Bidding farewell to another decade

And so 2010 is drawing to a close (although as I type it has already 'closed' in New Zealand).

This is one year that I'm going to be happy to see the back of. Although for me personally it hasn't been too bad, a lot of my friends have had a VERY tough year, and that can't help but affect my view of it as well. I'm going to be quite happy to see midnight roll around a new year full of opportunity and change and hope begin.

Nowhere near enough walking for me this year - want to improve on that in 2011. Also didn't get to anywhere near enough gigs either...

I do have some highlights tho :-)

• Weekend in Prague in February - loved Prague!
• Exercising - although I'm sure Damian (instructor) thinks I'm pretty hit & miss in my attendance, I've loved getting into the boxing and circuit classes
• Coastal walking down in Cornwall
• NZ doing so well in the Football World Cup :-)
• Camping again for the first time in however many years!
• Tea at the Ritz
  
• Philippa coming to stay
• Seville - my love affair with Spain continues...
• Keeping in touch with a new friend made on my holiday to Egypt - we're both rubbish emailers and she doesn't live in London but we're making it work
• Some good films seen at the cinema rather than on DVD: Up In The Air, Avatar, Invictus, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Crazy Heart, The Blind Side, The Ghost, Robin Hood (OK - that is pushing 'good' a bit - but I do like a bit of Russell Crowe!), The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Social Network, The Kids Are Alright, Easy A
  
• And likewise, some great films: Kick Ass, Inception, Toy Story 3, Harry Potter 7a, Of Gods and Men
• Standout gigs - I hardly went to any this year :-( - Wilco and Hot Chip

N-N-N-N Now thats what I call music!

Of course that title will probably be lost on NZ readers if they don't get those compilations in Kiwi-land as well...

Anyhow - so I've burnt through the letter N on my ipod pretty darn quick.

Narcissus Road - The Hours
Nashville - Josh Rouse
Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
Neu! 75 - Neu!
Never Said Goodbye - Cerys Matthews
Nevermind - Nirvana
New Adventures in Hi-Fi - R.E.M.
The Night Before - James
Nightfreak & the Sons of Becker - The Coral
Nineteeneighties - Grant Lee Phillips
Nixon - Lambchop
No, You C'mon - Lambchop
Noble Beast - Andrew Bird
A Northern Soul - The Verve
Northern Star - Melanie C

Standouts? I loved 'Nineteeneighties' by Grant Lee Phillips - great covers of songs I grew up with. Very cool. 'Narcissus Road' - still one of my all time fave albums. I think The Hours are just fantastic. Neu! was interesting - Kevin's talked to me about them a bit, but I'd not heard them. Didn't hate it! And 'Nevermind' by Nirvana - its been a long time since I've listened to that - stands the test of time though.

Another thing I've learnt doing this is how annoying 'hidden' tracks are. As I have to listen to everything, there have been a couple of albums where I've had 10-15 minutes of complete silence as it works its way towards the hidden track. Very very boring...

Well thats Xmas done for another year...

And so it is already 27 December and Xmas is done and dusted for another year. Slightly different this year as Maya had to work so she didn't get to mine until about 6pm on Xmas Day. Chris arrived on Xmas Eve so we just chilled out during the day watching TV, making the trifle (me), making the dinner (Chris).

We had yet another delish meal created by Chris and then just relaxed watching the Xmas TV specials - Dr Who and Top Gear! Maya was crashed out by 11pm - cumulation of lots of longs days catching up with her.

Boxing Day was spent much the same way - lazing around my lounge, eating leftovers and watching TV :-).

Very chilled out, very relaxed. I wonder where I'll be next year...?

Mhairi set me a Xmas challenge following my 'Where's my Xmas mojo' post. For those who haven't read it, here it is...

You sound like you need a Christmas bingo challenge!

1. Visit and photograph the Christmas windows at Liberty, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.

2. Eat three out of the following
a) mince pie
b) brandy butter
c) candy cane
d) mulled wine
e) Christmas pudding
f) egg nog

3. Sit on Santa's lap and get your photo taken

4. Put up a Christmas tree or at least some decorations

5. Listen to Do They Know It's Christmas at least five times

6. Put a bit of tinsel on your hat or lapel

Let me know how you get on!

The weather is somewhat scuppering my efforts, but I can state that I have had mince pies, and have put up my Xmas tree :-). Slow but steady process - although I'm not sure I'll complete the list before the 25th...

Pretty sparkly Xmas tree

Pretty sparkly Xmas tree
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

My pretty sparkly pink xmas tree with the first of the pressies under it - not all for me tho. There's a few there for Maya and Chris :-).

Weather obsessive...

You can't help but be one in this country - particularly at the moment. This is shaping up to be a crazy winter - two nasty cold snaps with lots of snow already, and we're not even in January yet. I woke up on Saturday morning to a full on snow storm and lots of snow already on the ground... A real winter wonderland.

I can't help but think about this time last year - Saturday was the day I went to Egypt - if it had been this year, I think I'd be one of those poor people stuck at Heathrow :-( . I've got friends who have had flights home for Xmas cancelled, and others stuck at the airport waiting to head off for holiday to Australia... this weather really really sucks. It may look pretty at times, but it causes so much grief for so many people.

I am just so pleased that I'm not travelling this year - my biggest hurdle is getting to and from work fortunately.

Snowy back garden

Snowy back garden, Dec 18th 2010
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Dec 18th 2010

Close up of snowy tree from my lounge window

Close up of snowy tree from my lounge window, Dec 18th 2010
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Dec 18th 2010

Where is my Xmas mojo?

Who knows, but it seems to have well and truly left me...

I started off this season determined to throw myself into the swing of things, but it just hasn't happened - and I'm not feeling the yuletide-ness at all.

I did go to my work party this year which was fun - it was black tie-ish, so I dressed up and put on some heels which was good. Although by the end of the evening I was taking them off to rest my feet!

I am looking forward to stopping work though! And there are a couple of things I still want to do - a visit to the Winter Wonderland and a trip to the Panto might change things hopefully!

Mmmmmm....

So the M's have been completed...

A Mad and Faithful Telling - DeVotchKa
Made in the Dark - Hot Chip
Made of Bricks - Kate Nash
Magic & Medicine - The Coral
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles
Make Another World - Idlewild
Mal de Terre - The Mamaku Project
Mander Salis - The Snake The Cross The Crown
Maplewood - Ed Harcourt
Marshmallow - Marshmallow
Master and Everyone - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Med Sud i Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust - Sigur Ros
Melting Pot - Charlatans
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever - Cribs
Mermaid Avenue Vol 1 & 2 - Billy Bragg and Wilco
Micah P. Hinson & The Red Empire Orchestra - Micah P. Hinson
Miles From - Richmond Fontaine
Millionaires - James
Moderat - Moderat
Monster - R.E.M
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Moondance - Van Morrison
More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology - Tim Buckley
Moseley Shoals - Ocean Colour Scene
Mother Nature Calls - Cast
Moulin Rouge - Original Soundtrack
Moving - Eight
Mr Love & Justice - Billy Bragg
Murmur - R.E.M
Music From the North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology - The Jayhawks
Mutton Birds - The Mutton Birds
My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura
Myths of the Near Future - Klaxons

So what did I think of the Ms? I learnt that 33 Tim Buckley songs is way too many... but 40 Jayhawks songs was much more easy to listen to :-). A few oldies in there - Ocean Colour Scene are always a good listen, REM, the Mermaid Avenue albums. Really enjoyed DeVotchKa, Richmond Fontaine and the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album as well. And I love the Camera Obscura album as well - definitely one to listen to.

