Robin makes a new friend!

Robin meets a lamb!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, today Robin, my lovely wife and myself went to a farm near the Derbyshire village where my mum lives, to see some newborn lambs.

This little fella was born in the last couple of days and is, needless to say, one of the cutest things in the whole wide world. And perhaps even the universe (though I'm told the Lesser Striped Deeegtwerts on Jupiter are mighty pretty),

It was a lovely way to spend Easter - and certainly fit the whole 'new life' theme nicely. Robin and the lamb got on so well that they exchanged email addresses and plan to be in touch soon. Probably.

Robin plugs new 27 blog

Robin plugs 27
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Here's Robin plugging a new blog that I've set up. Being born on the 27th, I've always been a fan of the number 27 - and whenever I'm out and about and see the number somewhere, I usually take a picture of it. And now I'm putting some of those pics on a blog.

It's www.twentysevenpics.blogspot.com (or just click on the link over in the links list)

Check it out!

Happy Easter!

An Easter Robin
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

A very happy Easter from Robin and myself! Have a good one and go easy on the chocolate.

(These eggs will be going in neither a smoothie nor a juice - but thanks for all the recipe ideas, will defintely be trying some of them out.)

Our blender arrived!

whizzz...
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, the posh blender (which, you'll remember, was a replacement for the second juicer we were bought as a wedding gift) has arrived!

This morning we had a banana, milk, honey and yoghurt (Greek of course). It was tremendous.

Note too, the extremely swanky coffee pot in the background my brother Edward got us as a wedding gift. And the lovely bread bin given to us by a friend. Verily we have the best-supplied kitchen in London now!

And, don't worry, the blender wasn't plugged in when Robin so beautifully modelled it!

The joy of juicing!

Robin and various vegetables
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, following the record-breaking (I think) number of comments about root beer (thanks for all the suggestions, I shall be sampling as many as possible next time I'm in the US!) here's another drink-themed post.

Obviously, having just got married, we were very lucky to get a bunch of wedding gifts. One of the most fun has been the juicer which we were given (actually, we were given two - clearly juicers are like buses - but the second one is being swapped for a posh blender instead).

Suddenly, we've become slightly obsessed with the various combinations available. Yesterday we had a very tasty spinach, carrots, apple, radish and beetroot - a combination which helps boost brain power according to the book which the second juicer-giver gave us. And today we've just had a very sweet pear, apple, ginger and celery. All very healthy and VERY tasty! I can seriously recommend one if you haven't got one. Not nearly as hard to clean as I thought it would be either.

So folks, after your root beer advice, does anyone have any favourite juice combinations they'd like to recommend? (Naturally Robin tends to prefer the ones with berries in them...)

STOP PRESS: Yes, smoothies do count!

The big root beer taste test!

Robin and root beer
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up folks

This is Robin and two cans of root beer (if, for some reason you hadn't worked that much out) which we bought from the Chinese supermarket we went to. Although they're American brands (I think), the two cans were made in Singapore and Malaysia respectively!

I'm a big, big fan of root beer, which is quite hard to find over here. They used to sell it in McDonalds in the 80s, but stopped a long time ago. So the only time I get to drink it is when I'm in the US - and it even seems to be disappearing a bit there. I know some people think it tastes like dental mouthwash, but I think it rocks.

So, imagine my excitement on finding not one but two brands in the Chinese supermarket. The Frost brand (which I hadn't heard of) was selling at 49p a can and the A&W (which I had) at 59p. So we decided to buy a couple of both and have a taste test (that's the kind of crazy kids we are!).

And the winner? A&W hands down. Not only is it a better colour (much lighter - Frost looks like treacle), but it has superior levels of carbonation and a crisper flavour! Worth the extra 10p a can any day.

Any of you marvellous US readers got any root beer tips or tales?

A bird on the shelf is worth two in the storeroom

Robin at the Oriental supermarket
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up folks

Yesterday myself, my wife (!) and Robin went up to Oriental City, an amazing far east shopping complex in north London. A friend (my Greek orthodox best man in fact) has been raving about the place for ages and we finally got around to driving up there.

It's an astonishing, huge place. The supermarket and clothes, gift etc shops are amazing - we bought loads of brightly packaged things - but the food court (which features individual places selling Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese etc etc) really has to be experienced to be believed! The Penang Fish Curry was out of this world!

It's well worth a visit if you're ever in London. But please note, the bird on the shelf is not for sale.

Here's Robin at our wedding!

Here's Robin at our wedding!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, I've just downloaded the shots from my eldest brother's camera and here's Robin at our wedding. I'm the tall one and my wife, um, is the one in the white dress!

It was a lovely service - all done in Greek (it was in a Greek Orthodox church) but I'd read up beforehand about the wedding service, so even if I didn't understand every word, I knew what was going on. Most of the service was sung (there was an amazing choir up on the church balcony) and it was quite a moving spectacle. In fact, is that a tear I see in Robin's eye...?

Robin on honeymoon!

Robin at Elafonisi beach
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, here's a pic of Robin on our honeymoon in Crete (when I say 'our' I mean me and Lex, not me and Robin - me and the bird are just good friends).

The beach was a crazy, windy drive through the hills down to the south-west coast of Crete. Apparently the beach, Elafonisi, is very busy during the summer, but we were there off season on a gorgeous, crisp day and there wasn't another person on the beach apart from us. We didn't quite dare to swim in the chilly winter water, but we had a nice paddle (and I've just about got the feeling back in my feet now).

Good to see so many of you on the Blog yesterday - 46 visitors! - so clearly you've not forgotten about me and my red-breasted pal. Hello to Mary who posted a comment for the first time yesterday - always nice to have a new poster (obviously alongside the cherished regulars!).

How blue does that sky look in the pic? Ah, wish I was back there. Back to work on Thursday for me after a massive six weeks off (a sabbatical) for our wedding. Sigh...

We're back! Big news! And we went to football!

Robin at Shef Wed
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hello folks!

Yes, we're back in Blighty after a top. top honeymoon. I've got various pics of Robin at our wedding and on honeymoon to show, but I thought I'd kick you off with this shot of him in the crowd at Sheffield Wednesday vs Doncaster Rovers that we went to yesterday. Why do you think that chap behind him is hiding his face? Perhaps he is a master criminal?! Maybe Robin should become a sleuth.

So, the big news I refer to above is that I've decided to launch a multi-million pound/dollar rebranding of this website. Yes, as you might've noticed above, it's not called Athens2004Blog.com any more, it's called RobintheRobin.com. I've bought the address www.robintherobin.com (should be live from tomorrow) but you'll still be able to get here from either www.athens2004blog.com or www.athens2004blog.blogspot.com.

Why has it changed? Well, because it's really not about the Athens Olympics anymore, but it is mainly about Robin. And, in a bid to increase traffic, I might email some of the journalists who wrote about the Blog during the Olympics and ask them to mention the site in their round-ups as www.robintherobin.com. What do you folks reckon to all that?

Right, best get on for now - but pics of Robin at wedding and honeymoon coming up very soon...

Kit
A married man.
Very happily so.