Autotelic @ Home

First Forey into Competition at the Cameral Club

2012-02-12T19:18:00.002Z

OK, here you go, competition next week at my camera club and I've plucked up the courage to enter for the very first time. The theme is mono (hence the black and white). Here are my entries:

1. Self Reflection

2. Tick Tock

3. Pontoon Dock

What do you think of my entries - any good?

The Royal Borough of Greenwich

2012-02-04T20:03:00.002Z

Yesterday, my home borough of Greenwich in London, became the Royal Borough of Greenwich as part of the Queens Jubilee celebrations.

We have fireworks, pomp and ceremony as the Kings Troop march through the town tomorrow in all their finery. I'm rather hoping this is one of the things that will help make my house attractive to purchase for a lovely new family this year. The other little thing that happens is the Olympics, of which more as the weeks go by but suffice to say we are within walking distance of two Olympic venues: Greenwich Park and the Royal Artillery Barracks; and a bus ride of the third: the wonderful O2 venue.

So if you fancy buying this wonderful Annex House, in the gorgeous Royal Borough of Greenwich, then get in touch soon :-)

Fab Mid-Week Evening Out

2012-01-28T12:48:00.001Z

On Wednesday, we went to see Frank Skinner and Friends at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End. I've been a long-time fan of Frank and love both his World Cup and Absolute Radio podcasts. In fact, I listen to them every single night before sleep because I like to go to sleep laughing :-) More recently, he's hosting Room 101 on the BBC and Friday evenings are now heaven for me as I catch him on this too. I love his very quick thinking and genius wit. He's a great cheeky choppy and I've always liked those! He does observational comedy and for me, Frank is the best you can get.

I took a rubbish picture of the theatre when we came out, on my phone. But you get the feel of it.

Fantastic evening! Amazingly cheap night out (£18 each) and my face was aching from so much laughing right through to the next day! Frank has an easy rapport with the audience, it's just like sitting on the sofa with an old mate having a chat. Live, he's more raw and raunchy (and, I have to say, nice eye-candy in a DJ!) than on the TV or radio, but thats the pure joy of seeing a live theatre show, its absolutely nothing like TV or radio, and nor should it be.

I listened to his radio show on Absolute Radio live this morning and he announced he was to become a father for the first time with his girlfriend, Cath. Many congratulations to them both! I'm sure the experience will bring much observational/situational comedy in the future, although he says not right now, I can't believe he won't discover spectacularly funny perspectives from it.

It was a great evening, and I'd like to see his stand-up shows in the future for more chuckles and face-ache.

I could watch/listen to this "old chum" forever and a day.

The Year of The Big Move (Fingers Crossed!)

2012-01-22T22:10:00.001Z

The Annex, Royal Herbert Pavilions, Greenwich, London.

2012 was always intended to be the year we moved out of London. To escape-to-the-country has been a long-held dream for some time now. Ideas of wooden beams, rolling fields, chickens, country kitchens and growing our own vegetables have been gestating in our minds and now, 2012 is upon us and all things "relocation" have come very much to the fore.

So that's the plan - I become one of the country set sometime this year and, someone new will love our home as much as we have for the past five-and-a-bit years.

This year, Greenwich is proud to be a host Olympic Borough, and we also attain the dizzy heights of having a Royal Charter bestowed on us as we grandly become the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Two things which, I'm hoping against all hope, help us attract a family who will enjoy our home as much as we have.

This weekend has seen a flurry of activity towards that dream. N1S and Wifey have been here, and worked hard on Saturday helping Himself to clear out the loft. I managed to stop them throwing out memories of most of my life, but nevertheless, several skip-bins were filled with the remaining crap!

Today, N1S, who is now the proud owner of his own business, 360RealEstateTours , spent hours taking pictures of every room for a future website we will be setting up in an effort to market and sell our lovely home.

I'm looking forward to seeing his handiwork, and I will share it here too as the website develops to full "For Sale" status. Watch this space!

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

2012-01-11T00:10:00.004Z

Tonight, I went to my camera club. It was a competition night which I enjoy (although haven't entered any of my work (being such a newbie) yet) mainly, because I really like seeing other peoples photos and seeing lots of different styles.

One of the entries tonight was taken on an i-phone, then converted with a lovely little app called "TinyPlanet", which creates this circular effect by stitching both ends of the photo together. So when I came home, I splashed out and bought the app (all 69p!!!) and immediately tried it out on a picture I already had loaded on my phone, previously taken on one of our cycling training runs in readiness for the London to Brighton Bike Ride 2011.

I was amazed at the end result!

I thought it looked like a perfect (if different) picture postcard of London, so here it is from me to you. I think I shall do more of these and have great fun in the process. I think it looks really cool - don't you?

Return of the Newlyweds

2012-01-08T00:55:00.000Z

So, the new Mr & Mrs Davidson were collected from Gatwick (London) Airport, and were looking ridiculously tanned, healthy and happy upon their return to UK civilisation. I thought it only right that they uphold tradition and N1S carried his new Wifey over the threshold to keep the good luck flowing in their lives.

We had an evening of looking at wedding and honeymoon photos, and hearing lovely stories of Jamaican adventures.

Next morning, we thought we'd surprise them and do a mega, impromptu, confetti session!

We really did empty every packet of confetti we had!

It seemed to be well received and was great fun - even if the dyson had it's work cut out afterwards!

It got everywhere, but I was primarily thinking, "what posh confetti there is nowadays".

And we had our second Christmas brunch celebrations due to them missing the first one - having spent Christmas Day on the beach in 30 degrees. A second turkey (with all the trimmings) was in the oven for later when a somewhat delayed 2011 Christmas feast was had, now we were all together again.

Tomorrow, we're all off to see The Iron Lady together. We do have the best of fun now they've all grown up. I've waited a long time for this, long-gone now are the times when they would squabble and fight and cry and sulk as little 'uns trying (and failing) to play together.

Result!!!

2011 Review - 2012 Resolutions

2011-12-31T19:13:00.000Z

2011 was good. Very good in fact! I give it a 9 out of 10 on the whole. At the beginning of the year I wanted it to:

be joyful. By that I mean I wanted to have a lot of laugher throughout the year, and it sure delivered on that one;
be healthy. I've had a whole year without crutches - this is not insignificant in the way my life rolls;
be warming to the soul. Several acts of kindness have happened, both from me and back to me. I've certainly noticed and cherished the ones I've received, I hope the one's I've given have been received in the spirit intended. That can't be bad can it?;
be exciting. I've started my own business; we have a new (official) member in the family in Wifey; and a new co-opted member in N3S's partner. How much excitement can one 50-year-old take?;
be full of firsts. I've climbed Snowdon; the business is a first; I've been in a submarine; we've had our first family wedding; I've been taken to my first theatre ballet; I've completed a charity bike ride from London to Brighton; I've joined the camera club (long overdue); and, we've commenced a joint wish to do "proper" walking.

All things being equal that adds up to a good year in anybody's books. I hope you had an equally good year and you've made realistic wishes/resolutions for 2012.

In 2012, my resolutions include:

move out of London and back to Wales if possible;
travel more;
go to the theatre more;
see more live performances;
stay well and off crutches;
see more of my family and friends and have exceptional times with them making wonderful memories;
learn a bit of Spanish - even a little bit would be good;
make a success of the business; and
walk the dog a lot more.

What are yours? Please share them with a little comment here and have a very Happy New Year, wherever you are. x

More Wedding Pics

2011-12-27T18:55:00.000Z

What a beautiful day we had, celebrating our first born's wedding.

Photo album created with Smilebox

Summing up 2011

2011-12-26T17:09:00.003Z

We had a great year!

Many achievements, heaps of lovely memories. What more could you ask for?

Charlie's Exhausting 2011 Christmas

2011-12-26T15:21:00.001Z

The Hound has clearly had an exceedingly exhausting Christmas. He's refused twice today to go out!

Best Men and Ushers Effort

2011-12-20T18:16:00.000Z

My son decided to have 3 best men and 3 ushers. Here they are (above) looking fairly respectable. Here is their effort which was part of their joint speech (below) which is much more their style :-)

The task was to sum up what N1S meant to us all in 3 words. No mean feat! But it went down well at the reception with family and friends and it seems the banana phobia was well documented throughout :-)

Introducing the new Mr & Mrs Davidson

2011-12-20T00:55:00.001Z

The great day came and a tremendous time was had by all!

We spent several hours trying to calm our son down, so strangled was he with nerves! This incorporated him being sick twice, and struggling hard (successfully thank goodness) not to faint! He's fainted several times before when something affects him deeply on an emotional level, so it was a very real possibility at one stage when he went so pale I thought his Dad would need to catch him on the way down!

Thankfully, he was furnished with several glasses of water and tissues when he burst out crying quite spontaneously. I thank the Lord that his lovely bride wasn't too late for his nerves.

They make a beautiful couple and, I'm sure, will have beautiful children in due course but I'd like to say a huge thank you to his lovely wife, Alexa, for saying I do to him and making all his dreams come true.

More will follow in the next few days but what more could a mother want for Christmas than to see her eldest the happiest he's ever been with the woman of his dreams on his arm?

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Davidson Jnr, and may all your dreams be wrapped around each others hearts.

Wedding Countdown

2011-12-15T16:37:00.001Z

Well this is it. The week N1S gets married to his lovely WTB. Three days to go and its all hands to the pump Chez Davidson to make it a day to remember for them for the rest of their lives.

Come Sunday 18th, we shall be decked in our finery and no doubt weeping when two becomes one at the very lovely Nutfield Priory. Watch out for pictures of this momentous event, particularly at its front door:

This was taken 13 months ago when the bride (walking through the front door at that time) went to view it as a potential venue.

This week, therefore, I am mostly thinking about becoming a mother-in-law. Hoping I don't turn into the typical stereotypical witch and doubting it very much due to the fact that we think of her very much as a second daughter. We know she loves our eldest very much indeed, and we know the feeling is mutual so it has all the ingredients of a wonderful day and a long life together.

How quickly the last 13 months have gone, from viewing to becoming husband and wife there ................... I am now officially skint!

120th Anniversary Exhibition

2011-12-11T21:45:00.001Z

If you are anywhere near South London over the next fortnight, here's something not to be missed. My camera club is celebrating 120 years in existence with an exhibition at our local hospital. It would be well worth a visit so do pop along if you can.

Celebrating 50 Years on Planet Earth

2011-11-19T14:30:00.001Z

I spent part of my 50th birthday 122ft down in a submarine. How cool is that? Awesome it was!

But lets rewind because, in true regal form, I actually had several celebrations for my half a century and it all started in Greenwich, London, with the family on Bonfire Night.

This view always makes me stand and stare and it didn't disappoint on 5th November 2011.

Then it all went downhill of course upon frequenting the local drinking establishments ...

Started off ok, sensible start at the Gypsy Moth ...

Then the lads got involved and sensible photo is not in their vocabulary ...

And we couldn't resist some fun with sparklers in Blackheath on the way home, given the occasion.

The very next day, off we go to Lanzarote for some winter sun and much needed de-stressing time away from the demands of life in the city.

Fur coat on the 5th, bikini on the 6th - complete contrast in little more than 4 hours - bliss!

Two days later, the 8th, its party time in the Riu Paraiso. My cake was huge so I shared it with everyone in the Mexican restaurant that night. Sheer strangers wishing me happy birthday which was lovely.

I can't recommend the RIU hotels enough. We've stayed in them in Mexico and in Morocco as well as Lanzarote now and they have always been absolutely first class. The Mexico one still wins hands down as it had a row of optics in the bedroom which amused Himself no end, and resulted in the now infamous "100 dreams a night" story after almost emptying the tequila optic!

This time last year we were in Iceland. Very similar landscape being volcanic, but completely opposite temperatures.

More pictures of Lanzarote here. Let me know what you think. Don't be shy, comment to your hearts content :-)

N1Son's Stag Weekend

2011-10-28T22:10:00.000+01:00

Beautiful Prague. Oh how I loved it there when we visited in 2008. It pains me to think that 3 of my sons are currently there this weekend on a Stag Weekend. Not any old Stag Weekend but N1S's stag weekend no less. I sooooo hope they behave themselves and leave it as beautiful as they find it.

It is now just 51 days to my eldest's wedding. I had strong words with N2S yesterday before they left, along the lines of:

don't let the lads shave his head, there isn't enough time for it to grow back now before the wedding;
Look after your older and younger brother;
don't do anything stupid; and
don't get arrested.

