March

We started March by jumping on the train to Sheffield to visit Rae and Viola. They picked us up from the station, drove us back to Rae's place and we dropped off our bags. After a cup of tea we were back in the car again and heading north to the Yorkshire Sculpture park. It is a former stately home, Bretton Hall, the grounds of which have been filled with various sculptures. The weather was looking a bit worrying but we still set off wandering the grounds, checking out the various modern sculptures which you could look at, climb on and climb through. We would be lying if we pretended we knew anything about modern art but we do appreciate a good walk and it was interesting to see all the different ways that artists had used the space at their disposal. The clouds had also decided to break up a bit too so we had some nice spells of blue sky too. After lunch at the cafe on the grounds we wandered down into the valley and then up through the paddocks on the other side and along the ridge looking back over the grounds where we had been walking.The sculptures up here were much bigger, like a whole building made out of steel mesh. It got pretty tight moving between some of the walls. We wandered back down again, through more sculptures along the way, enjoying the sun, until we got back to visitor centre. There was time for a cup of tea and some cake before jumping in the car and making our way back to Sheffield. We stopped in town and had a drink at a pub which backed on to the movie theatre. The Artist was all the rage at this time so we decided to check out what all the fuss was about. It was entertaining and there were some clever parts to the way it had been done, being in the style of a 1920s silent movie, but we didn't come out of it blown away. It was then back to Rae's for some dinner before heading off to bed.

The next day we rose mid morning and it wasn't looking too good outside. There was a bit of rain about but we were keen to go for a walk through the woods and weren't going to let some bad weather stop us. So we piled into Rae's car and she took us up the road for a short walk along the river as part of the town belt. The weather wasn't letting up any and in fact was getting worse, with sleet and snow coming down on us. Luckily we were rugged up warm and had our jackets to keep us dry. We walked for a while but eventually the weather got the better of us and we decided to head back to Rae's for some warm soup for lunch and an afternoon spent looking at our travel photos. It was nice just having a relaxing time but we needed to get back to London again, so it was back on the train and away we went. At least it wouldn't be too long till we saw Rae and Viola again as they would be visiting NZ at Christmas.

The following weekend we were on the train again, although not as far as last week as we caught the C2C out to Leigh on Sea to visit Karla, James, Harry and Ella. Their house was looking pretty good since we had last seen it, although we didn't spend too long at the house before heading out for lunch at a lovely local country pub. The place was really busy people with local people enjoying lunch, a pint and the nice weather. We enjoyed some tasty lunch, some pints of ale and cider and then a walk in the woods and a play at the playground with the kids. Karla was doing pretty well considering she was now very pregnant with another baby on the way. This was a bit of a sadder goodbye as we weren't quite sure when we were likely to see them again although hopefully it would be for their wedding in NZ. That wasn't it for the day though. We had been invited to Darryl and Beverly's for dinner and Settlers of Catan. Ian and Amy were in too. We hadn't played the game before but it is a strategy game where you build roads and settlements and try to get the most points. We spent most of the time confused (the beer probably increased the confusion) but had a good time anyway.

The following week was a busy one. We caught up with Emma and Tim for dinner. It was a tasty thai dinner at Rosa's across from Spitalfields. Not really a brick lane curry but actually we think it is better. We then grabbed a few pints at the local pubs before another goodbye. Hopefully not too long before we see them in NZ. We are sure Mrs Wise agrees.

Jess caught up with Laura and Emma for dinner and a drink. Even though they hadn't caught up in London quite as much as they would have liked it was nice to see each  other before we were gone.

Before we knew it it was our wedding anniversary again. This year we decided we wouldn't go out for a meal at a nice restaurant. Instead we made dinner at home and then made our way down to Great Portland Street to see our friends Darryl, Beverly, Ian and George performing in their band Lost Lands. It was cool listening to their psychedelic rock tunes. Not a lot of singing but Beverly held a tune on one song. Most importantly Marcus had let it slip that it was our anniversary so the band even did a shout out to us. We have good friends.

And just like that it was our last weekend in London. We had organised leaving drinks up the road at the Duke of Wellington. We figured it was appropriate that we say goodbye to London from a pub with Wellington in the title, seeing as our final destination was going to be Wellington too. There was a great turnout of people from all over London and we were touched to see all the people who had made our time in London so great. It was good fun but sad at the same time because we knew that once this night was over our world would get much much smaller again as these people had been the major part of our world for the past three years. Thank you everyone for making our time in London fantastic and we can't wait to see all of you again somewhere...

And so we continued to pack our bags, pack our boxes and work out which of our meagre possessions from the last three years could go to charity (Super Hero Costumes?) As it would be a long time until we would be earning money again we decided to work up until the last minute, with Marcus finishing his job on the Tuesday before we left and Jess finishing on the Wednesday. Marcus had been there almost the whole time we had been in the UK, so it was pretty sad to leave his great team Simon, Alistair, Graham and Jas. Fortunately a mid-week leaving drinks meant that the next day hangover didn't mess up his plans of moving the boxes downstairs for the shipping company to pick up. Our world became smaller yet again.

That only gave us one day in London before our Visas expired and we officially became overstayers. We decided to spend that day in the same way we had spent our time when we first came to London, as tourists. Fortunately, London wanted to support us in our endeavour with a calm reasonably clear day. Perfect weather for exploring. We headed down to the Tower of London and wandered down to the Thames. Although we had crossed it before we had never actually explored Tower Bridge so seeing as this was our last chance to lined up with the tourists. We were on a lucky streak as the bridge even decided to open for us to let a boat through. We climbed the north tower, checking out the history of the bridge on the way up. Then we wandered across the walkways at the top of the tower, checking out the great view east and west along the Thames. The pedestrian walkways were originally intended to be that high too. People sure would have been fit climbing up and down those to close the river every day. (There is a lift which takes you most of the way now...) After coming down we checked out the pumphouse. We continued along South Bank, stopping at Marcus' favourite market, Borough Market, to pick up some eats and continued along past the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge until we got to Waterloo Bridge when we crossed back into the City and stopped at the Wellington Pub on the Strand for some lunch. Sausages and mash, a steak and ale pie and a couple of pints. Good English fare that we wouldn't likely be having the same again for a while. We wandered up through Covent Garden and then back along the Strand until we arrived at Trafalgar Square. As usual there were plenty of tourists around as well as the Olympic Clock counting down to the London Olympics, one event we would have to be satisfied seeing on the TV. London would regularly have different themed artistic items scattered around the city. We had seen the elephants and today we were seeing eggs painted up all throughout the city. They were to celebrate a Faberge Egg exhibition which was on. We wouldn't be seeing that but we might just see some other ones on the way home. We continued up the Mall, stopping to frolic in the daffodils in St James' park. There was even a little squirrel there to say goodbye to us. We stopped by Buckingham Palace to say goodbye to the Queen but were feeling pretty tired after all that walking so caught the tube back to Islington and then the Double Decker Bus back to Dalston. Lucy was staying so we had arranged to go for one last Meat meal. Aimee had been working very hard lately so we hadn't seen much of here but we were pleased she was able to come and join us too. It looked like we might not be going anywhere for a while there as Marcus decided that he didn't need to chew and proceeded to choke on his meat. We will spare you the finer details other than to say he managed to get his throat clear again. After a busy day and fun night we went back to the flat to make sure we were properly packed and for our last night sleep in the UK for the forseeable future.

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