I never thought I was a dog person...

Tippy
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Until Tracey and Mum got Tippy back in 1995. She almost made me more of a dog person than a cat person - how could you not love a dog that would lie in this position for ages until you finally caved in and rubbed her tummy??

See ya Tippy - you were fab!

(Will post a better photo of her once I have one - this doesn't really do her justice but it is the best I have to hand)

Christmas in July...

Kevin flew back in from Philadelphia this morning and right now I am feeling very spoilt :-). He bought me lots of lovely clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch - one of our fave shops in the US. And also some fab new headphones and cover for my iPod - very happy about that. Don't like having to use the Apple headphones as they hurt my ears, and scream the fact that I have an iPod which is not always a good thing.

And the sun is still shining and I have a bar-b-q to go to later with lots of lovely new clothes I can wear!

Train musings - and suppressed rage

As I sat on the train on the way home listening to my iPod I looked around and it struck me just how much technology there must be on any one train at any given time. Directly around me there were two men working on their laptops, a woman sat between them using her Blackberry, and loads of us had earphones in which were probably connected to either iPods or other expensive MP3 players or whizzy mobile phones... The monetary amount on these trains must be huge!

Then I got to Surbiton and attempted to renew my monthly travel pass. I say attempted as I had the most frustrating 'Computer says no' experience, which when I think about it, I still get enormously frustrated. Despite having done so in the past, this time when I attempted to renew my pass to start on Monday (as I won't need it over the weekend, hence don't need to pay for two days that I won't use) I was not allowed to, as this would mean Southwest Trains would lose two days money...

I didn't understand it either, but luckily managed to suppress my rage and stomped out. I'm usually not too bad, but everynow and then something will happen like that type of completely inflexible customer unfriendly moment will happen and it just drives me insane!

And at those moments when I catch myself saying "Whatever" in a very peevish voice to the person serving me I wonder - how old am I???

Touristy gals...

Been busy being touristy with Maya this weekend. On Sat we caught a bus to Richmond where we had an ok lunch at the once NZ owned Gourmet Burger Kitchen - modelled very closely on Burger Wisconsin, the NZ owners made lots and lots of money when they sold it... Quality has gone downhill since its been sold... Then we caught a Turks Launch boat back to Kingston - Maya's first boat trip of the weekend!

Today we did a boat trip up to Greenwich on a catamaran - did you know that Wharf stands for Ware House And River Front? See - I learn something everytime I do one of those cruises!! Then we had a womble around Greenwich and its markets - I bought myself a pair of catseyes earrings and also a birthday present for my niece Lucy as well. So quite successful for me! Then we walked under the Thames via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and got the Docklands Light Railway to Tower Bridge, then walked over the Bridge to my work and got the train back from London Bridge. So quite a big outing for the girlies :-). So now we are back at home feeling very tired... And Kevin has just landed in Philadelphia - there for work for a week. He is off shopping at a mall before kicking into a full on week at work...

Oh the joy!!

Lovely lovely Kevin has finally set my new iPod up on his new Apple minimac and now I am going to have music to listen to again!! I'm am so so happy!!

Its been a long time since my bag was stolen and I lost my last one, so now I finally have a working one again! For once I'm looking forward to Monday and the trip into work!

Walkers heading towards Chkpt 2

Walkers heading towards Chkpt 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Walkers heading towards Checkpoint 2 - the first time they meet their support crew. Julia and I stood and clapped them as they went past from where I took the photo.

Me - merchandising

Me - merchandising
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And me....

Julia - merchandiser extraordinaire!

Julia - merchandiser extraordinaire!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Julia and our merchandising tent - where we spent 8 hours!

The week ahead...

Apparently is going to be above 30 degrees every day...

More sweltering London heat...

Trailwalker 2006 - clapping the walkers

We got up on Saturday and drove round to Checkpoint 2 which is the first checkpoint where the walkers meet their support crews. It is also an easy checkpoint to clap people at as there is a carpark very close!

So we stood there for about 45 minutes just clapping the walkers as they passed us. It was great to see their reactions - some people really appreciated it, while others didn't know how to react. But it was a great thing to do - and it was so nostalgic watching everyone walking past. Very very cool. Sadly Julia was off on holiday in the afternoon so we had to head back.

Volunteering the night before however had meant that we saw lots of people we recognised - including some who had been desperately trying to find people to walk with as their teams had fallen apart.

It was hot, sunny weather again like it had been last year, and when I woke up this morning I thought how this time last year we were still walking. Next year we'll either volunteer again for the whole weekend or do it again (but try to beat our time). So watch this space!

Trailwalker 2006

Had a fab day volunteering at Trailwalker 2006. Julia and I took the day off (EY gives us volunteering days to take), and we headed off down to help out. We got to the site around 3pm and were talked through the choices we had - we could either help out in the check-in tent or work in the merchandising tent. I was amazed at how many volunteers there were - a grand total of 6! Apparently they had more lined up for the Saturday but they do struggle getting people to help out.

