Becca climbing a tree

this is our first video on the blog - we're giving it a go.

press the play button down the bottom left (rather than the one in the middle)

one sunday in clapham

here's sam and i looking rather melancholy and in need of a stiff drink after going to see the film 'Pierrepoint' a couple of weeks ago. it is a brilliant film but incredibly intense, sad and thought-provoking. it portrays the struggles of a man who, along side his normal daily life, was the top hang-man in the UK and tried to do the best job he could of hanging criminals quickly and humanely. he was sent to Germany to hang all of the Nuremburg lot. hanging that many people in his lifetime obviously affected him and his marriage drastically. the film ended with a quote from him saying that criminal punishment was nothing but revenge. what an awful weight to bear after spending a life-time pursuing excellence in his work for the government, following his father and grandfather's footsteps.

we are members of clapham picture house and one of the perks is free viewings of films that are about to come out. our next free film will be 'Brick' (a twinpeaks/donnie-darko..esque thriller.. exciting!). they always take place at 11am on a sunday. so we get a nice coffee and croissant and cozily settle down in the cinema for some quality viewing and then emerge to the day ahead.

this time we headed for the pub and were joined by tom, anita & eddie. the pub we went to was Belle Vue near Clapham North tube station. it had a lovely atmosphere, yummy food and they were playing great music all afternoon. i think there was one particular bar tender who had good taste in music. he told us that his manager didn't actually like him playing his music but we convinced her that we (the clientele!) really liked it.

the baker street joneses quickly cheered us up!

today we are going to a birthday party for eddie who is turning one on wednesday.. horay!

dorset days .. again!

sam and i spent easter with my lovely grandmother in Dorset. she is amazingly energetic and sparky for her 93 years of age. she took us out to dinner at a Thai restuarant nearby.

We slept and ate lots and went for walks, including a walk and pub lunch with Dave & Rach. it's nice seeing london friends in another context and sometimes the only time you can manage to actually spend time together.

sam and i did a bit of tree-climbing although sam had to boost me up in to the tree because i couldn't jump high enough, especially in my easter skirt! i hope you had a happy easter.

a visit from hannah

hannah came back from hong kong for a weekend to audit a lace factory in france! so lovely to see her and pictures of her & james' life in HK. here she is with clare who has just got engaged to peter-bas.. very exciting!

i (becca) am listening to 'Feist' at the moment who are great and put a smile on your face.. and enjoying the lovely summery warmth today, my friday off.

aren't sam's creations below wonderful? he is so talented!

meet snuppy

meet rollerman

Pacman anyone?

Pac-Man

Game Code 4 your page

ladybirds (ladybugs for those in the US)

Yesterday I came home from my new job, which i am really loving by the way, and sam led me in to the bathroom to see the family (about 20) of ladybirds crawling around on our white bathroom walls and window. it was lovely... tho slightly disconcerting! They are such beautiful creatures. They have now disappeared and I'm wondering whether they are procreating elsewhere in the flat!

I read on the UK Safari website: "In wintertime ladybirds hibernate, often in large groups sometimes numbering thousands. If you find a ladybird hibernating inside your house it may be better to move it to an outdoor building like a shed, garage or a special insect hotel where the temperature will remain more constant. Ladybirds often wake up too early inside houses. When the heating comes on they think spring has arrived, only to find there is no food about." I'm just waiting for the other 980 ladybirds to wake up in our bathroom!

a bit of the old blarney

We had an amazing week in Northern Ireland, visiting family and breathing in the fresh Irish air. We stayed with dear Aunt Martha in Bangor who is still as lovely as ever, if not a little forgetful! It was good to be there and help her out, although sometimes a little worrying when she got confused and upset. Becca also has a lot of family in Ireland, which is just amazing - here we are, an Aussie lad and an English/American lass meeting in London with family minutes away from each other in Bangor! Near to Aunt Martha is Becca's Aunty Freda and Roland and Liz. We had a lovely meal with Freda and Liz. In Holywood are the Eaves and we had a really fun night at Nigel and Anne's place with their great kids and Deidre and Tim and their daughter Ali. My cousin Glen took Becca and I and his girlfriend Emma out to a very cool American diner called Springsteens on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. It was great hanging out with them. We had a really fun day with Anne and Marshall going down to Newcastle for the day. All such wonderful people. Some photos to give a flavour (unfortunately we forgot to take the camera to the Eaves' and Freda's so we don't have any pics of those evenings.)