Sept 2010 a

Thu 02 Sept 2010
Jen suddenly randomly has a day off work, to use up some of her time-off-in-lieu. Decides to take tuition at a swanky salon, in styling her own hair. Next, off to see the BP portrait prize at the National Portrait Gallery - which was really inspirational.
Then, across to the Saatchi gallery. Below is the entrance to the gallery, with a quirky installation of a pair of legs dangling from a suffocating bunch of red helium balloons... well that's what it looks like (pictured, right). 

Much of the artwork in this gallery really wasn't Jen's thing, so she wandered through pretty quickly. This particular work, below, (using 300 speakers) was somewhat lost on Jen for some strange reason  :-)

 
 

 
 
Above: renaissance style paintings but completed almost entirely using fluoro paint - fascinating!
After work Steve and his colleagues headed off to the pub for a few pints.

Fri 03 Sept 2010
Off to the pub after work for Jen with her workmates.
This afternoon, a friend from Tasmania (Ciaran) comes and stays with u for a few days... he's having himself a 3 month travelling stint through Europe, so hell be back twice more also.

Sat 04 Sept 2010
Today Steve had to go to work for four hours, only told about it last night! Today we've got Deb & Clancy around to help us out with our DIY problems in the backyard. So at the end of the day we now have a back gate, hurrah! We also have a new floor in the shed, which is also now lockable, hurrah! Furthermore, the trellis is back up and secured (although still needs a little work for permanency).

 
 

Once home, Steve cooked a lush dinner for us all and Dan & Elizabeth, 7 of us! Well we're all feeling a bit tired and hard worked. Dinner was great - chestnut soup; pork skewers with ginger and chili as the main, and cherry-bread pudding with ice-cream for dessert.

Tue 07 Sept 2010
Last night Jen set the alarm for an hour late - aaarrgghh! We both arrived late, but also because of a tube strike today.

Wed 08 Sept 2010
Today is our guest's birthday (Ciaran) and tomorrow he's off to explore more of Britain. This afternoon we get a new visitor Kiriel, flown in from Geneva, to cook us all a nice dinner! Ha ha, well actually Steve was feeling poorly so gave hints to Kiriel in the kitchen, who was all too happy to play with food, this being her favourite thing to do (or is it shopping?). Dinner was the very tasty classic, duck in cherry sauce.

Thu 09 Sept 2010
After work Jen has a pamper session at a Spa in Canary Wharf, including aromatherapy massage, facial and manicure. It was an OK experience but not mind blowing.

Fri 10 Sept 2010
Jen was unwell and came home from work early.

Sat 11 Sept 2010
Today Jen's feeling better and does some fun shopping with Kiriel. VIsited the markets, and the early music store in town, plus various clothes and food shops. Steve cooked up chicken poulards in orange sauce for dinner, nice one!
Below, right: happy cooks in the kitchen...

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Aug 2010 b

Sat 14 Aug 2010
Jen's birthday... 35 today! So today we've visiting Fishbourne roman palace near Chichester, while we're still on the Roman kick. The first big thing we saw in the museum was a partial plaster cast of the bottom loop of Trajan's Column. Reaction: we soooo saw the real thing earlier this week!  :-P
All in all, a nice collection of stuff, such as mosaics from various villages throughout the region. Impressively, they unearthed the hedge roots and have replanted hedges in the same locations! Nicely cut too as you'll see behind Steve here.....

Left: the famous cupid on a dolphin mosaic

Above right: a fascinating mosaic from Chilgrove.

Later in the afternoon we checked into our Hotel in Bognor Regis, then took a stroll along the promenade. Stopped for dinner overlooking the sea, we both decided to have lobster to celebrate Jen's birthday.

Sun 15 Aug 2010
This morning Steve dropped Jen off in Chichester while he drove off to Butser Ancient Farm, not far up the motorway. Steve's today doing a one-to-one cooking experience with one of his cookbook authors, Sally Grainger! Steve had her sign his copy of Apicius, under Jen's orders. He had a fab time.
Meanwhile, in Chichester, Jen whiled away much of the day watching a couple of movies in the local cinema. She also wandered about the Cathedral and Bishop's Palace gardens which were in full bloom!

Mon 16 Aug 2010
Today Jen's best friend from high school, Kylie, and her boyfriend Tony, come to stay with us for a few days. Jen has the day off work and wanders about town with them playing tour guide.

Sat 21 Aug 2010
After a four day work week, as it turns out Jen works from home today, putting in 12 hours to get the corporate Financial Statements all nicely formatted ... all 60 or so pages of it, including financial tables.

Sun 22 Aug 2010
Today, to get out and about while there's still some Summer sunshine about, we visited the Natural History Museum to see the rooms we didn't have time to visit previously. 

Really loved the treasure room, lots of big glittering gems! Jen's still fascinated by meteorite patterns (pictured, right).

Sore feet by the end of the day. This was our second visit and we still haven't managed to get around to seeing everything. Will have to visit again, but in winter when there's fewer tourists.

Tue 24 Aug 2010
A very windy day today, shaking the trees of their leaves. Unfortunately, so windy that the solid trellis in the backyard has partly come down, so here's something to have to fix - dratt it.

Sat 28 Aug 2010
Hanging out at Deb & Clancy's place, with Richard and Lena (friends we visited in Lancaster a few weeks ago). Jen, Lena and Deb all headed off to wander about the markets in Bury-St-Edmunds; and later wandered through Kentwell Hall. At Kentwell, Jen was astonished to see real actual mistletoe, growing wild! (pictured right)

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