Last week before heading to Brisbane

Last week wrapped up nicely at work, which was a massive relief. On Friday night we had a few people over for dinner. Benny cooked a great meal and I even made desert. The dinner was a lot of fun, it didn't wrap up until 2:30 in the morning. We had to get up super early compared to our usual weekend sleep in at 8 so we could get a train to Derby. Mum gave Ben and I a voucher for Christmas, a weekend away and we chose Derby. It is just under 2 hours from Kings Cross St Pancras. Derby is a similar size to Toowoomba, and has as nice river and lots of cathedrals.

We had a quiet Saturday night eating at a nice restaurant just a short walk from our hotel. On Sunday morning we walked along the river and did a bit a shopping.

In the afternoon we went looking for a pub to watch the Liverpool, Brighton game. We had our phones out trying to find potential pubs that might be playing the game. I called 3 pubs and we walked into about 6 pubs, none of which had the football on. It was a very important game as Liverpool was playing for a place in the FA Cup quarter finals. We were starting to get frustrated as the trusty Wetherspoons weren't even playing the game. We had decided to stay longer in Derby in order to see this game as we wouldn't have been able to get back to London in time. So finally we found the all important sticker that pubs place on their door, the Sky sports sticker. The sticker this time was in a hotel window. We walked in and sadly no football. The nice girl however, told us that the pub she used to work at plays the games. Now the funny thing in this whole story is that the pub we eventually found an hour later was across from the restaurant that we had dinner at the night before. We both got asked for ID. The best bit was Liverpool won 6 to 1. Partially because Brighton scored 3 own goals for Liverpool. I have never watched such an entertaining game.

Also my highlight of today, was firstly not having to go to work and having lunch with Melissa but for the lovely bus driver who let me ride on the bus for free. Sometimes we can complain about the transport in London but today it shined. Tomorrow I am spending the day in Putney having a sewing lesson before flying out on Wednesday. I'm thinking about heading to the pool as well for a quick dip. I went today and nearly drowned as I was so tired. Only 2 more sleeps, I'm just a little bit excited.

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Not long until we have sun

There isn't much to report from the past week. We are just getting excited to the lead up of returning home for a few weeks. Last week was a really long week of work for me and Ben did a lot of waiting for me to come home. It was freezy cold and we had a little bit of snow. It was so beautiful seeing the trees across from Putney Bridge covered in snow. It was slightly romantic and made you appreciate what winter is really supposed to be like. One thing that is missing from this shot is the rowers which had just finished there very early morning training.

On Friday night we tried a new pub just a 10 minute walk away. It was really nice food. I had to go for the salad option after having a massive lunch of Mexican with work. It was tough, I had to eat Mexican two days running. On Thursday I went to a really cool Mexican restaurant in Soho called Wahaca with my old Energex clients. It was so nice to catch up with them. It made me miss my old job so much. While I was at dinner Benny went and played football with my work people. He had a good game playing in the snow and they only lost by 1 goal. Lucky that this snow fall wasn't as bad as last week so all tubes were running.

Over the weekend we watched the Liverpool game on Saturday in the pub, I went for a swim at the local pool and we went in the evening to Clapham. We met friends and watched more football in a really dodgy pub referred to as the Sl** and Legless (Slug and Lettuce). We think it is almost as bad as the Victory back at home. After we watched Newcastle get walloped by Tottenham we had a nice Japanese meal. On Sunday we met a friend for lunch in Hampstead which is in North London. We had never been there before, it was so hilly. The houses were a little different to what we have in Putney. A lot of famous people like Jamie Oliver and Jude Law live around this area. The house below was really unusual it look like Noah's Ark. It wasn't joined to anything which was so unusual for London. Generally all the houses here just line up in a row with shared walls.

For lunch we went to the Holly Bush, it was recommended by a good friend at work. It was a great pub on top of a hill surrounded by about 8 cute little houses. It had a gorgeous up there, it felt like you were away from all the hustle and bustle of London. As per usual I went with the fish pie and Ben went for the roast. This fish pie was really different from all the others that I have tried because it was slightly flavoured with curry. I would rate this as the second favourite. After lunch we explored the shops and I picked up a jacket that was 60% off which will be good for Spring. I just love the sales here. They really do it properly.

This weekend we are off to Derby for a night. We have friends coming over for dinner on Friday night so hopefully it won't be too much of a struggle to get up. Derby is close to Nottingham Forest. We are not exactly sure what we will do but I'm sure it will be nice to see another part of the UK. I depart on Wednesday back to Brisbane and Ben leaves on Friday. We hope to catch up with as many people as possible. I'm only making a quick trip of a week to Brisbane before heading to Perth to be bridesmaids.

S is for Snow and F is for Freezing

This weekend we had snow in London. It was fantastic but also chaos. London is not too prepared for the once a year snow that falls. Last night we had about 10 centimetres fall. We were at our friends house in Clapham for a lovely meal for their house warming. When I left our house it had just started lightly snowing. At the end of dinner the snow was really falling. The boys took the opportunity to go and have snow ball fights outside. Jackets and gloves were apparently not required for the fights. The boys came in very wet and cold but they did have a lot of fun. At about 12 we thought it was time to think about getting home. It was no surprise no buses were running, no trains and two cab companies had closed for the night. Luckily someone turned up in a cab and Jimmy the nice driver drove us back to Putney. The traffic was chaos and so many people were on the street trying to get home and playing in the snow.

We woke up this morning to the snow still outside. Only a little bit had melted away. I was pleased to have bought the snow shoes back in Germany as they were required on the way to the grocery shops. There were no street cleaners taking the snow away. The best place to walk was in the middle of the road as the footpath was just like a slushy and a little icy. Hopefully tomorrow's adventure to work isn't too hard. A few stations closed this morning as they had no staff. The joys of London. We had plans to go to north London today to explore but it was postponed due to the snow.

The first signs of snow on my way out. 

On our way to the grocery store. 

We had a good rest of the week, with Benny's birthday and going to a play on Thursday. The only problem this week was how freezing it was. It was horrible, the mild weather has definitely disappeared. Ben said by the time we get back from Australia it should be a lot warmer. Fingers crossed.