they say it will snow tomorrow

and I think they may just be right.

This morning was one of those awful mornings that make even the brightest button want to stay in bed all day. Unfortunately for me, had I done so, a certain little boy would have been up, drawing all over the walls, playing with all the sharp things and dragging the entire contents of the washing basket through the boat .... again. So rise I did and Nate and I ventured out to 'Messy Play'.

The weather managed to hold out while we were there, but decided to bucket down just in time for our ten minute walk home. The walk then took about twice as long as I fought to push the buggy directly into the galeforce winds, getting drenched from head to toe, the icy winds cutting like knives at my wet fingers and forehead.

Remind me again why we don't live in Barbados? Woz?

conversations on a wednesday afternoon

Woz: "Hey, where are you?"

Em: "I've just picked Nate up from Linda's and I'm on the bus coming home, why?"

Woz: "Because I just wanted to let you know that I'm at St Pancras lock"

Em: "Ok cool ..... why are you there?"

Woz: "It's a beautiful day. I wanted to take the boat out to make sure everything was running ok after the weekend. It's fine."

Em: (a little confused) "Ok great .... so where are you now?"

Woz: "At St Pancras Lock. I should be home by the time you get there"

Em: "Right, (starting to dawn on me) and where's the boat?"

Woz: "At St Pancras Lock"

Em: "Uggh! Well it better be back when I get home because I'm tired and cold and I just want to go home and if you have my home then I can't go there can I?"

Woz: "Don't worry, I'll definitely be home by the time you get there"

Em: (with desperation) "Please, please, please be there when I get there!"

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Is it just me or is it a bizarre concept that someone can just take my house away while I'm not looking?

carpe diem

Today was a gorgeously sunny, mild and spring-like day and so this afternoon Woz and I decided to take the boat out. Now that the boat is on the market (and we have someone who is very interested in buying it) we're not sure how many more chances we'll have to take it out and so we decided to seize the day and invited Dobs and Bec to come with us.


As we moved out of the basin the thrill of 'home on the move' returned to us and re-ignited our passion, stirring up thoughts of 'what are we doing?' and 'we must be mad to give this up!'. Nate seemed to be experiencing it to a whole new depth too and it was so much fun watching him, watching his home, moving down the canal.


The excitement was short lived. We weren't the only ones to relish the opportunity and so when we arrived at the first lock we had to switch the engine off to wait for three boats passing through. By the time they had moved through the lock we couldn't start the engine again and found out that our battery was flat.

We then began the slow journey home, being towed alongside another boat heading our way.

Oh well ......

waltzing matildas

This morning Bec and I had a girly day together to celebrate her birthday. We spent the morning ice skating in the gorgeous setting of Somerset House, not that we noticed. We were both out of practise and spent the majority of the session with eyes transfixed on our feet, or the grandparent moving dangerously slowly in front of us, or the small child whizzing past us and practically between our legs. There were several near misses (particuarly while taking the photos with our phone whilst skating) but thankfully both of us managed to stay on our feet.

Afterwards we warmed up with a hot chocolate and then walked to Covent Garden for lunch.

Being Australia Day we had to visit the Australia Shop in Covent Garden and manged to spend a small fortune buying coveted treats for ourselves.

a very grand entrance

After putting up with a very temperamental diesel central heating system for years Woz and I decided that we couldn't pass on the boat with the heating the way it was and ripped the old system out, replacing it with electric radiators. They're incredibly efficient, have individual timers and work at the flick of a switch! Luxury!

With the space we've gained at the front of the boat where the boiler used to sit, we now have an entrance 'hall' where we have put up shelving for bags and shoes as we come in. It's made such a difference to how clean we're able to keep the boat and we're kicking ourselves we didn't do it three years ago.

Nate loves the new space as he is able to sit or stand on the shelves, leaning up on the counter from his elevated position. The fruit bowl however has had to find a new home.

thank dom you're here

Some of you may know I love a good celebrity spotting and have a natural attraction to all things 'TV'. Last week Woz and I were watching a new TV show which our Aussie readers will be very familiar with, 'Thank God you're here'. It's originally an Australian show, by the production company, Working Dog. Anyway, as the credits were rolling Woz and I were very excited to see a familiar name, our neighbour Dom, who is a production designer. We sent him a text to say that we'd seen his name and he responded with an invitation to go along to a filming session the following week at The London Studio's. You can imagine my excitement.

We had a brilliant night, sitting in one of the control rooms with the production and lighting team. From there we watched the filming on several monitors showing every angle captured by the various cameras, the autocue and the other various animations used in the final product. We watched as props came in and out of the room, watched on as Dom scutinised his work as each new set was unveiled. laughed with the crew at the sketches as they happened and all with the running soundtrack behind us of 'Ok I want camera 2, long shot, camera 4, cut to 8, and pan, camera 3' etc. etc. etc. Dom made us feel so comfortable there and everyone else was incredibly friendly to us too. I warned Dom that they shouldn't be too nice to me or I'd be there every week.

Afterwards, following a tour of the set we joined cast and crew on the 18th floor for drinks over looking the Thames. One of the regulars on the Aussie version, Hamish Blake, made an appearance both last week and at the filming we were at. He was brilliant, and it was very obvious he was a seasoned guest on the Australian version. I was so tempted to go up and say 'hi' (mostly just to tell my family I'd met him) but I wasn't really sure what to say except 'Hi, I'm Austrayan' and hope the conversation moved on from there. In light of the fact that I actually knew little about his work I decided not to go up and introduce myself and I think I can safely say it was best for all concerned.

google us

Since we created our live the dream site I have installed a hit counter on it, mainly so that we could monitor the site and see if anyone was looking at it and if we were getting any returning visitors.

On setting it up I thought I might as well do the same for our personal blogs, so tonight Woz and I decided to have a butchers (to use an English expression) at some of the statistics and found some very funny results.

Key word searches in Google which have led people to our site in the last month:

• banksy
• london snow march
• london weather in march 2006
• how to say st pancreas
• st pancras renovation
• st pancras international
• st pancras inside
• boring (how dare they!)
• bruges canal by narrowboat
• dishes prepared during christmas in london
• london fireworks display new years eve 2007
• boxing day going out london
• copenhagen fireworks video "new years eve"

and our favourite, 'romantic dinner london' in which we made it to number 2 of 263,000!

Who says that romance is dead after six years of marriage?!