A trial photo posting

This is Scott and I at the wedding we went to three weekends ago.

One Year

Well, as the title suggests, we left Australia exactly one year ago today. It is hard to imagine in some ways. I have really enjoyed my year over here. I am not ready to go home by any means. I am enjoying London, even though I am being driven insane by my house mates, but that's a story for another day. There is so much to see in London. So much to do. I have not done it all in a year. I do like the fact that we kind of lead parallel existences in a sense - we are workers during the week, and tourists on the weekends! If that makes sense. Not a lot of people are able to be tourists in the city they live in, or necessarily want to of course! But we enjoy going out to see different things. Which reminds me, I think we need to go back to the theatre, we have not been in a while!

Scott is not liking his job as much as he thought he would. But, I just keep telling him to think of the money and the experience. I think he is realising that he does not really like lawyers. :-) Oh well! His heart really does lie in politics.

I am getting over my cold. I went to the doctor on Tuesday just to get a prescription. He checked me out when I was there, and said I was fine. Nice to know. It's also nice to know I have found a really nice, and thorough, doctor. Hard to come by these days!! He even checked my technique I use when I use my asthma inhaler. Never had that before!!

We are having drinks tomorrow night. We decided on a great old pub in Greenwich. So any of you reading this who would like to come, let me know and I shall tell you which one..... :-)

There was a wonderfully thick fog covering London yesterday morning. I could hardly see anything from the DLR train. And the buildings Canary Wharf all but disappeared into the fog.

Other than that, nothing is really exciting. Work, sleep, fighting off a cold. :-)

How is everyone?

I had my first real live Skype conversation today. I bought a microphone today in Oxford Street, and I wanted to try it before I spoke to mum. So I called Melissa. And it worked very nicely.It dropped out a little, but for practically nothing that you pay for the phone call, it's great. So, if any of you out there are interested in this software, let me know. It is so easy to use, which is great. And then I can catch up with more people. :-)

Weekend otherwise was lovely. Scott and I slept in yesterday, then headed to Greenwich. I really like Greenwich, it has a lovely feel to the place. A bit sleepy, a bit touristy, crowded, noisy, quiet. It sounds strange, but that's the feeling the place gives you. It's a bit of everything. And at night time there is a green light projected into the night sky which represents the Greenwich Meridian. It's really lovely to have a visual reminder of just how close we really are to it! We wandered through the town looking at the bookshops, the people and a market. I found a bag stall in the markets that is run by a lady who makes all of the bags. I loved the bags, but I asked her if it was possible for her to put a zip into the top for me, and to make it out of a thicker corduroy fabric. So, in three weeks time, I shall have me a funky bag to show off. I have been looking for a while for something, and this seems to fit the bill. And I like the fact that I can support a small business.

Then today we headed into Oxford Street. Scott and I both needed to make purchases of work trousers, as they are getting too big, and some work shoes. We were very successful, which was great. We ended up with Dr Martens each. They will be perfect for work and other occasions.


And in other news, my lovely friend Maree had her third baby on Thursday! His name is Corbin Dominic Walker, and he is very cute. A real cuddle is not possible, but I send virtual cuddles to all members of the family!!

Not much

Just wanted to do a quick update, as I am feeling in the mood. :-)

I was trained in something new today. At my museum we have a childrens gallery, which is aimed at kids under 12. We are running a carers and toddlers group on Mondays from 10-2, for children, aged 18 months to 5 years, and their parents/carers. So I was able to participate in this. It's not much different from what we normally do in there, we just offer them stories, colouring in, that kind of thing. :-) It is always fun watching really little kids in the gallery. Although it can put you off having kids for life watching some of them!

Scott starts his new job today. He is having two days of induction, and then he is thrown into it on Wednesday. I am happy for him that he is in a job in his field. He has a contract now until April, which is great.

New job for Scotty

News just in...Scott has got a new job! He will be still working for the law firm he has been with for he last 4 months, but he has been promoted. He will now be a paralegal! It is very exciting, as it is a step in the right direction for his career. I am very happy for him. We went out for drinks last night with his work people. They are all very nice. They bought hime two business shirts as the going aaway present, which was really lovely of them. I think he will miss working with them all, but he will still see them as much as possible.

I am working all weekend. I am currently in the cloak room of our museum, minding the place while someone is on a break. We have been reasonably busy today, which is great. We have had story telling sessions, all about sugar and the Caribbean, I believe. The museum is in an old warehouse that used to hold sugar and rum, hence the connection.

Wedding weekend

Scott and I went to a wedding on Saturday. We met all the other people from my work at London Bridge station at midday to catch the train to Harpenden, in Hertfordshire, which is north of London. The bride was a girl from work, Clare, a lovely young woman and one of the duty managers. I have been at work for nearly 4 months now, and it was lovely to be invited. There were 12 of us who travelled together up to the wedding, and we met up with others at the pub next to the churchyard. There we had lunch, chatted to the groom, and waited until 2.30pm when we walked through the churchyard to the church. The church was lovely. Not Catholic from what I could tell, and really quite old. I did feel like I was back at school with all the hymns we sang, but nevertheless it was a lovely ceremony.

