Stromboli lava eruptions at night

Stromboli lava eruptions at night
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Just to remind people of what I saw!

Stromboli is erupting...

Was quite excited to read this news item on the BBC site today - considering I've been there, climbed it and lived to tell the tale! Stromboli is starting to kick off again!!

Outrageous Fortune!!

How excited am I? Sitting down for my weekly dose of America's Next Top Model (oh yes - I am sad, I love my trash tv...) up pops an ad for Outrageous Fortune! Cue immediate text to Mhairi, who doesn't really know it but shall no doubt have it inflicted upon her as I shall tape it and pass it down the line.

Very excited as I really enjoyed what I saw when back in NZ in November - and as I'm about to lose Sky 1 (no Lost, no Battlestar Galactica, no 24...) I'm thinking OF will be an enjoyable replacement!!

The lady goes to Glasgow....

I've just got back from a great weekend up in Glasgow visiting Lindsey, Ricky, Chloe and Jamie. Jamie spent the whole weekend calling me 'the lady', and then after I left, asked where Megan was!

I flew up on Friday which was majorly stressful as I almost missed my flight - the only other flight I've ever missed was one up to Glasgow so it must be something about that destination! I did leave a wee bit later than I should have but then the security queue was just completely horrendous - I literally did only make the flight cos I pushed to the front of the queue (and it was a long queue), and then ran to the gate. They were calling my name (plus a couple of others) as the final boarding call. It was very very stressful - and most unlike me!

But having got to Glasgow it was great. Saturday was a bit of a slow day (Lindsey and I put the world to rights the night before so it took us a while to get going...), but on Sunday we took the kids to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum which was pretty good. More of an art gallery than a museum, so not that good for the kids, but we saw a great exhibition of the MacIntosh and how Glasgow design was used in the Glasgow tearooms and Chloe enjoyed looking at the animal exhibits and the Egyptian mummys!

Needless to say I got to airport in loads of time for my flight back today!

I've loaded more photos on Flickr as well.

Advertising NZ, 18th century style...

Advertising NZ, 18th century style...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Lindsey, Jamie & Chloe, Museum 2

Lindsey, Jamie & Chloe, Museum 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Chloe and Jamie, Monday morning

Monday morning breakfast & story writing 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Blogger 2

For a while now I've been getting prompted to upgrade my blog to 'Blogger 2', which involved having to have a Google account, so I've been resisting. But it seems I no longer have a choice and the deed has been done (although readers won't notice any difference).

So I now have a Google account which I don't really need, but I have noticed the return of the blogging formatting tools which is good :-). And I have no doubt that Blogger probably can now do loads more interesting things - which it will take me ages to get around to looking at!

Underneath The Lintel

So tonight Kevin and I carried on our tradition of going to see West Wing stars on the stage in the West End and went to see Richard Schiff in Underneath The Lintel.

Fab play - about a librarian who researches a book that is returned 113 years late. I won't say much more about the story for any UK readers who go to see it, but its a very good story. And the library stuff is brilliant! Anyone who has ever worked in a library would enjoy this - after all, haven't we all had that urge to punish that bad borrower...

More snow - lots more this time!

More snow - lots more this time!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

So here are the results of last night's snowfall... definitely more than last time, but amazingly my trip in to work was pretty painless. And I didn't even have to fight for a seat as loads of people had elected to work from home due to the weather!

It was pretty much all gone by the time I got home tho. I'm off up to Glasgow tomorrow so am hoping for enough snow for it to be fun but not enough for me to either get stuck there or here.

A very cool website...

I went to a CILIP seminar last week and they had a very cool display of Carnegie Medal winners, and I was sent the link to a website about it today - very cool! Check it out here.

I've only read 7 of them...

Red alert!!!

Oh no - a "heavy" snowfall of 4 inches is expected tonight/early tomorrow morning so the country will grind to a complete halt. On my home from work Surbiton station had a notice up saying 'Due to heavy snowfalls forecast please check with National Rail before travelling'...

It never fails to amaze me that in this country ANY weather can disrupt the transport system - if it gets too hot the tracks buckle, if it snows the whole system just collapses, in autumn the leaves cause problem (both leaves on the line or even worse - the wrong sort of leaves on the line...).

So the big question is - will I get to work tomorrow??

Barkus or Bacchus (yet to be confirmed...)

Barkus
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The newest member of the family looking exceedingly cute on the deck at home in Taupo.. Soooo cute!!

And more on the animal front...

Nicola and I went to the Imperial War Museum today to see The Animals War, which was a very interesting but very sad exhibition about the use (or misuse to be more correct) of animals in wars across time.

