We have settled into a bit of a routine as Londoners and are both pretty happy being back together (remember I went home for a month to welcome te au marino -)
As you all know we are flatting in a house in Hammersmith with seven other rooms and about 10 other people (it fluctuates) Rooms are let separately and there is a large shared kitchen (2 stoves, 3 fridges, 2 washing machines etc). Our room is on the third floor overlooking other backyards but its sunny and light and has an ensuite and double doors with a tiny balcony – all for 900 pounds a month including all bills – it suits us and we spend a fair bit of our leisure time in our room (thank god for Netflix and internet). The flatmates are really nice all in their thirties and a mix of Irish, uk, NZ, Auz. Somebody did comment the other day that the flat is looking really clean (we try and do some cleaning but not too much just enough to make it bearable for us-LOL). The area is nice and easy access to centre of London (about 30 mins on tube)
Awhi heads off to work each day at about 8 and gets home about 6 – her job is hard but voyeuristically I find it really interesting – who else gets to go to Wormwood scrubs prison and venture into the more sadder and seedier aspects of London life (not that she tells me anything much she is so ethical bit of a bugger really LOL) – She’s fairly tired when she gets home so we don’t do too much night life – She likes her team and last Friday I got to meet them as well as she went to her bosses leaving party and I tagged along – her boss is moving to Dunedin (very small world really).
While Awhi is at work I amuse myself with all sorts of things – I do some work (usually a couple of days a week sometimes three and mostly writing and analysis). I work sitting up in bed or at the kitchen table or for a bit of light relief I go to the local library at Hammersmith and work in the study room about 15mins walk away. I am surprised at how easy it has been to put work and being the director aside – a good sign for retirement I reckon (not that that is happening just yet).
But when I’m not working I get to explore London – I like London (probably more than Awhi) but SO get that there are a lot of people who don’t like it at all. I like that you get to hear about four or five languages as you walk down the street, I like the crowded busyness, the history, the street food and the totally mind blogging amount of things to do and see.
I have discovered the London Walks which happen every day of the week rain or shine. There are about five – seven different walks each day run by very experienced and incredibly entertaining guides and I get to explore London from a range of perspectives and see things I would never see on my own- for instance the broad street water pump where John Snow (Queens physician) discovered cholera was waterborn in 1857, Carnaby Strret in Soho, the 2is coffee club the birthplace of british rock n roll 1956, etc etc. I’m loving them and at just 8 pounds as a senior for two hours I figure I can go on one a week for the next six weeks.
When I’m not being guided around London I’m shopping for dinner- I hate to say this but I’ve fallen in love with ready made meals – for five pounds and only 10 minutes I can produce a range of very tasty meals such as curries (lamb korma etc), pasta (gnocci and ravioli), great fish pies (with shrimp and cod), salads etc etc – the selection is extensive and it tastes good – I’m going to struggle to go back to real meal prep from scratch.
I also get to do some exploring on my own and can spend a whole morning finding out where our local wetland is or discovering St James Park etc. However it does take ages doing anything – yesterday we went to Battersea Park cause it was a nice day and we hadn’t been there – we spent two hours travelling to get there and while we were there hired bikes and rode around the park (which took us about an hour) – not like home dragging out the bikes and heading down the hill for a ride – however I like the buses; on the trip to Battersea we rode through some incredibly wealthy parts of the city with very expensive designer shops contrasted with the day before when we travelled out to Hampton Court on the bus going through some fairly deprived neighbourhoods.
My other major role at the moment is as trip planer extraordinaire- I try and plan our free weekends and of course our trip home – its amazing how long booking a car for 23 days from France through Spain can take – hours fly by on the net as I troll for the bargains while at the same time checking all the things awhi says I have to remember eg insurance, extra drivers, winter tyres, size of car, fuel economy etc etc .
We have had a goal for the trip that we don’t end up with a huge debt on the card when we return so its been saving up and spending rather frugally and of course working while we are here - I’m really chuffed so far we have managed our budget very well and still had lots of fun – London free stuff abounds if you look for it eg Museums are free, the Proms night was free and we signed up as members of Historic Palaces so get to visit major sites for as many times as we like and just rock on through no lines – it meant I could do a couple of visits to the Tower of London and explored at leisure.
Awhi has posted on the blog details of our trip and the highlights eg a three hour very fun visit to Harrods (go check it out I’m sure our major (and only) fan is Jean).
In the next six weeks we are heading over to Paris for a weekend to play with Dylan, heading to Devon to visit awhis relatives, and I’m heading to Masstrict this week for a conference we also hope to catch a couple of shows (half price tickets on the day LOL) .
Plans for trip home are well underway with what I think will be a really nice mix of countries and sights but at a reasonably relaxed pace. We are heading to Bruges first for a long weekend visit then flying to Marseille to pick up a car. We then have just over three weeks touring southern France and through Spain, the weather in Spain should be really pleasant (about 15-20) and we may be able to get in some late swimming then back to Marseille to drop off car. We then fly North to colder climates and shorter days. We really wanted to experience the Europe xmas markets and shorter days so we can see xmas lights so heading to Vienna, Prague, Kracow and Berlin (about another three weeks). At this point we are probably driving between these countries as it’s much cheaper and not much slower (max 6 hrs driving between cities) and we get to stop off in interesting smaller places. We have timed it so we hit the Vienna and Berlin xmas markets (late Nov). We then will fly to Lisbon from Berlin having the last four days in Europe getting a feel for Portugal and also hitting the Portugal xmas market. Do you get that Awhi and I really like xmas markets!!!!
Then it’s a slow traul home (10 days actually) – we fly out of Lisbon in early Dec to Kuala Lumpar and stay somewhere nice for couple of days warming up and chillaxing in the pool – we then fly to Melbourne to catch up with Dylan and then fly to Brisbane for a long weekend with the mokos arriving back in NZ in time for Christmas.
It is an amazing adventure !!!!
We have done so much that already I can’t remember all the names of places we have been and its not over – thank god for the blog it really helps recapture the memories (I think I’ll blame old age or just that we have seen and done so much already)
Anyway its almost 10am and I need to get out of bed and make another coffee and think about my days plans – today I’m off to check out a local wetland (only got part of the way the last time) and will pick up fruit for the week to go with our muesli and probably think about the conference coming up on Wed
If you’ve got this far well done – love you all heaps looking forward to seeing you all soon
Lots of love -Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment