2012: Week 50

2012: Week 50, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

12.12.12 at 12:12 (EST)

For the 50th Week of 2012, I decided to go with the 12.12.12 at 12:12 shot. Those of you with an acute knowledge of times of days will notice that I say it was taken at 12:12, which here in London would mean the middle of the day, not nighttime. As it happens, i was sitting at my computer at 12:12 GMT, so I went with the 12:12 EST time instead, when I happened to be on a train that was passing Big Ben. I think it's a far better shot than a screen shot, which is what a lot of people were posting for 12.12.12 at 12:12. Can I just say: Yawn.

Maddingly, the time stamp above says that it was taken on 13.12.12. Let me assure that isn't the case. It got that time stamp because that's when I went to the Over App to add the above text for clarification. Believe me at 17:11 (GMT) or 12:11 (EST), my nine-year-old and I were staring at the screen, waiting for the change to 12.12.12.

After 12 years of repetitive dates, that's it. The party is over. I'm glad I was able to go out with a bang, even if I had to fiddle with time zones in order to do it. Surely it still counts though, right?

2012: Week 44

2012: Week 44, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

It looks as though the clouds are going to invade London. Or the Dementors are on their way.

I took this shot on Friday, on our way to taking our son to his very first James Bond cinema experience. I may have also had Harry Potter on the brain, given that we'd been on the Studios Tour last week and have been watching the films incessantly ever since, and this looked like some sort of Dementor cloud.

As it was Halloween week, I thought for sure that I would pick a Halloween picture. But I didn't like any of them as nearly as much as I liked this one, as it reminds me very much of Magritte's "The Dominion of Light", where it is night in the lower half of the picture and day in the top half of the picture.

2012: Week 39

2012: Week 39, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

One of our greatest family traditions is having cake for breakfast on our birthdays. So we did again on Saturday. And it was good.

2012: Week 37

2012: Week 37, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The 2012 Olympics are well and truly over, but it was blast while it lasted. On Monday in week 37, the Olympians and Paralympians had their victory parade through the streets of London. They estimated about 1 million people lined the streets to cheer them on.

Where I stood, at the corner of Canon Street and Queen Victoria Street, in front of the Mansion House tube station, it felt like every office worker in the area had taken their lunch break and decided to go. I could not believe the crowd. You can just see the athletes behind the Tube sign. When I got home, my family asked me, "Who did you see?" I replied, "I have no idea."

Spare a thought for the poor teachers I saw who took their classes to the parade. I can't imagine the stress of keeping them together in such a crowd.

But even worse, this poor guy had to retrieve his bike and then carry it above his head through the masses watching the parade. I submit that this is its own Olympic effort and deserves a gold medal all its own.

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.)

2012: Week 32

2012: Week 32, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

I didn't quite get the shot that I wanted, but I was getting rushed along, so this will have to do.

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.)

2012: Week 9

9:2012, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Happy 44th Birthday to my husband, who was only two days away from being a Leap Year Baby when he was born on 27th February 1968.

Hard to believe the iPhone could do birthday candles in a dark room. The focus leaves a little to be desired, but it's not bad.

The cake is Orange Cassata cake, or, as we call it, "Sophia Loren Cake." It's a firm favourite in our house and utterly delicious.

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.)

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.)