Steve n Jen's UK adventures

Jan 2012 a

2012-01-15T18:58:00.001Z

Sun 01 Jan 2012

Happy New Year!

Sat 07 Jan 2012

Jen went a bit silly on ebay over the holidays, so today we hired a van and Steve fabulously drove half way across the UK and back, to pick up a coupe of very nice tables.

Steve now has a very manly leather-topped desk, and we've acquired ourselves a very nice 1930's antique oak extending dining table. Our usual dining table is now Jen's computer desk next to Steve's. More desk space all round.

Above: the new-to-us antique oak dining table

Above: Steve's computer desk

Sun 08 Jan 2012

To finish off the weekend, we had a nice dinner date together, then went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie - which was fab!

Tue 10 Jan 2012

Steve caught up with Nick and his new fiancee Juliet over dinner and some pints at the Breeze Louise at Euston Station - a pub with 17 real ales on cask and 11 traditional ciders.

Sun 15 Jan 2012

Jen helped Dan and Elizabeth with some royal sewing projects.

Otherwise it's been a very quiet fortnight, nothing much to report.

Back to work tomorrow, still haven't won the lottery, darn it!

Dec 2011

2012-01-02T13:50:00.002Z

Fri 02 Dec 2011

So here is our lovely Christmas tree... click on the pic to see it larger.

Sat 03 Dec 2011

This morning we drove up to the Cambridge area for SCA event Yule Ball. Steve spent some training time with his newest squire Alex, and fought in the tourney. Jen asked how did the tourney go - Steve said yeah I did OK. The penny didn't drop for Jen until Steve was given the winners baldric in the evening. Here are a few photos from the evening's revelry...

Above: Alaric and his newest squire Alex.

Mon 12 Dec 2011

Jen's work team were abuzz with the latest exciting news from our team's Graduate Comms Officer, Ashley. She won a young entrepeneur competition (she co-owns startup business LOUD fashion) and was flown business class to South Africa for the weekend to meet and chat with Richard Branson! Wow! Here she is (right) having given him a little bow tie she and her business partner designed for the ocassion.

Fri 16 Dec 2011

After a pretty hectic week at work, Jen's team took the afternoon off to celebrate the end of the year and Christmas together, playing ping pong in the Shoreditch area.

Mon 19 Dec 2011

Today Jen considered not going to work but went anyway. Over the weekend she'd had a few little moments of dizziness. She was quite grey and pale for much of the day, and was in a pretty bad way after the bus ride home... straight to bed.

Next day called in sick, saw the doctor in the afternoon, was diagnosed with labrynthitis, and told to take the rest of the week off work (and 3 tablets a day). The next few days she slept an average of about 12-14 hours each night, just exhausted. Slowly over the week the dizziness was less frequent.

Steve brilliantly took care of Jen when he wasn't at work.

Sat 24 Dec 2011

This morning Jen was still a little bit dizzy on occasion, but OK. We packed and headed over to Mary's place (near Bristol) to commence our week of cat sitting.

Sun 25 Dec 2011

Merry Christmas!

Jen's feeling OK today, hooray! Still taking it easy though.

Played with Mary's cats again today - Jazz and Pixie.

We opened the pressies we brought with us, mainly DVDs and some books, plus heraldic embroidery from Mary (thank you)! Jen got a bunch of second hand Organ Pipes, which we hope to work into making a portative organ - a medieval musical instrument - a little portable pipe organ you play with one hand and pump a bellows with the other. It'll take a bit of time to clean up the pipes though. This will hopefully be our crafty project for the year.

Tue 27 Dec 2011

After a few restful days, we finally ventured out of the house for a couple of hours, and wandered about the pretty little English village of Lacock, filled to bursting with "quaint".

Next, we stopped in for lunch at the George Inn, and checked out the stuffed dog on the mantel. It's a Turnspit Dog, a tiny type of dog which was bred for this work. Like a guinea pig you put it in the wheel and this then connects through cogs and chain to turn the spit by the hearth.

Wed 28 Dec 2011

Steve has cooked tasty dinners every night this week. Good hubby!

Today we visited 'Arthur's Stone' near the Welsh border. It's actually a late Neolithic chambered tomb, but the local legend has King Arthur fighting a giant here, who broke the top of this stone structure with its elbow when it fell.

As it was darned cold out here, and windy to boot!

Sat 31 Dec 2011

Stayed up for the New Year countdown, celebrating with Cava, and watching the London fireworks live on BBC1. Next morning we watched the Sydney fireworks on the net.

Nov 2011 b

2011-11-28T19:46:00.000Z

Fri 18 Nov 2011

Alex of Derlington, Steve's newest squire, arrived late tonight, having travelled down from Aberdeen (known to Alex as Mordor).

Sat 19 Nov 2011

Morning fighter practise session with (His Highness) Robert de Canterbury (Dan), many new things for Alex to soak up.

And after lunch, Dan headed off to the local SCA revel, meanwhile Steve and Alex went shopping for dinner and staunchly did an afternoon fighter training session just the both of them.

Jen decided she simply had to put up the Christmas tree! In the evening, Steve cooked up a mighty fine lamb dish with roast veggies, which was followed by some drinking and chatting about "chivalry and stuff" ensued until the wee hours of the morning.

Sun 20 Nov 2011

A final late morning training session before Alex headed back up north. Bye Alex, see you again soon!

Tue 22 Nov 2011

This morning Jen took the Porsche in to have a fitting kit inserted, which will allow for a hardtop (car roof) to be put into place and used. Don't have the hardtop yet, but its only a matter of time.

Tonight Steve headed to the other side of town and spent a few hours learning about and practising carving roasts and various joints of meat.

Wed 23 Nov 2011

Steve headed off to fighter practice to continue the training of Robert and others. Its nice to see "new tricks" being added to people's repertoires.

Fri 25 Nov 2011

So today we had the day off work. We got up early, arrived at Deb and Clancy's for a second breakfast and to car pool with them up to northern Wales for Richard's big 50th birthday bash. Richard had hired a fancy manor house by the sea, for a week long celebration with friends. The Friday night party theme was 70s and 80s David Bowie type attire. Sorry didn't take photos!

Sat 26 Nov 2011

This morning Jen awoke with a sore ankle (must have slept on it funny) and so Clancy and Deb did some sight seeing at the nearby Conwy Castle without us. Meanwhile at the manor house, Richard was gleefully watching DVDs from Steve's Hammer Horror (etc) collection... which included the original Flash Gordon (Buster Crabb), Fu Man Chu, and Hawk the Slayer.

Finally dusk fell and it was time to get changed for the evening's theme of Hellfire Club, which is to say, 17th century attire. Semi-military for the men, and corsetry for the ladies. Here are photos of our hired costumes:

Sun 27 Nov 2011

This morning on the way back to Deb and Clancy's we stopped in at the Wroxeter Roman City and reconstruction of a roman townhouse.

After a mighty fine meal at the nearby Horseshoe Inn pub, we also did a spot of gift-shop shopping at the Attingham historic house.

Fially, we arrived back at Deb and Clancy's place (near Cambridge) and played a couple of games of 500 (cards) before finally getting ourselves back home in London.

Nov 2011 a

2011-11-15T21:29:00.000Z

Wed 02 Nov 2011

Tonight we went and saw Tori Amos live at the Royal Albert Hall. We bought the tickets something like about 3 months ago; and we had the most amazing seats waaay up the front!

Tori did not disappoint - she's a brilliant performer as ever.

Sat 05 Nov 2011

Today Steve headed out into the miserable cold and made his way to Wembley stadium for his chance to see Lockyer play before he retires. The game was England vs Australia, and yes the Aussies won.

Sun 06 Nov 2011

We took Dan and Elizabeth out to see the new Tin Tin movie. It was a good bit of fun, and was a good rolling together of a few storylines.

Afterwards Dan was kind enough to drill tiny little holes into Jen's two chandeliers, so she can add crystal to them. Thanks Dan!

Sun 13 Nov 2011

A week later on, and there's nothing much to report... except Jen finally got over a nasty headcold, just about when it seems Steve's coming own with one.

Over this weekend Jen worked on "knitting" together chains of crystal and hanging these on the chandeliers. Finally they're complete! (except for bulbs and full wiring that is)

Tonight Kev joined us to see the Sister of Mercy live in concert. Unfortunately the sound quality where we were sat was pretty awful - the whole concert was loud without being crisp, and thank goodness for earplugs. Steve was completely chuffed to get himself a couple of new T-shirts.

The 'Sisters' are renowned for weaving through the mist of their fog machine, so about all you see of them on-stage much of the time are silhouettes.

Oct 2011 b

2011-11-06T10:20:00.000Z

Tue 18 Oct 2011

Here's a photo of the Acelor Mittal Orbit about 3 weeks from completion of the external structure.

This appears to be London's answer to the Eiffel Tower; it overlooks the Olympic Park, and will be furnished and ready for business by mid 2012 in time for the Olympics. This is the view from Jen's work's roof terrace.

Sat 22 Oct 2011

So today we went back out to Henley-on-Thames, and picked up our "new" 11 year old Porsche Boxster. Steve's grin was stuck on his face the whole way driving it back home! Here's some pictures driving past Westminster and the Tower of London, and finally, safely parked at home.

Jen finished packing and we headed out to Heathrow where a weepy Jen went on through Security alone.

Sun 23 Oct 2011

Jen's still in the air at this stage; meanwhile Steve used his Laurel powers for evil, concocting a hideous mess known as EPIC mealtime - "fast-food lasagne". This thing has a bottom layer of 6 Big Macs, then a layer of Jack Daniels meat sauce and bacon strips and cheese, then a layer of 6 quarter pounders, the JD meat sauce again, bacon and cheese. Definitely a heart attack with every teaspoon! Apparently very yummy, so the work-mates said.

Mon 24 Oct 2011

Jen finally touches down in Brissie, and sleeps much of the day. In the evening, Giles was good enough to play chauffeur for Jen while she's jetlagged - and she surprised many of her old SCA friends by appearing at the local Fighter Practice.

Tue 25 Oct 2011

Jen wandered about South Bank parklands and beach overlooking the city. Wow, absolute paradise in the heart of the city!

Her high-school best friend (Kylie) picks her up and they spend the afternoon chatting, then a fab dinner and overnight stay at Kylie and Tony's place. Best to visit a few days out from their wedding (the purpose of Jen's visit) rather than only a day or two before.

Above: Tony, Kylie, and their "fur children"

Wed 26 Oct 2011

Mmmm, Red Rooster..... say no more!

In the evening Jen brought along fish and chips dinner for her in-laws. Here's Steve's mum outside the family home where he and his 7 older siblings all grew up.

Thu 27 Oct 2011

After over sleeping, Jen headed off to her sister Kathy's place to hang out. It was great to catch up! Then onward to Stanzi and Gab's place, (thanks for the Red Rooster dinner guys!) where Liza, Leisel, Morde and Giles also dropped in to say hi and catch up. We all left feeling it was too soon to leave, but everyone did have work to go to tomorrow.

Fri 28 Oct 2011

This morning's mission: to buy twisties, mint slice, and assorted other tasty aussie treats to bring home to London.

In the evening, Jen had dinner at a restaurant n Bulimba with Liza, Leisel, Morde, Giles and Buzz, then headed off to the movies and watch "In Time" together. A good thought provoking film, actually fairly well acted too.

Sat 29 Oct 2011

The big day has arrived! Jen enjoyed being the cool person who turned up from the furthest away (other side of the planet), and had several compliments on the speech she gave too. The wedding seemed to go quite straight forward, and the reception was a relaxed affair too. Kylie and Tony of course had very sore cheeks from smiling after all the wedding photos of them were done.

