Signing Off

Quick note to let you know this is my last blog... I'm finding that the Aussies aren't really reading the blog (and that was the main reason for setting it up in the first place)... they prefer their personal emails and phonecalls. I've also started doing the Facebook thing recently too.

But it seems I have have had many other readers from around the world and in the UK. So thanks for reading :) And happy blogging.

Take care,
Beano

July Update

Hey sorry for the delay in posting, things have been so busy here with work etc

Some highlights of the fun stuff (not the work grunge part) are:



July 7 - went to see Elvis Costello at the Tower of London with some friends. We had nibblies and champagne and Pimms and Lemonade at the Wapping pad and walked up to the tower. It was a good show, and we had good seats, but we were all a bit disappointed it only went for an hour and he didn't do an encore. It was £70 a ticket too! So for that kind of money we thought we would get a little more. For me, the best part of the night was catching up with everyone and the drinks before and after. I was too 'merry' to take any photos of this event, so I will have to see if I can get one from my mates to put up on this site.



The following weekend (well actually from Wed/Thurs during the week, I can't remember), P's sister came over from Northern Ireland. P mostly kept her entertained as I was quite busy with work and then a bit sick, so I don't remember everything they did, but I know they did go to see the Star Trek convention on Saturday and quite enjoyed it. P got a signed mouse matt by 'Holly' from Red Dwarf. On the Sunday we went on a speedboat trip up the Thames which was excellent. It was great to feel the wind in my hair as we sped along. The tour guide was hilarious too... he was the typical eccentric englishman with the very very well spoken accent (sounded like he should have been leading a rowing team for an exclusive school up the river instead of a speedboat full of tourists). Here's the photo of P and 'da sista' A before boarding the speedboat.

And last weekend, we went to the 'Toast' festival (the Australian one, not the Kiwi one) and saw Kath and Kim. It was great to see them and hear their accents. But they weren't on the stage very long. Just ad libbing while doing a 'sandwich making competition' and the they also had their alter - ego's on the other stage. The festival was a good excuse to drink some wine and sit in the sun. I even got a bit of sunburn which is nice! I also bought.. are you ready.. cheezels, chicken twisties, cherry ripes, and burger rings. And they were all eaten by Wednesday! mmm I really miss cheezels. The closest thing they have here is cheesy puffs and even the ones from M&S aren't up to scratch..

This weekend I will probably have to work on one of the days, but I am hoping to get hold of one of the bargain £5 tickets to Shakespeares' globe.... if its not raining of course (the globe is open to the elements).

Which reminds me, you have probably heard about the flooding that is happening over here during the wettest summer on record ever! At first it didn't seem too serious, and I remember that when we went to see that comedy show when P's parents were over (must be at least a month ago) he was making jokes about people being 'rescued' by being taken out in dinghys, while the rescuers were only walking in water up to their shins. But the rains have just kept coming and I do feel really sorry for people who thought that the flooding was over, then went back to their homes and cleaned up only for it to happen again not long after! Its also really bad for people who have just bought new homes and not realised that they had bought on a flood plain, they will have alot of trouble selling their homes now. Bizarrely, several people have also died from the floods. On the news tonight they reported that two men died from the fumes of the pump they were using to pump water out. The flooding is mostly in the west and hasn't really affected London except for some parts in the south west.

Sarkozy's jogging

This article in The Times was so funny! The french intellectuals' reaction to the new President's penchant for jogging:

Le jogging, originally known as le footing and now more fashionably as le running, caught on in France, as elsewhere, in the 1980s and eight million claim to indulge. But Mr Sarkozy has rekindled a French suspicion that the habit is for self-centred individualists such as the Americans who popularised it. “Jogging is of course about performance and individualism, values that are traditionally ascribed to the Right,” Odile Baudrier, editor of V02 magazine, a sports publication, told Libération. Patrick Mignon, a sports sociologist, noted that French intellectuals had always held sport in contempt, while totalitarian regimes cultivated physical fitness.

I have even written a comment on this Times article, look for the one of the only positive comments on this article in a sea of defensive American responses...

I met a french guy this week who told me he though it was really embarrassing that Sarkozy only speaks French, apparently he can't speak a word of English.

Big green owl eyes

Apparently I have big green eyes like an Owl (according to P)! Ah, but isn't it cute..

