A relaxing weekend

Last week can be described as long and tiring. On Thursday I was told by work I was off to Aberdeen on Friday for work. I had to get up ridiculously early, 4am ready to get the taxi to the airport for a 5:50am flight to Aberdeen. It was a silly hour to travel, the plane was almost empty. I had to go to work at an event for BP at Aberdeen University. After a very long day I caught a flight back to London to see friends for dinner. I was only 30 minutes late which is pretty good in my books. After a lovely dinner at a nice French place we went for drinks at a pub near by. We caught the last tube for the night and surprisingly there were not too many crazies on the tube.

Saturday we were up at the nice hour of 10am. It is so easy to sleep in at our place. We have the heaviest curtains that let no light in at all. It has its bonuses but it makes it so hard to get up on a work day. Once we dragged ourselves out of bed we headed to a friend's place so I could get my hair cut and have a nice Japanese lunch. Ben made friends with a really cute dog on the couch while watching the football with Steven.

On Saturday night, I was still exhausted from my early Friday but we dragged ourselves out in the cold to try a Vietnamese place about 15 minutes away by public transport. It was incredibly food, it was cheap and cheerful. We felt like we were in China Town in the Valley. It made me miss my weekly Vietnamese salads I used to have each week when I was working at Clemenger. I miss Heidi at The Vietnamese Restaurant. My beef salad and quail was great. Benny had a little bit of meal jealousy I think.

On Sunday we woke quite early as we were determined to get to Henley-on-Thames. We had made so many attempts but late night outs have prevented us a few times. It only took just over an hour on the train. I would like to add that we were on the most filthy train I have ever been on in my life. It was gross, I can't believe people could be so disgusting and not clean up after themselves. I think it is also disappointing that at 11am in the morning the First Western trains can't clean it up, not that they deserve to clean such a mess. I wanted to take a picture and send it through. They expect people to pay for such expensive tickets yet they can't keep it clean. We changed trains for the last 15 minutes of the journey and it was very clean so First Western had redeemed themselves slightly. Sadly it wasn't a bright sunny day but it was still good as we had no rain.

We went here for lunch. 

We had a lovely walk around the town and had a great lunch at the Angel pub just alongside the bridge. Ben opted for the roast lamb with mint jelly and a Yorkshire pudding. I went for the grilled sea bass. I have a little obsession with seafood at the moment. Ben did say that the seafood is going to be so much better when we get home in 3 weeks.

Sunday night was finished with a lovely dinner at home catching up on our tv programmes for the week and me crocheting on the couch. I think I might just finish the blanket before the winter ends. This Wednesday is Benny's birthday, so we will go out for a nice dinner. On Thursday we are going to a play about Harvey Milk who was shot dead in the 70's in San Francisco.

The worst part about this week is it won't get higher than 5 degrees.

A quietish week

So work is still ridiculously busy and it doesn't look like it will get any better until we fly back to Australia. We are due back in 4 weeks. This week has been fairly quiet, there's been a reduction of poo parcels in our street which is always a plus.

On Saturday Benny walked to the very close Fulham Stadium to watch Newcastle and Fulham. It takes about 20 minutes to walk there. As the crow flys it is directly opposite our house across the river. We can hear the cheery when we have the windows open. Ben's friend follows Newcastle very closely, sadly they lost. I spent the morning having a facial at Liberty's, a nice department store in London. I met the Ben and his friends after at the Jolly Gardeners for a good pub dinner before meeting some friends in Clapham. It is weird seeing girls wear pretty much what girls wear in summer at home on a cold wintery night. Bare legs every where. My friend and I felt very over dressed with our jackets and boots on. The weather is actually warming up. I might have to go back to the trench jacket soon.

On Sunday we went to a local cafe down the road. We have walked past it a few times and it is always packed. When taking Em and Sam to the airport we met a cabin crew man who lives only a few streets from us and he raved about the food there. On Sunday we decided to try it. One thing that needs to be mentioned that UK make the best pub food and the best fish pies. Since trying my first fish pie months ago I haven't looked back. It is filled with salmon, haddock, prawns and the best bit is mash potato with melted cheese on top. The one at Hudson's in Putney is the best I've ever had. It was so delicious. Benny opted for the mandatory Sunday roast lamb. It came with a very good Yorkshire pudding and mint jelly with red currants.

Another highlight of the week was finishing yet another book. Londoners by Craig Taylor, it was a Christmas present from Benny. It was a great book that makes you love and hate London for what it has to offer. I highly recommend it.

This Friday we are celebrating Ben's birthday with some of our friends in Convent Garden. It will be a really good night.

A whinging POM

So I'm going to start off with a whinge, like the POMs do so well, and then end on a happy note. I promise. So there is a little problem that has been mounting up and tonight it reached an all time high. Dog poo, it is a massive issue. I was blaming it on have the RSPCA hospital at the end of the street and now I can't blame it on the shelter anymore. It is the rude people that walk their dog in the street. So Sunday after a pretty big night we went to Richmond for a walk around the shops and while waiting for the bus I stood in a massive pile of poo. Not just one poo but three poo's all mushed together. It was gross. How can someone walk their dog and let it go to the toilet on the middle of the foot path and just leave it there, right at the bus stop to let nice, friendly people like me step in poo. Tonight topped it off after getting home from work at 8pm I counted and avoided 20 separate dog poos over the space of 1 kilometre. It was like hop scotch the whole way along. Quite literally this is a rubbish situation. I'm thinking of putting signs up on every tree.

