Escape the washing-up weekend!

Christmas seems like a long time ago now and it was only 4 days ago! We had a lovely quiet Christmas just Jase and me. Jase cooked us beautiful 350g fillet steaks fresh from Scotland, I did roast potatoes and parsnips it was delicious! We had a really lazy couple of days watching TV and for me I had fun playing on my new Nintendo DS and listening to my new digital radio!

Yesterday we headed over to the Carlton Mitre Hampton Court Hotel - see my previous entry in November - we arrived mid afternoon to see the Hampton Court ice rink heaving with young skaters. Our hotel room had river views, and was luxuriously large including a complimentary mini bar and decanted spirits, pictured below!

Here is the view from our window at sunset last nightWe had a lovely meal in the restaurant last night, of duck breast in a ginger and red wine sauce. I had a grapefruit and Campari jelly that was delicious.

This morning we went for a walk in Bushey Park hoping to see some deer, we did see some green parakeets who seem to be spreading right across south London now. Jase got some pics of the parakeets so I'll add them later. There were lots of waterfowl on the little lakes. They were rather excitable as there were a lot of children feeding them bread and they were scooting across the water from one flapping bread bag to another.

But before we saw the ducks and swans we were lucky enough to see a large herd of deer. The stag pictured below seemed to be the sentinel keeping an eye on the bikes, dogs and people coming close to his herd. Whilst he watched us warily take pictures two white stags were battling one another clattering their antlers. The picture of the stag below shows him checking our a cyclist who was getting a bit too close for his comfort.
We also saw this funny looking goose - I think it is a goose!
I also liked the look of this tree against the winter morning sky.

We only stayed for about 2 hours in the park as the cold was so bitter my fingers were becoming numb!

Yule

Today is Yule or the winter solstice the shortest day of the year. I have a feeling that the sun stands still as such for a day or so, so the sun will actually rise a minute later tomorrow and set a minute later, but by Wednesday the day will be a minute longer. I'll make sure I use that minute wisely! So the long dark nights will get that little bit shorter, eventually. I like to celebrate Yule before the big festivities of Christmas begin. Today we had a quiet day. I cooked us a nice and very easy curry using the delicious curry sauce company jalfrezi sauce, then had ice cream and a lovely lush bath. Very relaxing.

Team Christmas

Last night was my team Christmas meal - there are only 3 of us in the team although Nat makes 4 but she is on maternity leave right now. Andrew, Carla and I had a cocktail or two first and then went to Carlucio's for a lovely meal.

Andrew and Carla

All of us

At Carlucio's I had the pasta fungi which was delicious and then a pancake with icecream and forest fruits. I bought a huge chocolate chip panatone for Jase and I from Carlucio's deli.

Today is my non working day which I am spending waiting for parcel deliveries whilst Jase tries to fix the leaky bath. This means that we may be without a bath for a day or two - not a nice thought. Whilst Jase works I am on call for the Amazon delivery man. I am quite cross about Christmas deliveries - I ordered an organic Christmas hamper for two of my friends back on the 7th December from Marks and Spencer to be delivered today. I got an email this morning saying that it would not be delivered and they did not know when it would be delivered. I canceled it all and will now have to venture out to get something different.

Dark December

I haven't written much this month so far as I have been quite ill for the last week. I seem to be on the mend although Jase is now poorly.

It has been busy at work as well which hasn't helped. Hopefully work should get better now too.

I was really disappointed that whilst being ill I have missed out on a couple of Christmas get togethers, one with friends from my DRC days and one was the works Christmas party. We did manage to make it to my brother's yesterday to see my nieces and nephew and my parents. We swapped presents and went out for lunch. Unfortunately Jase was unwell - he was actually sick on the tube on the way to Kings Cross. The Exorcist on the Northern line - not fun!

Of course cyber men will be all over London this Christmas and I just discovered the Dr Who Adventure Calendar on the BBC website - click on each day and you get more pics or a video clip.

