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Knowing that I’m a big Pink Floyd fan (who isn’t), Loan got us some tickets to see Roger Waters’ Dark Side of the Moon tour concert at The O2 in London.

It was probably _the best_ live concert I have ever been to. What a show. The set was mostly old favourites (which seems unusual since these days artists will always look to plug their latest material), and prior to the imtermission included classics like Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here.

After the intermission, they launced into the main theme of the night - performing the infamous Dark Side of the Moon album end-to-end. It was, quite simply, sublime. The encore included The Wall, and Comfortably Numb… utterly fantastic.

The stage production and lighting was typical Floyd - OOT with all sorts of effects going on….. Very cool.

Thanks Loni… you ROCK.

Roger Waters at the O2

Googz.com began its inception almost 5 years ago as an online photo journal and in the words of its illustrious creator, (Paul G aka Googz) its original purpose was “so mum will know what we are up to and I won’t have to call her every week”.

We have never been ones for public displays of internal reflection so while our fellow bloggers were writing about their innermost thoughts and feelings with witty anecdotes, we were posting photos of ourselves; wherever we went, so did our camera(s).

Throughout these 5 years not much has changed, both looks and content-wise. Aside from me hijacking all the posts, Googz.com continues to be mainly a photo journal but we have now given it a little bit of a facelift - it’s not going to win any design awards but then, we were always going to be limited by our lack of web design knowledge!

Thanks to the phenomenon that is Facebook I don’t know if anyone visits our website anymore and we certainly have been guilty of neglect, but hopefully this upgrade will breathe a bit of life into the old girl and will inspire us to keep it updated.

So here’s to the new look Googz.com: our world, our life, our journey.

(ok so that sounds a bit wanky, but I like it!)

When I found out that Girlie and Luke planned to pay us a visit I prayed for a sunshine miracle. The week before it had been drizzly, cloudy and cold but they must have done some good deeds recently because the sun gods bestowed on them a glorious week of sun and soaring (by English standards) temperatures.

They came just in time for Paul’s birthday and surprised him at Bar Soho, where we celebrated with some after work drinks. The long weekend was spent visiting Woodhenge, Stonehenge, Bath and the Cotswolds and it was great to be able to repay them both for driving us all over the place when we visited Connecticut last year!

G&L - it was wonderful to have you guys visit and we loved every minute of having you around!

Bar Soho

Girlie & Luke Come to Town

Forget Stonehenge, there is way more fun to be had at WOODHENGE.

Our trip to South Devon was hastily arrange (i.e. on the day we were leaving) but after hearing of wind, rain and snow I was glad we had made the effort to get out of London in pursuit of rolling green hills, cream teas and good country food.

We stayed near the town of Blackawton, which boasts The Normandy Arms - a name which probably conjures images of your typical village pub, serving typical village pub fare but fortunately for us, dinner there turned out to be a fine dining experience not unlike top London restaurants, but at a fraction of the price. If you ever find yourself out that way I’d highly recommend it.

The best way to travel through the English countryside is with your own mode of transport, which allows you to visit the numerous villages dotted all over the place but unfortunately the rolling hills in the South Hams remained largely out of view (unless we were driving down from a high road) while we were in the car as the hedges were all overgrown and very high.

The rolling green hills however, make for some easy and picturesque walking - we did one from Dartmouth to Dittisham and another coastal walk near Salcombe. Another great chance to bring out my new bright red North Face jacket (bringing down the cost-per-wear factor).

Our B&B hosts at the Washwalk Mill were lovely, although Jilly did have a real aversion to the nearby Dartmoor National Park (Loan:”Why don’t you like Dartmoor?” Jilly: “Oh, the witches” ; Jilly: ‘I wouldn’t go there if it was snowing - you may not make it back alive”). She was great though and was able to recommend so many things to us (restaurants, pubs, towns to visit) so I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for accommodation in the area.

South Devon

Our annual ski trip this year was spent in this charming, posh town in the Italian Alps and where it seriously lacked in apres-ski, nightlife and facilities, it made up in superb Italian cuisine and wine. Which we more than willingly indulged in. Every night.

Most of the week was spent boarding on hard packed groomed ice (which eventually became mogul-y) but early on it dumped about 20cm overnight and for the first time ever, I could understand why boarders get addicted to the fresh white stuff. Paul & I made sure we were out early the next morning and were one of the first ones on the run, leaving our trail on the virgin powder. It was thrilling and exhilirating to be gliding down the slopes and following my husband off to the sides in pursuit of the freshest areas (even though it meant getting stuck and not knowing what to do). I loved every single minute of it.

Some info for anyone who might be thinking about heading over to Cortina:

Accommodation: Villa Alpina - Cortina doesn’t do chalets, which is my favourite accommodation option when going to the snow with friends, but even at €100/room per night it really wasn’t that cheap.

Dining: Restaurant Leone was probably my favourite, cosy, warm and a delicious selection of anti pasti was laid out before we arrived - which we promptly hoed into like little piggies as soon as we sat down. Service was wonderful and wine was fantastic. We also treated ourselved to a degustation menu at the Michelin starred Tivoli where the food was delicious. On other nights, we visited local pizza & pasta places (where we had both pizza AND pasta - each!). A huge thanks to Van for researching and pre-booking the majority of our dinners.

Cortina,Italy

Oh what a night!


NYE 2007