Bridesmaids Michelle and Summer got up to mischief with Jen, at the reception

The reception wound up quite early, about 7.30pm, so Jen made her exit and freshened up and changed at home, and headed out to a Halloween party while the night was still young. The party's host, Nemain, was completely gobsmacked and speechless for the first minute or so, not believing her eyes. "I was in the area and thought I'd pop in" maybe not the most original line, but fun to say anyway. Great fun to hang out with old friends!

Meanwhile, Steve drove up past Cambridge to attend a proper American style Halloween party with Deb and Clancy.

Sun 30 Oct 2011

Worryingly, this was today's newspaper headline in Brisbane.

Jen spent a couple of hours trying the ascertain whether her flights home to London, scheduled for tomorrow, would be affected. But there was simply no getting through to Qantas' switchboard which had a meltdown with this major action.

Tonight Jen enjoyed a traditional Sunday night dinner with her family, as part of a final farewell before (hopefully) jetting off back to London tomorrow.

Mon 31 Oct 2011

Jen's mum took her to the airport a bit early so we could ask what the deal is.

As it turns out, Jen's flight would be the first international Qantas flight to depart Bribane in 2 days. It was delayed for an hour waiting on the CASA to give the go ahead for Qantas to resume flying, but that still allowed for a leisurely 2 hour transfer at SIngapore.

Tues 1 Nov 2011

Jen's flight touched down at Heathrow pretty much as scheduled. Steve had the day off, and we were very happy to be reunited, and to catch up with each others' adventures (and unpack the twisties).

Oct 2011 a

2011-10-16T09:38:00.001Z

Sat 01 Oct 2011

Steve and Clancy headed off to Uffington Castle for a super simple SCA event, which was essentially a cool fighter practise. No facilities, no food, no fee. Just turn up and enjoy the splendid view on this national monument. Lots of fun had by all. It was an unseasonally warm (and sunny) day reaching almost 30 celcius in London and about 25 at Uffington! Thanks go to Nesta for these photos of the event.

Meanwhile, Jen enjoyed some window shopping (retail therapy) in London, picking up a couple of new work shirts for steve and a nice blue sweater for herself all for under 50 quid.

Sun 02 Oct 2011

Jen worked on her latest fad of polishing brass. But first, a chemical paint stripper was needed on this little cherub chandelier. Several hours of polishing later and you can see the thing IS actually brass under all that paint.

Throughout the next week we evaluate our finances and Steve does an awful lot of home cooking and lunch preparation across the next couple of weeks....

Weekend 8-9 Oct 2011

Jen continued her brass polishing frenzy, but this time on an ornate 5-arm chandelier. This one is much for fiddly/intricate and unfortunately takes much longer to polish. As these are brass, Jen's finishing them off with a layer of Renaissance Wax to prevent tarnishing.

Jen plans to add crystal to both these chandeliers and then, who knows, maybe sell them back on to ebay. She's just getting much satisfaction from doing these up, but after these two perhaps that's enough, and it'll be on to the next project for her.

Above: "before"

Above: Jen making a smelly polishing mess on the dining table

Above: spot the difference. Polishing has a certain satisfaction to it.

Above: "after"

Meanwhile, Steve's work is paying for him to go on a new Cisco course which would've cost us about £2,000! Nice one.

Sat 15 Oct 2011

Jen has a little accident with a Porsche.

Actually, to be more accurate, after a test drive she went to close the bonnet and while trying to lift it to test if it was shut properly, the sales assistant closed it on her fingers! ("The car bit me!" she said) After some swearing and a few tears, she went into shock. This didn't bode well for the salesmen. After some discussion and the drive home we decided it will be best to have the car looked at "under the hood" and professionally assessed - well the car is over 10 years old after all. Now the waiting game.

In the afternoon Steve managed to get the new Router installed and working, and surprise surprise our flaky, super-slow broadband is now blisteringly fast once more. Hurrah!

Sun 16 Oct 2011

Early this morning Clancy came over and picked up Steve to go to the Basingstoke fighter practise. All of next week Steve will be on his Cisco course.

Sep 2011 b

2011-09-26T21:29:00.004Z

Thu 22 Sep 2011
After work we had a super quick early dinner then headed off to the airport. After some travel delays we were very lucky to catch our plane and were picked up in Nuremberg by our wonderful hosts Mark and Kathryn (aka Cadogan and Eufemia).

Fri 23 Sep 2011
This afternoon Mark took to the local castle to have a wander about...

Jen had packed and brought with us a lederhosen costume for Steve (gotta love ebay) and this afternoon Kathryn took Jen shopping to buy herself a Dirndl - the traditional dress to wear at Oktoberfest. Kathryn loaned her a blouse and necklace, so the look was complete! For dinner we caught up with a mutual friend Thorvaldr, enjoying hearty traditional Bavarian food. The evening was spent drinking and playing pool until very late.

Sat 24 Sep 2011
Our wondrous hosts had organised train tickets, and after two hours listening to cheering/chanting Italians (pumped up for Oktoberfest), we arrived in Munich!

From a Brissie perspective, Oktoberfest is like Ekka's sideshow alley on 'roids, but with loads of drinking, and dressing in costumes. It's mind boggling to realise all these enormous buildings and rides are all only temporary!

Above: This huge statue (a rare permanent feature, as is the building behind it), apparently looks over and protects the Oktoberfest fairground, which is empty most of the year.

Below: Some examples of the amazing and outrageous rides and amusements....

Amazing that this is all just temporary - even this huge waterfall, above.

The mouse circus was very cute - although essentially
a very large cabinet of a couple o' hundred mice running
around, climbing things, on the treadmill, etc.

Above: We went on this traditional very old rollercoaster ride which is mainly powered by gravity. Jen thought for a few seconds we'd seriously jetison off the tracks and die, but thankfully nothing like that happened.

Below: We did also go on this Original 1920's merry-go-round style ride complete with brass band (see the band in the photo). Here is a very short video showing the fun on the 1920's merry-go-round. Check out the cogs making this thing rotate:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=11gCGfcVr9o

At the end of the day, Steve ticked off his list of things to get done at Oktoberfest: gingerbread acquired, sausage eaten, and fresh local brew downed.


Nice wood carvings; nice costumes.

Sun 25 Sep 2011

And for our last day we had a lazy morning.
Steve cooked eggs benedict again for our hosts (for the 2nd day running). In the afternoon we enjoyed a visit to Nuremberg.

We had an alfresco lunch (alfresco - not something we get to do much in rainy London) with Steve enjoying the locally made sausages, sauerkraut and brew. After lunch, Mark and Kathryn led us to the famous Durer's House, located opposite the city wall. The house is where Durer spent his later years and died. The interiors have been redecorated to a style reminiscent of how it might once have looked during Durer's time.

Above: Durer's Haus

A simple water tap - no plumbing required (removable sink)

Above: view from Durer's workshop, Nuremberg

Above: Next, our hosts led us up and around the castle walls with stunning views over the city.

Above: Now that's what I call a door! Nuremberg Castle's final gate.

Below: We wandered back down to the main square and onward home again.

Thanks to Mark and Kathryn for playing host for us!

Sep 2011 a

2011-09-17T15:01:00.002Z

Fri 02 Sep 2011
After work Steve was a trooper and got scrubbing to clean the rear decking.

Sat 03 Sep 2011
Steve continued his legendary scrubbing away at the back decking. Jen worked on the narrow walkway bit, using the little hand-held brush - ending up with large broken blisters on two knuckles. But the cleaning's all done now, yay us!

Wed 07 Sep 2011
So tonight Kiriel arrived and is staying with us, hurrah!

Thu 08 Sep 2011
After work, Steve picked up the hire car, since our own car is having reliability issues. Later in the afternoon, we helped Kiriel get a replacement for a laptop she'd bought earlier that day, as this one was faulty. Then onward to dinner at Frankie and Benny's.

Above: new couple Finn + Mary

Fri 09 Sep 2011
Up stupid-early this morning, and off to the nearby Billingsgate Market. This fish market has been going in London since 1327! So we bought 2 x 3kg Salmon, then headed toward Chippenham where Edith and John's wedding would be taking place tomorrow. We handed over the fish, and the alcohol we had picked up at John's aunty's place on the way. Kiriel and Steve got to work helping out with wedding food preparations.
As agreed, Jen had 100m of bunting passed her way, as well as a couple of large rolls of blue gauze, and was set loose on making a very basic Village Hall look like a nice place to get married.
After some debate about table layout, Jen and helpers (such as Mary) got stuck in setting up the hall. We hid the noticeboards behind fabric, created a central isle for "walking down the aisle", hid the kitchen serving hatch, and added a central focus with swags of the bunting and gauze.

After the day's hard work, we all sat to dinner in the nearby pub with the bride and groom, who were happy to shout us all a drink.

Sat 10 Sep 2011
Kiriel showed us how to create and add nice gauze bows to the candelabras. She also suggested we fold the serviettes into decorative shapes since we had a couple of hours spare before guests would arrive... now that the hall was all nicely set up and ready to go. Various people pitched in throughout the day, with the food preparations.

Above L-R: Steve, Kiriel, Paul and Soph - staunch workers all.

The groom had arrived 2 hours before Wedding Time, for a sound-check, then disappeared off-site to make himself presentable. Finally, running just a few minutes late, the Bride arrived!

And the rest of the day's festivities appeared to go ahead without a hitch. In the evening, the place was well and truly rocking, a very energetic party. The two of us were pretty exhausted and skipped off "home" (to Mary's place) early, at about 10.30pm.

Above: John sang for his bride.

Our new hall table

Sun 11 Sep 2011
After a lovely breakfast of omelettes cooked up by Finnian, we packed our new 2nd-hand table into the back of the car, (thanks to Richard and Lena for picking it up for us, in the 1st place) then the two of us collected Kiriel from her B&B, and rendezvoused with Finn and Mary (and others) in Avebury. It was sunny but super-windy, as the remains of a hurricane headed toward the UK.

Above: Kiriel at Avebury

Thu 15 Sep 2011
Steve's 44th birthday! Jen booked him a Carving course (food carvery, that is) which he'll attend late in November. After work we met up and saw the BP portrait prize at the National Portrait Gallery. Then we scoffed down succulent lamb kebabs at Leicester Square.

Above: the birthday boy!


Above: Jen let her hair down after it'd been scrunched up all day

Fri 16 Sep 2011
After work, Jen got busy putting the first coat on the remainder on the rear decking. The next morning she put a complete second coat on the whole lot. Job done and protected just in time for autumn and winter - the forecast is for a week or more of constant rain from tomorrow onwards. Boo hiss.

Aug 2011 b

2011-09-03T13:29:00.001Z

Sat 06 Aug 2011
Back home and relaxing after our 10 year wedding anniversary week in France.

Mon 08 Aug 2011
About 10 minutes before the rioting kicked off in Hackney (London), Steve went past 11 riot vehicles, enroute home from work. Jen's workplace closed early today after reports of the local Stratford shopping centre closing. We both got home safe & sound, although Steve did strategically place "sporting equipment" about the house in case he needed to use it on any possible intruders.

Tue 09 Aug 2011
Jen sent home early from work again, due to possible rioting. Actually, where she works in Stratford is extremely close to where the building works for the Olympics is taking place - so there's a very strong police presence in the area, no trouble broke out here. Steve was also sent home early, but no trouble near his work either.

Thu 11 Aug 2011
It finally seems the authorities have managed to halt the civil unrest and looting in London. So now things are basically business as usual.

Sat 13 Aug 2011
Shopping online trying to find somethings for us to wear to Oktoberfest...

