Back on the merry-go-round...

So here we go again... back at home watching the news stories about the car bomb found in central London. Sigh. You forget for a while and then something happens and it starts all over again. The news has been full of differing stories but currently it seems like there were two - at least neither went off.

On a more positive note I've been a social butterfly this week so updates are below!

Its Monday - must be the cinema...

Went to see Jindabyne with friends from work - it has probably been out in NZ for ages as I think it was filmed a couple of years ago. Great film tho - beautifully filmed and quite thought provoking as well - and despite it being Australian it did make me feel a bit homesick - just the sounds and some of the sights were very reminiscent of NZ...

Expect (hopefully!) more filmy things as we're aiming for at least one per month - which will be better than my current hit rate!

Gemini drinkies and Sups & Wine

Tuesday it was off out with my Gemini chums (David and Chris) and Daphne for belated birthday drinks at the Archduke. Daphne was the ringer, but as Pete is a Gemini it all sort of made sense really! And he was on baby duty looking after Olivia :-).

That really is the final birthday thing though and I've accepted that now I have to take my birthday cards down...

Wednesday was a visit to my friend Simon's place for 'sups & wine' - lovely evening chewing the fat and enjoying some nice wine :-).

Snow Patrol at the O2

Thursday (last night) was Snow Patrol at the new O2 arena - interesting gig that one...

I'm a BIG fan of Snow Patrol - their last two cds have been on pretty high rotate on my iPod, and I've seen them a couple of times (once at Somerset House, once at V-Festival). So I was very excited about the gig - plus the O2 is brand new, so was also curious about what it would be like.

What it was like was incredibly sterile... Going into it (it's in the old Millennium Dome) it was like walking into an American shopping mall. Very very strange. The actual arena was good - great sound, and we got quite close to the stage as well. But the atmosphere just seemed really constrained. We had some very drunk girls dancing next to us for a while but they were behaving too leerily so the 'Customer Team' came and moved them out... At another point, some girls climbed up on their boyfriend's shoulders to get a better view. Cue more security guards into the audience to get them off again. And what was really weird was that there were no ticket touts - anywhere. I don't think I've ever been to a gig in London that hasn't had touts either outside the venue or outside the station - just added to the whole strangeness of the evening...

And then to cap it all off the transport was really skewed up so it took 1.5 hours to get back to Waterloo - a journey that should take 10 minutes... Not happy - and been very tired all day today :-(.

50 not out...

And Leigh
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And so Leigh turns 50 today - happy birthday sis!! (I know your hair doesn't look like this anymore but its the most recent photo I've got of you!)

Food recycling!

Very exciting - got home tonight to have a new little brown recycling bin outside my flat. My council is trialling food recycling for the next year :-). Which means that all my food waste will go into a bio-degradable bag which will then be used as a 'soil conditioner' on local farms. I've already started using the bin :-).

And before all you smug NZers start leaving comments about doing your own composting, bear in mind that I live in a flat on the top floor of a purpose built flat with no composting facilities of my own - this is a good thing they are doing!

On The Run

So I've started to read On The Run by Sean Damer and Ian Frazer - the story of Anzac escape and evasion in Crete.

I'm only a couple of chapters in, but it is fantastic. I guess it is more interesting because of Dad, and because I've been to Crete, but it is a really good book. I recommend everyone to read it.

Some of the stuff is mind boggling - reading about guys who walked up the Samaria Gorge, and did it when they were in a terrible physical condition, and the whole march over to Sfakia to be evacuated. Incredible. My favourite story (which I'd read before) is about the Kiwi soldier who was picked up by other escapees who were in a boat - he was paddling naked on a plank of wood... You can only imagine what would have happened to him had he not been picked up!

Forewarned is forearmed...

So I've been having a bit of dental pain over the last couple of weeks so I finally went to the dentist...

It turns out it is either nothing (which is what I'm really hoping for obviously....)

Or its going to be really awful - and all I can do is wait and see. So now I'm obsessing about my teeth and am convinced there is a root canal with my name on it coming my way. Watch this space...

Its my birthday month don't you know...

So I finally had my belated birthday dinner on Tuesday... Despite three friends going all the way to the States to avoid my birthday (Nicola, Craig and Julia), and another one breaking her ankle (Kristie) I still managed to get them all together this week to wish me happy birthday. While Maya, Owen and Finbarr helped me celebrate for the 3rd and 2nd times respectively...

And I got some more pressies :-). Not that I'm materialistic at all :-)

Sad movies always make me cry...

I took myself off to see Bridge to Terabithia today - on the recommendation of Lindsey who saw it a few weeks ago. I loved it, although I did cry :-). I won't say why, but I am terrible at sad movies.

Lindsey had told me that it reminded her of games we used to play when we kids - jumping out of the nectarine tree at Wheretia St, and everytime we would enter a new world, and this film really captures that sort of imagination as well.

It was just a lovely movie.

Clash of cultures - The Mall

Clash of cultures - The Mall
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I loved the clash here - a Dirty Dancing taxi and the flags! I think the flags were either lining the Mall for the 'Trooping the Colour' or something to do with the various Falkland War commemorations that have been happening recently.

The Silver Surfer on the London Eye

The Silver Surfer on the London Eye
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Silver Surfer rides the London Eye... promoting the new Fantastic 4 movie I think, but I thought it looked pretty cool!

Good times

On Tuesday I took the afternoon off work to meet up with Mike - a friend I've known for a long long time now... We met when we flatted when I went to Library School back in Wellington - so a wee while ago! We met at Green Park and wandered up to look at the NZ Memorial at Hyde Park Corner which I'd wanted to do for ages, then ambled through Hyde Park as well. Finally saw the Diana Memorial Fountain as well which I'd never seen before.

I took a few snaps of the memorial - check out my flickr account as well as those below for a few more.

New Zealand Memorial - 'The Southern Stand' Inscription 2

New Zealand Memorial - 'The Southern Stand' Inscription 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The inscription describing the memorial. Most of the stands have different stories/writing on them as well.

New Zealand Memorial - 'The Southern Stand'

New Zealand Memorial - 'The Southern Stand'
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

View of the NZ Memorial at Hyde Park corner. It is diagonally opposite from the Australian memorial which is also really lovely. Very different from the NZ one, but they complement each other nicely.

Birthday round up...

I had a lovely day on the 7th - spent it hanging out with Maya. We started off by going to the Anthony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery - the Blind Light room was fantastic! Then we went for lunch at Ping Pong Dim Sum which was very nice. I hadn't been there before, but it was handy to the gallery. Then it was off for another drink before going to see Sunshine - starring the fabulous Cillian Murphy and NZ's own Cliff Curtis. It was good - bit of a weak ending we both thought tho. Then off for another drink and dinner at Strada. So a good day!

Friday I went and had my hair cut & coloured (but you can't really tell from the photos...) to finally get rid of all of the grey. Then it was the 'June Babies' drinks at The Horse - pub by the office. There are many of us at work (including two on the 7th!) so this is the second year we've done a big joint party.

And I finally got to meet Maya's boyfriend - I tried really hard to be the scary aunt (apparently he was nervous of meeting me...) but I don't think I succeeded very well! I'm just too nice... :-).

Needless to say Saturday was a very slow day for me...

And again in colour...

And again in colour...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me, Simon and Jackie

Aunt, niece and boyfriend!

Aunt, niece and boyfriend!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Bliss...

Today was the start of my birthday celebrations as I used my present from Kevin last year - a day at The Sanctuary.

It was fab - I just lazed around, did a bit of swimming, had a facial (first one ever!), spent some time in a chilling out colour room, and bought some lovely products for my face - all part of the new me as I head into the last year of my thirties!! Great way to spend the first half of my birthday (you know - the whole 6th vs 7th June thing...).

Coldy...

I can't believe it - its my birthday week and I feel like I'm coming down with a cold! Which I can only assume I got from Pete :-(. There are some shockers going around at the mo so I'm going to dope myself up and head off to bed - I refuse to get ill this week.

I have too much planned!!

The Future is Unwritten

Mhairi and I went to see the movie about Joe Strummer tonight - The Future is Unwritten. I really enjoyed it - I realised I didn't actually know all that much about him and his life and it was filmed quite cleverly. Lots of his voice overs, lots of actual footage - so at times it was actually hard to remember that he has gone. One minor quibble would be that it would have been nice to know who the people were who were talking about him. There were no names until they were credited at the end - a bit frustrating as I doubt there are that many people who would have known they all were....

But still a great film. And a great bit at the end from him about life and what its all about. Gave me and my angsting a bit to think about anyhow.

Just get over it...

Saturday was a train trip out to Tonbridge to go to Olivia's 2nd birthday BBQ - as always Daphne and Pete struck gold with the weather, and despite having just finished a week of cold and rain we had a lovely sunny afternoon... Although Pete was struggling with a cold he soldiered on. And luckily there were enough men there to take over the BBQ when he needed a break!

I'm in the middle of angsting about my rapidly approaching last year of my 30s - for which I got very short shrift from Pete and Steve - both older than me who both said 'Get over it' - good old Kiwi sympathy there...