Flatwarming!

So having started work in June it was time to fly the (sister's) nest and find my own place. I did the usual internet searching but ended up answering something akin to a personal ad! ;o) No, not like that! But Carlee and I met up, decided we had comparable living requirements and set about finding a place to live. We moved into a cute little 'penthouse' apartment in King's Cross. Next step = Flatwarming!

The practice flatwarming - Carlee and neighbour Dan discussing the merits of BBQing indoors!

The Flatwarming Proper - with the recently liberated sister and bro-on-law!

And Vas brought cupcakes!!! I love my sis :-D

Nav and Carl

Niv & Nav :)

This somehow seems a funny pic, even tho Fraser is quite far from being a 'fattie' ;)


And last but definitely not least, courtesy of Mark, a photo of the Kings Quarter Crew - me, Steady, Fraser and Carlee. Steady and Fraser were our neighbours who we became firm friends with. Yes, I know, unheard of in a city like London!

Glasgow

I had to go up to Glasgow for work and managed to score a free afternoon before I had to head back down to London. Luckily it was a beautiful day and so we did a hop-on hop-off tour to check out the sights. We were a little busy nattering so weren't listening to the commentary very much so apologies for the lack of captioning... ;-/

Gotta love Art Deco :)

I am pretty sure this was in a square outside a bus station. Seems an apt kinda scultpure ;)

A most magnificent University!

Fous de Bassin

Some advertising about a performance on water, complete with fire caught my eye and decided it was worth checking out! http://www.festival.org/fousdebassin2009.htm

I dragged my soon to be neighbour Dan along... It ended up being quite a random show but some of it was spectacular!

Before it started

Ascot

The races at Ascot is often on of the 'to do' list of antipodeans in the UK. I decided to check out what the fuss was about in June

The Queen! Always a bonus

Some of the Queen's entourage I'm guessing, but definitely lower in the ranks - they only get brown horses!

The ever cute Alpie, with the most important part of the day - champagne!

Miss Ruth

Some racing...

Neela and me!

Lake District

Kendal was our stop in the Lake District. We didn't have great walking shoes so gave the surrounding peaks a miss and headed to the water instead.

Derwent Water

Luciane & Stella :o)

View from the boat

It's easy to smile when the sun's shining!

The shore of Derwent Water, complete with an Inukshuk!

A fern!

But alas, not a silver fern :(

The cutest couple, still holding hands after what I assume is many years together :)

Road Trippers with our trusty steed! Kindly lent to us by my sis and bro-in-law :-D

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Luciane and Stella, some Brazilian friends of mine came to visit in June and I managed to take a couple of days off to head up to Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Peak District. Here are some pics from Shakespeare's hometown.

Shakespeare's House

Shakespeare's House

Streetscape, Stratford style!

Boats at rest on the Avon

Arrival in London

These posts from 2009 are pretty much all being put in well after the fact so I'll dispense with the commentary (unless I'm very taken with something) but leave you with at least a bit of a photo journal.

Big Ben!

Jellyfish at London Aquarium

Fish and dinasours?

Pretty fish!