Week 86 in London

Week 86: 21 – 27 November 2016

In the dying days of autumn, the trees on our street were becoming increasingly bare. Across London as the trees shed their colourful foliage, the carpet of wet leaves that end up on the streets and footpaths pose a slip hazard for shoes without grippy soles.

Although we are staying in our flat through to the end, we had our “check out” inspection on Tuesday making the looming move all the more real.

The Pennings had sent a funky message in a bottle postcard from their recent holiday in Hawaii, which arrived on Wednesday.

Roslyn and some of her work colleagues were invited to the exclusive Rosewood Hotel on Thursday evening. Here she tried her first scotch egg, a dish that we have seen plenty of times but never been game enough to try until now. The scotch egg seems to be a traditional British food, though not one that looks especially appetising. The basic premise is a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs and either baked or fried although in this modern world there are a range of gourmet flavour variations.

The special Christmas party included an intimate performance by Ellie Goulding in the central courtyard! Roslyn scored an authentic piece of Ellie Goulding memorabilia, a water bottle that Ellie had drank from.

We headed across to Southbank on Friday night, where the Southbank Centre Winter Festival was taking place once again. Similar to winter 2015, twinkling lights, market stalls and street food, a roller disco and the Rekorderlig Cider Lodge all made a return.

Roslyn had brunch with Gayle, Ella and Amber on Saturday morning. In the afternoon we headed over to the Rosewood Hotel again so Brendan could see its grandeur, and then across to Covent Garden and the Seven Dials area, wandering the streets that were busy with festive cheer.

We also checked out the ice skating rink at Somerset House, and wandered across Waterloo Bridge for a great view of the river after dark.

Roslyn headed out on Sunday morning, due to be working at IBTM World in Barcelona through to Thursday for the second year. Brendan headed across to the London Docklands area to explore The Crystal, a visually striking and sustainably constructed building that houses event space as well as an exhibition on sustainability and the future of cities. The pricing to get into the exhibition is a bit strange; if you’re a student or resident of the local borough entry is free but for anyone else its £8. For that £8 you’re also given a quality hard cover book that they sell in the gift shop… for £8.

Afterwards, he headed back across the river for the second (and most likely final time) on-board the Emirates Air Line.

Heading back to the Maltby Street Markets he discovered fairly recently, Brendan also tried his first British scotch egg. He also collected some more doughnuts from St John Bakery.

Next he headed across to the grand British Museum. When leaving home earlier in the day he had failed to bring a bag and so had to continue to carry around, in his hands, the book from The Crystal and a small paper bag of doughnuts, whilst browsing the ancient and impressive artefacts.

Meanwhile in Barcelona, Roslyn was experiencing Spain’s warm autumn conditions and enjoying tapas and sangria.

Highlights for the week:

- Last full week of autumn

- “Check out” inspection of our flat

- Message in a bottle arrived from Hawaii

- Both ate our first scotch eggs

- Roslyn at Rosewood Hotel Christmas party

- Intimate Ellie Goulding gig

- Roslyn nabbed an Ellie Goulding water bottle

- Southbank Centre Winter Festival

- Brunch with Gayle, Ella and Amber

- Covent Garden and the Seven Dials

- Somerset House

- Roslyn went to Barcelona for IBTM World

- The Crystal

- Emirates Air Line

- Maltby Street Markets

- British Museum

Helsinki, Finland

Saturday 19^th November 2016

The timing of this trip wasn’t really ideal and hadn’t taken into account the Nordic hours of daylight at this time of year. But the flights were quite cheap, and having now visited most of the mainstream tourist destinations, it gave us an opportunity to tick off another lesser known city.

Flying Norwegian, we took off from Gatwick airport a little after 9am, and three hours later landed in Helsinki. At this time of year, Helsinki was two hours ahead of London so at landing it was 2pm local time. Brendan learnt on-board that the estimated sunset for today was 3:40pm so already there was a small portion of day remaining.

Similar to other northern European countries, the city is itself fairly compact but the airport is located far out. We caught the train into the landmark Helsinki Central railway station and with our snow boots already on, decided to hike it to our hostel. It was cold.

Meandering through the shopping streets of town, we made it to the Kauppatori market square at the edge of the harbour. Around a bit further we could see the SkyWheel, which sits directly behind the modern looking Allas Sea Pool.

