Chinese burns

Well, the weather in Beijing did last week...

With temperatures in the late 30s, early 40s, Beijing was a welcome relief after the cold wet start to summer in England. Steve's MBA was going on another jolly, you remember the one in Argentina, only this time Bridie got to go too!

So while Steve spent most of his time in the hotel conference rooms, Bridie roamed Beijing and Shanghai...and fell in love with China. That is, despite having her handbag stolen in the Forbidden City.

China is extraordinary - a place where someone with curly hair is chased by people with camera phones, where the people just want to talk and practice their English, where people get paid the equivalent of $5 a month and are expected to live on it and where there are more cities with pollution than any other. A country where, due to progress, a rich and vibrant culture is steadily becoming westernised for the sake of progress - if you want to see China, be quick...it is literally disappearing before our eyes.

Despite that China is beautiful and full of wonders...


A rare (for China) twin pagoda temple in Suzhou, south of Shanghai.



The tallest hotel in China, if not the world - Grand Hyatt at Jinmao Tower, Shanghai.



East meets west - neon lights highlight a traditional tea house in Shanghai.



A night market in Beijing...anyone for grasshopper?



Steve on the Great Wall - we had dinner on the Great Wall shortly after this photo.



Nanjing Road, the Las Vegas of Shanghai.



The Peony Pavillion, a short Chinese Opera.

Boo Hoo for you

This might be a bit shameless, but...
Recently Symbian celebrated shipping 20 million phones in Japan. And they created this video to go with it.

Anyway, to find out more, get a ring-tone, and win a phone go to
http://www.boohooforyou.com/

Impressions of Giverny

Back in March we had tickets to Paris to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Unfortunately the Eurostar had other plans, and cancelled our holiday. Thus we broke our tradition of having an anniversary in a different city each year.

Undaunted, we rebooked for the May long weekend.

We had Bridie's new digital camera, so the first stop was the unicorn tapestries that we have visited many times.

But we also wandered into the Musée de l’Orangerie. Where they have a huge display of Monet's Les Nymphéas

Captivated by the water lilies, we decided to visit Monet's garden in Giverny, where they were painted.

We battled the French overcrowded train system, rode pushbikes and walked for ever. But we were rewarded with a pretty little town and garden. The return wasn't so successful, as the 6pm return train was overcrowded too. So we were stuck in the town of Vernon, on a virtual public holiday, for 3 hours until the next train. We resorted to a bar and a pizza restaurant to pass the time - even watching the French presidential election.

All up a great day in the sun. One that our feet will long remember.

Photos on our photosite

sucked into Facebook

No bandwagon would be complete without me jumping on it. I embraced Linkedin, but now I have a new toy: Facebook

In case you haven't tried it out yet, it is a social networking site. And you get to waste vast amounts of time just looking for friends, their photos, and sending silly messages. Fantastic.

Anyone would think I was avoiding my MBA studies.

Anyhoo, you can find me in there - among 36 other namesakes.

The Infinite Cat Project

Pictures of cats look at other pictures of cats. And repeat.
http://www.infinitecat.com/


And just a cute cat vid:

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a happy Easter and hope the bunny was kind....


Steve certainly seemed impressed with his 1kg Lindt bunny - so... who wants to place bets on how long it will last!!

Some people just can't keep their pants on when battling evil

Just got back from Rome, where we celebrated Bridie's birthday. Hooray!

We did all the tourist traps we could imagine; Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Forum, Colloseum, Sistine Chapel, etc. And we even saw the pope!

Photos are here

Or, if you feeling like a virtual flyby, check out Birdseye Tourist

Argentina photo links

A few of the students have photos of Buenos Aires somewhere on the web. I thought I would collate them all here

Cass propaganda (actually using my photos)
My happy snap photos
Ally's got a new toy
Lydik's take on the world

Chicken Police

One of my fav youtube moments.



Especially the chicken at the back. Just before walking away it does a little "and don't do that again."

Beam me up.....Ariel

What a combination! Patrick Stewart, Royal Shakespeare Company and The Tempest - WOW!



The Tempest at RSC

Actually, we tried to see this production in Stratford last September - we had third row tickets in the stalls, had booked a convertible Mini for the drive to the country and were booked into a fab country house - then Bridie's kidney stone decided to have a case of bad timing and put her in hospital. We were lucky, because the the tickets were soooo good, we managed to resell them and the country house and hire car company were sympathetic to the emergency and didn't charge us - and who said customer service didn't exist in the UK!

Anyhoo - "the play's the thing..." We got tickets for the London season and went along last night to be dazzled. Despite knowing that Forbidden Planet was inspired by The Tempest, Steve still felt the need to hit the internet before the night, just to make sure he knew what the story was about.

What can one say, of course it was amazing! The scene, closer to an Inuit island, than Mediterranean - the entire play dominated by the tempest for which it is named, with massive multimedia screenings of the storm between acts.