After the ceremony, the happy couple posed for photos outside, including a group photo with all of us museum peoples. Then we walked to the village hall, where the reception was being held. It was on the other side of the village, but it was a lovely walk through the village and a large green area, which took about 20 minutes. The reception was a barn dance. Nice and informal. It was such a great idea though. Barn dancing is not a thing a lot of people do often, but everyone was willing to get up and dance. The music was great too. All in all a really fun, relaxed reception.

We stayed overnight at the same hotel everyone else was, which worked out really well, as we had breakfast with them the next morning. Then most people drove/were driven to St Albans, a Roman town nearby to have lunch in one of England's oldest pubs. It was a lovely place, with nice food.

All in all a really lovely weekend.

I am meeting a girl I met in my Victorian London course tonight. I think we will just be grabbing a bite to eat and catching up a bit.

:-)

Hello! I am killing time in the internet cafe waiting for the post office to reopen after lunch. I ask you, who closes a whole post office just to eat?? Anyway, I wanted to fill you in on my last couple of days at work.

I was told by a mother that I "ruined her daughters day" on Sunday. Yay! That's part of my job description.... Not really. I was the gallery atendant for the children's interactive gallery we have at work. There is a soft play area there for the kiddies who are under 1 metre tall. It no longer goes on age, as it was deemed dangerous to put a big 4 year old in with a small 2 year old. You can guess why. Anyway, I was feeling particularly lenient, and I told the girl and her mother when they came in that the girl was too tall for the soft play area (which she clearly was), but I was nice and told her that she could go in until other small kids came in then I would have to ask her to leave that area and do another activity. Obviously not pleased, but that's not my problem. I was approached by the mother some 5 minutes later telling me "If you don't mind me saying this, but you have ruined my daughter's day. She is only 4 years old, and was looking forward to playing in there. I am trying not to give her a complex about being tall, and you have not helped one bit" or words to that effect, then started blubbering and ran out of the room. I just giggled, as I knew I had done nothing wrong, and quite frankly, she will give her poor child a complex if she treats her like that. I told the manager, who said that I was in the right, and there was nothing to worry about at all. We decided that it was not me who ruined the child's day, but her mother ruining her life. We all had a good laugh!!

I saw weeping willows today that had had "haircuts". :-)

I am going to meet an old school friend today. I have not seen her since the end of first year uni I think. Will be really weird to see her, but nice to catch up too I think.

Hope you are all well. :-)

Not much has happened in the last week. We went for a walk through the square mile that is the City of London. It was really interesting, and I learnt a lot about the City. I think my favourite place was an alley way called Change Alley. It's not your typical alley way as it has 5 entrances.

Work is going well. We went out for dinner last night at a restaurant. There were 12 of us and it was really lovely.

Sorry it's so short!! :-)

Moving House!

Hello! Yes, it's that time again, to move house. Scott and I decided to move closer to my work, which also means a shorter journey time for him as well. So we decided to move to the east of London. And we will be travelling to work on the Docklands Light Railway. This is a tram-like train that travels above ground (a nice change from the underground). We are taking the opportunity to send a lot of things home. We seem to have accumulated quite a bit over the last 11 months, so it is high time that we sent it home! And it's better not to move it to the other side of London. Our landlady has said that we can leave the stuff we are shipping home in our room until necessary, which is a big help. Judy is coming to help us move the rest of our stuff on Sunday afternoon. She kindly offered, and I am very grateful.

We are moving in to a house near to a DLR (see above) station, about 20 mins from my work. We will be living with three Polish guys, who all seem really lovely, and all seem to be neat freaks! No cleaning is expected of us, other than cleaning up after ourselves and keeping our own room clean (easy).

Work is going well. I am still enjoying it. I have interesting conversations with people at work, which is great. I am happy there at the moment. The money is not great, but our new place will be cheaper for rent, as well as travel costs (for me anyway). Work has been quiet of late though. It has given me the chance to write some snail mail. So if I have missed anyone out who would like an email please let me know! I will be happy to write you a proper letter. I figured that people get very few letters these days with emails etc, and I love getting mail (hint hint!!).

Today is the first day of Open House London weekend. Basically, for one weekend each year many buildings that are not normally open to the public open their doors so we can see what's hiding inside. Scott had a look through the booklet I had brought home from work. He found a building in there that he had heard of, and really wanted to see. It was called 19 Princelet Street. Not very imaginative I know, but it was built by Hugenots in 1749, and has been used by many different peoples over the generations. Its uses by the French Hugenots, the Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia as well as the Bangladeshi immigrants of recent years truly reflects the character of the East End. It is a fascinating building. http://www.19princeletstreet.org.uk We have stopped in at an Indian restaurant that has internet computers. We are currently in Brick Lane, which is a very famous part of London with more Indian restaurants per square inch than anywhere else!!

Toodles!