Bank holiday perfection

Hello beloveds!

I am very excited to be updating our blog again after four or so weeks of lying low and getting back into a routine. Work has been going really well and we’ve been keeping very busy on the weekends, socialising and exploring this crazy city, but we haven’t done any travelling as such to justify a new blog entry.

Brad started his new job last week, repping for Maxxium – an alcohol distributor renown for their whiskey and bourbon – Famous Grouse and Jim Beam to name a few. He headed up to Stirling, Scotland last week for a bit of an induction, and is off there again tomorrow for a few days. Some of you might remember that Stirling was one of our favourite places in Scotland – possibly my favourite, and has a great deal of historical significance as it’s the site of the battle of Braveheart. Anyway, he’s enjoying it so far and is looking forward to getting stuck in and making the role his own. I on the other hand, am looking forward to getting stuck in to the road trips in his Audi A3 hatchback!

Parking in London can be more than a little frustrating as you need a permit to park anywhere – even on the street outside your house. After getting up early and driving to the city council to arrange a car permit, Brad came out to find that he had a ticket for a whopping £60! As he needed a bit more information before they’d grant him a permit, he headed home to get a few bits and bobs. When he came back down to his car (ten minutes later) he not only had another ticket for £60, but he also interrupted a tow-truck who were literally just about to take off with his car! Needless to say he was less than impressed – something which he communicated very clearly to the tow-truck driver!

My job is going well. It’s very challenging but is exposing me to the most fabulous experience that I never even dreamed was possible. It will also involve travel as well which is a very nice bonus! Watch this space as I’ll be sure to keep you all updated via this very blog!

As I type this on a Monday evening, it’s the end of a very long, leisurely and fun bank holiday weekend – the last public holiday until Christmas! We decided to stick around London on account of flights being astronomically expensive and given we have Oktoberfest in just a few weeks. Suffice to say we made the right decision as we had a lovely weekend relaxing and exploring and also managed to avoid some of the airport strikes which are holding the city hostage at present.

Friday night I caught up with some girlfriends for dinner and a movie, before heading home for a Skype date with Dad and Kimi. Brad caught up on some much needed sleep after a hard week’s work with some very early starts (4am one day as he had a team meeting in Birmingham). He was also feeling a little under the weather so an early night was most definitely called for.

Saturday we headed into the city centre for brunch at a famous Kiwi-style cafe. Hearing those Kiwi accents and stuffing our faces with delicious food set the tone for the weekend. I just about cried with relief – you don’t get too many cafe type places around here, rather it’s just pubs and takeaways, so a nice brunch was a real treat. We then hit the shops for a much needed shopping spree, on account of the fact that I had just been paid for the first time in three months! The temperature is rapidly decreasing and the weather deteriorating and after feeling freezing and sorry for myself all week, it was absolutely necessary to pick up a few warmer clothes. It was a very successful mission and I walked away with two huge winter coats, with Brad picking up a pair of jeans, two pairs of work pants and a huge winter coat as well. We also picked up a world map and London map for our bedroom wall – great for the geography general knowledge! After wandering around for a solid six hours, we spent the night decorating our room with our new maps and watching movies – not to mention stuffing our faces with all sorts of goodies from Brad’s favourite London shop – Iceland. Imagine if you will a budget supermarket with ready-made meals, deep fried everything, bulk buys galore and all for just £1! That’s Iceland. After discovering this store, our freezer is never without a deep fried Yum Cha selection packet/ curly fries/ deep fried mini hot-dogs/ or mini Cornish Pasties!

