Weird Science…

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I was reading my free issue of Stylist this week when I came across a small box containing ‘random science facts’. My curiosity piqued, I read on to discover:

a) there are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the Earth (what, there are other human beings below the surface??)

b) the microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket (what was it doing in his pocket – chocolate is for eating?)

c) an inflated balloon contains about a hundred billion trillion air molecules (I can’t even imagine this number but that’s quite a lot, isn’t it?)

and

d) our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing (I don’t know whether to be worried about all the little porkies I’ve told or to try and measure my eyes!)

These facts (and some other ones too) were all courtesy of the Science Museum promoting something called Who Am I? which apparently opens on June 26th. Which all sounded very erstwhile and count-on-able (and maybe even worth a visit) until I re-read fact number one in the box:

Scientists don’t know what makes up 90% of the Universe!

Might just stay at home….

I Get No Kick From Champagne….

Posted on May 22, 2010 by Kym Hamer

It’s been a busy week following last Sunday’s blog and there have been a number of highlights not the least of which was seeing Jamie Cullum live at the London Palladium on Sunday night. This was my Christmas present to the lovely J so after much anticipation (about 5 months in fact), 7.30pm found us in our stalls seats brimming with excitement.

As with all shows, there’s a support act that you don’t really know much about which can be delightfully surprising or something that’s just getting in the way of the main act. Lucky for us Eliza Doolittle (yes that is her name) was the former – her uber-understated image made us really focus on her amazing voice and her songs had something of a Lily-Allen-esque quality which we both loved.

But we were there for Jamie and the show was amazing. How can someone play the piano like that and leap about and sing…and still have the energy to have a ‘little chat’ at the mike every so often. I was exhausted just watching him! ‘Gran Torino’ is one of our favourite songs (the movie is a must-see!) and this ended the show nicely after an absolute rollercoaster ride of tunes. But my favourite for the entire evening was this amazing duet between Jamie and the guy playing the Double Bass (Chris?) – a rendition of ‘I Get A Kick Outta You’. It was so very very very cool…I didn’t want it to end…I can still see and hear it now…and in fact, I couldn’t sleep Sunday night for thinking about it all.

And being the sensible girl that I am, I am hereby ending this post before I get myself all worked up again…these days it doesn’t take much!

Negotiation…Alfie-style…

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I haven’t written anything about Alfie Bear for a little while and I’ve been meaning to share another of his little adventures with you for some time now…his first bath!

This was not entirely enjoyable experience for young Alfie and it was with considerable trepidation (me) and squirming (him) that I managed to get him into the tub…

(Note the blurred pic…that bear is a wriggler!)

I thought I had convinced him to be good, that it really wasn’t so bad (basically to stop being such a big girl which he did not like a all) and it would all be over in a flash if he would just stay still. But I turned my back for an instant and he was off – on a mission to get as far away as possible and completely undeterred by the steep drop from the bench-top to the kitchen floor…

…but quick as a flash, he was back in the tub, soaped up, rinsed off and wrapped up all nice and warm again…

Drying such a furry little thing in all his cuteness takes quite some time and although he protested to begin with, I think Alfie rather liked his post-on-high atop the drying rack!

And soon we had a sparkling clean (in a furry kind of way), honey-sticky-paws-less Alfie…

He is not, however, convinced that bathing is at all necessary and bath number 2 remains to be negotiated.

An e-Mother’s Day…

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Kym Hamer

So we’ve arrived at my second Mother’s Day for 2010 (in my schizophrenic UK-Oz life) and my Mum is on a plane right now, wing-ing her way to the West Coast of the States, then to France…and then to me here in the UK!

That’s right, in just 17 sleeps, I will be at Heathrow Airport waiting to see my Mum for the first time in 3 years…

So in honour of this year’s second Mother’s Day, I thought I’d tell you about one of Mum’s very special skills…something very few people actually know about my Mum (particularly since she stopped doing my hair ooooh about 35 years ago!)…RINGLETS!

I figured the best way to showcase this awesome talent was in a old family pic of Mum, me and my little sister (fondly known as Lil Chicky)…

…and yes, that is me in the ringlet pigtails.

I could go into a litany of trauma experienced under the auspices of said ringlets (but there weren’t any) or trot out some other juicy tidbits that most people would not know about Mum. But I do have other things to be getting on with today and I’ve just remembered that it’s supposed to be a day to honour thy mother, not give her a complete (if gentle) roasting.

So here’s to Mums everywhere (Mark 2) and especially to mine somewhere States-side…

Only 17 sleeps to go…

BTW, I thought that my Mother’s Day e-card might make it before she left for the airport. But any hope of that disappeared upon opening Facebook and being reliably informed by Lil Chicky in her latest post that she had in fact been up since 4.45am Oz time to take said parent and travelling partner to the airport. Buggar! Best laid plans eh? But I figure the e-card is still out there in the ether and will hopefully provide a little e-surprise when Mum visits an internet cafe somewhere on her travels…

The Same Cup…

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I was checking out the blogs I follow earlier today and was stopped in my tracks by adbroad’s latest post. Whilst the post actually pays homage to paper-cup salesman, Leslie Buck (you can click on the link and read the article yourself if you want), it wasn’t the story but rather the headline that grabbed my attention.

Before grande there was regular and everyone drank from the same cup

It reminded me of those ‘simpler’ times when we ‘had what we had’ and got on with the business of life rather than moaned about the whys and wherefores of what we have or haven’t got or achieved or experienced compared with everyone else.

It also made me smile at the ‘I want it just so’ attitude that we’ve developed. A mere paper cup would simply never do when life should actually dish it all out on a big silver platter especially designed for each of us.

But in the end it’s not really about the cup is it…more about how we see the cup (personally I am a half full kinda gal) and what we do with it. And in wondering what to do with a paper cup, I googled and came across this list of 101 Uses For A Paper Cup. They’ve only got to 58 so far but here are the three I thought were the most ingenious:

16 A floating thing for a switch on a bilge pump
…because it sounds like the way I would describe something DIY-ish

22 Harley Davidson racing air filter covers in the rain.
…because I don’t know what this is but it sounds clever

30 Beach Toilet
…because I’ve been there!

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At this point you may be wondering about the random nature of this blog post…and yes, you would be absolutely correct in assuming that I am simply avoiding doing the stuff I really should be doing…so I’ll be off then, before my cup really does runneth over!

Lazy Sundays…

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Kym Hamer

Well here we are, the Sunday of the May Day Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK and it would appear that those recent gloriously sunshine-y days have been washed away and there has been nothing for it but to curl up indoors on my big green sofa and potter away at menial, been-meaning-to-do chores. I am now just finishing off the last of a dark chocolate Green & Blacks Easter Egg, flicking through a foodie mag and gazing out the front window at how green the rain has made my garden…isn’t that what Bank Holiday Sundays are for?

Moscow Circus Maximus…

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Kym Hamer

So it was off to the circus for this little black duck yesterday – the Moscow State Circus at the Old Deer Park in Richmond to be exact – so me ‘n’ J set off to catch the matinee performance with our 50% off vouchers expecting a jolly afternoon of old-fashioned family-style entertainment. And…well…wow! We loved it!

The theme was the story of Rasputin (you know, Ra-ra-rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen for all you Boney M fans) and while that side of things didn’t really grab me, the performers absolutely did. What amazing discipline and precision…even the mad man who ran around the OUTSIDE of the sky wheel WITH A BLINDFOLD ON completely impressed me despite the rising tide of fear in my belly while watching this one. But I’ve included pics of my faves for you (scanned from the £3 program) and at £7.50 for each ticket, that’s excellent value for a pretty awesome afternoon’s entertainment!

ps…speaking of circuses, I had a terrible fright today when I opened my blog – the face of David Cameron stared out at me! Good grief how did he get there??

This Leo’s Pride…

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I was just sitting here in the glorious sunshine wondering what on earth to write about today. The washing machine is burbling away in the background, I’ve done a whole lot of admin and the world seems like a very lovely place to be in right now…and then J popped in to show me the latest PR on a project that he completed recently and all of a sudden, I knew exactly what I wanted to tell you all…

I am really proud of my fella!

Not being able to draw a straight line (or decent circle if you will!) at all, I am always amazed at people who can. J has 21 years under his belt as an Interior Designer (with Wandsworth-based rdd) so watching him work (well maybe not watching it ALL) and produce these amazing drawings and designs for his clients produces something akin in little ol’ moi, to awe. One of his latest projects is The Arch, an AB Hotel which opened officially in January this year. It’s getting all sorts of ‘critical acclaim’, nominations for major design awards and loads of fabulous PR…and every time J shares a little piece of this with me, I could just burst with pride!

How blessed am I to be completely inspired by my man? Now I just need to ‘inspire him’ to take me for the grand tour!

ps…and here’s another shameless plug – check out the links in the blog to see The Arch and other stuff from rdd…so cool.

Easter Parade

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Kym Hamer

We’ve had a fairly restful Easter up here on Kingston Hill and as I’m watching the sun still peek through the clouds at 6pm, I’m finding it hard to believe that I’ll be back at work tomorrow morning (lady-of-leisure-ness is so NOT over-rated!)

But in reflecting on our weekend of me ‘n’ J just hangin’ out together, I think we have managed a number of high points which I thought I’d share with you:

1. The return of Ashes to Ashes Series 3 on Friday night (Gene is back, the fashion is still questionable and we still have no idea how it will all turn out)

2. The return of Doctor Who on Saturday night (and whilst not quite ready to relinquish the top spot in my timelord affections to anyone other than the rather lovely David Tennant, I have to say I like this new doctor’s quirky gangly-ness)

3. Watching Frost/Nixon on Saturday night (which we have been threatening to do for ages – completely fascinating!)

4. Having our first BBQ of 2010 on Sunday (shamefully late I know but we hope to get in the groove from now on in)

5. Finally finishing the Rupert Everett bio on Sunday (a personal goal of mine – it was going on a bit and I was torn between finishing what I started in case there was a cracking ending or bailing and wondering did I miss something – fyi it was a combination of the former and the latter which I will leave you to work out)

6. Learning how to play Monopoly Deal (card game version of the board game – much faster and furious-er) and playing several mini ‘tournaments’ over the weekend – J is ahead 2 ‘sets’ to 1…grrrrr maybe not such a high point?

and last but by no means least…

7. Sleeping til we’ve finished (a little piece of everyday heaven)

and I still haven’t cleaned my windows or ‘redone’ the garden…

Sigh…what a perfect weekend…

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Gidday from the UK

Thoughts on life from an Aussie sheila in the UK

Author Archives: Kym Hamer