Week 64 in London - floods and Brexit

Week 64: 20 – 26 June 2016

Having farewelled Lauren and Mark the day before, we headed off to work on Monday for a fairly regular week ahead.

It was a busy first day of the week for Roslyn, with two events on Monday as part of London Technology Week. The first was the launch event in trendy Shoreditch and the day concluded with the Ambassador's Reception at the Royal Armouries and the White Tower at Tower of London. On Tuesday morning it was straight back into it, with an early morning breakfast event on the top floor of The Gherkin.

On Tuesday evening, London copped thunderstorms that were described as its “loudest ever”. Lightning, thunder and pouring rain that woke us during the night - without a doubt we’d never heard anything like it during our time in the UK. The type of storm you’d expect in Australia!

We had no idea how bad it had been until the next day when our journey to work was interrupted. The heavy rain near our house had resulted in flooding at Clapham Junction station, both inside and out on the tracks. A large number of services were either delayed or cancelled, resulting in a massive backlog of people.

At Latchmere Road, near where we live, the road beneath a railway bridge was flooded. Brendan regularly walks home from work along this road, and so was surprised on Wednesday evening to see just how high the water was. As we found out later, a BMW had been submerged there earlier in the day, and described by one user on Twitter as “when the effluent meets the affluent”. At the time Brendan walked past, a taxi had become stuck in a road manhole possibly while trying to turn around to miss the floodwaters.

A little further up the road, a particular poster depicting Boris Johnson and Donald Trump getting intimate had been drawing attention in the last week or so. In the lead up to the pending Brexit referendum, pro-EU artists had revealed a large mural in Bristol depicting these “leave” supporting politicians and the controversial and memorable image was scaled down and put up elsewhere as posters.

The referendum was held on the Thursday, with the “leave” result seeming to surprise many, including those who voted to leave, who never thought it had a chance of going through. The subsequent resignation of Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, David Cameron (who had urged Brit’s to vote “remain”), was not unexpected. The bizarre twist came about when “leave” campaigner Boris Johnson, who many expected to be Cameron’s successor, ruled himself out of the position.

The rain and recent warm weather had spurred growth on our fuchsias; giving our otherwise drab and barren patio some much needed aesthetic appeal.

We remained in London for the weekend, and poor weather meant that unfortunately we still didn’t get up to very much. On Saturday we went over to the cinemas at the Southside Shopping Centre in Wandsworth, and saw Me Before You.

During our time in Iceland back in January, we discovered the wondrous dairy snack of skyr. The closest comparison would be Greek yogurt, and yet still skyr is so much better. The same brand as we had enjoyed in Iceland had newly become available at selected Waitrose supermarkets, and so on Sunday we went across to the Balham store to stock up for the week ahead.

Highlights for the week:

- Event at Tower of London for Roslyn

- Thunderstorms and downpours on Tuesday night

- Severe rail disruptions due to flooding

- Flooded roads

- Brexit referendum

- David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister

- Flowering fuchsias

- Went to the cinema to see Me Before You
- Stocked up on skyr

Week 63 in London - ft Lauren and Mark

Week 63: 13 - 19 June 2016

On our return to St Pancras International Station in London, we were surprised to see swarms of police asking for information on violence at the Euros. Having been out and about in Belgium, we didn't learn of the riots until during the week.

Back at the flat, we unloaded our bags and with good weather still outside, took Lauren and Mark over to Waterloo. There, we pointed out the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament and strolled up along South Bank. Back at the flat, Lauren and Mark presented us with bird mugs, Brenguin and Roslynella, to match their Markpie and Laurenkeet. Now from opposite sides of the world, we could be tea drinking bird buddies.

On Monday evening, we trekked over to North London for an intimate show with Australian musician, Harts. Lauren and Mark had discovered the small gig months ago, meanwhile we had never heard of him… Nevertheless, it was a good show and when he becomes a household name we will remember the time we saw him in a little London pub.

From Tuesday to Thursday, Roslyn was busy at work with The Meetings Show, a large event for the UK meetings industry. An interesting project Roslyn got to work on was a Twitter vending machine. The Twitter vending machine works similar to a traditional vending machine, except its currency is #hashtags. When a visitor to the London & Partners stand used one of the unique hashtags, the machine's software would translate that into a vend. Tweeters then happily drew their prizes from the machine ranging from sweets, to indulgent afternoon tea vouchers, and accommodation at bed & breakfasts.

In conjunction with The Meetings Show, on Tuesday night Roslyn also had the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation Rendezvous. This late-running event meant she spent the night away from home in a hotel at the Chelsea Football Club.

Lauren and Mark spent Wednesday exploring museums including the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, and then Brendan walked home from work with them.

