Phew...what a few weeks!
Hi all,
Well we're online at home!!! FINALLY! Sheesh....it's been a long 6 weeks not having any form of email/web contact with back home. Mum's been bugging us for weeks for updates to this blog, so here it is!
By the way, after I've explained the past few weeks, I'll post up two blog entries that Ingrid wrote the first week we were in our unit, so keep reading.
I'll start by saying that we really are loving it here :-) We feel like we've made a good decision to move our life & careers here, and although we've left our great friends & lifestyle behind we know the next few years will have a lasting positive effect on the rest of our lives. We've only been here 6 weeks but it feels like an eternity since we left home - we've had so many experiences that we've almost had sensory overload. We're starting to get into a normal "get up and go to work" routine, but every now and then we'll catch a tube somewhere cool (like Buckinghuge Palace, or Camden Markets), or walk past some 800 year old building and it keeps reminding us where we are :-)
My work is going great-guns. I've added an entire page to my CV in less than a month, and it keeps getting better everyday as my confidence grows. I'm using software technology that I only dreamed of getting exposure to in Oz, and I'm already so excited about my career prospects when we get back home. I've gotta support a family remember!! :-)
Ing has been doing short-term work in the HR department of a company called Motability (they provide cars/scooters for people with disabilities), and as you'd expect they've all fallen completely in love with her! Her contract was up recently and in order to keep her they've offered her a better role with a lot more responsiblity and pay! I'll let her provide the details, but it's a credit to her and completely expected - everyone loves her!
The weather here on the weekend was 33 degrees!! What the hell us up with that!!! WE'RE IN ENGLAND!!! I really enjoy cooler weather because I'm so warm-bodied (sweat at the drop of a hat), but I feel like we're back in Queensland during summer! I walk 10 mins to the train every morning in a suit, and it's hell. Bring on the winter I say.
Today was also the summer solstice (longest day in the year), which means from now on the days will be getting shorter until the winter solstice. At the moment the sun is up at 3:45am and doesn't go down until 9:30pm, so it makes easy walks home from shopping in broad daylight. But the reverse is true in winter - apparantly the sun doesn't come up until 8am and goes back down after 4pm. If I didn't have a window seat at work I wouldn't see the sun at all during the week!
Last weekend we also lashed out and bought ourselves a TV. Alas it' not the 42" flat-screen widescreen I was eying off. It's a normal 21" "yumcha" brand that actually cost less than we'd agreed to spend. We've also subscribed to a combined ADSL/CableTV service called HomeChoice that gives us a 1MB ADSL internet connection and 40+ channels (including Discovery). The absolute best feature is Video-on-Demand though - the entire series of Friends, Simpsons, Everything about Raymond etc is available to watch on-demand. Just like having a DVD collection for free :-)
And finally the travel options from England into Europe are mind-boggling. I only get paid monthy so we're still living week-to-week on Ings pay for another month. But once we've got some spare cash we'll toss a coin and head somewhere for the weekend. At the moment they're advertising 3 nights + return Eurostar (bullet train) travel to Paris/Belgium/Amsterdam for less than a day's pay :-)
When the pressure is off at work and we've got some spare pounds in the bank WE'RE OFF BABY!!
Anyway I better get going. Hopefully we'll be a little more frequent with our updates from now on.
Deano XOX
PS By the way, we've got a webcam now, so if you do too then contact us on MSN Messenger (deanrobertson@hotmail.com) and we can have a real-time video chat :-)
PPS We've got a spare bedroom in our unit, so if anyone ever wants to visit us (or England :-) then please come and stay. Hotel prices in London will send you broke before the first week, so make sure you make a booking with us (spaces are filling up fast - Nicole arrives tomorrow!)
Well we're online at home!!! FINALLY! Sheesh....it's been a long 6 weeks not having any form of email/web contact with back home. Mum's been bugging us for weeks for updates to this blog, so here it is!
By the way, after I've explained the past few weeks, I'll post up two blog entries that Ingrid wrote the first week we were in our unit, so keep reading.
I'll start by saying that we really are loving it here :-) We feel like we've made a good decision to move our life & careers here, and although we've left our great friends & lifestyle behind we know the next few years will have a lasting positive effect on the rest of our lives. We've only been here 6 weeks but it feels like an eternity since we left home - we've had so many experiences that we've almost had sensory overload. We're starting to get into a normal "get up and go to work" routine, but every now and then we'll catch a tube somewhere cool (like Buckinghuge Palace, or Camden Markets), or walk past some 800 year old building and it keeps reminding us where we are :-)
My work is going great-guns. I've added an entire page to my CV in less than a month, and it keeps getting better everyday as my confidence grows. I'm using software technology that I only dreamed of getting exposure to in Oz, and I'm already so excited about my career prospects when we get back home. I've gotta support a family remember!! :-)
Ing has been doing short-term work in the HR department of a company called Motability (they provide cars/scooters for people with disabilities), and as you'd expect they've all fallen completely in love with her! Her contract was up recently and in order to keep her they've offered her a better role with a lot more responsiblity and pay! I'll let her provide the details, but it's a credit to her and completely expected - everyone loves her!
The weather here on the weekend was 33 degrees!! What the hell us up with that!!! WE'RE IN ENGLAND!!! I really enjoy cooler weather because I'm so warm-bodied (sweat at the drop of a hat), but I feel like we're back in Queensland during summer! I walk 10 mins to the train every morning in a suit, and it's hell. Bring on the winter I say.
Today was also the summer solstice (longest day in the year), which means from now on the days will be getting shorter until the winter solstice. At the moment the sun is up at 3:45am and doesn't go down until 9:30pm, so it makes easy walks home from shopping in broad daylight. But the reverse is true in winter - apparantly the sun doesn't come up until 8am and goes back down after 4pm. If I didn't have a window seat at work I wouldn't see the sun at all during the week!
Last weekend we also lashed out and bought ourselves a TV. Alas it' not the 42" flat-screen widescreen I was eying off. It's a normal 21" "yumcha" brand that actually cost less than we'd agreed to spend. We've also subscribed to a combined ADSL/CableTV service called HomeChoice that gives us a 1MB ADSL internet connection and 40+ channels (including Discovery). The absolute best feature is Video-on-Demand though - the entire series of Friends, Simpsons, Everything about Raymond etc is available to watch on-demand. Just like having a DVD collection for free :-)
And finally the travel options from England into Europe are mind-boggling. I only get paid monthy so we're still living week-to-week on Ings pay for another month. But once we've got some spare cash we'll toss a coin and head somewhere for the weekend. At the moment they're advertising 3 nights + return Eurostar (bullet train) travel to Paris/Belgium/Amsterdam for less than a day's pay :-)
When the pressure is off at work and we've got some spare pounds in the bank WE'RE OFF BABY!!
Anyway I better get going. Hopefully we'll be a little more frequent with our updates from now on.
Deano XOX
PS By the way, we've got a webcam now, so if you do too then contact us on MSN Messenger (deanrobertson@hotmail.com) and we can have a real-time video chat :-)
PPS We've got a spare bedroom in our unit, so if anyone ever wants to visit us (or England :-) then please come and stay. Hotel prices in London will send you broke before the first week, so make sure you make a booking with us (spaces are filling up fast - Nicole arrives tomorrow!)
posted by Dean Robertson @ 1:20 PM
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