30th November 2010

Today we woke up to our first snow of the winter. The garden looks so pretty, but unfortunately the snow does nothing for the trains and getting home from work this evening was a nightmare.

29th November 2010

I had a opthalmologist's appointment at a local hospital this morning and as they often put drops in your eyes to dilate your pupils after which you're not allowed to drive, I decided I would walk to the hospital via Darrick and Newstead Woods. It's generally a very peaceful walk through the trees and avoids the busyness of the main roads, however today I spotted the rather charming sight of a burnt out car in the middle of the school playing fields next to the woods. They'd also clearly done a good few laps of the field before setting light to the car as the grass was all churned-up too - delightful!

28th November 2010

We had some friends round for lunch today and whilst I was flicking through my recipe books looking for something different to make for pudding I was reminded that I had a copy of my gran's cheesecake recipe that I'd never got round to trying. So try it I did and I reckon it turned out pretty well - there certainly wasn't much left on the plate afterwards!

27th November 2010

Today I got up early and braved the icy cold weather to join Mr W on one of his tube runs. I'm not quite as fit as him so he agreed we could just do a short section and we ran the Bank Branch of the Northern Line from London Bridge to Camden Town. It was surprisingly good fun, especially running through the deserted streets of the City that are normally heaving with people during the week. We ran just over 5 miles and were home by 11, I may even be tempted to go again!

26th November 2010

Today we took the day off work to go Christmas shopping. We went to Bluewater, which was busy but not nearly as painfully busy as I'm sure it will be at the weekend. Clearly I can't reveal here what we purchased but I can disclose that we bought a new cross-cut shredder for added security and also because our current shredder sounds distinctly sick everytime we try to use it!

25th November 2010

Until the Tesco delivery arrives later there is a distinct lack of food in our house, so as I was hungry having only had time for a sandwich at lunch, we decided to go for the naughty option and got a chinese takeaway for tea!

24th November 2010

It was announced yesterday that Prince William and Kate Middleton will be getting married on 29 April next year and so the BBC website today saw fit to publish a list of famous April weddings. However
they appear to have missed some key nuptials off their list, for example Mummy and Daddy-cakes - 40 years on 17 April next year - and mine and Mr W's - 7 years on 24 April!

23rd November 2010

Today has been a busy day - work, sweet-making with the Brownies and the running club AGM. Bed is looking even more inviting than usual!

22nd November 2010

It's getting a bit chilly at night now and so I decided it was time to double-up on the duvet when I was changing the sheets this evening. Unfortunately though making the bed is less easy when your hubby decides that it looks soft and inviting for a quick nap!

21st November 2010

Today we visited Mr W's parents for lunch, having stopped on the way over for a couple of quick 'cache and dashes' to reach our 400th find. This is their lovely new kitchen - it's been a long slog but the end is now in sight which is why Mummy W is looking so smiley!

20th November 2010

Whilst Mr W was running the Bakerloo line this morning, I headed out early to try and find some more geocaches to help us reach our goal of 400 by tomorrow. My jaunt took me to Downe where Charles Darwin lived for many years and although he is buried in Westminster Abbey there is a sundial and plaque on the side of St Mary's Church in Downe. I've run past the church many times but never taken the time to stop and look at this memorial to the great naturalist.

19th November 2010

I'm on a bit of a mission to find 400 geocaches by the second anniversary of us starting geocaching in November 2008. Unfortunately though we've still got six to find before Sunday and so today I went out at lunch time in search of an 'easy' one close to my office. The hint was that it was behind the face in the railings, unfortunately there were rather a lot of faces and so as I was starting to look a bit suspicious walking up and down the street I had to give up... Looks like I will be out again looking for some local ones tomorrow morning!

18th November 2010

I still wasn't feeling well this morning so as we had no food in the house Mr W popped out to the shops before work to get me some supplies for lunch. Not quite sure how much soup he thinks one girl can eat but I was definitely excited by the mini Battenburgs at the top of the soup tower!

