Happy Birthday Charlie

Last night Keith and I were honoured to be invited to a dinner to celebrate the 70th Birthday of former MCC Chairman Charles Fry.

The evening was organised by Charles' lovely wife Jane (not to be confused with Jane Fry the 'Badger Lady') and was attended by about 50 family and friends including two former test captains (Mike Brearley and Chris Cowdrey), many former 1st class players and entertainment types like Tim Rice (still recovering from a nasty cold) and Charles Collingwood from The Archers.

It was a delightful, intimate evening with heartfelt and hilarious speeches from Charles and Jane's twins, Annabel and James, and Charles' older brother Jonathan who commented on his brother's youthful appearance and suggested a 'Dorian Gray' type arrangement (obviously still smarting over the incident when he was mistaken as Charles' father).

The dinner was held at the French restaurant, Papillion in South Kensington. This is the second time we have been at Papillion this week, mistakenly turning up the night before to a very confused maitre d who welcomed us like old friends last night. Whoops!

Many happy returns Charles.

P.s: The picture above is not of Charles' actual cake but of an amazing 'Cricket Cake' from London Cakes who do a series of sports themed cakes for any event.

Writer's Desks

Saw a cute series of posts on Tara Moss' blog, titled 'I've Shown You Mine, Now Show Me Yours', which showcases working writers' desks.

Above is the desk of Maggie Alderson, editor, columnist and author of five novels (and the winner of my Best 'Aussie Chick in the UK' Blog). Love her mood board!

Sachin Says No

Middlesex County Cricket Club announce that after ongoing discussions with Sachin Tendulkar the India batsman will not be signing for the Panthers in 2010.

Despite early optimism that Tendulkar would be joining Adam Gilchrist at Lord’s this year, the deal has not worked out with Sachin feeling that he wished to concentrate his efforts on prolonging his international career at the top of world cricket. He believed that the additional workload of playing Twenty20 cricket in the UK for Middlesex this year would place too much pressure on his already busy cricketing schedule.

Obviously here at Cricket Family we are dissapointed that we, and Middlesex fans, won't be seeing Sachin play for the Panthers this year but look forward to seeing him around Lord's this cricket season (together with his family and body guards :).

(Extract from Lord's site and image from here.)

Dannii Minogue to be a Mummy

Congratulations to the gorgeous Miss Dannii Minogue who just announced today that she is pregnant! That's going to be one pretty baby.

Buy the 'Ocean'

Back in early December I posted photos from two gorgeous houseboats that were moored here in London. One of those, 'Ocean', is up for sale for a cool £1 million (plus mooring costs).

According to the Daily Mail today, 'Ocean' is thought to be one of the most expensive houseboats (think barge rather than narrowboat) ever marketed.
Although the fittings and the deck-top pool are fabulous, it's all about location.
The three-bedroom vessel is moored at Cadogan Pier, on the River Thames, next to London's Albert Bridge and a stone's throw from Chelsea's King's Road. Most of the boats moored at the pier are barges, rather than lavish yachts, which look unassuming from the outside but are far from unassuming on the inside.

Ocean, which was brought over from France by its current owner, a property developer, and refitted, is a sprawling 1,388 square feet.
Its exterior is sleek, with neat hedging decorating the 577 square foot deck.
Inside are three en-suite bedrooms - including one with a dressing room - a kitchen and dining area, a reception room, a study and a utility room.
So as not to lose the maritime flavour, one room is entirely timber clad like a vintage ship's cabin of yesteryear.
High specification throughout, it has wooden floors in the living areas, carpeted bedrooms and a modern open plan kitchen - complete with dishwasher. There is also a freestanding roll top bath in one of the bathrooms.

Tamsin Fox-Davies, who lives at the pier with her pier master husband Alan Grattan, said there was a lot of appeal to a floating home.
'This is pretty much the most sought after mooring in London,' she said. 'Spaces very rarely come up, so the only real way to get a space here is to buy a boat here.
'A really interesting mix of people have boats here and there is a lot of history.
'I find it amazing that there are these four or five million pound houses by the road and we are their view - we've got a better view than them.'

A spokesman for Foxtons said: 'The important thing to note is that the boat isn't just a houseboat completely stuck in the mud, it does work and a go up and down the river or on the sea. And it's a great pied a terre.
'It's very beautiful and despite being in the middle of town there is a real sense of peace.'
Ian Brownridge, sales manager at Foxtons' Sloane Square office, said: 'We have had quite a lot of interest in it.
'People love it but they find it difficult to get their head around spending £1 million on a boat.' Funny that!

(Words by Beth Hale for the Daily Mail.)

Mr Independent

My Wedding

Today is my wedding anniversary so I thought I would post some photographs of when we eloped three years ago!

Keith, I didn't think it was possible but I love you more than I did that day and I will love you even more tomorrow.

