Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the two of us! Thanks for following us on our adventures this year, it's been a tough but exciting and happy one... though we've had some hard times with work or lack of work, and a few moves from home to home, we've also visited my home country, seen some new countries, and got engaged! We're so lucky to have wonderful family and friends.

If some of you are still doing some last minute Christmas Eve shopping, you might like to take up this suggestion spotted outside a pub:



Stay safe and see you in the New Year.

xxx

Snow in London Town

Several hours of heavy snowfall yesterday transformed our drab London suburb into a snow-covered spectacle. The main road outside our window struggled to cope with desperate Christmas shoppers trying to get home.



24 hours on and little has changed:









We took the underground into central London to sample the festive mood:


The fountains in Trafalgar Square almost completely frozen over.



And the 4th plinth sporting a snazzy giant ship-in-a-bottle.





We enjoyed a lovely wander through the Christmas market on the South Bank.







And warmed ourselves up with a delicious German bratwurst!

Things not to miss, UK

This is the wonderful list that Dave made for me when we had just met. I thought it was immensely sweet that he wanted to share all these places where he'd been and enjoyed with me! Since then, we've explored quite a few together and I had some fun highlighting where we've been in blue. Seems like we need to see more of Cornwall, Scotland and Wales? I did make a similar NZ list for Dave and happily I can say we polished off that list this year!

Things not to miss, UK:

Wildlife
Bluebells in spring/Autumn leaf fall/Puffin colonies/Badger set/Foxes/Deer/Robin

Stately home gardens
Chatsworth/Cliveden

Castles
Leeds/Warwick/Windsor/Canaervon

Stonehenge, Avebury

Cornwall
Land's End/Penzance/St Michael's Mount/St Ives/coast path/Lizard lighthouse/Eden Project

Scotland
Aviemore/Cairngorms/Ben Nevis/Edinburgh/Glasgow - Charles Rennie MacKintosh architecture/Perth/Aberfeldy/Loch Ness

Wales
Snowdon/Canaervon/Cardiff/Gower peninsula/Pembrokeshire/Skomer Island/Brecon Beacons
Big Pit, Crickhowell (Mining Pit Museum!)/Cream Tea

London
Tower of London/Regents Park/Primrose Hill/Richmond Park/Hampstead Heath/Primrose Hill
Open Air Theatre (Regents Park)/Globe Theatre/West End Musicals/Putney!/Wimbledon/Epsom Downs/Battersea power station/Battersea Dogs' Home/Walpole Park wildlife reserve/Wembley Stadium/Tate Modern/South Bank/National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery/Vinopolis/Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square/Covent Garden/Canary Wharf/Greenwich/Millenium eye/Walk along Little Venice/Millenium dome/O2 arena/HMS Belfast/(Cutty Sark)/London Zoo/Whipsnade Zoo/London Aquarium/Markets/See the Royal Ballet

Dover/York/Canterbury/Henley/Marlow/Windsor/Eton College/Bath/Oxford/Cambridge
Colleges - Kings, Trinity, St Johns, Clare/Punting/Hastings/Brighton/Portsmouth/Birmingham - Selfridges store

Devon
Sidmouth/Plymouth/Lulworth Cove/Woolacombe/Exmoor/Dartmoor/Beachy Head/Seven Sisters

Lake district
Skiddaw/Derwent water/Windermere/Norfolk Broads

Peak District
Dovedale/Bakewell/Lady Bower Reservoir

New Forest/Yorkshire Dales

Monkey

Last Friday a lovely couple dropped in to the vet surgery downstairs to meet Murray. They are really keen on him and will pick him up this Saturday to begin a new life being top cat with a cat flap and garden, and being allowed to sleep on the humans' bed! We are convinced that he will be utterly spoilt and not remember life in a one bed flat at all. We'll miss the little monkey... we tried to make it work but he has too much kittenish energy to be an indoor mog. Everything is turned into a plaything, from the bannister to the clothes drier, to our toes peeking out from under the blankets, and Christmas baubles being rolled down the stairs. Here he is helping me with the Christmas presents. I was doing the laundry and heard a strange 'plink plink' noise. The ginger fellow was having fun with the parcel. Good luck, Murray.

Comfort from the Cold

Brrrrr!! It's been chilly these past few days with the mean temperature hovering around freezing here in London. Dave and I escaped the worst of the cold, with no snow days at all. We were a little disappointed to miss out on the snow but really it's better to have business as usual and go to work and be productive... This is a pic Dave took on his way to the Harefield practice.



Iced branches.



My Aunty CY and Uncle Jack were visiting London from Portland, Oregon and braved it out to see us in Greenford. They had some trouble with getting in to London due to the snowy conditions, then had a problem with getting a puncture fixed on their rental car. We went to the Royal Standard, our go-to oldest pub in Britain, for some comfort food. I'm glad I got to help my aunt fulfil her Dickensian dream!



