Lovely weather today in Wapping...

...really looking forward to my trip back to London Bridge...

Shards...

...turned out nice in the end... ;)

Ah...the sun is shining...

...the birds are singing and everybody is happy!  Or not...

I bet all of you can you identify these well known London landmarks?  Wonder if my clothes will dry out ready for my journey home? ;)

It *might* be time to get the winter coat out...

And yeah...

...the Met office got the weather right today, it's *pouring*... ;)

Mmmm...nice...

...thank goodness we had good weather for Thomas' birthday!

Freezing Fog and Jubilee Line Fire

Ah well, here we go, the proper proper cold weather starts here...Well actually to be more precise, it started on Friday night when I was attempting to get home...got down to the Jubilee line (having dashed through the torrential downpour between One Canada Square and the tube entrance) only to be met with reduced gate entry and a huge queue...not a good sign...when I got down to platform level things were even worse, 3/4 of the space was taken up with people trying to get back west, so I hopped on a waiting eastbound service (thinking I could cunningly switch back after one stop and skip the wait, maybe even get a seat if I were very lucky)...when the train pulled away the driver came on over the tannoy system - "Just a quick announcement, if any of you happen to have friends or colleagues following on the train behind, they are stopped at Canada Water with reports of a strange smell, so they might be delayed a while"...

At the O2 I flew across to the westbound platform and jumped onto the waiting train which, two minutes of uncomfortable waiting later, my worst fears were confirmed "Sorry folks, the Jubilee line is now suspended in both directions due to a track-side fire at Canada Water"...wonderful...so everyone on both the trains headed upstairs, into the freezing rain, to try and figure out which bus to get...as I was checking signs I missed a bus that said it was going to Waterloo (argh!), but when the next one pulled in, no-one seemed interested in getting on, checking the front it said it was going to Greenwich (which I had a hunch had a DLR stop and a mainline station), so I hopped on, really just to get out of the rain (but there were also enough grumpy commuters waiting to fill two double deckers, so it could have been a bit of a wait)...

About 15 stops later, at Greenwhich high street, lots of people hopped off, so I followed suit, asking as I trudged, getting more and more drenched, which way the station was, and finally found it...but not before I was freezing cold and absolutely soaked...I got up onto the (extremely windy) platform and found that a London Bridge train was due in 10 minutes (delayed), so finally made it to London Bridge about an hour and a half later, and much colder than I should have been...

Today it's freezing fog (which had me walking up and down the platform to stay warm) but at least it isn't pouring with rain...

Free Wet Umbrella Cover - Canary Wharf

Well, well, well...looks like something has come out of the slip testing they were conducting in reception of One Canada Square earlier on in the year...I've commented before on how terrifyingly treacherous walking can get on some of the highly polished stone walkways after a shower, and now it seems that something has been done to try and combat it...Next to the doorways into the lower ground floor of our office these little dispensing machines have appeared, the idea being that instead of walking along with your wet umbrella dripping water all over the slippery marble floor, you pause, and tuck it into one of these little plastic bags (for free) to save everyone from slipping over in the little trail you have left...

Quite how successful this will be in practice, when there is a queue of busy commuters debating with themselves whether to continue standing patiently in the rain until their turn to wrap their umbrella up arrives, of course, remains to be seen... ;)

Extremes of weather

Well, good news (for once)! The weathermen are predicting a fantastic bank holiday weekend (can it possibly be true?)...with temperatures of up to 23 degrees! This has to be an excuse to get the new BBQ out, it's been sat in it's box since Flyingpops bought it at the end of last summer (at a bargain price from a Tesco seasonal clear out sale)...just have to hope it's nothing like last weekend, when the weather really couldn't make it's mind up at all...either torrential downpour (as pictured above) -

- (and this shot was only taken five minutes later) blazing sunshine, if you look closely you can still see the puddles...!  I certainly wouldn't want to have everything set out ready for a nice al fresco tea and suddenly be rushing for the living room door, soggy sausage in hand... ;)

In other news, Flyingpops mum Nanjan has come out of hospital after a scheduled operation, everything seems to have gone smoothly, but we just want to send you our love and hope that you get well soon (we would have sent flowers but apparently the house is already overflowing with them, so we'll get you some later)... ;)

Stuck at home!

Wow, so for the first time in ages, we are *stranded* by snow! Took a quick walk outside at about 8am, during a brief letup in the blizzard and took a few shots of the fields, it's coming down steadily again now, I guess it's currently about 5 inches deep in most places, but where it has drifted it starts to get really quite treacherous, according to the BBC when the snow clouds disappear we are going to be treated to completely clear skies, so not only will all of the white stuff stay, it will end up being frozen solid, so tomorrow could be even more exciting than today from a transport point of view...!

Indian Summer for England?