He, in all seriousness replied: "Mum, I'll do my best, but there's only one of me, and lots of them, I can't guarantee anything, it is his stag do after all, something is bound to happen"

Mother has been full on worrying every since :-(

New Layout

2011-10-27T10:00:00.000+01:00

I'm trying out this new magazine layout, provided by Blogger. What do you think of it? Please do let me know as it will determine whether I keep it or not. Thanks.

Welsh Rugby

2011-10-15T23:42:00.001+01:00

France 9 - 8 Wales

Wake up with Wales the Welsh Rugby Union urged. So I did, and watched my team play the most wonderful game of rugby, on the other side of the planet.

What seemed to me to be a "rebuilding" period of 30 years has clearly come to an end. The team were magnificent! And at one point I truly believed they were even better than the '70s one I watched as a child.

How heartbreaking that the referee chose neither to use his linesmen nor the technology available to check a decision which will go down as the worst of the tournament!

Still, for over an hour we played with 14 men and looked the better team all the way. No shame in the end result and even England has gushed love for Wales ever since, whatever next?

My money is now on New Zealand to win, as it has been since before the tournament started. We have a Kiwi in the family so at least he'll be pleased:-)

Roll on 2015 that's what I say! It should be a corker!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2

Location:Shooters Hill Rd,Greenwich,United Kingdom

Royal Parks Half Marathon

2011-10-09T21:22:00.002+01:00

Today, N1S did his second half-marathon in two weeks. He's a glutton for punishment! His feet hadn't recovered from the last one yet! What a state they still are!!

He missed his personal best by a shade under 40 seconds :-( Poor thing. Still, we were there to cheer him on nevertheless and finished in 1 hour and 45 minutes. He said he didn't feel good doing this one - he'd had a very bad throat all week and was still nursing terrible blisters from a fortnight ago.

So we took pity on him and took him out for a kilo of muscles afterwards - its his favourite, and mummies can't forget her babies favourites now can she?

We had a lovely late Sunday lunch out at Zero Degrees in Blackheath.

WTB was as proud as punch as ever over his efforts. In 70 days time she will be the new Mrs Davidson and yesterday took me shopping for 10 solid hours for all things wedding related. Phew, even by my standards 10 hours was a bit of a mission. It did include a wedding dress fitting though which I was very privileged to be included in. She looked absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see the look on my baby's face when he sees his lovely bride walk towards him on 18th December. He will be as proud as punch I am sure.

Now the beards have a bit of a story attached to them. Here are both N1 and N2 Sons sporting one each. WTB and GF respectively hate them, and Mother prefers them without it has to be said. But apparently, its for the stag weekend. Details of which none of the ladies particularly want to know about other than the promise of clean shaven lads afterwards. Poor Prague - is it ready for my boys?

More pictures of the Royal Parks half marathon will be posted tomorrow. Too tired to unload them from the other camera tonight. But suffice to say that the Boy did extremely well yet again. What a wonderful young man he's become :-)

I Love Apple

2011-10-06T23:10:00.000+01:00

What a sad day today. I awoke and, as always, streamed through Twitter to see what was happening before opening the BBC news app on my i-pad to read about world events more thoroughly. A sinking feeling gripped my stomach when I realised that Steve Jobs had, sadly, finally lost his battle with cancer.

I've been sad all day about this. I have no right to feel this sad as I've never met the man, and couldn't claim to "know" him in the slightest. But his Apple company has had a profound effect on my everyday life for a considerable time now. I love Apple. Truly, madly and deeply. Steve Jobs was Apple and Apple was Steve Jobs - simple as that! I do not believe I am over-stating his worth to that company.

I have used his keynote speech videos to illustrate presentation/demo skills in my professional life, and I've marvelled at the way he communicated so effectively (and effortlessly) on a world stage. He was passionate about Apple and demanded passion in return. I don't think that was unreasonable. He led by example.

I tried hard today to remember my typical day before I had any mac devices. I couldn't!! That's the impact he has had on modern life:

What did I do before "Maps"?
I think I got lost a lot.

How did I keep on top of more than one e-mail account before I owned an I-phone?
Well it was impossible.

How did I keep in touch with friends (proper ones) and acquaintances?
With difficulty, and I made more effort than most as losing touch is a pet hate of mine!

How did we do currency conversions when on holiday?
We scribbled something down on a scrap of paper and then lost it in transit!

Why was my music appreciation very narrow and stagnant for too long?
Because I didn't have the time to go into town and browse and buy CDs when the shops were open.

Why were my reading lists predictable and cumbersome?
Because books are expensive and took up a lot of space in my house before i-books.

When was the last time my home computer showed me an error message?
Not for at least 10 years! (but everyday in work!!!)

The list could go on and on and on and on. The bottom line is that Steve Jobs has played a pivotal part in providing the means to open my eyes, ears and mind to a much wider breadth of knowledge. He has allowed me to believe I am rich beyond measure because I am able to have so very much at my fingertips. What an amazing thing to do in life, and for that, I thank him from the bottom of my heart. He really has provided his own type of "small steps for mankind".

May he be remembered for a very long time to come.

I am proud to say .....

..... this was sent from my MacBookPro :-)

I've Joined the Camera Club!

2011-10-05T22:11:00.000+01:00

My Dad would be over the moon! I've finally joined my local camera club, and converted a 2-year New Year's Resolution into action. Another tick in the box before I turn 50. I'm checking off lots of "wish I had time to do that" type of things this year.

Tuesdays nights is now spent with the good lads and ladies of Aperture Woolwich Photographic Society and I'm having a fine time! I've been twice now. First visit was a print battle with two categories: beginners and advanced. Learnt lots, even if I didn't agree with the judge's winner in the advanced category :-)

Second visit was last night: technical workshop. I'm pretty damn awful on the technical side. I try to avoid having to do much post processing as a result. But I did the beginners class and thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps one day I too will be able to do all the whiz bang photoshop things they can do. It's helped to remove the fear factor of it all anyway, so the only way is up now.

My fellow members are really friendly and, both weeks, have made me very welcome indeed. Next week, a colour print battle and deposits for the Christmas Dinner, which is a Chinese meal out apparently.

Should be fun. Am loving it. It makes me leave work at 6pm on a Tuesday so is also helping me to take control of my working hours. So I am living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks :-)

Go on, get out there and join something you've been wanting to for all these years. It's both refreshing and rejuvenating. Long overdue in my world and I'm damn well putting that right - ye ha!!

Summer in October?

2011-10-02T21:07:00.001+01:00

This weekend, I have worked really really hard at doing as little as possible, after a stressful week in work. I have to report, I've done exceedingly well at just mincing about a bit. The weather has definitely helped, with it being 30 degrees in and around London all weekend. Scorchio!

However, trees all around me have clearly been showing signs of confusion! Displaying autumn colours, with dry crisp leaves (as is usual at this time of the year), then out of the blue, a ladybird appears and crawls all over you!! I'm seeing both dead and new leaves on the same branch sometimes.

Scorching sunshine was everywhere :-)

So after watching an early morning rugby world cup match each day, off we toddle out and about into the beautiful garden of Kent and we find ourselves in Lullingstone, seeing both the Roman remains and the castle. The castle was altered extensively in Queen Anne's time and boasts a 15th Century Gate House, and beautiful "world" gardens. Sadly, during the very bad winter of 2010, they lost over 800 species to the elements. Thats hard to imagine given what they still have on show, the colours of which were spectacular.

Look at the pollen coat this bee is wearing! In October!!!

Beautiful place to wander around all afternoon - the English Heritage membership never lets us down! The icecream was of particular note there too :-)

Sunday, another early morning rugby match consumed and off out again, this time to Knole, which, until today, I didn't even know existed. Now I'm on a mission to enable a lot more people to be aware of its existence - because it was amazing!

Knole has fascinating links with Kings, Queens and nobility, as well as literary connections with Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolfe (says the AA guide). Thirteen state rooms were laid out pretty much as they were in the 18th century, kept as much in the dark as possible (c1000 hours per year) in order to protect the fabrics on show (light damages them). The Sackville family continue to live at Knole today. This was a National Trust site and we ended up joining them too, the mission for the next 12 months being to get as much out of that membership as we have out of our English Heritage one so far:-)

The park, which is open to the public, has two kinds of deer. The Fallow deer (above photo), and the Japanese Sika which are more timid and likes to hide (hence we didn't see any!).

Me doing what I like doing best - mincing about a bit with my camera :-)

The great storms of 1987 wreaked havoc in this fine park, wiping out 70 per cent of its trees in one night alone. Trees that were hundreds of years old completely devastated in a few hours. I remember that storm for losing a line full of washing and being hit in the face by a flying fence panel!

The house looked spectacular in the sunshine ...

The Orangery (above and below), basked in sunshine beautifully ...

And the Fallow deer kept appearing throughout the afternoon.

What a beautifully English weekend we've had (even if the weather was more Californian!) - I even had a cream tea in the sunshine today :-)

Do visit Kent if you ever get the chance, you definitely won't be disappointed.

Run to the Beat - Greenwich Half Marathon

2011-09-25T23:25:00.000+01:00

For the third year running, N1S has completed the Greenwich Half Marathon. In a fortnight he does the Royal Parks half marathon and he's in the ballot for the London Marathon next year again. He likes to compete and push himself and today was no exception.

So off we go, as many of the family as possible to support him on the current mission. He was so quick this year, we missed him on the first vantage point we always stand at! At the second point, he was looking good, if not very hot as it was 23 degrees, and quite possible the hottest days we've had for a few months now. This was about half way around.

From half-way, we go to the finish line, which happens to be the magnificent O2 arena in Greenwich, which will host gymnastics amongst other things during London 2012.

We clapped and cheered and screamed when we saw him. Coming in ahead of his predicted time by a few minutes. This year, magnificently, he came home after 13.5 miles in 1hr 44mins and 27 seconds. Knocking 4 minutes off his previous personal best for a half marathon. Great achievement or what?

His chosen celebration was a bottle (or 2) of beer ...

And then a celebration photo with his lovely wife-to-be.

The next time they have a formal picture taken will be on 18th December, when they become Mr and Mrs Davidson Jnr. Before then he has to survive his stag weekend. Mother is hoping she doesn't discover anything to blog about from that!

Less than 90 Days

2011-09-23T22:47:00.001+01:00

In less than 90 days now, my eldest will become a married man. Can't quite believe he's old enough to take himself to school yet but at nearly 28, I guess it was inevitable at some stage.

This means I gain a lovely new daughter-in-law by Christmas, and a nice new frock and hat!

The frock and hat thing has been a bit of a mission to be honest. However, I put my best planning head on and searched and searched the internet until I found something I liked. The frock that is. The hat is still a mission, and I suspect will remain so for some time yet.

Last weekend, lovely WTB took me to Tunbridge Wells and I tried on the very frock I found on line. It felt like I was wrapped in bubble wrap - fitted like a glove - albeit in the wrong colour. So I ordered it (in the right colour), and at that point, I had not a care in the world. Was happy. Thought, I'm really organised I am :-)

Monday, I get a call from frock shop. "Your outfit will arrive on 8th December Mrs Davidson, could you come in for a fitting that day?"

"O-M-G. The 8th????? How come?" asks Mrs Davidson

"Oh, the Ian Stewart courtourier has to make it and ship it to us, they are all made to order you know, then we have to fit it to you exactly."

Right then, the wedding is the 18th. My plan B is to buy a roll of bubble wrap just in case!!!!

Oops, I did it again!

2011-09-14T19:50:00.000+01:00

Well its been a while since I last had a little accident. And even by my standards, this takes the biscuit!

Yesterday, I stabbed myself in my own eye with a sharp object, my necklace to be precise. Just how foolish is that?

Clearly, I didn't do this on purpose. My necklace tangled up in something and in the process on disentangling it, it flicked up and into my eye, leaving me with a corneal abrasion (technical term) or as the opthalmologist said, "a deep cut right across the front of my cornea."

So a whole wasted day later, here I sit at home, making my "good" eye work overtime and taking forever to type a 60 second posting :-(

Today I mostly have an eye full of antibiotic gel and a sore arm - from bumping into doors and walls around the house!!! Am very bored, suggestions please for things I might be able to do?

Memorable Month in Aresko History

2011-09-10T11:30:00.000+01:00

Aresko is alive and well! What is Aresko I hear you say? Well its my new company which is just taking its first tentative steps as a fully grown, open to enquiries, business :-) We are officially registered as Aresko Ltd with Companies House, proudly holding the registration number of: 7761820

Long story as to why we couldn't use the Autotelic name but, silver linings and all that, we now have a wonderful business name of Aresko. Remember it! You might need it!! Get in touch if you have any requirements you think we can help with.

Aresko is a Greek work, which means "to please", "to accommodate one's self to the opinions, desires and interests of others". How apt for the sort of management consultancy I want to offer.

We are on Twitter (@AreskoLtd) so join us there too, where we are using this icon of Hera, whos emblem was the peacock, representing pride.

Social media management for Aresko will be handled by the very capable N2S, otherwise available, known and contactable at: Stuart J Davidson . He is doing amazing work for a variety of clients already.

Company photography has been expertly supplied by N1S, otherwise available and contactable via: 360 Real Estate Tours . If you need high quality photography, he's your man!

All legal matters, professionally handled by N3S, now a trainee solicitor in his own right :-)

Next steps for Aresko: branding/logo/website ... will keep you updated but please contact me if you want more information.

The Baby Flies the Nest

2011-08-25T10:20:00.000+01:00

So N3S has returned from his far flung travels and in the space of 36 hours, has moved out of Chez Davidson and into a new flat for a year whilst he completes his training contract, earns lots of money and starts paying lots of tax to the government. Result!!

He arrived back in the UK at 4.30am. Himself fired up Thunderbird 2 and duly picked him up from Heathrow depositing him safe and sound at home by the time my alarm went off. Our first conversation was about the fact that he's returned to a "parallel universe" of The Hound being slim, the fridge being clean and orderly, and N2S being in gainful business. Mother reflected on the things that had clearly made an impression on him prior to his departure and the fact that they weren't what she would have expected. It never ceases to amaze Mother just how the kids think!!!

Anyway .... moving out started that very afternoon with one car full of "stuff" travelling from SE18 to W4. Final car load went last night and Mother suddenly had to cope with the sudden realisation that her baby was officially fleeing the nest for good. Shock, horror, panic, OMG no! He's only 23, how will he possibly cope?

Ahem ... lets just reframe that question ... How will Mother cope with her baby all grown up?

Other Mothers out there ...... help! What next????

Getting Away From The Riots

2011-08-18T15:44:00.000+01:00

After 4 nights of no sleep thanks to the rioting in London, it was off on a pre-arranged short break (albeit arranged at quite short notice) to God's Country, AKA, Wales, my Homeland.

I have a virtual list in my head of things I wanted to do before I turned 50. Climbing Snowdon was on that list because, after all, how could I truly claim to be a Welsh woman if I hadn't even climbed Snowdon? So it was off to put that right in the few short months I have left between now and my 50th birthday.

So we drive for half a day and arrive in Bala. The land of a different language and strange consonants. First off, we visit Portmeirion, a place I haven't returned to since I was 8 or 9. I am glad to report that it hasn't changed one jot!

Still beautifully colourful and still very much the "little Italy" area planted in the North of Wales. We called into Swallow Falls and took in the breathtaking power of waterfalls and a white water rapid river.

Having kept a close eye on the weather forecast, we chose Saturday to "do Snowdon". It meant an early rise to get to the mountain otherwise known as Yr Wyddfa. The weather wasn't as good as it had predicted, and on the upward journey it was mainly like this:

Wet and windy which made the going tough and the views non-existent.

Thought these two were mad! It was tough walking it but on a bike ???

I've undertaken this trip several times before on the little steam train which looked hugely inviting as it toddled past us at various intervals. The last time we were here was 1997, the year (and indeed on the day) that HRH the Princess of Wales (Diana) was sadly killed in Paris. At that time, various Davidson children were 13, 12 and 9 respectively. Made me wonder whether they remembered any of the holiday that year.

Three and a half hours later, getting increasingly more wet and bedraggled, we triumphantly reached the summit - yay! My knees were ok (ish), well not half as bad as I expected them to be anyway so a real bonus of my (almost) 50 years :-)

A well-deserved pasty and a fantastic cup of tea later, with nothing to see because of the awful weather at the summit, we turned around and started our return journey to ground level.

En route, I spotted these two (a stone and some fungi in very recognisable shapes/signs) :

Collectively, they reminded me of my Dad and how happy he would have been to see us climbing Snowdon. I thought it was a nice sign that he would have approved hugely :-)

Anyway, about 20 mins into the downward journey, the rain stopped and the heavy cloud started to clear. At last, I thought, we were going to see some spectacular views, and boy we weren't let down either -

Coming down, we totally dried out but the knees starting giving up the ghost :-( I always find coming down more difficult than going up for some reason - it beggers belief. So caught off guard on the camera not looking as cheerful as earlier in the hike.

The next day, I could hardly walk - truly! The 50 years were definitely present and being felt by the next morning! However, we were off to Shropshire to visit one of my lovely NLFs for her own 50th celebration. On the way, we called into Llangollen and lo and behold, look what I find -

N1S loved Thomas the Tank Engine when he was little so I couldn't resist taking this and sending it to him when we got home. He's now 28!!! And he hasn't replied yet :-)

My lovely NLF has recently come out of hospital, so her celebration was at home with other friends, the same group we have previously been to Exmoor with. It didn't take long to fall back into a very easy party atmosphere, and a rather nice bottle of '88 port was easily consumed by us all.

The next morning, headache! But the journey home was in front of us with just a little trepidation as to what we'd find back in the land of riots.

I like to make the most of our English Heritage subscriptions so usually find somewhere to call into on the way home, and on this occasion it was Kenilworth Castle -

How gorgeous did it look? Plus the bonus of some ancient grafitti -

Captured doing what I like doing best ....

And look what I find through my lens, a young man pretending to be an ancient medieval soldier on the castle battlements. Shortly after this was taken his mum ran around screaming at him to get down. Goodness knows how he got up there as it wasn't a public route up to that exposed ledge.

Trying hard to delay the inevitable concrete journey home, I was treated to a rather large ice cream for all my efforts this trip, which, as you can see, went down very nicely indeed :-)

So I've done it! Another thing ticked off the list in this momentous year. Whatever next? Any ideas?

London's Broken Heart

2011-08-09T11:02:00.001+01:00

London is a brilliantly vibrant place ..... usually! All the current madness is beyond belief in our wonderful city. Three nights on the run now - we are praying its not four. What must the world be thinking, seeing these awful scenes? And more importantly, why is this happening?

I don't believe its driven by unemployment and we await the outcome of the investigation from what is being commonly touted as the "source" incident - the shooting of a man in a taxi who was allegedly carrying an illegally altered firearm. There is a lot still to be discovered I suspect.

However, never since the War has so many football matches been cancelled with c14,000 police officers now trying their best to maintain law and order on the streets of London rather than at these matches.

So is this the "Big Society" this Government talked so philosophically about at the time of its election? If it is, then they can put it back in the drawer please! Living in the middle of it is not my idea of fun. The sirens are deafening, the arsonic smoke is choking the life out of us, and the pictures being beamed around the world every minute of the day are truly shameful. This is the scale of what we are currently living through. Woolwich was on the map last night, and it's only 2 miles away .......

Whilst I type and ponder about this, the Prime Minister is chairing a meeting of COBRA, which is the "Cabinet Office Briefing Room A" committee that deals with civil unrest. You know its hit the fan when COBRA meets!!! Not least because the PM came back from holiday in Tuscany to convene it. Now don't get me wrong, I have been to Tuscany and fully understand how difficult it would have been for him to drag himself away from it, its a beautiful place, but he should have been back with us, running the country on Sunday night and not have left it until today. Welcome home Dave, hope you've had a nice time, its been shit here!

There is now a Facebook page called: Supporting-the-Met-Police-against-the-London-rioters please join and show your support if you can. The police are stretched to the limit and are drafting in help from other parts of the UK.

Please leave a comment here on my blog - us Londoners appreciate your kind support!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2011-07-21T11:33:00.000+01:00

This is what setting up three businesses and writing end of term school reports looks like!

The weekend was a very busy time in the Autotelic@Home household!

Conversely ... this is what various partners were doing ...

Don't you just love the diversity in my household?! One room, two distinct halves :-)

Series of Welsh Recipes - No 2

2011-07-15T19:41:00.000+01:00

Pice ar y Maen :
Welsh Cakes

are a specialty of South Wales. Essentially they are griddle cakes (called a bakestone in Wales), but they can also be cooked in a heavy pan or skillet.
1 lb. (4 cups) plain flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
10 oz. (1 and 1/4 cups) butter 
6 oz. (3/4 cup) sugar 
pinch of salt 
6 oz. (1 and 1/2 cups) mixed currants and sultanas (seedless raisins) 
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice or mace (optional) 
1 egg 
a little milk  

Mix together the flour and baking powder with the salt, then rub in the butter.
Add the sugar, spice and fruit.
Mix in the beaten egg and just enough milk (about 3 tablespoons) to make it the same consistency as short-crust pastry.
Turn out onto a floured board, roll out and cut into rounds about 3 in. across and 1/2 inch thick.

Cook over a medium heat in a very lightly greased pan or bakestone for about 3-4 minutes on each side.

If they brown too quickly, lower the heat, for the inside must have time to cook thoroughly so that it has a brittle, sandy texture.

Serve either hot or cold with butter, sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon, jam or honey.

Makes approximately 20.

Welsh Cakes are called Pice ar y Maen in the Welsh language.

A favourite when our children were growing up and they still love them today - try them and let me know what you think about a piece of my past!

I'm in the wrong job!

2011-07-14T21:36:00.000+01:00

Poor Hound. He's been back in doggie hospital having 2 more lumps removed today. He toddled off all jolly this morning poor little thing. Every time he goes to the vet now he has to weigh in. Its like doggie weight watchers. He was a bad boy last visit, was put on a strict diet but this time got lots of gold stars as he's lost a whole kilo. No mean feat for a little chap like him.

He's just come round from the anaesthetic at 3pm - we hear he's done fine and tissue has been sent off for testing. We can pick him up at 5.30pm

He limps out of the hospital ward of the vets. Looks at me and N1D and cries. Heartbreaking it is, which is why I can't take him or pick him up on my own - useless I am in that respect.

I turn away whilst N1D picks him up and cuddles him, and I preoccupy myself with paying the bill. My heart stops as the machine blinks at me and then shows £954.99. I query it but yes, oh yes, that's the right price!

And I think to myself, I'm in the wrong job for sure ..... and inwardly I wonder whether he's crying over the dent he's just made in my bank balance. That was an expensive day that was. But he's worth it :-)

Smiling when Choosing Tiling

2011-07-10T18:11:00.001+01:00

Months ago I chose the tiles for our kitchen as well as fabric for the window blind. It all matched the new kitchen perfectly. We are now at the stage with said kitchen redecoration when tiling needs to be done but its taken a rather extended period of persuasion to actually get Himself out to a tile shop to purchase said tiles. So it has looked like this for a VERY LONG TIME:

As I say, I chose them months ago - however, this weekend, we finally get to the store and I experience Himself launch into dithering overload! It was a spectacle to be seen but to cut a long story short, we went to 4 stores, the same one THREE times.

Several hours later, Himself says he felt "drained". Mmm - the tiles I chose 3 months ago, were in the first store. The final store we end up in is .... guess what? Yup, the first store and hazard a guess at which tiles we come home with ..... Yup, the ones I picked 3 months ago and the ones we could have brought home within half an hour of being out!!!

Stressful afternoon which turned into a very quiet evening!

Today, I started the tiling. I really like tiling. I find it relaxing and it all comes together really quickly so I get to see the results of my labour within a short period of time. I am very pleased, because the wall now looks like this:

Just another 550 tiles to go now and it will be finished :-) What do you think? Did I make a nice choice?

Olympic Preparations Continue

2011-07-05T19:32:00.000+01:00

This free newsletter made with Smilebox

We are having a great time in Greenwich. The sun is shining, Greenwich Park is looking amazing and all eyes are on the Official Test Events.

Cross Country today. Are you one of the lucky ones who have tickets for the equestrian events next year? You are in for a real treat if you are.

London Prepares for 2012

2011-07-04T20:55:00.000+01:00

Greenwich was looking glorious today as it delivered the first test event for the 2012 Olympic Games. Are you a local and if so, what do you think about having 25% of the Olympic events in the borough? Do you enjoy being on a world stage or would you rather it quietly mooch off elsewhere?

I have the (dubious) honour of leading Olympic preparation for my work, so I took the opportunity to walk the course with a colleague and review various routes to and from locations today in an effort to plan our business continuity issues.

The sun was shining spectacularly on London. Everything went off without a hitch and I have every confidence that this time next year, when the world's eyes are upon us, we will look equally wonderful. Bring it on! I'm excited by this prospect, but appreciate others are less so. Are you in the "less so" league? If so, why?

The course was measured .... the security was tested ... it all came up to scratch.

Local police were out in force, some on horses attracting large crowds of foreign tourists for the photo opportunity, others were just poodling around on their cycles. What a great sight we produced today.

The local news said there would be protesters out, protesting that the park could not be enjoyed by the us locals because of this. Poppycock if ever there was. The park looked amazing, plenty of locals enjoyed the unrestricted areas and the security in place around restricted areas was superbly conducted.

Greenwich welcomed horses and horsey types from all over the world.

And we wore our best bib and tucker as well as the best of them. What can I say? Bring it on in 2012, we are more than ready.

Series of Welsh Recipes - No 1

2011-07-02T20:26:00.000+01:00

Penbryn Cheese Pudding

So easy, so cheap and a great Saturday night supper!

4oz cheddar cheese

3oz fresh breadcrumbs

1oz butter

2 eggs

salt and pepper

1/2 pint milk

Pinch of dry mustard or 2 teaspoons whole grain course mustard (to taste)

Set oven to 180 degrees centigrade

Separate eggs and beat the yolks lightly in a mixing bowl

Warm milk and add to eggs, together with butter an mustard

Mix well and add the breadcrumbs and most of the cheese

Season

Whip egg whites stiffly and fold into mixture

Pour mixture into buttered pie dish and cover with remaining cheese

Cook for 30-40 mins until well risen, golden brown and just set in the middle

Serve with fresh crusty bread

(serves 6-8, moist inside, very filling)

Voila - O-M-G - Delicious!!

I wish my blog had smelly-vision, as it smells amazing!

Sun, Sea & Sand

2011-07-02T15:37:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we went to the coast. Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate to be precise. Left London in 30 degrees centigrade for some much needed fresh air and space. The coast is always my first choice, I miss it hugely, and the sound of the sea and seagulls is just excellent medicine for the mind, body and soul. So we got there, and it was only a little less hot than the big city, but very hazy, the mist coming in off the sea in a rather spooky way.

This was Broadstairs, nice, less touristy place. The Houng loved it, and the place produced my favourite picture of the day with little specs of people in the distance in the mist on a deserted beach. How etherial does this look? If ever my soul needed time and place to breath, it found it here.

The Hound ran round like a mad-dog and even dug this stone out of the sand and guarded it all afternoon. He's NEVER retrieved anything in his 8 years on this planet, so I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! All that madness finally reduced him to having a lay down (with his stone of course).

I love everything there is to see and taste and smell about the seaside. It frees my mind and it must have something at least to do with the un-ending horizon. It is the ONLY place I feel truly at home.

The way home was peaceful and quiet. Contentment high for us all, and even The Hound showed signs of it too.

Twins - Twice the Trouble!

2011-06-26T21:42:00.000+01:00

Our twins will be 23 tomorrow. Amazing how fast the time goes and the number 23 makes me feel really, really old! They are both off travelling at present, one on a fortnights holiday, the other on a 2 month holiday (sorry language course) .... in Taiwan. They don't do things by halves thats for sure. The saving grace is that they are both there at the same time for the first fortnight, together, looking after each other nicely .... or so you'd think wouldn't you?

Yesterday, I get a message, with a picture that simply said : "Steph not looking her best"

I had to admit this wasn't the most flattering picture I'd ever seen of my beautiful daughter but more alarmingly, it looked like she had a bruised eye and chin. I honestly thought she'd been mugged! Mother went immediately into worry mode, wondering how to go about getting emergency flights to Taiwan to nurse her only daughter ....

This wasn't as exaggerated as you might think. The last time N3S was in Taiwan, (only last summer), his friend was actually mugged and upon seeing this, I thought the worst. Well you would wouldn't you? I've tested my reaction to this picture with several friends now and they all backed me up!

There is nothing worse than children being thousands of miles away to worry me senseless. So the follow up e-mails went something like this :

Mother : What happened? Looks like you are black and blue. Are you ok?

N1D : no reply

Mother (via WhatsApp this time) to N3S : What's up with Steph's face please? We are worried sick!

N3S : no reply

Mother (to N1D via WhatsApp) : Whats up with your face? Will you please reply. Worried this end. Are you ok?

N1D : no reply

Mother (to both) : Need reply urgently!!!!

N1D (the next day!!!) : Lol. Ross sent you that picture. I have a bad cold and watery eyes and he caught me by surprise.

Mother: Thank god for that. Been worried sick. We thought you had been mugged. Been waiting up to find out. It's 1.30 am here!!! Looked like your eye and face was yellow and bruised. You have no idea how worried I've been. Please don't do that again.

N1D : Please blame Ross (literally a 3 word e-mail in reply!)

Mother : just worried thats all!

N1D : no words this time, just a photo:

Mother is presuming this means she is alive and well - a short explanation would have been a nice accompaniment don't you think?

So, my babies will be 23 tomorrow. If they do many more pranks like this, they just might not reach 24!!!

2011 London to Brighton Bike Ride

2011-06-24T13:48:00.000+01:00

We did it!!! All 54.6 miles of it:-)

Up at the crack of dawn, bikes loaded onto car racks, off we trundle to Lambeth Hospital. No we hadn't had an accident already ... it was where we were meeting the other members of Team NHS Greenwich. Seven of us riding to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation - I think we can justly call ourselves The Magnificent Seven of Greenwich don't you?

Full of anticipation and no knowledge of just HOW sore our various bits would ultimately become.

Clapham Common was heaving with bikes - big hint something was happening in the bike world. The pictures speak for themselves really ...

I have never been so happy, so sore, so exhausted, as to see (and pass) the finish line in Brighton.

It was breezy in Brighton - some might actually go as far as to say cold!

So N3S (not riding - wimp!) offered WTB his jumper. It's just a shame he didn't go as far as to take it off first!

But we did it! So there had to be a proud "medal showing" picture at the end to prove it the next week in work.

We then had to find the cars - which, thanks to Himself and N3S, appeared to have been parked in Edinburgh!!!

So off on a hike we went (as if we hadn't covered enough miles to this point). However, N1D and WTB must have ridden around far more right hand corners than the rest of us between Clapham and Brighton, as they appeared to have stuck in that position.

As I sat in a nice comfy car on the way home, knee seized up, bum ridiculously sore, trying hard not to let my eyelids close for longer than a second for fear they wouldn't open again, the sunset was amazing. The sky was clear and I was overcome with a massive sense of achievement and contentment. I did it. I actually did it in my 50th year.

Another tick in the box this year :-)

Pre-Ride-Prep

2011-06-18T22:52:00.000+01:00

The night before "the big one" there is a surge of maintenance activity on the bikes in our house. They have a long way to go tomorrow (54 miles) in the 2011 London to Brighton Bike Ride.

The Hound clearly suspected something was afoot. If he gets the merest sniff that we may be going out without him, he sits on people to try and stop them. The sitting thing was in full fling this afternoon!

Serious sitting, serious gear thingy checking. My hallway resembling the local Halfords in lots of ways.

We are now all set for tomorrow. We are riding as part of my works team - follow us on Twitter @NHSGreenwich and make a little contribution in helping keep all hearts more healthy.

Tomorrow is Father's Day - why not donate something in the name of your Dad? What greater present can any Father receive than an investment into the health of his heart? Donate here: Donate for your Dad on Father's Day

THANKYOU!

Student Free Zone

2011-06-16T20:01:00.000+01:00

June 1988 : N3S makes his appearance on Planet Earth

Today is a very important date in our household. I believe today is the day when Himself and I truly wind up the Bank of Mum and Dad as our youngest (by 13 minutes), N3S, completes his last exam as a student. He says it was the most difficult one, but to be honest, I've not really understood anything that he's told me about his law studies for probably the last 3 or 4 years!

I wonder whether the alphabet on their nursery wall started off his desire to debate and argue, the raw tools of the lawyer he was to become?

Soon it was obvious he wanted to express his views with the written word.

September 1992

I remember him starting school all those years ago with his little ruck sack on his back, along with his twin sister. Where have those two decades gone anyway? And who said they could go quite so quickly?

Today, as the baby of the family, he ceases being a student, and becomes someone with a "proper job". Wooo hooo or what? We made it, Himself and I, we actually made it though our 4 children's university years and I think we have come out the other side, relatively sane. Although on second thoughts, some might say, that's dubious.

It made me think ... this means I'm getting old! I mean REALLY old!! I have a baby boy who is officially a trainee solicitor now with PwC. How posh is that? Can I boast for just a little moment and say it again? Here goes: My baby son is a trainee solicitor with PwC you know? Ha ha ha.

So today, I took another picture of him going in for his very last exam of his Legal Practice Course. The original tiny rucksack now a full blown suitcase of books ...

June 2011

Gosh look how he's grown!!! But Mother had no less of a lump in her throat to see him leaving the house today for his very last day, as she did in September 1992 for his very first day of formal education. All grown up now and off he goes to take on the world.

Looking on the bright side .... now he's no longer a student, will he actually tidy his room before he moves out?

Sponsorship - go on you know you want to!

2011-06-14T22:32:00.000+01:00

NHS Greenwich team rides for the British Heart Foundation again on Sunday 19th June, in the 2011 London to Brighton Bike Ride.

Last year we raised almost £1,800 and we really want to beat that this year if we can. So, if you give to any cause this year, please try to make it this one and we will thank you from the bottom of all our hearts.

We will be tweeting via #NHSGreenwich throughout the ride. Follow us and find out how it goes.

Jump

2011-06-13T19:21:00.000+01:00

Warning: No dog was harmed in this display!

Clearly Himself had had a few glasses on another family Saturday evening.

Training Run No 7 - Last Ride before The Big One

2011-06-11T23:12:00.000+01:00

On the day Her Majesty trooped the colour, we launched ourselves into our final training run before the London to Brighton Bike Ride next weekend. A nice gentle 30 miler in just over two and a half hours. Not bad seeing as I haven't been on a bike since I was 11 before this! The rain held off, the sun shone, helicopters hovered above due to the Royal event taking place, and I have to say, I found it remarkably easy today :-)

Our first photo opportunity was at the Embankment. I love these monuments, so moving, so touching, so poignant.

Great bronze wall of remembrance - an appropriate place to stop and pause I thought.

I look like I'm being carried off lame here. I wasn't! Lame that is!! But for some inexplicable reason I look like I'm crippled!

Whilst cycling, I was composing a letter to the Mayor, which went something like this:

Dear Boris,

Please, please, please do something about the cycle lanes in Bermondsey and Peckham. They are a disgrace. My poor backside can no longer sustain being beaten black and blue by the potholes and uneven surfaces.

Regards,

(Higher) Taxpayer from SE18

Now this might not mean a lot to you but believe me, it means a lot to my backside!!

When we got back, Himself moaned that he had expected us to be out much longer than we were. He is fitting the new kitchen and our reappearance in under three hours rather set him back with his fitting plans, so I disappeared off into the deepest bubble bath ever for another hour just to shut him up.

A nice relaxing afternoon was had by us all, including Puddle, the hand reared kitten N1D is looking after at present.

This is the last week he will be with us as she is off to Taiwan with N3S the day after our London to Brighton Bike Ride for a holiday. It means both my baby twins will be away on their birthday, but since when did that stop us celebrating? We shall celebrate their 23rd birthdays with gusto - oh yes we shall!!

Puddle kind of summed up how I felt this evening after a very long week. He really knows how to relax!

Celebration now c'mon!

2011-06-10T08:30:00.000+01:00

Last weekend saw Himself's birthday and our wedding anniversary. Much of this was consumed! We had all the kids around on Saturday and they all ate us out of house and home ... twice!

Himself's cheeks got rosier and rosier as the day progressed in direct correlation to his jokes getting cornier and cornier! The dishwasher delivered 7 (yes 7!) gallant efforts throughout the day and all in all, I believe a good time was had by all.

I made herculean efforts to bake a birthday cake ...

