G'day from WA

Humpback flipper, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Well, we all survived our jaunt to Western Australia. At least two of us are bigger than when we left and one is a lot more wriggly but the important point is - no DVTs.

At 12.45 and 5am today, I was wondering if the baby had jetlag, when I remembered the helpful pie chart in The Pregnancy Bible called 'Waking and Sleeping Patterns of a Newborn'. It's in two different shades of orange (crying and feeding) and green (sleeping). There is a large orange wedge between midnight and 3 am and another one from 4 to 6 am. Then it says 'Your baby does not know or care about your normal sleeping patterns.'

But I digress. We had a good time in WA, even though Jules had to buy a polarfleece on day 2. We swam in the sea three times - twice because it was hot and once in the Southern Ocean at dusk in a moment of insanity just to say we'd done it.

We saw a lot of wildlife - this particular humpback came to visit the whalewatching boat we were on but we also saw them from the shore at Cape Naturaliste. Plus kangaroos and big lizards and random emus at the side of the road and a wide selection of parrots in the national parks.

Yawn - fading fast and it's only 9 pm. Watch this space for Friday Wombat Blogging.

Fetal anomalies, goo and mutterings

We went for the fetal anomaly scan today. Apparently the baby is very active and the following appear to be normal: heart, head, face, spine, neck and skin, chest, abdominal wall, gastro-intestinal tract, kidneys and bladder, extremities, skeleton. They're going to have another look in three weeks, just to make sure.

There were three doctors at the scan, one of whom seemed to be there specifically to look at the heart. They examined that for about ten minutes, muttering under their breath the whole time, then breezily declared it all looked normal. By that time, I was imagining open-heart surgery at six weeks...

It has a smaller than average head and abdomen and longer than average arms and legs. It is already sucking its thumb, and is lying the wrong way up, but it's a bit early to be worrying about that.

No pictures this time - will order some at the next one on 3 November.

Honorary Gooners

Two of Matt's gooner mates had a baby recently. They have called her Scarlett, but apparently that is just because they liked the name, nothing to do with Arsenal at all.

So we have been to the new stadium on their tickets twice in a week and had a fab time at each game. We have even had a gooner burger (aka chicken balti pie) each in a flash red box and we can sing along to all the chants. We have, however, stopped short of buying one of these...

The new stadium is very impressive, especially when full (always) and at night. Instead of lights on four posts at the corners they have a circle of lights right around the top edge of the stadium, so you don't get any weird shadow effects.

Saturday's game was against Sheffield United, who were not much good really, and Arsenal scored 3 times at the opposite end to us. But then at last night's Champions League game, Henry headed a goal in right in front of us, which was just as well as I missed the other one due to trying to hear Matt's explanation of the chant that ends with a very complimentary line about Martin Joll's mother.

Jules even tried out his finger pointing at the opposition fans. Maybe next time we go he'll even be able to carry it off.

At the Galleria Ferrari

Wom at the Galleria Ferrari, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...Wom gets ideas above his station.

The Cinque Terre (well, four of them)

We arrived by train into Monterosso mid-afternoon on a fabulous hot Monday. Found the hotel easily and then went straight out for a swim, which was wonderful and cold. The beach at Monterosso is mainly stones - there are a few sandy patches of private beach where you have to pay for deckchairs, which seems a bit mean because if you have a deckchair, what do you care if it's stony underfoot? So we lay on the stones and came away with interesting pink indentations.

The next day we caught the train to Riomaggiore, the furthest away of the five villages and walked back through Manarola to Corniglia for lunch. At Manorola there was a fantastic-looking deep patch of sea that you could climb down a ladder from the rocks into, and we thought about it, but there was nowhere to change and we thought we'd get uncomfortable walking the rest of the way in wet togs. A bit foolish, as all the way from Manorola to Corniglia you could hear the thunder and see the storm coming. It struck just as we got to Corniglia for a nice pasta lunch, so that was good timing.

After lunch we walked on to Vernazza, getting progressively wetter. It was probably the most interesting stretch of track, with old olive groves to look at on both sides, but very slippery in the wet. At Vernazza we discovered there was a train in 5 minutes and leapt on it, as the rain was only getting heavier.

Walking back to the hotel, Jules got waylaid by the sight of someone else's roadside tiramisu so we stopped for a bit then went back for hot showers. Bliss. No swimming that day.

Today we have got a couple of different trains to Parma, and we will be having a look at Modena and Bologna over the next few days.

From Lucca to Monterosso

Having a lovely time in Lucca, where it is quite hot and there is a gelati stand on every corner. Have done all the things you usually do in Tuscany - climbed the tower and walked all the way around the city wall. Tried to visit Puccini's house but it was closed for restoration. Someone had crossed out the 'opening Spring 2006' with a vivid marker and written 2010 in its place!

Today we are off to the Cinque Terre, having found somewhere to stay in Monterosso at the last minute. This will involve 3 trains, but all quite short distances.

Late last week we got all excited when we got home to find two delivery cards, indicating that the rest of our insurance replacements had arrived. So we leapt in a minicab and went to one depot in Cricklewood to pick up my ipod and then down to Park Royal to pick up what was meant to be Jules's laptop and digital camera. By the size of one of the boxes it was clear someone had stuffed up and ordered him a desktop PC (weighing 30kg!) but the depot staff insisted you could only refuse both items or take both items, and as he wanted the camera for our holiday, Jules thought we should take them. Got home to discover the smaller box contained someone else's ADSL modem...

