who doesn't like a bit of cockney rhyme?

it's all gone pete tong = it's all gone wrong

what a bizarre and suprisingly touching british movie! i suggest you go out and rent it. maybe i need to credit lydia with telling me about this flic....someone gave me the heads up ages ago but i can't recall who.

i also went to see confetti in the theatre the other day. another good british addition to the movie world. unless you know british sitcoms/tv shows you may not appreciate the comic genius involved. the best bit? the whole movie is completely improvised. some parts made me laugh out loud so hard i almost wet myself.

and finally a movie i won't be able to see, an inconvenient truth. it's playing in vancouver on the 9th of june at tinseltown and 5th ave theatre. but there is no european date as yet.

Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.

please go and support it if you live in vancouver, or any other city it's playing in.

may i introduce....

jamie oliver twist

i will be the first to admit that i am a cat person, i don't have much interest in dogs. but look at him! he's just so edible.

he belongs to robin and jonathan. i call him pukka although i don't think jonathan approves. officially it's ollie for short.

there are some more pictures over on 23, can you handle the cuteness?

recipe of the week: chocolate mouse cake

are you ready for the heart attack inducing, painful decadence?

300g green and black's dark chocolate
300g green and black's milk chocolate
400g (!) butter, plus some for greasing a 10inch loose bottom baking tin
4 large eggs
120g plus a spoonful of caster sugar
lots of strawberries, quartered
drizzle of hard liquor (i used brandy)
vanilla ice cream or sour cream or double cream

macerate the quartered strawberries with a spinkling of sugar and drizzle of liquor, mix occasionally, leave for at least and hour.
preheat oven 160C/325F/gas mark 3.
line the baking tin with parchment paper and grease.
melt all the butter and chocolate over a double boiler on medium heat, stir regularly, set aside to cool completely when silky and smooth.
beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl with hand blender until trebled in volume.
add a quarter of the cooled chocolate to the eggs and mix gently until thoroughly incorporated, add the rest of the chocolate and fold together until well mixed.
pour the cake into the tin, bake for 8 minutes.
lick the chocolate bowl clean.

8 minutes wasn't long enough when i made this last night. i left it in for about 15mins but it still could have done with longer. it needs to be squiggy but firm enough to hold it's shape when cut.

serve a sliver of cake with ice cream and juicy strawberries.

if you're thinking you'll leave out the cream to save calories, you'll be sorry. you need something creamy to cut through the rich chocolatey goodness. go hard or go home, this is not for the faint of heart!

guess what happened to me the other day

4/5/6 year olds really enjoy giving teachers hugs - especially when they have left over lunch or snot dripping down their face, it is a fact i have come to terms with. 5 year olds are also bosom height, another fact of life i have come to accept. they give me a hug, and they are in danger of getting smothered if they don't turn their heads to the side.

a 5 year old (who, i'm sure, is the love child of the halifax bank man over there ----->) ran up to me on the playground. i was wearing a button up shirt. he goes in for the cuddle but instead of being sensible and releasing the hug....he gives me a motorboat. the urban dictionary defines a motorboat as,

v. int. The act of pushing one's face in between two ample breasts, and rocking one's head side to side very rapidly while making a vigorous, lip-vibrating "brrr" sound.

but it gets worse! as i stare down at him in shocked horror, he sticks his tongue in between my buttons and licks me! that's the sort of thing that could get a girl fired! i rapidly pushed the giggling youngster away whilst exclaiming, "GET OFF!" i almost added 'you bloody little git' but i controled myself.

that was a fun moment i'll cherish for a long while.

congratulations finland

lordi are the champions of eurovision 2006!

and the controversy begins

rock out!

oh dear god!

i just had to call 999 - the britsh version of 911. i fight broke out in the chicken shop over a girl and someone was stabbed. nice.

i know i joke about living in the ghetto, but my neighboorhood is seriously going downhill beyond general ghetto standards.

update: i just gave a statement to the most yummy ginger bobby.

the girl is ok, but there's a chav who has been beat up quite badly. and apparently it's not the first time it's happened to him in the chicken shop.

the count down is over

the time is here! i'm not ashamed to say i'm staying home on a saturday night to watch the eurovision song contest 2006. you cannot understand the seriousness which europe takes this musical tournament unless you live here. there's always accusations of political voting, certain countries banding together to ensure victory. and i find myself sucked into the furore every year.

but this year is special. england's entry is daz sampson. a middle aged, white, double denim wearing, football hooligan look-a-like, asbo who is rapping about teenage life. unbelievably a large portion of the british public is slightly crestfallen that daz was voted in, but that's what happens when you trust a public that kept the crazy frog ringtone in the number one spot on the singles chart for too many weeks last year. let's hope he does better than jemini from 3 years back...they scored "nil point" (say with a fake french accent), i don't hold out much hope.

but then a light in the tunnel, news of finland's entry into the contest became known.

