Archive from the Main Page

March 05

Hi all. Nothing much is new with me at the moment. I am finally getting around to my New York trip at the end of the month so I can pick up my replacement camera and lenses (which were stolen last year in a burglary).
I am still trying to figure out how to add images into my RSS feed. I have added my Flickr feed, but that's not quite the same.
I am also kind of looking for an easier method to keeping this site up-to-date. Suggestions?
Here is a family portrait from October 2007. Have a good day!

Feb 01

I've seen this done on the web, so I thought I'd do the same. Here are my favourite pictures from 2007:

Flower in Regent's Park

This picture I took on the first day I was trying out a new lens, a LensBaby 3G. What I like about this picture is the extreme Bokeh and the colours.
Eleanor in the Garden

I took this picture in a lovely garden during a birthday celebration. What I like about this picture is the tender moment it conveys.
Mike

This picture was taken in Venezuela at the Santa Terresa rum distillery. I was in the country to celebrate a wedding of some good friends. The picture is of Mike, the groom's father as we waited for the tour to start. What I like about this picture is the emotion in Mike's face.
Coliseum

This picture was taken at sunset in Rome. What I like about the picture is how the sunset bounces off of the Coliseum and the colours it produces.
Trevi Fountain

This picture was taken at Trevi Fountain in Rome. What I like about this photo is the colours and the fact that in spite of there being a huge crowd at the site, I was able to capture the whole fountain without people.
Guardpost

This picture is of a series of posts in Prague. What I like about this photo is the interesting subject and the Bokeh.
Masks

This is a picture of a series of masks at El Hatillo in Caracas. What I like about this photo is colours.
Ocamare

I took this picture when we went out to Ocamare in Venezuela. What I like about this photo is the simple beauty of nature that it conveys.
Caught!

This was another picture taken at the birthday party. What I like about this photo is the expression of surprise and the innocence.
The Cross Guns Pub

I took this on a ramble around Bath What I like about this photo is the look of the pub and how it reflects in the water.

link to the flickr set

Jan 31

Hi, I thought I'd do some shameless self promotion today, and as this is my site: why not! A few weeks ago the people at Shmap contacted me and said that a photo of mine had been short listed for their Rome travel guide. What is Schmap you say? Well here's the blurb from their website:
Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The innovative technology behind Schmap Guides also lets end users publish their own ‘schmaps’ (to share trip itineraries, local reviews and more), and powers a popular range of Schmap Widgets, displaying maps with content and event schedules for travel, sports, concert tours and more on a fast-growing network of websites and blogs. Founded in 2004, Schmap is privately owned and based in Carrboro, North Carolina

Schmap Guides

Schmap’s series of digital travel guides integrates dynamic maps with useful background reading, suggested tours, photos from the traveling public and reviews by local correspondents (for sights and attractions, hotels, restaurants, bars, parks, theaters, galleries, museums and more) to profile 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Last week they said that the picture is in and this is the one that they chose:

Palazzo Venezia

Here is the link to the page with the pic: Palazzo Venezia And if you want to see more pictures from my trip they are here.

I also noticed that I have lost a few updates from last year, but there's nothing much I can do.

Jan 30

I have no idea where to start for this update. I didn't travel over the holidays, but I had a good time in London. Since the last update, I've pretty much been working (except for the quick trip to Canada in October).
Some pictures from the holidays:

Boxing Day Dim Sum.

As always (when i spen Christmas in London) I met up with Tom et al for our Traditional Boxing Day dim sum. this year saw us return to the Royal China and it was a great break from the normal fare that is around Holidays.

The group at the Royal China

Christmas Party.

On the 27th I met up with another group of friends for dinner and drinks. We had the meal in an Italian joint at Market Square and then retired to The Phoenix for a few pints.

