Boo!

10.5forty-three

Doing research into SEO for Indifresh.

Halloween dinner at Blenheim for IC & LC, and Andrea. Mel's chilli is epic. Made mulled cider and pumpkin pie. Carving pumpkins on the balcony, and then playing Cards Against Humanity.

On a work roll

10.4forty-two

TICKETS TO SOUTH AFRICA BOOKED!

Getting to play with Adobe Animate (I know I know - so late)... like an old friend! Flash 2.0! \0/

Indifresh site build coming along nicely, thanks to free template from HTML5 up.

Elle's leaving do on Friday at The Turk's Head. Wow. Saturday Brunch with Su's awesome £100 win! SJ, Cathy, Su and me made small change of that, with Prosecco and Bucks Fizz, a fantastic meal, and completely superfluous cake round. Rolled out of there.

Spending more than I'm earning...!

9.4thirty-eight

Uneventful flight back, other than watching The Duchess with Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes. Brief stop in AMS - leaving the arrivals hall to see if I can pay for my phone - no luck. At least I got 4 biscuits on the flight :-)

Vida's tattoo design went down well :) Haircut and discovering another little second-hand record store! Monkees LP acquired. Leaving drinks in Richmond for Mike, Del and Wendy - turns into a bbq instead! Bought Sketch and started looking at UXUI.

Sister Act with a live gospel choir in church! Brunch with Mel in Greenwich, and a little walk around the village. Stumble upon a second-hand record store. (War of the worlds full story discs, Deep Purple 24 Carat Gold (mostly live though), Breakfast in America, Storm Front, Bridge over troubled water (which i already have, ugh), and cocktail soundtrack (sentimental buy!)). Also Beyonce Lemonade (digital though).

Kicking off Blackheath with Elgar Variations :)

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

8.3thirty-three

The mystery has played out successfully!

Rohan is drawing to a natural close for now. South Africa performing well in the Olympics. SJ takes 4 games!! 5-4 at the end of a gruelling session that's left us both invalids.

In other news: Dinner out with Andrea, M and SJ at Jackson + Rye. Gin cocktails and a burger. Mandela started and almost finished in one go.

Work heating up!

8.2thirty-two

Catching up furiously on GoT. Mandela painting prepped, mystery just about ready to go! Trying to implement various ingenius solutions to problems around my room. Album cover holder done after Lego blocks arrived :) Trying to invent a simple device to skip tracks on a record with, and/or lift arm at end of record. Messy area in room finally cleared up!

Ukulele. Back at RZF for Perspectives booklet (and website!). City Index flaring up. Working in JSON.

Jen at Camden Fringe with Su and SJ; VICTOR! Friday night out with V, Rz and SJ in Clapham! Saturday morning lunch with Ams and Rz, then home after a long absence. Chiiiillll.

Mandela is looking good! Beef salad with Thai dressing more or less out of my head!

Cherry-picking

8.1thirty-one

Tif&Bri over from Oz to stay with SJ. Free 1 hour UI session with a senior in the field. Ams in London Bridge - with the PAINTING!! Gruelling session with John. Training to lift 1.5 times my body weight :-O Currently at 3/4. Start of the Olympics.

Lz&On over from Oz as well - meetup in LBG on Friday; drinks at the George all night with Cm and Shz. Slipped out to catch Carina Round at the Lexington.

Saturday Visions festival, attempting to get into Netil House for street food. Q too long, so went for indian. Anna Calvi, Lightning Bolt with Dave.

Sunday in Kingston with the girls at Patisserie Valerie, seeing them off at the X26, then shopping in Lakeland and Claus Ohlsen for amazing things.

Dancing dirty

7.4twenty-nine

Visiting Ams in LBG, lunch with SJ and work friends on the steps of the church by the BBC. Escape the room game in Finsbury park - aced it in 32 minutes! GWN pub quiz in Barbican with Jo&O and shaw - lovely people! DIRTY DANCING on Sunday was absolutely WONDERFUL. Kicked our ball about, took part in camp games, bought legendary BBC double LP, ate hotdogs despite having packed fajitas and a litre of G&T for lunch...! All dressed up, watching the show with a very interactive crowd :) Had a really lovely time.

SHOWTIME!

7.3twenty-eight

Carmen opera at The Blackheath Halls. Mel and Andrea come to watch on the first night, SJ and Su on the second night! Old lady's hip injury at half time... :( Third show percussion swap around with Andrew - swap back at half time after Nick reprimands us. Last performance is perfect.

Making friends in the office, lemon tree in the well! Birthdays!! Birthday breakfast with candles :) Meeting a new recruiter (Gemini), Finn's birthday!

Picnic in the Olympic park with Stacy & Simone, etc. The longest walk to get there! Custard milkshake afterwards in Westfield.

Bought the Leopold Stokowski conducting Bach: The Great Transcriptions with the LSO!

In double rainbows

7.1twenty-six

All week at RZF. Pingpong with the lady every day - so much fun! Trying out a new dimsum restaurant near TCR. Tattoo discussions with my besties. 3D sketches for Nes' shoji screens, as well as my bedside table.

