Game, Set, Match

What a corker of a match Andy Murray had last night against Richard Gasquet. A nigh on 4 hour, 5 set match. Unfortunately I had to watch on TV but in week 1 of Wimbledon I saw some live tennis on the 1st and 2nd days of the tournament.
This was the first year I made a conscientious decision to go twice after last year my chosen day got rained out forcing me to make a second visit to see some tennis; and in 2006 I chanced on a second trip on the mid Saturday after finishing work at 5pm, and found myself buying a resale Court 1 ticket and watching Andy Murray beating Andy Roddick. Happy days!

I had company both days; Lucy and boyfriend Richard on the Monday, and Catherine on the Tuesday. Richard and Catherine were going Wimbledon for the first time, and I think they both enjoyed their day. And boy what a day; a 7am start to arrive in time to queue up to to get tickets. Imagine arriving in West London at 9.15am after 1 1/2 hour journey to get there and finding 6000 people in the queue ahead of you. Welcome to Wimbledon! Luckily, (I had actually been checking on the weather from 2 weeks before to ensure I picked the best days to go) the weather was fine all day and got to see 3 matches each day. Thoroughly entertaining! I definitely want to get onto the show courts next year and have checked on the prices; £500 - £23,000 (but start saving).

Out in the big wide world

Like the mighty field mouse poking his twitching nose out of the burrow for the first day in months, the mid Sunday in February was literally my first social trip out since my birthday night out over a month before. Money and new job fatigue were the reasons why, but it was certainly about time as I was going stir crazy!

My darling lil sis had come up with the idea of visiting Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. I had heard of the place, but that was about all. I was up for the idea. As always; doing something new and different will always get me signing up 1st. I done my usual wikipedia search and was buzzed by what to expect; an open forum where ANYBODY could stand up and speak about anything he or she wanted.

As always it was good to see Sarah again, and we 'tubed' upto London's Hyde Park and just behind Marble Arch and the Speakers Corner, which was less of a corner and more of just an area of park where people congregated.




What became apparent after wandering back and forth between the 'speakers' was that that they all spoke on religion. And what I found fascinating was that people could debate, sometimes quite heatedly and passionately, without descending into violence. What also felt apparent was that the speakers themselves were regulars, coming every week to speak, and heckle each other. To me it was very bemusing, not believing in religion, but it was still very fascinating to hear the different points of view.

Christmas with Squish

Now I know I said this once before in an earlier post but I'll say it again, 'Christmas not only sucks, it blows too.' Over commercialized and full of fakeness! I guess I'm the only one, but I usually eat less over the festive season, not more. I'm not a big fan of the Christmas menu and can never wait to tuck back into my usual foods.

Now you might say, 'Boo! Bah humbug, you Grinch!', but you'd be wrong, because I love the giving part. I love knowing that I've got someone something that is needed and wanted. Plus I aways treat myself to a present, and this year it was my.... PLAYSTATION 3. Yeah baby!

As usual all my Christmas presents where bought just days before Christmas Day out of my December pay packet, and it was a successful shopping trip, gathering all the presents (bar mine) in one day!

My new nephew Tai, decided that he wanted to spend his 1st Christmas at home opening all his presents so went visiting on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day me and my Dad went round my brother's house for drinks and present opening. His partner's immediate family had made the trip too as had now become tradition. The rest of the day was spent getting to grips with my Playstation, now more of an entertainment system than a games console; what with a 40GB hard drive capable of storing any media I like, photos, music (burned off my CDs), movies etc. CD, DVD, and Blueray playback, and an internet browser (which obviously means downloadable possibilities). It was a good few hours before I actually popped in a game!

My next day out of the house was after Boxing Day when I went shopping with my lil sis, Sarah as she sought out an outfit for NYE and a new phone. Friday afternoon I had to go into work, only for a few hours. My next day out after that was on New Years Eve where I met up with Dan (Dan H not Dan B who came to Paris) and Gregg. We went to the Turner Prize Retrospective and then had lunch in Covent Garden at a pizza restaurant with a twist; toppings influenced by world cuisine. I had a crispy duck topping!

Christmas Carols with the Stars (vol 2)

(Again with the delayed entry) Thursday 29th November. Mr Garner had invited me back once more to help in the choir as they sang at the Albert Hall along with Sydenham Girls School. This as last year there where a host of 'soap stars' and TV celebrities on hand, but unlike last year we (the school) only got to see them as they were announced and appeared on stage during the concert. The celebrity count was up from last year but unfortunately we (the performers) were not allowed cameras which means no snaps. Robert Powell, Lorraine Chase, Ainsley Harriot, Paul O'Grady; also the cast of The Bill lead by Graham Cole, PC Stamp. The only other person I would have any knowledge of would be Tommy Walsh from Ground Force.