2007

April 23

Well work has been busy lately. I am currently working most of the week down in Bath (and if I remember, I’ll take some pictures of this beautiful city whist I’m there).
I did manage to get away for Easter this year. I ended up on a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong, which was fantastic!

highlights of the trip: Walking the Dragon’s Back, Crossing the harbour on the Star Ferry (many times), Going up to the Peak at night, Stanley market, Wanchai food markets at night, The jade market and the bars at Lang Kwai Fong. If you’ve never been I highly recommend it.

More pictures here

March 7

I was looking at the archives today, and I think that I've accidentally deleted some entries. Oops. I guess I'll have to try and remember what I added.

On another note, my flat was burgled on Saturday. They only raided the bedroom, but they managed to take pretty much all of my camera equipment! This means that until I get that sorted, I won’t be taking any more pictures. They also stole all of my cufflinks (save one pair) a laptop and some other electronic equipment. Oh well, hopefully my insurance company doesn’t screw me over.

BTW, does anyone out there know how to create an RSS feed? I was thinking that that would be a good way for people to monitor my site without having to constantly visit (especially as I am rubbish at updates now-a-days). If you know how to do it drop me an e-mail

Now for a few updates (some are old but lost)
July - Russia

I'm pretty sure I deleted this post. Long story short, it was an awesome trip.

More pictures here
December - Alberta & Ontario

I took off quite a bit of time for Christmas holidays this year. I first went to Alberta to visit family which was great (though my sister and her husband made some flimsy excuse not to come and see me). JK, they had a good reason. After Alberta I went and visited a friend in Ontario. The first day I was there I had terrible stomach flu, but other than that the trip was quite good.

A few pictures:

More pictures here and here.

November 24

Right, I know my updates have been rubbish for a while now. I have no excuse. I am trying to automate a blogger onto the index page, so that I can easily update the site, but I haven’t had the time to really investigate. When I figure out what to do the updates will be a little more frequent.

I guess I will work in pseudo-chronological order...

September

In August I travelled down to Somerset with Ros for a long weekend. Getting outside of the M25 can be quite refreshing, and Somerset is very picturesque. Spent some time in the Mendips, went to Cheddar Gorge, spent some time in Dunster Castle, drove through Exmoor National Park and visited Lynton & Lynmouth. Excellent scenery and well worth a stop by.

Cheddar Gorge

Exmoor Pony

Exmoor National Park

Dunster Castle - Flower

More pictures here

September

I went to London Open House again. This time I visited the Bank of England, HM treasury, Royal Society of Medicine, Wigmore Hall and RIBA. Excellent day, but tiring.

HM Tresury Stairwell
Royal Society of Medicine - Staircase
Wigmore Hall

More pictures here
September & Novemeber

Two Network Canada events, Alumni Night (pictures) and The Shark god (pictures).
September

Finally made it to the London Zoo. I was actually un-impressed, perhaps zoos are really for the young. I think I prefer to see my wildlife in the wild.

More pictures here
October

In October, I had an exiles PIG dinner in London with three other Fijis. We started the day going to the Charlton Watford football match (0-0 draw, on of the worst I’ve ever seen), followed that up with some Thai, went for a cigar afterwards and finished the night off at my place playing some poker.

Group pic at Bsubas
Playing some poker

More pictures here

January 19

OK,a load of updates today...
The brother-in-law was in London at the beginning of January for a teacher’s Conference. How does a teacher who teaches a class of grade 3 to 9 get to go to London for a conference you ask? Good question, I have no idea myself. Anyways I took him to the Arsenal vs. Cardiff City FA cup match (third round).
Here’s a pic:

Eli in front
of Highbury
When you haven’t updated in a while it is tough to decide what to post. The next event I’ll talk about was the Canadian-UK Chamber of commerce Christmas dinner. This in itself isn’t much to talk about, simply a sit-down dinner with a bunch of Brits and Canadians. One thing that was out of the ordinary was that the guest speakers at the event were Bill Clinton and Kim Campbell. For those of you non-Canadians, Kim Campbell bio here (new window) was the PM of Canada for 8 months (if that) in the early nineties.

Anyways, the event was pretty good, and Bill spoke for a good 45min, off-the-cuff, and he was pretty impressive. By far the best public speaker I’ve ever seen live.