Snowpatrol gig at O2 Arena

Went to see Snowpatrol at the brand new O2 Arena last Thursday. I was lucky to pick up the tickets for only £15! They were special tickets that were made available for the workers who built the new complex and also for people in the local community. It was a good gig... I had forgotten that the band are actually from Northern Island, but quickly noticed their accents once they were chatting away between songs.

The O2 Arena is the old Millenium Dome, which was built at the start of the millenium. From what I understand it cost a lot of money to build, but never really had any visitors in the past so it just sat there as a 'white elephant' in the past. But now it has been redeveloped as massive entertainment centre, with the arena, and also restaurants, bars and cinemas. Its good that we have a venue like this so close to us...only 4 tube stops away in North Greenwich.

Work Summer Party and visit from P's parents

Last Friday night was a work summer party. Really fun night! I managed to aquire the feathers towards the end of the night! Food, dancing, wine and song. They also gave out free massages by professional massuese. The two girls either side of me are both Aussies who work in HR. The guy on the right is J, who is a mate of mine too (we both started our job on the same day). It was so nice to go to a party and have fun after a couple of weeks of messy flat due to the kitchen dust and hayfever.

When I got back home it was about 1am, and P's parents had arrived for their weekend vist (is was Father's day here in the UK) , it was nice to see them again. We took them to see the Borough markets and bought loads of yummy food: plum tomatoes, cheese, olives, organic lettuce, fresh pumkin and feta ravioli, some flan/quiche things AND a slice of cake each. this was much easier than cooking when I had a sliiiight hangover.

In the evening we went to the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green, which was excellent. P insisted on sitting in the first row. And I was feeling tired so wasn't feeling up to being challenged by a comedian, so of course every comedian had to direct their questions to me!

The next day P's parents took turns to try out the porsche. In the evening we went for dinner at our local Italian.

Here you can see the all the parts of the new kitchen sitting in our old dining area....

Then by the end of the week we have this lovely new kitchen, complete with replastered walls.

And also the old carpet in the lounge room was replaced too. Much nicer. Although it did create quite alot of dust and I have had really really bad hayfever ever since.

You can't quite make it out, but that is P's Dad, lying on the lounge. It is Father's Day and P's Mum and Dad are over visiting from Northern Ireland.

The company we used is 'Kitchens Direct'. They were great.. no issues. We are having trouble deciding which new appliance is the best. The washing machine, because it is so quiet and the last one sounded like a helicopter was taking off. Or the fridge as its big, not one of those silly English under the bench ones where you have to bend over to find stuff. Or the dishwasher, because we didn't have one before at all! Has to be the dishwasher I think!

The scary swimming centre

This is the outside to the St George's swimming pool in my local borough of Tower Hamlets. Scary isnt' it? They seemed to have closed the original entrance and now use one at the back of the building. No-one seemed to have thought that putting a sign up to alert people to this might be a good idea. Therefore new people to the area wander past what looks like a deserted building, when there is acutually a fully functional swimming pool inside. Its quite dated inside and the diving board is cordoned off as the structure looks unsafe. But hey, the water appears clean and its at least 50m, so great to have a pool close-by.

Tim Flannery- The Weather Makers

The 5th of June was World Environment day and Advance (an association for professional Australians) held a free event where Tim Flannery gave a presentation. He is Australian of the Year and has a new book out called 'The Weather Makers'.

I took a few notes at his presentation and thought I would share them with you as it's such an important topic.

• A 19th century scientist, Wallace, said that the atmosphere was a 'great aerial ocean', because we are as dependent on the atmosphere as a fish is to the sea


• if you shrunk the atmosphere into a liquid, it would be 1/500th the size of the ocean


• since in the industrial revolution, 80 parts per million (ppm) of CO (carbon monoxide) has been added.


• since 1997, and the general dithering of governments at Kyoto, 20 ppm of CO has been added


• it is generally accepted that we need to keep below 2 degrees of warming to stop very extreme climate changes from occuring. This is is 450 ppm and we are already at 420 -430 ppm


• key message: climate change is a fast-moving threat


• an inter-governmental panel on climate change set a conservative projection that there would be a 3% rise in temperature over the century... this is proving too conservative considering that they predicted that there would be a 8% melt of ice caps over decade and in 2006 there was a 5-fold increase in melting. The ice-caps could be gone completely in 30 years.


