Strange conversations....

We heard the most amazing conversation on the train last night. We sat down opposite a guy who looked very cross - I thought he was cross cos we had encroached on his space. But no! He later got on the phone and proceeded to tear strips off 'Annie' who had behaved appallingly at a staff do that night. He was a doctor, and I think she was his PA - he was most distressed at what she was wearing ("You can't wear clothes like that and keep the respect of the staff"), the fact that she had been flirting with the porters (ditto the comment above), altho he did then go on to tell her that of course he does flirt with people as well, but not to the level that she did, and her most heinous crime seemed to be that she had completely ignored Andrew (whoever he is...).

This conversation went on over two phone calls while Kevin and I tried desperately to not look like we were following everything he was saying! Sadly we had to get off at Surbs so we don't know how it ended. My theory is that he was jealous of the porter and thats why he was so cross!

The return of Jack Frost

Absolutely freezing here at the mo! Winter seems to have returned with a vengeance... Starting to see the snowdrops come out, the days are getting longer (it is now light when I leave work!), but the temperatures aren't rising - it was trying desperately to snow in London/Surbiton yesterday. Sadly when I got up it wasn't to a white winter wonderland - just a freezing cold winters day!!

What I'm listening to...

Still loving Breaks Co-Op and am currently thrashing 'The Return of Fly My Pretties' which Mhairi has loaned to me. Definitely one I'll be ordering from the Loop website very soon! And also getting into KT Tunstall as well - not someone I would normally buy but she is currently getting very high rotate on my ipod!

Walking once more - and why didn't I do more in NZ?

Finally got out to go for a walk - the first this year with the Nola's Strollers crew but there was only 3 of us - me, Kevin and Craig. We did 9.5 miles, walking from Witley to Haslemere in Surrey.

It wasn't a very exciting walk - it was only 2/10 in terms of toughness, and it was a very grey day, but it was just great to get back out again. So the next one will be a bit tougher I think. We had done the walk by lunchtime so instead of lunching enroute which you normally do we had lunch at the end of the walk and were home by 3pm. It was all a bit surreal really. We had a lovelyl lunch in Haslemere but it is pretty posh - surrounded by National Trust land and enormous houses - real stockbroker territory. As Craig put it you know that all the children are going to be called Jack and Rosie...

So while out walking we were discussing about how good it was to be out walking, and how we want to do lots more, and where we would like to walk etc and it made me realise how crazy I was to have not done more walking when I lived in NZ. I have so many memories of Adrian trying to get me to go tramping with him, and me just hardly being interested. Different story now - I'm buying Country Walking when it comes out now and will probably subscribe!

Crazy week

Well I didn't have quite the week I thought I would have - nor did Kevin... He was told late on Tuesday that he was being made redundant. Pretty much out of the blue and having only been at his firm for around 6 months, a bit of a scary prospect... But the guy who recruited him in did some sorting out, and by Thursday he was employed again, to do the same job he was recruited to. All very stressful but he does still have a job which is the main thing...

Went to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on Friday night - who were really good. Supported by Doctor Dog who were also very good - albeit a band who look like a throwback to the 70s. Find it somewhat scary that I am now old enough to be living through a 70s revival! Then we went to How Does It Feel for a while where I felt very old and very uncool :-).

Seeing where you live

I had one of those moments on Friday when I realised again that I live in London as I looked around at all the buildings. I left work about 5.30 to walk over to Leicester Square to meet Kevin. It was dusk and all the lights were coming on. I walked over the Hungerford Bridge which is my fave bridge, and looking down to my left could see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben all lit up, then I wandered through Trafalgar Square, past the National Gallery and then up Haymarket to meet Kev. London just seemed stunning in the dusk light, and I thought about how often you just 'live' somewhere, walking from A to B, but never really looking at your surroundings. I often used to think that in Wellington as well - particularly coming from London I could never get over how stunning it used to look, and how amazing it was to live in a city that had such stunning views everywhere.

Arguments for both sides of the world I guess...

And a bit of UK birdlife...

Kevin took this photo of the Ring Necked Parakeet on Friday when he was working from home. This is one of four that he spotted! According to 'Complete British Birds' these are a feral population having escaped from captivity and reproduced, and favour living in South London!

Ring Necked Parakeet
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

American wildlife...

We went to see Grizzly Man last night - the documentary by Werner Herzog about Timothy Treadwell, a somewhat bizarre man who spent 13 summers living with grizzly bears in Alaska before being eaten by one of them. Really recommend it - but it was a tad strange as well. Very poignant at parts - and also very funny, although you feel somewhat guilty laughing. I first read about this guy in Vanity Fair magazine, so it was fascinating to see the film - mainly drawn from the video diaries he kept over the last 5 years. Great film - although both Kevin and I felt somewhat disturbed by it for quite a while afterwards.

Freezing freezing freezing cold

High of -2 today according to the Met Office.

High of 2 in London tomorrow.

High of 2 in London on Saturday.

We reach the tropical temperatures of 8 on Sunday - can't wait...