last woman standing...

BROCKLEY GAZETTE
SOUTH EAST FINAL
london: reuters/ap 02 december 2008

additional reports from our intrepid south eastern correspondents

The last Myatt Garden Primary School playground team meeting for 2008 took place this month with a slightly reduced team but as always in good spirits and helped by the number of bottles on the table, the Brockley Gazette can reveal.

The team can look back at a very successful 2008: the upper playground is beautifully refurbished with a great design by John Eger and a much needed re-distribution of space, the addition of a shady pergola, a new access ramp for parents and children and a woodland area with birches and smaller plants.

Brockley Gazette has seen plans for phase two of this ambitious project that will require another round of fund raising which team member Moira C. confirmed the team has agreed to undertake in the coming year.






Architectual liaison manager Siobhan C. thanked the architect on behalf of the team for a very smooth running of the project and said: "We hope this great architectual firm will work with us in the next phase of this exciting project!"







The biggest effort according to project co-ordinator Anette S. will be to recruit more people for the next phase as quite a few have moved away or cannot continue due of work pressure.












"It is crucial that people understand how important a natural environment is for children", says funding executive Vicky S.
"The time and money spent on this is an investment in our future!"












"We need people and we need money", that's how Über-fundraiser Jo B. puts it blandly.










NOW!!!




















Otherwise I'll be the last woman standing...

Let's pray it'll not come to that. Brockley Gazette hopes the team can pull it off again in 2009. The beautiful bouquet will be a reminder of the garden that's still ahead of us...

A VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU

hugh comes home!

hugh dawes, our vicar at st. faith, has been on a sabbatical and now returns to the congregation as he (as much as we) knows that the sheep should not be left alone for too long







well - the first impression isn't too bad: the building's still standing, people in the service...a few friendly words...maybe they pulled it off all by themselves?









but what is this - rike in charge of the buffet? that's called to make the goat the gardener - or what did that proverb say...











over here, no preaching? just little groups standing around?


holy mackerel! - is that one of these american ideas??!







or indeed, canadian??












young man, do you remember me?

 .... strange - nothing in the records - let me check - anno domino...

yes, i think i've seen him before... yes, yes, i was a little girl, he was here a few times and preached, then went on a sabbatical or so they said...


 

welcome back, hugh!!!

WUFF - HERE COMES VIOLET

wuff wouuuf wraf wraf wuff wuff wraf

(translation in case you don't know dog-speech it reads: listen guys i am a very big and strong dog a bit wild wuff and you better stay clear but in case you have a treat i might make a rare exception and let you come closer but dare you not to be friendly to my lovely new owner auntie niki you had it and i make minced meat of your bottom klaro??)

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium!

oh colonia claudia ara agrippinensium!
we haven't been for so long and when our best friend in the world EVER threatend to give up on us we hurried onto the next plane and tried to land as close to sülz as possible as we hear that that's the place to be!




landing on berrenrather strasse reminded us also immediately of all the little things that make the highstreet of this funky part of town such a lovely place, with shops and bakeries and buchladen and everything that in london we have given up on for so long...
ever-so-sweet and lovely pamela truly delivered and turned the promise 'we'll take care of you' practically into a threat (try lifting one finger in her presence and you're dead)...





how she managed to put all these great things into one weekend and yet made us return relaxed, well-fed, giggled out and with seriously damaged credit cards but a bagful of beautiful clothes from her special little places is beyond us but boy was it fun! look a little closer and you taletellingly see the cheeky grin on her face!

well - we actually didn't feel like leaving at all and although pam is now big boss (or shall we say 'big sister') in a big place (her office here is as big as a ballroom and we are incredibly proud of her) we on the other hand would actually quite happily accept a job as fleischereiverkauferin or as the bakery help only to be near all this lovely comfort food that they are selling up and down the high street...

 

certainly we wouldn't dare to inspire to this great bohemia lifestyle of late breakfasts (actually, so late that the other bohemian (pictured) got a little nervous...), fags with black coffee, half written manuscripts and smoking dens after midnight and sale assistants who take you to a secret loo into a cellar down the road while waiting for your credit card company to give the green light for that seriously out of reach coat...only in cologne, as they say...

saxon crown club championship 08-09

the next round of the sc saxon crown club champs and look who's just ready to jump into the water...

today rike will swim two heats in her age group, breast stroke and back stroke

...but...

...will anybody in the audience shout loud enough to get these lazy little legs going? let's hear...

another medal ... let's see whether it really is made of silver or just a little coating over cardboard...

well done!

guy fawkes 2008

it's guy fawkes night again and deac and rike have managed now to get to blackheath as in all these years in order to eat gruesome sugar fluff and to see the rather magnificent fire works

so this year deac has his new camera and can play a bit with the 'fire works' button...

he takes about 300 pics...

here are my fab four - click to enlarge

meanwhile in cuba

you know dad - i think i really wanna be like you when i'm older - i mean you've got the good life, don't you?!

driving flashy cars...

(notice my bland stare for the cops)

too fast? can't be! I'm sure I saw that stop sign, officer!





 

hanging out on the beach

having fun with the girls...

(don't know what that sheep is doing there)

but, ladies, there'll only be one true love in my life











mum!!!

a view from the top

well it shows that we are way too busy to do much on this blog (not that we are overwhelmed by exciting things in the first place) but it's the middle of term and we are lucky if we have the time to read the headlines in the newspaper much less getting any writing done





 

so it's the time of the year where you really depend on everything running smoothly and the last thing you need is a leaking roof but of course that's when it happens and so we had no choice but to climb up and see what was going on

having said that - going up on this roof is always a big excitement simply because we have these fantastic views from there - here you see st. paul's in town and above natwest tower and the gherkin in the city and on a slightly hazy day like this it was all almost magically close 



 

and while we contemplate setting up a roof garden we can take a look into the jungle on the ground - you can see one of anette's bicycling shirts hanging on the wash

and over to the other side to our beautiful street just as autumn sets in

and the spledid show that the trees put up every year

and then the roof is fixed and it's all back down again

shame...

(click on the pics to see larger size)

we're in bristol!

it's not often that we leave london but anette has business to do with bristol university and the family comes along




and it is here in clifton that many, many moons ago a very young lady from hannover tried to study a bit but was way too occupied with having a band and all those pubs...



take a look at the picasa album on the right to see more