Quiz champions

Last Saturday was momentous not only for the run, but also for a brilliant success at the Stonor Cricket Club quiz night. Ok, perhaps I should've built the tension a little more, but it was just so exciting to win, I couldn't keep it in for another 2 - 3 paragraphs.

The tension on the night was a lot more real, however - as we came from behind in the last round to beat - by 1 point!! - the single team from the rival club. Phew! Especially because that meant that my mortifying mistake in a cricket-related question didn't put us out of contention. (what happened? as the scribe for our 6-person team, I was responsible for filling out the answer sheets, obviously with team input. And for the cricket-related questions, I clearly know NOTHING, so was writing whatever I was told. So how I ended up writing 'Keith Gillespie' [the incorrect answer] instead of 'Jason Gillespie' [the correct answer] I will never know. Did I learn nothing from all of those years of watching Jeopardy!? Answer last names only, don't mess around with the first unless specifically asked! All I do know is if we lost by 1 point, my team would have killed me.)

Luckily however, my team (including Ashley, and friends Olly & Lee, and Duncan & Sabine) worked very well together and we were able to answer such diverse questions as:

• Who directed the documentary 'When the Levees Broke', about Hurricane Katrina?
• Which writer was recently exposed as having been a member of the Nazi party?
• Is Barry Bonds a Giant, a Padre, or a Dodger [ok, we had a bit of an advantage here!]
• What Siberian Lake holds 20% of the earth's fresh water?

Oh, and a bunch of other cricket-related questions, which fortunately I managed to write down correctly.

So, yay us, and we already look forward to being back next year to defend!

Record-breaking day

Forget the 4-minute mile... a far more important barrier has just been broken, by yours truly. Ok, the importance is strictly personal, but I'm still extremely excited to report I FINALLY broke a 30-minute 5k. 29:48, in fact - a feat that caused such emotion when I crossed the finish line & looked at my watch that I burst into tears! A bit of an over-reaction, I agree, but still, can't argue with the response...

Why was I running at all on a fine Saturday morning (23rd of September, 2006, by the way, not that I'm memorialising this day toooo much)? In aid of Trees for Cities - yes, another charity run, the Tree-athlon, to be exact. I didn't hit anyone up for money this time, figured my entry fee had to count for something.

It's really just a step along the way to the Nike Run, which is now only 2 weeks away. I've not been training nearly as much as I'd like, and as I swore to do, but I have been going out a couple of times a week, which, combined with dancing once a week (have I blogged about that yet? Don't think so... topic for another day) - has I guess raised my fitness a tiny degree. Let's hope that sustains me through 10k on the Oct 8th. Watch this space!

very dangerous...

Eek - I just discovered that CyberCandy, a store selling American candy like peanut butter M&Ms, sweettarts, and other delights has just moved from a side street I could never find, to a very-out-in-the-open location, that's far too easy to find!

I'm just hoping immersion therapy (that is, getting sick from all the candy I'm suddenly gorging on!) will be the best cure... (says she, popping yet another liquorice Jelly Belly)

I confess...

Ok, I give in. As much as I try to deny it, I am indeed media-celebrity obsessed. Z-list? No matter. My proof? Last night I was out to dinner, and who did I spot? Big Brother winner Pete. Yeah. Practically George Clooney and Madonna together in terms of stardom. This week at least. Kind of. Well, as far as Heat Magazine is concerned.

And what did I do? Dither for 20 minutes to everyone else at dinner about why I was too chicken to take his picture. And THEN I walked by him for a completely legitimate reason, on the way to our table. And I oh-so-slyly had my mobile out, nonchalantly 'checking my texts' while oh-so-surreptitiously angling my camera. And then I flaked. And just smiled and said hi to him, and he said hi back, and probably thought I took his picture anyway, and I DIDN'T. So the grand result was nothing, nada, zilch. Except my feeling of slight embarrassment for caring so much. And in front of colleagues as well.

Ah well - I should just embrace it. Maybe I should be a paparazzo. Except I need to remember to actually take the picture next time.

Magical Mystery Tour - part II

When last we saw Stefanie & Ashley, they were trapped on the Hastings Pier, being forced to eat jellied eels and play crazy golf in the rain... did they escape to go on to new adventures the next day???

Of course we did - and without the eels or golf.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, how lucky were WE?! So I packed up my shiny new backpack (except mine is red), and off we went. Up the Hastings East Hill - you could walk, but we took the railway, to get some great views of the town (it looks a lot better with some distance!)