We were responsible for selling the caps, mugs and keyrings they had on sale - the first time they've done merchandising thanks to a new sponsorship from State Street. We also sold the bar-b-q and breakfast vouchers to walkers who hadn't raised enough to get them in their pack, or for support crews etc.

This year there were over 100 teams more than did it last year so we were kept pretty busy. Plus there were two bad accidents on the A3 and M25 which meant that people couldn't get down before 10pm so our shift didn't end until midnight! A long day on our feet, but we were right in the thick of it, and got to see lots of the lovely Ghurka soldiers! Everyone was really friendly and hyped up with the thought of what they were about to face the next day.

It was also really interesting just to see the sheer scale of the organising, and what Oxfam had to do with a limited number of helpers. I felt really happy and proud to be involved in part of it again - there are some photos which I'll post once I've got them off my pc.

And so it ends...

And what an ending it was!

We went and watched the final at the Firestation where Owen had thought he had booked us a table. But they had lost our booking... But we got a seat and stayed - and had some very mediocre food - but what did we care - we were watching the Beautiful Game!

Which sadly didn't end so beautifully for Zinedine Zidane. No one could believe what we were watching as he headbutted Marco Materazzi. Even now it still seems unbelievable. And such a shame that he ended his career on a note like that.

Everyone was convinced that Italy would lose on penalties, but they cruised through them - and as I was supporting Italy anyhow I was very pleased! No particular reason for my allegiance to Italy - except the fact that 21 years ago today the French sunk the Rainbow Warrior, and the Italians had more 'totty' in the team...

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Dragged our sorry bodies out of bed on Sunday and toddled off down the train line to go to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Its the 3rd time I've been but Kevin (and Maya's!) first time. Kevin was particularly looking for ideas for what we can do with the garden...

It was pretty good - as always. The gardens are just incredible (I've put more photos on Flickr so make sure you check them out as well as the couple below), and I always like the displays of vege! It reminds me of flower shows at school when I would spend hours making my little saucer design of flowers etc, and always hope to win. I don't think I ever did tho...

I did also get slightly perturbed by the fact that people may have thought Maya was our child - when I've been out with her in town we've already had one guy say 'Are you two sisters'. It occurred to me afterwards that he was saying that in an attempt to flatter me so I would buy something from him. Needless-to-say it didn't work!

Beautiful roses...

Beautiful roses...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Check out these caulis!!

Check out these caulis!!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fat Freddy's - the 3rd time

Went to see Fat Freddy's Drop at Somerset House. Its a fab venue - we've been to a few gigs there over the last couple of years and they've always been good.

Fat Freddy's still didn't live up to the first time I saw them at Koko all those months ago - they just didn't seem able to put together a great set. They'd play a couple of good songs and get the crowd going, and then disappear back into mellowness. So Kevin still hasn't been 'wowed' by them like I want him to, but I enjoyed them anyhow. They just weren't as wonderful as I was hoping for - I had very high hopes from that venue...

And Maya thought it was just like a gig in the Civic Square in Wellington!

One year on...

First anniversary of the July 7 bombs today - slightly weird feel to the city as there is so much about it on the news etc. We had a 2 minute silence at midday as well. Hard to believe it has been a year - London has quickly slipped back into its usual life really, but it has no choice. We need public transport to live in this town so we all just keep getting back on the trains, the tubes and the buses.

Julia found an article the other day about a woman who lost her leg in one of the blasts and who is attempting Trailwalker this year. She was meant to walk it last year, but the bombs hit one week before it. I hope she completes it - although that will be a huge endeavour with a relatively new prosthetic leg.

The Sun newspaper had a photo of a number 30 bus (the number of the one that was blown up) on its front page with the word 'Unbeaten' instead of a destination. It was quite a strong image - reminiscent of the 'We Are Not Afraid' campaign that kicked off last year.

London just keeps on being London.

Sweltering in London

When will this heat end???

We are at "Heat Level 3" - something I hadn't heard of until Tracey told me via text, but I've since seen that it is the first time we've got to it since they brought in these heat levels a couple of years ago. So yes we are sweltering... the days are bearable - its just the evenings don't cool down at all :-(.

Still I have the day off tomorrow for Maya's birthday - many plans, but they are forecasting thundery rain so who knows what we'll end up doing...

And so it ends...

Ah yes - yet again the England dream is over. Again to penalties to Portugal. Fortunately we were watching it at friend's of Kevin's as opposed to being in a pub. That would have been too much I think.

General consensus seems to be that England hadn't really deserved to go much further - and how they would have proceeded without Rooney available in the next round... But as for Ronaldo - considering him and Rooney are team mates I think their first few training sessions will be tense to say the least!

Ah well - at least Portugal is my sweepstake team so my hopes of getting some money back are still alive!