The Maddens

Invitation: Vet @ Sat Oct 9 10:10am - 11:10am (28beaufortcourt.banana98@blogger.com)

2010-10-06T09:23:00.001+01:00

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Vet

When

Sat Oct 9 10:10am – 11:10am London

Calendar

28beaufortcourt.banana98@blogger.com

Who

•	Christine Madden - organizer
•	28beaufortcourt.banana98@blogger.com

Going? Yes - Maybe - No more options »

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Concorde Sprint 2010

2010-08-09T18:09:00.003+01:00

On Sunday the 1st September 2010 I completed my first triathlon sprint event. The Concorde was held at Bradfield College in Berkshire, a superb location.
Apart from a few basic 1st time errors, all went well and I am now looking forwward to my next event.

Position 54
Category 30-34
Finish 01:15:46
Swim 00:07:16
T1 00:02:03
Cycle 00:42:00
Run 00:24:24

Start of Summer

2010-06-01T21:10:00.002+01:00

I have a feeling that this summer is going to better than the last. We haven't had a decent summer for about 3 years now so we are well overdue some prolonged periods of sunshine.
In anticipation we have armed ourselves with a proper charcoal BBQ, teak garden furniture and parasol. We couldn't be more ready for the sun if we were aboard a spaceship on a mission to the sun!
The start of summer brings a new lease to the quiet British villages. All of a sudden there is a hive of activity. This weekend saw me running in the Newbury 10km race with Barry, Simon and Big Dave (in 49 minutes). We trudged around Sonning, our neighbouring village, checking out the characters of the scarecrow trail and enjoyed the quiz night at our local the Bottle & Glass. Henley becomes clogged with visitors as soon as the sun makes an appearance and preparation for the regatta has already started. The pace of life is wonderfully sedate and each day we enjoy our new life more than the last. Now all we need is that sun...

bustaad .... bludee ahjent

2010-04-27T16:00:00.004+01:00

This has nothing to do with The Maddens but I cant squander an opportunity to mock Julius Malema, the ANC Youth League President, following his recent expulsion of BBC journo Jonah Fisher fom a press conference. Eish! This track was cut from Comrade Malema's tirade.

http://gussilber.posterous.com/bloody-agent

Presents

2010-04-09T20:05:00.005+01:00

We have been living in the country for 3 months now but we are not yet comfortable with the idea of waking up to some half-dead critter, left as a present by Winston.
On Sunday morning it was a Blue Tit I had to save, this morning a rabbit and this evening a mole - but the mole got it with a hockey stick. I'll be damned if I am going to let the moles survive only to build little stony mounds all over the garden.

The blossoms on the trees have all come out this week and gardening chores for Sunday include mowing the lawn, weeding and planting our strawberries. The strawberries are the first ingredient in the list that will finally make up Christine's Pims cocktails. I cant wait!!

Time flies...

2010-03-14T20:20:00.003Z

It has been over four months since our last blog, not for lack of anything to write but due to lack of will.
Since then, we have spent Christmas in Australia, moved to the Oxfordshire countryside and enjoyed some of the heaviest snow in the UK in over 30 years. The picassa pics tell the story.

Birthday

2009-11-05T16:37:00.001Z

Yesterday was my 34th birthday. We spent the weekend in London, searching for my birthday present which turned out to be a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. The espressos are delicious!
We spent last night at The Wharf in Teddington having dinner and watching, like a couple of voyeurs, the unfolding dramas of the salsa event that was being hosted in the cocktail lounge.

Manus and Nicola's Wedding

2009-10-16T15:24:00.000+01:00

On Saturday the 12th, Christine and I along with Nick, Lisa, Louise and Steve travelled up to Wick near Bristol for Manus and Nicola’s wedding. The wedding reception was held at The Park which proved to be a stunning location.
We all stayed overnight at Toghill House Farm which was comfortable but being hemmed in by roads on both sides, offered little in terms of rustic charm. What they did have were some of the friendliest cats. Sydney was a ginger and white cat that was more than happy to be picked up and patted by anyone that was willing.

www.zaplive.tv

2009-10-04T11:49:00.002+01:00

Came across this website which keeps us entertained with superb background noise and wonderful footage of the African bush.

