New Years Day, the height of Summer, beach, sun, Australia Day, Big Day Out, Sydney Festival, Moonlight Cinema, friends birthdays and the final days of school holidays!
Only... I'm not in Australia. I'm in London feeling fat, white, ugly and in the middle of WINTER. During December I saw the temperature drop, the tourists leave and plenty of rain. Rather than experiencing a white Christmas it was a wet Christmas (click here for more on Christmas) but still wonderful. After getting back from Scotland I promised my body a rest as I cut out alcohol for the month (yes I'm still going!) and eliminated meat, cheese and junk food from my diet, allowing my body to refuel on all things healthy as well as regular gym sessions once again. I can't believe how great I feel as well as how many more of my old clothes I can fit into again (still a way to go though).
All my family had warned me that January was the worst month and the brute of winter as well as the slowest of them all, so i was determined to not let it get to me and attempted to fill it with exciting adventures each weekend, acting like a tourist once again.
It began with Lauren, Bec and I hitting the ice rink at Somerset House before it closed. This was so pretty and I really enjoyed the experience. Next i was off to the Natural History museum to see the dinosaurs and the Wildlife Photography Exhibition which was absolutely brilliant!
January saw my little cousin's 11th birthday and whilst i didn't go to the skate park with him (that would have been funny) I did join him at the movies that night. The Impossible has to be one of the best true-story movies that I have seen in a long time. This movie was fantastic and I highly recommend it. Keeping with birthdays, that weekend I went down south to Brixton for the night to celebrate Bec Wiley's birthday (and she looked smoking!) where I also saw Bin and Kane, who sadly I have been so lazy about and not even seen them since Oktoberfest (I truly live in my little North East bubble over here). It was great to have a catch up however with the combination of the horrible flu I managed to have caught and the sober January I left in time to catch the last tube just after midnight.
Mid January had come and still no snow... just really really cold weather. We are talking minus. I could not go outside without wearing gloves a scarf n beanie but lucky i have a super warm coat so that eliminates the ridiculous amounts of layers to go outside and peeling off inside as everywhere is blaring with radiators. FINALLY, a small dusting and i woke up to messages about snow from almost every family member but it wasn't enough for me, melting by lunchtime. It wasn't until the next week that we had a rather generous fall over a number of days so that by the weekend London was covered in snow.
Words can't describe the feeling of waking up to a city in snow. There is something magical when you walk down the streets and imagine the difference between what you see in front of you now and what it looked like only days before. The snow doesn't stay long in London but when it comes everyone goes crazy. It was a Friday morning and I headed to work. The school playgrounds look beautiful. I had reception (kindy) that day and I don't know who had more fun- me or the children. We had snow ball fights, made mini snow men, attempted snow angels and a photography session in the snow. Fantastic!
The next day Rocky and I headed over to the park with the sledges and even though most of the snow had melted again we still managed to slide down the hills with some momentum from the snow/ice/mud. I loved it and felt as old as Rocky (11), racing him and my Uncle down the hill.
Sunday gave us another layer of snow and if i knew it would go so quickly I would have gone down to Southbank and captured the big Ben and London eye on a day like that however I was extremely lazy and missed the chance.
I never realised either but London actually can't always handle the snow either. Buses, trains and even schools shut down (makes me think about how other countries in Europe handle it then) but unfortunately not my school. All week we have endured wet weather conditions so the kids have been cooped up all week and it wasn't until we took them for a quick break outside that we realised why. Two teachers and a whole class can't even stop a snowball fight and as much as you may like to join in as a teacher we still need to prevent any catastrophes and sometimes that means by spoiling the fun.
So the snow has finally melted and after the icy week we've had I am actually a little relived. However that also means that its back to colder weather so the gloves are back out. I hope that isn't the last of the snow though and promise myself to venture to Southbank the next time it falls.
In the mean time though, the countdown begin to my next getaway......For the first time in 7 years my Grandad will be returning to Australia to visit my Mum and siblings and I very fortunately am going with him. It has been 10 months since I have had my feet on Australian soil and even though I've had many friends come over there are still some of the closest people to me that I miss oh so terribly and can't wait to see, even if it's for a quick flyby. So... let the countdown and catch ups begin!
What will I do first as soon as I land? Go and see my dog and let him give me to sloppiest kiss ever! It's been way too long!
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