10 year anniversary

August 31st, 1997. A sad anniversary for many (especially here in the UK) – but for one (yes, me, as it’s all about me, remember?) it was the start of a new adventure, as I headed to BWI airport, excess baggage in tow, bound for Heathrow, London, and the great wide world outside of the US of A.

And now it’s 10 years later – who woulda thunk it, but I’m still here, and looks like for the duration. So – as I make the reverse journey, off to New York & my old DC neighbourhoods for a vacation, I thought a look back at stats from my 10 years could be interesting...

7 – mailing addresses
12 –flatmates
174 – issues of Heat Magazine read until the content became Big Brother, all the time and I became big bored, all the time
40 – percent increase in grey hair
100 – percent increase in cost of covering said hair
10 – new countries visited
2 - siblings-in-law (hi Jess! hi Amy!)
2 - niblings (hi Toby! hi Beruria!)
87 – work related UK train journeys
3 – irate letters to Virgin Trains to complain about UK train journeys
5 – extra hours wasted on the worst of those journeys; a 2 hour trip to Manchester that crawled into 7 hours total...
16 – extra days I got to spend in Tacoma, waiting for my work permit to be renewed after an administrative error
4 – hours I spent waiting in line to get my indefinite leave to remain status
£635 - cost of getting a UK passport, if I so decide
1392 – days of since my 2nd date with my first Match.com correspondent
1275 - days after that 2nd date, I turned that first Match.com correspondent into my...
...1 – husband (all together now – awww)

(note – some figures are estimates, though I think the husband figure is pretty accurate)

How did it get to be Wednesday already?

Another long & busy weekend, this time 3 days to fill, as Monday was a bank holiday. (ok, and yes, I know, it’s already Wednesday so a bit late for weekend recap, but where did the time go??!)

Saturday started not only with sunshine, but also with a pleasant little fete right on our doorstep – well, on the Green to be specific. How could we give it a miss? After leisurely read of the papers, we wandered over for a lazy trawl through various charity stalls and game booths, munched on hot dogs & burgers, and generally enjoyed the atmosphere (though we did pass by the flower show, not really our thing!)

That evening it was into town for tapas treats followed by a little London culture – in the form of Miss Coco, Coco Peru... (sung to the tune of Roxie Hart). Drag queen, monologist (make that mono-luger), balladeer, and all around raconteur, she entertained us and the whole theatre with amusing stories and observations, interspersed with appropriate songs (aforementioned Chicago piece, a few Disney selections, and of course the fabulous Dolly Parton). Definitely a recommended evening, and Pete & Ashley got in the spirit beforehand with their special matching Miss Coco cocktails...

Sunday it was off to Stoke Row to visit the in-laws – starting with al fresco lunch & jazz at the Rising Sun – courtesy of the stylin’ (or is that smokin’) sounds of Queen Street Jazz...followed that with some cricket watching (the game, not the bug), and more al fresco dining, this time dinner chez Agar (Stoke Row branch). Can you sense an outdoor theme to the weekend? Who knows how long the sun will be here this time, we’ve got to take it while we can.

Monday we did duck inside for a little while at least – for an afternoon of Bourne, Jason Bourne. Enjoyed the Bourne Ultimatum, as all the reviews have said, fast paced, Matt Damon’s great in the role, and we also tried to track how many of the cities he visited we’d been to as well (ooh! There’s Madrid! Hey – look – Waterloo Station! New York! We’re going to New York on Friday! Moscow! Er... nyet on that one)

3 days o’ fun – not bad for the last bank holiday weekend...

Missed wedding list item...

So, I was in John Lewis the other day, when I saw the ultimate in sleeping luxury. And I say ultimate, because that's its name: the Ultimate Preference TV Bed. A massive bed, with a TV in the footboard! From the description: "integrated digital tuner & DVD player... individual handsets allow you to select your perfect sitting position for watching TV... for additional cost other options...include Massage... and HD cable for Sky"!

Well, I was about to whip out my credit card right there & then - I mean, hey, what's £11,800 anyway when it means you can have the ULTIMATE? But then I remembered oh yeah, Ashley's really too tall to have a bed with a footboard. And besides -- it may cater for individual seating heights, but how does it cater for individual viewing preferences? Show me the 6'6" model with 2 screens and headphones, and I'm yours!

Weekend report

Another busy weekend. Well, busy Sunday – Saturday of course was spent pining for Ashley, away in Ohio for the week. Yep, pretty much a whole day of sighing & moping around, oh woe is me.

Luckily, I got over *that* pretty quickly, and packed in enough on Sunday to make up for it.

