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