31st January 2011

After several weeks indoors but staying steadfastedly green, my hyacinths have finally decided to bloom...

30th January 2011

Whilst Mr W headed out this morning to run the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line and our friends, Matt and Angela, went out to do some cycle training for a half-Ironman they're doing later in the year, I stayed at home with the animals. After several attempts I finally managed to take a photo with both kittens actually looking at the camera - Fitzroy is the ginger one and Cromarty is the tabby.

29th January 2011

Rather handily for Mr W's tube-running purposes we have some friends who live in North London between the ends of the two branches of the Northern line. So today he ran to Edgware whilst I drove round the M25 in order to pick him up and take him to our friends' house where we are staying the night together with their old chocolate labrador (Mr) Fudge and their two new kittens. Sadly Mr Fudge is not as nimble now as when we first met him but he's still as lovable!

28th January 2011

This is a sight I like to see: Mr W in the kitchen cooking dinner. Always nice not to have to cook after a day at work and a very nice meal it was too - salmon with a pesto topping with new potatoes and buttered leeks. Yum!

27th January 2011

It's funny the things you don't notice as you go about your daily business, take this statue outside the BBVA building on Cannon Street. I walk past it every morning on my to work but only actually noticed it for the first time the other evening when I was walking home on that side of the road (normally I'm on the other side and so don't go past it)!

26th January 2011

Another evening and another load of washing churning around in our tumble-dryer. We've only had it a year but yet I wonder how we ever managed to get anything dry in the winter before we had it - the house must have resembled a Chinese laundry!

25th January 2011

This term at Brownies we're doing the Healthy Heart badge and as part of that we made smoothies this evening. The Brownies all brought some fruit and then chose what they wanted to put in them, there were a few interesting ones - banana and blueberry, and apple, strawberry and melon - although the majority had a strawberry and banana theme!

24th January 2011

Although more and more tall buildings are being built in Canary Wharf and at various other random locations in London, such as the Razor at Elephant and Castle and the Shard at London Bridge, when you are in the City the omnipresent sight is the Swiss Re building or the Gherkin as it is more commonly known.

23rd January 2011

Today was Mr W's Mum's big day and so after a nice lunch out in Sevenoaks we came home and had some tea and birthday cake!

22nd January 2011

You saw them in their naked, unadorned state yesterday and now here they are, resplendent on my new cake-stand filled with cream and covered with chocolate. I present to you my first attempt at making profiteroles...

21st January 2011

For Christmas my in-laws bought me a tiered cake stand so I thought it would be nice to use it to serve pudding when Mr W's mum comes over at the weekend and a couple of weeks ago I had the bright idea to make some profiteroles. Thus this evening I have rapidly been learning to make choux pastry in order to make the buns to be filled with cream and smothered in chocolate tomorrow...

20th January 2011

It's always nice to catch up with friends and this evening we went out for dinner with Juliet and Lindsey, who we met whilst on holiday in Turkey last summer. Sadly the weather wasn't quite as warm and sunny in London this evening as it was when we were in Turkey, but the company was still good!

19th January 2011

Mr W's mum is coming to stay on Saturday night so we were getting in some early preparation and pumping up the airbed this evening.

18th January 2011

Nice weather at lunchtime today, so I decided to go for a walk and take a look at the river...

17th January 2011

Miserable journey home this evening - the train was running slow anyway as there was congestion around Lewisham and then when we got to Grove Park the driver announced that there was no power on our train. After investigation he decided it couldn't be fixed and so we were all thrown off the train and left to wait for another train to arrive. Eventually, after not being able to squeeze on the first train that arrived, I got home nearly two hours after leaving the office - normally it takes about an hour!

16th January 2011

Two weeks after building the new wardrobe we have finally got round to completely emptying the old canvas one. Next stage - deconstruction!

15th January 2011

This evening Mr W has been very organised and laid out all his bits for his tube run tomorrow morning - I am not quite sure about the inclusion of a chocolate orange for fuel during the run though...

