Spring has arrived

Quite amazing how fast nature works when it wants to. In the last week the daffodils have appeared everywhere and now all of the cherry blossom is coming out as well - with the clocks going forward last weekend (time difference between the UK and NZ is now 11 hours...) it really does feel like we've finally emerged from the depths of winter and spring has arrived!

Ceilidh Club - what a fab night!

So on Friday night we went off to the Ceilidh Club (pronounced kay-lee) to help celebrate a friend's birthday. And I have to admit that I was pretty sceptical. Having looked at the website, and not being big on dancing I wasn't sure about the whole thing but it was great! A bit like being back at school and doing folk dancing but better! Completely rubbish I was, but I loved it! My fave one was when I was the 9 pin - in a square of people with everyone dancing around me, and then it ended up a bit like musical chairs where you had to try and end up with a guy so as not to end up in the middle again. Very very cool and I'll definitely go back!

On Sat we are sat here feeling quite worn out and a little bit creaky! A very physical evening - nothing like getting hot and sweaty with a room full of strangers!!

An Ideal weekend??

Ok - couldn't resist that wee pun. Kev and I went to the Ideal Home Show yesterday - which was, to be honest, less than Ideal. Not really what we were expecting. We thought it would give us lots of housey ideas, but it was not really so good. Kevin being the gadget boy that he is did buy a magnetised gizmo for washing windows which even appears to work - so not quite a waste of time!

Sat night we went to a wedding reception for a friend of Kevin's - both Indian so we had the most amazing Indian food at the meal, and we even got up on the dance floor - no mean feat for me! Unfortunately we couldn't stay too late as there had been engineering works on our rail line and we didn't want to have to bus all the way home.

And on Friday we went to see V For Vendetta - another film of an Alan Moore comic book. We both thought it was very good, although I think it has been getting mediocre reviews.

So a weekend told backwards!

Fat man walking

Read about this guy on the BBC website so have been checking out his website. Quite an incredible story - and his journal entries are pretty interesting too. Musings on life and his journey etc. I love the fact that a weightloss company wanted him to promote a weightloss pill! Which bit of his whole trip do they just not understand...?? Anyhow - checkout
The Fat Man Walking

Dublin diary

See below for a diary of our wee trip to Dublin - involving delays, lost bags, great history, great beer, loads of Scottish men in kilts and some food poisoning...

Sunday - Croke Park, Guinness and it all goes downhill...

Sunday we headed off to Croke Park. We've been to a few stadiums on other trips so it seemed appropriate that we continue the tradition. Another great experience as well. It is home to the GAA and there was a really good exhibition in the museum on the history of the Association and its part in Ireland's history. It was at Croke Park that the British went in in retaliation against Michael Collin's killing of several British intelligence agents - part of the 30 killings on Bloody Sunday. Yet again it was another guided tour (the Irish seem to do these really well) and it was just great. Great mix of sport and history.

After that we schlepped miles across town to go to the Guinness Storehouse. Again this was something I had done when I first went to Dublin, but wow was it ever different! Very high tech and glitzy! So we went and had our free pint of Guinness at the amazing circular bar at the top of the storehouse. Stunning views - and the Guinness wasn't too bad either!

Then we went for dinner and it all went downhill... Don't know what it was but something didn't agree with me - had a horrendous night on Sunday. So endeth our Dublin trip (I won't bore you with the details of my health issues!). I felt so flakey on Monday that we didn't do much before heading out to the airport.

Saturday - Gaol, cowboys and a damn fine Thai

Bit of a slow start on Saturday - due to sitting in a smoke free pub you see... A real novelty for us as smokefree pubs haven't been brought in here yet. So we went out for brekkie to what was Bewleys - an Irish institution. It has been renamed Cafe Bar Deli but still does great breakfasts.

After brekkie (well brunch really) we headed off to Kilmainham Gaol. Again I had been here when I first went to Dublin and I was pleased to see this hadn't changed. The power here is that it is still so stark, and you go around with a guide which just gives you a completely different perspective. Still very harrowing - an incredible piece of Ireland's history.

After that we were feeling very tired - its a right schlep down to Kilmainham so we took ourselves off to the cinema and finally watched Brokeback Mountain. Which I just loved. Thought it was superb. Then we went off to a Thai restaurant and had a lovely dinner. So not very Irish but very nice nonetheless.

Friday - Book of Kells, shopping and a happy reunion

We spent most of Friday wandering around the shopping area and working out the lay of the land. First up was finding somewhere we could find some toothbrushes and contact lens stuff for me in case our bags didn't turn up... We rang the helpline for our bags in the morning (based in India ironically) who told us the bags were put on a plane due in Dublin at 10.30 and should be with us by early afternoon so with fingers crossed we headed out to explore... A lot of time was spent on Grafton Street which was full of Scottish men in kilts! It was the 6 Nations Ireland v Scotland game at Lansdowne Park that afternoon - if there were any men left in Scotland I'd be amazed!

Back to the hotel around 2ish, but still no bags. My stress levels were a wee bit high - my cup tends to be half empty rather than half full so I was convinced we'd never see them again - or that they'd turn up on Monday morning. But we couldn't do anything about it so we headed out again...

