My Flickr Site...

Hi,

If you will turn your eyes to the left, you'll notice I have posted a link to my flickr site. Like this one, it is very much a work-in-progress.

I just wanted to say, please don't be offended if you don't see yourself up there yet. I have made an arbitrary rule that I'm not allowed to go through and post old "back dated" (as it were) photos. The ones I am posting (except for the one of John in the signs section), are ones that are already on my camera, or haven't been taken yet (did that make sense?). I'm also going to try to change my headings. I don't like the "people that matter" because I don't want people who aren't there yet to think they don't matter (or people who are to get swelled heads!)

Happy Anniversary to Meeeeeee

Two years ago about this time Danni and I were hauling my suitcases from Gatwick Airport to her flat.

I remember watching the Piccadilly train pull in when we switched at...probably Green Park (it was all a blur) and thinking "what on earth am I doing?" In the past couple of years I have come to realise that we all wonder that sometimes, and when push comes to shove I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to wonder that on this side of the Pond and to wonder it with so many friends both here and in Canada.

On my anniversary of my first day at work (June 2nd) I will be celebrating by taking the day off and Dave, Drew and I will be driving from Manchster to the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomund.

"You take the high road, and I'll take the low..."

I'm so excited!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

Well, my dears, I did try. In fact, I spent a ridiculous amount of time last night taking pictures of my arse, and by the time I was done, it was sore from having spent so long in a "self-portrait of arse" position. The problem is that the impressive bruising tends to centre around my tailbone and (how to phrase it delicately) crack area, and I just didn't feel that people really wanted to see that. Besides, I hadn't realised until last night how gross it really is, and I thought it might make people feel a bit off. Instead, I am posting a shot (taken with the digital zoom from my office window) of where the incident took place.



It's a bit hard to see here, but Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally, to us locals) is the large structure to the right of the church. Just out of interest, that tall tower is the old BBC tower, and it was the site of the transmisison of the first TV signal.

Anyways, the nurse who did my stitching and I were joking that my p*rn film career would never take off now, but if anyone finds my digital camera, it might be just the break I need!

A stich in time...

...or six in my butt...

Caused by some kid falling when I was ice skating with my friend Ankur, taking me down in the process and having his skate cause a slice and puncture wound in my arse.

And yes, the ambulance guy (yes, they called an ambulance) was quite cute...figures!

My new project

I've started a Flickr account.

I know I probably shouldn't when I'm behind on my blog, but I really want to work on being a better photographer too!

I'll let you know the website as soon as I figure it out myself, and get it started sufficiently enough to not look silly (and offend people who may not be on it yet!)

And I would drive 500 miles...

Sorry about the lack of posting lately...

The same ol' story of having lots of ideas at home, not having a computer there, not having the time at work to blog anymore, and not having the money to buy a computer either!

Anyways, just quickly, I drove up to the Yorkshire Dales with Andrea who's visiting from Canada this weekend. It was tops! Saw Matt in York last night, and he's well, although more hairy these days (no worries...it looks good...although he slightly reminds me of the valiant Georgian sword-wielding, princess saving type)

More later...gotta go!

An English Canoeing Adventure

Some of you will have heard about this already but...

Last Saturday Hobbes (aka Danni), Anna and I went on a daytrip to the lovely Suffolk seaside town of Southwold, and lo and behold, across from the pier they had a large pond whereby people could rent boats. So, with the glee of a pair of five year-olds (after illegally climbing the rocks on the beach because somehow we missed the signs saying it was closed because it had become a construction site and then convincing Anna that yes, she did want to sit in the middle of a boat and learn how to paddle) we went and rented our "canoe" for £4.50 and had the run of the whooooooole pond! Our canoe was something to be envied...it was large, purple, plastic, flatbottomed and had a large sticker reading "Mohican" with a picture of a First Nations man (complete with headdress) padding his heart out.

So, after the gentleman kindly showed us which was the front and which was the back of the "canoe" (ha ha, he had no idea what experienced paddlers we really are!) and gave us our waist-high, one-third-the-regulation-sized paddles, we were off! We're quite sure we were the best paddlers that pond has ever seen...we were wildly doing figure eights around the "islands" (that incidentally were covered in nesting Canadian Geese who became really quite stroppy when we'd paddle past) and we even found a little section of inlet in which to dock our canoe and explore the surrouding area (knowing that if we got lost, a contruction site for a new subdivision was only 500 meteres away). We thought about portaging, but thought we might get accused of stealing their wonderful plastic canoe...

In all fairness to the "canoe" it was actually a bit tippier than it looked, but we felt confident we'd survive if we tipped...into the foot-and-a-half deep water...

I have enclosed some photos documenting the day...we were quite excited to discover that from the pictures, it looks quite convincingly like we were on a proper canoe trip...it's all in the camera angle!

Stay tuned for our next adventure...wine tasting in Bordeaux...