Fancy Dress

The term 'fancy dress' here means something very different than it does 'in the states.'

Our friend was told, while packing for a ski trip he was going on that one of the evenings would be 'fancy dress.'

He packed his tux and was amazed on the 'fancy dress' night that everyone else was wearing a costume. Standing next to a cowboy....he realized that 'fancy dress' really meant 'fanciful dress'.

One of the things I love most about London is its plethora of black tie occasions. They seem to occur most often during the holidays, when the tube is packed with men in black tie, or during the Ascot season when morning suits are the choice.

I tried to capture TJ, getting home from a 'work-do' is his finest. Not too sure he was happy being photographed...but I love the formality.

chronologically incorrect, more golf - The Players

its mid July and Sunday of the Open Championship... so thought it the right context to go back to the beginning of May and our very fun visit to PVB to highlight the Players Championship practice rounds that we attended.

I am now more of the mindset that the practice rounds are the most fun to attend, and then watching the 'main' event on television provides the best coverage and feel of an event (except perhaps Augusta) - as you are able to see more players, and in a semi casual setting - and also get to see how they prepare.

Some look very serious and practice in solitude, some are elusive and out early in the morning (Tiger & Phil - but on separate parts of the course), and others look like they are genuinely having fun, playing side matches with friends, and trying out shots that they might not play when under the pressure of a Sunday final round.

and they allow cameras:

one of the 'home course' contestants
the island green 17th (with netting to protect the tee and collect divots so that it looks good on tv)
Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, and Padraig Harrington (and a bag of trail mix)
Couples, Love, Stewart Cink, and Zach Johnson playing a match:
Davis keeping his head down
glamorous spectators:
impatient commentators:
Camillo Villegas on the range (not sure why the caddie is staring at me)
the UK Contingent
Ross Fischer, Oliver Wilson, Luke Donald, Paul Casey
the new clubhouse - a (5th) major improvement over the old

We spent more time enjoying the beach, family, and our own struggles and successes on the golf course than paying attention to the action across the street - which was exactly what we were looking to do with this holiday!

me on the left... 'attempting' to surf - I guarantee that building wave beat me up

Old Fold Manor

It is the Open Championship week - and if anyone is wondering if we have the same weather in London... either those guys are all weenies, or the climate really is that different between coastal Scotland and south east England... The latter is probably most likely (it feels like summer here) even if they seem to be overreacting with winter hats, etc up there...

I had been thinking that I needed to bring a camera out on the course for months, and never did - but then when the adjacent farm decided to attack me with airborne allergens, I thought I might as well capture the cause because while it caused me to sneeze maybe more than I ever have over a two week period, it looked great (when I was able to see through my itchy eyes)...

a small gorse bush in bloom (nice to look at, but evil when the ball ends up near/in them):

the green at the 5th... a short hole, but with a brutal green (I recently fired a second shot right off of the gate in the brick wall just behind the green (and made par)).

Bridgman hitting his second into the 8th from the right hand side of the rough:


the 8th green he was targeting:


the 'all-clear' bell on the 9th fairway:
the 11th, a downhill dogleg right par 4:


and I think it is great that all water hazards in the UK must have life preservers... par tof 'Health & Safety" regulations:


no trophies to hoist yet in the 09 campaign... but I'll keep at it.

A tale of two concerts...

It is Bastille Day today -- so why not throw a post on here about France...

We recently went to two concerts within 5 days, after not going to a concert for two years... and both involved the Dave Matthews Band.

The first was 'Hard Rock Calling' at Hyde Park. We met friends at Automat. before walking over to the park and claiming our spot for the evening. I had the brunch burger... a burger with sausage, bacon, and a fried egg on it (good).

Here we are (minus me behind the camera as everyone is looking at a guy offering to take the photo with me in it... credit goes to Jen for holding the pose during a distraction - the others obviously need to work on their concentration)

Hyde Park was packed... with Bruce Springsteen fans. Apparently he was huge here in the 80's, and that demographic was out in full force. (reliving their glory days?) It was a near full day event - we saw just James Morrison, DMB, and the Boss... My favorite part of seeing Bruce and the E Street Band was anticipating when 'Little Steven' would take on his Sopranos character on stage...

