Helen and Carol Galashan - National Lottery Sat 19-Jun-10

Four years ago the twins were both competing in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as individual gymnasts [1], [2], [3]. Shortly after that they gave up gymnastics and switched to synchronised diving [4], [5]. This time they are hoping to make it all the way to the London Olympics in 2012.

We learned belatedly that they had appeared on the Lotto prize draw on prime time TV last Saturday. However thanks to the BBC iPlayer and the wonders of the interweb we were able to catch it later and here it is :-)



Previous posts:
[1] Galashan twins at the Commonwealth Games
[2] Carol Galashan placed 10th in Individual All Around
[3] Helen Galashan placed 7th in the Beam

[4] Galashan twins win 10m British diving title
[5] Helen Galashan get a gold medal

Or click on the label galashan to read all.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Chair

Our sitting room has a CRM theme so when we saw this chair at the local auction house we decided to have a punt and put in a low bid. Guide price was £100 - £140 but we got it for £90 - FTW!


Charles Rennie Mackintosh style chair

Mary picked it up this afternoon and very elegant it looks indeed :-)

iPhone currency exchange rates

The iPhone stocks seemed like the most useless of the default apps supplied until a colleague showed how you can get exchange rates as well as share prices.

Add a new "stock" by tapping the "i" (bottom right) then "+" (top left) and then search for a stock code made up of the two three-letter currency codes followed by =X. For example UK Sterling to US Dollar is GBPUSD=X, then exit gracefully back to the main screen.


iPhone stocks currency rates

What I only discovered by accident was that turning the iPhone sideways gives you the full screen version of the chart:


iPhone stocks currency rates graph

For a list of the currency codes see http://www.xe.com/iso4217.php

Limitations of iPhone maps

The iPhone resolutely refused to believe that I can walk on water. I was actually on a Thames Clipper en route from London Bridge to Embankment so in the middle of the river.

The normally accurate map claimed not to know my true location as indicated by the wide uncertainty radius of the blue halo. Instead it skulked along the riverbank tracking me as we sailed and refusing to get its feet wet.



Is this a bug or a feature?

Art @ Work 2010

Guildford Arts - an umbrella for the arts in and around Guildford - organise, amongst other things, Art @ Work exhibitions. These run for a couple of months in the offices of two local firms and members of the public can view also by appointment.

Dad Exhibited there a couple of years ago and again this year. For more visit: http://www.michaelmclellan.com/


Italian Scene


Annunciation


Twin Babel Towers


Chanctonbury Rings


Trip to Cythera


Downs

These images © Michael McLellan

Mary does projects around the house

Got home to discover that Mary has *not* been imitatating a Jane Austen heroine. No counted cross-stitch for her, oh no! She spent the afternoon sanding the wooden kitchen worktop and is now applying Ronseal work top oil.


Mary sands and oils the wooden worktop

Next it was the turn of the bedroom. Having seen a picture in a magazine Mary decided that one bold blue wall and the rest white was the scheme. Eight match pots later the verdict was in - Farrow and Ball Drawing Room Blue and Wimbourne White. We are a team: Mary does the "slap it on with a roller", I do the ceiling, the careful cutting in along all edges and the gloss paint.


Mary paints the bedroom

Does that woman not understand the virtues of sloth and idolence?

CSC Alumni: Drinks: Tue 29-Jun-10 18:00 The George, 77 Borough High St, SE1 1NH

There is a Yahoo group for UK based CSC alumni: Past employees of CSC (primarily in the UK) who wish to keep in touch, exchange news, provide mutual support and share information on possible job opportunities. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/cscalumni/

We meet occasionally for socialising and networking.

The last couple of sessions there have been requests for somewhere that sells beer, not on a Thursday, not on a Wednesday and not while Bob Carlsen is on holiday so here we have it :-)

Date: Tuesday 29 June 2010
Time: from 18:00
Where: The George, 77 Borough High St, London, SE1 1NH
Web: http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/43/434/George/London_Bridge

It is down an alley on the left as you head south from London Bridge.

Hope to see some new ex-colleagues there :-)

Weekend with the "girls"

This weekend three of Mary's friends from college came down to London for one of their occasional get-togethers. The girls were all at the University of Strathclyde and have kept in touch ever since. Indeed Geraldine was Matron of Honour at our wedding.

Geraldine and Alisdair drove down from Glasgow Friday night arriving at 2am the next morning, Christine flew down Saturday morning and Liz and Peter drove Saturday afternoon.


Mary, Geraldine, Christine, Liz

We assembled late afternoon for a glass of champagne, Billecart-Salmon 1996, before going off to Steam Bar for a meal. Liz and Peter had to go back that night; the others stayed and caught up on more news till the wee small hours.



The next day we went for a stroll round the local area including the River Wandle and the local auction house. This was followed by a beer at The Waterfront then a late BBQ lunch.

