London Day Five

Helen arrived by train first thing in the morning, having caught the sleeper train down from Edinburgh. I meet her at Edgeware Road station to hand her our suitcase, as I’d checked out of the hotel. I leave her to go shopping and sightseeing for the day while I head to training.

My final day of training goes fast and we finish early. Then I head over to meet Helen at the Hilton. After a while, we head off to dinner. My trainer recommended a Mexican restaurant called Wahuca. I was warned there would be a long wait, but worth it. First of all we need to get there, it’s near Covent Garden and getting their during peak hour on the underground is rather crowded.

We arrive, and begin to queue. That takes perhaps 10 minutes to get to the man who tells us it’s a 1 hour wait. Well we’re here now, let’s wait! Our wait ends up being 1 ½ hours. A real test of patience. Anyway once seated, we’re all happy. I’d describe this place as a Mexican version of Wagamana. The placemat is the menu, waiters circle on it what you order, and orders arrive in the order they’re cooked rather than all at once. We choose the Wahaca Selection, a fine choice in retrospect. It provides a varied selection and no shortage of food. The service is fast and friendly and the margaritas are just lovely. We leave around 11pm to head home via the tubes.

London Baby!!!!

With getting a great sleep on the train and my early arrive in London this morning I was able to meet up with Mike at Edgeware Road tube station to get our suite case off him while he was on his way to his course. I then made my way to our Hotel, Hilton London Metropole hotel. I wasn't able to check in straight away, at 8.30am that was to be expected. They stored my bags and I was off ready for shopping, so Selfridges on Oxford Street was my first point of call, they have, Christian Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and many other stores all on the ground floor. I have been looking for an ID wallet for Mike and I, we had look a couple of weeks previous at LV in Edinburgh, but didn't have everything in stock. Well I have to say it was all pretty sad I didn't buy anything!!!!...I even had approval to purchase from Mike but didn't, that is what happens when I can't find what I am looking for (well behaved of me I think).

I headed back to the hotel around lunch time to check into our room. Our room was on the 7th floor and was bigger than I expected. For £48 a night including breakfast, it was in a great location.Once I was checked in and freshened up I headed off to the Victoria and Albert Museum. On the way I passed the National History Museum, although I didn't go in the building was just beautiful.

I have been wanting to spend some time at V&A, from first seeing the building I was blown away.

V&A have a hugh Textiles department that I have itching to spend some time in, well some time I did, a few hours. But the rest of the museum was also just as fascinating. The sculpture section interested me, the size of he pieces on display in the Cast Courts were just hugh, live size, it was just like being in Rome again.

By 5.30pm I was back in our room just in time for Mike to arrive from his course.

London Sleeper

Well last night I hopped on the Caledonian Sleeper train around 11pm. Check-in was nice and easy, there is a steward at each carriage marking your arrival and preferred breakfast drink for the morning. I made my way to my cabin, not long after I arrived my room mate arrived (I purchased a ticket where you double up with a another female ). We both decided to remake our beds, as they like to tuck the duvet and bottom sheet in together so when you pull the duvet out the sheet came with it, why not use fitted sheets!!!....anyway.....my room mate decided to head for the bar, me, I was off to bed, I figured it might be a long night. Well I have to say I don't remember the train leaving Edinburgh, sometime around 2am I woke up, train must have stopped suddenly or something, and then not again until 5.30am. All in all great way to travel to London, beds are a good size, and I would say the bed is long enough for even Mike to sleep in. Will definitely be the way we travel to London from now on. The train arrives around 6.45am, but you don't need to leave until 8am. With breakfast included it is a better option than a flight with bed berths starting @ £19 if you book well in advance, standard price is £49 still a bargain if you ask me.

London Day Four

Today was a little different. Our course took a break for one day as it coincided with Spring Exchange 2009. This was just around the corner from our training venue, in the Old Sessions House. This is a beautiful building, both inside and out. It’s an old court house, now a conference centre and now owned by a Masonic trust.

Spring Exchange was a mixed bag. It was nice to get to hear Rod Johnson speak, and interesting to hear talks such as what’s new in Spring 3.0, which reinforced the training I have been receiving all week. Some of it was a little like a sales pitch, pushing their own dm Server and tc Server. The last session sounded less interesting, so I skipped our early for something more interesting…

I grabbed a train (or three) to find my way to the O2 Arena (formerly the Millenium Dome).