Frieth

2009-09-26T10:22:00.003+01:00

Last weekend we spent Sunday picnicking near Frieth in the Chilterns.
It has become apparent that Christine and I are obsessing about the area, desperate to be able to buy a house in the vicinity. We have found a house that suits our needs be unfortunately we are not able to meet the Sellers price - yet.

We met up with Sean and Janine who had brought along RedG and another Ridgeback. We picniced in a little clearing just above the Prince Albert pub and did not see another person pass us all day. As Darryl Kerigan would say - "Aah, the serenity".
I also managed to pick myself another batch of sloe berries, enough to make a litre of slow gin.

more pics posted here...

Sloe Gin

2009-09-08T15:32:00.003+01:00

Last night I made my first ever batch of sloe gin. Having taken three years to discover a patch where sloe berries can be found I finally found them along a single track just off of Temple Lane.
Christine and I promptly filled her backpack with as many sloes as we thought appropriate. The beginning of September is apparently too early for sloe picking but I discovered they can be put in the freezer overnight to imitate the first frosts of October.
After taking them out the freezer last night they had to be thawed and then each berry had to be pricked before placing them into half full bottles of gin. A measure of sugar was added and all we have to do now is shake the bottles weekly and wait until Christmas when it should be ready to drink.

Rome

2009-09-02T19:36:00.001+01:00

It dawned on me this bank holiday that I must be a plonker! Why have I never been to Rome before? This must be one of the best cities in Europe to visit as a tourist. History litters every street and alley, the food is excellent and inexpensive and the weather at the end of august is superb.
From Heathrow Terminal 4 we were only a 2 hour flight away and arrived at our hotel near the Colloseum late Friday evening. The Hotel Capo d'Africa is a gem of a hotel overlooking the Basilica of the Santi Quattro Coronati.
Over the course of the next three days we managed to vist the Colloseum, the Palatine hill with it's palace ruins, the Roman Forum beneath the hill, the Trevi Fountain, the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel within.

Wodonga

2009-08-22T03:09:00.001+01:00

Ross McMillan passed away after a long battle with illness on Tuesday morning 11th August. A couple of flights to Australia ensued and I managed to get to Wodonga with only a few hours to spare before the funeral on Friday 14th.
Needless to say it was a sad time but it was still good to be visiting in Australia and getting to meet a lot of the family that Chrstine had not seen in years and I had never met before.
We leave Wodonga this afternoon to catch our flight back to London.

Paris

2009-08-12T09:09:00.004+01:00

On Friday afternoon, Christine and I met up with Steve and Louise at Kings Cross Eurostar terminal. A glass of champagne and a bowl of strawberries later and we were on our train to Paris.
Christine had the forsesight to bring along a bottle of chilled Heidsiek Monopole and some nibbles which were devoured within half an hour of departure.

We stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe which must be the best Hilton I have yet stayed at. Superb rooms, great service and lovely breakfasts.

The weekend was spent eating and drinking and doing only a bit of sightseeing. In all a top weekend.

pics here...

Stag-Do's and Sangria

2009-08-07T13:02:00.003+01:00

We spent the final weekend of July in separate countries, Christine in Barcelona and myself in Galway.
Christine, Louise and Lisa had a girls weekend in Central Barcelona, probably looking pretty and guzzling sangria - what else would you do in Barcelona?
pics here...

Galway was a surprise. Small but large enough to keep you entertained with some great girls and plenty of craic.
It was Manus stag weekend and Alun had planned for it to be based around a racing theme as the Galway Races Week was being held. Manus was duly supplied with a jockey outtfit for Saturday and did not fail to impress all the girls with his dapper attire.
Saturday evening was spent at the Skeff pub on Eyre Square before moving on to a nightclub that turned out to be a fantastic party!!
Apart from having to share a room with Chandra and listen to his snoring all night, it was a top weekend.

The Wharf

2009-07-29T15:58:00.001+01:00

We enjoyed another great dinner at The Wharf in Teddington last night. This is the one restaurant we will miss when we finally move out of the area.

