Nick Hornby signs for the VFFC!!

Yes, it's true Nick Hornby writer of Fever Pitch, About a Boy, and High Fidelity signed for the Velvet Fog last night, he wrote "For Rob, Nick Hornby" in my copy of Fever Pitch, then signed other books for members of the VFFC.
He also agreed to pose with the world famous VFFC shirt and was very impressed with our team name.
He has a new book out called "A Long way down" he read a few passages from it and it sounds pretty good.
You can hear the whole reading on radio station KALW.


Bruce tries to pick something off Nick Hornby's shoulder.

"New" car smell

The big news this week? No not Wacko Jacko getting away with it,
We are now a 2 car family.
I found this little beauty online and picked it up in San Ramon Tuesday,
it's a 1965 Volvo 122 (amazon), and it runs very well (At the moment), the I-pod works with the stereo too, nice!
Although I wish we had picked it up before 8:00pm as we didn't realise that the headlights don't work and things got a bit dodgy on the freeway, especially with a police car stuck up my backside.
Check out the plate, any ideas on what RMT 701 stands for?

Laz I-Boy

A couple of weeks ago Pat and Dina gave us their chair as they are looking to buy some new furniture.
Pat wanted to make sure that someone that he knew got it as he is very attached to it and wanted to visit it and drape his legs over the edge just like old times.
Well Pat, someone else has taken to it very quickly as you can see. Next time you're coming over you may want to call first to see if it's taken.




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The Registry

I suppose all brides and grooms have to disagree about something and well, our disagreement has been the registry. No, not where to register, but whether to register. Funny thing is, we agree on one thing, we don't really want gifts for our wedding. And on top of that, we both feel a little uncomfortable setting up a registry as it feels like we're telling people they have to buy us something. But as a good friend told me, "If you don't want gifts, don't get married." I'm of the opinion that if people are going to give us gifts, I'd prefer they be something we could actually use and enjoy. The idea of sitting in my living room surrounded by gifts that are useless or, heaven help us, ugly, is just too depressing for me to risk. So after countless conversations, procrastinations and scoldings from various family members, Rob and I finally decided to the plunge and register and let me tell you, it was not easy.

We started by putting a few things on a registry at macy's. I was pretty proud of us for setting anything up at all. But then Macy's suggests for the size of our wedding, we register for 200 gifts. We've managed to think of 13. 8 of which are all the same and were only recently added. The day Randy was at Macy's and asked to have our registry printed out, the sales clerk laughed in his face and told him it was the smallest registry she had ever seen. I think we may have humiliated him.

Next we went to REI where I could have registered for dozens of things but thought a bunch of new clothes for myself might be inappropriate for a gift registry. We were able to come up with 6 things the two of us could use though so it wasn't a wasted trip.

With 181 gifts to go, we realized we had to call in some support. Gretchen Junker to the rescue! On Sunday, she took us out to Crate and Barrel to try and add some more things to the list. Crate and Barrel has it all figured out. They offer couples a handheld scanner you carry through the store to scan the UPC codes of any item you're interested in. At the end, you just load the scanner into the registry box and it updates your registry. So Rob goes up to the counter and asks for "The Gun." What a man, eh? A gun. Funny thing is, the clerk followed suit, also calling it a gun. Except when he was talking to me and suddenly it became a "toy."



With the right equipment, we were able to shoot, are you ready for this, 50 more gifts! That's about four times better than we were able to do anywhere else so, obviously, Gretchen's assistance really made an impact. Perhaps it was the hand shadow threats she made to us on the third floor.



Holy mackeral, only 131 more to go. Is it even possible to think of 200 gifts that you want for yourself? We are about tapped out of ideas so we went to www.thehoneymoon.com and finished up our registry with things that we want to enjoy on our honeymoon in Kauai. We're not quite at 200 but if we just don't log on to Macy's any longer, we can easily avoid the bright red "low registry" warning. Please, haven't we gone through enough?

Take time out to view our gift registry dance if you need some inspiration.

