Chicago Addick living in Bermuda
Tuesday 21 June 2005
  Culture vulture Back in work today and I would do anything not to be here. Even at home watching Henman cough and splutter his way into the 2nd round! You could have got 9/2 on him winning at 2 sets down. Damn.

I had a most enjoyable week back home, in fact it was probably the hardest time I have had leaving yesterday morning.

The week started with afternoon tea in the Berkeley Hotel. We drunk a lot of champagne, and not much tea and I think my American colleague, who is working in our London office at present, loved it, my boss won't be too impressed when he sees the bill though! This was followed by some tennis, the Hastings Direct Championships. The sun was out but it was pretty freezing.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to have lunch at the Fat Duck in Bray. The chef is not widely known, does not write books, nor do TV shows or appear on the pages of Hello. Heston Blumenthal however conjures up the most amazing creations from his kitchen in this tiny little restaurant in the village of Bray. He is one of only three chefs in the UK to own 3 michelin stars (Gordon Ramsey and Michael Roux are the others) and the fascinating menu contains such concoctions as snail porridge and smoked bacon and egg ice cream.

It was an incredible, if expensive, experience and despite the arrogance of the unneccesary French waiters - Blumenthal after all was named after the service station near Heathrow and grew up in Shepherds Bush - it was a mind opening afternoon.

More on Blumenthal's non-conventional approach to cooking here.

There was no end to my smoozing on Wednesday when I attended the Boodle & Dunthorpe Challenge in Stoke Poges. This is a pre-Wimbledon tennis tournament set in the beautiful gardens of Stoke Park. The weather wasn't ideal for a summer garden party, but it didn't rain as anticipated. My friend was rather taken with Thomas Enqvist but the 37-year old and mother of three compere Annabel Croft caught my eye!

On Thursday I met some mates in the city for lunch and 6 pints and some peanuts wasn't the best preparation for the opera at Holland Park. Like many a Charlton match the first half did seem to drag but a half-time break did me the power of good and I really enjoyed the 2nd half of La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini.

I am no opera buff but La Sonnambula, like others, is a simple tale surrounded by dramatic music. The story tells of a beautiful young woman who on the verge of getting married, finds a sleep-walking affliction after she enters another man's bedroom. Yep, yep, yep.

By the way, those looking for an alternative summers evening out would do no worse than visit the lovely Holland Park or my personal favourite, the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. Here this year apart from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Cymbeline, you can see Harry Hill (unfortunately already gone), The Wind in the Willows, or listen to Robert Maxwell's side of the story on July 2nd. You can keep that twat Jimmy Carr though.

Friday night was a bit of good old fashioned culture - the traditional beers and curry. As always it was good to see the boys and hear their tongue in cheek stories of how the Hammers are going to take the Premiership by storm. Shaun Newton, Bobby Zamora, Thomas Repka.... bubbles indeed.

The weekend I was in Eastbourne with my folks and my son. The weather was gorgeous and the old ladies were out in force on the promenade. Eastbourne is one of England's best perserved coastal towns and it is a very pleasant place to now call home when I'm back. My parents, after living all of their lives in London, have settled very well into their new environment and very proud of them I am too. For them their move was as much of a change as mine and I will come back to the town which nestles at the foot of the South Downs in another post sometime.

Fathers Day with my son and my Dad was nice but is it me or do the men get a raw deal compared to the Mums? No flowers, no fanfare and no over the top ad campaigns, just a Sunday to call your own.

And that was that, the Chicago Addick week of Culture 2005 was over and here are some photos:








From left to right: Jo Durie, not looking as fit as she did; 16-year old Nicole Vaidisova from the Czech Republic (where do they get all these tall leggy blondes from?); Thomas Enqvist at Boodles; Enqvist & Nikolay Davydenko; Argentina's David Nalbandian; My (very) outside bet for Wimbledon Sweden's Joachim Johansson; Annabel Croft; Stoke Park; Annabel with Todd Woodbridge; Holland Park opera stage; Afterwards at the opera; Beachy Head; On the pier at Eastbourne. 
|



