Miscelaneous things since the snow.

Over the past couple of weeks we've taken a few photos of various things around the place, but not quite enough to make a blog out of.

Last Monday night we went to see the musical Oliver. Rowan Atkinson (mr Bean) played Faigan and did an excellent job. they actually managed to work in some mr beanisms every now and then. Do you remember his teddy bear? that makes an appearance and gets thrown in a fire :-(. overall it was a great musical with excellent acting from the kids. but really everyone was there to see Rowan Atkinson, that's the main reason we were there anyway :-).

So here are some random photos we've taken over the past few weeks.

Debbie looking content after her latte:



My desk at work, complete with a bacon and egg roll and a large latte, stored procedure on the left monitor and error log on the right, what more could a computer geek want?




My Keyboard has a special panic button. I haven't had occasion to use it yet, but it's comforting to know it's there.




This is the view looking toward the Gerkin from immediately outside my building.




A promenade leading towards liverpool street station:




Liverpool Street Station at rush hour:




A skating rink at broadgate circus. Normally this flat area is full of tables and chairs for people to eat their lunch on, but during the winter they stick an open-air ice rink. it's funny seeing business people in suits having a lunch-time skate. This photo was taken at about 5:15pm so no business people unfortunately.




We went to our favorite Chinese place during the Chinese new year celebrations:







Today, (saturday) we went to the Greenwich markets for a bit. It was a really brilliant day. We got up at 11:00am. went to a coffee shop and had bacon and eggs for breakfast, then took the train to Canary wharf where we changed for the DLR. here's Debbie indicating two minutes until the train comes:




By some miracle I managed by accident to take this shot where debbie is focused in the foreground but everything is blurry. I've been trying to do this for ages, mucking around with the aperture and all sorts of camera settings and had all but given up hope, thinking that a more expensive camera was required but somehow this photo turned out brilliantly:




anyway. finally arrived at greenwich markets:




We looked around for a couple of hours and bought a few things, and then on the way back to the train, we saw this cool looking Alleyway:




of course, anyone who loves moss-covered stones and old church-yard (such as myself) could not possibly resist the urge to take a detour down this path, so we did.

Dead vines anyone? hey - I like this sort of thing...







turns out it was basically a churchyard. quite a cool gothic looking church. Debbie and I took these two pictures - I like mine (the first one) better, debbie likes hers (the second). we decided to post both and let you guys decide. (pssst.. note that mine more effectively captures the dark ominous feeling while also managing to reveal the oxidized copper lightning rod descending from the top of the tower. ).






Of course, all churches have church yards, and all churchyards built before the late 1800's were basically designed to accommodate dead people:

hundreds of gravestones lined the path. the vast majority were so old and warn that their inscriptions were completely unreadable, in fact if it weren't for the moss and the centuries of weathering, you'd think that some of the stones hadn't been carved at all. Here is the only one we could read in its entirety:





"BENEATH this stone is deposited the remains of SARAH wife of JOSHUA FOUNTAIN who departed this life October 28th 1790 in the confident hope of Gods mercy and a glorious resurrection. Aged 44 Years. She was a most affectionate, endearing and obedient wife a fond loving yet most prudent mother, a kind neighbour and firm friend. She was the mother of ten children five of which are deceased, two of which Joshua and Elizabeth are buried near this stone. In respect to her memory and virtues this stone is erected by her disconsolate husband."

to put this in perspective: this is the only readable stone we could find, hens I assume it's one of the newer ones. yet she died only three years after the first fleet set sail from England.

There now - I wonder which will last longer; the words engraved on this stone or these words I'm writing on the internet now...

Among these ancient graves, we encountered a special one. They say that death is the great equaliser, that at the end of the game, the king and the pawn both go into the same box. Never has this so hit home to us as in the following picture. As we've seen many times, grave stones get erected and then neglected and then forgotten about. both humans and white goods that have reached the end of their lives are treated equally. This whirlpool gravestone had been worn smooth by the ravages of time and had collapsed forward to lean forlornly against the railings, who knows whether it was a toaster or a microwave that lies buried here. all we know is that someone cared enough to erect this monument in its memory:




(have I mentioned before how much I love graveyard irony?)

after this we stopped for a quick look in a bookstore:




had a quick train ride home:




And finished off our day out by stuffing our faces with coffee and cake and more coffee and another cake and a cup full of cream:




incidentally - we've seen Kung-fu Panda recently - absolutely brilliant - if you like jack black you'll love it.

"Legend tells of a legendary warrior who's kung-fu skills were the stuff of legend!"

everyone together now: "Haiiiiya!"