Saturday, August 29, 2015

After the Palace

After our tour of Buckingham Palace, we contemplated doing a proper afternoon tea. We decided against it purely because we were far too hungry to be proper and polite and eat small portions of things. With this in mind, we went back into St James's Park in a hunt for a hot dog stall.

We had seen them there last time we visited, and figured we may as well give them a try. The park was full of people enjoying the sunshine, so there was a bit of a line when we found our target. The man cooking the hot dogs was very cheeky, pretending there weren't any left, then pretending they weren't ready, then pretending we couldn't have any sauce. We almost felt like he should have been an honourary Aussie.

The kransky-style dog was served on a toasted brioche bun, which was surprisingly sweet, to which we added ketchup and mustard. Best of all, they filled our starving bellies, and allowed us to also sit and enjoy the sunshine for a short while.


From here we made the decision to go back to Fortum and Mason to explore the three floors we hadn't seen yet. For those who haven't been, the entire building would rival a Bunnings - five or six levels (can't quite remember) of the best store in the world.

Primarily a tea-store, it also sells fresh produce, gourmet deli items, meats, breads, chocolates and other sweets, biscuits, coffees, cakes, jams and preserves, speciality and more generic alcohol - and that's just the food and drinks. It also sells homewares; ladies and mens fashion, accessories and perfumes; giftware and stationary; an entire section dedicated to a Christmas store (incuding £1000 crackers pictured below - gifts inside include pearl necklaces, silk handkerchiefs, silver bookmarks, etc).


The store also has a restaurant, a separate one for afternoon tea sittings, and an ice-cream parlour, where we decided to stop for some ice-cream. We were seated at the bar, which was a great opportunity to watch the staff create the various sundaes and beverages on offer. We both opted to simply have a couple of scoops of ice-cream each, and I'm glad we did, as we were served enough for four people (even though in the picture below it looks quite small). If anyone comes to visit us over here, I will gladly take you to Fortnum's for a sundae, or afternoon tea, or lunch, or just to browse and buy!

 

This is the incredibly long spoon they give you to eat your ice-cream with. It was amusing to try and hold it at the very end like we were posh, and still be able to eat properly. The flavours we chose were Chocolossus (rich chocolate with peanuts and marshmallows), raspberry swirl (with fresh raspberry sauce, not bottled syrup), salted caramel (the richest, saltiest caramel that ever existed) and honeycomb (not as rich but equally delicious).

After eating our ice-cream, we explored the store some more. I had to restrain myself incredibly, as we hadn't moved into our flat at that point. We managed to only buy one box of tea. We will be back soon though!

Friday, August 28, 2015

Inside Buckingham Palace - The State Rooms

I'd like to start off by saying that if you ever get the opportunity to take a tour like this, do. Just do. Wow.


As we lined up for our timed entry to Buckingham Palace, we were informed that unfortunately we would not be able to take photos whilst inside the building. This was both a blessing and a curse - it meant that we could not take our own photos as memories of the experience, but it also meant that we wouldn't be distracted by having to take them, or by others taking their own. It allowed us to fully immerse in the experience without a screen in the way; a rather unusual thing in this day and age. It has also made writing this post a bit more difficult, as I am relying completely on memory and pictures from the Official Website of the British Monarchy (which will be included throughout for your viewing pleasure and so that you can understand my awe - I hope they don't mind me using them!).

Before entering the building, we underwent the same type of security checks that are in place in airports (metal detectors, bag x-ray machines, etc), and collected an audio tour device the same as the one we received in the Mews tour. The rooms inside are opened up so that you can see right through the areas; however, they are all roped off so that you must walk through them in a specific way, guiding you along while you listen to the appropriate talks/videos. 

There are 19 state rooms, each with it's own purpose, design, decoration, and feel. I can't possibly describe them all to you, the experience was quite overwhelming, but I will do my best with what I remember.

We entered through the Grand Entrance, which is located in the Quadrangle, a four-sided courtyard that was closed off by Queen Victoria by requesting the addition of the section we see today from the street. At the entrance to the building the Australian State Coach is parked, on display here rather than in the Mews. Our audio tour describes the difficult job the stewards have in stopping the coaches at exactly the right spot to allow the passengers to walk from the coach steps right onto the carpet leading them inside.

Immediately upon entering the Grand Entrance, I was awed by the, well, grandeur of it all. Every single part of the room is carefully thought out, designed and decorated to suit the purpose and theme. This room had a lowered floor with additional stairs added, purely for the purpose of making it look more grand. To the left of this room is the Grand Staircase. It was enough to transport my right back to being a little girl who wishes she is a princess wearing a gorgeous ball gown, descending the stairs for some grand party. The image below, from the official website of the British Monarchy, shows the view from the first landing of the stairs back into the Grand Entrance, and up to the next floor. The statue you can see at the top centre of the stairs is Perseus, triumphantly holding the head of a recently-decapitated Medusa. 

