Where did 6 months go???

Well well well... sorry for neglecting you all, we're still here and going well. Settled into London life very well in fact. michelle was working straight away, but it took me a few months until the work started coming in. Initially a long term contract in Southgate, and then a Permanent job at Haagen-Dazs out in Uxbridge - that was back in August.

We celebrated Craigs birthday in June in true Kiwi style at Toast New Zealand. It was a stunning hot day and summer frocks were out. There were lots of wine tastings, which we participated in whole heartedly, and the day was topped off with a fantastic performance by Dave Dobbin who pulled out all the hits, supported by 20000 Kiwis singing at the top of their lungs.

A couple of months ticked along as we settled onto our new routine, Michelle took up a full time job in Kingsbury and we booked our first trip to the continent.

In October we went to Barcelona with Jared, Arina and Leigh. It's a vibrant and exciting city with lots of history and culture, as well as the famous Tapas. Photos here.

Back to London, and things we're starting to get chilly! Not a problem though as we've been wrapping up warm as you'll see.

Christmas was approaching and so we planned our next trip - this time to Paris. Meantime we experienced all the joys of a northern hemisphere yule season. While to a couple of Kiwis the shortening days and below zero temperatures (as well as occasional snow) are a bit of a shock at this time of year, to the locals its all part of the fun. We loved the excitement of christmas shopping on Oxford Street, as well as the Hyde Park Christmas Markets. Its something you really don't get in NZ, and hot mulled wine and roasted chestnuts are a real delight when its freezing.

Just before chrsitmas, as we were readying to catch the Eurostar to Paris there was a huge dump of snow and the trains broke down! We had a couple of worried days thinking we weren't going to be having a holiday after all (strangely echoing last year). The day we were due to travel everything opened up again, and we went to St Pancras with thousands of other people! Well, we eventually got there.

Paris was a really fantastic city, beautiful sights, lots of art and culture, amazing food, great wine... Perfect at Christmas time too when the crowds are slightly less (we walked right into the Louvre, when we'd been told to expect queues of up to an hour) and the atmosphere is festive, with Christmas lights along Champs Elysees. We both loved it and are already thinking of how we can fit in another visit.

Well that catches us up quite well for the time being. Mostly we just tick along day-to-day catching up with friends, enjoying London life. We'll try and keep this blog updated a little better, but for the latest its probably best to track us down over facebook, or by e-mail.

Anyway, time to go - Happy New Year to everyone, all the best for 2010!