Well, what a lovely surprise! After two really very nice days in town (working, obviously), I check the weather report on the BBC and the weekend is actually forecast to be jolly nice too! If it weren't for all the hair colouring (for Timmy and Gayle's impending wedding) going on this weekend I might very well have suggested getting away in Colin the Camper for a lazy weekend!

Still going to do my best to enjoy it...maybe a last minute BBQ or something of that ilk would be in order... ;)

Welcome back to England...

Rain rain rain...bleugh...just lucky I was backing up all my photos and found some nice pictures of the garden from the summer that I had forgotten about (just to cheer us up) -


- oh and out of interest, I was rather shocked to discover that since the 5th of May (when I got the new camera) I have taken over 9000 photographs(!), that's 21.7Gb of data to burn...urk!

Aqualand, Corfu

And so to the last full day of the holiday, and it was with some surprise that we awoke to gentle rain (still about 28 degrees though) having had glorious sunshine all week, however, luckily we had booked up a trip to the biggest water park on the island (and rain is no problem if you are planning to be getting wet anyway!)...we were the first pick up, the coach was as on time as usual, but we were quite used to that by this stage. The driver (who looked a bit like Sawyer from LOST) was extremely friendly, but his grasp of English was cursory at best, this didn't deter him from nattering away for about the first 20 minutes of the journey, during which time I *think* we got the following bits of information from him -

1. He is married, and his wife is pregnant (that was indicated mostly by miming)
2. They are moving to England shortly as you can earn much more money being a coach driver in the UK, plus UK coach drivers are reluctant to work the 12 hour shifts that really bring in the cash (he is more than happy to)
3. He doesn't mind the cold, as long as his pockets are full of money
4. Aqualand (during peak season) can have as many as 5000 visitors a day, from 10 resort towns over the island and queues for the slides can take as long as two hours(!)
5. Roads in Corfu are extremely dangerous in the wet

- we stopped at a couple of other places to pick up a small number of further brave souls, and barring one quick stop along the way for a young German lad to go for a pee (the coach driver told him to just find a bush "All Corfu is toilet, it's natural! Where dog go, you go!"), we finally pulled into the completely empty car park at Aqualand...we basically had the entire place to ourselves...!

So, after paying for a "Family sized" locker for the day (it was barely big enough for 2 rucksacks, let alone all the crap a family would be carrying around for a day out!), we got changed and then headed to the nearest slides (absolutely no queues at all anywhere in the entire park!) -

- goodness only knows why, but the first slides we went for were the ones right at the top of the tallest tower, were also the narrowest pipes, and the one that I went for turned out to be a "Black Hole", and the rail you normally use to get some speed up was missing...I did have second thoughts as I was staring into the darkness, and even looked back, a little concerned that there was no life guard on duty, but threw myself in (as best I could) none-the-less...and just as I had passed the first bend (so I was in *total* blackness) I came to a complete halt...

I'm a bit claustrophobic, and this was the stuff of absolute nightmares, no-one above me to stop anyone else diving in and hitting me, total blackness, the muffled sound crashing water and feeling it building up behind me, hands slipping on the plastic, scratching desperately in order to shift myself down and what seemed like an eternity later I managed to drag myself to the next slope, where suddenly things got very steep indeed followed by 90 seconds of bedlam and then, thank goodness, daylight...where Flyingpops was standing wondering what on earth had happened to me (we should have learned by this to stay away from the tubes where you can't see what's going on...but more of that later) -

- it quickly became obvious that by far the best rides were the ones where you were allowed to use a two person "inflatable family raft" (as the rides went *much* *much* quicker with the weight of two plus gravity), but we had a go on everything, I suppose the place must have had about 25 different tube rides of various sizes and speeds from the insane vertical drop rides (that just *hurt*) all the way to the "Crazy River" (complete with 3 crash pools on the way down that tend to end up turning you backwards!) -

- confidence regained (despite difficulties with some extremely "Slippery Sarfaces"), and after Flyingpops had tried the much larger inflatable-only "Black Hole" with a single ring and come out saying it was completely tame, we thought we would try it on a two seater...big mistake...we were going so fast by the time we got to the last turn that Flyingpops lived up to her name and completely flew off the raft as we almost past horizontal on the side, smashing down into the tube (a fall of about 1.5 meters) head first, but also banging her hip, and after this, the raft and I basically ran her over and ended up driving her out of the tube and pushing her right under the surface into the landing pool-

-suffice it to say we decided enough was enough (having done about 40 rides in the space of an hour) we were knackered and Flyingpops was a bit dazed, so we hopped into the "Lazy River" for about 20 minutes to ride back to the other side of the park and then spent a similar amount of time in the wave pool (the third biggest wave pool in the world!), and it really did make some incredibly large waves (way over two meters), people were being thrown from their rubber rings!-

