Archive for July, 2010

Lazy Weekend

{ July 25, 2010 @ 3:37 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Hello to you all! It's been a very lazy weekend to make up for the very busy week we've had. But, I've got some good news to make it all worth while! We're going home! For a visit, but going home still … it's all terribly exciting. Only two-and-a-half months to go. Very pleased. 

Yessir, so, in the meantime, I shall fill you in on my rather dull and lazy weekend.Let's start with the food … always the best place to begin. 
Yum! I made a delicious rocket-basil-pesto-steak-cubes-gnocchi-roast-tomatoes dish which is probably my favourite easy meal ever. It's really very simple: cube some really good steak and pan fry quickly in a really hot pan (with Robertson's steak spice!) at the same time that you grill some baby tomatoes and boil gnocchi. You have to time it carefully so that it all finishes at more-or-less the same time. The tomatoes really have to pop before they're ready: the skins should be peeling back and the tomatoes should be quite soft. Then, when ready, toss together in a big glass bowl with basil pesto and fresh rocket. That's it! Done in about ten minutes. And it's deeeelicious. 
I thought I'd be creative and make my own basil pesto for a change – I found this amazing Jamie Oliver recipe which was really very quick and easy to make. It made all the difference, especially because I added a tad more parmesan cheese as per my preference. Mm, yum. 
Ah, I had completely forgotten about these treats: Gingerbread Gentlemen! I was, of course, completely taken by them when I saw them in Waitrose and had to have them. Oh so English! 
You only get six in the box, but they're quite tasty so it was all worth it. 
We got caught up with G's boss at the pub on friday night. It was a horrid week so I was quite happy to be a "plus one" for a little while, but the whole thing went on really quite long. In fact, we only got to leave at about 10.30pm! That's quite late for a "quick drink after work". Anyway, that meant that G was feeling a bit weak on Saturday morning and we ended up spending the whole day inside watching tv and generally being very lazy. You see, he has to keep up with his bosses as they offer to buy him drinks… it creates a good social aspect to work and they often get rather drunk and tell him secrets. It's rather entertaining! But it does mean that some saturdays are wasted on the couch. Anyway, back to today. We went out early this morning to Greenwich for a little walk around before Formula1. The weather wasn't fantastic (see above) but we did discover a little food market which was very pleasing to the eye. 
And then we had a little wander around the market, which is always very enjoyable. We got three things:
1. We each got a book from the nice bookstore where all books are one price. (second-hand books, but very good quality)
2. G got a very nice belt. There was a lovely elderly woman making belts from her own stall in the Greenwich Market. You chose your piece of leather, then chose your preferred buckle, and she made it up to your specifications. And it was very reasonable. 
3. We got two very interesting coffees. The first (my choice) is Swiss Chocolate Almond and the second (G's choice) is Irish Whisky. We've tried the Chocolate one, it's delicious. The stall had loads of sacks and canisters of coffee beans. You choose the one you like, the vendor scoops up the beans and weighs them, and then grinds them for you to take home and enjoy. Some of the other flavours were Maple, Chocolate, Caramel, Jack Daniels…
After much deliberation we stopped off at bought G some golf shoes that he's been coveting for weeks. He's very pleased, and is wearing them around the house (as you can see above). 
Ah! I keep walking past these beautiful flowers on the way home. Each "flower" is a bunch of blue millefiori surrounded by pink and purple mini-flowers. I'd love to know what they're called. 
And finally, I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week, but… we went to this amazing book store in Oxford when we were on our way home from Silverstone. It's a den of earthly delights, with books piled on top of tables, on shelves to the roof, in heaps underneath tables, in corners, on counters… and each brand new book is only £2.
And now my read-to-unread book ratio is rather daunting! I'm currently reading a PG Wodehouse book – an author I've never encountered until now. Very English, very sarcastic, very cynical. Almost done, review to follow. 

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2010 Santander British Grand Prix – Race Day Sunday 11th July

{ July 18, 2010 @ 7:42 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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And finally, after many months of waiting… it was race day!

 

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The GP2 race preceding the big race of the day.  I was upset after this photo because I followed him down the entire straight and then stopped.  As soon as I did he spun!  To the one that got away.

