A Tale of Two Lists

I imagine most people who drop into this blog now and then already know Lauren's and my big news - this little fellow is due to arrive in our household around the end of September.

We call him Camel, because he makes Lauren really thirsty. Or at least he did. Now his thing is kicking. Lots and lots of kicking.

It's going to be a huge change in our lives, of course. Priorities are going to be heck of a lot different. That really struck me recently when I made a list (as we do), then came upon another one from a few years ago. Here they are:


The London List
Crossed out because I did/saw/visited it:
British Museum, Play at The Globe, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wicked, Game at Wembley, Phantom, Game at Lord's, Oliver, Windsor Castle, John Soanes Museum, Windsor Great Park, Thames Boat Race, Regent's Park, Tate Britain, Tour of Lord's, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Centre Court at Wimbledon, Kew greenhouses, Highgate Cemetary, Westminster Abbey interior, St Paul's interior.
 
Wanted to see but didn't get around to:
Epping Forest, Pitshanger Manor, Abbey Road, premier at Leciester Square, London Eye at night, Richmond Park, Tate Modern
 
Crossed out because decided wasn't going to go:
Uxbridge, Hampton Court Gardens, game at Twickenham

With giant sloth, Natural History Museum

 
The UK List
Crossed out because I did/saw/visited it: Cornwall/Devon, York, Bath, Winchester, Canterbury, Hastings, Yorkshire Moors, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Highlands, Stirling/Aloa, Family up north/Ilkley, Isle of Wight, Festival
 
Crossed out because decided didn't want to go there: Cardiff

Walking in the Yorkshire Moors

The Baby List
Must haves:
Car seat, pram, changing mat, basinet, capsule, cot, high chair, pram sun cover, pram rain cover, draws, soft towels, blankets/sleeping bag, sheets x3, basinet mattress, bag for nappies, reuseable nappy liners, bibs, nappy bucket, flannels, portacot
 
May haves:
Baby bouncer, sling, hammock, carrycot, baby gym
 

Some of the stuff cluttering up our spare room

 
Yep, priorites are changing.

Things I learnt in 2010 #1

That part of me will always miss London. I am very happy back in New Zealand, but still remember London with a lot of fondness, and get disproportionately excited when I see it on TV or in the movies. I'm aware that had I stayed there I would be missing New Zealand even more, but enjoy thinking about having lived there and imagining what I'd do if I was magicked back for a day or two. So far, a day wandering from Soho to St James Park via Whitehall wins, followed by some time in the V&A and a walk along Southbank. It's fun nostalgia rather than real longing, although I was terribly excited when we found an M&S in Shanghai so I was able to stock up on Percy Pigs.

London, a year on

It's been just over a year since we left London.  Just over a year since the West Walk, Trafalgar Square, the 8.32am from Paddington to Oxford, the Wheatsheaf, Big Tesco and Little Tesco, St Paul's cathedral.

Yesterday and over the weekend we took advantage of a special and got more than 500 of our best photos from our two-plus years overseas. Looking through them we realised that we haven't printed enough from our time in London.  We've not captured all the wonderful times we had there.

As you might have picked up, we're feeling nostalgic.

London is the best of all the big cities I've visited.  Here are some of the reasons why that's so, and why I miss it.

It's filled with fantastic old buildings, and some cool modern ones too

World-class football on tap (no offence to the Wellington Phoenix)

Ye Olde Pubs

International mates

And then there's wandering the narrow streets and taking in the vibe of Soho. The parks in the summer, teeming with footballers, dogs, squirrels and topless Poms. The zillion cool places within a few hours on the train. The cheap flights to Europe and North Africa, The British, Natural History, V&A and other fabulous free museums.  The Tube and how it will take you most everywhere you need to go. Being mocked for the accent.

London. Well good yeah innit bruv. Time and money permitting, we'll be back.

