Podcasts

Walking to work is a great way to get some exercise.
And listening to Podcasts on the way to work is a great way to pass the time!
Here are my current favorites:

This American Life
Chicago Public Radio
Overall 8
Diversity 8
Production 7
Type Stories of Interest

The News Quiz
BBC Radio 4
Overall 8
Diversity 6
Production 8
Type Comedy / Current Affairs (UK)

Radio Lab
WNYC
Overall 8
Diversity 7
Production 9
Type Stories of Interest

Edinburgh

We went to Edinburgh during festival season for 11 days this year (21-31 August) during which we saw over 20 shows! It was wonderfully gluttonous. Three lovely couples generously put us up. So... we decided to take a photo of each performance we went to - or if that wasn't permitted, we took something representative of it... DAY 1 SHOW 1 - POTTED POTTER - The Unauthorised Harry Experience - A Parody SHOW 2 - Tao Samurai Drummers (Lis' favourite of the week) SHOW 3 - North Sea Gas - The Best of Scotland (acoustic music - we were the youngest by a long shot) DAY 2 SHOW 4 - GELABERT AZZOPARDI (the most remarkable thing about this show was that not only had Rick & Mo happened to book for the same show on the same night but their tickets were right next to ours!) DAY 3 SHOW 5 - The Tiger Lillies - The Songs of Shockheaded Peter and other Gory Verses DAY 4 SHOW 6 - News Revue 30th Anniversary (like being back at the Sydney Uni law review) SHOW 7 - Barry & Stuart - Powered by Demons DAY 5 SHOW 8 - Africaaah! (an African Children's Choir) SHOW 9 - Triology (in 3 parts as the name suggests - so woeful we left after part 2 - the photo depicts Dwayne howling in anguish at how bad it was... it was supposed to be a modern take on feminism but we didn't really feel it had moved anywhere since the 1970s especially given that at least 45 mins of it was taken up with playing excerpts from a video of a panel of speakers from the 70s - not even the very long scene of 25 naked women of every shape and size jumping around on stage could inspire us to stay) SHOW 10 - The Dark Party (crazy Australian blokes torturing themselves e.g. hanging a car battery from chains connected to nails through the nipples of one of them, swallowing razor blades... - I had to pretend it was magic, but it wasn't) DAY 6 SHOW 11 - Afternoon Delight SHOW 12 - Chris Cox: Mind Over Patter (very clever - used knowledge of how humans behave to pick what choices audience participants would make - both Dwayne & I were called up at different points, and he picked our choices - incredible!) DAY 7 SHOW 13 - Circa (amazing Australian acrobats/actors/gymnasts) SHOW 14 - Axis of Awesome: Infinity Rock Explosion (Jess & Byron joined us for this - again, Australian group made particularly famous for a song around time of last Australian election) DAY 8 SHOW 15 - The Last Witch (play about the last witch to be burned in the UK - bit too predictable for my liking - The Crucible is better) we also fitted in some Haitian singers who look more exciting here than we thought they were (we saw a few free comedy shows and plenty of street buskers but I haven't included everything!): SHOW 16 - Edinburgh Tattoo (Lis' twin favourite - but it flew by and I wished it had gone on for much longer - the Swiss were the star attraction) the Swiss with their glowing batons (they also had flaming batons a little later): this is at the end when all the bands are out marching back and forth: DAY 9 SHOW 17 - The Really Terrible Orchestra (we thought they'd be clever or fun but they were just terrible - the feel-good side is that it's a group of relative newcomers to music) SHOW 18 - Michael Clark New Work (modern dance - I loved the colours in this performance) DAY 10 SHOW 19 - Charles (I can't remember anything about this unfortunately! and the photo doesn't help really though it is lovely and colourful) SHOW 20 - The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra We then caught the sleeper train back to London through the night and went straight to work! What a time.

Sponsored by Hovis

Hovis is a bread brand here. A few weeks back, we saw that some Hovis loaves were reduced to clear at 13p (about 20c) each so we bought 2 loaves to freeze and use. Not only were the loaves super cheap but they also had a voucher on each that entitled us to get 30p off our next purchase of a Hovis loaf. Dwayne used the 2x30p off vouchers on full price loaves (so 1.25 reduced to 65p for the two). So far - 4 loaves at 91p... We thought that was pretty good but it didn't stop there... I was walking to work last week and saw that people were carrying super-large Hovis loaves and tracked them back (not far!) to where they were giving them out. And, would you believe, they stuck another 30p off voucher on the free loaf of bread! The next day they were again handing out the super-size loaves so I got another one - with another voucher. We then used the voucher from the first of the free loaves to buy - you guessed it - a loaf that was reduced to 29p! (we actually made 1p on that buy). We still have the second voucher to use at an opportune moment. Hey we may even use it on a full price loaf if we have to! TOTAL: 7 loaves of bread @ 91p (with 30p voucher remaining on stand-by) --> 13p per loaf It's not the bread that's expensive in London.

