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...

Today I get married!

Robin and rings
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, here's Robin on the morning of my wedding in Athens, looking after the wedding rings.

The service is at 6pm tonight (they do evening weddings in Greece) in the Orthodox church that my fiance's parents got married in 30 years ago.

Thanks for all your best wishes.

I can't wait.

:)

Robin visits a 2,500-year-old temple...

Robin at Sounion
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Evenin'

Today me and Robin went up to the Sanctuary Of Poseidon, a temple at Cape Sounion about 35 miles outside Athens.

We went up there with my Grampa and fiance (that's them in the background on the left) - as my Grampa's in Athens for my wedding and he's always wanted to go up to Sounion, which he's never been to despite having travelled to Greece so much in the past that he speaks fluent Greek (to our taxi driver's obvious amazement!).

It's a beautiful place, amazingly situated that's definitely worth a visit if you ever make it to Athens. Nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of wedding planning in the city too.

So, we've got some last minute sorting to do tomorrrow and then it's the wedding on Saturday. Thanks so much for all your best wishes in the comments tabs (including you Diegem - can't believe I didn't put you in my list of regulars!). It's ace that you're following our progress from all over the world.

I'll try and post something tomorrow - which is when about 40 of our friends and family arrive to join the 25 or so that have already made it out (plus, of course, the 60 or so guests who live here in Greece).

People keep asking me if I feel nervous. That in itself is making me feel nervous.Truth is, I'm actually more excited than anything else...

:)

We did it! We hit 20,000!

Robin in a market, celebrating!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, as you'll tell from the extra wide smile on Robin's face, today we hit our 20,000th visitor! Thanks loads for the extra effort over the last couple of days - it's much appreciated by both myself and my red-breasted pal.

So, today was another cold day in Athens. Would you believe it has snowed - at least a sprinkle - every day since we arrived last weekend. The snow isn't settling, but it's absolute FREEZING cold (espcially for folks who packed thinking it would be warmer than mild London - which it very much isn't!). But the sun's shining. so that's the main thing.

Today we did our wedding seating plan and then went out and met my mum, brother, grampa and stepdad for a wander around the massive old central market hall in Athens. That's where Robin's standing, with folks packing up meat stalls (i think) in the background.

Right, I'm off to watch the all-important Greece v Denmark World Cup qualifier on TV (tried to get tickets, sadly didn't manage).

Thanks again for helping us hit 20,000 (especially the Robin loyalists like Vix, KJ, Dawn, Shay, Andrea, Cathy and all the others!).

Three days until the wedding... :)

It's working! Just 27 to go!

Yes, our campaign appears to be doing the job - we've had our busiest day on the Blog for ages. So thanks. As I write we're on 19.973 visitors. We could even hit 20,000 by tomorrow morning. Wowser.

Someone kindly posted on the comment tab below saying that they (and others) read through the RSS feed. Excuse my ignorance, but can someone explain what that is? And where would you go to read it? I'm a bit confused by all this RSS malarkey to be honest. People sometimes email about my RSS feed, but I have no idea what they're talking about! Help! Please!

In other news, today I wrote my groom's speech for the wedding on Saturday. And my mum and big brother have just touched down in Athens. We've got about 65 people from outside Greece, and they're all arriving in the next couple of days. Exciting stuff. I'm off into Athens again tomorrow, so I'll get another pic of wee Robin out there (stayed in the flat all day today working on this speech!)

Robin needs you!

Robin's campaign...
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, as the picture shows, me and Robin are back in Athens and had a nice trip down to the old Olympic Stadium today (the one used for the 1896 Olympics and the archery/marathon at the 2004) ones.

And, as you'll see from the picture, he's got a campaign to launch! If you click on the Site Meter below, you'll see that we're just short of our 20,000th visitor to www.athens2004blog.com - in fact, about 80 short as I write this. We normally get between 15-25 visitors a day (of course, it was thousands during the Olympics!) but we're keen to hit the magic 20,000 mark as soon as we can. This is mainly because I get married in Athens in 5 days' time - and I was really hoping to pass it before that.

So, what do me and Robin want you to do? Ask your relatives, friends, colleagues and even enemies to come to the blog (www.athens2004blog.com) in the next couple of days. They don't have to even read any pages when they get here (but it would be lovely if they did), I just want to see if we can push it over the magic 20,000 mark with a burst of visitors.