The table opposite us had this scythe hanging above it... glad I wasn't sitting underneath!



We had a friendly festive fellow looking over us instead.

1st of December

The cold snap in Britain has been the latest news, with much of the country blanketed in snow. We happen to live in one of the only unaffected areas, so it was off to work as usual for me this morning. The days have been dark and chilly, so it's been hard to take any good pictures, but here is our tree. I was really excited as this is the first tree of our very own! Luckily I chose shatterproof baubles as it has already been climbed on, redecorated and chewed on by a certain someone.

My aunt and uncle from Oregon are visiting London this week and we'll see them on Saturday. Hopefully they arrive safely at the airport.

Junkaholic

One of my new favourite blogs is Artemis Russells' Tales of a Junkaholic. I love her sense of style and lovely photography... not to mention that she and her husband Nao are both very talented jewellery designers who live and work in London. I wish our flat had a meadow at the back of it like theirs does. When I feel a bit jaded about living in London, it's nice to browse her blog and see that it's not always about concrete, roads and sirens.

Their beautiful vintage DIY wedding in the Isle of Wight is also a source of inspiration. Our own wedding planning is coming along, we are plugging away at it every now and again so that hopefully next July won't be too daunting. The nights are getting long and cold, so Dave, Murray and I now have a habit of curling up on the couch to watch 'Grand Designs' and other housey programmes to feed the dream.

Murray

Despite having many well-intentioned talks and making the difficult decision of 'head over heart' over giving Murray to a new home, his prospective home fell through yesterday for the second time. Unfortunately, the first time around the man hadn't asked his wife about a 3rd cat, and this time around the future owner's landlord changed their mind about their pet policy. So Murray is still with us and we're starting to think he's supposed to be part of our little family. We'll have to think of how to make it work (with no garden until we move, and going on holidays). but hopefully with some thought we'll find solutions.

Dave put up our Christmas tree today, and Murray is being surprisingly very calm about it all, even though we shifted his favourite tv watching chair!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

We've had a lovely Sunday even though the weather was wet and grey. Dave and I went to High Wycombe for a movie preview - Denzel Washington in 'Unstoppable' in the morning, then a leisurely day at home making smoked salmon sushi for lunch, then creme fraiche chicken and bread and butter pudding for dinner. We've been enjoying spending time with Mr Murray, who will be off to his new home on Tuesday. We will miss him a lot, but he really needs a garden and a safe place away from the main roads. We both hope to have a cat just like him when we are more settled and certain.

Push Button

A real-life set of buttons at the Natural History Museum. We went for a wander around the Cocoon in the Darwin centre, after our annual trip to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. This one is one of my favourites... an easy choice. I like it that there are Parisian wild rabbits living near the Arc du Triomphe.



There wasn't a scientist there, ready and waiting for my questions but I'm not sure what I would have asked. It would probably depend on the type of scientist on duty? Dave's mum Kathy volunteers at the Museum, so you might see her working behind the glass sometimes. If you spot her, give her a wave hello!.

Marble Hill House

We spent a lovely autumn day visiting Marble Hill House, a beautiful palladian mansion on the banks of the Thames close to Richmond. Apparently there used to be large numbers of these mansions in the area, before the London suburban sprawl overran them all. The surrounding parkland was looking lovely in the autumn colours:




Richmond, on the far bank of the Thames:





And this is an oddity of a distant age - an ice house, where ice cut from the river Thames would be stored deep underground to use in the summer for preserving food.

Crooked Billet II

The autumn colours were spectacular around the Crooked Billet, here are a few pics...

The Crooked Billet

Last Sunday, we celebrated Ken's birthday with a family lunch at the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. It's a wonderful tiny pub and restaurant that was historically one of the hideouts of Dick Turpin, the infamous highwayman. I first visited last year when I tried the saddle of hare. This time I was brave enough to try the rabbit and pheasant casserole... my family can tell you that a few years back this wouldn't be on the menu for me! But curiousity won out, and I can tell you that it tastes a lot like chicken but with different bones.



Dave had some local Old Spotted roast pork. We had a great afternoon, finished off by walking though the splendid autumny woods and visiting the Maharajah's Well.

Halloween Kitty

We carved the traditional pumpkin this year and had someone in a matching outfit to pose beside it. Murray hasn't found another home yet, so he is still staying with us. Our big box arrived from NZ today so we've done some unpacking... feels surreal having things that belonged to me in my Christchurch life! We have his 'n' hers sets of textbooks and little mementos from our tour around New Zealand.

Whipsnade

We took advantage of one of the last warm days of the year to have a little adventure in Whipsnade Zoo. There were some wonderful characters about!







The elephants get taken for a walk in the park every day:











Nap time:







And we finally found out what a wolverine looks like: