Jo Herrings Adventures

I woke up at 7am Tuesday 22nd of February to to 3 text messages (with 2 messages from my Mum) and I KNEW something was gravely wrong in my world.  Mum wrote " Hi. There has been a massive earthquake in christchurch. At about 1pm. It is on tv " Chloe's was a little more to my understanding at that time of the day " Sorry to txt so early but huge earthquake in Christchurch Hun, lots of damage....looks far worse than first one. Pls call your friends and fam to make sure they're ok xxx much love " Mum again " Jenkins, Boyd and simon family are all safe. Kerry is in pink on tv she has her arm in a sling. Not broken though. Will call later. Nellie " I went straight to the tv and the internet to seek out more information. To my horror during the lull of a Tuesday lunch time, Christchurch had been struck by a 6.1 earthquake, 5km deep, 10km from the central city and 2km from the port town of Lyttleton. Seen as an aftershock to the Sept 4th 2010 7.1 ...

A pologies in advance for the lack of images but due to Copyright rules no photos inside the studio were allowed.  On Sunday night after a previous failed attempt, two of my darling friends and I were Prioritised entrance into Comedy Rocks hosted by the Twitter banned Jason Mansford. We arrived to the ITV's South Bank studios in the rain and were greeted with mulled wine which was a nice touch to get the punters giggling. On entering we sat ourselves plonk in the middle section. Later we were to discover that this meant we could only see the heads of the comedians and not their full bodies. Top tip to future TV live audience goers - go to the sides not centre!   Alas the night was a great hoot featuring the Rocks from the one and only Paloma Faith and her band. Paloma should be kindly creditted also for being a great house band lead with a brilliant cackle and a constant support to the acts and host himseld Mr Mansford. Jason was clearly jilted from his time on telly hostin...

On New Years Eve on the shores or the Dead Sea I was drawn into eating some lamb after many years of pescotarianism. I topped it off with lamb again later that night in Amman as part of the New Years festivities.  So when I realised that New Zealands national day - Waitangi Day - was to be a Sunday I sent out a commited email to my London Kiwi friends inviting them over for a first ever Lamb Roast. To my surprise they all said yes! I went to my local Waitrose and had the help of my friendly Butcher  to advise me that a Lamb Shoulder roasted on a low temperature is the best kind - and super easy. I wanted super easy. So I picked up a whole shoulder and a half shoulder (and bagged a half boneless leg cos it was on special). the whole shoulder would feed 6-7 apparently and I didn't want to leave anyone hungry. All NZ lamb to support the industry that reared me and the future of my nephew.  I got online and found a recipe by Jamie Oliver. And found this great recipe and ...

Snow Blizzard in East London This is a difficult post to relive. But to express the frustration of this experience I think may be both cathartic and a reminder in times of frustration that things aren't as bad as these 5 days of no travel....  With my Cairo bound flights due to depart at 2230 on the 18th of December I had a London South Bank photographic course booked and a few 'pre-holiday odd jobs' to arrange before I flew out.  I was set to join a tour group at 6pm on the 19th and my flights allowed for an afternoon of market exporing in Cairo before the 16 day tour. The tour had been arranged by two of my favourite school friend travellers Andrew and Graham and I'd be twin sharing with my work mate René. Making for a merry band of four for the Xmas and New Year celebrations taking in the ancient sights of Egypt and Jordan. On the morning of the 18th snow was settled outside my window. But nothing to write home about. Simon from my camera course called to post...

In April 2009 I stood at the foot of my office building at Tower Hill and watched my colleagues (Willie, Col, Will, René, Thomas and Joss) run in the crowds for the London Marathon. Its a very inspiring experience to watch the people you share each day with accomplish a life long goal to complete and compete in a 42km running event. That day I decided my mild 5km runs should be something I build on and perhaps I could complete a half marathon of 21km/13.1m (which seems daunting when you struggle around 5km in the park). Me being me I needed new shoes. I headed to RunnnersNeed for these and was really happy with the service and attention. Without hesitation I would suggest everyone gets their feet sorted before running - these are the first trainers I have had where I have NEVER had blisters....it rocks! Other top tip double layer socks. I buy mine at Primark which I love - but they weren't in stock last week so don't count on finding them now. My first step was to complete m...

It started off as a standard Sunday 12k run around the docks in Limehouse and up to Victoria Park with an invitation to a celebratory afternoon tea with my dear colleague Federica. With London's Open Houses event on I popped into my local St Dunstans Church to have a look around and discovered a few interesting facts. Enroute from Holborn to the Primrose Bakery I came across a bit of a cufuffel outside The Connaught Rooms and Fede decided because I had my SLR I should have a crack at seeing what all the fuss was about. As we approached the entrance we realised it was Vivienne Westwoods show as part of London Fashion week. Which made it more enjoyable for us both as we are each others fashion buddies! Where there is a fashion fix to be had  - Fede will be close at my side. Mention Gok Won Fashion fix, Jimmy Choo H&M launch and sharing copies of Vogue and you will see a smiling image of us side by side.  We stood on the road with a group of layered jacketed men with ca...

London Open houses annual weekend of hospitality is something I have for five years now seen come and go like Hunnaka. This year I had to make an exception as I saw the doors of my local church open to this heathen! And the great deconstruction project of Lloyds of London was next on my list...damn that unpenaterable Bank of England that will have to wait for another year with its 2 hour queues. As the result of a big night out celebrating my anniversary of birth, my two school friends Graham and Andrew had crashed at my place. The idea of being a tourist in some of London's seemingly untouchable buildings could not be missed by us all. With pancake breakfasts consumed and yesterdays clothes slipped back on we headed for Leadenhall. We stepped off the No. 25 bus at the foot of the  Lloyds Building with little more fanfare than when I routinely run past at the end of a given working day. Despite the fact the boys were not wearing ties and I was showing my knees (I think this i...