Two things that stood out for me were the stories about the use of cats for bombs. They came up with the idea of attaching bombs to cats, parachuting the cat to ships, landing them in the water by the ships. The idea being that cats hate water so they would do anything to get on to the ships, then the bombs would go off on the ships... Unfortunately the cats became unconscious during the drop so they realised that wouldn't work... To be fair it wasn't just cats that suffered this way, but I (of course) focused on the cats.

Then there was the cat 'The Unsinkable Sam' with the incredible luck. It was on the Bismarck when it was bombed, was picked up and then was put on the HMS Cossack, which was then sunk, was picked up again and ended up on the HMS Ark Royal, which was then bombed and sunk again... and was picked up again, and lived out its life on dry land!

And how could I forget...

On Sunday as Maya and I were wandering back towards Southbank we walked past The Clink museum and on a whim decided to go in... Funnily enough the website is under construction - perhaps they should focus on the museum itself rather than the website!

Fortunately it was only £5 as it certainly wasn't worth more than that! It was a very strange museum - lots of very detailed historical stuff to read, a few rather tatty displays and that was it!

Although we did learn that in York it is still legal to kill a Scottish person with a bow and arrow as long as it isn't on a Sunday between 11-4. (Or something like that anyhow!)

'Pan'-tastic...

OK - sorry. I couldn't resist that cheesy tabloid heading!

I went to see Pan's Labyrinth today and it was fantastic. I just loved it. Some very disturbing scenes, but the imagery was wonderful. Its up for an Oscar for best foreign language film, and I hope it gets it. I really enjoyed it.

Too much torture in my life tho - quite a lot in the first 2 episodes of 24 and a bit some in this film as well. I'll be quite happy to not see any for a while.

Saturday shopping

Had a lovely time with Maya on Saturday afternoon wandering around Borough Market. It felt a bit like going to work as Borough Market is just by my office but once we got there it was fine! We started off with a sumptious falafel and then just ambled around tasting and buying. Maya was more spendier than me - I succumbed to a pot of jam and a chocolate brownie, but she went for tea, chutney and jam, and a re-stocking of wasabi peanuts... The peanuts may sound odd, but trust me they are pretty delish!

Spent Saturday night watching Sideways, a great film about drinking wine (amongst other things). I felt like I was drinking the wine as I watched it!

PS: Normal service has almost been resumed - I'm now using Firefox as my internet browser which allows me to do the links the normal way!

View of snowy road from bedroom 24 Jan 2007

View of snowy road from bedroom 24 Jan 2007 (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And the view over the road from my bedroom window!

Snowy back lawn 24 Jan 2007

Snowy back lawn 24 Jan 2007 (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Wow - woke up to this view from my lounge this morning - fantastic!! Until I got to the trains and cos there was 1 inch of snow the trains weren't working... Sigh!

Lovely weekend afternoons

Saturday was spent catching up with my friend Kristie, who has just moved back to the UK from the USA. So we had a lovely time wandering around Greenwich Market (a particular fave of mine), then I walked back to Lewisham with her to check out her lovely new pad. Via a pub called The Union which is a microbrewery - had a very lovely ale there (the benefits of not being on the wagon anymore...). Check out the review here...

Sunday Julia and I went to see the movie 'The Queen' which was great. All about how the Queen dealt with the aftermath of the death of Diana. Really odd to watch the scenes and be able to remember it all happening. As Julia said when we came out we felt like we had been in a time warp and we were now back in 1996. I think Helen Mirren is expected to get an Oscar nomination for it, and she was superb. You really felt like you were watching the Queen. One thing I thought was particularly interesting was the scene where the royals are first got up following the accident, and they are told that Diana had a broken arm and concussion. I remember one of my flatmates saying that he had got in about 3am and that was the story on the radio. He couldn't believe it when he woke up and heard she was dead.

And now I'm just starting to watch Day 6 of '24'. Jack Bauer is back and I'm facing another 6 months of tv watching...

Drowning in tissues...

Woe is me. I've spent the last week fighting and then succumbing to the cold that is doing the rounds over here at the moment. Two days off work, then back in on Wednesday as I was going stir crazy in my flat, but I still feel like it is loitering around the edges at the mo. What is the point of not drinking if you end up getting ill anyhow??

So for lots of different reasons I've fallen off the wagon :-). But am not beating myself up about it too much - I'm happy enough with what I've achieved...

Before falling ill I did go to the exhibition at the National Gallery - 'Manet to Picasso' which was great. The only Picasso painting was one that looked really familiar to me - then as I was going up the stairs back at my flat I realised there was a print of it hanging in the hallway!

Check out the National Gallery blurb here.

Underground, overground, wombling free...

I got a fantastic CD from Tracey the other day - a real throw back to our childhood. "The Best Wombles Album So Far" - with so many songs that I remembered from the records we used to have. Absolutely fantastic!!

