Claire and Brendon

Christmas Day came early in London, fitting in a family Christmas with my two brothers, David & Chris, and sister-in-law Ali, before heading off to NZ for Christmas Day with the rest of our family. Well December was feast after feast. Thanks to Kim and to Paloma and Colin for cooking us fantastic Christmas dinners early on in December. Christmas lunch club with ‘the crew’ was also a whole load of fun. Then on to hosting our own Christmas meal at home in Clarence Ave, Clapham. Chris and Ali surprised us by arriving bang on time for lunch. David’s lateness was no surprise at all, turning up two hours after kickoff. Mind you he wasn’t the only late one. The Turkey ‘pop-up’, popped-up nearly an hour after the instructions on it’s packet said it would - ... read more

The worst snow fall in 18 years...some reports say the worst since 1964. FANTASTIC. The weekend started with a lovely walk around Richmond, past the palace, along the riverbank, through the park, tea at Pembroke Lodge and back through the delightful shops of a very upmarket town. Hmm, Brendon, any chance we can move here? Yesterday (Sunday) Brendon and I wrapped up in our extra warm running Skins (thanks Santa), our woolly hats and (for me) gloves - and set off for a jog to Battersea Park & the Thames. The only people outside were completely rugged up and looking distinctly miserable - or, like us, had on extremely sexy, Waaaaarm Skins. On our way back to Clapham beautiful soft white flakes started spiralling around out. Floating down so lightly I thought they would never reach ... read more

Well if February was the month of birthdays, with 1-3 birthday parties each weekend, then March was the month of missing touch. What do I mean? Well, let me explain. Anyone who knows us over here knows that the most important event in our weekly calendar occurs from 11am-1pm every Saturday. It’s the touch rugby tournament in Tooting Common. We leave home at 10.30 and cycle, walk or jog to the Common in time to hand over a pound and select our team from the 40-75 people who turn up. Generally the better players tend to arrive a bit earlier, so it pays to be on time if you want to be in a decent team. We then play four 30 minute games with no subs and no half time. Two hours of running around in ... read more

Well after a hectic January that put December to shame, and a busy start to February we finally got a weekend to ourselves. Bliss! And what did Brendon do? He went native and started checking out a whole lot of the wildlife. Am I jealous? Not really. Let me explain..... Johnnie, our Scottish friend and fellow Clapham resident jetted off to his girlfriend's home in Australia for 3 weeks well needed rest. Given that he had flown to America for a couple of days, returned on Tuesday morning, and flown out to Kuwait on Tuesday night - both trips for work - returned on Thursday and was due to fly out on Friday night to Aus, it's amazing that he managed to drag himself out of bed early on Friday morning to drop off his two ... read more

Well it doesn't seem very long ago that we were sunning ourselves and cooling off with dips in the Adriatic. Now, just a couple of months later it's getting dark at 4pm and a whole lot colder. Not too cold. As we have just found out, Prague makes London seem positively balmy. Forewarned about the drop in temperature we all packed thermals, stockings, hats, gloves, scarves and even our tramping boots (for the snow). Even so, on a cold, sleet / snow filled Sunday morning I saw Brendon's, Paloma's & finally (Paloma's boyfriend) Colin's faces go progressively white, red nosed, dripping nosed & then their whole bodies trembling (at least Brendon & Paloma) as we shivered our way around a 4 hour walking tour of Prague Old Town, Wenceslas Square & the Prague Castle. Hmm, well ... read more