So go on. Ask a couple of pals to pop to the Blog and let's get past 20,000 by Friday. Then I'll be able to get married with that particular mission accomplished.

Thanks very much. Update tomorrow...

Robin and Robot

Machine and bird in perfect harmony
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This is Robin and a chap who lives in our flat called Robot. Although it looks like Robot is karate chopping Robin's head, he is actually just giving him a friendly pat - they're good friends and Robot is very happy to have Robin back.

Oh, and Robin's left leg hasn't fallen off, he's just tucked it behind him.

Nine days till I get married...

Robin's made a new friend!

Robin and his new pal
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, having returned from a month in my brother's sports bag at the weekend, Robin wasted no time in finding a new friend on his return to London.

He bumped into this chap in a bakers near where we live. Quite why the bakers is selling 2004 Olympic ginger bread men in February 2005 wasn't clear, but he seems fresh, so we're pretty sure he hasn't been sitting there since August,

In wedding news, my big brother Eddie took me shopping today and, with his marvellous advice, I managed to get myself a shirt, some shoes and some cufflinks. 11 days to go...

Here he is!

Robin is back!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, as explained in the post below, Robin is back. Found. Discoverd. Back back back!

So here he is with the flag we made for him on New Year's Eve, which was exactly when we discovered he was missing.

Ah, it's good to have him back.

:)

Robin. Found. Yes!

Yes, 30 long days after we realised he was missing, Robin has turned up. I always thought he would, because it didn't seem possible that he could've just disappeared into thin air.

So, where was he? Well, on Boxing Day, I lent my football boots (which I'd brought with me from London) to my brother Robert to play in our village's annual football (soccer) match. Robin, as it turns out, was in a plastic bag in the plastic bag that contained the boots. So my brother took both Robin and the boots off in his sports bag. And, my brother being my brother, he only got round to completely unpacking that bag today. Whereupon he found Robin, who'd obviously just spent a nice relaxing month away from my camera's lens.

Funnily enough, we found this out as we were driving up to my mum's house for the first time since Christmas, and I'd just been thinking about places where I could look for the wee fella. No need, because as we neared my home village we got the call saying he'd been found.

Now, I know he's only a soft, little toy bird qand there are more important things to worry about in the world, but I think I can speak for my whole family when I say we've all been somewhat sad about his disappearance for the past month. The thing is, with Robin's whereabouts being such a mystery, it was impossible to get 'closure'! I just kept trying to work out how he could possible have disappeared. And now I know.

So, I'll get a picture of him up very soon (I don't have my digital camera with me right now) and the really gerat news is that now, rest assured, Robin will be there in Athens, where his Blog adventures began, to witness myself and Alexia getting married in 13 days' time.

Result. There's some big grins in my family tonight (and Robin looks pretty pleased to see me too).

Happy new year. Sad new year.

First up, happy new year to all you readers out there - hope you have a great 2005.

But, I'm afraid, I do have some sad news too. This news is really not very sad when put against what's happening in Asia right now, but it is still quite sad. Robin has disappeared. I took him up to my mum's house for Christmas, but as I forgot to take a USB chord to connect my digital camera to her computer I didn't bother taking a picture of him. So, having returned to London I went to my (as yet unpacked) bag on Dec 31 to take a new year's picture. But he wasn't there.

The bag he was in (a big holdall with all my clothes etc) has only been in my flat, my car, my office and my mum's house. We've searched all of them very thoroughly (including the bins) but he hasn't turned up. He was in a little white plastic bag within the holdall, and as that plastic bag hasn't turned up, I'm guessing he's still in it. It's absolutely baffling and very frustrating.

But I'm assuming it's a question of when, not if, we find him. He must be somewhere. I could've just taken my mum's robin, Robyn, and used that for my blog pictures instead, but I thought you folks would probably like to know the truth - that the pesky little bird is currently off on an adventure somewhere without me.

Obviously you'll be the first to hear when (let's say when) I find him!

Happy Christmas!

Seasons greetings from Robin!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

As Robin has written in the snow, Happy Christmas (well, he says Xmas, but there was no room for the whole word, sadly).

Hope you all have a brilliant Christmas wherever you're reading this. Thanks loads for reading this Blog during the Olympics (such amazing memories) and for still reading it now.