Which made me wonder how many internet sites there were dedicated to Wombles... And there are quite a few!! If I could link to them I would but I'm unable to from home... So for those of you who are interested...

http://www.wombles.easyweb-solutions.co.uk/
http://www.scuzz.com/wombles/

Or you could get distracted by the anarchist website of
http://www.wombles.org.uk/

Fantastic photos

I went to see the Wildlife Photographer of Year exhibition today at the Natural History Museum which was fanastic. Its been going for about 20 years now, and the photos were just outstanding. I wasn't that keen on the one that was the overall winner, but some of them were incredible.

The last time I went to this exhibition it was still staged with photos on the wall - in the new digital age it was digital photos displayed rather than actual prints - how the times have changed!

Use this link to check out the site and the online gallery. The current winner of the Visitor's Vote was also one of my faves - King Penguins slapping each other - fantastic!! (I don't seem to be able to do the old links in my blogs like I used to - I think it is something to do with the browser that Macs use, so until I work something out it will be back to these unattractive links sadly.)

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/index.jsp

Me on the ice

Me on the ice
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me nervously gliding in to where Kevin was minding the bags on the safe side of the rail!!

Somerset House before we hit the ice

Somerset House before we hit the ice
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The ice had a sheen of water on it - I think cos the weather has been so mild. So it was a bit of a scary skate!

Ice Skating at Somerset House

I went ice skating again this evening - this time at Somerset House. Kevin was the bag boy while me, Sue and Andrew had a turn on the ice. I didn't enjoy it as much as I had at Hampton Court Palace - the ice was a lot wetter tonight (almost a puddle of water over the ice) which seemed to make it much more slippy - if that makes sense! Plus I think my confidence was a wee bit dented from falling over at HCP so I was a lot more cautious. But Kevin took some great pictures which I'll post shortly.

But that is definitely me done for the ice for this year!!

Day 4 of January - the sober month...

So here I am on a Friday night - day 4 of my sober January (I didn't start until Jan 2nd in case you were wondering...).

I have now been to two things where I have had to make the conscious decision not to drink. Ricky Gervais last night and ice skating/meal tonight. I found it really hard last night - it was a Thursday evening, it was comedy and he was over by 9pm - plenty of time for a drink on the way home! Tonight was a bit easier, but it was still odd to sit round a table and be the only one not drinking!

It has got me thinking about how much of drinking is just habit tho, and how much is because I actually want one. This isn't a New Years Resolution as such - I just want to see if I can be disciplined enough to not drink for a month. It helps that Julia is also doing it - I don't want to have to go and tell her that I've had a drink!

But Feb 2nd does seem a long way away - in some ways I think the idea of not being able to have a drink is worse than actually not having one. It kills me knowing I 'can't' have a drink, even if I don't really feel like one.

I doubt this will be the last post on the subject!

Ricky Gervais - funny man

In the nick of time Kevin remembered that he had booked tickets to go and see Ricky Gervais last night at the Bloomsbury Theatre. So although feeling very tired we both toddled off to see him.

It was a great show - he was doing a 3 nights of a benefit show to try out new material before he starts his next nationwide tour. You can't get much better than second row from the front, right in the centre! Luckily he isn't really into heckling the audience so we felt relatively safe sat there!

I would try and describe how funny he was but it never comes across well - suffice to say that he looks and sounds just like he did in 'The Office' and 'Extras'.!!

Tui In The Flax

Tui In The Flax
Originally uploaded by m0rehu.

Stolen this from Maurie's blog - this is such a fantastic photo!

Films - both good and bad...

A good recommendation - Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie. Absolutely fantastic - Daniel Craig has the most incredible eyes! And the action isn't all that bad either!

A bad recommendation - The Holiday. Even in terms of chick flicks this one was pretty dire... Jack Black almost rescued it but it was still bad... I'm not even sure I'd recommend that one as a DVD rental!!

Many new toys...

So in between walking, ice skating and trying to avoid thinking about going back to walk I bought myself some new toys... top of my fave list is my new Mac Book.

Bought on the glowing recommendations of Mhairi this new toy is absolutely fantastic! My broadband now works like proper broadband and the letter 'e' also works - my life has been transformed. And that is even before I've explored all of the other cool whizzy things it can do... Prepare to be amazed in the future - once I've worked out what to do!!

Foggy morning from my lounge, December 2006

Foggy morning from my lounge, December 2006
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Taken from my lounge window on one of the many foggy mornings before Christmas.

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2007 to everyone :-). Right now I am typing this on my super new cool MacBook, but more of that in another post! I have had a lovely evening eating a delish Indian dinner cooked by Julia. Had a loud train trip back full of 'young' people - I felt very old!!

So lets all have a good 2007 - onwards and upwards!!

January 2007 is a non-drinking month for me and Julia so watch out for my posts monitoring my progress...

Squeezing in one last walk...

Julia and I headed off for one last walk of the year on Saturday. We were walking in Surrey which is never quite as good as walking in other parts of the country. You never really get the feeling that you are away from it all, but it still wasn't bad. 9.6miles from Holmwood to Gomshall.

The first half was fairly disappointing - too many people walking their dogs! But we had a fine lunch at the Stephan Langton Pub and then enjoyed a much better second half of the walk. Although as we left the pub the rain started and it didn't stop until we got to the train to go home... But with all our wet weather gear it was fine - just peeled it all off at the end and we were bone dry!!

In the Surrey woods - before the rain!

In the Surrey woods - before the rain!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Not quite a wood elf...

Surrey Lane - before the rain!

Surrey Lane - before the rain!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Julia checking our route on our walk, Holmwood to Gomshall.

Boxing Day Skating

So on Boxing Day Maya and I headed off to Hampton Court Palace to go ice-skating while Kevin headed off to Tottenham to watch Aston Villa lose 2-1...

The skating was fab - and I almost lasted the hour without falling over. Until I was taken out by one of the ice marshalls!! So after landing on me rear end somewhat ungracefully I decided to retire from the ice and take some photos instead.

After the ice skating we thought we should round off the day with a trip on the Merry Go Round as well... You're never too old for a Merry Go Round!

Hampton Court Palace and lights... (2)

Hampton Court Palace and lights... (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

See the pretty lighting... This kept changing colour all through the skating...

Maya skating (in hat) (2)

Maya skating (in hat) (2)
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Boxing Day skating at Hampton Court Palace...

Kevin and Maya with the fruits of Kevin's labours...

Kevin and Maya with the fruits of Kevin's labours...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And us about to enjoy the meal :-)

Kevin hard at work in the kitchen, Christmas morning

Kevin hard at work in the kitchen, Christmas morning
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Kevin putting the final touches to the bird in the kitchen...

Christmas tree with stockings!

Christmas tree with stockings!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The Christmas tree before the big passing around of our stockings and pressies! They always look so much better with presents under them!

Christmas Day...

We had a lovely Christmas day, courtesy of Kevin and his hospitality! The day was spent lounging around opening our stockings and then our presents (none of us are particularly good at being patient and waiting for things!), then just eating loads of the lovely food that Kevin had cooked. Top TV included the Dr Who Xmas special (fab!), and Hogswatch, a TV adaptation of a Terry Pratchett book which was really good. So a lovely, lazy food filled day! Check out Flickr for some snaps from the day...

Losing popularity...

My name is dropping down the popularity list it would seem... I was the 17th most popular girls name for 2006, but in 2005 was 12th, 10th in 2004, and 6th in 2002 and 2003.

Obviously Mum and Dad were way ahead of the trend when they named me :-).

Check out the list here.

Foggy London view

Foggy London view
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

London in the fog - I didn't take this! It came from the BBC website. I do have a foggy garden view which I'll upload over the weekend.

Me and my workmates at the CIG Xmas Party

Me and my workmates at the CIG Xmas Party
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This was taken at the annual CIG Xmas Party on 27th September - my extended crew of workmates.

Pretty sparkly things

Me, Julia and Maya went off to see pretty sparkly things today at the Tiffany exhibition at Somerset House today - read about it here. It was fab -very girly so we all had a good time although it wasn't as sparkly and pretty as the diamond exhibition Julia and I went te earlier this year. Then we went for pizza and had long conversations about what we could buy various people for Xmas - nothing like last minute shopping and panic to get those creative shopping ideas going! So that is my day tomorrow...

Just because I haven't mentioned it for a while here is an update. It has been so mild!! It is very weird. I was expecting it to get really cold once I got back from NZ but that just hasn't happened. We were about 8 today which is the coldest it has been for ages - but for this time of year isn't very cold at all. We were laughing at Maya who was saying how cold it was - she has no idea what is coming...!! Assuming it does eventually get cold!

Clever clogs

Today seems to be the day that my family tell me how clever they are! My niece Lucy texted me this morning to say that she got Dux at her school prize giving and then my sister Tracey told me that she got an A- for the Uni course she'd done! I don't have a great mark to talk about but I thought it was worth mentioning how we'll they'd done!

NZ photos - finally uploaded!

So check out Flickr as I've finally uploaded all my NZ photos... Many thanks to Kevin for letting me use his much faster PC and much speedier broadband connection :-).

Amberley to Arundel - 9 miles and much mud...

So on Saturday the intrepid four of me, Kevin, Owen and Julia headed off for a long-planned December walk. Sadly it had been wet all week so we were a tad concerned about the mud, and we did spend about 3 miles walking through gloopy sticky mud, but it was a lovely walk - and it was a gorgeous day. Beautifully sunny - perfect for walking.

