Those aspects of my life beyond work which may have value or interest to others

It seems some of you still have not managed to find the hidden “site within a site” with all the information about my life beyond work. Email me if you are still frustrated and I’ll provide the access directions! In the meantime:

Sports

In 2012 there were the Olympics and with my past passion for martial arts it was great to see some Taekwondo at the Excel centre. I also did a bit of local Olympics volunteering for London Borough of Richmond. I recently completed my try-out to become a member of the volunteer pack for the Rugby World Cup 2015 – fingers crossed!

I haven’t been to as many rugby matches at Twickenham stadium as I would have liked to, but I do get along occasioanlly. I have been to further shooting sessions – and didn’t do too badly even although I didn’t score as well as I did at my very first session.

I switched allegiance from Virgin Active Gym at Twickenham and but regularly go along to Zumba, Pilates and yoga classes at another local gym. I haven’t managed to do any deep sea fishing since I was in St Lucia in 2010 – but in 2012 I did rafting and elephant trekking in Thailand. And in summer 2013 I was in Florida and did some excellent river fishing. I did my third Race for Life (raising money for Cancer Research UK).

sport-twickenham-rugby                             sport-sea-fishing
Twickenham Rugby Stadium                   Catching big fish in the Caribbean
sport-shot-gun                        sport-raceForLife
Shooting at Bisley                                    Race for Life
sport-taekwondo
Taekwondo at the ExCel

Travels

Most of you will know that I stopped most my international work travel when the kids were young – but now that they are older I’m on the road again! Watch this space. On the social side and in the UK, I’ve been to my favourite place in Dorset (Sandbanks) and made a few trips to see family in Christchurch(also in Dorset) and Cardiff and friends in Brighton and Cornwall.

Although I have many fond memories of my many past visits to family and friends in Barbados my most recent trips to the Caribbean were to Antigua in 2008 and St Lucia in 2010. In May 2009 I did a tour of Italy – revisiting my favourite city Rome and also Florence and seeing Siena and Assisi for the first time. I also visited Malta again. In May 2011 I finally did a tour of the Amalfi coast – visiting Sorrento, Ravello, Amalfi, Capri and, of course, Positano. It was great fun in Sorrento – what with Piazzo Tasso, Teatro Tasso, Bar Tasso and Hotel Tasso I felt quite at home!

During 2012 I took a trip to Thailand – we rafted down rain-swollen rivers, trekked on elephants through the jungle and explored monkey-filled mountain-top temples. In 2013 I went to Iceland, Germany and Florida and in 2014 I returned to Italy – to do a sailing course in Sardinia.

travel-assisi   travel-cardiffCastle   travel-christchurch-priory
            Assisi in Italy                            Cardiff Castle              Christchurch Priory, Dorset

travel-dorset   travel-malta   travel-positano
         Beach in Dorset               Popeye Bay in Malta           Positano – at long last

travel-ravello   travel-sorrento   travel-stLuciaSunset
Ravello              Church courtyard in Sorrento      Sunset in St Lucia
travel-thailand                           travel-thailandElephant
Rafting in Thailand          Elephant trekking in Thailand

Music and the arts

Most years I return to the London Military Festival at Kneller Hall (although it has now moved to Twickenham riverside) which has featured Jules Holland and Status Quo in the past, the Thames Festival and the Notting Hill Carnival. There were numerous theatre visits in London and locally (particularly Richmond Theatre, the Orange Tree in Richmond and The Rose in Kingston). There were too many to mention all of them (although most are reviewed in the MayB and KimT blogs).

I went to the ENO to indulge my passion for opera with Onegin and saw a film screening of Tosca and a local production of Aida. I’m waiting to see Madame Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall – my absolute favourite – for the fourth time in 2015.

music-kneller-hall     music-notting-hill-carnival     music-richmondTheatre
     Kneller Hall,                   Notting Hill Carnival               Richmond Theatre

No recent repeats of gigs such as AC/DC, The Steve Miller Band or old favourite Whitesnake (apart from seeing Micky Moody at the Eel Pie Club a while back) although I’ve become a bit of a regular at the Bear Cat Comedy club in Twickenham. In 2013 I saw Bryan Ferry at the Royal Albert Hall although the acoustics weren’t great although they were good when I attended the amazing TEDxAlbertopolis recently. Beyoncé was incredible at Chime for Change and I enjoyed Rihanna at Twickenham. I’ve frequently been to the local Motown nights for some dancing too and indulged my passion for Motown in 2014 when I saw The Four Tops and The Temptations at the Royal Albert Hall.

       music-eel-pie-club        music-bearcatComedyClub          music-whitesnake
Eel Pie Club, Twickenham                Bearcat Comedy Club                      Whitesnake

Community

I was elected as a parent governor at Grey Court School in Ham in 2009 and served on the strategy and finance committee and took responsibility for health & safety. I stepped down from this role in October 2012 as the school converted to academy status and my daughter transferred to another school. Since then I have helped to run the Whitton Village Facebook page which is great fun and becoming a valued part of the community – we have nearly 3,000 likes!

community-grey-court-logo                  community-whittonVillage
Grey Court School, Ham        Whitton Village on a sunny day

Out and about

There have been numerous days out with friends and family – even a few with clients – and some I have written about in blogs. Amongst these trips I have been Virginia Water, Legoland, The Crazy Bear Club and Thorpe Park and also revisited favourites in London such as London Zoo and the Millennium Wheel. And I absolutely loved the new cable car in East London. I was also very lucky that one of my friends who has some light aircraft took me flying a few times – and I even took the controls for a short while as we flew over the Channel to Le Touquet. I also went boating on the Thames – in the rain.

out-crazy-bear           out-virginia-water
Crazy Bear Club, Beaconsfield  Waterfall at Virginia Water, Surrey
out-leTouquet                out-cableCarLondon
Le Touquet                       Cable car in East London

Alfie the Chihuahua is now the star of the popular London Dog Blog which I started at the beginning of 2012. He’s getting on much better with the cats now.

out-alfieDancing                out-alfieDennis              out-alfieJubilee
Alfie the dancing Chihuahua     A young Alfie in his Dennis    Alfie at the Jubilee Celebrations
the Menace shirt

So, as you can see, I remain busy and happy and I hope that you are all doing the same! 2014 is just around the corner – here’s hoping it’s a good one.

Kim Tasso – December 2014