-- it didn't happen though.

This was as close as I could get to the stage... people were being very territorial about their Boss viewing...

Just before the end of the show... 10pm curfew on a sunday night in Hyde Park - which apparently could be heard for miles

We then headed off on tour with Dave Matthews the following Wednesday to Paris - which surprisingly turned out to be one of the best concerts I've ever seen (bold statement, I know - but it was...)

this is how close we were to the stage
(with the camera zoomed in...)

We had no idea where or what the venue would be like... it turned out to be a small theatre (the Olympia) in the 9th arrondisement - general admission on the floor, and seating above. Our seats were on the far right balcony just above the stage...

here is our true view... in arsty black & white (I thought it looked cool)

We were in the middle of a heat wave in London, and it was warmer in Paris, and then incrementally warmer inside this small theatre (and in true parisian style there was only evian and badoit as water options) - and they put on an amazing show... either they were happy to be in Paris, happy to be out of the UK, or for whatever reason it all just 'clicked' for them that night. They played for close to four hours - mixed in old with with new music really well, and from time to time dipped back into the 'jam' roots of the 'new' band - with the new big guy on trumpets, one of the Flecktones replacing Leroi Moore on saxophone, and Tim Reynolds

here is the first encore - when dave came back out by himself, voice a bit shot from the show:


and here you can (maybe) see us here if you pause it at :47ish on this video up in the balcony when the woman's face is in the foreground...



this is from the opposite angle:


and this 'youtuber' was sitting right next to us - and took better videos than I did with my camera... so can be a proxy for us if you want to see a bit more of what we saw: http://www.youtube.com/user/lmcoelho666#play/uploads

and someone else's flickr page for more photos

definitely one of the best, and I have seen quite a few (not a boasting statement...its just what we used to do on Wednesday nights in Richmond at the Flood Zone where we went to many of these shows for $5.

Great fun... and then we headed off to the Basse Normandy coast the next morning - to a town called Deauville.. more to come on that.

test of a google streetview link below of the olympia theatre..


View Larger Map

two 'adverts' that are bothering me right now...

The people at Glade and Fairy could not have gone home at night after filming these ads and thought 'well, that was a productive day'...

without further delay:

Going For a Poo at Paul's...


and

perhaps the worst jingle ever (it's at the end...) - and an ad hoc market study (my office) shows that 2 out of 5 english people can actually recall and sing the tune.

Skaneateles - Finger Lakes

I spent a long weekend in June up in Skaneateles, in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York with my friends from college.



It was a perfectly planned weekend starting with massages right when we arrived, a tour of the local wineries, our own private cottage with a deck, custom made pajamas, an ipod full of college-era music, gift bags and hours and hours of talking.









It was my first time up in this region and I can't stop talking about it. The wine was good (rieslings, crisp whites) the lake was stunning and we quickly agreed to make it an annual destination.

Our last trip together was to New Orleans, (Manhattan before that - and our 4 weddings before that) and after hours spent on the hotel balcony with snacks, wine and pajamas we agreed that we really just needed a place to be together and catch up - any hope of sight-seeing or cultural activities were really just wasted on us.

We just need a place to bring us all back together - and from the tired, happy looks at the end of the weekend - I know we got it right.

Peterborough

I competed in a regetta up in Peterborough, (about an hour and a half drive north from London.)
It was a 'typical English summer weekend', quite different actually from the sunny and warm weather we've been having.


We went up the night before and stayed over in a little hotel right on the 'river'. The course was a man-made one - specifically for 1,500 meter rowing races.
It was a day filled with standing in the rain, cheering on the other SONS women and men teams. We had 3 boats entered, our womens novice 8, a womens senior 4, and a mens senior 8. That's right - I am a senior. Well I will be once I lose my 'novice' status.

Senior....Novice. Novice....Senior. Hmmm....being a novice is not too shabby.


We won our first race (qualifier,) and it was the first time I've been in a winning boat. Actually all of our teams won the qualifying race - just not the finals. We got creamed in the final!

All in all, after arriving back home at about 10pm on Saturday night, a hot bath and a huge Sushi meal - I was smiling about the experience. We'll get 'em next time! Senior....ha!