Autumn

I don't usually like autumn. Granted it's pretty, but it also means that summer Pimms, long days, green trees and sunny mini-breaks are over for another year. Given that we are leaving the Northern Hemisphere at just the right time this year though I feel like I can really enjoy the autumn as I'm not so worried about months of barren grey and it getting dark mid-afternoon. It's quite nice this way, because it really is pretty isn't it?

The Old St Pancras church in North London

A note on Ealing

Yesterday Tane and I left the flat we've had for over two years and embarked upon four months of dossing and travelling. Living in Ealing has been fabulous, we couldn't have asked for a nicer part of London to make our home away from home. It's green, safe, calm and has the perfect number of shops and facilities, and excellent transport links. Ealing has a fabulous Council as well ;)
The "West Walk" in particular gets a special note. We've walked up it countless times, sometimes laden with bags from Tesco, sometimes in our backpacks after a trip. We've laughed at the squirrels, and tried to get close to the foxes. We've trudged through snow, kicked fallen leaves, and walked under trees in full summer leafiness.

Yes, we are still in London for two more weeks, and yes I will be in Ealing every day for work but it was still sad to leave our actual home there. It was also sad to realise that the two backpacks and two boxes we came to London with has somehow turned into eight boxes , two backpacks, two large suitcases, a laptop, a guitar and a mammoth pile of electronic crap to be recycled on Freecycle. I can only assume that while we have been away on our travels our belongings have been breeding.

E noho ra, West Walk and Ealing!

Highgate

I've had a real appreciation of historic cemeteries ever since proof-reading Stephen's Master's Thesis and soon to be published book on that subject. Although many people find the old stone graves of people long-gone a tad creepy, I've always found them interesting and appreciate the way historic cemeteries remind me of my own mortality. Our visit to Highgate Cemetery last weekend was no exception.Highgate is a lovely cemetery - leafy, spacious and full of very photographic tombs. Some well known people are buried there, such as writers Douglas Adams (who very fittingly has a dolphin on his headstone) and George Elliot. Highgate is also home to the most famous person whose grave I've seen, Karl Marx (below).

Tane argued that the most famous person's grave we've seen is that of Elizabeth I or Henry VIII, whose graves we saw at Westminster and Windsor respectively. I maintain it's Marx, as I imagine more rural Chinese and Russians would have heard of Marx than English royals. Either way, Dad tells me that after World War II Churchill offered Marx's remains to Stalin as a gesture of good will. Stalin said no, for which I am very grateful as otherwise we would not have been able to visit his grave for myself.

Soho & Gay Pride

Soho is one of my favourite parts of London. I go there for a drink or meal at least once a week, and always enjoy walking around, sitting in Soho Square, people watching and generally catching the vibe of a part of London that is like an exaggerated version of Wellington's Upper Cuba Street.

Today Soho was especially cool due to it being the home of Gay Pride day celebrations . I haven't seen so many fabulous costumes, rainbow flags, bright colours and men in tight clothing since ... well, since ever. If we're still in London next year am determined to spend Gay Pride day in Soho again. Let's also hope that by then some move will have been made toward equal rights for LGTB people in terms of being able to get married so there will be even more to celebrate. Times like today I am especially happy at Tane's and my decision to get a Civil Union back in 2007. We may get "married" at some point in the future, but the way I feel about it now, it won't be until gay people are able to as well.

Like Jesus being onstage with Moses

I think I can now die happy. Well, ok, not really, but musically what we saw at the end of the Hard Rock Calling festival Hyde Park today is pretty hard to top.

It was a funny old day - burning heat, then a thunderstorm, then overcast. Great atmosphere though, with thousands of people lying around, chilling out or standing up to watch the bands play.And what a lineup. The Pretenders and Fleet Foxes (excellent), Ben Harper (mediocre - played only one song I knew, though that was a cracking cover of Led Zeppelin's Good Times, Bad Times) and the brilliantly mad Seasick Steve. He this a grey beared old coot who dresses in ancient overalls, plays instruments like a one-stringed stick thing and sings bluesy swamp rock. He could have stepped out of a Jack Daniels ad, except he's the real thing.