Which went down really well with it scoring a high 9 out of 10 from all kids. They don't give 9's lightly!

Certainly N1S and the current hand rearer kitten that N1D has in the house, called Puddle, found it all too much at one point and it was time for naps all round.

Sunday was decidedly a kids free zone! With tickets to see Jersey Boys in the West End, off we toddle into town for a meal beforehand ... Himself thought it funny (perhaps still suffering from too much juice from the day before) to have a series of pictures depicting the surroundings in which he spent his birthday afternoon ...

Location, location, location ...

Will my bum look big in this?

To the best musical theatre show around at present, Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre in Old Compton Street.

The sounds of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons has rung loud throughout our house ever since. Amazing show, fantastic sounds and story, which gave me only my second experience of a spontaneous standing ovation ... ever!

Highly recommended, go see it if you can. You won't regret it!

2012 is Going to Be Big!

2011-06-02T16:44:00.000+01:00

What a lovely present from Her Majesty. This time next year she's given a national bank holiday for my 30th Wedding Anniversary and she will make Greenwich a Royal Borough at the same time. How lovely of her to think of me like that!

Of course its also her Diamond Jubilee so that might have put her in the right sort of mood to do this for Chez Davidson, but nice, nonetheless :-) Fingers crossed it all puts a bit of extra value on the house for the big sale in 2012.

Training Run No 6

2011-05-30T21:53:00.000+01:00

Tough ride. 45.5 miles which looked something like this.

Another crack of dawn start was met with trepidation from Mother who really didn't think she was up to this one! If only I knew then what I know now, I would have definitely stayed in bed. A couple of hours in and we get the (now customary) puncture. Not in the best of places, on a dual carriageway, but there again, you can't choose where to have these things happen can you?

I'm rather redundant when these things happen. I mince about a bit with my camera but I can't really "do" anything vaguely helpful, so on this occasion I took the opportunity to eat a banana. Then I spotted that all us ladies had a bruise in the same sort of area on our lower legs ...

So I thought I'd name them "Biker Bruises" and we put it down to the pedals kicking us in the back of our legs.

Several miles later I was lost in action! Always being at the back of the cycle train, I missed them all turning right at one point. Added to which, they didn't abide by the formerly agreed rule which was always go straight on or wait until we are all together. So Mother went straight on, and on, and on! Up another (huge) hill and finally decided to ring them to find out where they were.

Reunited and a couple of hours later and I thought I was going to faint (despite the banana) and N1D and WTB both stopped because they thought they might have to be sick over a hedge. So N1S took pity on us all and stopped near a local supermarket to purchase significant calorific goodies. No time to talk, we had to get calories into our bodies pretty damn quickly ...

I thought N1D was going to try and eat her doughnut AND her cookie at the same time at one point ...

Getting up into the saddle again after this was a tad painful but still we had only completed two thirds of the trip :-(

We cycled past Biggin Hill Airport. WTB's class are currently doing war planes so we had to stop and take some pictures for them :-)

We get home 7 hours later!!! Tough terrain, hard climbs (an extra hill for Mother), a puncture and several doughnuts and cans of red bull later I limp into a nice warm bath .... and promptly fell asleep!!!

Training Run No 5

2011-05-23T08:13:00.001+01:00

Beautiful day dawned in London. It's Saturday, it's 7am, so it must be time for a training ride!

Cardigan's not needed for very long ...

Then 18 miles in, N1D got a puncture ... again!

Needed help of N1S to get us mobile again ...

Whilst Mother had a much needed lay-down!!!!

Next week, we are doing THE BIG ONE. A good 40 miler to get our distances up in readiness for the London to Brighton Bike Ride next month. I might need more than one lay down!!

Puddle

2011-05-19T23:31:00.000+01:00

Puddle is a couple of weeks old now. Named in such a way because he was found in a puddle. N1D works for RSPCA Central & North East London Branch and is hand rearing this little one again. So we're fostering him until he's big enough to be adopted.

He's a really loud purrer and squarker for such a little chap! Being fed every 2 or so hours at present so she's suffering from sleep deprivation right now.

Can't help but love him though. He's reached 190 grammes already and his eyes have just opened.

Just how cute can one little fella be?

Eurovision 2011

2011-05-15T16:16:00.001+01:00

We tried hard to enter into the spirit of Eurovision by supporting 2 countries each, a chosen one and a lucky dip one. Then we thought, why not demonstrate that support by actually adorning something familiar with one of those countries and have a damn good laugh. So we did. Even The Hound got in on the act as N1Ds mascot, proudly wearing Sweden's colours. From Left to right we have:

WTB : cheering on Greece and the UK

N3SP : cheering on Russia and Italy

N1D and The Hound : cheering on Sweden and Spain

N3S : cheering on France and Azerbaijan

Mother : cheering on Ireland and Iceland

N2S : cheering on Germany and Lithuania

N1S : cheering on Finland and Romania but wearing a Union Jack - we didn't get that either!

Nobody understood the logic of this but N1S was adamant! It has to be said, I think he was upstaged by The Hound ... whom I thought did outstandingly well ... given that he is a dog!

How good was this? I think he should take the prize for most inspired effort ... I didn't even know he could write - where and when did he learn how to do that?!!!

Predictable, but nonetheless instantly identifiable, was N2S's rendition of Germany.

France and Russia were on form, Russia even provided a bottle of vodka :-)

N1D managed a flag but claimed her primary effort went into The Hound's contribution

Mother dug out her Iceland hat and fridge magnet to support Iceland ...

And N1S and his WTB thought that as WTBs second country was UK, N1S was claiming "almost married" status in flying the Union Jack - Eurovision is subject to the odd political vote after all :-)

Mother did what she could by way of a celebratory meal for 8, given her kitchen is currently derelict and is in the process of being refitted by Himself ...

Himself declared, rather late in the proceedings, that he was supporting Denmark and Bosnia & Herzegovena. He wouldn't dress up though, having chosen to install the dishwasher right up until proceedings commenced. We were glad of this, as nobody fancied washing up for 8 later that evening!!

So, Azerbaijan won - we've never really seriously considered Azerbaijan when we've been looking for European holiday destinations, but there you go. Europe getting bigger and bigger every day!

Training Run Number 4

2011-05-15T15:23:00.000+01:00

Saturday morning, 7am, must be cycle ride time again :-)

Off we trundle, the four of us, for another training run in preparation for the 2011 London to Brighton Bike Ride. Chilly morning but it promised to brighten up as the day progressed.

First stop was in the City which was shaded by all the tall buildings. Nice photo opportunity at The Gherkin and mental note made to myself to return with "big camera" to take proper pictures before the summer is done with.

Next photo opportunity stop and quick slurp was at St Paul's Cathedral, where talks of weddings were timely, given the one we are preparing for between N1S and his WFB, in December 2011.

This one was taken merely to prove I was indeed actually participating on the day!

This view takes itself really. It's world re-knowned and it still takes my breath away every time I see it.

42K in total. Felt like the longest I've ever cycled. In fact, when I got home I got a rather severe attack of the "jelly legs" when I got off my bike and seemed completely incapable of actually supporting my own weight :-(

N1D also collapsed, but with hysterical laughter at Mother crawling on the hall floor - more training is called for I think!!!

Country Fix

2011-05-09T16:54:00.002+01:00

Off we trundle, Himself and I, for our country fix to see our Shropshire NLFs. Anywhere north of the M25 is a mission but we had been invited to a point-to-point day out with as much as you could eat and drink thrown in, so it was a bit of a no brainer!

I always get the dress code wrong! Travelling from the big bad city to the country can play havoc with your foresight skills. On this occasion I go in white t-shirt, jeans and black crocodile skin boots. Upon arrival, 4 dogs jump all over me (that's ruined the white t-shirt then!) and I'm asked to "let the chickens out" (that ruined the boots then!)

However, a few short hours later, we are settled with several bottles of plonk open and under consumption. It doesn't take long for me to feel right at home and longing for the time when we, too, are able to live miles from nowhere with fresh, fresh air.

The next morning, off we go to the point-to-point whereupon I am quickly deployed to make table decorations for the hospitality tent. Seven floral table pieces later we walk the course and have a butchers at the touts who were setting up for a day of taking money off people.

Strange local beasts came out to play ...

The hounds were paraded and damn fine they looked during their summer rest too ...

The finish line was proudly decked, as if we hadn't seen enough Union Jacks the weekend before with the Royal Wedding ...

And a new friend was papped having a sneaky rest between washing up shifts ...

All in all, another fine trip to the country.

We are now counting the months until we, too, can call ourselves country folk. Watch this space!!!

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Training Run Number 3

2011-04-30T15:22:00.000+01:00

Ok, lesson number 1, when you are hung over, it's never a good idea to go out on a training run at 7am!

Nevertheless, that's precisely what we did on a glorious London morning after the night before. Mother was fine, kids were not!! Mother took quite a lot of pride in the fact that they were suffering and she wasn't :-)

On one of our stops to rehydrate (necessary more for some than others!) Mother was a bit concerned when N1S's WTB looked like she was going to ride backwards - mmm perhaps not as dried out as was needed for this event.

Lots of hills today :-( but getting noticeably fitter as we do these training runs. 46 kms (29 miles) later we finish

End results were good: bums not so numb and I could still walk - this is a huge improvement on the last time we went!!

Any Excuse to Celebrate and We're There!

2011-04-30T15:03:00.000+01:00

29th April 2011 : The Royal Wedding Day

Ok, so we didn't actually go but we celebrated nonetheless. It all kicked off at about 9.30am in our house with a wedding brunch, champagne and strawberries. I should have known then that it was all downhill from there! Champagne at 10am - mmm - never a good sign. N1S announced that it was "Christmas all over again and Mum will be dancing down the hallway in a minute if we keep this up." Problem with that is our hallway is currently full of our new kitchen units, so would have been hugely difficult to use it as a dance area!

Full house as far as kids were concerned, nine of us glued to the tv and various champagne bottles :-)

Oos and aaas at the appropriate moment (thought Pippa looked stunning and N1S was well impressed that the Queen was wearing Cambridge United colours!), brunch completed and then wine bottles came out. Oh dear!

It wasn't long before nobody was in any fit state to cook for dinner so we staggered over to our local Indian restaurant (even we could manage 150 yards to it) and more wine and good food was had by all.

Started off civilised enough ...

then N1S decided he was a ninja ...

N1D got an attack of the giggles ... nobody is too sure what about ...

needed food on that plate fast!

New member of Team D was welcomed into the fold. Enrico started off on a rather strange footing when we shook hands on introduction and then he proceeded to feel the kittens balls. The faces around our living room were a picture, but we then found out he was a vet which put it all into perspective and the shocked faces were far more reassured that we weren't welcoming into the team a rather strange Italian from Rome after all. (Well the Italian from Rome part was correct but not the strange/weird bit anyway). That was a relief I can tell you!

N1S looked after Mother as the glasses emptied :-)

All in all a rather successful day chez Greenwich. May we have many more of a similar nature.

Charlie's Holiday

2011-04-28T22:31:00.001+01:00

Our holiday from Charlie's perspective:

He liked the views ...

He loved the fresh air and wide open spaces ...

He enjoyed the odd slurp of beer ...

He made himself at home in the cottage ...

He slept ...

He slept an awful lot! ...

He loved the beach ...

He did his Ghandi impression with a silent protest and refused to walk one day ...

He was captain on a ship ...

He paddled in every stream he could find ...

I think he enjoyed it as much as we did :-)

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Day 2 : Training Run 2

2011-04-12T16:35:00.001+01:00

Off we go at 9 am for a training run, Lake District style. Our cottage it almost at the top of a 20% gradient so I knew I was going to be ok going, if not on the return!!!

it was clowdy but not too cold which was perfect for cycling.

Mother thought she had been promoted from the very rear when N3S came with us. He hasn't really been on a bike since he was about 4 and this was his maiden run.

All was well going round Ambleside, then when we got out a bit further they buggered off and left me, other than N1D who dutifully stayed and kept me company. I thought of ringing Himself in the international rescue vehicle, then realised I had no idea where I was in any case so couldn't direct him in :-(

So we kept cycling and eventually, after a downpour, we met up with the other 3 again. Mother felt like giving up at this point but her wonderful daughter kept her going.

As ever, the scenery was stunning.

The return journey was really tough. Lots of hills which I was sure I was going to collapse on! I managed all but the most steep ones when I had to get off and walk, but so did the rest of the team so can't be too disappointed.

