Steve n Jen's UK adventures

UK and European adventures. Read on my pretties, and discover what two stray Aussies can get up to on their travels.......

18 February 2009

Feb 2009 a

Sun 01 Feb 2009
More snow overnight!!!

Now that the paint's dried, here's our before and after
setup for the projector. It's also upside-down now.



Mon 02 Feb 2009
This morning Steve phoned his work to confirm that it's open. They said yes turn up. About 15 minutes after he got there they said, actually we're closing the school now, go home.

Above: Steve waves bye-bye before digging out the car!
Sophia made it on foot to the train station before discovering her school was closed for two days, so back home she trudged.

It took Jen 45 minutes to walk to work - there were no trains and no busses today. She did manage to find a Cab firm operating (at 1.5 normal rates) so got driven home. Here are some photos from her morning walk:







Above and below: Views over Stratford (London) from Jen's office building.



Fri 06 Feb 2009
Jen joined the online Genes Reunited UK website. Fascinating stuff. Spent a large chunk of the weekend putting up her family tree.

Sat 07 Feb 2009
We are waiting for London's footpaths to stop being these randomly lumpy ice-skating areas! Very treacherous.
Most of the snow has melted by now, but loads of ice still around. Here's a pic of the back yard.



Sun 08 Feb 2009
We're horrified at the carnage going on in Australia. Four storey tall fires sweeping through the southern parts of Australia at the speed of a freight train - how do you stand a chance against that? Last tally 180 dead. Entire villages wiped out! Thankfully no-one we know personally is hurt or killed.

Wed 11 Feb 2009
Jen has the rest of the week off work. Today two workmen turn up to put holes in the roof. Hooray! While shivering in a cold house, Jen does some eyeletting (handsewing) for Edith.

Thu 12 Feb 2009
Today while Soph and Steve are at work, Jen does some more handsewing (since the power is being turned on and off ocassionally) while the loft works are happening. Here's the cloth-covered bead buttons Jen's been attaching for going down the front of Steve's new Medieval purpoint (padded fighting jacket).


The works we had done are installation of two roof windows, flooring, loft hole enlargement, loft ladder, light, and double power point. Here are some before and after shots:

Above: the new extended loft hatch open showing the excellent telescopic loft ladder.


Above: before. Below: after.


Above: before. Below: after.

This evening the workmen finished and left, and the marvellous Kiriel arrived to stay with us for the next few days.

Fri 13 Feb 2009
Jen goes to the dentist. Turns out that no there's no wisdom tooth coming through, and no need for any new fillings, yay! Thankfully today Steve has the day off work and is ably assisted by Kiriel and Edith in cooking and shopping for tomorrow's local SCA feast called St Ethelburga's - named after the city church it's held in.

Sat 14 Feb 2009
We loaded up the car full of food, wine and spare costumes (for newcomers), and off to site we drove. The event got into full swing around 3pm, with loads of dancing and the first round of nibblies on the tables. Overall it was a fairly relaxed and pleasant event, with about 60 people booked, it seemed almost half of them were newcomers!
Later in the evening there was more live music for the dancing, as well as the debut of the newly formed Thamesreach choir (with a couple of extra willing recruits roped in to round out the sound). It was a good first performance, although we did have a false start on one of the songs.

Above: Steve in his apron.
Below: A quick pic taken just after the last dance was finished.


Deb and Clancy stayed at ours overnight, as Cambridge is a good hour and half drive away - so its a bit too far, so late at night.

Sun 15 Feb 2009
The morning after the event. Sitting about and chatting, taking it easy with our house guests. It's not until Tuesday that the house is finally tamed back into a semblance of order and tidiness!

01 February 2009

Jan 2009 b

OK so our lives aren't amazingly interesting during winter, when we're really concerned with staying warm, ie indoors!


Thu 22 Jan 2009
They say a change is as good as a holiday - well, Jen went for a new hair style today. The holiday bit is were she's received multiple compliments about the "new do" at work for several days, right into the next week. Very gratifying!


Sat 24 Jan 2009
This morning Jen bought fabric for new curtains, having recently decided it's time to decorate the lounge room. This afternoon we saw the latest "Underworld" movie. It was OK but we both agreed much more gory than necessary.

Tonight we visited Edith and William for an excellent dinner and holiday planning session. We'll be enjoying a week travelling together in Scotland first week of May - hurrah! Will likely get the train to and from Edinburgh, hiring a car for the week. Should be good!

Sun 25 Jan 2009
Today Jen made new curtains, and sewed together four Ikea sheepskin rugs. Oh, and recovered the sofa thanks to Ikea's furnishings dept. You wouldn't think a rug and curtains can lighten the whole room so much.


Mon 26 Jan 2009
Australia Day. We ate some Anzac biscuits and thought about friends and family in Oz. Hi there!

Tue 27 Jan 2009
Steve's ankle started to twinge 15 mins after exercise bike this morning, and started aching during shower. Later in the day, knee hurts due to favouring ankle. Three days later, his back is in pain from favouring all the above!!!
Tonight we had Jenni B, Julia, Edith AND William turn up and practice singing madrigals together. Steve cooked us up a tasty spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread.

Wed 28 Jan 2009
Two weeks and counting before the loft finally gets some work done on it!!!!

Fri 30 Jan 2009
Steve's back hurts!

Sat 31 Jan 2009
Steve went to work - yes, on a Saturday! In aid of setting up the auditorium in time for use, very early Monday morning, plus doing a bunch of work on the network that is best done without anyone logged in.
Meanwhile Jen stayed indoors avoiding the COLD outside, by checking out prices and options for getting a new Mac computer - hhhmmm tasty!

Above: some advantages of the Mac mini - it's tiny but powerful, and you can BYO screen of choice! Not that Jen will get a screen quite as large as this one. (the above photo grabbed randomly from google)

Jen also did some home handyman work with some help from Steve - building a little table for the projector to hang upsidedown from, to replace the cardboard box we've been using for the past year! Below: the current setup for the projector (below). We will show you the new setup, but only after the wet paint has dried.


Sun 01 Feb 2009
Spent much of the day indoors, staying warm. This evening opened the front door (OK we got pizza delivered) to discover SNOW!