 

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When I win the Lotto this is how I am getting to Silverstone…

 

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 Can you see what is going to happen here?  I could.

 

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And it all ended in tears… and he needs a sponsor so that new rim is coming out of his own pocket!

 

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I really like this picture.

 

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The Red Arrows were doing a display before the big race.

 

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I really like this picture!

 

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Vettel coming past us on lap 1 with a right rear puncture.  The crowd seemed to enjoy his misfortune.

 

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Webber and Hamilton behind the safety car.  You can see the new pits which are being built in the background.  An abstract take on a Formula One car.

 

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Adrian Sutil managed to slow down Vettels comeback drive, for a while anyway.  The Force India is really quick in a straight line (possibly bacause it has a Mercedes engine in the back).

 

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Mark Webber after winning.

 

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2nd place Hamilton

 

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And 4th place Button (after qualifying all the way down in 14th).

I can't wait for 2011!

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2010 Santander British Grand Prix – Saturday 10th July

{ July 18, 2010 @ 6:48 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Here is a sequence of photographs of some Porsche GT3 Supercup cars.  Much slower and easier to get good pictures of them compared to the F1 cars.

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Crossing the finish line… during qualifying.

 

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Jenson entering the pits during practice on Saturday morning.  The F1 cars have this wonderful crackling backfire when they are slowing down, you mostly hear it when they are slowing down to the pit lane speed limit.

 

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Jarno Trullis' Lotus catching a bump on the pit straight causing a few sparks.

 

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Seven time World Champion Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes.  I didn't ever think that I would get a chance to see Schumi driving an F1 car!  Not that he did all that well.

 

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Sakon Yamamoto in his HRT leading/holding Jarno Trulli up during qualifying.   It would have been nice to have seen a Senna (Bruno) but they replaced him with Sakon, for financially motivated reasons apparently.

 

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Jenson Button.

 

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Lewis Hamilton on his way to qualifying fourth.

 

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Sebastian Vettel, this must be during Q1 or Q2 as he has the hard tyre on (no green ring around the outside of the tyre wall, which they hardly ever use in Q3 because they usually have less grip than the softer option). 

 

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Lewis again, this time he is waving to me after having got his fourth place in qualifying.  No, he is not waving to any of the other of the 100's of McLaren fans surrounding me. 😉

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2010 Santander British Grand Prix – Friday 9th July

{ July 18, 2010 @ 6:37 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Jenson Button during free practice on Friday, this is him taking the left into the chicane after the Vale straight, before Club.  I might be biased but the McLaren is the best looking car in the field!

 

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The Lotus is probably the second best looking car.  This is Heikki Kovalainen.

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The Force India of Adrian Sutil.

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A Red Bull running a bit wide at the exit of Club.

 

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A GP2 car, sorry but I am not clued up on who is who in GP2, but he is getting a lot of oversteer through the new Abbey corner.  Abbey used to go left and was more of a sweep than a corner, now it goes right and is a lot tighter than it used to be, combined with a bump on the entry it caught a lot of drivers out.  After this he ran wide and only narrowly avoided the gravel trap.  Some boring info, the F1 cars were taking Abbey flat out in 7th gear (+/- 190 Mph / 300Kmh!!!).

 

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 KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! This is one of my favourite photo's I took throughout the weekend.  This photo also gives you an idea of how tight Abbey is and how small the run off area is.

 

 

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A weekend at Silverstone

{ July 18, 2010 @ 12:42 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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G has always wanted to go to the Silverstone Formula1 Grand Prix. Since I met him, five years ago, it's been his number one dream. So it's no wonder, then, that he bought us tickets. And so, last weekend, we packed our bags, hired a car, and drove 2 hours to Faringdon where we'd be staying because the whole of Silverstone and surrounds was pretty much booked out (or devastated by a careless arson attempt). 

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We got up so very early every morning to drive to the circuit, but we made it…
Much excitement at this point. The F1 took place over three days: (1) practice (2) qualifying (3) race. Day 1, Friday, was very lazy and quiet at Silverstone. It was exceptionally hot, and we had managed to get very good parking so at least we didn't have to walk very far to get in. We helped ourselves to the free earplugs in giant wheely bins at the entrance, and made our way to our seats. 
As you can see, we're very early and there aren't many other people around. And, you can also see that I bought myself some very silly plastic shoes for the occasion. Don't tell anyone, but they were exceptionally comfortable!
It got very hot very quickly and we soon realised that we had left our hats behind (disaster!) so we went to one of the hundreds of Mclaren shops to purchase fan memorabilia in the form of a sun-protective hat so that I wouldn't frizzle.
The shop (above) was bustling and busy at about 6am. It was quite entertaining: all the shops around this one were quite empty. British folk are rather patriotic! 
Here you can see my (G's) new Mclaren hat. It's very sunny. 
And there's the branding. A few hours later everyone in the stadium seats would be wearing neon-orange variants of this hat.
Another self-portrait. We have so many of these, oh dear! After watching a few practice runs we got up and went walking about. The circuit was enormous! It took a while to get from one end to the other, and it was so exceptionally hot that you really could only go from grandstand to grandstand in any one walk. 
Here's G standing on the side of the track taking a photo of the cars going past. I thought it very entertaining that the gentleman on the right is wearing a t-shirt from home! And, I'm not sure if you can see, but there are hundreds of tiny little bugs (or, 'miggies' as we call them) all over him. Those bugs bite. And there were thousands. You had to keep moving to stop yourself from becoming lunch. 
Some supporters really got into the whole 'fan memorabilia' thing – look at that guy in the background with the flag! 
We had promised ourselves a soft-serve ice-cream from Silverstone, so, when we came across an ice-cream van, we stopped off and got one. Yum! It melted very quickly. 
This is the sign on top of the Santander tent. In case it's not obvious, it is made from giant lego bricks, more or less the size of real bricks. Made me think of Justin, and of James May's giant lego house. 
And lastly, one of the most entertaining things we saw were loads of people wearing backpacks that were in fact portable kegs. They also all had these enormous flags flying way up above their heads so that everyone could always see where to get beer from! You paid the 'bartender' and they gave you a cold beer in a plastic cup. And, you never have to get up and queue at the (numerous) bars. 
Ha!
It got too hot too quickly so we didn't stay for the festivities after the practice laps. We headed back to Faringdon (an hour's drive away) and had delicious dinner with G's grandparents. Up again very early on Saturday morning. 
At least we remembered our hats this time! And we discovered that our tickets got us into the covered grandstands for Saturday, so we were very comfortably shielded from the sun. 
A close-up of the top of the Silverstone Clubhouse. You will have noticed that I haven't posted any photos of cars… G's photos to follow after this post. 
The thing about the covered grandstands is that they're awfully close to the pit lane. And they're awfully close to the track. And that means that we made particularly good use of the free earplugs! The noise… I can't describe it. It sounded like a very, very loud car that had a double-layer of sound to it: one very loud, very chesty rumble that reverberated in the pit of your stomach. The other, a screeching high-pitched scream that went right through your ears and hurt somewhere just inside your lower jaw. The earplugs blocked out the second one. 