Good Coffee in London

OK, so London is not renowned for its coffee culture, especially if you are from places like Italy, the Antipodes or just about any country that loves coffee (excluding North America, who, bless their little hearts, think that it is possible to make good coffee by percolation, filter or one of several other sub-optimal methods). BUT, there is a strong coffee culture if you know where to look.

So here is my current top 10 of coffee in London:

(OK, its not currently 10, but the list will change, and someday it will be 10).
I am using new criteria to rate coffee shops, which will eventually appear on all listings. There is an overall score, and rating for coffee, with a separate rating for milk quality (determined from a latte). I have also tried to determine whether free WiFi is available!

And here is a fancy Google map to earn some nerd points, with the next places for review marked with a '?':
View Good Coffee in London in a larger map

Berlin

so... one of our favourite activities in a new country is to wander round a supermarket picking out the different items and, especially if we're in a self-catering apartment (as we do for cooking fun + cheapness), we load up with a stack of stuff to take back and enjoy... Today we're in Berlin and, after our wonderful 5 hour guided bike ride around the city in the sun, we loaded up at the supermarket with sweet and savoury quark varieties, a few bottles of weissbier to sample, sauerkraut, random sausage cuts and so on. Wonderful! (except for the beer bottle that dropped out of our basket and smashed on the ground in the process...) We get to the check out, scan everything through, struggle to fit it all into two large bags (of course the Germans have been recycling and doing other environmentally-friendly things for decades longer than the rest of us, so bags must be bought everywhere). Then we try to pay. Nup, AMEX doesn't work (no big deal, sometimes that happens), but then they say they also don't take VISA or VISA debit! So, after over 50 euros of food has been carefully selected, scanned and packed, we are embarrassed that we can't pay - after some hunting, we find an ATM, withdraw cash, and back at the supermarket, ALL the goods have to be re-scanned and re-packed before we pay and trek back to our place hugging the large bags to prevent them busting open. hehe - fortunately didn't take too long before we were laughing about it! more on Berlin to follow... : )

The great Tutu

Desmond Tutu was brought from South Africa to speak at an A4ID event in St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 13 July, to raise awareness of our work and be a rallying point for so many of those who have been and who could be involved. Tutu spoke engagingly and humorously as ever on 'The Millennium Development Goals: A Moral Challenge". It was very exciting seeing the crowds pour in - the place was packed with almost 2000 mostly lawyers - scary thought, ey?! Our friends, the Barkers, with their friend from Malawi - they were thrilled to meet Tutu afterwards. When he shook my hand kindly before the event began, I was dumbstruck! I don't have any photos of Tutu here I realise! But these photos above were all taken by Dwayne and they give you a bit of a feel for it all. If you want to see more photos, many of which are Dwayne's, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/a4id/collections/72157621386532182/

Athens

Some photos from our trip to Athens recently - the soldiers with pompoms on their feet doing their ceremonial dance! or at least the guard ceremony outside parliament - The meat and fish market was a good place to get food to cook at our apartment... but we left the pigs' heads for someone else... We walked up to the Parthenon (of course!) and saw the new Acropolis Museum... And found where the first Modern Olympics were held: And best of all, in the 40 degree heat, we found a fabulous spot to swim - ahh...! Dwayne's presentation on CSR at the conference - which was the primary reason for the trip - was very well-received. He's been asked to speak on the topic in South Africa and Sydney. We also enjoyed having dinner with those in the 'Business & Management' stream, including quite a few who we knew through Dwayne's MGSM days.

