Annual Birthday Celebrations

It's the last weekend of February, and that means party time to celebrate another year of age.  For the past couple of years my birthday has been at the weekend and usually the month's pay check is sitting nicely in the bank ready for the festivities.  This year it was the weekend before payday so the purse strings were a little tight.

However that didn't stop the festivities on Saturday of takeaway and then drinks at the local watering hole, The Jam House, for alcoholic beverages and live music.  Luckily for me it was the same band that played last year for my Birthday and so an hour queueing in the snow was well worth the wait.

The actual day, was an amazing pamper day at the beauty salon; facials and a mani-pedi.  It was nice to finally have a relaxing day considering all the travel that has been necessary for work.  I didn't realise how draining all the travel was until I was lying on a bed with relaxing music and someone massaging different concoctions of scrubs, masks and lotions into my face.  Some R&R was definitely over due.

The evening was spent dining with friends at the Malmaison Brasserie and they provided us with a private room and a nice big oval table with our own waiter, Paul.  A nice surprise considering it wasn't a request when I made the booking.

A great day and weekend.  I could not have asked for more.  

P.S. The Rose is a picture of the flowers I got from my parents for my birthday.  I forgot to take a picture when they were fresh but I think there is still some beauty in how it is has dried with age.

Walk About - It's London Baby!

It's London Baby!  Whenever I go to London I think about the Friend's Episode where they all went to this city for Ross' wedding. Joey was annoying Chandler with his excitement and his pop-up map to help him navigate his way through the streets of London.  Since then his catchphrase "It's London Baby!" has always stuck - the Friends geek that I am.

Today I was a tourist in this city, with the intention to give my camera a work out.  There is no real story today about my walk-about, just a place to share some pictures.

One of the things I love about London is the architecture.  The whole place is steeped in history; Big Ben, Parliament, Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral.  They are all quite majestic and yet they still manage to mix new in with the old. 

The London skyline is forever changing with new additions such as The Gherkin, The Blender, The London Eye and there most recent addition, The Shard.  I love the fact that the architecture is very different and has imagination, particular with the choice of names.

Embedded amongst all this architecture and a stone's throw away from the River Thames is the Borough Market.  The stalls are jam packed with cheeses, meats, hog roasts, chutneys, breads, pastries.  My mouth is watering just at the thought of it.

One of the things that London offers for free is an opportunity to people watch.  In a city this large anything goes and therefore you cannot help but be yourself.  And this makes the people watching even more entertaining.  In Trafalgar Square there was a Father and Daughter having a day out together. They were so cute.  Exactly how the relationship between Father and Daughter should be.

At all the tourist attractions there are street performers circled by on-lookers looking for any spare change that you can offer.

And anything goes; a guy playing tricks, busking, juggling with fire...

...or just simply creating the biggest bubbles you've ever seen.  The best is when the audience interacts.  It's amazing how much joy running and jumping after bubbles can cause.  And I'm not only talking about kids.

It's been a very care-free way to spend a day in London.

Wrapped Around Her Little Finger

The 29th December is fast becoming a tradition of sorts;  A Rendez-Vouz with the Carters and the Godparents of Princess to meet and have our Christmas catch up. It is also a chance to have some quality play time with Princess.  Particularly for me, the schedule is very busy and play time is rare.

I'm always marvelling at how much can change in a couple of months.  Princess is a sponge.  She's gone from being tentative with her steps to fully toddling along; to being limited with the words she knows to a full on vocabulary list, although some of it is what I like to call Baby Tourettes.  Innocent words like drink come out as 'dik' because she hasn't quite grasped the word yet.

Play time is different too.  There's a Noah's Arc, there are Bricks, there's a Mini, there are musical instruments and there's "baby"; with bottle and full medical kit.  It always surprises me how a little girl nurtures a baby doll.  Is it taught?  Do they learn it from seeing what others do?  Do we encourage it because she is a girl and get her to give baby a cuddle and to give it some milk?

Princess is also very quick to know what she can get people to do, specifically with me.  Our first game was a classic; Pick Up 52 - except we did this with colouring crayons instead of cards.  Another was to sit her on a chair so that she could then get off.  I lost count how often I had to do this, but who can resist those big blue eyes and the little voice that says "Ta" as she pats the chair that she wants to sit on?  I'm officially wrapped around that little finger of hers.

Gingerbread Men

Today I got up and thought, right I'm going to make my Gingerbread House today.  It is now 5.30pm and I have  managed to talk myself out of it.  Instead I've opted for making Gingerbread Men.

The reasoning is that I am more likely to eat the Men that take a few minutes to make than a House that takes a good few hours to construct.  And of course with it being Christmas, it is much easier to share the Men than the House.