- After this we had a little wander around, to see what else there was around the place, and one of the most amazing things was the kids "Pirate Adventure", every 90 seconds or so -

- a massive container filled with water and tipped over absolutely covering everything, I have *no* doubt at all that if it hit a small child then they would be knocked completely off their feet by the force of the wave...did look like a lot of fun though... -

- there were three "Adventure pools" with stepping stones, slides -

- and even a giant jacuzzi, but by this stage we had started to feel a little hungry -

- Hmmm, yes, looks like something out of "Theme park world" doesn't it... ;)-

- the food though was superb (as long as you avoided the "burger and chips" or "pizza" options), my rotisserie plate was packed with tender meat in a fresh pitta, and accompanied by an excellent salad (not quite sure why it took them 15 minutes to prepare it though, not exactly "fast" food) -

- anyway, once we had let the food go down we repeated a few of the rides, then got changed (nursing our pruned hands) and back to the resort to enjoy our last night... ;)

Kassiopi, Corfu - in pictures

Okay, so this time we headed eastwards along the northern coast of Corfu from the Blue Bay Escape Resort to the only major town in that direction -Kassiopi- it's a slightly longer journey in the minibus-

-(still only about 15 minutes though), travelling from the Blue Bay out to Kassiopi at 0930hrs, 1000hrs, 1900hrs and 1930hrs, and going back in the opposite direction at 1130hrs, 1200hrs, 2130hrs and 2200hrs. Remember, you will need to reserve your seat at reception in advance, and these particular trips fill up fast, so make sure you book your place early-

- you are dropped off right at the top of the high street, if you follow it down about 200 yards you will come to a road off to the left (just by the supermarket, which incidentally is smaller and more expensive than the one in Acharavi), follow this for a few more shops -

- vast majority are either tourist, clothing, shoe or leather goods, with the odd olive wood shop (this particular one was all hand-carved by the shop owner's son) and restaurants, but they peter out after about half a kilometre, however, if you carry on heading slightly downhill you will eventually find yourself at the real gem at the heart of Kassiopi (and what kept us going back), the amazing (and still working) harbour -

- mostly full of fishing vessels, but a few tourist and pleasure launches populated the walls also, and here we sat, watching the sunset until the street lights drew their patterns on the gentle waves-

- to be honest, the food could have been terrible (there are about 12 restaurants that share the fantastic view) but it really wouldn't have mattered...

-(I even let the "Chicken Gordon-Bleu" pass with a mere half-smile before my gaze returned happily to the calming shimmer)-

- for my dinner that night I decided to go for the Stifado (a traditional Greek dish of pork in a red wine sauce with shallots (and in this case, chips...)), very nice, but they did the exact same thing at the Blue Bay resort for lunch the next day and it was just as tasty...oh well, it was only 6 euros for the plateful!

Anyway, we stayed for a very enjoyable, and extremely peaceful couple of drinks (even when the Blue Bay was virtually empty there was still a pronounced difference in the noise levels between there and here), then wandered back up through the shops, passing various places advertising morning fare -

- including the "Little Britain Big Breakfast 'I want that one!'"...not entirely sure it's been officially sponsored or approved by Messrs Lucas and Walliams, but it does look like the sort of thing Mr Lucas might be found enjoying if he came into Kassiopi for a visit... ;)

In a nutshell, it's the biggest resort on the north coast, and also quite the prettiest, lots and lots of places to eat and drink all of which were still open and reasonably busy even this late in the season, this place deserves more than one evening of your attention, most certainly... :)

Acharavi, Corfu - in pictures

Now, on to one of the local resorts you can visit (as frankly Ag. Spiridonas really only amounts to one (small, part-time) travel agent, one (mini-mart sized) supermarket (although they do promise to inflate anything rubber you purchase there as many times as you like "it go down on first day? Bring back and we make pump again!") and 4 tavernas (of various levels of quality)), however, all is not lost, book at reception onto the free minibus (here you see it waiting outside the hotel)-

- trips from the resort to the nearest town to the west (Acharavi) leave at 0900hrs and 1800hrs and return at 1100hrs and 2100hrs (each trip taking no more than ten minutes), but unless you are out for an evening meal, two hours is *way* more than enough time to see the best this town has to offer...unfortunately, three hours in the evening (unless you know exactly where you are going) might be cutting it a bit fine to actually find, eat and waddle back to the meeting point, so not ideal transfer times, but you can always grab a cab back to the resort -beware though, they are rather on the scarce side...