Back to Earth

Well, Rob and I have finally come back to Earth after Liverpool's stupendous win and realized we've left you all in the dark for too many weeks now! So, bear with us as we revisit some of our recent activities, most importantly of which, Iain and Parmjeet's wedding in Miami a few weeks ago.
Rob and I, along with a handful of our soccer friends, flew to Miami to join Iain and Parmjeet in a weekend of wedding celebrations. It was a fun and fantastic weekend, not to mention educational. Here are some things we learned:

1. IST (Indian Standard Time): No, actually, I'm not referring to GMT +0530 hours. Turns out IST is about one to two afters after any event start time. Say, for example, you're invited to a sangeet (A function hosted by the girl's family, in which just a few close members of the boy's family are invited. The girl's family sing songs in which they tease the boy and his family, telling them to thank their stars they were lucky to find such a wonderful girl. who they probably didn't deserve!) If you show up 30 minutes late, and the dinner tables are still being set up and there are hardly any people there, you may be experiencing Indian Standard Time. It's nothing to worry about, just hang out and pretend you're totally comfortable with the whole situation, and wait another hour, suddenly swarms of people will arrive. Including the bride and groom.

2. "Auto safety" in Florida is an oxymoron. Every time we got on the freeway, we drove by a car accident. Some were not so interesting, a mild fender bender, but the totaled cop car was pretty impressive. Almost as exciting as the SUV on it's roof, waving us goodbye on our way to the airport.

3. When they talk about experiencing "cold feet" before a wedding, we had no idea that it meant no hot water in the hotel for a morning shower. Turns out almost everyone who showed up for Iain and Parmjeet's wedding from the hotel, arrived with cold feet. Including the groom. Poor chap.

On a serious note, however, we had a brilliant weekend. It was really fun travelling with friends and the wedding and reception were absolutely gorgeous. The wedding was on Saturday morning at the Sikh Temple and was a wonderful and different experience. Iain dressed in traditional punjabi wedding attire and grew a beard for the ceremony in keeping with Punjabi custom. And Parmjeet was a stunning Indian bride.



And Rob went as a pirate.



The reception that evening was at Vizcaya Museum and Garden which is a national historic landmark in Miami. As I looked it up just now, I discovered that it was built by an American Industrialist, James Deering in 1916. Which is interesting only because someone at the wedding told me it was built by John Deere. And I've since told a dozen people the same thing. I'm a crap docent. Anyway, here's a photo of the place--AMAZING.



We've posted our photos from the weekend at Kodak Gallery if you want to see some more--Can't wait to see the official photos!

Champions League Victory!

How can one possibly capture in words the exhilaration and joy that Rob and I are experiencing today? No, we didn't move up our nuptials! No, today we watched as Liverpool came from 3-0 down at half-time and went on to beat AC Milan 3-2 on penalties in the Champions League! This probably means very little to many of you but to us it's a feeling beyond belief.




The Champions League is UEFA's (Union of European Football Associations--the governing body of football in Europe) most prestigious cup competition and is open to teams that finish in the top of their domestic leagues in Europe--which basically means you play the top teams in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, etc. in a series of knock-out stages until you reach the final. Liverpool finished fourth in the English league last season and was the last team from England to qualify for the competition to be played this year. Along the way we have beaten Juventus (who won the Italian league this season) and Chelsea (who won the English league this season) until we were finally faced against AC Milan, who finished second in the Italian league this season, for the final. Having really underperformed in the English league, and finishing the season in fifth place, it was virtually inconceivable that Liverpool would walk away with the trophy today.

It seemed less and less likely that we would win when, only 50 seconds into the first half, AC Milan scored their first goal. By the end of the first half, Milan had gotten two more and were beating Liverpool 3-0. To give you an idea of how inconceivable it was that Liverpool would come back to find victory, at half-time the odds of Liverpool winning were 188-1. The first five minutes of the second half didn't seem to offer much promise for Liverpool's comeback but then they began stringing some passes together and in the 56th minute, Stevie Gerrard finally found the back of the net!




Nothing inspires a team more than a goal and suddenly, Liverpool had sprung to life. Only two minutes later Liverpool found the net for the second time bringing the score to 3-2 and just four minutes after that, Stevie Gerrard was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty kick which Xabi Alonso missed, but was able to convert the rebound into a goal to bring the score level at 3-3. UN-FRIGGIN'-BELIEVABLE!!!!! The last 30 minutes played out without any additional goals which meant 30 minutes extra time were added on. With only two minutes to go, the Liverpool goalie made the most amazing save--here's what one match report said about it:

"Jerzy Dudek pulls off the greatest double-save I've ever seen to deny Andriy Shevchenko from point-blank range twice in quick succession. How did he keep the ball out? Two reaction saves in a row - it was amazing goalkeeping. The first was a bullet-header from the edge of the six-yard box, while the second hit his hands and went over the bar."

