Now, Where was I...

From where I left off on Xmas eve, we decided to head out into central London to see the Xmas lights and other displays. Our travels included Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown and Covent Garden, with Leicester Square and the small fairground that had been set up there was the highlight. Here we had a rather interesting dinner where the service was somewhat askew, but at least we didn’t have to pay for one of our mains. A good size they were too, so once again, we rolled out of a restaurant to continue on our way.

This included a bit of entertainment by some of the punters attempting to win at the sideshows and the foolish folks getting on the large ‘windmill-ish’ ride. A brief call from family, and then we entered a tube station in a rather unconventional way to make our way home (see the pic). The Tube was packed too, as we were getting close to 11.30pm which was when the last Tube before Xmas was due.
That’s correct, “the Last Tube before Xmas” is what I said. This is because London basically closes for Xmas day. No public transport is running on Xmas day. Double priced taxis, yes, but nothing else - no tube, no trains, no trams, no riverboats, nothing.
So, this meant that Xmas was a home gig. Our plan of a Xmas lunch in our housemate’s restaurant was scuppered simply because the only way to get there was to walk. A nice lay-in with presents and phone calls home made for a nice day off. The rest of the day we ‘made do’ to create our own unique Xmas day. It may have included shepherd’s pie with a sweet potato mash, Finding Nemo and the Doctor Who Xmas adventure with Kylie, but it won’t be a Xmas day that will be forgotten, and that’s what you want. No offence to families, but ‘family Xmas’s’ do tend to blend into one another over the years unless of course something memorable happens. You know, like half-sloshed ‘uncles’ trying (unsuccessfully) to quietly put together a swing set without waking the young kiddies inside...

Xmas Eve

Last night was a little misty...This morning was a little misty too...

But at least the streets were nearly empty, so the ride to work, whilst chilly at 6C, was the smoothest and quickest by a long way. Navagating the Aldgate/Whitechapel "roundabout" was a breeze!! (normally it's a life in your own hands gig).

Nice to have work finish at 1pm too, not that we were particularly busy today...

Anyway, hope you all have safe, healthy and happy xmas's whatever and wherever you are!!

Winter Wonderland - Hyde Park

It’s funny how you perceive how things should be when in a city that is bigger than the one you’ve come from. I was a little disappointed in Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland. Billed in the media a something spectacular and worth going too, we headed in and met Beale and his mate Adam for what we hoped would be a fun bit of ice skating and the rest.
You’d think that I should have been a little more wary of anything in the English media, as they’re not the most reputable bunch of reporters/journos. Ice Skating in Hyde Park, conjured up images of skating on the lake in Hyde Park, however the reality was something far less. In fact I’m pretty sure that the backyard at my first home was larger than the ice rink. Being sold out aside, it was also absolutely packed, but then I doubt I’d have been up for anything more than just a leisurely cruise on the ice - preferably without any stacks!
The rest of the ‘Wonderland’ seemed just a little small really, or just didn’t have as many things of interest than I thought there’d be. Maybe I was overestimating what would have been there for such a city as London. While the ferris wheel was quite spectacular, the rest of the rides and amusements were rather sparse. The circle of stalls around the rotunda was quite interesting displaying and selling all sorts of crafts and foods. The standouts being the Pimms tent with it’s warm shots of Pimms Winter with a small piece of apple in it, and this we confirmed by trying it several times just to make sure. The German sausage stand was quite popular and eating them in the small hotdog bun was an exercise! Also very popular was the waffle & pancake stand, as well as the hot mulled wine booth. While we refrained from venturing up to Santa in the rotunda for a photo, we did notice that the reindeer hide product stall may have been a little disturbing for the kiddies. And if we thought that was bad, then the shackled Santa’s dangling from the Haunted Mansion ride should have rounded out the nightmares for the little tackers nicely! Most kids seemed happy enough on the other rides or brandishing their £5 lightsabres, which were both tempting and cool at the same time. They all seemed to be enjoying the whole Winter Wonderland, and maybe it was more for them than us, however, I think it would have been quite a different story had there been snow everywhere like the pictures in the papers had shown it. Perhaps a bit of a skate may have improved things as well.
While Matt n Adam ‘braved’ one of the faster rides, a bag of hot donuts rounded out the afternoon’s adventure (yes, afternoon as we were there from about 4.30 til 6pm if you’re a little disbelieving of the pictures), before we retired back to Matt’s for an evening of pizza n movies. I Am Legend is quite an intriguing movie.

We'll save the skating for one of the other outdoor locations and another day.

Back To Work!

Well, not quite as it was before... Funnily enough, I still remember most of the folk I met at the xmas party last week. As mentioned before, they’re a pretty good bunch.
The work is a bit slow, as they’re still to get me logged into their system, but I’m happy enough to be paddling in the shallow end for now to ease back into the working life after over 3 months off. Far better conditions to work under than what life was like at CGU, however whilst we were always trying to get the Melbourne office to cool down, here in London, we’re trying to get the office to heat up!!
All up it’s pretty much just smooth sailing for now... And the fact that we live close enough for me to run home in just over an hour is pretty cool! Let’s just ignore that I took a wrong turn and added a couple of K’s to my run. I don’t think the folks at AXA expected me to run home on the first day...

Ahh... the joys of riding the Tube, and what a marvel it is!! In three days it has taken me just over an hour (Mon.), less than 45mins (Tues) and then just over an hour and a half!!! The sooner I start riding the better! It only takes me just on 30mins to get to AXA on the bike - healthier for me as that black soot in the Tube isn’t a concern, as well as the other benefits of physical activity, and best of all riding is FREE!! And even in 4C it’s fine once I’ve warmed up on the bike. Stuff trudging to the Tube in the cold! Or, for that matter, walking through the streets to make it to a bus stop that you're sort of aware of how to find, only to end up spending half an hour finding something that should have been a 15min walk...

After riding into work today (Thursday) we discovered that we had no heating for the day as the building’s boiler had packed up!! What a day to leave the gloves and scarf at home - it didn’t fit in the backpack... However, at least the work has improved in terms of things to do. Seems they’re discovering quite quickly that they’ve underestimated me as I’m now doing something they deem to be quite difficult (if not a little dull). Let’s just say that I haven’t had to review changes to policy wordings for a bit, and certainly not in English Legalese! Last time I saw wordings like these was back in the early nineties!! One paragraph took five lines just to basically say that ‘we won’t be paying more than the sum insured on the schedule’. They seemed surprised that I could interpret it as well as sum it up so easily.
Anyway, the two best times of the day were the ride to and from work - I certainly got a blast by being amongst a bunch of other riders along the roads home! Didn’t take long before a couple of us were upping the pace a little. Playing with people’s egos can be rather entertaining!

Friday - casual day, festive food put on for lunch, finally logged into their system, a pint in the neighbouring pub, and 3 extra kilometres for my ride in thanks to a wrong turn!! At least I took the short (see: correct) way home! Riding home in the streetlights shining through the cold evening mist, while erie, is somewhat cool.

Portsmouth

Another Saturday and another early morning ride. A little earlier this week as we were aiming for the 9.30am train to Portsmouth. Same route as last week, with the ‘hill’ before reaching the M25 crossover. That’s it in the above pic - however, you can’t really get an idea of how long or steep it is in the dark!
Once home, showered n dressed (and someone else getting up a bit late) we were on our way to meet Sue n Graeme at Waterloo for the 10.30am train to Portsmouth and Fratton Park for the Spurs v Portsmouth game. Oh, and a weekend away on the south coast...
Upon arrival at Fratton station (right), Charity and I headed off to our accommodation and checked in before making our way back to the Portsmouth ground. ‘Lunch’ on the way, was in a small (dodgy) cafe where we basically had a breakfast (eggs bacon etc...) - fat n greasy to completely ruin what I did on the bike in the morning.
Fratton Park has been around since 1889, but doesn’t seem to have changed much since then! While waiting for Sue n Graeme, we got quite an eyeful of all sorts of fans, and they were a rather diverse bunch, including one rather confused ‘fellow’ (pictured). Brave would be a good word for ‘him’ as it was a very cold and windy 5C!
A far more entertaining game this time round, with Spurs winning 1-0, which is a very low score for Spurs considering the amount of goals both scored and conceded this season! Not completely sure of what Charity made of all the singing and carry-on, but I do know she enjoyed the hot Bovril (probably more than I enjoyed my hot chocolate) that we got at half time.

