Summer Ramblings

June-July 2015 

Hi!

Me here. And there's so much to tell you!

I'm going to bullet point because I'm feeling officious...

1) Family In Town

We hung out with cousin Simon :-D After his massive trip across the States and en route to his Contiki trip we got to see Simon for a couple of hours. We had a lot of laughs, it was great to see him!

We got to have dinner with the Snaiths! JG & BJ took us out for dinner despite JG and Lydia only having practically just arrived. Anna sat on my lap the whole time. They're off visiting their families now, but it was such a treat to see them.

God-daughter & god-sister!

2) Greenwich

We went to Greenwich by ferry with our friends Steve and Caitlyn. We saw the Greenwich Mean Time line thing, but more importantly, we saw where the epic fight scene in Thor 2 was filmed!!! WE WERE ACTUALLY THERE. Much excitement (on my part). I got Mike to take a photo to capture the magical moment...

No Mew Mews flying around, Ciara!

...and it wasn't until on the ride home that I spotted Steve photo bombing as Thor.

Uuuuunbelievable.

Spot the 'Thor' imposter.

3) Sherlock 

Since arriving in London, Mike and I have finally embraced the phenomenon that is 'Sherlock', BBC's wonderful TV series featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. We may be a few years late to the party, but we got there. Not only that, but we also found the infamous door of 221B Baker Street and its neighbouring cafe, 'Speedy's'! Not actually located on Baker Street, maybe a block over at Upper Gower Street. It was awesome!!!

221B. And some guy fixing Speedy's!

4) New Zealand Delicacies...

I bought a packet of Pineapple Lumps specially for my office from a 'Kiwis in London' event, and they hated them! To be fair, I'm not the biggest fan myself. But the other day I mentioned that I came from a sheep and beef farm and a kiwifruit orchard. This blew their minds - quintessentially Kiwi. But then I discovered that they'd never heard of gold Kiwifruit! My boss (bless her), got her Mum on the case who promptly found some at a Waitrose supermarket - and they bloody loved it!

Dad said he recognised this one. Some of the girls at work believed me!

5) Care Package

Brendo and Helen sent us the most amazing care package! It was so kind of them, we got the most amazing things - Whittakers Chocolate (the extra good stuff), chocolate and caramel Tim Tams (don't tell me English 'Penguins' are the same - they're not!), Maggi Onion Soup (unfortunately the reduced cream didn't quite make it, love ya Brendo!) and peelers! Because you can't get decent ones over here! Brendo and Helen lived here a couple of years ago so they know all about the lack of decent food over here. And peelers. Thanks guys!

6) Heat Wave

It's been hot.

I could almost leave it there, but I'll elaborate.

It's been really hot.

London reached 35 degrees! The tube was unimaginably hot. The best thing was getting out of work, picking up some strawberries, cider and beer and heading to Queen's Park. London summers are amazing! Loving these long twilights. Long may they last.

On the weekend we also visited the wild Hampstead Heath for another picnic.

7) Wine & Cheese & Mirrors

We had our lovely Italian neighbours, Flora and Davide, Steve and Caitlyn and our new friend, Micky over for wine and cheese. Lovely evening, plenty of wine, plenty of cheese. I felt bad for not inviting our other neighbors, when one of them - Martin - happened to walk past. I invited him and his friend, Pablo, in for a drink. Pablo, it transpired, is an actor and a very good one too.  Martin promptly picked up Mike's guitar and played it like it's never been played before. VERY LOUDLY. He's very talented, mind you. But it does explain why we can hear him playing upstairs from time to time. Incidentally, he was wearing an extremely shiny jumpsuit and a hat covered in mirrors. We are encountering some very interesting people :-) 

8) Dining at The Ivy

I've wanted to dine here for yonks and we finally got to! Mainly for the Chocolate Bombe.
And the parmesan and truffle fries!

But the Chocolate Bombe - holy moly. Described as a 'Melting chocolate bombe with milk foam, vanilla ice cream and honeycombe center with hot salted caramel sauce', I was in heaven! Our waiter tried to pour the caramel sauce for me.

No, kind sir. Do not take away my fun.

Words can't describe. So I'll let the photos do the talking instead. Bliss.

The bombe

9) Tube Rage

So, the other day I got mad. I was not in the mood. I feel like anyone who has experienced the tube will feel my pain. As Mike and I were leaving our station and were climbing the steps out, there was a girl in my path. Mike will argue that I could have walked around her, but I maintain that I couldn't. I said 'excuse me', and when she didn't move, I moved her. Don't act like you're surprised - deep down I'm not an overly nice person. Liam will agree with me. I'm not even sorry! Rant over :-)

I wanted to take a moment to say 'hi' to everyone reading. Hi!!! We love you all very much and think about you often. Feel free to leave comments, I'm pretty sure there's a way of doing that. Even leave questions if you want! Anyway, I just wanted you to know that we're thinking of you and that we love you HEAPS :-D xoxoxoxox

God Save the Queen. And Prosecco.