As the referendum for Britain to leave the EU was fast approaching, termed Brexit, the thoughts on whether to vote to "leave" or to "stay" seemed to be taking over nearly everything. On Thursday, the shocking news emerged that Member of Parliament Jo Cox was murdered on the street in her constituency.

We decided to take them up The Shard for a sky high beverage at Hutong on Friday night. Prior to heading over there, Brendan witnessed the bizarre sight of a street performer setting up at South Kensington and then proceeding to play a flaming tuba.

We headed home and called in at Haché for dinner, a gourmet burger restaurant whose tube advertising at Clapham Common station has for over a year tantalised us.

On Saturday we were off to the races at Royal Ascot. Unfortunately the complimentary Cava got the better of Roslyn, and we actually missed seeing any horses. The cheap bubbles later also claimed Mark. Not our finest weekend.

We woke on Sunday morning feeling markedly better than the day before, and set off to brunch at Australian-inspired café Dickie Fitz with the Griffith students former teacher, Penny.

Highlights for the week:

- Return from Brussels, police asking for info on Euro violence

- Walk along South Bank

- Haché for dinner

- Brenguin and Roslynella mugs to match Markpie and Laurenkeet 

- Harts gig at The Islington

- Roslyn working on The Meetings Show from Tuesday-Thursday

- Twitter vending machine

- Roslyn's MPI Rendezvous event on Tuesday night

- Flaming tuba player at South Kensington
- Awards ceremony on Friday for Roslyn

- Friday night up The Shard

- Saturday at Royal Ascot

- Sunday brunch with Penny at Dickie Fitz

Brussels and Bruges, Belgium

Friday 10th June 2016:

Our Eurostar train was estimated to take around two hours from London to Brussels. Quite amazing really, that a mere two hours on the train and we managed to cross the sea and traverse three separate countries (England through France to Belgium). All passengers were ejected at Lille in France due to a technical fault on another train, and so the changeover process added roughly half an hour extra to the total journey time.

Once we’d made it out of the station, we got in a taxi and headed into the city centre to locate Lauren and Mark. Being Friday night and coincidentally the first night of Euro 2016 football championship, the city was alive with people. We found Lauren and Mark sat at a restaurant adjacent to the elegant St. Nicholas Church and Brussels Stock Exchange.

We headed off to the apartment which was conveniently close to the city centre, and along the way we noticed that while Belgium is already well known for its chocolate and waffles, one of its lesser known specialties is Belgian frites (Belgian hot chips).

The apartment was in a bit of a slummy looking area, although admittedly over the course of the weekend we never felt unsafe nor had any reason for concern. Inside, the quirky apartment had many hallmarks of a European residence – odd design, with an impractical layout and poor use of space. The apartment was arranged in an L-shape, stepping through the front door an unusually narrow hallway lead onto the bedroom area, with a separate bathroom on the left side. Around the corner to the right and through the door was the living area and kitchenette, opening to a Juliet balcony.

The gang was finally back together for the first time in 15 months! As a result, we stayed up talking for hours before finally going to bed, having decided that tomorrow we would head off to Bruges for the day.

Belgian people generally seem to be able to speak in four different languages, Dutch, French, German and English, however also seem to be unable to converse fluently in any one of those languages.

Once we’d awoken, we set off in search of waffles for breakfast and found a café called Peck 47. Here, they didn’t seem to have any sweet breakfast options which, at first, we were a little disappointed by but once we received our savoury breakfast meals (which were essentially eggs benedict but with a waffle instead of bread) our perceptions had changed.

After breakfast, we set off towards the train to Bruges. Along with an entire trainload of other passengers we waited on one platform for a long time, were then advised to swap platforms, boarded a train, were ousted from said train due to a fault, changed platforms again and eventually finally boarded a train that actually left the station. A bit over an hour later and we were arriving in Bruges.

We’d been told by others that Bruges is a pretty city and it lived up to expectations. Composed of cobbled streets, canals and medieval buildings, this is quite an idyllic little city. We made our way to the central square, Markt, and then set off exploring the streets that run off it, visiting many of the chocolate shops hoping for some samples although were only successful in two of the stores. 

On the walk into town earlier, Brendan had spotted from across the canal the Bourgogne des Flandres brewery and its sunny outdoor patio siding onto the water. We ventured in here, but to our dismay the outside area wasn’t open! We stayed for one drink here and then headed around the corner to the 2be Bar and Beer Wall. 2be was packed, clearly a popular weekend venue, and its waterfront terrace offered a serene view of Bruges. We struck lucky managing to score some of the best seats on the canal after waiting for only a few minutes. As we drank beers, we watched swans eating tree leaves.

The brightness and length of European summer days still catch us off guard, suddenly it was nearly 8pm and so we headed back to Brussels. Although it was Saturday night, there was very little open by the time we got back and therefore slim pickings for dinner. The weather had been pleasant up until now however has now taken a turn for the worse, and it was now raining.