In Bed With Dita Von Teese

Well not quite, but why not stay where Dita used to stay in Paris when she was just a fledgling burlesque baby (is there such a thing???).

The Residence Chalgrin is in the aristocratic district of the avenue Foch, very close to the Arc de Triomphe and a few steps from the Champs Elysées and the place de la Concorde.

I have always avoided 1 star hotels in Paris (thinking you get what you pay for) but the Chalgrin has a certain provincial charm (and am told it only needs an elevator to be listed in the 2 stars hotels.)

Anyway, at 80 Euros a night for a single room (86 for a double) it's worth checking out and if it's good enough for Ms Teese then it deserves a peek (a-boo).

Start A New Life

(Photo of Wineglass Bay, Tasmania taken from the plane in which Keith proposed to me)

Sick of this disgusting weather (all those in New York and London)? Are you considering a new life somewhere warm (like Australia)? Then take a close look at Tasmania. A mixture of stunning scenery and mild climate with affordable, welcoming and safe cities.

Where is Tasmania?

Tasmania is Australia’s Island state lying just off the south east coast. Hobart – Tasmania’s capital city – is a one-hour flight from Melbourne and one and a half hours from Sydney.

What’s Tasmania like?

Tasmania’s mountains, forests and lakes offer a sharp contrast to the dry flat plains covering much of ‘mainland’ Australia. National Geographic Traveller magazine ranks Tasmania third out of 115 destinations worldwide. Tasmania’s landscape is made up of roughly 40 per cent national park.
Hobart offers a diverse city lifestyle with restaurants offering fantastic, fresh seafood and produce with a clear focus on gourmet living, friendly bars, and shopping, all within a short drive to some of the world’s greatest natural heritage.

Who migrates to Tasmania?

Typically people who place a high priority on their quality of life or who want their kids to enjoy a safe, outdoors focused childhood. Tasmania also attracts people who like the idea of living in Australia but don’t enjoy extreme summer heat or severe water restrictions.
Others come for quite specific reasons; to escape pollution, overcrowding or stress.

Tasmania is home to a number of events such as the Falls Music Festival, the 10 Days on the Island Arts Festival. The Taste of Tasmania food festival, The Sydney to Hobart ocean yacht race and regular national and international sporting fixtures (including Cricket of course).

Climate

Tasmania is the same latitude as Rome, Italy or Bordeaux, France. It has four distinct seasons and the surrounding oceans produce a temperate maritime climate with no extremes of heat or cold.
Tasmanian summers bring warm sun, sea breezes, clean sandy beaches and long twilights providing a fantastic climate for boating, bush walking, beaches and fishing. Whilst temperatures above 30°C are not uncommon, the average summer temperature is a comfortable 23°C. Winter has bright sunny days with an average temperature of 12°C.

Sound Good?

Well I have your whole life set up for you with a gorgeous 'Whaler's Cottage' to rent and a highly-successful business to buy.

The cottage (this photo doesn't do it justice it's just beautiful) has been lovingly renovated with luxurious fittings and stunning French doors. It features two large bedrooms, a separate lounge with wood and electric heating, a separate open plan kitchen / dining / family room and a modern bathroom.

Outside there is a private courtyard, huge landscaped gardens and a garden shed. It is located in a quiet street of one of Hobart' most prestigious suburbs and is a short walk to schools, shops and Sandy Bay restaurants and supermarkets.

See more images here.

The business is "Collage". It has been trading successfully for the last 25 years as an upmarket retail ladies shoe store specialising in elegant European lines. The business is located in a central arcade opening onto the Elizabeth Street Mall and has built up an excellent local client base by operating in a niche market sector in which it dominates as a market leader. Some hand over training is available to ensure a smooth transition into new management. For further information go here.

This business (and of course my parents) put myself and my two sisters through private school and university so, needless to say, it does pretty well for itself.

So people, make the move. 'Tassie' beckons.

Learn to take better photographs

What do they say about the best laid plans? Well, my 'pink' Christmas turned into a purple Christmas. Why? Because I had a tree, it was green and the recession was telling me that to buy a pink one was just pure extravagance. Then all the pink baubles were also 'extravagantly' priced. So it became purple because they were cheap (and everywhere this season, did anyone else notice that?).

My good friend Tracy (Turtle Trace) turned up with the most gorgeous pink fairy decoration and wailed "but your blog said it was going to be a pink Christmas". She, (the fairy not Tracy), still went up on the tree and she looked beautiful.

My promised photographs of our, now, purple Christmas, however did not. Here are the shots of the table.

I was in even more of a creative flux when I saw the amazing shots of Twig & Thistle's 'purple' Christmas.

Keith, ever the knight in shining cricket whites, promptly went out and bought a gorgeous 'bells & whistles' camera. Bugger the recession and expect much better photographs here in 2010.