Brighton Pilgrimage

2009-07-27T14:28:00.001+01:00

Saturday saw the 11th annual Brighton Pilgrimage, organised for the 1st time by Fabio.
The format was the same as every year: 9.40 meet at Victoria, wait for stragglers, 11:00 departure, cocktails galore, touch rugby on the pebbles of Brighton beach, watch the Boks give the All Blacks a pasting in the Tri Nations and then train back to London.
I even managed to get sun-burned.

Ealing Comedy

2009-07-24T17:54:00.002+01:00

Enjoyed a good night in Ealing's Walpole Park for the annual Ealing Comedy Festival.

Durban, Kruger and Sun City

2009-07-06T19:48:00.009+01:00

After a couple of nights in Cape Town we headed north to Franschoek. We had a meal at the famous Le Quartier which was slightly disapointing and also managed to get to Ribeek Kasteel and catch up with Maurice.

We flew into Durban from Cape Town and the weather changed to a beautiful low twenties. We stayed at the the Breakers Resort for a couple of nights and then moved onto Tesorino Bed and Breakfast. Caught up with Lee Fernandes, Jose and Cindy Soeiro, Meryl and Dan and TJ and I also got to watch Glenwood Boys High beat Westville Boys. We watched the 1st Lions Test at the Box bar, opposite the Beverley Hills Hotel.

Following Durban, we flew into Nelspruit and spent a night at the Protea Hotel Kruger Gate. Our room (chalet) was huge and I must remember to ask for a chalet in future - we stayed in room 5.
The next morning we were into the park by 8am and had spotted all Big 5 by 11am. This was probably the best game viewing I had ever had.
We spent a couple of nights at Lower Sabie camp in room 89 - a small, adequate room .

We would have loved to stay longer but we had planned to visit Sun City for 2 nights so we headed off on a 7 hour drive.
Sun City was a dispointment after having been in the beauty of the Kruger. We stayed at the Kwena Chalets in suite 1 (Nile) which was excellent value for Sun City.

We spent our last evening in Jo'burg with the Haydens, watching the 2nd Test and getting very pissed on springboks and redbull cocktails.

Cape Town

2009-06-14T20:42:00.002+01:00

We spent the morning at the V&A Waterfront, looking around the shops and generally people watching.
Had lunch at Meloncino's which was average for the price.
We picked up a couple of bottles of wine from Caroline's Fine Wines, including an Andreas Shiraz 2006 which we took back to Ocean View House and enjoyed on the sofa.
We are just back from dinner in Camps Bay which we had at the Bungalow. The cocktails, meal and service were great!!

Western Province vs the British & Irish Lions

2009-06-14T08:13:00.002+01:00

We arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare on Friday evening so that we could do a spot of shopping and get something to eat before our 21:00 flight.
I picked up some flip flops at Timberland and we then sidled into Giraffe for a meal. After a leisurely meal and a bottle of prosecco, just as we were about to ask for the bill, the fire alarms started ringing. Everyone was ushered out immediately and I was not allowed back to pay the bill - an excellent start to the holiday.

The flight to Cape Town was uneventful despite there being numbers of Lions supporters about us. Cape Town airport was extremely efficient and quick to get through and should be the airport to fly into when coming to SA again.
For some reason we had a Caravelle booked for the week by Avis and so we asked for something a bit smaller. We managed to get ourselves a Hyundai 4x4 instead.
The drive to Camps Bay was easy and finding Ocean View House was just as simple. We are staying in room 10 which has a great view of the garden and the beach which is about 50 meters away.

Celia and Peter arrived soon after check-in and we were on our way to Newlands. The ground is in a great old part of Cape Town, which might be somewhere we want to stay in future.
WP lost by 26-23 in the last 4 minutes but it was generally a poor effort by the South Africans who should have produced a more attritional game and made the Lions work harder for the win.
After the game we headed back to Camps Bay for a meal at Nandos.

Twenty20 World Cup 2009

2009-06-10T10:50:00.002+01:00

We went along to the SA vs NZ game at Lords last night to watch probably the most boring T20 match ever!
We were joined by Steve, Louise, Eff, Beast, Roly and Unpronounceable but despite SA managing to win, the game was uneventful and the trek home made difficult by the lazy, socialist morons at London Underground that decided to go on strike.