Cambridge

Our 'family away from home', the Barkers, have kindly had us to stay at their 16th century home in the countryside out of Cambridge on several occasions. Our most recent visit was for a weekend a few weeks back and, since it was glorious weather, we enjoyed playing cricket and frolicking in their pool with their delightful children. Dwayne also joined in JM's shooting lesson! - of clay pigeons, that is. (Photos by John Barker)

Heatwave... really?

from The Guardian 27/6/09: "Hospitals were put on high alert today as the Met Office issued its first ever heatwave warning, designed to signal impending extreme weather events. Temperatures are forecast to reach 33C this week and it is thought that the UK could be placed on the highest level of the government's Heatwave Plan by midweek, a category that denotes a state of "emergency"." You can probably guess what I'm thinking, so I don't think I need to comment : )

coffee, films and stuff

I mentioned nude espresso in my last post - this photo is snapped from their website. Dwayne and I were there on Wednesday morning - me because I had worked some late nights and was enjoying some time in lieu drinking coffee and reading the paper (luxury!); Dwayne because he was interviewing film producers! Yes, he's been helping A4ID get organised to have a short film made and wonderfully some good film producers have come forward offering to make it free. More on that as it gets underway.... BUT back to coffee... when we first arrived in London and Dwayne didn't have a job, he researched and then plotted the pitifully-few good coffee places onto GoogleEarth (with sampling wherever possible of course!). He has passed it on to so many people I think he should start selling it.

The street where we live...

We live in a tiny cobbled one-car-wide dead-end lane, near Brick Lane, London's most famous stretch of Bangladeshi/Indian eateries. We live in the only purely residential block in the street. We are joined by a Primary School, a printing business, a homeless men's residence, a community centre/aged care/residential facility, a pub and a carpark! Our residence is also first stop on the various Jack the Ripper walking tours that run year-round. The fact that our building has 1886 on the top of it and is located in the area where some of the murders apparently took place has something to do with it but I suspect being in a quiet generally car-free is more the reason. We overhear the guides tell their groups how our building was built by a philanthropist for prostitutes to live in and get off the street, or how it was a 'doss house' for the poor who could only afford a few pence for the privilege to hang asleep (?!) over a rope strung from wall to wall to avoid being arrested for vagrancy... Maybe some of it is true. Despite the views of many about living in Tower Hamlets, London's most deprived borough, we love it! We like being close to Liverpool St's transport hub, I can walk to work in 10 minutes; we love walking along Whitechapel Rd on a Saturday and being the only white people in sight, mingling among the saris and hijabs, the live fish and crabs in buckets, the bright and unfamiliar fruit & veg; we like passing the big Mosque on the way to the best 'Asian' food in the UK at Tayyabs or Lahore Kebab House and coming back past 'Baraka' restaurant (really!); we enjoy the Indian sweets in the Brick Lane shops (avoid the restaurants though!) and Bangla City with its 5kg bags of spices, huge tubs of yoghurt, okra, durian and metre-long frozen fish; we are members of the local library (great for travel books of course); our favourite local coffee shops are 'nude espresso' and 'Taylor St Baristas' (run by Aussies and New Zealanders respectively - of course!); and when friends visit from abroad, they always want to see Spitalfields Market and the Columbia Road flower market (pictured) - and we can just pop around the corner to join them. We are very lucky.

Organic Deliveries

When we arrived in London, we were struck by how many Fairtrade options were in the supermarkets and how organic produce was also very common. We had been trying to buy local, seasonal produce but we were finding that nearby markets often didn't sell local fruit and veg. So, this year we have been getting fortnightly deliveries of organic fruit and veg from Abel & Cole, which is usually locally grown. It's certainly more costly but we hope it's helping to improve what we eat. I'd guess we probably also eat more veg than we would otherwise so that's got to be a good thing. It's also introduced to things we'd never heard of before - like black salsify (see photo), purple-sprouting broccoli, new varieties of melon, and various green cabbage and lettuce-like things! Today we got fresh broad beans in their pods. Yum!

Test

Sent from my iPhone

Mudchute Farm

I've loved horse riding since my grandfather took me out mustering sheep and cattle at my aunt & uncle's farm near Goulburn throughout my childhood. There I rode happy and free in the wide open space and dreamed of growing up to be a farmer ('not a farmer's wife!', as I'd say). But whenever I went on horses trained in the English style I lost some confidence from the different use of the reins. Well, living in England seemed to be the perfect excuse to learn to ride with hands held high and without the security of a western saddle. Hyde Park seemed a bit expensive and on the other side of town, so I was pleased to find Mudchute Park & Farm, a little cheaper and closer, surprisingly alongside Canary Wharf's skyscrapers. So, on as many Sunday mornings as we have free and can afford, off I journey to what has become somewhat of a haven for me to join 3-4 others for adult horse riding lessons. I feel like I've been on a holiday as I return, usually pleasantly tired and mulling over where my legs and hands and back should be next time to improve my posture and chances of staying on... and working towards my goal of being able to jump! Once Dwayne comes along with me, I can put up a photo but so far, this is just one from the Mudchute site to give you a feel for the park/city contrast...