Lordi, the hard rock monsters from Finland. Wearing platform shoes that must be 12 inches high, lead singer Lordi growls out '‘Hard Rock Hallelujah'’ in front of a stunning display of pyrotechnics, this isn'’t just a few sparks; we'’re talking huge jets of fire. Huge bat wings unfurl from Lordi'’s back and by the end and the now-smoke-filled arena is stunned. Terrifying but brilliant.

there was such who-haa over lordi. some fins blamed russia for tactically voting in lordi to ensure russia's victory, who would vote for a metal band over a greasy russian? but a large british audience has embraced the finnish competitor. it's an exciting time to be alive! i know who i'm voting for in a few short hours.

glory be the age of technology

my hunt for more live music in life is going quite well. i can share some of the evidence with you thanks to my fancy-pants new phone which take pictures. i really didn't think i'd ever use a camera phone but finding a mobile in this country without one is near impossible. i will admit, this little camera has proven it's worth. normally i wouldn't ever share such poor quality photos but my evening was just so wonderful i feel i must.

i went out on tuesday to a lovely pub called the abbey. they specialize in belgian beers which come in all sorts of regular and fruity varieties. strawberry or cherry beer = alco-pop = yum! it's like drinking juice, but you get a buzz.

anyhoo, there were 4 acts on the bill. angel anderson (backed by jonny berliner and his guitar) was first up and she set a high standard. why this girl is singing in pubs i'm not sure. you can listen to her here. she's funky, soulful and sexy. if i was a lesbian.....

next up was jamie woon and his guitar, listen here. he took a while to work up the crowd but once he got going i was in awe. for one song, a friend joined him on stage, whose name escapes me. he did some beautiful spoken word poetry over jamie's strumming and chorus singing. but the highlight was when jamie put down the guitar and got out this little green box on the floor. he started making beats into the mic which would record into the box and loop. then he's add a different beat which would record and loop and this whole layering-looping process was fascinating. in the end he had created a 4 part backing harmony over 3 drum beats with 2 clapping beats all layered and looping. then he sang over it! i looked like a fish the whole time, mouth gaping open catching flies.

i'm gliding over the 3rd act....

last up was jonny berliner who i've mentioned before. he's just fun to watch and listen to live, anyone who writes a kazoo part into their songs is ok by me! i think i may have to turn into a groupie. i got his new cd, it's lazy sunday afternoon listening. very enjoyable, you can listen to some of it here.

go live music!

it's officially official

tickets have been booked.

i pack up my life at the end of july.

i head up to edinburgh for fringe in early august.

i arrive in victoria sometime on the 9th of august. i'll probably be too tired from the jet lag to do much on my birthday, unless you want to party with me at 4am when i'm guaranteed to wake up. 27 is a lame birthday anyways. i almost had a little panic attack when i typed that....

i'll be in parksville with the family from the 12th to the 19th, then the family goes to hawaii for 2 weeks and leaves me in charge of the cats. nice!

so after the 20th of august i'm free and easy until christmas! please arrange your schedules accordingly.

recipe of the week: new potato, seed and nut salad

3-4 small new potatos per person, boiled (10-15 min) and halved
5tb pine nuts
4tb pumpkin seeds
lettuce
1/2 apple per person, peeled and cubed
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
natural yogurt
1 lemon
spoonful of honey

toast pumpkin seeds and pine nuts in a fry pan over a low heat until pumkin seeds pop and pine nuts slightly brown (it happens suddenly so beware, i burnt my first batch).
mix as much yogurt as you think you'll need with the juice of the lemon and honey, add more or less lemon depending on how runny you want your dressing.
grate into the dressing the zest of the lemon (do NOT over grate to the yucky white underlayer).
toss lettuce, celery, apple, pumkin seeds, pine nuts, and potatos in the dressing.
serve with poached salmon.

yum! i liked this so much i had it 3 days in a row. i suggest adding avacado and prawns for extra fancy-pants-ness.

i think i may yak

a fantastic thunder storm just errupted outside my window. a lovely warm summer downpour. the kind you want to stand in. i don't have a back garden, and i wasn't about to stand on the street in front of the chicken shop so i decided to hang out my window to enjoy the smell and cool refreshing air. my joy was short lived, look what i saw! ewwwwww! chicken bones on my window sill. and a juice box? come on! i blame the ferral pigeons for the bones, but i doubt they'd carry a juice box up to my window. i'm really looking forward to moving. my next london flat will not be near a chicken shop. and it'll have an oven, tub and washing machine.

calling all the evil petrol consumers

i just purchased a terrapass.