The final whistle blew with the score still level at 3-3 which meant the winner would be decided on penalty kicks. Any of you ever watch a penalty shoot out? Once we were watching a youth soccer game that went to penalties--we didn't know any of the players, weren't routing for any team in particular and still our hearts just about stopped with anxiety during the penalty kicks. When you actually care about the result, it's pure torture. (Some of you may remember England going out of the European Cup last summer when they lost to Portugal on penalty kicks.) But, today, the torture was worth it. The Liverpool goalie managed to save TWO penalty kicks (a nearly impossible task) and Liverpool went on to win 3-2!!!






The last time Liverpool won the Champions League was in 1984--the same year the pope died and Prince Charles got married. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

San Francisco Twins

I can't believe it-after living here 14 years, I have finally seen the San Franscisco twins, Marian and Vivian Brown! The sisters are often spotted, arm-in-arm and are always dressed to the nines in matching outfits and perfectly coifed hair. I am surprised to not find a website devoted to the twins as they make up a large part of San Francisco folklore. They could be to San Francisco what Yowza is (was?) to Concord, NH.

KGB Comes to Oakland

Those of you expecting to read about Russian intelligence are about to be disappointed. You'll find plenty of intelligence from Kari, Gretchen and Barbara though--the real KGB.


Gretchen and Barbara were granted "weekend leave" from their significant others and given 72 hours to come visit me in California for a girly weekend. We haven't all three been together in five years so it was long overdue.
We made dinner, drank wine, went out for coffee, had dinner, went out for more coffee, got pedicures and had more dinner. The two of them had the opportunity to lay around and be lazy, something they rearely get to at home since they both have children.
On Saturday, we visited a perspective caterer for the wedding and it went really well. Unfortunately, for me, I didn't realize a "tasting" was actually a "meal" and I could barely move after eating all that food. Gretchen and Barbara gave their seal of approval on the chicken and I really enjoyed the risotto cakes. Rob was absolutely no use at all as a judge since he had just finished playing football and would have loved any food at all. I might advise you against playing football immediately after eating this food, however, which is what I had to do. And we didn't even win.

On Sunday, Rob and I took Gretchen and Barbara to the Gardens at Heather Farm to check out the wedding site and it was a gorgeous day. This was the first time that Rob and I have been there when all the roses were in bloom and it was absolutely stunning. I have no idea how many of these roses will be in bloom in July but if it's half as beautiful as it was today I'll be a happy bride.





That afternoon, we brought mimosas to the salon and got ourselves some pedicures. The nail technician swore she wasn't offended by my hairy legs so I gave her a big tip for lying.





The weekend felt both like a moment and a month. We caught up on so many details of each others' lives including children and boyfriends and families and memories. Sometimes living far away, I forget how important these women are in my life but being all together this weekend was a valuable reminder of how much they mean to me and how thankful I am that they've kept me in their lives. Long live the KGB!

I Think I'm A Moth

A man walks into the doctor's office and says "Doctor, I think I'm a moth."
The doctor replies, "Hmm, I don't think I'm the right doctor for you. I think you should go see a psychiatrist."
The man answers, "I was on my way to see a psychiatrist just now, but then I noticed your light was on."

American Idol

Isn't it great to wait months and months for an event and then finally get to go! Several months ago I bought myself a birthday gift--tickets to go see Wayne Thiebaud at City Arts and Lectures with Rob, Gretchen and Kevin. Do you know Wayne Thiebaud? He is without a doubt my favorite painter and a true American Idol. It's always dangerous to go see a lecture or presentation by someone you really like because you run the risk of finding out they aren't as nice as you imagined them to be. Wayne did not disappoint. He was funny and kind and completely unimpressed with himself. He has taught art for years at UC Davis and continues to teach there even though he is no longer really on the faculty. As he put it--"They can't fire me if I'm not employed. And I don't have to attend faculty meetings."
He is passionate about art and in despair that we are taking art out of our schools and "we are teaching only half the person."
I felt so fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend this lecture and, to top it all off, he was in the lobby on our way out signing autographs. I luckily had brought one of the Wayne Thiebaud books I have and he graciously signed it for me.
How cool is that?!!