The Allas Sea Pool is practically a big pontoon with its great swathes of timber decking, and consists of three swimming pools. Two of the pools were a bright blue colour with steam rising from them, and the third was a much darker, gloomier colour. This pool was the closest to where we were walking and had nobody in it. We witnessed someone descend the ladder part way until they felt the water temperature and quickly retreated to dry land.

Onwards to our hostel, which was so aesthetically bland that in the corridors it had a gaol vibe going, while in the rooms the drab décor exuded hospital vogue.

We caught the tram back into town, passing by the huge red brick Uspenski Cathedral – the largest orthodox church in Western Europe. With glimpses back out to sea, the tram continued on past the Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square.

We exited the tram (near a giant Mountain Dew bottle) and wandered the streets briefly, calling in at the Stockmann department store. We had seen favourable reviews for a nearby restaurant, Zetor, both in the hostel and on Tripadvisor so headed there for a hearty meal. Zetor’s interior design was also an odd mix, although much more inviting than our hostel. Dimly lit with lots of wood throughout, ski chalet chic had been thrown together with barnyard adornments including actual tractors with integrated bar tables. Despite the odd décor it was busy, we were lucky to get seated straight away even though we had no booking. Indeed by the time we left, there was a queue to get in.

On the flight over Brendan had read an article on a new brand of Finnish gin, Napue, that had recently been crowned the best in the world for gin and tonic. Despite our last experience with gin that tasted like poison, onboard the Etihad flight from Sydney to Dubai, he was keen to try “the best”. When in Finland… If you ever get the chance, we'd highly recommend trying it the "proper way".

The following morning we headed down to the port to catch a ferry out to the Suomenlinna sea fortress. Whilst waiting we went for a look at the nearby Vanha Kauppahalli old market hall though it is sadly closed on Sundays.

Built over a number of islands off the coast of Helsinki, Suomenlinna is a scenic ferry ride around 20 minutes from the mainland, and was originally constructed in 1748 as a military base. Today, Suomenlinna is UNESCO World Heritage listed, and one of Finland’s leading tourist attractions as well as being home to around 800 residents.

The ferry ride perhaps provides one of the best views of Helsinki, with many of the major landmarks such as the SkyWheel, Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki Cathedral and Vanha Kauppahalli old market hall all visible. The Helsinki transport network is conveniently all linked, so the tickets we had purchased at the airport the day before enabled us unlimited rides on the trains, trams and ferries for a 24 hour period.

Had we more time we would have liked to take advantage of the close proximity between Finland and Estonia, and taken a ferry across the sea to Tallinn.

Back in the city and ready for lunch we decided to trust what we already knew, and head to Zetor again.

Soon enough, it was time to collect our bags from the hostel and head back out to the airport. At just on 24 hours in the city (with roughly only 8 hours of actual daylight) it was a shorter weekend adventure than normal, but we still managed to see and do a reasonable amount.

Highlights:

- Cobbled streets

- Kauppatori market square

- SkyWheel

- Allas sea pool

- Early darkness

- Rode the trams

- Helsinki Cathedral

- Senate Square

- Uspenski Cathedral

- Zetor restaurant

- Napue gin and tonic

- Vanha Kauppahalli old market hall

- Ferry ride to Suomenlinna sea fortress

- Dry dock

Week 85 in London

Week 85: 14 – 20 November 2016

Roslyn had her staff conference on Monday morning at the Tower Hotel, across the river but within eyesight of the usual office.

She was excited at the prospect of having put forward as a nominee for the staff-voted Unsung Hero award. On this occasion a staff member from another department pipped her though.

Nevertheless, she felt chuffed to receive a personalised thank you letter from the CEO and accompanying £50 Amazon voucher (over here Amazon is a whole online shopping world, not just restricted to Kindles etc).

She went for dinner with Mel at On The Bab on Tuesday, a restaurant serving Korean street food.

Adam's 18th was on Thursday, the personalised beer stein having arrived safely and in time, with a humorously over-addressed card attached.

On Thursday, Brendan finally made it into one of the worlds most expensive and exclusive residential buildings, One Hyde Park. This contemporary development is arranged across four diamond shaped pavilions and is like a world of its own. Exceptional concierge services and lifestyle amenities must make any resident feel like they are living permanently in a five star hotel. Inside the particular apartment he visited, the stunning interior spaces were finished in dark tones with stone, timber and glass featuring. Looking at the floorplan on paper, the double storey half-diamond footprint of this circa 325 sq m apartment looks a bit awkward. In reality though, bespoke furnishings allow each room to be used to its maximum effect and add to the unparalleled experience. Everything is automated – lighting, heating/cooling, curtains, privacy screens and even the windows. At an asking rent price in excess of £10,000 per week, this apartment is unquestionably the finest property Brendan has ever seen.

