Doug & Jodie

Well, the weekend has begun, and Jode doesn’t have to work for another 5 days ! The next few blogs will obviously be about Christmas and our trip to Scotland. We’ve added another photo album called Christmas, which already has some pictures of the hamper we received from the family and the parcel we received from Lou.

He’s done it… like Shane Warne, he’s turned the game on it’s head ! … in otherwords, I have a job. I’ll be working for Smith & Williamson on a 3 month contract, I’ll start on the 29th of December.

  We made the most of this weekend and got outdoors despite it being the coldest since we arrived.  Fortunately I have no photographic evidence of my work Xmas party on friday night but i certainly got to see the other side to my work colleagues … lets just say it was a lot of fun, lots of dancing, plenty of drinking and I got to see my colleagues in some compromising positions – they certainly let go of their inhibitions.  Not quite sure why they kept warning each other of the Aussies leading them astray, i think they did a good job of that on their own!  The party was at Babylon, a roof top restaurant in Kensington, which is surrounded by an amazing garden complete with streams, waterfalls, fully grown trees, japanese bridges and flamingos!!!

Saturday Doug and I braved the cold and enjoyed a walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens … nice to have the sunshine on our faces.  Walked along the Serpentine sipping hot chocolate, past the Orangery and Kensington Palace.  Then we walked through the back streets of Kensington me admiring the beautiful terrace homes of the very wealthy, Doug admiring their beautiful cars.  We caught the tube back home and bought some cheese and bread from the Borough Markets.  That night we went to a local pub, the Garrison, we have wanted to visit since we got here, a gorgeous pub with great food and great company.

Today we met up with Tamara and Alicia at St. Katharine’s Dock, just a strol over the Tower Bridge and were there.  It’s a lovely little marina with some big yachts and quaint pubs.  It was great to have lunch and a catch up before Christmas. 

 

My family know how much I love Christmas, they have spent many years hiding presents from me until the night before or triple wrapping them so i can’t poke holes in the paper!  Unfortunately this year they don’t have me around to make Christmas as special as it should be … I also hear that the traditional real tree has been replaced by a branch mum stole from the garden at work – shame on you all!!

Meanwhile, as broke as Doug and I are we forked out a ridiculous amount of money for a beautiful real tree and it proudly stands over 1 present (hint hint). Doug dragged it home from the local florist and we had a lovely night drinking wine and decorating it with the 3 pretty decorations we bought at Liberty’s and the cheap ones from Sainsbury’s.  It really is the most beautiful tree in London and I insist the lights are turned on when I get home from work  …

It’s been a while since I wrote, but there are a number of things that have happened since. Check the London photo gallery for the updated pictures.

Yesterday we spent the day in and around town. We started off by going to the Portobello Road markets, near Notting Hill. The markets are huge ! They run the entire length on the road. Thousands of stalls, sporting; scarves, jackets, necklaces, antiques, shoes, fruit & vegetables, coffee, LPs and souvenirs are crammed into one road and the lane running under the highway. Jodie was in bargain heaven. We grabbed a bite to eat and a hot chocolate, then headed back to the tube station.

 Our next stop was Trafalgar Square, where we saw the famous lion statues, nelsons column, the Christmas tree from Norway and the houses of brittish colonised countries. After taking a few photos, we headed into the National Gallery to see some of the greatest artists of all time… or not. We saw a lot of paintings, but a lot of the rooms had been closed. Jodes and I were trying to see the Monet display, which was also closed.

We left the National Gallery, in search of a drink, which we found in a quaint English pub (surprise surprise !). We then walked around Leicester Square, for what felt like 10 laps, in search of somewhere to eat. We eventually found a reasonable Indian restaurant in Covent Garden, about a block away.

More news to follow soon, as I have a job interview on Tuesday.

 

Well this is our tiny little flat on Tower Bridge Rd.  We’re about 1km south of the Tower Bridge and the Thames, the Borough markets are 10 minutes away and are more than adequate replacement for the Farmer’s Markets in New Farm Park.  It’s 10 minutes walk to London Bridge tube and as with anywhere in London, there are some great local pubs and a fantastic Indian restaurant!! Our place is very small but we promise to pull out the air bed if you promise to visit us soon!

For those of you know Doug, you will know he is sweet, considerate, kind and thoughtful …. he just doesn’t ‘do’ flowers! This is something that I have managed to bite my tongue about and have waited patiently, knowing how much they would mean when he did buy them.  I knew I would be emotional, just a bunch of weeds from the garden would have sent me over the edge after this long … but on Monday, for no reason at all but because he was thinking of me, I came home to beautiful bunch of flowers that he had even gone to Tescos to buy a vase for!!! As expected, I cried, and they really were worth the wait!!

Moving to a country on the other side of the world is definitely easier when you have some ready made friends waiting for you! I am lucky to have Alicia, Dana and Tamara – friends from school who I have now known for 15 years!!! Doug and I managed to catch up with Dana, Tamara and Ian last Wednesday, when we met for dinner at ‘Friends’ in Putney – i’ve been there on past visits to London and feel like a regular now.  Then last Saturday I met Alicia at the London Bridge tube, we took a walk throught the Borough markets and along the river (stopping to take this photo in front of the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge – ah yeah you can’t see them).  Then we met Alicia’s flat mate (shareen) at Harrods – here we checked out the amazing Christmas hall! We moved on to Oxford St. to see the Christmas lights, ending up in SoHo for dinner at a pub – downed a couple of bottles of wine – a great night and some great company! Meanwhile Doug was at his 10 year high school reunion …