The Grand Staircase, photographer: Derry Moore
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

From here, the rest of the tour is a bit of a blur of awe-inspiring rooms. I don't remember the order we went through them, but I will describe them as I remember them. 

The Green Drawing Room was less green than expected, but no less impressive. This room leads into the Throne Room, as you can see in the picture below. The chandeliers are made from hand-cut glass and can be lowered from the ceiling (either electronically or by winch, depending which room you're in). To keep them sparkling, every single glass piece is cleaned by high-pressure water - a job that can take days per chandelier. 

The Green Drawing Room, photographer: Derry Moore
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The throne room was absolutely luscious, but smaller than I was expecting. The ceiling was my favourite part, with the incredible detailing making it into a work of art in its own right. We were roped off from the thrones themselves, and along the side of the room were displayed the various badges of honour one can receive. The design of the room is such that everything directs your attention to the thrones, not that you could miss them. This is the room where we will receive our OBE's at some point in the future (definitely going to happen, don't doubt it... just need to contribute enough to society to deserve one). 

The Throne Room, photographer: Derry Moore
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II


Two of my favourite rooms were the White Drawing Room and Blue Drawing Room. These are used primarily as reception rooms and spaces to gather before luncheons and State/Diplomatic functions, and as settings for official photographs,. I felt quite at home, in a very posh sort of way, in these rooms, and completely fell in love with their décor. The White Drawing Room is exactly my kind of room - white and gold décor, beautiful views of the gardens, a large fireplace, gorgeous armchairs, and even a secret entrance behind the large mirror to the left of portrait of Queen Alexandra. If I could I would spend an entire day (week, year) in that room.

White Drawing Room, photographer: Derry Moore
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Blue Drawing Room, photographer: Peter Smith
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

At this point I'd like to direct you to another website where you can view virtual tours of the Grand Staircase, Throne Room, and Blue and White Drawing Rooms here

The State Dining Room was re-purposed for the tour, with the table removed and replaced with a number of benches on which to sit and rest your weary legs while admiring the portraits and state gifts displayed here. We were privileged to see the sorts of gifts given to the Monarchy by other countries during visits, such as fine china, clocks, and statues. The portraits along the wall here were commissioned and set to be in pairs, with each member of each pair at opposite ends of the room. Looking at the picture below, of the room set properly for it's function, I feel I would be overwhelmed eating here, let alone in the ballroom described below. Can you imagine accidentally dropping something, or knocking over a glass onto that carpet?

The State Dining Room, photographer: Peter Smith
The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

We wandered through two galleries, the Nash Gallery and Pennethorn Gallery, where we viewed pieces of art from the Royal Collection. Some of these pieces were accompanied by audio descriptions from members of the household, and provided a unique insight into the history of the palace and monarchy. It was nice to be able to focus on individual pieces and take a bit of a rest from the never-ending details of the other rooms (even though these rooms too were incredibly detailed, but thankfully the detailing was designed to direct your focus to the art, rather than add to it). The talent of the artists who created these pieces was absolutely mind boggling. Looking at portraits was like looking at high-definition photographs, but somehow with more detail. Pearls look luminous, skin looks dewy or dry depending on the subject, eyes look hauntingly like they are about to blink. Even landscapes look like you are viewing them through a window, and animals could jump right out of the frame. I have never seen work like it, and sadly will probably never own any like it for myself. 

The Music Room was another favourite. Here some of the royal family were Christened, and on display were some of the dresses the Queen has worn to recent Garden Parties (another thing I will definitely attend at some point, right?). The room itself was quite simple, with much less decoration than the other rooms, and as such it seemed quite peaceful.

On the way into the Ballroom there was displays set up describing various parts of palace procedures. For example, one of the displays contained swatches of fabric and the associated tools used by the Queen's seamstress and hat maker, who create all of her official outfits, and a small section held (most likely replicas of) extravagant jewellery pieces. Another showcased cutlery and crockery pieces from various points in history. Yet another described the enormous palace cellars, which hold over 25,000 bottles of wine. 

From here we entered the Ballroom, and I must admit it brought tears to my eyes. The room was set for a State Banquet, and the level of detail is excruciating. It takes six days to prepare the room, including three dedicated to setting the table. Rulers are used to measure out the space for each guest (46cm) and to ensure each piece of crockery, cutlery and glass is set at an exact distance from the edge of the table and the next setting. The organ at the end of the room was very impressive. Standing behind the Queen's setting, I was both sad and happy that I probably won't ever have the privilege of attending a state banquet. The amount of stress guests must feel when attending such an event would be hard to deal with while still appearing graceful, but it would truly be a magical experience.

You can see in this article here a short video of staff setting the table, and it describes some of the things I've mentioned here along with a few more pictures. 

The conclusion of the tour saw us exiting the building past the 1844 Room, where the Queen signs documents and meets ambassadors (here there was a picture of the Queen with Angelina Jolie), and out into the gardens. A cafe was set up just outside the doors, and the gardens themselves were roped off for anyone who wasn't part of the garden tour. The lawn immediately outside the doors was the size of a sports oval, and I couldn't help but imagine the royal children mucking around down there when the weather was nice. 

We walked along a path that wound through the side of the gardens, adjacent to the spike-and-barbed-wire-topped wall that blocked out the outside world. Through gaps in the trees we caught glimpses of ponds, benches and clearings, all of which seemed incredibly inviting. Eventually we exited the palace grounds, and were confronted by the normality of a busy city street. Turning to look back at the old and slightly dirty wall, it was hard to believe that such magnificence was hidden within. And what magnificence it is. A truly different world.

Incredible.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Inside Buckingham Palace - The Royal Mews

To be honest, we didn't really know what to expect from this. What we discovered upon entering was a large enclosed courtyard with garage-like storage areas along the ground floor, and flats above them on most sides. We discovered that the people who worked at the mews also live there, which makes complete sense.

We started our tour by collecting a headset with attached touch-screen device that would talk us through each exhibit as we went. It is a fantastic idea and worked very well - it included audio descriptions, talks from employees who look after that particular thing, videos of various things in action, etc. It made the tour much more interesting and easy to follow - you simply selected the thing you were looking at from the menu, and it brought up a number of audio and visuals to choose from. It also meant that the whole tour was relatively quite - everyone was listening to their tour (including the children, who had their own specially designed tour to listen to) and mostly talking in hushed voices. As the experience was self-paced, you could take as long as you liked looking at each thing (the same was true for the State Rooms), and re-listen/watch information if you wished.

The start of the tour focused on the coaches. Each has it's own garage (for lack of a better word), and also has a team of people who work on them when needed. Each year the teams choose one big 'project', where they do a complete restoration of a coach they know will not be in use for 12-18 months (that's how long a complete restoration takes). This process can include stripping down the and reapplying the 20-odd extremely thing layers of paint, fixing the electronics in the more recent models and perhaps installing some in the older models, mending the upholstery, etc. The painting is all done by hand, including all of the  intricate details, and is a job completed by very specific people who have followed in their family footsteps to inherit the position.


Each coach has an incredible history, as is appropriate for such incredible items. Each is used for specific purposes which have generally been the same throughout their lifetime. For example the Scottish State Coach is mainly used when the Queen visits Scotland.

The Irish State Coach

My favourite coach was the Diamond Jubilee State Coach; made by Australian W. J. Frecklington and completed in 2010. As the newest coach in the royal collection, it has hydraulic suspension, heating, electric windows, a small camera in the crown on the roof for filming the crowds, and the ability to have either electric lights or candles in the lamps. The wheels were designed by a performance race-car company (not specified), and it contains over 100 items from a 'Thousand Years of British History' have been incorporated into the structure and design. This is a fantastic article detailing some of the pieces if you are interested.

The Diamond Jubilee State Coach

The Glass Coach

The Scottish State Coach


Amongst the glorious coaches was a single car. It is one of only 18 of this particular model in the entire world, and even then is has been customised further. This car is the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, and it is beautiful. It was repainted from the original deep green to claret (deep, dark red) and black when it became an official state car in 1952. The design of the body allows the Queen to stand upright before stepping out, and the mascot can be changed to show whether she is riding in the car or not. To the right in the picture below you can see the driver's attire.



The last coach to view is kept inside it's own great room, separate from all the others. It is, of course, the Gold State Coach, completed in 1762. By far the most luxurious and showy coach of all, this beauty has been involved in every coronation since George IV in 1821. The entire carriage is covered in gold , and the sides feature painted panels by Giovanni Cipriani. Guarding each corner of the coach is a triton, there to represent the imperial power of the Monarchy, and gracing the roof are three cherubs representing England, Ireland and Scotland. There is not one single section of the body that isn't delicately carved and/or decorated in some specific, meaningful way. 






After spending quite a bit of time admiring the Gold State Coach we moved into the sables. The majority of the horses were taken elsewhere for the duration of the house opening, and instead the stalls contained very small carriages. Most were designed to be used by children, and some were specifically designed to be pulled by donkeys or mules. It was fascinating to see their simplicity after the grandeur of the larger coaches.



The stalls themselves had the names of each horse displayed on a plaque, and each name was chosen by the Queen herself, often based on places she had recently visited. We were also able to view some of the tack, and listen to a stable-hand describe her pride in maintaining all of the horse equipment to the highest of standards, particularly for official engagements when the horses (and therefore their tack) are on display. 

After handing in our audio equipment we were able to enter a small stable where a few of the horses who had remained behind were currently staying. The only horses used by the Royal family are Cleveland Bays (a deep, rich chocolate) and Windsor Greys (a beautiful speckled grey), and they must all be at least 16.1 hands heigh (1.65m) with a steady temperament and good stamina for pulling the coaches and carriages. We saw two of each kind, and were struck by how incredibly healthy the look, as well as how incredibly tall they were. The tallest we saw was a Windsor Grey named Storm, who would have been almost my height at the top of its shoulders. 


We ended up only being there for less than an hour, but we saw and learnt so much. It is incredible to think so many people are involved in something so common as transportation, but it is also completely understandable when you realise how much is actually involved (it can take months of preparation for a single state visit involving one of the coaches, and the horses undergo very specific training and handling for their various roles). Many families have been part of the Royal Mews for generations, and it is clear to see the love and pride they all take in their daily work. 

Inside Buckingham Palace


For eight weeks during the year, while the royal family are away, Buckingham Palace is opened up to the public. This year access is available from 25 July until 27 September, and we arrived into the country right in the middle of this short time frame. Of course we had to visit!

There are multiple different tours you can book - The State Rooms, Royal Mews, Gardens and The Queen's Gallery. The State Rooms are the more public sections of the palace - sitting rooms, ball rooms, etc, that are used by the royal family to receive, reward and entertain guests and dignitaries. The Mews contain the royal transportation, including cars, coaches, carriages and horses. The gardens are the gardens (surprisingly), and the Gallery is a public art gallery showcasing pieces from the royal collection.

On the day we visited there were no tours of the Gardens left, so we decided we would like to view the State Rooms and Mews. We chose not to go to the Gallery as it is open at other times of the year anyway. We bought our tickets online the night before, but still had to line up early to collect them the morning of the tours. The State Rooms have timed entry, but the Mews did not. As our State Room entry was mid-morning, we decided to look through the Mews first. We didn't realise, however, that they did not open until 10am, and we had our tickets and were ready to go outside the door just after 9. This resulted in standing outside the side door to the palace for almost an hour, playing tour-guide to many confused tourists who thought this was also the entrance for the State Rooms and/or tickets.

In order to make it a bit easier to read, this story will be split into two parts, one for the Mews and one for the State Rooms.

Friday, August 21, 2015

My London School - differences to Aus (so far)

Today I went for a quick visit to the school I'll be teaching at for the year. The purpose of the visit was to get to know the school and it's expectations a bit better before we start up in a little over a week. The Head of Science walked us around for a bit, we met up with the Headmaster and a few of the deputies.

As the time progressed and we learnt a but about our daily life there, I couldn't help noticing the stark differences to my old school back in Aus.

First off, I get my own classroom. It is mine for all but 3 of my lessons, which had to be moved to a different room purely because there are too many students in those classes to fit in that room. This is the opposite of what I had back in Aus, where each class was in a different room - lots of running around between lessons, but a dedicated work space in a staffroom. Here I will have my own classroom as my space, and will use the staffroom just to eat lunch. But it also means I can decorate and set up my room as I like - I've never experienced that before! I'm going to have fun finding posters, student work etc to plaster the walls. It is expected that you will do your planning etc during your spares in your classroom (if no one else is using it at that time) or in another free room.

This brings me to another big difference - back in Aus I had a school laptop I took to my lessons with me and did all my planning etc on. Here there is a desktop computer in each room, and your login is linked to your own domain. This means no matter which school computer you log in to, you will have your own background, screensaver, documents folders etc. I can also access this domain from home - no more lugging a laptop to and from school when I need to work from home!

Speaking of working from home, I'm expected to do a lot more marking here than what I've experienced before. Here they have a three week marking cycle - every three weeks each student should be given formalised feedback that they are expected to respond to (by correcting their work based on what I've said basically). This, along with the expected daily homework, is going to lesson my weekday free time quite significantly, at least until my lazy-economic self kicks in and I work out how to work in the most efficient way possible.

The school has split junior science into the three strands - biology, chemistry, physics - to see if this makes a difference to interest, enjoyment and engagement with science. To make the separation more explicit, each strand for each class has a different teacher. This, for me, means teaching more different classes.

The lessons here are 100mins long, and on a two-week rotation - meaning if I see a class first thing Monday morning week one, I'll see them again for that same lesson in week three, then week five. It'll take me a while to get used to that difference, but the longer lessons will be a positive difference I feel.

I am also taking on a Friday afternoon activity lesson, where I take a group of students for the afternoon and am able to teach them any topic I like. Some examples they've done in the past include swimming, survival skills, crochet, farm studies, etc. I'll be thinking very hard over the next week or so what I'd like to do (any suggestions are more than welcome!).

A very big difference is the fact that I'll be taking 15 unique classes this year, not including the Friday afternoon activity. Back in Aus I had 6. It's going to be extremely difficult adjusting to that change, especially learning upwards of 3-400 names (along with that many personalities, home lives, interests, friendship circles etc). I may well go insane. I'll keep you posted about that!

The dress code for teachers here is a lot more formal than I'm used to - no more nice skinnys and tops for me! No, it is now smart business attire. I've never really worn that type of clothes before - even when I've worked in an office we had a set uniform. It'll be fun shopping for clothes that'll make me look dapper!

Overall, feeling slightly overwhelmed at the moment. There are a huge amount of very big differences for me to get used to, not just the different curriculum, which I haven't even started on yet. Hopefully I adjust quickly!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Food

Just a quick post to talk food.

So far, not a fan of the meat or cheese...

As we are staying in an 'aparthotel' we have our own little kitchen to cook meals in (save all the money!). We have been having Crunchynut cereal for breakfast, which is quite yum, and saves us ridiculous amounts of money. We've been having lunches on the go as we've been out each day so far - these have included my very first burrito (yum!), a pub lunch where I had a burger and Mr had a steak and ale pie, and also a lunch at a McDonalds to try a chicken burger we don't have back home. Overall, breakfasts and lunches have been pretty good.

We also bought some fresh raspberries and peaches at a market. They were so juicy and tasty we will be going back to get some more and try some other fruits! If all the fruit is like this, at least from the markets, that will become my snacks and desserts very quickly. From the same market we bought a loaf of sourdough bread, which was equally delicious.

My problem is with the cheese and mince meat from the local grocery store. Yuck. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love cheese. Well the one we bought is absolutely awful. Granted it's the store brand, but we bought the store brand back in Aus and it was actually our favourite. This one tastes powdery and not exactly like cheese at all... Will not be buying again.

The mince was also the store brand, same as back home, and was also pretty awful. So much fat! I understand this is something I will have to get used to - we are fairly spoilt with our beef in Aus - but it makes me sad that a simple bolognese, like we had on our second night, I could barely eat because it tasted so bad. The mince spuds we had the other night were much better - the mince was seasoned with taco seasoning and some good veg. So maybe that's the way to go - strong seasoning.

On an unexpectedly good note, we bought a container of store-brand chicken and sweet corn soup to have for dinner last night, along with a cob loaf, and both were quite good, especially because combined they were a grand total of about 4.50! We've decided (and we'll see how long this lasts) that we could easily do a soup night once a week to save some money and avoid having to cook as much. Special thanks here go out to Kayla and Dane for that fateful cauliflower soup night - Kayla for persisting and cooking the delicious dish, Dane for not caving and running out to buy us pizza - because of that night Mr is now happy to eat soup!

At a Marks & Spencer we bought a bag of chips and a bag of pretzels - both of which are really good. But then that could just be our genuine need for a bit of salt. Contrary to popular belief, nothing we've bought out has had any amount of salt on it - chips come plain so you add your own, and the sauces don't taste salty at all.

We've yet to have an alcoholic beverage, which are sold in the supermarkets here at what seem to be similar prices to home, but we might save that for the first night in our own place.

It will be interesting once we're in our own place with a proper kitchen to work out good foods to buy - we've noticed a lot of the same brands, most with different packaging, but have yet to find Mr's other love - vegemite!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Exploring the city (22,924 steps)

Our third day in London was dedicated to exploring the city. I had done a little bit of exploring last time I was here (for iday - see my previous posts), but Mr had not, so off we went to see the sights!

We started out on the fringe of the city centre due to where our train ended. We almost walked right past St Paul's Cathedral as we were too busy looking everywhere else! Thankfully we happened to look down a side street at the right time, and were able to go have a quick look around. We went in downstairs where the restaurant and gift shop are, and admired the statues carved into the walls. We decided not to enter the upper areas, as we'd like to come back at a later time and do a guided tour.

From here we walked down to the Thames and across to check out the south side of the river. We were thoroughly unimpressed with the National Theatre (just a giant concrete block from the side we saw it), but enjoyed walking through the Jubilee Gardens. Mr finally believed me that the London Eye is significantly bigger than the one in Brisbane, and we decided we would definitely come back to go through the Sea Life Aquarium and check out London Death Trap (a live horror show).

Over Westminster Bridge we walked, dodging the let's-stop-right-here-and-take-a-photo tourists, to find our own quite place to take the necessary pictures and selfies with Big Ben. I was again struck by the size of it ('I guess it's called Big for a reason'), and we both decided the entire building looked like it had been made out of a semi-liquid material tipped upside-down to set, then put back upright. There are just so many drippy-looking spiky bits!


