Wow - Is that an angel I see?

That's right folks, all my wishes for Europe came true this January when it snowed in London. It went a little like this:
Emma ... drags herself out of bed on a Wednesday morning and stumbles two metres to the shower. Within three seconds Emma peers out the window, which happens to be in the shower, and gasps.

Bolly: "Are you alright?"
Emma: "Is that (pause for dramatic effect) .... snow?"
Bolly quickly jumps out of bed and looks out the window, because he's taller he can see more and quickly confirms the finding: "Yes it is!!"
Emma jumps out of the shower without bothering to wash herself, pulls on lots of layers of clothes, flies down the stairs, switches on the computer to send a quick email to her boss announcing: "I won't be coming in today because IT'S SNOWING and I've never seen snow before. I'll make up for it by working an extra day next week." And then they head into the backyard where Emma bursts into tears (well not really, but her eyes did fill up with tears) as she touches snow for the first time (again, not really, but the only other time she saw it she was two, and so says that doesn't really count). After indulging in a quick snow fight in the backyard, Emma and Bolly head to Alexandra Palace park and wander through the snow for hours, feeding the cold ducks in the pond, making a mini snowman, and making snow angels (actually, just Emma did this because nobody else would ever bother trying to make an angel in 2cm of snow). Most of you reading this will know that my wish for Europe was to see snow just once - and I didn't have high hopes of skiing or anything. I just wanted to tick off three things: A snow angel, a snowman, and a snowball fight. January 24th was the day I did all these things!! Here are some photos to prove it. (I do realise I swap from writing in third person to first person several times in this blog entry, but that's what holiday writing is all about - not having to be correct!) Enjoy the photos. They say it might snow again this week. Fingers crossed. But I might have trouble taking photos of me doing snow angels this time because Bolly is in Oxford and so can't accompany me :(

Merry Christmas from London!!


Hello Australia and Merry Christmas. We didn't have a white Christmas unfortunately but we certainly had a fattening one. Christmas morning was a buzz of activity in the kitchen. Tim stuffing poultry, Traci making the stuffing, Em and I helping out and the others entertaining us with guitars and songs as well as making sure the Christmas wines were being tended to. We were lucky to spend the day and evening with good friends, food and wine. We had prepared for the meal - a 5.5 kg Goose layered in bacon, 2 Pheasants in bacon, extra stuffing, roast veggies and some Spanish stuffed peppers with prawns for entree (prepared by Susso our Spanish house mate). Oh I almost forgot the homemade gravy with the extra special ingredient, yeah you guessed it, a whole lot of goose fat. MMmmmmmmmmm goose fat. It really was a feast.
Before eating we all sat around together and watched each other open gifts from friends and family. It was a great orphans Christmas.

Styling......

What's better than a game of Jenga for Christmas

Susso and his famous stuffed peppers with prawns.

Now they are a couple of hot birds.

Anna and Em around Anna's tree.

Mike rocking out in the garden

What a good looking bunch.

Blowing on our plastic music maker thingies.

The master chefs at work.



"Merry Christmas to you all"

Now onto New Years - Scotland style...

Well it's that time of year again and we were lucky enough to get out of the big city lights of London and head to Edinburgh for a few days. Our alarm went off at 5.00am for our early morning train ride. In the pitch black of the UK winter Em and I donned on our Back Packs (which felt so good since we have done no travelling for 3 months) and walked to the bus stop. A quick bus trip then a tube ride and we were at Kings Cross Station. We met up with one of our mates Brooke, and boarded our train. Once out of London's city limits the scenery became beautiful. Rolling green fields, country villages, old stone walls, and low and behold even the ocean. We hadn't seen the sea for about 5 months and it felt so good to once again have the salty water in our sights. Once we arrived we still had to wait for the first batch of our friends to arrive so in true Aussie style, Em, Brooke and myself asked direction to the nearest pub.

Feeling like backpackers again.

