sw’as

Ho hum. Probably naïve of me, but I had no idea how focused London is on the finances of the world. UK television, newspapers, current affairs shows every single day are dominated by news of all the bank collapses and money woes and recession talk. It’s all a bit doom and gloom at the moment, isn’t it? For the first time in my life, I’m also in an industry (recruitment of all things) where people lose their jobs and lose them quickly. No fat cats at all, but people like secretaries, accountants, help desk workers, consultants and techies I was friends with, were among those quite suddenly told that their jobs no longer existed. It’s really sad and has been quite stressful for a lot of people in a lot of places.

Simon and I have been really fortunate and certainly feel lucky about our jobs. Simon has done the opposite and told his design agency that he is, in fact, leaving them to come back to Oz. And I have been given a sort-of, kind-of promotion, which I was really flattered by and so grateful for. No pay raise, as it’s probably a bit cheeky to ask for one of those. But I have been given extra things to work on and I continue to work with lovely, laid-back people. I have even tried my hand at helping to create some web pages for our company’s intranets around the world. Fellow web developer Simon went through a range of emotions: horror, amazement, eventually a lot of pride and even a little envy at my two-day-old skills I think.

We have had a really great month. I celebrated my 25th birthday with the best birthday I’ve had in years. Lovely friends Geoff and Terri somehow found my office and had a bottle of Moet delivered directly to my desk the afternoon of my birthday. As is the custom in my office, I supplied my colleagues with treats, and my pricey imported Tim Tams were exceedingly well-received. I found a restaurant housed in a former chocolate factory in my favourite area of London, the Southwark and Bankside neighbourhoods. So I had some great food and several and various drinks with friends old and new. I also received so many lovely cards, messages and parcels from home. And a great big sloppy kiss from Charlie.

Our friends Ellie and Mary – we knew Ellie from high school – are on a fantastic two month trip through Canada and Europe and our lounge room. They’re now in Switzerland, but will be back again at the end of November. We’ve had a great time and have loved being able to show them our favourite haunts like the Borough Markets. Other wonderful friend Moogs left London for good for sunny Queensland (really, really sunny Blackall to be exact.) I already miss her. Moogs and I had a ball together here and she has always managed to remind me of home. Now we can’t wait to have Nathan to visit – only a couple of weeks til he arrives. We’ve figured out that we actually have less than three weeks left with just the two of us in the house. The rest of it is booked up!

One awesome show and one less than awesome one. The official Shakespeare’s Globe season ends in October when summer has gone, and the theatre is cold and darker earlier. After the season they put on a range of winter shows, including a show that I really, really wanted to be good! The Burial at Thebes is an adaptation by Seamus Heaney based on one of my favourite plays, Antigone. It was supposed to be great: the play made into an opera - my second one ever – the Globe, a cushion, maybe even a brownie, etc, etc. We also had two of the best seats we’ve had in our five visits to the Globe this year. You’ve probably figured out how this story ends and it isn’t happily ever after all the way home. Simon really didn’t like it, I tried to focus on the good parts (there were indeed some), but I found myself frequently surprised when the singing would start up. Why don’t you just speak it?! I yelled inside my head. It’s a really good play! Just play it!

At the other end of the spectrum is the big musical Wicked, which has been to New York and Melbourne among others, and is probably one of the most popular musicals in London. I’d heard all but one raving review of the show and the all but one people were right. If you get the chance to go, you must go! The musical is based on a novel that was written in 1995 as the ‘untold story’ of the witches in The Wizard of Oz. Oh my goodness, it just has such a clever script, amazing costumes, excellent performances and a good message that didn’t whack me over the head with its teachiness. It was a really intelligent and fun show and I wish I’d written it.

Another craving for the countryside and the scones it promises meant that we took a train trip (only forty-eight minutes) up to Cambridge on Saturday with Bec and Aaron. Simon and I had stopped in Cambridge when we were here in 2004, but in 2004 it was cold outside and I was in the thick of The Da Vinci Code, so we stayed inside instead. What a mistake. I was pleasantly surprised to find Cambridge to be even nicer than lovely Oxford. It feels more expansive, with lots of big green lawns, strangely called ‘pieces’ and with more to see in general once you get past all the regular Cambridge things to see. We found some cute shopping spots, our beloved cream tea, as well as fish and chips overlooking the punters on the river. A perfect sunny autumn day.

Sadly we missed seeing my handsome little cousin Daryl marry Terrianne in Redcliffe on the weekend and I am eagerly awaiting photos. A big happy birthday to the father of Charlie, my brother-in-law Tony. And sorry about the opera comments, Uncle Alan, who is surely furious at me from somewhere inside a mine in South Australia. Thinking of you all and hoping you’re happy and well. Much love, Laura and Simon.

Greetings everyone! Happy holidays to all my teacher friends (remember I’m not one of you anymore, so you’d better enjoy.) How are the rest of you? I know the weather has been quite mild, except for Toowoomba of course.

We have obviously had some excitement in our lives this past week, although it’s certainly resulted in a desperate bout of homesickness. It seems everyone but us has met my lovely new nephew Charlie. Simon and I were absolutely thrilled with his arrival. After seemingly taking so long to get around to being born, he was suddenly in a tremendous hurry. I received a quick call and a text at work, and then a couple of hours later, he was born! I don’t know how long skype will sustain us (Charlie bawled on first sight of me – brilliant), but we are certainly grateful for it and all the photos we have received so far. I’m afraid to say Haddons and Dowricks, but I think Charlie detoured us and looks like every member of Tony’s family that I know. And he is gorgeous and healthy and has made his mum and dad so happy and proud.

Nothing compares with that, but there have been some other highlights during the last fortnight that will make for lovely memories for us both. Our good friend Miriam celebrated her 29^th birthday with dinner and then a trip to an 80s roller disco. As I watched hundreds of fluoro-clad Londoners glide/shuffle past, I was reminded of Toowoomba Skatehaven Saturday session (2pm til 4pm – no pass outs.) Remember the Skittles and the giant pythons? The speed skate? The outfits in Battersea were just as outrageous, but admittedly there were a few differences. The $30 cover charge would be one. The surlies on the door who confiscated packets of chewing gum (“you’ll throw it on the floor and people will hurt themselves.” No I won’t.) and bottles of water (no reason.) Guns and knives fine, but absolutely no hubba bubba.

On Saturday we went to our long awaited performance of King Lear at the Globe. I had never seen my favourite Shakespeare play performed and was so excited to see how it could be done. Our seats were excellent. There are 700 seats for groundlings at only five quid, but the idea of standing for three hours didn’t appeal. We had front row balcony seats in the middle gallery with a perfect view of the stage. The performance was hilarious in parts, incredibly bloody in others and just so moving. I pretty much cried the whole final scene. Loved it.

On the Sunday we finally made a trip to the Victoria and Albert museum. The exhibition I went to see was disappointing and we got through that in about twenty minutes. But the rest of the museum is exquisite. I loved the historical fashion, the jewellery room and the cast court, where there are enormous, yet intricate, replicas of famous columns and buildings from all over the world. As usual Simon was mesmerised with the sculpture section and plans on creating a bronze statue in the future. How long would that take? Five, six days?

A few weeks ago, my friend Bec and I decided that a surprise was in order for our husbands. There is a famous cabaret club in Chancery Lane called the Volupte Lounge. The boys were told to don suits, Bec and I glammed it up a little and we tottered down a dark alley (it wasn’t really that dark.) The boys were suitably surprised and very impressed with their introduction to a burlesque house. It was such a fun night; we drank classic cocktails painstakingly made by the bartender, were shown to our seats by a Russian with feathers in her hair and enjoyed a delicious three course meal. There was also singing, dancing and lots of sequinned flesh. All brilliant and in such good fun.

If you’ve considered queuing in the sun for four hours, but didn’t know how it would turn out, you could ask us. Wimbledon makes crazies out of a lot of people and we are delighted to be part of that group. We dragged ourselves out of bed to meet Bec and Aaron on Saturday morning and began lining up at 8am. It was actually quite fun; it’s on a big oval, with people playing games and picnicking. A couple of people I know, Jason and Sarah M, camped the night before and were 135 and 700 in the queue respectively. Stewards come round to give you a queue card with a number (we were 6677 and 6678) and if you’re not there to get a queue card, no one can get it for you and you’re on your own (I seem to remember this creating a problem for aunty Pat and uncle Ken.) Painfully the ticket booths didn’t even look at our queue cards; they just took our general ground fee of twenty quid and we were in!

These tickets gave us access to either standing or unreserved seating at courts two to nineteen. It’s a beautiful venue, so green and bright and I’d seen it so many times it felt familiar. We parked ourselves on Henman Hill with Pimms and strawberries and cream (simply too complicated to make at home) and enjoyed the sweltering heat and the big screen. The atmosphere is relaxed and fun, with drunken Scotsmen in eighties wigs providing entertainment in the form of huge Mexican waves. In the afternoon, for charity, people from centre court and court one can hand in their tickets to be re-sold. We were very fortunate to pick up two great seats on court one and saw James Murray (Andy’s brother) play men’s doubles and Molik versus Stubbs in mixed doubles. A strange thing (bit too quaint for my liking) about Wimbledon is that the male players are referred to by their first and last names only, but all women players are referred to as Miss this and Miss that. Overall, Wimbledon was one of the best days of the year and worth every second of the four hour queue.

Cannot wait to see the Elverys in only eleven days now! We’ll meet them and Hannah in Norway on the 11th. Best wishes to you all. Hope you’re all well. Stay in touch!

Laura and Simon.

Hi to everyone! Thanks for the great news from home. Sarah and Pat, your emails are great and my RSHS staffroom pals, thanks for keeping me posted.

We now find ourselves in June, quite certain that our nephew or niece will be born this month. Jiselle has now finished up work and hopefully will have a bit of time to herself until she is a mum. We managed to catch a replay of the first, albeit disappointing State of Origin at a Walkabout pub. The UEFA cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow was on the same night and it ended in a most painful penalty shoot-out (at least for those who were interested). Let’s hope the second Origin is more worthwhile.

