Graeme likes cars. He likes fast cars that are only drivable when they're fitted with a roll-cage and go-fast stickers. So, imagine his delight when he called me to say, 'Don't make any plans this weekend, we're going to the Supercross Championship on Saturday!'

Ah.






















And so we happened upon the O2 in North Greenwich.














You can see this unusual structure from all over the Docklands area - from work, from Canary Wharf where we often shop after work, and of course, very nearly from home as well! It looks like a giant tent but inside the structure is made from solid concrete, bricks, scaffolding and glass. It's hard to believe that it is in fact a temporary structure.





















When inside, we sat in a wooden-panelled bar (Union Square, if memory serves me). I felt very uncomfortable about the taxidermy and leather couches, but G rather enjoyed the 'smoking lounge' ambiance.





















See? He's completely at home.

















As it turns out, the Supercross Championship meant that there were hundreds of very loud motorbikes, quad bikes and steamrollers making their way around a bumpy track of 20,000 tonnes of dirt.





















We had particularly good seats - we sat in a VIP box on the top floor of the O2 (G's work has a 'box', which is how he got the tickets, isn't he lucky?) - and we watched these mad men race around and launch off of the ramps.

















Do you notice how very small these riders look? It's not because we're far away. Oh no. It's because they're only eight years old.

Yes - EIGHT years old.

And, they're racing motorcross bikes!


The quad bikers had a go at the course. It's quite odd to see these cumbersome vehicles launch into the air, but launch they did!
















And, humorously enough, so did the steam rollers. Two of the steam rollers actually had a little race as they rolled the little bumpy ridges on the right hand side of the track.






















We met up with some folks from G's work who were happily ordering buckets and buckets of beers, and then, when the event finished around 11pm, we headed home (and they went out clubbing!). Oh how old we are! :D






















This is what you see when you're leaving the VIP area of the O2. I love this installation, and I've never seen it any colour other than the standard blue and green hues usually displayed - but, then again, I've never been to an event at the O2 either.






















Here it is up-close for you, in case you haven't been to an event at the O2 either. Isn't it striking?

We've been living in London for just over a year now, so it was about time that we experienced the world-famous West End... and we were very lucky to be given two tickets to the hit musical Jersey Boys.


We've seen We Will Rock You and Chicago as performed by South Africans in the Cape Town theatres, so we were very keen to see how the famous West End stood up to our high levels of expectations!

Our tickets were for a work-day so we rushed there after work, grabbed a quick snack from Burger King (how very un-posh of us) and then made our way to the beautiful Edward Theatre. It's a lovely theatre lined with lush red carpets (on some of the walls as well - too absorb sound, perhaps?), red wallpapered panels, red and gold details and medallions, and velvety red curtains. The chairs were upholstered in (you guessed it!) red with some darker details, and you could rent teeny tiny binoculars for a non-refundable £1. Luckily, we didn't have to rent the binoculars because we had such a good view from the balcony. I did enjoy one theatre novelty: I got some theatre-box Maltesers - - a "theatre box" is a normal box with an added panel under the lid. In the panel is a small hole, just big enough for you to tip one Malteser out without spilling the rest of them all of the theatre floor, or yourself.

We didn't know much about the musical so we were both very pleasantly surprised by what we got. It started off very strangely with a french rapper singing one of Franki Valli's hits, but it soon became a thoroughly enjoyable sing-along that was brilliantly cast (the four men in the poster above) and really very well coordinated. It was engaging and spectacular - we loved it. I had no idea how prominent Franki Valli's influence is on my own musical knowledge, and, of course, on contemporary music too. In fact, I hate to admit it, 'Franki Valli' was a name that was for me synonymous only with the Grease soundtrack!

The musical worked its way brilliantly through Valli's career, his personal 'fall', and his later entrance into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame as a talented and successful musician. We clapped along to the fun songs and nearly cried with the sad ones... overall, we were really surprised at how many of the songs were familiar, and it was really interesting to get the 'behind the scenes' look at the history (and inspiration) behind the songs as well as the man himself. It was a lot more dramatic that the light-hearted We Will Rock You, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

In all honesty, it was (for us) not a very big leap from our local theatres back home in South Africa to London's magical West End. I think that the most notable difference is of course that the productions here all have their own theatres, whereas ours are run in seasons in either the Baxter or Artscape halls. That means that there is always something on the go, any day of the week, so if you're looking for something to do in London - the West End is a safe bet. The choreography, set design and singing were all to a similar standard so we were quite pleased that it had lived up to our expectations! After having such a good experience, we're definitely going to go back... only now I'm trying to convince G to go see Mamma Mia! I can't even think of how they're going to recreate an entire Greek island on stage but I can't wait to see.

