We safe! Don't worry!

Yes we are safe at home. But you probably heard it first here or there.

I left work about 2pm this afternoon to avoid any problems getting home. I had atleast a 2 hour walk back. I knew the route back, atleast the bus route. The problem is that my bus route takes me past Whitehall (where the goverment offices are - e.g. MoD / Ministry of Defense, etc , the Houses of Parliment (i.e Big Ben), Westminister Abbey, and the MI6 building (remember the one used in a James Bond film?). To me these would also be targets for terrorist attacks as they are large tourist attractions. Where possible I walked the back streets.

Lulu and her mother couldn't resist the lure of the bargin. There is nothing like a 4 letter word to elicit such excitement, such anticipation like the word "SALE". This I know from experience with Lulu. Harrods was having a sale. An upto 50% off sale.

My 2 hour march home turned into a hike to Harrods. Unfortunately my trail through the back streets meant that I over shot Harrods and ended up at South Kensington (where many of London's great museums are located). My first savour was in the fact shops were closing early due to the attacks, so we didn't stay long at all (it closed at 5pm, normally 8pm).

My second savour was the resumption of bus services, which otherwise would have meant probably another hour walking! Due to an accident up ahead, the bus had to detour close to our home, so we had to walk the final part of the journey.

When we finally got home I was dead tired. Lulu and her mum were lucky, they didn't have to walk as much as me!

Lulu's mum certainly has had an exciting trip to Europe. They were in Paris when it was announced Paris lost the Olympic bid (while I was in Trafalgar Square, London :) She's seen how London can respond to terrorist attacks. I wish now that she could resume being a normal tourist and go back to shopping and seeing the best London has to offer. Tomorrow I hope things will be more normal.

London - Ghost Town

In the wake of the explosions, which the authorities are saying are terrorist attacks, London has turned into bit of a ghost town. Below is a picture of the streets outside the office building where I work. Few people seem to be on the streets. Few cars on the roads. The eerie silence is broken by the sirens of police and ambulances.

My office is between Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square (they are very close). Picadilly Circus, for those not London savy, is where that big neon Coca-Cola billboard blazes away over the Eros statue. The funny thing about the Coca-Cola billboard, yes it mainly advertises Coke, is that there are McDonalds signs below it, and below that there is a Hungry Jacks. Does that amuse me? You bet!

By an order of magnitude.

Regular readers might remember I posted an entry about Jonathan my work colleage who runs his own blog and wrote up a 'Denzil Squirts' entry. The other day Jon (who I might add looks like Dean Cain and somehow also like Johnny Bravo) was showing me his site statistics.

Should I be worried that the average hit for any entry on his blog is no more than 10, while the Denzil Squirts one was a whopping 54?!?!?

Perhaps its google's fault and the 1000's of old geezers / pimply kids who google with 'squirt' as a keyword.

*sigh*

What will my mum think if she only knew...

2012.. And the winner is... **BOOM**

Yesterday the city of London celebrated at the news that London will be an Olympic city in the year 2012 and hold the 30th Olympics. At 12:30pm Irfan (work colleage) and I went down to Trafalgar Sq to here the vote live on big screens. The hoards of people cheered at the announcement as jets flew overhead streaming coloured smoke in their afterburners.

Today London is in chaos as explosion rip through the capital. Explosions on trains, and stations. Explosions on buses, tearing them open like a can of sardines. It started out with the tube (ie the trains) and a couple of explosions. At first they are saying it was power surges, but the power companys were saying there was nothing to indicate that. 3 buses have reportedly been bombed also, only one have been confirmed.

Getting in to work was murder (probably a bad choice of words for the current situation). But people were not being allowed onto the tube. Score of people were waiting at the gates of the stations. Others tried to catch buses which were already overcrowded. A screaming mother told off my bus driver because he would not let her and her baby in a pram get on. With the number of people on the bus it would not be safe for her and her baby he argued. I could see his point.

As I got into work I called Lulu. I told her what was happening but still wanted to come into the city to go shopping with her mum. Later news reports told of the havic in the city. The bombing of buses. Dead bodies covered on the pavement. I was getting really worried about Lulu. Her mobile was not ringing (the mobile networks overloaded), and no answer on the house phone either! I kept trying until I finally got through. She and her mum had gone down the road to the supermarket for food. I was so relieved that she hadn't come out!!

We're ok. No need to worry. Although I'm stuck in the city for abit. Not sure if / how i'll be able to get home yet. But I will, don't you worry about that. I can always walk... 2 hours is all it'll take :D

7-5, 6-4, 6-2 - Wimbledon

In a satifying 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Karol Beck, Mark Philippoussis goes to the next round of Wimbledon on the first day of play.

Andrew, Lulu and I made our way in blistering 32 degree heat and humidity to Wimbledon to support the green and gold. We figured we should go at least once to Wimbledon to hear the crowds roar. The hiss of the ball as it speeds across court... And the agony of people in pain as they get whiplash from swinging their heads left to right to left at incredible speeds!

Wimbledon 2005 lawn/		Andrew and Lulu by the 2005 Wimbledon lawn.
Acting cool.. Acting swarve.		Mark Philippoussis about to serve another ace.

Bread making. You learn something new every day.

My dough... my dough.. my dough won't rise!

I followed the same steps as last time to make my pimpkin seed bread, but for some reason the dough refused to rise. Bummer! The used by on the yeast is fine. I used a little less butter this time, but that shouldn't stop the dough rising.

Google. Google is my friend. Google good.

Yeast is a living thing. A plant / fungus that eats gluten that comes in packets perfect for one loaf when mixed with warm water. Warm water it seems does not mean adding yeast to boiled water, and then adding cold water. The problem is that this kills the yeast culture.

Damn.

Wish I had known that before. The bread faq is now required reading it seems.

I'd wager the bread is going to come out heavy again because of the yeast. Note to self - yeast + sugar works... should give a softer loaf.

Oh.. and if you like sourdough then you might like to read the faqs available here.

It just doesn't pay...

It doesn't pay to work with fellow geeks especially when they blog too. Jonathan is more geek than the rest of the team put together but I probably wouldn't encourage him by saying that to his face (the fact that he reads my blog defeats that though!). Either way, Jon is a wonderful bloke, cheers to you mate!

Reading through more of Jon's blog, I seem to get mentioned every so often... the latest regarding twig tea!!

Here's the rest

A couple of posts ago I posted a Dilbert comic strip... here's a few more in the series:

We 'av bread G'ovna

Harrods isn't just a place of expensive merchandise. It is the reason for my latest inspiration for a bit of bread making (despite walking out with a loaf of pumpkin bread). This attempt sure beat the first time when I made Chinese Fighting Muffins, or bread that was just eatable.

This is the way we knead the bread, knead the bread, knead the bread...		Flour, yeast, heabs, butter, salt and bird seed = the basis of one nice bread loaf.
I actually used a pack of Omega Seed Mix that I got from a health food store in Bath, UK.		And there it is folks.
It turned out a bit heavy (could do with more rising) but quite tasty!! All in all I think I'm getting closer. Closer to the perfect loaf!

The English Accent

When I come home to Australia, I hope I come back with an accent (and not sound like Kylie Minogue):