We walked from Amberley to Arundel via the beautiful village of Burpham where we had a lovely lunch at The George & Dragon pub. We got there around 11.30 and they didn't start lunch until 12 so we just had to sit there and have a wee drink while we waited for the kitchen to open. If only I hadn't felt seedy from the night before... But it was fab food - 3 of us opted for the Turkey xmas dinner which was delish.

The stretch after lunch was hard work as it was walking along the levee next to the River Arun, which had been well churned up by the cows. Luckily none of us slipped!

English reflections

English reflections
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Waterlogged views...

Waterlogged views...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Kevin, me and Owen - post restorative lunch

Kevin, me and Owen - post restorative lunch
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

More Xmas-sy week...

I really know Xmas is coming when the carol singers appear at Surbiton Station... and this week we've had 3 lots :-).

Tuesday night was the Factiva party - one of our suppliers at work throws a great Xmas party. Lots of free cocktails!! But I was relatively sensible and was still up and ready for work the next day!

The Abraham's hit the web

It never rains but it pours...

Check out Sam (nephew) and Maurie's (bro-in-law) blogs from the links on the right...

Of course I was there first... :-)

NZ's Next Top Model??

Me - sitting
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I don't think so!! I had to have some photos taken for work last week by a professional photographer and I absolutely hated it! I could never be a model and heaven knows what I'd be like if I got married and had to have loads of photos taken!!

Anyhow these are the two I liked the best - neither of which are any good for work!

Me - laughing in a very embarrassed fashion...

Me - laughing
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I just couldn't deal with this and just kept laughing and wishing I was anywhere else!

Eryn winning first prize for his mo...

Eryn Shields Mo - 1st Winner
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Just to keep that whole 'I'm the best of the bro's' thing going, here he is with his first prize for 'that' mo!

Christmas is coming... and I couldn't wait

So last night in Waitrose I saw that they were selling little one size portion Xmas puddings - and they've got their special Waitrose Cointreau cream in the shops as well. So seeing as how I've been to my first Xmas party this week and have another one on Friday I just had to treat myself on the way home from work.

So now I've had my first Xmas pudding of the season as well!

eryn with mo

eryn with mo
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

eryn has been doing mo-vember and this is the proud result! I can't believe this picture... !!!

Jet-lagged life...

Coming to the end of my first week back at work - and boy what a week it has been. For the first time ever I've been suffering from quite bad jet lag. And it hasn't been much fun.

I landed back around 3pm on Sunday and lasted until around 8pm. Slept until 3am, woke up but managed to get back to sleep until about 6am. Monday I lasted until 10pm and again woke up about 3 times during the night. Tuesday I got about 3.5 hours sleep and had a particularly rubbish day at work on Wednesday! Last night I managed to sleep right through until 6.15am which was particularly exciting!! But I must admit I'm looking forward to the weekend!!

Killing time in Singapore

Right now I am stood at one of the free internet terminals at Gate F60, Terminal 2 of Changi Airport waiting to board my plane for the final (long) leg back to the UK.

Flight from Auckland to here was ok, but was longer than I was expecting. It is only 8 hours from Singapore to Auckland but the other way round is just over 10 hours. And I think the upcoming leg is also longer as well :-(.

I had a great time in NZ for the rest of my trip, and once I get back to London I'll upload my photos on to Flickr as well. Some of the highlights were:

• Spending lots of money on Icebreaker gear for walking (despite my family giving me grief as it is now made in China out of NZ materials - but I don't care cos it is very cool and very good for walking!).
• Going to the Great Britain/NZ rugby league test at the Cake Tin. And despite being pleased that NZ won I did find myself cheering for Great Britain quite a bit - after 10 years it is hard not to!
• Spending time with Anita and her two gorgeous wee boys.
• Experiencing the full range of weather in Wellington from gale force northerlies, to gusting southerlies and driving rain with sunny fine days in between!
• Catching up with my Uncle Harry and assorted whanau in Upper Hutt. Was fab to see him again.
• Chilling out in Taupo doing absolutely nothing - what a holiday is meant to be :-)
• Driving around Lake Taupo with Tracey - the first time ever for both of us, and some of the views from the western side of the lake were just stunning.

What I'm not happy about is not catching up with some of my friends - you know who you are and I feel crap about it. But the 3 weeks felt like a marathon sprint around the country and when I wasn't doing anything I tended to collapse in a heap and savour the brief time I had to myself. I will of course be writing grovelly letters (yes real letters!) as penance shortly...

These internet sessions are limited to 15 mins and I'm down to less than 5 and there are people waiting so I think I'll give someone else a go. I'm so not looking forward to this flight...

