God Save the Queen

And she might need some saving with these two new subjects.
On Wednesday night I went along to the Wandsworth Town Hall to see Todd & Nic's 'naturalisation'. No , this is not some new age gathering to free them of their impurities (though maybe we should all book in for that). No, this was their ceremony to become whinging Poms - whoops, I mean British citizens. This of course gives them many benefits: the right of abode, the passport, a plethora of hopeless sports teams to support, and the ability to ruin any meal with either baked beans or mushy peas.

And there was doubly reason to celebrate/commiserate(?), Nic also happened to be the 5000th person naturalised in a Wandsworth citizenship ceremony. Nic's new found fame got her that great big certificate and a set of stainless steel steak knives. OK, maybe she didn't get the knives, but there was a lot of pomp and ceremony along with the local paparazzi.

And of course, we finished off the evening like all good British citizens would, a few pints down at the local pub.

East meets West

What a great start to Autumn, this weekend has been brilliantly sunny and warm. On Saturday, Anna and I decided to take advantage of this and head out to Greenwich and follow a pub walk out that way from my CAMRA London Pub Walks book. Neither of us had been out to Greenwich since we had visited there nearly ten years ago when Anna was living here and I came over for a holiday.

The day actually started off with an excellent brunch at The Providores in Marylebone, Peter Gordon's restaurant in London (he's a Kiwi if you didn't know). We then traveled down to Greenwich to visit a few pubs.

After a pleasant pint in the sun at The Ashbourne Arms, we made our way to the main course, The Greenwich Union pub, which is the brewery tap for the Meantime Brewery - who produce an interesting array of beers, many of classic world styles. Sitting out in the back garden, I added a few more ratings and enjoyed a varied collection of brews. The pick for me being the Coffee, which was full of deliciously strong coffee flavours with chocolate and vanilla notes. Would be great as an after dinner drink (and served a little bit warmer).
After satiating my thirst for beer for the afternoon, we left The Greenwich Union and took a wander through Greenwich Park, heading up to the Observatory and the impressive views over London. That's Canary Wharf in the middle-ground, and the building off to the right of the main cluster being the Barclays building where I work.
Crossing into the Eastern Hemisphere, we had one more drink at the Plume & Feathers - meaning we had a drink in two hemispheres in one day. We then headed back across to the Western Hemisphere and on into town to meet Si & Kellie, and capped off a great day with a few more drinks and an excellent pizza in Belgravia. With some busy weekends ahead of us, it was nice for this one be so enjoyable and relaxing.

Down he goes!

It finally happened - I've finally had an accident on my bike. Riding home tonight I was charging along the bike lane in the middle of the city with a good easterly behind me. Traffic was at a stand-still and I was going along the inside of a bus, when suddenly....

Some guy steps out from in front of the bus (he must have been crossing the road through the traffic). Traveling at 35-40kph and with about 3 metres to react, reactions kicked in and I hit the brakes and took my foot out of the pedal and pushed it into the road. I even managed to swerve around him. But he was also swinging a bag as he walked and I took that bag right in the dial. From there my balance was gone as I careered into the gutter where at some stage I fell over and finally stopped when my bike struck a pole.

Admittedly, my first thought as I was sitting there was - "I hope my bike is alright". The guy who had stepped out came up asking me if I was OK and was very apologetic. There was no point having a go at him as we all cross the road like that from time to time, so I let him know I was OK and told him not to worry. I certainly didn't feel like I had been hurt and a quick once over of the bike told me that miraculously it also seemed it had escaped unscathed. He then told me I had blood coming out from a cut on my nose, which I later worked out was when his bag had hit my glasses, which had then punctured my nose. Dusting myself off and settling the nerves, I had no other choice but to get back on the bike and ride the remaining 12kms or so home. Patting each other on the back and shaking hands, I left my recently made acquaintance and took off again on the bike, although a little more slowly and with one hand pressing a dirty bike rag against my bleeding snoze.

Amazingly, I cannot detect any damage to my bike, except for a few scratches on the tyre rims, and apart from the cut on my nose, I don't seem to have any other scrap on my body. All I can suppose is that I was able to keep my bike and body from scrapping along the ground with my foot and had slowed down enough before I hit that pole. So I am considering myself pretty lucky. Though it is quite ironic that for all my running of red lights and swerving through traffic, the first fall off my bike was not my fault. Lets hope it is a long time until my next one!

Round-about

Sitting at my new desk this week, with my view out east over the Thames, I was able to monitor the progress of a large cruise ship coming up the river. Then, as it got right in front of me, the tug boats started turning it around. Couldn't work out what was happening at first, but then realised that it was to tow the ship backwards up the rest of the river as it obviously doesn't have enough room to turn where it docks. Apparently, all the large ships turn at the same spot. I thought it was interesting stuff....