Hello all!

'Tis a long post this one!! Just a friendly warning. :-)

We had a lovely weekend. Saturday was a catch up day. We had to wait around for two sets of people to come and fix things in the flat. Our cooker broke last week (when I say broke, that's not quite true. I asked them to have a look because I could not use the oven or the griller). The person who came to look at it on Wednesday said that we need a new one, and turned it off. So we have had no cooking facilities in the flat since then. We also needed to get the timer on the boiler replaced. The boiler man came in the early afternoon and replaced the timer with a shiny new one. He also turned up the temperature of the hot water, and will recommend that the boiler be re-wired, as apparently as it is now we cannot turn on the hot water without turning on the heating. That will become a pain in the winter time so he says. I asked him how old he reckons the boiler is, and he said 25 years. So it's almost as old as me! About time it got rewired methinks!!

The cooker man did not turn up as apparently our supremely well organised real estate agent did not approve the order until Friday evening so he could not go pick up the new cooker on Saturday morning. So he will come tomorrow, as it is a bank holiday here today.

After we got rid of the boiler man, Scott and I walked up to Canary Wharf to see a film. We saw X-Men The Final Stand. I don't remember seeing the other ones, I mean I must have. Anyway, it was very good. A good story, with an ending that could mean they will make a next one. And Hugh Jackman is cute. After that movie, we decided to see another one. We saw The Wild. A kids movie, but very funny. The best line in it? There was a part in the story where they were all running away from something, and the koala says "I don't want to run anymore". The giraffe, Bridget, says to him "Good, because you really need to buy a good sports bra". Tops. That had tears rolling down my cheeks.

Sunday morning we got up early and met Isa at her house. Then we travelled to Victoria station on the tube and took the train to Chatham, as we were headed for the Chatham Historic Dockyards. The train took about 45 minutes. Chatham is in Kent. Scott and I had been meaning to go there for a while actually, not only to have a look around, but Scott had tracked down the records of one of his ancestors at one of the museums there. Constable Gibson was Scott's great grandfather, I think. His service record lives at the Kent Police Museum, which is in the dockyard complex. Scott had written to the curator last year sometime, and he was there on Sunday. We spoke to him and he told Scott that his next step would have to be the Centre for Kentish Studies.

We arrived at the Dockyard at about 11.15. Coincidentally they had a maritime festival on at the dockyard. It was not all that big a festival, but there were displays from various maritime organisations, stalls for fundraising, food stalls. The dockyard complex is huge. We headed right to the far end, so we could work our way back towards the exit. We started with the Ropery. We learned all about rope, how it is made, what it is made from. Very really interesting stuff. And we saw a demonstration of rope making, using some kids from the audience. From there we wandered about, taking a look at the sailing boats on the River Medway, listening to canons being fired.

We had a wander on HMS Cavalier, which was interesting, but there were few signs to say what things were, and there were no audio guides. But, Scott and I made the decision yesterday that we will go back there, as there was no way we would get to see everything in one day. Usually the dockyard issues annual tickets, like my work, and rightly so. We didn't even attempt the large museum on the site, as it had 23,000 square feet of displays - something we would need a whole day to do properly. I really must find out how many square feet my museum is, then at least I would have something to compare it to. My museum is huge, and really needs several visits to do it justice.

After a busy day, we were all tired. We caught the bus back into Chatham, and hopped on a train home. Luckily the next train went to Charing Cross, which meant it went a slightly different way from the train we took to Chatham. We did not have to go all the way into central London, as the train stopped off in south east London, which meant we could connect to the Docklands Light Railway to get home quicker. I had a lovely day, and we had a quiet evening when we got home. A nice long hot bath topped it all off. :-)



This photo was taken in the ropery. Once the fibres have been combed and straightened, they are placed into buckets, and are then drawn into the machine and twisted to make rope, or depending how thick the rope is, strands of rope.

I love this photo. The display of historic divers were drying off the suits used in previous dives, upside down of course. Behind the suit is one of the warships, HMS Cavalier.
These very fine young men were putting on a display of unarmed combat. It was pretty much like wrestling, but involved plastic weapons as well. They were all very good actors, and the display was fun to watch.
These floor boards were found a couple of years ago under 7 layers of flooring. There was a practice of reusing timbers, so the timbers which were found are in fact from ships various. Archaeologists are studying the timbers to find out about ship building practices, and about repairs as well.
This is one of the divers we saw going under. You can't see them when they are under water, as it was a bit murky, all you can see is the bubbles. This is him hauling himself out of the water. His suit weighs 90kg, which is the weight of another person! I have seen these divers before, but it never ceases to amaze me how they did it, and how they manage to pull themselves out of the water!!
This is in the ropery, the real working bit. You can see plastic fibres in the photo, which will be combed and twisted and made into rope. At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to buy rope they had made there.

This is Scott and I, looking very Victorian, don't you think? I love these, they make me laugh.
This is Isa and I. Ahoy!
Another upside down suit from the divers.
I love these cranes. We have some near work and near where we live. They look so graceful and majestic, and yet sad, because they are no longer working. They are idle after many years of loading and unloading ships various. It looks almost like they are keeping watch over the docks.