Arriving in Acharavi, you are dropped (and picked up) by the "famous pump" in the centre of town (ahem), which really just looks like a mini roundabout...in case you miss it, it's next to "Lollas Junior Smoking Accessories"-

- stocking such wonders as "Cigars in Special moistend container" and "Nautical Goods" (making it probably a slightly more memorable landmark)... ;) Anyway, having got here, carefully skirting some poor, prone biker who had tangled with a coach (to cries of "Kids, No look!" from our bus driver), we set down, a little unnerved, but none-the-less, decided initially to explore the "old town" (following a battered sign from the pump roundabout) -

- which actually didn't look that much older than the rest of it, was pretty much 100% closed, and the only life we encountered was an aged gentleman slowly filling a cement mixer, so -

- we gave up, walked back the way we came and then and headed off down the (apparently only other) street in town (the high street), first up passing the "Lemon Garden", not a restaurant (as it appears to be), but (in fact) a "Barbeque Collection"...whatever that may be... ;) Then past lots of other small shops (all tourist stuff), restaurants and bars (it might actually look quite nice at the height of the season, but with half the places closed and the rest completely empty, it was a bit like walking through a ghost town)...

- spotted a lovely blue 1303s beetle (that actually looked like it had seen quite a lot of investment at some stage, most of the cars here look like they have been in at least one accident)-

- and then we found the first really good reason to actually visit Acharavi - the supermarket - it's actually a proper sized affair, packed out with locals (good sign, even if they don't understand how to queue) and the prices were absolutely rock-bottom, I got a large bottle of island fresh extra virgin olive oil which I placed next to the largest bottle of Ouzo in the world (ever) in the picture above just for comparisons sake...not sure you would even be able to lift it, let alone drink it! ;)

- the second really good reason to pay a visit to town is on one of the little roads to the beach, clearly signposted from the main road is one of the best little Olive wood workshops we found and it was also one of the cheapest, Flyingpops bought a shoe-box sized carved Olive wood VW Beetle (with working doors) for about £3! It even came with free authentic cobwebs... ;)

Just towards the end of our walk (not far on from the supermarket actually) we started to see some interesting old architecture, but by then we really had to stop exploring and go back to meet the coach...so, an interesting little place, for about two hours, but it would probably be more bearable in high season... ;)

Corfu Insects, how to avoid bites and stings...

"So many tourists, so little time"...well, quite...being careful sort of folk, we read up extensively before we went out to Corfu, and one of the things that stuck out quite significantly was that there is quite a problem (one that is starting to creep into the UK) with mosquitoes, especially in the Blue Bay Escape Resort thanks to the fact that it is situated just off a huge, still lake (this one here) -

- during the day, absolutely no problems, didn't see a single one (apparently they only hunt at night), never saw a single one in the night time either, however, one night I was definitely blessed with a visit, when I foolishly neglected to spray DEET spray (we got it from Boots the Chemist, it's the one in the silver spray can, although we had to ask the Pharmacist in our local store) and managed to leave the tiny window in the bathroom open (whoops)...the next morning I woke up with about 7 bites, including one on my cheek...nice...Any bites you *do* get, treat them as soon as you notice the itch with pyrethrum spray (which you can also get from Boots, handily enough)...anyway, at this time of year (at least) you can pretty much forget the mozzies if you spray DEET a few times a day (it even still works fine if you spray it on your clothes, as it works by hiding you in a cloud of insect invisibility chemicals, they will literally fly right past you and on to the next tempting target never knowing you were ever there) oh and remember to close the windows (obviously) as even the 50% spray will run out before morning, and the little blighters are good for 10km per night (which is a lot of turns around a tiny apartment)...

...now, Ants...Ants don't bother me at all, but if they *do* get to you, the ones you will encounter around here are some of the biggest I have ever seen (bigger than the leaf cutter ants in the zoo) and they were all over the back of the pool area - at times it was very, very difficult not to end up with them all over the bottom of your flip-flops (poor little things)...however, they had no interest in any of the drinks or food, nor in climbing any of the sunbeds, seeming perfectly content to collect small bits of vegetable matter, like their zoo-dwelling cousins...

...Last, but definitely not least - wasps (and the odd 1" long hornet!)...these charming little fellows were almost omnipresent, exploring *everything* and in *vast* numbers, zoom in on the picture above and you will see one of the many traps the hotel staff leave around (without making any apparent impact)...however, while they were definitely curious, they also knew *exactly* what they were after, and unlike English wasps they were *totally* disinterested in beer (hurrah!)...don't get me wrong, they certainly checked everything out, but they actually only stopped for any great length of time to consume two things -

1) Sugar in a liquid form (any soft drink)
2) Meat (I could *hear* the crunching noise as they tore the flesh from the bones of my BBQ leftover)

- so if you left them while they sniffed your beer, ice cream, foot, (whatever) in no more than 15 seconds they had discovered it wasn't sugar or meat, and off they flew...

However, my expert tip (if you absolutely *must* have a soft drink) is that the empty ice cream tubs (from the pool bar) make a perfect seal over the top of the glasses they dish out there...problem solved... ;)