It is with great sadness that I learn we'll be getting serious about cleaning. I had hoped to remain light hearted about cleaning or even absent (minded) about it. I guess however there is no escaping the fact that we will shortly (7 days) be moving out and things need to be done. Not the least of which is packing our gear into boxes and suitcases. We have made a start - several boxes of DVD's now reside in the lounge along with two suitcases full with clothes. Today we intend to pack up everything that we won't be using in the next week. I can see this turning into a fun game around Wednesday when I start to wonder why I thought I could survive a week without a magnetic sculpture.
Posted by Nick
We have as usual been very busy through January. We have spent a lot of time flat hunting, or as Nick likes to say 'getting value for money from our travelcards'. Unfortunately, since we work in quite different locations we are a little limited in terms of parts of London we can move to. One of Nick's work locations, in particular, is difficult. However, we have now found a flat that we both like, It has all the requisite things bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, lounge. It is nicely fitted out with a gas cooktop, electric stove and washing machine/dryer. So it got quite a few ticks on our what we want in a flat list. The only downside is it is a little further from the station than we currently are so will add slightly to the commute.
It hasn't been all work and no play though. My friend Lianne has been visiting London so I got to spend some quality time with her. She came and met me at work for lunch one day and then I took another day off to spend with her. We went to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs and assorted other wonders of the natural world and then met Nick for lunch. His South Kensington workplace is conveniently located near the musuems. We had a fun lunch and I remembered why one doesn't eat in Chelsea! Probably I wouldn't normally notice but I was mentally converting everything into New Zealand dollars and it seemed very extravagant.
After lunch we headed to Knightsbridge to visit Harvey Nichols. Lianne and I refrained from buying the £250 scarf or £75 t-shirt but I did manage to get Lianne to indulge in a treat from the cake counter. She also managed to pick up a few pressies for people back home. We ventured into Hyde Park to let Lianne eat her chocolate concoction and met some very friendly squirrels. They seemed very interested in our shopping bags, shoes and even at one stage our laps. We gave them some raisins and that kept them quiet for a while but Lianne decided it was time to go when I mentioned that if they bit you you had to have a rabies shot! We finished our day with a trip to Hamleys to look at the toys. It was lovely to see Lianne and as always I had a lot of fun with her. Hopefully next time we will get to meet Tony, her man, as well.
Yesterday we celebrated my birthday. I had another fun day. I managed to add to my clothing, lingerie, jewellery, games and dvd collections. So I was very spoilt. Nick and I both decided to take the day off so we spent the day together. Following breakfast and presents we headed into town to the National Gallery to see an exhibition on Degas' construction of his paintings. It was very interesting and most fun of all was playing spot the gallery in the video at the start of the exhibition, both the Getty and Musee d'Orsay were featured and it was fun to be able to say 'we've been there'. We also looked at some of the later works in the galleries collection including work by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh and Renoir. So that was our cultural experience for the day.
We followed our gallery visit we lunch in Trafalgar Square. Now on a pleasant summer's day this might be pleasant enough but it was reasonably chilly yesterday so Nick and I felt a little like we were on an arctic exploration tour. However fortified with hot chocolate (Nick) and black tea (Me) we braved the weather. I even had my photo taken with one of the lions! We then proceeded to Harvey Nicks to attempt to buy some meat for my birthday tea. We failed in this task but did come away with a new chef's knife to replace the one Duncan and Bronwyn have so inconsiderately packed for shipping home.
We settled on fish for tea which we served with homemade wedges, salad and a slice of lemon. The others had creme brulee (made by Nick and his blow torch) for dessert and I had rice bubble cake (made by Bronwyn sans blow torch). We finished the day with an episode of Stargate. It was a lovely birthday and I want to say thank you to everyone who phoned, emailed or wrote and to everyone who gave me presents. It makes the day a little more special. I am a year older but still feel about sixteen - I wonder if that ever stops.
Posted by Birthday Hayley