Bill Clinton delivering his speach
Dave, Chris, Ros & Carmen

December is always a time for parties. This past one was no different. Every day in the three weeks leading up to Christmas there was something going on. Needless to say, it was fun but tiring. Here are a few pics of the festivities:

Jon, Des & Me
at Jenn's Party

Patsy, Chris & Pat
at Chris and Pat's Party

David, John, John & Chris
at the Vic

Finally have a few pictures of Christmas around Oxford Circus. Some pictures of the Christmas lights on Oxford and Regent Street and a pic of snow, which fell on 27 December.

Take care

Oxford Street Lights
John Lewis
Snow at Foley Street

2005

November 6

Once again I am particularly tardy in my updates. So I thought I would cover off a few little things: Architecture Open House and the Network Canada Alumni night. Both events were in September, so you know the update is late.

This year at the Open house we started off at the Llyod’s Building; aka the giant cappuccino machine. The outside of the building is very unique as you can see below. I have to give credit to the guys who Okayed the build, as this type of building is the last thing you’d expect to see from a stodgy old insurance company. That’s where this building starts to fall down. Inside they continue to keep the deep stained wood furniture and atmosphere, which simply doesn’t fit with the modern look of the rest the building.

We also stopped off at touch London, which has a scale model of the city. The model shows all of the buildings in the square mile, but it also has models of all of the approved builds; so it is a brief glimpse of what the city will look like in the future. The rest of the stops were not as memorable: the Guildhall and Unilever house build site. Here are a few pictures:

Lloyd's Building Exterior	Lloyd's Building Interior	Tom, Ash and Michelle on the elevator
Touch London - Ash, Barbara, Tom, Dave & Michelle	Touch London Model	Unilever House

More pictures here (new window).

Alumni Night was an event put on by Network Canada at Canada House, Trafalgar square. There was a large varied group at the event and it was a great time (even if I was selling tickets for most of the night). Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Nancy, Erinn, Chris,
Jon & Jill
NC Cup winners
Lisa, Joanne,
Nadine & Ciara

More pictures here (new window).

October 10

A quick update today. I’ve been quite busy this past few weeks. There was our Corporate Summer Party, a few leaving/birthday evenings, Architectural open house (pictures to follow soon), a Vandoos event and tomorrow is the Network Canada Alumni Night! Nevertheless, here are a few pictures from the Summer Party.

Jonathan, Paul,
Karyn, Paul & Me
Kully, Stuart,
Carl & Bruce

It was a blast!, a lot more pictures here (many were not taken by me, as the camera disappeared many times throughout the night).

August 27

Another long time since an update. Where to start?

In July I was in Canada. I went and visited the family in Slave Lake, which was good. My sister and her husband came up from the Hat so I got to see all of the immediate family. I even got out on the Lake for some fishing a few days!

Dad on the boat
The fish were jumping into the boat!
Nicole & Eli

More pictures here (new window).
Whilst in Canada, I also managed to meet up with a bunch of my mates in Edmonton. It was good to see people I hadn’t been around for awhile, and there was a bunch of new faces as well.

Trav, Me & Chris
Curt
Owen

More pictures here (new window).
Towards the end of July there was a couple of evenings saying goodbye to work colleagues. As ever, I had my camera and here are some highlights:

Fi's Leaving Do:

Fons, Ali, David & Fi
Me, Catherine, Charlotte,
Lisa, Kate & Karyn
Jon and Tim

More pictures here (new window).

Barbara's Leaving Do:

Laura, Amy,
Jenny & Margaret
Rozz & Barbara
Sarah, Barbara & Bryan

More pictures here (new window).
There’s some other stuff that I should put up, but this will do for today. Take care!

June 25

OK here are some very tardy updates!!

Right where to start? I guess I’ll talk about my trip to Paris with Ryan over the May long weekend. One of my mates from University was in town visiting, and we decided to head to Paris for a few days. So after a short journey on the EuroStar we arrived in central Paris.