Sun 14 Aug 2011
Today is Jen's birthday, and what she really really wants is to have a DIY problem finally fixed. The trellis has been broken for so long now, and finally we've spent a few hours together and fixed it.

Oh and Jen says thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes.

Fri 19 Aug 2011
So we both have the day off work, and we got up early and Steve drove us to Raglan Castle in Wales. Stayed at nearby hotel. Hooray for showers!
Steve run the Pas d'Armes early morning at the same time Jen ran a costume class. Steve fought throughout the castle in the afternoon in numerous scenarios, and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

SCA campsite at Raglan Castle, Wales

Steve looking his finest in his best armour pieces

SCA combat on the bridge

SCA fighters relaxing during court

Guillet pulls a face whilst faking a broken leg.
Actually he had injured his knee during the fort assault.

Relaxing with friends in the evening by the fire.

Sat 20 Aug 2011
Today was the big Coronet tournament, which Robert and Genevieve won and were invested as Prince and Princess in the late afternoon. Way to go guys!
Here's our youtube video of the Coronet Tournament: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9rTQ3zWxKM
In the afternoon, Steve finally got to fight with all the other trainees and fighters from the local Thamesreach group, in the "Oxford Rolls" tourney. Pick-ups later with Elffin were loads of fun for Alaric.
After court, Steve took on a new squire, Alex of Derlington, in a short ceremony on the bridge.

Alex of Derlington, new squire of House Bangor

Arnod and Sorscha - what a cute couple.

Spectators watching the tourney.

Floris and Robert (seated) between bouts

Ozbeg talking with Signy and Elffin


The consorts with the Princess during the Tournament's Final (best of 3)....

The victors proclaimed - Genevieve and Robert.

Mary and Elffin chatting after the tourney

Elffin, Racaire and others enjoying Alaric's
cooking from "Vesuvius" his craticula.

Robert and Genevieve being invested as
Prince and Princess of Insulae Draconis

The new Royals

Sun 21 Aug 2011
This morning, to celebrate 20 years since first authorising as a heavy fighter, Steve held the bridge against all comers for two hours.

Yep, Alaric's still holding the bridge

Alaric and Guillet pose on the bridge, Raglan Castle.

SCA combat in the Fountain Courtyard

After helping to pack down Deb and Clancy's tent (thanks guys for your stirling hospitality over the weekend), we headed off to pick up our latest ebay purchase, a stonky great sideboard from Mary's place; and then bedside tables from Elffin on the way home. Enjoyed a pleasant backyard dinner with Elffin, Signy, Tina and Deb & Clancy.

The sideboard, with dolphin motif carvings....

Thu 25 Aug 2011
Apples growing in the backyard!

So tonight we went and saw the new Conan movie. Jen was Not impressed - the old Arnie movies were better, and that's saying something!

Fri 26 Aug 2011
Tonight Jen farewelled colleague Lucy who's off to make a nice leap in her career and pay scale. Glad for her, but sad to see her go.

Sat 27 Aug 2011
Hurrah! Another long weekend - love it!

Aug 2011 a

2011-08-06T19:07:00.003Z

The 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Brittany, France.

Warning: this blog posting has about 40 photos, and that's after whittling down to the best ones!

Mon 01 Aug 2011
Early in the morning we flew into Nantes and picked up our hire car for five fab days of touring about Brittany. On the way to the chateau in Agneaux (near Saint Lo), we stopped at the ruined Hambye Abbey. The sky was brilliantly blue and the temperature just fine.

Above: All the comforts of a castle

After a spot of bother with the satnav we arrived at our chateau. The room was a little sparse but it was nice to be staying in a 17th century castle. (a different building than shown here).

Above: Chateau Agneaux

Tue 02 Aug 2011
After about 12 hours of sleep, we unshuttered the window boards and discovered a drizzly day. So we headed straight to our next B&B, with views of Le Mont St Michel: the 'Chateau Les Hauts.' Apparently this grand 18th century building has been in this family's possession since it was built. It is bursting with antique furniture and nick-nacks, such that it felt like coming home to a long lost aunty's place. Here's our hostess (Suzanne) is in the breakfast room (at right).

All rooms at Chateau Les Hauts have a distant view of Le Mont St Michel

Aaahhh - this is NOT too good for me!

Wed 03 Aug 2011
The sun returned today, and after advice from our hostess we decided to leave the visit to Le Mont St Michel until the early evening. So Steve drove us about for a few hours, seeking out pre-historic monuments.

From top left clockwise: Dolent in Quintin;
Le Champ Dolent; and the last two in Locarn

(Don't worry, he's not actually pushing the stone - it's just staged)

Other things we happened across in our travels were the ruined roman Temple de Mars near Corsuel (the stones included shiny flecks) and a really lovely medieval church in Kergrist Moelou.

Left: inside the church at Kergrist Moelou - if you click to enlarge you'll see the entire ceiling is painted in what looks like an early 16th century style. Very nicely done.

OK, so on to our visit to Le Mont Saint Michel... This is the (UNESCO) medieval pilgrimage site which is cut off from the mainland at high tide. It's about a half hour walk from the car park, as the nearest carpark does get flooded at high tide.

The whole island is always open for free, but to see the abbey and cathedral on top the evening tour (or rather, access, at least) is available from 7pm. In high summer the sun is setting at about 10pm anyway, and the evening programme includes audio visual displays and a few ongoing live performances. One huge vaulted room contained a flautist, further along there was a cellist.

Atop the cathedral is a huge statue of archangel Michael, re-gilded in 1987. Here are some photos....

In case you're wondering - yes this is the place which inspired the Disney logo!

Steve lights a candle

The Scriptorium decorated with large historiated initials.
It is also known as the Knight's Hall.

Here you can see the ripples as the tide gushes in
faster than a horse can gallop!

Above: Not a view for the faint-hearted

Above and below: The cloisters

A copy of the gilded statue atop Le Mont St Michel's cathedral

Above: The medieval village at the foot of Le Mont looks eerie in the dim light

One last look up at the cathedral from the
village walls / ramparts, which act like a boardwalk.

Jen had a few moments of quiet panic when we went to leave the way we'd come in - the ocean was rapidly surging higher and higher through the gate! Will we have to swim our way out? Thankfully we'd noticed large numbers of tourists walking elsewhere and Steve then discovered the exit to the raised causeway.

We recommend anyone planning this trip do take jackets and flashlights with you. Oh and you need to be OK with stairs - lots of them. Trudging along the half hour in the dark back to the carpark at 11pm wasn't so great. Driving back to the B&B without the satnav would have been impossible!

Thu 04 Aug 2011
After a bit of a sleep in, Steve drove us south-west toward Carnac. On the way we had a look around (and thankfully found) the Maison Trouvee Dolmen, sat atop a mound in a field, and encircled by old oak trees. It's a rectangular burial chamber, 4.3m x 2m with a massive portico entrance, and dates to the 3rd millenium BC.

And so onwards Steve drove, until finally we came across The Alignments in Carnac. These aligned rows of standing stones go on and on for several miles. And the area also boasts many dolmens and underground burial chambers.

We then headed down to Locmariaquer and saw more ancient stuff:

Above: The Tumulus du Mane er Hroech

Above and below: The Dolmen Du Mane Lud, (and random french tourists) which included some carving on the tomb's walls (not shown here).

Fri 05 Aug 2011
Well last night we stayed in a lovely French picturesque village by the name of Rochefort-en-Terre. Just beautiful! Because we mentioned it was our 10 year anniversary the gent kindly bumped us up to the best room.... the first floor, street-facing room which includes that cute little turret - which we were surprised to find is the toilet room! Talk about a loo with a view. The hotel is La Tour du Lion (tower of the lion) so named as the finial at the bottom of this turret is capped with a small lion gargoyle.
Here are some photos around the town...

Above: can you spot Jen?


Above: Yes that turret was our toilet, with our room on the first floor.

The access to the hotel's garden and stairs to our room.

La Tour du Lion's garden

And finally, our spacious room.

So all in all we enjoyed a fantastic trip to France!
Now safely home and the laundry's done.

Jul 2011 b

2011-07-31T13:03:00.001Z

Not a huge amount happening this fortnight...

Mon 18 Jul 2011
Tonight we rented the Harry Potter final movie (Part 1) in preparation for watching Part 2 at the cinema Tuesday night.

Wed 20 Jul 2011
Steve goes off to SCA fighter practice, adding new tricks to other peoples' games.

Thu 21 Jul 2011
Tonight Jen brought home most of her team workmates for dinner. Steve cooked up a fabulous NZ lamb dish - cooked in a little olive oil, corriander, leeks and garum (fish sauce). Went very well indeed. All finished off with chocolate ice cream and fresh strawberries for desert mmmmmm. Recipe for the lamb dish can be found on Steve's food blog: http://alaricofbangor.weebly.com/roman-apicius.html

Sat 23 Jul 2011
Today we had Kev and Tash over today, to watch movies and drink Ale! Movies watched were: Dune; Whalerider; and Hawk the Slayer. Steve also cooked up succulent juicy meat steaks and oven roasted veggies. YUM!

Sun 24 Jul 2011
Steve cooked up eggs benedict for breakfast this morning, and we waved Kev and Tash bye bye about lunch time. We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

Tue 26 Jul 2011
So, today, after waiting with other peoples' screaming kids for 2.5 hours, and forking over £1.3k ... Jen is now officially allowed to stay in the UK for as long as she likes. Steve's visa doesn't run out till 2015 so there's plenty of time to spread out any future costs. Another year in the future Jen will be able to fork out the same again to become a UK citizen if she so chooses.

Wed 27 Jul 2011
One year to go til the Olympics! This shot taken at Jen's work, with the Olympic stadium and the "ArcelorMittal Orbit" in the background (the red thing). This thing's going to look a bit like the Eiffel Tower on acid. It's going together like a giant Meccano set. We heard that it's being put together by only 4 blokes.

The red thing is called the ArcelorMittal Orbit

Tonight Steve went off to fighter practice again.

Thu 28 Jul 2011

This morning Steve got up early and dropped the car off with our favourite mechanic, where it will stay for about the next 3 weeks in all likelihood. It needs a service but also a new windscreen and generally a good look over.

Fri 29 Jul 2011
Jen wakes up with a sore throat and sniffles. Just her luck. Must focus on getting better, as we'll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in France next week.

Sat 30 Jul 2011
Mary came all the way from Bristol, and together with Jen they set off for Edith's hen's do at the 'Make Lounge'. Here about 10 of us sheilas mucked about with fragrances and created massage bars, bath bombs, lip balm and sugar scrubs. Then off to a pub for a couple of hours and topped off with dinner at a Turkish restaurant.
Meanwhile at home, Steve pulled apart is PC. It "blue-screened" on him last night, and he eventually found that one of the memory cards is flaky and plays up when it gets hot. At least he now knows where the problem lies.

Sun 31 Jul 2011
Steve cooked eggs benedict with home-made hollandaise sauce for breakfast and after some jokey phone conversations with Finn, we saw Mary off back home. As it was such a sunny nice day we took a stroll in the local park which includes a nice rose garden. Here's Jen smelling the roses in her "summer jacket."

Jul 2011 a

2011-07-23T11:43:00.001Z

Only the weekends were interesting this time....

Sat 02 Jul 2011
Today we had Sophie, Paul and Chris come over and join us for a movie marathon - a good 12 hours of the extended Lord of the Rings DVDs. Not sure how we would have survived without Steve cooking up the cheesy nachos for lunch and ravioli and garlic bread for dinner.

Sun 03 Jul 2011
Had a nice sleep-in after yesterday's movie watching efforts. A restful day today.
Hooray for our occasional summery days - the agapanthas are flowering very nicely (pictured, right).

