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This trip was always going to be a calamity of mischief, laughs and good times. I didn't expect it to begin so suddenly as at Terminal 5 at Heathrow when Mel & Nath arrived late because they had slept through their alarm - only to be woken by the taxi ringing the doorbell!

Meanwhile, back in Clapham, Nick & I had woken early (an amazing feat for me seeing as Mel, Bec & I had gone out for Mayfair Cocktails the night before) and picked up Mick in a taxi to get to Heathrow right on time: 5.45am to catch our 7.45am flight. Terminal 5 check in was so smooth we were ready then to board! Terminal 5 is a "silent" terminal though, so even as we all wandered down to our gate early at 7.30am, we were still the final passengers to board as everyone else was already on - 15 minutes early. They don't make boarding calls! So, this is what life is like when you catch a BA flight and not Ryanair! Civilised!

We arrived in Munich, and then began our train commute down to Soll. It was very strange to have no idea where we were going, or staying, and completely believing Nath & Mel had it all sorted out for us! After three train connections, we arrived at a train station just north of Soll. We bundled out, with what seemed like most of the train, and jumped into a taxi to take us to "Manor Haus" - the apartments that Nath's auntie and uncle own. Unfortunately the taxi driver  had a few issues with our Australian accent, and had to rely on Nath directing him to the apartments; but upon arrival the cabbie exclaimed: "Ah, Manor Haus!". Those aussie vowel pronounciations let us down again. Upon settlement into our flats - Bec & Art kindly spoiled us with two rooms, one for Nick & I, and one for Mick, Mel & Nath - we then wandered into town to hire ski gear and do the obligatory shopping trip for the week. We also sampled our first Austrian meal: goulash and a local beer.

6 days of skiing in a row we saw a bit of everything; all types of weather, all types of scenery, all types of runs, all types of stacks and all types of people being lifted off the mountain!

Our daily routine in the alps went something like this:

7-9am: Awake and breakfast in Lindsay & Nick's kitchen

10am-11am: Bus up the mountain (er, 10 mins up a slight incline)

11 - 3/4/5pm: Ski until our legs feel the burn/we can't see/we're thirsty/we're tired/it's cold

4:30pm: Apres Ski @ 100% Best Pub in Town

7pm: Home to make dinner (Pity the poor individual whose turn it was to cook that evening)

Memorable Mountain Moments:

The Nail Game

Our first night out in Soll and we ventured down to the Sports Bar. A tiny bar, which is adorned with loads of European sports paraphernalia ... and the nail game. So, the nail game is a log of wood, a hammer, and nails at the disposal of the bar hopping crowd to have a competition who can hit a nail into a log in one hit! That's right! In a PUB?!

Nath's Birthday

Nath celebrated his birthday on the Monday during our holiday to Austria. After a big day of skiing, we descended to Apres Ski where Nath's aunt & uncle joined us for gluwein and jager. It was a hilarious night! There in our ski gear, helmets hung around the table and probably nursing minor injuries or bruises, we enjoyed many a LandBier and Jagers to celebrate Nath's special day. Unfortunately, Mel & I whipped off to the supermarket to buy a few house essentials - only to miss the band and the pub singing Nath happy birthday per Bev's request!

The Itter Trail (aka: Feel the Burn!)

It was a tricky business finding runs that I, being the most junior skiier, could enjoy along with Nath & Mick who had no fear and loved to black-run. We found the 11km Itter Trail that would take us from the top of the mountain, all the way down to the small town of Itter around the other side of one of the mountains. It was a clean, and relatively untouched run (excepting in the slushy afternoons) that wound its way down trees, some steeps bits, some not so steep bits and with plenty of suitable stopping points for the boys after they did a jump and fell over, and they waited for Mel ... then me ... to catch up! But 11km is a long way, baby. After only a third of the distance we were already lamenting: "Feel the burn, feel the burn". But then we'd go back and do it again! We loved that run!

