Hello all, I am trying to keep this up to date. Not much is happening in London. It is over 20 degrees so people are whinging about how hot it is, I must admit it does feel quite warm but I am definately not complaining.

I have been sick for a couple of weeks, just the flu but not much fun. It is hard to get better because I couldn't really afford to take any time off.

Tomorrow is the start of our big adventure around England I can't wait!!! The girls are coming down from Birmingham tomorrow night and I am ready for a big one.

Life goes on in London. The big news over here is still the little girl lost in Spain. Nobody can believe what is happening.

My life is pretty boring just working and trying to work out my plans for summer. Hoping to get some visits from people from home hint hint hint very soon.

Miss you all

Love H

Oxford and Warwick

My poor old blog has been left to its own devices for far to long and now that we are borrowing Internet at home for the next week or so I thought it was time to let everyone know what has been happening in not so sunny London.

Last weekend was a bank holiday or long weekend for May Day. I took full advantage of this fact and planned a trip to Oxford to visit the fabulous Georgi and Anthony. Armed with an 8 pound return train ticket (An absolute bargain) I got on the train on Friday night and sped my way to Oxford. Little was I to know it was the beginning of an amazing boozy weekend.

I was met at the station and chauffeured (that's right Ants get to use the work car sometimes) to the pub where CS Lewis and Tolkien used to go to drink and chat with the 'inklings.' Yep that's right very very cool, also very small. Then we had a fab Japanese dinner. I knew this weekend was going to be great.

On Saturday Georgi played tour guide and took me around all of oxford. The architecture is absolutely beautiful. We of course broke up the day with many visits to the pub. We even had lunch at this cool cafe (it was almost like being at home) in the undercover market.

Sunday and we ventured out to Woodstock to see Blenheim Palace. I was inspired to talk like a rich toff in a very bad upper class English accent for most of the day which Georgi bless her put up with like a trooper. We paid to go into the Palace grounds and we watched a falconry and jousting show which was actually really funny.

That night after a quick pint at the pub Georgi and I went to visit her locals at the Half Moon, there was music and hilarity from everyone packed into the pub. It was great. Georgi sang some songs and we listened to some amazing music. I was obsessed with watching the fiddle (violin) players fingers as they moved so so fast.

We woke up Monday morning and it was pissing down with rain, underterred we travelled to Warwick Castle with Anthony (who had to work the whole weekend). Looking for sustenance we headed to the pub for breakfast yep that's right breakfast. We ate the biggest sausage and bacon sarni's I have ever seen they were sooooo good.

Warwick Castle proved to be fabulous as well, some parts a little touristy but mostly very cool. I was disappointed the trebuchet was out of action, but I have bought a return ticket so i can go back. I took heaps and heaps of photos.

I absolutely loved Oxford, dashing young studious types running around in academic robes, a million old pubs, space and meadows, it is much more laid back than London. Much more like home.

So when I go back I will have to go punting and to see heaps of the other things that Oxford has to offer. Thanks Georgi and Ants

Here are some pics of scotland not the best or the worst just some amazing and inspiring stuff.

Well, well, well all my good intentions of keeping everyone up to date with what is going over here are out the window. Partly due to the fact that we still have NO internet at home. We are currently doing battle with BT (British Telecom) and Sky and we are patiently waiting.

As most people who will ever read this know, I have been working, working, working. Money is always a constant worry over here. That may be because everything is really expensive all the time. So I have been working supply every day up until the week before Easter. It was a long hard slog and I am so glad that my first term here is over. I have just come back from two weeks on holiday so everything is fresh and new. I have worked at some really good schools and I had a trial for a 3 day a week job yesterday. i haven't found out about it yet though.

I spent Easter in Scotland doing an absolutely amazing tour. I have never been somewhere like Scotland and I am totally in love with it. I don't know if I could hack the cold and the isolation. But I would love to give it a go someday. I fell in love with the amazing stretches of Heather (the plant) that cover the hills throughout Scotland. They even make jewellery out of it. Very Very cool.

I will do a full Scotland rant a bit later it is too hard to add photos at the dodgy internet cafe.

This week I have dealt with the craziness of housemates gone bad. Oh how I wish for the peaceful days of living with Paul, Courts and Carol. Anyway to cut a long story short and to try and not freak everyone out. Basically the couple I live with came home at about 1 in the morning arguing I was woken up and tried to go back to sleep but they were at it hammer and tongs there was crying and running and yelling and stuff thrown and eventually I braved it and got up to try and settle the situation down - which didn't happen so I called the police and they came round and they took my housemate for a night in the cells and my other housemate (the girl) stayed at home and moved out at about 5 in the morning. I had 0 hours sleep. He has left an apology note but I haven't seen him or talked to him. I don't think I will.

I was so scared I was in shock and luckily Louise was up and kept telling me I did the right thing. In hindsight I know my instincts are usually pretty good and I am glad I called the police but my word what a drama. especially since I had my trial day/interview at school the next day. But hopefully it is all OK now. They are both going home in 2 months anyways so hopefully there wont be any repeats. Don't worry I am fine. Louise (my other housemate) and I have worked out one of her guy friends lives down the road and he is our backup if anything ever happens again.

On a lighter note I am going to spend the first May bank holiday with Georgie and Ants in Oxford I am so, so excited. I just hope the weather is fabulous. The sunshine in London over the last couple of weeks has been amazing. i have no summer clothes so they are next on the list of things to buy - when I get paid of course.

I had better go. I would love to hear from everyone.

Miss ya H

So Life goes on....

Hi to everyone who i haven't caught up with and who is actually reading this. I am working working working and as you all know that means that i have literally no energy and no time for writing in this. I have been working at a different school nearly every day which is exhausting in itself. It is definitely spring here, the birds, the blossom, the squirrels and everyone just seems happier all of a sudden. A rescue pack from mum arriving on my doorstep full of home grown chocolate helped me along as well. This weekend I am heading up to Birmingham to visit Fiona, it is also St Pat's day on Saturday so I expect it will be a messy weekend for all - as I'm not sure what else there is to do in Birmingham.

So I am settling into the rhythm of life over here, who would have thought that i would get up at 6.30 every morning and trudge to work. Even more interesting is my ability to actually answer the phone when it rings, mainly I do that because it is always only Timeplan ringing about work and they don't go away otherwise. As soon as we have Internet back on at home I will upload some new photos and write in this some more but for now BYE!

H

In the spirit of catching up I thought i would continue with the week that was. Last week was the half term break for lots of London schools, the rest are on holidays this week. Of course it was also the week that I got sick and lost my voice. After spending a day in bed and taking 2 days off I decided to go and explore some churches on Wednesday. So i found (just) the Temple church (yep the one in the Da Vinci Code?) and i went to a free organ recital there - which was actually not that great but the church was beautiful. Inspired i walked down the road to St Brides church which has a crypt that you can go down into and see the footings and remnants of the 6 or 7 other churches that have been on the same sit since roman times which was very cool. Inspired I decided to go to the Museum of London which was amazing it to followed the history of London from the original geography through Roman, Saxon, Tudor etc... times there are heaps of artifacts and stuff there and it is set up for kids so there is heaps of cool stuff to see and touch. One of my favourite aspects was in the later periods when London was growing and growing around the time they were building the tube lines I think in the early 1900's the city was so obsessed with wealth and class there was this guy who was paid to make maps of the cities poverty areas. These maps are amazing and show every house built at the time coloured in according to the wealth of the families who lived there. It was really interesting and a little weird. I definitely need to go back there for another look around. So my day of Churches and history was over and I was totally buggered. I fell asleep on the bus home but it was worth it.

A Weekend with the Girls

I have become a little bit slack with this blog so because I don't have any work today I thought I would catch up. Last weekend Fiona came down from Birmingham of Brumma as she is now calling it to see the big smoke. I was invited to spend some time with her and Kate on Saturday looking around London. It was fabulous getting together and walking around,eating lunch and seeing some of the sights. Kate took us to Harrods at night which is a whole new experience of luxury. The lights and the people are beautiful. Earlier that day we waltzed around Hamley's this absolutely HUGE toy store with heaps of demonstrations and interactive stuff. We could have spent a fortune, I think Fiona is still thinking about the fabulous glitter pens we saw. That night Kate was again the hostess giving us dinner and then we helped get her school play organised which was fun. On Sunday we had lunch in Richmond which is a very very nice and posh place to live. It was great seeing the girls and getting an invitation from Fiona to come up to Brummas (Birmingham) which I will do as soon as the Cadbury factory up there is reopened. Thanks Girls