I have so much to write about but lately I'm finding it hard to find the time! It was easy when I didn't have a job, but now not so much!
Anyway, I've got some photos up from this weekend so I wanted to give a brief description of what all we've been up to.
On Friday we were very fortunate to be able to use my colleague G's grounds passes to Wimbledon. We went in and wandered the grounds for a few hours. We had dinner there, and sat on Henman Hill to watch the action. We also wandered around to the smaller courts and caught some live action as well. It was very interesting to experience it from the "inside"! Unfortunately the weather was not great, it was gray and chilly, which took away from the experience a bit, although was true Wimbledon, I guess. On the way out we decided to avoid the crowds at Southfields tube station and walk over to Wimbledon Park to be the first ones on. Unfortunately it was not as straightforward as it looked on the map, and we ended up finding ourselves trapped on the golf course. Let's just say that only a small amount of fence-climbing was required, and leave it at that. Then to top it all off there was no one at Southfields... Sigh. Anyway, we did take a few photos, and they are online here.
Saturday we actually spent the morning looking at Vespas, but didn't find one to buy. We are looking around for something inexpensive yet reliable, so we can putt around our neighbourhood and to the grocery store and so on. It's amazing how many Vespas there are in London! Then we had big plans to go to Greenwich, but unfortunately our plans did not go as far as determining whether or not the DLR was operating this weekend (ie it was NOT). So we got as far as Canary Wharf, which we had also been wanting to see. Canary Wharf is a fairly new development of offices and shopping down on the Isle of Dogs. It is home to One Canada Square, which is the tallest building in London. Noise is a big fan of cities and tall buildings and so on, so he was quite keen to check this area out, and he was not disappointed. Photos here as well! Since getting to Greenwich was going to be difficult, we made a quick change of plans and instead headed over to Brick Lane, which is a famous street in London lined with Indian restaurants and shops. We shared a curry as our afternoon snack, as we figure you can't live in London and not go for a curry! Yum!
En route to Leicester Square we had to go through King's Cross, which we hadn't done yet, so we detoured out to do the requisite photo op at Platform 9 3/4, where they have basically put up a sign on the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and bolted half of a luggage cart to the wall to make the day of all the Harry Potter fans out there. Noise opted to make his photo look like he ran into the wall, whereas in my photo I simply look drunk.
We went by Leicester Square and picked up tickets to see Wicked, which I had been quite keen to see. I didn't know a lot about it, only that it was the back story about the witches of Oz, so we had great fun watching the story unfold. Of course the seats were in the nosebleeds, which I always hate because you don't get quite as absorbed in the story when you're that far away, but it's hard to get tickets, so we'll just count ourselves lucky that we saw it at all! Especially after we were almost late because we started out heading to the wrong theatre! It's playing at the Apollo Victoria and we looked on the map and found the Apollo. It wasn't until we had left home and were heading to the Apollo that I realized there was an address on the tickets and that it was down by Victoria Station, not at Piccadilly Circus where we were headed! So we changed directions but there were severe delays on the Piccadilly line and we finally got off the tube and ran down Oxford Street looking for a cab to get the rest of the way. We got there with a few minutes to spare, but of course they never start on time anyway, so we were a-ok!
Today we took a day trip out to Cambridge, and had a lovely day. Photos can be found here. We took the train from King's Cross, it was a 45 minute ride and so efficient! We spent the day wandering around Cambridge, checking out the famous colleges and the scenery. We went for a punt ride up the River Cam (the quintessential Cambridge experience) which was a great time! We also went into the King's College chapel, which is the second largest chapel of its kind in Europe (second only to the Sistine Chapel). The weather was lovely, I actually got a bit of a sunburn on my nose! My first British sunburn (I think they are quite rare...) We really enjoyed the day in Cambridge. Noise has a dream of doing his MBA at Cambridge, and we decided we could enjoy a year there!
Anyway, I'm out of time to write for today, but I wanted to give a quick synopsis of the last 3 days and post the photos for everyone to enjoy! I'll try to update again soon!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
To say or not to say....?
