Robin, a fish and a giant metal head

robin and a big metal head
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This is the last of the Robin shots from our Scottish trip, taken in a wee (see, I picked up the dialect) town called Kilmarnock.

We stopped off there for a couple of hours before getting the flight home (Dawn, it wasn't a work trip - it was a fun one, crammed in among a busy time at work).

It's not the most glamourous town, but the sun was shining and everyone seemed very friendly. And all down the main shopping street they had these little scupltures built into the street. I've tried to find out more about them online (because I think they're ace) but, as yet, to no avail.

There, that's four postings in 24 hours - we haven't been this prolific since the Olympics!

Robin at Loch Lomond

robin and a loch
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This one was taken on the way back from Mull to Glasgow Prestwick airport, when we stopped off at one of the viewing areas for Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond is approximately 23 miles long, and up to 5 miles wide, with a maximum depth of about 190 metres (620 feet). It is the largest body of inland water in Great Britain.

The loch famously features in Andrew Lang's verse, The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, published around 1876.

You might know the chorus:

Oh, ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

See, robintherobin.com - not just fun, but educational!

Robin on the isle of Mull

Robin on Mull
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Here's the second picture from our Scottish adventure. This was taken on the seafront in Tobermory on the isle of Mull, an island off the west of Scotland. All the buildings are painted different colours making for a place that looks like a toy town - which may be why a popular BBC kids show called Balamory is filmed there.

To Robin's right is the gorgeous seafront/harbour that the town is stretched around. It's a very beautiful place - well worth a visit if you're ever up that way.

Robin hits the Highlands

robin back to nature
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hello folks, hope you're all well.

Sorry for not posting for a while, I've been (as ever) rather busy.

We went up to Scotland for a few days last week (Fri to Mon) and this picture of Robin was taken on the gorgeous drive up from Glasgow to Oban (passing Loch Lomond), where we caught the ferry to the isle of Mull. Absolutely lovely scenery and, as you'll see, the weather was great.

More pics from our Scottish adventure coming soon...

www.robintherobin.com

robin addresses the world
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Those of you who come to this blog via the www.athens2004blog.com might've noticed that although you can still get to the site, you now get an annoying pop-up from UK2.net.

The best, pop-up free way to get to the blog now is to come via www.robintherobin.com - which is pretty easy to remember, even for a toy bird.

STOP PRESS: Just to clarify, using robintherobin.com will still divert you to www.athens2004blog.blogspot.com (the overall holding page for the blog, and that address is fine to use still too). But if you were using www.athens2004blog.com you will now get a pop up from UK2. Hope that makes sense.

Spring seems to have turned up

A robin and a pear tree
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

After the cloudy, grey skies in London the other day (see below) spring seems to have arrived today - as the sun shines and the sky is a deep shade of blue. Whether the thousands running the London marathon are pleased about this heat is, of course, another matter. But myself and Robin are very pleased - which is why we took this picture out of the window of our flat.

Robin meets Chris Martin from Coldplay!

christopherrobin
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, a few months after he met Kylie, here's Robin going nose to beak with Chris Martin from Coldplay. As you'll see from the pic, the lovely Mr Martin was quite awed at meeting such an international star (this despite the fact he's married to Gwyneth Paltrow!) and the two chatted for a while, swapping tips about things like how to avoid being bothered in the street (Robin's advice was to 'just fly away').

Robin. And London.

robinontheroof
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Thought you might like to see a shot of Robin on the roof of the building where I work, which I just took during a hasty lunchbreak.

If you look very carefully you'll see the Millennium Eye big wheel over on the left and Big Ben somewhere over on the right. If you look not very carefully, you'll see clouds. Where did Spring get to?

Robin is cool!

Robin the cool dude
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Long time, no post - sorry, I've been flat out busy with work and then went to Hamburg for a few days but forgot to take Robin (that's what happens when you have to get up at 5am to catch a flight!). I did take a couple of 27 pics though if you want to see them (see 27 site link over on the links bit). Anyway, as I've not posted in ages, here's a bit of a catch-up.

The picture's of Robin in his trendy new leather jacket, about to flutter into town to wow the local chicks. (Okay, okay, he's sitting in the top of my leather glove, but you've got to admit it suits him).

I liked Vix's idea the other day about trying to think of what Robin's fans should be called. Any ideas gratefully received.

I'm also trying to think of another competition along the lines of the ones we had during the Olympics - so look out for that soon.

Any other big excitements? Well, tomorrow a bunch of us are going for an 8 mile country walk as kind of a wedding reunion - nice to get our mates back together for the first time since Athens. Oh, and Prince Charles is getting married today, but nobody that I know gives a monkeys. Was very surprised that his wedding was the top headline on the news in Germany last week. I think Brits are more excited about the Grand National horse race.

And finally, in smoothie news, this morning we had banana, milk, honey and a bag of frozen forest fruits, which worked very well blended up together - and was nice and cold because of the fruits being frozen.

That competition will be up within the next few days (just trying to think of something everybody can join in with, where's there's a definite answer at some point...)

STOP PRESS: For the benefit of Andria in Texas, and anybody else who doesn't know - forest fruit is the generic term for a bunch of fruits, usually berries, that you might find if you went wandering in a forest. We're talking blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, redcurrants, raspberries, that sort of thing. You get yoghurts, sweets (candy) and various other things in forest fruits flavour. Do they really not have that term Stateside?

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.

Hello from Crete!

Hello folks

No picture, because I'm just at internet cafe without a USB cable - but Robin says hi. I've got to be quick because our half hour is nearly up, but I just wanted to say hello.

The wedding went really, really well - amazing service and great reception surrounded by people we care about. Our honeymoon was delayed by a day because flights out of AThens were cancelled because of crazy wind, but we made it to Crete on the Wednesday after our wedding. We're having a lovely, peaceful time here, just relaxing after the mania of wedding-ness. It was all quite hard work to plan (and it never let up right until the afternoon of the wedding) but it was all well worth it - we both had an amazing time, and married life is, so far, very good!

Hope you're all well. Pictures of Robin on Crete to follow when we're back...