Lunch! (A "gourmet" burger)
And beer. Note the plastic festival cup, and G's very appropriate supporter's shirt. And our funny hats. 
This is us sitting in the grandstands somewhere in the middle. It was so exceptionally hot! I may have mentioned that already. 
This is a quick picture of the lady sitting in front of us. She didn't seem to lather on the sunblock as often (or as much) as we did. She also didn't have a giant floppy hat. Surprisingly, this kind of sunburn was very common: people everywhere were topless, shirtless, hatless and sunblock-less. Perhaps they are not used to hot weather in England?
We soon headed back to Faringdon and we discovered the end-bit of an Italian food festival. Loads of baked goods, cheeses, cold meats and treats. Behind me in this photo there was a music stage, and there were various bands playing quite loudly all weekend. Not much of a crowd, but the townsfolk did come out and show their support. 
And finally, Sunday:
I was fast asleep on the way to Silverstone (poor G had to drive all the time). This is the petrol station we stopped at every morning to buy coffee. Like most stations in the UK, they have face-and-registration-recognition cameras. They scan you and your car before releasing any petrol. Revolutionary!
Luckily there was a lot of cloud on Sunday – – if not, we would have been as burnt as the other lady! It was very, very busy and it was quite difficult to move around. This is very early in the morning – – as you can see, people are much more eager to find a seat than on previous days. 
I'm trying to take a picture of our matching supporter's shirts … oh well. At least I can tell you about the lanyards: you wore them around your neck the whole time because they're your access pass … your ticket is in a plastic holder at the end of it. As you can see, it was a bit chilly in the morning (in fact, it had even rained a bit).
One thing I didn't mention previously, although I'm sure G will because he got some nice photos of them, was the AMOUNT OF HELICOPTERS! They landed on the field in the middle of the track and there were easily about 40 of them. They took off, returned, landed and zipped about willy-nilly the whole weekend. You could go flying on one for a hefty fee. They look like miggies here. 
At about 9am the stands were filling up and the sky was clearing… Can you see all the luminous orange hats starting to build up? 
We found this photo very funny: three Mclaren supporters in full gear with a ferrari umbrella!
A nice picture of the clouds that glided past us early in the morning. 
Ah! I had forgotten about this. The nachos were our lunch – – and that yellow gunk is melted cheese. Only, the cheese never un-melted. It stayed liquid the whole time we were eating it … even when it got cold. Needless to say, we didn't finish our nachos. 
Before the race, all the drivers got onto the back of a flat-bed truck and drove around the track and waved at the crowds. Looking through the camera, you could clearly see each one of them. This is the general view, though. Just outside of this image is a giant screen so you could see the other racing moments, and, in this case, get a close-up look at the drivers as they are interviewed on the truck. The crowd was very excited. 
And this is where I leave off for G to post his car pictures, before I come back and tell you about Monday. Just one parting thought… the entire stadium went insanely mad every time a Mclaren drove past. So, following the cars in your line-of-sight, you could see everyone, everywhere, enact an enormous mexican wave… even for the full 52 laps! Humorous. 