Ice, Ice, Baby

Our third day on the mountain was an icy one. The cloudy day prior, and the cold night with a sunny morning meant that all snow had turned to ice. It was a bit scary for me, but I was as brave as I could be until we had an unfortunate moment on the Red 22. The piste bashers had been out, and some of the runs had changed shape since the day previously and sometimes we couldn't quite recognise them. The Red 22 was such the case. We all surveyed the run and thought that the best way down (as it was a little steep) was over the crest which I agreed with. When I stated it looked a little steep for me, especially with the icy no-brakes conditions we were gliding about it. I think Nick told me it just looked bad because he knew I would never have a go if I knew actually how steep it was! About a third of the way down, and from the top it didn't look far to go, and had fallen a few times on the icy turns, I decided to take my skis off and slide on my butt down. It was only about 10m I thought. Nick tried to talk me out of it, and to try skiing a bit further, but I'd lost my confidence in the ice conditions on the steep slope after seeing a woman being airlifted off the mountain earlier in the day. So, I removed my skis and though I could slowly slide down on my butt....

... but then my butt took off and I ice-slided down about 100m down the slope! I was going so fast, I couldn't stop, at one point Nick tried to grab me as I skidded past, and Mel held out a pole so I might lose momentum! But nothing would stop me! Thankfully, after a starfish impersonation and a lot of desporate grabbing at the ice around me I somehow came to a slow.... stop. I think Mel scolded me.. and was killing herself laughing at the same time!

Poor Nick had to take off his board and walk up the mountain to collect my skis and poles which were still 75m up the mountain from me, and then skateboard down. Thank God for boyfriends!

The boys had all decided it was lunchtime after that. Beer o'clock.

Nick & I did blue runs for the rest of the day (!).

Tobaggan 101 & my Bradbury moment

On our last day, Nick Mel and I swapped in our skis early for our greatly awaited tobaggan adventure! It was 3.6km of tabogganing madness! That's almost as long as the Crackenback Trail back at home!

Neither of us really had any idea what we were doing, but owing to our competitive spirit it was to be a race (!). This was an interesting concept for us to behold, for as soon as we started to take off none of us knew how to steer, or stop, or move, or swerve - or stay on! I have never giggled so much in my entire life as I did down that mountain! We jumped over jumps accidentally, stacked, crashed, ran into each other, cried, missed corners, ran off the track, and so much more the entire way down the mountain! At one point, Nick decided to go head first as he thought this might gain him better steering control. Whatever! If you can't steer, you can't steer!

Eventually, after many bruises and funny incidents (and the important pics to prove it!) we came to the final corner where the race was really going to be run. We all lined up and announced our own ready, set, go! Mel flashed off, Nick behind her, then me trailing (I really can't steer). Mel hit a bump - stacked it. Nick, unable to steer, ran straight up her ass - stacked it (poor Mel). And in a moment of pure genius (and luck) I somehow managed to steer around them - not lose my speed - and cross the finish line - FIRST! 

Hence, I was then therefore known by those to as: Bradbury! Thankfully, they dropped the "Stephen".

Showing our true age, we all exclaimed at the end: "Let's go again!" And we raced back up the top to negotiate our way back down the mountain again. I had so many bruises that night!

Our first European ski trip was all the Nick and I had hoped for: great runs, excellent snow, picturesque views, many fun times and shared with great friends. Now, where will the 101% trip be with Mick living back at the Gold Coast, Mel in Vancouver and Nathan in transit somewhere?! We'll see!

For Christmas, Gail & Yogi bought us a voucher for a "London experience" which included anything from High Tea in Kensington Gardens, to Thames Boat Cruises or spins on the London Eye. We reviewed all the options carefully and finally decided to do something fun and completely random: the Medieval Banquet dinner and theatre experience in Tower Hamlet!

We, and along with the other diners in our medieval party, assembled in Tower Hamlet to be lead below into what would be our medieval den for the evening. The room was set up with long banquet tables in a cellar-type room and riddled with actors and waitors decked out in medieval wear. 

We were seated next to another couple from Kent who had also received this experience as a gift, and the next couple over were from Essex who again - had received the gift for Christmas. Trend, much?

The evening began with a introduction on how to behave medievally: "Wasaa!" is what you yell out before you drink, apparently. The king entered, as per usual introduction by his servants, and the wenches began to bring out our first meal of our 3 course medieval dinner: a ham, cheese and salad platter. And red wine in great jugs. Bliss!

The evening continued in true medieval fashion: dances with hankerchiefs for all the women to participate in, men having to do an obligatory dance, circus acts, jugglers, traditional medieval songs, you name it, it had it! Dinner was a great piece of meat and dessert a strawberry shortcake. Of course, with more and more red wine!

It was such a fun random night, a trip down English memory lane below the city streets of London!

By Celebrity Guest Blogger Nick!

Valentine’s day traditionally conjures images of fluffy teddy bears holding heart shaped objects, men struggling to understand the difference between different celebrity perfumes and far too liberal use of the letter ‘W’ in pwace of ‘L’. So imagine this bloggers delight when he realized February 14, 2009 and would be spent at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin!

On our Friday night flight with Aer Lingus, we were privileged enough to witness a contest between a small child and a jet engine seeing who could produce the most decibels. The small child won. But nonetheless we were delivered safely to Dublin, Ireland – the land of Guinness, Potatoes and Leprechauns. After the bus dropped us in the centre of town late on a Friday evening, where we were able to see the effects of the afore mentioned Guinness in full force, we safely navigated to our Celtic Lodge Guest house.

We awoke Saturday morning early and eager to explore a new city. After consuming a Full Irish Breakfast (strangely similar to a full English) we saw our first landmark – The Spire. This 120m high pin like monument stands in the city center and is affectionately referred to as the “stiletto in the ghetto” by the locals. After our necks became sore from looking at the Spire, and we concluded there was no way possible to capture us and the entire Spire in the one photo, we aimlessly wandered over the River Liffey and eventually found Trinity College. One of the “must do’s” in Dublin is visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells. We had all intentions to until we found it was 10euros! Satisfied we had learned all we could about the Book of Kells from the gift shop we turned out attention to the other “must do” – the Guinness Storehouse tour.

Whilst en route to the Storehouse, we stopped momentarily to take in the view of the Christ Church. Whilst Lindsay was taking photos, I was using the free Tourist Information map to make sure we were on the right path. Suddenly out of the blue an old man with protruding nose hairs stops and asks me “do-ya-know-where-ya-goin-leprechaun-thare-laddie”. Judging by my blank expression he repeated slower. “Do you need some help finding the Guinness Storehouse… laddie”. After confirming his suspicions we were heading to the Storehouse, he pointed and gestured and spoke while I entertained him with repetitive nods and uh-huh’s.

The actual Storehouse was an education on all things Guinness and gave me a new respect for the dark brew. After we learned how to brew, taste and appreciate Guinness fully, we sat down to an outstanding lunch at the restaurant there. In the middle of the actual building is a large glass structure in the shape of a pint glass. The top level of this pint glass is the Gravity Bar offering 360 degree views of Dublin where we were treated to a complementary pint… of Guinness of course. Whilst Lindsay complained of being bloated from too much beer, I appreciated the views of this heavily industrial city.

Feeling a little tipsy from the Guinness, we returned to our room for a nap before again venturing out for Valentines dinner. Initially we were a little concerned about not having a reservation, however our fears were put at ease when a little traditional place took us in. We were given a number and told to sit in the bar and await our number being called. Felt like a meat raffle at the Leagues Club! After hearing number tree, tirteen, and tirty-tree all called, we were shown our table and treated to a lovely meal. After dinner and a couple more drinks at Temple Bar, we called it a night.

Day 2 we decided to visit the Kilmainham Gaol just on the outskirts of the city. The best thing about the Gaol was the Tour Guide who was incredibly passionate about Irish History and was very good at conveying this to a motley tour crew. Feeling a lot more cultured and educated than when we arrived, we did what all cultured and educated folk do – went to the Museum of Modern Art. After appreciating some art for a while, we commuted back into the city for our last meal in Dublin.

We decided to have something cheap in a pub – without beer considering the day we had previously! We found a pub with a live musician (who I would have liked to see in that decibel contest with the small child and jet engine) that seemed to fit the requirements. So two pints of coke, a steak, and club sandwich please barman. 37euro(!) later we decided a cheap pub meal wasn’t our best choice!

Regretfully London was calling again, and time to go home. However by this stage we had decided that we hadn’t yet had enough Guinness, Potatoes or Leprechauns and decided to come again very soon!

Those arctic winds we felt in Cambridge, was not us feeling a pinch of a country breeze; no those were winds brought to us from Siberia. Really. And we know what Siberian winds bring – snow!

As darkness fell on the Sunday, so too did the snow. We were immeasurably excited as the small little parcels of ice fell from the sky. We rushed out with our camera to try and catch some of it on film as a memory of this special treat for us (as we did with every snowfall). It seemed to be coming down hard, but we felt reassured from our experience thus far in London that within 20 minutes the snowfall would cease and it would begin to melt…

Yet, the snow continued. By our bedtime, the snow was still falling intermittently and starting to settle. However, as I fell asleep I felt sure I would wake in the morning and it would all be gone.

At 4:30am, Nick woke me up because Clapham had been transformed into a SNOWHAM! There was a good 20-30cm snow everywhere! I was so excited, I almost couldn’t go back to sleep!

By 6am, we got up and decided to get out there early to try and avoid any type of havoc the snow might cause to London’s public transport system. Of course, we had no idea just how much havoc the snow would cause to London’s public transport system.

I dressed for work, instead with a snow jacket, sneakers and snow gloves as I tried to battle my way along the street, stepping into 20cm thick powder along Clapham Park Road! Buses were cancelled, so I headed to the Tube station to commute my way in. Although some lines were delayed, the Victoria Line was running without a delay.

I was at work by 8am; and as I opened my work email, I started to get all the messages from my work colleagues that due to the weather they couldn’t make it in! Meanwhile, one colleague walked from Wandsworth, and another from Chelsea as they had no other way! As most of the company seemed to be “snowed in”, I whipped through my tasks for the day and decided to head home about lunchtime (I did not fancy having to walk home to Clapham should all the tubes stop running as they were threatening!).

Nick met me at the Common (his boss had sent him home as they didn’t want him snowed in in the office) and we went for a walk around the Common before heading home: there were droves of people playing in the snow. It was as if NOONE had attempted to even go to work! They were all in Clapham Common building rude snowmen, pushing themselves along on sleds, rolling giant snowballs, and having violent snowfights! (No wonder England became the laughing stock of Europe…)

To see a snowfall such as this, which never happens in London anymore, we both feel truly lucky. It was amazing to wake up and have the snow almost knee thick, and see the beauty of a snow-laced suburb right before our very eyes. What an expierence!

With a sunny Saturday forecast, and Mel & Nath planning a day trip to Cambridge to visit family, Nick, Belle, Andy & I decided to join them for the day for a bit of a punt! After nearly missing our train from Kings Cross to Cambridge (Nick and I having to do the madman dash through the rat’s nest that is the London Underground!), the four of us boarded our 45 minute train up to Cambridge. It is so nice to get out of the city sometimes as see some of England’s wide open spaces.

We met Mel & Nath at the bus stop and proceeded to head immediately to the River Cam hoping for a cheap punting price! As it was January, it was much easier to get a punt and get out on the water pretty quickly. Our punter, Alfie (what an appropriate name!), was our guide for the morning as we passed through the Backs of Cambridge. It was actually surprisingly pleasant as we made our way up to Cam Bridge and back. Alfie even threw in a couple of local tales (about his siblings who had studied at Cambridge) for good measure against the historic, well known Nightclimber ones.

After lunch at The Eagle, the pub where the University scientists first announced that they had discovered “the secret of life”. They had finished their proposal for DNA, and celebrated in this pub over a few pints! The ceiling of this pub is also graffittied with notes and signatures of RAF pilots to their loved ones from WWII. For lunch I enjoyed a Beef Yorkshire Pudding Wrap: that is, beef wrapped within a curled up Yorkshire pudding! Interesting. And lovely washed down with a Bulmars.

We signed up for a walking tour of the colleges in the afternoon, and I enjoyed this less than the punting. Although the guide was very good, her tour was laid out for 60 year old daytripper, not the young daytripper and her taletelling reflected this. Either way, we had a glimpse within the colleges and learnt a few tales of Cambridge’s past.

Unfortunately for the tour guide, the Siberian winds started to whip in and caused us to lose concentration on the tour and focus solely on trying to keep warm! Hence, at the end of the tour we headed back to The Eagle for a lovely hot coffee, before boarding our train back to London.

I really enjoyed Cambridge, and our trip up the River Cam by boat. It’s a shame the weather turned frosty at the end and we had to spend the end of the day indoors!

On the eve of Australia Day, we (Melanie, Nath, Nick & I) decided to catch the train up to Yorkshire to spend the weekend with PJ and Lisa. They had just moved into their own 2 bedroom place in Howden (Where? Exactly!) which is a short train ride from York or Hull, depending on your direction of travel. From London, it’s approximately 2 hours on the train. But it seemed much quicker to arrive as we all merrily enjoyed a few bottles of wine on the train up!

Lisa picked us up from the train station (literally, a train station with nothing around, we thought it was an early April Fool’s Day joke at first!) and delivered us to our abode for the weekend: theirs. It was a lovely warm, well fitted out apartment with views of the local church (read: a daily alarm bell!). We immediately began the well overdue catch up with them both, over a few more bottles of wine and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. (I’m not too sure how that last element snuck it’s way in!).

On the Saturday, we caught the 10:30am train from Howden to York. We then spent the day wandering the tiny lanes and window shopping our way around. We were all slightly feeling the effects of the night before, and the many, many, many stairs to the top of the York Minstrel definitely didn’t help! But a good, hearty English lunch did. Pies and roasts all around (washed down with a Coke, much to the boys’ dismay).

We spent the afternoon at the Viking Museum, and seeing Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate. Before a final stop in a traditional sweet store, and then the fudge shop, we then had a cider in a pub that is actually underground in a cellar. Very nice!

On Saturday night, Lisa cooked up a superb curry that we all enjoyed before the Pictionary Competition began! The game became a heated competition of lots and lots of all plays! Drawing with eyes closed, with left hands, without your pen leaving the paper – we had it all! I’ve never laughed so hard in my life! Surprisingly, Melanie & I were victors! ‘Yay us!

It was then Fireworks time. We loaded up Nick’s backpack (actually, it was already packed with goodies) and headed out to the rugby fields across town. We carried nothing but fireworks. The boys set up a great display on the fields, and one by one the rockets hit the sky for a fabulous fire in the sky! Pity about Nath’s unfortunate mud-slide fall as he went to reload……. But hilarious!

Church bells woke us on Sunday morning. After a leisurely breakfast, we went for a wander around Howden before picking one of the local 6 pubs for a Sunday Roast. It went something like this:

Waitress: “Would you like the beef or the pork?”

Us: [We are considering…]

Waitress: “Oh wait, sorry we are out of the pork.”

Us: 5 beefs it is then!

And the roasts they delivered to us could have fed the whole village! Potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and more as a “side” to our gravy and puddings. We had to take that walk around Howden after lunch (through the graveyard? Hmm) just to walk off some of that saturated fat.

By 4pm, it was time for the Londoners to return to the train station to catch our train back south. We had such a wonderful time up in Yorkshire – a sneak peak at the quiet life was great fun!

