harry potter and the bbc prom...

I just had the best weekend... I considered lining up at midnight on friday to buy a copy of the new Harry Potter book, but managed to wait and buy my copy from Sainsbury's for £8.87 on saturday morning. That afternoon Anna and I were invited to a private screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hosted by a friends law firm - and we went for yum cha beforehand.
On sunday I dagged around at home (had the house to myself!!) then in the evening I got spruced up and went to Royal Albert Hall to listen to a BBC Prom! RAH was absolutely beautiful - it's a circular building with loads of red velvet. Sunday's Prom was entitled "Vexations and Devotions/Beethoven". The first part, Vexations, was absolutely terrible - it was composed by an Australian, had the Gondwana childrens choir, and was a 'jab' at call centers, pre-recorded voice overs included. Eeeh? I hear you saying - yeah, it was extremely weird and stressful to listen to, and I was completely vexed by the end of it... The second part, Beethoven's something-or-other, was wonderful and made the experience utterly worthwhile.
And then the weekend was over.....sigh.....

hyde park...

On sunday I chanced the threat of thunderstorms, and took the bus to Hyde Park. It's huge! It took me over 2 hours to walk half of it, and there was so much I didn't see.
But what I did see was really diverse - parts of it was wild and woolly and unkempt, and other bits were so beautiful, full of gardens of flowers. The people were also a motely bunch - I captured a happy snap of Willie Nelson (not really!) lazing with his lady on a bench near the Serpentine lake - I took a million pictures of ducks before I was game enough to take their photo without them knowing!
I went to Speakers Corner - all 4 people on their soap boxes were debating religion with their respective crowds. I didn't go to Kensington Palace, that's for another day...

suspect packages....

The last week or so has been a little scary - both Anna and I have experienced 'suspect packages' and 'security alerts' while on the tube. It's ok, we're alive and well and had a good weekend!...but....
About 10 days ago I had just got on the train in the morning and an announcement was made that the train was not stopping at Hammersmith and Barons Court, due to a security alert. The stations had been evacuated of peak hour travellers. We slowly coasted through them as though it were a sunday trip... Thank goodness the place didn't decide to blow up at that moment. And, just as we were through that, another announcement was made saying a further two stations had been closed. Nothing is ever boring here.
And on friday night Anna was coming home on the tube, iPod stuck in her ears, when she noticed that her carriage had emptied and someone was yelling at her to get off the train. There was a suspect package in her actual carriage!! Turned out to be nothing (as did my experience), but it really ruins your moment.
All has been good since - we saw Die Hard 4.0 on the weekend (excellent escapism!), and Anna and I went shopping this afternoon and drank wine with a friend in the summer sun.
Some things in London are bliss....