Then, off we strode to Rye, some 11 or so miles away. The first few miles were quite steep (think cinque terre) but then after about mile 4 or 5 it leveled out, and we had a lovely stroll in the sunshine, through fields, by canals, hill & dale, over the river and through the wood... We stopped in Winchelsea for a late lunch - with a pyschological advantage of it being about 3/4 of the way through the walk, so the last bit was easy-peasy.
Winchelsea was "soooo cuuute" - really, it was, and we ate at a charming classic pub, the New Inn, for some hearty walkers' fare. My big question, however, is how to pronounce Winchelsea. Is it Win'chel-sea', or Win'-Chel'sea. I think the former, but have heard more people say the latter. And the oracle that is google had no light to shed.

The walk ended in the old town of Rye, "medieval gem", doncha know. Where we wandered around for a few hours, saw the castle, and also the home of Henry James, and had tea at a cool boutiquey hotel, where yes I did feel a tad out of place in my tee-shirt & backpack, despite its shiny newness.

Sadly, the weekend had to come to an end; Monday bank holiday we slept in, but did have to check out & head back to London. At least it rained again, so made going back to work a little more palatable!

Magical mystery tour...

Belated post for this weekend - as many of you know, it was a 3-day weekend here in England, and Ashley whisked me away for a surprise holiday. Surprise in that I didn't know where we were going... I knew enough to pack a bag at least! And, amazingly enough, it remained a surpise location until we were almost there.

So - where was the mystery location? Morocco, in Zanzibar. Well, the Morocco room in the Zanzibar hotel, technically not exactly in Africa, but instead in the small seaside town of St Leonards-on-Sea. Which, true to its name, is on the sea side - the south coast, about a 3 hour drive from London.

The B&B was great, very different - I have to say I've never had such a friendly greeting... including Champagne on arrival, very nice. And Matt, the owner, was just great, recommending a place for dinner, and chatting about his plans for future work on the hotel - it's just getting started, really.

And by complete random coincidence, the Guardian that Saturday morning of our departure, reviewed a restaurant in that very town, and we were lucky enough to get one of the last table. St Clements was cozy & yummy & just right for a lengthy lunch before venturing out to explore St Leonards and nearby Hastings. (yes, 1066 and all that).

However, I think we saw the highlights of the area with the hotel & lunch. For although the Guardian article referred to a local "renaissance" - I think it's eeeeeaaaarly days at best. Umm - how would I sum it up? Sad. Faded, really. One of those classic old English seaside towns that hasn't moved on. And there must've been more take-away restaurants per capita than I've ever seen. Chinese after Chinese, with the odd "Kentassee Fried Chicken" thrown in. (Where's Kentassee? I have no idea. Somewhere less expensive than KFC-franchise-land).
And I suppose the rain that first day didn't exactly show it in the best light... still, we had fun, walking on the pier, buying candy, visiting the Fisherman's Museum (one of the town's most popular tourist attractions!), playing air hockey in the amusement park, as you do...
Still, as we didn't take in any rides, nor did I indulge in the famed jellied eels, I feel I've not properly 'done' Hastings...



Sleepy now, so that's all for this installment - tune in tomorrow for Sunday's adventures - can the intrepid duo venture beyond Hastings for the day?

Trains, waves, and underground

Had a very touristy (touristic? touristish?) Saturday, with Ashley's mum over at ours for a few nights - started by boarding the incredibly conveniently located boat at the Kew Pier behind our flat, for a trip down (up?) the Thames to Westminster. We managed to dodge most of the rain, and had a pleasant journey of about 80 mins - a little longer than it would've taken by other forms of public transport, but much more picturesque. I've certainly never seen Westminster and the London Eye from that view before!

After a quick lunch (during the heaviest of the rain, phew!), and a short stop to watch the tail end of a street performer's set, as he endeavoured to escape from a straight jacket (amazingly enough, he succeeded, in exactly 2 minutes, which was the time limit he set himself), we headed off to the Tate Britain, for the Constable exhibit. Ok, I must admit, landscape portraits aren't really my thing, but I found it interesting to view the life-size sketches he made first, side-by-side with the final paintings - to see how he changed the composition, etc., and how that really did affect the overall mood of the painting. However one thing I did *not* like was the mass of people there, as this was the last weekend of the exhibit. HOW many times do I have to remind myself *not* to go to major exhibitions, especially on a weekend, and even more especially on the last Saturday of the show. D'oh. I find myself feeling almost claustrophobic, and just rush through the show - whereas if there's few people there (like the time I saw the Vermeer exhibit in DC at about 2:30 on a weekday afternoon) I could spend hours...

Ah well - enjoyable afternoon anyway, including in the shop, where I bought a book called ...isms so I hope to educate myself on various art styles, from "Absolutism" to "Verism"... and - though I'm not sure why it was for sale in an art museum - I couldn't help buying the reproduction of Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942, because remember: "It is always impolite to critisize your hosts; It is militarily stupid to critisize your allies"

And finally, after the museum, it was back on the Tube and on to Roast , a restaurant at Borough Market, for an early dinner. Yummy starters - a FANTASTIC 'soused' herring on a mustardy potato salad bed - but then a little less exciting from there. I should've just ordered more herring for my main! Still, great location, and well decorated interior, and serves me right for ordering from the bargain set menu - especially the vegetarian option in a place called 'Roast'. Next time we go (if we do) it'll be a juicy steak all the way...

Returned home by train from Waterloo (making it with about 20 seconds to spare) , thoroughly sated by art, food, and the various forms of public transport - so all told, a good day out!

*i have no idea what has happened to the photo option, btw - have tried to upload photos from the day 3 times, with no luck. So, will publish now, and possibly update later!

Funniest Dilbert Ever

Ok, I'm probably not supposed to just paste a cartoon here - but hey, Scott Adams, I give you full credit (as if anyone in the world doesn't know Scott Adams does Dilbert...), and thought this was just so funny I had to share it with the 4 people who read my blog!

If you want to see more, visit www.dilbert.com - and you too can get your daily dilbert, and then spread cartoons to the world.

(not) doing my civic duty

I'm embarrassed to admit that I saw a real, honest-to-goodness crime being committed yesterday... and did absolutely nothing about it. One of those situations where - before it ever happens to you - you might think "what would I do in this situation?" And I didn't do what I thought I would.

So, what happened? I had just started to cross Kew Bridge, when I heard the sound of glass breaking. I thought perhaps there'd been a car accident, and turned to look. And what I saw, was a man, reaching into a car, and grabbing a briefcase & something else, and then jumping on a bicycle to ride away. I just was just riveted watching this, probably took about 10 seconds, thinking "oh my god, what should I do? Call 999? Take a picture? I should do something." I was so in shock, that I didn't even realise a) I already had my phone in my hand, and b) I also had a camera in my bag.
In my alternate heroic reality, I fished out my camera in a flash, shouting 'oi, stop that', so he turned around, and I got a clear shot of his face; he dropped the briefcase, I called the police, they caught the guy, and all was right with the world.
In my real life reality, however, by the time I came to, the man had disappeared, and I thought about calling the police, but had no idea what help I'd be. I could barely remember what he looked like, and figured by the time the police arrived he would be far gone.

And so, I'm more than a little ashamed to say, I just headed on over the bridge. I mean, c'mon - I would've missed my train otherwise!

We'll miss you Grandpa...

Say hi to B-Tunia for me!

love,

Stefansneezer

(Who woulda thought, Grandpa Bob in a blog... that and $2 subway fares - how the world has changed!)

And start training... NOW!

Right - for the 4th time, I've signed up for the Nike RUN LONDON 10k... and have roped a gang into running with me (thanks Margot, Kim, Cat, Emily, and possibly Sally too!)... SO - am determined to actually train for once (thanks Hal Higdon, and sister-in-law Amy for introducing him).

According to the 'novice' plan (ok, I know I've entered races before, but for the good it does, I might as well still be a novice) - 8 weeks is enough. Which is good, because it's really really hot. SO - I'll see what I can do in the next few weeks, then start in earnest early August. Sounds like a plan... Started with a little 'stretching & strength training' tonight. SO that's something...

my favourite london

I would happily commute if I could end my journey into work with a view like this:

I had a meeting Wednesday morning in central London, so walked over the Hungerford Bridge (I think my favourite - just for the views either side)... ahh - Thames, Westminster, all the other sites in the sunshine - makes me remember how much I love London!

Quiz bust

So we were all excited to finally return to the quiz night at our lovely local, the Greyhound - after last time's 3rd place finish, we were determined to place first. So, got home, rushed through dinner, and over to the pub we went, random bits of unnecessary information floating in my head, just waiting for the right question...

And, well, I suppose you could say we came in first. Or we would have, if any questions had been asked. Sadly, this week, we were the only team to show. Sigh. And considering the main prize is made up of the entry fees... At least we didn't lose!