After this, the fun began in trying to find somewhere to go to get some dinner and have a relaxing few drinks for the evening. We discovered very quickly that there wasn’t too much on offer on a Saturday night in Southsea. There were some nice pubs about (as you can see), however not much on offer in the way of food beyond standard English pub food. Eventually, we settled on one pub that did have a little bit more than the others - not that it was much better. At least the locals provided some entertainment with their interesting behaviour. Definitely a different world in Portsmouth & Southsea! It was then just a small matter of re-braving the cold to walk back to our room at the Southsea Backpackers.

Cold n Windy was the order of the day for Sunday, as we set out to the coastline and to make our way along it to the Portsmouth train station. First port of call was to navigate our way through the new ‘rock garden’ (which contained more garden than rock) that had been created near the esplanade at Southsea. It was version 2 for the Southseaians as the first attempt was flooded when a freak storm brought the sea up the day after it was finished, but was still interesting to make your way through. Once we made the esplanade, or boardwalk, we proceeded onto the ‘beach’ and I use that term rather loosely!! I’ve seen gravel driveways that have smaller and less sharp rocks through it!

Anyway, we made our way away through the ice cold wind from the Southsea Pier and along the coast to Henry VIII’s Southsea Castle, the D-Day Museum, and the Aquarium before discovering the Queen’s Hotel (pictured) for lunch.
Somehow we weren’t quite up to their standard in terms of dress sense, but at least we still managed to get a very decent lunch in their restaurant while we thawed out. We will both recommend the Portobello mushrooms should you every find yourself there in the future.
From here, we rolled...erm... walked back to the coastline and the fairground. Unfortunately, most of it was closed for winter, but we did have a few giggles in the penny arcade on some of the side shows. With prizes in hand, or more appropriately ‘in-bag’, we continued on our way by watching the hovercraft ferry launch itself out to sea, before strolling further along Portsmouth’s coastal walkway while the sun set across the harbour.
It was then a leisurely walk through the old battlements, through the marina suburbs to Gunwharf Quays. Here we discovered a massive shopping district full of factory outlets, and, well, we just couldn’t pass up grabbing some bargains - a £15 Spurs shirt at the Puma outlet being the highlight (for me). It was then a matter of a short walk past the Spinnaker Tower to the train station for the trip home. Or so we thought. Maintenance to the lines meant that no trains were running, so it was onto a regular domestic bus for a half hour to the first station that the trains were running from.
Finally onto a train and it was several games of gin using one of our prizes - a tiny set of cards!!

AXA Xmas Do

Survived the AXA xmas party fairly well, despite going arse-up on an icey footpath before I'd even got there!
Massive night, amazing venue - even had dodgem cars! The kick-on afterwards was a little 'interesting'. Karaoke bar of all places... Anyway, throughout the evening and the murdered music I got to know most of the staff I'll be working with. All seem to be a pretty good bunch. And I'm told that our little team is under the spotlight of head office due to the size of risks we'll be working on. Not to mention that the next few months will be extremely busy as their calendar of operations is very different to ours (Australia's).

I also found out that London's streets after 2am are almost deserted, but that could have had something to do with the fact that it was about 2C!! I got to experience this by having to walk a couple of kilometres to a 24hr bus stop that leads past home.
Photos?? Hardly, even if there was a chance for a blackmail stylee photo...