So now we have a huge box squatting in our spare room. According to Geoff (who has actually done this) if you ask them to collect it and they don't within 30 days, it is yours and you can then sell it on ebay!

Heir to the Empire

Front profile, 12.5 weeks, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...or an indistinct smudge, depending on your point of view.

If you know what you're looking for, you can see the eye sockets and the jaw.

The highlight of this morning's scan was seeing the baby flap both arms vigorously.

Getting a low-risk nuchal translucency result of 0.7mm was pretty good too.

ETA: 11 March 2007

Friday Cat Blogging: Bank Holiday Bagpuss

Handy food safety tip from Jules's boss

Never eat shellfish in a month that doesn't have an 'R' in it.

Or in France, at any time.

The Attack of the Parisian Bistro

Poor Jules has been very sick all week and is signed off work for seven days, with a nasty fever and a suspected intestinal parasite. It all comes of being too polite - he thought his mussels were not really hot enough on Sunday but was reluctant to send them back in case they got nuked.

The meal in question was not even the worst we had in Paris - that honour goes to Le Vieux Bistro, near Notre Dame. Don't even THINK of eating there, unless you think a cassolette is a big bowl of oil with overcooked carrots and crunchy raw potatoes floating in it. Bleah!

This morning, Jules said plaintively that he had contemplated moving the mattress from the sun lounger into the bath and sleeping there, so as to be close to the toilet, but in the end he just settled down in the spare room, sweating and shivering under his towel and some clothes he found there. Didn't seem like a good moment to say: 'You don't mean the CLEAN WASHING, do you?'

A busy and domestic weekend ahead, by all accounts.

A Parisian dragon

A dragon outside the Natural History museum, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Weekend in Wien

Just back from a flying visit to Vienna, where we did a lot of walking and ate a small farm of meat, as you do in that part of the world.

We arrived on Friday night, quickly realising that we have now become so blase about travelling that neither of us had the first clue where our hotel was. Had to ring them up and ask for directions, but we got there in the end.

On Saturday we took the u-bahn out to Schloss Schonbrun and spent a pleasant few hours wandering around the palace and gardens. The palace is quite impressive, but much like any other European palace in many ways - you know, Room of Mirrors, grand ballroom with chandeliers and frescoed ceiling etc. The interesting bit was the history of the Hapsburgs - had never realised, for example, that Marie Antoinette was one. As Jules said, the whole 'let them eat cake' story is doubtless a gross misrepresentation - and actually indicated nothing more than the Viennese faith in the peace-making powers of coffee, Sachertorte and a bucket of whipped cream...

After a pleasant lunch in the Bierhof, we went for a wander around the museum quarter, stopped for obligatory afternoon cake and then went to the Leopold Museum - mainly 20th century Austrian art - which was excellent. They had huge black and white reproductions of Gustav Klimt's three murals he did on health-related themes for a university. Sadly the university rejected them as too suggestive of death and then the originals were destroyed in a fire. But you can see they would have been very impressive.

That night we went on a long trek in the rain in search of a pork knuckle. Would have helped if we'd realised the Prater was a park, not to be confused with Praterstern or Praterstrasse, but we found the place in the end. I asked for a 'kleine' pork knuckle, but that turned out to mean 900g instead of the standard kilo. Jules amused himself taking pictures and texting family members things like 'Rac just ate half a pig'.

On Sunday morning Vienna was a ghost town and finding breakfast was a bit of a mission. Then we went to the Kunst Historisches museum, which is full of the sort of art I hate - still lives with dead fish and deer, and fat naked people pretending to be Greek and Roman Goddesses complete with grotesque cherubs. One or two interesting Rembrandt portraits and a single Vermeer but by and large I would give it a miss.

After an ample pub lunch, we walked across to the Belvedere, an old palace converted into an art gallery, where there is a lot of early 20th century Austrian art - Klimt, Egon Schiele, Anton Kolig etc. They have Klimt's The Kiss, which is huge and a lot more textured than you'd imagine. Infinitely better experience than the KHM.

And then it was time to catch the train to the airport.

Back to the burglary - the new laptops, cameras and so on should be arriving this week so we'll be back in business photo-wise soon.

Technology-free household

Since we had our front door kicked down on Friday, we no longer have any laptops (among other things) so the blog will not be updated for a bit. Also we have not done anything interesting, due to spending most of the weekend at home entertaining the crime scene investigators, detectives and locksmiths.

The fabulous new Dualit toaster

The fabulous new toaster, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Here is what cookware.co.uk has to say about our new toaster:

"The ultimate toaster, this is the design all the celebrities go for - it oozes quality and style.

A true design classic, an object of desire for over 80 years.

It's not just its classic looks, inside is a professional toaster manufactured to such a high standard that you'll never have to buy another toaster again. It will provide fast even toasting every time year after year."

Never have to buy another toaster - did you hear that, Julesy?

Some members of the family may be amused to hear that it doesn't actually pop up. You choose how long you want to toast for and it ticks away then shuts itself off, keeping the toast warm for up to ten minutes.

We were sold, anyway.

