Life in London is bright and the beautiful Isle of Wight...

It seems a lifetime ago that we last touched base with you, all the way from scenic Scotland. We’ve settled back into life rather nicely and are starting to think about all those practical things like getting jobs, and more importantly setting up Sky!

Our last day in Edinburgh was perfect; despite getting off to a rocky start when we were issued with a parking ticket (the parking wardens here are vicious!), but to take our minds off the expensive start we headed out for a traditional Scottish breakfast: black pudding, sausages and haggis for Brad, and macaroni cheese and curly fries for me! Heart attack anyone?

We spent the day wandering the Royal Mile and its countless nooks and crannies. I stopped off at the Scottish parliament and had a good old gander, and we also had a look at the Queens Gallery, which is where Mary Queen of Scots lived. One of the highlights also included a visit to St Giles Cathedral, as well as Edinburgh castle, where we were able to wander freely around the area where Mum and Michelle performed at the military tattoo last year - a lovely treat. We were so exhausted after our day of exploring and stuffing our faces that the only natural progression was to stuff them even more with chocolate gateau and Scottish shortbread at the infamous Elephant Castle cafe, where J.K Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series. Given Brad’s love of the books and my love of cake it was the natural choice, and while Brad looked around taking it all in, I downed my cake and hot chocolate and snuck pieces of his shortbread when he wasn’t paying attention!

Given our parking meter had expired and our earlier experience, we decided to head out of the city centre and towards Leith, one of Europe’s busiest ports. After a quick look around we ended up at the local cinema, before sadly having to head back to the airport, where after a two hour delay we eventually touched back down in London.

The following day I went to an interview with a fantastic recruitment company, who have been very proactive in sending through opportunities. Public relations is very different over here and my role at McDonald’s would have been split in the UK into at least three different roles – it’s so specialised and as a result I’ve had to put together three different versions of my CV.

After the interview, Brad and I headed to the West end to see our first show – Wicked! It certainly lived up to its name and it’s easy to see why it was voted the best show in 2010. I wish you were all over here and I’d take you all – you’d absolutely love it. I strongly urge you to see it if you get the opportunity – 10 out of 10!

Thursday I had another interview with a recruitment agent who deal with mainly office and administration type roles. This involved a number of different tests, which near had me smacking my head against a wall. My brain has only been used to calculate the conversion rate when looking at pretty English clothes, or to calculate the kilojoules in my third bowl of ice-cream, so it came as a huge shock when I was presented with logic puzzles! I was very tempted to type in ‘d. I don’t give a f***!’ as the answer to some of the problems! Nevertheless the meeting went well and they sent me to an interview on Friday, which is a four month office manager contract. It went well, but it’s really just deciding whether I want something more career-oriented, or if I’m just keen to start work ASAP. All these decisions are doing my head in – might have another glass of pear cider in the sun to mull it all over!

We had Shady, Emily and Donna over on Thursday night for dinner, and I was looking forward to cooking up a storm – which is exactly what I did. I served chorizo, prawn and chicken paella, butter turkey roast, steamed vegetables with garlic, all washed down with a summer fruits trifle. Let me tell you, I slaved in that kitchen, and needed a large glass of pear cider afterwards to recuperate! It was absolutely exhausting having to remove the film from the pre-cooked dinner, and don’t even get me started on how difficult it was managing the different reheating times. Thankfully another glass of pear cider helped me deal with the dreaded task of taking the summer fruits trifle out of its packet and dishing it up into bowls. But rather than be deterred from hosting dinner parties in the future, I remain committed to my domestic goddess title. Tonight for example, I plan on cooking a delightful spinach, ricotta and chicken pasta in a pomodoro sauce – as soon as I can muster the energy to take the cling-film off and put the darn thing in the microwave that is. I love cooking in the UK!

After my interview on Friday, I headed to one of London’s many parks with my friend Rochelle, while Brad headed to the pub with Shady to watch the football. We had a lovely day in the sun, wandering around Buckingham Palace and further into the city. Rochelle even introduced me to Selfridges – a HUGE department store five stories high, with its own restaurant and foodcourt. Believe me it’s needed, as after just two minutes of looking at the exorbitant price tags of the Louis Vuitton section I was so weak the knees I needed a seat!

This weekend we had our hearts set on another road trip in the UK with Shady and Emily, and this time Brad had been set with the task of organising it all. He more than came through, and on Saturday we had one of our best days yet in the picturesque town of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. We set off bright and early on Saturday morning and arrived in Portsmouth by train, where we caught the ferry to the Isle of Wight. It was a beautiful day weather wise which certainly helped, but nothing could have prepared me for how quaint and beautiful the I.O.W is – stunning! We spent the day wandering around, hopping from opshop to opshop where I purchased a grand total of 12 books for my collection (I’ve been in dire straits and had even resorted to reading junk mail!) and Brad invested in some rather suave clothing for a session of ‘pub-golf’ planned later in the month. We even got a chance to feast on the local delicacies of mussels and chocolate cake, while the boys watched the quarter final football match. We also played an inordinate amount of 500, where Shady and I positively swept the floor with Brad and Emily!

After a good healthy dose of fun in the sun, we caught a hovercraft (yes that’s right, hovercraft) back to Portsmouth where we wandered around, working our way towards another seaside pub for dinner, football and more 500. Portsmouth is another gorgeous town, but with a beach and a seaside fair/ amusement park it’s hard to go wrong really! It was a bit of a late one, but the very best of days, and I can definitely imagine heading back there sometime soon. Gorgeous!

After a nice long sleep in and a run in the sun, we spent Sunday like any true Londoner and headed to the local park to soak up some rays! It was another great day, but again it’s hard to go wrong when the sun is shining, you’re with friends and have plenty of delicious snacks on hand!

It’s Sunday night as I type this, and even though we don’t have a week’s work looming over us, it’s still easy to feel a wee bit down. I’ve been feeling a wee bit homesick this past week, particularly on Thursday night, but plenty of lovely messages from home make it easier. I’m also reminding myself that this time is going to go ridiculously quick and if I don’t enjoy each second and waste time feeling sad, I’ll kick myself in a few years. It’s funny – on Thursday night after a wee sob, I decided to torture myself and look through my photo album/ memory book that Gems put together with everyone’s contributions. But rather than cry myself to sleep, the book had the opposite effect and I was soon smiling away, laughing at all your letters. It’s such a treasure to have, so thank you all very much, especially you Gemma-Kay!

Tomorrow Brad has an interview with an alcohol company (I know, I know, Brad selling alcohol isn’t the most natural of fits, but sometimes you just have to make these sacrifices!). I’m keen to hit the huge mall in what is commonly referred to as ‘SheBu’ (stands for Shepherds Bush and is pronounced like Che Fu, and is stuffed to the brim with Aussies and Kiwis). I’m off to Ibiza this coming weekend with a few of the girl’s for Nat’s birthday and am keen to pick up a beach dress. Nat came to the park with us today and mentioned that we were going to an all-day beach party next Sunday, so look out for me on Channel E’s ‘Girl’s gone Wild’! I’ll try not to mortify you all by being the one vomiting in the pool without a top on! No doubt, I’ll be the one looking after the birthday girl as she does the very same thing! Hence the need for a dress – there’s no way I’ll be spending the day running about in my bikini! 

Love to all and we’re thinking of you 24/7. Yesterday I actually went on Facebook on my phone and started passing it around so everyone could gaze adoringly at pictures of Manaia. I’ve become one of ‘those’ people who constantly compare everything to things back in NZ. Today it was the houmous – it’s just not as good here!

Having a blast and loving you all,

Us

Xxx

P.S Thinking of you tonight especially Les as we’ve just watched a good dose of River Cottage followed by Secret Millionaire – the tummies are rumbling and the tears are flowing. Wish we were curled up on your couch watching it with you!