No Snow Yet

As you can see from this morning's pic above, it's a little frosty, not to mention icey! (you can see the ice on the top of the fence and on my bike 'garage')
So, this morning's run was not only chilly, and although I'm getting the hang of that bit, it was also a tad treacherous due to the icey nature of the footpaths. It looked rather impressive with all the ice over the ground, trees and bushes! I managed to stay upright despite going fro a brief slide on the ice - the heart-rate monitor rather humourously where my speed drops dramatically and is accompanied by a sharp rise in my heartbeat! Funnily enough, I wasn't the only runner silly enough to be running on the ice and through the mist/fog this morning. I still haven't had my marathon entry confirmed through the ballot process, but the Spinal Injury Association has guaranteed me a place if the ballot entry comes through as a 'nay'.

It has been a rather quiet week so far, as it's been taken up mostly by trapsing around the area to places like the Citizen's Advice Bureau after our landlord let himself into our house on sunday. It seems to have sorted itself out now, but we're not 100% convinced by this fellow's words... Time will tell I guess.

Last night was a trip into High Holborn to meet two of Charity's relatives that her mother has only recently discovered while tracing their family history. Both guys were a few years older than us, but were good to meet, and we ended up learning a few new spots (okay, pubs) in central London.

Off to the AXA xmas party tonight...

Ride the Santa Borough

No sooner had I dismounted my bike from dropping some paperwork off at AXA, than I find I have 2 missed calls from them! I rang back immediately to find out that I am included in this thursday night's xmas show. My first duty at this company is to have a free night out on the plonk! Okay, so it's also a great way to meet the people I'll be working with, but you get the jist...

Apparantly it can get better than last week's sunrise (as you can see above). Early morning English countryside, your thoughts and your music in your ears, and almost NO cars around - Brilliant!
This saturday I chose a different set of roads to ride, although whilst I spent some time on the A10, I left it long before it became a busy highway! Instead I headed up to Potters Bar, which is a smallish township where I'm told many cyclists gather before heading off into the surrounding countryside. During the week I picked up some extra gear to keep my feet and ears warm, and at 1-4C I was very happy to have it!!
A far more challenging ride with some of the hills both on the way to and beyond Potters Bar, and one to definately do again! At 6.30am, there weren't too many others around (in fact, I only saw 4). One of which rode with me for the 20mins I spent travelling north of Potters Bar. A fountain of information to do with the local area he was! The idea that by the end of February I'll be seeing deer and other wildlife in this area is quite appealling. We were both out early to avoid the day's rain, and this I did for the near 2hrs I spent out on the bike.

Borough Market
A little later, I joined Charity when we met Karen n Martin at London Bridge station in the pouring rain - yep, it was in full swing by 10am. Thankfully, nearly all of Borough Market is sheltered.
A fantastic market too. Very much like I recall the Adelaide Central Market, although I don't recall being able to get an osterich burger in Adelaide! And yes, we both tried one. Pretty good too, and not as gamey as Emu.
Every stall had samples to try, ranging from anchovy or garlic filled olives to chocolate brownies (which you can see in the pic of their stack - the bowl to the left contained the samples) to cheeses, chutneys, mustards n meats of all styles.
Unfortunately, the beer stall didn't allow any samples of their 650+ beer varieties on offer!! But I'll give them credit for having four of the Coopers range (Sparkles, Dark, Stout & Vintage).
While Karen n Martin proceeded to do some of their weekly shopping, we managed to try many of the samples on offer (including those two olive options), but just had to have one of the large fresh oysters sold by one stall (see pic). Nice stuff! Along with the previously mentioned osterich burger, we can highly recommend the coffee available as well as the banana cake. These were happily consumed while the salvation army band played (they were in another section of the market by the giant xmas tree).
This will be one place that we will definately be returning to - most likely after a payday!