Noise and I had an interesting discussion last night about the language differences here. What we were wondering was how far to go in trying to conform. Should we be making a conscious effort to use common words and phrases here, or just talk normally? My problem is that I feel like if I purposely say "cheers" instead of "thank you", it feels awkward and forced to me and I feel like that comes across. Also I almost feel like it's insulting somehow to use all their phrases. I'm not sure how, but that's how I feel. How would we feel in Canada if someone came from the UK? We probably wouldn't even notice if they said "thank you", but they would maybe feel the same awkwardness that I feel to say "cheers".
At work there are some phrases or words that I feel the need to conform to. For example, in Canada the procedure "neuter" applies to a male, although technically the term can be either gender. Here they use the term "castrate" for males, and I figure with a bit of practice I can do that too to avoid confusion. My coworkers know that I am practising. ;)
My theory is that aside from the work terms that I need to use to avoid confusion, I don't plan to purposely use Brit terms, but I expect that the longer we are here I will start picking up those words and phrases naturally. But should I be making the effort?
Tomorrow is my day off! I have no major plans except to sleep in a bit. We are in the midst of trying to make some plans for the weekend. We're hoping to plan another day trip for either Saturday or Sunday - possible destinations include Brighton, Cambridge, or Windsor, although there are a million places we could go. I think I have a line on some Wimbledon ground passes for Friday afternoon/evening, but we'll see if that pans out. The weather has been quite nice this week, no rain yet to disrupt the tennis. And we're starting to think about trying to get away somewhere for more than a day! Where to choose first? We are overwhelmed by the options!
At work there are some phrases or words that I feel the need to conform to. For example, in Canada the procedure "neuter" applies to a male, although technically the term can be either gender. Here they use the term "castrate" for males, and I figure with a bit of practice I can do that too to avoid confusion. My coworkers know that I am practising. ;)
My theory is that aside from the work terms that I need to use to avoid confusion, I don't plan to purposely use Brit terms, but I expect that the longer we are here I will start picking up those words and phrases naturally. But should I be making the effort?
Tomorrow is my day off! I have no major plans except to sleep in a bit. We are in the midst of trying to make some plans for the weekend. We're hoping to plan another day trip for either Saturday or Sunday - possible destinations include Brighton, Cambridge, or Windsor, although there are a million places we could go. I think I have a line on some Wimbledon ground passes for Friday afternoon/evening, but we'll see if that pans out. The weather has been quite nice this week, no rain yet to disrupt the tennis. And we're starting to think about trying to get away somewhere for more than a day! Where to choose first? We are overwhelmed by the options!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Music in the park
The Singer has been complaining that my blog entries make her insanely jealous. So today I thought maybe I should do something today that wouldn't upset her. So we bopped on down to Leicester Square to check out West End Live. One weekend in June they put o
n a big outdoor concert and festival to celebrate theatre in London. They do performances from all the shows currently in production, as well as other acts. It was great! It ended up being a beautiful day, albeit very windy, so we hung out in the sun and watched some great performances. We wandered over to Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street for a bit and got some lunch, then went back to Leicester Square in time to see the Sound of Music performance. It wasn't the whole cast, just the Mother Abbess and Maria doing The Sound of M
usic, My Favourite Things, and Climb Every Mountain. Oddly enough, it wasn't the Maria that we saw onstage, so I guess they opted to use the understudy for this particular performance! We saw them hanging around backstage before they went onstage as well.
n a big outdoor concert and festival to celebrate theatre in London. They do performances from all the shows currently in production, as well as other acts. It was great! It ended up being a beautiful day, albeit very windy, so we hung out in the sun and watched some great performances. We wandered over to Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street for a bit and got some lunch, then went back to Leicester Square in time to see the Sound of Music performance. It wasn't the whole cast, just the Mother Abbess and Maria doing The Sound of M
usic, My Favourite Things, and Climb Every Mountain. Oddly enough, it wasn't the Maria that we saw onstage, so I guess they opted to use the understudy for this particular performance! We saw them hanging around backstage before they went onstage as well. All in all it was a pretty cool activity for the day and we were really glad we decided to go. We definitely want to make the most of these opportunities while we're here. How fun!
P.S. All the photos from West End Live are posted here.
This and that...
