Hogmanay Cancelled

:(
We've just received news that Hogmanay has been cancelled. Silly Scots!

But...we are on our way to meet with Matt and Lou!! Yup they're in Edinburgh for the festival as well, and also...Tash White! How fun! We'll have our own Fireworks!

:)

Here's a couple of quick vid's from this afternoon showing what the weather was like...



and a little later on...

Happy Hogmanay!

While all of you down under are well in to the New Year, we are just finishing dinner and about to walk up to Hogmanay - Edinburgh's New Years Festival, and argueably the best celebration for New Year world wide. The Scots celebrate Hogmanay over two or three days in festivals of bands, street theatre, fun-fairs, an ice-rink, and of course....whisky.

However, we are continually checking the weather forecast to see if the celebrations will start at 10pm as planned. We can hear the wind whistling from inside, and from our soaked clothes from this mornings trip up to town, it will be a little wet for fireworks...Happy Hogmanay!

Christmas Day

Matt, Ros and I celebrated Christmas a little differently to the Moore/Wysel traditions. Unfortunately, it didn’t snow (even at 0 degrees) so my dream of having a white Christmas is yet to be filled...but we still rugged up inside with the heater on.
After a sleep in and pancakes we went off to the Christmas service at Platt, our local church, which was just excellent!

Arriving home, we had to take shifts in opening presents around our Christmas tree; we were so completely blessed! Thank you!!! Ros and I cooked up a storm for Christmas Dinner and with the help of mum's amazing Christmas Cake, our pudding was pretty good too! Thanks Ros for carrying it over in your suitcase, that's why it so heavy?!

We missed family and friends, but we had a ball and enjoyed our little Christmas together in Manchester. The best bit was sharing and celebrating Jesus’ birthday, and being so completely blessed to know Him.

Off to Scotland

We're off to Scotland for the rest of the week in about 5 min... How fun's that?

Jo's going to update this while we're in the car (thanks Jo!)

Ros has Arrived

Just a quick post to let everyone know Ros, Jo's sister, has arrived.
Unfortunately, Ros was an unlucky participant in a major BAA baggage conveyor-belt breakdown at Heathrow yesterday that was still disrupting luggage this morning. I just spoke with BAA and the bags are being forwarded on to Manchester on any flight that has room in the hold, so we should have it back soon.

Meanwhile, Jo and Ros are indulging in some retail therapy for a place for Ros to sleep tonight. I offered a chair, an airline blanket and a movie, and was sent to my office.

We'll update this post with news later tonight.

--> Ros' bags were eventually delivered about 10.30pm Tuesday night. There were a couple of things missing from them, which we are now chasing up, but the rest of her gear was safe and sound. :)

Our Real Christmas Tree!

We have one!
And it’s real!
And it only cost £8!
And we had to carry it all the way back from the Christmas markets to our flat in the pouring rain. But, it was team building for Matt and I!

Thanks to both our amazingly organised Mums, we have presents to put underneath our new, real, pine tree!

Thanks Mums!!!

Silly Billy

I was invited to an audition today in Sheffield for a Theatre in Education gig touring with a play about Drug Abuse. It was an excellent workshop style audition; a fantastic script working with a director who has worked a lot with the BBC and written for The Bill etc.

All that was background information for the reason I am writing the blog. I was so exhausted from the huge audition (four hours no break), and the travel to Sheffield in the morning that on the way home I fell asleep on the train. Usually no problem; however I totally missed the Manchester Piccadilly stop, and woke up when we were passing stations I’ve never of, apparently on the way to Liverpool Lime street. After a slight panic, I hopped out at Warrington Central (wherever that is) and managed to just make a train going back towards Manchester. Thankfully, the ticket officer thought me falling asleep was funny, so had a laugh at my expense and didn't make me pay for the 40 minute trip back to Manchester. Instead of arriving home at 5:30, I walked through the door at about 8 pm.

What a day! And I didn’t even get the job!

Waffles in French

I have just received a call from Matthew (he’s in Switzerland all week on training), very excitingly telling me that he’s just had his first full conversation in French, and the guy didn’t even notice! Tres Bien!
Training was over (Friday afternoon), so Matt had a bit of time to go in to town and see a bit of Switzerland rather than the conference rooms and his hotel room. What better way then to enjoy a Hot Swiss Waffle with real Swiss chocolate, YUM!!

Hope he brings back some chocolate!

Carols Service

We went along to a Christmas Carol Service at our new church tonight. It was fab! Full with a choir and orchestra and a conductor that reminded us of Rob Taggart, (hi Rob!), it was just great, we loved it. There was a supper afterward that I baked some traditional Aussie Christmas treats for (went in a flash), that joined the mulled wine, and mince pies.

Good Times!

Voice-Over

I auditioned for some Voice-over work yesterday. I simply was asked to read something out of the newspaper over the phone, and what better article to read out than the Aussie's winning the second test!
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Valet

I drove our car to a Valet Service garage yesterday to get all the shattered glass out of the inside of the car from the break-in. The car was unrecognisable when I picked it up yesterday afternoon. It looks like a showroom car, it is absolutely sparkling; the inside looks like it has never been sat in, the engine is sparkling, I was so impressed! I was almost too scared to drive it home, it looked so good!

Though, in true Manchester style, it was raining when I drove it home....there goes the new sparkle and polish!

Ashes

It is good to be an Australian in England during Ashes-season.
:)
This is also Jo and my hundredth post. How 'bout that?!

Cheers, from Dublin

Hey there, just a quick post to thank you for your ongoing email/text/prayer/comment support over our first month in Manchester.
It seems we're both working pretty hard at the moment; I'm spending a bit of time in Dublin and Jo's been working like crazy on auditions and interviews for all manner of really cool things, so it's been a busy first month, but a rewarding one.
We'll have to post a vid or photos of our apartment just as soon as we spend some time at home with the internet.

That's it, I'm off to bed. (It's just past 2am and I'm still in the hotel lobby... I only arrived a short while ago, so am just catching up on email.... looking forward to internet@home ....zzzz)

Back Teaching

I had my first day teaching in Manchester today. I have signed up with a different teaching agency on Tuesday and taught at a school in Salford (just west of the city) today (Friday). I was warned by the consultant that it was a 'horrible school', so why did she offer me to go there? I guess they try you out on tough schools when you're new.

Thanks to lots of prayer, not just for my protection, but that the students would be blessed, it wasn't too bad at all. I taught girls PE all day. Though, I have to say, the students can't solely be blamed; the school building was the most derelict, dark, dingy school I have ever been to. I even sat on a chair in the staff room and it broke right under me. So I tried another one, and it broke as well!

I'll have to stop eating celery as well now. :)

What Are the Chances??

I'm working in Dublin on and off at the moment so am catching cabs to and from the hospital I spend most of my time at. I walked out of the main entrance last night around 6.30pm and jumped into the cab at the front of the rank. Turned out the cabby was only around because he had to use the loo in Emergency - apparently he does normally wait at that rank. He was a nice guy and I made it back to the hotel in fair time.
Came out tonight about 7.30 or so and jumped in the cab at the front of the rank and - would you guess - it was the same chap. It was great. For once I was able to talk about 'second conversation' things in a cab. Fantastic... It was actually a real blessing as it was like I 'knew' someone in Dublin - other than the Turkish guy who gave me a traditional Turkish shave - complete with Straight-edge - the other day (you can't help but feel a bond with a guy who let's you live after holding a big long blade to your neck).

Happy Days :)

English Administration

I thought it was only fair that given I've made mention of the inefficiency of the English administration before :) (I rib my colleagues that 'queuing' is the only national sport the English are still good at), that I note that when I called the electricity company, EDF, to open an account I find that they had already opened an account for us - the day we moved in - a Sunday no less! They even had all the details correct - complete with the correct reading on the metre!

I'm not really sure how it all happened, but a big 'thank you' to whoever must have stood in the queue for us.

Good-bye TomTom

We had an excellent day on Sunday, for most of it anyhow. We went along to Holy Trinity Church, which was just excellent, similar to St Mark'’s Anglican (where we were married). The music was excellent and the teaching was great. We spent the afternoon doing some work in the warmth of our heated ENORMOUS living room, while outside was windy and cold.
We went along to Altrincham Baptist Church to check it out. Once again, a beautiful bunch of people and faithful teaching. On the way home, we saw a cute little Thai restaurant, so we spontaneously went in for dinner. Being a Sunday night, we were the only customers. ☺

Here's, the interesting bit… with full bellies and a great day we walked around the corner towards the car and the hazard lights were on. Had we left them on?? Apparently not. As we came up to the car we saw the driver's side window had been smashed in, glass all through the car, and our TomTom (Satellite Navigation, Matt bought for work) had been stolen. You have to hand it to them, it was a professional job, they even took the cord all the way from under the dashboard.
Matt hopped into gear and began ringing all the necessary people and then had a beer in the local pub while we waited for the tow truck. Our car was hauled away (at our request ☺ this time) and we had a ride in the tow truck back to our house, about 30mins drive. That was pretty fun.
We now have a rental car until the window is replaced.

Thankfully there wasn't any spiteful, unnecessary damage anywhere else; they just wanted TomTom.

Hope they got a good price for it. ☺

IKEA

On two occasions last week, we managed to see Ikea close its doors. They close at mid-night! Though it has helped us to make our apartment in Manchester feel more like home. We bought a desk for the office, though we didn't realise our new company car, didn't have fold down rear seats. How do you get a desk home at 12:30am?
Well, two lovely Muslim women also happened to out at Ikea late as well, saw us struggling and offered our desk a ride back to our apartment in their borrowed van, even though they lived in Liverpool.

Praise God.

Curry

Lads, regardless of what marriage counsellors tell you: marry a girl who can cook good curries.

Jo and I have just finished the best curry (and also our first) in our new home in Manchester. The curry was also the first time we've eaten at a table, at home since arriving in England.
Personally, I thought eating at the table was a bit over-rated. Granted, wine glasses were a lot easier to balance... Jo seemed to like it though. ☺

The best thing about all of this is that there was left-over curry for tomorrow night. How good is that going to be?!?

Our Time in Aus

It was really hard to leave such a beautiful country, but more, such beautiful friends and family. We feel completely spoiled and blessed by your love. Our time in Aus was so special.
We have attached some photos of our time, from Pat and Naomi's wedding to our time in Armidale, then Terrigal and finally in Sydney.

Thank you for being in our lives and playing such a special part.
If we didn't get to catch up with you properly, we hope it can happen really soon.

Take care and may God bless you richly.

m&j

Photos are here!

Long Day

We're about to head to bed in our very own (rented) place in Manchester; a little tired & dazed after a typical matt&jo day.

After a couple of attempts, we talked our way into some leg-roomy seats on the Sydney - Singapore flight. Thanks to overbooking, we weren't as lucky flying on to Manchester, but it didn't matter as much as we just slept and watched movies (Jo: way better than legroom).

We landed about 5 Sunday morning and stood around discussing how we were going to collect our gear from storage, collect the keys from the estate agent and collect the car from Watford - Matt's work's English HQ.
(Jo: Much to Matt's delight, we were able to talk about this for hours as nothing opened at the airport till 7.30am ☺ ).
As the car rental places opened first, we hiked to their terminal and surveyed them, trying to find one that actually rented vans and didn't just advertise them. Fed up with English customer 'service' we found a cafe and passed time till we thought it was okay to call our man at the storage place. About 9.30am we went to call him - only to discover we didn't have his phone number (switching SIM cards in Aust had wiped it from our phones). We eventually called a random number at the very bottom of Jo's previous call's list (one more call and it would have disappeared ☺ ) and arranged collection for around midday.

We rented the largest car we could find (VW stationwagon/estate) and headed North - or so we thought. After a few pretty complicated off-ramps we found a road with the right sequence of Junctions (1, 2, 3, etc... ☺ ) and sped off. Things got a little confusing when Jct 16 didn't look like the map said it should. It was the 'Welcome to Wales / Chroesawa at Gwrymiau' sign that really gave it away. Dutifully chastised, we turned around, drove back to north Manchester and apologised profusely (Matt: I even took some of the blame).

All this driving gave us a lots of time to listen to our estate agent's hold music - at least until the phone rang out. We'd been calling to arrange to final payment and collection of the keys for our flat. Eventually they called and abused me for not calling and that it was impossible that I had called the office that many times! Love that British Customer 'service'! By God's grace, (and a little of Matt's patience - I was about to throttle the guy), we got the key to the flat, but not to the secure parking because one of the other agents had managed to take that home by mistake.

Not over yet. Having arrived at the flat, we thought get busy settling in to our new home. Not so. The flat was in a state. The toilet looked like it never been cleaned (and hadn't been flushed), there was body hair all over the bathroom floor and walls, a pair of dirty socks were behind the lounge (Matt: they weren't even the right size), the floorboards were sticky and dirty, there was a puddle of water leaking from the dishwasher, no filters on the kitchen fan, and the washer/dryer turned out only to be a 'washing machine! (Matt: Jo graciously omitted to note the large water stain under the bed that had spread up into some of the skirting boards). We were so disappointed, hungry, tired and jet-lagged that we just nuked a square in the shower to stand in and out for dinner.

We found a Indian restaurant where the service was fantastic, and the food was goood. (Jo: I laughed so much as Matt kept falling asleep whenever he wasn't talking or eating...) We both woke up when they brought out the biggest naan we'd even seen. You've got to see the photo...



Back at the flat, we found our clean sheets and douvet and left the rest for the Landlord to sort out. Sweet sleep.

Nana's House

Hey, I'm writing this from Nana's house; we're having a lovely morning chatting and sharing experiences and photos from our time in London.

She's amazing. She's 89 and has just set up her first laptop - complete with wireless internet and own email address. She's also posted her first comment on the web on our blog. ☺ Thanks Nana.

Homeless

Well, as of about 4pm this afternoon (Friday 13th), we are officially homeless and have our stuff stored in two different countries. Thanks to Nana, one is free! Thanks Nana! The other is in Manchester.
We have had a crazy day today. We hit the sack around 4am after making a start on packing up our little studio in Bayswater. It always takes longer than you think! Even in a little studio, you end up with just 'stuff!' For those who have been to our place in Randwick, our whole studio in Bayswater is about the size of the kitchen at 161 Botany St and cost triple the money...stupid supply-&-demand.
At around 8am, after four hours sleep we dragged our feet out of bed and packed the rest of the studio, scrubbed it clean, packed the car and at about 4pm, left to go to Manchester.
We travel back to London tomorrow, stay in a B&B for Sunday night and then go to Australia on Monday! Can't wait!

Just an update

...in addition to preparing for the trip back home we’re also moving from London to Manchester this weekend (well, everything’s being done today, tomorrow’s the collapse day)... So exhausted...

asleep at 4am last night after about 9hours of driving and too long packing & working.... Lincoln Park is keeping us moving at the moment ☺

will update this stub soon! Matthew.

Matty G

Sorry: We had this post sitting in the draft pile and forgot to publish it.


Last Sunday morning we were woken by an old friend, not just to say G'Day, but to say, "I'm in Heathrow, how do I get to your house?"
Who else but Matty G?

Matt was in town for about 10 hours on transit fresh from Miami, on his way home to J-burg. When Matt arrived, we gave the the grand tour of our studio, spoilt him with English Tea and planned out his day for him ☺

Quiet a pleasent start to a Sunday. Cheers mate!

Pole Position!

Finally, after many weeks of trying, we parked in pole position. Here's a sneaky photo of our car at the front of our place.


(We've been there the whole day, and still haven't been towed). :)

Busy Week

Just a quick one to signal I'm still alive.
Last week was a good solid 'busy week' and with any luck this week will be just as busy. I flew to Dublin on Monday morning (after booking the flight about 11pm the night before) to support a few cases at a hospital there. Returning to London on Tuesday night I was back at the Royal London all Wednesday and then back to Dublin for more cases Thursday and Friday.
Despite the hard work, it is still fun - and a little tiring. No more details, I'm going to bed now. So long.

Back to Aus...For a Visit!!

Matt's brother Patrick is getting married to Naomi in October so we are coming over to Aus, both for the wedding and to see some much missed family and friends.

We will be flying straight in to Brisbane on 18th Oct and staying with the Wysel fam for about a week, my fam for about the same, and then we'll go to Sydney to see friends.

So... for all the Aussie friends, we will be in Sydney around the 31st Oct - 4th November. Email us and let us know when you're free.

We can't wait to see everyone!

Update and some more photos

Just a quick note to let you know some older posts have been updated with photos:
Check out:
Barcelona! (direct link to photos)
I Did It! (direct link to photos)
Brighton, Closest Thing to a Beach (direct link to photos)

Busy Week

Before this week, Jo and I had never really driven in England – and certainly had no need or desire for a car.
In one week Jo and I have managed to get a car, spend a whole day in Westminster Council’s parking-permit shop (just for the privilege of parking it on the street in front of our studio), drive over a thousand miles in it, exchange it for another car (and have to call a colleague to ask how to put the car into Reverse), lose it, find it, get it fined – twice – drive another few hundred miles, submit a ‘Change of Vehicle’ application (another few hours in the council shop) – only to have the new permit issued with the old registration number, spend an evening in the car so it didn’t get towed, get permit corrected, get car towed, report it stolen, pick car up from ‘Park Lane Pound’ for £200.00 (think of us next time you play Monopoly), leave house keys with friend (another evening on the doorstep), successfully park car, rent a third car, pick up a friend’s boxes from self-storage (that closed at 6pm on Friday night…?!?), drive them to Cornwell (five hours south-west of London), find hotel at 2am, sleep till Sunday.

PS Our return trip was pleasantly uneventful, and we were relieved to find our car still here, without tickets.

Mtnbiking

Jo and I have a new member of the family. My bike.


Isn't he beautiful?? We haven't named him yet, but we were thinking about 'Charlie'.

For those in the know: It's a Cannondale, Prophet 2000. It has a Carbon Lefty with SPV internals and a Manitou Swinger 3-Way at the back - both with compression and rebound damping adjustment and adjustable pedaling platforms (via a shock pump). It has a full XT kit - including Dual Controllers :) with an '07 XTR rear derailleur; the rear hub is a DT 340 (with a Cannondale front hub) with Mavic XM819 UST Disc, 32-hole rims.

Side note: I bought the bike in Colorado - the retail price there was less than the trade price in London... - and the bike's still there. There have been 'logistical hassles' trying to get it shipped here... The plan to have it FedEx'ed or UPS'ed here has been thwarted, so if anyone has any good ideas I'd love to hear from you...

Zapping Landfill

Hi there, just a quick one about a US plan to build a commercial power plant that generates electricity by vaporising landfill & sewage sludge using plasma arcs. Yep. ...maybe they could give me a Plasma Gun to vaporise parking police.

Parking Police

We fell victim to the Parking Police yesterday. Twice. I even caught the second guy in the act. Not happy Jan.


"Code 15y PARKED IN RESIDENTS' BAY INVALID PERMIT (OBSCURED)"
grrr... Have a close look at how much the permit was obscured... The insult of it all was that the obstruction came from another parking meter ticket...

And, no guys, I wasn't about to leave the two parking fines there so I could video the car getting jacked by the tow-truck. I don't think the company would have appreciated getting a call from the hauling company - even if it would have made a great movie.

Barcelona!

Following a month's training in Colorado, I wasn't going to let Matt go off to a conference in Barcelona alone, so I booked a flight and tagged along.
While Matt was in conference rooms for 10-12 hours a day, I was a lady of leisure exploring Barcelona. I went on the 'Bus Turisitic', the tourist bus just like the one in Sydney that picks you up and drops you off as many times as you like for a whole day. To start the morning, I sat in a local little café to plan my day with only a map and my Spanish phrase book.
I visited the Sarria Familia; the only Cathedral in the world still under construction. It was magnificent, (see the photos). Men worked on the building as tourists travelled in droves to see Gaudi's architecture; unfortunately he died in an accident never to see its completion. I knew of Gaudi's architectural ventures in Spain, but didn't realise the impact he had on the culture through his architecture and design...phenomenal!
I travelled the nord (north) and sud (south) routes on the bus seeing beautiful architecture, museums, the port and of course, such beautiful history of the city.
Being a tourist bus, it would naturally drop us off at places that required more money for entrance to the feature. :( It wasn't until I got off at a random spot and went for my own little stroll did I see the local charm and beauty of Barcelona. I just fell in love with the terrace buildings with matching balcony's and plants on the window sills while the summer curtains swayed in the breeze.
I met Matthew in town later that night to meet some guys from work for tapas and cocktails.
[Side note: the credit on my phone ran out before we could arrange a meeting place - and it takes credit to receive calls abroad... Matthew had no idea where I'd be and I couldn't make or accept any calls at all... A couple of hours later I was watching a street mime when I shifted my gaze and saw Matthew standing there watching me! He had just happened to look up a minute ago and seen me across the road... Understandably, he had to look twice to check it was me. Praise God for that.... crazy.]

Some other cool and querky experiences in Barcelona:
* An exhibition on Marilyn Monroe at the Cultural Centre
* The best chocolate gelato I have EVER tasted!
* Watching Amercian sitcoms dubbed in Spanish
* Seeing a Starbucks on every corner!
* Getting to the toilet only by hand gestures because my Spanish pronunciation was so bad!

I am now at the airport at the Iberia lounge rounding out a very stressful week with a bourbon & coke; Matt left an hour or so ago with some of the UK team. My flight is in about two hours.
I think I could get used to business trips!
:)

The Notting Hill Carnival

Now I’m sure for all those people who have not been to London, the words Notting Hill automatically take you to the film starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts…am I right? Well, you’re not too far off, the travel book shop where Hugh and Julia meet, actually exists; it is just off Portobello Road in Notting Hill, a quaint little book store, that has been there for years and years, and now, because of Hollywood, it is an icon;. (Though the door is now blue, not red, like in the movie).
Now we have the context, Europe’s biggest street carnival, the Notting Hill Carnival, was on this long weekend. Matt and I went along for the experience - after all, how often is Europe's biggest street carnival within walking distance from home?
It was absolutely huge! Roads were closed - even up as far as Bayswater - for the estimated two million ….yup, two million people who turned up to the Notting Hill Carnival to eat, drink and be merry (and to see the parade)! It was a fun experience, and fantastic to be totally in with the locals! The costumes were amazing with more feathers, glitter and charm, than people.
Photos coming.
I named the Carnival the “Welcome home Matthew Carnival” and just pretended that everyone was around to welcome him home… ☺

check out some photos here!

Matthew's Home!

Matthew’s home!!

Yay!!
Yay!!
Yay!!
A month is a really long time so I/we are really glad that he is home safe and sound! Praise God! His month away training, was an amazing experience; I’m sure you’ve seen what he was up to in Colorado. ☺ While he worked hard all week, he also played hard at weekends! Have a look at previous blogs if you haven’t seen the adventures!

Matt goes away again on Tuesday for three more days of training, to Barcelona...This time though, I am going to tag along!

Better get cracking on the Spanish!

Home Time

Tonight is home time. I'll jump on a plane (hopefully) bound for London and be in Jo's arms before lunch on Saturday... can't wait. :)

My First Professional Film...done!

I arrived home last night from my trip to Bournemouth to shoot my first professional short film. Bournemouth is two hours south of London and right on the coastline. I stayed in a little hotel called the Oceanview Hotel, which is exactly what it was.... my single suite room overlooked the ocean!! Ah!! Water!!! It was so fantastic to see the ocean again, the only water I've seen since coming to London has come from the sky!
The film shoot was an invaluable experience. We shot over two days and so the schedule was quite tight, with limited time for rehearsal; so we had to be on the ball and in to character very quickly. With only three actors, including me, there were about 15 crew on various jobs from cinematography to continuity. I think the most challenging time was shooting a scene when my character Karen, was sobbing in a toilet cubicle, which required a toilet, me, and about 8 of the crew in the female toilets with me, doing their various jobs.
The crew will now edit the film over the next few days and I should have a copy by the end of next week!
It was an amazing experience, I met some inspiring people and can't wait to do the next film!

By the way... the film is called "Office".

The Bag is Here!!

Raena's bag finally arrived home, yay!!!!
She now is looking more like Raena and less like me!
:')

Rare Air & Fat Tires

If last weekend wasn't enough sun and exercise, this weekend Diego, Vincent, Linda - other (relatively) new hires - and I climbed a couple of 14ers on Saturday, and then I turned up at Winter Park for a day full of riding on Sunday.
Winter Park is a ski resort by winter and a moutain bike / hiking resort during the summer. The park converts one of the chairlifts into a mountian bike & rider lift which shuttles you from the car park to 10700ft in 11 minutes.
It's fantastic. Absolutely Fantastic. The best rolling singletrack and sustained, fast technical descents I've ever ridden. The most beautiful setting: Pine corridors opening out into Rocky Mtn valleys.
The first run took me over two hours - thanks largely to a little over-ambition and not fully considering the name of the trail I was riding: Top Roof of the Rockies... I did get to climb up another 500ft or so and it did make the downhill last a lot longer...
The subsequent trips were quicker but it still took between 45mins - 1.5 hours to ride down the mountain. It was glorious. Rather than type you to jealousy, here's some links:

Updated photos - New photos are at the back, so just skip to them if you don't like re-runs.
Winter Park - check out the section on Mountain Biking
Web Cam's from Winter Park - not the most informative, but cool nonetheless.
Trail Guide (small/large)

Look for the the Zephyr Express: Taking that to the top, my favourite descent was CHEYENNE (Blue) till the FREERIDE SKILLS PARK where I picked up THE DOWNHILL (Black) - riding it all the way till it hit LONG TRAIL (Blue) and following that down to the FREERIDE SKILLS PARK which was a medium level terrain park. Soooo much fun.

I'm trying to figure out how to post videos to the blog. Stay tuned.

Mike & Joy!

Mike and Joy Guthrie have been on a trip of a lifetime; one of their stops was London, where we had a chance to catch up. I met them at Oxford Circus and Mike and Joy couldn't believe how busy it was on a Sunday at 10am, sirens and traffic jams....gotta love London Town.
We visited All Souls Church for their morning service, where John Stott was the practicing minister before he retired. He preaches occasionally, is still writing books, and attends church every Sunday. Luckily, John Stott was rostered on to preach today; however some bad news hit the congregation that John had had a fall that morning and fractured his hip. The congregation sighed with a mixture of disappointment and concern. Though, John's concern was for the congregation; he was apparently ordering the Ambulance staff around to ensure his semon notes were put in the minister's hands for the congregation to hear. Bless him.
After church I took Mike and Joy back along Oxford Street, (braving the famous red buses), passed Hyde Park and to our little studio.
Giving them a tour of our studio took all of 30 seconds because it is so huge!! :) so we went down to my new favourite caffe called Carluccio's which has beautiful, fresh Italian, scrumptious food!
It was a beautiful day with Mike and Joy, I was incredibly blessed by them and by their encouragement to me and to Matt. Bless you both.
I think their next stop is Ireland (wow!) to visit some old friends.
Have a ball Mike&Joy!
Thank you for your love and care!

14270ft

Hi there, I'm sitting on top of Grays Peak - one of CO's '14ers'. A '14er' is what the locals call a mountain that's higher than 14000ft. Grays Peak is 14270ft - or 4350m if you prefer.
We're about to drop down onto a saddle and up another 14er: Torreys Peak. I guess we'll have to climb up another 1000ft from the saddle to the summit of Torreys.
Can check it out at www.14ers.com if you want to.
Matthew.


--sent from my Nokia cell phone--

Another Aussie Dancer!

Last Friday, a friend from Uni, Raena arrived in London after travelling around South America (WOW!) for the last three months. It has been so lovely having her stay in our little studio while she gets settled in London; and also great for me, to have some company while Matt is away in Colorado. We've been having lots of girly chats and shopping trips in Central London, amongst walks in the park and coffees in Caffes. :)
Unfortunately, Raena's bags have stilll not arrived, they are hanging out somewhere with the other 10 000 bags that have been unaccounted for since the bomb threat of three large aircraft departing Heathrow Airport last Thursday.
The reign on security has meant that NO hand luggage is allowed on the carrier except for a few essentials such as travel documents, baby food, glasses (but no case), and all in a transparent plastic bag. Baby milk has to be tasted by mother/father before going on the aircraft and so on.
For the first few days Raena was wearing my clothes, but then, with permission from BritishAirways, our shopping trips became more ''productive" and lots more fun!
Thanks B.A!

Sunday, CO

Sunday morning we headed off to the Arkansas River, CO, for a 5hr white-water rafting trip with River Runners. This company had been recommended to us and after floating downstream next to a bunch of other rafts (it was a little crowded in places :) ) we were glad we went with these guys. The guides were knowledgable, fun and helped with the paddling (the clincher).
We signed up for the Royal Gorge ride which started with a morning of Class I and II rapids. They were okay, but not extreme enough for a raft full of X&Y Gen'ers.
We followed the old water supply pipes down the river towards town and dropped through some Class IV and V rapids. These were much better and well worth the trip. I've updated the photo page with photos from the trip. You may see the company logo flying from the 'mast'... it was a great day and a good opportunity to become better friends with the some of the other European CASSes - who have all started within a couple of months of me.
The course was about two and a half hours from Boulder which made for a very long day (we had to be there before 9am and didn't get home till about 10.30pm); we were pretty tired and sore come Monday morning.

CO

You'll be pleased to know that in addition to working hard during business hours, we've been working hard outside hours too.

Today we drove from Boulder CO ('CO' is for Colorado) out to the Rock Mountains National Park. It was a bit of a epic trip but the scenery was amazing. The mountains are absolutely covered in tall aspens and pines, and really seem to stretch on forever. They stand shoulder to shoulder rising up into the cloudy, blue sky from dark, still lakes and grassy valleys. Every now and then a deer or 20 will wander out from the trees, graze and then continue on. Crazy.
We've been really blessed with the animals we've seen here so far. In addition to almost running into a young, small and very cute brown bear while riding last week (we couldn't see his mum, but I bet she never lost sight of us), we saw a couple of elk (with ENORMOUS antlers), lots of herds of venison - excuse me: deer - loads of chipmunks, ground squirrels and other random little furry animals.

Once I can find some way to download my photos I'll post them and let you know. HERE THEY ARE (this is a growing collection of all photos taken in Colorado)

- oh and we also paused on our tour to run to the top of a 12005ft (3659m) mountain lookout. There wasn't quite as much oxygen there as there was in London 2 weeks ago - but there was just as many tourists :)

I Got the Part!!

I found out yesterday I was offered the part of 'Karen in the six short films I was telling you about! A main role! I had to think hard, and juggle up all my other offers of main parts in short films, and humbly accepted! YES!
They are sending me the script and we start shooting on 21st Aug in Bournemouth. We will shoot for two days only and then edit crazy for five days and then it's done!

Change of Scenery

First of all, apologies for the drop-out in communication - and some random reference to 'Medtronic'.

Long-story-short:
I finished up working full-time at Evans Cycles last Saturday (29th July) and commenced working with a biomed company called Medtronic this Monday (31st July).
My role with Medtronic will be in technical sales - conceptually the same role as I would have had with Franklin Products in the US/Asia - only I will be driving between operating rooms in England rather than flying between airports in Asia. :)
I will be working as a Computer Aided Surgery Specialist (CASS) and will ultimately be consulting surgeons / nurses on how best in implement computer aided surgery into their ORs (operating rooms). As you'd imagine, there's a touch of tech knowledge to catch up on - and to that end, I am at the CAS HQ in Boulder, Colorado for a month (Aug 1st - 26th). Yep, that's right.
More news on Colorado later.
Jo and I have kept the blog intentionally quiet re: the Medtronic job as there were a few things we needed to work through before accepting it.
Finally thank you for your thoughts, encouragement and prayers for me over the past few months re: ongoing work for me. They have been a huge blessing for us both. As you'd imagine, the needs change now - not least of all being apart for a month. Thanks guys.
God bless you.

Organic Wine

I'm sitting here just after dinner on the night before I fly to Colorado (see the Medtronic post) and Jo has prepared the best dinner of char-grilled vegetables seasoned in balsamic vinegar and chicken breast with asparagus & goat's cheese... so so nice. To top it all off, she bought a bottle of organic wine (who does that..?.. and who makes that...???). Very nice.
I love being married to a modern-day hippie :-)

I Did It!

I did it! I rode through London traffic on a bicycle. (and yes, mums, I'm still alive, no scratches, and we did it at a very quiet time of day...not many cars on the road at all. ;) ) Matt and I test-rode some bikes from Evans Cycles for the weekend; a Specialized Enduro for Matt and a Specialized Stumpjumper for me. We rode home from Waterloo Evans Cycles and took the route Matt takes each day...past Buckingham Palace, Green Park, London Eye, Westminster Bridge. Well, I think we did... I didn't see any of it at the time, I was holding on pretty tight to the handle bars and didnt' take my eyes off the road.

On Sunday we took the bikes out for a bit of a spin and found some stairs to try out the suspension. We stopped in Westminster Abbey, next to St Maragaret's Church built in 1412 to eat our lunch.

A fun-filled day.

Be sure to check out our photos

NOT Bollywood!

I went to another audition yesterday. And no, it's not Bollywood this time!!! I was auditioning for an acting role for an English Director, who was casting for six short films.
I was asked to prepare a short monologue for the audition. I prepared one written by Carolyn West about a soy crazed 'green girl' trying to sell tofu brains to Zombies, who 'need the nutritional value of fresh human brains'.

I'll let you know how it went.

My Very Own Bank Account

Finally. After six attempts at three banks over the last two and a half weeks, I have finally convinced a bank to take my money - and charge me for it. No more begging people to cash my paychecks at rent time or asking Jo for money (well.... maybe).

I feel like a bona fide immigrant.

Happy Birthday to Me! ☺

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes and for all the people who spoiled me by sending gifts all the way to London, dropping me a line via email or texting me, wishing me a Happy Birthday, it made my day so special.
I successfully spread my birthday over a number of days, since there weren't that many people to help me celebrate. ☺
Matt was beautiful wishing me a Happy Birthday all day, every day for about 5 days. ☺
I had to teach at a tough school on my birthday but I am now used to being sworn at by 12 year old children so it wasn't so bad...and anyway, I wasn't going to let that ruin my birthday.
We are on the look out for a yummy Thai Restaurant ( I am craving Thai Food!) for my birthday dinner. Unlike Sydney, where we are used to a Thai Restuarant on every corner, we are yet to find one worth going to. In London, if you want take-out, it's always Indian, and always Chicken Tikka-Masala.
The flowers above are the Oriental Lilies Matthew gave me. ;) They are still going strong after a week and are making our little studio smell oh, so sweet.

Brighton, Closest Thing to a Beach

During the week, we received a call from a friend who needed some help transferring some boxes from a supplier living in Horsham (near Brighton – think: South of London, and on the coast) to another supplier in Cornwall. Yesterday we started on the first leg of the journey and took the opportunity to see Brighton at the same time.
Saturday morning Matt cycled over to the Rent-a-Van place in London while I packed an over night bag and some lunch and we headed South to Brighton via Horsham. Google-maps rather optimistically ‘suggested’ the trip would take just over an hour (more like 21⁄2 hours) but then even Google can’t really be blamed for Londoners propensity for ‘park hopping’ on summer’s days and the Gay and Lesbian Festival that seemed to happen all throughout south-east England this weekend.

After collecting all the boxes in the back of the van in Horsham, we pushed on to Brighton. On the way we saw a charming old Church, St Paul’s with head-stones dating back to 1756. Further down the road we stopped to see a community club of Englishmen playing cricket and watched one side get thrashed while listening to the England vs Portugal World Cup game on the radio. Even at the penalty shoot out time, the Englishmen kept playing their game of cricket...respect.

We finally made it to Brighton around 6:00pm thinking we’d find accommodation relatively easily. Unbeknown to us, Brighton was the capital of the Mardi Gras festivities and every 'cute little BnB', hotel, motel, pub, stable was full. We weren’t too worried though as we were enjoying walking around Brighton, exploring the 'Newtown-ish' restaurants scene and trying to find a non-gay-friendly pub (aka, one with a Ladies bathroom). Don’t get too excited about the beach though, while it is London's closest beach, there are no waves, and pebbles instead of sand.

At 10:00pm we thought dinner would be a good idea and found a cute little Italian restaurant called Zizzi. Yum!

Still with no accommodation and contemplating sleeping with the boxes in the back of the van, I managed to find a BnB we hadn’t tried – with a Vacancy!! Just as this happened a seagull flew over head and dropped a bomber of bird poo right on to Matthew’s shirt - you should see the size of the seagulls here! (Matt’s Technerdical note: for you aero buff’s out there: I think the bird came in on a strafing run – there was a glint in his eye as he creamed me)

On Sunday, after a good ol' English breakfast we drove slowly home taking tangents along the way enjoying being a tourist with a hire van.

Photos are here (finally)

Italian in England with an Aussie

Simon and Suse Angus came through London last week. :) Matt, Suse and I shared dinner together, though unfortunately, due to a speaking conference in the US, Simon couldn't join us.
Suse made the trek (and I mean trek...she walked over half of London to get to Bayswater ☺) and we went to an Italian restaurant just down the road.
A short visit, but it was a fantastic evening sharing what has been happening in our lives, reminiscing about ol' times in Sydney and whingeing about silly Londoners.
Hint: as Suse was reminded, if you come over here and catch the tube, or even walk down the street: don't talk to anyone, don't look at anyone, don't smile at anyone, and absolutely do not talk to anyone. Londoners are not friendly people and do not understand the genuine friendly nature of the Aussie. ;)
We really had a great time and miss you guys lots and lots.
xo

Correction

The film I shot yesterday is called "Bagham Bagh" which means "Running" in Hindi.
And.... in true Bollywood fashion when they said a week of shooting, they really meant one day. :)

So... a fifteen hour day and it's a wrap.

Visitors

As you’ll see from this enormous Vegemite jar, we’ve had visitors!
Matt’s cousin Ben and his fiancé Wendy (hi guys!) stayed with us recently during one leg of their round-the-world tour. It was great to get some Aussie love – albeit at pretty close quarters – and catch up with them. Ben and Wendy spent the day seeing the sights (while we worked) and then spent the evenings recounting tales of epic proportions about Big Buses and equally big lines at the Tower of London while we sat around eating lentils or Steak&Ale pies at our local. Good times.

Not Quite That Easy... ☺

Matt was right about the 'rounding up the girls' thing, but getting the part wasn't quite as easy as asking for the role: we ended up having about a two hour dance audition for one of only eight dancers in the film.
It was a fun audititon, though a little stressful when the Choreographer said "Ok, one-by-one we'd like to see you improv please". As you can imagine, most girls stressed out: "what are we supposed to do, no-one said anything about having anything prepared..." so reluctantly as the Choreographer played the music we performed solo at the drop of a hat.
After the couple of hours we all left and waited for a call from Select Casting. I received mine a couple of hours later informing me I was selected and that I would be dancing in the film "I See You', location "The Old Vic Theatre" starting tomorrow. Shooting will run for all of this week.

To borrow Matt's expression: Happy Days ☺

You Know You've Been to a Stack of Auditions When...

Jo just recieved a call from Select Casting - the casting agency that has been hooking her up with the recent Bollywood movies - asking if "when she came to the audition this afternoon, could she please round all the girls up and bring them up to the casting room...?"

Jo said, "arh... so that means that I've got the part then...? Yep, no worries..."

I understand this role will be slightly different from before, but I'll get Jo to give you the details ☺

Happy Days, I've got my own Bollywood Princess - albeit a reluctant one ☺

I See You

This is the title of the next film I am in. :)
And yes - it is another Bollywood Film. This time, I actually feature in a scene with two other girls and the main actor. It's so much fun and totally OTT, but I love the cheese!
The shoot was mainly on Millennium Bridge and a little on The Globe stairs.
The Story line...well you'll just have to wait.

I went to a casting for this role and it was a three step process.
1. Say name and shake hand of director
2. Director looks you up and down
3. Walk out and wait for the call

There's no business like it. :)
(photos coming)

Some Aussie Love...

We had the pleasure of Geoff Lucas' company a couple of Sundays ago; he was in London for his Aunt's wedding. We had a great day trooping around London; doing more touristy things in one day than Matt and I have done so far. :) We met at Camden Town to go to the markets - think Paddy's Markets meets Nimbin; huge and hippy. However, when it comes to Punks, Camden puts Sydney to shame.
From there, we caught the tube to Covent Garden. We hit the most 'traditional English' looking Pub we could find to grab a bite to eat, admiring the West-End through the window.
Next stop was The National Gallery where we took our time walking through the oldest paintings at the Gallery. We could have stayed there all day. I loved seeing the originals of the works we have so often seen as prints such as Van Gogh's Sunflowers. The National Gallery also has a crazy number of impressionist originals. There is something quite satisfying about seeing the brush strokes of their works.
We met Geoff's family at All Souls Church (where John Stott used to preach, and still attends) and went to the evening service. It was a great service, and a huge amount of people there; some locals, though many were tourists checking out the church or checking out John Stott. :)
It was a fun filled day and fantastic for Matt and I to get a good dose of Aussie love.
Thanks Geoff!

Job Applications for Matthew

Just a quick ongoing update on the Career Front:
I've gone for a couple of interviews for 'career' type jobs - the type of jobs that will bring in enough money to keep Jo away from teaching (!) and have a second-round interview for a technical sales role with Medtronic - the firm that developed the first implantable pace-maker - tomorrow.
I'd appreciate any prayers. ☺ 

Wired

We're connected. It's only taken about 300 years, but we're now officially connected to the great unknown with 24Mb DSL (that's ADSL2 in Australia, or approx 428.57 times faster than the dial-up connection we were using).

Yep, that means we can also Skype. If you don't know our Skype usernames then please just email us and we'll reply back fast.

It remains to be seen if this means we'll post to the blog faster now.... ☺

Flat Tyre

A chap came into the store this morning, noting that his "tyre had gone flat and didn't seem to roll too well". Ed leaned over the counter, saw that the tyre was indeed flat and processed the service order as normal. The customer left - to return and collect his bike later today - leaving Ed to carry the bike upstairs.

Ed found the cause of the puncture after a quick, cursory look:

World Cup

I'm not serving any Italian customers today... especially if they mention the football.

An Aussie friend sent this movie through this morning and I thought it worth posting:
Italian Training Camp

Obligatory Disclaimer:
Please do take it in the spirit intended. Don't worry, it's not rude or offensive

World Cup

Just a quick one: Jo's off to watch the Australia vs Italy match at a nearby pub with a couple of Italians from our local caffe.... I told her to take photos so I could re-live the excitement at home (assuming we win...). Fabio and Alessandra have both promised to be gracious in defeat; I was going to bet them a coffee, but the stakes were too high.

Right, back to the bike shop to sell bikes to customers who have no interest in Football (stupid customers).

Update to the Fantastic Weekend

Aware we owe you an update on the 'Fantastic Weekend', here goes:
As you may be aware, earlier in the year Jo was offered a 'discount voucher' for hair care / personal beauty; the voucher gave her (and a friend...me) half price hair cuts for a whole year (no, no beard trims, Rick), and a number of other freebies. One of these was a free whole-day photo shoot / general pamper for her and a friend (yes, that's me again).

