London 2012

We've just had our London 2012 experience all in one night! With near front-row seats for over three hours of top-level athletics, which culminated in a historic 100m final victory for Usain Bolt!

As expected, a packed house saw men's high-jumpers, women triple-jumpers, men hammer-throwers, women 400 metre runners & hurdlers and men 1.5k runners and 3k steeple-chasers, sometimes all happening at the same time! It was tricky sometimes for the high-jumpers to get out of the way of the runners, but I guess they're used to it(?).

There were massive roars whenever a Team GB'er participated and, especially, were crowned Gold Medalists (long jump & 10k). We had a ball and will always remember the moment Bolt crossed the line to win Gold and the stadium erupted with 80,000 cameras all flashing within a few seconds. Hopefully the photos below and videos linked above capture some of the atmosphere!

A packed house!

Happy at the end

And even David Miliband turned up!

Bollywood comes to Shad Thames!

Last week while walking home from work (at 10pm!), I was surprised to find the seating area outside our flat had been converted into a movie set.

Amongst the dozens of extras sitting at dining tables, there were two bright floodlights shining down onto a couple sitting at a table overlooking Tower Bridge. I didn't recognise either of them, but I guessed from the people standing around them that they might be Bollywood actors.

I asked a guy (who I also guessed was from India) if he knew who they were and he immediately smiled and responded "That's John Abraham and Deepika Padukone". I asked if they are big and he said "yeah, around 500 million followers!". He also said the film is called Desi Boyz, a "predictable" story about a guy living the city life.

Judging from the movie set, it's going to be pretty cheezy but entertaining enough. It should be, given that Abraham is earning anywhere from 3 crores (or $70m) per movie!

Here are a couple of 'paparazzi' pics (second shoot planed for this Wednesday "during daylight hours along Shad Thames street"!!)...

Cornwall

We've just returned from a week in Cornwall and already miss being there. The fresh air, the friendly people, the fantasic food. Every day had wonderful memories to bring back to "same old" London, more of which will be shared on our new blog, KW-squared. In the meantime, below are a view snaps from the trip.

Wata was calm in the car...

While Kumo was a lot more adventurous.

The view from our bedroom window was breathtaking...

... as were various places we visited while we were there.

And the 300-mile journey was actually a lot easier than going to the Lake District last year!

Jersey Boys

My life after New York returned to New York, well New Jersey, last week when I saw the enthralling musical Jersey Boys with my parents and Aunt and Uncle visiting from Australia (who broke all the rules and as our guests treated Kyoko and I to tickets!). Through comedy and some very emotional songs, the show tells the story of how Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons started out 50 years ago. For me anything this old is usually categorised as "classical" and includes at least a violin or a piano, but this was the exception. Almost all of the songs sounded every bit as fresh and original as anything being sung today. In fact any re-release, like this one would probably do well, not least because the generation of people who are most likely to want to hear it won't know how to download (yet!).

Below are some memories from the evening.

Engaged!!

Today I finally popped the question to Kyoko, and she said "yes!!"

My plan worked out perfectly.

We had lunch at The Rib Room in West London, to celebrate Kyoko's birthday, so she didn't suspect a thing.

As always, we ordered the house special Aberdeen Angus steak...



... which was as delicious as it looked!

Then as we waited for the dessert menu, the manager brought over a giant oyster shell, saying it was a birthday gift...



... however, there was a little surprise waiting at the bottom, which caught Kyoko totally by surprise, causing her to sob so much, she couldn't even hear me asking her "will you marry me?", so I asked again and this time she heard me and said "yes!!".

I was so relieved to get it over with and within minutes Kyoko was sharing her news with the rest of the world...



... as I'm doing now.

I hope you can all find love and happiness as I have.

Summer Holiday, Part 3: Milan

A week in Milan was easily the highlight of the summer holiday. We spent the first half in the city, visiting all the famous sites including The Duomo, The Last Supper and The Galleria.

For the second half we were by Lake Maggiore, for the wedding of Kyoko's friends Dario and Cristina. The setting could not have been any better. The food was excellent (the wedding cake must be seen to be believed!), the weather perfectly warm and sunny and the atmosphere was always friendly and peaceful. The difficult part will be going back to work next week!

Some photos are below, the rest are here.


Us outside the Duomo


Us standing by Lake Maggiore on the wedding day


(Almost) everyone outside the church in the woods


"The" cake

Our pan-European tour

Summer Holiday, Part 2: Bournemouth

The final part of the "England" bit of the holiday took us to Bournemouth, where the weather was (relatively) less wet than it was in the Lake District but much more windy. This meant nobody (except us and a few surfer dudes) were on the beach. Still, the salty air was refreshing and it felt great to wake up to a view of the sea each morning. Hopefully the weather in Milan next week will be more inviting...

Me looking cool? More like freezing cold!!

Kyoko enjoying the view from the bedroom balcony

Two OAPs (aka Mum and Dad)

The one pointing to the sea says "Toilet" (??)

Where are all the people in July?!?

The route so far