We had tickets for South West Four on Sunday – a music festival in Clapham Common, which is our local park and the site of my morning run. Tickets sold out weeks ago, but thankfully Brad had the good sense to book well in advance as Fat Boy Slim, Armand Van Helden and Carl Cox were playing – some of his favourites. We meet Donna, Rebecca and Vicki at a local pub for a good old fashioned English breakfast of fish and chips, served with ice-cold cider. I was more than a little apprehensive of the weather on account of it having poured for the past three weeks with a temperature which was more than a little fresh, but thankfully it managed to hold off from completely pouring down until we were safe inside... albeit safe inside a portaloo! After holding off leaving the little cubicle for as long as possible, I made a run for it and thankfully managed to spot Brad in the distance, taking refuge underneath one of the circus tents. Needless to say, we were all soaked to the skin! I’ve never seen such a downpour and the fact that it happened in the middle of an outside music festival in summer, was oh so typical! Not to worry as it didn’t last long and we managed to get a reprieve from the storm later in the day. Admittedly, I spent more time wandering around chatting and riding all the rides than dancing to the DJ’s, but Brad more than made up for my lack of commitment and was on his feet at the front of the stage the entire day. I’d drift by and visit him every half hour or so, but on one occasion when I popped over I was told on no uncertain terms from one of Brad’s new ‘friends’, that there was no way I could be his girlfriend as I wasn’t good-looking enough for him! The cheeky beggar! To make matters worse, Brad took one look at me and turned to his new BFF saying ‘I’ve never seen her before in my life’! To get him back I spent the rest of our ‘beer money’ on rides! This went down like a lead balloon, so it was straight to the back of the very-long cash machine queue for me! The best thing about the festival was that it ended at 9pm, but by this stage we were both so shattered having been partying since 10am, that we headed home for an early night.

Today we woke up feeling relatively healthy (must have been the McDonald’s consumed the night before) and we were up, dressed and out the door by 10am, off on our way to Notting Hill for the annual, world-famous Notting Hill Carnival. We’ve been told that the carnival can get quite rough, and is a bit of a hotspot for London gangs, so we decided to head there earlier rather than later. Wise decision I’d say, as already at 10.30am the place was packed and the music was so loud it shook your rib-cage! It was such a great experience and interesting to see the different Caribbean cultures partying it up in carnival-dress, but definitely one of those things you don’t have to spend all day at.

Given our close proximity, we then popped over to Westfield London – which the more attentive amongst you will remember is Europe’s largest Westfield mall. After a huge traditional English breakfast with an extra side of sausages for Brad, and a salmon and spinach omelette for me, we were ready to hit the shops again. Thankfully we were only there for an hour and again it proved to be very successful – we walked away with three pairs of boots amongst us and a larger than life map of London for Brad’s car, which will be more than helpful when navigating the streets of London when out in the trade.

The remainder of the afternoon has been spent napping, catching up on television and drinking cup after cup of herbal tea. Don’t even get me started on the herbal tea selection here – delicious! I work right next door to a huge whole foods and organic supermarket, and the herbal tea selection could keep me enthralled four hours! I’ve got quite the little selection building up, so no matter what the mood, I have a tea to counter it!

I’ve also been getting back into the baking which is good, although I’m sad to say I don’t have a lot of materials to work with. After whipping up my mixture in a pot, I decided it was time to splash out and buy myself a bowl. Needless to say our cake tin selection is next to none, so my baking experimentation only extends to cookies. I’ve been mixing up the old classic chocolate chip though, which I’ll be able to show you all in a few years 

Missing you all like crazy and the homesickness has definitely kicked in big time. It’s especially bad when the weather is dark and dismal and on week days. Work is so hard out that it’s easy to get nostalgic when I’m feeling a little stressed and frozen solid. Hopefully my new winter jackets will put a curb to that!

I’ve discovered the key to dressing in London is layering – more is always more. Even though you look 3kg heavier, you’re always too warm to care!

We’re off to Munich for Oktoberfest in a few weeks (mid-September), then Prague and Berlin with Cara in October. We’re also going to lock in trips to Norway, Russia and Sweden over the next few months too. The key is to book them in early so you get cheap flights and have time to plot out annual leave. There are so many amazing things to see, so planning is key!

Love to all back home and will blog again soon!

Cheers ears!

xxx