Rather than dining over a Michelin star dinner and copies amounts of champagne, we decided to go away to the countryside for a nice, quiet and relaxing long weekend to celebrate our second anniversary.

We left London on the Friday evening after work, expecting to arrive at our cottage by 9pm at the latest. Due to the descending foggy weather and low temps (-5C), road visibility was poor and we were struggling to see further than 5m in front of our rental car after we left the M25! An oncoming car was a relief because we could actually see the edges of the road, and also the middle of the road! After stopping in at a petrol station just outside of Cambridge (as my navigator skills were painfully let down by the GPS on Nick’s new phone, and the lack of visibility) so Nick could replenish his energy with red bull and a packaged sandwich, we rang ahead to the cottage to let them know we were running a little late….

We eventually rolled up to Henstead cottages at 10pm! Luckily the owners were night owls. Though, we were literally given the keys and they disappeared for the weekend. They had started the fire for us though (phew).

We spent the weekend sleeping in, finessing the art of fire starting, eating well and roaming the surrounding Suffolk countryside in our little car. It was freezing cold (-5C) for almost all the weekend, which inclined us to be indoors where possible; excepting a beachside stroll in Southwold and a country walk through the Norfolk Broads to see a Roman Fort that has remained relatively untouched and survived the test of time.

Suffolk is a county of patchwork farmland. With very few major roads (or perhaps our keen interest to take tiny country lanes), hedge-lined and with plenty of grass or crop, the peace and quiet is intoxicating. The air is still, there are birds (something we hear very little of in London!) and the smell of trees in the air. It was such a refreshing and lovely break into a slower, peaceful side of English living.

Our cottage was super comfy: a massive queen size bed, a warm and comfy lounge area and a brand new kitchen. My favourite feature though was definitely the wood fire: all those camping trips as a oungster came in handy in achieving the perfect combination of newspaper, kindling and hard wood to warm us up! Each morning was a greeting of peace and quiet, not even a rooster to wake you. What a relaxing, regenerating and lovely weekend for us in celebrating of our deux ans.

We did read the cottage guestbook to snoop on what others had done during their time in Henstead Cottages. Everyone else saw a woodpecker.

But not us.

The end of 2008 has descended suddenly in temperature, making the evenings very chilly indeed. London is usually relatively balmy compared to other northern habitats; but we were starting to experience close to zero everynight. Brr!

Since we stayed in London for Christmas, we also were looking at bringing in the new year in London as well. We arranged to have a group dinner in Piccadilly at an Italian Restaurant called Biagio. After tallying everyone up, we had a group of ten of us for the evening: Nick, myself, Melanie, Nath, Mel’s friends Kevin, Kirsten & Gareth, Gareth’s parents from Oz, and Tim. We drank many bottles of red wine (wine blanket) and enjoyed some fabulous (and yet surprisingly cheap) Italian food. By 10:30pm, we decided we’d better head down to the Thames!

We navigated our way down to the Thames in the frosty -1C air, we had come prepared with red wine in a soft drink bottle (felt like we were teenagers again!) as glass is banned in the surrounds of Westminster bridge. Some of the areas had been closed by the police, but we managed to find a perch on some stairs near the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) where we could view the fireworks display and have some room to move. Perfect for a big penguin huddle to keep warm!

We had such a fun night! The fire in the sky brought in the new year with a surprise as we were too far away to hear the count down; but we all offered our applause and celebrated the turn of another year. Welcome ’09!

As we ventured off to Norway for Christmas last year, staying in London for Christmas was a real treat this time. London certainly goes all out for Christmas: fairy lights galore, department stores are decoration-mad, and the people crush on Oxford Street, or in Harrods, is only to be experienced to be known.