We were met by our gracious hosts Natasha and Steven. After dropping off our luggage, we went out and had a few glasses of larger in, of all places, a Canadian bar. Unfortunately, Natasha sprained her ankle quit badly that evening, which had her house-ridden for most of the trip.

As Ryan and I had both been to Paris before, we decided that we’d wander around and enjoy Paris, rather than race to see all of the tourist traps. This proved to be quite a good idea, as the days were filled with food and relaxation.

We did decide to do one touristy thing and visit Versailles. Unfortunately the day we chose had the palace closed so we were limited to the gardens, which are spectacular!

Overall, the trip was great. We had nice warm weather and the food and drink was quite enjoyable. Here are a few pictures of our wanderings:

Natasha & Steve	Ryan & Me	Me, Ryan & Steve
Hôtel de Ville	Ryan - Mariage Frères	Notre-Dame
Versailles - Allée d'Eau	Versailles - Me	Versailles - Bosquet de l'Obélisque

More pictures here (new window).

Next up, the May Martini Mixer at Canada House.

Towards the end of May, Network Canada had a spy-themed event at Canada House. I decided that most blokes would put on their DJ’s and go as the Bond-style spy. I decided to go as Dr. Evil.

It was a lot of work, but it was a great time. Here are some Pictures:

Everyone is Having Fun!
Picture of the
NC Board at the MMM
Action at the
Charity Casino

More pictures here (new window).

2004

November 21

Next up was the Architecture Open house. This annual event enables Londoners to walk around some and admire buildings that are normally closed off to the public. One of my mates, Tom set up an itinerary and a group of us walked around the city and admired the buildings.

The first building on the list was the Swiss Re. or as it is affectionately now in London the Gherkin. As with most of the modern buildings in London (and most of the world) it was designed by Foster. I arrived at the entrance at 8:30 (the building was due to open at 10) and there were already around 100 people in the queue! Needless to say, by the time people were being led into the building the line-up was breathtaking. It circled the building, ran along the entire city block and began to turn back on itself (there were probably around 5-8 thousand people waiting).

Gherkin:

Swiss RE - Exterior 01	Swiss RE - Exterior 06 panoramic (new window)	Swiss RE - Exterior 05
On the observation deck - group	Our intrepid leader	Me

The problem with taking so long to update the site is that I tend to forget things. After the amazing Swiss RE building we went to the coopers Hall. At the time it was ok, but it really was just a glorified house.

Next we travelled to the Drapers’ Hall. We didn’t know that one needed a booking to do the tour, but Tom used his charm and squeezed us into the last one. The hall is amazing! One can tell that they have a lot of money and it shows. Also, it was pretty cool that they actually used the furniture. At one point we were sitting in the main dining hall on chairs that were 100+ years old!

After the Drapers we checked out another guild hall in the City, the Mercers. Basically it was like the Drapers, only less impressive. The last building we went to before hitting a pub for a few pints was the Haberdashers’ hall. In stark contrast of the other guild halls, this one is quite new and modern. I enjoyed the look of the building, but is didn’t have the historical feel of the others.

A few more picture of the day:

Coopers' Hall panoramic (new window)	Drapers' Hall panoramic (new window)	Drapers' Hall - Stained Glass Door
Habberdashers' Hall	Mercers' Hall	Me in the stairwell at the Habberdashers

Quite a few more pictures here (new window).

I also added three more wine reviews

November 18

Long time no Update!

Well I am finally getting around to updating the website, and I have a lot to cover. In fact I think I will split-up the update, so you can enjoy it in pieces.

First off was Proms in the Park. This year it was on 11 September and it was crazy cold. It rained in the afternoon, and the wind was something wicked. As you can see below, by the time the fireworks happened, it was freezing. On the plus side, the performances were good. The highlights were the Corrs and the xenophobic chants at the end, like Pomp and Circumstance, Royal Britannia, etc.

Here are a few pictures of the day:

Chris
Dave and Claire
It was sure cold!

September 5

Last month Network Canada hosted an Ultimate Frisbee and movie day. The event was held at Greenwich Royal Park and it was a blast. Having never played Ultimate Frisbee before, I was surprised at how physical and tiring it was. The game is quite fast and there is little time to rest.

Once daylight had retreated, we popped over the open air screening of Back to the Future. It was a free screening by Stella Artois and it was like being back in Canada going to the drive-in.

Here are a few pictures of the day

Some Pre-game Antics	Some of the action from the game	More in-game action
Group at the Movie 01		Group at the Movie 02

More pictures here (new window).

Last weekend, one of my mates from high school was in London. I hadn’t seen him in quite awhile so it was great to get the chance to catch-up, even if the visit was brief. I took him to the British Museum (as he was staying at Russell square) and also to the Wallace Collection (a personal favourite of mine.)

Asif in the British Museum
Me and Asif in
front of the Museum
Group Shot at the Pub

August 15

Well a lot of updates to get through today!

First off, at the last Vandoos event we went to the Zulu Bar just across the bridge from Putney. The original plan was to play some croquet in the park beside the pub, but the weather was very threatening. Regardless of that fact, I was late and the people were well into the drink by the time I arrived.

Group shot - John's
behind the mask.
A welcome improvment!
Group Shot 2

Recently there have been quite a few festivals and events in Soho. On the 13 July I wandered over to Soho square to watch some of the Jazz on the Streets. It was an incredible day and it was great to relax in the sun, read a book and listen to some cracking jazz.

Nick Hill Quartet 01
Nick Hill Quartet 02
This past Saturday I went to a British institution, the Great British Beer Festival. There was quite a bit of selection, and even though I was drinking half’s, there was a lot of different types of beer consumed. Located in the massive London Olympia, I was expecting more people, but maybe the reason why it didn’t feel too crowded was that it is a huge venue. Afterwards, Chris and I wandered around Kensington and met up with some friends for some much needed food.

Chris in front of
Christoffel Bier
Me

Last part of the update. On Wednesday evening, there was a leaving do at work. Three of our recruiters were leaving and decided to get together and have a big bash. It was a good time and it was good to get out with some co-workers to let off some steam.

Of course I took some pictures:

Me & Islay	Simon, Zena, Ruth, Jo	Paul, Fiona, Karyn
Simon, Me, Kully		Simon & Kully towards the end of the night

A few more pictures here (new window).

July 20

Last Wednesday I was in Edmonton and I had a chance to stop by the Fiji house. It turned out that Chris Feng, was hosting a get-together at the Sugar Bowl for Bosco Lo as a sort of pre-summer exile gathering. I decided to crash the event, and I got to see a bunch of old faces as well as some NIBS.

One of the best parts of the day was when I ran into Chris on the stairs, said hi and had to wait at least 10-15 seconds for a response (which ended up being, "What are you doing here!")

I took a couple of pictures, as I usually do and here they are:

A group shot early in the night
Chris and Me

July 18

I just got back from my trip to Canada, and my sister’s wedding. It was a busy trip, as I am sure you can imagine, but I had a great time.

The wedding was on the 10th in Medicine Hat. The ceremony was beautiful and came off without a hitch (thanks to me and Dylan.) Nicole looked amazing (as you might expect) and Eli didn’t look to bad himself

. My cousin Stephanie sang at the end of the wedding and her performance was inspirational. I didn’t even know she sang!

As you may except I took a few pictures a few of which are below:

Eli and Nicole kissing in the Limo

Mom showing Nicole the ruined (fake) wedding cake

Nicole and Eli at Sunset

My Gandma and me having a jello shot

The Groomsmen

I also played around with a few with Photoshop:

Eli and Nicole Kissing in the limo in Stained Glass

Nicole and Eli sunset picture - High Pass effect

Many more pictures here (new window).

June 28

Yesterday was the Olympic torch relay in London. It was the first time in 56 years that the torch has passed through London and to celebrate London through a huge open air concert. I’m sure some of the reason why there was such a shindig was that London is short-listed for the 2012 Olympics.

