First for 2009

More than a year since I used this thing and people must have deleted the link from their favourates or up-graded their computer without transfering the link - I know I have!

Waiting for things to start moving again while sitting watching DVDs and surfing (the net) is the best way to while away the time as well as cooking and walking around the bridges. Mary is near to two and has grown to be bigger than the cot manufacturer suggested the cot would last.

So many things to talk about since the last post but all too messy to go over in the five minutes I have to get this post done and start making dinner. Things change and people move and all the time we readjust our lives to those changes. Make the world adjust to you!

Clive the skirt lifter...

It has been a while since my last posting and Mary has grown significantly in that time. We have all been back to Oz for a feeling visit (some longer than others) as well as the usual milestones along the way! Life has settled down to the routine of work, play and sleep with some divergence in between for Venice and the Brumbies!


With the summer upon us here in the Park it was with great surprise that the river lifted its skirt yesterday to reveal more to us than it ever has which in the long run can only increase the value of Park Mansions and allow the sunlight to bath our unfinished dreams each morning. The birds may have lost a home but we have gained a clearer view of the western flight path into LHR and perhaps a castle turret view of the hording invaders (should they come by boat)!


On the subject of boats, I had the recent pleasure of being picked up from my castle by a boat owner and taken on a tour of the local waterways - just like Venice - with all the smells and history that flows from the rain accompanying our brief journey. The highlight was a fellow traveller who had managed to attach a 10-speed racer to some floats and ride from Greenwich to Hammersmith with his partner in tow (in a small dug-out attached by a rope) as you do on a bank holiday weekend in May!


With another Park dweller (Sammy) arriving this month it is getting rather busy on the hospital visit front for all Mrs Park's rellos... and I understand that there are more visits on the cards? Al Park(o)!



I would also like to recommend the following: http://www.clivejames.com/

Clive is a Park dweller who has his coffee in the same Nero I do each weekday morning (he may also do weekends?, but I don't) and is a real hero of mine... maybe one day I to can have my own talk show or travel the world giving witty insight in to the cultural differences of our fellow humans while getting paid for doing so?


I might just borrow a picture this time (in his younger days) as I'm in the office and don't have access to the usual archive materials. Until the next instalment... wet boat rides on the skirt of the Park for all!

Week 5

Baby in Red








The Wash-up









The Gang









Meeting the Royals

Mary Marie drops in...

Mr Park and Mary - no more than 5 min after he cut the cord....

Mrs Park and Mary - just out!

The weigh in...

Well Parkers here is the new duck in the pond with Mr and Mrs Park the happy gagglers... for those of you who are in to statistics Mary Marie Jamison arrived at 20:37 weighing in at 7 lb 13 oz (approx 3.5 kg) and was 52 cm long... she arrived 27-10-07... Born in Chelsea... about 100m down the road from Stamford Bridge... and they won 6-0 to Manchester City that day so all good for this little black haired duck...

For those in Oz we are planning a party over Easter 2008 in Coffs Harbour and would just love it if you could all come along and stay for the long weekend... we'd love to see you!

Mary at home in the nest...

TV Kid...

Habbadashary (12 weeks and 1 day)

Today we saw our new child for the first time on TV and thought that you might like to share it with us... although "Habbadashary" as we have taken to calling her/him may not be as active on the blog as in real life due to the still photographs... the Park will have one more person to sustain around the 18th of October so look out ducks! Mrs Park is all good according to the NHS and so is Habbadashary... Both sleeping on the couch at the moment after a long flight with our sub-continent friends at Air India... JFK to Heathrow without trouble or much cost and with some firery curry to keep Mr Park happy!

So there will be a change of theam in the Park notes over the coming months and it will be looking more in doors - with summer coming on that's no mean feat - and less to the travels of the Park dwellers... that being said we have this morning returned from New York and New Jersey after Easter with the US Park clan... very enjoyable to see them and their (relatively) new addition to the US Park... and can confirm that they do make them bigger in that neck of the woods... a beautiful addition she is too...

Marisol (6 months (sic.))

The White Stuff...