NEVER toast a taco!

The aftermath of the Taco Incident, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I was just sauntering out of the living room after dinner when I heard an undignified squawk from the kitchen and arrived in time to see Jules frantically unplugging the (flaming) toaster from the wall. Then he wet a tea towel and threw it over the top as I rushed to shut the door into the hall before the smoke alarm went off.

After a reasonable interval, I opened the door again to investigate. By now the toaster was in the sink, still flaming. Filling it with water seemed to solve the problem.

Jules was busy extricating something charred and unrecognisable - formerly a taco. Did he not see the pool of fat left on the oven tray after the tacos were gently heated, perhaps?

And then, just as he was proclaiming that the toaster would be fine once it dried out, he spotted the blackened burnt-out taco shape on the inner element.

Rest in peace, toaster - with many thanks for a year's good service. According to the wanton toaster destroyer, we're getting a cool retro pastel one next!

The alarming thing is that the smoke alarm, which goes crazy if you so much as toast a crumpet, remained completely silent in the event of a genuine fire!

Midnight Sun, Tromso

Jules at midnight, Sunday, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Regent's Park AND Paddington Rec - 13.5km

Very tired now. Failed to get up early enough and it was very hot.

Sensibly, the PDSA charity shop on Kilburn High Road had reduced all its England flags by 50% yesterday morning. Wonder if they all went?

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.


Tags:
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.

A bad influence

Call the sugar police!, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I love this photo for many reasons: the expression of intense concentration, the motion blur and the resourceful use of the stick from the first icecream as a spoon for attacking the second one!

We had a great time in Ireland - more tomorrow.

A walk in Constable country

Yesterday we caught the train from Liverpool St to Manningtree, to go for a walk in Constable country - that is, the area where John Constable lived and the setting for several of his major paintings. We walked from Manningtree to Flatford Mill along a muddy lane with white blossom in the hedges on either side.

This is Flatford Mill itself, on the Stour.













And here is Willy Lott's house, and Constable's painting of the same view.

Babysitting 101

Last Sunday, we looked after Temo while his parents went out for dinner in West Hampstead. And it all started out quite well...

He didn't seem too worried when they left, which was encouraging. We pottered about from the living room to the kitchen and back again a few hundred times, taking bites out of random pieces of fruit, and then we read Spot, lifting all the flaps. So far so good. Jules made him an omelette, which he pretty much rejected, picking out the occasional bit of broccoli and leaving the rest.

Then he had a bath, cooperatively lifting his arms and legs up to get undressed, and splashing about happily for a good twenty minutes or so. Getting him back into his pyjamas took a bit more negotiation i.e. I chased him around the house trying unsuccessfully to push the top half over his head while he did other activities. Eventually he submitted - and then I remembered Ruth saying something about two singlets, one cotton and one wool, but I figured I'd quit while I was ahead.

At that point Jules reappeared with more adult-sized omelettes, with bacon on the side. It turns out that Temo likes bacon - even more than broccoli - and thinks nothing of filching a rasher off someone else's plate and taking it away to a quiet corner to consume!

Shortly after that, he started rubbing his eyes and looking a bit grumpy, so I thought I'd try to encourage him to go to bed. To cut a long story short, that was where it all went wrong. Half an hour later he was standing at the top of the stairs down to the front door, sobbing and stretching out his arms towards the door in a piteous 'why have they abandoned me?' gesture.

We fed him some pear as a temporary distraction but still, by the time his mum and dad got back, he was all red and blotchy and looked like we'd been torturing him for hours. Spent the next half hour in a subdued hiccoughing heap on Ruth's chest, not at all sure it was safe to go to sleep.

Still, he seemed to have forgiven us by the next morning, so maybe it was a bonding experience after all! Or perhaps he had just blocked it out, like all things too painful to remember...

Three visitors and a violin

Jeremy, Ruth and Temo arrived in one piece this morning, with a small avalanche of luggage. Temo was wide-eyed and alert and kept up a running commentary all the way in on the train, mainly 'truck', which seemed reasonable given the view out the window. His parents were a little more subdued, not having had the benefit of a 10-hour kip between Auckland and Los Angeles.

When we arrived at Paddington, Jeremy slung his big backpack on his back, a smaller one on his front and then picked up the buggy in its case to try and carry that over one shoulder. Temo thought that was pretty funny - was completely overcome by giggles just watching!

Now they've all retreated for their afternoon nap. I'm supposed to wake them up in an hour or so, but I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West even thinking about it so we'll see.

In other news, we have a violin in the house again. My friend Matt had been talking for ages about how he had his father's old violin sitting at home doing nothing and I'd be welcome to borrow it etc and then one day a couple of weeks ago he remembered to bring it in to work and we went up to Foote's at lunchtime to have it restrung. Turns out to be a really nice violin - the guy in the shop thought it was about 1880 vintage.

Meanwhile, Matt's summer project is setting up a "non-guitar-based" band, which so far consists of Rachel (vocals), Matt (piano) and me (violin). We had our first rehearsal yesterday, and it actually went really well. Mostly what we play is Natalie Merchant and Ben Folds, but there's a bit of other stuff thrown in like Feeder's 'Just the Way I'm Feeling' and 'Lilac Wine'. There is also possibly a cellist called Becky, who is coming along for the first time next week.

