Living and Working in London - Part 2

Well here we are, mid way through December! We cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. I (Rachel) am actually writing this entry as I have finished up at work - yay! Lets just say supply teaching in London has not been the most joyous experience of my life but that said, it has certainly toughened me up a bit, so all in all has been an experience that I have learnt lots from. Simon finishes work on Friday and has enjoyed his experience at the BBC. He has made some great contacts and friends for his return, and has also enjoyed working and seeing behind the scenes of what he says is one of the world's greatest broadcasters. He got to visit the set of Dr Who and Torchwood (new Dr Who spin off) on his weekly trips down to Cardiff in Wales and even got to go inside the Dr Who Tardis, although he couldn't get it to take off!

So at present we are preparing for Christmas and Africa, we fly out to Mount Kilimanjaro in the early hours of January 3rd. Our biggest challenge, other than the sheer number of vaccinations we have had (started taking the malaria tablets today - so lets hope none of the 'common' side effects kick in while I'm writing this and especially not the 'uncommon' ones!) is the packing! We are both very excited. We will endeavour to do a short Christmas and New Year entry before we depart but in the meantime I'll share some of our experiences from the last couple of months ...

October included a flying visit from Vicki, our friend from Munich (the jet setter) - she was in London for the day, so we met up for an early dinner! I celebrated my birthday, for the first time in 15 years with my family and mum, whos birthday is the day after mine! Penny (an old school friend) also has her brithday in October, so along with Amanda we enjoyed a very relaxing and indulgent spa day and evening out. During October we also went on a Champagne Flight on the London Eye with my sister Bec (our birthday pressie to her) and could not have had a more perfect day! We followed this with lunch at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen - he wasn't there, but we all agreed that the steak was truly the best EVER. Simon's family visited us during the October half term and we all enjoyed the South Bank and the interesting Tate Modern Gallery, as well as an evening service at Westminster Abbey (it was free to get in if you went to a service - typical tourists!).

November saw another visit from Vicki, this time for the weekend. We introduced her to the Guy Fawkes Night tradition here in England (which ironically celebrates England's first terrorists ??, who attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament back in 1605), we watched an amazing fireworks display at Clapham Common. We did quite a lot of shopping and Vicki is now a true Marks and Spencer convert (she is stopping here for a few hours on her way back to Oz for Christmas and her first request was to visit M & S!). We saw 'Guys and Dolls' (Vic wanted to see Patrick Swayze), dined at Covent Garden, and finished the weekend with a 'Big Red Bus Tour' of London and a visit to Harrods. In the past couple of months, we have also explored Westminster, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, St Pauls Cathedral, as well as the spectacular Hyde Park. We watched the Lord Mayors Show through the 'City' of London, saw the 'Sound Of Music'; one of the best shows we have seen, and were in the audience for Graham Norton's The Bigger Picture with guests Susan Sarandon and Clive Anderson. We regularly visit the movies at Leicester Square, which always feels very glamourous, especially after we braved the cold one night to watch the celebs arriving for the James Bond Movie Premiere - Daniel Craig came over and snogged me - oh hang on I'm hallucinating (malaria tablet side effects must have kicked in!). We saw the celebs arrive, many we didn't know a few we did ... Sting, Sharon Osbourne and Elton John (see blurry photo), Paris Hilton, and the Queen.

We have also caught up with some old friends in the past couple of months ... Rachel (another one) lives in the UK and worked with Simon on a McDonald's international project he was on a few years ago, she introduced us to a new area in London's social scene and we look forward to more evenings out with Rachel on our return. We also visited my friend Julie, her husband Alastair and beautiful son Mikey - Julie was my first McDonald's Marketing boss back in 1988!! I consider her to be my first real mentor and one of the best bosses I have ever had! (only Merrill can compare!).

A couple of weekends have been spent out of London - we visited my sister Lucy in Portsmouth, where she is at University. Lucy and her lovely boyfriend John showed us the sights of Portsmouth and we had a really great couple of days with them. We have also been up to Worcestershire to spend the weekend with Simon's family, which included watching Emily in a 'glamour shoot' (a gift we got for her 21st), she was an absolute natural and it was a struggle to choose the photos for the final album! As a surprise Christmas present John and Helen took us to watch the Nutcracker performed by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which was our first ballet and a truly amazing experience. Other out of town trips included a short stay with my sister Bec, who lives in the very nice City of Chelmsford.

Excuse me ... Simon being the original blog author wants to add a few lines ...
The cricket has been the talk of the office over the past few weeks of course, and lets just say that the Aussies on the project (and there are about 5 of us who all happen to sit in the same area), have been happily bagging out the poms on the result. The trouble with the English is that they get their nose in front for a while and then think it's safe to start dishing it out to us, only to fall at the last hurdle. Great fun had all round!!

Rachel back here to finish up - we have really embraced the Christmas spirit in London and while I don't like to make comparisions, I have to say that here in England Christmas really does feel like Christmas! We watched the Christmas lights being turned on in Oxford and Regent Streets, spent an evening listening to carol singers around the Trafalger Square Christmas tree, have well and truly got into all the Christmas food and drink that appears in the shops at this time of year - especially the mulled wine! And I can't write this entry without mentioning a bit of UK 'tele' - the X Factor with Simon Cowell has been addictive, the great Christmas movies have already begun - Love Actually, Wizard of Oz, and the poms really know how to do Christmas Specials!

And as I write this entry I have been listening to Christmas carols (some things never change) and working my way through an enormous tin of Quality Street chocolates - ah another pommie Christmas tradition I'm enjoying immensely! To conclude this final London entry, the following come to mind to describe London - Gritty yet Glamourous, Traditional yet Cosmopolitan, Cold yet Cosy, Busy yet Buzzing - living in London we both have a sense of being in a very happening place, Africa will be a very different feeling. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and may all your wishes for 2007 come true, with love from Rachel and Simon.

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