Canterbury

Hi everyone,

Well today I went to Canterbury and had a lovely day! Canterbury was taken over by the romans in 1st Century AD and was also bombed in WWII. However, lots of Roman artifacts remain today.....


























xoxoDebbs

We are still alive in the UK!!!!

Hi All,

Well if anyone still reads our blog, you will need to make your self a cup of tea and some scones to read this post!

It's beens so long since we have blogged.......I guess because we weren't doing so much touristy stuff and just living normal life!

To fill you in on our lives - I have stopped studying Uni this semester so that we can put that money towards travelling. I have done really well with my first 2 subjects and have been enjoying learning about Psychology. Only another 22 subjects to go, but hey, I'll get there....eventually!!!!

Andrew's work is going well (no news really on his side)

We will be going to Germany (Hamburg) in 2 weeks time for my work collegues wedding. We can't wait!

I'm organising a trip to Italy for Oct/Nov this year and Andrew will be looking at Austria/Switzerland in Jan/Feb next year.

We are still enjoying it over here and have loved having Amanda and Russell living around the corner from us. We have weekly dinners which are always a lot of fun.

Anyway.....some photos to look at :)

****Us at Bath in April





















































*** Wine Tasting

Since drinking is a big part of the British culture, we thought that we may have to work on our skills of enjoying a drink. You know....we don't want to seem rude or anything.....
So we have been to a few wine tasting nights to really learn how to appreciate wine. It's been facinating learning this stuff and I must say that we do enjoy a glass every now and then.




*** A day at the seaside - Brighton

No swimming...water was too cold.
P.S. The fish in batter was gross.....vinegar on chips in quite nice though.
P.P S. The pebbles are about 1 meter in depth! I had my thong (flip flop for the Brits) stuck under the pebbles when I was standing at the shore.







***Shakespear's Globe

We went to a performance at Shakespears Globe and saw the classic 'Romeo and Juliet'. We stood for a few hours watching as it only cost £5! It was really good except for the final scene (the death scene). It was so bad, all the actors were aweful which is very surprising as this is the climax to the story. Oh well, it was still enjoyable :)




***Fun with Amanda and Russell





*** London Zoo

We went to check out what the zoo's are like over here....pretty impressive I must say! not as big as Australia Zoo but lots of animals are here that I haven't seen before!








***In June I went to Wimbledon!!!!

It was so cool and it's only 30mins away from where we live. I got out of work early one day and lined up. Russ and Amanda were ahead of me but I couldn't jump the cue as they gave everyone a numbered ticket. So I sat on the grass in an oval listening to my ipod for 70mins. Then the massive line starts to move and I get in for a ground court ticket for £14. I can go to all the courts except Centre, 1 & 2. Amanda and Russ got in earlier than me and were so lucky that a couple that had day tickets to centre court were fed up and going home (not staying for the last match of the day). They gave their tickets to Amanda and Russ and so they went in to Centre court. They then phoned me to say that there were lots of spare seats next to them and that i should come up! so I did. It was magic. We saw an 11th seeded males singles match (2nd round) in centre court all for £14!!!!!! then after that, we went walking around and saw Tim Henman and John McEnroe






**A day out at Holland Park




*** Random things we have done

decorated gingerbread men/ladies


Saw DV on my birthday at southbank. He said the force was strong with me :)


Our lovely friends Jenni and Merela



***Westminster Abbey

We went to an evensong service at Westminster Abbey. The choir sang many songs (most were not that nice) but the sermon was very unexpected. The priest started off by asking us we feel if God put us on hold like British Telecom does to it's customers......it was a short and sweet sermon. Inside is so beautiful but we didn't get a big look around as you are supposed to leave after the service. As we left our seats to head to the door, the pipe organist played this aweful tune.....i felt like I was in a vampire movie or somthing....Andrew said 'Some songs just should not be played'.......










***Ascot Races

Tina (who is my colleague and getting married in Germany) had her hens party at the races....very posh!



***Waiting for Godot??????

Who cares when it stars Patrick Stewark (Professor Xavier - Xmen) and Ian McKellan (Magnito - Xmen)



***A Royal Affair at Buckingham Palace

We went and saw the state rooms in Buckingham Palace and they were so beautiful......Unfortunately I was rushing ahead of my audio guide and missed the secret trap door that is behind a mirror. I couldn't go back because of the crowds :(









Well that brings you up to speed on us......will have some more in 2 weeks time from Hamburg.

xoxoDebbie

PS Andrew won't believe it when I tell him that I've written a post....and what a post it is!