More Robin pics from over the festive period very soon. And then onto 2005 and a wedding in February (and, yes, Robin will definitely be making an appearance there and on the stag weekend!).

Kit
x

Robin is back! On top of a mountain!

Robin on top of a mountain
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Okay, okay, I know. I haven't posted on this Blog since the end of November, which is very poor indeed. I'm sorry. Genuinely.

I've been a very busy man all through December - the lead up to Christmas is the busiest time in my job and I had to work the last three weekends before this one.

But, as you'll see, I finally got a weekend off this weekend. I went up to Penrith in Cumbria (aka The Lake District) to buy my fiance an engagement ring (wanted to buy it in my hometown). We found one, and it's lovely.

So then yesterday (Sunday) we climbed up Helvellyn - a mountain in the Lakes, which was covered in snow on the higher reaches. It was quite a tricky climb (it's never been snowy when we've been up before) but we made it up and were rewarded by the most amazing views. Robin could've flown up in no time, I guess, but he decided to do the whole journey in my backpack.

Hope some of you are still reading and that you're all set up nicely for a great Christmas.

More pics of Robin in the next few days, I promise...

Robin visits the church I'm getting married in!

Robin and a church
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes folks, this is the church in Athens where I'm getting married in February. It's the same church that my fiance's parents married in in 1974. The fact I've been out there is one of the reasons I haven't updated in ages (sorry). The other reason is that I've been super-busy - I've already spent 24 hours in Lyon, France since I got back to London from Athens on Wednesday. Busy busy busy. So busy I forgot to take Robin to Lyon. Sorry folks. Sorry Robin.

But the wedding stuff is coming on nicely (thanks to those that have asked). The church is booked as is the reception (after a last-minute change caused by a stunningly awful refit at the (previously classy) place we'd booked - pink fur everywhere and walls upholstered in shiny silver fabric!). And tomorrow I'm off to get measured up for my suit. Less than 3 months to go now. Exciting stuff. Nice to be back in Athens too - there wasn't too much evidence of the Olympics, just a front page in a newspaper saying how much it had cost and a few shops with reduced merchandise! Felt odd to go past the stadium complex on the metro train - would love to have stopped off for some water polo or some athletics!

Here's a funny thing for you folks that read during the Olympics. On the site - flickr.com - where I store my pictures to use on this site, it tells you how many times each picture has been clicked on to make it bigger (cos that takes you through to their site). Most pics from the Olympics have been clicked on 100-160 times, the one of me and my fiance 190 times, but the only one that's been clicked on over 200 times - in fact 1,200 times! - is the one of... can you guess?... yes! Robin and the beach volley babes!

:)

Robin enjoys Bonfire Night!

Whizz! Bang! Robin!
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hello folks.

This is Robin enjoying the fireworks at the Guy Fawkes celebration at Alexandra Palace in London.

For those readers who don't know what Guy Fawkes Night (aka Bonfire Night) is, it commemorates the day Mr Fawkes from York (where my dad lives) tried to blow up the Houses Of Parliament in 1605 by placing lots of barrels of gunpowder in the cellar (which is why it's also known as The Gundpowder Plot).

Unfortunately for Fawkes, the plot was discovered and he was caught on November 5 1605. Naturally not best pleased with his behaviour, the King decided to hang, draw and quarter him.

Every year since then, Brits have celebrated Fawkes' failure by letting off fireworks and, often, burning an effigy of Fawkes on a bonfire (hence Bonfire Night).

(This is actually quite educational for me too - had to look for a lot of it online, but obviously every schoolkid in the UK knows the story backwards!).

So, we went up to Ally Pally last night with thousands of north Londoners and had a great time - it's quite a major, organised display and the fireworks were very impressive (better than the ones that have been set off every night for the past few weeks on every street in Britain by pesky teenagers which just go 'weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....BANG!' rather annoyingly).

Bonfire Night rocks - you can keep your Halloween which seems to be built around its tacky merchandising. One of the great things about Nov 5 is that the only things shops can sell are fireworks and perhaps some bonfire toffee. So, as a celebration, it's pretty much exactly the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago.

The bird in Budapest

Bird baths
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. After I took the Kylie pic - which I'm glad you liked - I've been super duper busy at work, with a few days' holiday squeezed in the middle.