As I work just a couple of blocks south from Oxford Street (where my bus also drops me off), my stop-drop-and-roll to battle the Christmas shoppers was a daily occurrence. Being little, I had the advantage of weaving my way through the crowd, but at the end of a long day at work (well it felt long seeing as the sun didn’t rise until 9am and it was to bed by 3.30pm!) the last thing I felt like doing was going against the tide up Oxford Street. Or being crushed into a line onto the bus and hoping for a seat. You know, because all that shopping has to sit somewhere on its journey home, right?

Harrods: our near death experience!

I decided to buy some lovely Harrods Christmas decorations for my Mum for Christmas as she had visited us in September, and it was a nice reminder of her time here in London that she could reflect on every time she put up our Christmas Tree at home. But, when we lined up on Nov 30 at 11.15am just to get into Harrods (Was there a sale we wondered? Was someone famous inside? Why all the commotion?) we were every man for themselves in the Christmas department. And the food department. And the perfumery department. And wait, yes, all of them. Once we had selected our Christmas purchases, we were dismayed when we were informed by the customer service attendants that we could not purchase anything before midday! It was 11.30! We had to “browse” in a crush where you could barely move for 30 minutes without going insane!

We kept out cool, we got into a cashier line and waited. Once through the line, we made a beeline for the exit. Harrods and Christmas? A London experience. But never again!

Work Christmas Party x 3

Due to the current economic climate, Christmas cheer was a little more limited when it came to free champers from your employers. I wasn’t alone in working for a company that had to scale things a little bit back this year – I was able to enjoy our big company do in the New Bond Street galleries (sampling Clemintine Martinis, Pie & Mash and karaoke during the evening), whilst also enjoying a BYO (now buy your own!) Marketing department Christmas lunch at Cha Cha Moon’s near Carnaby Street (http://www.carnaby.co.uk/stores/stores_item.cfm?store_id=255&cat_id=8 ) where a main set us each back approx 3.50 GBP each! Our Marketing division (marketing, design, display, magazine, catalogue production etc) enjoyed a BYO Sainsbury’s wine & cheese evening on a desk in our department, loving decorated with hand-made banners and snowflakes courtesy of us! It was probably the funnest one of the three, finishing up about 9pm and full of lovely wine and cheese! Plus as I spend most of my time working with these departments it was really lovely to celebrate with them.

Christmas Day

Santa was working against me this year, and I came down with the flu on the 23^rd December which prevented me from joining in some of the pre-Christmas cheer (including Xmas Eve drinks with Simone). However, on the big day, enjoying the comforts of my own home and central heating Nick and I enjoyed a lovely London Christmas. No snow, but still!

We woke up about 8am and did all of our Christmas calls to our loved ones in Australia until about 9am. It was nice to hear that everything at home was how it should be – bloody stinkin’ hot, with everyone enjoying cold platters and plenty of booze late into the summer night! Following our calls, we went to do the annual present opening. How excitement!

My dear St. Nick spoiled me rotten. I received so many lovely presents. Of course, I had to try and wear them all at once – all day! We spent the day lounging about, watching DVDs (apparently that’s what the British do) and preparing for our turkey feast that night.

Nick became the TURKEY MASTER this Christmas. He cooked up the most delectable succulent bird, stuffed with sage & lemon, and some lovely roasted parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and beans. Melanie joined us for dinner after she had finished work that day. We enjoyed Christmas crackers, silly hats, jokes, turkey, champers, santa hats, and apple pie before retiring to bed late into the night.

A quiet Christmas, but a lovely & scrumptious one too!

Iceskating at Somerset House

As we iceskated at the 02 and Tower Hill icerinks last year, I was very keen to experience Somerset House for this one. We arranged with Melanie, Nath, Tim and us to go on the 30^th as it proved very difficult to get into a session. It is the most popular ice rink in London!

We met for dinner at 6pm in Covent Garden at the lovely Le Café du Jardin, a French restaurant Nick and I enjoyed before the Lion King upon my return to London. We could enjoy the set menu for 2 courses + coffee for 13 pounds (http://www.lecafedujardin.com/)! A delectable, and cost-effective pre skating feed!

