Sorry I have been out of touch. Things have been quite hectic lately. If I don't talk to you soon, I'll see you soon.

my british birthday

I'll break the blogsilence and tell you that I hurt my back two weeks ago. I haven't been able to go to work or leave the house in any meaningful way (excluding hobbling to the doctor and having a quick hobble around the block). Anyway, it was my birthday last weekend and I still had a great time despite the injury.

I was awakened by Jay bearing balloons and presents and a breakfast birthday cupcake.

I opened some cards from my family at home and abroad. Even Cleo gave me one that bore the likeness of one of her possible children. She soon became confused and adopted the birthday card.

Her maternal instincts cannot be denied.

19 April. Kent.

The long country walk.

the marathon

Azra, my sister-in-law, ran the London Marathon on 26 April. I was too over-stimulated to get a shot of her running. This is mostly due to the two-person rhinocerous costume that jogged past us just as she arrived at our location. 

It was a really fun and inspiring event. We were standing at the 25 mile mark so a lot of the runners were dead tired by that point, but were also re-energized by the balloon arch that signified they only had one mile to go. Most of the runners had their names on their shirts, so spectators could cheer them on by name. It was fun to pick people out who seemed discouraged and give them a good shout out. I also felt a bit lazy considering that I can't even imagine running that far without getting short of breath.

After the race,  we met up with Azra at the Horse Guard's Parade amid thousands of people. It was such a wonderful atmosphere on a beautiful sunny day. Everyone is so proud of her and her determination has been very inspirational.

Now, a photo of people running in a giant caterpillar costume:

End.

the sun and the space

What seems like a million weeks ago, Jay and I spent a Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Paul and Tess' house in Eynsford. We hadn't been out there since Paul's birthday in October, when I came to know the meaning of a British barbeque (have fun even though it is cold and rainy). 

This trip was much sunnier and we were able to spend loads of time outside. Saturday afternoon/evening was spent lazily drinking ales, feeding baby ducks and watching a man flatten the cricket pitch across the river. 

We were soon joined by more friends and Tess made about a thousand lasagnas for supper on Saturday which we all enjoyed in the garden. We had a joyous time outside then moved the party to the local pub, where a very strange birthday party was happening in the other half of the bar. 

After a lazy Sunday morning with an extravagent toast buffet, we headed out for an amazing long walk through the countryside. Our city eyes couldn't believe the open space, historic sights and wildlife that they beheld. 

It seemed like it would never end.

Unfortunately, it did and we had to endure a long journey back to London. The friends and country air did us good but we'll have to top up again soon. 

More photos from our country walk some other time.

4 April.

I'm a loser.

the belated easter weekend post

I decided to go analog in my documentation of our Easter weekend activities (read: I shot a roll of film). I'd say there were mixed results from the experiment. It was nice to spend some time being contemplative and careful but after I got my prints back I remembered that I am not essentially contemplative or careful. The images in this post are scanned from the prints (I know, I know) but I'll put some more up eventually when I acquire the patience to scan the negatives.

Now, back to what actually happened.

In the UK, everyone (well, surely not everyone) gets a four day weekend for Easter. Good Friday is a day off and Easter Monday, also known as the day after Easter, is also a day off. Fabulous. We had the house to ourselves on Friday so we spent some time at home working on various things and being generally productive. I also took some photos of the family pets.

Bambi was not very impressed with my film camera. She always seems interested in my digital but the old K1000 really made her nervous.

Later in the evening, I believe after some martinis made with Robbie's own Boyd and Blair Potato Vodka, I decided that chocolate chip cookies would be a fantastic idea. We rushed through a simple recipe I found on the internet so we could have cookies as soon as possible. 

Delicious. I even got to lick the spoon. 

On Saturday, Jay had to go in to Brixton for her internship and I went to Clapham to cover the darkroom at Zoom In and do some work. I am working on an community education project with them at the moment which I will hopefully be writing about in the near future once it all comes together. After I closed up, I took the bus down to the Sun and Doves where I met Jay for some dinner and drinks. 