Sat 09 Jul 2011
Today Jen left home early to sit the 'Life in the UK' test, not far from home. She was a bit disappointed with how easy it was. Next step - booked the appointment to gain Indefinite Leave to Remain, for early Tues 26 July. Steve was good enough to drop Jen off at a funday show (before lunch) which was hosted by her workplace. Had a very uneventful time there as the first aider, thank goodness. Had fun inflating lots of helium balloons (with artwork on it Jen had designed).

Sun 10 Jul 2011
Escape to the countryside... or rather, escaping London. GREEN is what we've been sorely missing!!!!!

Enroute to our destination, we drove through a little village called Eynsford. Steve was certainly impressed to see the "ford" part of the village name still there and still in use. It was such a lovely warm sunny day, the local kids were running amok on the grass and in the river.

Our first destination today: Lullingstone Roman Villa (below).

Below: Having looked at the floorplan above, you can see one semi-circular room and here is the mosaic floor of that dining room, looking out through the audience chamber, toward the front verandah of the home. Oh, and the green tinge is just the strange lighting in the museum.

So having looked through the museum, we drove back up the road and had a gourmet lunch at the pub on the riverside in Eynsford.

Next stop: Old Soar Manor.

The blurb about this place says: "Old Soar Manor 1290. This knight's house is a rare survival from the time of Edward I. Dating from 1290 it was constructed as a fortified manor house. The rich Culpeper family who built it employed masons to construct a dwelling of Kentish ragstone that could be defended if attacked. Old Soar Manor in stone proclaimed to the world the wealth and standing of this important family."
The manor is left open and unattended, so it was really nice to have the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there. It butts on to a more recent (privately owned) brick house which is on the site of the community hall/court which was originally part of the complex.
What is open to the public is 5 rooms:

Firstly, on the ground floor (under the chapel) is a small room with info boards about the dwelling, as well as photos of interesting local buildings and their history.
Also on the ground floor is a large cellar room with domed ceiling. Above this is the main hall (pictured below).

Off from the main hall is the chapel, and also a 3 person wardrobe. That is to say, drop-toilet for 3 people at a time. It was also a kind of cloakroom (wardrobe) as this smelly room keeps away moths which like to chew holes in clothes. Didn't take pics of the wardrobe sorry.
Below: the chapel.

Sat 16 Jul 2011
Steve drove us up to visit Deb & Clancy (Cambridge area) and help out at a medieval style demonstration there. Steve was well-pleased to be using his fab new shield for the first time.

After the demo, we headed back to Deb & Clancy's place to hang out (also with Richard and Lena who're visiting from Lancaster), chatting and chowing down on juicy BBQ steaks, sausages, and chicken breasts - happily washed down with copious amounts of beer, ale, etc etc. Steve stayed up chatting until about 4am!

Sun 17 Jul 2011
More chin-wagging over breakfast, then we finally headed home and took it easy for the remainder of the weekend.

Jun 2011 b

2011-06-29T17:21:00.001Z

Fri 17 Jun 2011
We caught up with our Aussie friend Master Daffydd tonight, over dinner and a couple of pints.

Sat 18 Jun 2011
This morning Jen bought fabric for Steve. In the afternoon we hung out at Steve's boss' birthday BBQ, to wish him a happy biffy.

Sun 19 Jun 2011
Today we got out and saw the Green Lantern film.
Jen's thinking of a flying visit to Brisbane for her high-school-best-friend's wedding (Kylie).

Wed 22 Jun 2011
Jen has a day off work. Steve is the snot-beast, but is at work! Jen surfs the internet, reads magazines - that sort of lazy day stuff. Nice to have a quiet house to self.

Sat 25 Jun 2011
We were meant to go hang with Deb and Clancy this weekend, however Steve's snotty and head-coldy, and Jen's voice will not hold up to chatting very much, so no socialising for either of us unfortunately. So instead we stay home and take it easy. Jen gets 6 hours of embroidery done on Steve's new laurel cloak.

Sun 26 Jun 2011
Jen spent about 4 hours gardening today without hat or sunscreen, and got a little touch of sunburn. Sunny, cloudless blue skies and 28C. Perfect afternoon for a lazy swim (if we had access to a pool that is). Poor Steve is still under the weather, so Jen made him brekkie and lunch - a minor miracle as far as Steve's concerned.
The one thing Steve did muster the energy to do this weekend (having been nagged by the little woman for weeks now) was drill 3 holes and glue/screw the front gate latch on to the front brick wall. It's finally finished, nice one Steve.

Mon 27 Jun 2011
Steve finally takes a sick-day off work. He probably ought to have done this on Thursday, but super important things on, meant he soldiered on anyway. He managed to squeeze in about 20 episodes of Bab5.

Tue 28 Jun 2011
We booked flights to Nuremberg. We'll be doing Oktoberfest with Cadogan and Eufemia - yay! Also booked a flight to Brisbane for Jen, to be there for Kylie's wedding at the end of October. Squeee! Poor Stevie-poos will have to bachelor it out for a whole week, poor diddims.

Jun 2011 a

2011-06-12T17:47:00.001Z

Sat 04 Jun 2011
Red House was really nice, but it means we now have new inspiration for more places to go visit .... such as the William Morris museum and Kelmscott Manor.

The Red House was designed under the direction of William Morris (as the architect's client) and was the first "modern" house built apparently. For starters, the servants and the family had sleeping quarters in the same area of the house.

Morris and friends spent 5 years designing and making things for this house. This included stained glass windows, furniture design and painting, tiles, wallpaper, painting on ceilings, wall murals, tapestries etc etc.

The National Trust only acquired the house 4 years ago so they're slowly making progress uncovering the original paint in many areas of the house which was largely white washed over the years. Much of the furniture and other items of beauty which once adorned the house are in museums and art collections elsewhere. Most of this guided tour involved words like "Now imagine what this room originally looked like ...." describing the original colour schemes.

Here are some photos, and it was such a delightful day to be out in a fragrant English garden!

The Red House was once nestled amidst orchards, but today suburbia surrounds the estate.

The surrounding garden "clothes" the house.

A round of croquet anyone? We marvelled at the pear trees which were tortured into shapes around the house, such as you can see behind Steve here.

In the entrance an original piece of furniture remains. You can see where original patterned paintwork is a little revealed on these brown panels. The door behind Steve is enormous, and the four in-set stained glass panels are 1970's, as the originals were removed for fear of being stolen (worth a fortune).


The house is double-storeyed, and the plan is L shaped. This oak stair is at the heart of the house. The ceiling plaster is pierced to grid out the space, making later hand-painting easier... apparently a medieval practise. The piercing is done by a board with nails, pressed while the plaster is still setting.

Two views of the art room. Loads of natural light from all directions!
Also a sink/basin behind Steve - very handy for an artist.

The white-wash angled ceiling panels are original.
The top ceiling is also hand decorated with the pierced plaster and a pattern.


This, the main Dining Room was once dark and boldy painted. The ceiling didn't have the boards. This is another original piece of furniture - but modified by Morris to be a loft ladder. Also used by their children as a choir loft during family Xmas celebrations.

A closer look at this dining room. A really lovely bay window, and wedding feast wall mural. Below this, hidden away behind the panelling is a little hint at the original wall decoration!

Some of the stained glass windows made for this house - these are Fortune and Love. The size suggests these may be two of the four panels from the front door, relocated to the sunny garden hall now.

A lovely day to enjoy the garden! At top is the motto over the dining room's fireplace,
meaning Art is Long(lived), Life is Brief.

Sun 05 Jun 2011

Well the weather from yesterday didn't hold today, so a good day to be inside a museum.
Caught up with Soph for lunch then together we all popped in to the British Library to see the science fiction exhibition. Great suggestion, thanks Soph, and Steve loved every minute of it! We also popped our noses into the Treasures Room while we were there. Afterwards we chatted over a couple of pints in the pub across the road.

Jen at the British Library, with the turrets of St Pancras (Victorian) railway station in the background.

Jen and Soph relaxing the feet and enjoying a good long chat with Steve.

Tue 07 Jun 2011
Plotted a course and booked stays in chalets in the Bretagne region, France - to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.

Sat 11 Jun 2011
Steve went to the gym for the 4th time this week. Jen went out and bought several metres of wool. Jen's making Steve a laurel cloak, and herself a tudor overgown/jacket.

Sun 12 Jun 2011
Continuing the pre-raphelite / Aesthetics movement theme, we traipsed down to the V&A and saw their exhibition titled "the Cult of Beauty". They had many lovely artworks on display including The Day Dream, the Countess Brownlow, Pavonia, and Veronica Veronese. Here's a pic of Steve with The Day Dream, his 2nd favourite pre-raph painting of all time. (Steve's favourite is La Ghirlandata by Rossetti)

Steve in front of 'The Day Dream' by Rossetti,
at the V&A's Cult of Beauty exhibition.

Jen in the courtyard, V&A.

May 2011 b

2011-05-30T20:23:00.003Z

Hey Bart, good to see you're enjoying the blog! Yep, British Library should be everyone's list of things to see in London. Well, on with the blog....

Tues 17
Jen got wobbly legs cycling to and from work for the 1st time in many months.

Wed 18 May 2011
Steve has finished edging his new shield and transferred the straps on the back, ready for action. Can you spot which one is which? :-)

Fri 20 May 2011
Steve and Finn come collect Jen from work at 4pm and we immediately fight our way from east to west across London. We arrived in Tretower, in Wales, at about 9:30pm and checked into our B&B (a timbered house built in the 1750's). We walked across the road and into the field right up to the SCA campsite which was being put up in the dark, and helped out where we could.

Sat 21 May 2011
Tretower Castle and 15th century manor-house, Wales!
Steve got a sore back bent over the spit roast pig in the kitchen all day. ALthough he wasn't the head cook, he had an absolutely excellent time using this lovely tudor kitchen. Jen ran about taking loads of photos and introducing people to Finnian. A court was held with many various awards given, the most notable being to Gonz/Duarte who received the equivalent to White Scarf. During feast, Steve carved for and served the high table. Jen played harp for a short time.
We were all on display for the public much of the day, with the site closed to the public at 5pm, and our lot had to be off-site about 30 mins after that. We all enjoyed some civilised drinking by the fire in the SCA encampment (in the field behind the castle) well into the evening.

Click on the images to enlarge them:

Above: The SCA encampment - yonder behind ye olde Welsh castle

Above: Jen especially LOVED this pretty garden and its fountain!

Above: Steve watching the spit pig, Edith ablur at the bench.

What a kitchen! No electricity, just firewood.

A lovely feasting hall.

The perfect SCA photo - but our
cook's too busy to give us a smile!

Duarte gets a special
award from the King.

Not a bad place for a spot of lunch, wot wot?

Sun 22 May 2011
This morning after a fine breakfast, we headed off for some sight-seeing for Finnian. We stopped in at Raglan Castle, traipsing all about the castle including the newly re-opened and renovated grand staircase, then we set off to Tinctern Abbey. (for pictures of Raglan, search in the top left searchfield). We'll be back for Ffair Rhaglan in August.

Above: Love the view of the forest through the windows of this magnificent ruined Abbey.

Above: Finnian enjoys a spot of sunshine, but hates the fact it's from the lack of roof (ruins).

Steve drove us home and after unpacking we were exhausted and ordered pizza. A pretty full weekend!

Mon 23 May 2011
Early afternoon, after work, Jen and Finnian were chatting downstairs when there was a massive THUD which shook the whole house. Looking out the front window we saw a neighbour quickly get out of the truck/ute he'd parked and run into his house. He had backed into our brick front fence and broken it, and hoped ho-one was home to notice (cheeky b*gger)! Anyway, luckily for him his brother or housemate is a bricklayer and they agreed to demolish and completely rebuild it, supplying the bricks as well as the labour.

Tues 24 May 2011
This afternoon Jen flexed off work to wander about a trade show about greeting cards. Picked up some tips and ideas, considering whether to have a go at topping up the income this way.

Tonight we had Kev over for dinner and lots of ales, hurrah!

Wed 25 May 2011
Finnian met up with Jen for lunch, and in the afternoon Steve dropped him off at the local tube station to make his way back to Heathrow and onward homebound to Brisbane Australia. Finn farewelled us with his plans of moving over to the UK, obviously quite taken with the country.

Fri 27 May 2011
Jen woke up and found the world spinning nauseatingly. Steve went off to work, Jen went back to bed to snooze it off. Ate breakfast cereal in bed, horizontally, not as easy as it sounds. By 8:45am she was still not well and called in sick. Steve came to the rescue at 4.15pm with lunch as Jen wasn't able to stay vertical long enough to do this. Jen was finally past the dizzy spell at 9am the next day.... that's 32 hours in bed, not fun.

Sat 28 May 2011
This morning we awoke (at 9am) to the sound of mallets pounding the front of our house. Or rather, the front fence being demolished. They'd finished the fence and cleared the debris away before 5pm. They refused offers of coke / lunch during the day, but accepted the keg of good dark ale that Steve had mistakenly thought he'd bought for himself. :-)

So here's the before and after for our new fence. Once it's properly dry we'll paint it

We booked flights to France. Yes we're going to spend our 10 year wedding anniversary (that's 18 years since we started dating!) in a nice little chateau in France.

Sun 29 May 2011
First thing in the morning Steve manfully went to the gym. Jen Tubed it to the other side of town to buy fabric, only to find the shops were closed. So instead she spent a few hours wandering about the big Westfield shopping centre to satisfy the need for some retail therapy. We stopped in at friends' place to top up their pet cat's food and water dish... and while in the area stopped into a local favourite pub for some excellent roast dinner. We watched some Blakes Seven episodes before bed.

Mon 30 May 2011
Today's a bank (public) holiday here in the UK. Steve had a nice relaxing day and an afternoon workout. Jen seized the day and did some exercise and housework as well as a bit of clothes mending. Back to work tomorrow.

May 2011 a

2011-05-16T18:52:00.003Z

Ledge is done, and the panelling at right
of the bath is finally patched and painted.

Sat 07 May 2011
DIY day. Sanding, wood puttying, waterproof sealant and painting in the bathroom. Steve used his manly muscles to get the sealant laid down. In two days the sealant will be dry and the final coat of paint can go on, hurrah!
OK here's a photo taken once it's all dried and finished:

Sun 08 May 2011
Today we picked up an old friend Finnian from Heathrow. Since he assured us he was feeling great upon arrival, we took him off to see the top 4 on his list of things to see.
First up was the chalk horse + uffington, 2nd Avebury with Silbury Hill and the avenue of kings. 3rd Sanctuary just down the road from there, and finally finishing with a stop uphill of Stonehenge. Oh yes he was beside himself with excitement!


Finn above the Chalk Horse

Steve poses in front of a bunch or rocks

To top off his first day in the UK we took the road home along the north bank of the Thames, most spectacular going around the Parliament Square roundabout (Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben) along past the London Eye etc, etc, etc.

Mon 09 May 2011
Tonight after work Steve cooked up a tres delicious ancient Roman recipe of tuna steak with Tuna Sauce. Oh my gawd it's good.

After dinner we took Finn to Tower Hill and the Tower (London Castle, you could say) to familiarise him with the Tube system. It works well, as Finn is off like a shot the next morning, out on the town on his own.

Wed 11 May 2011
Jen attends a day-long seminar on the Adobe CS5.5 - very nice stuff thank you very much.

The theatre's almost empty, before people come back in from Tea break.

Afterwards she met up with Finnian and let him loose on the Treasures Room at the British Library. He was well-impressed with the 2 original Magna Carta's in there, let alone Shakespeare's Folio, Beouwolf, Gutenburg bible, the famous Composers' cabinet, the Davinci cabinet, and all the other amazing things on display. Oh and a fun little cabinet with hand-scrawled lyrics for several Beatles songs. Not a bad tourist stop considering it wasn't on his radar as somewhere to visit.
After yet another yummy Steve-cooked dinner, we all 3 headed over to fighter practice where Finn reminisced about his glory days.

Fri 13 May 2011
Tonight we bought tickets for gigs in November - Tori Amos and Sisters of Mercy. Sweet.
Tonight Steve took Finnian to pick up his hire car. We watched a DVD (Prince of Persia) until late.

Our first Blue Moon rose has fully opened up. It's Steve's favourite, with a full and heady fragrance, and delicate blue shade to its petals.

Sat 14 May 2011
Very early this morning Finn headed off toward Brighton and a proper visit to Stonehenge too. He'll be back with us on Wednesday.
So, a nice relaxed weekend for us, doing very little. Yay!

Apr 2011 b

2011-05-01T16:14:00.001Z

Fri 22 Apr 2011
Easter. Hooray, we're on holidays now for the next 11 days straight!

So, we spent a few hours packing and then tidying up the house, clearing the fridge and out with the garbage. Hopped in the car about 2pm and Steve drove us to the Bristol area. Arrived and stayed with our friend Mary, who cooked us a lovely pasta dish.

Sat 23 Apr 2011

In the morning, the three of us had a deli breakfast in the neighbouring village of Chipping Sodbury. Then we said our farewell to Mary, and headed on down towards Penzance. On the way unfortunately a small stone chipped the windscreen and rapidly grew into a nasty crack.
We decided to skip any sightseeing, had the windscreen looked at, and were advised it's still legal to drive. Since there's only emergency repairs available over the Easter break, we decided to deal with once back in London at the end of our holiday.
Arrived 2pm in Marazion and collected the keys to our rented self-catering flat.
Steve was super enthused by the view and we went down to the beach straight after we'd dumped the luggage in our new home. Jen thinks she spotted Hugh Grant coming up these stairs a minute before this photo was taken, but thought it too rude to stop him for a picture.

In the afternoon we drew up a shopping list and headed down to the local supermarket so Steve could cook us dinners - yay!

Sun 24 Apr 2011
Here's the view we woke up to this morning: Saint Michael's Mount.

Since it's really really cold and windy outside we decided to enjoy the view from the warmth of the flat. We watched loads of old Blakes7 episodes. A bit later in the afternoon we did manage to make it out for a walk on the beach, once the tide was out.

For the next few days we mainly stayed in, with afternoon walks on the beach - for us this is mainly a very relaxed holiday, with lots of books and magazines, and watching old episodes..... and eating Steve's yummy dinners! He cooked every night, what a great husband.

Mon 25 Apr 2011
A short walk further along the beach.

St Michael's Mount: click on photo for enlargement

Tue 26 Apr 2011
Unfortunately it's still fairly windy but so beautifully sunny outside. Jen's been gradually getting more and more sick with a very nasty head cold, including night sweats and dry hacking cough. So, staying indoors seems a grand idea.

Wed 27 Apr 2011
Jen's coughing gets a little worse. We decide to pack up and go home tomorrow, two days earlier than expected, for Jen to get better in the familiarity of our London home.

Anyway, here's morning and evening, from the living room window... note: ye olde style'd ship moored off the Mount. Note also the tide - the Mount is accessible by land only when the tide's out.

Land's End: click on photo for enlargement

Thu 28 Apr 2011
Steve drove us to Land's End where we made like tourists and bought a few trinkets and postcards and such-like; then drove 432 miles to get us home (with the occasional pit stop).

Fri 29 Apr 2011
The Royal Wedding. Yes we watched it, switched off for the hour of pap (having looked up the schedule) and switched back on again just in time for the balcony kisses and fly-over. And so the happy couple seemed to get through it all with good cheer. We couldn't help but reminisce fondly of our own wedding day. Pip's slinky gown reminded us of Soph's wedding dress - we all knew you were quite the trendsetter Sophia!

Sat 30 Apr 2011
A lovely sunny day.
Steve has a great love of Porsche Boxsters, and before we consider actually buying (a 2nd hand) one, Jen took one for a spin (test drive) today. As it turns out, Jen really doesn't understand Steve's passion for these cars, and moreover, the impracticality of the teensy weensy boot space would make it pretty useless for us.... "But fun to drive" says Steve! We wouldn't even be able to fit his armour bag in it. Oh well there goes that dream, alas poor Steve.

Sun 01 May 2011
Steve helps Jen with a spot of DIY in the shower (rotten wooden ledge) - what a good man!

Apr 2011 a

2011-04-17T10:52:00.003Z

Wed 06 Apr 2011
Jen notes how she's been relaxing now that her 2 year long "to do list" is finished off.

Fri 08 Apr 2011
Straight after work we met up in a cafe in Stratford for an hour before Jen saw Steve off at the train station on his way to Lancaster for the weekend.

Sat 09 Apr 2011
Steve spent the weekend in the company of Clancy, Deb, Richard and Lena, as they helped train and 'authorise' new SCA fighters in re-creating medieval foot combat.
Jen however finished off the bathroom hole in the wall which has been there since we moved in 3 and a half years ago. (just wood filla and painting to do)

Sun 10 Apr 2011
Steve came home in the afternoon, and we went out to the O2 millenium dome to see the film SuckerPunch. They play a particular Bjork song 3 times throughout the film, and since it's stuck in our heads we bought one of her albums.

Wed 13 Apr 2011
Tonight while Steve's out at Fighter Practice, Jen investigates the process and cost for achieving UK citizenship. It would cost us about £3,300 (passport not included) on top of the approx £2,200 we already paid last year for the visa extensions (which last to 2015). Maybe we'll just skip it altogether.

Fri 15 Apr 2011
Tonight after work, we went to the Design Museum to see one of Jen's favourite authors - Alain de Botton. Jen geeked out and got his autograph.

It was a lovely night for a walk as we crossed over Tower Bridge admiring the views of the Tower of London contrasting with the modern spiral architecture of The Gherkin.

Sat 16 Apr 2011
We headed off early, arriving at the local ExCel exhibition Centre to chat with a motherload of gamer geeks for the day. It was 'Salute 2011' and we were there to recruit new people to the SCA. Jen quietly said to others in the stand: "Our group's got something yours doesn't - girls". The proportion of hairy hacker types was through the roof. We few cotehardie-clad ladies stuck out and were readily admired by the shy geek-boys.
A couple of amusing encounters with the guys inside their Star Wars imperial storm trooper getup - Steve was given grief for wearing a dress, and he retorted with "Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?" and Amphelise (about five foot nothing) stood her ground saying "Hey, I'm a school teacher, I'm MUCH scarier than you!" with a "yeah you're right" kind of mutter back at her.
A fairly successful day, we got lots of interest and about a dozen email addresses down on our 'contact me' list.

Sun 17 Apr 2011
After a late sleep-in, Steve headed up to the Cambridge area to collect his armour from Deb & Clancy's.

Mar 2011 b

2011-04-09T08:38:00.004Z

It's all just Cooking and Art!

Sat 19 Mar 2011
Last night Dan and Elizabeth stayed over, Steve cooked a lovely dinner, and this morning all three left to head up to the Re-enactor's Market in Coventry. They bumped into many other SCAdians and Steve collected his Xmas present - the craticula - an ancient Roman Pompeii style "oven" more like a fancy BBQ. He's so pleased and itching to start using it! In the afternoon they headed over to a Roman event and got stuck into some SCA armoured combat.

