Wimbledon World

Wimbledon (the town) is in the throes of Wimbledon (the tennis). As such, the whole world has descended on little Wimbledon Village, and it's making the school run pretty much Hell for me.

Lots of new faces milling about the eateries along the High Street at any given time of day.  The normally sleepy street is a constant buzz for now.  I am keeping my eyes peeled for celebrities on a Wimbledon walkabout.

In fact, I walked past the revered father of Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams, a couple of days back.

And this morning I spotted tennis' World No.2, Rafael Nadal (Spanish stud; not as lust-worthy as his Armani campaign), having breakfast at one of the cafes, with two other guys.  He was talking really fast in Spanish and gesticulating wildly; probably rehashing his spectacular loss to 100th seed, Lukas Rosol (Czech nobody; might prove lust-worthy after a few Nike campaigns).


But really, I'm just waiting for Brangelina and brood to walk out of the Starbucks one of these days... ;)

Makes Me Smile

I like to pretend this is Maya and Ruhi in about 10 years' time, casually belting out one of my all-time fave tunes... :)



Note to self:  Must start convincing Maya into guitar lessons.

Happy Monday!

So the weekend turned out pretty OK...

It turned out to be blue skies and an exemplary British summer soiree at Ruhi's school's Olympic Fun Day. :)

 

On Saturday, we had a taste of the Wimbledon Village Fair in all it's glory, complete with Horse and Dog Shows, Fancy Butcher Grills, Curios Stalls, Morris Dancing and Posh People Faffin' About...

A lovely Sunday dimsum in Chinatown with cousins...

 ... and then a walk down Regent Street to soak in Central London in full Olympic glory. :)

Rough Waters Ahead

My nightmare weekend pretty much starts now.

It's pissing down, complete with blustery winds, and I shall have to take Ruhi to her school's "Olympic Fun Day".

On top of all that, London bus drivers are on strike, and bus services are super erratic.

And today is the husband's wisdom teeth removal surgery.  Which means I shall have to prepare baby food for the next few days.

And for some reason, my mind is doing star-jumps and burpees.  I'm standing in the kitchen, wanting to get something from the living room, and when I get there, I can't remember why I had walked into the living room.  (Nope, the house is not too big. :S)

Which is why, when I make it through all this, I shall reward myself with a cup of tea, in this lovely mug by DirtyDishes. :)

available here

A Midsummer Day

The past few days have been bright and sunny.  So nice to hang the laundry out and be able to fold them up by late afternoon.  The roses are in bloom, so are the gladiolas and jasmine... *happy sigh* :)

Unfortunately, the good weather left us this morning.  And, yes, the laundry rack is back in the house.  It's cloudy, wet and muggily cool.  Moody days like these, I cozy on down with my crochet...

I'm working on a granny square throw for the sofa.  The chevron one has served us well the past winter, and I am looking to give the sofa a new look come winter. :)

One granny square after another...

I have 42 squares.  So I have plenty of purple-border work cut out for me.

Makes Me Smile

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was recently in London to spread the love.  His talk "Real Change Happens in the Heart" focused on secular ethics in the 21st century.  Sounds like pretty heavy stuff.  But you know His Holiness is just all about Peace.  *Om mani padme hum* -__-

And these pics of him clowning around just makes me wanna give him a big bear hug. :)

Russell Brand deserves it. (via Dalai Lama)

"Gotcha!" (via Dalai Lama)

His Holiness has the flu. Really. (via WSJ)

Happy Monday!

Gratuitous Fabulous Jewelry Pic

The Caravaggio Orange Ring by Maxim Voznesensky for Annoushka.  Detailed, organic, and slap-in-your-face blinged out, it's a breath-taker, this one.

 

Crafted from 18K yellow gold, white diamonds and dark orange sapphires, this looks good enough to eat.  But, the GBP17,500 you'll have to pay makes it a little hard to swallow.  O_O *gulp*

Plane Bored

The recent trip to Zanzibar involved a 6-hour flight to Muscat, and then a 4-hour flight to Zanzibar.  Maya watched 2 movies, 2 sitcoms, made a disco playlist, and decorated the barf bag.

Scenes from Zanzibar

Yes, I have just returned from the most amazing holiday evah, in Zanzibar.  We stayed for five glorious days, to celebrate our friends' wedding.   Five days of buffet breakfasts and dinners, five days of no cleaning, cooking or laundry, five days of alternately partying and relaxing with good, good friends.  Gosh, what happy days! :)

The airport in Zanzibar was pretty much a bungalow with a giant tarmac patio...

... with a couple of airplanes parked on it.

The view from my lounge chair, from where I soaked up the sun and nursed many a Tusker while watching Those Two play in the pool.

And the sea was no ordinary blue.  It was a breathtaking silvery turquoise.  Not quite captured on my iPhone camera. :S

Stonetown is the Old Centre of Zanzibar.  Smack next to the sea, it's focal point is a museum which used to be a fort.  A grand, formidable stone structure that provides a soul-centre to an intricate maze of shops and residences, filled with tourists out for a good buy, and locals going about with their daily lives...

There is nothing quite like a dhow ride off the Zanzibari coast to watch the sun set over the idyllic, glittery turquoise horizon.  

 "Jambo!"

Add to that some champagne and calamari, a local musician onboard serenading "Malaika", and a few coastal kids swimming out to say "Jambo!".  Nope, absolutely nothing quite like it... except Perfect. :)

Scenes of Jubilee

This weekend (plus Monday and Tuesday), we celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.  For some months now, it's been getting hot-and-heavy with the Union Jack and everything red-white-and-blue.

From shopfronts to pub gardens, village streets to wall graffitti... how truly adored is the Queen! :)