Saturday fun

Busy weekend (or rather, busy Saturday; recovery Sunday)... We hosted a little cocktail party, and spent much of Saturday shopping for, preparing, and then consuming the food & drink - I think an equal amount of time was spent on prep compared to consumption, so a fair trade off...
GOOD THING: making miniature frittatas; thanks Martha
LESS GOOD THING: making said frittatas without enough grease on the side of the muffin pan... i think that piece of kitchenware has baked its last

GOOD THING: using my lovely handblender (thanks Kara) to make all sorts of spreads and fillings (white bean+sage; tomato basil; tapenade)
LESS GOOD THING: using said handblender to blitz mozzarella with balsamic vinegar, to make the innards of Caprese bites (hollowed out cherry tomato with the cheese) - blending it all made the cheese a quite unappealing brown-gray colour. Oh well - they still tasted good!

GOOD THING: Having the party at all - it's always fun having people over, and I love an excuse to cook new things
EVEN GOODER THING: Ashley cleaning up everything today, while I slept off the effects of my newly created signature cocktail: gin, limoncino, and fizzy lemonade... what a wonderful sight to come downstairs after a nap to see a shiny clean kitchen...

Stitch-n-pitch

Oh my gosh - so the Mariners may be absolutely tanking at the moment, but how much do I want to go to this game on the 25th?! Do they provide extra handy-wipes though? Or a hot-dog free zone? Wouldn't you hate to be 90% through a project and then SPLAT - someone drops their beer on you?

Amazing headline - where was my camera

Saw the best headline yesterday in the Sun... paper was on the train, casually folded open to this visual delight:

"CANNIBAL EATS OAP ALIVE"

(for you non-brits - that's Old Age Pensioner, btw)

and for those of you now getting nightmares about cannibals on the rampage - it's ok, it was just a nibble... fortunately the 75-year-old was able to fend off the "laughing maniac" with only his thumb munched and a few other bites...

achy, tired, hot, but met my goal!

Phew - despite saying "well of course I'll be able to finish", a tiny percentage of me wondered if that would definitely be the case. I've not dropped out of a race yet, however, so am happy to report I did indeed finish, and, with a time of 69:35, squeaked in just under my goal time of 70 minutes. Thankfully I was *not* one of the 8 people taken to hospital with heat exhaustion!

Maybe next year I'll train properly... yeah, right - in the run up to the wedding and then through the honeymoon? Maybe not!

Thanks to Verity, who, though unable to run the race, cheered me (and her husband & friends Lucy & Seth) along through route. Pix from her to come soon!

Now I think it's naptime.

Sport-o-blog

Team sport news: Well, England is out of the World Cup. SO - with US, Australia, and England out, I'm having a hard time finding a team left to cheer for... I suppose I have a soft spot for Italy, having seen an Italy match in the actual country. But, then again, they *did* have quite a bloody match against the US... Will have to see which way my inner spectator pulls when I watch the next game...

Individual sports news: Go Andy Murray! And maybe one day I'll make it to Wimbledon and see a game in person - better enter that lottery now... And who didn't get teary seeing Andre Agassi bid farewell to Wimbledon & all the supporters who've cheered for him over the years. I remember going to the Pro Ebel Indoor Tournament in Philly in about 1989 I think, and thinking "who is this Agassi guy anyway? arrogant long-haired pin-up; these fans are only here because he's in Glamour magazine!" I guess I learned my lesson...

Personal sports news: Soooooo, I'm running in the British 10k tomorrow - my 3rd time in this race. Given

1. I've done almost no training
2. I twisted my ankle last month and am still not 100%
3. It's supposed to be about 1000 degrees tomorrow and humid

I'm not expecting great results... but watch this space... I keep telling myself this is the kick off to bridal fitness. Only 10 months to go! Hmm...

Time to hit the trail

Am SO excited - I finally got a proper backpack for day hikes, etc. Nothing fancy or big, but enough for an overnight somewhere. Purchased at our friendly neighbourhood Millets, where Vicki was incredibly friendly and helpful, without being pushy. So - I sent a comment e-mail to say so. So often I think people are quick to complain, but unlikely to compliment. So, thanks Vicki - and I'll think of you when we finally go on our next ramble...

Friday night cocktails

Had a very enjoyable Friday evening at my friend Cat's - over from New York for 6, er 12, er 18+ months (and hopefully longer - let's see how much convincing we can do!). She hosted an open house casual Friday night gathering. I love going to things at hers because she's always got a great mix of guests with interesting stories & lives & fun things to talk about.

More interesting, however, were the 2 thirty-somethings at the party who were found, um, cuddling in the coat room... I half expected someone's mom to come downstairs and tell us off for loud music!

So - thanks Cat for the bash, and look forward to the next invite...