After another Saturday morning sleep-in, we arrived at the studio (all quite a new experience for me) and drank the complimentary wine while waiting for our turn.
After a bit of a wait we were made up, Jo got her nails done (I didn’t like any of the colours), our hair was done (none of the hairdressers could do guys' hair so I did mine myself...since when is guys' hair more difficult than girls'??) and we were off to meet our photographer.

She had us lay out all the clothes we'd brought, before telling us what to wear and when. As you can see from the photos, we mixed&matched (Jo made it all look natural) and before we knew it, we were done and waiting to 'process' the photos with one of the editors. Jo now has a complete modelling portfolio that she can send off to agencies and jobs. Jo is trying to persuade me to do the same but at the moment I’m not sure my engineering degree qualifies me for that. I guess we’ll see.

Jo here now.
While it was a fantastic day of being totally pampered for free, it was a long day. We left the studio and arrived back at Bayswater to grab a bite to eat. After a few rejections from some pubs who had closed their kitchens, we managed to persuade an Indian restaurateur to serve us dinner starting about 11pm.

We filled the next day doing those touristy things Matt mentioned: visiting St Paul’s Church (not the tour as they don’t run on Sundays), Millennium Bridge and then the rest of the day at the Tate Modern which was fantastic. God has blessed me with a man who walks as slowly as me through an art gallery!
After such a fun/creative weekend, what better way to spend the evening than to go to Hyde Park and enjoy the twilight on a rug writing in our journals?? (Matt even secretly enjoyed it) It was 10 pm before it started to get dark.

It was such a fun weekend that we (retrospectively) claimed it our 2nd anniversary weekend.

(if you missed the reference before, see here for some of our photos from the weekend)

Dance Photoshoot

I had a fun photo shoot the other morning. A photographer had seen my profile on a modelling database and contacted me for a photo shoot for his photography company - Lithium. For this shoot, he was attempting to fuse the art of dance with the urban/industrial atmosphere of the streets. We shot the photos in Bayswater in a few different locations. The only thing was... the shoot was a 4:30am!!! Gregori (Polish photographer) used Medium Format on his camera (none of this post production digital stuff) and wanted to capture the light and atmosphere at dawn. Ouch!
Matt came along as my chaperone and ‘jumper holder’ between shots; thanks Matthew!! It was a fantastic experience, not only for the professional exposure but also seeing the people around London streets that early in the morning; quite an entertaining experience.
I will get a whole lot of free shots from the shoot and will be shown on the company’s website. Will post through some photos when I get them.

To Keep You in the Loop...

Just to keep you in the loop about a few things that are happening at the moment with performance stuff. I have an audition this Sunday with a contemporary dance company which I think with be a winner if I get a part; I have made the first cut so far, will let you know.
I went to another casting on Saturday for a film. A really weird experience. After waiting in line for a little while at the Washington Hotel in Mayfair, I went in to a Hotel room to meet the director and producer and casting assistant of the film. They asked my name, looked me up and down, asked me if I could dance, and sent me on my way. That’s what you get when they are after a specific ‘look’. Will let you know if I had ‘the look’.

I have a modelling job on the coals as well - a month long photo shoot out of the UK for good £££. 1300 people applied and I'm now in the last 100.

The loop continues... much love

Fantastic Weekend

Just a quick post to say that Jo and I had an absolutely fantastic weekend doing all those things we didn't do last weekend - although somehow we managed to do most of the 'sitting in the park' things too...

Fantastic. In fact, I'd almost say it was so good that even Monday morning didn't take the shine off it (just dulled it a little).
More details to come - together with photos... happy days.

Car Nabbing

One of the things Jo and I have really been enjoying about living in Bayswater (and to a lesser extent, Greater London) is the sport of 'car nabbing'.

What makes the sport all the more entertaining is how seriously the attendants play the game. The uniformed parking attendants - so called 'Parking Police' - try to seize an illegally parked car and tag it with an Infringement notice before the owner of the car returns and can escape.
'Points' are scored - or rather deducted - if the car is tagged with the Infringement before the car is driven off (often via the attendant). If the owner of the car hasn't returned during the tagging process, then the car is deemed 'fair game' to the similarly uniformed 'Car Haulers' who literally lift the car from its park and either dump it in a compound or position it in an even more illegal position somewhere nearby. These Haulers do laps around the block waiting for a car to be tagged.
The 'Residents Only' parking and the proximity of good restaurants make our street a relative Mecca for both Parking Police and the Car Haulers.
Jo and I usually see a car being nabbed once every few days.

By way of introduction, I have uploaded a quick movie of a truck being tagged while the owner was sitting on the back offloading bricks to the house next door. Unfortunately the driver drove off before the truck was hauled. (Seeing the truck being hauled with the guy still on the back would have just been great - maybe tonight)

Sunday Adventures

You’ll be pleased to hear that Jo and I are learning how to relax.
We were planning on waking up early and either walking or tubing into the city, grabbing a coffee and be waiting at the Tate Modern Gallery when it opened this morning. After spending the day there, we were going to walk back out of the city, via the Millennium Bridge and up through St James Park, Hyde Park and then Kensington Gardens (thereby fulfilling Jo’s ‘walk in the park’ mandate).

Waking up rather reluctantly about 9.30 this morning we grabbed some breakfast before sitting down on the bed 'for a moment’ to discuss if it wasn’t worth ditching the whole lot and just sitting in the park for the whole day... You’ll be pleased to know: that’s exactly what we’ve done – more or less: we actually fell back asleep, woke up at 3.30 this afternoon, and then came straight to the park (where I’m now blogging).
(As I type, Jo is making the most of her ‘fresh grass’ allergy and is busy transferring an entire box of tissues to the bin via her nose.)

Oh, and the day’s been beautiful: Sunlight, lively Brazilian party behind us, more sunburnt Londoners than you can point a stick at, even more sunlight, and a relaxed pair of Aussies.
It doesn’t get any better than this.

Job Interview

Just a quick update and thanks to those who’ve been praying I’d be able to find a job that pays a little more and is something more in line with a standard aerospace/business career ☺
I’ve been applying for a bunch of different positions, through a range of different agencies and companies, and had an interview with BMS, a recruitment agency that focuses on the sales industry, this morning. The interview was just an opportunity for a BMS consultant to meet me and find out all the usual: what makes me tick, what type of roles am I interested in & why, can I speak English, all that jazz.
The interview went well and had a good vibe; we now wait (and hassle) and see what comes up (and hassle some more). I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks again for prayers. Please do keep them up.

Finally Bollywood!

Well, it finally happened. I did it, I am on a Bollywood feature film.

Over the last four days I was a Background Actor (aka: 'extra', though Background Actor sounds a lot better on my CV) for the next Bollywood Film, coming out in October. :) It was a fantastic experience being on the set of a Feature Film. There was a bit of sitting around as you can imagine (especially in Bollywood land). If you don't know much about the Bollywood Film genre then get to know it, because it is taking over Hollywood, quite literally. Presently Bollywood Films are doubling the amount of £££ Hollywood makes per annum. There are a few rules about Bollywood Films - no kissing, no sex scenes, usually full of colour and dancing and lots of music; and, in 'real' Bollywood Films (unlike the Hollywood Bollywood film Bride and Prejudice) the film usually has voiceovers instead of dialogue shot on set).

While I spent most of my time dressed to the nines on a casino set, playing the pokies all day, I was amazed at the power of the 'Bollywood Actor', after every shot, even if it lasted only 10 secs 4-5 people would swarm to the 'star' and powder their nose, wrap them in an blanket, fix their hair and clothes for the next shot. The stars we had a chance to rub shoulders with were Sanjay Dutt, Anuuj Sawhney, Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu & Satish Shah; the directors are Abbas-Mastan. They have made other films like 36 China Town (the most recent one), HUMRAZ (The better half or Partner), Aitraaz (Objection), Khiladi (Player). It was lots of fun and I met some great people and made some great contacts for future work.

Maybe Bollywood isn't so bad after all. I can go and have that red meat now. :)

BTW - the guy in the top photo is Satish Shah - look familiar?

Moüstache Mondays

You’ll be please to know that I shaved my beard – especially you Rick (though, truth be known, I think it was more a jealousy thing).
Given that it was a Monday when I shaved it, what could be more natural than to make it a Moustache Monday?? Moreover, what better way to sell bikes than to let a moustache do the talking – after all, doesn't everyone trust a moustache??
Jo didn’t seem to see the appeal, and the moustache crumpled two days into the kissing embargo. Bit of a shame – especially as there were a few guys at work who said they’d join in next time...

See here for a pictorial tour of the Many Moüstaches of Matthew.

