Disney's Star Wars!

Oh my goodness...can it be true?  George Lucas sells Star Wars to Disney - LOTS of new movies in the works - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20146942

Free Good Food App!

Quick!  If you have an Android device you can grab the whole BBC Good Food App and all the recipe packs completely for free if you go here right now...!  Lots of Christmas goodies on there too... ;)

Pumpkin time!

So this year, Thomas actually *grew* his own pumpkin (over at Nanny and Grandads), it's been sat on the kitchen table now for a couple of weeks waiting for the right moment to get the knives out (and today was the day)!  Despite spending a good while pretty adamant that we were to do a (Nintendo) "Mario pumperkin Daddy!" when it came time to ask Thomas today he decided (after browsing the internet for ideas) that a "Pumpking"-style scary smile was the perfect choice (phew!) -


- so we made a "lid" by cutting an angled hole in the top, reached inside and scooped out all the loose flesh and seeds -

- carefully setting all the seeds aside for later on, decided on the final design together -

- and got on with the cutting!

Meanwhile, we popped the cleaned pumpkin seeds into salty boiling water for ten minutes then roasted them in a 200 degree oven for 15-20 minutes-

- when cooked you can eat them whole (they are *so* crunchy and delicious), once we had managed to find some tea lights (and the sun had set by this time also) we were able to give our Pumpking a trial run (all ready for Wednesday)!!  Happy Halloween!

Off to the Science Museum...

...someone is *rather* excited!!

Red Dwarf X Poster

...(singing) Oh I have *hiiiigh* hopes, I have *hiiiigh* hopes...! ;)

A lovely trip to Blackheath...

Well, that's the second time now, work a bit late, just a little bit...the sort of little bit that makes you think you might *just* make your normal train (if you really hurry)...trotted as quick as I could to Charing Cross (through the throng, cursing the long wait on the traffic lights), look up and spot a train leaving in one minute put on an extra burst of speed and just make it as the doors are closing...sit down, all smug (if a little puffed out) and then feel my smile drain away as we pull straight through London Bridge without stopping, passing my waiting connection sitting on platform 12...next stop? Blackheath...even further away than Lewisham (and in completely the wrong direction to get me home)...still, spotted this interesting sign on the railway bridge there when I was crossing over to wait for a train to take me all the way back to London Bridge to have another go at getting home! Less haste, more speed...!

Poppy "talking"...

You know it's funny, when I sat down to write this little bit of text I had a deja vu moment...a google or two later and I found this post that I wrote when Thomas was about nine months old...and actually (apart from the messy nappy bit) I could have written those exact words about Poppy, her nappies are much more civilised as a rule (or perhaps I am just more used to nappies per se)...Poppy isn't often very quiet, perhaps a *little* quieter than Thomas was, but most situations are punctuated by enthusiastic expressions of 'EHH!' and 'AH!!' as she joins in with the conversation, yells very loudly (meaning) 'More please Daddy' when eating...although (one thing Thomas didn't do) is to amuse by very occasionally by answering 'YEAH' (perfectly pronounced) in response to questions...anyway, right back on track - just yesterday (and continued this morning) she has (satisfyingly) started saying 'DADADA' (just as Thomas did) although, if my dates are to be believed, about a month earlier than he... ;) If she continues to follow suit developmentally then the next thing we can look forward to is 'DUCK' followed by (of all things for a second word) 'GAAARDEN'...to be perfectly honest though, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was 'SHOES!' - her favourite thing to chew on at the moment (bar nothing)... ;)

We have two butterflies!

And one very excited Thomas asking all sorts of intelligent questions such as why do they have eyes on their wings and telling us they had to bite out of the cocoon ..he wants to hold them but we encouraged him to feed them instead!

Their names ... Peppa and George!

I wonder if the other three will hatch!

Sunrise over Earlswood

Caterpillars turn into chrysalis

So we moved the caterpillars into their new home on Saturday ... Very interesting to watch them and can't wait for butterflies now

The real Diagon Alley...

...(as it turns out) isn't actually very far from my office! Just up Charing Cross road (walking up from Trafalgar Square), on the right hand side of the road, before you hit Leicester Square tube...
...is Cecil Court (origin of which dates back to the early 17th Century), which was revealed to be the real world "location" (and perhaps inspiration) for Diagon Alley (in the Harry Potter universe)-

-and you can sort of see why, peering in through the windows-




-and looking at the names of the shops-

- I can easily picture Harry and Hermione bustling up here, dodging folk shopping for dusty books or maps and ducking behind a rusty iron gate into one of the secret ways that leads into the wizarding world... ;)

Day 10 ... The fat caterpillars ...

Are now chrysalides (well 4 of them are!) It won't be long and they will be moving into their new home...

Day 7 ... Caterpillars are 1 week old!

Caterpillars are now about 5cm long... Literally doubled in size overnight!

Very fat, very hairy and a bit creepy if you ask me!!

Wimpy Bar Leicester Square

Wow...little bit of urban archeology here (and from my lifetime too)...the building work in Irving Street (not actually Leicester Square itself but one of the pedestrian walks into it) has revealed an old 'Wimpy Bar' shop sign...that means, at *some* point, Wimpy was (a) cool enough and (b) successful enough to front a store at a major London tourist spot...thinking about it, I do actually seem to remember there being a *massive* (and really busy) Wimpy at Picadilly Circus (roughly where Barclay's Bank/Boots are now)...I used to go there with my folks and have (dreadfully thin) deep fried fish and chips (with malt vinegar in a sachet)...loved it for some reason! ;)

The nearest one to Leicester Square now is (urm...) in Shadwell (33 minutes on public transport, with 2 changes)...can't see myself making the trip though, not even for a bender in a bun... ;)

Day 6 ... 5 big fat hairy caterpillars

About 3cm in length now!!

Day 3 ... The caterpillars are getting big fat & hairy!

Caterpillars day 2 ... 'they got lost mummy'

Had a scary moment this morning when I could not find the caterpillars.. Having asked Thomas about 6 times (each time with me getting crosser) he simply said 'they got lost mummy' ...
5 frantic minutes later wondering where on earth Thomas has put them I spot them on the window sill ... Fink had moved them!!

Day 1 with the caterpillars

They seem to be very hungry and have grown to 1cm already after only 1 night! Thomas wants to feed them chocolate cake and cherry pie like in the book!!!

5 tiny caterpillars...

arrived safely in the post yesterday.... All very excited here to watch them grow : )

Signs from the Olympics

Big advertising billboards visible from Platforms 5/6 at London Bridge (roadblocked for the occasion)...

...one of the slightly scary rollercoaster--queue style approximate wait signs at Charing Cross (that never got used, as far as I am aware)...Woo Hoo!  In only 30 short minutes I'm going to be ON A TRAIN!

...and the current 'Thank you' sign to commuters for all coming in early or taking a couple of weeks holiday...Paralympics next! ;)