Camping

2009-06-10T10:16:00.003+01:00

We enjoyed a sunny weekend of camping in Buckland Dinham on the 30th and 31st May. Walking through the countryside we discovered a great golf course - and possible draw for the boys on future camping trips - at Orchardleigh Golf Club.
Unfortunately we had to hoon back to Reading on Sunday for an afternoon wedding. We scrambled into Wokefield Park 5 minutes before the wedding started, just in time to see Nuggy and Rolly getting married.

Duncan and Lisa's Wedding

2009-05-29T14:42:00.002+01:00

Celia and Peter arrived from south Africa last week for Duncan and Lisa's wedding and stayed with us for a few days.

The wedding was held in Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park and with the weather being superb it was a perfect day.

Sunday morning brought glorious sunshine again so we decided to give the Porsche a blast and head for the coast. We caught up with Sean Hayden and RedG at West Wittering beach near Chichester. I managed to test my photographic skills out on RedG despite my concern of too much sand. We spent Sunday evening at home with Celia and Peter, enjoying burgers and chips for dinner and watching the Bulls beat the Crusaders on Sky+.

Monday was a bank holiday so we spent it with Steve and Bernie, playing golf at Wycombe Heights and then dinner at the White Hart in Beaconsfield.

Ealing Rugby Club Dinner

2009-05-20T16:28:00.003+01:00

The annual awards ceremony and dinner was held at Ealing Trailfinders on Friday evening.
The Exiles had a good showing with Exiles Player of the Season going to Dave Macsweeney.
Sunday was again spent at the club playing a touring vets side from Zagreb rugby club. Ealing ran out winners 33-24 and I managed a couple of tries.

On saturday I decided to bight the bullet and purchse my first SLR. It is a Canon 40D with the 17-85mm IS and 70-300mm IS lenses.

Hilton Ball

2009-05-16T09:03:00.003+01:00

The London Kensington Hilton Ball for 2009 was a great success again and well attended by the Ealing rugby boys and their partners. Most decided to stay in the hotel for the night which was a good idea as I only had to stagger up to bed after 3am, having drunk Barry to a pulp in the lounge bar.
Yet again I managed to win a weekend stay at a Hilton Hotel in the "hidden prize" draw, this time at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The weekend away has already been booked for early August.

Sunday was spent playing 7's at the club with those that were brave enough to bake themselves in gloroius sunshine - not the most sensible thing to do after a night of partying!

Stag weekend

2009-05-08T15:14:00.002+01:00

Saturday the 2nd May was Duncan Burns stag party, held over the course of the day accros parts of North London.
Starting with beers at Smith's of Smithfield at 11am we then moved off to play urban golf and get a few more drinks in at the urban golf centre in Smithfield Street. A pub crawl including shots of Aftershock landed us up in Upper Street. With Duncan now donning hideous blonde wig and large fake boobs, the wheels of the group appeared well oiled.
Generously lubricated but without any fuel on board we made for a local Thai restaurant. The food was carted off to be eaten in Highbury Fields park along with more beer.
After a good lunch we made our way to Rowans Bowling in Finsbury Park. We had a great time - more than we expected and everyone came away having made a few strikes. Then it was off to the Park Tavern for more beer and live music. A great venue which I would love to visit again.
Dinner was spent at a local Indian restaurant, shoveling curry and Cobra beer into our mouths and finally making a dash for the last train home.
We didn't make the last train but did discover a dodgy drinking den that appeared to stay open all night. 5 JD's and a pint cost less than 2 beers in Richmond so despite the scruffy looking people peeing their pants and falling off their bar stools, I reckon it was a good pub if you want to get pissed cheap!

Darwin Exhibition

2009-04-24T23:27:00.003+01:00

18th April was the last day of the Darwin Exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
The museum is a superb piece of architecture and the exhibition was fascinating. Now I just need to get round to reading The Origin of Species, something I have been meaning to do for years.

Afterwards we caught up with Clive and Josie for lunch in West Kensington, followed by desert at the Chocolate Bar in Harrods.

Yorkshire

2009-04-18T09:19:00.002+01:00

The Easter weekend was spent in Yorkshire with Nick, Lisa, Paul and Merideth.