• the next 'Kyoto' type summit will be held in 2009, in Copenhagen


• things that Tim Flannery would like to see agreed for the sake of humanity are 1) agree a threshold that greenhouse gases cannot go past, 2) agree on a carbon price, 3) forestry price


• The top two things we can do to help to reduce greenhouse gases are 1) introduce a regulatory environment that recognises the true cost of energy, and make businesses/people pay on a user-pays basis, and 2) make use of technology


• He believes that efficiency gains of 50% are possible in houses


• Someone asked if population control should be addressed as strategy to manage, and his response was that there was not enough time for this to make an impact. Any population initiatives would take decades to come into effect, and this is too late


• Another person asked about people's high level of consumption patterns, and pointed out the need to change this. Again he agreed, but said that change would take too long.


• One more question about developing countries and that as they become more industrialised, are contributing large amounts of greenhouse gases. He said that in his view he saw that we have an 'historic debt': since the 1800's onwards, industrial countries have pumped 100ppm into the atmosphere, making us rich. Therefore we have a debt to pay


• trees have a mechanism for drawing out carbon dioxide. Growing tropical trees is a great way to reduce carbon dioxide. There could be a role here for developing countries to be paid for growing trees. Maybe people in developing countries could use of the $85 computers that are being developed at MIT to monitor logging.


• Some interesting points about Australia:


• the impacts of global warming on Australia will be catastrophic. There has been a 10-20% reduction in rainfall in the past 20 years. Streamflow has reduced 60-70% over 30 years.


• rainfall is predicted to decline by 90% due to global warming. As the soil gets hotter, it soaks up the rain faster. There is also more evapotranspiration from the plants.


• soon the Murray River in Australia will not be able to be used for commercial purposes and this will affect a major food region in Australia - olives, citrus fruit is grown here among other things. He knows people who are shooting their dairy cattle there because they think there won't be any pasture for them later this year


• Adelaide is reliant on the rivers from up North, and soon the water will be too salty to be drinkable


• Brisbane's dam is already at 20% capacity and people are on water rationing. There has been some rain lately, enough to make the country look green, but not enough to reverse the trend


• the price of electricity is set to double next year as there is not enough water to run the power stations. Every MW (mega watt) produced, consumes 2 tonnes of water

It was a good talk as he is a scientist who 'tells it like it is'. A not all a tale of woe either as he does point to some constructive things that can be done to make changes. I liked it when he said 'why is it when ever you see a cartoon and to indicate that someone has had a good idea, they show an 18century incandescent lightbulb above their head. It should be an energy saving one!'

Cheltenham

Around 1st June we went to Cheltenham for the weekend. Visited Nanna's 90 year old friend Daisy. Nanna has been friends with her for years, since her step-daughter married Daisy's son. It was nice to meet her. Stayed at a nice B&B Lonsdale house, the owners have looked after Nanna when she stayed there in the past. The photos at the top are of a lovely village called 'Old Slaughter', outside of Cheltenham. There was an old mill that served home made ice-cream and tea and scones by the stream. Lovely stream with ducks. Gorgeous. Just like you imagine an English village to be.

Hypermobility

I went to see a physiotherapist recently with a pain in my hip/knee/foot that occurs when I have been walking around for a while. And I found out that I have 'hypermobility' is when some or all of your joints have an unusually large range of movement. It occurs because connective tissue in the joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments are more loose and stretchy than in most people. This means the joints are move flexible and can extend further. Because of this flexibilty, it means that the joint can get out of alignment and put pressure on the joint in the wrong way.

Apparently lots of people go through life with 'hypermobility' and do not even know that they have it. It is only if something changes e.g. loss of muscle strength, that you notice it (because the muscles help hold the joint in place). In fact, there are some advantages of having hypermobility: alot of athletes, or muscians have found advantages of having joints that can flex that bit further. A tennis player has an extended reach, or a violinist/guitarist can flex their wrist to reach further. So, if I can get this back in check it is actually not a bad thing

However, the fact that I have put on 15kg since arriving in the UK (!) and that my muscle tone has probably deteriorated somewhat are both contributing to why I am now experiencing some discomfort with it.

So from Friday, I have exercises to do every second day which are about building core stability, and I need to take up swimming again (a good exercise because it does not put pressure on my joints). He has also recommended pilates classes.