Top of the bill of Neil Young. He played a great set, with a lot of the hits (Heart of Gold, Rockin' In The Free World) that he didn't play when I saw him last year. Only criticism is that he's over-fond of the big, drawn out crescendos of drums and guitar at the end of the rock tracks. Shorter is sweeter - like with my highlight, The Needle and the Damage Done.


Sadly, the happy atmosphere of the rest of the show was also tarnished too. There was quite a bit of grumpiness in the crowd, as older fans (possibly fueled by drinking all day) got mad at people getting in their line of site or bumping into them. The worst offender was a very drunk woman near us who kept leaning on people around her as she woozily tried to take photos on her disposable camera. Security pulled her away eventually and she promptly collapsed, which was a sad way to end a gig that obviously meant a lot to her.

But all that unpleasantness was forgotten during the encore, a terrific cover of The Beatles' A Day In The Life. A couple of verses in, this brown haired guy walks on to sing with Neil. I was wondering who it was when the camera zoomed in and Lauren suddenly grabbed me.

It's Paul McCartney.


We, and everyone, go mental. A Beatle. Singing with Neil Young. In front of us.

It doesn't get better than that.

Dad in London

As I said earlier, I love having family come and visit. As soon as Erin left Dad arrived, and we've spent a fabulous week showing him around the usual haunts. He's done a fair bit of exploring himself as well, especially around Ealing's book shops, and has developed a real taste for one of the best things England has to offer - the pub lunch. Yum.

Dad and the Houses of Parliament

The highlight for me, though, was going to Lords yesterday to see NZ lose by one run to South Africa in the 20/20 World Cup. It was great on so many levels - the game exciting, the grounds a great spectator venue, and most of all the sheer wickedness of getting to see a game at Lords with both my Dad and husband, even if I didn't understand their cricket speak half the time!

Lewis, Dad and Tane watching the game

Unfortunately Dad leaves tomorrow and the visits by whanau are over, but we are hoping that we'll get more family visiting at some point and look forward to seeing everyone again in the not to distant future.

Go the Black Caps!

Erin in da house

I love it when family come to visit, especially when they bring me lollies from home. So, I am feeling pretty happy at the moment about Erin being here on a short stop as part of her around -the-World trip. Unfortunately, although we went to visit the Queen she did not pop outside her palace to say hello. Never mind.

Outside Buckingham Palace

On the bright side though the weather has been amazing, which has made for some great times soaking up the rays. Oh, and seeing some old rocks as well.

Stonehenge

Whenever I see family it is great how quickly things click back to normal, even though years may have passed. Sometimes living in London I feel far away and disconnected from the folks at home, but when Erin (and Ngaire last year) visit it's so much fun showing them around my pad and newly adopted home. Yay!

The people we meet

Today I was thinking about some of the interesting people you meet when going about your day -to-day life. You know, a person whose name you don't know but face you recognise, a person that is a complete stranger bar the odd incidental conversation. I am sure you can think of a few that appear in your daily routine, and I'm interested to hear about it. These are a few of mine:

1. The girl in the store outside Victoria Station that sells me Chupachups from Lublin, Poland. Yesterday she told me that Chupachups are more common in Lublin than London, and went on to say that she used to think Lublin was a big city until she moved here.

2. The Kurdish guy that sells me Diet Coke in Ealing Station. Although he grew up in Iraq he's adamant that he's Kurdish, not Iraqi. He's currently setting up a Shisha Bar in South Ealing, which I assume has gotten off the ground as these last few days there has been another Kurdish guy selling the Diet Coke.

3. The men that run an awesome diner in St Martin's Court, part of the maze of streets between Leicester Square and Covent Garden. One is half Greek and half French, and the other Italian. They both have massive smiles and greet customers with a mix of Greek, French and Italian which I find hilarious.

Who are yours?

London in the spring

In case you were wondering if Lauren was the only one having a good time, over there in the US, I should say that its pretty darn wonderful here in London at the moment. It's funny, it's not until living in this part of the world that I really appreciated what a big difference the change in the seasons makes. New Zealand doesn't have the major shift from winter to spring that the UK does, particularly because it's closer to the equator and most of the trees are evergreens. Here it was dark at 4pm back in December, but is now light until 8pm. All the trees that were grey skeletons a little while ago are now either covered in blossoms or emerging leaves. This weekend we could wear shorts and the parks were packed. It's amazing what a lift it gives to people. Sitting St James' Park yesterday, surrounded by groups of people chatting, laughing or reading, you could almost see the happiness radiating off everyone.

So here are a few reasons why spring is great.

1) Flowers! The daffodils are out everywhere and the flowerbeds are filled with colours.

Yes, I've put up two flower photos. It's true. I am a girl.

Perfect weather for football in Kensington Gardens.

Andrew Burge is in town!

OK, so my old uni flatmate, divemaster and traveller extraordinare Andrew visiting Europe actually has nothing to do with spring, but it was really cool catching up with him after a few years. Pity my photo in front of the Diplodocus in the awesome Natural History Museum was a lot less than awesome.

But despite it being so nice in London at the moment, I'm really, really looking forward to joining Lauren over in the States on Thursday. Yay!

Bra-zil, Bra-zil, Bra-zil

Last month my football-watching mates Lewis, James and I went to see two of the three most successful nations in football history clash in London. Brazil, five time World Cup winners, against Italy, four time champions. It was my first international football match and it was amazing.


The game was at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's superb new home ground, which holds about 60,000 people and had almost every seat ocupied. The atmosphere was incredible. Both sides had hugely passionate fans, with chants of "Bra-zil, Bra-zil, Bra-zil" and "I-tal-ia, I-tal-ia" roaring out. The Italian fans, whose team had two goals disallowed, got particularly fired up.

This guy was brilliant. We almost watched him rant and rave as much as we did the game.

Some true greats were playing in both teams. Ronaldinho, Robinho, Buffon, Cannavaro - some of the best players in the world. It was also the best game of any sport that I've seen live. Brazil were fabulous in the first half, taking a 2-0 lead and playing the kind of football that has made them legends. Back heels, flicks off the side of the boot, flashy dribbling - it was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play a competitive game.

That's Italy in their famous azure blue and Brazil in their even more famous yellow and blue.

Italy came back and scored in the second half, but Brazil were the worthy winners. I'll never forget Robinho's second goal - the footwork and finish are absolutely stunning. Check it out (with French commentary!) here.

James, Lewis and I had a great time. I'm doing my irate Italian fan impression.

A Killer concert

It was perfect timing - the night before Lauren's birthday, so us old people could sleep in. It was also the best rock concert we've been to. The Killers killed it.

I've been to shows by better artists - though The Killers are great - playing better songs with better sound. But I've not enjoyed anything else more. One of the main reasons was because as soon as The Killers came on stage and Human started pulsing out, everyone got to their feet and stayed there for the whole show, clapping, swaying, hopping and singing. It's frustrating being at a rock concert when you can't move for fear of upsetting the grumps behind you. Like during The Rolling Stones' Wellington concert back in '05. Bloody hell, it's Jumpin' Jack Flash, you should be jumpin'!

It wasn't perfect. The sound was fine for the softer and faster tunes, but it was rather muddy for the couple of mid-tempo tracks from the latest album, Day and Age. And they didn't play my favourite song from the album, Neon Tiger. But those are just a quibbles. Here's a few reasons why it was such a good gig.

Cracking songs: For Reasons Unknown, Somebody Told Me, Read My Mind - Brandon Flowers and co write some damn good tunes. It's hard to pick the highlight on the night, but I'd have to go with the mass euphoria when they played Mr Brightside. Mr Brightside kicks ass.