Missus off to Scotland. Grateful that we managed to iron out wrinkles and reconnect before that. Asian food market in Peckham with Mel on Friday evening - double rainbow is the payoff for the rain! 15 minute wait for bubblewrap dessert.

March against xenophobia in central London with Mel, Gita, Dan and Ellie, Jck and Lz. Spotted one of the LGBT traffic lights Jan pointed out! Jim Morrison tribute band at the Brooklyn Bowl with Davex2. Sunday full day session at Blackheath! Rossini Overtures conducted by Herbert von Karajan vinyl picked for £4 (but actually free).

Pop shop Carmen!

5.5twenty-one

Washing the stars off my ceiling... Squash date night! Two games taken off me! I must get back into the league... maybe now that we're moving to Palace! Starting the song game with Nes on WhatsApp :-D Fajita / tacos at Esh's.

Cancelled Tidal subscription. Pooooossibly reconsidering NX Gate apartments. Getting addicted to minesweeper on iPhone. Serious memory lane as I rediscover Pop Shop vol 13 and 19. Yoga book for Nes's birthday arrives in Houtbay. Packing the first bits.

Em and Co visiting. House meetings and dens parties with the bitches. Blackheath kicks off with a cymbal crash!!!

New home

5.3nineteen

Quiter week at home, despite the Monday of 9 viewings. Concentrating on Crystal Palace now. Memory stick collected from Andrei at the music studio. Songs uploaded!

Offer made on Alexandra Drive! Wonderful chat with mom! Letting go of my garden on a universal scale. Ams' hair shaved off. Finn in a fistfight at school. Oupa using his haircut voucher. Nes' D&D figurines.

Chat about friends who don't know I exist. Turns out they do! More than I realised! \0/ E's birthday snub... :( Great PT session with John. Trying to organise measurements at Alexandra Drive amidst ongoing tenant reference checks and upheavals.

Meeting up with old work friend Ben Lamb, possibility of business in the future? Rzfsh for half a day, visiting Ams! Esh off work not feeling well :( Squash booked, but missed. Islington with SJ Sat morning, bakery, optician, banners, another bakery, second hand record store with birthday presents in it! Sunglasses for me! Missed the Blackheath kick-off due to excessive banner work (and a little procrastination and interruption from other things). Silly work choices in terms of prioritising work already in hand.

Recording, singing, making MUSIC

5.2eighteen

Band goes into recording studio to lay down tracks! Two days and a massive headache later, we have 4 songs down. Radiohead go offline, then release new single. Finishing the last wall in Esh's flat! Lovely walk to the voting station, then the travel chaos that ensues (lineside fire at Vauxhall). Singing Meatloaf in the car, Mrs Loud solo, followed by winner takes it all!

Regrettable decision to go into Tag - has several knock-on effects with timing issues. Sadiq Khan becomes the new mayor of London. Dinner with Cath and Su in Cocochan. Offer su to come and stay with Mel and myself for a bit. Viewing Alexandra drive! Closest we've been to an offer yet. Lunch in Crystal Palace triangle at the CP Market. Love the area...

Whimsical little Sound of Music mix...

Pirrouetting around work requests!

4.2fourteen

Amazed by the T-shirt votes! I want to submit more stuff to the shop.

Organising Ams' haircut. Successful design and build of email campaign with dynamic landing pages. Giselle Live screening in Covent Garden! After running all the way from Leicester Square, lol. Decked out with red wine and wotsits. Having to push in the cork and spurt wine into my eye. Thank god for Pret brownie to top it all off. Ballet was beautiful.

Meeting at City Index with the old gang! Ready for some massive work. Back at Tag to work on Panthalassa emails. Gym! Kicking is definitely getting better...! Watching Masterchef and The Good Wife "with" Esh. Emergency dentist for filling :( Whatsapp group with Uni maatjies.

THE BIRTH OF IRONNY. Or Iron Munny, by way of explanation.

Losing my emergency filling... All of the ast two weeks' work at Tag has been Canned! Failed house viewing in Catford (owner forgets keys, then locks himself out of his own house, and locks his phone in his car). Great viewing Saturday - 4 properties all round the neighbourhood. Best one so far is 2 roads down. Friday dinner with M and Esh in Jam circus, Saturday new barbers in town! Finally have a haircut. Breakfast at Brockley Mess :)

Submitted design to Smirnoff Digital Pride competition! Watching Dirty Dancing on Sunday evening while cooking :)

Hiding in the fort

3.4twelve

One half day at Tag.  New comp for Ams, and starting with the final painting. Sorted out company dividends in light of Osborne's new budget. Madnella work review, and working Leon's copy into my personal site.

Planning for Fort BlanketFort! Macdonalds burger sauce, Logos for HOP diner and FBF. Sorting out the band's recordings. House hunting. Kurdt Cobain documentary, The Young Bruce Lee, Chicken Burger, Beef Burger, banana milkshakes, Oreo and chocolate milkshakes, fries, Tiramisu and hot melting middle pudding, Life of Brian, The Crying Game, Carol! Red wine, 24-hour snack pack, total chillout in FBF.

Roz at Helen's for Easter, teddy bear picnic with the family. Meeting KB. Ams in Guys. Mark in London! Meeting up with the gang at Foxlow in Stoke Newington.