My body seems to rebel against me being bad: I have to clean the house regularly because I get an allergic reaction to housedust and hayfever. I have had to give up smoking as it was affecting my circulation. In order to give up smoking I have had to practically give up alcohol as if I get tipsy then I would need a ciggie. And now, I have to get fit or otherwise I am going to be in pain/have trouble walking!

So I'll let you know how I get on. I have a big job ahead of me.. 15 kg to lose and also seriously improved core stability. Here we go!

Koi Carp

Yesterday we were looking at tiles for the kitchen and found an aquarium next door. While in there, we found a huge tank full of Koi carp. A big white one was right at the surface, with its snout poking out. P and I were leaning over to look at it when it suddenly turned and with one big swish of its tail, splashed a wall of water right over P!! It was more than just a little splash, P was drenched. It was so funny :)

This Hikari white one was quite old and very 'friendly' and cost £500. The other less friendly and younger ones were £250. Apparently it take 20 years to grow to this size. The babies were being sold for £4-50 so a bargain!

When we were in Tokyo we saw hundreds of Koi in the moat of the Emperor's palace. They were so friendly (or at least thought that they were going to be fed) as we had hundreds converge towards us once they realised we were there.

How to spake proper (Norn Iron)

P sent me this...

Afeard - scared
Ah - I or me, ie Ah don't feel well
Aminal -common mispronounciation of Animal
Amptinat? -I most definitely am
Ar$ehole -calling someone a rectum
Aye -meaning "yes"Balleex -"b0ll0cks"
Thats balleex - Used in context when disagreeing with someone
Bake -someones face
Baltic - quite cold
Banjaxed - drunk
Bate -beat, I bate her up so ah did
Bate The Wife - bottle of cider
Beef -male sexual organ ie "Ah slipped her the beef lawst nite"
Beezer - Very good, Thats Beezer
Beg -wafer thin plastic vessel, good for carrying shopping :also oul' beg" when referring to an elderly female
Blurt -Slang for female genetalia
Boggen - dirty, unclean
Boulin' -messing about
Bout Ye -"Hello"
Brave - largeBrew - weekly benefit
Buggered -brokenCameracorder -grannies use of the word "camcorder"
Cheeser -like Beezer, meaning "very good" or "exellent"Chicken -child slang for "afraid"
Chinks -popular Chinese food Take Aways
Childer -children
Cracker -not something you put cheese on, means beezer
Creamed -tired
Dander -a walk, ie I'm goin fer a dander
Dawg -canine, dog
Digikil -common mis-prounciation of "Digital"Drawers -underwear
Dour -a door
Duncher -CapEarlee-er -before the present
Eejit -derived from "Idiot", means "Idiot"
Eff Aaf - F*ck Off
FaakAaf - Excuse me my good man, kindly vacate the premises
Faaler -father
Fally - follow
Fillum -a movie or film
Fingy -someone whose name you can't remember
Frig -polite word for "F*ck", also used: FlipFlour - a floorFut - footGat -slang, You're a wee gat or getGeg -fun, "Ats a geg"Getawaydaf*ck -go away nowGivuz -give meGlass -Half-PintGoes -replaces the word "Said" ie And I goes: What? Are you slabberin'?" And then she goes,Yip."
Gutties -training shoes
Happy Days - that's good
Hardly -meaning "Thats not true" ie Hardly now. Hardly.
Hectic - See MadHeel -not to be confused with the back of your foot, means end of a loafHeerzme - "And then I said..."
Hippy - someone who likes Bon Jovi
Houl On -please waitJob -activity usually carried out under the cover of night
Joken -joking
Kudn't -couldn't ie Ah kudn't do that...Lairdindeyit -please do start eating (or drinking) see also"wiredintillit"
Leenantarsapees -Famous Italian landmark
Lifted - arrested
Lingo -language
Mad - See Hectic
Mairshen -Emersion Heater
Magic -not tricks, but another word meaning great or good
Majassif - large
Mawn -a man, male
Meat Wagon -RUC Landrovers
Melt -no actual meaning, used as: "I'll knock your melt in"
Messages - weekly shopping
Milly -name given to teenage females. See also: SteekMoufycunt - rather outspoken person
Mucker -a friend or mate
Muller -Mother or "Ma"
Nek it - drink that drink in one
Nice One -that was good
Norman -bullying term for someone with no friends
Norwegain - Another Gin please
Now Yer Sucken Deezel -that's a good way of going about that
Offees -alchohol retailer
Oi -a yelp for someones attention ie Oi! You! C'mere!"
Oxters -Armpits
Pat - container in which food is boiled
Prably -maybe, its likely
Passion -heavy rain in Ballymena
Parfil - strongPeeler -a police officer
Piece-sandwich
Pot - short for Patrick
Pssskety -common misprounciation of "Spaghetti"
Pump - to urinate
Purdie -countryside slang for Potato
Quim -slang for female genetalia
Ragin' -angry, Ahm bloody ragin' so ah am.
Ration -you'd be doing this if you were trying to get to somewherein a hurry, in Ballymena
Rare -not to be confused with "scarce", means crap
Samitch -mispronunciation of "Sandwhich"
Scundered - embarrassed
Sebm -seven [7]
Shap -shop
Shar -a shower
Sicken' Ye - would annoy you
Skinned Ye! - Haha my good friend, I do believe I won that particular game by a significant margin
Slabber -someone who makes bad comments about you behind your back or to your face
Spoofen - lyingSpide - see SteekSpoon -someone with a low IQSteek -male with bad dress and hair sense
Stroked - stolen / ripped off
Ta -Thank You
Tarl - a towel
Theee -the number three
Till -replaces the word "to" ie Goin till the shap"
Tube -see: Spoon
Undurstawnd -understand ie Do ye undurstawnd me?
Vaka -VodkaWeaker -yet another word for "brilliant"
Wee -put in front of words such as "drink", "dander", and basically anything
Wick -not exactly brilliant
Willik - nose
Wiredintillit -"Got wiredintillit earlee-er"
Windie -a windowWindielickurs -horrid term for the mentally disadvantage
Windie Still -a window sill
Wheelie bin - a bin
Wooden One -not a clever person
X-Acktlee-exactly
Yermaa -an insult said when nothing else can be thought of
Yeegittin? -Are you being served?
Yip -yes
Yousens - When addressing more than one person