To round out the week, on Friday there was a celebrity visit in Brendan’s office. Not knowing who may see this, strict rules about client confidentiality prevent disclosing a name. Lets call her Ms G. In the morning the team had been notified that at some point during the day the British singer would be coming into the office. After having sat pretty much glued to his desk, Brendan was a little devastated to later learn that he had missed Ms G. This despite the fact that she was in for a lettings matter and Brendan was the only member of the team in at that time. Somehow she had very quietly come in, been attended to by a member of the sales team and departed again without Brendan having seen or heard a thing.

Highlights for the week:
- Roslyn’s staff conference
- Personalised thank you letter from the CEO
- Roslyn’s dinner at On The Bab with Mel
- Brendan visited One Hyde Park
- Ms G in Brendan’s office

Week 84 in London

Week 84: 7 – 13 November 2016

Early in the week we ordered a present for Adam’s 18^th birthday and posted off his card. Would it make it in time? Based on previous experiences when sending mail internationally, it seems to be a matter of luck.

On Thursday morning Roslyn headed out early to Sheraton Grand Park Lane, who were hosting her and her work colleagues for a showing of rooms followed by a breakfast. She based herself at the Sheraton for the morning before heading down the road to Smith & Wollensky steak house for a farewell lunch for a colleague going on maternity leave.

Friday morning for Brendan was the Quarterly Lettings Meeting at head office, where he was unexpectedly announced as a contender for “Best performance from a non-fee earning staff member” (i.e. those who aren’t an agent/negotiator). Unfortunately it was not his time to take the prize, but the kind words submitted by his colleagues and said in the nomination were most appreciated.

On Saturday we headed out to the far east, Stratford, to the red steel ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In all its glory, the tower is visually striking in the skyline of the Olympic Park but up on the second floor viewing platform the scale model looks more like a shisha pipe. Little bit weird.

The skies today were grey, cloudy and drizzly therefore we weren’t able to see much of the skyline. Although we have been fortunate enough to ascend a number of other tall buildings around the Capital so had a rough idea of what lay beyond the mist.

At 3:15pm we headed down to the first floor where the recently opened 178 metre long slide is. Roslyn came a few months earlier with work. We watched a number of other visitors take to the slide, they didn’t look to be going that fast however being in the tunnel feels very different. The slide is well designed for its 40 seconds of fun, with sections of both light and dark, with unexpected twists and turns, and varying gradients so some parts are quicker than others.

A complete coincidence but we were back out to Stratford and the Olympic Park again on Sunday, with tickets in hand to the England vs Australia Four Nations Rugby League.

Highlights for the week:

- Ordered Adam’s 18^th present and sent a card

- Roslyn at Sheraton Grand Park Lane

- ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower
- Rode the slide
- England vs Australia Four Nations Rugby League

Week 83 in London

Week 83: 31 October – 6 November 2016

Monday was our first day back at work since the clocks had gone back, and the difference when leaving work in the darkness of night was definitely noticeable.

This week was a busy week for Roslyn as she was assisting on a number of events including the London Tech Week launch, and the Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) series. The most notable was a dinner at the royal digs, Windsor Castle, on Thursday night.

Saturday was the 5th November, Guy Fawkes Day. Ever since Guy Fawkes' failed plot to blow up parliament in 1605, the failure has been celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.

As is tradition, there was a large pyrotechnics show planned at Battersea Park but we were unprepared and had missed out on buying tickets! Much like when we had missed out on tickets to Chelsea Flower Show, Brendan went to Facebook in search of people who he did not know offering up their admission. We struck lucky and headed down to the park at lunchtime to claim our purchase. The autumnal display in the park today was particularly on point.

Brunch followed at The Prince Albert, a gastropub known for its cow statues on the roof.

The setting for the bonfire and fireworks on Saturday night were much better than last year. Last year there had been heavy rain in the days leading up to and the morning of the event, and the grounds at the park were really wet and muddy. This year the temperature was pretty chilly, but there were no puddles to dodge.

Sunday we spent around Clapham Junction.

Highlights for the week:
- Roslyn at Windsor Castle
- Autumnal feels in Battersea Park
- Guy Fawkes Day
- Brunch at The Prince Albert
- Battersea Park Fireworks