Sorry I haven't been writing much this week - now that I have a job again it's a bit harder to find the time! The rest of the week at work was pretty good - I am starting to settle in a bit and get into the swing of things. I'm starting to feel a bit more like I'm part of the team, which is nice because that is my favourite part of working in a clinic. I did something interesting on Friday which is I think somewhat British - I went on two house calls! That's not to say that Canadian vets don't do house calls, but it's not something that I've ever done, and I think it's more common here. The clinic uses a pet ambulance and driver to take a vet and a nurse to the house call, and then if necessary the pet can be transported back to the clinic. As it turned out the two calls I made were quite simple and not difficult, and in return I got a lovely driving tour of Wimbledon!
Friday after work I met Noise at Fulham Broadway on my way home and we had a dinner and movie date. This was our first outing to a movie here, and although there were some minor differences, for the most part it was like being at home. One thing I noticed was how quiet the whole theatre was, out in the hallways there were no people! Like a ghost town! I don't know if that is typical or if certain days are much busier or not. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie and really enjoyed it!
Yesterday was a busy day, which is why I didn't update my blog then! In the morning we went down to the Borough Market. The market has been there in some form since around 43AD, and has been on its exact site for 250 years. It is tucked in under the railroad tracks at the south side of London Bridge. There are 4 areas of market, all filled with stalls, plus shops and restaurants on the surrounding streets. All the vendors are selling foods, and we sampled cheeses, breads, oils, sauces, jams, sausages, and so on. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, and we brought home our produce for the week. We each had a bakery treat (croissant for me, raisin scone for Noise), and on our way out bought a tray of brownies to take to a get-together in the evening. There were also quite a few stalls selling hot food but we didn't buy anything. The market is open at 9am on Saturdays, and we got there at about 10 and it wasn't too busy. By 11:00-11:30 it got quite crowded. One fun feature is that in order to get there we ended up getting off the tube at Monument and walking across London Bridge to reach the market (the tube line which goes straight there was closed). It was only a short walk and now we have another experience to tuck under our belts. Of course, the whole way across Noise insisted on singing "London Bridge is falling down..." but what else would you expect?
At the south end of the bridge is Southwark Cathedral, built in the 1200s. We didn't go in, but I found it interesting to see this ancient church tucked in between the modern bridge, the railroad tracks, and the market. So typical of London, the way the old and the new constantly rub shoulders.
When we left the market we had a bit of time so we decided to walk back across the bridge and along by St. Paul's before heading home. We walked along the south side and took some photos and then got the tube at Blackfriars. Noise uses Blackfriars as his main tube station to and from work, and it's quite a nice walk for him from the tube to his office, as when he crosses Fleet Street he has a lovely view of St. Paul's everyday.
Of course we went armed with our camera, and photos of both the market and St. Paul's can be seen here.
In the afternoon we headed off to Wimbledon to attend a BBQ at my friend P's house. This was a really nice opportunity to meet some new people and also to hang around with some Canadians! What a treat to talk to people about places I know, and to have that common bond. I was chatting with someone else from Ottawa about last year's snow, and it was so great that she knew exactly what I meant. I don't think the people here can fully understand what I mean when I say 4 metres of snow! P's husband K is South African, and we got to sample some SA foods as well, which were delicious!
Today is the first day since we arrived (almost 3 weeks ago!) that we didn't have plans made at least by the day before. We're getting tired, I think! Today we're going to try to take it easy, so we might just head out to do a bit of shopping or maybe go to a park. The weather is not great this weekend, yesterday it was quite cool and it rained in the morning, and today it is very blustery, although sunny. Apparently the coast is getting hit with gales and high winds, so I guess we're getting some of that. The weather is so strange here, we've decided that the general rule of thumb is to never go anywhere without both your raincoat and your sunglasses. And wear layers because the temperature likes to shift dramatically!
I'd best be off to find something to do today! Until later!
Friday after work I met Noise at Fulham Broadway on my way home and we had a dinner and movie date. This was our first outing to a movie here, and although there were some minor differences, for the most part it was like being at home. One thing I noticed was how quiet the whole theatre was, out in the hallways there were no people! Like a ghost town! I don't know if that is typical or if certain days are much busier or not. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie and really enjoyed it!
