Chicago The Musical....

Chris bought me a ticket to the musical Chicago which is playing in the West End. The show was fantastic and we had great seats in the dress circle. I loved all the songs, I couldn't help but sing along (in my head!). The stage was very simplistic with the orchestra in the centre of the stage and the show performed in and around them. Such a great night!

Amsterdam

Karen and I spent the weekend in Amsterdam, flighing out Friday evening from Heathrow. Only a 40 minute flight! We stayed in a hostel where all the action was, sharing with 6 smelly boys, a few of which snored so loudly I couldn't sleep the first night! Other than the broken shower and no electricity the hostel was fine. We did all the touristy things, Anne Frank's House, Van Gogh Museum, a canal boat ride, Dam Square and the Red Light District. We arrived home Sunday evening after a fun filled weekend with warm weather!

Madame Tussauds

Chris and I visited our celebrity friends at Madame Tussauds on Saturday. Can you believe we had to wait 2hours to see them! An hour of which was in the rain without an umbrella! Jerry Springer greeted us at the door, while Jamie Oliver waved me over to his kitchen. Cruise and Travolta were looking fine while Chris had his eye (or should I say his hands!) on Beyonce. Much to my delight we skipped the Pirates of the Caribbean show! Other celebs of interest were Prince Charles and the boys, The Beatles & Robbie. While Chris enjoyed the political figures (boy did he give Howard a serving), the sporting greats like Beckham, Warney & Lara and not to mention being blessed by the Pope. Other attractions included 'Serial Killers,' a taxi ride down memory lane and an animation movie on how to be a star. All in all most celebs looked really life like, except most had lost a kilo or two. A great day out except there were too many people!

Grease Is The Word!

I was lucky enough to win tickets to another live TV production - Grease Is The Word. This TV series is similar to Australian Idol. Contestants compete against each other with singing, dancing and acting in order to find the leading roles, Sandy and Danny for the West End production of Grease. Chris and I lapped up the free VIP hospitality tickets, with as much beer, champagne and chocolate that could be consumed. We enjoyed this for almost an hr before the show, while the poor audience were queuing up in the street. The show was very entertaining, some very talented girls - we were viewing the Sandy semi final. The final is on this Saturday night - I will have to tune in! The whole time Chris and I were up on our feet clapping and getting into the music, I think we were on TV too - how embarrassing. After a couple of hours Chris and I were ready to go back to the hospitality suite for another drink, guess who we were with?? Dannii Minogue!! She looked good - a little too plastic for my liking and very loud. I guess she was the one in the stretch Bentley we saw before the show. What a great night!!

Scotland - Bank Holiday Weekend

Chris and I hired a car for the weekend to take a road trip to Scotland (about 7.5hrs from Surrey). We left Friday night to start part of the driving and avoid me getting too car sick. We spent the night in a hotel in Birmingham and completed the drive to Glasgow the following morning. There isn't much to do in Glasgow, we looked around at the main shopping strips, visited George Square and Merchant City. After enquiring everywhere for accommodation we were unsuccessful as everywhere was booked out for the football, a concert and the bank holiday weekend. We started our drive to Edinburgh (about 40min from Glasgow) with the idea of finding accommodation on the outskirts. This was proving to be a challenge too. By 11pm we were left with the Caravan Park option as Chris had borrowed a tent from a work mate. Trying to erect it with just the headlights of the car and no instruction was a challenge. After an hour we were too tired and decided to just sleep in the car for the night. Probably lucky as there was torrential rain most of the night. We spent the whole day Sunday in Edinburgh, we did the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus. Spent a few hours at the Edinburgh Castle, looked in a few souvenir shops and experienced a Scottish pub and beer. Chris and I love Scotland, especially Edinburgh. It is beautiful. If only we could send home all this rain we are having and all this greenery!!!

Big Ben

Last Friday I had the opportunity to climb the clock tower (Big Ben). A small group of us were guided up the narrow stair case, all 343 steps, to be able to view the clock mechanisms (installed in 1859!) and the bells. This tour can only be done by residents through your local MP and it is free. I was lucky enough for my friend's housemate to tee it up. I wasn't sure I would make it up all the stairs but what a great experience to be at the top of Big Ben next to the bells when the clock struck 3pm - boy it was loud!!!

The West End...

Chris and I went to the West End last night (Saturday) to see one of my favourite musicals of all time, Cabaret! I have had a passion for this show since studying it at school. Since then I have had numerous Cabaret CD's, the video, then the DVD and I saw the show in Melbourne. I must say this production was amazing and much better than the Melb show with Tina Arena. The set was very simplistic but very effective. The music was amazing, the character Sally Bowles was played incredibly well and she had an amazing voice. Surprisingly, there was a lot of full nudity (mostly during the dances) and innuendos....much more than the film or Melb stage show! Chris and I had a fab night, an enjoyable chinese dinner beforehand and a walk to Piccadilly Circus to watch the buzzing night life.