In Edinburgh you really don't have to walk far to find one, they are every where. No complaints here. Leaving the station to go to the pub we were in awe of just how beautiful the city of Edinburgh is. It's like Salzburg and London mixed together. Since it was never bombed in the war the buildings are centuries old and the archicture breathtaking.

The castle from below

View of the city with the water in the background


Heading towards the Cathedral

We met up with Ben, Kerrie, and Chris and since the rest of our group weren't coming till the the next day we decided to stock up on groceries (ie Beer) and head to the caravan park where we had a couple of cabin/vans booked. These vans were great. 3 bedrooms and heaps of lounge space.

Outside one of the vans


Loungin inside our vans.


The next morning we headed into town to take in the sights of the city and the castle while we waited for more friends to arrive. The castle is amazing, as is the area around it. The cathedral was first built in the 1200's and walking inside it made you fell like you were back in the olden times.

The Cathedral


Em and the Castle


Don't know who this guy on the horse is.

The surrounding hills.

The 6 of us walked around the city taking in the festivities which was thirsty work. A cup of mulled wine was in order to quench our thirsts and to warm our bones.
MMmmm lovely stuff it is.

MMMmmmmmm Mulled wine, yum.


Once we had warmed up we headed to the train station to meet another friend, Blue, and then headed to a pub to await the rest of the gang.

Outside one of the pubs.


The 7 of us found a pub that had live music - a guy with the creative stage name "Acoustic David". He was litteraly a human IPod. There wasn't a song that he didn't know. What a champ.


Acoustic David


Mike (our house mate) and his mate Louis met us at the pub aswell as more friends Stone, Bob, Nick and Andrea. Poor pub, I think they still don't know what hit them. A combination of 11 Aussies and poms in one place can certanly leave a mark. But it was all in good fun. Lots of singing and dancing, oh and a few pints just for good measure.

Reveling in the pubs


The next day was New Years Eve so after a few coldies at the vans we piled onto the bus and hit the town.

Good old Scotish bus's and their stops.


The were gale force winds all day and night, which forced the street party - which was the main reason for going to Edinburgh - to get cancelled. The winds were so strong that we watched a portable toilet get blown uphill on a side street and it also blew one of the bands' drum kits off stage during set up. But it takes more than a bit of wind to blow away our festive spirits. We went to a pub that we found a few days before and once again showed the Scotts how it's really done. So after getting kicked out - well not us but 2 of our mates for being a bit rowdy - we hit the streets and found another pub, where we saw in the new year.

Mike,Louis, Em and Ed.


After our celebrating, it was time to go back to the vans for a bit of warmth and comfort. Ed, an American guy we met the night before came with me and Em after losing the rest of the group. It took us hours to find a bus route that was actually working. Due to the storms and the supposed street party a lot of the streets were closed down and catching a taxi was not going to happen. Once we found the bus stop, Ed who gave up a night in his 4-5 star to hang out with us, ran off down the street and came back with pies and sausage rolls to warm us up for our trip back to the vans. What a legend.
Waking up with no food in the house we hit the local pub on the caravan site. A beautiful old stone building with a warm rich atmosphere, but however no food to speak of. So we downed our pints, and once again caught the bus back to town. Well at least we tried. You see the Scottish bus drivers don't like working until the evening on New Years day, so four cabs were ordered. Once in town we ate lunch and walked around some more but it was so cold we decided to stock up on "groceries" and make the most of the comfort of our vans. More beer and a whole lot more laughter was the call for the evening. Such a great group of people. Unfortunately the next morning we had to check out early, so we packed up, cleaned up and went to some pubs for a quiet lunch with those who hadn't left yet.
Leaving the caravan park.


Last Pub in Scotland.


We finished the evening off with a cup of mulled wine a walk around the lights and the outdoor ice skating area.

Some of the winter delights of Edinburgh.


Really beautiful. So that was our New Years in Edinburgh, one of the the UK's most beautiful cities. Hope you all had a blast back in Oz. Welcome 2007!!!




Extra pics for your viewing pleasure, Happy New year.