The Good, the Bad and the Average
We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary this fortnight with a couple of nights away at a hotel near Covent Garden. (For a flashback see our Perth and Melbourne wedding photos.) We visited the London Transport museum, and gained an insight into exactly what the tube drivers who take us to work every day see, and wow: it's a dark tunnel! Also, we tried hard to see a show, being so close to the theatre district, but left it too late, and saw a film instead. Sunday we stopped into the Apple shop on Oxford Street and bought Kate an iPod Mini. That night was spent uploading albums onto it...
This week we've said two farewells, the first to Kate's grandfather Ray who passed away peacefully Tuesday morning. He was a wonderful, lovely, man and will be greatly missed but the long journey of the last twelve months is at last at an end. Ray may no longer be with us but he's left behind lots of great memories, bad jokes and family legends; we were lucky to have him in our lives and he'll be greatly missed.
On a much happier note (well you know what we mean) we also bid our housemate Phil a fond farewell as he moved across London to a larger room, 3 female housemates and a bed that's located on the floor. We had a great house dinner at the local Indian "Jazz" restaurant and welcomed our new Australian housemate, Tony, the next morning. Ah London, the city of Aussies.
It's been three months since we moved to London, and we feel like old hands now. It's about time we shared our considerable wisdom, and gave you a bit of an insight into what we love, what we hate, and what we've observed about this crazy metropolis.
| The Good | The Bad | The Average |
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| Great lunches. The British really understand the sandwich and just how fantastic it can be. The bread, the fillings, the level of innovation, it's all good. |
Breakfasts. Greasy bacon, cold tomatoes, average eggs and deep fried bread. And who ever thought frying a croissant on a hotplate was acceptable?! |
There are other regions of the world that have food apart from India! No matter how good a curry is, variety is the spice of life! |
| The Tube. Amazing amounts of people moved around every day across a massive city. |
The Tube. The signalling failures and delays, the brand new Archway escalator that constantly breaks down forcing the station to close, and the weekday sardine crush. |
The rest of UK public transport. Trains, expensive but fast, buses, cheap but often late. But hey, next weekend we're flying to Glasgow for £40 each! |
| London sunshine. Is there anything more lovely than golden light on green, green grass? |
The constant drizzle, the sun setting at 5pm and the fact that it's only now getting light in the mornings. |
The damp coat smell of 100 Londoners shoved in a crowded tube carriage. Kate got on the tube last week and thought 'Wow, someone here obviously lets their wet dog sleep on their coat' and then realised that there was a wet dog at her feet. |
| The sites of London. |
Trying to fit them all in! |
Now we have a social life we don't have all weekend to do exactly as we please, and we actually have people we'd like to catch up with. Really this is a good thing isn't it? :-) |
| The British newspapers. The Guardian is possibly the world's most cynical broadsheet. Favourite reviews include last week's drumming of the new "Come See New Zealand" campaign, written by the Australian who edits the TV guide. It's got to the point where we read out our favourite 'Guardian' moments to each other each weekend. |
The British television. TV personalities who literally stand at the top of ladders or balance on benches as they read out the headlines, reporters who verbally attack interviewees and pop-up interactive maps that obscure the presenter. And this is all during the nightly news! |
British media in general. How many history and lifestyle shows does one country really need? Personal favourites include: Shows about programs about buildings that have been pulled down, "Too Posh to Wash" and Kate's new fav, "Celebrity Radical Detox" which seems to include sticking straws up your nose in the Andes and eating moss in the Amazon. |
If you're still reading any of this, check out photos of our recent trip to the Tower Of London.
- 14th February 2005
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It was time to visit another castle... |
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