Oh, and by the way I was there!

The concert took place on The Mall, right beside Buckingham Palace. There was around 75,000 people at the concert, which made for an amazing atmosphere. It rained on and off most of the day (the concert went from 14:00 to around 20:30,) but it never poured down and it wasn’t that unpleasant.

Some of the bands that performed were Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne, Razorlight, Will Young, Emma Bunton and “the godfather of soul” James Brown. Overall it was an awesome experience, imagine what would happen if London were to host the Olympics!

The Stage

Me with the stage
in the background

A ridiculous self
Portrait

On Stage -
Rachel Stevens

More pictures here (new window).

June 19

Last Sunday, I was at The Clapham Grand watching the England France Match. 90 minutes of sheer bliss, followed by 3 minutes of agony.

Me John and Lisa
John and Andy
John and Lisa
John, Susan and Andy

A few more pictures here (new window).

A bunch of Canadians watched Calgary in Game 6 of the Stanley cup finals. When the game finished, we emmerged from Bodeans to daylight, so we decided to wander around. We eventually ended up at Regents park, after stopping off at an off-licence. It was great seeing the morning runners pass by as we drank our beer!

Resting on the
journey to Regent's Park

The group at the Park

Some of us were
a little worse for wear.

June 10

I went to the Birmingham Auto Show with Craig on the 31st. Overall it was a poor show and quite expensive. We did get to see the new Ford GT.

Me missing my Harley (on this Honda Clone)

Some girls at the show

A nice TVR (behind the girls)

New Ford GT

I took quite a few pictures of the show. They can be foundHere.(new window)

After the Auto show, Craig and I stopped over at Warwick Castle. Nice place, but it was a little crowded.

Me looking a fool wearing a helmet
Panoramic of the Castle Grounds
Craig attop on of the towers

As always more pictures here (new window).

Final part of the update. When Carl and Val were here we went to the Globe Theatre to watch Much Ado About Nothing. It was a little cold, but an enjoable event none the less.

Globe Theatre 01
Globe Theatre 02

May 24

Here are some pictures from an amazing Vandoos Pub Crawl

At the old Explorer
The first Pub of the night

The George

The Yorkshire Grey

Outside the Social
look at the size of the group now!

Want to see some more?Here you go (new window).

Carl and Val (my current visitors from Canada)

Carl and Val on
Embankment Bridge
I took my Canadian guests to the Keown testimonial last Monday. It was fantastic! The gunners "won" 6-0.

Here are a few Pictures:

Becks at Kickoff
Keown's missed penalty
Wrapup

here (new window)

January 23

I decided to catch-up on some of the photo's that I have ment to post so here I go:
Proms in the Park. Every year the BBC has the Proms, a classical music festival that lasts most of the summer. As a finale to the Proms, they have an outdoor performance in Hyde Park with fireworks to wrap it up.

Here are a few Pictures:

Jodie & Fiona
Group Shot
1
Group Shot
2
Fireworks
Walk for the Cure. This fall I walked around Hyde Park (15 Km) in support of breast cancer research. The walk was fun and some of the people dressed up.

Here are a few Pictures:

Pretty in Pink
Notice
Batman on the
side

Here are a few pictures that were taken this summer around Tower Bridge. There is a nice panoramic, some good pictures of the bridge itself and one with David Blane in the foreground (as it was that time of the year.)

London City Hall	Jodie on the stairwell in city hall	David Blane	Tower Bridge west face	Tower Bridge east face
Tower Bridge panoramic
Skyline from atop City Hall	Pudding Lane	Somerset House	Picadilly Circus	Eros Statue at Picadilly Circus

Liverpool Street	Anne at her house party	Group from the 2007 CAMERA London Beer Festival
Roof of the Baltic Restaurant in Southwark		Me, Chris and Colin at a NC Volunteer Event

Main page Archives

2008

Boxing Day Dim Sum.

Christmas Party.

2007

2005

2004

Long time no Update!

2003

Merry Christmas!

2002