Jen however stays home with plans to work on painting the scroll. The weather is so perfect - lovely warm sunshine and blue skies, instead Jen takes advantage of this and sets up the house for nice photos, in the hope of short-term renting the house over the upcoming Easter and Royal Wedding week.

A glorious Spring afternoon with the Daff's out in bloom

Sun 20 Mar 2011
Procrastination! Instead of working on the scroll (again) Jen and Steve spent the early afternoon and evening watching all 4 Terminator movies back to back. The 2nd one's definitely the best.

Tue 22 Mar 2011
Steve whips up a healthy dinner of sausage, nuts and cored apple (and salad) :-P

Wed 23 Mar 2011
It reached 18 degrees today, here in (unusually) sunny London. Skirts and ankles were out on display in an unabashed wake for the UK's winter drab!

Sat 26 Mar 2011
This morning Steve picks up Kiriel from the local City Airport. She's staying for the weekend, to help us all see Terry off, as he relocates back home to NZ, having lived in London for more than 10 years. Jen continues painting. In the evening we downed some tasty pub grub and pints. It was odd to see the protesting and shenanigans on the telly, which was happening only a few streets away from us.

Sun 27 Mar 2011
This morning we filled in the UK Census. Notable, since it's something which only happens every ten years. Jen gets more painting done, and here's the progress:

Steve finally gets to play with his new toy, the craticula. Together he and Kiriel cooked up a super delicious 'Tuna Sauce' from Apicius, ancient Roman cookbook... with the tuna grilled over coals. They also grilled haddock or sole, but the sauce went so much better with the stronger tasting Tuna. Very very yummy, double thumbs UP!

Wed 30 Mar 2011
Jen got more painting done...

Thu 31 Mar 2011
Jen has the day off work tomorrow, so gets stuck into painting the scroll in earnest!!!

Fri 01 Apr 2011
Some more scroll progress shots...

Sat 02 Apr 2011
Today we had Deb and Clancy come over and stay overnight. Elffin also hung about and Steve helped him work on armour repairs and upgrades. Jen was left to be anti-social and keep on painting.

Once again Steve fired up the craticula and got cooking. This time it was dinner round 1 and 2. Round 1 was soft succulent lamb in a roman sauce. Round two was chicken which was a little dry, but again the sauce was great. Well its always better to overcook chook than undercook.

Steve has begun a cooking blog!
Here it is: http://alaricofbangor.weebly.com

Sun 03 Apr 2011
The scroll is FINISHED! Jen has her life back. Hopefully the recipient will love it. Many thanks to Nesta who has graciously agreed to courier it over to Australia at Easter time, to its new owner.

Click on photos for enlargement...

Mar 2011 a

2011-03-13T11:21:00.005Z

Fri 04 Mar 2011
Tres cool, our mate Finnian will come stay with us in May - hurrah!

Sat 05 Mar 2011
Tonight we downloaded the film 'Inception' via iTunes. Great special effects but weird film. Needed to find a new rental solution since the local DVD rental store closed. Once downloaded, we've hooked up the MacMini to the projector - happy times!
Furthermore.... Steve is a legend - he's figured out how to gain remote control of Jen's MacMini using his iPhone, very handy.

Sun 06 Mar 2011

LAJ's scroll in progress

Jen's scribal workspace

Today Jen got around to doing some more work on LAJ's scroll. Throughout the next week Jen added a couple of layers of white-glue gesso in preparation for creating a nice raised gold effect. It really is like doing fine brushwork with gluggy globs of glue - there's a knack to it.

Tonight we went to a live comedy gig at the Apollo featuring some of the UK's top comedians. None of the comedians were duds - lots of laughs all round. Nice way to be celebrating ya birthday Hannah, thanks!

Stage at the Apollo (no pics allowed during the gig)

Tue 08 Mar 2011
The third morning in a row with glorious sunshine - wInter might almost be over, hurrah!
Plus, it'll reach a scorching 13 degrees tomorrow apparently.

Wed 09 Mar 2011
Poor Steve received a nasty hit on his ankle at fighter practise tonight from one of the new fighters.

Thu 10 Mar 2011
This morning Steve's limping about, and after a day at work his knee is also paining him, since he's been favouring the ankle. Just hope it doesn't then put his back out too!
Tonight Jen visited Elizabeth and played about with gilding, and their cat. :-)

Fri 11 Mar 2011
Poor Japan! Massive earthquake (7th largest recorded in the world) plus huge Tsunami reaching 10kms inland. Thanks to GPS we know that the east coast of Japan has shifted 2.4 meters. The whole event's unlike anything we've ever seen.
Steve cooked yummy chook parmajiana when he didn't feel like it, limpping about the kitchen the poor dear! The food was yummy.

Sat 12 Mar 2011
Today Steve relaxed after a pretty tough week at work.

Jen got stuck into gilding the scroll for LAJ.

The layout includes space for large wax seals

Sun 13 Mar 2011
This morning Jen awoke to find Steve exercising downstairs. Very keen of him! Jen finished sewing the seat covers. How very domestic this weekend has been. Oh, and we managed to flog off our old Ikea dining chairs on ebay. Nice.

Feb 2011 b

2011-03-02T21:36:00.002Z

Fri 18 Feb 2011
Steve worked overtime, then we had Sorcha and Arnod arrive at Steve's work for a pickup - we all headed off to Wales for the weekend.

Sat 19 Feb 2011
This weekend the SCA medieval group did its 6 monthly Coronet event, this time in a genuine Welsh Castle, Caerphilly. Hooray for hot showers and a comfy bed after all day event in a castle! Anyway, here are a few photos from the day:

Sorscha brings water for the figthers

New P&P Cernac and Susannah

Guy and a weary Nesta sit down to fine fare

Holding court in the Great Hall, Caerphilly Castle

Alaric, Helen and Duncan

Sun 20 Feb 2011
On the way home with Sorscha, Arnod and Edina(I think?) from Perth WA, we stopped for lunch at the Red Lion in Avebury inside the stone circle there. We also walked bout the stone circle and Ave of Kings, stopped at Silbury Hill, and wandered about the Sanctuary.
Once home we unpacked, showered and took it easy for the rest of the weekend.

Mon 21 Feb 2011
A day off work for Jen - so she ran about town doing little things she usually can't do for being at work.

Tue 22 Feb 2011
Heard about the massive earthquake(s) going down in Christchurch NZ right now. Very worried about our friends there! As far as we know none of our friends have been killed or gone missing.....

Sat 26 Feb 2011
An exciting weekend of redecorating, if such a thing can be called exciting....

Today saw Steve unfortunately doing several hours extra working, but after work he was legendary enough to go with Jen to pick up our new (2nd hand) fancy oak dining table.
Tonight we visited Soph and Paul. It was a fun family affair as Steve's sister (Soph's mum) is in town.

(L-R) Soph, Paul. little Branda, Julie, Paul's mum, Steve, Chris the housemate.

A little surprise was the giving of 6 crystal wine cups for Jen and a fancy big blue teapot for Steve - our Christmas pressies since it has been so long since we'd all caught up with them.

Sun 27 Feb 2011
And today Steve was in need of a relaxing day between workdays. Jen drove for to Reading to collect new (old) dining chairs which go beautifully well with the new (old) dining table... here you can see the lovely Xmas pressies from Soph and Paul too.

Loving the new dining table - shiny!

Tonight, the Buddha bust (which came with the house) has come down out of the stairwell to make way for a long printed wall hanging.

Tues 1 March 2011
Jen arrived home to find Steve's sister Julie and her granddaughter (Sophie's niece) out in the cold on the doorstep! They were earlier than expected and it was good to get them inside and get the heating going. Steve whipped up a fab dinner of nachos and little Branda was put to bed for the oldies to sit around and natter the night away.

Feb 2011 a

2011-02-23T21:28:00.000Z

The main street of Tully, QLD,
devastated by cat 5 cyclone Yasi

Wed 26 Jan 2011
Today Steve finished a course lasting 8 work days. The course was on Cisco switching and routing. His colleagues were very happy to have him back at work again the next day.

Wed 02 Feb 2011
This morning to our distress, we learn of a vast category 5 cyclone bearing down on the north Queensland coast. Cat 5 is as fast and furious as a cyclone gets - it's a monster! The size of the storm is almost continental!

A day later, after closely watching the news reports, it seems the cyclone has rapidly downgraded over land into a category 1 - hurray! But not before it trashed the little coastal town Tully. Incidentally, a close buddy of ours went to school in Tully, so we hope her old school friends are all OK.

Fri 04 Feb 2011
Last night we created lamingtons; Steve made a couple dozen of his gourment white choc and raspberry muffins. They're all for the Aussie disaster relief fundraiser at Jen's workplace today. By the end of the day we'd actually raised just over $200 Aussie bucks! (and gained a few 'pounds' - pun intended!)

Jen's boss Sally created the little mini-pavlovas at the front of the table - nice one!

Sat-Sun 05-06 Feb 20011
We spent the day indoors. Steve's sick with a nasty stuffed up headcold, and Jen focussed on practise calligraphy. Here's the result of her efforts - a work still in progress (right)....

Tues 08 Feb 2011
Steve took Jen to out for dinner and to see the film Tangled. Good fun flick, made Jen feel all girly and naive... for a short while at least.

Sat 12 Feb 2011
Woohoo! A care package of twisties, cherry ripes & wizz fizz arrived today!

Early afternoon we hopped on the tube. Not your usual adults-only exhibits: today we spent 4 hours visiting the Imperial War Museum. We saw the Crimes against humanity room and the Holocaust exhibition. Standing before the door, a child asked: "Daddy why can't we go in there?" Had a thought - isn't it weird this museum's such a popular day out for families?

Can't help but think "ride of the valkyries" looking at this pic.

Steve roars at the crowd below (OK, so he was yawning)

.

Fri 11 Feb 2011
Steve cooked Jen a yummy dinner of thick juicy steak with oven roasted potatoes and salad on the side. Yay Steve!

Sun 13 Feb 2011
This morning Jen got started on relief carving Steve's new shield. Here's a photo of the current shield (right), and you can see why there's a new one on the way.

Kris and Jana

Tonight we enjoyed Kris Buckle's 2nd last gig in London (at the World's End, Camden) before he and wife Jana move to Perth.

Mon 14 Feb 2011
Steve cooked Jen a lovely dinner of Stir-fry beef and chinese veggies. Happy valentines.
After dinner, Jen finished the carving on Steve's new shield (left). Happy Steve.

Wed 16 Feb 2011
Jen has finished painting the front of the new shield - the back is a small project for later on.

Jan 2011

2011-02-09T21:06:00.000Z

After our travels in Egypt over Xmas and New Year, January was uneventful for us here in London. Mid-January, Jen completed filming an editing of a short music video for a co-worker.

This month, for us, was mainly about looking on in horror as we saw news footage, firstly of Toowoomba, and then of our home-town Brisbane, deluged by intense and/or flash flooding. It's 1974 all over again. Much of Australia this month was beset by extensive flooding and/or cyclones, or intense fire-storms. What's going on Australia?!!!

Here are some of the more notable photos we've seen of 'Brisvenice'....

Our first home together (rented) - the water level apparently did rise up to a metre higher than pictured here. Hooray for the Queenslander style of home up on stilts. The current occupants' stuff would have been OK. Thanks Stanzi for taking the above pic.

So much for a thinking about a stroll along the river's edge....

Our thoughts went out to friends who lost everything, and we wish we could have been there to give a helping hand. The cleanup and repair from this disaster will take many months of hard work. On the plus side - it'll be great for 'community cohesion'.

Sculpture 'flood' marking the height of the previous
(1974) flood. The top of the o's I believe.

Pure genius whoever did this. The stadium pictured
behind the statue is of course also flooded.

Sat 8 Jan 2011
A surprise birthday party for Deb as her "life begins" officially now.

Happy birthday Deb!
***

Suprise! to the birthday girl...

Sat 15 Jan 2011
Attended a nice little medieval style event in Ware. Jen was surprised with an award.

Mon 17 Jan 2011
Jen has a singing lesson.
Seems she has 3 octaves rather than the usual 2, and by the end of the hour lesson, she'd supposedly sung in a way that takes some people 3 years to achieve. Maybe he was just buttering her up to be an ongoing student....?

Mon 24 Jan 2011
Today we booked nice accommodation in Cornwall which we'll enjoy in several weeks' time. We've not yet made it out to Cornwall - hopefully the weather will be kind.

Thu 27 Jan 2011
Tidying and preparations to be done for the impending Aussie Day party. Lamingtons were made (Steve made it possible, then Jen assembled the lamingtons), BBQ was borrowed, and the rear decking had been cleaned on the weekend (a Steve & Jen special team effort) to be less slippery.

Sat 26 Jan 2011
Aussie Day Party. Thanks to friends for fun suggestions on the music playlist for the party.
A chilly -4 to 4 degrees Celcius, but that did not deter the blokes from getting out there and cooking! All told, we had 5 Aussies, 5 Brits, 3 Americans and a token Kiwi. Our little house was rockin', and the table groaning with BBQ goodness!


We'd rather have a beer with ...erm, Jim-o? who seems to like Fosters. How strange!

Dec 2010 b

2011-01-05T22:49:00.005Z

Thu 23 Dec 2010
This morning we opened one or two Xmas gifts each from under the tree. Xmas part two will happen on our return home. Shortly after, we headed off to Heathrow. Althought the plane was delayed about an hour, we're lucky enough snow has melted in the past day or two that flights had resumed.
We arrived in Cairo late in the evening. The hotel unfortunately had windows which did not 100% close, and our stay is marred by sleeping with mosquito repellent on face and hands each night. But for all that the hotel was OK.

By the way, no museums we visited during our holiday in Egypt allowed photos to be taken, fair enough.

Fri 24 Dec 2010
Today is a non scheduled day. And it's just as well, because we're sprung with the surprise that the hotel's credit card machine is broken. When will it be fixed? The shrug of shoulders left us wondering if they're a cash only hotel actually. So after buying a local SIM card and a few calls to the UK later, we managed to withdraw the extra cash needed for the next few days. We also familiarised ourselves with the local Metro system which is very cheap at £1 EGY per trip.
Here's a nice pic of the Nile in Cairo:

Sat 25 Dec 2010
Christmas day.
As independent travellers we've booked four half day tours with a personal tour guide. Today we visited the Pyramids at Gaza, the Solar Boat, Sphinx, and a papyrus making display and showroom.

The morning fog had us standing about 20 metres from the Great Pyramid and wondering where it was. The fog burned off about 45 minutes later. We went inside the "small" pyramid (Menkuare) as the length of the passage down was short compared to others... after all its very cosy-going for the likes of Mr Steve.

At the end of the tour, we were relieved Mariana (our guide) helped us to sort out our booking of overnight sleeper train to and from Luxor, at the train company's office in Cairo. We'd booked it months ago (phone, email and fax!) but they'd failed to make the booking for us.
In the evening we took our guidebook's suggestion of a lebanese restaurant in the area called Taboula. Big thumbs up.

Well here are today's photos.... Mariana is our tour guide, and reminds us of our friend Melisende, just a really lovely lady.

Above: Great Pyramid in the mist. Mariana and Steve.


Above: Camel riding by the Queens' pyramids.

Khafre Pyramid floats in fog, Giza.

Approaching the viewing area for the Sphinx
we see Khafre Pyramid.

Tourists just can't get enough of the Sphinx!

Here's our quick little panorama of the Sphinx and pyramids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM6p9zNwVqs

Above: Ancient Egyptian boat
construction (rope) system.
Click to view larger.

The Solar Boat is around 3,500 years old, and possibly the oldest complete boat in the world. It was stored disassembled, in a stone walled pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid, ropes included (the whole thing is a roped together type of boat) and its 1,200 pieces were lovingly pieced together over 14 years. The boat is now housed in situ beside the very pit it was found in!

Solar Boat!

Sun 26 Dec 2010
Half day tour seeing old Coptic Cairo (Coptic means Egyptian Christian) including the Coptic Museum. The textiles were truly fabulous, such as a lovely 4th century tunic still in lush vivid blue with fine detailing seemingly woven in.

Ye Olde door, 2nd C AD

Our tour guide Mariana is herself Coptic, and mentioned to us that the Copts kept the ancient Egyptian language but write it in a greek alphabet. She then demonstrated by speaking some Egyptian to us - kinda cool.
She also explained her theory of what the Ankh symbol means. The vertical line from bottom upward, the passage of your life, the horizontal line as the end or the threshold of death, and the circle at top, the circle being eternal, so symbolising eternity. In the museum she showed us a 4th century Ankh with a Christian cross inside the circle at top.
At the Hanging Church (built on part of a Roman guard turret), our guide demonstrated and explained how the Coptic cross has equal lengths - with Christ symbolised in the centre and the 4 spokes being the directions taken by the apostles, to the four corners of the globe spreading the message.
Anyway, during the tour we walked through the old walled Coptic precinct, past Coptic homes with doors such as this one, 2nd century AD! and still going strong.

Mon 27 Dec 2010
Today we visited Cairo's Museum of Antiquities - no photography allowed inside.
There are two floors and today we "did" the ground floor. This took about 4 hours! No photos allowed, but most impressed with the statues of Prince Rahotep and Nofret (2600BC) very finely executed statue with life-like eyes. Check out these photos of the eyes (scroll down the page), they aren't photoshopped!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2468308849/

Tonight we hopped on our overnight sleeper train toward Luxor. The train journey was jerky but better than 24 hours in economy class on a plane.

Tue 28 Dec 2010
And so we arrived in Luxor. We had an afternoon half day tour starting with the great Karnak Temple, moving on to Luxor Temple. Our tour guide is a young archaeologist named Aladin ("Ala-Dean"). Aladin's theory of the Ankh symbol is that it is a primitive map of the Nile River, and that the ancient name of the Nile was Ankh. The horizontal line of the Ankh are the two major canals built by the Pharaohs (east-west) in the north and the circle being the mouths and coast of the Nile / mediterranean. He mentioned the meaning of the river's name being intertwined with 'life' as it is essential to life in Egypt even today. In a museum a few days later we saw a plaque stating that Ankh means mirror - so perhaps there were many related/similar meanings.

Here's a bunch of Karnak Temple photos.....

Amazing - the paint's still going strong!

Above: Leaving the Karnak Temple complex.

Here's a bunch of Luxor Temple photos..... (click "read more" at the bottom of this page)

Colossi of Memnon

Wed 29 Dec 2010
Today our final half day tour. First stop our tour guide's dig site hidden just behind these fabric walls behind the Colossi of Memnon, seen here at right.Next stop, Valley of Kings where we went into three tombs - its a bit like visiting a painted chapel. The tombs we saw were: Ramses IV, Merneptah, and Ramses IX.
Last stop, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple - really splendid!

Queen Hatshepsut's Temple

The paint in the alcoves is so fresh. Dayglow orange even today!
So here's another little clip walking about the top of the Temple:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF7DFgENEn4

Thu 30 Dec 2010
Today's our day to visit the Luxor museum. Unfortunately the moment we exited the hotel lobby, we had a run in with an excessively aggressive taxi tout who wouldn't take no for an answer. Steve even said "you've offended my wife go away" twice which didn't work. Jen said "I'm afraid of you now" and gave him a look, he finally got the idea and pi55ed off. After that we decided to walk the full hour from the hotel to the Museum.
A view of Luxor Temple in the morning sun on our walk:

Above: Luxor Temple

The Museum was good, although the state of construction in the area was discouraging. Sadly, it seems as if many things have fallen into a state of disrepair as you see here... this is Steve on a bench by the Nile and right outside the Luxor Museum.

And so tonight we hopped back on the overnight train back to Cairo!

Fri 31 Dec 2010
Had a lazy day today resting the tired feet and calves.
Our original tour guide had mentioned that the national flower of Egypt is the satellite dish, and from the top of our hotel here you can see why!

Sat 01 Jan 2011
Visited the Cairo museum again this time to tackle the upper floor. Really truly blown away by the Tutenkhamun treasures room. It's like the Sutton Hoo stuff except there's loads more of it, and at a greater variety of sizes/application, and of course all delicately and patiently created about 2,000 years earlier!

Today on our walk along the Nile, headed back toward the hotel, we spotted a pied kingfisher and a hoopoe bird - fabulous looking things!

Afternoon by the Nile, Cairo

Sun 02 Jan 2011
Headed to Cairo airport, plane delayed 1.5 hours, but very happy to finally arrive at Heathrow! Unpacked and laundried up.

Mon 03 Jan 2011
A lazy day. More laundry. Went to the cinema, watched both the latest Tron 3D and Narnia movies. They were OK but not brilliant - why has good plot and character development been given over in favour of special effects these days?

Dec 2010 a

2010-12-13T19:10:00.000Z

Fri 03 Dec 2010
Thankfully most main roads have been gritted, so the snow isn't such a problem as it had been earlier this week.
However, Steve had been planning on having a nice relaxing afternoon off work, but due to discovering a flat tyre this morning, he's spent about 6 hours arranging purchase of a new tyre. The problem being that the car is an import and has specific tyres.
Anyway, Dan and Elizabeth arrived in goodly time, and we collected Judith from the local airport. Drove up to the event in Newmarket. Well, we did also have about a half hour's diversion too. Eventually got to site before 10pm. Got dressed quickly, and 5 minutes later there was a short SCA court.
Steve was brought up and sent to vigil to consider elevation to the Order of the Laurel - a big surprise for him and a great honour.

Here's the film showing his surprise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaloCF4F788

Sat 04 Dec 2010
Jen says thanks to those who knew and managed to keep the secret.
The ceremony was very touching, with many praising his qualities - Mistress Judith, HRH Sir Vitus, Mistress Kiriel (who's journey to the site was one of great determination), Nerissa as a Rose, and Baroness Ursula as a speaker from the populace. There were also messages read out from Acacia and Drakey, laurels from Alaric's previous Kingdom of Lochac.
The laurel medallion Alaric received continued its young tradition, passing to a new Insulae Draconis laurel, and was presented with a beautiful lineage scroll. Alaric was elevated for his knowledge and skills at the fine art of the Feast, with his specialty being in ancient Roman cookery.

So now here are the laurelling photos:

And some photos of the evening's dancing. He really did look like something descended from Mount Olympus. Jen was on percussion, accompanying with the fab Mistress Kiriel on recorder and crumhorn, plus one other - Valeria occasionally on recorder.

Dancing - music provided by Mistress Kiriel

One very excited little Laurel!

Sun 05 Dec 2010
So we made our way back home, unpacked and rested.

Mon 06 Dec 2010
Steve starts coming down with a headcold as a result of the weekend's festivities....

Wed 08 Dec 2010
Steve's headcold meant he skipped fighter practice tonight.

Thu 09 Dec 2010
Tonight Steve decided to pamper Jen with dinner, foot rub and movie. Sweet.

Fri 10 Dec 2010
Jen started coming down with a headcold this afternoon. So, took the sensible option and stayed in tonight instead of going to a housewarming party.

Sat 11 Dec 2010
Jen is useless today and has a 4 hour 'nap' in the afternoon, which didn't even affect her regular sleep! Together we watched the three extended Lord of the Rings movies back to back.