Geraldine and Alisdair went back that evening and Christine the next morning leaving us to recover and potter about the house.

Oobit, woubit

A while back my barber asked, at the end of the cut, if I wanted my eyebrows trimmed. While they are not yet at the hairy caterpillar stage it was a first time to be asked; the "joys" of getting maturer.



It reminded me of one of my favourite pair of definitions from the OED: oobit and woubit. But googling "define oobit" and "define woubit" did not return any definitions. So here to put the record straight are the relevant entries from the Shorter OED (without the etymological bumpf):

Oobit

See Woubit.

Woubit

A hairy caterpillar; a woolly bear.

Sapphire Bullets 2

Saturday saw the second Sapphire Bullets gig [previous gig], again at The Grey Horse in Kingston on Thames. And a fine set it was too.

This time sister Jane was not on the door so was able to join Mary and I for a meal at Jamie Oliver's Italian. Last time we had to queue for 25 minutes as JO's do not take reservations. This time we walked straight in - whether that was because the novelty has worn off or everyone was down at the river-side restaurants I could not say. We had a very enjoyable meal then off to the gig.



The pub is a proper pub and serves Young's Special so that made my beverage choice for the evening a no-brainer. The band had a different fiddle player who they were pleased with and they had put in a lot of rehearsal between the two gigs. I thought it was good last time but what do I know. Then home on the train.

A fine way to spend a Saturday evening.

Peaches and Blue sleeping

The cats' biggest decision of the day is where to sleep after a breakfast of Felix pouches.

Blue sleeping on the cushion

Blue's current favourite is on the cushion under the radiator. Peaches on the other hand is attempting, chameleon-like, to blend in with the carpet on the stair.

Peaches sleeping on the stairs

While fine for Peaches she does present something of a Health & Safety hazard. A good job pet owners do not have to conduct a risk assessment before taking on a new companion animal.

Everyday differences in Puglia: market vegetables

We like to support our local farmers' market and buy food that does not suffer from jet lag. 

The last time we went to Wandsworth Town farmers' market the veg du jour were sprouts and parsnips. When we went to Locorotondo market it was fava beans (broad beans in English) and artichokes. I know which have more appeal. 


Globe Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus)

I have never been sure how to prepare artichokes. By the time I have trimmed away the outer leaves to get at the heart the pathetic inner core in no way resembles those served up as part of the antipasti. 

Mary took the opportunity of her sabbatical to watch Zia and Carol showing her how to tackle this problematical vegetable and have a go herself. Of course we will now have to wait till next spring to put into practice this new found knowledge as by the time of of next visit some other veg will be in season.    

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Call My Bluff Wine Tasting

Steam Bar Wandsworth arranged an entertaining wine tasting in a novel - to me at least - format: Call my Bluff.

We were presented with six pairs of wine: three white and three red. Then two presenters the proceeded to give us their own descriptions of the wines, one true, one a bluff. We had to guess which was the true definition and, for bonus points, the vintage.

We went as a team of four with our friends Tim and Sarah. We got five of the wines correct and one vintage which was enough to earn us second place. Then we ate and drank some more wine.

Good fun but I would suggest to the manager, Crispin, that a slightly faster version would be better. It lasted two hours which is a long time to drink without eating - notwithstanding the nibbles at half time.

It is a sucessful tasting format with descriptions, both true and bluff, full of interesting factoids. The false definition was a true one but for a different wine.

The pairs were generally of the same grape but new world versus old which in itself is an interesting challenge to identify the stereotypically contrasting styles.

Everyday differences in Puglia: garden tools

We searched far and wide for recognisable garden implements but without success. The common, or garden, fork and spade in their English form are simply not known in Italy.  The same is true of the hand fork and trowel. 

Italian spade

The Puglian design seems to be unchanged from it's mediaeval forebears and lies somewhere between a shovel and a spade. It has a shield shaped blade and long straight handle. 

I must say I do prefer the English version. The blade has a more pronounced flange across the top for applying foot pressure. The shorter haft and D-shaped handle allow the digger to apply, or control, turning action.

English fork and spade

We met an ex-pat couple at the local garden centre who had resorted to bringing a fork and spade out in their hold luggage. We may consider doing the same.

Gardening in Puglia

The garden is looking a lot better than when we went out at Easter. Mary has spent a lot of time this last month weeding the beds and she has a very brown back to prove it. Also our neighbour, Michele, had rotavated the rest of the plot.

We have a new bed that was created when we had the back courtyard area paved. It had some soft weeds and Mary decided the best way to keep it weed free was to lay down black sheeting covered with gravel.


Collecting gravel from the quarry

There is a nearby quarry where you can collect your own for a very cheap price. So we borrowed six old whitewash buckets from John and went down to start shovelling.


Tubs of gravel in the boot of a Fiat Punto

Each tub weighed 24kg and we did six trips to cover the entire bed. Both of us had aching limbs the next day from moving the better part on a tonne of gravel by hand. If we ever do the big bed we will get a lorry load delivered.