We did 10 miles over very rough terrain. It wasn't the most enjoyable of rides from my perspective.

But it was good to have so much fresh air. When we got back we decided to find the nearest Tesco to get some food as they had failed to deliver our order yesterday.

I-phone said nearest superstore was 20 miles away!! Into the cars we get and travel 20 miles up and down, winding left and right. As a result, we get 3 casualties from car sickness.

An afternoon spent blowing the cobwebs off on the beach at Millom. The Hound loved it. He even chased off a labrador! He rolled in everything he could find and stank the car out on the way back ... which resulted in one of the 3 getting car sick again :-(

Tomorrow we're up for a walk. Will my poor legs manage it?

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Location:N Rd,Lakes,United Kingdom

Day 1 : Blea Tarn

2011-04-12T09:19:00.001+01:00

First day of our Lake District holiday was chosen by N1D as she had been camping here with The Hound previously. She directed us to Blea Tarn where we could walk through some spectacular scenery and stop off at amazing points along the way. It was about. A 3.5 mile walk which was enough for The Hound at present.

Here we are at the Tarn. N3S needed his third calorific intake at this point. Goodness knows where he puts it all!!

Fantastic views.

The Hound approved hugely. He rolled in every bit of muck he could find!

On the way back, he got in to the holiday swing at the pub.

There again! So did we :-)

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We're all going on a spring holiday

2011-04-11T22:13:00.001+01:00

Off we all go on Saturday morning up to the Lake District. Loaded to the hilt. A week in Ambleside was ahead of us in a 15th century cottage. Unfortunately, we were two short of a full team as N2S and his girlfriend had work commitments. They were sorely missed, but already we know we shall do this again so they will be part of a great time at that point.

The Hound was part of the team though. But his excitement wore off after 7 hours in the car.

We arrive. The cottage is gorgeous and the views spectacular.

Tesco were diabolical (again). For no apparent reason, we get a call to say our order had been cancelled by the store. No explanation of course, so we had no provisions despite plenty of planning. So off we toddle after unpacking for a meal and get fleeced of £200. We won't be doing that for the rest of the week that's for sure.

Tomorrow we're off for a walk to explore a bit. Should be fun.

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Location:Ambleside,United Kingdom

Title Change

2011-04-05T22:58:00.000+01:00

I feel the need to explain the title change in this blog. It was always intended to keep the children up to date with family news when they went away to university. Since that period (they've all graduated - hurrah!) its grown and become more of my own on-line diary of interesting things that happen which I want to put on the record and document in some way. I enjoy writing it and, indeed, threatening various family and friends that "there's a blog in that"!

However, as per a previous post of mine, later this year I will launch my own management consultancy and I have chosen to maintain the Autotelic concept in that. Therefore, business life and home life will be separated by two different blog platforms (this one via Blogger, the business one via WordPress) and an extension in this title of "@ Home" which I think does what it says on the can.

Think of it as a parent and child relationship. The child now being the business blog, (currently in its gestation period) which can be found at:

AutotelicLtd.Wordpress.com

The future should be fun and exciting ..... stick around for it :-)

Training Run Number 1

2011-04-03T17:52:00.002+01:00

Saturday saw my very first London to Brighton Bike Ride training run with the kids. They've done a couple now so I'm behind the schedule but nevertheless, I dragged my sorry backside out of bed at 7am on Saturday morning, in readiness for my first official training run.

Number 1 son had decided we would do the 21 mile route (bit much for a first run Mother thought!), that he had carefully put it together so she went with the flow of things (because mummies do that sort of thing for their babies). So off we toddle, through Woolwich to the Woolwich Ferry, to cross The Thames from South to North.

This is all right, Mother thought, then realised it was only 2 miles in and it had been all downhill to that point.

Beautiful day it was for it too. Gorgeous early morning light and at this point Mother thought all was well with the world and her life :-) Getting off the ferry basically involved being assertive from 2 little wheels with big buggers on 8 big wheels! Straight off the ferry, Mother encounters IN1 (incident number 1), when her pedal caught a high curb and she almost went over the handlebars and collided with a wall. This produced various hilarities from her fellow training team. For a nano-second, Mother contemplated letting go of the bike as it would be less painful than going into the wall with it, but a nano-second is a very short space of time, and that just didn't happen in the end. Luckily she came to a stop without the aid of the wall and no blood was produced. Lucky!!

After the ferry episode we're on the north bank of the Thames and we go though Barrier Point and West Silvertown where Mother used to have a flat at one time (4 miles in). Her fellow training team all pointed left as we rode past it - Mother dared not let go of the handlebars as she brought up the rear but nodded and smiled (not that they could see her of course).

A text received from himself, read:

" Have cranked up thunderbird 2 rescue pod in case international rescue is called upon to recover Sir Chris Hoys stunt double in the closing stages of the London to London cycle marathon ..."

Mother replies:

"We are at Blackfriers. Still doing ok."

Reply:

"Are you lost? Do you mean Blackheath tea hut." (this landmark is about a mile from our house)

I did ok keeping up around town and by the time we reached Southwark Bridge (about half way), Mother had only accrued one car honk. Result!

First sign of jelly legs appeared at this point when I got off my bike and walked away from it to take the photo (10.5 miles in).

Between these photo opportunities there was:

IN2/3: two car honks and a bus honk respectively;

IN4: one red light;

IN5: one no entry sign; and

IN6: going wrong way down one way street (linked to going through no entry sign).

Second photo opportunity at Bermondsey Wall East. Backsides were rather sore at this point (14 miles) but we were back south of the river so homeward bound.

All is fine until we hit Greenwich, the home borough and its all up hill :-(

Mother managed most of it ok but had to walk and push the bike up the big hill in Greenwich Park - its a beast!

N3S was amazed I lasted the distance, my fellow team members were amazed I lasted the distance, Himself hasn't (yet) brought himself to acknowledge my big achievement other than to remind everyone that the London to Brighton Bike Ride is three times as long as this. I think he's missed the point that it was a training run, and my first one at that!

NHS Greenwich

2011-03-31T21:18:00.000+01:00

This week my colleagues and I celebrated our 10th anniversary as a Primary Care Trust. Unfortunately, it was the week the government decided we were no longer needed and tomorrow we operate under a transitional structure until 2013. Many fine people left this week as the transitional structure is significantly smaller that we were. However, we celebrated our decade of success, had a staff event to say thankyou to those who have put their heart and soul into their work to help keep people healthy, and compiled this short film to put our successes on the record.

I hope you like our film. We are very proud of it. We just wish we could continue the good work.

Training

2011-03-23T10:26:00.000Z

Saturday 19th March 2011

N1S, WTB and N1D invited me to a training session in readiness for the London to Brighton Bike Ride 2011 in June. I was well up for it, then they said they were going at 7.30 am!!

... so I failed!

... dismally!

... my defence? I can't bear to get up at same time as I do all week for work, on the weekend.

This is the route they took, approximately just over 20 miles, crossing London Bridge going, and coming back over the river via the Woolwich Ferry. Nice route, spectacular sights, shame I missed it!!

Next training run is 2nd April ... I really must make the effort to do that one :-)

I tried very hard last night to please my daughter ...

2011-03-05T09:21:00.000Z

Various children and I have signed up for the London to Brighton Bike Ride, joining my work team to ride for NHS Greenwich and raising funds for the British Heart Foundation. Its an excellent day out and keeping hearts healthy preparing for it can be no bad thing.

However, this means N1S, his WFT and N1D need the basics, ie bikes! N1S has researched and purchased his through his firms ride to work scheme, thereby saving shed loads of dosh in the process. His WTB already had a bike and it has been duly retrieved from her Mum and Dads. I'm in training. I like to do things logically so my training is starting at the beginning and I'm currently thinking about getting back on my bike! That left N1D, who decided that she wanted a bike for her birthday (June) which coincided with the bike ride (also June) but "wouldn't it be nice if I had it ahead of our holiday in the Lakes (April) to take with us?" To be fair, she paid half of the cost herself, but the mission to locate and then bring home this bike duly began.

Last night saw the deployment of said mission when she and I went to Evans Cycles in Canary Wharf. With seats taken out of our car, we can fit cycles in the back so it meant I had to drive. So far so good, its only 20 mins or so from home.

We went ... we purchased ... we returned home with purchase ... then I was party to the following conversation:

N1D : Mums driving was a bit dodgy again tonight Dad.

Himself: How do you mean?

N1D: well you know what she's like.

Mother: I thought I was very good tonight actually.

Himself: did you hit anything?

Mother: no of course not.

Himself: there you go, she did very well tonight - bonus!

N1D: that's really not the point Dad is it?

Kids! Sometimes your efforts to make them happy are just not appreciated enough!

Is this the beginning of the end for the UNITED Kingdom?

2011-03-05T00:13:00.000Z

Yesterday, the good people of my homeland, went to the poles in a referendum over whether Wales should have autonomous powers to pass its own laws, on the 20 functions which are currently devolved to the Welsh Assembly.

Wales voted YES from a dismal turnout of less than 30%. 21 of the 22 counties voted yes apparently. Monmouthshire voted no but many would say Monmouthshire was half English in any case!

But honestly, LESS THAN 30% TURNOUT? This worries me on such a profoundly important question. The yes votes swung it 2/3 to 1/3.

In reality, this means that 2/3 of less than 30% of the people of Wales want to make their own laws on certain functions. So that'll be 20% or JUST ONE FIFTH voted to make this happen. I wonder about the integrity and reliability of a system which cites that one fifth of the people eligible to vote on something says its ok, so thats ok then.

I actually object to not having been able to vote on this issue, in the context of knowing those in Wales CAN vote on things which affect me greatly, as an inhabitant of England.

Where is the proper mandate in all of this? Has the UK gone bonkers? Such power from so little mandate seems obscene.

Good Fun

2011-02-17T09:41:00.000Z

(with thanks to Doug Lawrence, 2011)

The ladies of the family are still doing this most Sunday's. Great fun if you can mentally get over the hurdle of perhaps not being able to walk on Mondays!

Pleasantly Surprised

2011-02-10T22:12:00.001Z

Sharon Davidson
There's been 362 crimes within 1 mile of my home since Dec 2010!
Top crimes in my area are:
anti-social-behaviour: 181 (50%)
burglary: 52 (14%)
other-crime: 51 (14%)
violent-crime: 39 (11%)
vehicle-crime: 28 (8%)
robbery: 11 (3%)

... the worst place near me is On or near Hill End with 35 acts of crime. Most popular crime is anti-social-behaviour

How safe is YOUR area?

Find out now!

The UK Crime Facebook application will discover just how safe your neighbourhood is. Just provide your postcode and we'll do the rest.

J'aime Bruxelles

2011-02-05T18:27:00.001Z

Today, I found two more bits of the Berlin Wall. How poignant is this bit?

I also saw the biggest instrument for busking ... Ever! What on earth is this?

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Location:Boulevard Charlemagne,Brussels,Belgium

Brussels

2011-02-04T19:53:00.001Z

We are enjoying all the delights Brussels has to offer. Fantastic architecture, amazingly soft and delicious chocolate, and beautiful fruit beer. I could easily get very fat and very drunk, very quickly!

Eurostar was marvellous again. The only train I've ever been on that runs to time. Before we knew it we were going through Lille and we were half an hour from Brussels.

And what a fantastic city we are spending the next 4 days discovering. I can report that berets are very much alive and well in Brussels and I feel very much at home in quaint little restaurants, eating spectacular food, listening to everything I remember from the '80s.

So here we are, at the heart of Europe, and feeling very ounce the European influence everywhere we go. We are staying in the heart of the political district in the "upper town". This is a pretty small city, which can be easily seen on foot. First impressions are that this city is giving me warm, happy, welcoming feelings which is great!

A mix of modern ...

And historic architecture ...

One miserable artefact of every city or country we've ever visited, is graffiti. Brussels is no exception but providing a discrete area for this sort of street "art" appears to be an effective control, as much as any control exists over this sort of thing.

Boris Bikes Brussels style :-) ........

What fabulous shops I've found here. This is what I call a shop window!

And what a find when I came across a bit of the Berlin Wall. I remember watching it coming down on the tv and was old enough to realise I was watching history at that time. I was genuinely moved standing in front of this section of it. Just imagine how much misery this piece of concrete has caused in it's time. I wonder how many tears were shed from those standing in front of this section, both in the past, and in the present. I added one to whatever that number is.