On Sunday, we spent the day wandering around the Brussels city centre. We went for an obligatory sighting of the trademark Mannekin Pis, a small and overhyped fountain, as well as visiting some more chocolate shops and waffle stores. The favourite waffle topping we discovered over the weekend was Speculoos, a biscuit-based spread that became a delectable gooey mess when spread on a warm waffle.

After stopping in for lunch at Fritland, we returned to the apartment and gathered up our bags to return to London on the Eurostar.

Highlights:

- Met up with Lauren and Mark for first time in 15 months

- Bustling Brussels city centre on Friday night

- St. Nicholas Church

- Brussels Stock Exchange

- Ate savoury waffles for breakfast

- Day trip to Bruges

- Markt square

- Tasted our way through Bruges chocolate shops

- Bourgogne des Flandres brewery

- 2be Bar and Beer Wall

- Mannekin Pis

- Ate more waffles

- Frite shops (Belgian hot chips)

Week 62 in London

Week 62: 6 - 12 June 2016

There was a real mix of weather this week. While the east coast of Australia was being lashed with torrential rain and wild storms, which saw some waterfront properties in Sydney literally crumbling into the sea, on Tuesday London also copped a downpour. Some parts of London were affected by flooding, and although our humble Altenburg Gardens abode is technically below ground, we remained above water. Not so lucky was the guy who willingly and optimistically drove under a flooded bridge - perhaps Britain's stupidest driver?

Aside from that it was a fairly standard working week, and we enjoyed warm and bright summer evenings. At the same time Lauren and Mark spent a week in Paris and so were in (almost) the same time zone as us. 

The pictures they sent of the Paris flood waters were "inseine" (♬ ba dum tsh!) however the weather seemed to clear up enough for them to enjoy a week in one of our favourite cities. By the end, they'd seen and done more in Paris than what we have on our four visits (three for Brendan).

Roslyn spent Friday at The Making of Harry Potter, a site visit with work where she was also able to see various sets, props and costumes used during the production of the film series.

Amongst the sights were the Sorting Hat, Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts Express, and a stroll down Privet Drive. They also visited the shopping strip of Diagon Alley and finished with a "butter beer", a non alcoholic soda with flavour combination like creaming soda and ginger beer.

Back at work, Roslyn also enjoyed the impressive sight of Tower Bridge lifting to allow a vessel to pass beneath.

That evening we set off to St Pancras International station to board our Eurostar to Brussels, Belgium.

Highlights for the week:

- Lauren and Mark spent the week in Paris

- Lamborghini sighting in Battersea

- Roslyn's work trip to 'Warner Bros Studio Tour London'

- Sorting Hat

- Gryffindor common room

- Dumbledore's office

- The Great Hall

- Hogwarts Express

- Trolley through the wall

- Butter beer

- Privet Drive

- Dursley's house

- Giant spider Aragog

- Diagon Alley

- Scale model of Hogwarts

- Tower Bridge lift

Week 61 in London

Week 61: 31 May - 5 June 2016

This weeks weather didn’t follow on as nicely as the week before – it was cold, windy and rainy. Brendan got drenched walking the five minutes from his bus to the office in the morning, so spent the rest of the day emitting the aroma of a wet dog.

On Friday, our soon-to-be visitors Lauren and Mark departed Australia bound for Paris.

The weather on Saturday wasn’t particularly inspiring to go outdoors either.

Sunday however was far nicer, warm and sunny. Meanwhile back in Australia, the east coast of Australia was dealing with severe storms and flooding.

Whilst heading out for the day on Sunday, we found a Deliveroo promotion at Clapham Common tube station. Deliveroo are a food delivery service – you can order from a large variety of restaurants and takeaways and Deliveroo will bring it to your home. The promotion was essentially a giant poker machine in the shape of a Deliveroo bag, and everyone was a winner of a Deliveroo voucher.

Collecting our winnings, we set off to trendy and alternative East London to the Columbia Road Flower Market. Each Sunday, this unassuming street near Shoreditch is transformed into a forest of foliage.

We went for lunch nearby at Red’s True Barbecue (because we’d seen it on Made in Chelsea), and enjoyed the deliciousness of smoked meats. After that, we hiked back over to Dark Sugars chocolate shop on Brick Lane. This little chocolate shop sells quality yet unpretentious chocolates, as well as hot chocolates with chocolate shavings on top. We found out about the place from a video seen on Facebook.

Highlights for the week:

- Wintery weather again

- Lauren and Mark got a little closer to visiting

- Deliveroo promo

- Columbia Road Flower Market

- Red’s True Barbecue
- Dark Sugars chocolate shop