Kirsty had been invited to sing with Caterham School as well, and a good thing too, as it was the first time we had seen each other for months and months and months! During a 2 hour break between rehearsal and concert we snuck away from the group and climbed to the top of the Albert Hall, and hung out, high above the hubbub below. That was cool.

Cat shines

Last Friday night, songstress Catherine had her 1st showcase. It was held in the Bull Theatre, Barnet and featured all of her manager's singers on stage performing several numbers each. As expected, some were better than others, some performed better than others and I felt some let themselves down, respective to the amount of talent they had.

Sorry Cat, you were good, but I thought the best acts that night were the 2 bands. I can't remember the names, but one was a rock band and consisted of lead, keyboard and guitar, the other, again female lead, guitar and violin. There were many different styles of music on hand, probably more than I even know but it made for a very entertaining night.



Catherine's fan club of Me and Channa were there and both of us sacrificed dinner that night just to be there. We had our fun inside and outside the auditorium too; the lady behind the bar during the interval said we made her night, as most people she served were miserable but we were cheerful.




Big shout to you Cat, our lil pop star! xx

Freewheel London

Not many updates happening lately because...
1) I'm getting lazy.
2) It takes about 1 1/2 hours (on ave.) to do each post, what with writing it, prove reading it, editing; uploading photos then arranging layout. Only for a couple of folks to actually read it!
3) I've got a problem with Blogger not uploading video (for me anyway) and that's really ticking me off cause I've got some good ones.
4) I'm starting to feel like a reporter, always having to take my camera out with me to get snaps for the blog.

Oh well... necessary evil I guess.

2 Sunday's ago I took part in London's inaugural 'Freewheel' event: several roads in central London closed to all but bikes, cycling in peace passed some of London's landmarks. I say in peace, but 32,000+ bikes turned up! I had ultimately borrowed a bike from friend John, as my Mom still isn't happy about me owning my own, and his wife Lyndsey let my borrow her nogging protector.

On the day I met up with sis, Sarah, and her uni friend Ellie at Stratford station for our ride down to Victoria Park, near Mile End, where there was a 'hub'. Kinda like a meeting point for us to pick up the marshaled journey into London. I hadn't ridden a bike since I was about 17 and enjoyed the trip. I was very nervous at first being on live roads but I soon got comfortable. I was also keen to be a responsible cyclist, heeding the rules of the road; obeying traffic lights and crossings and junctions, and not weaving in and out of traffic unpredictably. When we got to the closed roads we could ride with a bit more abandon.




The 9 mile route was basically a blast up and down Embankment from London Bridge to Westminster, with a loop around St James' Park. Free sandwiches were on offer at the 'Festival' in St James' Park with entertainment too. a chance to park up the bikes and take a time out. We 3 where approached by a reporter for bikeradar, an online bike magazine and the article can be found here on their website. Ellie's helmet also had a lot of attention as it was in the design of a blue ladybug, complete we antenna! It was also only her 9th trip to London.




All in all it was a great day out and I can't wait for next year's one!

more photos on my Facebook here

thanks to John and Lyndsey, and bikeradar.com

The Thames Festival

Two weekends ago the South Bank hosted a 2 day celebration of the River Thames. I went along, never one to let a free London event get away. Sadly I could only make the Saturday night (as Sunday was holding a Formula 1 race). Along for the ride was Sarah and Channa, still working her new philosophy of 'mates before men'. We did also get her to ride the tube as she has a slight tube phobia. Sarah's 'man friend' Peter met us down there as he was working on Saturday later than the rest of us. With the Festival finishing at 10pm each night, there wasn't much opportunity to sample the stalls, and food and entertainment and exhibitions that made up the show; secondly we aimed to see some French acrobats that were performing at 8pm in the shadow of the London Eye.




The acrobats' show started slowly and didn't seem to be heading anywhere, but about half an hour in, their 'string tent' was hoisted into the air with most of the team suspended beneath. Half the crew were playing instruments 100 feet in the air while the rest did their aerial stunts. It was all very ethereal and magical as the 'string tent' twirled one way then the next, lit up with lights which cut through the night sky like searchlights all whilst band played this spooky music like the kind you find in horror movies as the large chested blonde is being followed. It was all great fun and we headed home once it was over. I was disappointed to have missed the fireworks which actually took place on Sunday night. Damn!