Gravel spread on the herb bed

With the gravel spread and the herbs peeking through the bed should, hopefully be maintenance free. It will look better when the herbs have grown a bit.


Lemon tree in the courtyard

We have always intended to have ourselves a lemon tree and this trip we bought a small tree and planted it in a sunny , sheltered corner of the main courtyard. Like the herbs it has a dripper from the irrigation system to make sure it thrives while we are away. So hopefully next time we are out I can have a gin and tonic with my very own lemon :-)

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

May Day weekend in Puglia

I went out to Italy to retrieve Mary after her month long sabbatical in the sun. The Friday I spent painting the bathroom and on Saturday we had our long overdue house warming.


The inaugural firing up of our pizza oven.

I always said that I would feel I really owned Trullo Azzurro when I had cooked my first pizza in the oven. Well foccacia is good enough for me. I had to use a formidable quantity of olive tree prunings to get the thing up to heat. Some of that was because it has not been used for years and a lot of moisture needed to be driven out.


Mary's home made foccacia ready to go it the oven

Not only did it come out well it was so tasty that Zia, who taught us how to make it, went back for a second slice.


Friends and neighbours round for lunch

We have had people round for supper before but consider this our house warming event. A proper Italian style gathering of our neighbours - eleven people round the table They left about six hours later after much laughter and good company. Also I may have had a glass of wine (hic).

Trullo Azzurro: beautifully restored trullo in delightful, secluded valley near Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Available to rent on a per week basis, sleeps 4-6. For more information visit http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/trulloazzurro

Monetising the blog

I was chatting to a colleague who also has a website and gets a similar number of hits as me - about 4,000 per month. I saw that he had Google Ads on his site and he revealed that it brought in several hundred pounds per year. Fair enough, so I thought I would do the same - hence the sudden appearance of a small block of ads in the right hand panel.

After two days my estimated earnings are a whopping £1.45 so that scuppers the early retirement plan. Still if it does bring in a few hundred quid each year that is better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper!

And just for Technorati - CWG9YEQPTNA8

Bordeaux 2000 tasting at Charteris Wine Society

Another Charteris wine tasting this time on the theme of 2000 Bordeaux. A couple of members had bought two mixed cases from The Wine Society a while ago and now we get to taste.

• Chateau Doisy Daene Sec. Barsac. 2007 (sic)
• Chateau Clos Sainte-Anne. Pomerol. 2000
• Chateau Lucie. Saint-Emilion. 2000
• Chateau Belair. Saint-Emilion. 2000
• Chateau Belgrave Haut-Medoc. 2000
• Chateau Lafon-Rochet. Saint-Estephe. 2000
• Chateau Langoa Barton. Saint-Julien. 2000
• Chateau Durfort-Vivens. Margaux. 2000

Again I shall spare you my notes but I think my palate was on good form as my scribbles seemed to accord with the general view. As is usual the wines were presented in order of price / expected quality and lived up to that sequencing.

My favourites were the Sainte-Anne - probably because of the Merlot - and the Belgrave - it may not be the very best of the evening but it tickled my palate.

We got one bottle that had bad cork taint. There are people who lack confidence to send back corked wine. A couple of times, in restaurants, we have used an off bottle to educate a less experienced waiter by getting them to sniff the old and replacement bottles (in the glass). With this crowd and this intensity of TCA that was hardly necessary.

A very interesting canter round both left and right banks ably presented by Bill Nippress.

Pasqua in Puglia 2010: Carovigno Easter parade

The usual start of year trip to Trullo Azzurro to open up for the season. This time it coincided with Easter and the first BA flight of the year on 1st April.

We shared the flight with our new acquaintances and fellow Puglian home owners Colin and Sheila. We met them back in January at the Puglian wine dinner at Enoteca Turi.


Mary, Colin and Sheila in their garden

Colin and Sheila's local town, Carovigno, has a full monty Easter parade: Blessed Virgin Mary statue carried on poles, ditto for Joseph and the Baby Jesus, marching band and a hotly contested, flag twirling competition called Nzegna.


Carovigno flag twirling

All the men of the area compete and take it very seriously. They have to look their best and, judging by the spiky hairdo's, sales of gel must have rocketed in the run up to Easter.


Carovigno marching bands

As a consequence of all the men twirling flags the band are predominantly made up of girls belting out the soundtrack.

For photos of the parade see Flickr. Enjoy.

Peaches and Blue explore the Garden

Last weekend we let Peaches and Blue out for a supervised exploration of the garden.



Peaches led the way, did a complete circuit of the perimeter and traverse of the lawn.



Blue was a little more adventurous and also did a tour on the beds.



Inspection done they retired back inside.



We will continure to let them out under supervision until I return from holiday. Then I will try them on the cat flap.