Hello London

Unfortunately the flight to London wasn't quite as smooth as the flight to Hong Kong. We had a lack of sleeping time due to it being continuously morning. On the plus side the flight was pretty empty so we had 3 seats between the two of us. We got into Heathrow at about 1:30pm. We had a few incidents getting to the tube with bags falling from the trolley and Jess falling on her bum due to all the things we just couldn't bare to part with which resulted in huge packs and lots of carry on luggage. But things started looking up we made it successfully through the tube, train and bus to Chris and Rachel's who were graciously letting us stay for the week. We managed to stay up till about 9 but after that were very much ready for some sleep.

The next morning Marcus was up at 6:30 as he had foolishly jacked up his interviews with recruitment agents for the day after arriving. However, things went without incident and at least that step was underway. That night we went to visit Tom and Gini who cooked us the English classic of toad in the hole - yum!

The next day we were both in town meeting with more recruitment agencies to help our defence from the recession. Brrrrr, the wind was cold. We had plenty of time between interviews so needed to find ways to stay warm. Luckily most of London's museums and galleries were free so we made a journey over the millennium bridge and visited the world renowned Tate Modern Art Gallery. It was interesting, although some of the art was challenging and not really to our tastes, but we are hear to broaden our minds and experiences. On top of all of that it was warm. We got our first English Pub meal for lunch was sufficiently tasty as well as indulging in our first ales of many to come. Jess managed to get a bright green one. She also went off on her first mission around London alone while Marcus was interviewing and managed to find Trafalgar Square. Chris and Rachel took us out for Spanish Tapas at a restaurant down the road. Very tasty. We like Spanish food.

Day four and no interviews scheduled so we were both able to sleep in (HOORAY!). A nice lazy day where Jess got to do some job applications and Marcus went for a walk with Chris to Clapham Common.

First Friday in London we decided we better get some more sightseeing underway so decided to head into the city and have a look at what was on offer on Oxford Street. It was certainly busy but alas for Jess no buying things till we were a bit more settled down. This was merely a scouting mission.

Saturday and it was time to move on. Tom and Gini had allowed us the use of their flat while they were in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, so early in the day we packed up our bags and head off again. We had dropped some of our stuff when we visited Tom and Gini the other day so this time the trip wasn't as bad, although it was our first encounter with "planned works" on the weekend...Once we got settled in it was back to the City again to meet with Chris and Rachel at Portobello Market. The market is a big long collection of shops and stalls that sells everything from jewellery to antiques, to Marcus' favourite...food. We ducked in and out of stalls watching what they had and what people were up to in between hail storms. Lucky we had remembered to bring our jackets. We left Chris and Rachel to some peace and quiet and head home before heading out again, this time to Hammersmith. There we met up with Amy and Ian, Katie, Tree and Jen. Jess got to see whether she wanted to develop a cider habit before heading off for a dinner at an Indian vegetarian restaurant. Marcus was worried but pleasantly surprised. The food and company was great and we had a really fun night. David Bowie even joined us late in the piece....

And that was our first week in London. Certainly busy enough and was fun catching up with people and seeing what was going on in London. Now we just have to keep it up to keep this blog full and make sure we see as much as we can...

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