The picture above was taken on those few days' holiday, in Budapest with my fiance, my best pal Simon and his girlfriend Ruth. We went from last Saturday until this Wednesday night and had a really cool time. Here are my off-the-top-of-my-head highlights (in no particular order)

1. Szechenyi Gyogyfurod es Strandfuro baths
This is where the picture was taken, an amazing complex of baths and thermal pools, built in about 1920. As well as the hot outdoor pools, there were plenty of saunas, steam rooms and eggy sulphur pools Inside the buildings you can see behind Robin. Great place for a relaxing day out - and only cost about four pounds (seven dollars).

2. The 6-3 Bar
Not a particularly nice bar, but it was named after a football (soccer) game in 1953 when Hungary became the first team to beat England at Wembley. I like that 50 years on a little pokey bar commemorates that.

3. All the other bars
Cheap, good beer is hard to argue with, especially in cosy, stylish places. Some great restaurants there too.

4. Our flat
We stayed in a flat in the centre of Pest, which very much confirmed my theory that self-catering and having your own space beats hotels everytime.

5. Buda
The place is called Budapest because it's made up of two places either side of the Danube - Buda and Pest. We stayed in Pest, but had a lovely time up in Buda, which is like the old town, with a pretty castle etc. Funnily enough the only pest we met the whole time was in Buda - some loopy fella who was desperate to be our (paid) tour guide and didn't like to take no for an answer. He said 'Allow me to say one sentence more...' at least five times. We just wandered off eventually.

6. The cake shops
There are some amazing cake shops in Budapest. Okay, so they do like to put goose fat and cabbage in an alarming number of their pastries, but the sweet cakes are superb. And again, extremely cheap (30p/50c will buy you a properly amazing chocolate cake).

So, there you go, the highlights of an ace few days away - can really recommend a visit if you ever get the chance.

Hope you folks are all well and sorry for not posting for a while.

Robin meets Kylie!

He should be so lucky
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

No, your eyes do not deceive you, today Robin met the woman who closed the Sydney Olympics. The woman who's sold around 40 million records in a really rather successful career. The woman most of the world has had a crush on at some point or another. And the woman who thought Robin was so cute that she let him stand on her head.

Kylie Minogue, for posing with Robin (and for being a thoroughly pleasant woman) we salute you!

Robin attends GB Olympic parade!

A Robin among pigeons
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, several months after the Olympics finished and we all came back to the UK, the British athletes finally got their victory parade today.

Floats carrying all the medal winners from the Olympics and the Paralympics went through London and ended up in Trafalger Square, where we went to see them.

The BBC were broadcasting the whole thing live and they went through batches of different athletes on the big stage, showing highlights and interviewing them.

Although the crowd gave nice cheers to the rowers, the relay squad, Kelly Holmes and all the rest, to be honest the whole thing felt a wee bit flat. Perhaps cos it was Monday lunchtime. Perhaps cos it all went on quite a long time. Or perhaps because it was such a long time ago that they actually won their medals. Still, nice to go along and wave our little flags at some of the folks we last saw on podiums in Athens (and, let's face it, we couldn't not go - having made it all the way to Athens, a few hundred metres from my work is nothing!).

Robin's lunch-break adventure: Pt 1

Robin goes down the tube
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, this is Robin's three part lunch-break adventure, which we've just returned from.

This is a picture of him at Tottenham Court Road tube station, where we went to catch the underground train to get the picture of Big Ben (which, you'll remember, got most votes).

But it's just a boring tube platform I hear you say. No, no dear readers. This, I believe, is the very tube platform where something nasty happens in 'An American Werewolf In London'. Luckily, Robin looks tough, so nobody bothered him.

Robin's lunch-break adventure: Pt 2

Robin. Big Ben. Parliament
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

So having waited seven blummin' minutes for a tube (seven blummin' minutes is a long time to wait for a tube) we made it to Westminster station, which looks right out on Big Ben.

Sorry it's a bit dark (even with the camera's over-exposure turned up), but that's the weather in London today. Cold, dark and rainy. Brrrr.

Obviously pub quiz fans will point out you can't actually see Big Ben, because Big Ben is the bell, rather than the tower. But, hey, you can see the tower holding it, and the Houses of Parliament and even a traditional red London bus (which are being fazed out as we speak).