Nick's mum very generously allowed her home at Hollin Top Farm to be invaded for four days. In return we had to look after Freddy the Golden Cocker Spaniel.

We walked the moorlands, visited the local villages, ate and drank. We were also lucky enough to spend the Sunday doing a whirlwind tour of the homes and sites of Nick's history and youth. Grandad Greenhalgh was obviously a very successful man if he could afford to own Helme Hall.
I especially enjoyed the village of Luddenden where Nicks' brother Alex lives.

Cant wait for the next visit to Yorkshire!!!

The Wharf

2009-03-27T15:59:00.001Z

The Wharf is doing a superb 2 courses for £10 special at the moment so we booked a table via Toptable for 8pm on Thursday evening. We both had huge plates of Wild Mushroom and Yellow Pumpkin Risotto with Parmesan Crisp and a delicious bottle of Borgo del col Alto. This was followed by Continental and English Cheeses, Biscuits and Chutney and a Passion Fruit and Mango Crème Brulée. We decided to finish off the evening with a couple of cocktails in the lounge area. I had an Espresso Martini and Chris had a Friar Tuck.
Great food, attentive service, beautiful location - The Wharf is still one of our favourite restaurants in the world!

Grand Slam

2009-03-23T15:34:00.003Z

The weekend started fairly early as I met up with Afe for lunch at the Walter Arms in Sindlesham. It is amazing how a lunch shared with a mate, lazing outside on a glorious spring day can destroy any hint of work related ambitions one might have had for the rest of the day.

Saturday morning we awoke early to glorious sunshine so we decided to take a walk about Richmond Park. What a superb London space! We will definitely miss it if we ever decide to leave Richmond.

After a lunchtime session at the gym I drove out to the Red Lion in Newbury to watch Ireland run out winners over Wales in the final of the 6 Nations, thus bringing Ireland their first Grand Slam win in over sixty years. Getting to Newbury and back took longer than the match but it was worth it to drive the car with the hood down.

Met up with Chris and Louise for dinner at Giraffe and then Louise came home with us to open a bottle of Meerlust Red and talk sh1t into the early hours.

Delivered Louise home to Chiswick on Sunday morning and shared breakfast at Sam’s Brasserie. The Eggs Florentine was yummy!

Marley & Me

2009-03-20T13:53:00.002Z

On Wednesday we managed to work from home and figuring we were in a position to do so we trundled into Kingston to watch Marley & Me at the cinema.

What can I say about the movie. Well, it is not as good as the book and if you are inclined to start snivelling and snotting during girly movies then you might want to wait till this comes out on DVD - this will certainly save the poor other movie goers from having to listen to you blubbing into your tissue.

Deea

2009-03-14T16:59:00.003Z

We spent last night with Afe, Debs, Steve and Bernie in Kingston.
After a few swift ones at the Queens Head (previuosly the Owl and the
Pussycat) we headed across the road to Deea for a curry.

Chris and I did our best not to eat too much but could have done
better at moderating our beer intake!

South African voters abroad

2009-03-13T12:31:00.004Z

Yesterday the BBC and other press organisations reported with much fanfare that the Constitutional Court of South Africa has allowed South Africans living abroad the right to vote in South African elections.
As is typical of the immediate news age, little was scrutinised of this new ruling and instead the headline grabbing banners were posted to websites.
In fact, only those South Africans living in foreign countries that are already registered in South Africa can apply to re-register to vote in their foreign country. I trust this makes sense to all ?!? If it doesn’t then let me help….

To vote in the UK you need to travel to South Africa to register so that you can travel back to the UK to vote but you will not be able to register in South Africa because the register is already closed, unless you had for some strange reason already registered to vote in an election you would not have been able to vote in until yesterday, in which case you may re-register but only within the next 2 weeks.

Eeish! JZ must be dancing with joy.

iPhone

2009-03-09T11:48:00.002Z

Pam, Hilton and the kids arrived back from sunny SA on Friday after a 24 hour trip via France. We caught up over curry at Saqui and then home to bed for an early night.

After saying goodbye to the Wades I headed off to rugby and a farewell to Andre Lake. It was Andre’s last game before he leaves the Exiles to go back to Las Vegas.