This is the best website for a museum I have ever seen!!

http://www.framleyexaminer.com/museum/index.html

:-P

I am sitting in the call centre of my museum. Yes, we all thought that I had left, but I am doing the occasional day here at the moment to cover people who decide to call in sick/dead/whatever. I don't mind doing the odd day. It gives me a chance to catch up on things on the internet (if anything actually happened on there of course!!!) if we are not too busy. Today I was reasonably busy. We had lots of labels to stick on envelopes. The new schools brochure will be going out shortly for the new school year (which starts in Sept.).

Other than that, things are going well with me. I should be starting my job (the one I already do) on the 5th June. Well, actually on the 7th of June, as I have booked the 5th and 6th off as holidays anyway. We will be going to our friends' wedding. Sarah and Jake are getting hitched in Cambridge then the reception is in a small town not too far from there. We are staying the night in yet another town, as the village where the reception is has no accommodation. So I arranged to hire a car, so we could take advantage of being in the countryside and actually see some of it. Both Scott and I have taken the Monday and Tuesday off work, so we have a lovely 4 day weekend. I arranged to swap my Aussie licence for a UK one, thinking that they would do it on the spot, but that is not the case. I have to wait 3 WEEKS!!! Not happy, Jan. But I have not cancelled the car. I will leave that til the very very last minute. I have until 24 hours before then to see if my licence arrives. The guy beside me at the licence office said his friend's licence took only a week, so there is hope. Murphy's Law would be that my licence will be waiting for me when we get back from the wedding!! We'll see.

The flat is really great. Scott and I sat in the garden for a while after getting home from work. The weather was getting a bit cool, but the garden is really private. I had spent an hour sitting in a park near work with my friend from work, Isa. We were soaking up some sun. It is a lovely park, completely surrounded by tall office buildings, but peaceful and the same time. In summer here everybody goes out in the sun, to absorb as much vitamin d as they can before it disappears again!!

In other news, we get a new cooker tomorrow, and a new timer for our boiler. Very exciting - not. :-)

So the plans for this weekend are to wait around while various workpeople install shiny new things in my kitchen. Then what we do after that depends on the time and the weather. Scott has to work on Sunday and Monday I think (Monday is a bank holiday) and I am working on Monday in the call centre again. So on Sunday I think I shall go somewhere nice with Isa. Perhaps to Greenwich. I love Greenwich, it's bustling and interesting and there are always people around. They have a great market too. So, depending on ye olde finances... Regardless of what we do, I am looking forward to three weekends off work in a row!!

Apart from the fact that my museum's treasure for the BBC's People's Museum has been voted in, nothing much to report here really. I am very excited that my museum will be a part of it. My museum is only new (in London terms anyway). We are three years old. So this is a great honour. It really is a fantastic museum, and one I would highly recommend to all!!

I am wary of putting the link in my journal (I don't really want all the internet weirdos out there to know where I work...), so to whoever reads this, if I forgot to email you, please let me know and I shall email you think link!!

xxx

There are a few more photos I wanted to share, but they will have to wait as Blogger is having a fit when I try to upload photos.

Saturday I joined Melissa and Shane and some of their friends for a going away get together at a pub in west London (in Hammersmith). Melissa and Shane are off travelling for 4 months or so (including a trip home to Oz) and will be back in August. I caught up with Ayesha as well. I also saw a girl I used to go to school with, Sarah Edwards. It was nice, and yet really odd, to see her. I never really had anything to do with her at school, and we never really had anything in common, but it's been nearly 10 years since I left school (a very scarey thought!!). Scott came along after he had finished up at work and we stayed on for a few hours before heading off to grab some dinner and head home. We didn't want too late a night as we had a big day the following day.

Sunday we got up early to get the train to Hampton Court Palace from Waterloo. We were not as early as we would have liked, but we had plenty of time at the palace as it turned out. The train ride from Waterloo was only half an hour, on a shiny train too. We had 2 for 1 entry to the palace because we caught the train there - bonus! We arrived at the palace about 11.15am. We bought our tickets and headed on in. We were just in time for a tour of the King's Apartments with a costumed guide. He was fantastic. He was dressed as a gentleman from the 1690s, with a very long wig on (which I later asked to feel!!) and tights and a fabulous red coat. He was very informative, and gave a lot of extra information. He even gave a demonstration on how a gentleman would enter the room and present himself to the king. After the tour we got ourselves audio guides, which were part of the entry price, and wandered through the Queen's Apartments and then to King Henry VIII's section. It was all very interesting and very informative.

After that we wandered through the gardens. The gardens were magnificent. As you can see in the photos below, the colours are just spectacular. It's funny how wandering through beautiful flowers can make you feel better about the world. :-) We wandered through the maze which is where the servants used to go to find solitude and hide away from the world. It was fun. There were people running through it to try to beat others to the middle, but we were just happy to wander through. We found the middle, and that's where I took the photo from. I think the hedge walls were about 2 metres high.