I only got the sheetmusic on Wednesday so I spent the next few days frantically practising and having nightmares about the horror of playing in front of people after so long, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought - I even had a good time.

Well, I think someone might be surfacing next door so I'd best go. Promise adorable photos contrasting one-year-old and Big Ben or other major monuments soon.

Friday Squirrel Blogging

squirrel 1, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Stalking with squirrels

squirrel 4, originally uploaded by Racmol.

To celebrate spring, here is a sleek and fluffy squirrel, enjoying itself in Queen's Park. (We bought new cameras yesterday, so I had to go looking for some wildlife to try mine out on.)

Hope to find something bigger to practise on soon...

Friday cat blogging from Egypt

Sinai cat, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Dead Sea mud wrap vs Turkish bath

Jules at the Dead Sea, originally uploaded by Racmol.

After trying out the various beauty treatments of Jordan, Jules feels the Turkish Bath had a greater effect on his skin than the dead sea mud treatment (self application method).

And another thing - what's with all the snow and hail in London?

Trekking with camels

jordan first 227, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Blog postings a bit thin on the ground this trip - much like emails and comments, I might add!

Highlights of the past fortnight, in brief:
- climbing Mt Sinai's 3750 steps of repentance and watching the sunset from the top
- spending a night at a Bedouin camp in the desert at Wadi Rum
- driving through the hills to Petra in thick fog with snow on the ground
- two days in Petra, including climbs to the High Place of Sacrifice and the Monastery
- a swim in the Dead Sea today (very quick in my case as my skin turned red and started to tingle instantly). Great pictures to come of Jules covered in Dead Sea mud, though.
- yesterday a very vigorous Turkish bath, removing a thick layer of grey-black skin
Tomorrow we arrive in Amman at the end of our travels. Photos will appear when we have a proper Internet connection again.

A pyramid and a quick hello

DSC03075, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Hi again - we're still alive. Now in Luxor and heading back to Cairo by sleeper train tonight.

Had a fantastic day today - up at 5 for a balloon ride over the temples on the other side of the Nile and then we got on donkeys and rode up and over the saddle of the hill and down into the Valley of the Kings. It was a spectacular climb with huge red rock formations and crevasses. My donkey was a bit competitive - had to be in the lead so was always trying to overtake all the other donkeys, on the outside along the cliff edge.

Have only been violently ill once (or 3 times, if you want to be literal about it) but that was just dehydration related so I was fine the next day. Unfortunately the urge to throw up struck while J and I were having afternoon tea at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan (where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile). The bathrooms are probably the poshest place I've ever been sick in!

We spent one day and one night on a felucca sailing down the Nile from Aswan but due to a combination of high winds (which meant we were stopped by the Nile police for 4 hours) and then not enough wind, we only managed to get about 5 km down the river before stopping for the night. You could still see the lights of Aswan in the distance! Still, it was nice and relaxing, lying in the sun, reading and doing nothing all day.

Have to go now - have a train to catch...

Camels 2, hissy fits 1

Just a quick hello as we are off for dinner soon and the computers are too ancient to talk to the camera so no piccies today.

We caught the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan last night - very civilised, individual sleeping cabins for two people. Today we took a boat over to Elephantine Island and then went on a camel ride out past St Simeon's Monastery in the desert. My first camel refused point blank to carry me - locked its knees and growled and spat. It took ages before the camel driver could even get it to sit down so I could get off, but the second camel was much better behaved. Still don't think it's a preferred mode of transport though - was kept far too busy hanging on to take pictures.

Yesterday we were out at Giza visiting the pyramids and the sphinx. I hate to say it, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience. I guess once you've seen the image 50,000 times already in your life, you get there and it looks just like you'd expect. Plus the sphinx is much smaller than you'd think.

Anyway, the weather is lovely - just pleasantly warm. And nobody has got sick yet...

Skiing statistics

Group mugshot, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Broken skis - 1, Broken limbs - 0, bruised ribs - 2.

Our week at Val d'Isere was the usual mixture of pleasure and pain that makes up any ski holiday. After a spectacularly sunny and enjoyable Sunday, the weather packed up and we spent the next two days blundering around in white-out conditions. Things picked up again on Thursday, another clear day, until Jules tipped himself off his skis and bruised his ribs - had to retire hurt and visit the English doctor.

Fortunately, when he took his skis back to the hire place, they were too busy to notice that one was bent...

Thursday night we had booked ourselves in for a 'toboggan to dinner' trip to Tignes. This sounded like fun, a gentle ride through the trees to a lovely dinner, but it was terrifying. You couldn't see a thing, the slopes were very steep and bumpy and I fell out twice, ending up covered in snow and with icicles all through my hair. Jules was lucky to avoid it.

Friday was another beautiful clear day, and we finished on a high note with a nice lunch outdoors up the mountain and then dinner at the little stone restaurant across the road from where we were staying.

Highlight of the week: hot chocolate and crepes at the Grand Marnier creperie.

Friday Cat Blogging

Wilbur in repose, originally uploaded by Racmol.

My favourite living cat enjoys a warm Dunedin day.

We're off to France at the crack of dawn tomorrow for a week in Val d'Isere with S & H. It is a lastminute job - £149 for flights and 7 nights' accommodation - so expectations are not sky-high. Have not skied or spoken French since 2003...

