The long haul...

As always, being the paranoid traveller that I am, I got to the airport in LOADS of time for my flight. But all good! Both legs were very full - I don't think there were any spare seats on the first leg, and I'm not sure I saw any on the second either.

I had about 7 hours in Singapore between flights, and I was going to do a 2 hour bus trip around the island, but I couldn't get on the one I thought was more interesting, and then it occurred to me that sitting down for another 2 hours just before my second flight wasn't such an appealing idea so I flagged it. I did a lot of exploring of Singapore's fab airport and then found these reclining loungers by one of the departure gates so had a wee snooze there for 45 mins or so. Very civilised!

My brother and I managed to have a wee mix up over my arrival time so I had another 1.5 hours of hanging around at Auckland aiport when I arrived just to add to my overall total of time spent in airports - around 10 hours I think...

Correction!!

Eryn's time was in fact 1:54.39. Sorry bro!! I added on a minute - and I know that makes a difference when you are a runner!

Belated congrats to my almost 40 year old brother!

Eryn did his half marathon a couple of weeks ago and did 1:55:36 which is pretty damn good! If I've read the results right he came 113 out of 270. Not bad for someone who is less than two weeks shy of 40...!!

Goodnight Kiwi

This is just fantastic! NZ friend at work sent it to the Kiwi contingent and I just thought it was fab. I used to love this and I've told Kevin about it so many times - now I can show it to him! Hopefully this link will work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H2BOGGUbm4

Raconteurs

I went to see The Raconteurs at Brixton Academy with Mhairi, and met Cobie (work mate) and her flatmate there as well. They were supported by a band called BigBang - who I've just realised have an entry on Wikipedia - check it out here. I also saw them described as the Norwegian Pink Floyd and they were just dire. And in a reference for family readers - the drummer looked like how I remember Kerry Bingham looking - long blonde hair and a blonde beard as well. Dreadful!

Fortunately The Raconteurs were superb so they made up for it :-).

Interesting article on the language debate currently ranging in Dingle - or should that be An Daingean?? Check it out here.

Dingle is where we went walking in Ireland earlier this year...

Sam at 17

Sam at 17
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic self-portrait by Sam with his new digi camera - love it!!

Still more to see!

I've just added Craig's photos from Flickr so check them out - different ones from mine!

Meet & Greet at Rodin

EY is sponsoring a Rodin exhibition this year, and tonight was the Government Services reception (my new team at work) so I went along to be a 'Meeter & Greeter'. Essentially that meant I met people at the entrance, took their names, got their name badges and then escorted them up to their host partners in the reception.

It was all going swimmingly until I got the man (who turned out be a Sir as it turned out) who didn't have a name badge prepared. Less than impressed at our organisational skills and it sort of went downhill from there... But we did manage to work out who he had been invited by and I got him to the right place eventually.

So my first encounter with a 'Sir' could have gone a bit better! But I did get to have a short guided tour of the exhibition which looks fab, so I can't wait to go back and use the free ticket I've got to really take a better look. Right now I'm sat at home nursing my sore feet!

The Kiss sand sculpture

The Kiss sand sculpture
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The sand sculpture of The Kiss that is in the foyer of my building - superbly taken by Mhairi on her phone!

Funny night out with Sean Hughes

We went to see Sean Hughes last night - tickets that Kevin sorted out last night and he was really funny. This is a good article about why he is returning to stand up and it was a great wee theatre. Quite small and very intimate - so we made sure that we weren't sat anywhere near the front!! And as the show carried on we were very pleased - he had the bonus of three Irish girls in the front row and they came in for some ribbing! Very entertaining!!

A Voyage Round My Father and Embrace

Kevin and I went to see this play before I went up to Wales as SAP sponsors the theatre company putting the play on. It is by John Mortimer (author of Rumpole of the Bailey) and it tells the story of his relationship with his father. Derek Jacobi plays his father and he was just brilliant. One review described it as the Derek Jacobi show and it was a bit like that, but it was quite incredible to watch him. He aged through the play (not through make up or special effects, just through the quality of his acting) and the scene when he dies was incredibly moving. It was also rather cool as John Mortimer was in the audience as well!

And on Friday just been we went to see Embrace at the Hammersmith Apollo - about the zillionth time we've seen them, but as always they were fab. The lead singer Danny just loves to perform and it is brilliant to see him having such a good time - you just can't help not having a brilliant time as well! But then again I am a diehard fan...