I've been slowly baking my way through Nigella's recipe books. Like a lower-budget and less ambitious version of Julie & Julia, I plan to bake all of her earthly delights as we progress through 2011. I don't want to boil a lobster alive or tackle the famous beef bourguignon (although I  might just, for the sake of adding it to my repertoire), but the baking... Oo ... the baking. It helps having an office full of friendly people who always appreciate a little baked good here and there.

The thing about Oxford - the thing - is that it is home to one of my favourite shops in the entire world. It's a bookshop, one I've mentioned here a few times before, where all books are £2.00. All books, any books - hardcovers and softcovers, new releases and classics, books on philosophy and books on food, biographies and war books, cooking books and childrens' books, books that have that new book smell and books that are still wrapped up in plastic or paper. Mm.

Happy New Year! We're currently suffering from severe internetlessness after having moved house (yes, more on that later! I promise to post pictures of home once we've cleaned up nicely and we have sufficient bandwidth to upload an image or two), so my apologies for only sending out bloggy New Year wishes now.

We got to celebrate New Year's Day with a seven-hour drive up to the Land of the Haggis to meet Richard and Aaron who have been a-visiting from Sunny South Africa. The drive was heaps of fun, complete with many stops at 'services' (what we'd call 'rest stops'), hunting around for travel pillows, and hilariously awkward vending machines that indicate the particular nuances of the various areas we stopped in. We ate awful burgers, drank take-away coffee in the car and laughed hysterically at the ridiculous town names we passed by. There was a terrifying moment when I realised that we were out of mobile signal range for about two hours but I think I can be forgiven for my reliance on technology at that moment because we were winding our way along country roads with no lights in the middle of the pitch-blackness of nightfall!

Edinburgh was rather different from what we were expecting. It was dark, grimy and layered. The buildings were montaged to form a giant structure that rose and fell out of the earth in various shades of brown and grey, and the cars were constantly streaming around the oddly circular roads.

















And just when you weren't expecting it, the world turned topsy turvy and in the middle of a busy intersection, a little stone house rose out of the greens and looked like it had grown out of a seed:





















I wanted to have this little abode, but it wasn't very accessible nor would it easily fit into our car boot, methinks.

Aaron and I discovered the most fantastic vending machine in the world which certainly deserves a mention: a Ben & Jerry's vending machine in the hotel lobby. Yes - ice-cream. It involved a  vacuum suction cup on the end of a robotic arm, a freezer, and tiny tubs of Ben & Jerry's goodness dispensed in the flavour of your choice. The novelty cost a whopping £3.00.

We did the sightseeing and touristy things in Edinburgh, like walking along Princes Street and visiting all the kilt-makers along the way. Here's Richard trying on some fun Scottish merchandise:






















We also hunted down the best place to eat Scottish Food which happened to be the highly-recommended Monster Mash. Their speciality is sausages and mash. The décor was a bit uncomfortable with black and white contrasts, but it had a nice diner feel about it and the food was delicious! Here's Richard's giant Scottish pie:


... and Graeme's McSween Haggis!


Haggis, Turnips and Mash.

How Very Scottish.

We even made our way into the Edinburgh Castle which is atop a giant hill that requires much huffing and puffing. Here's the Castle from way down below where you can see it perched on its vantage point:






















See? There it is... all the way up there.... and you have to walk there. Anyway, we got there nice and early, got our tickets without much fuss, and happily wondered around the castle buildings enjoying the history, the sights, the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Book and Whisky Shop. I thought it was particularly funny to have a shop in the castle dedicated to such apparently opposite products, but no! It was quite the norm inside, with patrons purchasing trinkets, tokens, whiskies and tour books.

Here's Graeme walking alongside the turrets of the castle. It's so very high that you get quite a sense of the sublime when you're standing at the top overlooking the expanse of the city.