Frisking about in the snow...

Frisking about in the snow, originally uploaded by Racmol.

..conclusive proof that Jules did actually come with me to St Petersburg.

Stupid things I have done this week:

1. Plugged in my old phone to charge for S & H to use, without noticing it was set to a completely different time zone. Leapt out of bed when the alarm rang, had a shower, got dressed, dried my hair and then thought: 'Hmm, it's very dark out.' 2.10am, it was. Not a good first day back at work.

2. Announced I was going for a run at lunchtime, charged downstairs and got changed then found I didn't have my running shoes. Workmates said this proved that subconsciously I hadn't really intended to go!

St Petersburg in the snow

Looking back over Troitsky Most, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We're back safe and sound after a fabulous holiday in St Petersburg and I've even managed to upload a few photos to flickr. More to come in January - apparently I've reached my upload limit for December.

Jules would like to draw everyone's attention to his sequence of me drinking Georgian vodka, by the way.

I think the best thing about St Petersburg was the snow. There was much more of it than I'd expected and it made everything more spectacular somehow. Of course, it's pretty impressive anyway - 85% of the buildings in the central city are over 150 years old.

It was damn cold, around -6 to -8. The locals say that's about as cold as it ever feels, because once you get down to -12, the humidity drops away and it's easier to bear.

Our first night we went to a nearby huntsman restaurant, Kalinka Malinka. The decorations were wolfskins and bearskins, complete with heads and paws. One bear's head must have been a bit of a mess, because someone had hung a blue tinsel pompom over it! A bit flippant, I thought.

Christmas Day we woke up at dawn (10 am) and almost missed breakfast. Then we spent the day at the Hermitage, which was excellent - great to see brand new paintings by your favourite artists that you've never seen before because...uh...they're in the Hermitage. Also ghoulishly well-preserved people and horses dug up out of peat in the Russian anthropology section.

That night we went to a Georgian bar/restaurant, Kavkas, which was the scene of the Georgian vodka experience. Basically, we had Christmas Stew instead of Christmas Turkey, but it was quite tasty.

Have to go and prepare a guinea fowl for our houseguests now so more later. Since they've been here, the wireless connection has broken down and now the phoneline doesn't work. When they went to bed last night, Jules muttered: Dadster's only been in the house a matter of minutes and look at the damage!

King Kong: moving, beautiful but far too long

We went to see King Kong last night at the Vue Finchley Road. And the reviews are right - it is truly moving. A hero who will rip a Tyranosaurus Rex apart for you - what more could any girl want?

It's also about 40 minutes too long. There are only so many minutes of animated dinosaurs trampling people that I want to watch. And don't get me started on the giant wetas, which starred for a good ten minutes in their own right. An in-joke that only kiwis and animators will get is a wee bit self-indulgent.

But the centre of the story, the relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow, was perfect. Kong was definitely a sentient being, and all he wanted was a friend. Heartbreaking.

Other highlights of the week:

Monday's lunchtime run in the sun along the river

Tuesday night's birthday party at the Cinnamon Club, complete with ice sculpture

Lowlights:

The end of the series of Grey's Anatomy

Jules's continued ill-health (now much improved)

Hungarian Parliament at sunset

Parliament at sunset, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a fabulous time in Budapest. One of those holidays where you eat far too much, walk everywhere and sleep like a log.

I didn't expect it to be so beautiful and I certainly didn't expect a fine, clear Sunday. The weather forecast said light rain on Saturday and Sunday and heavy rain on Monday, so good weather was an unexpected joy.

We were pretty wrecked when we arrived late on Saturday morning. Jules had fallen asleep on the tube on the way home from work drinks the night before so we didn't get a great deal of sleep before the alarm went at 5 am. So we spent Saturday afternoon in the Gellert thermal baths - and unwound.

Culturally, the baths were very different to Western swimming pools. In the women's hot pools, the young slim women wore bikinis and the older, obese women nothing at all. And the lovely thing was - they weren't ashamed of their bulk. One woman thought nothing of raising her bottom in the air to massage it under the hot jets spurting out from one wall - a sight to behold and maybe one you only need to see once! Anyway, it was very relaxing.

We came out of the baths and had a very late lunch before visiting the Christmas market for a mulled wine. I collapsed on the bed and snored, and then we went out again for dinner. Which was also lovely.

Sunday was spectacularly sunny and we walked up Castle Hill, enjoying the view and wandering around on the top. We went in to the National Gallery for an hour or two, but it was really too nice a day so we spent most of it outdoors. The one mistake was not enough of a gap between lunch and dinner - when the mains arrived at dinner we just couldn't do justice to them. But that may have been the fault of the coffee and cake before lunch - the city is famous for its coffee houses, after all. (And we only visited two, in total!)

Monday brought the promised heavy rain so we visited St Stephen's basilica (complete with hand of St Stephen - urrgh!) and went shopping. And had some more cake - to pass the time, like.

And today we're back to the real world with a bump - Jules's contract is not being extended past 4 January. Still, that will give him time to play with our visitors, won't it? And master the art of the slow-cooked pheasant!

Cat-free Friday

Just a quick hello as I'm hard at work (at home).