Surprises: The violins on the downbeat versions of Smile Like You Mean It and Sam's Town. Nice.

Discoveries:Wow, Dustland Fairytale is an American epic. Springsteen, eat your heart out.

Performance: Huge video screen, a storm of bubbles, the literally explosive finale - there was more than just sound to admire. True, Flowers' voice barely manages to carry the songs and the rest of the band don't do much, but they pull it off.

Seats: We were waaaaay down the back of the O2 Arena for Leonard Cohen, but close to the stage this time. It ruled.

Winter wonderland

Outside the apartment right now is a white world. 20cm of snow has fallen in London in the last 24 hours, the heaviest snowfall since 1991.

The front of our apartment last night, after a few hours of very heavy snowfall

The view from the back of our apartment, the next morning

20cm may not be a big deal for you Canadians and Scandanavians, but when you're from a part of the world where the only proper snow you get to play in is on top of a very high volcano, it's a big deal indeed. I was a very happy camper - particularly since my work was closed and I got to spend much of the day wandering happily around the neighbourhood, admiring how everything familiar had gotten a coating of magic.

However, there was a very big down side to all the white stuff, as Lauren found out on her way to work.

Little did she know ...

This much snow is not only a big deal for me, it's also a big deal for this part of England - where the public transport system almost collapsed. No buses were running, much of the tube system was down and there were heavy delays on the trains. Lauren's journey to work took almost three times longer than normal.

One of the tube trains stalled at the station

While Lauren's train was stalled on the tracks outside the station, things began to get a bit tense. One man started hyperventilating. A woman decided she had had enough and tried to force the doors open so she could walk to work along the tracks - which could have been fatal. Eventually, after getting into a fight with another passenger who was trying to stop her, she smashed open a window trying to open another door. All the ruckus, of course, meant that the train was further delayed and tempers got even shorter.

The woman, who was kept inside the train, was arrested when she did get off.

I had a much better day, wandering around and taking a zillion photos. Some of the people were slogging grimly through it.

But not the kids. All the schools were closed so they were all out in their parkas and gumboots, throwing snowballs, tobogganing and, of course ...

Making snowmen!

I had a great day. Though I suspect after a couple more white days, with transport headaches and looming deadlines, the thrill will have gone!

Chillin' in London

It's been a long, cold winter in London - and it's not even officially two weeks old. We've been fighting the gloom by spending a lot of time with museums and friends, but it's still been a bit grim. However, this weekend London gave us a reminder of just how great it is. The weather was wonderfully clear and, for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, almost warm.

The Thames in Hammersmith, at low tide

On Saturday Lauren and I went our separate ways, with she and our friend Stephen off to the Florence Nightengale Museum and I off with English friends Lewis and James to see Britain's greatest obsession - The X Factor!

Kidding. It was actually Britain's second-biggest obsession - football. We went to a Premier League game, Fulham versus Manchester City.

Craven Cottage, Fulham's ground

Both are mid-table teams, so they're not quite up there with Chelsea and Liverpool, but the quality of the game (1-1) was WAY higher than the last top-level match I saw - Auckland's rubbish Football Kingz playing in 2000.


That night we had a lovely evening chilling out at Lucy's and Amar's house - and, um, watching The X Factor. True music lovers will be fascinated to know that ethnic minority boy band JLX, much to my surprise, weren't completely crap this week. But if Alexandra doesn't win, there's no justice in this world.

It was chilling of another kind on Sunday, when we visited Regent's Park. It - and the surrounding Georgian villas - are gorgeous, but boy, once the sun started dipping over the buildings (3pm) was it cold.



Still, despite having to walk around wearing almost every piece of clothing we own, it was one of those weekends that recharged our liking for London. Though I must say that a trip to a New Zealand beach sounds pretty good right now!