The beauty of me being so behind with the blog is I can’t go into too much detail, because I can’t remember it all :) So you are in luck. While I try to capture the last four months I will not be able to tell you for example, what time and with what toothpaste I cleaned my teeth.
July
Well after our fantastic holiday it was back to work of course!! For me that meant back to Kings College Hospital, I was changing teams from medical and surgical but still staying in the Respiratory team. Duncan on the other hand had resigned from his job, but never fear his work hadn’t gotten around to replacing him yet so that meant that they had asked him to go back contracting!!
We had another catch up with Mrs P and Janine and Craig before she headed back to Australia.
On the weekend we drove out to Slough to visit with Aunty Alice who was visiting her cousins. She had been out to see Muriel on arrival in the UK and was now catching up with her other family. We got out to the countryside much easier than we had thought and as we had some time to kill before meeting with Aunty Alice we found a ‘Pick Your Own’ farm and picked two punnets of summer raspberries.
That evening I excelled myself by making a white chocolate and marscapone cheesecake with raspberry coulis and fresh fruit. It was good, even if I say so myself :)
On the 15th of July we had Restaurant Club at Mimosa restaurant in the city. This month had a Mediterranean flair.
On a negative note Dunc and my bathroom became out of action. The shower was leaking through the floor and dripping down into the garage (fortunately there was no one living below us or the problem for the land lord may have been worse).
Although there was no actual travel in July we booked our Christmas ski trip to La Plagne in France – a whole group of us are going and have a catered chalet right on the slopes which should be grrreat!
August
Well July and August saw the four of us get quite hooked with the Long Way Round and Long Way down series. This prompted a lot of discussion between Duncan and I about how we were going to see the remaining parts of Europe. So on the rainy morning of the 9th of August, before Gordo’s surprise birthday party Duncan went to look at an old Landcruiser. By the time he met me at Gordo’s birthday he had bought a Landcruiser! :)
So it seemed it was decided, sometime in 2009 we would be leaving London in our Landcruiser (now called Hugo) and travelling all through Europe to the places we haven’t seen. I guess we are only limited by our imaginations, and of course border crossings ;)
Gordo’s birthday was supposed to be in a Park along the river side, but being the consistent London summer it was it was absolutely dumping down with rain. So we found a pub and weathered the storm there.
On Sunday 10th of August Dunc and I took a day trip up to York to visit Muriel. We had a lovely lunch with her and showed her some of the pictures we had taken on various trips we had been on. The only dampener on the weekend was that on the way home in the rain (again) we were rear ended. Fortunately the only damage sustained was to the car and not to us, but what a hassle!!! And what a strange coincidence that it happened one day after we had put the deposit down on Hugo.
We didn’t go to August restaurant Club 15; instead Dunc and I and Vic and Grant took Hugo (we had picked him up during the week) up to Shropshire. We visited Dunc’s cousins Donna and Ian, staying in their beautiful house which is a restored historic barn. On the Saturday morning we went and explored Stratford upon Avon – home of Shakespeare. There was a great farmers market where we had some amazing fresh soup for lunch, as well as the obligatory Shakespeare gift stores. In the afternoon we went to a safari park which was quite cool – we drove around in Hugo, feeding all the safari animals like deer and bovines and camels out the window (or the sunroof in the case of the camel). We weren’t allowed to feed the big cats though :) They made us shut the windows when we drove through those sections, can’t imagine why? We had a great dinner in a local country pub with Donna and Ian and Ian’s kids, and we got to dinner and back in record time – Ian drives very fast!
On Sunday 17th on the way home from Shropshire we went to Warwick castle – it was clichéd and overcrowded with tourists and school children on holidays but I really liked it – it was very well done. They had falconry displays with birds of prey of all shapes and sizes from all corners of the world. One of the birds – a giant eagle - had been let out for a fly in the morning and hadn’t come back yet so they were asking everyone to keep an eye out for him. There was jousting on horseback and duelling re-enactments. The castle itself contained museum rooms dedicated to times gone by. Unfortunately we were unable to stay for the trebuchet re-enactment as we wanted to get going back to London.
On the 20th August, a new season of netball started. We moved locations because the umpiring was lacklustre and it was very expensive. Our new sports centre is half the price and indoors! This of course takes all the fun out of playing netball in the winter rain, sleet and snow.
Friday 22nd August I was introduced to Chopper Reid, not the real one of course because that might be a bit scary, but the one personified by Aussie comedian Ronnie Johns. The show was called: ‘Make Deadsh*ts History’, it was very funny, and afterwards Grant, Vic, Magnus, Nicole, Duncan and I had a cheeky pint or two with Ronnie.
