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 :-).
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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 :-)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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!
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...
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...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, July 23, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
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...
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!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
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...
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...
Monday, June 07, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, June 06, 2010
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!!
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