When in Wellington...

One does the Wellington things. Namely...

• Drink delicious latte coffee (from Midnight Espresso)
• Buy cool clothes from funky clothes shops on Cuba Street
• Have a delish lunch at the Lido (corn fritters - yum!)
• Have a lovely hot chocolate complete with marshmallows from Clarks, the cafe at the Wellington Public Library
• Wander around Civic Square, marvelling again at how cool it is (even tho the scenic picture is ruined by marquees in place for something)

Optional Extras

• Bump into old flatmate on Cuba Street, last seen about 7 years ago in a pub in London...
• Salivate over all the outdoor clothing shops to explore... (well ok, that is probably just me...)
• Make appointment to get hair cut at old fave salon, Grace
• Get worried in internet cafe when random links to soft porn sites appear on blog. Thankfully later realise that it was a virus the PC had, not someone hacking into my literary creations (as I'm in a different cafe and it seems to be ok...)

Blogging from the Southern Hemisphere

Yep - still here, and got to NZ safely. This is just the first chance I've had to update my blog! So read on below for highlights of my first week back in Aotearoa...

Me with touristy view of Auckland in background...

Me with touristy view of Auckland in background...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This was taken at Ladies Bay - not an area I knew when I lived in Auckland but Eryn and I were scoping out his next half marathon. Needless to say the houses were very posh up here!!

Animals, athletes and fireworks...

Continuing on my world tour of NZ, I headed down to Whakatane (closest airport to Opotiki) to spend time with Leigh and the Abraham whanau. But prior to that we had some time to kill so Eryn, Alex and I went to the Auckland Zoo. Which was pretty good - I saw some very active Kiwis and some tuatara and on the whole it looked alright. The saddest bit was the Meerkats who were really obviously trying to get out of their (rather tatty) pen. That made me feel a bit yuk.

Then it was down to Opotiki where I arrived in time for the prize giving for the mountain bike race that Leigh and Maurie had just completed. 45kms for Leigh, more for Maurie (but I'm not sure what) and as everyone got a spot prize everyone seemed to come away happy!

Bar-b-q and fireworks in the evening - some quite spectacular ones, but I'm sure they lasted longer when I was a kid!! Highlight was possibly Lucy and I lighting incense sticks and wondering why they weren't sparkling...

The lesser spotted Alex-osaurus snapped at the Auckland Zoo

The lesser spotted Alex-osaurus snapped at the Auckland Zoo
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Beautiful fab Piha

While Eryn and Jacqui were at work and Alex was at school I took myself off for a walk along the beach at Piha. I love having family who live out there - there is nothing more grounding or anything that makes you feel more than a million miles away from London than walking on the beach. It is one of my fave places in NZ (next to Taupo and the beach at Tirohanga by Leigh's place) and I spent a great couple of hours down there.

Also managing to get my face sunburnt as my moisturiser didn't have sunscreen in it... Alex spent the next couple of days saying to me 'Boy your nose is red Megan...'

In the evening we went out for dinner to celebrate Eryn's actual birthday to Yaruki, a lovely Japanese restaurant in Henderson with friends of Eryn's - Paula and Graeme. I first met Graeme in 1998 which made me feel very old!

Eryn's 40th dinner - Yaruki Restaurant

Eryn's 40th dinner - Yaruki Restaurant
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Piha - looking towards North Piha, water reflections

Piha - looking towards North Piha, water reflections
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Suprise!!

I travelled up to Auckland on 3rd November and met up with Jacqui at her work in the evening. We got back to Eryn's place around 10pm-ish and as I waited outside the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth. His face was priceless as he opened the door, expecting Jacqui to be there. He just stood and stared at me and the first thing that came out of his mouth was 'Who are you'. Watching him try to compute that I was standing in front of him made the effort of keeping it a suprise worth it - absolutely fantastic!!

Taupo - the first time round

Had a good couple of days chilling out with my Mum and my sister in Taupo. The jetlag wasn't really in evidence although I did start to get very tired around 8.30 every evening - even fell asleep in front of the tele one night! Spent my time catching up, and walking the dog Honey with Tracey in the afternoons - too lazy to get up for the morning walks!

The long haul...

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

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

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

Correction!!

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

Belated congrats to my almost 40 year old brother!

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

Goodnight Kiwi

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

Raconteurs

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

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

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

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

Sam at 17

Sam at 17
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

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

Still more to see!

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

Meet & Greet at Rodin

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

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

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

The Kiss sand sculpture

The Kiss sand sculpture
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

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

Funny night out with Sean Hughes

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

A Voyage Round My Father and Embrace

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

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

My joy has been shortlived...