My snowy street on the way home after Stewart Lee - its much worse now!!

Just a bit of snow...

You may have seen on the news the cold snap that the UK is currently suffering from. It has been a surreal few days. Started to get really cold just before the end of November, and the first snow had fallen in November - unheard of! When I first arrived over here, it was years before we had a decent snowfall, and now we're getting them every year.

There has been lots on the news about how this is 'extraordinary circumstances' - which is what they always say - its just every year its a different circumstance. This year it is the 'third rail' apparently. Because the transport system has completely ground to a halt (again).

I did manage to get into work today, but after spending two hours getting there and two hours getting home I've decided to work from home tomorrow...

Worst thing about it (from my own selfish perspective) is that Fin is meant to arrive from Ireland tomorrow and we were all going out for drinks and dinner. Given that Gatwick has been shut for the last 3 days, I don't think its going to happen somehow :-(.

Cinema-tastic

Been to a couple of good movies recently. First up was Harry Potter 7 - which geekily I went to see on the opening day :-). Fortunately I have my HP geek friend Kevin to go with as well, as I knew that Maya would be working!

I really enjoyed it - thought it was very well done. Didn't feel too long, thought it finished at a good spot (and yes I did get a bit teary), and overall was very well done.

Also went to see Easy A - independent film, weaving in The Scarlet Letter and modern teenage morality. Very good - lots of funny references to teenage movies from the 80s as well. Definitely worth a look.

Next up will be The American, and the final Lisbeth Salander movie - both of which I'm really looking forward to!

Vegetable Stew...

Went to see Stewart Lee again on Wednesday night. I last saw him around this time last year with Kevin and he was just as funny. Very good jokes about Guardian readers, Godzilla and comedians who do charity gigs.

Everytime I go to comedy I realise I should go more often. Laughter is so good for the soul - and sometimes it can be in short supply in day-to-day life.

Start of the Xmas silly season

Simon had his annual birthday do on Saturday - that always seems to signal to me the start of the xmas party season.

Last year it was the day we had finished the London Loop - although it was much colder on Saturday. Hard to believe that was a year ago though. Although re-reading my posts from last year Simon's birthday party didn't even rate a mention!

This was a good one though - very chilled out, lots of sparkles and lots of good chat :-).

LOL

That would be "lots of L's" ... :-)

Language. Sex. Violence. Other? - Stereophonics
The Last Broadcast - Doves
Late Registration - Kanye West
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Leaders of the Free World - Elbow
Legend - Bob Marley
Lemonjelly.KY - Lemon Jelly
Let It Be - The Beatles
Let It Come Down - James Iha
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
Let's Bottle Bohemia - The Thrills
Libertine - Gene
Lie Down in the Light - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Life in Slow Motion - David Gray
Lifes Rich Pageant - R.E.M.
Live at Twist & Shout - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels - Original Soundtrack
London Calling - The Clash
Long Player - Hollie Smith
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea - Silver Jews
Loop Select 05: Good Shit Happens - Loop
Loop Select 06: Kono - Loop
Loop Select 07: We Are Here - Loop
Loop Select 08: Rare Vision - Loop
Loss - Mull Historical Society
Lost Horizons - Lemon Jelly
Lost Souls - Doves
The Lost Trident Sessions - Mahavishnu Orchestra
Love is Here - Starsailor
Love It When I Feel Like This - The Twang
Lovesongs for Underdogs - Tanya Donnelly

Not a bad letter, the "L". Some old faves in this one - Elbow and Starsailor are always good. Loop of course are always great albums and The Clash was fab as well. Interesting to see how the same bands crop up in the lists - two albums for Doves and Lemon Jelly in this set...

Almost halfway through the alphabet now!!

Bit of rugby, bit of sparkles...

Good day on Saturday :-)

Started off by heading off to meet Owen and some of his friends to watch the AllBlacks play England - I showed my support by wearing mainly black, my 'Born Here' t-shirt, my icebreakers t-shirt - so very NZ! Game was good - I certainly got enough stick from the English - these people are so rude! They barely know me and were giving me stick about the ABs peaking too early... :-). I'm dreading the World Cup next year!

Then it was off to Blackheath to meet up with Nicola and her friends to wander up to Blackheath to see the fireworks display. Photos below and on Flickr - it was a good display, and it was free. Always a bonus!

Pretty sparkly fireworks

Pretty sparkly fireworks
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Pretty sparkly fireworks

Pretty sparkly fireworks
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Three years

What I've missed sharing:

• My 40th
  
• Skyping
• British Virgin Islands
• Egypt
• Turkey
  
• Prague
• Wales
• Walking adventures - Tryfan, Yorkshire, Peak District...
  
• London Loop
• Visits from the family
  
• Day trips to new places
• My new found interest in exercise
  

And everything still to come in my life...

A new look...

I'm not sure - playing around with blogger and thought I'd try something new. I like the library thing (obviously) but it feels a bit busy.

Any comments welcome :-)

Dropping away again...

This year Megan is back down to 20th in terms of popularity of names in the UK... Was 15th last year - check out the post here.

Three of my friends have girls named 1-3 (That would be Olivia/Daphne, Ruby/Raewyn, Chloe/Lindsey). Maya comes in at 66 while Lucy pips me again at 16th! Nothing for Leigh or Tracey... although Elizabeth comes in at 43.

For boys, Harry comes in at 3 (shout out to the Uncle!), Thomas at 6th (he's dropped 3 places), William at 8th, Alex at 50th (also down 3 from last year) and Sam is at 88th (down 9 from 2009).

So there are still going to be plenty of Megan's running around for a while yet...

Exercising in the cold and the dark...

Post Philippa returning to the fair shores of NZ, I gave myself a couple of weeks off before starting back at my 'bootcamp'. Which has now been rebranded as 'Rumble in the Park' - the first stage in Damian's plan for world domination it appears. I'm curious to see how he expands it...

Anyhow - so now I'm committed to 2x per week (see post below about expenditure... I decided this was something I wanted to invest in), and as I am not a morning person I go in the evening. This was fine in summer, but now involves leaving the house in the cold and the dark to go out and exercise. And as we're having a wee mini-cold snap - it is cold!

Routine is boxing on a Monday and circuit on Thursdays. Not that keen on circuit - it is way too hard for me - which probably means its really good for me!

And tonight I bought my own pair of boxing gloves :-). What on earth has happened to me!!

My lovely new (pink!) boxing gloves.

Be afraid - be very afraid...

Oh OK - just be a wee bit nervous then!

The UK 'Lady in the Red'

Mhairi put me on to the 'Lady in the Red' blog from Stuff last week, which I have been loving reading, and am looking forward to following it more once she is back from her holiday.

