regents park

After at least a week of overcast days this morning the sun was shining so Woz and I took a walk along the canal to Regents Park.

tip of the iceberg

We're already well into the time off Woz has and although he has been working on his masters it has absolutely highlighted how much more work he has to do. Think we're going to dedicate Saturdays from here on in to slogging through it. He's going to go in to work tomorrow while there's no one there so he can work in a less distracting environment!

thank you

A big thank you to those who sent presents over for Nate from Australia. If we haven't already been able to speak with you we hope to be able to call over the next few days.

christmas day

Our first Christmas Day as a family was fantastic! We had a very relaxed, sleepy morning before opening presents. It was fun watching Nate rip the paper apart. He was of course too young to understand any of it but just having him there made it all the more exciting.

After breakfast we headed over to Vicki and Andrew's to spend the day with them and their four day old baby son! Looking at him next to Nate it was hard to believe that just six months ago he was that small! It was such a lovely relaxed day with a big roast dinner followed by walk to the park, pudding and then a nap. It was very special for us to be able to spend our first Christmas as a new family with another new family. It hadn't quite sunk in for Vicki and Andrew and it still hasn't for us (six months later!) and so we spent most of the day shaking our heads and saying 'Who'd have thought?'

too many toys to choose from

i'll have that thanks!

first christmas

chrismas eve

We spent a good part of our Christmas Eve calling family in Australia as it was Christmas morning for them. My parents were given a webcam for Christmas so we tried that out and got to see and talk to the whole family.

christmas in the west end

happy holidays

Woz finished work last night for ten days. I'm not sure who was more excited, him or me. As usual he has big plans for the next ten days so today we've got all of the work out of the way; first our water pump needed fixing, followed by a huge clean out/clean up, followed by lots of wood chopping, food shopping, Christmas baking and finally some present wrapping
for the little 'un.


We decided not to go away this Christmas to allow Woz to concentrate on his Masters research, so he'll be busily working away at that over his break but it will be nice to be able to see him each day and for him to have some time with Nate.

to market to market

I did a last minute shop at the market yesterday for some fruit and vegies. I couldn't bear the thought of standing in a ridiculously long line at the supermarket being subjected to hearing 'Last Christmas' played for the fifth time in one day. Which brings me to a thought - no one seems to play traditional carols here for some reason.

The market was incredibly busy but had so much more atmosphere and you didn't really have to wait to be served. I was navigating Nate's push chair through the crowd and 'pulled in' behind a large burly man pushing an empty trolley. He seemed to be making his way through the swarms of people so I thought it would be a good idea to follow him. I soon discovered why. He was tearing along ramming the ankle of any unsuspecting shoppers ahead of him and as they jumped out of his way he shouted in a huge booming market type voice,

'Alright darlin'? Wwwwwwatch yer feet, if you don't I wont!'

christmas is coming

Our tiny little boat now has a tiny little tree. I picked one up yesterday at a stall on the side of the street about a fifteen minute walk from home. To qualify it had to be small enough for me to carry with one hand whilst pushing the buggy with the other.

My favourite part of Christmas as I was growing up was finding a tree and decorating it. Those were the good old days when we would chop one down from the bush surrounding our house and cart it inside. The thrill of seeing the box which held all the Christmas decorations retrieved from the depths of the linen press would always hark the start of the festivities for me.

The trees here are absolutely beautiful. Perfectly conical, bushy and green ... but they just don't smell like Christmas. The smell of the pine needles was the one thing that helped me hold on to the magic of Christmas as I grew up - that and Christmas carols. So I feel a little like a fish out of water here; it's cold, the trees don't smell as they should and it's dark but suddenly all those 'Winter wonderland' songs are beginning to make sense in a way they just couldn't when it was 30 degrees!

eye eye captain!

stark reality

Cor blimey it's cold here! The coats are on and buttoned up and the gloves and scarves are shortly to follow. Winter has officially arrived!

Almost everyone we meet asks the same question of living on a boat ... 'Doesn't it get cold in winter?'. We are often heard to retort quickly, 'Not at all! We have central heating and a wood fire', which is true, and on a good day it's toasty and warm throughout the boat, but the reality is that for the last two weeks we've had to turn the central heating off as it has been so windy that the diesel fumes were blowing back into the boat through the chimney, and when we light the wood fire we stoke it with enough coal to last the night which means that we generate a heatwave in the boat (28˚C last night!) but by morning the coal has burnt out and it feels as though ice has settled on the floorboards. This morning our thermometer in the bathroom (which is closed off to the heating in the main part of the boat) read 7.6˚C.

Of course none of that bothers me now ... it couldn't be further from my mind. I'm sitting by the fire which is glowing with red hot coal and both Woz and I are in t-shirts and bare feet ... but then there is always the knowledge that tomorrow I'll be wearing thick socks, knee high uggs and a coat while eating my breakfast.

Ahh the price of adventure!

adiós amigos!

And so we say goodbye to Barcelona ... until next time.

two generations

Sunday afternoon in the park.

an artist in the making?

gaudi's handprint

stunning views

park güell

Commissioned by Eusebi Güell as a stylish park for Barcelona aristocracy, Park Güell is a showcase of Gaudi's finest work and absolutely breathtaking. Just a pity about all the tourists.

la sagrada familia

Almost every inch of the facade of this incredible cathedral was covered in scaffolding and the mark of construction was everywhere. Even inside the windows you could see the criss-cross of layer upon layer of scaffolding poles. I'm not one for taking photos of famous iconic photos covered in scaffolding so I took a shot of its spires, although now I think about it the scaffolding is as much a part of the cathedral as the stone itself as construction began in 1882 and it is not predicted to be completed for another fifty years so. A missed photo opportunity perhaps? Oh well, we'll have to go back then wont we? I wonder if it will be completed in our lifetime or if Nate will have to visit it for us?

hola!

No post for a few days as we've been in Barcelona. We spent three short days there and it wasn't nearly enough. We went along with Woz's office for their annual Christmas trip so we were put up in a swanky hotel in the centre of town which was such luxury for us as we normally travel on a pretty tight budget.

Barcelona - what an amazing, surprising, inspiring city. Had we not gone as part of the office trip I am not sure we would have made it there as it wasn't high on our list of travel priorities but having been it is now top of our list of places to return. I have seen images of Gaudi's work countless times but I can truly say that I had no real appreciation for them until I saw them in the flesh and in the context that Gaudi designed them for - nature.

There are some places you can visit and upon returning home you're happy to have seen what you've seen and experienced but at the same time are quite happy not to see again. Been there, done that. There are others which infect you like a virus and you leave knowing that they will always be in your bloodstream. There will always be something inside you that longs to return to have the opportunity to understand the city.

We will be back, for at least a week next time to see all the places we didn't manage to get to and to just enjoy the culture and feel of the city.

If you're planning a trip to Europe, Barcelona is a must see!

has it been two years already?

December 31st 2006. When Woz and I left Melbourne for London that date seemed like a lifetime away yet here it is fast approaching and my visa is running out. You may have read earlier this year that Woz was granted British citizenship thanks to his Scottish heritage. Nate also has a British passport which leaves little old me with my Australian passport.

It's all very last minute but I've organised an interview at the British Home Office later this month to apply for the extension of my visa. Unfortunately they don't allow you to apply until 28 days before it expires so I'm really hoping they approve it as it will leave little time for Woz and I to whip up a plan B. They tell me it's all a matter of paperwork.

As I was feeling a little reminiscent I had a look back to this time last year in our archive posts and saw that by mid November last year we were waking to cold frosty mornings and it made me realise how mild it has been lately. While we daren't leave home without a coat, scarves have been a fashionable accessory rather than a necessity and gloves haven't even got a look in.

I remember visiting our friends Karen and Eric in London while we were still living in Melbourne several years ago. Having left our Summer to travel over here in the peak of Winter Woz and I were wearing thermals head to toe, coats, scarves, gloves and hats. I remember so clearly Karen leaving for work in an unbuttoned coat with bare hands, head and neck on an absolutely freezing morning saying 'Oh it's not nearly cold enough for gloves yet'. I remember thinking she was absolutely mad and yet here I am, doing the same thing.

upgrade

I've upgraded this site to make it much easier for me to edit (no more html) and at the same time changed the appearance slightly.

If a post has a comment against it the best way to view it now is by clicking on the title of the post and you will be able to view the post itself with the attached comments below. You can easily return to the main page by clicking on 'Home' below.

Happy viewing and remember, we love youse all!

fun at the park

I met Woz at the park again today on his lunchbreak. It had been a while since I'd taken Nate to this particular park, which I visited almost every day in Summer. It was a very different experience; hardly a child in sight, the trees almost bare and the ground littered with coloured leaves. It was a cold day and the park was lacking in atmosphere, but for Nate ... his Dad was with him and fun ensued!