Yesterday was a busy day, which is why I didn't update my blog then! In the morning we went down to the Borough Market. The market has been there in some form since around 43AD, and has been on its exact site for 250 years. It is tucked in under the railroad tracks at the south side of London Bridge. There are 4 areas of market, all filled with stalls, plus shops and restaurants on the surrounding streets. All the vendors are selling foods, and we sampled cheeses, breads, oils, sauces, jams, sausages, and so on. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, and we brought home our produce for the week. We each had a bakery treat (croissant for me, raisin scone for Noise), and on our way out bought a tray of brownies to take to a get-together in the evening. There were also quite a few stalls selling hot food but we didn't buy anything. The market is open at 9am on Saturdays, and we got there at about 10 and it wasn't too busy. By 11:00-11:30 it got quite crowded. One fun feature is that in order to get there we ended up getting off the tube at Monument and walking across London Bridge to reach the market (the tube line which goes straight there was closed). It was only a short walk and now we have another experience to tuck under our belts. Of course, the whole way across Noise insisted on singing "London Bridge is falling down..." but what else would you expect?
At the south end of the bridge is Southwark Cathedral, built in the 1200s. We didn't go in, but I found it interesting to see this ancient church tucked in between the modern bridge, the railroad tracks, and the market. So typical of London, the way the old and the new constantly rub shoulders.
When we left the market we had a bit of time so we decided to walk back across the bridge and along by St. Paul's before heading home. We walked along the south side and took some photos and then got the tube at Blackfriars. Noise uses Blackfriars as his main tube station to and from work, and it's quite a nice walk for him from the tube to his office, as when he crosses Fleet Street he has a lovely view of St. Paul's everyday.
Of course we went armed with our camera, and photos of both the market and St. Paul's can be seen here.
In the afternoon we headed off to Wimbledon to attend a BBQ at my friend P's house. This was a really nice opportunity to meet some new people and also to hang around with some Canadians! What a treat to talk to people about places I know, and to have that common bond. I was chatting with someone else from Ottawa about last year's snow, and it was so great that she knew exactly what I meant. I don't think the people here can fully understand what I mean when I say 4 metres of snow! P's husband K is South African, and we got to sample some SA foods as well, which were delicious!
Today is the first day since we arrived (almost 3 weeks ago!) that we didn't have plans made at least by the day before. We're getting tired, I think! Today we're going to try to take it easy, so we might just head out to do a bit of shopping or maybe go to a park. The weather is not great this weekend, yesterday it was quite cool and it rained in the morning, and today it is very blustery, although sunny. Apparently the coast is getting hit with gales and high winds, so I guess we're getting some of that. The weather is so strange here, we've decided that the general rule of thumb is to never go anywhere without both your raincoat and your sunglasses. And wear layers because the temperature likes to shift dramatically!
I'd best be off to find something to do today! Until later!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Working Girl
So I started my new job on Monday, and so far things are going well. It was a bit weird on Monday, I felt like no one really wanted to show me around and I was left to my own devices most of the day, and had to ask people to show me where things were and how to use the computer, and so on. Then I had yesterday off (I'll come back to that!) and worked again today. Today I felt a bit more settled and as I actually had things to do to keep me occupied it made it a bit smoother. I think things will work out nicely at this clinic, although of course it's still a bit early to know for sure. They seem to be practising good quality medicine there, something which is important to me, and there also seems to be the freedom for me to do things as I wish, rather than needing to conform to some sort of policy. The trick is for me to stand up for what I want without seeming bitchy about it. :) Today I had some surgeries to do and the nurse I was working with very quickly figured out how I like to do things and got into my groove, which really helped. Anyway, I won't get into the details because it would bore all the non-vet readers, but the bottom line is that today was a good day! The major problem with today was that I was working a 12-hour shift, and my feet are currently throbbing! I am counting down the days until our shipment of belongings arrives from Canada with my work Crocs!!! If I had known I would start work so quickly they would have been in my suitcase. ;)
The commute for me to work takes about 45 minutes door-to-door, with about a 8-10 minute walk at each end, which I understand is quite a reasonable commute for London. Of course later in the day (like at 8:30 tonight) the tube doesn't run as often, so I had to wait about 10 minutes at Wimbledon tube station tonight for the train to leave, which slows it down a bit. Because Wimbledon is the end of the line it's not a big deal if I doze on the train on the way to work. The other nice thing is that I'm going out of the city so I'm going against the rush hour, so I can get a seat on the train. Of course next week the tennis starts so I expect that will change. ;) We're hoping to get in to see some tennis, it's one of those things that it would be silly to not do while we're here. They re-sell the grounds passes after 5pm for only £10 or so, so I expect we will do that. I learned today that a certain top-level tennis player (ie 9-time Wimbledon champion or some such thing) is a client at my new clinic, when she is in town for the championships she brings her dogs there, and she often brings them free tickets, so cross your fingers there! Apparently they draw names out of a hat for who gets them.
