aussies!

We were in Taro eating sushi on Sunday night when Li-Ann spotted Australian golden girl, Cathy Freeman, sitting at a neighbouring table. Eagle-eyed Li-Ann, who couldn't keep her eyes of Cathy all night, spotted Cathy's partner, Joel Edgerton (apparently he's an actor from The Secret Life of Us) sitting with her. I've just done some research on him and apparently he played Owen Lars in the new Star Wars movies! Much more exciting I reckon.

Say what?

Very entertaining story from the BBC site about language differences and language testing for new British citizens. Many new citizens from NZ and Australia are finding it most insulting to be asked to sit a language test before they are given passports!

Semi-detached

At Tate Britain on Sunday, we also loved Michael Landy's Semi-detatched, an installation which is basically just a recreation of his father's suburban house. The level of detail is quite incredible - it's a shell of a house but still with bricks, chimneys, windows etc. Quite surreal to see it in the setting of the main hall at the Tate.

martians

Went to Tate Britain yesterday afternoon to see the Art of the Garden exhibition and bought this cool Orla Kiely umbrella in the shop. When we exited the gallery, a woman was being interviewed by a television crew outside. When we were watching the news that evening, we saw footage of the woman, an art loss expert, being interviewed about the theft of The Scream. Our group was not in evidence wandering in the background.

take us out

I'm off to see Franz Ferdinand in October at Brixton. Tickets sold out really quickly so I had to get tickets on eBay. I've heard they're really good live - I just love their sharp clothes and their synchronised dance moves, reminiscent of the Shadows!

expats!

Went to see 'The Bourne Supremacy' at the weekend. Really enjoyable film, especially if you like car chases! One of the things we noticed though was that two of the baddies were Kiwis - Karl Urban and Marton Csokas. They both fitted in well as European killers, a far cry from their days on Shortland St!

bless

Just showing how long I've been living abroad is the strangeness of this story about the establishment of European Car Club in Timaru. To me, they're just normal cars, but I guess in NZ, Japanese and American cars are so much more prevelant and affordable!

preparing for emergencies

In efforts to make us suspicious of all our neighbours and ensure we know what the emergency numbers are, the government has put together a booklet which has been delivered to every household.

Much more amusing, and getting the government in a bit of a tizzy (ie the MOD rang the student who put it together and had a strong word with him) is this satirical effort.

more holidays

These bulletins will soon be coming at you from Croatia - I've just booked a week there the first full week in September and will probably base myself in Hvar. Will do a couple of days of diving but a bit more sitting around on beaches hopefully.

Konichi-wa

Don't you want to know your name in Japanese? This fabulous site tells you how to do so. Now I'll feel totally confident when walking into Don Zoko or Asakusa.

Muhairi funpusonu

a grand day out

Pleased to report that Fruitstock was a great success - cool jazzy tunes on the Main Stage and bangin' tunes in the Dance Tent. Not to mention great pies from Pie and fab cookies from Byron Bay Cookie Company. Temperatures were high and shade was at a premium but a good day was had by all!

speedy!

Life changing stuff! Have finally got a new computer at work which means that I don't waste an estimated half an hour a day waiting for my computer to log on and shut down. So I'm absolutely chuffed - probably in a year's time it will be awfully slow again and the campaign to get at the top of the company's 'Refresh' programme will begin again. We're all moving over to Windows XP which is very jazzy and I'm quite happy with.

local

Went with Simon to see a play called 'Hardcore' at the Pleasance Theatre round the corner from our house on Wednesday night. The play was about actors making a gay porn film and it was a little cliched but quite entertaining. Sadly there was no nudity.
The theatre has a gorgeous courtyard restaurant (necessary as we finally have a heatwave here in London!) and we dined using the special 'Dins and Show' menu beforehand. They advertised their chips as 'famous' and therefore I would like to confirm that they were lovely and urge anyone who's in the vicinity to try them.

number 3!

We're a bit disappointed that Annie's dropped to the third best Meryl Streep lookalike on People Say I Look Like. I just wish we could vote on the site!

glamour!

Had a very glamorous night last night when our team went out for drinks and dinner to farewell Tamsin, who's moved departments. First stop was Claridges, where we enjoyed luscious cocktails and Sharon Stone, en route to the Catwoman premiere, was spotted in the foyer. The hotel and the bars are beautiful, very art deco! Then we went on to the Criterion for dinner, which had the most fantastic gold mosaic ceiling. The food was not bad, even though my favourite dish, mussels, failed to live up to their promise (I guess they weren't NZ ones!).

far flung

Hello to Sue who's currently in Newport, Rhode Island, looking for work on a big exciting yacht!

gluttony!

As part of our monthly Recognition Awards (everyone gets three lottery tickets to hand out to people who have performed well / helped them, then the tickets go into a draw for prizes) I won a Fortnum & Mason's hamper. Not sure which one I'm getting, but I'm angling for the Bloomsbury! Should be a good contribution to upcoming picnics!

dip!

Had a lovely swim and picnic at the Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath on Saturday afternoon, one of the nicest days we've had so far this year. The water was very dark and a bit cold (20 degrees) but very refreshing! People swim all year round which is kind of crazy but apparently your body gets used to it.