Ho Ho Ho!
4.30pm and we again caught up with Karen n Martin, but this time with Row as well, and at Victoria station, not London Bridge. In the entrance to the station, we then changed out of our secret identities to become Santas! (right)

Once in full Santa outfits, we headed off to the Jugged Hare, where we became immersed in Santas. Santa Crawl 2007 was on!
Several hundred Santas, raising money for the Red Cross, then proceeded to enjoy ourselves as we went on a pub crawl throughout London. A great night out with all the variations of Santas, including a "Chopper Reed" Santa, a "Bah Humbug Black" Santa, some "sumo" (inflatable) Santas, as well as a few other sorts.
The numbers may not have been as many as the last one I did in Melbourne, but it was still very well attended as we basically filled each pub comfortably. And our 3 santa suits held up very well as they survived the night. Running into a mate from back in Melbourne was a surprise too, and after a brief chat continued with our respective groups.
Speaking of "our" group, we strayed briefly between the 3rd and 4th pub by dropping into a Pizza Express for some much needed food. Quite a sight for those already there as 5 Santas stroll in and take up a table...
Charity and myself also had our fair share of looks when we rode the tube home later on, still in full santa costume. A top night out all round really. Bring on 2008's!

Martin, Row, Charity & Karen

What's an AXA?

Well, there you have it!

I interviewed with AXA this morning and this afternoon I accepted their offer to become their next Delegation Authority Underwriter. Sounds impressive, no? Basically I'll be looking after several of their brokers schemes - similar to what I was doing with my last job, but only dealing with scheme business and not the regular or general business.

This time, however, will include managing the whole scheme, which is far more involved than just quoting and underwriting, and will include varying the rates and policy wordings.

"In English please!", I hear you request - tough, I have 5mins left at this internet cafe, so that's all you're going to get for now.

Either way, I start on the 17th - just in time for some xmas income!! along with one last week of unemployment and freetime!!

Meanwhile, Charity will also be starting work on the 10th with a Physiotherapy firm in their branch by St Pauls Cathederal, and with their Fulham branch on the 17th as well.

The pic above was taken on the walk back to the tube after her successful interview at the Fulham branch yesterday evening...

The Start of the Day

Does it get much better than this?

Okay, so, yes it does. It would have been far nicer if it was a bit more than 6 degrees celsius and no wind was blowing!

Either way, this is the view that I got to watch this morning after riding for an hour up the A10 to Hertford. Nice to watch the sun come up, even if I couldn't feel my feet. At least I'm learning which pieces of winter riding gear to get next!!! (something to keep the feet and ears warmer, coming up!!) Thankfully, I do have a massge therapist on hand, who's happy for a subject to practice on before she starts working here - I also discovered that the lower back doesn't have quite the same stamina that it used to have...

Gone the Chop

Finally gone n done it!!

I've gone the bitten the bullet and plunged into that unholy relm of getting a haircut in a foreign land. Okay, maybe not so quite dramatically as we could both speak english, but it turned out to be quite an experience. A rather fancy spot in Ledenhall Market - underground, and part of an old Roman Basilica, which explained the small toursit group going through!!

Anyway, a rather different cut to what I've had before, and Charity is of the opinion that it's an improvement on before, but then again, she's biased...

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You didn't seriously expect a photo did you?!

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Other bits of news that aren't so note-worthy, are the increasing replies from recruiters now for different roles - I'm assuming that they're trying for last minute commissions so they can have more spending money for xmas...

Oh, and i've successfully dented the rear rim of the bike, when I hit a pot hole at about 30kmh. Instant pinch flat, and bent rim to go with it!

It's All Happening

What a weekend!!

But first, today's little tidbit of info - within 10mins of sending off an application for a role, the recruiter rang to say that they'll put me forward for the role, which they said I should have a good chance of winning. And while writing this, a second recruiter has rung with similar news.
Now that Charity has work, it looks like it may now fall into place for both of us! But I digress...