Whelan the Wrecker

My Nanna has always called me Whelan the Wrecker, after the demolition company in Melbourne. This is a reference to my abilty to break things, often in an absent minded way.
P has recently made a mention to this on his blog after a recent episode driving his new porche... anyway, he found an original Whelan the Wrecker sign so I was intrigued, and dug around a little and found out the following info about history.

For over a hundred years in Melbourne, Whelan the Wrecker were agents of change. They cleared the way for skyscrapers, wine bars, motorcars and modernity. During the wreckers’ halcyon days of the 50s and 60s, their sign could be seen on every city block, and it remains etched in the memory of Melburnians today: WHELAN THE WRECKER IS HERE.But paradoxically the Whelan family were lovers of history. They passed on the stories of the buildings they wrecked, one generation to the next. And they made sure the best bits of the doomed buildings were recycled through the weird wonderland of their legendary salvage yard. Even today, fragments of long-gone Melbourne landmarks live on in unlikely places.

Update on my new job

For the past fortnight I have been quite busy working on my first project. I am working for one of the big banks out at Canary Wharf. Canary Wharf is the major financial district of London, and is one of the only places where you get skyscrapers in London. Before, when I worked in central London, most of the buildings are only 2 or three storeys high, as they like the city to be designed in a way to allow for an unimpeded view of St Paul's Cathedral. Canary Wharf was built on the old docklands area in the east of London, and is about 20 mins from central London on a light rail. It was really different to be out in one of the high-rise buildings and see the view of London from there.

This is a view from the building I am working in, looking out to the east. You can see the 'Millenium Dome' in the foreground. The city airport is also in this frame.

The project I am working on is quite interesting, and is around helping the bank improve its customer service. It is quite a large project and we are a small team from the consultancy and are working with alot of internal people to get the project done. At the moment I am starting at 8-30am and going through until about 6-30pm. On Friday I was at work until 7-15pm. My Manager is doing even longer hours than this... On a positive note, there is a good canteen and with lovely salads, so I am hoping I can get healthy by eating lots of lovely food. Although I am finding it hard to get the energy to go the gym when I get home, but will have to do it really. Anyway, so far so good. The project seems interesting, and I am working with a good team of people. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

This photo shows how the glass comes right down to the floor. You can get quite giddy if you stand to close to the edge.

