Oscar Night 2012!

Oscar Night 2012!, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

I'll be here for as long as I can stay awake. I deeply regret not appreciating being on the same continent all the years we lived in the U.S.

Getting ready for the Olympics

At the London Prepares diving competition, which is testing out the Aquatics Centre for the Summer Olympics., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

At the London Prepares diving test competition, at the Aquatic Centre. It seems as though there's still a lot of work to do in the Olympic Park before July, but it's definitely getting there.

2012: Week 8

8:2012, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Having fun with the new fish eye lens for my iPhone produced this picture. It helped that it was an absolutely beautiful day in Greenwich Park.

2012: Week 7

I see you. I see me. #ilovelondon, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We did a huge amount of fun things during half term, all of which produced some interesting pictures. Funnily enough, this picture, taken on the DLR during a gorgeous sunset, turned out to be my favourite.

HOORAY! This photo got picked by The Guardian in its weekly roundup of photos for the week. You can see the others that they picked by clicking through this hyperlink sentence (now that is a sentence with SKILLZ.)

Royal Borough of Greenwich

Greenwich became a Royal Borough over the weekend. I don't know quite how this is going to benefit us. I have been checking the post faithfully every day to see when my crown is going to arrive, but I've yet to see one arrive. However, Greenwich now has some spiffy new street signs that say "Royal Borough of Greenwich", as well as some nice banners on the street between the station and central Greenwich.

They had parades and fireworks throughout the borough during the weekend to celebrate. West Greenwich was last to celebrate, on Sunday. We got to ring in the new status amid the snow, which was pretty, but also pretty cold.

Thing Two got to march in the parade with his Royal Lantern. Here's a nice snap:

After the parade, there were some Royal Fireworks. I thought this picture was of a W (just like the climax in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" but my friend pointed out that it was probably a crown. I think he was right.

2012: Week 6 SNOW!

This isn't the picture I uploaded to the 52weeks group on Flickr-- I went with the Royal Borough of Greenwich fireworks snap-- but I had a hard time deciding. The weekend was notable for the SNOW on Sunday, which was gone by Monday afternoon. We had a terrific time sledging in the park, and I'm thrilled to report that Thing Two's tolerance for sledding has now extended to 2 hours, up from 45 minutes last year.

We're hoping for some more snow though before the end of the winter.

2012: Week 5 (Revisited)

I know I posted the other Spot picture for Week 5, but upon further reflection, I decided I wanted this one to be Week 5 because it was just so unique/mad/only in London picture.


This was one of several gum art installations between the East India DLR station and the gallery at Trinity Buoy Wharf showing the "Gum Art" by artist Ben Wilson. It was about the size of a 50p coin. This is one instance where the iPhone camera really works well because I could get it about three inches away from the gum to get the shot, rather than having to use a macro lens.