Highlights of the past fortnight:

1. Being part of a live studio audience for a new BBC sitcom, 'Home Again', about a young couple living in her parents' spare room - two couples driving each other mad, to sum up briefly. It's by the makers of 'My Family', and the actors are just as good.

2. Going to see Franz Ferdinand at Alexandra Palace. Still not a die-hard fan but it was a fun night out.

3. Visiting the Christmas market at Canary Wharf. Jules has resolved to fill the freezer with ducks, pheasants and wild hares. Think he has been watching too much of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

And tomorrow, Budapest!

PS. If any of this is sounding as though our life is glamorous in any way, it isn't. We get up in the dark and come home in the dark and the washing machine is still threatening to destroy itself every time it spins. And we still don't have a cat.

PPS. Iona's cat Maggie did not have cancer, just some benign cysts.

Missing stand at Twickenham

missing stand at Twickenham, originally uploaded by Racmol.

See what I mean? It's just not there!

All Blacks on top at Twickenham

Yesterday was one of those magic days when everything goes swimmingly from the start. We went for a run early (with music) and it was sunny and crisp and there was frost on all the logs in the park...so pretty. Listening to J complain I thought: finally the massive investment in sports bras pays off - MY chest feels quite toasty, thanks!

Then we had a delicious breakfast at home with sun pouring into the kitchen and moseyed down to the train station. Stopped for a hot chocolate and got on the train to Richmond at 1.23. You would think this was plenty early enough for a 2.45 kick-off but we ended up running up flights and flights of stairs while some unknown woman sung the NZ national anthem. Got to our seats in time for the new haka though - not sure about it, to be honest. I knew the words to the old one - maybe that's the problem.

It was a little weird from where we were sitting, behind the goal line, because the opposite end of the ground was just not there. After the goal posts, there was dirt and bull-dozers and all the little matching houses of Twickenham. It's like someone stole a whole stand - or like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when Mr Wonka Sr. says 'If you go, I won't be here when you get back' and then there's just a gaping hole in the row of terraced houses.

Anyway, back to my point. The noise was incredible, the atmostphere electric. My throat hurts a bit today!

The actual game - well, we weren't too bad, I thought. The defense was pretty good, anyway. Would have liked to see someone streak down the field towards our end and score but other than that, can't complain. You do feel a bit smug when your team spent most of the second half with fourteen men and still won.

At full time I got a little, resigned text from Matt: come on then. I'm not very good at texting and walking down stairs at the same time so I was not nearly as cutting as I wanted to be in reply but it was still fun. And then he was silent. Ha!

Met up with D & J in the Costa coffee place at Waitrose (everywhere around the station was packed) and we sat there for an hour or so and then made our way to a pub called The Fox. Huddled in the courtyard outside under one of those outdoor heaters - weird to have cold feet and feel like your hair might catch fire!

Later we went to a little French restaurant - confit de canard et mousse au chocolat, ou peutetre une demi-mousse au chocolat, par le temps Jules a fini avec elle! I went to the bathroom and got back to discover that the half that was covered by my chocolate wafer was just a gaping hole! The cheek of it!

Afterwards, we took the train to Richmond and went to a different bar with disco lights and all the works but D was starting to fade, having just flown back from Oz this week so we only stayed briefly and were home around midnight.

All in all a good day and the luck of the All Blacks jersey continues. I've never worn it to a game that we've lost.

Now it's Sunday and I have a little task to do in Islington. The return of the second left boot!

Friday Cat Blogging

Get well, Maggie, originally uploaded by Racmol.

A special Get Well wish for Maggie, Iona's cat and housemate. Paws crossed.

St Petersburg boots

St Petersburg boots, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...or one of them. It turns out I only have one left foot so I'll be going back to Islington next weekend to return the second left boot! If only they'd let me buy the pair I tried on...

The one boot I have IS definitely waterproof and has a ridged sole for walking in the snow. Plus a funky pink stripe to match the turn-downs down the back.

Had a nice lazy day having lunch in Islington (disappointing overcooked NZ lamb roast) and doing a spot of shopping with Manz. A perfect sunny, crisp Sunday for once.

All Blacks v. Ireland

all blacks lineout 12.11.05, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Courtesy of Jules and his flash new phone, who seem to have enjoyed their 24 hours in Dublin. Luckily their seats were not in the burnt-out North stand!

Sundown at the Llanelli Wetlands Centre

sundown at the llanelli wetlands2, originally uploaded by Racmol.

See, we did have some nice weather in Wales. Apart from the complete lack of interesting wildlife and the scary birdwatchers camped out for the day with anoraks and binoculars on tripods, the Wetlands Centre was a nice spot for an afternoon walk. Followed by some hot refreshments :-D

Millennium Stadium

millennium stadium, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...plus evidence of suspected over-consumption. Mmm...lamb shanks...

Heavy rain warning for Wales

It's been raining all week, off and on. So today I thought perhaps I should check the 5-day forecast for Wales.

When we arrive in Cardiff on Saturday it will be raining lightly. By the next morning, the rain will have become heavy. We will then proceed to Carmarthenshire, where heavy rain will continue to fall throughout Sunday and Monday. Perhaps it's time to admit defeat and abandon my planned visit to the National Wetlands Centre at Llanelli!

Prediction: hot chips will prove irresistible on more than one occasion.