A4ID

I thought I could explain who I work for here. Thanks to them we are even in the UK at all since they got me the work permit! (I'm sure they'll never do it again given it took 5 months to process...) I work for a small UK charity called Advocates for International Development. My role is to manage the broker service, which enables organisations pursuing the UN Millennium Development Goals (addressing global poverty in some way - but it includes environmental challenges and the developed world making necessary changes too) to access free legal services through the partnerships we have with law firms, legal academics and barristers. So, these tiny and large organisations contact me, I help them work out what it is they need and how lawyers might be useful (both traditional legal things like helping with employment, contract, tax, property issues, and also broader rights-related research and analysis, like looking at how a UN Convention might be applied in many countries). Then I circulate the requests to A4ID's Legal Partners who can elect to do the work if they have the expertise and capacity needed. I then connect the lawyers to the organisation and away they go (well, I stay in touch in case there's a problem and to see how the work goes). That's one part of the work. Then there's the education programs (or 'programmes' as the English would say) for lawyers on development issues [Dwayne & I did the year-long course which was fantastic] and for development professionals on legal issues. And the awareness-raising through events and smaller group meetings. In July, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is coming to speak for us in St Paul's Cathedral on the Millennium Development Goals to about 2,000 people! We're looking forward to that. Dwayne's been the photographer for most A4ID events this year which he has really enjoyed - the Tutu event will be his biggest job yet! The training programme we went on has been a great way for us to meet people we like and find interesting. Most of our new friends have come through it. The friends that came for dinner last night were from the course.

Easter 09 Adventure - Day 5

Short notes from Easter Monday (13 April 2009) - and the last day I wrote notes that trip... it did continue for another week but hey, I was on holidays...!

• Found a place that produced its own cider, liqueurs, ginger whiskey, strawberry champagne and also super lemon curd ☺ • Explored Exeter’s Old Quay and the outside of the Cathedral. • Lots of driving all the way from Dorset across Devon and Dartmoor National Park and into Cornwall. • A quick car stop to take photos at one point drew the attention of the local miniature ponies who barrelled towards us! • Stopped for a short walk at Steps Bridge. • Could see for ages in Dartmoor. It reminded us a bit of Australia because it looked dry though we doubted that it actually was. Ponies and sheep wandering through. • Arrived about 6:30pm at Boswinger YHA. Twas pouring. After a nap, found a local pub (at Garron Haven) with lots of local boys and girls. Felt ancient comparatively. • Made a yummy dinner of pasta and pesto, asparagus (still delicious!) and pork/apple/sage sausages – the best ever! [yes, we think about food A LOT] • Loving the fact that we still have so much holiday to go! Loving sleeping for 8-9 hours a night. Going to bed early. So good.

Easter 09 Adventure - Day 4

Quick notes from Easter Sunday (12 April 2009): • The weather was bright and sunny and we felt so happy to be driving and enjoying the outdoors. We drove to Portland Castle in the morning then on to Lulworth Cove from where we went kayaking with 4 others plus our Jurassic Kayak Tours guide along the Jurassic Coast, seeing fossils (mainly trees rings) and the spectacular coastline of worn away Portland stone and limestone, including the famous Durdle Dor which from our side of the water looked remarkably like a dragon drinking – the legend goes that St George wounded the dragon who then went to his favourite part of England to die and he lay down to drink water from the ocean and then died! We kayaked under the ‘dragon’s neck’ and pulled in to shore for a rest. On departure we pointed our kayaks down the slope of the beach (of pebbles) and got a great push so we zoomed down and into the water! • We tried to get fish & chips at a few places before finally eating them at West Bay in view of a gorgeous sunset. • Played Take Two over apple pie back at the YHA. • A fabulous day.

Easter 09 Adventure - Day 3

More brief notes (re Easter Saturday, 11 April 09): • After breakfast & check-out, we went back to the Needles, walked out to them and visited the Old Battery at the end of the point. From there, we could look back at the famous multi-coloured sand cliffs from which children make layered sand bottles. • We made the ferry journey back to the island – this time enjoying the strong hydraulics that moved us and a whole layer of cars up in the air to allow another level to load. • We snaked our way gradually west, avoiding the coast. Some jotted memories about that day: • seeing a deer bouncing off through a paddock when we turned off a road so Dwayne could take a photo • foals, lambs, calves, baby rabbits • the humble pride of the man who ran the shop where we bought some delish coffee and pasta • Yellow fields of rapeseed(?) • Cabbage, bacon, walnut pasta for dinner – at Litton Cheney YHA • Funny manager at YHA who Dwayne thought lacked personal boundaries since he did someone else’s puzzle ☺ • driving after dinner (Dwayne teaching me to drive a manual - aahh!) to the coast at Abbotsbury and walking down to the beach past a farmhouse where I was just a bit concerned they’d shoot us! Fortunately we were in friendly England with all things walker-friendly. The sunset was tranquil and beautiful, drawing the light out until after 9pm...