Here's a sample of Wayne Theibaud's painting--


Some of you may recognize it as Rob gave me a reproduction of it for my birthday one year and it hangs in our home. It was very difficult to choose just one so I encourage you to check out more Thiebaud paintings here.

If any of you are wondering what to buy us for a wedding gift--a Wayne Thiebaud original is a perfect idea. I tried to register for one but it turns out they don't have a wedding registry at Christie's Auction House. Shame.

2nd Annual Birthday Museum Trip

At what point does something become a tradition? I learned through years of insult and humilation from my family, that a tradition does not begin after you've done something only once. Or perhaps, the lesson they were teaching me is that a bathroom stop en route to a destination should never qualify as a tradition. Particularly if you've only stopped there to go to the bathroom one time. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, this is the second year in a row that Rob and I have gone to an art exhibit with Randy to celebrate my birthday. I'm going to now declare this a birthday tradition. Sorry Randy. You're stuck with me.
This years' exhibit was the Robert Bechtle retrospective at the SF Moma and was a lot more enjoyable than the overcrowded and less interesting Art Deco exhibit we went to last year at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. If you live in the Bay Area, I recommend you try and see this exhibit before it leaves June 5. It's AMAZING. Bechtle is a photorealist painter who paints with amazing creativity and precision. There is no way that I could do it justice on this blog but here's one of his paintings--



We took so much time examining every painting in awe, that we needed to sit and rest. Rob took it as an opportunity to try out his new leper joke. Unfortunately, it was lost on Randy as he thought Rob said "leopard."



After the exhibit, we went to Randy's and Cheryll's for dinner and wine and laughter. I-boy tries to get all of Roxie's toys and Rob inadvertantly insults Cheryll's dinner when he comments that he's been eating too much cheese. A perfect evening.

Cuchi-Cuchi!!

Happy Birthday to me!
Rob did an exceptional job planning a birthday for me this year beginning with two very great gifts--a necklace and the book The Art of Monsters Inc. Both things that I really wanted but would never have bought for myself. Then he took me to Kennedy's Pub in North Beach for dinner. It's a funny place, Kennedy's is. It doesn't look that great on the outside, or on the inside for that matter, but they have a couple of air hockey games and they serve Indian food. Neither of us had been there before and Rob kept reminding me that it was "Pat's idea", in case it turned out to be crap. (It didn't, incidentally.) Across the street from Kennedy's is Bimbo's 365 nightclub which is a really fun place to see bands. Having just received the workshop schedule from the San Francisco Center For The Book, I was very dangerously trying to walk and read at the same time and so did not notice the marquis at Bimbo's, much to Rob's delight.
Not long after we arrived at Kennedy's, Iain, Parmjeet, Pat, Dina, Bruce and Julia all showed up to have dinner with us. Iain, not so discreetly told Rob "they were sold out when I went this morning but I was able to buy a couple of tickets just now." Something at that point made me believe we might be going to Bimbo's later that evening. This suspicion was confirmed with Pat walked in with a Ticketmaster envelope "almost introducing itself" out of Pat's shirt pocket. Bruce came in saying he hadn't had any luck at all getting tickets.
So while I was certain we were going to Bimbo's I was quite enjoying the suspense of not knowing what I was going to see. I managed to keep my head down all the way across the street, into the building, through the lobby and onto the dance floor right in front of the stage without seeing any signs indicating what tonight's venue was. All that was left, was figuring out the band once they walked on stage.
The opening act was a DJ, or a couple of them, and one of them looked remarkably like the guitar player in Los Amigos Invisibles--a Venezualan funk band we had seen at Bimbo's about five years ago. I asked Rob if it was them playing tonight and he said no. Then all these guys walked on stage and the audience went crazy, holding their hands out to shake hands with the band members, but I didn't recognize any of them (except for the one guy who still looked like the guitar player in LAI). Then the DJ mix segued into the band playing and look, the guitar player looks and SOUNDS like........Hey, it ISVLos Amigos Invisibles!! What a fantastically fun band to see on my birthday!!







After leaving the show, we drove Iain and Parmjeet home and were invited inside for a cup of tea and a FoodSaver demonstration. After vacuum packing a slice of bread, Iain concentrates on vacuum packing a wedding invitation into a lethal weapon. That PhD in engineering is ever so useful. I wonder if his tongue sticks out when he's developing computer chips?

