is it my imagination, or is he pleased to meet me too?

manchester 2009

i can now die happy. i have met my hero, rufus wainwright.
just returned from the manchester international festival where rufus' opera prima donna was being premiered. thanks to tracy's expert hotel-booking skills we stayed in the same hotel as the prima donna entourage - including rufus. we didn't realise this until the morning after the premiere when we came to the lobby to check out - and he was there chatting to friends and family.

it was also an excellent weekend of visiting old haunts - i must have walked about 10 miles - down the oxford road, through rusholme and platt fields and down to fallowfield. such fun.

tracy, sheridan - oh, and RUFUS

puccini (jorn) and verdi (rufus)

30 seconds after seeing rufus

on manchester's equivalent of the eye

walking back in time

traditional buildings

funky new buildings

waiting for kelly on the steps of the union

hulme hall

robinski's

balham folks

was great to have a balham reunion today.
see below for photos

where every young man wants to be - on my knee

becca wishes she'd chosen vanilla fudge sundae

ella smiles for the camera

sam, dan and samuel

sarah, vikki and jack

jack plus teeth

chloe and sara

adrian and caroline

zac and becca

zac and adrian

bob and therese

with therese

j & c

jane and caroline

little snow bear

the ridgeway in the snow

school in the snow

slumdogs

anyone seen the film slumdog millionaire? it's a good premise for a film but a bit more indian mafia than i was expecting.

good though - i'd recommend it

ice swimming

nice to see my friends making the news
front page of the sunday times no less

don't mention the m word

they're back...
or more realistically, they never went away.
extremely depressing to be back to square one after 10 weeks and hundreds of pounds. time to call in the professionals.

trinity hospice

i've just got home from a tour of the new wing of trinity hospice (clapham common). they have built a brand new building with 28 beds which will replace the 3 old wards. it's fantastic - with 22 single (en suite) rooms and 2 rooms with 3 beds. they do such brilliant work - and it is all free! they need another million pounds, so if you've got any loose change hanging around...

anne frank

don't know how many of you managed to catch the bbc's excellent adaptation of the diary of anne frank that has been on this week?

what an amazing story. mum and i were in floods of tears during most episodes, especially last night's (the final one).

hny

happy new year folks.
so, back to work tomorrow. but it has been a really lovely holiday. i've worked hard (got my two essays done, sorted and tidied my flat) but also really enjoyed catching up with some old friends.

also killed two mice (finally) and am cautiously optimistic that i can move into a mouse-free flat in the not-too-distant future. just need to get my uncle's dog cashew back for rodent patrol this week.