The Atlas Mountains

Has it been that long? August last year and all that stuff that has been going on…

Damo was here last time and we lived on the other side of the river (we are on the park side now) but no longer work in the park… Had my last daily stroll through its winter grandeur just two days ago… from now on it’s the city life for me… with its free lunch (who said there was no such thing?) and its bonus bonuses… now Mike and I can split a cab home after the tubes stop running…

On the travel front we have been (in reverse order) to Barcelona, Marrakesh, New York (Mrs Park only), Brancaster (UK), France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Dubrovnik. So there are too many pictures to put on the site but I’ve selected a few of my favourites to give those that are interested a brief over view of the last six months. My highlight would have to be a week of driving in the Alps… summer, open top and sweet 9000 rpm engine all 2000 meters above sea level… shut up Park!

Yesterday was spent tiling the bathroom floor and swearing profusely – both of these things go hand-in-hand – but it all seems worth it today as the dirty raw wood flooring is gone from our life’s! Next on the agenda is the kitchen floor – which we have to have redone in the coming months after a crap South African “tradesman” installed our new floor in October!

On the same day – Park Bathroom Floor Day – we awoke to a winter wonderland of snow, which continued until lunchtime. Antipodeans love snow and winter here in the Park – the locals hate it – so we had three inches of snow on the lawn and the river path (frozen dog shit does not have the pungent smell of its warmer cousins). Beautiful!

The White Stuff!

The next trip is to NYC to catch up with Park-in-laws and the good Dr of Cheese… Easter in the Apple!

For those in Canberra – I have linked in the Brumbies supporters club here in the Park and will attempt to get in the club photo on the weekend so that we can be featured on the official web site… I had a dream that I was still in Canberra the other night but it was a bigger city than when I was there and had an inner city character that only the most established world cities have… then I woke up and met the Brumbies supporters club people… they put me right! Have not heard from the crocodile hunter since his return to the Nations’ Capital? What’s the matter, ray got your tong?

Also went to an opening in Brixton on Monday night and found that my significant study of art history (one semester in my B. Litt) has not only come in handy but has been used to promote a good mates art. I’m now a published art writer… although the publication is not the most widely distributed flyer I’ve seen…

I will attempt to be more regular – prunes on the menu – with the entries in the coming months as things become more settled again… I still haven’t told you about the “tape party” in Barcelona… again not the most popular thing to do on a Saturday night… but it involves gathering a large number of Ex-pat Trustafairians (and some ring-in’s from the Park) and taking over of bar then playing mixed tapes of crappy 80’s/90’s music while ignoring the locals… needless to say the landlord’s of the various establishments did not see the value in this new craze!

Until next time… and after the tile glue has dried… JJ

The Art!

VIEW FROM THE NEW

Here it is...

Baby, Baby, Baby...

So many different things to say, but let’s start with Charlie… the newest Park player to move in arrived late (premature) last month with all the hoopla of a real future star of the football field…

Before that the SB (Shit Box) imploded due to some on street attention of the St James’s Park kind, we woke to find a large tin of black metal paint all over the roof, wind screen, air ducts and engine bay… tow truck arrived two hours later and away it went to the breaker’s yard for a final fling… next new hot wheels arrive (as that day the SB was to be traded on the ST (blue two seater from our Honda dealer) was the day we woke to find the black stuff had stuffed it… good bye 400 pound trade-in, but no the sales guy felt such glee in the fact that he did not have to get rid of it he gave us the 400 any way… nice motor guv!

Next big tick is that I get a new employer, still in the Park that HRH, with the biggest train set runners in the business… really looking forward to finishing my time with the dark side and moving back into the light! Begin some time in August after completing the hand holding for a number of railway dreamers, who have woken up and realised they can pay the bills if the Bill is passed in the Commons… next three weeks before a Select Committee of the House of Commons with my railway mates… most of whom don’t live near the Park…

Next big one, almost the biggest for us (sorry Charlie), we put an offer in on a small flat with a balcony with views over the river… a little far from the park but with the key to the train set part of the package for the new job – bearable! The offer is accepted and now we have to enter the dragon of Park Conveyancing with a hefty mortgage to boot (I’m talking large house in Camberwell (Melbourne)) which is now on the cards… although some how cheaper that the rent… that’s London for you! Picture of the view included for your viewing pleasure…

So finally Mrs Park is off to NYC to visit and attend a wedding while Mr Park is left hand holding… So Damo and I are batching it in the Park and trying to find the wheels to his bickerton (folding bike)… which were taken while he was getting supplies for the Wick house…




O’ by the way made it to Lille (France) two weekends ago which threw up the very fine specimen of a CV… until next time (Dubrovnik awaits)… enjoy baby!