Arriving to London for a 2nd time felt like we hadn’t even left. We arrived refreshed and ready to hit the cold…. and cold and grey it was! It got dark by 4pm and it felt like 7pm. The week we arrived was so cold I couldn’t last 10 minutes out for a run, and it even snowed for half a morning. We stayed a night out at Jams cousins place, a couple of hostels, and mainly at Mess and Larry’s (kiwi friends) for the 1st month.
It was exciting being back to think what we can achieve travelling in the coming year with our new visa, considering what position we would be in if we weren’t granted it. It hasn’t been as hard as when we 1st arrived a year ago as we now know what to expect. Jam’s been enjoying being back at her old job and I’ve been job hunting since being back. It’s a really tough market out there, and I’ve been quoted a few times that I couldn’t have pick the worst time in all of Capitalism to job hunt in London! I’ve spoken to a few kiwis that are fresh off the boat and they have been struggling. I’ve got some temp work, so its ok, but not ideal.
In the 1st week we were back we were off to see Dave Dobbyn. We were blown away by how good he sounded live, and had a great time singing along to some great kiwi classics. During the weekend we headed an hour and a half north to Loughborough to cash in Jam’s birthday present, a Ferarri driving experience. It was nice to leave from St Pancras station and to see all the Eurostars trains lined up, we were temped to jump on one and head to Paris instead! When we got to the supercar venue, we expected the co-divers to hold you back from drving fast, however, Jam got a co-driver that encouraged her to put her foot to the floor! It looked so much fun I couldn’t help myself but to have a go (Jam’s early Christmas present for me). All I can say that driving a 556HP Lamborghini was effortless and scary!
It was exciting being back to think what we can achieve travelling in the coming year with our new visa, considering what position we would be in if we weren’t granted it. It hasn’t been as hard as when we 1st arrived a year ago as we now know what to expect. Jam’s been enjoying being back at her old job and I’ve been job hunting since being back. It’s a really tough market out there, and I’ve been quoted a few times that I couldn’t have pick the worst time in all of Capitalism to job hunt in London! I’ve spoken to a few kiwis that are fresh off the boat and they have been struggling. I’ve got some temp work, so its ok, but not ideal.
In the 1st week we were back we were off to see Dave Dobbyn. We were blown away by how good he sounded live, and had a great time singing along to some great kiwi classics. During the weekend we headed an hour and a half north to Loughborough to cash in Jam’s birthday present, a Ferarri driving experience. It was nice to leave from St Pancras station and to see all the Eurostars trains lined up, we were temped to jump on one and head to Paris instead! When we got to the supercar venue, we expected the co-divers to hold you back from drving fast, however, Jam got a co-driver that encouraged her to put her foot to the floor! It looked so much fun I couldn’t help myself but to have a go (Jam’s early Christmas present for me). All I can say that driving a 556HP Lamborghini was effortless and scary!
Jam's car
My car
The following week we had my cricket awards night. It was a nice casual break up for the year and really good to catch up with cricket mates again, especially as I thought we might not have been back to see them again. I’ve also been quite glad we’ve managed to make it back earlier than anticipated, as I was hoping to be back in time to catch the Dave Dobbyn concert and the cricket awards night. And it’s also great to be back to experience another festive winter Christmas, with the magical atmosphere and lights. Catching up with old work mates was cool as well, as I didn’t think I’d see them again.
Chilling out away from the rain in a festive pub
...with fantastic pub food
old tudor style house
The Sambles
Ice sculpture near the Christmas markets
York Minster
The following weekend we headed to York for the Christmas markets. It ended up being spent in a nice warm pub, as the weather was very wet and cold. York is a city up north England that was once the capital of England in the Roman days, and has a pretty cool old wall around the city. Even though it was cold, and our feet were soaking, we really enjoyed seeing such a cool old city.
Just before Christmas we moved into a temporary two bedroom flat of our own. It was sooo nice to have a roomier flat in London to ourselves. It was Jam’s cousins husbands aunty’s house, who had gone to Australia for a holiday.
We didn’t have many plans for Christmas, but were invited to join Jam’s bosses family in Birmingham for Christmas day. We decided to stay in London and have a quiet one and see what the capital was like during Christmas, and to save money given our one income. With all modes of public transport closed down on Christmas eve, we hired a car to get into central London to check out St Pauls for a midnight church service. It was pretty cool and traditional, but a contrast to what we’re use to. It was nice driving around town with virtually no traffic around.
Christmas eve at St Pauls
St Pauls
We spent the rest of our break completely relaxing in the warmth of our own flat, snuggled on the couch watching dvds. For a couple of days after Christmas we volunteered at a homeless shelter. It was quite a humbling experience and completely blew away our initial understanding of homelessness. The charity we volunteered for, sets up a number of shelters around London so that homeless can have somewhere to go over the Christmas period. These shelters are normally set up in unused office blocks. The shelter that we were allocated to was the first one that they had allowed people to drink alcohol at, so it was bit of a trial run, and it seemed to work ok as they said policing the alcohol is normally one of the biggest issues in the shelters. It was really humbling working at the shelter, and the homeless really loved having people there to talk to and hang out with. If you ever gets the chance, I would totally recommend you volunteer over Christmas at a shelter.
We also managed to drag ourselves off the couch long enough to head back to the National History Museum to see the latest Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, the Darwin Exhibition, and finish off the last of the bits we hadn’t managed to get to at the same time last year.
Outside the Natural history museum with christmas markets and iceskaing
Jam with dark hair
Warming up at the Camden markets
Some good food at Camden markets
Back into theatre
So that’s about all we’ve been up to over this cold winter period.
Bev and Jam