As some of you may know, I've been making a concerted effort to clear my debts, and have struggled with a lot of the stuff that she talks about. Do I go on holiday? Do I not? Do I give up the luxury of living by myself to move in with some other people and save money? Do I get my hair coloured properly or risk doing it myself?

Fascinating and inspirational (for me) reading. There are some decisions I've made which probably means it is taking me longer to clear what I owe, but those decisions help me keep my sanity. And fear not - there have been many sacrifices made. I don't even want to think about some of the gigs I've missed :-(.

Oh - and btw - when I go on holiday now its all paid for from my money - nothing on cards!!

Gorgeous autumnal Kew...

I was keen to get to Kew before autumn tailed off as I knew the trees would look good with all the colours, and the weather played right into my hands.

Woke up on Sunday morning to a beautiful sunny autumnal day, and as I had a lunch date at 1.30 I was up and out relatively early for me to take advantage of it. I think the peak time would have been a week or so ago, but I still managed to get some nice photos. A couple below, but a few more on Flickr (for my non-fb readers... if you're out there!)

Golden orange, Kew Oct 2010

Golden orange, Kew Oct 2010
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This one really did look stunning - I wasn't the only one taking photos of it!

Golden tree, Kew Oct 2010

Golden tree, Kew Oct 2010
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Social Network

I went to see this film - very interesting and very good! If you like West Wing I think you'd enjoy this. I'm not sure how very true to life it is, but it is a timely reminder of what a brief time facebook has been around for, and how very pervasive it has become in (most of our) lives...

How did we get on without it? I've certainly noticed the impact on my blogging as I do most of my social networking through fb... But then a blog isn't about social networking, but I figure that most people follow what I'm doing through fb.

A challenge I continue to struggle with, as I often feel like I'm blogging into a void which no one is reading.

Playing a bit of catch up...

Oh dear - usual round up of lateness below... I will try and be better (for my few readers who aren't also on facebook!).

I've put these in date order, so if you've checked recently scroll down to see the August walking entry!

Simon does a half!

That would be a half marathon, not a half pint :-).

Sunday I headed off into town to join Kevin and his family to cheer Simon on in his first half marathon. He only started training about six weeks ago, and he wasn't a regular runner beforehand. Initially I think its fair to say some of his friends were a tad sceptical, but he proved us all wrong, and was very happy with his time of 2:22:24.

We managed to see him just after mile 4, coming up to mile 9 and again at the finish. He missed us at the finish tho - he was completely in the zone and had that finishing line in his sights!

Well done Simon :-)

Simon just past mile 4

J's and K's - not many of them!

So I went through the J's & K's fairly quickly - obviously not a very popular letter for album titles!

J.E.E.P - Stereophonics
Jackie Brown - Soundtrack
John Prine - John Prine
Joshua Tree - U2
Journal for Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
Jukebox - Cat Power

Kasbian - Kasabian
Keep it Like a Secret - Built to Spill
Keep Music Miserable - Lowgold (Disc 1 and 2)
Keep on Pushing - The Black Seeds
Kicking Television - Wilco (Disc 1 and 2)
Kicking the National Habit - Grand National
Kids in Philly - Marah
Kill Bill vol 1 & 2 - Soundtrack
Kish Kash - Basement Jaxx
Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail
Knee Deep in Hits - Rip Rig & Panic

So... two Quentin soundtracks, a bit of Wilco, some great folk. Keep Music Miserable did what it said on the tin... and Rip Rig & Panic. Still have the best song titles ever. 'Keep the sharks from your heart' anyone? Warm to the if in life? Storm the reality asylum... Highlights? Built to Spill and relistening to Marah again. Loads of L's so it will be awhile until the next one...

Wilco - again!

Kevin shouted me a ticket to see Wilco at the Royal Festival Hall as a thank you for my Florence Nightingale efforts when he was hobbling around over the summer.

Weirdly, he bought it off a fan ticket site, and was trying to get a ticket sat close to him. He had a good spot quite near the front - and he ended up buying the ticket for the seat next to him! So we got to sit next to each other, five rows from the front with a fab view - it was great!!

And for the first half most people stayed sat down, so he got to rest up his foot for quite a while :-). Great gig - as always! Still didn't play The Lonely 1 - I think I'm destined to never see that done live.

And again I was laughing at Wilco's demographic - middle aged men (sorry Kevin!) who can't dance :-).

Playing the hostess with the mostess...

September 11th Philippa arrived for a whirlwind 2.5 week holiday over here. I won't blog in detail about everything we did, but some of the highlights below - and lots of photos on Flickr :-).

• Highgate Cemetery - hadn't been for years. Both Philippa and Maya were keen to go after reading Her Fearful Symmetry and it was great. It was a slightly damp day, so the group was small, and it was quite atmospheric. Definitely worth revisiting!
• Westminster Abbey - can't remember the last time I went, but again it was good to go back (if somewhat expensive...). You forget how many famous dead people there are!
• Seville - we spent five nights in Seville which I absolutely loved. Would be very keen to go back again. The Alcazar just blew us away - it was incredible. We also went up to Grenada for a day to go to the Alhambra, but it wasn't as magical to us as the Alcazar. Although I would like to go back and do it again by myself (we were on a guided tour so didn't get any time to ourselves to explore it properly...)
• The Cathedral in Seville - purely just for its size and grandeur. And not that I was aiming to, but I have now been to the three biggies - St Pauls in London, St Peters in Rome and Seville...
  
• Lots of eating and drinking and just hanging out with Philippa, Maya and Chris. Very good times :-)
  

Dew pond

Dew pond
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Happy walkers

Happy walkers
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Up on the Downs

South Downs Walking

Back on August 28th I went walking with Simon (his first outing as part of the walking crew...), Nicola and Jackie.

We did Hassocks to Lewes, which I'm realising is now becoming one of my favourite South Downs walks. Up onto the ridge and then just lots of walking along the top of the hill. Absolutely fab - and it was a lovely day for it as well.

Lunch was at The Half Moon in Plumpton, which we all decided had the best sticky toffee pudding we've ever had - it was amazing!

It was a lovely day of walking, followed by a couple of drinks with Jackie and Simon back in Clapham - nice way to round the day off!

Two very different films...

Recently I've been to see 'Inception' and 'Toy Story 3'. VERY different films, but both great.

Inception is one of those films that you really need to talk to people about - and its always so exciting when you find someone else that has seen it so you can say "What did you think about...?" And almost without fail they have seen something in it that I've missed and vice versa. Just fantastic.

And Toy Story 3 - what a wonderful trilogy. I really hope they stop there. It finished so well - and I'll definitely be buying that box set when it comes out!

"I"'ve done the letter I...

Another letter done in my musical odyssey through my ipod. Some goodies from this letter I found...

