kimbofo

Small world

In Tesco tonight doing my last-minute Sunday evening grocery dash, my brain a little switched off, I spy a woman in the distance wagging her finger at me as if to say "I know you".

I have no idea who she is, nor the young 20-something accompanying her.

As I get closer I still have no idea who she is, and I'm getting ready to say, "I think you've mistaken me for someone else".

Then she says my name in a broad Australian accent, and my brain starts processing memories from my long dim, distant past.

"I know your face, but I don't know your name," I say.

"Lorrae," she exclaims. "I'm staying in London with my niece."

Oh my. This is someone I haven't seen in more than 9 years. Someone who used to work with my father back in Australia in a little rural town two hours out of Melbourne.

In the maelstrom of Hammersmith Tesco on a Sunday evening we stand and chat and catch up until it gets to the point that we are just in the way of too many people and have to move on.

"I'm flying out tomorrow," she tells me. "Bye!"

I'm still so gobsmacked at having seen her I don't even wish her a safe trip home.

I know it's a cliche, but the world is sometimes a very small place.   

A visit to Kensington Roof Gardens

All pictures taken: Kensington Roof Gardens, London.
Date: Sunday September 16, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

I'm a bit slow with this (where do the days go??) but last weekend we queued up with a million other Londoners to visit the Kensington Roof Gardens as part of Open House weekend.

The gardens, which were first opened in 1938, comprise three different sections: a Spanish garden (pictured above), an English woodland garden (complete with a duck pond and stream) and a Tudor garden.

London on the big screen

I saw the new Simon Pegg film Run, Fat Boy, Run at the cinema last night and was pleasantly surprised at just how funny and entertaining it was. I think I expected something a little flat and nondescript, with all the best bits having been crammed into the trailer.

I'd had no real interest in seeing it, but my friend dragged me along because we'd both had a bit of a laugh when we saw Hot Fuzz, another Pegg film, earlier this year.

Interestingly enough, it's directed by David Schwimmer -- and you can tell he's a little bit in love with London, because he really captures the city, its parks and buildings beautifully. I loved seeing the places I know and love -- Hampstead Heath, The Gherkin, the South Bank, Docklands, St Paul's Cathedral --  sparkling on the big screen.

I got the impression that the film's been designed for the American market, because it's shot to look like an advertisement for London's tourism industry and it lacks the normal grittiness of a British comedy. It's a nice enough story, but it's slightly sappy and predictable and there's an American character in it (played by Hank Azaria) for no other reason than it will make the film more digestible to American audiences if they recognise at least one name and one accent!


The other downside is that Run, Fat Boy, Run looks a bit like a glorified advertisement for Nike, which must have paid a fortune for all the product placement!

All that aside, it was a fun movie and the perfect antidote to a stressful day at work. Simon Pegg was brilliant as ever, but Irish comedian Dylan Moran (who only ever seems to play himself in these things) stole the show -- or at least his bum cheeks did!!  I'd recommend it if you want something light and don't mind checking your brain at the door.

The house that inspired a world-famous rule

Place: 10 St James's Square, London.
Date: Saturday September 15, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Ever heard of the Chatham House Rule? This is a rule that guarantees the anonymity of those speaking at meetings but does not prevent the information from being disclosed to outside sources. In other words, it means the information is "on the record" but it cannot be directly attributed to any one person. This supposedly encourages speakers to be more open about what they say.

Well, this building on St James's Square in London (see above), is where the world-famous rule originated some 80 years ago.

According to the official website, the Chatham House Rule, which was last updated in 2002, states:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

You can find out more here.

I love finding out little nerdy things like this about London... It seems like almost every building in this amazing city has an interesting, historically important story to tell.

A vegetable patch in the heart of London

Place: St James' Park, London.
Date: Saturday September 15, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

The last thing you expect to stumble upon when you wander through one of London's royal park's is a huge big vegetable patch. But that's exactly what we discovered this afternoon (see above).

The patch is actually a recreation of a "Dig For Victory" allotment. This was a scheme active during the Second World War to encourage Britons to grow their own vegetables to combat food shortages.

It was lovely to see all the runner beans and tomatoes and fat juicy purple cabbages growing out of the earth right slap bang in the middle of St James' Park -- just a short walk away from Trafalgar Square -- today, although I'm amazed no one's actually stolen any of the fresh food on offer!

You can find out more at the official website.

On the waterfront

Place: Ischia Ponte, Italy.
Date: Saturday August 31, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Our last night on Ischia and we wandered into town for a meal. Before taking our table at our new favourite seafood restaurant we decided to walk down to the waterfront to admire the setting sun for one last time.

We dug out our cameras and snapped away under rapidly changing light conditions. Standing on a small concrete pier, I looked back towards the waterfront and admired the backdrop of pink and gold buildings framed by the street lights and the little fishing boats bobbing on the navy-blue water.

I didn't want to leave.

The bridge at night

Place: Ischia Ponte, Italy.
Date: Saturday August 31, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Mid-way through our trip to Italy we noticed that the fishing village of Ischia Ponte, where we were staying, had suddenly become adorned with special decorative lights. They were put up in the space of an afternoon, left unlit for a day or so, and then switched on to reveal a dizzying display of shapes and colour that glowed stronger and stronger as the purple twilight became replaced by an inky blackness.

I particularly liked the overhead arches that spanned the stone bridge that links the island to the fortress of Castello Aragonese. They created a beautiful archway that seemed to stretch into affinity.

But trying to take a decent photograph to capture this illusion proved incredibly difficult without a tripod to keep the camera steady in lowlight conditions, but this one (above) seemed to have turned out remarkably sharp given the constraints. I can almost feel the balmy summer heat of the evening emanating from the frame...

The fortress that overlooks Ischia Ponte

All pictures taken: Ischia, Italy.
Date: August 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

So this time last week we were busy enjoying our last evening in Ischia. It seems like a lifetime ago now.

The holiday was wonderful. I came back feeling relaxed and refreshed and with my batteries recharged, but I do wish we'd been able to stay longer. We simply did not see enough of the island's many sights, although it was never our plan to explore much further than the hotel's pool or the local restaurants.

We did, however, make a special effort to visit the island's most famous landmark: the brooding, picturesque Castello Aragonese (Aragon Castle) that sits atop a large rock formation overlooking the fishing village of Ischia Ponte (where we were based) and is linked to the island by a 220m long bridge built in the 15th century.