Your car puts several tons of CO2 in the air every year. With TerraPass, you can take it back out. TerraPass funds clean energy projects like wind farms, methane capture and more.

every little bit helps. of course if i really wanted to save the planet i would stop driving all together, but i cannot go back to the 1.5 hour epic tube, train, bus journey to AND from work every day when i can conveniently drive in 35 minutes.

my name is robyn and i am an evil petrol consumer.

breaking news

the first documented polar-grizzly bear was discovered recently in canada. it had...

thick, creamy white fur, typical of polar bears, as well as long claws; humped back; a shallow face; and brown patches around its eyes, nose, back, and one foot, which are all traits of grizzly bears.

unfortunately an american hunter shot and killed it. his mother must be so proud.

deja vu

have you ever seen an elephant walking by st. james's palace? well i have! and i saw it sleeping in trafalgar square. twice lucky. this street theatre left me speechless. i was enchanted yesterday just by the elephant's siesta.






but today...there was walking and tail wagging and roaring (what do you call the sound the elephant makes?). there were dancing girls, the sultan, his entourage, live music following behind. it was fantastic! the sun even made a brief appearance.

the elephant would stop periodically to be fed hay by his handlers and he would pick up the bails of hay and throw them at the crowd. he also enjoyed drenching the crowd with water from his trunk (which you can just make out against the cloudy sky in this picutre). i managed to stay clears of the streams for quite a while. but then i got distracted by my camera and got completely soaked. i hope nikon cameras like elephant spit.

won't let the weather get me down

what a pleasant afternoon i have had, even though it was raining. the latest london adventure involved rather large puppets in trafalgar square.

The Sultan’s Elephant is the story of a sultan from far-off lands and his magical, time-travelling mechanical elephant. Forty feet high and 42 tonnes in weight, this beautiful creature will capture the hearts and minds of everyone who sees it.

i was captured by it! i didn't actually see it move, it was too wet to wait around an hour for the parade back to it's bed, but nevertheless, it was a sight to behold. i may go see them stroll through st. james park tomorrow if the weather perks up a bit. it's apparently taken 2 years to organise and negotiate this street theatre production and i'd like to see it in action.

i'm a pagan at heart really

monday was may day bank holiday and i was so lucky to be invited up to glastonbury by ben (robin's ex boyfriend) for the beltain festival.

it was a grand weekend! glastonbury is one of my favourite places. it reminds me a lot of victoria but it's much more hippy/pagan/yoga-fied. every other shop specializes in crystals or healing stones or tarot cards or wands or swords or incense. people freely walk the streets in celtic robes and the town is awash with earth tone clad, dread-locked, caped hippies or witches.

on sunday ben and i ventured to a barn dance at belham farm. it's a small farm that the city council wants to split up and sell off. well, this angered some local hippies and they decided to do something to stop the sale. a group of them began squatting and turned it into a fully functioning farm. they had yummy cider on tap and i bought a fantastic mixed lentil-rice soup mix.

then we went to a steam engine fair, as you do. we eventually capped off the day with a pint of bitter called tally-ho in an old pub (with original tudor beams and fireplace) with live blues playing in the background. nice!

monday was beltain day. we were up at 4am to leave by half 4 and walked over hill and dale for a 5am start at chalice well. oh dear god. walking muddy-hilly tracks in the pre-dawn darkness getting scared by badgers running in your path is only slightly fun. oh yes, it was also pouring with rain. the entire weekend had been beautiful and sunny until that morning. ben was so kind as to lend me the best coat in the world. i was the only one who stayed warm and dry, but it came at a cost. the coat weighed about 20 pounds.

beltain celebrates the day between vernal equinox and summer solstice. it's basically the start of summer. a fair crowd gathered in the chalice gardens and we followed queen may and the green man by the holy thorn where we picked up flower offerings. we went through a small arch where we also picked up and lit a tealight and then we were cleansed by a sage smudge and sacred light. we left our offerings at the chalice well and waited for everyone to gather around.

we then participated in a group meditation. the theme of the contemplation were the things we wanted to grow within our lives. what seed did we want to nurture in the coming summer season? what wish did we have for ourselves, our friends, and the world? we were also encouraged to ask the rain to stop at the end of our mediation. poetry was then shared by various people.

the group processed through another archway to an open field where the beltain fire was lit. what happened when everyone entered the field? the rain stopped.

the bard of glastonbury then led his choir in traditional beltain-spring-summer folk songs while people jumped over the smaller beltain fire. once you jumped you went through the branch archway created by queen may and the green man thus cleansing yourself.

you can see ben jumping the fire in the last picture. yes, he has an antler (made from branches) and ivy head-dress on.

around 7am or so we left the festivities and walked up the tor to get a view of the newly sunny morning. we were home by 9am and in bed by 10. fantastic!

ben's house backs onto a farm and i pet one of the cows.

i want to live in glastonbury.

everyone should read into it's history, it's wonderful, i thoroughly enjoy every aspect of it - christian and pagan. glastonbury is avalon. i stood by king arthur's *supposed* grave at glastonbury abbey. chalice well is *supposedly* where joseph of arimathea dipped the chalice that caught jesus' blood. when jesus was a child he came to glastonbury *supposedly*. joseph also *supposedly* brought the holy thorn over from the east. although, there are 3 holy thorn sites and i can't say which is the original. i say supposedly....it's all myth and legend, but there is some sort of power in that area, a feeling in the air. it's enchanting. it's exciting that someone i know owns a house there.

i'll be posting many picutres on 23 and flickr....hopefully tonight, check 'em out if you have a minute.