Week 16 in London

Week 16: 20 – 26 July 2015

On Tuesday we were scheduled to have another former work reunion with Brendan’s ex-colleague Nikki. We headed across to Brick Lane for another attempt at bargaining for curry, before making our way to a funky bar nearby. Unfortunately the planets did not align, and so we were unable to meet up with Nikki on this occasion.

Meanwhile, Wednesday night was a Contiki USA reunion for Roslyn, meeting up with Mel who she’d travelled around America with back in 2012.

When we left Australia, Uber wasn’t really a huge thing. In London, its massive. Uber is essentially a app that allows you to book a private hire car, and from our experiences often works out cheaper, easier and better than a taxi. You may have seen or heard that around the world on numerous occasions taxi drivers have gone on strike and complained blah blah blah. They don’t like Uber.

Keen to continue growing in popularity, on Friday Uber had a promotion where you could open the app and instead of booking a car, book an ice cream delivery. One of Brendan’s colleagues was lucky enough to manage to get through to the service, and a team of Uber promo staff turned up with Cornetto’s for the office.

Having now returned from their European adventure, on Saturday we played tour guides to Tegan and Alysha. Although we had also never been to where we took them, we fooled them into believing that we knew what we were doing. We managed to get them around without any dramas, to Camden Markets, the Natural History Museum and M&M World (the only place we had already been!).

Highlights for the week:

- Brick Lane for dinner and drinks at Shoreditch

- Failed attempt at catching up with Nikki

- Roslyn caught up with Mel

- Uber ice cream delivery

- Tour guides for Tegan and Alysha

- Camden markets

- Natural History Museum

- M&M world

- Drinks at a nearby bar with Nathan and Michelle

- Went to Balham for Sunday brunch

- Birthday shopping for Nola and Stacey

- Took our dog for a walk

Week 15 in London

Week 15: 13 – 19 July 2015

Nathan and Michelle deserted us this week, as they enjoyed a cruise around Croatia. Luckily our jealousy won’t last for too long, as we are also heading over there in a few weeks!

Brendan was lucky enough to visit one of Knightsbridge’s most exclusive penthouses, where the entry foyer was bigger than our entire flat… This apartment is a true representation of space and luxury, flowing across 2 floors and a total of 700 sqm of indoor space. Further to that, then there are the 3 separate roof terraces, taking in views over the rooftops of London. It even has a very sleek open plan bedroom/ensuite arrangement.

 

That very same afternoon, he was amused to spot a lady driving around with a palm and bamboo in her car. Her solution of fitting these large shrubs into the tiny Volkswagen had apparently been to open the sunroof and have them hang out the top.

Whilst we have been in the midst of enjoying the 20°C+ British summer days, we were surprised on Thursday evening to receive photos of thick snow from the Southern Highlands.

Forever plagued by problems with his iPhone, on Friday evening we went across to Covent Garden to try our luck at a walk in appointment at the Apple store. No success there, so we went to the nearby American institution Shake Shack for dinner.

On Saturday morning we returned again to Covent Garden Apple store, and in between dropping the old phone off for diagnosis and eventually returning to pick up a new handset, had brunch at a café on the Piazza.

Afterwards, we went to the nearby Magnum Pleasure Store popup shop and made our own. Vanilla ice cream with classic chocolate, brownie, meringue, and hazelnuts with a white chocolate drizzle.

Highlights for the week:

- Brendan visited a huge 700 sqm, £18,000 per week penthouse
- 20°C+ British summer days compared to winter snow back home

- Strolled the markets at Covent Garden

- Apple store

- Made our own Magnum

- Skyped Minnie

Week 14 in London

Week 14: 6 – 12 July 2015

The city of London was thrown in chaos from Wednesday evening onwards when Transport for London tube staff went on strike. Given the significant proportion of London workers who rely on the tube to get to work, the shutting down of the tubes meant that all these people had to end up above ground in some form, whether it was in their own cars, on a bus, bike or walking.

Brendan’s journey from home to work is fortunately on a direct bus route so he was mostly unaffected by the strike. Roslyn however usually catches an overground train to Victoria station before swapping to a tube for the rest of the journey. On the strike days, she instead had to catch a train to Waterloo and then walk an hour the rest of the way.

Our housemate, Nathan, had his birthday on the Sunday but because he and Michelle were going on a Croatian cruise, our flat ended up hosting its first birthday drinks and cake celebration on Friday.

Lured by the prospect of potentially winning £1,000, on Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt organised by Contiki. It was a little awkward when our fellow Contiki travellers turned London dwellers, Shaun and Amanda, also arrived for the event.  However slim the chances of us winning seemed, we didn’t want to have to share our prize and so we hadn’t invited them to be a part of our team. It seemed that they had felt the same sentiment, as neither group knew the other would be there.

