Snow day!!

In early February England was hit by a huge snow storm and Louvaine Rd in Clapham Junction was not spared! Monday morning arrived and we had a good amount of snow outside the flat. Dean's work sent out a message telling people not to come in, and while Lou's work was open (and transport was running albeit sporadically) she didn't have any proper gear to brave the weather.
So we worked as much as we could from home and ventured out a bit later on in the day when the streets were passable. Lots of fun for the little kiwis!!
Here are some snaps from the day:

Here is Dean in his expensive woollen coat, rolling around in the snow



There was so much snow that people had made huge snowmen! Dean, watch the ball!

A cute bunny

A romantic snowman

Our front steps when the snow started the night before

The Bees - #1

The quest for football around London continued with a trip to Barnet. The current precarious nature of Barnet's league position of 2 places above relegation from the football league meant I should try and get there before the season was out. Had a small connection to them via Sarah, whose flatmate used to be their physiotherapist. Free tickets were offered but Joe Devera (right back) snaked them from us on the day.

The ground is located quite close to the last stop on the Northern Line, so a reasonable trip of about 90 mins from home. Went up there with Josh Wright - his introduction to English league football. Certainly the club was more grassroots (great call by Josh) than others I have experienced, with portacabins housing the ticket office, clup shop etc. Club shop had less extensive offerings, but contained all the essentials, a blessing was the lack of crush of punters looking for memoriabilla.

We ended up standing in the covered terrace for a reasonable sum of £15. Very close to the action, and the home crowd didn't waste the opportunity to undertake friendly banter with the opposition players. The atmosphere in the terrace was some of the best, punctuated with a well drilled drummer setting the beat for the chants. Barnet are known as the Bees, simple chants included drum beat… Beeees, or Oh when the Bees go Stinging in to the tune of Oh when the Saints. Away supporters were not treated to the same home comforts, with a couple of open stands and an uncovered terrace more accurately described as a concrete slope.

To the game, the style of game was more hoof and hope than pass and move, with the midfielders not creating rather looking to pick up the loose scraps. The opposition Dagenham and Redbridge were placed in the promotion place-offs, about 17 places higher than Barnet. Not really a lot to tell the two teams apart, but D and R were probably slightly more organised and better on the break. However, I was convinced that I could play at this level when the Barnet goalkeeper went to challenge from a long punt from the other GK, and fumbled under pressure to give a soft goal. That is something I had done a number of times, so no real difference there. Impressive players for Barnet were Michael Leary and Kenny Gillett.

Food options were not too varied, but just what you needed, burgers and hotdogs, cups of tea and coffee, but no Bovril. With only a small crowd, clearing the ground didn't take any time at all.

That makes the grounds attended: Millwall, Charlton, Fulham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barnet. Remaining are: Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Watford, Leyton Orient, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge.

Geneva - Winter Styles

A couple of days after Christmas we went to Geneva to spend a week with Lou's sister and brother-in-law. We were super excited on New Year's eve to wake to heavy snow which continued all day.

We drove across to France and spent the day building snowmen, sledding and throwing the odd snowball. We followed that with a swim in hot pools back in Geneva.







We had a lovely new year's dinner with some friends of Helen and Carlo.



We also managed to get to the Red Cross museum (about time given it was Lou's third visit and Dean's second to Geneva!)
Here's Dean outside the UN.



And by the big chair sculpture




We love having family so close! Plenty of fondue and tiramisu was also consumed...

Chelsea - Close to Home

Chelsea v West Brom, 26 December 2008

This fixture was always on the agenda, as Chelsea is only a few kms from home. Once we decided that we were not going away for Xmas, tickets became a priority. Chelsea only made 1400 tickets available to the travelling fans, but the credit crunch and Boxing Day meant we were able to get tickets, not that cheap at 45 pounds each.

Stamford Bridge is very strangely set out, with a hotel attached to one side, and a fancy restaurant backing on to one end. On match day the club shop had a huge line so we gave that a miss.

Sitting with the WBA fans was, as always an experience. There was plenty of jewellery and tracksuits about.It was a really nice sunny day soDean was able to visibly wear his West Brom top.

Here's Dean the proud supporter:



And Lou trying it out for size, with her "Louise, Number 1 Chick" West Brom badge santa gave her, and our "Loyal Supporters Only" door hanging behind. What die hards we are.

Christmas in London

Here are some photos from Christmas in London - it's pretty grey but lights and decorations cheer things up a little.

First our pretty Christmas tree decorations. The tree looks fake, but that's just how the real trees come here, weird short pine needles, but they come with handy stands, so no messing about with buckets to keep them upright.



We haven't forgotten our gold and black Wellington roots! Sarah made the Wgtn rugby fairy.







This Saturday afternoon walk down Oxford St put us in the Christmas spirit - thank goodness we didn't need to do any shopping though or we would have gone mental.

This is one of the amazing Christmas window displays at Selfridges.



The lights are incredible. Notice how dark it is - at around 4pm!!


Our Christmas decorations in the window of our flat. Pretty bare outside, but at least we have a nice view for any snow that may appear.



We visited the Christmas markets at Hyde Park and posed with snowmen and sang carols with Father Christmas and the kids - trying to get on the "nice" list!


"Dude, where'd you get your broom?"


"Joy to the world, the Lord has come..."

Twickenham - All Blacks v (smash) England

Dean's manager at work is a member of a local rugby club so was able to go in the ballot for tickets to this game on our behalf. They were pretty reasonable at 56 quid each.

The All Blacks played pretty well - we were disappointed at the crowd who drowned out the haka (being slightly home sick kiwis we were really looking forward to it) and at the poms behind us who asked us to stop standing to cheer everytime we scored, cause they couldn't see.

Glad we've done Twickenham and can cross it off the list - despite being really close to home it's a bit of a pain to get to as the trains are packed, and the crowd didn't really encourage us to come back. Not like Scotland where the crowd was almost as excited as us when the ABs scored!




Dean with a very very cheesy smile before the game started

The Artillery

An old mate from VUWAFC, Glenn Phillips offerred me tickets to Arsenal vs Dinamo Kiev in a Champions League Group game. His company is able to get numerous tickets to Arsenal games, so before he took his long trip home I thought I would get in on the gig.

Having previously gone to Highbury in the mid-90's, it was quite a difference going to the new stadium. Highbury felt more impressive with Emirates being more of an open, corporate feel with less of the close packed crowd atmosphere. Being a Champions League match there were no alcoholic beverages on sale, which was puzzling and even more puzzling was the huge queues for food and tea and coffee at half time.

At the game, I was struck by the nature of the crowd. It seemed that there were a lot of people more interested in being there for being there's sake, rather than there for the football. Our seats were right down behind the goal, almost at pitch level and whenever there was a corner, or a deadball situation near the goal, the masses would get out their cellphones/cameras and click away rather than focus on the action. However at least there was a few real fans who would sing along with the chants, probably the most limited so far with only two discernible different ones.

Clearing the stadium was pretty good, and easy to get to the tube then home inside an hour. Pretty good really for being on the other side of London.
That makes the grounds attended: Millwall, Charlton, Fulham and Arsenal. Remaining are: Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Watford, Queens Park Rangers, Leyton Orient, Barnet, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge.