Greg, Andrea, Lena and Mitchell » 2009

Summer pics from my Blackberry

Greg — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:07:44 +0000

Sometimes I get about without a camera on me. Luckily the Blackberry is handy. I wouldn’t say that it takes good pictures, but it is always there for when something fun happens. Also, with Mitchell’s arrival, Lena still deserves some of the limelight…

Lena and Mitchell

Andrea — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:31:02 +0000

The debut video of the new dynamic duo.

Download: Lena and Mitchell (6.5MB)

Mitch about the house

Greg — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:43:46 +0000

Mitchell has been home for 3 days now, so here are a couple of adorable pics of him.

Birth of Mitchell

Greg — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:48:09 +0000

We’d like to introduce you all to our new son, Mitchell Robert. He was born in the afternoon of 6th August 2009, weighing in at a massive 4.5kg and 59cm tall already.

Meeting Gok Wan!

Greg — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:38:41 +0000

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

Flooring work

Greg — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:19:42 +0000

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!

Munich: Dee and Martin’s wedding

Greg — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:05:37 +0000

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!

Lena and Alody at the allotments

Greg — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:29:11 +0000

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.

Snowboarding in Bulgaria

Greg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:43:28 +0000

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.

Snowman spotted in Cookham

Greg — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:24:07 +0000

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.