PARKINSON - The TV Show!

Chris and I were lucky enough to get production tickets to the taping of Parkinson. We were in the second row, just to the left of Parkinson himself! The guests on the show were Patrick Stewart (Star Trek), Ian Hislop, Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka!!) and Joe Cocker did 2 songs (his famous 'Unchain my heart...'), they did two runs of the songs for taping purposes....it was awesome! Chris and I had a great time, I know Chris particularly enjoyed Parkinson as he has fond memories of watching the show with his dad as a wee boy.

To Bath we go...

Karen, Chris and I ventured to Bath on Saturday after hiring a car for the Bank Holiday weekend. We managed to negotiate the map to exit London onto the Motorway. After about 2 hours driving we arrived into bustling Bath, with it's French market, tea houses, tourist buses, beautiful architecture and an amazing history. We visited the Roman Baths, after enjoying another good pub lunch. The Baths are a must see! Chris even drank a glass of the 'Bath Water' which was warm.....good for the digestion!! Chris and I were feeling adventurous, so we subjected ourselves to a caricature for 5 minutes. It felt like the longest 5 minutes with the spectators around and the smiles on peoples faces.

We Won!

Chris and I will be 'production guests' at this weekends transmission of 'The Golden Shot' which is part of a Gameshow Marathon being held at The London Studios in Southbank. I won the tickets at work! We are very excited....I just hope I don't get called out of the audience!

How Romantic?

What better way to spend a day than relaxing by The River Thames with a bottle of Champagne and strawberries......??

Just for Giggles!

I think it is time I joined the circus with legs like that!!!!

Chris basking in the gorgeous sunshine; lying in the very green grass!!! What a treat.....

Hampton Court Palace

This is part of Hampton Court Palace, this is part of the beautiful gardens with the palace in the background. The palace is practically our neighbour, impressive!

The happy 'Aussie' couple..... in the gorgeous sunshine that we have been experiencing. Apparently it was snowing this time last year!!!

Kensington Palace & Harrods....

Chris and I spent Sunday afternoon walking around the grounds of Kensington Palace.....

This is the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park...

The famous Harrods! All Chris and I could afford from Harrods was a Krispy Kream Donut! Yum Yum......

We did see some very extravagant items, for example, a gold mobile phone with a snake rapt around the keypad containing coloured stones... it was only priced at £70,000!!!

Our Home

This is our cute English style home.

The view in both directions of our street....notice the Pizza Shop directly opposite - My favourite! (that was taken while it was snowing!). Also, the bedroom / lounge (we still need to purchase a couch & TV) and the kitchen / laundry...... yes, we also have a tiny bathroom......

Tower Bridge

Chris and I visited the Tower Bridge on Sunday. We spent the afternoon walking around exploring.....

PS - That is my new jacket that I purchased in London to save me from the cold. It is a snowboarding jacket...wind and water resistant!

Backwards....

The adventure continues with finding out how the English do things....I feel like I'm trapped in the past, everything takes so long to organise over here...I have tried to organise broadband and a home phone for the flat, a rather simple process I would have thought. Well, I have been advised that it will take a few weeks for someone to contact me to discuss deals etc after I logged my details on their website. I replied to their email stating that I required their services a little soon than that. Their response was we will call you when we can. So, it looks like more sessions at the local library and internet cafes. Also, the gas and electricity are the same, they have advised that it will take 4-7 weeks to process us onto the account. At least we still have the use of the gas, electricity and water in the meantime. Another example is that we are having a problem with our water boiler, the maintenance man was suppose to contact me at the start of last week. Australians just seem to make things happen, I can't get use to hearing - that will take a few weeks....
It's the same with the health system, doctors are free over here if you go to the local clinic you are registered with. Well, we are unable to register until we have been here 6 months. In the meantime it will cost us £45 for each visit, $117 oz dollars...boo. Well, that's my whinge...see I'm fitting in! ha ha ha
Oh, and to top it off I now have a cheque book, didn't these go out in the 80s-90s?? ;-)

No Longer Homeless.....