In the centre of the floor is a huge atrium, which is a nice way to bring some light into the office.

New kitchen

Hooray! On Wednesday last week, P finally signed up for a new kitchen to be installed in Wapping pad. We have been here for well over a year now and surviving without a dishwasher, so it is good that we are finally getting around to it:) We are using a firm called Kitchen Direct. We had them out in January when I wasn't working to look at it. It was a good quote, but we didn't really have any other quotes or any other experience with kitchens to compare it to. So after doing our research we have ended up coming back to them afterall. The kitchen takes about 3 -5 days to install. But before that the company delivers the kitchen components to our house and these will be in our living room for about a week. So there will be a bit of disruption in the coming weeks, but it will be fantastic once it is all sorted. We are buying the fridge and washer separately so spent yesterday traipsing around a retail park in outer London looking at models (what fun... not) so will be happy once it is sorted.

Royal Windsor Horse Show

Today we went to the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which P has renamed the 'Royal Windsor Mud Show'. I bought the tickets through a deal at work a few weeks ago when the weather was lovely, so I imagined a nice wholesome day in the sun ... but it absolutely poured with rain and there lightning in the sky and everything.

Given the porsche is still under repair, P had picked up a Dolomite Triumph 1974 from the classic car club and we drove that there instead. The brakes weren't fantastic and we were aquaplaning a few times along the highway which was a bit hairy (!) but got there in the end.

Look at the lovely wooden dash

Little red triumph

Ahh, doesn't P look happy?

Our friends C and S were there a little earlier and were already drenched by the time we arrived, poor things.

It was amazing to see how high the jumps were. You don't really get an appreciation of it when you are watching on TV, but the height of them comes up to the horses' nose

Bournemouth

Last weekend was a long weekend in the UK, and we decided to visit D and S in Bournemouth. We drove down there in the porshe (which is nicknamed 'Black Betty'). The traffic wasn't too bad on the way down there, it took us just over two hours. But we did leave quite late on Friday night so we probably missed the worst of the traffic.

We had a nice slow start on Saturday morning, and by about 2pm we headed off for a 12km walk around Wiltshire, up to see where some of the paragliders were taking off from. D and S recently learnt how to do paragliding when they were back in Australia, and they have just joined the club in Bournemouth. The countryside was really beautiful, and it was a good walk there. On the way there, we walked past a house which looked really lovely. I told P that it was pretty good, but a bit low down in the valley and a shame that it didn't have any views. Then we saw the main house a little further along. It was higher up on the hill and looked beautiful. I told P that I would prefer this house instead. Later on in the day we found out from the local paragliders that the house I had admired actually belonged to Madonna! It is her English country mansion.. Apparently the walking trails used to go through her property but she has closed them to walkers since she bought the place. I had wondered why the acres of lawns were mowed leading up to the driveway - it makes sense now to know it was a celebrity hangout..

Here is a photo of D, S and P in Wiltshire, Dorset.

I got to drive the porsche for the first time, back from Wiltshre into Bournemouth. S was in the front with me and we had a great time. Although I think I was expected to drive it faster because P said that it was the first time he had seen cars backed up behind a porshce. When we got back we discovered that the car had a problem with a loss of power steering fluid. We ended up having to spend most of Monday morning trying to find a porshe parts store open on a bank holiday so we could get it sorted before driving home... the porsche is now nicknamed 'broken Betty'!

The second day we went along the beachfront in Bournemouth and had a look at an area near 'Christchurch'. We saw a beach hut for sale, meters from the beach but absolutely tiny for £120,000! Madness.

Here is S, D and I on our walk near Christchurch.

S told us an interesting story about how Christchurch found its name, and I have found a copy of it here for you:

During the building of the Priory there worked a carpenter who never mixed with his fellow workers, drew no pay and never appeared at communal meals. One day it became necessary to fashion a beam to support the roof. The place where it was to be fitted was measured and the wood cut to the required length. However, when the beam was raised into position it was found to be several inches too short. Disappointed with the work, the carpenters lowered the beam to the ground and, as evening had come, went home expecting to have to cut a new beam in the morning. When they arrived the next day the beam was already in position in the roof and of the right length. The mysterious carpenter was not seen again, and so the people imagined that it must have been Christ the carpenter working on His church. Thereafter the church became known as Christ's Church of Twynham and the name of the town Christchurch-Twynham. Over the years the Twynham has been dropped and the name of this ancient borough changed to Christchurch.

