Pot planting

Planted new herbs


Some bulbs & flowers







Progress shots to follow...

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:London, UK

National Service?!?

The Tories want to introduce 'National Service'? Hello??? Anyone home? 1950's Conservatives reborn?!?


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:London

An age since I last posted on here...

Since last July I've: been granted HSMP for the UK; flown to the USA and fallen in love with NY and enjoyed LA; been skiing in Champangy en Vanoise; Lyon; been to Winchester and continued to see more of the UK (country walks).

Off into the country-side this weekend - Milford to Haslemere, 17.5km including the Devil's Punch Bowl.

Sunny (?) London

Well this morning was glorious and it got me inspired to look up a london walk (http://www.walks.com) - off to do the 'Little Venice' one at 2pm. Just hoping the weather holds up! Will report with photos later today.

PS Another blogger has inspired me to start writing on a semi-regular basis so here goes...

Update...

Well since my last miserable post, I've got through my first winter over here, had Christmas in London, seen Edingburgh, had my position made redundant, gone back to Oz for a fortnight, come back, seen Vienna and gone through two jobs!

Now working in Victoria, the first time I've actually ever been in a city centre for work! Life is looking up, my other half is doing exceptionally well he certainly doesn't want to head back but for me it all depends on whether I can get a visa to stay, the next few months will be interesting. If I can't I'm thinking of trying to get a job in the US on the E-3 visa... Otherwise it's back to Oz, probably Sydney maybe Perth for a little while.

Next year I'm thirty and I suppose it's time to start thinking of picking a city to settle down in, decisions decisions

London

Well I've been here for almost three months and it's time to put down some thoughts...

London is not a particularly friendly city, she is grimy and dirty in a way that Paris is most certainly not. Her windy streets are oppressive and confusing for a new arrival and the Tube's layout was thought out by a sadist. Beggars are everywhere. Rats are everywhere (there are estimates that for every Londoner there are 11 rats... that's close to 66 million rats - yuck!). Prices are ridiculous, even when compared to Europe.

I don't really like this city... especially when the Dockers were doing so well

A Bite of Europe!

Ok - I've left this far too long...

So a quick update of the two weeks in Europe:

Arrived in London, jet lagged and exhausted only to spend 2 hours in an immigration queque (the introduction to the Brits favourite pass time had begun), all went smoothly from there however and in no time we were on our way to the hotel i'd booked for two nights. Got off at Baron's Court and followed my directions... only when we got to the street we needed to turn down both of us mistook the g for a c - Gunterstone became, well needless to say we were rather shocked that the Brits would name a street like that and kept walking... only later after a few laps of the block did we realise our mistake!

Ace Hotel was clean, basic and well 'modern' but that's about all that could be said of it - great place to get your feet but you won't want to stay long.

London was gloomy, rainy and dreary - matching our tired jet lagged state!

Two days later we made our way back to Heathrow to fly to France.

PARIS IS GLORIOUS - IF YOU SEE ONLY ONE CITY IN THE WORLD MAKE IT THIS ONE.

Ah Paris, wide boulevards, beautiful houses and a confidence and quirkiness all of her own. From the fantastic bountiful coffee to the boulangerie et patisseries I absolutely adored Paris. More to come when I update this.

We then took a TGV to Geneva.

Geneva is a pretty boring place - the beautiful old town dies like Perth after 6pm, with a few hapless tourists wandering aimlessly about her deserted streets but little else. Nice lake and a fascinating tour of the UN buildings with a guide that soon makes you realise just how impotent the organisation is... I don't think I'll ever be back.

Overnight train to Venice with the passport Nazi... yes as soon as we were on the train a guard demanded our passports, telling us we'd get them back when we got off, certainly didn't help me get to sleep and it was a great relief when they were returned!

Venice - beautiful, smelly and full of tourists.

Ryan Air flight to Rome...

Americans!

Rome... the Spanish Steps, the Vatican - Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter's Basilica and the Roman Forum

Back to UK.

Pictures and a fuller description to follow.

Live it, Love it, Hong Kong!

Well it has been a long time… no excuses; I’ve just been too busy sorting myself out to get in contact with y’all so here comes a very long update!

It seems like ages ago that Pete and I set out from Perth. We had a smooth uneventful flight out to Hong Kong, if only the build up had been like it. Yes I did the one thing you are NEVER supposed to do – I forgot my passport at home. Needless to say this little control freak was in a bit of a state by the time he got to the airport!!! It’s funny now but at the time I was ready to have a breakdown.

The flight was uneventful, though I must admit I was exhausted from the 4 hours of sleep I'd had the night before. Yet nerves and emotions of leaving y'all back in Oz left me bereft of sleep... snoozed a bit but spent most of the flight watching movies.

Hong Kong airport is absolutely huge but well organized. Both Pete and I had managed to pack ~30kg’s each (thank goodness I’m a Qantas Club member – it’s the only reason I can think to justify the lack of excess baggage charges). Rather than haul our bags around on public transport after 5 steps we’d agreed to get a taxi or anything that could deliver us to our door – thankfully Hong Kong has a business that for about half the price of a taxi will deliver you to your hotel door – we paid our money and were very grateful for the service!

The hotel – ‘The Salisbury YMCA’ was clean, and very comfortable - a bargain right in the centre of Kowloon. Ironically it is right next to one of the world’s most expensive hotels, the Peninsular. I’d definitely recommend the hotel to anyone visiting Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is AMAZING - so clean, so many shops - most open well into the night, you can even go and see a movie at 12:40am AM!!! It truly is a world city. Saw the Da Vinci Code but really wasn’t that impressed.

A side street

Keep feeling like I've spent my life very sheltered in sunny old Perth.

Sunny – that’s one thing Hong Kong certainly wasn’t, it poured down! Plus the heat and humidity is oppressive, though every shop is air conditioned.

One word of warning if you are ever here - shop toilets don't carry toilet paper! I found this out to my detriment and embarrassment one morning. I won't go further but needless to say I will always be carrying a roll in my day pack in Asia!

The food was great, the public transport fantastic and I loved my time there – if I ever get the chance to work in Hong Kong I’ll jump at the chance.

What else - oh yeah, one night I had pork intensines + pork and chive dumplings in a hot and sour noodle soup - DELICIOUS! Also had some Lotus seed cakes which are a very unusual nutty pasty treat, try them if you ever get the chance.

There were a few other highlights that I got to – Temples, riding the old trams from Central to Causeway Bay, watching the light show over Hong Kong harbor and going to Lantau Island to view the biggest Buddha in the world.

One thing that stands out from my experience of Hong Kong was its confused identity; it’s undeniably a part of China and increasingly the investment capital for anyone wanting to invest in the mainland, yet the vestiges of British rule remain – the cars drive on the left hand side of the road, all the plugs are the UK prong, all the signs are bilingual in Chinese and English. When HK ends being a separate part of China in 40 years (?) I wonder how these issues will be addressed… not my problem in the end but still it will be fascinating to see what they do.

Pete and I flew out of Hong Kong on the Friday morning – we got to the airport 3 hours before our flight but that was so early that we couldn’t go through customs for an hour as they didn’t open until 6am!

Special mention on the Qantas Club lounge at Hong Kong International airport – this is by far the best lounge I’ve ever been in, truly a world class lounge. Plush.