Sport, pubs n grub

Anna and I spent the week doing job interviews and hanging out with our hosts. It was Ian's birthday on Thursday - he is now an old fella! Anna baked him a yummy banana cake. We have also been watching a lot of sport, what with the Wimbledon and World Cup matches every day.

I had another day with Jan at Netley Primary - we took the kids to Regent's Park playground, where I pushed them on the swings and roundabout before heading out to the fields for some (barely) organised sports. Unfortunately, we have now lost the fleeting London summer, and were eventually rained out. The crappy weather hasn't really improved since...

Yesterday we did a bit of a pub crawl. We got up early to watch the opening game of the Trinations rugby at a pub full of kiwis and ockers. I'm pleased to report that the All Blacks handed out a pretty sound thrashing (not that we're bragging about it to our lovely hosts).

Afterwards we walked through the Brixton markets, then caught the tube out to Hampstead Heath. This is a huge park in northern London, where the rich people moved their properties to escape the plague. It's still an extremely wealthy area and, en route to the second pub of the day, we did a sight-seeing tour of the houses of the rich and famous including (apparently) Emma Bunton, Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and Terry Gilliam.

Pubs n grub for the evening: the Holly Bush (Pimm's cocktails, a pint of prawns and a 'rarebit'- ie. cheese toastie), The Spaniard's Inn (fruit beers, cider and massive quarter-potato wedges) and Ye Olde White Bear (chickpea patties and salad).

Tonight - the Wimbledon and World Cup finals!

PS: cherry fizzy drink round-up: Cherry Coke flows aplenty in the UK, and I have also tried Cherry Tango (too sweet even for me) and Cherry 7-Up (delicious)!