Ladbroke Grove - A long way from Loch Sport

My first full winter in London and it ends up being the coldest December in London on record. Good timing.

I should stop whingeing after seeing what people in Brisbane, Brazil and Sri Lanka are currently going through. Looks like parts of Victoria are underwater as well. Hopefully nobody reading this has been affected.

Our family home got flooded in 1990 - not fun.

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/

Loch Sport, Australia

I spent a brilliant 5 days in Australia to help celebrate Dad's 60th. He had no idea I was coming which made the trip all the more sweet. Most of the time was spent in Victoria's hidden gem, Loch Sport, by the lake, at the beach house or on the beach. Managed to catch up with a few friends too which was fantastic. Good food, drink and company; a perfect break. Happy 60th Dad.

An English Summer of BBQ's

We had 3 BBQ's in our backyard this summer. The first was for the 'Official World Cup Sweep Draw' (see previous posts), the second was in honour of watching Germany thrash England and the third was for the World Cup Final. Each BBQ was a great success, with about 20 people turning up for the Grand Finale. We're suffering a bit from a BBQ hangover and look forward to attending someone else's BBQ hopefully before the summer is out. Here's a couple of photos. There is one photo with Sully and Dave trying to build the new BBQ prior to guests arriving for bbq No. 2. Yes, Sully is holding the instructions in his hands and is as confused as he looks. The lads did a brilliant job in the end, and was great to spend some time with Sully before he flew back to India. Just a warning for any potential guests to 134, you may have to build or cook something. My third cousin (twice removed) Rach Cossar and Sully have set the precedent.

And then we played Darts in the pub across the road...

Dave 2, Rach 1, The Rest 0

You wouldn't read about it.

The (Official) World Cup Sweep Draw

The (Soccer) World Cup is pretty big in England, apparently. Because it is so big (and because I love an excuse for a bbq), the good folk of Willesden Lane decided to do a Sweep. Countless emails and text messages finally convinced 16 friends to be a part of the Sweep for the small fee of a fiver. The person who has the winning football team on July 11 will take home the grand total of £60, runner's up will pocket a very handy 20 quid - you would be mad not to get involved with that kind of money up for grabs!

We decided to have a bbq and a few drinks in the backyard to celebrate The Official Draw. Countless emails and text messages finally convinced 3 people to turn up at our backyard and help draw some names and teams out of a couple of salad bowls. Potential guests may have been deterred from coming along as I asked everyone to wear something 'Official'. Thankfully Kate turned up in a Policeman's hat. I wore a suit and bike gloves. Nobody else bothered. It was a great day though (the photos prove that). We drew the teams, drank some Pimms, enjoyed a splendid bbq (well done Dave) and finished off playing darts in the pub across the road. Brilliant.

For the record, I drew Germany and New Zealand. Brilliant.

Prostate Cancer Fundraiser

There's a link to the right of this blog where you can help support Prostate Cancer research through donating to the cause. I will be riding my bike through the streets of London in September to help raise money and awareness of this disease, so if you are able, please support me on this venture with a donation of any amount you like.

Sarah Blasko & The Temper Trap at Empire, April 28