We had a great weekend, staying with D and S. If/when they finally move back to Australia, we will miss them:)

London Marathon

Our friend D ran in the London Marathon today. It is about 26 miles long and runs from Greenwich, through the Docklands and ends up near Buckingham Palace. D did the marathon in about 6 hours and raised money for Shelter (a homeless charity) which is fantastic!

P and I went up with Mrs D to watch him run past. Wapping has a great vantage point as the runners go along Wapping Highway in both directions.

A training course in Chicago

When I first arrived on Saturday I had an interesting journey from Chicago airport to central. I caught a train (only $10 for a two day pass to use on the trains). When I got on my train though it was a bit yucky. There were two really big black women sitting opposite me eating fried chicken and dunking it in some kind of mayonnaise. They were dropping bits on the seat and I was it was so gross. Some poor person ended up sitting on one of those seats as the train got closer to central chicago too, bet they didn't know they were sitting in chicken bits. Ewww so grotty.

I wasn't sure of the closest station to my hotel. So I was planning to get of at the most central station in the city and get a cab from there (I knew my hotel was somewhere pretty central). I asked this guy sitting next to me and he started pulling out map after map out of his backpack, as he tried to explain exactly where to get off and then how to walk several blocks to my hotel. He ended up getting off at the same stop as me, then helping me to carry my bags up the steps and then walking me to the hotel. All the time I was trying to decide if he was a weirdo or not - but when he started encouraging me to go to church on my visit, I realised it was because he was a Christian! He told me that Chicago was much better than New York, because people in NY were 'snabby'. I was like, 'what is 'snabby'' and then I realised he was saying 'snobby'....

I was a bit too jet-lagged to head out on Saturday night (Chicago is 6 hours behind UK -so at 8pm it was 2am UK time!) The following are some snaps from out and about Chicago Saturday afternoon and Sunday, before I headed out to the training facility.

Macy's department store on State St. I ended up chatting to one of the sales assistants there who was quite helpful. She recommended I go and check out millenium park, and the cultural centre which were close by.

At the cultural centre I was really pleased to discover that a free session of the symphony orchestra was about to start - so I got to see some of this. They were doing Dvork.

'The Bean', Millenium Park.

Stage at Millenium Park. They hold big music concerts here in the summer.

The 'L' railway makes a loop around the central part of Chicago. It is an elevated railway, going right through the heart of the skyscaper centre. I liked the wooden platforms.

View from Sears Tower. Sears Tower was once the tallest building in the world, it has now been slightly overtaken by ones in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Korea. It is still very impressive as you travel in the lift for 60 seconds to get to the top, and get off at the 106 floor. P and I went to the building in KL last year and I prefer this one. The views over Lake Michigan are spectactular, as I realised just how big the lake is - it is almost like an ocean it is so big. You can only faintly make out buildings on the other side of the lake.

A sign I spotted in the training complex where I stayed. Definately haven't seen one of these before! The weather in the states was quite crazy. Tornadoes in the south. Heavy snows in the north (I loved the description that the weatherman gave: thick, wet messy snow). A risk of major coastal flooding in the North East with winds of 60-70 mph

A bus we caught from the training complex to a local shopping mall. I just loved these buses they are so chunky and wide and look exactly like you expect American school buses to look like.

On the way to the shopping malls, and on the way back to the airport I got to see some of the suburban sprawl outside of Chicago. There are really large retail parks with drive through ATM's and drive through fast food. The thing that really struck me was the availability of land - most of the homes are quite large and on big blocks . In the wealthy areas, some of the homes are made to look like castles, complete with turrets and have 7-8 bedrooms!

Also the Virginia Tech massacre happened while I was there, which was quite awful and very shocking. It really bought home the tragedy as Indiana is a state on just the other side of Lake Michigan. I noticed that all the flags at the front of people's houses and at the towns were all flying half mast.

I have to say, I was really pleased to return back to London and get back home after this trip. Chicago itself was interesting, but it was quite a tiring trip as the training course was quite intense, and also involved 'networking' activities after class - so the days were quite long.