Saturday evening, we had some fun getting out to a party in Clapham, which is in the south-west of london, just over the river. It still took us 2hours to get there because 3 of the lines for the Tube weren't working making the trip a nightmare. Still, we eventually made it there for a fun night in a Cuban bar. Even though the bus ride home was rather interesting, at least it was far shorter than 2hours!! (below is the guest of honour "ghosting" about the party.)

Sunday was a rather late getting out of bed, for obvious reasons!

It was West Ham away, so for another long bus ride to meet with some new folks (Petr, Espen & Harrison - I already knew Sue), it was off to Upton Park for the game. Our 'ever so smart' cab driver dropped us off one tube stop away from the ground with the enlightening news that it would be easier for us to catch the tube the one stop than him try and drive through the traffic mess up ahead. Unfortunately, he didn't factor the fact that the first train to arrive would be full and not let us on...

After a brief trip on the train, we were amongst the crowds making their way to the ground. As we headed up a side street towards the away supporters entrance we were stopped by a small cordon of police, who were making way for a large group of fellow Tottenham supporters (right). So, with a little bit of questioning, we joined this little march and were happily escorted to the ground by the "Old Bill" (as the police are called).

The game itself was entertaining enough, but unfortunately, a missed penalty (below) in the final minute of the game, prevented Spurs from nicking the win. 1-1 being the final result.

Back to a pub in central London it was, but only after a short walk from the tube, via the deconstruction of a local street market. That navigated, it was beer and song for a few rounds before the pub closed and we moved to one that was open.

Here's where things went a little awry, when there was a scuffle outside and one fellow was knocked unconscious when his head struck the ground. Police and ambulance attended and the the coppers were questioning everyone, myself included, as to what we saw. With the mood of the evening well and truely gone it was back onto a bus for home...

Cast Your Vote!

Last night we had a bit of fun by watching England v Croatia in our local pub. England's last chance to qualify for next year's European Championships, and they blew it. We did manage to get a bit of entertainment out of all the "armchair managers" sitting in the pub - bloody funny lot, they were!!

Have now voted for the "all important" Federal Election - I very much hope that the poles and media speculation will be wrong! All a rather easy process in the end, and Australia House isn't all that impressive. Then again, I wasn't really expecting it to be...

We followed this up with a wander along the Strand and a brief trip into Chinatown to stock up on Asian ingredients for the new wok. (Which also means that I'll have to be wearing the chef's hat for a bit now too.)

And here's the Hare Krishna folk from Camden Market. Even they're feeling the cold..

The Western Front

Or "All's Quiet on..."

Well, Reed haven't delivered too much since that phone call, although, they have rung back about another job, so there may be some promise in this lot. As for the other recruiters, you know as much as I do about them as the tumbleweeds drift by...

Anyway, a throat infection has kept me laying low for the last couple of days, and we haven't done too much other than the occasional bus trip into central London for a few things. One trip will be to vote soon, which promises to be MUCH fun!! One thing it has done is give us the chance to watch a £2 dvd of Ratatoullie, that I bought in a pub. Surprisingly good copy of the movie with almost nothing wrong with it!! A well spent £2.

At least the Landlord/Builder has pretty much finished up out the back of the place, as you can see below - even if all he's done is just wall off his storeyard, but at least our little space is now clear for us to use. It's bigger than it looks. That's my little bike garage on the right, if you're wondering - see the next pic for the full thing... It takes up to 3 bikes if you're curious.

Well, That was Quick!

I just spent a couple of hours surfing all the insurance jobs on offer on reed.co.uk - one of the large recruitment/job sites here in England.

Within an hour of finishing, I received a phone call, which included a quickish interview with regard with one of the 12 applications that I submitted!

Amazing what can happen when you actually apply yourself to something!