Saturday evening was a surprise, planned by Christine and the “girls”. I had no idea what was expected but thought I would set the expectation low……. Something like going to watch the Marley & Me movie or being dragged to some over-priced ponsy restaurant. I was wildly off the mark!
Instead, the girls had arranged a Boys Night In at the Chesters'. This involved being waited on, having buckets of cold beers in ice placed around the extra large screen TV, with James Bond and other boys’ movies and sporting DVD’s on hand. The girls then left us to it for the entire evening, only appearing every now and again to refill glasses or deliver more food.
I am planning most weekends to follow the same theme from now!!

On Sunday morning I dashed into Carphonewarehouse to get myself an iPhone. I already love it.
Sean and Janine visited for lunch. Strangely it is the first time they have been to our place - we have been living in Ham for over 8 years now!!!
Christine made a lovely boboetie served with salad and strawberries and ice-cream for desert.

Champagne Pigs

2009-03-02T19:14:00.004Z

This past weekend I was restricted to the confines of home, suffering with the most virulent and deadly strain of man-flu. Despite me being close to the abyss, not a solitary shred of sympathy was forthcoming.

It was a real shame as Chris and I had a day planned in Brighton and a room booked at the Hilton Metropole for the evening but all had to be canned.

Instead, Steve came over to watch the 6 Nations whilst Louise and Christine made piggys of themselves by polishing off a bottle of Hamilton Russel Pinot Noir, a Pelorus, a Bollinger, another bottle of bottle of champagne and a Tattybogler.

Shopping

2009-02-26T12:51:00.002Z

On Saturday, after a week of furious plotting and scheming, Christine was off to indulge her greatest leisure pursuit of shopping. The planned venue was some huge, out-of-town discount village.
She had managed to get 3 cronies in on the act and it all looked very devious when they started drinking wine before their departure, with one of the wicked foursome producing a bottle of champagne.
Fortunately I had other things to occupy my mind as the Exiles had a game to play against Haringey, which we managed to loose 6 tries to 3. Oh well, we don't want to win the league!!
After the game we managed to get in a few pints at the club before catching up with the girls in the evening at The Clay Oven in Ealing.

Quiz Night

2009-02-22T18:28:00.003Z

As part of the fund raising team for the IT&T group taking part in the BG Energy Challenge, a quiz night was held in the BG restaurant.

I entered a team made up of colleagues and friends and we ended the evening in 16th place out of a total of 36 teams. We managed a total of 154 points out of a possible 200.

Valentine

2009-02-18T15:11:00.002Z

The Valentines Weekend was spent eating, drinking and watching 6 Nations rugby.

Despite it being Valentines Day on Saturday, the Exiles managed a superb turnout for the game against London French II’s. It was a tough game against a physical team but in the end the scoreline flattered the Exiles. We ran out 43-10 winners with yours truly managing a try with the first touch of the ball.
London French have moved their “clubhouse” to the Black Lion in Chiswick, just off the A4. Quite why they have done this is beyond me as it is nowhere near their ground in Barnes.

Valentines afternoon and evening was spent at home. Christine made a boeboetie and I had already knocked up dark chocolate truffles on Friday evening. Yum yum!

Time to start running .............

2009-02-13T12:20:00.003Z

Two days ago Christine decided to sign up for the Windsor Half Marathon. That's nice, I thought, until she asked me to join her!

So we are now both signed up and I for one am wondering why my wife thinks I need to do so much cardio?
Is this her way of telling me I need to loose a few kilos? Gee, she sure does have a way with words!

6 Nations

2009-02-08T15:31:00.006Z

Saturday brought the opening day of the 6 Nations.

Paul Toolan took me as a guest to the England vs Italy game at Twickenham. The game has universally been described as one of the worst games of rugby ever so it was a relief I hadn't paid to watch it.

After the game we piled into the Turks Head in St Margarets to watch the Ireland vs France game which was a spectacle of great rugby.

It also happened to be Lisa Martin's birthday and Chris and I met up with her and Nick at Brouge in Richmond for pre-dinner drinks. For Nick, a half Scottish half Yorkshireman, the prices in Brouge brought him to an apoplectic fit and so we soon made our way to La Buvette on Church Walk for a delicious dinner.

