Jane And John Get Married

Jane and John got married 5th July at The Node. Huge congratulations to them. Here is little Eva helping them out. And below a great shot of Matt, Molly, Jane and Paul. 

Thanks to Abbie's Facebook pages for the pics!

Charlie-isms

The best 'mail from America' (my occasional email letters back to UK from USA) I never wrote compared the difficulty of translating English to American English with the difficulty of translating Charlie speak into any language (he was 2-3 years old at this stage). I really ought to do a glossary before too long before I forget. Anyway, following on from this one here are his latest two. 

Firstly, when talking about tactics he referred to them as Tic-Tacs. 

Secondly, when referring to someone else's verruca he referred to them as bazookas. 

I still like Guerilla Cheese (grilled cheese)

What a dude!

Kym, Arthur, Ella and Will Visit

Great to see the Vanderbilt-Frieds last weekend in St. Albans. The weather stayed pretty warm (it had clearly been roasting in Paris the previous week) and we had a lovely couple of days hanging out. Friday evening we wandered over to Clarence Park and learnt about the mystical game that is called 'cricket', and picked Ollie and Charlie up from their classes. On Saturday morning Kym, Arthur and I explored St. Alban's market and bought our picnic lunch; cheese, saucisson, baguette, fruit. Kym also bought, and devoured, a carton of rather nice olives en route. We walked down Fishpool St, past the £1,000,000 house, here, (not that it is terribly expensive for the street but we commented on it as we trundled by), into Verulamium Park for lunch, out again to pay a quick visit to the Roman theatre, here, and a return to the park to lie in the sun, play soccer, and eat ice cream. Just like every summer's day should be. We strolled home via the Roman Wall, the oldest pub in Britain (as the Guinness Book of Records says), Ye Olde Fighting Cock, up past the Cathedral and stopped off for a decent dinner, and pint of good proper beer, at the Hare and Hounds in Sopwell Lane. 

On Sunday we went to Knebworth House, above. We checked out the maze, 

and the dinosaur park:

Will and Ollie had their picture taken with the statuesque park gardener,

and we took a picture of one of his colleagues as well:

We went to the kids adventure area, and finished off with a miniature train ride:

The only thing missing was George, who was on a school activities trip to the Lake District.

But George returned on Tuesday evening which meant we could all meet up on the Wednesday night in Windsor where the Vanderbilt-Frieds were staying. I haven't got any pictures of everyone having a great time together, as I was a little late, but I did take a decent picture of Windsor. 

It was wonderful to spend time with the Vanderbilt-Frieds. 

Shoulder Operation

Almost two weeks ago I had an arthroscopy of my right shoulder. All the years of tennis serving, throwing and cricket have taken their toll, and my shoulder bone grew a spur. Of course when trying to serve or throw all the muscles, tendons, ligaments and whatever else is inside my shoulder rubs against the spur and hurts to the point where I can't do it. I have had, over the last decade, two bouts of physio, some shots and a lot of pain. So, at last I had the operation. 

It was pretty quick, in and out in a day, but I didn't do so well on the anaesthetic, being sick for some hours after the surgery. I also got worried about how red the right side of my chest and arm got, but realised, after the red rubbed off onto my clothes, that the red was a dye, probably iodine, and I could wash it off!

The sling was on for three days. Once it was off I could hardly move my arm. The kids laughed at how little movement I had in it. 

I have the stitches out on Monday. Hurrah!

Fleetville School Fete

A regular feature all over Britain are school summer fetes. Today was Ollie's school. There was some BMXing, some nice dancing by pupils and all manner of catching things, throwing things, kicking things and lots of food, including sweets, BBQ, and of course the scones stall:

George also did his bit, by helping out at the penalty shoot out:

Charlie Goes Cycling

Charlie is getting very good, and keen, on his bicycle. This is him zooming around Clarence Park today. Here are some more pictures of him. 

I like how it is a series of pictures with Charlie in the same pose; earnest peddling and head down in concentration with a variety of backdrops. I guess that is what cycling is. But I thought it was cool. The best Charlie has ever done. However, it is not as cool as this:

It is still a little dangerous for Charlie to cycle his bike to the park. So rather than carry it on the downhill bits of the journey, I ride it.

Last Weekend

Was a good one. Everybody got to so something for them. On Saturday, Ollie's football team was in a 6-a-six competition. Here he is with Guiseppe: 

His team made the semi-finals and Ollie played very well throughout. He passes very well. He also scored a couple of goals. One was from a free-kick. This is him, just after he struck the ball, 'majestically' he tells me. 

It was very hot. Hot enough to have a REAL barbeque in the evening. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture. 

Sunday morning was time for Charlie to practice his cycling. We have a vested interesting in him being able to cycle properly; namely so that we can go for a family cycle ride. We went to to Clarence Park to practice. Charlie was fantastic. Best ever. He was almost cycling around the park after a couple of goes. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that either. 

In the afternoon, we went sailing at Stanborough Lakes.  It was warm and gusty.  George took the tiller. This time I did have my camera but we capsized before I took again pictures. Luckily, I managed to cling onto the boat whilst George got wet. I was able to hand over all valuable items - camera, expensive sunglasses - to the instructors in the power boat before I also got wet. I did take a picture of the lake after we have got onto dry land: 

And for the evening, it was 10cc (for Jill and I anyway). Excellent 1970s art rock/pop band. Only Graham Gouldman remains of the famous four, though there are a couple of musicians who were with the band from the start so it isn't a bogus set up. And the gig certainly wasn't. First an acoustic set of well know songs Gouldman had written prior to 10cc then a full on, really tight and rocking set of all of 10cc's hits. It was very good. And in St. Albans as well. Andy came with us, though Fiona didn't due to their long long drive back from Swanage. 

Charlie Wins The Treble

On the final day of the season Charlie single-handedly wins the Premier League, FA Cup, and European Champions League with one amazing strike.

Back in New York

It was really nice to spend a weekend back in NY, including a day back in Chappaqua. Even getting the Metro North was a good experience as it rekindled lots of memories.  I must confess I miss it. 

Curry With Cousins

Cousins gathered in the Raja, Knebworth, for curry. It was great to see everyone.  It was a fun evening out, even though there seemed to be some rather serious faces judging by the photos below. I put it down to the fact that only Briony and I ordered the sardine bhaji, and everyone else being jealous of us. If you look carefully you can see it on their faces; bigtime sardine bhaji envy. 

You see, Briony looks pretty happy!

Jane and John managed to get over the sardine bhaji ordering incident by re-enacting a pose from many moons ago. 

I wonder if at Matt's euphemistic 30th birthday and Jane and John's wedding there will be a surfeit of sardine bhajis.