<< Home
About Me
After living in Chicago for four and a half years, I moved to the beautiful if bewildering island of Bermuda in July 2008. This blog is about being an exiled and depressed Charlton Athletic fan and whatever else the day brings.
CAFC Links
  • Charlton Athletic FC
  • CAFC Player
  • Forever Charlton
  • CAFC Picks
  • CASC
  • City Addicks
  • Community Trust
  • Fans Forum
  • Charlton Life
  • / forum
  • Charlton Scrapbook
  • Addicks Downunder Forum
  • Fellow Addick Blogs
  • Addicks Diary
  • Doctor Kish
  • New York Addick
  • All Quiet in the East Stand
  • SE3 Addick
  • Jakartass
  • Charlton Athletic Online
  • Views from an Iberian Valley
  • Charlton North Downs
  • Blackheath Addicted
  • Drinking During the Game
  • Kings Hill Addick
  • A Red Divided
  • Deepest Darkest
  • All in a Day
  • Johnny73
  • Confidential Rick
  • Charlton Casual
  • Many Miles....
  • Croydon Addick
  • Stickleback
  • And Nothing Else Matters
  • Out in the rain
  • Hungry Ted
  • Bermuda - all 21 square miles of it
  • The Royal Gazette
  • Weather forecast
  • Discover Bermuda
  • Bermuda National Trust
  • Bernews.com
  • Bermuda Blogroll
  • Bermuda Shorts
  • Jen in Bermuda
  • Daily London fix
  • Diamond Geezer
  • Onionbagblog
  • 853
  • The Cabbies Capital
  • A piece of my heart still in Chicago
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Chicago Bears
  • Chicago Blackhawks
  • Chicago White Sox
  • Chicago Cubs
  • Chicago Fire
  • My Chicago stuff
  • Andersonville
  • Bucktown
  • Chinatown
  • Evanston
  • Gold Coast
  • Greektown & Little Italy
  • Lincoln Park
  • Lincoln Square
  • The Magnificent Mile
  • Old Town
  • Oak Park
  • River North
  • Roscoe Village
  • South Loop
  • Streeterville
  • Ukrainian Village
  • Wicker Park
  • Wrigleyville
  • Ten things to do with a child
  • My Bermuda exploring
  • Paget Parish
  • Southampton Parish
  • Town of St George
  • Ten things to do with a child
  • Travelogue
  • Atlanta
  • Bahamas
  • Beachy Head
  • Beaver Creek, Colorado
  • Bermuda
  • Buenos Aires
  • Californian Hwy 1
  • Charleston
  • Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Dubai
  • Eastbourne
  • Ft Lauderdale, Florida
  • Grand Canyon
  • Hiroshima
  • Honolulu
  • Houston, Texas
  • Kohler, Wisconsin
  • Kyoto
  • Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
  • Las Vegas
  • Lille, France
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico
  • Miami Beach
  • Mt Fuji & Hakone, Japan
  • Munich
  • New Orleans
  • New York
  • Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Oman
  • Orlando
  • Palm Springs & Joshua Natl Park
  • Park City, Utah
  • Reykjavik
  • Route 66 and Hoover Dam
  • San Francisco
  • San Diego
  • Santa Fe
  • Saugatuck, Michigan
  • Sedona, Arizona
  • Sonoma & Napa Valley
  • St Petersburg, FL
  • Taos, New Mexico
  • Tokyo
  • Uruguay
  • Washington DC
  • The good old days?
  • The men in charge Parts I
  • / II / III / IV / V
  • Carlisle (a) 1986
  • Luton (a) 1989
  • Sunderland (h) 1975
  • Stoke City (a) 1994
  • Crystal Palarse (a) 2000
  • Norwich City (h) 1987
  • Coventry City (a) 2001
  • Barnsley (h) 1985
  • Bristol City (a) 1994
  • West Brom (a) 1995
  • Hull City (h) 1976
  • Burnley (h) 1978
  • Nottingham Forest (a) 1989
  • Sheffield Wednesday (h) 1986
  • Ipswich Town (a) 1981
  • Birmingham City (a) 1993
  • Hereford United (a) 1989
  • Interesting stuff
  • We're not on the telly much but who is?
  • Football Pyramid
  • Football Ground Guide
  • The Political Economy of Football
  • The Fiver
  • London 2012
  • TV Cream
  • Nice cup of tea and a sit down
  • Banksy
  • www.flickr.com
    This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from ChicagoAddick. Make your own badge here.
    And not so interesting
    Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Powered by Blogger
    EMail me
    ChicagoAddick@Gmail.com
    Follow me on Twitter
  • ChicagoAddick
  • CAFC on Twitter
  • Archives
    June 2004 / July 2004 / August 2004 / September 2004 / October 2004 / November 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / December 2007 / January 2008 / February 2008 / March 2008 / April 2008 / May 2008 / June 2008 / July 2008 / August 2008 / September 2008 / October 2008 / November 2008 / December 2008 / January 2009 / February 2009 / March 2009 / April 2009 / May 2009 / June 2009 / July 2009 / August 2009 / September 2009 / October 2009 / November 2009 / December 2009 / January 2010 / February 2010 / March 2010 / April 2010 / May 2010 / June 2010 / July 2010 / August 2010 /