Unfortunately, now it's a case of "oh, should have said this..."!!

v Wigan

A rather cold sunday afternoon saw me again at White Hart Lane. This time for the game against Wigan. When I tried to get the two tickets for both of us to go, I was told that I was getting the last available ticket to the ground. Okay, so we're not to happy about that, but what made it worse was that the seat next to me was empty for the whole game!!

Anyway, the match was rather entertaining with Tottenham winning 4-0, and they could have scored more. So after the first win at home for several months, you can imagine the crowds in the streets, let alone those of us who made it back into one of the local "boozers" (pubs). The place was going nuts and the celebrations continued long into the night. It was also the final game for one of the folks I know in Perth (Lol) who heads back there this week, so we did have a bit of a send off for him, which turned into quite a night with all the festivities and singing at the pub.

Turned out to be a top night out (even if I was by myself for it..)

Husky, Lol and myself

Camden Market - The First Glimspe

A nice sunny day on saturday, and Charity went to Camden Market with her friend Amy. After a quick text message invite I hopped onto the new tredley to once again go for a jaunt through London's roads and traffic. Not only am I enjoying riding through London - not counting the few dopey motorists that haven't a clue - I'm really starting to get the hang of their odd road rules and traffic light systems.

Anyway, I digress, and I found Camden Market after a half hour ride and ended up in amongst masses of people. The market itself isn't just on large marketplace like the Vic Markets in Melbourne, but almost like an entire road full of small shops that link a couple of marketplaces together. Name it and you could probably find it here to by - just like this used maniquine. I even managed to find Hare Krishna's, which I've not seen for ages!! (unfortunately, I forgot to bring the picture of them with me to the internet cafe...) The outside of the shops themselves were pretty interesting as well, as you can see the dragon on the wall in the pic below, there were plenty of other shops/buildings with other items on the walls - including a DC-3 Plane!

All very interesting and many different types of people everywhere! Even through the throngs, I managed to find Charity and Amy and then join them for a walk through another section of the main road and several shops. So much more to see, but the late afternoon approached while the weather turned rather cloudy and cold... Time for me to head home and not freeze on the bike nor have to navigate my way home in the dark!

Definately a place to go again!!

The Camden Lock

Guarding a Rainy Cave

Another day out in Central London and another bit of discovering. Nice weather day, so off we head to central London with the intention of catching the changing of the guards.

Upon reaching Pall Mall, we saw that the changing of the Horseguards was underway out the front of the horseguard barracks (if that's what it's called). A quick dice with the traffic and a short stroll across the corner of St James Park and we were amongst the tourists watching. Unfortunately, there's not much to this one - they line up, the new guard ride out and line up too. The rest of the old guard ride out into the yard, before the new guard ride in to the barracks. The old guard then ride away and up the street to Pall Mall with a police escort... Yes, I can hear you 'Ooo Eerr'ing too.

It was then off towards Buckingham Palace to catch the other changing of the guards, only that didn't eventuate for us. In the sunshine that came through for our walk through St James Park, we encountered the "wildlife" of English parks - squirrels, pidgeons, crows, geese, pelican and other water fowl. Even getting to feed one brave squirrel in the process. We also encountered a fellow with his pet ferrett - classic little fellow (the ferrett) as he stayed pretty much curled up in his owner's hood, and occasionally popped his head up for a pat or just to check out the world going by. In the end we were far too late for the changing of the guard, so we made our way back past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, etc... along the Thames to Embankment/Charing Cross Train stations, where we had a late lunch in a cave. Well, sort of, it was part of Gordon's Wine Bar, which is effectively underground. We're not sure about what the "cave" section originally was - perhaps a kiln of some sort - but it was completely candlelit and had a superb atmosphere. The wines were pretty good too!

From there it became a rather wet walk (no, I hadn't had an accident - it was raining) up to Oxford St for the Xmas lights that had been turned on the night before. Rather dull really, so we headed home from there.

I can hear you all, well, some of you, wondering about all this touristy stuff I'm doing, and if you must know, we did stop by two recruitment offices during our travels...