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Books I’ve Been Reading (happy birthday to me, still)

{ July 5, 2010 @ 10:15 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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And so, for my birthday, I went on a book binge. Nothing better! Here are some of the books I've been reading:

My First Terry Pratchett. A lovely book: captivating (I read it in two sittings, last Saturday), exceptionally witty and vastly intertextual. It referenced some interesting literary theories rather underhandedly, and referred to popular culture with easy banter. Thoroughly enjoyable, although the Grease pastiche at the end of the novel (that's not a spoiler alert, you'll know it when you see it though) left me somewhat eyebrow-raised and dubious of the Greatness of the Pratchett. However, I shall happily embark on the rest of the novels after this very fine novel provided me with two of the funniest pages I've read in my (brief) literary career. Are you ready? Although, perhaps only funny to those familiar with literary pomp and [unrelated] Lauriane's favourite song. I shall give you three or four brief extracts from these pages because I can't be bothered to connect my scanner right now:
Context: the academics are playing a football match. Professor Macarona scores a goal. 
" And yes, they are celebrating the hero of the moment and the refrain coming from the lips of the Academicals' supporters seems to be: 'One Makaraonah, one Makaro-naah'. No, no. Something seems to be happening; Macarona has left the pitch and is talking animatedly to the crowd. He appears to be haranguing them." … "…Macarona is apparently insisting that any celebratory chanting should include his full name and full list of honours and is helpfully writing them down." (p479, FYI). 
Pages 482 – 484 include the celebratory chant for a single goal, wherein the football supporters are forced to chant Macarona's full academic credentials including some rather absurd gems including: 
"Visiting Professor in Chickens (Jahn the Conqueror University (Floor 2, Shrimp Packers Building, Genua))" (p482).
Titter.
Trashy Shakespeare-slash-Da-Vinci-Code thriller, thoroughly captivating and hideously unbelievable. Can't tear my eyes away. I'm about a chapter away from the end: it's the perfect tube-ride-read. 
Again, hideously captivating and thoroughly enjoyable if not far-fetched and at times, rather silly. The horror is not horrific in the face of the early 1600s, and it's written (as is its earlier counterpart) very skilfully in a clever chapter series that features the various facets of a theatrical tragedy (complete with prologue, interlude et al) and intertwines historical suspicions with contemporary conspiracy theories centrifugally focused on the Bard and his works. Overall, Carrell seems to entertain the conspiracies surrounding Shakespeare's identity and apparently incongruous skill set with a delicious care-free attitude, although she neither commits to a far-flung theory nor cements her opinions in anything but 'and then it was all a dream'. Or, at least, 'and then nothing was particularly different from what it was before you started reading this'. I think that as a novelist, she is captivating. As a theorist, she's probably scarily in control of her field of interest and convincing in her arguments. I'd love to read her speculations, I must find out whether she's published anything other than fiction (or indeed, other than novels). I didn't mean to write the word indeed into that sentence, but, there it is, literary pomp and all. 
I liked the cover; I've never read the play. I know. There was a game we used to play in The English Faculty. It was a variation of truth or dare and it was called, "I've Never Read…". I hope they still play it, it's good for bringing academics down a notch. But the gist: you have to think of the most important, most prolific book that, as an English scholar, you should have read but you haven't, and you haven't had the guts to admit it previously, nor the shamefulness to check it out of the library on the pretence that your'e studying it for further research into something related to your thesis. THEN, you admit it in the very circles you feared all along. Of course, this only works if you care. I did. This was one of my 'I've never read'… Almost finished. Really very enjoyable and particularly apt considering all the Shakespeare conspiracies I've been devouring at a speed second-to-none. 
This book has a fascinating cover. The letters in the title and the author's name are laminated and embossed, the trees are also slightly embossed, and the rest of the image is flat matte grey. It has great depth and dimension; an excellent choice of cover for this troubling text. I enjoyed it very much, but it moves you in an uncomfortable way the same way a Faulkner text might, but fans of Faulkner shudder at the comparison I'd imagine. Foulds's style is quite country, if that is such a description, in an institutionalised British academia in much the same way Clare, his main character, is presented. We meet Tennyson in a mad-house, and empathise with the 'inmates' in the same way that Nabakov slyly makes you an accomplice to his neurosis. It's unsettling. I think that's the point. 
And finally, because I'm getting sleepy and I have work early in the morning, this is the last book I'm mentioning tonight. If I couldn't put down the Shakespeare texts mentioned above, it's only because I was hungry for literary merit after reading something so simply sophisticated and sensational like Neverwhere that it's left me feeling deprived and empty with all the rest of my texts on-hand. It's not particularly phenomenal in it's prose, it's just so decidedly other that you must, must, read it. Perhaps because I find myself newly in London and surrounded by centuries of silly names and things that suggest a fantastical other-world of inherited histories, or perhaps because I've never read such a clever book that is both decidedly adult and child oriented in its manufacture. Probably because my greatest goal has been to write adult literature for children, and here Gaiman has done it effortlessly and easily with a single flick of his pen-nib. Frustratingly ingenious and easy to read, this is probably the best book I've read this year. Not because of what it is, for me, but what it represents and the Pandora's Box of ideas and knowledge that is has unleashed. 
And did you know, Gaiman is the person responsible for Robert Deniro in pirate drag in Stardust. And the buttons behind Coraline's perfectly constructed personage. Why have we never heard of him? Lauriane, Jared, Wendy, Richard: I'm holding you four particularly responsible for this lapse in essential knowledge. Just because you're the only ones who might be remotely interested in this, and you probably will happen across this paragraph at some stage in the near future. I've just had Anansi Boys and The Graveyard Book delivered; scheduled next in line after the Shakespeare chapter in the morrow. 
And for interest's sake, our tickets for Silverstone F1 arrived … we leave on Thursday evening on the 2-hour drive that takes us up to Gran and Grandad in Farringdon for the start of our formula-one-filled weekend. Millions of photos to follow, I'm certain!

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Happy Birthday to Me!

{ July 5, 2010 @ 9:29 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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It was my birthday last week, what fun! And you know what my big birthday wish was? I wanted to see the giant squid. 

THE Giant Squid. Not a b-grade horror film, but the not-so-secret stashed away in the basement specimen room of London's Natural History Museum. It's not on display, but, if you book a Spirit Collection Tour, you get to come tentacle-to-face with all 8.92m of it. 
Hurrah! Not my photo, but the one borrowed, as such, from the NHM's website. Isn't it magnificent? Structurally the same as the normal-sized squid, although considerably less edible and considerably more difficult to locate considering they live in depths of approximately 10,000ft. After three long years of waiting, I was very very pleased. The  squishy roundish bit on the far right of the picture above is an eye. It is about the size of two fists held together, if not bigger – – to give you an idea of how big this thing actually is. AND the museum had to contact Damien Hirst to find out where he got his enormous installation tanks made. Titter!
The rest of the museum was filled with loads of other fantasticly-birthday things like life-sized dinosaur heads that illustrate the size, texture and colouring of the ancient civilisation:
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And enormous herbivores towering above,
And, of course, Lauriane's favourite, the triceratops: 
life-sized! I'd imagine it occupies the same space as a fully-grown elephant. 
The NHM has a phenomenal display that is a series of ups-and-downs that twist around the dinosaur hall. This guy was just hanging out above one of the entrance ways, and then, above the displays below, you suddenly saw animatronics:
Anyone interested can view the sideways animatronic display above. Not particularly enthralling, but I was amazed that anyone would have put this much effort into such a minor display! 
On the subject of animatronics; there was a phenomenal life-sized t-rex in its own display section in the museum. It moved, blinked, waved its paws (hands?) at you and roared! Sadly, the crowds were gathering and people with speakerphones were ushering us through so I didn't stop to film or photograph. Suffice to say, you should go there if you have the opportunity.
Chomp! So sad that these photos didn't come out, awful light inside the dino exhibit. 
Skull comparisons (note, in relation to the people below). 
The Dinosaur Hall was the only part of the museum that we haven't seen before so it was the perfect opportunity to save the best for last. 
You really have to appreciate the beauty of the wall-panelling, although I was certainly the only person taking photographs of the stone pillars inside the dinosaur hall (and not of the dinosaurs). 
That was my 'birthday weekend'. On my actual birthday I took the day off work and wandered around Oxford Street until G got off work and came to meet me for lunch. 
We walked to the Tower of London, intending to go in:
Not sure why G is pulling such a funny face. But Anyway. By the time we sat down for lunch it was already 2pm and we were running a bit late for the Tower. 
We had lunch at Zizzi's in Katharine Docks. Which reminds me, I went to the Medieval Banquet again last week! I went with Sarah, our new sales manager at work. She's a lot of fun; singer, dancer, actress … such a drama queen. She really puts me in my place; you all back home would be amazed at how quiet and tame I look next to her! Photos to follow the week-after-next as she has invited me to go powerboating with her. We're also going to attend the Southampton Street Festival, seeing as we'll be right there for most of the day anyway. And G will get the Xbox for the whole day to himself so he's pleased as punch. Right-o, back to lunch:
That's the view from our table: some boats, some flats, and a strange Palladian Starbucks on a moaty-pedestal. 
I am particularly fond of this picture. Many stories swarm in half-thoughts, I'm thinking of penning them to paper. 
We missed the last tour of the Tower but I think we'll get a year's membership (the cost of two visits) so that we can visit whenever we like. After this we went to Canary Wharf's John Lewis to choose my birthday present (G wanted to buy me three very specific things but he wanted me to choose: a loaf tin, a cooling tray, and a mortar and pestle. Check One, Check Two, IOU on the third due to my fussiness. I'm particularly fond of the granite m&p so I think I'm going to hold out for that one. John Lewis only had a ceramic one, a wooden one, and a marble one. Nice, but no cigar, and I was choosing. I baked a banana bread when I got home, it was deeeelicious! I really need to find some housemates who can eat though, poor G struggles with all of my baked treats all to himself and my boss is constantly complaining that I'm making him fat. 
For Interest's Sake: my brunch Coffee with Rocky Road from M&S, complete with complimentary mini-gingerbread-man. Yumma! 
And this was my brunch leek, mushroom and brie sandwich with side-salad. Very delicious (Mom, Robyn, do you remember?) although the salad dressing wasn't the delicious honey-and-mustard I was anticipating. Hmm. Yumma all the same!

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