Mole News

Howdy!

Well January came and went and we’re well into February already. Despite the seemingly constant grey skies and chilly weather we’re holding up well and were pleased to see budding crocuses in the park today. There's definitely more daylight hours with dusk at about 5.30pm.

We’ve celebrated both Brannan and Petra’s birthdays in the past month, and kept up our weekend routine of taking in the sights of London.

When asked if he wanted to do anything special for his 11th birthday in early January, Brannan made us smile by asking to go to the pub for dinner. The trip around Scotland where pub meals were our staple food must have made an impact on him. He also asked for bread pudding for his birthday cake?!? He’s in danger of becoming a true Brit.

Birthday Boy Bran

Not to be outdone Petra also asked for a pub dinner on her 6th birthday this week, although she was careful to choose a different pub (and reckons her’s was better!

Birthday Girl Pet

Now a story of the ‘it could only happen here’ kind… I arrived at work the other day to find the entire contents of a 750ml water bottle sloshing around the bottom of my bag (heaven only knows how I didn’t notice earlier). Luckily there wasn’t too much damage to important things like my diary and various photos. I cleaned everything up, turned the bag inside out (it was quite a large holdall) and hung it on a coat hook in the ladies to dry. Wasn’t I surprised later in the day, coincidentally I was in the ladies again, when a security guard came storming in. My bag had been reported as suspicious to our facilities management, and security had been called to check it out! Goodness knows what he expected to do if it was a bomb - the bag looked a sad excuse for an explosive, limp, inside out and with the pockets hanging out!! I guess being a large American media company in a high rise on the bank of the Thames, we could be potential terrorist targets, and you can never be too careful :-)

IPC Media, 29 stories on the bank of the Thames

We recently checked out the Tate Modern Art Gallery and decided we’re going to stop torturing ourselves - we’re obviously not art connoisseurs. This was our 3rd visit to an art gallery, and each time we just end up grumpy with each other and with sensory overload!

People have asked how the kids cope with all the sightseeing.....

St Paul's Cathedral was a different matter, it has got to be one of the best sights we’ve been to in London. The cathedral was amazing as was expected, and the views of London city from the top of the dome rivalled that of the Millenium Eye, but it was the Whispering Gallery that kept the whole family entertained for ages. It was simply astounding that Brannan could be on the other side of the gallery’s 31 metre diameter, and yet by whispering against the wall he sounded as if he was stood right next to us. We had great fun sending whispers round to each other and intercepting messages from other tourists.

St Paul's Cathedral from the Millenium Bridge

Chinese New Year celebrations were held in Trafalgar Square a few weeks back and we braved the freezing cold day (Petra found large pieces of ice floating in the fountains) to watch the parade and festivities – before getting crushed in the crowds later at Chinatown. We managed to track down an old favourite restaurant there, Julie and Larry "Wong Kei’s" is still there, and there were still queues of people waiting outside to be insulted by the Chinese waiters!

Chinese New Year in Chinatown

Well I’ve been holding out on you, we have some REALLY big news. After months of being unhappy at work Mark finally had enough of the way the partners at his firm were treating their staff and managing projects and found himself job hunting again. This time our criteria was different, he only wanted a 6 month contract, and he needed something relatively close to home so that he could still make the After School Club pick up at 5.45 pm. This limited Mark's options. We were also wondering that if we headed home to New Zealand later this year, if one day we would regret not trying harder to find a placement in Dubai.

We found that most engineering jobs in both Dubai and Saudi Arabia required experience in multi story construction (we’re talking 35 stories and up) or the oil and gas industry, of which Mark had neither. However, Mark spoke with an agency in Australia who had a vacancy for a project management position in Muscat, Oman. Before we knew it Mark had an interview here in London with an executive from COWI Engineers, and was talking remuneration, accommodation and start dates.

So we’re on the move again, Mark will be heading to Muscat before the end of February, whilst I stay here to work out my month’s notice at work, and organise shipping and closing up the flat. Luckily Mum and my nephew Tyler are due here within the fortnight to help out, then we plan to do a quick trip to Paris and Rome, before we all head over to join Mark.

We’re really excited about the move, and definitely looking forward to a warmer climate. The house that has been allocated to us has a swimming pool and it looks like I won’t be needing, or be able to work – I’m not complaining about that! As always there will be an open invitation to anyone finding themselves in the neighbourhood, and we’re hoping there’ll be a few more takers this time :-)

Be good
Hayls