Lighting of the Christmas Tree, Civic Square

On Friday night after a Christmas party we headed out to Civic Square in Canberra.

Architecturally-wise Civic Square is a bit of an odd place. Somewhere that probably looked good in the 'artists impression' when it was conceived in the 70's and now looking a bit tired as similar concrete-laden squares in Telford, Basingstoke, Bracknell, Townsville etc.

The occasion was the lighting of the Christmas Tree together with a free concert.

The shopping trolleys had been hauled out of the fountains and the place given a spruce up (no pun intended)

The main attraction for the night was Justine Clarke. We'd last seen her two months earlier, but this time she had license to sing more Christmas-ey numbers as well as our favourites.

Dreadful DJs Joe and Biggsy compered the evening and there was a painful 45 minutes of carol singing lead by Mrs Santa Claus (toe curlingly unnecessary) but Justine was just great. The kids kept going until 9pm and the tree lighting was fantastic.

Civic Square in all its glory
the lights went down and the kids were still rockingJustine Clarke

Open Day at the National Zoo and Aquarium

The National Zoo is only a short 10 minute drive from our house and earlier this year we took up the offer of an annual pass. It means we can call in whenever we like and it's a nice place to spend an hour or two. Amy has taken Audrey and Eli a few times since we've signed up for the pass, and the children have now developed their own routine in terms of which animals they see and in which order. Every trip ends in a milkshake in the cafe.

Sunday was an open day for members, which gave you the opportunity to feed a number of the animals. Amy and I fed a (very sedentary) lion with some bits of meat while he lay on the sun.

A while ago someone gave us a giraffe fancy-dress costume which Audrey decided to wear to celebrate the occasion. She got a number of admiring glances and it made a nice change from her usual fairy attire.

me feeding Christian the lion. I opted not to go in the cage and give him a hug afterwards.

Eli by the monkey enclosure

Audrey as a giraffe

Sign reads: Please do not touch the glass - National Zoo and Aquarium a touching experience

Our local park

Here's some (perhaps uneventful!) pictures of our local park. It's only a short cycle from our house and the kids love riding there while I pull them in the bike trailer...who wouldn't?

Last week's rain gave way to some lovely sunshine on Sunday.

A really nice thing about watching Audrey and Eli growing up is seeing their imaginations run wild. The slide in the park sometimes doubles as a rocket-ship, the area under the slide is almost always an ice cream shop and we invariably meet dinosaurs there. On our latest trip Audrey sold me an (invisible) raspberry ice cream for $110. It seemed a bit on the expensive side, but it tasted divine.

Chloé's 3rd Birthday

Lots of fun was had as well as a lovely birthday cake!

An audience with Princess Mary

On Tuesday Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark were in Canberra for the day. Audrey is quite smitten with princesses at the moment so I decided to take her and Eli to the National Art Gallery to see if we could catch a glimpse of Princess Mary. I couldn't believe it when we arrived - there were not many people about and we got prime position to see the royals arrive.

To top it all off, Princess Mary actually stopped to say hello to Audrey and Eli. Eli had taken along his Big Ted and dancing card (which he'd just got that morning at dance class and was well chuffed with) and Audrey had her favourite Barbie doll, nicknamed Princess Catherine. Princess Mary was rather bemused with the name of the Barbie doll!

I think I was rather more in awe of the royals than Audrey and Eli. The following day when our neighbour asked who Audrey had seen on Tuesday she replied, "A brown and ginger cat"! I had to prompt her again before she remembered her audience with Princess Mary.

Here's a still

Audrey, Eli and Amy appear about 1.30

With thanks to Private Eye Magazine

4000% percent pay rise anyone?

Pat Cummins

It’s not often I have admiration for an Australian cricketer. There’s one or two I enjoy to watch but on reflection the last time I think I really ‘admired’ an Australian cricketer was Brett Lee at Edgbaston in 2005.

I’ve been following the Test Series in South Africa (a terribly short 2 test series), South Africa v Australia with interest and found myself actually cheering an Australian cricketer’s success.

Pat Cummins was the stuff of Victor comics – an 18 year old plucked from obscurity (after only playing 4 first class games) who then took 7 wickets in a match and hit a four for the winning runs (recording his highest batting score in the process). It was the stuff of dreams. Australian cricket has struggled for the last couple of years as old-hands retired or were dropped and mediocre or inconsistent players took their place. Throughout it all I haven’t shed a single tear at the team’s demise but I remember an Australian telling me (after Australia had drubbed England at cricket a few years ago) that things are cyclical, and so it appears.

It’s always great when young players ‘come through’. Whether it’s a 22 year old Gazza a youthful Ronnie O'Sullivan, David Gower, Andy Murray, Robbie Keane, David Beckham and even dare I say it Wayne Rooney. Some rise and then fall, some become sporting institutions and some get extensively tattooed.

It’ll be interesting to see how Pat Cummins fares, and probably I’ll change my view of him if he takes 7 wickets in his first game against England

Pat Cummins biffs a four