Rain, rain, go away...

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Originally uploaded by Schmodt.

...or don't go away, actually.

Because this photo might not be the best composition in the world ever, but my god does it sum up this weekend just gone.

The rain may have stopped the cricket (though not for long enough to dry off and dust down the England cricket team's hopes of victory over the Aussies), but it didn't stop us.

This is a photo of my barbeque, which continued despite the rain, and produced some magnificent food, and a certain amount of jolly inebriation.

Barbeques should.

So much has happened in London in the past three weeks - it hardly bears repeating, but well, Olympics, bombs, more bombs, G8, Live8, Ashes, you get the idea - it's worth remembering the things that matter, and carry on regardless:

friends, home, rain.

Bungle boogie

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Originally uploaded by Schmodt.

It's so unfair, isn't it? You get a hilarious photo of someone, that they'd rather no one see, and you go and publish it to the whole world.

London was subject to attack again today. So on this day of sad events, and serious discussions, and recriminations, and consideration of whether going to war on the Arab world might have led to some Muslims being a bit pissed off with Britain...

...I'd like to show off this photo of my friend, Bungle, doing his 'slut face' (you make the connection, I can't) in my lounge at a Barbeque last night.

No, we are not afraid. (Although I'm prepared to admit we shouldn't have attacked Iraq.) However, we are certainly not afraid. In fact, we are holding barbeques, and doing bizarre slut faces, to be honest.

More photos from the barbie (but you'll have to beg me to see the photo of Sian's slut face) at my flickr photostream

This be the girl

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Originally uploaded by Schmodt.

Me and Drell moved house recently.

She's here, with her sword. Yes. She has a sword. She doesn't use it on me.

Drell's a compulsive sportswoman. She runs, and rides a horse, and she can fence.

She wants to become a professional athlete, I think, and there's no reason why she shouldn't.

Currently she's torn between marathons and swordplay. This is a choice I will never have to make. Am I missing out? I don't think so.

But am I?

Good slap needed

You may have noticed I missed a few days here. This was probably pretty damned stoopid of me, because, like, they were the most important news days in London EVER.

So sue me.

Please.

We won! We Won!

Unbelievable. No one in London was expecting to win the bid for the 2012 Olympics. The Brits are so good at losing things: this was just going to be another one to add to the list. But we won it. London is the best city in the world to be living intoday. The morning started cloudy but, and I swear this is true, the clouds have parted, the sun's out, and the pubs are calling. Well done, Lord Coe! Well done, Barbara Cassani! Well done all! Let's get pisswed. As my friend Chris said this afternoon: "la la la la la la. On n'ecoute rien, hein! Parles-tu avec le main, M. le grenouille. "

Go on, London2012

The big day is here. The day we've all been waiting for. Not becauseof the G8, not because of the possibility of an end to world poverty.Oh no.It's the day the host of the 2012 Olympics will be announced in Singapore.The IOC is voting now. The BBC's blog from the voting centre is excellent.We're on tenderhooks here. The Wembley & Kingsbury Times is ontenderhooks - it's my local title which is following the bid (becausethey've got the new national stadium, you see).I can't stay. But I'll be back.We must beat the French. We must beat the French.

Moving, we're so moving

Today I'm working from home. There's a project I'm working on for my manager that he doesn't want anyone asking questions about. Thing is, my girlfriend and I are currently in the middle of moving house. So the place is a mess. It's carnage in here. Amid the boxes and bags strewn around the floor with the guts of the weekend papers, all screwed up for packing, are the bare essentials for life: Plugs, TV, kettle, toaster, coffee maker, two bottles of wine. Goodbye, sweet flat. You have been good to us. But we're off to a better place. This morning PCs on ebay cost £380.At Curry's they cost £475+.Savastore still hasn't sorted out my digital camera. Life is not up to scratch.

Yellow London

Today’s the day after London’s busiest weekend ever, in which I missed everything while moving house. For those who have been asleep, I missed (in ascending order of importance):
- The men’s finals at Wimbledon
- The women’s finals at Wimbledon (I stood to make £24 if Davenport had won. She didn’t. This tells you something about my luck.)
- Live8
- The final of the Natwest one-day international series between England and Australia at Lord’s
- Hornsey Carnival

I did, on the other hand, manage to make it to Alex Brown’s housewarming party just east of Brick Lane in Bethnal Green.My girlfriend has been chiding me for a while about being annoying while drunk. So I was on best behaviour for Alex’s party. I reckon it all went off pretty well, but it turns out I disappeared for 45minutes when my girlfriend said she wanted to leave, and then introduced myself to the taxi driver on the way home. Personally I don’t see much wrong with that. Maybe it’s something that comes with age and responsibility. Why shouldn’t I be a bit stoopid when I’m drunk? I guess it’s the drip-drip effect. She’s had three years of silliness to put up with, and it’s probably wearing a little thin. Then again, I’ve been hanging out with me for 28 years, and I still like me.