we saw this pub, and started to understand why...

A dip in the (Hampstead) pond

Hampstead mixed bathing pond, originally uploaded by Racmol.

It's been the most fabulous sunny, hot weekend. This morning we went over to Hampstead Heath for a swim in one of the ponds, which was excellent. There were lots of people there but the ponds are so large it's not at all crowded and the water is refreshingly cold. There were even two geese and their goslings watching from the bank.

Scenic highlights of Tipperary and Killarney

Wom at Ladies' View, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We flew into Waterford in a little propeller plane just before midday on Friday, and were treated to an envigorating landing in high winds. Waterford Airport is just a shack on the edge of a runway - it makes Dunedin Airport look serious and international.

Temo's expression when we arrived said as clear as day: "Not them again!" But we were undeterred, and settled in for a cruisy afternoon in Clonmel.

On Saturday Jeremy had to go to work, so the rest of us went to the farmers' market (very small) and then leapt in the car and drove to Cahir. Stopped in to see Cahir Castle, which was a pretty common-or-garden castle with not a great deal to see.

Drove on to Cashel for lunch and went up to see the Rock of Cashel, the ruins of an old fortification and church on top of a hill - a bit like Glastonbury Tor but with a much larger building.

Had to laugh at the Rock of Cashel's attitude to accessibility. The road up to the rock starts out on a moderate slope and then goes steeply upward, at about the same incline as the bottom half of Sutherland St. At the top end of this steep section, there is a disabled carpark. Found myself imagining the disabled person wheeling their wheelchair out of the car and then losing control...

Not to mention the fact that there are 12 stairs up to the reception and then another 10 steps or so up to the actual site. After Jules and Ruth had lugged the buggy up the first 12, Ruth asked the woman on reception if the site was accessible and she said 'Oh, yes, there's a couple of steps up from here but then everything's flat.' So they carted the buggy up the next flight of stairs, only to find that the rest of the site was covered in stairs, all over the place, and your only option for avoiding them was to climb up steep grassy slopes instead!

But anyway, the Rock of Cashel was more impressive than Cahir Castle - an amazing setting with views for miles around.

Later that afternoon we stopped in at an old pub in Fethard, where Temo had his first sample of Guinness. Didn't seem to make a good impression.