Here I went to see the BodyWorlds exhibition. For those of you who don’t know what this is, a chap called Dr Gunther von Hagens invented a means of essentially turning biological specimens (such as people :-) into a plastic form that looks as real as it did before, but it doesn't perish or smell. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to see this, but a kind of morbid fascination drew me in. I will admit to needing a nervous pee before entering. The exhibit was incredible, allowing laymen to learn all about the human body by actually seeing it. Different cross-sections, and ways of layering the specimens, allow us to see how every part of the human body is constructed. It’s truly amazing. I think the hardest part to see, and what would put many people off, is seeing babies in varying stages, they show fetuses from only a few days old, right through to newborn. They also had an array of mammals including rabbit, horse, and a full size giraffe which was just incredible. Those not put off by what I've said here can view promotional images here on the official website. Sadly I was not allowed to take my own photos.

Once finished there, and admiring the O2 venue, I headed to Westminster to walk around a little to see sights I've seen before. It was cold, but in an hour of walking I saw Downing Street (well actually a set of iron gates guarded by armed Police), Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (small after York Minster), the Thames.

All this was nice to see again, but I did get a first, I saw a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 drive past up Whitehall. What a beautiful car!

London Day Three

Same again for the day. There's not much to report, I am learning as much as I can in training.

In the evening, I head out to Willesden Junction, where Jackie lives, to meet her for dinner again. She brings along a friend too, Taran, a Kiwi visiting from Bath. This time, we meet at a quite new Brazilian restaurant called Amber Grill. Here there is a buffet of salads, vegetables, and some fish and chicken, but the main event is that they have meat cooking on large metal skewers on a BBQ, which they bring to the table one by one, and cut pieces off as you request. There’s quite a variety, and we try all of it, including sausages, various beef cuts, lamb and chicken heart. We all cautiously try a heart; they are small and chewy, not my personal favourite but I’ve had worse.


After dinner, to return to my hotel, I brave the buses, as that it far quicker than using the train. It is more difficult at night, in a strange town, knowing where to stop the bus. But I managed alright. Phew!

London Day Two

Commuting again. The course starts later so I leave later, so the train is busier. Enough said. Another excellent day of training.

I am to meet my cousin Jackie for dinner. I walked back to Chancery Lane to get the Central Line west a few stops. The station is packed with people! Apparently there is a problem with the east-bound train elsewhere, and the platform is full. It is too dangerous to let anybody else down in case someone gets pushed onto the tracks. The crowds aren’t happy. A few times, the poor station pleb is yelling to inform all that we have to wait at least 15 minutes as the eastern platform is full. I take matters into my own hands. I yell out “what about us who want to go west?” His witty and sarcastic reply was “and what do you expect us to do, only let people in who want to go west?” to which I reply “YEAH!” and approximately half the crowd mutter in support. He suddenly disappears… only to return a few minutes later and start to organise letting us wetbound people through. Win!

I get on my merry way, and rendezvous with Jackie at Oxford Circus.

Dinner with Jackie is nice, she takes me to a nice restaurant, called Yauatcha, which I’d describe as a trendy up-market dim-sum restaurant. The food was fantastic, the cocktails amazing, the atmosphere most enjoyable. It wasn’t that expensive, but only when writing this blog and reading their website did I discover they are Michelin starred. No wonder it was so good! Jackie and I haven’t seen each other for at least a decade, so no shortage of conversation. We follow up with a drink at a nearby pub, then depart via the subway later in the evening. Nice to catch up with you Jackie.

London Day One

My first day commuting into the city for training.

I walked to Ealing Broadway to get the Central Line straight to Chancery Lane. The train starts out comfortable as Ealing Broadway is the beginning of the line, but gets more and more crowded towards the centre of London. I quietly remind myself this is why I didn’t want to live in London, and that I don't like commuting like a sardine in a can.

Of particular interest was the building my training was in, at 1 Sekforde St, which is an interesting corner location, shaped like a wedge. Inside it's an interesting space, a labyrinth of corridors and stairways, full of creative companies such as architects, designers, advertisers etc. The building was purchased back in the 70's by Pink Floyd, and used as a recording studio, and I am told it's still owned by Nick Mason. I spend all week worshiping the ground I walk on.