Yesterday was my day off, and I had a very nice day. After Buggy and I went on our training run in the morning I got ready and headed into the city to meet Noise for lunch. Then I came back out to Hammersmith and spent two hours wandering the shops. I am completely in love now with Primark, as I spent £19 there and got 3 shirts, 1 pair of pants (trousers!) and a pair of shoes! I had such fun. Obviously the stuff is not great quality, but for work clothes I don't want to spend a lot of money as they just end up ruined. Then I met up with a friend from home, P, who I had been trying to contact since we knew we were coming and finally was able to call her on Monday night. We met at Starbucks and had a nice chat, and we're going to their place on Saturday for a barbeque. How nice to see a familiar face!
This weekend we're planning to go to the Borough Market, which is down around London Bridge and is an ancient marketplace. Apparently there has been trading on that site since around 65 AD or something, and the market as it is today has been there for 250 years. They tell me that it's mainly food stalls, and just amazing. So we'll check that out.
And some exciting news! We have internet! Our BT broadband router was delivered today and we're all set up. What luxury to have a reliable connection! Now we just need to figure out how to get the phone set up with the router, because as part of our plan we are supposed to have pretty good rates to Canada (something like 1.25 pence per minute).
I've decided to start compiling a list of things that we miss about Canada (for example, cottage cheese) and also things that we like and appreciate here (for example, prices include the tax). Once I have some entries on my lists I'll post them here for your perusal!
Must run now, morning comes early!
The commute for me to work takes about 45 minutes door-to-door, with about a 8-10 minute walk at each end, which I understand is quite a reasonable commute for London. Of course later in the day (like at 8:30 tonight) the tube doesn't run as often, so I had to wait about 10 minutes at Wimbledon tube station tonight for the train to leave, which slows it down a bit. Because Wimbledon is the end of the line it's not a big deal if I doze on the train on the way to work. The other nice thing is that I'm going out of the city so I'm going against the rush hour, so I can get a seat on the train. Of course next week the tennis starts so I expect that will change. ;) We're hoping to get in to see some tennis, it's one of those things that it would be silly to not do while we're here. They re-sell the grounds passes after 5pm for only £10 or so, so I expect we will do that. I learned today that a certain top-level tennis player (ie 9-time Wimbledon champion or some such thing) is a client at my new clinic, when she is in town for the championships she brings her dogs there, and she often brings them free tickets, so cross your fingers there! Apparently they draw names out of a hat for who gets them.
Yesterday was my day off, and I had a very nice day. After Buggy and I went on our training run in the morning I got ready and headed into the city to meet Noise for lunch. Then I came back out to Hammersmith and spent two hours wandering the shops. I am completely in love now with Primark, as I spent £19 there and got 3 shirts, 1 pair of pants (trousers!) and a pair of shoes! I had such fun. Obviously the stuff is not great quality, but for work clothes I don't want to spend a lot of money as they just end up ruined. Then I met up with a friend from home, P, who I had been trying to contact since we knew we were coming and finally was able to call her on Monday night. We met at Starbucks and had a nice chat, and we're going to their place on Saturday for a barbeque. How nice to see a familiar face!