Not quite your I-max but here's the local cinema.

Last and my no means least, I am having a 4 day party, testing all the gorgeous Belgium beer ....

So far ... Kriek is my favourite ... hic ... but we are only half way through the trip ... so plenty more to try yet :-)

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Weekend Business

2011-01-26T13:07:00.000Z

Last weekend was full of fun female fabulousness ...

Saturday: made wedding invitations with N1Ss WTB. All very creative and it produced hours and hours of female wedding nattering, and consequently, hours and hours of male beer drinking at the other end of the house :-(

Sunday: 11am ... my first ever aquarobics class. Not sure how this happened but Mother got talked into it by N2Ss GF and N1Ss WTB. Off the 3 of us trundle to our pool. Excellent fun, even the WTB's single wardrobe malfunction and Mother's double wardrobe malfunction was funny!!! Result = couldn't walk very well on Monday :-( but we will do it all over again next Sunday. This is a key part of the girlie pre-wedding "get fit and toned to look fabulous by December" regime.

Sunday afternoon: Off the 3 ladies trundle to see The Kings Speech at Greenwich Odeon. The most massive carton of popcorn was purchased ... wow! what a film! I hope it converts many of its 12 Oscar nominations into little golden statuettes this year. Absolutely brilliant. Mother sobbed over the struggle he had, and which until now, she had not fully appreciated. WTB sobbed over thinking that her nan and grand-dad would have been listening to that speech on the wireless and how real it all felt to us right there and then. N2Ss Polish GF didn't sob, not even when Hitler invaded Poland! We told her she has to do better in future! Her self defence plea was that ALL british films should also come with subtitles so she can fully keep up and learn how to spell new vocabulary. Mother thought this was a fair point, and still loves her to bits anyway!

Sunday evening: The house was FULL of ALL children and their other halves. If Carling did family days, this would have been one of their best (suspect only British readers will understand that pun). Eight round the dinner table, all getting on and enjoying each other's company. It doesn't get any better than this. Priceless :-)

Fame in the Local Rag

2011-01-20T21:30:00.000Z

Came home tonight to discover that my picture of a fox, taken in Charlton Cemetery, is featured on page 5 of the Greenwich Times. Never thought the day from hell would end so warmly :-)

Health and Social Care Bill

2011-01-19T16:08:00.000Z

Today in Parliament saw the first reading of the new Health and Social Care Bill in all its dubious glory! (Click any underlined text to access additional information)

Eight chapters containing 135 sections. Makes miserable reading for anyone with a touch of insomnia, and/or if you happen to work within the English National Health Service.

The passage of this Bill through Parliament, to reach its crowning as a fully fledged Act goes something like this. Its a long drawn out process incorporating a lot of talking and many, many, many revisions. It will need these revisions if it is going to be anywhere near successful. The general public will determine its success or otherwise.

In practice, this means:

I (and colleagues) am working bonkers hours to create a "transitional organisation" which is the "inbetweeny" state from the end of March to 2013. A sort of holding organisation, half what we are now, and pretty soon very many of us lose our jobs in the process of creating this transitional body;
I (and many others) am working bonkers hours to get things ship shape and bristol fashion to hand over to a brand new organisation in 2013, which has no skills or experience to do what we've been doing for the past decade, but will be expected to get them pretty damn quick and maintain the quality of service provision its taken us a decade to achieve;
£80bn is being devolved to GPs to manage. By "manage" I mean to spend on buying the services people need. Great concept .... pretty poor implementation strategy!! They are not managers, they are family doctors. I am not a GP but if one said to me "here is my patient list, please see all my patients from now on and don't whatever you do get anything wrong for them", quite frankly, I'd lose the contents of my stomach right there and then!; and
This Bill will dominate the next year (or less, depending upon the outcome of 1 above) of my life.

What I can't rationalise in my own mind is this. If this is indeed true (our Prime Minister basically accusing me of "standing still" and maintaining a "quiet life"), then why am I working bonkers hours and why is everyone I work with also working bonkers hours to see through what we absolutely don't agree with?

Why? Because we absolutely believe in the need for the NHS to continue, for our population to get free healthcare at the point of need, and for the people of Greenwich to be as healthy as they possibly can be, thats why. I'm proud to be a member of the NHS ... but worried its imploding before my very own eyes.

The Year of the Wedding (Ours not the Royal one)

2011-01-12T15:46:00.000Z

Ok we're on countdown! There are officially 340 days left until N1S marries his WTB. Diets and exercise programmes have been commenced. There is a project plan in place - let battle commence :-)

Phase 1 of the Project Plan is to secure a venue. Several have been visited, and the finalist was Nutfield Priory, Redhill, Surrey. It's a beautiful venue and we went to visit and partake of a spot of afternoon tea to soak up the atmosphere, last Sunday.

This, by the way, is NOT our car, but I wish it was!!! So .... first impressions were great. Mother thought if cars like that were in the car park, it couldn't be a bad place :-) I admit to being a bit of a snob.

Scrummy interior which ouzed character in every inch. Great big log fires which bodes well for a December wedding. Stained glass windows and lush soft furnishings within a gentle ambiance. It easily lived up to its 4* country hotel with a 2 AA rosette restaurant, hype. All in all, it offered everything a wedding could want or need. It's looking extremely good for December 18th 20011!

Our afternoon tea booking went well! Cake stands appeared full ....

and pretty soon .... looked almost empty!

The outside terrace overlooked the 12 acres of grounds as well as the very best of Surrey countryside and when it became dark, we watched the lights of Gatwick Airport in the distance. Not a single plane could be heard!! The information sheet we have put together for invited guests even contains its own helipad grid reference in the directions section ... well you never know who might want to pop in do you?!?!?

Last, but by no means least, we visited a suite which was bigger than either of N1 or N2 S's flats! This was the best one so its usually the bridal suite. WTB is so short, I'm sure she will require a ladder to get up on the bed! She can then pretend she is the Princess in the Princess and the Pea :-)

What a beautifully tranquil and relaxing place Nutfield Priory Hotel is. Our much-looked-forward-to weekend there in December 2011 will be well worth the wait. Then WTB and I become members of a very small but perfectly formed select group of Mrs Davidsons :-)

Phase 2 of the project will be invitations and all things material - should be fun!

Look out 2011, here I come!

2011-01-07T00:20:00.000Z

Well, its started then. A brand new year and a brand new decade. I watched the new decade coming in at home and thought London looked spectacular with the fireworks this year.

Resolutions: not many this year really, so more chance of success! I want to be healthy and continue enjoying my family and seeing new places. So how did it start? Well, we decided to do "proper" walking this year. The sort of walking that clocks up miles over open countryside. So January 2nd saw the dawning of the hiking team: Mother, Himself, N1S and WTB. Off we trundle to Chartwell, country home of Winston Churchill for a 5.5 mile hike through the beautiful Kent countryside.

It looked good in the book anyway. And indeed it was good. Added to which, it wasn't long at all before I remembered what those lines on a map, very close together, meant. Oh yes, hills!! Lots of them too :-( Not only that, but we were wading through a good 8 inches of mud in places, which made it really hard going. N1S disappeared up over his ankle at one point - I thought he might lose a shoe!

WTB found what she called a "Gandalf stick" which helped her little legs along. This is the team nearing the end of the trek, still smiling :-)

We saw amazing fungi, the likes of which I'd never seen before.

There was some climbing up into massive trees ...

And a helping hand along the way ...

We called into the wedding venue, our first sight of a place we would have a significant family moment at later in the year ...

And rounded it all off with a nice meal, the present and future Mrs D's having had a rather lovely day. I didn't let the side down (amazingly, no slips, trips or falls) and we did the walk in two and a half hours which was quite an achievement given the terrain we covered. We are committed to doing one of these a month so the changing seasons should feature quite a lot in this blog this year.

The fact that my knee seized up the next day is another story ......

Christmas Visiting

2010-12-28T17:23:00.000Z

Today, we went from London to Cambridge to visit family we had been unable to visit before Christmas due to the snow. I couldn't get over how quiet it was up there. I felt like I had to whisper for fear of waking people up! Perhaps since I was last here they'd gone into a different time zone or something and I had inadvertently arrived in the middle of the night?! On the way back, I took this out of the car window:

This was the main A428, just before Caldecote, at 3pm! ONE vehicle in sight if you look REALLY hard into the distance.

One hour later, and less than 70 miles further south, I took this about 10 mins from home:

Wakey, wakey, rise and shine people - we were back in the land of the living :-)

2010 Best Bits

2010-12-25T00:14:00.000Z

Make your own collage

Dreams

2010-12-22T09:12:00.000Z

At 05.45 this morning, I was woken up by Himself, laughing hysterically. He was still fast asleep (unlike me due to this racket) and was clearly dreaming of something he found rather funny. It was a whole hour later when the alarm went off and I learned of the subject of his laughter .....

He had dreamt that I bought him a pet porcupine for Christmas (???). He's going to be sooooo disappointed on Saturday morning!

Snow Stops Play

2010-12-18T18:33:00.000Z

Someone, overnight, went out with the white spray paint and sprayed our surrounding grounds! Woke up to this view out of the dining room window. Picture postcard though it might be, it did make me shudder as I have a tendency to fall over in this weather. Perhaps its time to get the crutches out of the loft as I'm bound to need them soon!

Then it got worse :-( Something approaching blizzard conditions followed so a serious amount of present wrapping took place chez Greenwich. You will notice we have no curtains yet. Fingers crossed they arrive before Christmas because the room is so newly decorated, some of the paint is still wet!

N1S and his WTB came over before it set in, then got snowed in with about 8 inches coming down in a couple of hours. Out came the jigsaws and we all settled down to enjoying each others company for the rest of the day.

A cake was baked, nice bottles of sauvignon were opened, the cockles of our hearts were warmed and peace and goodwill reigned in our home.

The final push on the Christmas shopping has had to be postponed but it was replaced with a fantastic warm and cosy day. Sigh ....... I do love it here, especially when the kids are around.

The Great Adventure

2010-12-03T22:17:00.000Z

I have been visiting a good NLF in Shropshire. A summit, no less, of business ladies sharing business issues and looking for workable solutions. It had been planned for a while, and this was the occasion I was supposed to have a riding lesson, being the one thing to do in my 50th year that I've never done before. Sadly (yay!!!) the lesson didn't happen due to inclement weather in the North (ok the Midlands but its very North to me).

Morning of The Great Adventure, Himself looks out of window and announces "don't think you'll be going anywhere today". I really don't like being told I won't be doing things, I come over all competitive, so I immediately thought, "sod that, I'll get there if I have to walk." Which was a tad silly, as its a very long way from London indeed.

Roll forward a few hours and I'm at Euston Railway Station. A sight to be seen by anyone's standards. Fully kitted out in all my Iceland gear I was overheating fast! However, soon met by girlie friend who was coming with me. This trip was nicknamed the G4 (hastily, because we were supposed to be G5 but one of us had to fly Stateside to deal with a company crisis): Four business ladies getting together at chez 1 business lady in Shropshire. It was to be a fact finding mission, swapping stories of our individual professional lives. All successful, all with similar business problems to solve, helping each other to find shared solutions. Great stuff! We decided to call our summit, Camp Vint, after the lady of the house. We were all feeling very states-woman-like about it all.

G4 arrived. G4 were fed and watered. Then G4 were off out for the first of many hikes through the countryside with various dogs, each hike solving a different problem. Nice!

It snowed a lot! We walked a lot! We solved more problems than we brought! Result!!

My camera goes everywhere with me and one of the said hikes involved me climbing up a hedge to take this picture. I slipped, swore a little bit, and .... EVERY SINGLE ONE of these sheep looked up at me. Spooky it was having all those eyes on you all at the same time. They just stood there and stared.

I decided not to get too close to these two, each one being the size of a mini cooper car! They too found the G4 worthy of notice.

I don't think it ever stopped snowing whilst we were there. The landscape turned into one great big icing covered Christmas cake.

So what did I come back with?

A clear sense of my professional future direction, insight into how to go about putting it all into place, and an overall feeling of calm and contentment. The country always does that for me: the quiet; the wide open space; it just brings me down to a level where I can think clearly again. One day, I'll live there all the time and every day will be as inspiring as the few I spent in Shropshire this week.

Facebook Funny

2010-11-27T10:25:00.000Z

Inspiration comes in many forms

2010-11-26T22:24:00.001Z

I read this today: "highlight the importance of being more of who you are at your best."

