3rd November 2012

My Dad passed away on Saturday morning. He had a stroke on Tuesday night and never woke up from it.

Graduation

Finally- I finished my MA and today was my graduation ceremony. The whole thing felt a bit Hogswartsy - the setting in the Naval College chapel is beautifully suited to events like these. I am now entitled to wear a slightly longer gown with different sleeves and a different hood lining. These little differences are so important!

Autumn gout catchup

It's been a month since my last post. And my foot has hurt every single day, although the pain isn't as bad now as it was a month ago. I can get some of my shoes on ( but not the pretty ones) so I don't have to go around in a suit and crocs. I have been on crutches for the last 4 weeks, and this weekend I am going to try just using one stick again. I'm fed up with not bring able to carry a shopping bag!

It seems I have gout …

I have the worst pain ever in my foot- and painkillers aren't doing a lot for it. Couldn't sleep last night for the pain, and spent morning in A&E.

The diagnosis is gout, and I have a fact sheet which tells me to give up my favourite foods and lose weight. Sigh.

Olympics catch up 6: the closing ceremony

Another British extravaganza. Human cannonballs! high-wire artists!

A gigantic inflatable octopus! A security team with lightbulbs on their bowler hats!

You had to see it - it really defies description.

Boris Johnson looked as if he didn't want to hand over the flag to Rio, but eventually, the flame slowly died, and Darcy Bussell danced as a phoenix rising from the cauldron. Lovely.

Best Olympics ever!

Olympics catch up 5: street art

Where would we be without a bit of cynicism?

Olympics catchup 4: impossible to categorise

There were some things that don't really fit into a specific category: the Orbit, which I expected to loathe,but actually love; the view of the stadium from the other side of the river; the abiding image of Boris Johnson dangling from a zip wire…

Olympics catchup 3: the sport

I have never watched so much sport in all my life! The BBC coverage (with the wonderful Clare Balding commentating) was fantastic- I could watch an entire synchronised swimming or rhythmic gymnastics event, instead of "edited highlights", and I watched sports I would never have dreamed I would find interesting. Women's boxing! Canoe slalom! Modern pentathlon! Dancing horses!

Team GB won 65 medals! Including 25 golds! All the gold medal winners were commemorated with stamps and gold post boxes- where but the UK would that happen?

They were all brilliant, but my favourite winners were Bradley Wiggins for his mod style; Charlotte Dujardin for her fantastic patriotic music and Andy Murray because he deserved it.

Olympics catchup 2: the opening ceremony

Spectacular, spectacular, spectacular!

It was completely British in character. Danny Boyle did us proud.

My favourite part was the bicycling doves of peace.

The oddest moment was the few minutes when I wasn't quite sure if the actual Queen was really featuring in the James Bond filmette- bonkers!

Olympics catchup 1: the torch relay

Whew! It's over. Time to fix the memories. Where to start? There's so much!

The torch relay had some spectacular moments, starting when the flame of Olympus blew out before the first torch was lit. David Beckham lit the first UK torch, and also brought it down the Thames to the stadium. I guess that was a small consolation for being spitefully left out of the GB football team.

The torch relay took in the whole country, including Woolwich, where it was accompanied by the King's Troop on horseback.

Steve Redgrave handed the flame over to some young unknown athletes for the final lighting of the cauldron- a nice touch.

The cauldron itself was a wonderful and beautiful piece of engineering.

Curiosity

Mars rover Curiosity has landed! I watched live as mission control made strategic use of lucky peanuts. Everything went to plan and pictures are being transmitted back to Earth. A momentous event!

The rover tweets as @MarsCuriosity

Olympics

I left the house today for the first time since the Olympics started (it's day 5). I sat by the big screen in the rain and admired the water feature and the "Gift from the Gods" art installation (a gigantic bow and arrows). Today we won our first gold medals.

Red letter day

The letter confirming that I have passed my Masters degree arrived today. I am relieved and pleased.

Shiny things

Feeling a little under the weather today, but cheered up when I got to work by three boxes of chocolates from students, with very nice cards (that makes 4 boxes of chocs this term!) Also- shiny new computer with a much bigger screen and better software. AND my journal article has been accepted with just a couple of minor revisions needed. This is for a peer- reviewed journal, so I am very pleased.

What a week!

This week is certainly one to remember. There was a very wet Royal Diamond Jubilee, a transit of Venus, the last for 100 years or so, AND I handed in my MA thesis at long last.

Now relax…

Jubilee

It's the Royal Diamond Jubilee this weekend, and it's raining. Never mind, the red, white and blue look good.

Salad days

Springtime should be sunshine and flowers. Instead it's gales and showers.

It has rained pretty much every day since the hosepipe ban was put in place. We are still in drought despite the floods. Missiles are being installed in the park to protect the Olympic skies. The Scream sold for many millions of pounds despite a deepening recession and a bad performance artist has been nominated for the Turner prize.

On the bright side, teaching is over for the year, Boris beat the whiny Ken and I can still just about afford to have a glass of wine with my cheese salad.

London Marathon 2012

Runners going by the end of my street. Which one of the spectators is the infamous "oggy oggy oggy" man?

And well done nephew!

Venus

Venus towards the west from my back garden. It must be really bright because we have serious light pollution in this area.

Cherry blossom viewing

This could be the last day that the white cherry tree has blossom. The weather has turned cold, wet and windy again. Petals are strewn across the street. Soon there will be none left on the tree.

Drought

Instead of the fountains, an installation of clay flowers at Somerset House.

Yes, I was working today, but now sitting in the sun for a little while.

Added note: the installation is called "out of synch" and has 10 000 flowers. the photo here is my own, but for more and better go to:


http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/out-of-sync

Summer time

It was the vernal equinox last week, clocks go forward to summer time today, and the weather looks like…

Mothering Sunday

It's mothers day. Bekky is cooking dinner and has given me presents to eat, read and enjoy. I feel happy despite still having the cough.

Three

Paul was three years old on March 7th. Guess what his favourite Disney film is…

All gone

This is all that's left of the cake.

Happy birthday Bekky

Bekky's photo of her cake is better than mine, so I'm using hers.

Colours

I think I am growing into a new signature colour. I seem to be wearing more and more grey. My new Zatchel is an example.

Wearing grey allows me to accent differently. With my old black, the accents were largely nude. With grey, I'm wearing flashes of mustard and dark red.

See how well my bag looks against the orange chair! And gasp in surprise that I actually sat in one of those oh-so-spindly chairs!

Friday!

Last of the birthday bottles, and the first glass since before the lurgy. And relax.

Royalty

Well, I live in a royal borough now, and all the king's horses and all the king's men live just up the road. I caught a glimpse of the King's Troop moving in, but as usual, I was too late to get a decent picture. An enlargement of the glimpse gives a fuzzy picture of one horseman.

Snow!

It's snowing, and settling. Luckily I finished the diamond throw today. I may need the extra warmth tonight.

My view of this week

No. It's really not funny.

Time

Had a little time to spare today, so wandered around the O2, looking at the ground

恭喜发财

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Book of the day

My first ever online book purchase.

Weekend

No Friday picture- just didn't get round to it. Saturday was spent traipsing around shops trying to spend money and coming back with just an eye shadow.

Sunday morning wasted on reading a best-seller which, despite being a page-turner, left me vaguely unsatisfied. The conclusion was too neat. And I don't know any woman who wears thick tights under jeans.