Pami's Hullabaloo

And you thought the clock was ticking quickly for my wedding, well Parmjeet's is just around the corner! She and Iain are getting married on May 21 so it was definitely time for her bridal shower.
Her friends Meeta and Smruti did a marvelous job planning an afternoon in honor of Parmjeet beginning with a gorgeous buffet full of salads, asparagus, eggs and cinnamon rolls. Next we all wrote down one piece of advice for Parmjeet and she had to guess who it was from. She had no idea how wise her friends were but if she heeds our advice, she'll be well equipped to make a good wife.
Next we decorated headbands with flowers and ribbons--Meeta made a lovely one for Pami.


We continued with a portrait session during which we all had to draw a portrait of Pami. Unfortunately, she couldn't sit still and I believe this negatively affected the quality of our work. Her restlessness made little impact on our word game, however. During this game, we each had 5 minutes to make as many words as we could think of using the letters in PARMJEET KAUR RANDAHWA. There are about a million possibilities if you want to try. My personal favorites (thought of by people other than me, I regret to say) were Parakeet and Pajama.

Finally, she opened her gifts. I'm not going to show many of them here, lest I ruin any honeymoon surprises, but I think Iain will appreciate them quite a bit. Particularly this one.



Parmjeet is glowing with happiness and it was especially nice that her sister-in-law and mother could make it all the way from Florida. I also thought it was nice to meet some friends of hers that aren't soccer friends. I forget that people have those! Thanks to Meeta and Smruti for all their thoughfulness and generosity in making it a lovely afternoon.

Multiball!

Here's a place you should check out if you're in the East Bay, the Lucky Ju Ju in Alameda. It's open Friday and Saturday night 6 - midnight.
The games are left on freeplay so they ask you to donate at least $5.00. They also have a fridge so you can bring your own drinks.



Lucky Ju Ju.



She sure plays a mean pinball.



I forgot to mention that we found a new dog park in Alameda and took Ian there before we went to Lucky Ju Ju's.



Here's the pood.

Last Team, First Team

Greg and Tugso came over tonight to watch The Amazing Race with us. When Tugso first moved to America, Rob and I tried to get her interested in this program but she wasn't impressed. I think there was just way too much going on for someone whose first language was not English and who was generally overwhelmed with life in a new place. And then Greg and Tugso lived in our apartment with us for one month and they were forced to watch all our favorite programs and guess who's hooked?
The bummer was, one of our favorite teams went out this week--the brothers, Greg and Brian. We liked them because they always made funny jokes when they opened the clues. Like, "Make your way to your mother's kitchen for her famous homemade enchiladas."
They went out in style though--


Tugso does some meditating in our living room. And you thought I had hairy legs!!!


After Greg and Tugso went home, Rob and I stayed up way too late to watch Liverpool v Juventus in the Champions League. FANTASTIC!! The game was superb. Liverpool came out and played a fast and great game and came away with a 2-1 win at home. The second leg is next week and if they win or draw, they'll go through to the next round. What we don't want to happen is Liverpool lose 1-0. That would be bad for blogging. The game is on ESPN2 on Wednesday if you want to tune in.

Here's a crackin' photo of Luis Garcia scoring Liverpool's second goal. What a beauty!

Let's get quizzical

Tuesday night is quiz night at Martin Macks on Haight Street, San Francisco, so it was time for me to show my mum and dad that I actually listened to some of the teachers at school.
Greg and Tugso came along too just in case there were some Mongolian questions and we were also joined by Gary who turned out to be the brains of the team, he always acts like a "know it all", now I know he is.
After a very close 7 rounds of trivia, picture and music rounds, much to the absolute shock of my parents, we ended up winning the whole thing! I assured them it had nothing to do with he quizmaster being my friend Mark.
Here's a couple of questions we had to answer, leave your responses in the comments section.
1. Airforce one is the (idiot) president's plane, what kind of craft is Marine one? (Greg got this one).
2. Who fought in the Rumble in the Jungle?
3. How many times a day should you floss? (not a good question if you have 4 English people in your team. My dad asked "What's flossing?". I rest my case.



"We're number 1, we're number 1". Cue huge bucket of icey,sugary,orange energy drink being tipped over everyone.

The San Francisco Treat

I picked mom up at the airport this morning from a week spent with Carl in LA. One more day together before she flies home to South Carolina. We went and had breakfast together at the Full House Cafe--one of our old favorites. It was really nice to have a quiet breakfast together after all the company and chaos that occurred right before she left for LA. With all the dress shopping and the bridal shower behind us, we were able to sit quietly and really talk to each other. I always value the moments in life when I can really connect with people and speak to each other from the heart so this was a special breakfast for me. From there, it was imperative that I let mom take a shower and wash her hair. I can't imagine why, but neither Andrea nor mom dared shower at Carl's apartment. Strange that.
All cleaned up and ready to go, Rob, Bob, Jo, Mom and I went to Berkeley to visit the horticultural center I had heard about. Rob and I have been trying to buy a few plants for house to make the apartment feel a little nicer. This horticultural center is absolutely fantastic. I haven't been to many but I would be surprised if this one isn't one of the better ones. I couldn't believe the variety of plants and shrubs they had available. Mom discovered the cactus greenhouse and we spent a good deal of time in there. So many bizarre and funny succulents in there several of which we bought to take home with us. One of the highlights was the hummingbird nest in one of the permanent trees. I've never seen a hummingbird sit long enough to really look at it. Here it is--you can't tell where the bird's body ends and the nest begins.



Rob grabs the opportunity to have his own personal trophy ceremony.



We stopped for lunch and then back home for "power naps" before going to San Francisco for dinner. We decided it was a good idea to check out the Cheesecake Factory which is on the 8th floor of Macy's and has an outdoor patio overlooking Union Square. Rob puts on his best outfit for our evening out.



They don't take reservations at the Cheesecake Factory and when we got there at 7:45 PM they told us it was going to be at least a 1hr and 15 minute wait. Since we had eaten a late lunch, we all felt we could manage the wait and decided to walk across Union Square to take everyone in the elevator where Rob proposed. Mom managed to keep her motion sickness at bay long enough for two trips up the elevator and then we had to call it quits. Only 1 hour and 5 minutes left to go. Not quite knowing what to do to pass the time, Rob and I just started walking down Powell Street and the idea struck us to go on the cable cars. Since we couldn't all fit in a cab to come back, Rob and I thought we would put our parents on the cable car and then meet them in our car at the end. Only thing is we'd have to give up our cracking parking spot right in front of Macy's. As we got to the cable car stop, the driver started shouting that we better get on quickly or they were going to leave and before Mom, Bob and Jo even knew the plan, they were rolling up Powell Street with us running behind shouting that we'd meet them at the end. Rob and I ran to the car and then raced up Powell Street until we were level with them taking pictures out the car window. I think it put my mom's mind at ease to see us there and know that we would be able to connect at the end. Then we raced off again and waited for them at the top of Hyde Street overlooking Lombard. When their car pulled up and stopped to show everyone the view, apparently someone else on the cable car spotted me and asked mom "is that your daughter?" We were becoming celebrities around here.



Down at the bottom of the hill, the three of them got off the cable car and immediately into our car and back to Union Square where our parking spot, unbelieveably, was still waiting for us. About 2 minutes after arriving back in the restaurant, they called our names for a table. If we had needed to look for parking, we would have missed dinner.

The Cheesecake Factory is not a place you will want to eat at very often unless you love cheesecake and a great view of San Francisco. It's a bit loud in general, but particularly if you have a screaming ghetto girl sitting behind you, and the portions are a bit over the top as Rob demonstrates below. In spite of this, we really enjoyed having a fun evening out in San Francisco together. Next time Mom sees Bob and Jo will be at our wedding! Holy Mackeral, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

Iceberg straight ahead!

Our friends Phil and Jeremy make their first appearance into the blog as they offered to take us all out sailing in the bay on one of the boats that they work on in the Berkeley Marina.
Pip and Jezza were very impressive, it must have been the beer they were drinking (Don't tell the coastguard). They also treated us to quite a spread of goldfish crackers and milano cookies.
Annie took over the helm and we cruised the bay for about an hour until the sun started to go down.
It wasn't until we'd eaten dinner and desert later that night that the smile finally started to fade from her face.



Jezza in control



Mum (Jo) trying not to feel seasick.



Kari & Annie with coathangers in their mouths.



Pip and Rob enjoying the Goldfish.



Long Bob Silver.