Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Christmas 2005
hey y'all hope you all had wonderful christmases!
Mine turned out way better than I was expecting, was pretty down about the whole thing leading up to it, but things started to get better when on Christmas Eve I got my first pressie - my bosses gave me a sterling silver braclet from Tiffany's and a bottle of champaign! Not that its all about the presants but it was such a surprise, how lovely huh. Anyways, back to the tip that has been the squat recently, its been left a little worse for wear. I did a whole stack of washing up, then went and called home as it was already xmas in NZ, great chat with my wonderful family. Back to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail (we are the Knights of Nee!!) before out again to check the local skip - you can not imagine our suprise when we found a skip FULL of beer - unopened boxes of really flash Belgium stuff usually five quid for a four pack!!! So sent for reinforcements and got it all home, plus lots of nice food like dips, nuts, fresh orange juice, and even a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings (not that that excited me too much, but still!)...
So you can maybe picture the next few days, beer on tap and lots of christmas spirit!
Christmas day was lovely, up round noon to a lovely sunny winters day, got on my bike and cycled along the canal and into Victoria park - it was lovely but a little depressing seeing families out and about togetherfor brandy coffee and to my suprise, gift giving! Totally wasn't expecting it but some folks had got little gifts for the others - I got a Sudoku book!
We did lots of dancing, especially to Paula's great lounge music CD she got for xmas - its so ultra cheesey! I cooked up a big traditional roast dinner (including the turkey!) which went down well. A mate and I went down the road to another squat - in a fire station! Its really massive and hung round there for a while for a change of scenery. Back home and think I hit the hay about 5am :)
Boxing day was more of the same, managed to finish the last of the beer, watched some DVDs and ate left overs. So all in all, a lovely christmas, had a lot of fun even tho it was slightly crazy.
Oh and its been snowing! Came a bit late for a white christmas but still lovely, doesn't settle for long cos london is so warm but has stayed around for a while.. needless to say its VERY cold outside!! (but my room is cozy as)
Well, the merriment continues, a birthday party at ours tonight, a film night after critical mass on Friday and then New Years! Phew! Hope everyone has a great night and look foward to hearing from you all next year!!
Gotta run, so love to you all
claire xxx
Mine turned out way better than I was expecting, was pretty down about the whole thing leading up to it, but things started to get better when on Christmas Eve I got my first pressie - my bosses gave me a sterling silver braclet from Tiffany's and a bottle of champaign! Not that its all about the presants but it was such a surprise, how lovely huh. Anyways, back to the tip that has been the squat recently, its been left a little worse for wear. I did a whole stack of washing up, then went and called home as it was already xmas in NZ, great chat with my wonderful family. Back to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail (we are the Knights of Nee!!) before out again to check the local skip - you can not imagine our suprise when we found a skip FULL of beer - unopened boxes of really flash Belgium stuff usually five quid for a four pack!!! So sent for reinforcements and got it all home, plus lots of nice food like dips, nuts, fresh orange juice, and even a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings (not that that excited me too much, but still!)...
So you can maybe picture the next few days, beer on tap and lots of christmas spirit!
Christmas day was lovely, up round noon to a lovely sunny winters day, got on my bike and cycled along the canal and into Victoria park - it was lovely but a little depressing seeing families out and about togetherfor brandy coffee and to my suprise, gift giving! Totally wasn't expecting it but some folks had got little gifts for the others - I got a Sudoku book!
We did lots of dancing, especially to Paula's great lounge music CD she got for xmas - its so ultra cheesey! I cooked up a big traditional roast dinner (including the turkey!) which went down well. A mate and I went down the road to another squat - in a fire station! Its really massive and hung round there for a while for a change of scenery. Back home and think I hit the hay about 5am :)
Boxing day was more of the same, managed to finish the last of the beer, watched some DVDs and ate left overs. So all in all, a lovely christmas, had a lot of fun even tho it was slightly crazy.
Oh and its been snowing! Came a bit late for a white christmas but still lovely, doesn't settle for long cos london is so warm but has stayed around for a while.. needless to say its VERY cold outside!! (but my room is cozy as)
Well, the merriment continues, a birthday party at ours tonight, a film night after critical mass on Friday and then New Years! Phew! Hope everyone has a great night and look foward to hearing from you all next year!!
Gotta run, so love to you all
claire xxx
Monday, December 19, 2005
Tis the season
yup Christmas surely has snuck up fast, haven't really had much to do with it this year though - been a bit weird being away from home and it being, like, winter! But does make wearing a Santa suit and all the snow stuff make a bit more sense and the Christmas lights in London are rather pretty.
