Happy New Year 2007!

Because of travel and school and stuff, we rarely get to travel anymore. But we made a special effort and went to Copenhagen for their New Year's Celebrations.

Check our photo website

Now it seems the Danish have a special love of fireworks. And going to the city hall square in Copenhagen with a truck load of them seems to be the thing to do. An exploding Acme Fireworks Factory has nothing on these Danish pyromaniacs.

It was like a war zone. Rockets over head, sparklers underfoot, and explosions all around. It seemed that the rockets weren't so much as going up as across. And into the crowd. Bridie and I did the only sensible thing; we hid behind a crowd of other people.

Let them be the shrapnel catchers. A technique I picked up in 'Nam.

Here's an example of the madness I nabbed off YouTube:

James Brown is dead

The world has lost the Godfather of Soul.

I used to do the Reverend Cleophus part in the Melbourne Blues Brothers group. It was my favourite part, it had the best outfit, and ... it was James Brown. I kinda miss it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjaIO2oXwg0

Slowly all the people from Blues Brothers are dying.

And now, in dubious taste...
Music video of L.A. Style - James Brown Is Dead [1991]

fuzzy mohair catsuit

I've been sweeping our blog logs (which is not a type of ice cream).

Remember that post we had about the Fuzzy Mohair Catsuit? We keep coming up in the google searches, and people are landing on this blog as a result. Sure it's cold here, but we can't help you.

Get the goods here:
http://www.mohairknitter.com/Home.htm
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Mohairknitter

Tell Isobel that Bridie and Steve sent you.

The Royal Podcast

So we've come to the time of year where the Queen sends out a message to her faithful subjects

The latest 'episode' of the Royal Podcast will be the Christmas Broacast (The Queen's speech), which will be available from 1500 GMT on Christmas Day 2006.

To sign up for the Royal podcast, simply click on the icon below if you are using iTunes. Alternatively, please copy and paste the link below into your podcast software. Once you have subscribed, the latest podcast will automatically be made available to you from your podcast software, and can be downloaded onto your mp3 player if you wish.

The Christmas Broadcast 2006 was produced by Independent Television News. The audio file used for podcasting has kindly been supplied by the BBC.

You can subscribe by adding this to itunes or whatever podcast software you use.
http://clients.westminster-digital.co.uk/royal/podcast

Looking back over the year

2006 has been a busy year for us and we've not been very good about keeping everyone up to date – Steve has started his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a new job; Bridie has been working hard in her job with new responsibilities.

In between we have included some traveling. For our 5th wedding anniversary, we hightailed it to Las Vegas and renewed our wedding vows with Elvis officiating at the Chapel of Love. We also took a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam – it was truly amazing to see how big the Canyon really is.

In May we celebrated a belated birthday for Bridie in Florence. She has truly fallen in love with the place. We saw Michealangelo’s David – and it is as amazing as everyone says; we also saw Boticelli’s Venus De Milo and many other great artworks. We even managed to hop a train and have dinner in Pisa where we walked around the Leaning Tower.

We caught up with our friend Helen and spent Bastille Day weekend in Paris where we saw more military might parading down the Champes Elysees than we thought France had.

In August we spent nearly the entire month travelling, starting off with a week driving around bonny Scotland. It might have been wet, but it was absolutely beautiful. We think we will go back, one week wasn’t enough.

We also went to Germany to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Steve’s Aunt and Uncle and who should we meet there but his Mum and Dad who had flown over for the special occasion.

It was a very wedding focused year come to think about it – we also flew to Ireland and our old stomping ground of Galway to watch a friend get married and take part in that famous Irish tradition – the hooley (basically celebrating the wedding over a WHOLE weekend!)

England enjoyed another warm summer and we finally invested in a proper little barbecue – which saw a lot of action. Can’t wait for summer to come back.

We were supposed to head off to Stratford in September to see Patrick Stewart at a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Tempest when a rather nasty little kidney stone gave Bridie her first personal experience of England’s National Health Service up close. Bridie was a week in hospital, and now back at work and recovering. Everything is alright now – but it was an interesting time. We have now booked to see the play in its London season in March.

We are still enjoying living in London – the variety of theatre, art and easy access to the Continent means life is always busy.

This year, we are spending Christmas Day with friends and then heading off to Copenhagen for New Year’s Eve.

In the New Year Steve will be heading off to Argentina to do some work for his MBA for a couple of weeks and Bridie will be winging her way home to spend some time with her Mum and Dad in their new home in Queensland. She intends to go down to Melbourne for a couple of days to catch up with friends and family.

We are both looking after each other and we hope you are all healthy and happy.

We hope you all have a cool Yule and a funky New Year!

With love from

Bridie and Steve

xxx

Christmas spirit

We bought a real Christmas tree!
Normally, we have a small plastic one; small, sad and artificial. Today Bridie felt inspired and bought one at Sainsbury's. The fun part is carrying it home on the bus.
Photo taken on my new phone.

Bunnies are cute

Random comment

And link

Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle is the setting for Macbeth. Which probably means I should read it one day.

Now it is the setting for tourism, as people come to see where the Queen Mother lived as a small girl.


It also has a spooky history of hauntings, and a secret chamber. From the outside there is an extra window that is bricked up, but is not visible from the inside. It is said that the chamber contains the bones of Scottish clansmen who sought refuge from enemies. They were admitted by the lord of Glamis, and led to this chamber.

The doors and windows were bricked in and the clansmen were left to starve to death.

Gruesome.

The grounds around it are also quite nice. But though we searched and waited, we couldn't find any red squirrels. Much to Bridie's disappointment.

And here's a cool photo that Bridie took in the formal garden.

Scotland... here we come

I have always wanted to spend a week driving around Scotland. Taking in the sights, testing the whisky, and maybe even....

Seeing a Highland Coo!


Isn't he gorgeous?

The plan was to fly to Edinburgh, hire a car for a week, zoom around, and return for the Edinburgh Festival.

A plan elegant in its simplicity. What could possibly go wrong?

Where did August go?

We have been away.
So that can only mean one thing - more entries!

Stay tuned

Do something brave

Bastille day in Paris

We were in Paris for France's national day.

We saw lots of military marching. Soldiers with ludicrous hats,
Planes zooming overhead
And we saw endless numbers of tanks, which seemed to increase in size every time they went past.

Check out the photos at our website

Speaking of Wimbledon...

This is the goofiest photo I could find.

I led the Sunday Stroll to Wimbledon this Sunday to celebrate the tennis.

http://www.lfns.co.uk

We even made the news on the BBC.

A big thanks to the Marshals for letting me lead them astray.

We've got a BBQ!

Bridie went shopping today while I rollerbladed from Hyde Park to Wimbledon.

We would have bought one earlier, but our lack of transport makes it difficult to lug home.

Fortunately Jo had a free day, a free car, and a certain joy in spending other people's money.

Sorted.

Bauer for President

Buy one!

Buy one for you, one for me...
hey you could even buy one for the neighbour.

Hairy Mohair Sweater CATSUIT

FUZZY FUN!!!!!
This is a unique opportunity to purchase a custom made catsuit by ISOBEL

KNITTED TO YOUR MEASUREMENTS
AVAILABLE IN MANY COLORS

A UNIQUE ONE OFF CATSUIT !!!!!

You know you want one.

Available on ebay

Internet Meme

Type your name in google, followed by the word 'needs'

Fortunately someone has already done it for me:
http://www.knightopia.com/journal/archives/000832.html

1. Steve needs a doctor.
2. Steve needs help again, please.
3. Steve needs you!
4. Steve needs a new v8-pack function.
5. Steve needs YOUR money.
6. Steve needs to find a squirrel hitman.
7. Steve needs a Gordo’s Fix!
8. Steve needs another job.
9. Steve needs to stop grand standing with his smoke and mirror shows and focus on business development, alliances, and affordability.
10. Steve needs to hurry up! This isn't nap time!