This weekend we're planning to go to the Borough Market, which is down around London Bridge and is an ancient marketplace. Apparently there has been trading on that site since around 65 AD or something, and the market as it is today has been there for 250 years. They tell me that it's mainly food stalls, and just amazing. So we'll check that out.
And some exciting news! We have internet! Our BT broadband router was delivered today and we're all set up. What luxury to have a reliable connection! Now we just need to figure out how to get the phone set up with the router, because as part of our plan we are supposed to have pretty good rates to Canada (something like 1.25 pence per minute).
I've decided to start compiling a list of things that we miss about Canada (for example, cottage cheese) and also things that we like and appreciate here (for example, prices include the tax). Once I have some entries on my lists I'll post them here for your perusal!
Must run now, morning comes early!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Weekend update
It’s been a few days since I posted, mainly because the internet connection has been hit-and-miss. This week we should hopefully get our connection hooked up which will be luxury!
We did a bit of sightseeing this weekend. Saturday we went down to the South Bank to Tower Bridge and City Hall to visit the Telectroscope (see post from June 12). When we arrived there was not much of a queue, and Noise enquired how far in advance we should join the queue if we wanted to have our turn at 2:00. She suggested that we come back just before and they would “get us in”. So we wandered off back down the bank and to a pub for lunch, where we had our first English fish and chips dinner! Delicious! Then we came back to the Telectroscope, where there was now an hour-long wait. But true to their word, they “fast-tracked” us through the line and put us with the people who had booked online (w
hich I understood you could only do for special occasions, ie marriage proposals, but the other people there were also meeting friends...) So at 2:00 on the dot we got our turn to look through the crazy machine, and sure enough there were our NYC Guys on the other end! They rang us on our mobile and Noise and S chatted as well. They said that at 9:00 in New York, there wasn’t any line so they had just been hanging out waiting for us. Anyway, I admit I had some doubts about how it would work, but Noise fixed it up as usual and it was all pretty cool!
We did a bit of sightseeing this weekend. Saturday we went down to the South Bank to Tower Bridge and City Hall to visit the Telectroscope (see post from June 12). When we arrived there was not much of a queue, and Noise enquired how far in advance we should join the queue if we wanted to have our turn at 2:00. She suggested that we come back just before and they would “get us in”. So we wandered off back down the bank and to a pub for lunch, where we had our first English fish and chips dinner! Delicious! Then we came back to the Telectroscope, where there was now an hour-long wait. But true to their word, they “fast-tracked” us through the line and put us with the people who had booked online (w
hich I understood you could only do for special occasions, ie marriage proposals, but the other people there were also meeting friends...) So at 2:00 on the dot we got our turn to look through the crazy machine, and sure enough there were our NYC Guys on the other end! They rang us on our mobile and Noise and S chatted as well. They said that at 9:00 in New York, there wasn’t any line so they had just been hanging out waiting for us. Anyway, I admit I had some doubts about how it would work, but Noise fixed it up as usual and it was all pretty cool! From there we wandered down to Tower Bridge and into a little area just beyond it with shops and restaurants. Then we crossed Tower Bridge and caught the tube over to Oxford Street to do some shopping! I start my new job tomorrow and have nothing to wear! To start with, I only have a suitcase worth of clothes, and while I brought clothes to wear to interviews, I didn’t really anticipate starting a job before my other clothes arrived. Also, for the past 2 years I have worn scrubs at work, and now will be wearing “smart casual” attire with a provided tunic overtop. So we hit up the Oxford St shops (not recommended on a Saturday afternoon) and I did buy one new pair of pants. That combined with what I do have will likely get me through the first week, but I’m going to need more! Also while we were on Oxford St, some crazy parade of hundreds of naked cyclists went by, not something we’ve ever seen in Canada before!
Photos of the telectroscope, and Tower Bridge can be viewed here. (And one photo of the cyclists!!)
Today we ventured outside of London again, this time by train. The train system in England is so efficient, why drive? We took the train from Waterloo station out to Salisbury in Wiltshire. I was very impressed because from the train I could see the clock on the platform and when it hit 09:15:00 we started moving! It was a smooth and pleasant trip to Salisbury, and when we arrived there we grabbed the Stonehenge Tour bus which seems to be the best way to get out to Stonehenge. They provide commentary along the way, and it’s a hop-on, hop-off tour, so you can get off at 
various sites if you wish. We got off at Stonehenge and spent about 1 ½ hours there, wandering around, taking lots of photos, and listening to the audio commentary. I was quite excited to return to Stonehenge as it was one of the sights in England that I remember the best, and it was as I remember it! We had brought a picnic lunch so we ate it there on the grass looking at the stones before catching the bus back to Salisbury. We hopped-off at the Market Square and wandered around Salisbury and up to the Cathedral. We saw some interesting sights; the St.Thomas Church, dedicated to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, many old medieval buildings, and of course the beautiful Salisbury Cathedral. We both very much liked Salisbury, we found it to be a lovely area, less busy than London of course, but nicely urban without having lost the old medieval feel. And in a pet shop there I found the leash I have been looking all over for!
various sites if you wish. We got off at Stonehenge and spent about 1 ½ hours there, wandering around, taking lots of photos, and listening to the audio commentary. I was quite excited to return to Stonehenge as it was one of the sights in England that I remember the best, and it was as I remember it! We had brought a picnic lunch so we ate it there on the grass looking at the stones before catching the bus back to Salisbury. We hopped-off at the Market Square and wandered around Salisbury and up to the Cathedral. We saw some interesting sights; the St.Thomas Church, dedicated to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, many old medieval buildings, and of course the beautiful Salisbury Cathedral. We both very much liked Salisbury, we found it to be a lovely area, less busy than London of course, but nicely urban without having lost the old medieval feel. And in a pet shop there I found the leash I have been looking all over for! The train home was on time (we actually arrived 10 minutes early into London) and much more crowded than on the way out. People heading back to London on Sunday afternoon for the work week, I guess. And so ended our first day trip!
As I mentioned, tomorrow I am starting work, so of course I am a bit nervous tonight. But also I am excited to get started! I have to get up early, though, after several weeks of doing as I please!
Noise has mentioned that he would maybe like to start adding the occasional post to the blog, so I am going to add him as a user – so in the near future you may start getting commentary from him as well! Watch this space! His big news this weekend is that he has joined the Virgin Active gym a few blocks away from our house, so he will soon be back to his active ways. I have decided not to join, although I would like to because they have a pool! But the monthly fee is so expensive and I know I wouldn't use it enough to justify it. The fee is about 6X what I was paying in Ottawa!
I will sign off now, but not before saying Happy Father’s Day to PetDad! Also to Grandpa and to Noise’s Dad as well. I won’t get all mushy here, I’ll just say I miss you! I’m looking forward to the PetParents visiting in August... counting down the days!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Photos!
I have been struggling with internet access the last few days, but today I am at the Starbucks down the street using our BT wifi account. Yay for internet!
I have posted some new photos for your perusal. I am trying out photobucket, an idea I stole from The Singer, as there doesn't appear to be a limit to the number of photos you can upload.
Photos from our sightseeing day around London are here.
Photos of the surrounding area and neighbourhood around our flat can be found here.
Please let me know if these links are working of if you have any trouble with them. I am going to attempt to create a link to the right which would allow you to open the main page and choose which album to view, but we'll see how that goes... To choose the album look at the left-hand side of the page which lists the albums (currently London Sights, and Hammersmith and Fulham).
I think I will be making a trip to Wimbledon tomorrow to finalize my contract, which I received in the mail today. But if I am going to start work on Monday, I wouldn't be able to mail it back or else I would arrive before it did! They do appear to be expecting me to start on Monday, so I think things are set there. As much as I have enjoyed a few weeks off, I am also a bit anxious to get back to work, partly simply because it is boring alone in the flat all day! I have Buggy to keep me company but it is his habit to sleep all day (one I do not want to discourage) so mostly I have been making little outings to the grocery store, etc, and reading. I am currently reading Edward Rutherford's London as recommended by the Singer, and definitely enjoying it.
This weekend we have some plans... we are planning to check out the telectroscope, which involves an enormous tunnel under the Atlantic, with windows at each end in London and NYC, so if you stand at one end you can see the people looking through the other end. We have friends in NYC and so we have arranged to try to see each other! I'm not sure how well it will work, as you apparently have to queue to look through it so it may be difficult to arrange the timing, but we'll try! How exciting if it actually works out!