Do I even bother to take my camera?

In other news, there was a very cute cartoon in the Independent today of David Blunkett being led along a corridor by his dog with tears streaming down his face. They were just passing a sign saying 'Cabinet exit' and the dog was saying: 'It's all right - I know the way!'

Endless official emails went around work yesterday with the 'latest' news on the Minister for Pensions (or lack of one). As Matt squashingly said: Why are they cluttering up my inbox? If I want to know what happened, I'll consult the BBC, not the intranet!

Housewifery 101

Our diet has changed since we started having fresh organic fruit and veg delivered every Friday, complete with wildlife and mud. Now it's a mad scramble to eat all the vegetables before the next lot comes and if we eat out even once a week we get behind by 1/2 a cabbage, 2 carrots and a butternut squash. For example.

Also, because you get a random assortment of whatever's in season in England, you find yourself eating hearty soups with pearl barley that you can remember from your childhood. We used to be prime examples of what Jamie describes as 'sleep shoppers', drifting around the supermarket on autopilot, choosing the same four vegetables every week.

I used to think that to make a decent soup it was best to start with a packet one. Better still, just have the packet one - never mind the vegetables. Now, since Ruth (Watson, author of The Really Helpful Cookbook) introduced me to Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon (posh powdered vegetable stock) we're away laughing. Jules's Friday night soup effort involved pearl barley, carrots, parsnips, curly leaf kale, bacon and leeks. Delish.

Tonight, I'm on duty and I have planned something quite similar although there are now no parsnips and still one pesky butternut squash. Red onions, and maybe some Home Grown Tomatoes. We're right into the pearl barley, chickpeas and lentils since I got the GI Diet book on sale for 3.99.

In other equally gripping news, the tomato plants have finally died down and I have a large tray of mostly green tomatoes trying to catch some sun in the kitchen. There is a new rosemary bush waiting to get into the tub but it seems rude to oust the tomatoes before they're completely dead.

Just to finish, I will do a brief rave about Cox's Orange apples. There's something very nostalgic about them - they're all juicy but not watery. Like an apple tasted like when you were small.

On the compulsory eating list this week:
Breakfast: 1/2 pink grapefruit each daily.
Probably the soup: Large tub of assorted bean sprouts.
Also breakfast or to go to work: 5 bananas.
Things that will get eaten without even trying: Conference pears and Cox's Orange apples.

Oh, and another thing. We don't eat much meat, for the obvious reason that we are too full of vegetables!

On telly at the moment, Gordon Ramsay has an aptly-titled show called The F Word. (As in Food, but there are lots of electronic beeps masking the other f-word in the programme). Anyway he has decided to teach his children to think about where food actually comes from so they now have six turkeys that they're growing for Christmas in their London back garden. Not quite sure why a family of six needs six turkeys for Christmas but never mind...It seems to be going OK as the turkeys are not cute so the kids aren't getting too attached to them. Gordon's wife seems lovely - calm and happy and not at all perturbed when Anthony the turkey shat on her beautiful marble benchtop while Gordon was seeing if he would fit in the oven...

St Petersburg for Christmas - the good, the bad and the credit card bill

On Tuesday Jules suggested St Petersburg for Christmas. Yesterday I went to a travel agent to investigate. Today my credit card is reeling under the shock of it all. Because it was less than 60 days to departure, we had to pay the whole lot at once. Ouch.

But we're very excited. We fly over on Christmas Eve and come back on the 28th. As all the three hotels on offer were very expensive, we went (logically enough) for the flashest of the lot. Well, if it's costing you an arm and a leg anyway, you figure another toe won't make much difference. In theory, at least.

Plus, I'm sure we'll get good value out of the fitness centre, sauna and hot pool...Need to do something to counteract the blinis and stroganoff.

There will be snow and lots of it. That's a given, apparently - the guide books recommend waterproof shoes and carrying a pair of indoor shoes with you as well so you won't look silly at the opera. (What an embarrassment THAT would be!)

Temperatures of -18 are also mentioned so it will be a bit like when we went to Stockholm for Christmas. Note to self: buy hat with earflaps, gloves, galoshes, more thermals... Poor old credit card - it has a hard life.

What to read to prepare? Anna Karenina? War and Peace? The Bronze Horseman (again)? All three?

Jules says he will not be reading The Bronze Horseman on the plane as a book where everyone dies is not suitable for Christmas Eve. He has a point there. If anyone knows a cheerful uplifting Russian novel, now would be the time to suggest it. Somehow I suspect that to get cheerful uplifting novels you need a cheerful uplifting history...

What will be a bit weird is that December 25 is not a public holiday in Russia as the orthodox church celebrates Christmas on 7 January.

Friday Cat Blogging: WIlbur in the sun

WIlbur in the sun, originally uploaded by Racmol.

Notable events of the week:

1. Picked up rugby tickets for the All Blacks tour and introduced my workmates to Pineapple Lumps and Minties at the same time. Pineapple Lumps are preferred to Minties, but neither get eaten as quickly as Roger & Roger's biscuit selections (one English, one Italian - the biscuits, not the Rogers).

2. Booked a car for our long weekend in Wales (5-7 November) - it's a Nissan Micra, Annie! Suggestions for destinations will be graciously accepted.