I definitely need a squirrel hitman

The law in action

Steve has just received a Jury Summons!

Somebody else's life and career in his hands (and a few others obviously).

Unfortunately we haven't been in the UK long enough to qualify - we need 5 years here first. Bah! Surely we've watched enough episodes of The Bill to qualify?

I'd love to go on a jury. Though I have a feeling it would be just like sitting through a two week meeting.

Maybe next time...

Boy, is it ever big....!

That's right - the Grand Canyon is huge, massive, enormous! We splashed out and booked a helicopter ride that would take us out to the Canyon, via the Hoover Dam; we would also land at the bottom (or as close as you get in a helicopter) to have a short champagne lunch.

It all started with a stretch limousine ride from our hotel. Unfortunately, there was no champagne in the limo - just lots of bottled water. After arriving at the flight centre we weighed in - you heard it right - they're very cagey about one's weight - you have to balance out the other passengers or the chopper flies funny. Finally, we took off and started our 45 minute flight to the Canyon.

It really is quite an amazing landscape, part desert, part mountains, with the Hoover Dam and the largest man-made lake in Northern America, Lake Mead.

The chopper flew us under the canyon rim on the way to our lunch spot. Although we saw just a small part of the canyon, it only impressed us further how big it really is. The pilot said it was a mile deep and a mile wide in most parts.


Photos don't do the canyon justice, it is so massive, but hopefully you get the idea.

The lunch was held on a small mesa that is owned by the local native Americans. We had to stay to the areas and paths to avoid the rattle snakes! Afterwards, we flew back to Las Vegas, where the views of the city were pretty spectatular in their own right.

It was probably one of the more amazing things we did, on an amazing trip.

The Cure at Royal Albert Hall

It seems my Goth days are over.

I have joined the slightly suspicious group of people who wear too much black, but don't have anything to be depressed about.

Through her work*, Bridie managed to get us two tickets to see the The Cure last night.

A 3 hour set, with three encores. Which proves that Robert Smith (or Bob as we used call him in Goth Land) is still rockin', or his drugs are exceptionally good.

But in the Royal Albert Hall?

I remember a concert in Melbourne (maybe 12 years ago?) where the whole area was swarming with black hair (and occasionally, bright red hair), long jackets and makeup that could keep a mortician in business for a week.

To paraphrase a friend of mine; it looked like aliens had landed.

This happened here to a lesser extent. But we mostly had the Commercial FM listeners (AKA I've-got-a-sensible-car) who were waiting for the only song they knew - Love Cats. Which would have been disappointing, because they never played it.

But I only knew about half of the songs myself. Was the Goth genre moving without me?

Most of the audience seemed to be in the same boat. The Cure were playing stuff that nobody knew. We have a theory that they were their own support band. Or that they have a new concert tour coming up, and they're testing all the songs off the new album. Or maybe that we are just out of touch.

But we clapped anyway.

And they definitely ended on a high. It was like they moved back through time, covering the genres in reverse order. People were starting to recognise stuff. The hall became standing row only.

Everyone was excited.

And when the second encore was composed of the ever controversial "Killing an Arab" or "Fire in Cairo" - the very early songs - we thought all was lost. They didn't play our favourite songs.

But in times like these - watch the mixing desk. As a Sound Engineer friend of mine says, if they're not packing up, then there is more. And sure enough they were attentive at the desk.

And there was a third encore! And we had all the songs we wanted to hear; "Boys don't cry" for Bridie, and "A forest" for me. Aaaahh.

So we went home happy.

The Goths returned to Camden. The Suits returned to their 4WDs. And the Cure returned to their status as a SuperBand.

And me?

I guess I'm a has-been Goth now.

Note *: Her company is a sponsor of the Teenage Cancer Trust. And this was a fundraising gig.