Winter in London

Hey Hey!

Been a while I know…no excuses though, so I’m back with an update.

Over the past 6 weeks we’ve been settling down into regular life here in London, finding ways to keep ourselves entertained on the weekends, and re-evaluating our requirements and expectations for the remainder of our ‘Big OE’.

Brannan unpacking our boxes fresh off the boat from NZ

I began working at IPC Media four weeks ago. I was beginning to think I was unemployable. Initially IPC didn’t want to interview me, luckily an agency convinced them to spend 10 minutes with me on the phone, after which I had a formal interview and finally I was invited back for coffee and a chat (??) before I was offered the role.

My colleagues are a great group of knowledgeable people, who have made me feel very welcome. There’s so much to learn at times I think my head will explode!! IPC is a large organisation, part of the Time Warner group, with over 2,000 staff in our building which is situated near Waterloo station. I’m on the 8th of 29 floors, and the whole 1st floor is a staff cafeteria complete with Starbucks coffee bar. IPC publish 90+ weekly and monthly magazines and one of the staff perks is half price mags… needless to say I’m well stocked now for my daily tube ride!

English School Days

Now that we’re both working the children are attending Breakfast Club and After School Care Club. Mark and I have to co-ordinate work schedules to meet the kid’s drop off and pick up times. Luckily Mark works fairly close to home and can make the 5.45 pm pick up, but travelling time means I’m gone from 7.30 am – 7.00 pm every day :-(

Recent adventures have seen us down at Stonehenge, join the crowds for the Lord Mayor’s show, witness the unveiling of the magical Christmas lights in Regent Street, and rubbing shoulders with Dame Judi Dench at Buckingham Palace (ok, Petra and I were on the footpath whilst Judi was actually going inside to see the Queen!)

Regent Street Christmas Lights

The English winter is upon us, and rumour is its going to be the worst since 1963!! We’ve already experienced a few weeks of -3 degree mornings, and it doesn’t get too much warmer during the day. We’re well practised at wrapping up head to toe before even setting a foot in the apartment lobby. Although we managed to avoid the forecasted snow last week, we’re hoping we’ll see a little at Christmas.

Cold!

The days are also getting shorter, its not quite light at 7.30 am when we all set off for work and school, and its dark again by 4.30 pm. We’re being careful not to complain as I believe its going to get worse before it gets better :-)

As mentioned we’ve been ‘re-evaluating our requirements and expectations’ for the remainder of our trip. It was obvious early on that I had over-ambitious expectations with regards the amount of travelling we could do whilst living and working in London. The authorities here disapprove strongly on taking the children out of school. This means any trips ex-UK are limited to school breaks, precisely when the price of flights and accommodation sky rocket. Mark and I are also limited with the amount of leave we can take from our jobs.

On top of this, I’m struggling being so far away from the kids (approx 1.5 hrs) during the day and with how little time I have with them in the evenings. As wonderful as London is, its not home, or where our friends and family are! And sometimes life here can be incredibly frustrating with overcrowding on the roads, public transport and in the shopping centres and supermarkets. The simplest every day task or outing takes such a lot of effort in planning, time and delays.

So…. we’ve decided that we’ll see out the school year, and aim to pack up next summer (August) and start our homewards journey hoping to make NZ late September. I’m now busy drawing up a list of places we want to visit en-route and what destinations we can tick off as weekend trips between now and next summer.

Well that’s all the time being folks! Be good, enjoy the sunshine and have a drink for us at your next barbeque :-)

Love Hayls and co