Easter 09 Adventure - Day 2

More quick notes from our Easter trip (re Good Friday, 10 April 09): • The hostel room had a splendid view over the hills and water though it was raining a little on our awakening. • We decided to put off our walk and stuck to the car for most of the day because of the rain. However, we ended up driving right around the whole island. • We joined the English Heritage group at Osborne House and then enjoyed looking through the gardens, Swiss Cottage and the House itself which was filled with Victoriana furniture. I particularly liked the final room which was filled with objects given to Queen Victoria from people from India. There were detailed delicate ivory carving, marble inlaid work, and silver work. Exquisite. The whole room itself was cream in colour from about waist height over the ceiling and covered in intricate carving. • The daffodils and blossoms were marvellous everywhere we went. • Later in the afternoon I thought we’d be driving along a superb part of the coastline but unfortunately we ended up in such deep fog or cloud for that section that we could barely see a few metres ahead of us! • We had bought a whole Cowes sea bass earlier in the day and so roasted it whole in the oven for dinner that evening. I think it must have been one of the most splendid meals ever cooked in a YHA! Couscous with okra, whole stuffed fish, and wonderfully fresh asparagus – the first of the season, grown through seaweed apparently, bought that afternoon from a garlic farm! By the way, at the garlic farm, Dwayne tried some Dragon’s Blood – some sort of chilli paste – that was so hot that he immediately started crying! A little girl walking past in the shop looked so horrified when she saw him appearing so upset that I felt I had to explain to her what was wrong! Her mum then was explaining why this big man was crying in a shop! We also bought some fabulous chutneys and pesto sauce. • At the north of the island we stopped and walked through Cowes – bought the fish, and some swimwear (so we had something to wear kayaking the following day!) – and some of the Isle of Wight blue cheese that is supposed to have won best English cheese award. Unfortunately we found a parking ticket when we returned to our car! • Dwayne ran over a rabbit [that's all I recorded about that - not that exciting really] • After dinner, we drove to see the sun set behind the magnificent white 'Needles', the long white peninsula which is probably the Isle of Wight's most renowned natural feature.

Easter 09 Adventure

At Easter, we drove to the south west of England over 10 wonderful days. Here's some of my notes made on 11 April about Day 1 (9 April 2009): • We used a StreetCar hire for the holiday. Dwayne discovered when picking it up from the next door carpark that it had a flat tyre which hadn’t been changed by the previous hirer. So, he changed it and found that we had to drive to a garage in Hammersmith to have the flat one repaired and the spare changed. • ...which meant that we were running very late and that we wouldn’t make our car ferry booking at 4pm. This was made additionally stressful because WightLink said that all ferries from Lymington (pronounced Limmington) were booked out for the rest of the day due to the Easter break. In the end, we were lucky and managed to squeeze into a later ferry to my great relief. • On the way to Lymington we were stunned to see ponies just meandering over the open fields and at times, as they willed, across roads. There were no fences and they wandered past pubs and whatever else was along the way. • I later discovered the story of New Forest – which today (11 April) we traversed much more extensively – whose rules were founded by William the Conqueror of 1066 fame, who instituted that commoners living in the Forest can let their ponies, cows and sheep graze on it, they can collect firewood and dig for clay. And to this day some take up this option – well, at least the first part. Apparently about 200 people graze about 5000 ponies and cattle on the land year in year out. Each Autumn there is a round-up of all the animals, they are checked for good health before winter, they are branded by their owner and their tales are clipped to signify the appropriate levy has been paid. Amazing. It’s illegal to feed them and they didn’t seem very keen on trying to be patted! • On entry to the Isle of Wight, we drove around the coast to the west and south and found our YHA at Totland Bay with only a little trouble. After settling in, we walked up to a local pub for some lasagna and steak & kidney pie. We were so tired after the debacle with the flat tyre so we were quickly asleep in our hostel room.

Living in London

thought it was about time I explored the world of blogs. I was inspired by a friend's blog about her trip to Uganda. London might not be quite as exciting but it's still proving to be full of adventures... so here goes... Lis