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.

Anna and the Marathon

Anna applied to run the London marathon and a few days after Dad died, she was accepted. She decided to go for it, and run for Parkinson's.  The dedication it takes to get prepared is something else. Not just the physical preparation but getting mentally ready to decide to take that next stride 38,000 times (the average number of strides taken to complete the 26 miles 285 yard course).  I don't think I could do it. 

Today was the day. We arrived nice and early at mile 9 and watched literally thousands of runners go past. We were there when the elite men flew through and soon the few out front became the many of the middle. Luckily, Anna was able to let us know when she was approaching; it is difficult to spot people as the above picture shows.  This is her at 9 miles, below. She was looking good and her back, which had caused some problems over the last week, was holding up well.

We saw her again at 19 miles. The field had spread out somewhat and some people were really beginning to suffer. Anna still looked in great shape, though unfortunately we caught her whilst she was 'in the zone' (or at least appeared to be by the shock she registered when we shouted her name);

It didn't take any more pix, I was too busy listening to her telling us how she was. She said it was getting a little trickier. Her comment was prophetic. She remembered that someone had told her that 20 miles was half way. I think she would endorse that given what said about miles 20-23!

The main thing was that she completed. It took a shade over 5 hours. She raised over £3,000. 

I have total respect for Anna doing this. With her fantastic speech at Dad's funeral, here, and this run, I have seen a determined and courageous side to her to add to the generous, caring and warm hearted woman I am very proud to call my sister. 

Boys Play Cricket

Cricket is a great game. I used to play alot; that's me, above.  Click here, to see me enthuse a little about the glorious game. Currently, I can't play properly (shoulder injury I am hoping to have operated on) but nevertheless I fulfilled one of my ambitions by playing cricket with all three boys yesterday. It might only have been in Clarence Park, but it didn't matter. The boys themselves may drifted off from time to time to play football with their friends or take a quick cycle around the park, oblivious to how cool this was for me. It wasn't even with pads and a proper cricket ball. It didn't matter. For about 30 minutes we were all engaged. Here are some pix:

Let's see if we can make any advances on this!

The Lion King

We saw the Lion King last Sunday, courtesy of Wilf and Joan. I must say, I am not big fan of musicals and I wasn't really looking forward to this. But it was just fantastic. Not so much the story which I know already, but the sheer inventiveness of the set design and the animals. It is a real challenge to turn an animated animal film into a stage musical but it was done by fantastic ways of presenting elephants, giraffes, lions, hyenas, birds, zebras, cheetahs, even grass was done with invention and creativity. I was not bored once throughout the 150 minutes plus some. Recommended even without the kids. 

George Returns

Jill and the boys picked George up on Easter Monday. He got an overnight flight - his first ever- and believes he got two and a half hours sleep. He had a great time, not surprisingly; five nights in Florida and two up in Chappaqua. He didn't take his camera, for fear of losing it, so I haven't got any pix I can post. Not only did the Summers take him to Florida, but also laid on a BBQ for him back in Chappaqua. And Kym and Arthur hosted a sleep over on the Saturday night. For George he slotted right back in, like he hadn't been away. It was like he was just popping over to Jeremy's for a playdate. For George's American friends it was a little special; George was back in town and he had acquired an English accent!! I am so pleased it worked out alright and dead proud of George for making the trip by himself. Here's to continued links between the Barnetts and Chappaqua. 

Whipsnade Zoo

Friday was a trip to Whipsnade Zoo. It is nice to have a decent zoo 20 mins drive from home. It was my first zoo visit since returning to Britain and the comparisons with my experience of US zoos - San Diego, Bronx Zoo, - are interesting even if they are a little unfair.

1. At Whipsnade it rained, all day. At San Diego it didn't, and I can't remember it raining at the Bronx Zoo. 

2. San Diego, and to a lesser, but by no means negligible degree the Bronx Zoo, relied on scale and sheer impressiveness, and the great weather to deliver the experience. In contrast, Whipsnade relied on the charm and enthusiasm of eccentric and very human staff that often seemed to be transferred onto the animals: the bear brunch kids quiz in the rain, the hornbill that flew off into the trees, the shy kestrel, the very small elderly woman guide in the giraffe house, Dominic the naughty seal, the frustrated chimp, and the Lions who climbed their especially constructed mount so they could survey - as they like to do - the Hertfordshire countryside.

3. My favourite comparison was to do with the 'splash zone'. In the States there were lots of warnings about what happens if you sit in the splash zone. It was as though the zoo administrators were concerned about the threat of legal action by anyone who was splashed and didn't want to be. At Whipsnade, our seal trainer took a rather different tone. She told the kids who wanted to take part in the show to go to a specific area (everyone knew what was going to happen but she didn't say) and of course they got splashed. When one of the kids started crying a little, she said something like "don't worry, it's only salt water, it won't hurt for too long, your'll survive" and stuff like that. It was so not tippy-toeing, though it was not mean in any way. In fact it was rather refreshing. In a British-sized zoo this oddball enthusiasm was a delight. I don't think it would to fit very well with the razzamatazz that is the stock in trade of San Diego Zoo. Though I would like to see someone try : )

BBQ English Style

As George has been away in New York and Florida, Jill decided that the remaining boys needed some excitement of their own. Wednesday was BBQ English Style and a chance to sleep out in the chalet at the end of the garden. Ollie played chef.

And Charlie was his assistant:

Wilf's 75th Birthday

It was a lovely day for a 75th birthday last Sunday.  We went down to Bookham for Wilf's birthday. Mary was there, David and his fiancee, Sharon. There was lots of delicious food; in particular, Jill's fish pie and the rhubarb syllabub. The boys, and me, had some football fun in the back garden. And there was a rather surreal episode during which Bob got a little stuck in the back of the van. 

I rather like the pic of the back garden. It is one of those pictures where the soft focus effect of the trusty old blackberry seems to work in its favour. 

George Goes to Chappaqua

Yesterday George set off with Jill to get the 8.30am American Airlines flight from Heathrow to JFK. He is going to go to Florida with the Summers for a week. I am really proud of him making this trip by himself. The only glich was that Jill had to leave George at security instead of at the gate as she thought. But it was all okay as George arrived safely. At 12 I didn't get further than down to Hertford on my bike by myself, if that.

The picture is of Jeremy (right), Ben (left) and George.