I like it a lot! Its helping me make up my mind about potential future professional directions.

I think we could do worse than not appreciate what this is saying.

Meanings are Important

2010-11-24T23:24:00.000Z

When I first started this blog, I wanted a one-word title that would sum up its existence and purpose. So I picked up a dictionary and, quite literally, started at the "A's". As you can see, I didn't get too far through the alphabet but Autotelic was a word I didn't know about until then but I immediately liked it a lot. I used the Oxford-English dictionary at the time, but wikipedia says more or less the same thing ....

Autotelic is defined by one "having a purpose in and not apart from itself". It is a broad term that can be applied to missionaries, scientists, and innumerable other vocations.
Autotelic is used to describe people who are internally driven, and as such may exhibit a sense of purpose and curiosity. This determination is an exclusive difference from being externally driven, where things such as comfort, money, power, or fame are the motivating force.

Autotelicism has relevance in context of leadership, motivation, and managing change in people. In a world where people can become entrenched by routines — leaving them feeling tired, unfulfilled, and even in pain —, there is an increasing interest in conscious business and value-based business.

"An autotelic person .... is more autonomous and independent because they cannot be as easily manipulated with threats or rewards from the outside. At the same time, they are more involved with everything around them because they are fully immersed in the current of life."

Due to the fact that I am soon to be made redundant, I am currently thinking a lot about doing something that I've always wanted to do, ie go it alone in the workplace and set myself up as a business entity in what I do best. It seems to me, that IF this happens, then I could do a lot worse than call my company Autotelic.

Big changes might be coming in 2011 so watch this space.

So there's another engagement in 2010

2010-11-17T09:05:00.000Z

Mr & Mrs Steven Davidson of Greenwich, London are delighted to announce the engagement of Alexa, youngest daughter of Mr & Mrs Timons of Northants to Christopher, eldest son of Mr & Mrs Davidson.

From their doorstep in SE18, Mr and Mrs Davidson said:

"We would just like to say that we are absolutely delighted by this engagement announcement and thrilled at the prospect of a wedding next year.

As you know Alexa and Christopher have been going out together for quite a number of years which has been great for us because we have got to know Alexa very well.

We all think she is wonderful and we are extremely fond of her.

They make a lovely couple, they are great fun to be with, and we've had a lot of laughs together.

We wish them every happiness for the future."

(I might have plagiarised it a bit, just a little bit!)

Yesterdays royal engagement announcement was the SECOND good engagement news story of the year as far as I'm concerned. It seems that there is a huge branding opportunity associated with meeting at university, becoming friends and then marrying that the higher education sector is seemingly missing.

Christopher and Alexa's engagement on 6th November 2010 is, however, clearly the leading news story in South East London. We are viewing wedding venues at the weekend, I wonder if William and Kate want to come along too to get a feel for whats available at what price :-)

The 54 Minute Man

2010-11-13T21:08:00.000Z

Greenwich Park today was looking sublime in all its autumnal glory. Beautiful colours everywhere you looked.

N3S had signed up for a 10k run and the day dawned today. They turned out in all sorts but the important aspect was that it was all in aid of prostate cancer and the Movember campaign.

N3S completed the event in a great time of 54 minutes 15 seconds, having done very little training indeed!

Well done Ross!

PS: don't ever grow a real moustache!

We are in-laws-in-waiting

2010-11-12T21:14:00.000Z

N1S and his GF have finally become engaged.

Clearly this means I now have a new acronym to use and I have chosen WTB (wife to be). This time next year I'll be buying a hat! Congratulations to the future Mr and Mrs Davidson (junior).

Welcome to the Davidson clan Alexa.

Best Birthday EVER!

2010-11-10T12:41:00.000Z

I thought the evening of my birthday deserved a post all of its own. We went on a trip with SuperJeep.Is which was the highlight of our trip. What a wonderful way to end my birthday. I won't say anymore because I think pictures speak louder than any words I could give you ..

To see more of our wonderful Iceland trip go to: my flickr page

That was a day, that was!

2010-11-09T00:32:00.002Z

Fantastic birthday. Probably the best birthday ever!!!

Started early with us getting on the right bus for a change to go on a full days trip.

I wore the loudest walking socks, a present from N1S and his GF, and my toes were as warm as toast all day long.

Just as well because we went up into the mountains which, as you can see, were bloody freezing! the trip was called the Golden Circle and incorporated: the Geysir area (a geothermal field where hot springs are in abundance, geysers explode and pools of mud bubble), the Gullfoss waterfall, and Pingvellir national park, the original site of the oldest existing parliament in the world where the great Atlantic rift is clearly visible, a rift that is slowly pulling Iceland apart along tectonic plates.

Got some great shots of the geyser exploding a few times and bought a new hat because the old one was just not up to the job today!

Breathtaking scenery all day long. More photos at later date as I can't move them from the beast of a camera whilst I'm away.

The weather was perfect today so we enquired whether the northern lights trip was running tonight and it was! Not believing my luck, off we go into the night on a jeep up into the northern mountains and see the most amazing green lighting there ever was. Will definitely post pictures upon return home, it deserves a post all of its own.

A very long day but the best birthday ever. I can't sleep now, I'm buzzing :-) I can highly recommend 49th birthdays, they just don't get any better than this!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Grundarstígur,Reykjavik,Iceland

Typical Tourists!

2010-11-07T18:23:00.001Z

Off we go this morning, for a cultural and historic trip with a guide who knew everything there was to know about Reykjavic. Well that's what we thought anyway!
We board the bus at the appointed time and settle down. Approximately 10 mins into the ride it was crystal clear that we were on the wrong bus!! A few words later and we are dropped off here ...

... Which was the local service station, to await a driver from the company who would collect us and deposit us onto the right trip! I thought it was hysterical. Himself was less amused but came around to seeing the funny side when we had finished for the day.

We were eventually collected like stray sheep and got to see the sights we were supposed to see all along :-)

Shortly after this was taken, it was so windy, I was blown over! Luckily, I saved the camera to do what I love doing most ...

Sadly, too much cloud around for us to do a northern lights trip tonight. I am keeping everything crossed for tomorrow night. It would be a shame to come all this way and not be able to see them. I've bought a postcard of them just in case though!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

66 Degrees North

2010-11-06T22:11:00.002Z

Today I have been mostly whale watching. As you do!

Absolutely freezing out on the open sea, but well worth it. We saw dolphins and minke whales in all their splendid glory.

Being on the open sea meant for a rolling ride and many on the boat became sea sick. I was ok until nearly the end and we got back into dock just in time as far as I was concerned.

It's really difficult to take pictures when you are wearing a pair of Berghaus gloves AND a pair of sheepskin mittens AND you still can't feel your fingers, but a girl has to give it her best shot.

I don't believe I'm being wimpy here when I say it was REALLY cold. Just look at all that snow on land in the background.

Just when all the bobbing around started to get to me (or to my stomach to be more precise) we enter calmer waters just before docking and see a great Islandic sunset. It was still only 5pm but with only 6 hours of daylight a day at this time of the year you have to make the most of it. Gorgeous or what?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bergstaðastræti,Reykjavik,Iceland

Celebrating 49 years on Planet Earth

2010-11-05T23:13:00.001Z

I am currently in Iceland - yay! Birthday treat which I am liking lots :-)

It was minus 5 degrees C when we landed at just after 5pm. It got colder as the evening progressed and I called it a day when my nose had frozen!

If I don't break at least a leg whilst I'm here it will be a miracle!

The hotel has free wifi and I have a new app to see if I can post on the run. If this works it should be fun as I review the day each evening. Watch this space.

It's looking like it's shaping up to be a great birthday treat. Worth waiting 49 years for anyway :-)

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bergstaðastræti,Reykjavik,Iceland

Sometimes, life on its own is extreme!

2010-10-29T17:49:00.000+01:00

Well here we go again. Prolapsed disc ... again. I say again because this is the 4th time its decided to come out and play, and its getting a bit boring to be honest.

And painful! This time it was as simple as dropping the spongy thing in the shower and turning around to pick it up. Several choice words turned the bathroom air blue, I came over all faint, and I've been flat on my back ever since.

One trip to the physio and £55 lighter, I look like this. Came out with a bollocking and strict instructions not to go into work (she saw my briefcase because thats precisely where I was going, darn!) and a list of exercises to do between yesterday and tomorrow.

A trip to the doctors presented me with Tramadol and after taking 2, I get a tramadol reaction and go all dizzy and throw up violently for the next 24 hours. So I've stopped taking that little cocktail! I could never have been a drug addict because I just don't find the moving vision and thowing up at all funny to be honest. Eau-de-sick is not my chosen cologne, ever. So I'm back on the trusty co-codamol instead and the world is nice and warm and slow and cozy again :-)

Tomorrow its back to the physio (and another £55) to get re-strapped and re-twisted all over again. Joys! My physio has promised me I'll be walking well enough to go to Iceland this time next week so I'm holding her to it. OK I might not climb that volcano but I'm getting there if it kills me! Watch this space :-)

Extreme Hoovering

2010-09-28T20:34:00.000+01:00

I sometimes get carried away with cleaning. I'm fine if I don't start, but once I start, I can't easily stop. This weekend I hoovered so ferociously, that I got a blister. N1D said:

"you are getting to that age Mum where we will have to wrap you in bubble wrap and only let you walk round the house in a helmet and elbow pads."

I wonder how my children's minds work sometimes!

Run to the Beat 2010

2010-09-26T14:44:00.000+01:00

We were out in force again this year supporting N1S and is mate in the Greenwich Half Marathon, the country's biggest half marathon event. Boy was it cold this year. We sent gorgeous girlfriends off to get hot chocolate from the nearest garage. Added to which, the race was delayed for half an hour or so due to chaos on the tubes (again - like what's new?)

The wait was worth it as we spotted him and his mate coming through Charlton (c2 miles). Early in and still smiling:

They hadn't had the greatest preparation I understand. Meal out last night and far too much alcohol meant they were running off a hangover! There was a £20 wager on the books with Himself around whether N1S could beat last year's time or not. It wasn't looking good when we heard about the hangover!!

The Stig was spotted in South East London without any wheels (shock, horror!)

N1D has officially gone into her Winter hat, so that's goodbye to any nice hairstyle until next April then. I might have to buy her a new one for Christmas so she actually takes it off this year :-(

Next spotting point for us was c8 miles. Twins looks like a couple of vagrants and Himself even flicked them a few coins. For us, this vantage point was just a walk up the hill, but for for the runners their route was a little more extensive having taken them all around Woolwich and back through Charlton. Give them their dues, the boys were still smiling though ...

Rent a crowd (aka us) then jumped in cars and went to the finish line at the O2, which was the 13 mile spotting position. Not quite the laughing boy at this point was he?

However, he fleeced Himself out of the £20 note as he did indeed beat his last year's time and we think this year his time was 1hr 46 mins. Can't get his official time until tomorrow so this is unofficial and from his mates race watch. Not bad eh? Think what he could have done without the hangover!

At the end there was a crowd around a stage, as this race is famous for its live music all around the race route. Music that (apparently) is scientifically proven to motivate and improve running effort. Anyway ... on the stage was this chap:

Mother didn't know him from Adam but he's quite famous (say the kids). It's Tinie Tempah (yeah I'd never heard of him either) but I guess if he's wearing sunglasses on an overcast London day, he has to be famous for something or another, and in his case it's for rapping!

Personally, I was more interested in this:

Which just made me laugh!

At the finish line, the smiles were back again .... awww bless them!

Well done Christopher and Bobby!

Proms in the Park 2010

2010-09-25T10:50:00.000+01:00

Hyde Park at the end of a British summer. We went, we saw, we conquered, along with many thousand other TOGS!

There's something special about open air concerts. They bring back sniffs of my youth!

I think they do the same for others of my generation too, if the attire was anything to go by. As evening drew in, my fellow oldies needed to stand up and wave things around in order to stay warm. Any other time of the year, this might have been mistaken for a riot, but not in Proms season.

Hardly hooligan territory but us ageing rockers were armed and extremely dangerous if need be :-)

I am terrifically proud to say that us Generation X'ers have certainly not lost our sense of humours, not if this spectacle is anything to go by anyway.

The finale was a wonderful firework display ...

And I am hugely relieved to report that the St John's Ambulance Service was not at all inundated with heart-attacks as a result. We are alive and well, and long may it last!