Travelling to London

I'm off to London! The plan was simple, catch a 7:30pm flight from Edinburgh to Luton airport. That was the easy part.

The flight was with EasyJet, who I was very impressed with. The plane was clean and modern, and the service friendly. There’s no seat allocation, people board in sections, so I scored myself an aisle seat forward of the wings. This ensured a smooth and quiet flight.

Once in Luton, the fun really began. The luggage took a long time to arrive, then I caught a shuttle bus to catch the train, which I just made in time by running with suitcase in tow. The train took me to St Pancras Station, my favourite London station by far, then I walked over to Kings Cross and caught another train out to Ealing Common where I was booked to stay. The result was I didn’t arrive until well past 11pm. Off to sleep, ready for a busy week ahead, on my Spring training course.

Robbie Burns Day

Today is Robbie Burns Day. Well, I hope that's what it's called. Usually people refer to "Robbie Burns Night" when they will have a Burns Supper, as the supper is what it's all about. So perhaps it's "Robbie Burns Night" Day?

Anyway there will be no Burns Supper for me tonight, as I am flying to London at 7:30pm. And Helen isn't keen on eating Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.

Today Helen and I went to the Guilty Lily for lunch, this is officially our closest pub / restaurant and opened since we moved in. We went there for a bite of lunch. I had "7 sins", which is a full cooked breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, you get the idea!) and included haggis on the plate. Just enough for a taster. That was my way of honouring dear old Robbie Burns. And you know, it was quite tasty!

Today is especially important in Scotland as it's the 250th anniversary of Robbie Burns' birthday. In a show of particularly poor planning, the Burns Monument on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is currently covered in scaffolding.

Off To London Tomorrow

I am off to London for the week. I am attending a Spring training course. All you Java programmers out there will know what that is and may nod accordingly. I shall report on my trip when I return.

Tourists In Our Own Town

Today the weather forecast for the day turned out fine.

Helen and I decided, spur of the moment, to head into town and book all three tours with Edinburgh Bus Tours. Having lived here a while, it was nice to get driven around, learning more about the city and its attractions, without feeling a need to maniacally photograph everything in site. Unsurprisingly, the tours took us to areas of town we are now well familiar with, but we also went to parts of town I had never been to before.

Helen had done some of the tours before, and researched what they were. The Majestic Tour was supposed to include a boat ride on the Firth of Forth. The ticket lady recommended that we "do the majestic tour first while the sun is on the water" which reinforced what we thought we knew. Disappointingly we were mistaken. We didn't ask, but assume the boat tour is a summer activity only.

Each bus tour overlaps in the inner city as they all leave from the same location. Although each tour has their own narration, each with its own flavour, I was getting a little bored with hearing the same information about certain landmarks. Luckily for me, City Sightseeing has headsets with different soundtracks, one is "Horrible Histories". It was fun to hear about notorious crimes and people, and where they were caught, hung and laid to rest.

We will need to investigate the boat trip when the days get a longer (a lot longer)!

Mike and his dessert

On most Fridays Mike and I go to a different restaurant we like as a weekly treat. Tonight I had to make my way on the buses to meet Mike up not far from his work. He had seen this pub that runs a 2 for 1 special on mains. The meal was good, but I think you could say that Mike enjoyed the dessert more :o)

Lauriston Castle

This afternoon Mike and I decided to make our way to Lauriston Castle. The bus ride there only took us around 40 mins with one bus change. The castle and its land sits on the coast not far from Edinburgh airport, and is apart of the Leith coast line. Just a small castle compared to most, and was lived in until the 1920's. And was then donated to Edinburgh.

We arrived a bit late to go in, they have tours during the weekend which we were interested in doing. We will have to go back another time, but decided to have a good look around the grounds while we were there.

The view from the house must be beautiful, it was amazing from the front lawn.

Fame!....I'm gonna live forever...

Tonight Mike and I had tickets to Fame, at "The Playhouse" in Edinburgh, which is next to the Omni Centre.

We started the evening off by going to Lloyds Bar at the Omni for a drink and dinner. Very nice by the way, it is more of a bar and it doesn't have that pub feel.