From here we decided to walk over to the Palace. We noticed that a few of the roads were closed off and there were a heap of police officers around. We were starting to become concerned until we noticed the camera crews set up along the roads - we had to ask one of the police officers (those hats look so uncomfortable!) to find out that today is Victory over Japan Day - the effective end day of the war. In celebration of the war ending, there is a parade that runs through the city. Apparently we'd chosen a very good or bad day to explore, depending. We did not wish to view the parade, so we kept to our ever-changing plans of places to see.

Enter St James Park and you enter a world of beautiful big old trees, endless ducks and geese, and adorable friendly squirrels. We stopped many times to coax over the squirrels with the false promise of food, just to get a closer look. This one even nuzzled my hand a bit before running off!


We continued through the park to Buckingham Palace, and quickly realised we wouldn't be getting close to it today. Hundreds of people packed onto the grounds and nearby roads in order to see the parade, so we decided to take a quick photo and continue on our way. We will definitely be back in the next week or two to do a tour (it is open to the public for a short time while the royal family are away for the summer), so expect more pictures later!


From here we walked up toward Soho, stopping in at Fortum & Mason for a quick look around. We only wandered the first two floors before deciding we needed to leave before we bought things (no point buying anything until we have moved in to the new place!). We stopped for lunch at a pub, where I had a burger and Mr had a steak and ale pie - it looked so very British!


We spent the next few hours walking back and forth across the city, seeing random things and nothing in particular. The theatres stuck us by how ordinary they seemed - walk along and all of a sudden there is the entry to a theatre next to you. Compared to Brisbane, where the theatre is a landmark in itself, the fact that they are so common and integrated into the city was quite bizarre. 

After walking over 20,000 steps, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and rest our poor feet. So here we are, again relaxing on our bed, with the sun still shining strong at 6.15pm. Tomorrow we plan to Skype our families and spend the day doing not a whole lot - Mr has a job interview on Monday, and next week will be very busy with organising things for the new place and hopefully crossing a thing or two off our bucket list.

So far, we love London!

Monday, August 17, 2015

First day in London - got a unit!

Our first full day here started off well - we both had slept almost 12 hours (very much needed!), and we'd had the foresight to buy some cereal etc the day before so we'd have breakfast. I woke up ravenous, which you'd probably attribute to jetlag if it were anyone but me.

We decided that we would call around a few real estates to book in viewings, so I spent a little bit of time going through the properties we had saved. I called two who didn't answer, but on the third call I had success - the lady said the unit we were interested in was still available, and if we were around we could go look at it that morning (along with a few others she thought we'd like). So that was that, our easy settle-into-things-get-over-jetlag morning turned into quickly-get-ready-and-go. We had to again navigate the public transport, but by then Mr was fairly confident with what to do. We caught a train then a bus, and got to our appointment early. Two of the properties the agent had wanted to show us had been let out before we got there (they do go very very fast here apparently!), so we were left with three to visit. As we have no transport of our own, the agent kindly drove us around to look. The first one we looked at was the one I'd called about - it had only been advertised the night before and already had a dozen viewings booked in. We liked the looks of it because it is walking distance to my school and to the train for Mr, as well as walking distance to the town centre. Upon inspection, we liked it even more. The kitchen and bathroom were both lovely, and both the lounge area and bedroom were big enough for us. Being on the top floor meant we wouldn't have anyone above us, and being at the corner of the block meant only one direct neighbour (though the block of units next door were so close we could pass sugar between our kitchen windows if needed). The property came complete with a grassy outdoor area, one we may or may not use depending on the weather.

Deciding we liked this place, we went off to the next one not particularly concerned about what we'd find. What we did find was an absolutely delightful ground-floor unit, already furnished in very pretty furniture (including a dressing table with mirror in the bedroom!), as well as an extra bedroom which would be handy for visitors. Mr was quite concerned about the inclusion of a bidet in the bathroom, and I wasn't too keen on the bedroom and lounge windows opening directly onto the slightly-off-street parking. The furniture was all nice and new-looking, but there seemed to be no room for the TV in the lounge. It had very high ceilings, which theoretically should lesson the noise coming from the people living upstairs. The land lady was there to show us around, but she was a bit pushy. Overall, this property was warring very closely with the first for our choice of favourite.

We viewed a third property, but discarded it almost immediately due to the oldness, smell, damp through the ceiling and walls, and (oddly enough) the fact that it was significantly larger than the first two. We did only want something small, as we're only here for a  year or two and don't need excuses to collect more random stuff we don't need.

In the end, we decided we liked the first property best, even though it was unfurnished. We filled in the paperwork back at the real estate then headed off to explore the town centre. We discovered a delightful second hand furniture store (which we will return to next week to choose some pieces for our new home - they deliver!), and had lunch at a burrito place. By the time we'd finished lunch, we received a phone call to say our application had been accepted!