Went to see The Book of Kells which was something I had done in my visit to Dublin (10 years ago now) and had really enjoyed. When I first went you went through The Long Room which just blew me away (being the librarian that I am), and then down stairs to the room where the Book is displayed. Now there is much more glam exhibition that leads into the Book of Kells, then you end up going through the Long Room. Personally I think the old way worked better but there you go... Regardless, it is still amazing, and The Long Room still blew me away!

Back to the hotel via cake and hot chocolate at Cafe Mimo at Powerscourt Shopping Centre where we were reunited with our bags! Oh the relief! So we went out and celebrated with some Irish beers at The Stag's Head. Kev's tipple was Guinness and I was on Smithwicks - which went down very well!

Thursday (or should that be delay day?)

So we headed off to Heathrow after work - so far so good. Checked in ok, and with loads of time to spare for once. However this didn't stop us having our usual airport squabble... I am getting worse and worse when I travel and just want to get to the gate. Kevin doesn't - he can look in every duty free shop going rather than go to the gate (or so it seems to my tortured soul) and we always ending up having a stressed squabble about getting to the gate, missing the flight etc etc. And this happened again :-).

We did eventually get to the gate where our plane was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. No BMI staff to question, and when the plane finally turned up we took off just short of two hours late. Interestingly I noticed on the flight back to London that if it is over 2 hours late they have to offer compensation...

So we're on the plane. All well and good. Get to Dublin - fine. Go to collect our bags... No bags. Despite the plane being almost two hours late it appears the airline could only get half of the plane's luggage on. So for the third time in my life, I am at my destination with no luggage. I now know to make sure I put my toilet bag in my hand luggage...

So after logging our skimpy details with the airline we head off into town to our hotel - The Leeson Inn. Great taxi driver - highly entertaining which helped take our minds off our lack of bags!

The week that was

Despite thinking that I didn't have a busy week planned I ended up being a busy bee this week - hence no posts till now :-). Quick review below...

Saturday: Kevin went off to watch Villa draw 0-0 with Charlton and I went in to town in the evening to meet him and his friends for a very delish burger at the Eagle Bar & Diner. Bit like eating dinner in a night club but it was a fine burger! Friends of his friends were down from Scotland - all very happy as Scotland had beaten England in the rugby that day.

Wednesday: We went to see The Exonerated which was just superb. We had Stockard Channing, Delroy Lindo and Aidan Quinn in our cast - so I've now seen two stars from The West Wing at the theatre here recently. It was a great production - read more about it on the The Exonerated's site here. It is worth checking out the stories under 'Facts'. It very simply tells the stories of innocent people condemned to death in the USA and how they manage to avoid being murdered. Very very powerful.

Thursday: Went out with friends to celebrate our friend Nicola's new job - she was one of the many made redundant from EY last year so we were all very happy to toast her new job at The Horse Bar. Although I must learn that mixing champagne with beer doesn't work so well the next day...

Friday: Hooray - Kevin the star managed to get us Saturday day tickets for the V Festival. Great lineup and as it sold out in a record 3 hours it was a pretty cool achievement as well! So we will be off to Chelmsford in August!

Saturday: Nothing too exciting yet, but Kev and I went for a lovely walk along the towpath from Surbiton to Richmond. Beautiful day but still very cold. And in a couple of hours we are planning to watch the Hurricanes play the Cheetahs - go the 'Canes!

Strange conversations....

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

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

The return of Jack Frost

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

What I'm listening to...

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

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

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

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

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

Crazy week

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

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

Seeing where you live

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

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

And a bit of UK birdlife...

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

Ring Necked Parakeet
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

American wildlife...

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

Freezing freezing freezing cold

High of -2 today according to the Met Office.

High of 2 in London tomorrow.

High of 2 in London on Saturday.

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

Great escapes, shopping and a movie

We went to the Imperial War Museum yesterday (Saturday) which was cool. Lots of tanks and planes on the ground floor which were heaven for all the boys and men there (and there weren't that many girlies there!), but we spent our time in a special exhibition - Great Escapes. It was really interesting - about POWs escaping from different prisons, but focused mainly on the famous ones - Colditz and Stalag Luft III (the Wooden Horse escape and the tunnel - made famous by the movie The Great Escape). Quite fascinating to read how POWs saw it as their duty to try and escape, and how the Germans expected them to. And also how as they had signed the Geneva Convention they weren't meant to punish them too horrendously (which didn't work for the tunnel escape where 50 of the 76 men who escaped were shot by the SS on the orders of Hitler).

I learnt from Kevin that after the war when his dad was a lawyer down in London one of his clients was Oliver Philpott - one of the three men to escape through the wooden horse! I thought that was pretty cool. And also that New Zealanders were involved in the tunnel attempt - two men escaped through the tunnel but were caught and shot by the SS and a third was captured at the mouth of the tunnel and survived. I think two of them were flying in the RAF. Both websites I've linked to above have good information on the escape attempts, along with the names of the survivors and victims if you're interested...

Then we went and did a bit of shopping and then went to watch Jarhead - just to keep the war theme going. Thought it was very very good. Has been criticised apparently for not focusing too much on the futility of war, but I thought it conveyed that pretty well. And the details about the soldiers lives in Iraq were interesting as well - a Wall of Shame where photos of wives and girlfriends who had cheated on them or dumped them were put up... Definitely a film I'd recommend.