30th August 2010

Today we hired bikes and cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge. Not nearly as scary or as difficult as I thought it would be - the hardest bit was the hill up to bridge level!

29th August 2010

Today we took a trip to Alcatraz, which involved a boat trip across part of San Francisco Bay. There was a bit of a breeze and this seagull was having a fabulous time trying to keep up with the ferry - flying forward and then being carried back on the wind!

28th August 2010

After a couple of weeks of miserable weather, the sky has finally turned blue again on the day we're leaving the country...

Rather cheating on the picture a day thing, but thought these sea lions lounging about on the dock by Pier 39 in San Francisco were rather cute and so decided to break the rules...

27th August 2010

The end of an era - my belongings are packed into a box and my desk is clear. Today was my last day at the IACS Secretariat, next stop Lloyd's Register...

26th August 2010

This is another rare sight in our house - still over a day until we go on holiday and my suitcase is packed, in fact it has been packed since last weekend. Normally I have a last minute panic the night before we're due to leave so feeling very proud of myself this time round!

25th August 2010

Today was my leaving lunch at IACS and they gave me this lovely card with a teddy baking a cake on the front - I clearly have a reputation! They also very kindly gave me an M&S voucher so I will have lots of fun spending that at the big store near LR.

24th August 2010

Tuesday night is running club night, but sadly tonight was my last evening run of the summer as we're on holiday for a couple of weeks and then it'll be back to helping out at Brownies. It's not quite as sad as it sounds though as the nights are starting to draw in and so there is less time for fun off-road adventures and it is back to pounding the pavements again as the winter approaches. Sometimes when it's cold and dark I'm very grateful to have Brownies as an excuse not to run!

23rd August 2010

Don't seem to have had much time recently for being creative, so it was quite exciting this evening not just to make a cake for work but also to make a card for some friends who are moving this week. Most satisfying!

22nd August 2010

Today I did my first open water triathlon in Bexhill and it was tough despite only being a sprint distance. There are no photos from the event as I was too nervous pre-race and afterwards it was so wet all we wanted to was get home, where as you can see from the picture it was almost sunny! Just seen the results and happily I wasn't last, in fact I finished in 1h 47min 57sec.  Not uber-fast but for a first attempt in choppy seas I'm not too disappointed!

21st August 2010

There was a very rare occurrence in our house this morning - we saw the bottom of the ironing basket!

20th August 2010

I'm changing jobs at the end of next week so I've been having a bit of a sort out at work - this an hour or so's efforts and my desk drawers are still pretty full...

19th August 2010

A couple of months ago my dad gave me a cucumber plant. For ages it did nothing and then a few days ago this interesting shaped fruit appeared. Now I'm no expert, but to me it seems an awful lot like a squash...

18th August 2010

Getting across the road outside Victoria station in rush hour is never easy with all the roadworks going on. However Wednesday evenings are the worst as rush hour coincides with the end of the Wicked matinee show leading to a heady mixture of theategoers spilling out of the Apollo colliding with fraught commuters rushing for their trains!

17th August 2010

I was walking to the station this afternoon when I spotted this new exhibit outside the Cabinet War Rooms museum. Unfortunately I didn't have time to check whether it was a real Spitfire or just a replica but it looked pretty impressive either way.

16th August 2010

After spending so much time hunting for elephants earlier in the summer it was a lovely surprise at lunchtime today to see Belle and Clearing standing in their new home outside a hotel near Victoria.

15th August 2010

My hubby is the best - not only did he clean the BBQ grill this afternoon, but he also cleaned the oven racks! Not sure Kim and Aggie would be too impressed by the laid-back way he went about it though...

14th August 2010

BBQ minus one hour and it's pouring with rain :(
Will anyone even want to sit outside today?

13th August 2010

We're having our annual summer BBQ tomorrow and just had the food delivered. Now need to make some puddings, although more worried about the weather forecast which is not good...

12th August 2010

We walked through the pretty Queen Mary's Rose Gardens on our way to the BBC 10k in Regents Park this evening and found this rather interesting piece of topiary. It was a rather damp for running but that didn't stop both Mr W and I getting PBs in the race!

11th August 2010

After much dithering and indecision I have finally ordered myself a
new pair of glasses. Posh ones that automatically go dark in the sun.
I am fed up of squinting whenever I go out wearing my specs in the
summer whilst Mr W looks smug behind his reactor lenses!

10th August 2010

This summer has been fairly dry, but this morning it decided to absolutely tip in down.  Unfortunately though in my rush to leave the house this morning I couldn't find my umbrella and so ended up arriving at work somewhat damp despite the best efforts of my trusty anorak.

9th August 2010

Today was the first time that I'd seen one of Boris's bikes being used since their launch a couple of weeks ago and after having walked miles around central London this evening I was beginning to think maybe I should get myself registered to use them.

8th August 2010

We're doing a triathlon in Bexhill in a couple of weeks and so this morning we went along for a practice session organised by the race organisers. It was a good morning other than the fact that I cycled rather more than I needed to after I followed the wrong cyclists - they were on their way to Bognor, fortunately I found this out at Pevensey Bay otherwise I would have had a very long and lonely cycle back!

7th August 2010

My mum is currently putting up some Olympic hopeful sailors - there are only three of them but they do seem to have a lot of shoes (although admittedly in this picture 2 pairs are mine). They are very good at lining them up neatly in the hallway though.

6th August 2010

Sad day today.
Back in Dorset for the funeral of a family friend - despite being 81 he was still an active member of the local sailing club and so the flags were flying at half-mast.

5th August 2010

No matter how hard we try we always seem to have a mountain of ironing to be done - this is the results of this evening's work.  It looks good doesn't it?! Unfortunately though you can't see the basket on the floor still full of clothes waiting to be ironed!

4th August 2010

Earlier in the year we joined a triathlon club in order to take advantage of the swim coaching on offer.  Unfortunately though we haven't been so good at getting round to going along to any of the sessions... we are now trying to make Wednesday our regular swim night - this is our second Wednesday in row so that's a positive start!

3rd August 2010

After a weekend away camping I've been having a very busy lunchtime trying to catch up with posting all my 'pictures of the day' from the weekend.

2nd August 2010

The sun finally came out today and so we went to the beach in Lyme Regis. Sadly though I wasn't allowed an ice cream this big - Mr W thought I probably wouldn't be able to eat it all before it melted!

1st August 2010

It's summer, we're on holiday, we're in England so of course the sun isn't shining, but who cares we're going to the beach and we're going to have fun! 

31st July 2010

Despite my best efforts of leaving the directions at home, we made it to the campsite without getting lost and got our tent up in good time.  Now having a celebratory cup of tea with our friends - plus still no sign of the promised rain!  Hurrah!

30th July 2010

We're off on our way to Dorset for a weekend's camping with friends. First stop though is a night at my parents where we get a comfy bed before we head off to pitch our tent in the countryside tomorrow. Slightly put out though that after weeks of sunny weather, rain is forecast this weekend!