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the town centre (which is surprisingly huge), then relaxing back at the hotel. We'd bought some spaghetti bolognese for dinner to avoid eating out again, and ate that while watching random British TV.

We never expected to secure a place to live on our first day, but we move in on Friday!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

The Flight

From the time we left to go to the airport in Brisbane, to the time we got to our hotel, we had been in transit for 30 hours. A whole lot can happen in 30 hours, but for us it was a long time of rush then sit.

We arrived at Brisbane International Airport with a bit of spare time, which we spent just being with our families. Checking our luggage was amusing - both of our large suitcases were 29.5kg (with a limit of 30kg), and our carry-ons were 6.5kg and 6.9kg (with a limit of 7). Apparently we packed well!

Saying goodbye to our families was very difficult. We all did very well pretending to be cheerful until it was time for us to go through to customs - then the tears came. They started of course with the mums, then migrated to the dads, which set both of us off, which in turn set off the siblings. It was very surreal to realise I might not see those faces again in person for a year or more (thankfully we have Skype and FaceBook and Facetime!). I did fairly well at holding myself together until we reached the terminal, when it all came crashing down. Nevertheless, I pulled out my excitement at the journey ahead, and we boarded the plane to our back-of-the-section seats. 

Having no one behind you on a plane seems relatively pointless as there are so many people everywhere else, but it turned out to be very nice. We could lean our chairs back as much and as often as we liked, and didn't have to worry about noisy people/children behind us. We synchronised our entertainment for the first part (watching Furious 7 - a very emotionally confusing movie, as much of it was about Paul Walker's character needing to return home after 'one last job' to be with his family). I chose the chicken for dinner (in an oyster sauce - tasted like hospital food, though the little nibblies that came with it were nice), and Mr chose the chilli beef. After the movie finished, we both decided to try and sleep - this turned out quite successful, with us each getting about 5-6 hours of broken sleep. When we woke, we both messed around with games and shows/music for the remainder of the flight. For our onboard breakfast we both went with a frittata, which I didn't particularly enjoy, though again the other things on the tray were nice.

After this enormous time sitting, we were very pleased to stand and disembark in Dubai. We arrived there at 5.30am local time, but even so it was already 35 degrees Celcius outside the airport. We did a few laps of our terminal, looking through the duty free and having a free meal at McDonald's (supplied by Emirates because our stop-over was long). Then it was back on to the plane for the next leg of our journey. As it was day time, we were able to see the Dubai landscape as we flew out of the country. We were both struck by how brown and dry it was. There were large dust clouds covering much of the city and outer parts of the country. But it was also incredibly beautiful - I've never seen anything like it.


The next few hours were spent watching The Kingsmen - a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. It has loads of ridiculous humour mixed in with action and dapper-looking men. We both chose the chicken option for lunch, this time with a wine or two, and enjoyed it more than we did the dinner. The rest of this flight I spent listening to music and playing games or staring out the window, while Mr watched Galavant - a show he said is a whole lot of 20-something boy humour mixed with a musical. I enjoyed watching the changing landscape, and seeing which countries we were flying over (that we will hopefully visit some day soon!). We also both managed to nap for about an hour.

Soon enough it was time to depart our flight, and Enter London!

We are staying in a hotel a bit out of the city, which meant navigating the public transport system with our luggage and very little sleep since the first flight almost 20 hours ago. We decided to take the Heathrow Express train (even with the utterly absurd £25 charge each), which got us into the city in 15 mins. From here we swapped to another train for about 15 mins again, then we had to negotiate with a bus driver to let us take our luggage on his bus. In between all this, poor Mr had to haul all 60kg of our large luggage up and down train station staircases where escalators and elevators weren't working (thank you!!). We spent the next 40 mins struggling to keep our luggage from rolling all over the place, while staying upright ourselves and not falling asleep/passing out. In the end, we got off the bus near our hotel, went up some very dodgy elevators, and collapsed onto our bed.

Unfortunately for us, we had to keep ourselves awake a little while longer - it wasn't even dinner time yet, and if we slept then, we wouldn't sleep that night. So we both had a long awaited shower, and off we went, staggering along trying not to pass out (even though the exhaustion was so real that it continuously felt like the world was tipping over), for a walk around the local area to find some food. We ended up at the local chippy, where we had our very first, very nice, British Fish & Chips. 


Then, thankfully, back to our hotel and to the first proper sleep we'd had in about 50 hours.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Today, we fly!



So today we fly out of this wonderful country in search of adventure.

We are trading ample sunshine for probable cloud; constant family for specially-timed Skype; various friend circles for new strangers; comfort and familiarity for the unknown.

Begin: wanderlust.