Sunday was spent at home watching 6 Nations again, this time Wales vs Scotland.

And my prediction for the winners is .............. France!

Waitangi Day

2009-02-08T14:54:00.002Z

Friday 6th Feb was Waitangi Day, a New Zealand celebration of the past days when the Maori used to eat the visiting Europeans, or something like that.....

Louise organised a night out at Suze, an Australasian restaurant in Mayfair after first meeting up for cocktails at rubylo.
The food and wine were good but bottles of Mt Discovery at £50 was a bit steep!
The evening ended up with some going back to Steve and Louise's place for nightcaps.

The Wharf

2009-02-05T14:28:00.005Z

Just spent the third day this week at home due to heavy snow. I do wish every week was like this!

Chris and I decided to go to The Warf in Teddington for lunch. They are currently running a £14 for 2 courses lunch special in conjunction with a 2 for 1 special. Despite the bargain basement price it is still one of the best restaurants around.

We are now back at home with Christine about to serve up steaming coffee.

By the way, I dont feel guilty for going out to lunch during work hours as we were both at our laptops by 6:45 this morning!

Snow

2009-02-02T10:12:00.003Z

Went out to dinner with Christine's work colleagues to an Indian restaurant in Isleworth on Friday evening. Got to bed too late and drank too much to feel healthy for rugby on Saturday but a ginseng drink later I felt ready to go. Not that it helped - we got thrashed by Old Hamptonians - but it was still good to have a run and make a few tackles.

Saturday evening was Burns night at the Cousins house, despite it being a week since the real Burns evening had passed. First I had to get into Putney to say goodbye to Justin Scholey who is soon off to Australia for good. It was good to Justin as well as Kimo who had come over from Ireland for the send-off. Unfortunately I was not able to stay for long as I had to get out to Newbury.

Burns evening passed with much drinking of whiskey and the obligatory haggis, tatties and neeps. The Royal Lochnagar I brought along went down very well. This morning we awoke to a blanket of snow, apparently the largest covering for 18 years.

As a result the UK has virtually come to a standstill and so Christine and I are working from home. More snow is predicted so with any luck I will be working from home again tomorrow.

The Plough

2009-01-30T10:31:00.002Z

We went to the The Plough in Northfields Avenue last night for dinner and drinks with a few friends.
So much for the credit crunch and pubs closing at 4 a day in the UK - this place was heaving - but I guess it must be because they sell good quality Fulham beer. London Pride is still the best.
I cant mention the name but we discovered that one of them is pregnant. It’s all meant to be a secret but as her mother in law already knows I guess the whole world might know pretty soon.

Tickets

2009-01-29T12:23:00.002Z

Yestarday I got confirmation from my cousin Steve that tickets to the British Lions Tests are going to start at R1140.
So, the administrators of SARFU - a bumbling bunch of morons - who despite being an autonomous union, are clearly managed and directed by the veritable numb-skull Makhenkesi Stofile (but that is another story) and think that somehow charging more than the average monthly wage for a domestic helper is both logical and goes towards inclusion of their disadvanted bretheren. I-D-I-O-TS !!!
All is not lost because I called my uncle Peter and he is going to sort out tickets for Chris and I and my aunt Celia to watch the WP vs British Lions game on the 13th June in Cape Town. Who do I support? As a Sharks supporter, barracking for Province seems like chearing for the devil.

And on top of all this my mate Steve Chester has just bought Chris and I tickets to the SA vs NZ 20/20 world cup at Lords on the 9th June.
Bring it on!!!

The Devonshire

2009-01-25T11:52:00.004Z

On Friday evening we visited The Devonshire, Gordon Ramsay's pub in Chiswick, for dinner with Steve and Louise. It appears to me that Gordon has been spending his time chasing girls behind his wife's back and not taking notice of the decline in his restaurants. Overall I would have to describe it as disappointing - the food was not good enough to warrant the prices or the hype that follows Ramsay. We didn't bother with desert at the Devonshire but instead went down the road to a gelato shop - yum yum.

Played rugby against Harlequins on Saturday. Another win for Ealing 34-15.

