Draycote to Rugby

To celebrate the only sunny day of the year (well that's what it feels like anyway) Clare and I cycled from Draycote Water to Rugby, stopping in at the walkabout pub for a much needed Australian beer.

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Warwick castle with the Laughlins

Richard, Claire and the girls came to visit for the day, so we went to Warwick castle to take in some medieval action including dungeons, sword fighting, a giant trebuchet and ice creams. For certain younger members of our party, the main attraction was a giant mirror into which funny faces could be displayed at great amusement.

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Godiva festival

Kev and Suzanne visited us for the weekend, so after a quick BBQ we headed off to the Godiva festival in Coventry. It was a free concert, with the Super Furry Animals headlining (who were excellent and weird as ever). However, the show was stolen by the support band, and Coventry locals 'The Enemy'. Amazingly the weather held out and we were treated to a great sunset, I can't say the same for our long walk on Sunday afternoon.

London maps

LondonTown.com have added a nice map to their website.

It has the tube stops and lines marked on, as well as some landmarks. You can also pan it around in the google maps style. Nice. It only covers central London, and is really geared towards hotels, but I think it's worth using to plan a trip!

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Drayton Manor Park

Yesterday we decided to make ourselves feel dizzy and sick by going to Drayton Manor Park. The highlight of the day was 'shockwave', the UK's only 'stand up' roller coaster. It was one of those strange experiences where you think: 'why on earth did I agree to go on this ride' whilst you're slowly climbing up the first slope. For the rest of the ride you realise it was in-fact the most stupid mistake of your life. But by the time you get off, you think its brilliant and can't wait to get on again.

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REZ style game in flash

http://www.geocities.jp/flashgame_zone/zero.htm

It's a bit like REZ, hold down the mouse button and move the cursor over the targets to get a lock on them. Press the space bar to fire and say goodbye to your Friday afternoons.

MUSE at Wembley

Last night Clare and I went to see Muse play Wembley. Arriving just as 'My Chemical Romance' finished their last song (perfect timing!) we waited we waited for Muse, whilst admiring the stadium's civil engineering, listening to Pendulum on the sound system (a good omen). With a dramatic opening, straight into 'Knights of Cydonia', they delivered a two hour set of their usual heavy riffs, over the top guitar solos and rock showmanship. With a light show which became progressively more jaw dropping, including ballerinas suspended from large helium balloons, swivelling satellite dishes and plenty of fire and smoke, we weren't disappointed. Such performances surely secure Muse as the greatest band in the UK/World/Universe? I think they are pretty good anyway.

First medical article

Clare just had her first article published, a letter to the Rural and Remote Health Journal - yey! You can read it here.

In other news, the Neufelds have gone back to Canada - boo. And the Talbots (Astburys in disguise) have returned from Cameroon - yey!

30 years old, and still looking good.

What an excellent birthday! Clare took me on a mystery journey, which involved driving, walking, the train and the tube, and ended up at the London Eye (I've never been on it before!). As soon as we arrived we bumped into my Mum and Dad, Clare's Mum and Dad, Kev, Suzanne, Rich, Claire and the girls (amazing coincidence?). So we took a trip on the big wheel, saw lots of good views, and had a great time.

We then stopped by the Tate Modern, and wandered up to Belgo's in Covent Garden for a bite to eat. When being shown to our table I recognised Josh sitting on the end of it. It then slowly dawned on me that the whole table was filled with 26 of my friends, some of which I've not seen in years. I was overcome! We had some excellent muscles and Belgian beer, and continued the party later at the Porter House.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and most of all to Clare, who has been scheming and plotting behind my back for months! I should really change my gmail password...

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Castle run video

Josh shot some video while I was doing the castle run, and compiled it into this excellent movie.

There are also some photos here.

Thanks Josh.