My contract at Kings was finally coming to an end. After what was supposed to be a six week contract I had been there for nearly six months. I had enjoyed my time, and loved working in the ITU but it was time for a change. Unfortunately there was not a lot of ITU jobs around so, I took a community job in a new team in Mile End (east London) I wasn’t due to start for a week or so, but I bought a bike in preparation. Distance wise my new job wasn’t very far away, but public transport wise it was a bit of a trek, so I thought this was a sign to get off my laurels, where I have been resting for a while, and do some exercise:). In the spirit of enthusiasm that the bike was bought, I thought I would get warmed up by cycling to Kings in my last week of work. Who would have thought that the Hospital was only 15 minutes away by bike, all of those 30min journeys on public transport and long waits on the platform if I missed the infrequent trains – doh! C’est la vie.
On the 28th of August, Duncan and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, 3 years and 351 days longer than Brittney Spears’ first wedding. An achievement I think to celebrate. We went to a little pub in Rotherhithe and had a lovely dinner for two.
Vic’s Parents arrived that weekend and shortly after they headed for a week in Ireland. We were still hoping in their absence that the bathroom would be fixed, because it was going to require some scheduling to put 6 people through showers each day. Thank goodness that our toilet was working… that could have been very interesting.
September
To celebrate the end of my contract Duncan and I went to Portugal for 5 days. We spent two days in Porto, two days in Lisbon and 1 day exploring the region around Lisbon.
I really liked Porto, yes it is the home of Port. Although the birthplace of port it was actually the British that invented it. The region upstream of
Porto was a famous wine producing region, and while the British took up residence in Portugal as they did in many other places in the world, they grew to like their wine. However the wine would not withstand the shipping back to the UK, so the Brits added brandy to fortify the wine for its travel home. The beautiful colourful old town of Porto is on one side of the Duoro river, and on the other separated by an amazing bridge, are all the Port Caves in the more sophisticated and understated Vila Nova de Gaia. We spent an amazing day walking around the beautiful streets of Vila Nova de Gaia, tasting the port and enjoying the sunshine and the river. We sampled white, ruby and tawny port, and learnt about vintages and which ports could be opened and kept open. We even sampled a small amount of port from 1904. It was nice but the 20 year old was the best for me.
Lisbon was only a three hour train ride away; we had a gorgeous little hotel right on the pedestrian highway in the middle of the old town. Lisbon was a beautiful old town and we decided to have a more relaxed and less structured time here. We wandered through some of the various districts such as Alfama, Baxia and Bairro Alto. Each of the districts has their own specialties. One district we walked through is very reminiscent of what we saw in Morocco and really reflects the Moors influence in Portugal.
On our last day in Portugal we took a train out to a village called Sintra and its Unesco World Heritage centre. It has a real blend of European and Moorish architecture and is just stunning. We walked around the village then took the bus up the hill to some amazing parkland and Disney-style castle of Palacio Nacional Da Pana. We walked through the gardens and down the hill slightly to a ruined 11th century Moorish castle called Castelo Dos Mouros. From here you can walk back down the hill for about 4kms and back to town. A quick bite of a late lunch and we headed back into Lisbon for our last night.
The next morning we took one of Lisbon’s famous trams out to Belem where we saw the beautiful and very gothic (and UNESCO listed) Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (www.mosteirojeronimos.pt). It had extraordinary stone carvings on the façade, and is the burial chamber of many great Portuguese naval people. We walked from here up the coast past the Padrao dos Descobrimentos a huge limestone monument overhanging the bay that somewhat resembles a ships bow. Continuing up the coast we came to another landmark what is the Torre de Belem (also UNESCO listed). The tower did sit in the middle of the ocean to protect the entrance to Lisbon’s harbour – that is of course until Mother Nature changed the path of the ocean and now it is part of the shoreline. We jumped on the train back to Porto and then ‘yet another on time’ flight back to London :)
Once back from Portugal feeling relaxed and rejuvenated I started my new contract at Mile End Hospital. The job is something a little different from what I have done so far. Although I guess at the end of the day a job is a job, I was mildly curious, and maybe a little bit excited about the possibilities of this job.
This year my birthday inconveniently fell on a Tuesday which meant that I had to share it with Netball. Vic and Grant had gone out for the evening, so it was quite a quiet night. Fortunately for me Duncan had made mum’s famous chocolate cake. It was his first cake effort so we won’t mention that it was a little challenged in the height department. (I don’t think the cake liked being made while the washing machine was spinning right next door to the oven. Regardless of how it looked it tasted delicious.
A couple of night later Duncan and I went and saw Rainman. Yes we have all seen the movie; well this was a play starring Hollywood actor Josh Hartnett (for all you Pearl Harbour fans). The play was very good. I did feel a little sorry for Hartnett – he was after all the headlining actor and despite getting his shirt off, the chap playing Rainman was outstanding.
The weekends often pass with out much to draw attention to them, I do however remember the weekend of the 13th September because while out shopping with Vic and Mrs Butefisch I got a £80 parking ticket!!! Outraged I was. Especially as I was running late to get home and get changed before going to my birthday drinks. I had arranged to have them at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, however when we got there the outside section was closed off for filming (don’t get excited it was only Peaches Geldoff, not some one really exciting). But we couldn’t stay indoors on such a beautiful day!!!!! It was one of the very few beautiful sunny weekends that we had had this summer. So when everyone had arrive we relocated down to the riverside to enjoy the weather.
So with my first week of work under my belt, I got promoted, bought a suit (for very important meetings with very important people), lost my bike (stolen), wore the suit, bought another bike and insured the bike!
The following weekend we went the Bavarian Beerhouse near Old Street to celebrate Octoberfest. We could not go to germany this year so had to choose the next best thing. We went in costume… and well… lets just hope that the photos never make the public domain.
And to see September out with a bang – I went to work at Harley Street – yay!
October
October kicked off with yet another dinner party. Logically the summer months with their seemingly never ending daylight should be the busiest, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. This year as the days have grown shorter and Christmas gets closer we seem to get busier and busier. We met with our old netball team in a bit of a favourite of ours in China Town – Hungs – best crispy duck in London
After working at Harley Street for the 1st weekend, we went to Hereford for the second. We were going up to meet Hugo’s prospective surgeon. A long overland trip like ours requires quite a bit of preparation for Hugo, so we were going to meet Julian who was highly recommended for the job. Whilst up there we stayed in a little B&B which used to be a station house. Very quaint and our window opened right onto the platform. Whilst in the area we drove through beautiful Golden Valley to visit Hay-on-Wye. Not only did we get to be in England and Wales at the same time we got to visit this small market town that has over 40 bookshops. It was fantastic, new books, secondhand books, antique books. There was even an honour system open air book store in the churchyard.
Vic’s birthday was on the 14th, so club 15 was in her honour. We went to quite a funky restaurant in Clapham called Lost Society. Some of the food was unfortunately mediocre but the service was great, and the waiter seemed to realise that the food wasn’t hitting the spot, so attempted to fill the void with plenty of free wine and cocktails.
On Friday (17th) our friend Brooke came over with her friend Jo for dinner and Poker, it was yummy and somehow I got out of cooking and washing up – kudos to me.
I spent the weekend of the 18/19 doing tax tax tax, and although it was almost done it is still not quite there…. Arrggh.
Courtesy of a ticket sale on Lastminute.com we got a few cheap theatre tickets, so on the 22nd Dunc and I went to see the Sound of Music. I was a little bit disappointed, I think I expected more or different or something, but at the end of the day who doesn’t love anything to do with the sound of music.
On the 25th I attended a course on “Acute exercise physiology and applications in critical care”. Wait wait before I lose your attention, that is all I will say about it. It was on, I went and felt I learned something. Moving on.
It was a pretty miserable weekend, I don’t think that it stopped raining. The boys used this as a good excuse to lift up the hood of the car, do manly things which they called ‘installing the stereo’
Our cheap movie tickets also got us tickets to the Umbilical Brothers on the 29th of October.
We bought a tent and a fridge for the 4wd.
We bought cheap tickets in an Easyjet sale to go to Berlin, then realised that we had already something booked that weekend so paid more than the tickets were worth to change the flights to another date.
Finally, finally finally the bathroom was completed!!!
Tuesday the 28th of October marked the beginning of the end of an era. Duncan was given his notice from JPMH. After being a contractor then a permanent employee and then a contractor again for over two and a half years, he was finally given is leaving date.
November
The beginning of November saw the opening of a new huge Westfield in west London that had everybody talking – yup just like Carousel or the Galleria, although last I checked the Westfields in Perth didn’t have De Beers, Tiffanys, Dior, Hugo etc. The place was massive and all the affordable shops were at the other end of the shopping centre from the train station! Typical.
On Saturday we had a baby shower/afternoon tea for Magnus and Nicole. I quiet affair but nice to see them before two become three and gave us a chance to give them some pressies.
Monday was my first night playing Versatility netball – played with only 5 players instead of 7 and after each point everybody rotates positions. Unfortunately I didn’t even get to play my game, because half way through filling in for another team I ‘did’ my ankle. My husband was too busy socialising [Duncan - I was waiting to meet Phil and he was on the tube so i couldn't call him!] to come to my rescue so I had to scrounge enough money to take a taxi home. Later that evening after picking up my bike Duncan took me to A&E, but I got tired of waiting so we went home again. I ended up having to use mini-cabs as I couldn't ride my bike. And Duncan was amazing and drove me around a fair bit too. He is wonderful :) In the end I had x-rays and it wasn't broken. Yay!
And that brings us muuuch closer to being up to date. Oh, and there are new galleries too!
Toodles!