Birthday Update

Sorry things went a little quite there after the ‘birthday post'... After quite a nice dinner out on the 24th (though it was the 25th in Australia) I was expecting a quiet one on the 25th – having forgotten that Jo’s agency was throwing a ‘love us and tell your friends’ party, complete with free food and alcohol. Despite my rather tenuous link to the party, I obliged (being the good natured chap I am) and – together with Jo – had a fantastic evening... Jo had even arranged for a ‘Special Announcement’ (read: Good chance to embarrass Matthew with a round of Happy Birthday). Fun and Games. It was a good night and I can recommend Protocol Teaching Agency to anyone interested in great birthday parties.

The evening’s festivities had left no room for present openings (you’d be surprised how long it can take to open 3 presents), so Friday night finished up the best three-day birthday I’ve had.

Big thanks (and kisses to the girls) for all your birthday wishes.
You’ve been doing a great job closing the distance between Sydney & London. Please do keep it up.

Matt's Birthday

Hi all, Jo and I out to celebrate my birthday (Australian time)....and no, I haven't shaved the beard yet ☺

MP3ing Legal in Australia Now

Warning: Technical Content ☺
Some of you will be interested that copying CDs onto your computer and making them into MP3s (so called 'format shifting') is set to become legal in Australia as reported by The Age.
Slashdot has some interesting commentary on it - well worth a read if you're feeling like a bit of tech-talk.

(You're right, this has nothing to do with London, the UK or our life at the moment, but I thought you'd be interested all the same)

BOLLYWOOD, SHMOLLYWOOD

Well, my starring role in the Bollywood film has confirmed that Bollywood films are not what you expect, or plan for....
The whole shoot fell through.  Not really sure what happened, maybe they decided they didn't want a train scene after all and they wanted an elephant ride in bright clothes and lotsa jewellery instead. :)
In short, the shoot was all packed up and KB Productions decided the train scene was not a goer for "Scotland Express" (what sort of movie named "Scotland Express" doesn't have a train scene?)
Back to the drawing board.. soup and bread and no red meat. :(

London in Late Spring

Hello there, here's another snap-shot of our life in London in late Spring.

We'll continue to add more photos to this as it develops so stay tuned.
Be sure to check the panorama out too.

Please comment.

Hungerford Bridge Panorama

I love the way this panorama turned out. Yesterday was the first time I stopped and actually looked at what I cycled past every morning and night. I'm going to keep my eyes open a little more from now on. ☺


Be sure to check out the full set of these photos too.

>> I've uploaded a larger res version of the photo here that will let you actually pan across the view. It is approx 1.4Mb and probably best downloaded and viewed from your computer: Right-click and then Save Target As... ~MW

Walking in Hyde Park (with the Squirrels)

This post really just serves to introduce squirrels.
As a rule, squirrels tend to be pretty jittery, and following is a photo of a particularly manic squirrel we saw while walking in Hyde Park yesterday evening - and for all those who were wondering: Yes, it really is as beautiful as Jo said. Just amazing.

Why I Need a Phone with a Camera

Sitting having lunch in Caffe Nero and looked up to see a Large Cappuccino drive off on the top of a brand new navy, Jaguar S-Type (read: expensive, posh car). Thinking of you all, I began the search through my bag (with one eye on the Capp) only to watch the - now embarrased - driver stop and try to re-park (what was he thinking??) before grabbing his Capp and then driving off.

It was about this time I found my camera (the mobile still sitting in my pocket) and snapped off the photo as fast as I could.The blue Jeep you can see parking gives you an indication of how long a parking spot sits vacant in Waterloo.

Bollywood!

Well, it's official... Bollywood fans - you have your revenge! As most of you would know I can't stand Bollywood films. Though, today I found myself accepting a role as an 'extra' in a Bollywood Feature Film! ;)

It is a paid job - and my first paid one since being in London! I'm planning on spending the money on some red meat. mmmmm... The night shoot is next week and my role is a passenger on a train; obviously a very skilled role and one that will require lots of character development. :) All the same, it's going to be exciting to have the experience of being part of a feature film and seeing people make a serious movie - even if it is Bollywood!

Look out for "Scotland Express" - the next Bollywood Feature Film by KB Productions and you may just some of my hair or maybe - if you're lucky - some of my arm!
Keep you in the loop about the film.

Easter Photos

Hey there, we're trialling a way of posting photos from our exploits (or whatever happens) so you can see (and comment) while avoiding long loading times for the main site.
Please let us know how this works - together with suggestions/offers for help ☺
Click here to check out the photos.

Punching the Gap

On my ride in to work this morning I was coming down through lower Haymarket (sounds all too much like Sydney) I was accelerating away from stand-still - still riding slowly as I was hemmed in by double-decker buses on three sides - when a motorcycle courier came down the right-hand side of the road (on the other half of the road) and swooped into my little gap with me. (For the Mums: I knew where I was going, so I just moved over and gave him some room. No problems ☺ ). We were coming up to a tight left-hand corner when he decided to 'bus hop' his way forward. As the buses started to bend around to the left a *small* gap opened up between the bus in front and the one on my left. Stepping on the gas, he punched the gap and ducked through even as the buses were straightening up and gap was closing. It was all over in about 3 seconds, and I'd say he made it by 2 inches. Those guys (and girls) are crazy.

For the record, I was fine. As the motorbike went left, I was left with all the space in the world to exit right and head down a mostly vacant street (up to another set of Red lights). And No; I didn't get a photo.

Spare Keys, 15 Miles & Yorkshire Pudding

Matt and I travelled up to Flitwick on Good Friday night to see Nikki Baggaley. We worked out it has been more than 5 years since we've seen each other, (Matt and I weren't even dating then), but we had such a great time, it felt like yesterday.
When we arrived, it didn't take long to see that Nikki was up to the same old tricks. (Hi Nikki! ☺) She had locked herself out of her house. :0) Apparently she has a bit of a reputation for doing this, as we found out from half the congregation at her Church on Sunday morning, who had already heard about 'the incident' on Friday night.
Saturday was a great day for a casual walk. Now, if you know Nikki, you know she likes to walk. Our casual walk turned in to an EPIC 15 mile trek!! We thought she was taking us to see her parents in Edinborough! By night time, we very happily sat down to dinner and a couple of movies (I even stayed awake for both of them - much to Matt's surprise).
Easter Sunday: We walked another 5 miles to get to Nikki's church (no public transport) for the Easter Service. A beautiful service celebrating the true meaning of Easter. It was lovely to meet some of Nikki's friends, and some of the youth she teaches at "Friday Club" (youth group).
Another 5 miles later, Nikki treated us to a mouth watering 'Traditional English Sunday Lunch" of Beef, Potatoes, Vegetables and of course Yorkshire Pudding. We ate better this last weekend than we have for the past 5 weeks - thanks Nikki! The best part was when we were walking home, we could smell the beef cooking as we approached the flat. Mmmmm!
We reminisced about old times in college and shared memories from times apart. She misses lots of the College gang and is thinking of going over to Aus sometime soon.

So.. look out... and make sure you've got a spare key to your house.

A Good Friday Was Had by All

I'm sitting in our local cafe - where Jo must have been sitting about four hours ago when she posted 'Good Friday' - having just finished a six hour shift at Evans.
Today's been pretty hard for both of us. While we're both really looking forward to a weekend out of town with Nikki Baggaley (who some of you will remember from college), we're both also feeling quite a distance from friends, family and many of the 'familar things' we do with them at Easter time.
One of the polish guys at work played 'Land Down Under' by Men At Work today and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry ☺
It did make my Vegemite sandwich taste a lot nicer though.

Happy Easter.

Cycle Commuting on a Monopoly Board

I started cycling to work last week (after my helmet arrived at the store) and last night was the first time I didn’t get lost. ☺
In my defence, I do devote most of my attention to not getting run over by buses or swiped by taxis, and when the road is clear I spend more time watching the Monopoly board go passed than thinking about directions.
As the attached link shows, my homeward commute starts at Waterloo and after heading across the Thames, I skoot down The Strand (past the theatres currently showing Chicago and Stomp) and on through Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square (the home of those enormous lions - that look more like big dogs - and Nelson's Colonnade). I have been trying to turn up Regent St, but have kept missing the turn off (until tonight!) so head down Pall Mall and up St James St instead. This then means I have to choose between Piccadilly (and a crazy 6-lane version of the Arch de Triumph) or about 1km of one-way streets (coming at me) up through Mayfair.
Tonight I did find Regent St and took Oxford (at Oxford Circus - funnily enough) down to Marble Arch. Marble Arch is slightly better than the round-a-bout near Piccadilly as it’s 5 lanes instead of 6; from there it's a relatively easy ride along the top of Hyde Park, to Bayswater.

All up, I cover 3 sides of the Monopoly board and save around $1620 on accommodation (assuming they all have at least 4 houses) ☺

(Quedos to anyone who can tell me the exact amount I would save assuming 4 houses and no mortgages ☺ )

Good Friday

I went along to St Helen's Anglican Church, Bishopsgate for their Good Friday service.

