Sept 2006 b

Fri 15 Sept 2006
Steve's Birthday! One year away from his big 40th!
Jen takes Steve out to a nice Indian restaurant. Jen does curry now - or at least, a mild chicken corma. We decide we'll be visiting Australia in September 2007 for Steve's family and our Aussie friends to celebrate with him.

Sat 16 Sept 2006
Enjoy a nice relaxing weekend at home.

Tues 19 Sept 2006
Attend the local residents'/council AGM. Interesting unto itself. Discover a bit more history about the local area. The "fries" or "pineapple" public art is actually called the "railway tree" by the artist.


Wed 20 Sept 2006
In the evening turn up to local SCA meeting at the Shakespeare's Head tavern. Some outrageous ideas float past, like the idea of booking out a slice of the Globe theatre (to see a Shakespearean play) for all those Tudor and Elizabethan fans out there. Great photo opportunities indeed. We all agreed to look for an affordable venue in London (!!!) for future SCA events or meetings.

Thu 21 Set 2006
House inspection. We pass easily - we're obviously not sub-letting others, nor are we drug addicts or running a crack house etc. We go to SCA singing practice in the evening.

Fri 22 Sept 2006
Jen's been working for 7 weeks now, and is right at home. The people are lovely and the work is exciting in a good way.

Above: Jen worked on the cover of a bid to build the athlete's olympic village for 2012. Our consortium is down to the final two - pretty exciting stuff!


Sat 23 Sept 2006
PARTY!!!!!!! We hold a housewarming party. First guests turn up around 3pm, and we all enjoy a fabulous variety of drinks, nibblies, and board games. Yes it was a boardgame party. Some games of note were "kill doctor lucky" which is essentially anti-Cluedo; also, "the great brain train robbery" which was a zombie game where you try to install a brain with the highest IQ and fight other zombies for their brain. Yes very strange but also hilarious. These are created by "cheap ass games" based in London, and the company has recently gone bust. Card games and backgammon were also played. Taught locals how to shot-gun TimTams. The house has now been sufficiently "warmed".



Sun 24 Sept 2006
Jen has read through heaps of brochures, sifting out information about trading in her Aussie drivers licence for a British one. Can't apply at the local post office - it has to be a special one. Yesterday morning before the party, Jen hopped on a train, finally tracked down this special Post Office, only to be told, try some other Post Office, but make a telephone appointment first. Phone up and finally get the actual story, that the only place in all of London where I can trade in my licence without posting off my passport, is in Wimbledon, and only 9-5 on weekdays. Grrr.

Mon 25 Sept 2006
Pay day - hooray! If only it was more frequent than monthly.

Tues 26 Sept 2006
Jen takes morning off work to go to Wimbledon to submit an application for a British drivers licence. Lucky she took extra cash as it cost £42 to get the passport check (rather than posting the passport away). The reason to do this is, apparently compulsory car insurance is much cheaper if you're female, and hold a Brit licence. Also, UK residents must use a brit licence after they've lived here for over a year. Finally, the aussie licence isn't destroyed, it gets sent back to the issuer (main roads, QLD).

Wed 27 Sept 2006
Ciaran turns up and is welcomed as our first proper Aussie house guest.
Spends the next few days doing all manner of groovy touristy stuff. Steve studies.