Somerset House is truly the prettiest ice skating rink of them all. It is so picturesque, with it’s Tiffany Christmas tree and majestic building backdrop. As usual the blades were blunt, but that did not deter us from very much enjoying our skating time and helped me to slowly hone my ice skating skills. We should really go ice skating more often! I love it!

Arriving back at Heathrow was such a relief after playing the visa waiting game for much longer than I had intended. The aussie weather was balmy, warm and relaxing, but it is so nice to be back sleeping in my own bed, making coffee from my own kettle, catching the 88 to my 9-5 job (though I hate having our office in a basement), and catching up with friends over a pint at a local pub in Clapham.

G et al for one night only

My first night back also coincided with Georgia, Chelyn and Nadine’s last night in London. Thanks to the snail-like response for my visa, rather than spending a week with my sister in London (like we had originally planned) I had but a night instead. Nick had the lovely opportunity to share our flat with three 20 year old girls, and have the chance to show them around London while I was stuck back in Australia! A little confused thanks to jetlag, we spent the night with the girls introducing them to GBK which is on Clapham High Street. The girls loved the burgers, and it gave them a chance to tell me of their time in London before they eurostarred it over to Paris and beyond. It was a lovely evening, and I wish ever so much we could afford to pay the extortionate flight cost to go to meet them in Florence for Christmas (again, as planned). Unfortunately, the 500 pound round trip for both of us (plus accommodation etc) was slightly out of reach for me after not working for 2 months in Australia! I am still hoping I will be able to rendez-vous with the girls in another European city before they depart back to Brisbane.

The view from St Paul’s, finally

My second weekend back in London, Nick and I took advantage of the perfectly blue skies and spent our Saturday out and about. We met Mel for breakfast at London Bridge (Browns on the Thames) and then by midday we were a Borough Markets to meet Andy and Belle. We wandered the (crammed) stalls sampling the many cheese, dip, olive oil, chocolate and bakery stalls. Nick is now self conscious about accepting samples from the stallowners, as he’s frequented the markets so many times that he thinks they’ve started to recognize him! We ended up purchasing some Drunk Cheese, the others sampled the fresh oysters for lunch and we all lined up for ages for the essential Monmouth Coffee.

We then caught the tube up to Angel to visit the Camden Passage markets where one of Mel’s work friends has started a cupcake stall. Belle and I were so excited for cupcakes, it was bound to be the one day that her stall wasn’t there! Apparently Sundays only. Damn. We wandered the little antique market (so cute! Islington is so lovely!) and I picked up a small Christmas ornament as a reminder of our London Christmas. True, it’s our second overseas but it will be our first in London (while everyone else escapes to Europe for the bank holidays!).

After the markets, we headed south bank to Bank where we took the short walk to St Paul’s. A sunny day in London is not to be missed for a sightseeing opportunity! After living in London for 20 months, we finally found the day where I could climb the cupola of St Paul’s! We had gone to visit St Paul’s another day, but climbing to the top had been closed on that particular day.

The climb wasn’t so steep (it ain’t got nothing on St Peter’s Basilica!), and the view across London was fabulous. The only disappointment was that is was 3.30pm, and although dusk can be beautiful, unfortunately the sun was setting so strikingly that it was almost blinding us. And impossible for photos!

Christmas in London

December has been a gradual descent into the depths of winter: how quickly I forgot the usual routine of umbrella + mittens + coat + scarf + beanie + paschmina! Yes, it’s quite chilly here back in sunny London. But there is a feeling of magic, festivity and celebration as the grand L prepared for all the bling of Christmas.

The department stores, High Streets, and big brands have got their very best Christmas lights up, the sky high trees are up in the squares (including Trafalgar) and the streets are packed with Christmas shoppers.

The next twelve days will be filled with finishing up work for the year, Christmas parties (I have three for work alone), preparing our Christmas Day feast menu, and essentially joining in on all the Christmas cheer!