I ran into Gok Wan today at Oxford Circus. He is of course famous for making women look good naked! He kindly posed for a photo. EDIT: Gok didn’t introduce his friend at the time but a reliable source tells me it is Ruby Wax.
Enjoying a coffee
We both had a quick coffee and shared stories and he pointed out some funky shoes which I ended up buying.
I picked up this pair at Schuh
Some light construction work has been going on at the holmesmacleod household. We’ve laid down the new floors (without worrying about the underfloor heating) and as you can see in this picture, Lena enjoyed putting in a helping hand. Most of the work was Greg and his dad Brian. We had a friend (Lewis) drop by to give some handy hints and lend some tools at the start.
No daddy, do it like this!
A lot of work took place fixing the subfloor until it was slightly flatter than before. Then we put down a layer of blue foamy underlay.
Finally we topped it off with our Rustic Oak boards. They are nice broad and long boards which fill out the house nicely, in the living and dining areas. Right now we are putting the edging and final touches in.
Who knows what the next project will be, but this one was a nice piece of fun!
A recent trip to the allotment led to a find of buried treasure, believed to be of Russian Origin.
How does a russian coin 270 years old end up in our allotment?
Lena and Andrea
We had a lovely easter in the sun, to celebrate the wedding of Dee and Martin, in the Munich Ratskeller. A Ratskeller is not a place where rodents dwell, rather the cellar below the Rathaus or town hall.
The wedding started with a drinks reception in the courtyard of the Rathaus, and then we went downstairs for the ceremony and then dinner.
Dee and Martin in cake form
The happy couple
The service and facilities were top notch, and it was great to see Dee and Martin marry.
Lena celebrated in style by driving her SLK Mercedes (ride on edition) around the restaurant.
Highlights for us were the well organised wedding - meant we could just have fun!
The food was good, and of course it was great to see everyone there too.
Well done Dee and Martin - we wish you well!
So we are looking at redoing our floors downstairs. Currently we have some icky green carpet which came with the place. They were icky when we moved in, and having a two year old and two slobby adults around the place have not made it any better. So out with the old in with the new.
As an idea, we are looking at some rustic oak boards like pictured from www.kahrs.com
Linnea Oak - Kahrs
Additionally to top it off, we are thinking that laying underfloor heating will help our interior design by removing the big fat radiators which line our walls in the living room and dining room. We are currently looking at http://www.heatmat.co.uk/ as a nice solution. You just lay an insulation layer at the bottom, pop down the thin electric heater roll, and then a moisture protecter and glue down the floorboads. Sounds simple enough right.
Heat Mat
Well stay tuned because Greg and his Dad are going to lay this in April, assuming that we are able to source all the necessary materials by then.
As part of my lazy updates to our family blog - Lena brought her little friend Alody up to the allotment (with a side trip to the park as well of course). Lena and Alody have lovely matching mauve jackets and every time they see each other it leads to a crazy squealing contest.
Anyway - I thought this picture was cute 
Check out more about Alody here: Our Family: a field trip to the allotments.
Last weekend I visited Bulgaria with my work mates and got to see a ski resort and country that I barely knew anything about outside of games of Diplomacy. Bulgaria is a former communist country bordered by Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. We went to the resort of Pamporovo (Пампорово) near the Greek border, about 3-4 hours from Sofia where we flew in. My colleague Peter owns an apartment that has recently been built in the burgeoning resort.
As far as a countries go, I think Bulgaria has a long way to go. I could describe it as stepping into a time machine, but only partially, because you see loads of soviet style architecture, half finished houses and buildings. But there is also a mix of new developments, mansions, and some just plain odd looking stuff mixed in. Also the roads ranged from recently built to scary bumpy tracks that people overtake on in the middle while cars pass each side.
For skiing, the resort had a fair size, and on good days would have a nice assortment of runs, ranging from easy to nice fast black runs coming down the face of the mountain.
It was a fun trip of poker, snowboarding, pool and watching sport, and while I mightn’t go back soon, I would say it is an experience you will only understand if you go yourself.
Andrea, Lena and the Snowman
On February 2 we had quite a snowfall in Cookham, with 3-4 inches on the ground in places and no sign of it letting up. I guess I don’t need to mention that the country ground to a halt. My train was cancelled so I decided to work from home, now that I’ve set up the computer desk nicely in the living room for the time being.
Lena and Andrea enjoyed the snow, going out in a break from the heavily falling flakes to construct a snowman, complete with carrot, scarf and woven hat. To be completely honest, Lena liked the look of the snow much more than being in it. She does like the snowman though and made sure that Andrea repaired him after her nap. It seems that the snowman wanted a nap too.
Greg at Lenggries
We all got a weekend in Munich as Greg had a work trip, and Lena and Andrea managed to get a good price for a flight along.
We stayed with Dee and Martin, which was a good chance to catch up with them and other old friends, and also gave Greg a rare chance to go snowboarding on Saturday. Greg and Martin took the BOB bahn down to Lenggries and caught the ski bus to the slope, and enjoyed a long day of sun and snow!
Other fun things included a big brunch at Cafe Neuhausen on Sunday, and time to help Dee and Martin think about their wedding.
It was fun to be back, Lena now can say the word Munich (and much more of course), and we all had a great time.
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