The show started at 7.30, so we headed on next door around 7.15 to find our seats. There were not as many people there as I would have expected, but the house would have been a good half to 2/3rds full. The stage looked great (sorry pics aren't that good)



The time just flew by, it was amazing, the cast were so talented, and the story line was pretty good, makes me want to see the movie and TV show again.

(Had to add the above in, had a good telling off for taking it!)

The show lasted at good 2 and a half hours with only a 15 mins interval. If you happen to be in the UK and can get tickets while it is on it's UK tour I would definitely recommend it.

Shopping Time!

Today Helen and I got some retail therapy.

When we flew to the UK, both Helen and I came with only two suitcases each, containing mostly work clothes and not much casual. As it turns out, both of us dress casual at work. So we felt some new wardrobe was "needed".

Today we went to The Centre, a really large mall in Livingstone, an hour from home. This mall is so large, it has three McDonalds in it, so there's always one where you need it. We really just went for a look, honest! We came home loaded. Four pairs of shoes, six shirts, bed linen, pillows, and most importantly we got at least 5kg of yummy goodies from Cadbury's factory outlet shop.


Additionally, Zavvi is closing. They are a CD/DVD chain store similiar to HMV except that HMV haven't gone into administration. Zavvi's loss is our gain, we picked up a pile of heavily reduced DVDs a week ago.

With the credit crunch, almost every shop here has sales. Even banks now have the big red "SALE" signs in the windows. Prior to Christmas, sale items were perhaps 10% or 20% off RRP. Come Boxing Day, 20% became standard, more for some items. Come New Years, retailers were getting desperate for cashflow, and sales went as far as 50% off. Now, another week later, some retailers are showing up to 70% off some items. Incredible! It does numb the senses though. With "SALE" signs at every turn, it's hard to spot the real bargains.

People are still out there shopping, and are certainly buying judging by the bags they're carrying, and retailers are no doubt still getting cashflow, but I doubt that the cashflow carries much margin at present.

Anyway, today we are personally enjoying what may be the only benefit we receive from the credit crunch.

My quickest commute ever!

Tonight all the planets were in alignment. Well, not quite. But all buses ran to time; not necessarily to their timetable, but they all arrived just when I needed them. The result? A 1:00 hour commute home. That's a new record. Usually I can manage a 1:15 on a good day. So I was happy indeed!

Edinburgh Hogmanay 2008/2009

Well after a rather late arrival back from York the day before we decided we would sleep in New Years Eve day, after all it was going to be a long night!!!...and what a night Mike had planned for us.

To start with we had tickets to the Candlelit Concert at St Giles Cathedral which started at 7.30pm on the Royal Mile. Because the centre of the city gets closed off to traffic on new years eve this meant a bit of fun with buses. So around 5.45pm we headed out of the flat down the road to get a bus.

The doors to the Cathedral opened at 6.30pm so we were there just before 7.00pm to get a good seat. Mike and I had not been into St Giles before so were rather taken back by the feel of the place, it was just beautiful.

I think we will look at going back again to have a good look around in the near future.

The concert was amazing, all classical, with an orchestra, choir, and organ. The organ sounded just amazing, it just added to the feeling of the Cathedral.

After the concert finished we decided to go and find a bit to eat before heading for the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party. We had about an hour and half to fill in before the gates closed into the street part area. So we headed down the Royal Mile to a little Mexican restaurant I have been wanting to try out. As they were closing at 11.00pm we had just a couple of starts to share before heading back up the Royal Mile to "The Mound" entrance to the street party.

Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party has got to be one of the most exciting things I have ever done. With 15,000 people having tickets it was pretty amazing.

Because of the crowds Mike and I didn't make it off the Mound in the end, we walked down towards Princes Street but the crowd just got too thick and we couldn't see a thing, so made our way back up The Mound to find a good spot to watch the firework at the castle. I have to say I think all of the Kiwis and Australians in the UK where also celebrating with us in Edinburgh. One of the girls at work did say that it is mostly New Zealanders, Australians and South Africans that go... and she wasn't wrong.

Here is a video I took of the fireworks going off at midnight

Once "Old Lang Syne" finished the street party really started to begin. It was such an amazing feeling, I can see why they say it is one of the top 100 things to do in a lifetime.

The Scottish really do know how to do New Years Eve. The night ended with us being home by 1.30am New Years Day, I guess we didn't do the whole Scottish thing though, we didn't arrive home drunk :o)....maybe next year.