Man we are getting so slack at keeping you up to date! Hopefully this blog will fill in most of the gaps!
We have been doing so many things, even though we have been trying to save lately as we have recently found out that the new changes to the visa we need to apply for to remain in the UK for up to three years requires us to come home to NZ to apply! Whilst it will be really great to come home to NZ, it is such a pain, as we could have spent the money we will now have to spend on coming home going somewhere we haven’t been before! However, we really can’t wait to go home and see our families, Jessy kitty and friends :o)
So this is what we have been up to anyway:
Leeds castle
The day our kiwi friends headed off to Spain, we decided to do something a bit more exciting ourselves, so we headed out to Leeds Castle – a castle that we had been meaning to visit for ages. It was a really great day out, (except the argument that we had had with the train ticket booth lady about whether we could go out to Leeds castle that day or not – turns out we knew what we were talking about!). Anyway, we got to Leeds castle just in time for the Falconry display which was fantastic to watch. Leeds castle is the first castle we have been to with a moat (and although not very exciting inside the castle as it is all restored), the grounds are fantastic, and it was a great chance to escape busy London for a quiet, peaceful and quaint village in Kent (South East of London). We really cherish these days when we can get out of London, as you feel yourself totally relax!
The falconry display at Leeds CastleWe went to the Phantom of the Opera with a group of friends - however I was quite disappointed by this show - definitely my least favourite show that we have been to. I don't quite know why I found it so disappointing - perhaps it was our seats (quite far away) or just the story line of the show. Anyway we enjoyed a good night out afterwards so that was good.
Ben and Jerrys
Some of you may not know, but Ben and Jerry’s is a delicious ice cream brand made in America, however I think it does pretty well here in England too. As it was their 30 birthday, they decided to hold a festival, which our kiwi friends invited us to, with a great twist – all you can eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream!! We went in with an excellent tactic – eat the ice cream but throw away the cone so that you can eat more ice cream, except Bev was quite taken with the taste of the cones too……..haha.
Lets just say we won’t be eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for awhile – it is a lot richer and creamier than tiptop. The day was an extraordinarily hot day – so perfect for eating icecream, and they had some great British bands playing too. I even got sunburnt - shock horror!
Bev getting Hen pecked at the Ben and Jerry's festival! (they weren't very happy when he told them he was eating a chicken sandwich!)
Greenwich
Bev and I decided to check out Greenwich before church a couple of weekends ago. It was really cool, investigating a new area of London, walking through a tunnel that goes under the Thames, and trying tasty food at the Greenwich markets. However the highlight of my day was mocking Bev because he keeps referring to Greenwich as Green Witch, and then he was talking about this thing called the Cutty Shark that he had no idea about – until I told him it was the Cutty Sark and it was a ship! Haha. Unfortunately, we ran out of time so we didn't get to see the Maritime museum but we will have to go back and see this another time.
Bev in the tunnel under the Thames River
Greenwich looking towards Canary Wharf (where Bev works)
A cute squirrel - I watched it pick this muffin wrapper out of a rubbish bin and then cleverley eat all of the crumbs off it (far more sophisticated than Steve Harcourt eating the whole thing)Bev’s Birthday
For Bev’s birthday last week, after a refreshingly lazy sleep in, I surprised him with a trip to the British Wildlife Centre which was about an hour out of London (it is surprising how many places you can find within an hours train ride of London). I thought our plans might have been thwarted by bad weather, however it stayed fine for all bar 2mins of our day out so that was great. The wildlife centre was really cool, it had British wildlife – just as the name suggests! So we got to see foxes up close, a badger, owls, polecats, otters, stoats and weasels (its hard to appreciate these since they are such mongrels in NZ).
We also got to finally see a red squirrel – so cute and ginger! (they have been displaced largely by the american grey squirell) But it was so sad we almost wish we hadn’t – as they were showing terrible repeat behaviours (it sux to be an animal behaviourist sometimes!). We then came home and quickly got ready to go out for dinner with a bunch of friends at a posh thai restaurant overlooking the Thames in Putney – very nice!
Eastbourne camping
This weekend we enjoyed two nights camping in Eastbourne (1.5hrs train trip from London South East) with Bev’s cousin and fiancée. It was so nice to get out of London and go somewhere different. We were quite worried about the weather as it was forecast for heavy showers(have you noticed that this is a theme of this blog), but it was fine during the day, and only rained at night. This was fine as we had borrowed a tent from Bev’s workmate, and it had an excellent fly on it – so no soggy camping! YAY! We were deeply disappointed though, as my workmate had told me they had sand at the beach we were staying at, but no, just more awful pebbles! However it was so nice to just chill, go out for a yummy breakfast, investigate our new surroundings, and walk down to an airshow that was on. As soon as we got to Eastbourne we just totally relaxed – ahhh.
Randon tidbits:
London has the grossest largest slugs ever – seem to be quite a few around at the moment ewww!You have to look at it twice to see whether it is a dog poo or a slug – that’s how big they are! No wonder their wildlife do so well over here!
I don’t recommend being in a country that is not your own when an Olympics is on – because all you hear about is how wonderful the country you are in thinks they are! Grrrr, especially when your own country has no medals for the first week of the Olympics! You won’t believe how much crap I got about that! However, my faithful American friend greeted me enthusiatically this morning to inform me that we had five medals!
I have worked out why the Brits are always so pasty white – summer doesn’t exist in the UK –so far we may have had a month of nice weather(made up of a few days in early may, a few in july and that’s about it!) – The rest have been grey overcast days and rain. Don’t come here if you want a summer!
Anyway that's about all our news - we hope to see heaps of you when we are home in NZ!
Will try to do at least one more blog before we head home.......only 6 weeks to go! (and counting)
Lots of Love
Jam and Bev
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