The week that was...

Hey everyone, how was your weekend? Mine has been really busy, but very productive. Last Thursday I had the day off and spent it with my uncle, aunt and their three kids in London. They'd been in London a few days and had pretty much seen the sights they'd wanted to see; so they pretty much wanted to shop, which was fine by me. So we did Oxford St and Piccadilly Circus, went for a coffee at kiwi cafe Sacred and stopped by the NZ Memorial in Hyde Park Corner. Having been to the opening last year, it was nice to see it close up and have the time to have a much closer look at it. We then spent an hour or so in Harrods, before meeting up with Fiona at Canary Wharf for a drink, and then dinner. It was really good to see them all again.

Fiona and I have been busy little bees this weekend. Friday night we went and saw the latest Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix). Since it is the longest book so far, it is strange that it is the shortest film (just on 2 hours). But then again, its easily the most difficult to make into a film, and I thought it was really good. Watched the All Blacks get a solid yet unspectacular win over the Boks on Saturday morning, visited Borough Market as we so often do, and went for a swim. Saturday night we went to "Prom 2," which was music from great British films, such as Harry Potter, the Dam Busters and Laurence of Arabia. There were a lot I didn't know, but I did enjoy it. There was even a harmonica soloist who was great!

Sunday has been busy. I went for a long cycle this morning and have spent most of the rest of the day doing housework, sorting paper work and other bits and pieces I have been meaning to do for ages.

Not too much else going on: we've got our world cup tickets and really looking forward to those games in Edinburgh and Cardiff and have a really busy week at work ahead. Thanks to my brilliant wife, I've also discovered the world of Facebook - a social networking thing, which is brilliant for keeping in touch with friends etc. All going to plan, I hope to put up loads of photos on my page. Hopefully you got my invite; the whole thing is really cool so you should check it out! TTFN.

Finally...sunshine!

Hi everyone. I know NZ has had a lot of rain recently, particularly the tornado's out west and the flooding up north, but if it helps, despite it being summer here, the UK has not been a whole lot better. There has been major flooding in the UK as well. But, thankfully we did just have a great weekend of sunshine in London.

Saturday, Fiona and I went to a very posh party in Chelsea, put on by play-write Tom Stoppard. It was quite the event, held outside in a public garden, and certainly nothing you’d ever experience in NZ. The guests that we rubbed shoulder with included Dame Judy Dench, Jerry Hall, Bob Geldof and the guy who plays Harry Potters uncle in the movies. We had a great time, and the food (oysters, spit roast pig, prawns, crepes, and gelato) was outstanding. Needless to say it was a pretty unique experience, and one we really enjoyed.

It was a massive weekend in London this past weekend, with the Live Earth concert and Le Tour de France. The tour prologue was held on Saturday, and the first leg began on Sunday, NOT in the centre of London as many thought it did (that was just the war-up, or “ride out”), but rather it started in our own back yard of Greenwich. Fiona went down and joined the crowds at the start line, and said that the atmosphere was awesome.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of the Tour live, as I was doing my practice swim in the Docks on Sunday, ahead of doing the London Triathlon short course in 5 weeks time. It was a good opportunity for me to get into the wetsuit and swim at the actual race venue; but the session itself was not what I had expected. Everyone else in my group was either doing the longer or the Olympic distance triathlon, and were much better swimmers than me. Also, where I was just hoping to swim the distance that I will swim on the day, all we did was swim out and back to buoy the whole time, without a concert,ed, non-stop swim.

But, I’m really looking forward to the actual event in 4 and a half weeks time. It is the biggest triathlon in the world, with over 11,000 people doing it. So I’ll be happy just to fight through the crowds and finish.

I’ve also been to a few movies in recent times: Oceans 13 and Die Hard 4.0, which I can thoroughly recommend. Aside from the different context/background of the film being cyber terrorism, it’s a typical Die Hard, with loads of shootings, things blowing up, and Bruce Willis getting cut up and shot. I'm also looking forward to seeing Harry Potter V this weekend, and of course watching the All Blacks beat the Boks at Jade.

I hope all is well in your world - would love to hear from you!