THE EGO HAS LANDED

Hey Guys, sorry we had hoped to have written a bit more in the countdown to our trip, but things got a little stressful towards leaving, so we didn't get a chance to write before we left - but never mind! The gist of it all is we got our house cleared, cleaned and rented - for more than what we expected, we got the renovations totally finished and we got away on time!

I thought it was appropriate to label this blog after a Robbie Williams album - since we are now living in his home land - and we have landed! Bev has below outlined the events of the last 48hrs for you :o) By the way Gill - we went to Sainsbury's yesterday and I spied the Jaffa cakes - so I will buy some when our finances are a little more certain and let you know what I think :o)

We’re in London….. FINALLY!!!!! Yesterday we arrived at 11.30am local time (Sunday 10.30pm NZ). Flying in cattle class is not fun – crammed and sweaty. After 48 hours of preparing for our trip and then actual flying, we only managed 2.5 hours of sleep. The flight from NZ to LA took 12 hours. It was amusing that the arrival card we filled in for America said “welcome to USA”, but the welcome was anything but that! However, we were treated to some chips and apples while we were in transit. But forced to watch baseball on TV. I was very impressed by the Dominos pizza advert on tv….a dessert pizza base loaded with Oreos and choc sauce :)

We had a good giggle at the flight safety video, which subtly reminded us how much cooler the seats are in business class – by saying you will find your life jacket under you’re seat in economy class – and under you foot rest in business class and then it pointed out something about the ottoman which you get in business class

Boarding the plane from LA to London was a relief, as I was getting very annoyed at the Americans – especially as we were only in transit(we had the same plane from NZ to London) yet they still made us go through customs, fill out a lengthly departure card about whether we were terrorists or not (like you would say anyway!) and get our fingerprints all in a non-air-conditioned hallway after a 12hr flight – I think animals are treated better in the US! It was a relief to see and hear British people. I couldn’t help notice that the stewards on the plane sounded a bit limp wrested!

We were kindly met by our cuzzies Dee and Mark at Heathrow, and tubed our way (with all our luggage - no small feat)to their flat in Putney Bridge (Fulham) (SW of London). I (Bev) have been most impressed about London so far, lots of cool parks/streets with old trees (reminds me of Cornwall in Hastings), and its not as crowded as I expected…… however, my opinion might change again when we enter central London today!

You certainly realise how small the world is, when you have been in the UK less than an hour and you have already seen two seperate people you were at the same halls with in Uni!! I also sat next to a Scottish guy on the plane who has recently been playing for the same Auckland Hockey Club that I did when I lived in Auckland a couple of years ago!!

You’d think, we would have slept for more than 12 hours last night to catch-up, but we kept waking up as our body clocks were telling us it was just mid afternoon!

During breakfast this morning we were excited by the fact that there was Marmite in the cupboard, but we were terribly let down by the taste and runny honey-like consistency of it….I think we will be off to the NZ shop in London to buy some real stuff today if we can find it :)

Jam again - So yesterday we arrived at Dee and Marks, went for a walk to Sainsbury's (the supermarket) - Anna it was very unsettling as you said - had no idea where anything was or what to buy - you need the whole day to just browse the shelves - so much pre packaged food as you said Gill, all your veges can be bought pre-cut and pre-peeled and pre-seasoned! (however it was fun seeing what you could buy though - everything appeared reasonably cheap like 45p but not so if you convert to NZ$ -but trying not to convert too much otherwise we might have early age heart attacks!) we then relaxed and went for a walk to a really nice park nearby on the banks of the Thames - gorgeous big old trees surrounded the park - beats the Derek Heather Park in Grandview Rd beside my parents and its pathetic sticks for trees! Today we hope to head into central london and collect our bank cards etc - so hopefully it has been set up correctly from our end in NZ! We also hope to buy oyster cards for the tube - a cheaper form of paying for the tube. It will be interesting to see how Bev and I handle the tube on our own!