Also I think we're going to try to get a bit of shopping done - I held off buying any "work" clothes at home before we left because I didn't know what I would need. For the last couple of years I have worn scrubs at work, but here I think I will be wearing regular pants (ie khakis, etc) and shirts with a clinic-supplied tunic on top. So I think I need some pants! I will probably hit up one of the cheaper stores to get a few pairs to start with. My friend M in Ottawa lived in Glasgow for the past 5 years and she has supplied me with the names of the cheap shops to look for. ;)
I also will need to get myself a monthly travelcard this weekend. Since we arrived I have had a 7-day travelcard (on my second one now) for zones 1-2, but I think once I start work I will do better with a zone 2-3 travelcard. We live in zone 2, and I will be working in zone 3. If I get a 2-3 travelcard it is £50 cheaper than if I also had zone 1 included, and I won't need zone 1 regularly, so we figure it is cheaper to go that way and use pay-as-you-go on my Oyster card for when I do want to travel in zone 1. I won't go into zone 1 enough to make up the £50 difference! The Oyster card is ingenious, I think it's an amazing system.
Tonight I think we are going to venture outside of the limited area in which we have been existing, and head up to north London to visit the Ikea there. Wish us luck!
I have posted some new photos for your perusal. I am trying out photobucket, an idea I stole from The Singer, as there doesn't appear to be a limit to the number of photos you can upload.
Photos from our sightseeing day around London are here.
Photos of the surrounding area and neighbourhood around our flat can be found here.
Please let me know if these links are working of if you have any trouble with them. I am going to attempt to create a link to the right which would allow you to open the main page and choose which album to view, but we'll see how that goes... To choose the album look at the left-hand side of the page which lists the albums (currently London Sights, and Hammersmith and Fulham).
I think I will be making a trip to Wimbledon tomorrow to finalize my contract, which I received in the mail today. But if I am going to start work on Monday, I wouldn't be able to mail it back or else I would arrive before it did! They do appear to be expecting me to start on Monday, so I think things are set there. As much as I have enjoyed a few weeks off, I am also a bit anxious to get back to work, partly simply because it is boring alone in the flat all day! I have Buggy to keep me company but it is his habit to sleep all day (one I do not want to discourage) so mostly I have been making little outings to the grocery store, etc, and reading. I am currently reading Edward Rutherford's London as recommended by the Singer, and definitely enjoying it.
This weekend we have some plans... we are planning to check out the telectroscope, which involves an enormous tunnel under the Atlantic, with windows at each end in London and NYC, so if you stand at one end you can see the people looking through the other end. We have friends in NYC and so we have arranged to try to see each other! I'm not sure how well it will work, as you apparently have to queue to look through it so it may be difficult to arrange the timing, but we'll try! How exciting if it actually works out!
Also I think we're going to try to get a bit of shopping done - I held off buying any "work" clothes at home before we left because I didn't know what I would need. For the last couple of years I have worn scrubs at work, but here I think I will be wearing regular pants (ie khakis, etc) and shirts with a clinic-supplied tunic on top. So I think I need some pants! I will probably hit up one of the cheaper stores to get a few pairs to start with. My friend M in Ottawa lived in Glasgow for the past 5 years and she has supplied me with the names of the cheap shops to look for. ;)
I also will need to get myself a monthly travelcard this weekend. Since we arrived I have had a 7-day travelcard (on my second one now) for zones 1-2, but I think once I start work I will do better with a zone 2-3 travelcard. We live in zone 2, and I will be working in zone 3. If I get a 2-3 travelcard it is £50 cheaper than if I also had zone 1 included, and I won't need zone 1 regularly, so we figure it is cheaper to go that way and use pay-as-you-go on my Oyster card for when I do want to travel in zone 1. I won't go into zone 1 enough to make up the £50 difference! The Oyster card is ingenious, I think it's an amazing system.
Tonight I think we are going to venture outside of the limited area in which we have been existing, and head up to north London to visit the Ikea there. Wish us luck!
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