I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers
I See a Darkness - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
I'll Be Lightning - Liam Finn
I'm Not There - Various artists (soundtrack to the film)
I'm Wide Awake, Its Morning - Bright Eyes
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
If I Had Known - Greg Brown
If You've Never Been - Embrace
Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
Imidiwan: Companions - Tinariwen
In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson
In Our Bedroom After The War - Stars
In The Reins - Calexico / Iron and Wine
In Your Bright Ray - Grant McLennan
In Your Honour 1 & 2 - Foo Fighters
Infinite Arms - Band of Horses
Inside In / Inside Out - The Kooks
International Velvet - Catatonia
Into the Wild - Eddie Vedder
Intriguer - Crowded House
Invitation Songs - The Cave Singers
Is This It - The Strokes
It's A Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads
IV - Chatham County Line

Great to hear The Lemonheads again - an oldie but a goodie! The Avett Brothers are a newbie to me (thanks to Kevin), and I love them. Really really good. Eddie Vedder - love his voice. Need to find some Pearl Jam again - there isn't any on my ipod! And Chatham County Line - fab. I get a bit scared by my ongoing enjoyment of country/alt country. But I love it :-). Jack Johnson - definitely music for a time and a place. I can't get into him over here, but loved it when I heard it during a NZ summer holiday. The Kooks are a bit of cheesy band, but I still enjoy the light pop of it...

Cycling Megan

Cycling Megan
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Cycling the New Forest

Sunday was another leisurely brekkie, then time to pack up our homes and head off to get our cycles. Luckily we had booked, as when we turned up to collect them they were turning people away again...

We did a circuit of about 16 miles over a mixture of roads and forest roads. It was great fun - couldn't remember the last time I'd been on a bike! One pretty horrible long slow hill tho which we didn't enjoy much, but aside from that it was pretty flat and easy. Had a lovely late lunch at The Oak Inn - really good food, great service and lovely setting. Would definitely go back to it I think.

Then after the cycling it was time to head back to the metropolis - hoping to get at least one more camping trip in though before the summer ends!

Ponies having brekkie, Saturday morning

Ponies having brekkie, Saturday morning
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Just past our tents...

How hard can it be to do a walk backwards...

Saturday morning I was up bright and early. Much earlier than my campmates! So by the time they'd emerged I was up, showered and dressed! We enjoyed our very civilised brekkie of croissants and coffee and took it very leisurely.

We wandered off into the village of Brockenhurst to have lunch and check out the cycle hire. Interestingly Brockenhurst has a NZ connection as wounded soldiers from WWI were hospitalised there. We couldn't get cycles as they were all booked out, so after booking some for Sunday we decided to go for a walk.

The route we had made more sense for us to do it backwards - how hard could it be we thought? As it turned out - quite hard! We got lost, I got stressed (I HATE getting lost when walking...), but Simon and Jackie fortunately remained very sanguine about it all, and Simon navigated us back to the path again! But it did turn a 7.5 mile walk into about 8 - so we had a wee collapse back at the tents.

After reviving cups of tea and some cake we wandered into Brockenhurst for a pub dinner at the Rose & Crown - which had a crazy food ordering system. I didn't love having to stand for about 1/4 of an hour while waiting to order my food... Two pints later and we were done - all feeling very weary after our walking and not much sleeping!

Our Eurohike advert...

Our Eurohike advert...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

My tent on the left, with the porch!

Hi ho, hi ho, a camping we will go...

Friday after work, Simon, me and Jackie headed off down to the New Forest to go camping for the weekend.

Very exciting! I'd bought a new tent specially- Ness , and as Jackie had never been camping before it was a weekend of firsts :-).

We were camping at Hollands Wood which was really good. We were a bit late arriving and as it was very busy (first day of the school holidays) we didn't have a great choice of sites. We ended up being quite close to the road which made it a bit noisy, but aside from that it was fine. Simon had friends staying there on Friday night, so after we had put our tents up we took our dinner over to their motor home and enjoyed a very nice bottle of wine :-).

As the site is literally set amongst the trees, the ponies just wander through it as they want. Instructions tell you to not leave any food in your tents as they will either walk into them to get it, or trample the tents to get to it!

The H's are done...

Another letter bit the dust this week as my journey through my ipod continued...

H.M.S. Fable - Shack
Hal - Hal
Happy Ending - The Phoenix Foundation
Hats Off to the Buskers - The View
Have You Fed the Fish? - Badly Drawn Boy
Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
Heaven is Whenever - The Hold Steady
Heaven Up Here - Echo & The Bunnymen
Heligoland - Massive Attack feat. various artists
Hello Love - The Broken Family Band
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards it Did - Twilight Sad
Here's to Taking it Easy - Phosphorescent
Here's Tom with the Weather - Shack
Heroes Original Soundtrack - Various
Hey Ma - James
High Violet - The National
Highway to Hell - ACDC
Hits - Pulp
Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks - The Brunettes
Hollie Smith E.P. - Hollie Smith
Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond
Home, Land and Sea - Trinity Roots
Honey in the Lion's Head - Greg Brown
Hope is Important - Idlewild
Horsebreaker Star - Grant McLennan
Hospice - The Antlers
Hot Fuss - The Killers
The Hour of Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy
How I Quit Smoking - Lambchop
How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb - U2
Human Conditions - Richard Ashcroft
A Hundred Million Suns - Snow Patrol
Hurricane Glass - Catherine Feeny
Hvarf-Heim (Disks 1 & 2) - Sigur Ros
Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury - Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

I enjoyed the 'H's. Lots of my faves in there - The National (love the singers voice), Hot Fuss is still a great album, and you can never beat a bit of Neil Diamond. Struggling to find ones I didn't enjoy in this letter...

Where does the time go...

So since I last blogged:

• the world cup has been and gone. I watched NZ play out of their skins, I watched England crash out (yet again...) and after all that I watched my 3rd fave country win the World Cup for the first time - viva Espana!!
• I have been to The Ritz for tea. Divya and I went a few weeks ago - very cool. Great fun to get togged up on a Sunday afternoon and go and scoff delish cakes and drink (herbal) tea from a solid silver teapot... Something also very enjoyable about only being served by men! Although they were in white coats - maybe I wasn't at The Ritz at all!
• I've been doing a 'boot camp'. Essentially exercising twice a week. So I've been keeping up with the boxing and have also been getting into Kettleball. And one circuit class. All three still knacker me out, but I think I'm starting to enjoy it... this is scary!
• I've bought a tent in preparation for a camping weekend in the New Forest next weekend. Hopefully the weather will be good!
• Kevin has torn his achilles tendon - so I've been helping out as he really is quite incapacitated. Making me relish the ability I have to run around and exercise even more!
• We appear to have had summer - three weeks of temps over 25 most days. That seems to be over now though...
• My phone died and I am now toying with the idea of getting a smart phone (but not an iPhone as I can't afford one that flash!)

The Ritz - Me with the cake menu

The Ritz - Me with the cake menu
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me with the cake menu - getting ready to scoff!

And so to Cornwall for a spot of Cornish coastal walking...

Julia organised a weekend of walking for my birthday - although I was not interested in doing anything for my birthday it was lovely to have an excuse to go away walking!

The plan was to walk from Newquay to Padstow (25 miles), have dinner at Rick Stein's cafe on the Sunday evening and then cycle on Monday. And we pretty much did everything!

Friday night we flew down to Newquay - she had investigated doing the night train, but there seemed to be a random stop at about 4am so we didn't fancy that so much. Went for a stroll around Newquay once we'd arrived. It seems to be the stag do capital of the UK - and having seen it once, I don't think I'll need to go back again! Not the most charming town I've been to... Julia spotted a guy in a mankini about 10am on Saturday morning - I think that 'stag' would have had a very long day...

Outside Rick Stein's cafe - birthday dinner venue

Outside Rick Stein's cafe - birthday dinner venue
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Wet birthday day...

Monday dawned somewhat damp...

We had the most amazing brekkie at the B&B (which I couldn't finish), then walked the remaining two miles to Padstow to complete the walk. Our original plan had been to do some cycling before getting our train back, but the weather was pretty unappealing so we headed back on an earlier train.

But not before we went to Rick Stein's bakery and bought some fruit scones, clotted cream and jam so we could have our own cream tea on the train on the way back :-). And very nice it was too!

A fab weekend!

Julia paddling on Harlyn Bay

Julia paddling on Harlyn Bay
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This was actually quite a busy beach - just a well constructed photo to make it look deserted!!

Me, Padstow Harbour, Sunday evening

Me, Padstow Harbour, Sunday evening
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Padstow town

After the most amazingly refreshing shower and rejuvenating cup of tea in the B&B we headed into Padstow for a drink and dinner at Rick Stein's Cafe.

Rick Stein is all over Padstow - cafe, restaurant, deli, fish & chip shop... the list goes on! But we really enjoyed the cafe - the food was lovely, the service was good, and it was nice and relaxed. The restaurant is the uber-posh one - we were a bit more downmarket!

I had crab with chilli and garlic with pasta for a starter, then plaice for the main, then sunken chocolate cake for dessert. Very nice too! Julia went for salt & pepper prawns, sea bream in a thai jungle curry and a cheese board. Lovely birthday meal!

Treyarnon Bay to Lellizzick

Sunday was another 10 miles to Lellizzick farm (a couple of miles outside of Padstow, but where we were staying so we stopped there). We were in room two.

Another great day of walking - fantastic beaches (especially Constantine Bay and Harlyn Bay), walking around the headland past the Trevose Head Lighthouse, and then walking past the observation point at Stepper Point. I was also intrigued by Mother Ivey's Bay which has cursed land apparently...

We walked past a couple of round holes - collapsed sea caves apparently. That was quite odd to think that the ground we were walking over could quite easily be hollow underneath! We saw lots of parts of the cliffs where the sea had worn a hole through it from one side to the other.

We ended up on the estuary so had a wee rest at Hawker's Cove before heading to the B&B. Our feet were feeling two days of walking by then so it was good to take the shoes off and go for a refreshing paddle!!

Bedruthan Steps

Bedruthan Steps
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Newquay to Treyarnon Bay

Saturday dawned slightly grey, but that is good weather for walking, so once we'd sorted out all the things we'd forgotten to pack we headed off.

We were doing two sections of the South West Coast path - which pretty much just follows the coast so not much danger of getting lost! The scenery all the way around was just amazing - you'll see on Flickr that I've taken a lot of photos of stunning coastal scenery!

Our first stop was The Beach Hut at Watergate Bay - where we were a bit early for lunch so we had an 'extreme' hot chocolate. And it was pretty extreme! We bought sandwiches to eat later for lunch but it took a long time to work that chocolate off! Got a spot on the balcony and watched the families try to keep warm, and also the various surf schools doing their lessons.

Second highlight was the Bedruthan Steps - legend has it the giant Bedruthan used these stones as steps across the bay. Very cool and really quite impressive.

Saturday night we spent at Treyarnon YHA - the only accomodation Julia could find. It was fine - although somewhat dull as the books available weren't that gripping and we never managed to find the TV room! Great spot tho - and right on the path so no danger of not being able to find it!

That Sunday walking thing again...

Sunday walking for me just never works out... It just doesn't. Something always goes a bit wrong - I should know by now!

On Sunday I went out walking with Nicola and Sarah - Gomshall to Guildford. Just over 9 miles, and the weather was nicer than it had been the day before (ie it wasn't raining!). The walk itself was lovely - very picturesque - very Surrey.

Lunch however was another story... We were all looking forward to it as Sarah had been to the pub on a walk about 18 months ago and had had a lovely meal. Obviously the chef has left... or something... It started with my lime and soda actually turning out to be lime and lemonade... After waiting about 40 minutes for our food, Nicola asked where it was, to be told that the sea bass takes a long time to cook. My roast beef was obviously pre-sliced (so pleased I hadn't gone for the lamb), Sarah's vege lasagne was dry, and the fish was overdone! Sarah sent hers back and got a ploughman's as a replacement. Then we noticed the salads came with the free addition of soil... It was truly one of the worst lunch experiences I've ever had while walking. NEVER going back to that pub again.

I really should stick to Saturday walking...

Water reflections

Water reflections
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

So much nicer than the lunch...

Kew in the spring

Friday I met Divya and Tarun and we went for a stroll around Kew. We'd missed a lot of the lovely spring flowers, including the bluebells, but as always, the treetop walkway didn't disappoint :-). No matter how many times I go to Kew I still always enjoy it, and see and learn more.

Tarun was particularly interested in the ducks - fortunately a couple feeding the ducks gave Divya some bread to give him - I think we may have had a problem on our hands otherwise!!

Lovely day in the sun :-).

You looking at me??

You looking at me??
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I think this is the first time I've seen a peacock do this 'live'!

Green green trees of Kew

Green green trees of Kew
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Bit of history (and Winnie)

Took myself off to the Cabinet War Rooms on Wednesday afternoon - somewhere I'd always wanted to go.

Really good - I didn't realise there was a whole part of the museum devoted to Winston Churchill and that was great. Been open for five years, but all the interactive stuff still worked and it was put together really well. I ended up running out of time as I had to be somewhere by just after 5. Could have spent ages more in there - suspect I'll probably end up going again at some time.

Still - at £15 its not cheap - although it was worth it.

Some more elephants...

I'm currently on 'staycation' - ie. having a week off work, but not going away. I've timed it perfectly as the weather is really nice - bit cooler today, but we've had some gorgeous days recently.

On Monday I met David and we went for a stroll around St James Park and into Green Park - lots of elephants there! More piccies on my Flickr page, but a couple of my faves here as well.

I'm loving this not having to work lark!

Meerkat Elephant

Meerkat Elephant
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fish'n'chips!

Fish'n'chips!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I loved this!

Elephants on parade...

The latest 'parade' to hit London is the Elephant Parade - which I'm really enjoying. There are loads around my office so I took a few snaps the other day. And for those on facebook you'll see a new profile pic as well :-).

I'll add more as I spot them - but these were some of my faves.

There was a great one called 'City in an Elephant' which had little windows, and inside was a mock up of a city space, with models of iconic London buildings and tiny wee elephants around them. Seriously cool! Didn't translate to a photo unfortunately.

Roses elephant

Roses elephant
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Not really roses, but makes me think of them for some reason.

Sunny yellow elephant

Sunny yellow elephant
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I love this one!