17th November 2010

Had to take a sick day today as my head was full of cold, consequently there weren't many photo opportunities as I spent most of the day sleeping, reading and finishing off a puzzle game on my DS.

16th November 2010

Today was the day that we all took our knitted squares into Brownies. However before Carol collected them all up, we laid them all out to see how big a blanket they would make.

15th November 2010

As it wasn't raining for once I went for a walk at lunchtime today and my route took me past Trinity Square Gardens near the Tower of London, within which you can find the Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates the many thousands of men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. It having been Remembrance Sunday yesterday there were lots of poppy wreaths laid by the Memorial, but even more touching were the small remembrance crosses scribed with individual names that had been tacked next to the relevant name on the bronze plaques listing all the seafarers who lost their lives during the two conflicts.

14th November 2010

Today we went for lunch with friends and afterwards their three-year old son was introducing Mr W to all the fun apps on his Dad's iPad. He was also demonstrating what happens to your eyes if you watch too much TV or spend too much time on a computer!

13th November 2010

Mr W has a new challenge - he wants to run the routes of all the London tube lines visiting every station along on the way and raising money for Sands. He's calculated that it will involve over 300 miles of running and he's set himself the ambitious target of completing it within 9 months. This morning he set off early on his second run - last week he did the Victoria line and today he tackled the southern section of the Jubilee line. You can read about his exploits on his blog and if you're feeling generous sponsor him here: http://www.justgiving.com/runningthetubelines

12th November 2010

The desk of one of my colleagues overlooks an atrium area on the ground floor occupied by another company - the two armchairs have been there for ages and in two months I never seen anyone sitting in them. However even more bizarrely this morning a giant swordfish appeared next to them...

11th November 2010

Every week our work canteen posts the menu for the forthcoming week in our coffee areas so we know what to expect when we head up there at lunchtime. Tomorrow's main course sounds exciting, but I bet it was a bit tricky to catch!

10th November 2010

Very excitingly we went and collected our Christmas present this evening. I've agreed we can test it out at the weekend to make sure it works but then it has to be wrapped up again until 25th December!

9th November 2010

A nice relaxing way to end the day - a cup of camomile tea and a piece of cake.

8th November 2010

I thought we were supposed to be in the middle of a recession, however judging by this article in tonight's Standard it appears there are still some people with plenty of money to throw around. Apparently dog parties complete with pup-cakes, doggy bags and party games are all the rage in London at the moment - makes me think there's a word missing from the headline...

7th November 2010

This morning we helped out with the marshalling at a Mob Match between our running club and two other local clubs. It was a little chilly standing around showing people the way to go and cheering them on but at least it wasn't raining and it was definitely preferable to running up and down all the hills in High Elms Country Park!

6th November 2010

Looking at these piles of dirty washing you'd be forgiven for wondering whether Mr W and I have any clean clothes left to wear...

5th November 2010

You'll need to look closely for this one, but when we opened the curtains this morning we found that there'd been a pumpkin massacre...

4th November 2010

You see some bizarre sights in London and this one was no exception. I was walking to the tube station to go and meet Stephen for some after work drinks with his colleagues when I heard the dulcet sounds of a lone piper. Then when I got closer to the station I spotted this man in full Scottish regalia playing his bagpipes in the roof garden above the station - it was very atmospheric!

3rd November 2010

Our work canteen likes puddings in a cup. Today was banoffee pie in a cup - the biscuit and caramel were good but there was too much cream as is often the case with their puddings and bizarrely the bananas on top were dried rather than fresh.

2nd November 2010

It's suddenly got very autumnal - at the weekend there were only a few odd leaves on our decking, now you can barely see the wood for the leaves!

1st November 2010

This evening Mr W and I went out for a meal to use up my toptable points that were about to expire. Unfortunately the earliest we could eat was 8pm so we thought we'd go for a little drink beforehand but somehow the barman convinced us that a pitcher was better value for money... probably not the most sensible plan for a Monday night but it did taste nice!

31st October 2010

After yesterday's carving efforts today we got to eat the spoils of our labour in the form of soup! Fortunately it tasted good too as there's more in the freezer for another day.