Liz's Diary

Irene and I go for a jog together after work on Thursdays. Today I was stuck in a meeting until the time we go, which is when the caretakers start locking up the school, so I rushed back to the main school and grabbed my stuff, then went over to the nursery to meet her.

Her things were there, but not Irene, so, thinking she might be in the Children's Centre office I walked through the building to check. She wasn't there, so I intended to retrace my steps to the nursery office, only to find they'd changed the security code on the internal door separating the Children's Centre from the nursery!

I tried various possibilities, thinking I'd just forgotten the code (one of a series on the CC doors) - but no luck. I then thought I'd go out of the Children's Centre exit and walk round the building to the nursery entrance. To find that they'd already locked and padlocked the porch door outside, so I couldn't get out that way.

So I was stuck in the children's centre entrance. I thought I might phone through to ask the door code from someone in the main school - but they'd changed the code on the reception office door too, so I couldn't get in to phone!!

I rang the bell to the nursery in a bit of a panic - envisaging being stuck there all night; luckily there is a loo in the entrance area...

Even more luckily, Irene returned after a few minutes from the main building to get her stuff and heard me ringing the bell. So I'm saved from a night on the tiles. Phew!

Had a lovely day out yesterday with my nephew Wil, down from Newcastle for a concert and to see friends in London and who kindly included me amongst his friends! I hadn't seen him since last Christmas and it's the first time ever I've been out with him by ourselves, so it was a special treat.
We met in Piccadilly and went to see the "Byzantium" exhibition at the Royal Academy.

We enjoyed it, especially the old manuscripts and the ivories, but both agreed that Greek orthodox religious icons did nothing for us.

We intended to follow on with a visit to the British Museum, but got side tracked by Wil not having been to London much and enjoying wandering about, so we went to Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross and down the Strand and Fleet St and Ludgate Hill to St Paul's; then over the bridge to Tate Modern instead. The usual mixed bag of stuff in there - including a particularly unpleasant video installation we weren't keen on - but an interesting starter for a "what is art?" discussion.

We finished off walking back along the South Bank and over the Milennium Bridge to Charing Cross Station, separating at Victoria at about 7pm - he to his evening engagement, me to come home.

A really lovely day out.

A few months ago Ed and I walked along the Thames Path from Kew to Ham and back. Last night was our Hash AGM and pre-Christmas Dinner (very pleasant evening) and a couple of the guys invited me to join them on the Civil Engineers' Club Walk today, which happened to be along the Thames Path - but much further East than our previous walk.

So I duly turned up at London Bridge Station at 10am as directed, and joined a very amiable group of about 30 mostly retired engineers and friends. The day was mild and sunny, perfect for a walk.

We walked past the Traitors' Gate - the old Water Gate to the Tower of London.

A glance back to Tower Bridge - always photogenic!

An attractive dolphin and water nymph fountain/statue nearby. Once we got properly underway, I was too busy enjoying the views across the river and the fascinating architecture (not to mention chatting!) to take too many pictures, but couldn't resist a couple of the more historic sites.

We passed "The Town of Ramsgate" a 16th century (Tudor) pub beside Wapping Stairs. It is where Judge Jeffries, of the Bloody Assizes was having a quiet drink in 1688, when he was taken by a gang of Monmouth supporters and soundly beaten. He was rescued and revived, but was never the same again and died a few months later.

Here is "The Prospect of Whitby" (named after a ship, as one obviously can't view Whitby from the windows here, Whitby being on the East coast of Yorkshire) which, built in 1520, is the oldest surviving riverside pub. We went in - some for a swift half, and others to see the river view and glimpse the gibbet formerly used for renegade sailors. Not the original rope, we thought. Apparently in the 19th century sea captains stayed here who sailed to Australia with convict ships.

I couldn't resist this. We weren't sure if they were bird boxes, bat boxes, just a work of art, or, in view of their yellow colour, covert speed cameras! We saw another humorous artwork too - a "Christmas tree" made of traffic lights painted green, but I didn't get a picture of that.

This was one of those historic places where I suddenly felt the history seeping through to the present in a way that not all historic sites do. It's the remains of the actual slipway where Isembard Kingdom Brunel's huge vessel "The Great Eastern" was launched. I don't know quite why these old railway sleepers made such an impression, but they did!

We walked to Canary Wharf and had lunch in the Wetherspoon's pub, had a further meander round the Isle of Dogs and then back to Canary Wharf to catch the train home in the gathering dusk. A lovely day out.

I went to Dubai for half term and the highlight of the visit was our final weekend in Oman, where we went for some scuba diving. But I was really fascinate to watch the local fishermen land their evening catch at Sohar - the home of Sinbad the Sailor.

After the boats had pulled the nets in so far, the fishermen attached the net ends to waiting pickup trucks, whose drivers worked in unison to haul the net up the beach.

Everyone quickly gathered to inspect the catch, including flocks of birds!

They were pleased with the size of the catch.

The biggest fish were separated first, and seemed to be sold immediately to waiting buyers.

Then they set about sorting the rest by size into boxes to be taken away.

I don't know what the fish were - there were many little ones that had a dark blue line along their backs, and I expect some of the larger ones were homour.A boy separated all the crabs into a sack - these were all small ones.

I waited until the man in the hat had counted his wad of cash and joined the boat captain at his meal before politely asking to take their photo, hoping that "Captain" and "Hajji" were respectful enough titles. As they nodded acquiescence I assume it was.

I then spotted a member of our hotel staff bringing back a bag of fish for the kitchen.

I ate "local fish stew with rice" for dinner that evening. It was delicious!