Sun 12 Dec 2010
After another placid day at home, we headed out before dinner, to enjoy live on stage: Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds at the O2 (millenium dome). It was really great - Jeff Wayne conducted, and Justin Haywood sang his bits! Unfortunately the lady playing Beth was rubbish compared to the CDs, and Jason Donovan (as the young artillery man) sang most of his belted-out notes too sharp! He also failed to do anything about his Aussie accent and speech patterns. He said "reckon" a few times - for shame!!

However, it was overall really great. A fun surprise was this martian tripod puppet which lowered on to the stage and swayed about. It also shot out flame jets onto the front edge of the stage! Pretty cool.

Nov 2010 b

2010-12-02T19:23:00.000Z

Tue 16 Nov 2010
And so Autumn has turned very cold. Today there's a sturdy frost over everything outside. Poor Steve took 20 minutes just to scrape away 1-2cm of ice from the windscreen. Here he is scraping the inside too! (above)
Below: Autumn leaves in the gutter edged in the frost.

Fri 19 Nov 2010

After work, Jen decides that the Xmas tree is going up! Yes it's early, but all the adverts and stores already have Xmas songs and decorations everywhere. Here's Steve adding the finishing touch to the tree - the angel on top.

Just in time, the tree's done. Kev and Tash turn up for a lovely Steve-cooked dinner of chook parmijiana, wedges, dessert, and some serious fine ale drinking. Here's Tash trying to hide from the blogger... no such luck sweetie.

Sun 21 Nov 2010
Today we went out and saw the new film, Harry Potter and the DH part I.
We're both eagerly awaiting part II now.

Tue 23 Nov 2010
After work we visited the doctor together. We're now vaccinated against Typhoid - sigh, the downside of intending to visit Egypt. It will be so nice (and traditional for us Aussies) to be somewhere warm for Christmas.

Wed 24 Nov 2010
Steve goes to fighter practice and got whacked on the typhoid shot (arm) - ouch!

Fri 26 Nov 2010

This evening Steve cooked up a fab favourite of Duck in cherry sauce, for our visitors Soph and Paul. Well it is now almost their 6 month wedding anniversary and the happy couple stayed over for tomorrow's adventure of...

Sat 27 Nov 2010

Filming. Jen has a go at mucking about with a camcorder, with Soph and Paul the stars of the action, and Jen will get around to playing with video editing too in the coming weeks. Thanks to Soph and Paul who patiently followed Jen's direction. Hooray for Steve as the official on-set caterer too. :-) Especially the fab nachos for lunch!

Sun 28 Nov 2010
With it being so chilly outside, we stayed in. Steve had a great day playing online games with friends from around the world. Jen got stuck into some spring cleaning (or should that be autumn cleaning).
Here's the frost on the car today (right)... yep the photo was taken from the upstairs window, where it is warm.

Tue 30 Nov 2010
Snow! Steve drove to work in this! Jen got the bus.

Above: zoomed-in view from Jen's window/wall at work;
Below: and another shot from Jen's work - you can see the millenium dome (the O2) and Canary Wharf skyscrapers at the horizon.

Wed 1 Dec 2010
Steve goes to fighter practice, and was surprised by and extra 3 or so inches of snow appearing on the car in the 3 hours he was there.
Jen sensibly stays indoors, and emails a bunch of organ builders and suppliers to enquire about getting flue pipes made for building our own portative organ - a project which Steve generously offered to do for Jen awhiles ago and its only recently that Jen's been interested in deciding how she wants it to look.

Thu 2 Dec 2010
MORE snow!!!!! And yes we're both getting to and from work OK. Steve finds its much much more slippery on the roads as the snow has been compacted into ice.
Here's our front door inside and out; and shots in the neighbourhood.


Jen says hooray for snow boots!

Nov 2010 a

2010-11-15T20:35:00.005Z

Tue 02 Nov 2010
And so from our lovely summery visit in Australia, now we're plunged into the depths of a British Autumn.

Fri 05 Nov 2010
The one thing that makes the wintery weather bearable is all the fun sociable gatherings and festivals in the run up to Xmas. Tonight is Guy Fawkes night, and although there's a scattering of rain about, that doesn't dampen the spirits across the neighbourhood as random locally bought fireworks are let off from backyards and even various levels of council flats and roofs!
Here's Jen's workmate Lucy as we watch from our lounge room. This is a mash-up of two photos since the fireworks are in focus now too.

Sat 06 Nov 2010
Yesterday Ciaran arrived for the final leg of his stay with us. He's definitely had a hard time travelling about so intensely for 3 months and is looking forward to going home to Tasmania. However today the three of us headed off to the V&A museum to see the new Medieval galleries. Here is a photo of Steve and Ciaran as we enjoy a tasty roast lunch in the V&A cafe.

Above: The new medieval galleries are very impressive. They boast at having the only complete Italian Renaissance chapel, outside of Italy (which is beyond this magnificent renaissance choir screen).

Left: The Merode Cup. Approx 1400. This cup's description says: 'Set with tiny inset windows filled with translucent plique-a-jour enamel, this remarkable cup is the only medieval example of a rare technique.' Pretty cool. Other similar cups are described in period accounts, but this is the only one to have survived from the era.

Below: Who knew mosaics came in miniature? Each of these little golden squares seems to be less than a millimeter across!

And so after seeing many wonderful things, including an entire wooden medieval spiral staircase (4 floors of it), we left the museum. On the way to the tube station home, we briefly enjoyed watching the ice skating outside the Natural History Museum!

Tue 09 Nov 2010

Ciaran left London, for the other side of the planet today.

Wed 10 Nov 2010

Steve went to east London fighter practice and got to fight the new Crown Prince, Vitus. The comment at the end of the night was that Steve's repertiore of well-practiced 'shots/blows' had suddenly seemed to explode. Thanks to the 5 practices in 2 weeks back in Brissie.

Sat 13 Nov 2010
This morning Steve collected our good friend Kiriel from the local train station and the three of us set out towards Coventry. Kiriel is an Aussie living in Geneva, and it's great fun to have her come stay again, even if only for the weekend.

So, near Coventry today is the Original Re-enacotr's Market (TORM). After wandering about for two hours, (often bumping into other people we know) Jen had bought extra glasses to fill out our collection, and after a sufficiency of puppy-dog-eyeing about the Craticula (Pompeii oven), we ordered one, for Steve for Christmas. Steve was like a giddy schoolboy!

Kiriel had fun fawning over the musical instruments, but reserved her buying until tomorrow - the main reason for her visit, the Early Music Festival in Greenwich.

Sun 14 Nov 2010
And so here is Kiriel trying out an early period musical instrument with a massive price tag (at right). Unfortunately for her, the finger-holes were too big for her delicate lady-like fingertips, and she was literally unable to play it. Fortunately for her, there were other wonderful instruments which she did buy.

Below: Here's the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich - one of two rooms with early period (style) instruments for sale.

Below left: Kiriel tries another instrument out. This one doesn't quite make the grade.

RIght: A portative organ, with an astonishing price tag. Jen did give this one a test-drive. Interestingly, not so comfortable for a left hander!

At the end of the day, Kiriel and Jen both bought three musical instruments. Jen's were all percussion, and totalled to £33! Kiriel bought a soprano crumhorn made from beautiful boxwood, which included three interchangeable end attachments for affecting the sound. She also bought this sweet sounding wire-strung lyre.

The glasses and the percussion
Jen acquired over the weekend.

Terry caught up with Jen and Kiriel for a quick drink in a nearby pub, and finally K and J made their way home. Steve whipped up a Tasty beef wellington, to round out the perfect weekend!

Mon 15 Nov 2010
Early this morning Steve drops Kiriel off at the local City Airport, and its back to work for us both.

Oct 2010 b

2010-11-01T11:53:00.003Z

Hooray for wide lanes

Tue 26 Oct 2010
This morning we hopped in the car and drove down to Fingal Head, south of Surfer's Paradise.

Here we enjoyed a lunch of fresh fish and chips overlooking pristine Dreamtime Beach.

Come hither, time for lunch....

Steve ventures down to the almost deserted Dreamtime Beach, Fingal Head.

The little pebble and shell shards dotted on the beach were so rich in varying colours.

After lunch and a nice walk along the beach, we headed back northwards and here's a pic of Steve (below) at Burleigh Heads with the Gold Coast skyscrapers in the background.

Late afternoon we arrived at Ashmore's Stakehouse and Seafood Restaurant, Ashmore. It's a family friendly and well priced restaurant, here we caught up with our friend Sharon, her kids Emily and Isaac; and Jen's sister Vicky, Stu and niece Alex.

Oh my, we've been salivating for some Moreton Bay Bugs! They look a bit like something halfway between a crab and a lobster, or an Aliens facehugger without the tail. Taste really wonderful though, and we weren't disappointed! These bugs are cut in half lengthwise.

Wed 27 Oct 2010
So last night we stayed at Vicky and Stu's place in Buccan. This morning after an excellent cooked breakfast (thanks Stu) we headed toward Mount Tamborine. On the way we stopped in to visit Steve's dad's grave, and admired the nearby views.

Atop Mt Tamborine we parked the car and wandered along the Cedar Creek falls walking trail, and saw that the creek was really gushing after all the rain in recent weeks.

We decided not to go for a swim (Cedar Creek falls) as the water was pretty cold.

In the evening we drove over to the north side of Brisbane to the local fighter practice there and to catch up with various other old friends.

Thu 28 Oct 2010
After another lazy morning (hey we're on holidays) we met up with old friend Finnian in town at the Emporium.

Steve and Finnian

After lunch Finnian had to get back to work, so we headed up to the Mt Coot-tha summit to enjoy views from the lookout there. Unfortunately massive dark clouds and tropical downpour spoiled the views, so we headed home. One thing we've been missing is the brilliant golden hue on everything as the sun sets. There's no twilight in Brisbane - once the sun starts to go down you've got about 15-20 minutes before its pitch black out.

Here you can see the golden light of the setting sun, wet roads and dramatic storm clouds from this afternoon.

Dinner tonight, with a few friends at the Norman Hotel (pitched as Brisbane's worst vegetarian restaurant). Significant slabs of award-winning bovines were acquired and devoured!

Fri 29 Oct 2010
This morning we wandered in to South Bank parklands, which includes a series of man made beach / lagoons, alongside the river in the heart of Brisbane. And its all completely free to swim here! Just a short 15 minute walk from the CBD and skyscrapers.

After our swim we headed back to base for showers, then hit the supermarket to stock up on Aussie favourites - Tim Tams, mint slice, wizz fizz, twisties, cherry ripe, nutrigrain cereal - to take with us on our trip back to old blightey.
This evening, one last family dinner of sweet fresh seafood with Steve's mum, Fleur (sister) and Lynn. Lots of card playing (crib) until we had to unfortunately call it a night. Should have taken a photo, but so much fun was had it slipped our memories - sorry!

Sat 30 Oct 2010
This morning the final pack and weighting of bags. A final lunch with Jen's family with a spread of food just like the traditional Xmas lunch of cold meats and salad (well it is a Summer tradition after all).

Jen's family lunch

In the afternoon we still had a few short hours spare before needing to hit the airport, so we had a final farewell with our buddies Alex and Rachel.

A big thanks to everyone who hosted us, had dinner with us, and also to Jen's folks for the use of the car and keeping our laundry under control.

Sun 31 Oct 2010
Arrived home, about 4pm!
Home.... unpacked, laundry, showers, in bed asleep 7:30pm. Jen woke at 2am! Its gonna be a loooong day. Unfortunately for Steve he's already back at work today - Jen's back tomorrow.