Talking about Santa - went out on Saturday for a bit with 200 or so other jolly red folks - part of the world wide 'Santa-con' phenomenon, however unlike the Auckland event, this one was completely harmless and non newsworthy. Can you believe one of the only NZ news stories to make it into British papers this year was the one about the out-of-control kiwi Santas!? ahh the pride just swells up in me.
Went to see Fat Freddies Drop last week, oh me oh my it was fantastic!! Such a great gig (my second since coming to London, spoilt or what!) I was almost in heaven. Went with chch mate Juliet and some folks she knew from back home - the old stereotype rang true when it turned out there was a link somewhere with almost all of them! Nice to hang out with some fellow kiwis cos don't really come across many, a few come into work though.
Work is cool - doing 30ish hours a week now, its easy peasy and a nice crew, and its shut between xmas and new years so looking forward to 10 days off! Not that I have much planned, probably just hang out - but might try a trip somewhere, Cornwalls on the cards. Only other trip out of the big smoke since Germany was to Colchester for a 3 year olds birthday party - Ben who used to live with us and the rest of his family had a bunch of us over for the weekend...
'Big Smoke' has never been so true the last week or so, guess you might have heard about the oil depot blast north of the city - gross black clouds hang overhead and makes the air even more disgusting for biking round in.
Squat is pretty groovy still, very dynamic with new people arriving and always lots of Visitors, now have a Scottish, Swis and a Pol to add to the international mix. Had another film night last Friday, not huge numbers but a great night none-the-less. And we skipped a shit load of fruit and vege from a big wholesalers market in the morning (thanks to a housemate and their car) and cooked up an absolute feast for everyone. We are still living off the food haul - I've said it before but I'll say it again, so much food gets chucked away in London, and all over the place - it really should be criminal but at the moment it means we pay next to nothing to eat pretty darn well...
Christmas should be another such example, a big banquet is planned and a nice, merry day with some lovely people is the idea... gonna miss my family and mates of course - sending big love and hugs over to you all xxx
Well, on that note I'll wind things up, lots of eggnog and chestnuts roasting on an open fire to you all
claire
PS. another example of the exorbedant London prices - Christmas trees here will set you back the equivalent of about $60! And they are strange little things too. Crazy.
PPS. It gets dark at about 3.30pm these days, but with the passing of the winter solstice on Tuesday the days will be getting longer again - thank goodness!
Talking about Santa - went out on Saturday for a bit with 200 or so other jolly red folks - part of the world wide 'Santa-con' phenomenon, however unlike the Auckland event, this one was completely harmless and non newsworthy. Can you believe one of the only NZ news stories to make it into British papers this year was the one about the out-of-control kiwi Santas!? ahh the pride just swells up in me.
Went to see Fat Freddies Drop last week, oh me oh my it was fantastic!! Such a great gig (my second since coming to London, spoilt or what!) I was almost in heaven. Went with chch mate Juliet and some folks she knew from back home - the old stereotype rang true when it turned out there was a link somewhere with almost all of them! Nice to hang out with some fellow kiwis cos don't really come across many, a few come into work though.
Work is cool - doing 30ish hours a week now, its easy peasy and a nice crew, and its shut between xmas and new years so looking forward to 10 days off! Not that I have much planned, probably just hang out - but might try a trip somewhere, Cornwalls on the cards. Only other trip out of the big smoke since Germany was to Colchester for a 3 year olds birthday party - Ben who used to live with us and the rest of his family had a bunch of us over for the weekend...
'Big Smoke' has never been so true the last week or so, guess you might have heard about the oil depot blast north of the city - gross black clouds hang overhead and makes the air even more disgusting for biking round in.
Squat is pretty groovy still, very dynamic with new people arriving and always lots of Visitors, now have a Scottish, Swis and a Pol to add to the international mix. Had another film night last Friday, not huge numbers but a great night none-the-less. And we skipped a shit load of fruit and vege from a big wholesalers market in the morning (thanks to a housemate and their car) and cooked up an absolute feast for everyone. We are still living off the food haul - I've said it before but I'll say it again, so much food gets chucked away in London, and all over the place - it really should be criminal but at the moment it means we pay next to nothing to eat pretty darn well...
Christmas should be another such example, a big banquet is planned and a nice, merry day with some lovely people is the idea... gonna miss my family and mates of course - sending big love and hugs over to you all xxx
Well, on that note I'll wind things up, lots of eggnog and chestnuts roasting on an open fire to you all
claire
PS. another example of the exorbedant London prices - Christmas trees here will set you back the equivalent of about $60! And they are strange little things too. Crazy.
PPS. It gets dark at about 3.30pm these days, but with the passing of the winter solstice on Tuesday the days will be getting longer again - thank goodness!