We had a carriage ride through the park. Hopefully I can post a picture of that soon. It was very romantic and a lovely way to spend half an hour or so. Then we wandered back to the palace, oggling at more flowers and ponds and the oldest grape vine in the world. The privy gardens (as they are called, are some of the best I have seen. Everything is perfectly trimmed and manicured, the trees topiaried. Amazing stuff. :-) We saw the tudor kitchens, where I took lots of photos for a colleague at work who is doing a new Tudor workshop in the next school year at my museum. I couldn't take photos anywhere else inside the palace - it's apparently to do with Crown copyright, but we bought the shiny guidebook.

We took the ferry all the way back down the river to Westminster. It took about 2 and a half hours. We sat up the top for the first hour, until we got to Richmond, then it became too cold so we headed downstairs into the warmth. We went under 21 bridges and through one lock, the Teddington Lock, which is, I was told today, where the River Thames stops being tidal. It is a tidal river up to that point.

And then today it is back to work.

Pink pink PINK!!! My camera does do justice to this amazing pink azaelea I found lurking near the maze. I immediately thought of mum, as she loves wearing this colour.
This is the view of the maze from the centre (with me standing on a chair and the camera held up high!!).
I love these manicured trees leading up to the palace. And I love the fact that the two black lines in the bottom left of the picture look like tiny, tiny people!!!
I love this time of year in London. It is spring, the tulips are out in full force, as are all the other gorgeous colourful flowers. The air smells delightful.
This is the view of the Queen's Apartments. They were designed by Christopher Wren, he of many other famous landmarks - namely St Paul's Cathedral in London.
This is the imposing view with which we were confronted when we first arrived.

This is looking down the 311 steps from the top of the Monument.
My hand and Orlaith's hand.
Tulips! I love tulips, but I had never seen anything like these ones. Stunning.
This is the knot garden.
Flowering chives.

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this is our garden!!

This is the main room of our flat. As you can see it is a studio, ie one room for living and sleeping. But the room is very large and there is planty of space.

This is our flat again, looking out towards the garden.

This is sunset taken near my work.

Looky, a baby! Concentrating very hard on her own fingers.

Hello!

Yes it has been a while. The computers at my work are so slow!! And now that I am back in the galleries (as opposed to the call centre) my breaks are shorter. Hopefully we shall get the internet at home soon. We do finally have the phone on though. I should email that around to everyone.

Nothing much has been happening really. On Tuesday I met up with Sarah, her 10 week old daughter Orlaith, and her brother Martin who is over for 4 months from Oz. We met at Liverpool Street station and caught the bus to the Geffrye Museum. The museum shows off interiors from English middle class homes. An odd topic I would have thought, but it's very interesting. They had rooms from the 1600s to the 1990s. Very interesting and very well done. I kept thinking that my dad would love the museum, as he loves interiors and seeing how other people design them. (Years of reading Architectural Digest!!)

The museum takes up a lovely building. And it is surrounded by lush green gardens. It is spring here, which of course makes everything green and lush and lovely. The flowers are out and gorgeous. There was a walled herb garden too. I am not much of a green thumb, so I learnt a little about what plants I knew of actually looked like! I didn't know (but I am sure a lot of people already do) that chives flower. The ones in the herb garden had purple buds on them. The museum also had four separate gardens behind the museum buildings which were reminiscent of the rooms inside. For example they had a knot garden based on a design from Elizabethan times, a Georgian garden, and a Victorian garden.

After leaving the Museum we hopped on a bus that took us to the City. We hopped off the bus just near London Bridge and walked to the Monument. We Climbed up the 311 steps to get to the top. The Monument is a doric column, which stands 200 feet tall, and very close to the spot where the Great Fire of London in 1666 started in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane. So to get to the top we had to climb a spiral staircase. Sarah is a little afriad of heights, which made the descent a little stressful for her. But the views at the top were amazing. It was a nice clear day too. AND!!! We got a certificate when we reached the bottom!!

After the descent we went to calm Sarah's nerves with copious amounts of tea at a nearby cafe. We stayed there about an hour and a half just chatting. Sarah fed Orlaith and then we made our way to Postman's Park. This park is in the middle of the city, near the Museum of London. There is a commemoration wall to people who gave their lives to save others, or in the process of saving others. It is very humbling reading the inscriptions, especially as they are not all about people you would think they would be. By this I mean that there are many inscriptions about children who died saving their siblings or friends.

I sent off a fax today to the real estate maintenance people. Our boiler's timer (it controls hot water and heating) is not working. Not a big deal, all it means is that we have to get up half an hour or so earlier to turn it on so we have hot water for the shower. Other than that the oven part of the stove and the grill don't work. A pain considering we don't have a microwave, so I am limited at the moment to what I can cook on the stove top. I might be getting a microwave from a friend Alison who is moving house - not sure yet though.

Other than the the flat is working out really well. I love having our own space. And it is so convenient for work. In a month or so when it is warmer I shall invite some people over and have a belated housewarming. Who wants to come? :-)

I shall post this, then try and post some photos!!

xxx