While the Underground (more fondly known as "The Tube") is excellent most of the time, Engineering works tend to limit services on weekends. Being Good Friday and a Long Weekend, the 'ol English were a little put out by the changes.

The service was beautiful, mostly of readings from Jesus' last days and The Last Supper and then of course 'Good Friday'. In between readings we sang songs where the church was alive with voices sung out with thankfulness to God. There was an item played; a piece by J.S Bach with Continuo, Bassoon, Violin and Flute with a Solo Baritone. It was absolutely amazing - would have paid to go and see it. Rob - I wish you were here to hear it.

And then, what better way to celebrate than with fresh, oven baked Hot Cross Buns and English Tea.

Views of the Studio (from the outside)

Sorry about the brief absence (Jo's been keeping the fort admirably). We've had a chance to grab some photos of the outside of the studio from the road.

As you can see, the house is an old style (for Australia at least) Victorian Terrace that has been converted in to a series of studios and 1&2 beds. You may be able to see that the landlord is in the process of converting the house two doors down (to the right) into the same style of accommodation.

The area is fantastic. Our street is basically an entire row of terraces just like ours. Many of them have been internally converted to multi-flat apartments or to B&B or short-stay Hotels (of varying price levels) - so if you do come and stay and decide that our studio really is too small, then you won't have to go far. ☺

More to follow about the area - including photos. Stay tuned.

Hyde Park

I 'stumbled across' Hyde Park this morning. I knew there was a park near our house but I had no idea how excellent it was. Matthew - thank you for finding this place!! I love you!
The park is probably about ten times the size of Hyde Park in Sydney. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining (third time this year), people were out walking, running, pushing their prams (don't get any ideas mums). As I ran along I could also enjoy the smell of freshly brewed coffee from the cafe in the middle of the park.
I could almost hear the collective sigh: "Spring is finally here".

Go here, if you would like to check out my running track on a satellite map. ☺

Moving "When I Was Your Age"

When I was your age, we had to move houses on public transport. We packed everything we owned – and it wasn’t half as much as you kids nowadays – into suitcases and shopping bags - not our shopping bags mind you, we had to sneak them from our old landlord while she was at work. We ate soup for a whole month just so we could catch the bus to the train station. We had to change trains 3 times – in those days the train lines were all on different levels – and had to carry our luggage up to street level at the last stop. We carried the bags to the landlord’s place and then on to ours and up the four flights of stairs to our studio – and we were thankful – but not half as thankful as we were after we finished the second trip...

Lights Out

Sat night tonight. Matt was working and the guys from work were going to have a beer at The White Hart which is what they like to call their local.
Afterwards matt and I went to a cheap place to eat (even I couldn't stand soup again! - Matthew says he could empathise) and I went to the toilet which was next to the kitchen and as I went to turn the toilet light on, I flicked the wrong switch and plunged the whole kitchen, cooks and kitchen hands in to darkness..... the only part of the cafe that was lit up was where matt and the waiter were laughing at me. :)

Holidays Already

I have only worked for two and a half weeks in London and it is term break already. I guess I came at the right time of year.

Happy Holidays everyone :0)

xo jo

Room for Let

We put a deposit down on a cosy studio in Bayswater (just next to Kensington, London) about an hour ago.

Jo immediately wanted to celebrate with champagne at our local, but after checking the £-to-$ exchange rate, we've ducked into Cafe Nero (like Gloria Jeans) for a two-for-one coffee. ☺

The place is great. It is a medium sized, open-plan studio that has been fully furnished by the Agent. We've agreed to return this time next week and pay the bond (standard 4weeks rent) and a month's rent next week, so we should be moving in sometime around the 5th or 6th of April.

The estate agents own the whole house - together with another couple of houses in the same stretch of the street - and are in the process of remodelling them all into studio apartments. Our studio seems to have been remodelled about a year or so ago, so still looks quite new and 'fresh' (always important when the mums come to stay).

For all those who are interested in 'the area': I understand Westminster Council operated Council Benefit Housing (euphanism for Housing Commission) along some of Inverness Terrace about 10-15 years ago, but sold the last of these off to private investors quite a few years ago leaving quite a modern 'refurbed' feel to the area.

Stay tuned for more news, including a photo, but in the mean time, check out a map of the place (here) thanks to our friends at Google.

London is a Funny Place

London is a funny place.

Unlike Sydney where you can pretty much know that the Eastern Suburbs are (fill in the blank), the Western Suburbs are…………., and the Northern Beaches are…………. Well, here, as most of you will I know, London is set up in Zones. Zone One is the Centre of the city and the most expensive, out to Zone 6. Though, it is not as black and white as that either. You can be in a really lovely area in a good zone, in a beautiful street. Then....you walk two streets down and there is utter chaos. So, as you can imagine, it's hard to find accommodation.

Terrific Day at School

Had a terrific day at school yesterday. I went to a school in Ewell West (got lost on the way, but that’s beside the point, it’s the trouble of a supply teacher’s existence) an all boys school – Glyn Technology. Ah…. I think it has restored my faith in teaching in London. (That’s a bit dramatic isn’t it). ☺
The students were absolutely beautiful, they were so eager to learn and so willing to answer questions and were very well behaved.
I shadowed a student for the whole day as his 'special needs assistant'. I was warned by the Head of Special Ed and the Deputy Head about the student's past and his 'problems' , or 'diagnosis'. Though praise to God, this year 7 boy was an absolute angel the whole day. He seemed to respond to me really well.

A great day.

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day. The sun has been shining for the last hour; when I put my hand on the window the cold doesn't bite the back of my hand. I didn't even have to put gloves on for breakfast...

It's amazing how much the weather affects people here. It seems I'm told by most people I meet that 'winter' has lasted for an extra couple weeks this year. It's not just the cold, but the constant overcast and 'English weather'. It really seems to be on people's mind most of the time. A Polish friend asked yesterday why "the Brits didn't leave the convicts here and all move to Australia...?"

Here's to hoping Spring is here to stay - or at least the sun has gained a foothold.

Off to work for me.

Dance Classes

I have been going along to Pineapple Studios which is kind of like Sydney Dance Company. However Sydney Dance Co classes have about 4 classes per day; possibly 16 classes on a Saturday. Pineapple on the other hand, has about 40 classes per day and 12 studios.
That said though, the contemporary is limited. But, the jazz is amazing – and really hard!

I was given some advice from people in Dublin about some fantastic places to go for contemporary classes. In Euston there is a place called “The Place” that have professional contemporary classes daily – went to a couple this week and I was really impressed. Yay!

The expereience has been so valuable already.

Third Day at School

Well Praise God – it was not as bad as Friday – in fact it was a beautiful day. I went to a school in Morden called Malmsbury Primary School. I taught year 2 and year 5 literacy and maths and then Reception (Kindergarten) music where we sang songs.

A very enjoyable day. Thank you Lord! Maybe I should stick to Primary while I’m over here – well at least until I get a role in a show! ☺

Summer May Come

Well, we felt warmth from the sun for the first time yesterday...
We were walking to our local bus stop on the way to Church and by the time we arrived at the bus stop the clouds had come over and the wind had picked back up (but what else would you expect from a bus stop ? ) - still there was about 2min of respite from the winter. Maybe - just maybe - summer will come.
Back to 5 degrees again today...

St Patrick’s Day!

Fun Fun Fun! After my shocking day at John Paul II, Matt and I have a lovely night out. It was the first time we have been out in London. We went to Thai Restaurant around the corner from where Matt works – they had a really great deal and the food was scrumptious. Although, that may be because we’ve been having soup and bread every night for two weeks!

After dinner we trekked down to South Wimbledon and went to a very non-touristy, good ‘ol local Irish Pub to have a Guinness. The pub was packed, and there was a terrible sound coming from the corner (read: bag-pipes). For some reason, last night they didn’t seem as obnoxious as they usually are.

The atmosphere was great – lots of fun chatting with the Irish. The Guinness was disgusting but I got through it – had to - it was St Pat’s day wasn’t it…?

Our flat mate kept laughing at us for calling it St Pat's day. She'd never heard anyone call it anything but St Patrick's Day.

Happy St Pat's Day. To you too Pat! :)

Almost Rugby

I am working with Protocol Teachers at the moment, which is a teaching agency.

The way it works - I ring each morning I want to work and if there's work (which there usually is) they book me up. It is usually general cover, though sometimes it is a little more specialised.

This morning I rang to announce my avialability and there was no work..... until about 9am when I was asked to coach Rugby all day at a Senior Boys school in the South of London.

HA!

Job Openings

Rick, thought you'd be interested in this one; the JustRail.net (UK Rail Recruitment Site) says they "are seeking Metro Engineers" for their South London Office.

Jo and I immediately thought of you and your stylish business shirts...
More here.