Patrick Stewart played a bitter, but benevolent Propero, who was, as always, an inspiration. He imbued the bitter and usurped duke with a humour and love for Miranda, his daughter, bitterness and vengeance for his enemies followed by his humbling forgiveness that closes the play. Yet again we were struck with his presence and talent.



Of particular note was Julian Bleach, who played Ariel, we first saw him in Shockheaded Peter (Shockheaded Peter website) in New York and at the interval last night, we were scrambling for the programme because his voice was so familiar! He played a strange, raspy voiced Ariel, one that was both menacing and poignant - not to mention he had the best entrance in the play - emerging from the stomach of a seal as a bloody bird!



As we walked back to Waterloo over Waterloo Bridge, it was a beautiful clear night - St Pauls and the Oxo tower on our left, the London Eye and Big Ben on our right - wish we had had the camera - we had one of those moments where we realised, yes, we are in London and aren't we lucky.

Look what I made

For Christmas, Steve organised for me to attend a one-day silver smithing class - it was last Saturday. After a bunch of hammering and banging and hammering and banging, with a bit of fire, acid baths (the pickle), etc. I made these...



Not bad for my first efforts. I know what I want for my birthday now - the next class!

London at night

London has recently woken up to the fact that they don't have a festival of light - so they quickly put one together. Although pretty lame, it was still cool to see some of London's landmarks 'up in lights'...



As we walked away from the blinding Tower Bridge we came across something funkier...



Just goes to show that London can be pretty at night, even when it's not trying!

Still pretty...

While everything is melting, it doesn't stop it from being really pretty. I had a wander around the area and our local park (South Park) at lunch time...











Oh yeah - we got outclassed by the neighbours!

It's melting

Well.... it never does last long.

It's snowing!

When Steve and I were both away from the UK, it was then that it snowed - on Australia Day! We were both gutted when we missed it.

Then the rumours started, around Tuesday, maybe earlier; there was a big snow coming - Woo Hoo!

And here it is - overnight the world suddenly turned white and pretty. I can say that - I'm working from home today. Poor Steve had to brave the English public transport system - who knows, it could be the wrong kind of snow.



Just to prove that not everything falls apart in the UK when it snows - our milkman still made it through!



Naturally we found the time to make a new friend, before I logged into work and Steve trudged off...

Why you shouldn't fall asleep at dinner...

This is Mark.
Mark fell asleep at dinner.



This is Steve and Karen posing for photos.
Mark doesn't know these photos are destined for the internet.

Back from Buenos Aires

My brother collects coke cans. "Bring one back from Argentina," he asks.

No problem. There's a shortage of space in my luggage, but I managed to buy one on the last day and stuff it in a corner.

Unfortunately it exploded in the hold.



Of course this can was in with the new suit, the presents for Bridie and a bunch of stuff that really shouldn't get wet, much less brown goo all over them.

I learnt a lesson about air pressure. And Bridie learnt never to put my luggage on her lap.

Having fun down under - sunny Queensland

Mum and Dad have been showing me around sunny Queensland - naturally my mum took me shopping and I had to share this place - it's a shopping centre built over a small river - you can even hire paddle boats to get to the other side!



We also spent a day travelling around the Queensland hinterland where I found this fantastic moth on a tree and some amazing views.





In keeping with the native wildlife theme, I manage to find a galah or two - though not flamin'!

Having fun down under - saying hi to Melbourne

Bridie spent the weekend in Melbourne with family and friends; checked out old haunts and discovered some new ones. Our wonderful, fabulous friends, B and Emily organised and hosted a party for me while I was in town and we had a fabulous night.

I also spent the day with my brother and his family and got to visit my favourite boy - Puck! He's looking particularly evil in this photo...



I tested out my new camera (a digital SLR) on Southbank at night - Melbourne is a particularly pretty city and more so at night...



I spent my last morning in St Kilda, having breakfast with more friends, getting a wee bit of sun and checking out the gardens outside Luna Park - and what did I find but some of our gorgeous wildlife (rainbow lorekeets) hanging around upside down in the palm trees...




One last look around Melbourne and I headed down to the St Kilda pier where Melbourne's ever changing weather started to roll in...



And finally, for all our friends in England - this is what drought country looks like - so brown and dry because there is almost no water to be had - we're losing more bushland than ever before to fires...

Home down under

Bridie has left Steve behind the UK and has landed in Queensland, Australia, where her parents now live.

They've bought a beautiful home in the town of Buderim, just outside of Maroochydore. It has everything a homesick Aussie could want - a pool, billiard room, big TV room, a beer fridge, dim sims in the freezer, and the list goes on.... I'm in heaven!

I've been enjoying the sunshine and the pool - check it out!

I'm not the only one that is enjoying the pool - here is an intrepid cane toad before Mum and Dad got him with the Dettol!

It was swimming around and around, trying to get out when Mum scooped him up and doused it - I believe it is currently feeding the denizens of the rainforest that's behind the house.

Buy your very own unicorn today

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...