Still having internet problems here at home so I haven't been able to update my blog with my amazing walking in Wales stories and photos! But I'll bring my work PC home this weekend regardless so by Sunday at the latest I'll have something updated here!

I love my boots!!

I thought of that heading for my intro blog about my weekend walking in Wales as I was negotiating the descent of Snowdon, picking my way down a steep slope over slippery scree and loose slate (in between avoiding the odd rock fall set off by a climber somewhere above us as well). My boots got me safely across Crib Goch, over the Traverse, round the Pinnacles, down Snowdon, back up two more peaks and finally back down to the car park. I love my boots! But read on – in date order so start further down…

And although I've included some photos in these entries there are lots more on Flikr - nicely sorted into sets! So do check them out as well!!

Lledr Valley

Woke up on Sunday to thunderstorms in the early morning and lots of rain. But by the time we’d had brekkie and did a bit more shopping in the outdoor shops it had stopped raining.

So we went off for an easier 8 mile walk (as opposed to a 7 mile climb!) which was just lovely. Missed one turning so we ended up doing a slightly shorter walk, but it was great. Wonderful views over towards Snowdon and then finishing through the most amazing forest. It was really damp (Wales being known for its wet weather...) and everything was covered with this incredible green moss. And again we were by ourselves and it was just beautiful. A fab walk to finish the weekend on.

Lledr Valley - Snowdon view and walkers

Lledr Valley - Snowdon view and walkers
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Craig and Julia in the distance, with the Snowdon Horseshoe visible even further in the distance!

Safe & Sound with beer

SH-Safe & Sound with beer 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Here we are back in the hotel with our pints of beer. Very tired but happy to be de-briefing!

The Snowdon Horseshoe

Where to start with this one? Even now I can’t quite believe that we did this – I think my mind has blocked it out somewhat! The guidebook described it thus – “A difficult but rewarding walk involving some scrambling. A head for heights is absolutely essential, particularly on the ascent of Crib Goch and the traverse of the Pinnacles. A slip on these sections could be fatal”. Another description from the internet says "The Snowdon Horseshoe is one of, if not the best ridge walk in Wales. Although there is not so much height gain as in some of the routes described, the terrain is highly interesting. The route should not be attempted by anyone with a fear of heights, since includes the knife-edge of Crib Goch, and for the same reason it should be avoided in high winds, and also in winter unless you are properly equipped and experienced. There is also a walk down a steep scree slope on the South East side of Snowdon." (From this site).

Although I had read that before we left, I didn’t really research the route much, and if I had there is no way I would have got up there. And while it was amazing, and we are all thrilled we did it, it was definitely a once-er. Never again!!

The track started off at Pen-y-Pass and pretty much leapt straight into going uphill. It was pretty busy as we were on the Pig Track, which is one of the other (easier and safer!) routes up Snowdon. Eventually after much huffing and puffing we got to the part where the track split and we had to make a decision. I looked up at Crib Goch and made it very clear to Julia and Craig that I wasn’t happy about it – it looked too much for me. However we made the decision to keep going until we got closer so we could make a more informed decision. Quite why it didn’t really occur to me that we might not be able to come back down again is one of life’s mysteries…

And then it was pretty much full on climbing. I can only direct you to look at the photos – it is so hard to describe. It was a tough climb up to Crib Goch – but there were kids doing it, people with dogs… but at that point I still wasn’t too unhappy. I stupidly thought when we got to the top of Crib Goch that that was the worst of it over. Oh no! There was still the Traverse to the Pinnacles to come. And that was what I really hated.

while we were crossing the Traverse I remember at one point asking Craig how long this section was and he said about 20-30 minutes, then asked me if I was ok. VERY TERSELY I replied that I was ok, but that I wasn’t enjoying it. Guidebook: “Ahead the ridge is knife-edged, and best negotiated on its left side away from the near-vertical drop into Cwm Uchaf’. I didn’t look up or down, but concentrated solely on where my next hand and foot was going – occasionally a very unpleasant thought would cross my mind about falling but I would immediately banish it and carry on. I was walking like a crab – bent frontwards over the ridge. Then that bit was over, and I thought that was the worst of it – but no! Then we had to get round (some went over but not us) the Pinnacles – even worse than the Traverse I thought – it seemed more difficult and I had dared to hope it was over… The climbing around the Pinnacles was even trickier than the Traverse, and it seemed a lot scarier - the drops were more 'straight down' than the Traverse had been. But even so there were mountain goat people who went over the top of them...

Having got past those bits we stopped for lunch on the summit of Crib-y-ddisgl and while we were there we saw a rescue helicopter flying around the Traverse. We decided it must be on a training exercise but found out when we got back to London that a guy had fallen about 500-600 feet from the Traverse (where we had just been) but had survived. Admittedly with critical injuries but he was ok. You cannot believe how relieved I was I didn’t know that at the time. As at 25th September he was stable.