The second long weekend in May was last weekend and we managed to take advantage of the three days off. We decided with Bec and Aaron, two friends from Brisbane, to head north. After realising that our first preference, the Peak District was completely booked out, we suggested a trip to York, which had been one of our favourite places on our trip in 2004. Again, we borrowed the red beast, complete with Janet the Sat Nav, and drove north on the Saturday, stopping at a cute town called Southwell on the way.

We had a brief look around York on the evening – it wasn’t completely dark until 10:20pm – before heading to our hotel late that night. Aaron had spent Friday night flying back from Russia of all places, and was pretty well ready to get some shut eye. Unfortunately, we were greeted at our lovely converted manor house of a hotel with a lot of key cupboard opening and shutting – they had overbooked the hotel. Bec and Aaron found themselves in unfamiliar territory when the key they were given to “try out” opened the door to a room with other people’s things in it. There were a few more mishaps (getting charged twice for one room probably counts as a mishap. Simon leaving his mobile there would be another.) Overall though, it was a very good base to explore Yorkshire.

We were the lucky ones that weekend; for once the north had far better weather than London. On the Sunday we drove to Castle Howard, a very impressive home set amongst even more stunning gardens. It had a real ‘let’s go for a stroll unchaperoned while you court me’ feel to it. Acres of green lawns, several lakes, manicured gardens as well as a dense wood are all there to be explored. The castle remains in the Howard family, with not one but two of their ancestors having married Henry VIII. The current offspring are two little cherubs names Octavia and Merlin, so we’ll see how that goes. There was a fantastic local food fair on and we spent a sunny afternoon picnicking on the grounds eating cheese and bread and drinking Pimms.

After all that dairy and grog, I had a little snooze in the car and woke up as we began driving through the Yorkshire Moors, the setting for Wuthering Heights. It was amazing to wake up to, because it is so vastly different from the English countryside I’m used to. The Moors are breathtaking. They are black, high ridges, with steep cliffs and valleys below. They really are windswept and barren and threatening. The tourism officer told us to return in August when all the black we could see would be bright purple heather. It is tempting.

Whitby, birthplace of James Cook, on the north-eastern coast of England was a great find. We had heard there was a famous abbey there and decided to take a look. We really liked Whitby; it is a gorgeous seaside fishing town with winding streets and a typically alleged British beach. The abbey was superb, an ancient shell of a place with a green-grassed interior. We then drove back down the coast through Scarborough, which has the UK’s largest hotel from Scarborough’s 1950s heyday.

York the next day was excellent. It’s such a beautiful city. We climbed the three hundred steps to the top of York Minster, which is one of the largest Gothic churches in Europe. There were so many people about for the long weekend and the sunshine was glorious. It wouldn’t be a long weekend without a couple of trips to the pub. At the Guy Fawkes, we enjoyed one of the best pub meals ever as well as some friendly service with that brilliant Yorkshire accent.

Early in the week, I booked two tickets to a classical music concert at St Martins in the Field on Trafalgar Square. Simon’s dad used to go to concerts there all the time and we’ve been wanting to do the same for a long time. Unfortunately I got my nights wrong, and was invited with a group of a dozen girls to dinner and then to go see the Sex and the City movie. As much as I wanted to go to both, Simon was a trooper and went to Mozart by himself. Sex and the City is absolutely brilliant. The cinema was full and the atmosphere was really fun; there were heels and fancy dress everywhere. Loved it, loved it.

On Thursday, my friend Margaret messaged me to ask if I was a fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I told her I hadn’t much thought about it, but she certainly had and was super keen to see Bruce for her birthday. I’ve decided to be up for a variety of things and we both had a terrific night at the concert. It was at Emirates stadium, the new Arsenal ground, which is very impressive. Bruce is nuts; he is fifty-eight and played for two-and-a-half hours straight. The crowd was very different from what I’d expected; more uncle than aunty and lots of young people. A highlight was walking home with the other, oh, 60 thousand people to the tube station and noticing a drunken yob cradling a beer in one hand and a speaker out the window in the other. He managed to lead the amused crowd in a wobbly rendition of Born in the USA.

Back to work today to keep paying for our lifestyle. We have a couple of parties next weekend, and then we’ve booked the following Saturday and Sunday in Denmark. We’re starting to plan what we’ll get up to when the Elverys arrive in the first week of July. Love to all. To the Dowricks among you, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a Digest more; it was wonderful to read and have a giggle at my desk.

Love, Laura and Simon.

A few random observations this week: 1. There are a lot of young people being stabbed in this country. A lot. 2. Brits use the word ‘bespoke.’ A lot. 3. To all my soon-to-be-wed friends, there is a website being advertised over here: youbuymywedding.com. Really want a 20 thousand pound wedding? Can’t afford it? Oh, you still want one? Get your guests to fork out for the privilege. Classy.