November for the Norths

November has just flown by in a blur!  We helped cousin Sid celebrate his 40^th-he had no idea about the party let alone the Australian cousins being in town so it was a double surprise.  We met other long lost cousins of cousins of cousins-the relationship between everyone got a bit complicated especially with free flowing wine and endless tins of beer!  In any event, the distant relatives seemed to have a good memory of Julian as a wee lad and we spent an enjoyable night regaling stories of days gone by.

We experienced the novelty of purchasing fireworks from the supermarket then being able to set them off in the back yard on Fireworks Night/Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Day (something we haven’t been able to do at home since the early 80’s!)  Some were impressive, others just fizzers but we managed to set off all 44 crackers without a hitch-so the OH&S officer’s precaution of a bucket of water was thankfully not needed.

We have wonderful memories of our visit to Cambridge mid-November but not too many photographs as Danielle had forgotten to charge the camera battery!  As well as seeing the beautiful old colleges and hearing embellished stories & tales about the places beside our punt ride along the river Cam, we took the opportunity to catch up with an old flattie-Kier-now a resident of Cambridge who was able to show us some of the fine ale houses about the town too.

The month with rounded off with a touch of home, seeing Lior live (click here if you've not heard of this fab musician) at a very up close at a small place in Soho as well as a trip to Twickenham to see the Wallabies absolutely thrash the Barbarians 

We continue to be reminded how mild the weather is at the moment compared to last year when the place had almost come to a standstill due the amount of snow, although it is quite cold enough now!  London has been blanketed in fog a couple of times already and a little rain has fallen but all in all, we shouldn’t complain.  At least the pubs are a cosy place to bunker down and forget the winter weather worries.

---

Employment + Cooler weather = Settling Down ??

Well we've been busy little beavers these past couple of weeks or should I say squirrels?  The cute little pests are everywhere!

The better half began supply teaching two weeks ago with the phone running red hot for bookings for days to work while the other half combines his greatest love-coffee-with what seems to be London's greatest attribute-free wifi- by passing the days away in the coffee chain Nero studying and job hunting simultaneously.

Fortunately for the teacher, a week and half of work was rewarded by a week of holidays (the mid term week off that staves off the potential insanity of working a 12-14 week term!).  This time has been put to good use though, investigating potential longer term dwellings.  We've been scouring the web, making contact with advertisers and viewing places in the vain hope we might find something half decent and at a half decent price.  So far, no luck but what a great way to get to know London and its suburbs.

We're able to tick a few more items off the England to do list including a delicious, proper home made Sunday roast,  a not so delicious pub made Sunday roast,  markets, markets and more markets and most notably for the male half of this couple- a proper football game, watching what seems to be one of the most disliked teams (unless you are a supporter of course which he is) Arsenal playing at their home ground, Emirates stadium.  Arsenal won keeping everyone happy and positive but I just loved how Bolton (opposition of the night) supporters were relegated to a far corner of the stadium, fenced off and heavily guarded who then would have had to join the 55 000 plus throng of people exiting the stadium-imagine the heckling!  The photo below shows the three sections they were permitted to sit in.

Needless to say, pubs have still been a significant part of our agenda :P  

New start, beginnings, settling in etc etc

So after the long days, late nights, anxiousness, packing and customs strikes in the lead up to leaving, we had a really uneventful departure from Sydney and arrival into Heathrow. 
London put on a fabulous show of weather (we'll take credit for bringing it with us from Sydney) for the first four days which made our duty to be tourists quite easy.  We can tick of the to do list: St Paul's Cathedral, Greenwich, Covent Garden, Borough Markets, Canary Wharf, cruising the Thames, the shiny new Westfield at Shepherd's Bush, Tate modern and the Camden markets!
After a few nights at a hotel in Paddington, near Kensington Gardens we made our way to our abode for the next couple of weeks located in Hammersmith.  It's oh so convenient proximity to shops, parks, walking paths and the transport has made it an ideal spot to get ourselves organised and also to get a feel for life in London.
Getting into the spirit of frequenting the pub isn't made too difficult with the overabundance of pubs in London.  Not much of an excuse has been needed either.  For example, what do you do to enjoy the sunshine when it rarely pops its head up?  Find a pub with a nice beer garden.  What do you do when the nights are a bit cooler and nothing is on TV?  Find a cosy pub.  What do you do when you've finished cruising a museum? Relax at a pub.  Where do you go when you want to catch up with friends?  You guessed it-the pub!

Getting jobs is also on our agenda, but all in good time...