Three in a row!

Three in a row!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

With the Scoop to the right, and Boris's office in the background...

Galloping through the Gs

Yep - another letter done... Some highlights, some real lowlights as well...

Gershwin's World - Herbie Hancock
A Ghost is Born - Wilco
Ghost Notes - Everest
Giant Steps - The Boo Radleys
Gilles Petersen in the House Disc 1 & 2 - Various
A Girl Called Dusty - Dusty Springfield
Glassworks - Philip Glass
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Glitter in the Gutter - Jesse Malin
Global A Go-Go - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
Global Underground Reykjavik Disc 1 & 2 - Various
The Golden Archipelago - Shearwater
The Golden Mile - My Life Story
Good - Goodshirt
The Good Life - Justin Townes Earle
The Good Will Out - Embrace
Goodbye - The Czars
Gossip - Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Graceland - Paul Simon
Grand Prix - Teenage Fanclub
The Greatest - Cat Power
Greatest Hits - Simon & Garfunkel
Greatest Hits - Bruce Springsteen
Greatest Palace Music - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Green - R.E.M
The Green Hour - The Autumn Defense
Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State - Sufjan Stevens
Growing Pains - Mary J. Blige
Guerrilla - Super Furry Animals
Gulag Orkestar - Beirut

A few old faves on this one - Gossip is still an outstanding album for me, as is Green. Can't go past a bit of 'The Boss' or Dusty for when you want a good old sing-a-long. Mary J. Blige falls into the 'where on earth did I get that from' category. Not my type of music at all... Embrace will always hold a place in my heart, and I enjoyed the dancey stuff as well...

My odyssey continues :-)

A 'Sarf East' Meantime weekend...

Saturday I headed out to Greenwich with Jackie, Nicola and Simon. It was another gorgeous April spring day so we had a wee stroll through Greenwich Market (which I love - as I'm sure I've mentioned before...) and then went up to the hill to the Royal Observatory to see the 'Secrets of the Sun' show at the Planetarium. It was a great show - although we managed to horrify Nicola by admitting that none of us knew the sun would burn out and die (although apparently humans will have left Earth by then in spaceships to find new worlds to live in, so there is no need to worry about it...).

Then it was off down to the Greenwich Union for an early meal and a couple of pints of their delish Helles Meantime beer.

Sunday was back out to Greenwich to go and visit Craig and Sarah and finally meet their youngest - Edith, aged 6 months. Absolutely gorgeous! Then while Sarah took Nola and Stanley off to a birthday party, Craig and I took Edith to The Old Brewery - this time I sampled the Pale Ale. And endured disapproving looks from many people there who assumed I was Edith's mother...

On the 'Chiding stone"

On the 'Chiding stone"
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Look at that sky!

Look at that sky!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Sunny walking

Headed out for a walk with the old 'London Loop' crew - minus Mhairi of course!

This time we were down in Kent - walking from Cowden to Hever. Nicola had an earlier start than all of us as she misread the times and went for the train an hour earlier than us. So I was getting panicked text messages telling me the train was cancelled while I was still at home getting ready, while she was already at London Bridge train station...

The walk was lovely and the weather was gorgeous. Lovely and sunny - very spring like. Lots and lots of stiles however (not so much fun), and Jackie and I managed to step into a bog formed of cow crap - up to our ankles both of us! Thank heavens for good goretex walking shoes is what I say!! Part of the walk went through Chiddingstone so we diverted to take a look at the 'Chiding Stone' - cue much chiding of course.

Interesting as well to see that a lot of the trees were still not very green - sign of the long, cold winter we've only just started emerging from.

We got back to the train station at the end to find there were signal problems and we were delayed for almost an hour. But it wasn't too bad sat in the sun - I was remarkably zen about it all. Had it been wet and cold it probably would have been a different matter!

Getting the heart rate up...

I've just started exercising - don't everyone fall off their seat in shock! I've started doing a 'Boxing for Fitness' class at a park around the corner from where I live.

Its REALLY hard, cos I don't normally do any aerobic exercise at all, but once the class is over I realise I've quite enjoyed it. Can't say I enjoy it at the time tho - I am not one of those people who love exercising - I fall definitely into the lazy camp I've decided! But I know I've got to do something so I finally plucked up the courage to start! Now I just need to keep going :-).

Finished with the 'F's

And my musical odyssey through my ipod continues...

Fables of the Reconstruction - REM
Falling off the Lavender Bridge - Lightspeed Champion
Fate - Dr Dog
Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
Feeling Strangely Fine - Semisonic
The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers
Figure 8 - Elliott Smith
Fiji Baby - Goodshirt
Final Straw - Snow Patrol
The Fine Art of Self Destruction - Jesse Malin
Fireboy - Grant McLennan
The First Days of Spring - Noah and the Whale
Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake
Five Roses - Miracle Fortress
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Float Away with the Friday Night Gods - Marah
Flowers - Echo & the Bunnymen
The Flying Club Cup - Beirut
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters
The Football Factory Soundtrack
For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
For the Dead - Gene
For Today - Netherworld Dancing Toys
Forever Delayed - Manic Street Preachers
Forty Licks - The Rolling Stones
Forward March! - The Strange Death of Liberal England
Frank - Amy Winehouse
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
The Friends of Rachel Worth - The Go-Betweens
From a Basement on the Hill - Elliott Smith
Funeral - The Arcade Fire
Future Clouds & Radar - Future Clouds & Radar
Future Reference - Rhombus

The 'F's were a bit forgettable really - some old fave artists in there - Gene, Snow Patrol and The Go-Betweens. Stand out new listen for me was Future Clouds & Radar though - really enjoyed them. Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes are always good, and the Netherworlds were a bit of a blast from the past :-).

Crazy Heart

Went to see this - was very keen as it had both Jeff Bridges and country music. What a great combo!

And it was good - the music was great. Am def going to get the soundtrack. It was a film Mum would have liked - you knew exactly where it was going, but it was still enjoyable watching it unfold. Country singer, alcoholic, meets girl... and thats all I'll say.

The relationship between Jeff and Maggie G wasn't that convincing to me, but that would be my one minor quibble. Still a very good film, and one worth catching. Although probably equally good on DVD...

And a few films...

I've been making more of an effort to get out and see films actually at the cinema - instead of doing my usual waiting until they are out on DVD... So lately I've seen:

• Avatar: I went to see this as I was expecting it to mop up at the Oscars, and I thought I really should go and see it. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and liked the 3D - although then it didn't win everything at the Oscars!
  
• Invictus: Very good - although Morgan Freeman still sounded like Morgan Freeman... But it did almost make me glad that South Africa won the world cup - almost!
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Having just finished the second book in this series I was curious to see how they would adapt the first book. But being a Swedish film as opposed to a Hollywood one, it was pretty close to the book, so some of the scenes were pretty disturbing. Which has meant it has been accused of focusing too much on the violence against women - not sure I agree with that. It was difficult to watch at times, but I've seen as bad in CSI and other horror movies.
• Alice in Wonderland 3D: I enjoyed this. Lots of the reviews have been quite critical, but I just thought it was a good visual adaptation of the story. Didn't really need to see it 3D I don't think, but it was still fun.
  

Henry Moore and a glass of wine

Met Nicola quite late on Saturday and we headed off to Tate Britain to go to the new Henry Moore show that has just opened. Quite unusual for me to get to an exhibition so early on - I'm usually seeing it right at the end!

It was very good - although I think I preferred seeing his sculptures at Kew Gardens. But still definitely worth seeing - and he really did seem to have a thing with a certain part of the female anatomy...

Afterwards we went for a drink at the Arch Duke - nice wee winebar very close to Waterloo. Turned into more than one, but it was a lovely way to end the outing!

Watching someone else's favourite band...

I went to see Power of Dreams with Kevin - I'd not heard of them, but had listened to them a bit on MySpace and thought they sounded quite good, plus it was at the Luminaire, which is a great venue.

It was a reunion for their 20th anniversary so there were some real die-hard fans there. VERY funny watching people go crazy as they recognised the next song - especially when you have no real idea of any of them!

Strange support band from Reading who had brought their own posse along - also diehard fans. Highlight of that bit was the 'topless dancing' - two quite tattooed young men taking their tops off and getting up on the stage to dance...

Lovely Sunday lunches

Been out for two lovely Sunday lunches recently - the first one to help Nicola celebrate her birthday ( a bit belatedly). We went to the Princess of Wales in Blackheath where I had a lovely roast beef and sticky toffee pudding. Could barely move at the end of it!

And then on Sunday it was off to The Modern Pantry with Chris and David etc. This one I found through the Time Out website, and convieniently it had a NZ connection so my pudding just had to be hokey pokey ice-cream. It was great!!

I could get used to this pattern of Sunday lunches :-).

First gig of 2010

Friday night it was off to see the fantastic Hot Chip at Brixton. Second time Divya and I have seen them and once again they were great. Their new album is really good - I particularly like the song 'Brothers' - about four brothers, and yes it does make me think of (and miss) mine every time I listen to it - my bro's rock :-).

Funny gig tho - they are a geeky, older band - but the crowd was full of uber cool young things - of course Divya and I felt right at home!

Starting to feel like I'm getting my gig mojo back - its been a while since I've really enjoyed a gig...

Eeeeeasy does it...

Another letter down - here are the 'E's...

E-Bow the Letter - REM
Ease Down the Road - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Ecce Home - Grant Hart
Echo & the Bunnymen - Echo & the Bunnymen
Echoes - The Rapture
Either/Or - Elliott Smith
Elephant - The White Stripes
Elephunk - Black Eyed Peas
Empire - Kasabian
Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
An End Has a Start - Editors
Envy of Angels - Muttonbirds
Eveningland - Hem
Evergreen - Echo & the Bunnymen
Every Breath You Take: The Classics - The Police
Everyone - Grand Drive
Everyone is Here - Finn Brothers
Everything All The Time - Band of Horses
Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers
Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket
Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple
Eye to the Telescope - KT Tunstall
Eyes Open - Snow Patrol

Few old faves here I hadn't listened to for a while - White Stripes, My Morning Jacket, Manic Street Preachers... Blast from the past with Grant Hart. And The Rapture! Horrendous - they are definitely coming off!

Last morning

We had planned to explore the Jewish Quarter this morning, but time got away from us... So we had a lovely leisurely lunch instead (eating was a theme of the weekend!) and I decided I have to go back when the weather is warmer, and I'll do it then :-).

Really enjoyed Prague - great city, and am definitely keen to go back. I fancy sitting in a beer garden in the sun and enjoying some of that lovely beer...

Pics posted soon!

Now that is what I call COLD

Sunday was freezing!! Fortunately it warmed up a bit later in the day, but it was absolutely bitter in the morning. We both agreed it was well in the minuses early on...

Sunday we wandered over the Charles Bridge - bit disappointing to be honest. It is undergoing renovations, but you could see hawkers where-ever there wasn't scaffolding etc, and I could imagine it is just unpleasant in the really busy season. Then it was up the Prague Castle - actually a collection of buildings rather than a castle per se. St Vitus Cathedral was very impressive - especially the stained glass windows which were fantastic. And the incredibly over-the-top silver tomb - over two tons of silver used!! But we were soooo cold we had to go for lunch and thaw out :-). So a restorative hot wine and beef goulash in a bread bowl (yum!) and we were ready to venture out again...

We walked down through Mala Strana, which in summer I imagine is a lovely green park. For us it was lovely and snowy, and just as lovely. Lots of Prague children out sledging down the hills! We checked out the Lennon wall as well. Apparently it was saved by the French ambassador a few years ago - although the Wikipedia entry doesn't mention this! We also found a fence covered in padlocks - apparently they are love padlocks. Newly married couples scratch their names/initials on a padlock, attach it to a fence and throw away the key as a sign of their commitment to each other... How sweet...

Very cold!

Very cold!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I was sooo cold!

Waitangi Day in Prague...

Saturday we spent just wandering around Prague. Started off at Wenceslas Square - which isn't a square at all, but is a big long street in the shopping district. Weather was cold and a bit snowy, but on the whole it was manageable.

We took a very laid back approach to our sightseeing - both agreeing that we were quite happy just walking around. I loved it - once we'd hit the Old Town it was just lovely. We climbed the Powder Gate for the view - which was ok. We thought we'd see the river and the Charles Bridge from it, but no such luck.

We had a late-ish lunch and lovely beer at Kolkovna, and then dinner at Stoleti, which had been recommended to us by Nicola. After also having a lovely latte during the day, we decided we were very impressed with both the town, the food and the beer!

Me and Franz Kafka

Me and Franz Kafka
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Off to Prague

Friday evening I headed off to Prague with Divya for a long weekend - we'd booked it before Xmas and had got a very good deal on flights and accommodation.

I hadn't really thought too much about the weather when we booked it, but was quite nervous during the week as we kept checking the weather - and seeing forecast temperatures of -10... I wasn't sure I had the right clothes for that sort of cold!

Flight was painless (Easyjet, so its always good when there are no delays...) - and very short. Only 1.5 hours! Our hotel recommended a bar which we went out to find, but couldn't. Realised the next day we'd been on completely the wrong street. But we ended up in one over the road from our hotel for a quick drink before going to bed. My first experience in a bar where it is still ok to smoke for a very long time... I'd forgotten what it was like...

A cinematic start to the year

Not doing too badly so far for films... Have seen 'Up In The Air' and 'The Road'.

Up In the Air was good - bit of a George Clooney vehicle but not quite the romcom I was expecting so I enjoyed it. Not sure its good enough to be in the Best Film list for the Oscars however...

Saw The Road last week - wow. What a film. Blew me away. I haven't read the book, but absolutely thought the film was fantastic. Felt like I'd been emotionally thumped at the end of it, and would quite like to see the ending again. I think I was so over-wrought by it that I wasn't really taking it all in properly. I definitely needed my tissues for that one...

A very cold Kew...

On Sunday we went to Kew before heading back to King's Cross so Dawn could get her train back home to East Yorkshire.