As you can see, someone damaged their front window. After dinner, things got busier as people started showing up for the weekly Queer Complex event. We've been there twice now during the event and always regret having to leave so early to make it back for the last train to Twickenham. It's a good crowd with a good message at a good pub. All around, six thumbs up.

We went to bed and woke up and it was Easter morning and the Easter Hippo had come in the night.

He's decided to live with us. After a nice breakfast, we set out for Richmond to go to the fun fair.

We rode the Ghost Train first, which wasn't very good. Then we rode the Sizzler and I screamed like a child before collapsing in a heap of nausea. Happy Easter.

We spent some time after that walking around in Richmond before heading home for the traditional Easter Pizza.

Monday, we spent mostly outside walking by the river and trying to relax and not think about it being the end of our nice weekend. Later in the day, we all got into a fight with Cleo but then we called a truce.

The end.

4 April. Kingston.

3 April. Tottenham Court Road.

26 March. Brighton.

14 March. Twickenham train station.

14 March. Pub near London Bridge.

11 March. West side of the Golden Jubilee Bridge.

I found a new walk to the station.

9 March. Black Dog Publishing.

Rut Blees Luxemburg book launch.

sister/sister

For those of you not all up on my Facebook (I'm looking at you here, Mom), my little sister, Katie, came to visit last week with her roommate, Cat. It was really wonderful to see her and also really great to have an excuse to explore London like tourists. We went to all the places we love and some new ones.

First up, as soon as I got them into town from the airport, was the Broadway Market for Vietnamese coffee and cupcakes. We hit up a few galleries and a junk sale on Vyner Street, then hit the pub to watch football with the locals for a bit. There was a private view at Herald St. then it was off on a mission for good food. Luckily, we stumbled upon Indo where we had Budvar Dark and an extreme amount of delicious pizza. Then, the girls fell asleep at the table and we all went home.

Jay and I invited them out to Richmond on Sunday and we all had a nice long ramble in Richmond Park, preceded by sandwiches and followed by ice cream. It was unseasonably warm and sunny so there were plenty of people and dogs out enjoying the day. It was also Mother's Day in the UK, so we all headed back to the house where I stressed out over one and a half lasagnas. We served a lovely Mother's Day supper accompanied by copious amounts of wine then shipped Katie and Cat back off to central London just in time for them to miss their last Tube and receive a personal tour of Westminster by taxi.

Monday, we all visited the Design Museum then had a walk along the river to the Tate Modern. After our day of art, we had an evening of drinks at Freedom and Thai food at Busaba for dinner. We moved on to get some amazing dessert at a place across the street that I can't find the name of, but I'll take you when you come to visit. Next, it was time for another beer before I remembered I had to go to work in the morning.

Tuesday, they went shopping while I went to work. Emma and I met them for lunch at Abeno Too for Japanese pancakes. (Just amazing.) Wednesday, they went to see James McAvoy in some play while I went to work again. We met for lunchtime sandwiches and a quick coffee at Monmouth Coffee in Covent Garden (second best coffee in London). After work, we met up with Jay and my friends from work for cheap, delicious beer at the Chandos followed up by Pizza Express. Another pub (and one damaged chair) later, it was time to go home and rest up for our day trip to Brighton the next morning.

Brighton is a lovely seaside town that is only about an hour away on the train. I imagine that it is lovely in the summer. In March, it is a bit cold and windy.

We didn't spend very much time out on the pier (except inside the pub) but we did walk around to visit the endless amount of little shops in The Lanes. We also had our obligatory fish and chips and clotted cream fudge. There are so many fun things to do and see in Brighton that I can't even begin to tell you. The day was so exhaustingly wonderful that we had to settle in for a long session at Yo!Sushi to strengthen ourselves for the walk back to the train station. 

We had a long ride home and it was almost time to say goodbye for good. I met up with Katie and Cat very early in the morning on Friday for a full English breakfast before we headed to the train station to say goodbye. Their visit was such a fun break for us but it went entirely too quickly. On the bright side, I think we have brainwashed them into coming to London for grad school. Success!