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Published: March 16th 2006
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Windsor Castle
Olivia and I at Windsor Castle. Weekend Escapes (January & February, 2006)
On the 3rd of January I commenced work at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead (North London) as a Senior 1 locum on a 28 bed rehab ward. The Royal Free is one of Londons largest teaching hospitals with approximately 1000 beds. Back to the real world somewhat although I've been able to enjoy lots of weekend escapes. Hampstead is a lovely area with the hospital situated close by to Hampstead Heath.
Windsor Castle (8/1/06)
Visited Windsor Castle with Olivia and Jason. The Queen wasn't in but we enjoyed walking around the grounds and viewing all the magnificent rooms.
French (from 11/106)
I've started learning French on a Wednesday evening at a local pub in Kingston (a suburb not far from Twickenham where I'm living). Olivia had a bit of a head start as she commenced classes last year. It is certainly very relaxed and I hope to pick up enough of the basics to get me by when I visit France in the not too distant future. What I learnt quickly was that a glass of wine during the class can help with pronunciations!
Fame (12/1/06)
Bern and I and
Life Is A Bath!
A quote from inside the Roman Baths! an OT from work saw Fame at the Aldwych Theatre in central London. Second row seats for £15. It was a great performance.
Camden Markets (14/1/06)
Have started to make my way around some of London's many markets. Camden Markets had some great food and we were amazed to see several handicrafts from South East Asia marked up quite significantly!
Arrested in the Tate Modern (15/1/06)
Some really impressive pieces of work in this gallery in central London. The Tate Modern was once a power station and only opened to the public in 2001. Well worth the visit. It turned out to be quite an exciting afternoon when a visitor was arrested in one of the galleries. He was covered in paint and appeared to have been vandalising some work or just making a big mess!
Bath (20-22/1/06)
An absolutely beautiful little town. Had a brillant weekend with Bern, Elizabeth, Jess (an Aussie OT from work) and Jess's friend Lauren. Enjoyed a walking tour of the town with some local volunteers who have lived in Bath a very long time and love running the walks for the tourists. I may have taken my bathers to Bath (Olivia
Bath
Bern, Jess(OT from Brisbane), Me and Jess's friend Lauren laughs!!!) but up until 1987 you could actually enjoy a relaxing soak in one of the baths until a child died of meningicoccal and it was linked back to the bath water. A new bath is under construction for the public to use however it has been a very slow process.
Australia Day (26/1/06)
A great night was had by all at Waxy O'Connors (an Irish Pub!) in Leicester Square. Plenty of Aussie tunes! Bumped in to an Aussie OT that I used to study with (Nicole Shanks). There was certainly no shortage of Aussies to celebrate Australia Day in London. Wore my green and gold Sydney Olympic socks. They matched my green work trousers very nicely!
Salisbury (27-29/1/06)
Visited the famous Stone Henge with Kendra and Spike. It was an extremely chilly weekend with snow on the drive down and near freezing temperatures at Stone Henge. The Salisbury Cathedral is a spectacular feature of the town built in the 12th century.
Chinese New Year (29/1/06)
Although Chinese New Year is celebrated on the 28th of January we celebrated in style on the 29th. Ann (a very good friend of Olivia's) spent many hours in Olivia's kitchen
Roman Baths
The Main Bath. (with a few kitchen hands!) and prepared some amazing traditional chinese dishes. Probably the most interesting dish was the black eggs which had been preserved for thousands of years!!
Paddling on the Thames or is that swimming in the Thames!!
I joined the Richmond Canoe Club which apparently is Britains biggest canoe club with over 300 members. A fellow Murray paddler (Sarah Nosworthy) is also a member. She too paddlers through the middle of winter! After my first paddle my feet were close to frozen - I'm sure frostbite wasn't far away. Bern and Elizabeth weren't quite sure if sitting in the boat was cold enough for them so took a short dip! They were a bit anxious to be the first ones away during a short sprint and dug their paddles in a little too hard and fell in. Happy to say that they are still with us! Just! They thawed out in the club showers and over a cup a soup followed by a hot chocolate at the pub. They haven't yet grown any extra appendages as Olivia predicted. The Thames is probably about as hygenic as swimming in the Yarra if you get my drift!
Manchester (10-12/2/06)
Elizabeth is currently living and working in Manchester so Bern and I bunked in with her at the hospital accommodation for the weekend. The Trafford Centre (very impressive shopping centre) was a highlight along with dinner on the "Curry Mile."
Thinking Day at Pax Lodge (18/2/06)
For those guiding people Bern and I celebrated Thinking Day at Pax Lodge with a Bonfire Supper followed by a campfire (minus the fire!). Caught up with Rachel (a friend of my sisters) from North Metro Region - Melbourne who is volunteering at the centre. It was certainly a very friendly and welcoming centre. Met many international guests.
Night Orienteering (26/2/06)
Bern and I tried our hand at night orienteering in Trent Park, North London with the London Orienteering Klubb. It is probably better to master your orienteering skills in the daylight but we enjoyed the challenge and did opt for the easy course! We didn't get lost. Kendra was on call just in case. Kendra had little faith in my navigational skills! My compass work is improving!!!!
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Miranda
non-member comment
black eggs
really Lou, black eggs!?!?!!