It is now 6.30pm, my men are out of the oven and are iced and decorated with silver balls.  I have made 23, but even as we speak the number is reducing.  Fresh gingerbread is amazingly tasty.

I have taken pictures as evidence that I made them, in case I eat the lot.

Happy Christmas Eve.

Volcanic Nappies

Mini Burkhalter was born early November, just in time for Christmas.  And today was the first day I got to meet her.  A beautiful mini image of her mum, with fluffy red cheeks and blue eyes.

I forget how tiny they can be at only a few weeks old.  I'm so used to 6 month + year olds that to cuddle something so young reminds me how fragile they are at that age.

The Burkhalter's are new parents and to see them with the Mini Burkhalter is quite surreal, yet very fun to watch how they cope with the whole new world of parental responsibility.

The topic of conversation around the dinner table is no longer about fencing competitions, work or friends.  But more to do with feeds, dirty nappies and number 2's.  The main topic of today was the latter and the lack of over the past 2 days.

Well today was the day.  And I think she made up for it.  It was definitely a stinker.  It took both parents to clean her up.  A good job too, because she hadn't quite finished and Mama Burkhalter just managed to catch the remains in the nappy.  An experience that was described as "hot lava" coming out of the rear end.  Hmm, lovely image I know.  Let's hope that for their sake the number of Volcanic Nappies will be kept to a minimum.

Happy parenting and congratulations to the new parents on the lovely bundle.

x

Inspiration?

Inspired.   This is what I felt as I viewed the pictures at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 exhibition, at the Natural History Museum.   Nature is an amazing thing and to be able to capture it on camera is an art.   It is often sheer luck and a case of being in the right place at the right time, but some photographs have such great composition that it cannot be purely down to luck.   Take a look at the sneaky snap below that I took of the turtle.  Stunning.

There are many talented photographers out there.  Some old hands and some budding new between the ages of 7-17.  And just walking around and looking at the pictures just made me want to whip my camera out and get wrapped up into a photo snapping frenzy.

As I was in London, I decided to take advantage and be a tourist for the day.  So I made my way to Buckingham Palace.  I haven't seen this building in years and I'm always surprised at how simple the building is from the outside.

The only indication that it is a royal building is the flag flapping at the top, the ornate gate surrounding it and the royal guard  protecting it.  And aside from the fact that it could probably house 100 people quite comfortably, the exterior doesn't look anything out of the extraordinary.  Although I am positive that the interior is quite the opposite.

For some reason today the paparazzi were stood by the gate entrance.  Or perhaps it is an every day occurrence and I'm just not used to it.  I asked a nearby police officer if there was anything special going on and he looked at me with my nice Cannon 600D with Zoom lens and asked in a dead pan face "who are you affiliated with?"  I had to laugh and I don't think he believed my response when I told him I was just an amateur, but I guess the paparazzi can be quite relentless for any bits of information they can find.

In the end I got told that if I stood around then I might get to see some royalty.  As nice as that would be, standing in the drizzling rain for hours waiting for something to happen didn't sound very appealing.

But it got me thinking, the paparazzi are photographers too, only their subjects are usually the rich and famous.  If you look at their work in any detail, they take great portrait shots, but does their work inspire?  

For me the answer is no and with the rain slowly drenching my coat, it was quickly dampening any inspiration I had when I came out of the museum.

In the end I only came out with a handful of photographs.  I think another trip to London is in order.  Hopefully the next time I go, there will be less rain and I think I will focus on architecture to revitalise my inspiration.

The Proverbial Christmas Party

Every year there is the work Christmas Do.  This is the 2nd year I've been involved.  Each time it is a headache trying to work around the politics, policies and payments to make sure that the event is a great night for around 150 people.  Despite the last minute issues, the team always seems to pull through and people always look to be having a great time.

This year the Christmas Do was held at Fazeley Studios.  A quaint little venue a stones throw away from Birmingham City Centre and around the corner from the famous Custard Factory.

We had mulled wine on entry and a sit down 3 course meal and the usual DJ that got people on their feet and busting out a move.  The point of difference was the Photo Booth, which was a great hit.  Any opportunity for us scientist types to use different props and to pose for silly shots in front of the camera.

As per usual the do ended just as we were getting into the swing of things and so whisperings of an after party came shortly after.  We ended up in a bar called Indiebar, which is in the heart of the Chinese Quarter.

One of the manager's paid for a bottle of Vodka and so we had a few drinks on the house, plus a private area where we could get our boogie on.

The Christmas festivities have officially begun.

Merry Christmas.