We made the decision at the beginning of the year to actually fulfil a dream I've had since childhood - go live in London for a while. London for me is what New York is for many - that elusive, mystical city of wonders that you just simply have to experience. The one that has been calling to you, pulling you toward it with every scene on TV, every passage in a book, every vicarious experience through friends. And now, incredibly, I'll be part of it.

In between house-hunting-visits, we plan to explore some of the city in the two-and-a-half weeks before I start work. We're hoping to cross off some of the more traditional tourist-y things during this time, simply so that we can move on to the slightly less tourist-y things more quickly. Of course, London Zoo will be one of the first places to visit once we're over the jet-lag enough to spend a full day out, so expect a picture-filled post about that sometime soon! (Along with the generic This-Is-Us-In-London posts)

See ya later 'Straya!

Packing is (not) fun

Today was a stressful day. We had brought with us to my parent's house all of the belongings we wanted to pack and take with us. It was all roughly thrown into various suitcases and bags, just needing to be sorted and packed better to fit it all in, surely.

Then we actually started packing.

Turns out I didn't really want those extra clothes, and Mr didn't really want those extra shoes. We had already donated a dozen bags of clothes and shoes to charity, and put into storage anything that wasn't going to be needed with us for the move, so we thought we only had useful, necessary items to take. Space wasn't an issue - I am a master clothes roller so everything fit in quite nicely. The problem, of course, was that the weight of our items was much more than we had anticipated. Even though our airline allows us 30kg of luggage each, plus 7kg of checked luggage each, we still ended up culling even more of what we were taking with us. In saying this, we did manage to pack the XBone, a re-wired Aus powerboard with a UK plug, and most of my make up collection - like I said, we packed the essentials.

We are not taking with us our Australian Summer Clothes - we are arriving in the UK at the end of their summer (which is currently the exact same temperatures as our winter), and heading fast into winter. We have packed a couple of pairs of shorts each, and a couple of summery tops, but the rest is more suitable for the weather we will be facing (endless pairs of jeans, pants and jackets = endless weight in the suitcase unfortunately).

So our coming-with-us possessions are now contained within our suitcases, and I realise how much crap we really had. First world problems and all. If I weren't so materialistic, I'd try living like a minimalist while we're in the UK, but realistically I think packing to come home again in a year or two is going to be even more of a nightmare than packing to get there.

From Home


I write this from the comfort of my couch in my living room in Brisbane. I have my husband beside me playing Destiny, our birds clambering over their cage talking to each other, a cup of tea on the table, and a small book at my side.

The book came with a card, and the words in the card made me tear up a little bit. Both the book and the card were gifts from two special colleges of mine - they were both members of my small staffroom for my first year of teaching, one was also my boss-lady for day-to-day happenings. Book and card were handed to me surreptitiously at the end of a goodbye dinner, with a furtive "We thought this was perfect".  We then laughed at the possibility of me getting home, unwrapping it, and having to send a high-pitched, forced smile "...thanks!", while putting the gift somewhere to be conveniently lost.

I then get home and actually unwrap it. I read the card first, and can hear the words actually being said by these two incredible women. Their way of writing brings across their personalities perfectly, and I am touched and amused by what they have written. The card mentions the desire to  have something physical to write in while travelling, in contrast to the '15 blogs, a wiki, a Facebook, probably a Twitter and all sorts of electronic stuff', and I immediately know what the brown-paper-wrapped gift is.

What I was not prepared for was the wash of emotions as I unwrap and flip through the notebook (with obligatory attached pen - in pink!). There are beautiful illustrations of birds and travel icons spaced throughout outlines that desperately called to be coloured in. Every 10 pages or so is an illustration accompanied by a quote about travel, not one of them the typical, well-known ones. As I read through these, I realise that they now all apply to me. I realise, with crashing clarity, that I only have two weeks left in the only country I have ever known. Two weeks left with my family and friends. Two weeks left in comfort, familiarity, and convenience. Two weeks left of 'known'.

In two weeks time, almost to the minute of writing this post, we will be taking off from Brisbane International Airport; bound first for Dubai, then on to London. It will be both of our third long-haul flights (if you count there and back as separate flights), and we will be travelling with a suitcase apiece and our emotions locked tight.

A suitcase. It seems such a bizarre yet common thing to store your life away in.

This realisation, that this is a thing that is happening, brings with it such a plethora of emotion that it's a little hard to comprehend. All of the obvious ones are there - excitement, nervousness, sadness and happiness - but there's also the ones like stress, apathy, independence, betrayal. All of the side-emotions that tend to be pushed away in favour of the obvious ones. But it is these side emotions that hit me the hardest when I flipped through that book. These side emotions that I've been ignoring for weeks, months, because they are related to 'an event', one that is 'happening in the future'.

But, at risk of being extremely corny, that future is now.

And it has finally, truly hit me.