The run!

Half marathon; the house.

Here is a picture of Will and Carly preparing for a half marathon in aid of cystic fibrosis. You can sponsor them on http://www.justgiving.com/wfarrhalfmarathon

About the house there have been some crises that usually get resolved the same day. Clare is doing an amazing job, and I'm just trying to keep up. We're very excited and confident this will work.

Then I can change my status on the house goal in 43 Things.

My meeting.

There is a bike on top.

Decaying bricks.

On my way home.

Our apartment building.

The snow continues.

The snow continues. One photo is of our apartment building in the snow this morning. We'll be moving out of this apartment soon.

When I got to work this morning, I went to a meeting in the big brick building shown in another photo. The sky was still blue. During lunch I photographed a building near the top of which there was a bike (look closely) while it snowed. On my way home I photographed plants in the decayed bricks beneath the bridge that holds the train that I take to Finchley.

Clare is hiring a moving van, and we'll get some moving boxes too.

Snow outside my office window. 

Beta. 

Decision, wedding pic, kitchen, house, Nashes, snow, Beta (Orange).

Clare decided against taking the professional opportunity that I talked about last week. She is already doing so much and knows when to say when.

I have decided to leave the same wedding picture up, instead of replacing it with another one. I'll wait until it gets pushed down to the archive (already my boxing photo is in the archive; in case you want to see it, Mom and Dad, click 'archive') and then maybe I'll put some more wedding photos up. I guess now is still the right time to show people our wedding photos, while it is still something that happened relatively recently. Sometimes I like to pretend we've been married for a long while, but we're still pretty darn new, I know really.

Also, about posting that wedding photo, Clare wanted to do so, and like my friend Bryce says, you have to pick your battles carefully. Right now I'm saving mine for what kind of kitchen to get. Our house buying plans are going surprisingly quickly. This is good.

We had dinner at the Nashes on Sunday. It was great.

Still keeping with the idea that photos should be recent, however good or bad, here is the view out my office window today, the first real day of snow in London this year, plus another a few days ago of the neighbourhood cat Beta (formerly known as Orange).

They already have that photo.

This is Matt writing. I was just looking at a collection of photos that my parents sent to Clare and me some time ago, and it includes the same photo of our wedding that is reproduced below. An argument for posting that photo on this site had been that my parents hadn't yet seen it, but obviously, since they gave the photo to us, they have in fact seen it. So there is one fewer reason for posting it. (I am lobbying to replace that wedding photo with another one that I prefer.)

Clare had a positive and challenging day at work today. She is always getting good opportunities, and her career is moving in ways that I think are exciting. (Maybe she wouldn't want me to be much more specific, but I should say that she had a new opportunity today. She will soon decide whether to take it.) Writing about work without being too specific makes it all sound rather like a horoscope or fortune cookie, I think.

A church in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. 

Favorites, visit, sunset church.

This is Matt writing. It is true that the photo below is not one of my favourites (favorites? -not sure for whom I am writing) of our wedding. One reason that Clare chose it is that, I am told, my parents have not yet seen it, so it will be good for them to see it for the first time, on this website. Later I might post a picture of our wedding that I like even better. But in the meantime, so as not to have two wedding photos in a row, I shall make good on my promise to include photos taken on the same day. Today I went on a visit to a client - which of course I can't tell you anything about (though trust me - it's very interesting) - and, on my way back to the office, while the sun was setting, I took a picture of this church.

I got an email from Bernadette Forney about address updates which I shall now investigate.

This is Clare writing. This is a photo of us on our wedding day. Matt might put another one on as this isn't his favourite photo.

Our wedding 8 November 2004 

The house we are hoping to buy. 

The house that we are hoping to buy.

This is Clare writing. This is the house we have had an offer accepted on. We are waiting for the results of the damp and woodworm reports! Then we hope to exchange in March and complete in April.

Dave Stoker. 

Happy Valentine's day.

Happy Valentine's day. We had dinner at the Mishkins last night. The night before that we saw Dave Stoker who is visiting from Peru and became the first person (other than me and Clare) to agree to have his photo posted on the site, but the photo is in Clare's phone and she is too busy at work today to email it right now. Maybe later. The Mishkins' daughter Maya is happy and talkative. She also has much longer hair now. We would have liked to have got a photo of her, but she went to bed before we remembered to take one. Finally, we got our passports back by showing our drivers licences at the post office so going to Paris soon should be OK.

Houses and passports.

Today we realized that our estate agents sent all our documents to the wrong address and gave the wrong address to our builders and solicitors who sent our passports to the wrong address, so apart from getting no further in buying a house we are also without passports (nobody knows where they are) just weeks ahead of being due in France. But I guess the bigger picture is maybe someday we'll have a house. Then we shall face SpaceMonkey's dilemma.

See more progress on: Buy a House

Clare inside Temple Station. 

Using my cell phone while leaning on some red thing. 

Today's images are of me using my cell phone while leaning on some red thing, and Clare inside Temple Station.

Some of my goals are listed on http://www.43things.com/people/view/MatthewPhelps

If only I could talk about some of the amazing things that happen at work, but of course I can't.

We're back into investigating the house - which is a lot of work, and unfortunately this coincides with an appointment I have tomorrow, plus I'm busier than usual at work, so Clare is doing more than her fair share of the house-buying work tomorrow. I'll have to make it up to her in the near future.

This weekend we'll see first Nicki and Dave at the National Gallery on Saturday and then Paul and Kim and their daughter Maya in Islington. Rich K. and I saw Paul and Kim in Amsterdam recently. Maya stayed home in London.

Mr Bird 

Preparing.

I have not taken my driving test yet, but already driving is more difficult than I expected.

See more progress on: pass my driving test

Today's image (above the entry on my driving test, because I accidentally added a goal on 43 Things which posted onto this site before I loaded today's image) is of Mr Bird, the bird who lives down the street with Rich W. (not to be confused with Rich K., my friend from Oxford, though both are originally from Derby). Rich rescued Mr Bird years ago when he found the bird near death. I didn't used to be fond of birds, but Mr Bird is changing my mind as he is quite intelligent and affectionate.

I am listening to Miles Davis after another hard day of work in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Social Services Directorate.

My brother and his wife gave me and my wife some Star Wars DVDs that I watched recently.

The building survey isn't as bad as we at first thought; my, are we subect to panic attacks.

Me falling out of a raft. 

Day two.

We're still stressing over the fact that the house that we are considering buying is falling down, etc. I hobbled to Tesco because I got hungry and one of my knees has been bad lately. As a sign of the day I shall try to include a photo of me falling out of a raft. It isn't very recent. I haven't been taking daily mobile phone photos lately as we now have a much better camera, but perhaps I can start getting more daily photos up. Hope all is well out there.

With Henry. 

First day of blog.

We got the building survey report for the house that we are considering buying, which was frightening, and I created this blog while Clare was going to her office to collect some things.