Sunset Boulevard

Mmmm - we had THE best risotto for dinner this evening. It was a teriyaki tenderloin pork and spinach flavour. I bought a whole stack of recipe books at the beginning of the year and I've been trying new recipes each week. The risottos have been a big success - particularly now I've found that you don't have to stand at the stove and stir them for hours! Unfortunately not all the recipes have been received so well. The anchovie, capsicum and aubergine pasta won't be on the menu again.

This week has been pretty quiet except for a night out at the theatre on Wednesday seeing Sunset Boulevard. It was a good show, but we weren't really captivated. I think we most enjoyed watching the very talented actors playing the music on stage - there were no separate musicians in the pit, which was quite different from normal musicals.

The bad news for the week is that my work has postponed the announcements about who on my team is at risk of redundancy for another two weeks. We've been waiting months for the presentation, so this further delay has had quite a negative affect on team moral. I think everyone has just trying to get on with work as best they can, but I know it is playing on everyones mind. People are just ready to get it over and done with - even if it means they are made redundant.

On a brighter note, Phil's London Marathon training is going really well. He completed a 15 mile run this week and is doing fantastically! I'm doing my bit by walking with Phil on Sundays - one of his rest days. We walked about 4 miles today, which is good practice for walking the full length of Hadrian's Wall, which we plan on doing later in the year.

It's time for the Dancing on Ice Skate Off, so I'm off to get my fill of sequins, stacks and ice for the week. Goodnight.

Traces Circus

We've just had a brilliant afternoon at the circus. We went to see a

show called Traces Circus and it was AMAZING! There was no bigtop, no
animals, not even any clowns - just five incredible acrobat/musician/
artists.

All evening I've been trying to think of words to describe it - kind
of Cirque du Soleil meets Stomp meets parkour meets the South Bank
skate park. Raw and untamed, yet with incredible strength, grace and
control.

Some moves were jawdropping, others left you wondering what just
happened?!! Instant replay and slow motion would have been really handy.

So if you can resist those ugg boots on sale for £180 (what the?!!!),
I absolutely recommend seeing Traces Circus instead.

Welcome to the world Freya

Phil and I are celebrating the birth of his niece Freya Elizabeth. She was born last night after a fairly speedy labour (3 hours) at 8:33pm. Mum and baby are doing well, Dad is apparently in shock (although it's not like he didn't have 9 months to get used to the idea, right?!) and sister Sophie is delighted.


We had great fun playing with Sophie, Phil's 2 year old niece while we were back in Oz at Christmas, so hopefully it won't be too long before we get to meet Freya in person.

Welcome to the world Freya!

What a difference a day makes!

Last Sunday...




Last Monday...



Notice anything different about Wimbledon Common?

Snow day!!

How cool is this? In 5 years of working in London this is my first
"can't get to work due to snow" day.

Trains, buses, planes all suspended - even the Underground! And the
transport websites are all down, so we can't even tell what the travel
conditions are apart from the tv news reports.

The forecast is for more snow for the rest of the week including
blizzards!!

Now if only Phil would share in the excitement - he's suffering from a
very late night of Superbowl watching ;)