Saturday night was party time at Eff's. In the spirit of moment the theme was "Credit Crunch" and everyone was expected to wear their most inexpensive outfit.
Dave "The Beast" managed to squeeze his frame into a mankini - not good! - and everyone made an effort of some sort.

ThulaThula

2009-01-16T16:22:00.011Z

We finally departed for the airport at 3pm on Friday and I managed to keep the destination secret until 10 minutes prior to boarding.
Christine arrived at the boarding gate to discover we were flying to Jo'burg. She seemed happy enough but this wasn’t our final destination and I was keeping that a secret for the next day.
We had a great day spent with my cousin Winston and his wife Brenda and their kids in Ontdekkers.

Next morning we woke up early to catch a Kulula flight to Durban. At the airport I gave Chris her birthday present, a book about the rescue of the animals of Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony. Lawrence owns a game reserve in KZN called ThulaThula which Christine has wanted to visit for years. At the site of the book Chris realised we were on our way to realise one of her dreams.

ThulaThula is a wonderful place. Two things stand out above all – the food and the elephants.
The food is mostly French but cooked by local African ladies. Not what you expect in a rural African setting and yet good enough to be served in a 5 star hotel anywhere in the world.
The elephant sightings and “interaction” is better than anything we have experienced elsewhere. I stopped taking photos purposefully so that I could just savour the moments in their company.
We spent three nights at ThulaThula and then headed north for a couple of nights at Ghost Mountain Inn in Mkuze.

The hotel was comfy and relaxing although Mkuze town is in need of a facelift. That said, we were there to enjoy the bush and we could not have asked for a better guide than Jean. She is a “born in the wild” Botswanan and has an honours degree in her field. We learned as much from her in 4 hours than we have from all our previous guides put together.

From Mkuze we headed back south to Umhlanga and a night at the spectacular Teremok Guest House in their Milkwood suite. Take a look at their site – please! The website does it no justice. We spent the evening with my mother and the Hoyer’s at a local restaurant.

The last day and a half back was spent in Jo’burg with Wint and Brenda, having a great evening at the local Spur and the following day at a place called Zest, lunching outdoors with a live band and the kids free to run around and play in the gardens.

A great holiday! Can’t wait o get back for the Lions Tour in June.

Where in the world are we going to???

2009-01-09T13:50:00.001Z

This afternoon Chris and I leave for a week holiday.
It is Christine's birthday on Monday and I arranged this week away as a surprise - at this point she still has no idea as to where we are going.
This is all despite Christine being the greatest Sticky-Beak the world has known. So the past few months have been hell trying to keep it all secret and not being able to tell anybody.
All I can say is that the destination is somewhere that Christine should enjoy.

If you want to have a guess then leave a comment.

Weekend roundup

2009-01-04T11:37:00.001Z

Chris went off to watch Australia at the Electric Cinema with Lisa on Saturday.

I had a home game against Blackheath and was tempted to give it a miss but decided that my injured finger wasnt injured enough.
Lost the match 07-19 but it was a hard fought battle. Fortunately it was just a friendly but that meant half the regulars didnt pitch up. It would have been nice if they had, especially as I am not cut out for backrow. The resulting scars do my poor looks no good.

It was Daz's birthday on Sunday and we spent the afternoon with them and a few of their friends.

New Years Eve

2009-01-02T09:59:00.000Z

After a 2008 that was memorable for many of the wrong reasons, we did our best to block it out by drinking copious amounts of good wine and port.

Chris produced a delicious Moroccan style spicy chickpea soup served with crusty garlic bread and a New Zealand pinot noir - cant remember the name but I know it was good!
The main course was another Moroccan inspired chicken dish which Josie had cooked and Clive served with Gevrey Chambertin.
Lisa made yet another delicious desert (desert making is clearly one of her talents!) and the Gayton's again generously opened their wine cupboard to produce a French Tokay and a Sauterne.
Best of all was Josie's port, a 1970 vintage which had been decanted and left to stand for 5 hours. The best bottle of port I have ever had.

Clive and Josie had gone to much effort by preparing a trivia and other games but we never got round to it because of the food and the conversation. All up it was a great evening.