Just some random stuff

Went to trafalga square a week or so back and got some nice shots.

our bus running a red light:




an attempt at taking a reflection shot in the tube:


a bunch of people lining up outside hamleys for barbie's 50th birthday:
















thought this one was interesting:



Had a birthday dinner with debbie at the moroccan resturant that we like going to (http://www.pasha-restaurant.co.uk/) but debbie was having a "weird mood day".... and insisted on taking photos of everything dispite the romantic atmosphere... and she kept using the flash in this mostly dark resturant with candles on the table!!!



I drew the line at taking shots of me...




and so that put a stop to that for the night thankfully! :-D

except for one cool shot of Glousester road station:

A day in Richmond.

This weekend we decided to not be lazy and sleep in to 11 like we normally do. We got up at 8:00 and played a game of squash to start the day off on a good foot. Then we went to have some bacon and eggs and then set off for a day at richmond.

We've been to richmond before, but that was after we had the camera stolen so we couldn't show everyone back home how beautiful the place is. but this time we were prepared. unfortunately there's no real story to tell appart from "we walked arround near the river, then we took photos and walked some more, then we ate lunch and did some more walking before going home." so I'll just let the pictures tell the story mostly.

first up was the Farmers markets, which are on every saturday. it's not a big market but they definately have some excelent smelling cooked food and fresh vegitables that are second to none.

Check this out: nope, this is not trick photography, those mushrooms really are as large as pumkins (and yes, the pumpkins are normal size):



A random assortment of animals found arround the neighborhood:




richmond has a nice old stone bridge which makes for great photos.


to the north of the bridge (the direction the above photo is looking) is a few pubs and lunch places. our favorite is the White Cross, but we'll get back to that later. The boats you see in that photo can be hired out.



First stop was a cup of tea and scone for debbie and a salad for me:


A quick shot of me:


The south side of the bridge is mostly full of (very expensive) residential houses. they say a man's hous is his castle:


Now, as you probably know, I tend to be facinated by the more morbid side of life in London. everywhere you look there graveyards or memorials. every statue is a memorial to a dead person, it just seems to be something that permiates through daily life. One thing that is common in parks and is particularly prevelant in Richmond, are park benches with memorial notes enscribed on them. that's the way I'd like to go. don't give me a hunk of stone that will only get worn away and have moss on it. give me a park bench somewhere for people to sit on.

cheers Bill and Phil!







the tides tend to be quite large here - this footpath is completely covered during high tide.



Saw this and had to take a photo of it. it just appeals to me. Old stonework? check. Moss? check. rusting metal? check. cool angled photo opportunity? check.



We came across our first squirrel in a long time, he (she?) was busy running around looking for food and stuff (come to think of it, what else does a squirrel do?) - it took me about 20 shots to finally get him to stay still in any case.


And the flowers are starting to come back! So debbie had to go pick a dafodill: ahh the joy of spring!


... but then she got immediately distracted by her mobile phone...so I had a conversation with the dafodil all by my self...





Richmond certainly has its share of cool houses:


and debbie finally gets off her phone and triumphantly strides towards me holding the dafodil victoriously in the air.








then we came across the only set of flowers on the entire hill:


but of course that was an absolutely rubbish photo...... We were certain we could do better. so with much mud and grass stains later:






found a cool moss-covered stone gate:






Then got inundated by a bunch of squirrels. and about a billion-gazillion photos later we got these brilliant ones of a grey squirrel:








And these of a red one:







came accross these things:



apparently they're called "loggeries" and are designed to attract Stag Beetles but also support other "specialist insects, Frogs, Toads, Shrews and voles and birds such as Thrushes, Robins and Blackbirds" (or so said the notice strapped to a nearby tree).






yeah well, it happens:


So, by this time I was just about to explode from the need to go to the toilet so we didn't take any photos on the way back to the white cross. but after peeing, we had this delicious lunch:



I never tried cider before comming to England, but I totally understand why it's popular. if you have a heavy meal in a warm pub a cool refreshing cider just tops it off perfectly.

The white cross pub:



this walkway is also covered by water during high tide.


Don't believe me? well...


this is one of the reasons they have the Thames barrier to stop flooding during king tides.



I think this is a cormorant, but am not sure:



sometimes I like taking wide shots, like the following one, but I'm frustrated by the fact that it doesn't capture little things that really make the real life experience. if a picture is a thousand words; being there is ten thousand pictures.



Sometimes I just love looking at people go about their business. in particular I like seeing old people out and about and so the above scene caught my attention, but how could I take that whole picture and then have you skip over the parts that I liked?




Debbie wanted to go to the Odeon cinema to see what was on:


so I agreed, but got distracted by some old mossy stones:



and a monument in a churchyard nearby:



about this stage we were ready for a nap, so a short train ride later and here I am writing this blog while debbie naps.... typical :-). one of these days I'll have to get her to sit down and write one.... or so I keep saying anyway. :-D