Chicago

ARRrrrr.. .. still at work on Friday afternoon madly trying to get the all the pre-work done. I'm going to Chicago in the morning for a week-long training course! The course is supposed to be quite intense and its actually in a conference centre about 20 miles outside of Chicago.

This is why I'm arriving early so I will have the whole weekend in Chicago before the course starts. In hindsight I wish I had the weekend after the course in Chicago as it would have given me some time to do the 14 hours (!) of pre-work that I started at 4-30 this afternoon. Yes, this will be interesting to see how I cope!

Nevertheless, I will be able to tell you if it really is 'the windy city' when I get back. And at the very least I will be able to tell you how well the pound does when shopping over there!

Wapping links with Australia

The grip of international brotherhood.
© National Maritime Museum, London

At the risk of going on and on about Wapping here is some other info for the Aussie readers..




The crisis of the 1889 dock strike was reached at the beginning of September and without more money it seemed that the strike could not continue. Then, out of the blue, money began to pour in from Australia. Donations were sent by the wharf labourers of BRISBANE and then by almost every Australian trade union. About £30,000 in all was sent. The money ensured that the dockers could hold out and made the dock companies more disposed to negotiate. Thanks to the Australian donation, the dock strike ended in victory after both sides agreed a settlement at the Mansion House talks.
Source: http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.77/chapterId/1863/The-Great-Dock-Strike-of-1889.html

Captain Cook lived down the road! He was originally sacked from his job as an assistant in a haberdashers shop in Whitby (North Yorkshire), and signed up as an apprentice on the merchant ship of Captain John Walker. He was set to work on the regular runs of the merchantman Freelove as it hauled coal from Whitby to Wapping. http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/cook.htm

• he is believed to have had lodgings at the Bell Alehouse near Execution Dock in Wapping see http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/jcr/~cookbio1.html



• he married a girl from Wapping (Elizabeth Batts) http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu418.htm



• he is belived to have learnt his humanitarian approach (no beatings and preventing scruvy) from the Quakers in Wapping http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/cook.htm

Also, in 1986, Rupert Murdoch moved to introduce electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and United States, placing a greater workload on journalists and reducing staff overall. In England, the move aroused the anger of the print unions resulting in a long and often violent dispute fought in London's docklands area of Wapping, where Murdoch had secretly installed the very latest electronic newspaper publishing factory in an old warehouse. 5000 people lost their jobs in this bitter dispute that was played out in Wapping. Union opposition in Australia caved in after the Wapping battle and now most newspapers around the world are produced by this method.

Technically, Rupert Murdoch is actually no longer an Australian, as he surrendered his Australian citizenship and became an American citizen in order to further his business interests in the US.

CTV Cameras - Science Museum

P and I went to see the Science of Spying exhibition at the Science Museum over Easter. I found these signs about CCTV amusing.

Goodnight Irene

I'm not a huge fan of football, but as Club Songs go, you can't do better than the one the Rovers have:



Its not only a great song (!) but the crowd is so fantastic. I went to a match at Twickenham when I first arrived over here with my cousin Neil, and was surprised to see all the footie fans singing. It really is the nicest part of football.

New babies

P has a new baby called 'Betty' - its a Porche Boxter S 3.2! Here is info from the add for those who like the technical details:

Porsche Boxster S 3.2, metallic black paintwork, 6 disc cd player and iPod connection, facelift with Porsche sports pack, competition wheels, sports suspension brakes, exhaust and slightly more bhp. It has a full Porsche service history and last service 17/2/07. Has had new brake disks and pads at 65000 miles. Is fitted with a tracker, full leather seats and half leather dash. All round a very clean car in great condition. Selling due to baby on the way.

P is completely enraptured with it. I have had to get him to confirm that he will still love me more than his car! He is still saying that he will. But the car isn't here yet so lets see :) We should pick it up next week.

The other little delight is that some friends of ours just bought the most gorgeous puppy. Check it out in this photo. It is a Springle, which is a special type of gun dog when they cross a Beagle with an English Springer Spaniel. Isn't it the most gorgeous thing? C & S are away over Easter but I can't wait to go and visit so we can meet little Jessie. Interestingly we met C & S when P sold them his old MX5. It turned out they were lovely and also live just across the river so we have stayed in contact. They have just bought a house in Dorset though so unfortunately we'll see less of them when they move.

And my sister A has a new kitty of her own called Peppi. Its 3-4 months old in this photo. Another cutie!