Then it was on up to the summit of Snowdon which was a bit of a let down to be honest. It was so busy it was like being on Oxford Street so we didn’t linger long. Then it was down the other side (amidst much cursing from me, as yet again I had thought the worst was over, but no this was really difficult as well due to the loose scree) and on with the walk. We headed down over Bwlch y Saethau, the Pass of Arrows where legend has it King Arthur fought his final battle.

About this time I looked ahead and saw the two peaks in the distance and realized that my climbing was not yet done. My language was less than polite at this point! My legs were soooo tired and the thought of having to do more climbing was just soul destroying. But the thought was worse than the reality and getting up the twin peaks of Y Lliwedd wasn’t too difficult. Tiring, but not anything like Crib Goch. And on the highest peak we sat down for a while which was just fantastic and made the whole walk worthwhile. We were the only ones up there and we had the most amazing view around the horseshoe we had just walked, looking over to Crib Goch. Just brilliant.

Then it was just a painful descent down (legs were aching and sore by then) to get back to the car park, back to the hotel for a well earnt pint of beer and a bath!!

7 miles in 7 hours – it was a hell of a day!!

(As well as my photos on Flickr check out these ones as well - they are pretty amazing and bring it back to me a lot more!)

Crib Goch - the traverse to the Pinnacles

SH-Crib Goch - traverse
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Once we reached the summit of Crib Goch this was the next hurdle... This was the bit I did like a crab - the drop on the right was sheer (you can see it in some other photos) so we crabbed along the left hand side of the ridge. Snowdon's summit is in the background.

Craig & Julia climbing up to Crib Goch

SH-C&J - ascending
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

And no, this isn't taken at an odd angle - this really was the type of climbing we were doing. I had to take a photo to prove it, as no words can really describe it!

Last Known Photo...

SH-Last Known Photo...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Following on from our Mt Brandon climb in Dingle, we now take our 'last known photo' before setting off...

Cwm Idwal

This was our short walk for Friday afternoon – only 3 miles and meant to be flat, but we ended up detouring and climbing over the bottom part of the Devil’s Kitchen so it was a bit more energetic than we thought. Beautiful views tho, and we saw the first of the crazy climbers miles up a very scary looking cliff. Not my idea of a good time at all.

There is a great story about a how the Cwm got its name, involving evil stupid cousin killing handsome talented cousin, and the guidebook mentioned how locals say no birds ever fly across the lake, and on misty days you can hear a despairing groaning from it – but it was fine when we were there so no groans were heard! There are more photos of this walk on my Flikr account as well.

Cwm Idwal

Cwm Idwal 2
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

View from about halfway up Devil's Kitchen

London to Betws-y-Coed

Crack of dawn start for us – Julia and I had to meet Craig at Waterloo at 6.30am which meant a 5.57 train for me… :-( Not our idea of a good time at all. But we got to Betws-y-coed just after 11am which made the early start worth it.

We spent the entire weekend pronouncing it Betsy Co-ed which of course isn’t how it is pronounced at all – but it was one of the easier ways to say it! We were staying at the Craig-y-Dderwen hotel which was beautifully situated on a river. Lovely views (as seen in the photos). Betws-y-Coed was a beautiful town as well – not a lot to it – loads of B&Bs, hotels and outdoor shops, but the setting was lovely. And we were all very happy – so many outdoor shops to go in!! So we just had to buy some more equipment… new walking backpacks for Julia and I (and boy were we pleased the next day!), new tops for me and Julia and camping gear for Craig.

Hotel view

Hotel view
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

View from the patio at the hotel - the weather was nice enough that we were able to sit out and enjoy this a couple of time!

A red letter day for the LG girlies...

The same day that the internet was 'healed' Maya found out she had got a job at the White Horse pub, just off Carnaby St. Great area to work in! She will be able to be found pulling pints at the pub which looks like this and this.

So it was a very Carnaby St filled few days as Carnaby St had featured so heavily in the Sixties Fashion exhibition as well!

Lenny - still lovely!

Lenny - still lovely!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Still here...

I haven't fallen off the other end of the planet.... but I now have broadband internet access at home after many weeks of a non-functioning laptop I feel like I have access to the world again! So in the last few weeks I have been to Leith Hill with Kevin - climbed the tower and was amazed to see that we could see Canary Wharf from the top! Been to see Adrift (ok - not great) and this weekend I'm off up to Snowdonia to go walking with Craig and Julia. Not 100% sure where exactly where are going yet, but will update this soon with more detail!

On Saturday Maya and I went to see the Sixties Fashion exhibition at the V&A which was really good. I really liked the paper dresses! Not terribly practical but rather cool I thought...