THE HOMELAND

Okay, so we have obviously arrived in the UK and are living like the locals….well almost. After a couple of hectic weeks we did manage to find a one bedroom flat in Surrey Quays, in South East London. Great location, only 100m from the waters of Greenland Dock and pretty well fully furnished. Only luxuries such as chopping boards and stuff to buy.

Outside the flat. Our's is the one on the 1st floor, on the left.


Greenland dock...


My job at The Doctor's Laboratory is going okay. Quite different to Australia in that we work with the public lab and share resources. No night work which is nice and located within about 70min walk or 40min by tube.

Steve has a 6 month contract with Hermes Pension Management, who manage the pension money for the Royal Mail & British Telecom. It is a mangement accounting role in the real estate division, based in Tower Hill in the financial area. Working in the real estate industry made the transition to London a little easier. Being a contractor is good. Being paid by the hour, and it is only about 25mins on the tube, although would probably be quicker if I ran, but so far that has sounded like far too much effort.

We're slowly getting around the sights of London. So far we have visited the Royal Observatory and the Greenwich Mean Time, Tower of London and a few museums. Not to forget the zoo where a Seagull decided to christen Claire's arrival to London, and some deer decided to attempt adding to their numbers. Very educational trip!!

Claire & the time.


The crown jewels are just to Claire's left...


Inside the Tower of London, some former Kings were much more "protected" than others...


Tower bridge...
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London Zoo


The arrival of our first pay inspired us to travel out of London and the first stop was Brighton. Now this is the summer holiday place, so the numbers were a bit down when we were there. We wouldn't classify it as a beach as there is no sand. A stroll along the edge of the rocks is not quite as relaxing. The pebbles were quite lumpy and chilly to sit on! I did find a fantastic café and would recommend the orange and cinnamon hot chocolate. Mmmmm. Visited the pier and tried our hand at some of the arcade games. No luck though.

The little bathing huts were down the rich end of the beach (Hove - where the famous people live) and there were over 200 of them. Not surprising, but very few were actually open.

Bathing huts....


Brighton pier....