Guinness World Record holder

How many mortar boards, thrown simultaneously into the air, do you think it takes to make a new Guinness World record?  No idea?  Well, now you do - because I was part of it!

I was picked as one of London's 130,000 international students to attend a reception at City Hall where we participated in one of the 20 completely crackers new world records that London is attempting to set before the Olympics.  Along with longest curtsey relay and longest trumpeter fanfare, the record for the most mortar boards thrown simultaneously in the air is now smashed, with 295 of us throwing them into the air in front of Tower Bridge.  Can you see me?! 

After the world record was confirmed, we got to go up to the top of City Hall and check out the amazing view, looking out over Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the City and all the way from St Pauls in the west to Canary Wharf and Greenwich in the east. 

There was also a film crew from China from the show 'Happy Camp' which is apparently the most popular variety show in China, screening on Saturday night to millions.  The host (a 37-year old university lecturer in Arabic (odd combination for a variety show I know) who looked about 17) and one of China's Olympic gold medallists for diving were there and caused a minor ruckus with the Chinese international students.  I know all the details because a girl from one of my LSE classes was also there and gave me the lowdown!

 

All in all, a nice break from exam revision - especially seeing as I now have a mortar board for my next dress-up event...  Wish me luck for Friday!

FareShare gourmet dinner

We had the most incredible luck last week to be selected in a lottery to go to a dinner organised by Citroen in aid of FareShare, a food waste charity here in the UK.  Well, it was also to launch their car, but they don't need to know that we don't own a car over here do they!

The dinner was incredible - five courses for only £5!  And it was one of the most amazing gourmet experiences I've ever had.  It was cooked by the guy who won Masterchef here in the UK last year (not that I knew who that was) and was five courses - plus a few extra surprises - of awesome.  I was also really lucky to be allocated a table for six, so we could have some friends come along to share in the fun.

The whole thing was organised along the lines of the five senses, with each course representing a different one (like smell, taste, sound etc.).  I've tried to describe all the courses as they relate to their photo (click here to view the full album), but this blog does a good job of explaining the whole thing in detail.  Here's a teaser of the photos - a bacon lollipop!

London Sevens 2012

We had so much fun this Saturday at the London Sevens - especially because it was the first time we'd been in the sun in London in weeks!

The London tournament gives an overall theme to inspire everyone to dress up which, this year, was 70s disco.  We donned our best polyester, but there were lots of people in all sorts of costumes like smurfs, tiggers, mimes, even a group of marmite folk!  Do you like our orange wigs??  We were definitely easy to find in the crowd!

As always with the Sevens, it's not really so much about who's winning and losing, although the Kenyan team got lots of cheers, as did the underdog of whatever game was on - apart from when England was playing!  We cheered heartily for NZ and were happy to hear that on the second day of the tournament, while not winning this weekend's event, they took out the World Series title for the 10th time.  What was also cool was that the coach, Gordon Tietjens, was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame for all the work he's done with the team - congratulations for sure!

Something that did surprise me a bit was the booing.  I've always been told that booing is incredibly poor sportsmanship, but talking to an English guy in front of me he didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with it at all.  Basically on par with cheering for their own team!  Ah well, there's always a new cultural difference around the corner to discover.

Click here to have a look at the rest of the photos.

Coastal meanderings

After months and months passing without seeing the sea, it was time to rectify the situation with a few spring-time trips to the beach.

First, we headed down to Brighton for a night to catch a band in concert that Adrian really wanted to see and completely lucked out with the weather.  Adrian had cycled down, and I met him there after getting the train.  We visited the Brighton Pavilion which was quite incredible (George V's boy's weekend getaway palace basically) and walked down the pier and just enjoyed the sun.  We were staying right on the seafront too which was fun and made it really easy to get around.  Lunch on the Sunday was at a delicious restaurant called Food for Friends, a vegetarian place where the food was absolutely beautiful - and yum!

On the rollercoaster on Brighton Pier

 

Our second trip was to Cornwall for Easter, where we based ourselves at Holywell Bay, just south of Newquay, and spent five days exploring.  We covered a lot of ground, starting from Exeter, crossing Dartmoor, then visiting various towns including Polperro, St Ives, Fowey, Padstow (where we had Rick Stein's fish and chips - yum!) and right down to the bottom to Lands End, and then Lizard Point which was really beautiful - quite wild and untamed.

However, probably my favourite bit of Cornwall was the Eden Project.  It's basically a huge garden, half of which is under these huge biodomes, built on the site of an abandoned clay mine.  One of the biodomes is a tropical rainforest and the other is a Mediterranean garden.  I would definitely recommend clicking on the link to find out more - it was so cool!  We spent hours there, just in awe at what they'd made.  I loved it and would definitely recommend anyone to go if they're thinking of visiting that area.

And then the third of our coastal trips was to Guernsey and Sark.  I've wanted to go to Sark ever since I read about it here at the beginning of last year, and it absolutely didn't disappoint - I've never seen stars like it!  We were really lucky apparently, with Venus super bright, and then Saturn and Jupiter really yellow and red respectively.  The local astronomy society's president (the 'Star Fleet Commander'!) Annie was so welcoming, and spent an hour with us in her back garden explaning everything, and even pointing out the International Space Station going overhead.  

Sark itself is so neat - there are no cars allowed, so it's only bicycles and tractors, and the main street is tiny!  It's only about 4.5km from one end to the other, so we explored the whole island in one day, just cycling about and walking down to the sea at the edges.  We had beautiful weather, and really enjoyed camping under the stars after boogieing down at the Mermaid Disco - Sark's premiere night spot!  We also had delicious food, including some amazing croissants and a half lobster - so good.

Here's a really cool video showing the incredible stars :

 

Guernsey was also really interesting (you have to go to Guernsey to get to Sark via the ferry) and we were lucky enough to have friends there who we could stay with.  We walked through a beautiful bluebell wood, visited Victor Hugo's house, did a circumnavigation of the island to see all the bays, saw the Little Chapel and again, ate really good food!  (I'm sensing a theme here...).

All in all, I feel completely rejuvinated by our time at the sea - unfortunately it's yet to get warm enough to swim, but hopefully that's not too far away!

Click here for the rest of the photos...there are some good ones I promise!

Photo catch-up

I've been a bit remiss posting photos from my mobile lately - it's far too easy to just take them and then forget about them!  But here are some highlights from the last little while:

Our amazing meal at 'Hot Stuff' in Vauxhall, where they just bring you the best bits from the kitchen, and you get a huge meal for only £15 pp.  The bread was huge!

Very happy about the food - probably the best Indian meal I've ever had actually.

 Also loved the ice lollies that the owner got from the dairy next door and gave out!

Spring sprung (as it is wont to do) in London, reminding me that it was a year since we moved into our flat as the blossoms were out when we first moved in as well.

Adrian on the Big Ride, raring to go.

The Foster the People concert we went to at the Brixton Academy last weekend.

An absolutely delicious Sunday roast at the Old Red Cow near the Barbican in honour of a visit from Amber.  It was great, it's the only thing they do on a Sunday and they bring out enormous casserole dishes of everything so you can share it amongst yourself.  I couldn't finish my hunk'o'meat (despite its deliciousness), but the cauliflower was definitely worth seconds...

And another meal out with Amber, this time at the NZ cafe just down the road from us called The Roastery, for breakfast before she flew up to Scotland.  Delicious bircher muesli!

And finally my latest crop of seeds: courgettes and heirloom French beans (called 'Lazy Housewife' beans).  Looking forward to planting them outside and (hopefully!) getting some beans later in summer...