Well it’s officially the school holidays here
in Britian….yhay!!!! I’ve booked to go up to Scotland for about three and a
half weeks, staying with my friend Angela in Glasgow, meeting a friend of
Jacqui’s called Dave and staying with his friend Aileen in Edinburgh. Between
these people and visits I also want to go up and visit the Highlands and do some
hikingJ
From there I’m planning
to go across to Norway….where I'll be celebrating my birthday... which I'm excited about:-)
….so plans are coming together for my Scotland and Norway trips:-) I’ve
been in contact with my cousin Gavin who
lives in Bergen,
and my host mother Kirsti from Volda,
and Kirsti’s son Oystein (who’s just become a father!)
as well as Geir another
host brother from my second host family:-) ...
I'm also hoping to catch up with one of my best friends from when I was in Norway whom I've discovered also lives in Oslo:-)...will keep you posted...her name is Hege:-)
Wow, seeing
everyone after 23 years is going to be really amazing!
I’m hoping to take a bike up to Scotland,,, if I can take it on the train to Paddington. I've got most of my
gear packed that I plan to take....with another cull to take place later in the
week:-)
Saturday
28th July:
Been a very chilled out day here today:-)...I'd gone into London the
last couple of days so it was nice to have a day at home.
Over view of the torch relay…
I took part in the torch relay on Tue… yes…actually took part in it!!! I
was following it on my bike and caught up with it and a group of cyclists
following directly behind it….so I too went through the cordoned streets to everyone waving and
camera’s aimed at us!!!
Then I saw it again Thursday as it made it’s way to Hyde Park with a girl called Jade from Brisbane. I then spontaneously
decided to go to the Welcoming Party there... 'The Wanted' were really good:-)
I'd also been to one earlier in the week
at Ealing Broadway…Paul, Margie and I had all biked there….and then it was such a
beautiful bike ride home.
Was wonderful to see my sister Tracy's partner Mikie last night. He pilots for Air New Zealand and so far has made it to all the major British moments...Royal Wedding last year....Queens Jubilee this year and now the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I especially enjoyed getting to hang out with Mikie when we met up in London and tubed back together to Margie
and Brians to watch the opening ceremony
Have been enjoying going to the galleries here in London immensely…saw
Picasso a couple of times at the Tate Britian and Edvard Munch at the Tate Modern
which I loved. He’s probably Norway’s most famous artist….when I go to Oslo I
want to go to the Munch GalleryJ When he died he left the entire
contents of his house to the city of OsloJ
I also saw Damien
Hurst (a very famous English artist) at the Tate Modern. Hadn’t been familiar
with his work abut actually really enjoyed the exhibition. Finally for lovers
of French Painting I also went to the Impressionists Exhibition at the Royal
Academy of Arts, which I really enjoyedJ
It’s so nice to be on holidayJ. I’ve have definitely found other aspects of being here in London hard
and more recently had began to get quite lonely at times. The nature of travelling and moving to a new
place huh? That’s not to say I haven’t met some amazing people and I’m still so
impacted by the cultural diversity here in London. There are really strong
Indian communities…near and around here in Houslow….at Southall where I’d take
the train from every morning to get part way to work. Very strong African
communities…Somalian…. Eastern European….to name a few…
While I was working
the six weeks out at Neasden (Wykeham Primary School…Behaviour Management 101 more like
it!!!) I did very long days which meant I didn’t get to do some of the social
things I’d been doing a couple of evenings a week…
Moral of that experience….don’t live further than a 40min journey home….mine
could be an hour and a half on the way there with ok connections…but coming
home….it was definitely a lot longer! It took me until Week Five to cotton on that
I could cut my travel time down or at least make it more enjoyable by biking
part way and bussing the rest.
Health Diary…Something that contributed to making my first four weeks days so much longer was I had for the first four
weeks -intensive chiropractor visits to deal with one particualr plan….with visits 3 times a week! it turns out
I have a bucked neck….instead of a healthy ‘C’ curve at the top of my spine I have
a ‘S’ curve….it can be treated but It’s
very expensive and it takes three months of intensive treatment to get approx. 15
degree of realignment…I need 45 degrees…and did I say one month alone is 650
pound!!!
Some fun :-) ….I did go on a date a couple of weeks ago that my
friend Lorna organised which was really lovely of her:-) Six of us went to
the Dulwich picture gallery and afterwards ate pizza at Piizza Express, 'Yum!' This was followed by an evening walk
through the gallery park until we got kicked out as it was actually private
property after the gallery shuts…something some bright red headed person didn’t
realise when they said, “look we can go down this side path!!!”
And my most
favourite things to do in London…next to going to the art galleries…is to
explore London on the Borris BikesJ Love it!!! There are so many iconic places here in London that I get
really in awe of the fact that I’m actually here!!!!
Well, that’s something to have chewed through for the next week or so… hope
you're all enjoying the Olympics and look forward to catching up again soonJ
Lots of love,
Shell
XXX
PS And if you’ve messaged me to say Hi, or flicked me a Facebook message
or even an email and I’ve not replied….it’s because my current secretary is
always getting distracted… I’ve noticed with appreciation in her heart but
short on time she mentally makes notes
to come back to answer you…and we know the outcome of that don’t we….(!!!) L
