Hey Everyone...
Putting this together took me much longer than I had hoped, so I apologize to anyone who has been wondering what happened to me, and why I didn't really stay in touch. Turns out, moving your life to another country is a little bit more hectic and time consuming. Though, the transition for Lou and I was rather smooth, all things considered...
I'm not exactly sure how to sum up the last 3 months, so I guess it might be easiest to go back to beginning...
We arrived in England on the 22nd of January - tired, and sleep deprived. Our first few days were spent with Lou's friend, Carly - a fellow Australian who Lou met while working in Canada. We took some time to explore London, but the majority of our first week was spent recovering. The jet lag hit me pretty hard, and I got pretty sick for a few days there... We did fit in some of the sights though - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square.
View from the bridge. London Eye on the left, Big Ben & Westminster Abbey on the right.
Liverpool Street Station - one of the many Tube stations in the city. I actually got stopped by the police on day for having my camera out at the Warren Street Station. Suspicion of Terrorism was the reason for the search and record check!
Big Ben.
Buckingham Palace. Not all that interesting, though I guess inside might be...
Guard marching.
My favourite might have been the stop at King's Cross station to see platform nine and three quarters.
Turns out, I'm not a wizard.
After 5 or so days with Carly, we made the move to Pam and David's house. Pam is my uncle Ed's cousin who lives in Colnbrook, a small village not too far from Heathrow Airport - about an hour or so from Central London. We spent close to a month staying with Pam and David - and are thankful that they were willing to put up with us for so long. Colnbrook is a great little village, though, regretfully, I have no pictures to post. Just down the street f rom where we were staying is the Ostrich Inn - an awesome little restaurant, and what claims to be the 3rd oldest Inn in England. Historical records show that one of the original inn keepers was hanged when found guilty of murdering many of his guests. The murderous inn keeper would put his victim in his 'best' room for the night, and while they slept, he would pull a lever which caused the foot of the bed to drop into the floor, sending the victim sliding out of the bed and into a cauldron of boiling water. Creepy...
For the most part, we spent our first month looking for work and a place to live. Lou found work during our second week here, and so she had to jump into the daily grind fairly soon after our arrival. While Lou was at work, I spent my days wandering the areas near Colnbrook looking for work and housing opportunities. After a few days in London, we were pretty certain that we wanted to live a little ways away. Far enough to get a way from the hectic life within the city, but close enough too, so that we would be able to take the train in when we wanted to do so... After some research, we decided that Windsor was the place - less than an hour from London, contains the most famous castle in England, big enough so that there is no need to leave - and an easy commute to work for Lou via the South West Train Service. Lou, by the way, works at the West Middlesex Hospital, in Richmond - funny how she came from a job in Richmond, B.C.
Though it took some time to get everything sorted, I soon found myself a job at a little restaurant called Gourmet Burger Kitchen - though, it is part of a chain of about 50 or so other locations across the U.K. Work keeps me busy, and the restaurant is about a 5 minute walk from our front door, so convenience is a plus for sure! Oh yeah - we also found ourselves a little studio flat in Windsor. We are just around the corner from the castle, and right across the street from a nice park - they just started turning the fountains on too, kids are already running around in bathing suits even though it is just starting to get warm enough to be out in a t-shirt. They really like to take advantage of nice weather while they have it I guess... Here are some pictures of our little place...
Our tiny kitchenette.
Our bed - about 2 feet from the kitchenette!
View from on the bed - we even have a table!
Though we haven't done too much in the way of serious travel yet - we have been using our days off to see what we can, within a day or weekends reach of Windsor of course.
Stonehenge.
Two Ladies Sitting - this was at the ancient Roman Baths - in Bath. Only interesting because the place was so busy, and I somehow caught these two in the clear, looking rather confused.
We took a trip to Oxford in March - though we would like to go back once the weather warms up a little more - rent some bikes for the day maybe... Oxford is special because they filmed a lot of Harry Potter there at Christ Church College. I didn't tell Lou this until we were there...
The great hall at Christ Church - just like the great hall at Hogwarts!
We also spent an hour or so at one of the many museums in Oxford. The museum of Natural History. Pretty awesome, though we could have used more time I think. I also found this little guy in one of the mammal displays...
Bedes?
Though we have yet to do any big trips - we did make it up to Sheffield and Nottingham for a weekend away. Lindsay Bales, an old friend of mine who now lives in Sheffield, showed us around town - took us by the office of the clothing company she works for (Dropdead Clothing - a pretty impressive clothing line started by a teenage guy. Now his entire family helps run the company). After lunch and a movie at Lindsay's place, we hopped on train to Nottingham to see some more of my old friends. A band called Moneen, out of Ontario, whom Lights Below did a little bit of touring with back in 2007, was playing in Nottingham, and it was great to see them play again - they were amazing as usual! The next day was spent exploring Nottingham. Though we didn't have time to make it to the Sherwood Forest, we did visit Nottingham Castle, and learnt a lot about the legend of Robin Hood.
Robin Hood statue near Nottingham Castle.
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem - the oldest inn in England! Essentially, this inn is built into the cliffs upon which Nottingham castle stands. There are caves and passages all around under the castle, and the inn connects to many of these cave networks.
Our most recent trip was over to Wales for the weekend. Karly, a friend whom I used to work with, has also relocated to England. After meeting them for dinner one Thursday night, we made plans to rent a car with her and her husband Shaun - and spend the weekend road tripping around Wales. There is a bakery called Gregg's over here, which makes me smile each time I see it - but, what I saw at Gregg's in Cardiff, Wales was just a little bit too strange...
Notice the first four and the last four letters on the sign...
After the discovery I made on the sign, these fine Welsh lads demanded that I take their picture. They were drunk.
Somewhere along the coast of Wales.
In Cardiff, on our first evening, we went on the Llandaff Ghost Walk. In a group of about 15, we were led through what we're told is one of the most haunted areas of the United Kingdom. Through cemeteries, past catherdrals, and alongs rivers we walked as our host told us stories of hauntings and strange happenings - many of which have been witnessed on his walks. At one point, I thought I heard a ghost peeing in the bush beside me. Turns out, it was just a cat - but one who happened to look a lot like my cat at home...
Pretty Lady!
Llandaff Cathedral at night.
Next weekend, we are going to Switzerland. Zurich to be precise. Lou has a friend there, who has offered us a place to stay. We would also like to make it to Lucerne - about 45 minutes from Zurich. It will be a quick trip - just for one night - but it will be great to finally get away!
I hope that from now on, I will be a little bit more organised with my pictures and with regular updates. I have also been working on a rather interesting project with my 'Kiwi' mate, Stefan - we plan to launch the website for this project in the next week or so. Ideally, it will involve us, the Queen of England, and a lot of tea... I will explain soon!
Until next time...