This Friday was when the moon was closest to the earth and so the brightest it has been for 15 years. It was foggy in London so we didn't get to see it. But on Thursday night when I am guessing the moon was still pretty close and bright I actually woke up because the setting moon was casting a really strong silvery light into our hall way.

Chuckle Brothers

As this BBC news item shows the Chuckle Brothers were honored with a BAFTA for long service to entertainment today. I think a statue of the brothers should be erected pride of place outside the French Gate Centre in Doncaster. The Chuckle brothers are from Mexborough just outside Doncaster. One of my favourite Chuckle Brothers episodes featured them traveling in a space ship to an alien planet which resembled one of South Yorkshire's many quarries. One of the brothers wasn't too pleased to be on an alien planet being only "a lad from Mexborough."

Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat... Jason took the fantastic picture above of our Christmas tree this afternoon. Yes I know it is not even December yet but it is so dark and bleak outside at the moment, having Christmas come early helps cheer us up! We put the tree up this afternoon and there is a picture below of all of the tree. The tree is over dressed as ever, the colour scheme this year being silver, blue and purple. The LED lights are really cool we have them fading in and out slowly, but they do have a setting so they flash on and off like a disco if we fancy a Christmas boogie!
I almost bought a giant musical snow globe from Marks and Spencers but thought better of it in the end, I do have a singing Santa and Rudolph at work which I can bring home on Christmas Eve. Not long to go now!

Manchester

For the first time in over a year I am staying in Manchester. After visiting Manchester regularly for a number of years whilst working for the DRC I have only been back once in the last 15 months. I'm staying at a lovely hotel I'll post details when I get back. We had a gorgeous meal tonight at EastzEast restauran which I was first taken to when travelling around England with a bunch of stand up comedians performing on buses. Yes it was as surreal as it sounds. But I did get introduced to EastzEast on that tour. The food is always delicious and hearty while the service is attentive and charming. All women are given a single red rose on leaving. Cheesey maybe but very, very sweet.

London photos

Jase and I went to a rather freezing London this afternoon to take some photos along the Thames. All the pics below are Jason's. We walked along Queens Walk past City Hall and then along Shad Thames and back before crossing over Tower Bridge pictured below.
Jase got the picture of the stairs below but doesn't like the McD's cup in it but I think it adds something to the picture, like commenting on modern London and it's urban, global corporate litter ;-)
Below are two views of City Hall where I used to work.

By the time the sun was setting it had got too cold for me although Jase was just wearing a t-shirt and jacket and not feeling the cold at all. The German Christmas market was about 10 times busier than yesterday - it was heaving and bad tempered so we escaped to Clapham for tea.

Cologne Christmas Market

This afternoon Andrew, Carla and I went to the Cologne Christmas market on the Southbank. Carla and Andrew are pictured below. The German market promised ginger bread hearts, mulled wine, sausage and all manner of festive goodies to buy. It didn't disappoint - except for the gingerbread which was full of additives and preservatives and vacuum wrapped! I did get the most divine bath melts which are scented with orange and cinnamon, really Christmassy.

The solitary merry go round - which is a permanent fixture of the Southbank was made German by way of organ music and made festive as it was belting out popular carols and Christmas tunes.
There was also a "Slow food" market on the Waterloo side of the Southbank Centre - with lots of tasting opportunities and some lovely meat, cheese and bread on sale not to mention the hog roast and lamb burgers! The slow food thing is back on the weekend of the 19th December!

Weddings, Monkey and more

After a week of fairly prolific blogging (for me) at the beginning of November things have been busy and I have been bad at keeping my blog up to date. Last weekend we attended Nikki and Phil's wedding reception at The Carlton Mitre Hotel opposite Hampton Court. Jase and I loved the hotel so much we have booked to stay the day after Boxing Day! I can't wait. Check out the history of the hotel section of the website linked above - it's great especially the bit about the trench that was dug for all manner of filth to be flung in!

On the Sunday we went to see Monkey Journey to the West at the O2 which was amazing! Although the specially built theatre was a bit cheap and cheerful and the seats were small and tightly packed in. As we were on the front row and I am rather short it was hard to see all of the action on the stage sometimes but if we had sat further back then I would not have seen as much as the gradient of the seating wasn't very steep. So the seats were the best for me. There was some silly mix up with the wheelchair seating which was a shame to see happen but they seemed to sort it all out in the end.

The performance its self was spectacular the acrobatics and martial arts were cool, the music great and the costumes gorgeous. I would have liked to have seen more of Jamie Hewlett's animation which is great.
Otherwise this last week or so we have been playing a lot of golf on the Wii - I had the yips for a while with the old power shots but seem to have regained my technique :-)

Barak Obama

I thought it was important to mark today on my blog Wednesday 5th November 2008 as the day Barak Obama was confirmed the President Elect of the United States of America. Below is a picture I took last week of a rainbow in Cornwall. I thought it symbolizes well the hope so much of the world is feeling today!

Glendurgan Gardens - Tuesday 29th October

On Tuesday last week we went to Glendurgan Gardens a National Trust gardens with beautiful autumn foliage and a maze. Some of the autumn colours are pictured below.

At the bottom of Glendurgan gardens is Glendurgan village which is situated on the Helston River which is pictured below.
Tuesday was my last full day in Cornwall, and in the afternoon we went to Marazion to walk round in the rain. I picked up a book of Cornish ghost stories and folk tales.

Porthleven Monday 27th October

Last Monday the sun arrived in Cornwall and so I rushed out in the morning to capture the blue sea in the picture below.We then traveled to Porthleven to have lunch and walk along the coast. Below is a picture of the harbour wall and buildings and below that the boats in the harbour.

The picture below shows the pub we had our lunch in, I had sea bass which was delicious.

We then walked in the rain to Loe Bar and Loe Water one of the most unusual places I have ever been to a fresh water lake sepparated by a sand dune from the sea, surrounded by trees. Below is an arial shot of the bar and water.

Perranuthnoe Sunday 26th October

Last Sunday we walked to Perranuthnoe to have lunch at a pub called the Victoria Inn their website does not do justice to the pub its self. I had pork with black pudding and apple which was the most delicious pork and black pudding I have ever eaten! Below is a picture of Perranuthnoe as we saw it over the headland from Acton Castle.

In Perranuthnoe there is a craft workshop called the Cowhouse which I enjoyed looking around mainly pottery, jewelry and paintings. There was also a tea rooms and craft shop opposite which sold clothes as well. In this Aladin's Den of a shop an elderly local woman was chatting the the young shop assistant who she had clearly known since the shop assistant was a child. They were chatting about the local woman's pig which had just been slaughtered, it was chops for tea that night. The shop assistant casually commented that it would be the goose for the cop next; in time for Christmas, the older woman agreed with a smack of her lips.

On our return home the field below the castle was full of cows who were rather friendly. I took quite a few pictures of the cows but this was my favourite of them.

Although Sunday had largely been overcast in the evening the sky brightened and lead to a beautiful sunset. Below is a picture of St Michaels Mount just before sunset.

Sunset over the Penzance headland across Mounts Bay.

Arriving in Cornwall Saturday 25th October

A week ago today I was on my way down to Cornwall. We had an event free journey down. We stopped on Dartmoor to have a meal at the pub pictured below.

In the pub garden there were 3 kittens playing. The little black kitten below was speeding about the patio area chasing pebbles. He had a ginger brother who I also snapped hiding in the grass and a tabby who I wasn't able to get a picture of as he kept moving!


We arrived in Cornwall before it got dark and went out exploring straight away. We were staying at Acton Castle which is near to Marizion on the east side of Mounts Bay. Below are two pictures I took as we explored east of the castle, The walk involved stomping through muddy cabbage fields and nettle fields. I got stung rather a lot.
These pictures were taken on our way to Prussia Cove.

When we returned back from the walk we explored the garden of the castle whilst my Mum and I were in the garden we heard voices, coming from another part of the small garden, we assumed it would be some of the other people staying at the castle but when we got to that part of the garden there was no one there. In fact no one else was anywhere near the garden. My Mum and I put it down to the wind carrying the sound of someone quite far away and making it sound as if they were a lot nearer. A few days later I bought a book of Cornish ghost stories that included the tale of a ghostly young sailor who haunts Mounts Bay he is heard calling out around Mounts Bay most usually calling "I will, I will" a pledge to his dead fiance who haunted him in life. Maybe it was the phantom sailor we heard in the garden that night.

cornwall

Tomorrow we, that's my mum, dad and I are heading down to Cornwall. We are going to stay near Mazarion. I am looking forward to a break from London and work. I'll post more soon from Cornwall. I am in Doncaster tonight before we go to Cornwall. Donny seems the same as ever sunny and strangely grim. The local TV is depressing, every other advert on itv is about a Christmas themed out of town shopping outlet.

Royal Parks Half Marathon

This weekend Jason and I supported a friend, Michi who was running a half marathon in Hyde Park raising money for Epilepsy Action It was a beautiful weekend full of hazy autumn sunshine which Jase's picture below captures wonderfully. I had great fun supporting all the runners, I clapped for half an hour solid. One of my favourite runners was the badger pictured below.
As well as the race there were food stalls - some of which were giving away free food and drink! Unfortunately the hog roast stall pictured below was not providing free food and the queue was horrendously long.
After the race we all went to an Austrian restaurant to drink beer and eat sausage - Michi is Austrian and had sacrificed beer during his race training!

Cute white lions

I could have posted today about the "credit crunch" but I am totally fed up of hearing about financial woes. I could have posted about my dreadful week at work but that would just be depressing as would be blogging about Sarah Palin and the US election. (although I recommend checking out Brigitte Bardo's fantastic comments on Sarah Palin here.) So instead of depression and frustration click on this link and watch a really lovely video of rare white lion cubs. Brigitte would approve!

Birmingham

I went to Birmingham on Friday evening as I was speaking at the Deaf Parenting UK conference on Saturday morning. The conference its self was very interesting and definitely worthwhile me attending and speaking at. It did make me wonder if their are any organisations run by visually impaired people about being a parent but from doing a quick google search there don't seem to be any, other than RNIB general stuff and local authority sensory service teams. Yet there seem to be a number of similar issues experienced by deaf parents affecting visually impaired parents too. Issues like lack of accessible services and information and a fear of social services stepping in at any moment.

Birmingham its self was as friendly and welcoming as ever - apart from the taxi drivers who seemed to be very grumpy. Now, Spurs supporting north London cabbies have every right to be grumpy at the moment but everything seemed rosy in Brum apart from the taxi drivers so I am not sure what their problem was the credit crunch maybe? I was driven - by a morose cabbie past the Radisson tower in the photo above. The picture (grabbed off the internet not my handy work) must have been taken on Holloway Circus where the pagoda is situated. Anyway the tower looks pretty cool when you drive past it.

Regents Park

Jason and I went to Regents Park yesterday afternoon after having a tapas lunch at La Tasca on Regents Street. The park was extremely busy - joggers, footie players, skateboaders, families, couples, tourists, cyclists and dogs. It was noisy and crowded but we still found a few places away from too much bustle where we could watch the ducks and a couple of magpies.
Although the scene above looks peaceful the not so distant rumble of shouts, cheers and jeers from the playing field football matches was never far away. The noise didn't seem to bother the ducks and other birds though.
Although the wild roses had turned to hips the formal rose gardens had some late blooming varieties which smelt and looked devine in the late September sunshine.