It was pretty cold, and a lot of the ponds were frozen - great fun watching the birds skidding and sliding around on the ice! And the tree-top walkway was fantastic as well - its always great, no matter what time of year. I'm not sure I'd been on it when the trees were quite so bare before.

Watch out for photos to be posted shortly!

Winter view from the tree top walk

Winter view from the tree top walk
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Winter colours at Kew

Winter colours at Kew
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Spot the ice...

Re-visiting Egypt

My friend Dawn (who I met on my trip to Egypt) came down to stay for the weekend - we decided that it made the most sense to re-visit our Christmas holiday with a stroll around the British Museum - home to many plundered relics from Egypt! It was quite strange to see pieces that were so similar to things we had seen in-situ such a short time ago - and also to look at these things with much more of an appreciation of the history of them.

There is a lot of controversy around the Rosetta Stone - but I must admit that after having been to the Egyptian Museum that I do think they need to do some work on their facilities before being able to display it - I can see why the British Museum is a bit loathe to return it...

It did occur to me while I was there as well that I don't think I've ever really spent much time at the British Museum so we had a lovely afternoon checking out the different galleries. I'm not sure its my favourite museum (that is probably sacrilege to say), but it was good to spend some time checking it out.

First walk of 2010

Did a cracking walk yesterday with Julia and Kevin. The Amberley Circular - 10.5 miles and it was really good.

First half before lunch was walking through the water meadows of the Arun - and after the snow and then the rain, they were definitely more water than meadow! We were all very pleased to be wearing our wonderful waterproof boots, and Julia was very envious of Kevin and I with our gaiters on... Highlight of the morning had to be coming around a corner to see about 7 or 8 deer at the end of our path leaping over a fence - a few young bucks with some rather large antlers as well! Just amazing to see - its all in the timing.

After lunch it was a stretch up the hill to the top of the South Downs for a great walk along the ridge. Bit grey, but the views were still ok - we could really see the waterlogged meadows. And time for a quick drink at the fab Bridge Inn pub before getting the train back to London. Excellent start to a new year of walking!

Boot cleaning!

Boot cleaning!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Attempting to clean mud off boots - turned out to be a waste of time - there was plenty more to come!

Playing in the snow

Playing in the snow
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Spot the waterlogged meadows in the distance!

A wee round up...

Not been enormously busy lately as I've been settling back into the groove of work - aligned with the fact that January is always a quiet month as we get paid earlier in December so that December pay has to stretch out a looonnngg way...

But I did go and see Moctezuma at the British Library a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if that link will work or not as it finishes today so they may move the page... Very good exhibition tho - in the same theme as the Hadrian one I went to - didn't paint the Spanish in a very good light - although I guess they were fairly typical of any conquering sort of nation. Also interesting to see the 'name glyphs' they used, as opposed to the 'hieroglyphs' the Egyptians used...

Also went to see Up In The Air last week - the new George Clooney movie. I didn't know much about it so was expecting a rom com. Doesn't quite fall into that category it has to be said... Enjoyed it tho - wasn't expecting the ending at all.

Snow...

This was taken from my lounge window on Wednesday - with my phone so its not amazing quality, but you can just sort of see the snow falling...

It's been a while...

Since I've blogged about the weather...

But OMG! I haven't seen anything like this - it is incredible. Started snowing on Wednesday, and since then has got freezing cold and now the snow has frozen so the pavements are just covered in sheet ice. To get to the main road I walk on the road as opposed to the pavement. And more snow is forecast.

We're not anywhere near as bad down South as people in Scotland and up north. But despite all the protestations, this country still shuts down when it snows. My trains are running but they're pretty messed up - but at least they're running I guess...

Only two premiership football games managed to be played today - nothing is immune!

All Egypt photos posted...

Now on Flickr - and for those of you also on Facebook, I've also done a 'best of' if you don't want to trawl through my albums... I'm so tired of uploading photos I can't face doing any more so won't add any more holiday ones to the blog - you'll just have to look on Flickr!

Blogging done!

Egypt now (briefly) written up and I've started to add my photos to Flickr as well. I've posted a couple below in my posts, but more on Flickr, and still many more to be loaded...

Egypt bound

I headed off to Egypt on December 19th to do Explore's Nile Felucca Sailtrek. I just fancied a change at Xmas, and it was absolutely fantastic to get away from the madness of the silly season, see some sun, and see some absolutely fantastic sites.

Its the same company I went to Jordan with, and once more I wasn't disappointed. Brilliant trip, great guide and a fascinating country.

Updates below - on the correct dates (cos I'm a bit of a pedant like that...) :-). I'm about halfway through at the moment, and once I've done the blog I'll upload my photos - I'm going as fast as I can!! But its hard to write it without sounding like a 'then we went here, then we did this...' type of narrative...

C's and D's - racing along!

Having been a tad tardy with my updates recently I am now up to albums beginning with 'E' on my iPod. So here are the C's and D's I've listened to...

C'mon Kids - The Boo Radleys
Candy Apple Grey - Husker Du
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux
Carried to Dust - Calexico
Cassadega - Bright Eyes
Cast of Thousands - Elbow
The Cavern: The Most Famous Club in the World - Various artists
Cease to Begin - Band of Horses
Chelsea Walls - Jeff Tweedy/Wilco
Cherry Pie - Leila Adu
Cherry Tree - The National
Chester - Josh Rouse & Kurt Wagner
Chrome Dreams II - Neil Young
Chronicle - The 20 Greatest Hits
Circles - The Autumn Defense
City Chorus - Age Pryor
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Closer - Joy Division
Cockahoop - Cerys Matthews
Colin Meloy Sings Live (Kill Rock Stars/Stage Three) - Colin Meloy
College Dropout - Kanye West
Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants
The Colour and the Shape - Foo Fighters
Come On Feel the Lemonheads - The Lemonheads
Comfort in Sound - Feeder
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
The Coral - The Coral
Costello Music - The Fratellis
Cotton Teeth - The Snake The Cross The Crown
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
The Creek Drank the Cradle - Iron & Wine
Creekdippin' for the First Time - Mark Olson & the Creekdippers
Crocodiles - Echo & the Bunnymen
Cuts Across the Land - The Duke Spirit


Dance Hall at Louse Point - John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey
Datapanik in the Year Zero - Pere Ubu
Dead Letter Office - REM
Dean Chandler - Dean Chandler
Decade - Neil Young
December's Child - Mark Olson & the Creekdippers
Decline of British Sea Power - British Sea Power
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev
Dig Lazarus, Dig!! - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn - Bright Eyes
Do You Like Rock Music? - British Sea Power
Document - REM
Dog House Music - Sea Sick Steve
Doolittle - The Pixies
Dr Boondigga & the Big BW - Fat Freddy's Drop
Draw - Matthew Jay
Drawn from Memory - Embrace
Drawn to the Deep End - Gene
Dream Letter - Live in London - Tim Buckley
The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
Drive - Bic Runga
Dummy - Portishead
Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield


A few blasts from the past in those two lists. And some perennial faves - Elbow, Gene, Embrace... I have no idea where or who I got the Pere Ubu album from - that remains a mystery to me.