Started off with a trip to the Design Museum, one of my favourite London museums – always interesting exhibits, and small enough that you can see the whole thing and not get overwhelmed. I went specifically for a small exhibit called ’50 years of Helvetica’, but that appeared to be over. Instead, the main attraction was architect Zaha Hadid – who’s designed some fantastic buildings, including, interestingly enough given Ashley’s present location, Cincinnati's Richard & Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art.

Here's a photo of the architect's model... Not sure how much it looks like the real thing -- but I guess it's there!

I was more interested in the work of graphic designer Jonathan Barnbrook, in particular the typefaces he’s designed. I find it fascinating the variety of type that can be/has been designed, and the detail that has to go into making them consistent, and the way designers can be so precise in the mood each can convey. He’s a very political designer, however, and I started to get tired of the anti-Americanism that ran throughout about every piece on display, aside from the typography. It just got a bit old, surely there must be a *few* other targets in the world. Perhaps disagree with some current policies, but the country and its people do have some good sides, and are not solely responsible for any negative thing going on in the world today. (and I’m not a particularly gun-ho rah-rah USA-USA person, but really, the work started to grate. Maybe because it’s so easy to pick on America, work that does gets a little boring and trite. It’s much more of a challenge to have your art be a bit more open and questioning.

After that, headed over to lovely pub lunch with friends and home again just in time for tennis with Emily. I won’t go so far as to call it a game, as neither one of us can serve, and we’re lucky to keep a rally going of more than 3 hits... but still, it makes for an amusing afternoon. Chatty dinner followed, rerun of top 50 funniest movies (Number 1 is still Life of Brian; I've seen 37 of them, not bad I think).

And here we are, Monday once again...

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to the other Stepfh, my oldest (in duration of course) friend... there's still 90 minutes left in Saturday in Seattle, so I've got it in just under the wire!

So here's wishing you a fantastic day, weekend, year, and much more -- and thanks as always for a friendship that's lasted nearly 2/3 of our lives! (of course - that means the only way we can stay as young as we clearly are is to move that meeting date earlier and earlier... I think we must've met before turning 10, can you believe it? ;-)

(PS - that photo was taken December '90/Jan 1991... the Stepfhs learn to ski... looks like the scanner works!)

Yawwwnnn

Stayed out a bit past my bedtime last night -- yawwnn -- though for a good reason. Thanks to Margot for organising an outing to SummerScreen at Somerset House. Enjoyed watching Rear Window on the big screen in a fabulous setting... and the memory of enjoyment is greater, now that the memory of my aching back (from sitting on the hard ground with only a picnic blanket) and frozen toes (brr -- a bit colder than I expected) has decreased!

Definitely worth going, though perhaps the next time I'll opt for a non-school night... Didn't get home until a little after midnight... and couldn't fall asleep until after 1:30 (hmm -- wonder if the fact Misery was on tv had anything to do with that). In any case, I think tonight will be an early one.

Proud as a peacock... er, peahen

Look who's made the press! Ok, it's just a sentence. And it's local Cincinnati business news. But hey - today: a sentence in Cinci; tomorrow a paragraph in Pittsburgh. And who knows -- in time, a whole book in Boston or Budapest... the possibilities are endless.

But really, congratulations to my sweet husband on his success.

Gushing stuff over now -now returning you to your regularly scheduled gruff exterior.

Match report

First of all – a pinch and a punch for the first of the month! (er, at least that’s what Ashley says his gran used to say...)

In all of my ramblings about the busy weekend just past, I completely forgot to give the exciting match report from the weekend prior!

Yes – the time this season has rolled around again to Ashley’s stint as Stonor Cricket Club Match Manager. When we arrived at the lovely pitch Sunday afternoon, it was overcast and chilly (brr...) but we were in luck, the sun actually peeked out a bit, and I even took off my cardigan and stopped saying “I’m coooooolllllddd” for a change.

As for the match itself – well, first Stonor was up to bat, and they did that for a while, and some runs were scored, and some people got out, yada yada yada.

And then the other team was up, and Ashley bowled brilliantly, but unfortunately they batted even more brilliantly, and the end result was not in Stonor’s favour.

But enough about the match itself – if you want details about that you can check the website...
More important was what happened between the innings – my chance to shine at the Cricket Tea. Yes, because it’s all about me. I’m quite competitive when it comes to my yearly tea, doncha know.


Despite the pressure of expectation – given last year’s well received inaugural tea – I think I ably acquitted myself, with a spread including cheese biscuits, oatmeal-chocolate chip-dried cranberry cookies, and the crowning glory, mini-chocolate muffins, as you can see below. Combined with some hearty sandwiches and earthy tea, the treats made for a well enjoyed (if I say so myself!) break.

And once again I am amazed at a sport that has a snack break half-way through... but happy to supply said snack when called upon!

Now... what to do for next year???