Well, what a hectic weekend! Chris and I finally got to move into our new flat on Saturday morning. It is a fantastic location, 2 min walk to the station (which is on the same rd as us), restaurants and cafes across the street and loads of parks. We have just discovered that we live only minutes from Hampton Court Palace - I think we will be checking this out next weekend. The English are very much into their 'classes' over here, so when we say we live in Kingston they seem to approve and think we must be decent..ha ha.
We had accumulated quite a few new items for the flat from Asda and Primark (great cheap stores) that we organised a moving taxi to the new place. Not long after arriving at the flat our Ikea goods were dropped off. Speaking of Ikea, we went Friday night as they are open until Midnight...what a mission, we collected all but one part of the bed we were purchasing only to find that the last and crucial piece we needed was not available for at least 10 days! So we had to follow the maze back to the bed section and choose another design, as it turns out we are much happier with our second decision. The construction of the bed was an interesting exercise, it ended up being 4 hours with two trips to the shops for tools! And then another few hours trying to put a wooden clothes basket together, who would have thought it would be so difficult. By this time it was 7pm, Chris and I were in stitches on the floor laughing about how long everything had taken...well, we did buy cheap stuff - can't expect too much. Sunday was spent with more unpacking and house stuff. We did a trial walk to Chris' work, only 20 minutes.
At the moment I am still a lady of leisure, I have become even more domesticated, spending the mornings cleaning and washing. I'm also looking forward tonight to going home to cook! Scary I know! I must say I did enjoy our first grocery shop, the products are really different and they love packaging! Lots of the fruit and veg section is pre-cut and pre-wrapped goods. Also, a lot of pre-prepared meals...I love it! The meat looks quite different though. The supermarkets are massive here and all seem to sell alcohol. Also, you have to pack your own bags, which sends me into a bit of a panic as I can't pack as fast as they scan!
The most exciting part of the last couple of days is......we had snow yesterday! Only for about 10 minutes, it was fantastic. We walked outside and it just started, we grabbed the camera to take a couple of pic's...you can't see the snow it them but Chris and I can look at the pic's and remember our first experience with falling snow. So, we enjoyed a walk in the snow, although the weather was so cold yesterday it hurt! xo

First Adventure

Today Chris and I set off for Brighton on the train to Three Bridges, then a connecting bus to Brighton due to track works, all up about 1.5hrs. We wondered around Brighton, walking up and down the pier with all it's carnival rides and games. We couldn't go past having fish and chips on the beach, sitting on the stones. The weather today was perfect, the sun was out and fairly warm with a slight breeze.

Chris and I jumped on another bus and headed to Shoreham-by-Sea, where Chris' father comes from. We had a drink in The Marlipins, the place where Chris' grandfather used to always drink. This concluded our little adventure, back on two buses and a train home.

Wow! What a week....

Chris and I have just experienced the most manic week of our whole lives! From opening bank accounts (with all the red tape involved), going for interviews, flat hunting and getting NI numbers.
Chris got a job this week, first interview! In the same industry with a big company over here. He starts Monday. I'm still going through the interview process.
Flat hunting was proving to be a challenge, learning the suburbs - which ones are good or not so good (i.e. One particular suburb had signs on the traffic lights poles 'Beware of Pick Pockets' - this was concerning!). We found a place yesterday and both knew straight way that it was the one. It was a bargain too! The location is great, it is in walking distance to Chris' work, very close to transport, next to the River Thames and a massive deer park. Not to mention all the cafes, restaurants and shops! They do things very differently over here compared to home when renting a property, they don't just give out keys, you have to make an appointment to be taken out there. Also, the rent is negotiable, you put in a bid to see if the landlord will except it and also outline any conditions of letting the place. Also, the real estate agents charge you a fee for the paper/admin side of things, this is about £200! Just to do their job! The place we took is actually unfurnished, it's more common for places to be furnished, but with the savings we are making on monthly rent it will be cheaper for us to furnish. We went to Ikea, it is even larger than home, if that is possible!

London - Here We Are!

Chris and I arrived safely on Saturday arvo, rather tired and worn out. We went out for Indian with lots of Karen's friends but didn't survive long! Chris and I ventured out today to Buckingham Palace, the Queen was in! It is very cold here, even though it is Spring it feels like Winter...no amount of clothes was going to keep us warm, and it rained all day today. After wondering around we went into a quaint English pub for Fish and Chips with peas.
We are managing to get around well with the transport system and have already got our Oyster card (train card - that looks like a credit card that you top up with money...we purchased a weekly for £23.20). I used some of my going away money today to buy a fluffy hat, very cute and warm. Next will be a jacket and some boots. Big day tomorrow with orientation and flat hunting....
PS - something quirky - generally there are no powerpoints in the bathroom in London flats/houses.....the poms can't be trusted with electrical appliances and water..... ha ha ha
PPS - Cadbury chocolate does taste different here! But still yum.....
xoxo

Departure

We will depart for our London adventure on Saturday March the 3rd at 12.45am.