Oct 2006 a

Wed 3 Oct 2006
Jen goes to the Earls Court Show. This is a recruitment fair, and Jen helps her Human Resources department at their stand. Good fun. Got a free red work shirt with the company logo embroidered on it.

Thurs 4 Oct 2006
After Jen finishes work, go out to Ikea to buy pieces for a shelf. While there, we also buy a nice plant at a great price. Late that night Ciaran is asked "like the new addition to our family?" he looks around the floor looking for a dog or cat, only to have the plant pointed out (overhanging him) and he jumps with surprise.
The trouble with Ikea is - if you visit on the weekend its too overcrowded. After work is difficult too, as the trains stop running (to get home) before you can buy stuff. So, we asked the price of the taxis, didn't like the answer as there's a "special rate" to depart Ikea, and so Steve walked across the road to the local Tesco supermarket and used the free phone to order a (cheaper) taxi home.

Fri 6 Oct 2006
Steve is a god! He manages to get the projector receiving in colour from the TV box. Hurrah! He also installs a new shower hand-set wall mount, so that we can all stand up straight in the shower, and have the water sprinkle at an angle instead of straight down. Double hurrah!

Sat 7 Oct 2006
Muster in the park. Travelled to the south side of London with the armour. Steve has a hit in the park and attracts curious on-lookers. Some of us hand out flyers. Sit and chitchat with other SCA people, enjoying a shared picnic. A nice sunny day and hopefully not the end of Summer.

Sun 8 Oct 2006
Put up the Ikea shelf. This shelf is for the projector, TV box, amplifier, ipod, and DVD player to sit comfortably out of the way. Love it. Steve is a god (again)!


Tues 10 Oct 2006
Jen enjoys some girly "internet window shopping" with Kiriel via Skype.
Steve enjoys some boyish internet gaming fun with Gavin via World of Warcraft.

Thurs 12 Oct 2006
Jen's british drivers licence turns up in the mail. Hurrah! Jen's workmates come over for after-work drinks and nibblies. Steve puts on a great spread of mini snags and dips, chips, beers and spirits. We introduce the guests to TimTams. Told we should try "penguins" apparently the local equivalent - but we'll have to test out the theory.

Fri 13 October
Jen has a staff "away day" at the Novotel. Pretty good overall, great location and quality food and drinks. It was good to learn about working more as a team. These are Jen's colleagues (the two blurred faces are the trainers for the day).


Sat 14 Oct 2006
We have decided that Ikea definately sucks.
After picking up a hire car today (for tomorrow's drive to Heathrow), we decide to also visit Ikea. A combination of: insane car park driving, queues, items out of stock, screaming children, teeming masses, and finally, credit card only lanes - discovered after queuing for half an hour, all makes us quite fond of internet shopping. Down with Ikea.

Sun 15 Oct 2006
Alarm - 5:45am. Dark. Urrgghh. Accustomed to alarm at 8am. Shovel breakky into mouth. Get in car, navigate to Heathrow terminal 4. Discover the flight of our house-guest is running 2 hours late. Decide to buy the paper and enjoy some quiet together in the italian cafe upstairs. Excellent. Feeling much more human. Steve's oldest niece, Clare, arrives with her usual lovely smile and grace. We took the scenic way home from Heathrow - along the river Thames, West to East through the centre of London. Get back home and wave Ciaran bye bye. He's off to Europe, and we'll see him again in 6 weeks' time.

To ensure jetlag has the least impact we keep Clare active right until 10:30pm. Steve and Clare walked around the London Eye, to Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, National Galleries, Pall Mall, Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, etc.

Then in the evening we all went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and it was a strangely fascinating, if somewhat gory, tour. We finished by going into the Ten Bells - London's oldest pub (established 1752) where one of the victims was last seen alive. This is the pub, but a photo I found on the net, as we only saw the pub by night.



Mon 16 Oct 2006
Steve returns the hire car. When we picked up the car, the hire place was closing and told us there was no damage to our car, and didn't inspect it with us. They told us to call the following day and report damage if there was any. Lucky for us we had the camera with us, with date stamping, and they accepted this without charging us for someone else's damage.

Above: Hire car damage, before we even got behind the wheel.

Steve took Clare shopping, visiting Topshop, The Apple Centre, and Harrods! All concerned decided to have a quiet night.

Tues 17 Oct 2006
Clare gets up early and gets a train toward Aylesbury. We'll see her again Friday night for another weekend of being tourists.