Storm's Christening

Blessed with an unusual sunny day, P&H mustered a motley crew together, to witness the little fella take a full on dunk in the St Mary Bourne font.

The church, that I last visited for P&H's wedding, or was it Xmas? was significantly quieter than I recall it; that said, the kids in attendance more made up for the somber singing adults. With splashing ducks & shrieks of playful exuberance not usually associated with bath time the tone was set for a friendly family friends affair.

Stormy did teh Royal Marines proud as he stripped to his birthday suit & took a full on plunge.

Parched from a hard day's pleasantries & photography, we decamped the church for Ash house & called for some liquid refreshment to toast the little chap.

The last time I recall seeing a cake being cut like this it wasn't at a christening, but who am I to cast aspersions?

Hmmpton Court & Ronnie Scott - a busy weekend

Hagar had to sit & enjoy the inner delights of his display tent whilst outside knights of old got on with the being bold stuff.

Aquapak appears to have had a good weekend, Hagar however was up for extending his London weekend & joined us all for a relaxing few beer later Saturday evening at Ronnie Scott's Jazz in Marble Hill park - "Nice"

Can't say I'd do Jazz every weekend, but when it's on your doorstep, it's rude not too :)

London Triathlon

Some say why? some say why not! For me, the Triathlon has been a training goal to ensure I keep geting out & enjoying having Richmond park on my doorstep.

The 1.5km swim started spot on 2.40pm & 27 minutes later I emerged back where we'd started.This was my first race at this distance & I was glad to have had 4 monday nights open water swimming down at the Princes club in Bedfont. The London Docks contained decidedly unless weed & duck poo so I came out ahead of my 30 minute ambition, cleared & happier than expected.

The swim exited back through the massive Excel centre , that housed over 10,000 other crazy athletes. I hopped on my rented bike to tackle the 40km ride aiming for a 1.30 time. It was windy & threatened rain almost all ride, but the weather held off. The momentum of riding with others had my 2x20km laps wrapped up in just 1.09. I knew I was going fast but the I hoped to god that I'd not over done it.


I knew as soon as I was off the bike that the final 10km run was going to be a struggle but I'd set myself an easy hour target & was already 20 minutes up on plan. The flat terrain combined with a fresh bounce of new trainers however assisted me to run a painful 50 minute final stage.
I crossed the line a happy & content man, even if it was at just over a snail pace !

A BarBee @ 26a

Kids of all shapes & sizes gathered for a BBQ at 26a. Needless to say not everyone jumped on the castle, poor old Storm had to miss out !

Must get the gardener over again

Jammin' in Jamaica

Yeah mon, the theme of a week long wedding in Negril,Jamaica rang out from both locals & party goers alike.

Just 2 weeks into a new job, I find myself boarding a Virgin plane & heading for foreign shores again. Seth & I join Toby & family to celebrate his marriage to Carol. We arrived hoping the week ahead would be decidedly better than the flight out had been.

A beach front affair, the wedding required us to be fully suited & booted, and as an usher, had me dressed in morning suit. Despite repeated requests for cool linen outfits the groom stuck to his guns & was lucky to have a cool west indies breeze refresh us from the mid day sun.

Post mandatory photos we clambered aboard a closely moored yacht & sailed along the coast (still suited & booted). Beer, cocktails & sunshine wash down with plenty of atmosphere & reggae soon saw the swimmers out. An on board slide was put to great use & the majority of us cooled off it the sea.

Seth & I chose to stay away from the rest of the wedding party allowing us to go off & explore. We ventures off in a tourist motor, sampled an array of restaurants & attempted an ill fated off road expedition through the countryside.

The week swang by in a blur & despite returning home on an equally terrible Virgin flight as our trip out we had ourselves a fantastic time.

A Storm arrives

A new member of the Robinson/Hatchard clan popped out into the world last week. Hagar's brief message read "Born on Fri (18th) am 0244 UK time at 7 lbs 6 oz Stormont ‘’Storm’’ Hatchard is well after an awesome water birth where he completed his first length of the birthing pool before bungeing back to Mum via his umbilical. Polly and Storm will be back home in Granville Way on Sunday afternoon and send their love to everyone."

Needless to say I assisted by toasting the little fella with a cold beer after the end of my first week at work ! He'll have a good share of Fish Fingers I'm sure :)

Toby's Stag to Bristol

A fun & frollock filled weekend down the M4 had between 25 & 30 boys join forces & tackle the difficult task of enjoying a comedy club night out, clay pigeon shooting, kart racing & watching England beat France to rekindle our 2008 6 nations challenge.

Weston lodge played host to both the shooting & karting. A few of us excelled in being extremely poor shots & an even larger number of us felt the latent effects of the comedy night impairing our non existant kart driving abilities.

Fortunately a refreshing shower & change later had us fully recharged & we were all back in the driving seat to crack on.

A short prize giving ceremony to ensure Toby, sorry Bow Peep, was warmed up & do we hot footed it down in the Walkabout to grabbed grub & toast the second successive England victory over France.

K&C's New Year UK tour - Scotland

And so to Edinburgh to explore the city & a few nights stay with Micka in his penthouse porn pad.
The snow laiden clouds were blown in on a strong cold South Easterly wind made for a dramatic sky line on arrival, but these cleared at night to show the city's festive skyline.

Our first full day started with a flurry of snow that dusted the roof tops & pavements. We set out thorough the fresh snow & headed up to the castle via the historic Royal mile.

Once at the castle, the panoramic vista of entire city & surrounding country opened up in front of us. The vista lasted no more than 30 minutes before we were again engulfed by clouds. The real snow started to fall this time & ALL the kids started to play (didn't they Karina!!)

The cold of outside made the inner castle appear positively warm.

Our evening plans turned to the scary side of the city. Deep below the crowded pubs & shops, in the underground chambers beneath the city, we found this whitely ghost (hehe - sorry Mick, think you need more Scottish sun!)


Our final day in Scotland took us to the coast, to Leigh, where the decommissioned HMS Britannia is moored. The well managed tourist attraction had us quizzing around simultaneously seeing how the Queen et al had lived aboard the the royal ship & avoiding families with screaming kids.

We finished the day with a relaxing afternoon long lunch, swapping University/Rugby stories with Sam, Kate & little Fin at their house just south of Dundee.