14th January 2011

Unfortunately Mr W had to work late tonight and so as I was hungry when I got home I cooked my tea straightaway. Fortunately it was only heating up some bolognaise sauce from the freezer and cooking some pasta, so it was easy for me to prepare our two separate portions at different times.

13th January 2011

Mr W is out this evening and so there was no need for me to cook a 'wondrous' meal, instead I opted for tea and toast. On one slice I put home-made plum jam and on the other, Marmite. Now they say you either 'love it or hate it' and I have to confess I am very much in the first camp - there are few things I'd rather have on my toast!

12th January 2011

There was no contest for today's 'photo of the day' - after appearing on the local paper's website last Friday, Mr W and his tube-running exploits have now made it into the print edition. I am so proud of his efforts and hope that he manages to raise lots of money for SANDS.

11th January 2011

Today we received a Christmas present, re-branded as a New Year present, from some friends. Rather amusingly it was a set of magnets cunningly packaged to look like a giant iPhone!

10th January 2011

I do find that newspaper headlines have a tendency to be rather melodramatic. Take tonight's one for example, I mean obviously a tube strike while the world's eyes are on London isn't going to look great, or inspire confidence for next year's Olympics. However I hardly think it's a real threat to the Royal Wedding since I can't imagine that Wills, Kate or any of their guests are planning taking the tube to the Abbey.

9th January 2011

Mr W is very dedicated to his tube running project, which is why he left the house at 6.45am on a Sunday morning in order to catch the train up to London and embark on the latest leg of his journey. Meanwhile I just rolled over went back to sleep for another couple of hours, but I was with him in spirit - honest!

8th January 2011

This afternoon we went to see 'We Will Rock You' at the Dominion Theatre. The storyline wasn't the most inspiring but the music, a collection of Queen hits, was great. A very enjoyable New Year treat!

7th January 2011

When walking to the station after work this evening I noticed that now its sale is almost finished, Next are advertising the arrival of their spring/summer collection. I popped in the store on my way past to check-out the last remnants of the sale and saw that the new collection includes bikinis, which to my mind on 7th January, when it's cold and wet outside, seems rather optimistic!

6th January 2011

Internet banking is great so long as you can remember the plethora of user IDs, passwords and security codes required to access your accounts. Tonight I wanted to take some money out of a savings account but unfortunately the bank had the added security of a card reader to use for transactions - it would have been great if only I could have remembered my PIN number! In the end I had to ring up for a new one, which also apparently requires a new card, and so whilst I was on the phone I arranged for the money to be transferred which means by the time I next want to move some money I will have probably forgotten the PIN for the new card and so the process will start again...

5th January 2011

Twelfth night tonight and so we've spent the evening taking down our Christmas decorations. It feels a bit sad that Christmas is over for another year, but it's nice to reclaim some space in our lounge again! Now just got to put the boxes back in the loft...

4th January 2011

Christmas may be over for another year, but this present brought a smile to my face again when I slipped my feet into them on my return home from my first day back at work.

3rd January 2011

In an effort to ignore the fact that today was the last day of the Christmas break we went out for a country walk to do some geocaching and followed it up with lunch out in Sevenoaks. The walk was mostly on footpaths and bridleways running through a private estate and one part took us past a large flock of sheep! They didn't seem too bothered by us though...

2nd January 2011

For Christmas my brother-in-law and his Belgian girlfriend gave us a waffle-maker so that we could enjoy some traditional Belgian waffles. This morning we used it for the first time - in an effort to be healthy I topped the waffles with some chopped banana but then after taking the photo we also added a generous portion of golden syrup which probably negated any health benefits from the banana. Never mind, they tasted good!

1st January 2011

Welcome to 2011!
We started the year with a run/walk with friends from the running club followed by tea and cakes at someone's house - very nice!

31st December 2010

Whilst shopping the other day we also bought a new wardrobe, so Mr W spent this evening starting to build it - the frame and doors are all done, just the inside drawers, shelves and rail to fit now.