3. Ah...no, that's it. Nothing else happened. I won't bore you all with the continuing tomato harvest!

Run London official times and video finish

http://www.runlondon.com/tenkresults/

Enter my name and see if you can spot me crossing the line. Hint: I'm wearing grey 3/4 leggings with a light blue stripe down the side and running quite close to the red barrier.

The Nike RunLondon 10k - a walk in the park

Weird. The Nike 10k was a joy to participate in, not the ordeal I was expecting.

Vital statistics (unofficial as both times need about 2 minutes 30 taken off them because it took a while to reach the start line):
Jules: 52 min 43
Me: 1 hour 4 min 54

We were both quite chuffed. I was aiming for under 70 minutes and Jules was going for under an hour.

It was a gorgeous sunny morning in Hyde Park. There were two jazz bands to run past. An unexpected highlight - I was running along beside the barrier when I noticed someone coming at speed towards me on the other side (i.e. leading the race). It was some random not-famous guy in the lead, so I thought I must have missed Paula Radcliffe. But then I could see her coming towards me down a long straight stretch with that distinctive head-bobbing run. I swear she was flying - it was just like when you pass a speeding car. Whooosh - and she's gone.

Tomorrow the official times (done by the microchip you attach to your shoelaces) should be up on the site. Jules is hanging out for a sub-50m time now.

All in all, I found it not too bad at all. I took the nano and played my carefully selected running playlist, which is all upbeat fast songs, and having music to run to definitely helped.

Then we had a champagne brunch on the roof terrace in the sun with Kirsty and Simon. Another fabulous day in the best city in the world :-D

Roald Dahl's writing hut

Roald Dahl's writing hut, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We had a fabulous day out today and I'm just going to collapse somewhere quietly. As you can see from the other photos on flickr, it was a beautiful autumn day in Great Missenden. And in the graveyard of St Peter and St Paul, I met an old gentleman carrying a trowel. He said: "Arrr you a stranger in these parrrts?" which threw me a bit, but he just wanted to direct me to Roald Dahl's grave. So we had a pleasant chat in the sun and then Jules and I wandered back through the village and caught the train back down to Borough Market. Mmmm...pork and stilton burger - delish.

Guys and Dolls: simply the best

Still floating and humming to myself after going to Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre last night. For those in far-flung corners of the globe, this is the London musical of 2005 - a brand new show with Ewan McGregor and Jane Krakowski (who you may know as the blonde fluffy-haired secretary from Ally McBeal).

I bought our tickets in July and we got seats in the centre of the second row. All I can say is Fwoawwrr - Ewan McGregor at a distance of 3 metres!! I mean, OK, he does look pale and unhealthy like someone who has a good Scottish diet of deep-fried mars bars and the like - but he radiates joie de vivre from every pore. The piercing blue eyes are quite an asset too.

But back to the show...where was I? Ah, yes. Cough. Well, you know when you pay through the nose to go to a musical and then it's just a touch disappointing? Not this one. Everything about it was great. Especially Jane Krakowski, who is beautiful and surprisingly tiny. Especially when you consider that in Ally McBeal she was the chubby one. She can also really sing and dance and smile prettily at the same time.

It was funny and warm-hearted and the dancing was incredible. I know 55 pounds is an outrageous price to pay for a show but it was worth every penny. The orchestra/band was excellent and the whole cast seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves.

Just get on a plane and go, basically.

Third time lucky?

postcard from waitrose, originally uploaded by Racmol.

This postcard came through our door yesterday from Ocado, the Waitrose home delivery service. It follows two emails in which they promised a) a free gift and b) a bottle of wine if I placed an order with within the next two weeks.

I particularly like the name of the cinema: Gascony Avenue Empire. Has a ring to it, doesn't it?

I probably still won't place an order, but you can't fault their persistence...

We have new toys

Living room, originally uploaded by Racmol.

...so it seemed like a good opportunity to take some photos of our flat - to satisfy the curiosity of those who've been asking about it.

Yes, the living room is small. And yes, we do really need a nano docking station in our bedroom.

Jules is making minestrone with Sicilian sausages. Mmmm...Sicilian sausages...

Friday Cat Blogging

Wilbur curls up with a DVD, originally uploaded by Rachel Jean.

New toys for winter

My contract is being extended until the end of the financial year - hurrah!

To celebrate, I dropped in on the Apple store on my way back from the editors' meeting and bought an ipod nano and an armband so I can take it running.

Jules is consumed with jealousy - buying technology without him is apparently tantamount to having an affair. But I'm very happy with my new toy and, as an added bonus, I may have avoided spending Saturday on Tottenham Court Road.

Overconsumption and the Oktoberfest

Jules and Heike at the Oktoberfest, originally uploaded by Racmol.

We didn't take many photos but we had a great time.

Highlights:

1. A crisp sunny afternoon in Meersburg, wandering around and visiting the castle.

2. Friday night dinner and drinks at the old pub Geoff and Heike used to manage in Kempten.

3. The oil-filled bed in the hotel - unbelievably fantastic.

4. Danny in German, as always.

5. The Augustinerskeller, after a long walk in the rain.

6. Oktoberfest rides.

7. The food - quality and quantity.

Lowlights:

1. The rain.

2. Not being able to get into any of the tents at the Oktoberfest because of the crowds.

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!