We were given a sheet of vague and cryptic clues, relating to a range of locations and landmarks spread across London, the answers to the clues all worth different points depending on their difficulty. The challenge was to decipher what the clues meant, and make it to as many destinations in the limited few hours that we had, and post a photo of each one to Twitter.

Exhausted by the end of the day, we attended the mandatory post-hunt drinks for the final scores. As it turned out, we did far better than we thought we would although we were still a long way off winning. We’d more than doubled Shaun and Amanda’s score though, so perhaps we were better off by ourselves anyway ;)

After not eating all day, the 4 of us went across to Hammersmith for food and further drinks at Belushi’s.

We rose late on Sunday, caused by both exhaustion from running around all day Saturday and a slight hangover from Belushi’s. A few weeks earlier, Roslyn had found a girl selling her tickets to the sold out Ed Sheeran concert, which she snavelled up. So on Sunday afternoon, we headed across to Wembley Stadium to be a part of the 87,000 strong crowd. Support act Passenger was engaging and humorous, admitting to the crowd that he really only has one famous song (http://bit.ly/1j1JzPJ) and OneRepublic showed that they have come along way from Apologize (http://bit.ly/1jo0PvR), before the headliner took the stage. No backup singers, no band, just Ed amazing the audience as a solo performer.

Lately, it seems that all it takes to make Brendan a fan of any artist is just to see them live. He has now been to both Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, entering both shows fairly unfazed but leaving impressed and with far more interest in both acts.

Highlights for the week:

- Tube strike sending the city into a state of disaster

- Our flat hosted its first birthday cake and drinks

- Contiki scavenger hunt

- Dinner at Belushi’s Hammersmith

- Passenger

- OneRepublic

- Ed Sheeran! 

Week 13 in London

Week 13: 29 June – 4 July 2015

Our friend and Brendan’s former work colleague, Tegan, arrived in London on Monday, for a brief stopover before embarking on her own European tour with Topdeck. We met up with Tegan and her friend, Alysha, for dinner at Museum Tavern, close to where the first place we ever stayed in London is (Brendan still holds this area as his favourite place in all of London).



Unfortunately, due to them having arrived earlier that morning (poor flight time planning girls!), they were very fatigued and so dinner was relatively brief. We aren’t really sure whether they even remember having dinner with us… but we hope to have them over in Clapham to show them the real London life once they return from their travels. On the tube ride home, we spotted a young Asian guy wearing a shirt with a classic bad English translation. The shirt, which was probably intended more for females, read “Rock! Never mind. We are best”, in a ‘cute’ pink and silver glitter encrusted font. Was hard to keep a straight face!

With thanks to her new found connections in high places, Roslyn gained access into Australia House on Thursday for drinks at the exclusive, invite only Duck and Dingo bar. This bar is off-limits to the public, and only those who work in the Australian High Commission and their invited guests are even allowed in the building. There she enjoyed Pimms and even bought some Chicos and Shapes home!

On Saturday, we visited the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Although not as well known as the Chelsea Flower Show, in its 25th year Hampton Court Palace Flower Show has grown to be the world’s largest flower and gardening show. A half hour train ride away from our home, one could be forgiven for thinking they were no longer in London with the quiet streets and expansive open space. It was a warm day, wearing jeans, having no sunglasses nor sunscreen were all definitely bad moves.



The massive Festival of Roses marquee was amazing, both to see and to smell. We saw plenty of ideas that Brendan is keen to try and implement in our own home once we return to Australia. He is particularly hung up on the concept of a garden room. His interest in Landscape Architecture actually looked to be returning!



After the show, we strolled around the grounds of the adjoining Hampton Court Palace, once the home of Henry VIII.





On Sunday we headed to North London, out to Islington for a picnic at Newington Green Jazz Festival with the Aussies in London crew. When we left our Clapham Junction home, the weather was looking overcast and the temperature was mild. We were tricked, and for the second time that weekend, heavy pants and no sunglasses were bad wardrobe choices.

With one of the world’s biggest tennis championships currently being played at nearby Wimbledon, later that evening we went over and watched on the big screen at Wimbledon Piazza, drinking British Pimms accompanied by traditional Wimbledon snacks, strawberries and cream.



Highlights for the week:
- Dinner with Tegan at Museum Tavern
- Wednesday was the hottest July day ever recorded in London
- Roslyn gained exclusive access to Australia House and got to check out the Duck and Dingo
- Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
- Festival of Roses marquee
- Strolled the gardens of Hampton Court Palace
- Had a picnic at Newington Green Jazz Festival with the Aussies in London crew
- Watched the tennis on the big screen at Wimbledon Piazza
- Pimms plus strawberries and cream