we sat and watched people grabbing plastic cups of water from the drinks station. open cups of water for runners is a bad idea and there was much fun to be had watching water and cups going flying as the runners failed to grab them properly.
esther spotted the noise that the runners made as they ran over all the discarded cups. it was quite fantastic.
we went for a family cycle ride in Windsor Park yesterday. we didn’t realise but it was also the windsor half marathon so we planned and timed our journey so we could watch the runners as we had our picnic. in reverse order:
here are the main body of runnings coming up the hill (about a mile in to the run)
here are the front runners
and here was the start an hour and a half earlier.
crazy golf is our favourite family sport. it can be quite a dangerous one too of course.
here i am going for a hole in two watched by my ever-suffering daughters.
eventually it went in the hole
and then kezia grew incredibly big on the last hole
jane and lynn completed the London to Brighton bike ride without any trouble
in reverse order – here they are coming round the final straight to the finish:
here they are setting off:
and here are the bikes loaded on the car:
click for big
i walked back from southwark bridge to paddington one evening last week as part of my marathon training (have you sponsored me yet?).
on the way i saw these people looking over the wall in to the thames. but what were they looking at ?
it was this – a swimmer in the thames. probably not a great idea
click for big
i mentioned last week about the olympic exhibition in Traf Square. i went in yesteday lunchtime whilst walking back to the office. it was quite good actually.
it’s only a teeny weeny exhibition but well worth a spare 2 minutes if you are passing
there’s a giant aerial map of london on the floor which is fascinating. there’s also a nice wall-of-smoke to walk through:
here are hyde park and buckingham palace/westminster/london eye
click maps to inspect more detail
london is bidding for the 2012 olympics. here is part of an exhibition to celebrate the fact we’re in with a chance.
it’s a giant statue in trafalgar square. there’s a person in the foreground in the picture which might give you some idea of the scale.
click pic for big
esther and kezia held on to their bubbles and floated up to the ceiling
we went ice-skating again yesterday. this time it was a family disco session which meant loud towny music and flashing lights.
ice skating is very much like speed walking down Oxford Street on a busy shopping day. you have to watch for people doing random things (especially suddenly stopping without warning and appearing at speed in unexpected directions).
in fact if people carried massive shopping bags and even occasionally giant suitcases then it would be exactly the same thing.
kezia seemed to get the oldest ever ice skating boots:
even though she skating for a maximum of 2 minutes over the 2 hours we were there she seemed to enjoy herself:
it was the last day of the holiday yesterday so we went ice skating. esther was brilliant since she thought falling down was funny.
kezia needed more help, but that’s what happens when you take a 2 year old skating.
since jane and i were both occupied keeping ourselves and our family upright i didn’t get any photos of us ‘in action’.so here is a general shot:
here are some workmen playing keepy-uppy over their security tape.
i know very little about football. but i did used to collect panini football stickers when i was a kid. (i’ve been very impressed that panini have diversified in to the chewey bread market).
i used to love football stickers for three reasons:
1) the feeling of removing the back of the stickers after the endless chase to find the corner which would lift up
2) the fanastic smell of the glue
3) the silkyness (and later, shineyness) of the club emblem stickers
4) the hairstyles of the footballers (this was the 70s).
that’ll be four reasons then.
it’s amazing i’ve turned out so well adjusted isn’t it !
i remember emlyn hughes from those sticker days. and also from when i used to live in sheffield (he was our local celebrity). i once shook his hand you know. i was amused that he had a son called Emlyn Hughes and a daughter called Emma Lyn Hughes. i thought that was’t very british.
anyway, he sadly died yesterday. and bizarrely his book was at the front of the pile in our downstairs loo.
do you think this is part of London’s olympic bid?
my company is one of the sponsors to TeamGB, the UK olympic team. As a result it’s been olympic fever for the last few months. here is one of the actual olympians actualy fencing at the funday.