So on a happier note, Alex and his girlfriend came to visit last week. It was so good to see them. I took two days off work to be a brilliant tour guide. When Em and Sam were visiting we never walked as much. On Tuesday we rushed into town to watch the Changing of the Guards. After all my visits to London I had never experienced this spectacle. It was pretty cool, and the tourists really loved it. The only weird thing that I couldn't really explain was why they played 'All you need is Love'. I was under the assumption that the marching band would play marching songs. A few other odd songs were played. Overall it was really good, and will definitely being taking Nan and Pop and all the rest of visitors.

After watching the marching bands we were off to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. It was great to have Alex over as he loves art as much as me. So he was completely up for galleries.

On our second day of the London tour we headed to Richmond in search of deer. This video may have encouraged the search for trying to find deer, Jesus Christ - Richmond Park . So we ventured out to Richmond and went on a lovely walk and came across a few squirrels. We almost gave up on trying to find the deer. We saw a few horses and asked a few dog walkers whether they had seen any deer. This lovely fellow told us that if we walked over this ridge and into the woods we could see them and he wasn't wrong. We came across at least 50 deer.

After the Richmond we jumped on a bus and train and within an about 45 mins to an hour we were at Tower Bridge meeting Benny for lunch at Borough Markets. Alex spent up big on homewares for his house in Emerald. We went to the Tate Modern and I had a little art lesson on the modernists. The sunset was gorgeous at the end of the day so we walked across the Millennium Bridge to St Pauls Cathedral.

Sarah and Alex left on Friday night and we had one last dinner with them at Heathrow Airport. I think we might just become regulars at the pub there.

We had a nice weekend. We celebrated our friend's birthday on Saturday night and had a sticky beak at their new place. On Monday Tara Border came to stay for two nights. She left today. It was so nice seeing her after many, many years. The rest of the week is horrible on the work front. Tomorrow I have a sewing lesson as it was included in my  Christmas present that Benny gave me.

It is 5 weeks today until we fly back home.

Farewell Em & Sam

Sadly Em and Sam had to return home on Thursday night. They managed to squeeze in more sight seeing while we had to work. We had a nice farewell dinner in Brick Lane, as it is Em's favourite place for Indian.

We were also lucky enough to see my cousin Grant and his partner Alison. Unfortunately Em was unwell so she couldn't come. Ben and I had a few drinks and another curry. It was a great restaurant that has been around since 1946.

The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet. We went out for a lovely date night dinner on Saturday at Covent Garden. Tomorrow Alex and his girlfriend Sarah arrives to stay with us until Friday. I've got two days of work for a bit of sight seeing. So this week looks busy with lots of dinner and a visit to Tower 42.

A little bit of Wurst and Haggis for Christmas and New Year

So we have just come home from an incredible ten days away in Munich, Inzell and Edinburgh. Our longest time was in Munich with Em and Sam. We spent Christmas at the Ratskellar with Em and Sam's friends. The Ratskellar is a restaurant in the cellar of the town hall. Being the Christmas period a lot of the shops were closed so we were forced to spend most of the time in the Hofbrauhaus beer hall and eating pork knuckles.

After leaving Sam and Em in Munich we headed to Inzell for a lovely few days with Renate, Hans and Alexander. Jutta unfortunately had to work in Vienna. Whilst in Inzell we did a bit of sledding, walking and Ben tried  cross country skiing. On my last turn sledding I did have a stack and luckily for Ben he caught it on camera. I may regret this but I have uploaded it so you can all see.

After leaving Inzell we had a quick night in Munich to catch up with Alex. Once again, dinner and drinks at the Ratskellar and Hofbrauhaus as it was Alex and Sarah's first night in Bavaria.

After leaving Munich we flew to Edinburgh to meet up with some friends for New Year. We stayed in a really cute 18 room hotel. We were looked after so well, they made us soup and hot bread rolls on New Year night. Also when we arrived I was sick with the silly cold again and they made me a honey and lemon plus a Scottish cure of green ginger wine with whisky. I thought it was delicious. It is now my Scottish drink of choice.  While in Edinburgh we saw most of the sights and some of us climbed the extinct volcano. I had to pass as I was too sick. For New Year we went to the annual street party with thousands of people. It started off a clear night, not too cold but ended up leaving a little early as the rain and wind started. Once home we spent a few hours drinking in the small bar with the owners Max and Annette, the drinks we on the house which was very kind. Sadly the shops were shut on 1 Jan so we couldn't hit the sales. 

We met Sam and Em for a drink this afternoon at one of our local pubs. They kindly made us dinner. Em and Sam leave on Friday which will be terribly sad. It won't be long until we catch up again as we'll be back in Brissie in about 7 weeks. Yeh!!!!!