First snow in London

Hello everyone

I'm working! Which is great. What's even greater is that we got paid yesterday, that's sort of up there with indescribably great.

But what I really wanted to write about was getting snowed on.

I had gone out (the one night I was glad I took the tube not bike) and met my friend Adrian, we had had a lovely relaxed drink and chat with him and I and his girlfriend Delia at the cafe in the National Gallery. Then we moved on to a fish and chip shop in Covent Gardens.

After our Cod (I refrained from telling them the Cod joke) and chips, we were chatting and I fancifully thought that the rain looked like it was floating - but then it really WAS! And suddenly it was snowing! It floated down all soft and silent, mostly melting on the ground but some remained. We walked to the tube station and on the way i started to resemble a giant snowman, my hair and jacket covered in white. Then I discovered I had a hole in my shoe. Cold. Really cold, and then into the subway and thankful for the first time that it is always stinking hot in the tubes.

I thawed,and getting out at Finsbury Park was just like getting onto the set of those last scenes of Bridget Jones (somehow become a cultural touchstone), the snow lay on the ground and footprints crisscrossed it. It was still snowing as I got on the bus and sat upstairs and watched it fall softly against the windows, rubbing the condensation out of the way so I could watch it all. It was enchanted and I knew it was because i saw something I hadn't seen yet - Londoners were smiling!

When I got home Prita was outside taking photos dressed in a big jacket. We hugged as we stood amongst the still falling snow.

Antipodeans in London

Hello everyone

Well, what a great few weeks - we've moved to a house in Haringey, or Crouch End - it's a bit difficult to work out exactly what's a borough, suburb, etc ...

Our house has seven people in it! (including us). It's a huge Georgian house, with two bathrooms and another toilet, and a gorgeous private yard that has a couple of playful squirrels in it.

It feels just a little like living in an episode of friends, with a variety of interesting characters wandering in and out of the living areas at all times, though our actor is a great deal smarter than Joey. We are almost never in at the same time, in fact in a month being here we have only had a single night of a full house, so it doesn't feel as crowded as we were expecting.

We have the large first storey room with three windows with stained glass, a large Monet print on the wall and a red couch that clashes horribly with the print. But it's lovely.

It was in this room that I had my birthday breakfast - beautiful fluffy pancakes with poached pears and an orange sauce and maple syrup - it reminded me of the blintzes at Babka's in Brunswick St, but more of all these flavours swirling round, and I opened my beautiful cards. Unfortunately Prita had to go off to work so I relaxed all day, sitting in our room and reading my birthday present to myself, another in the series of Master and Commander.

Although a tweency bit further from the city than we would like, the area is magnificent. We are on the highest part in north London, there are only two hills on this side of the river, so it isn't actually that high, but it means that we have cleaner crisper air than in the city, and when we go out jogging in the morning we are treated to the spectacular display of the city lit up by the sunrise. Despite being cheap to rent, the burough itself is quite posh and the streets are lovely and picturesque.

The best bit about the area is the plethora of parks around, including an ancient woods that dates back to Roman Britain and an old rail trail path - it is completely private and significantly raised above the road level so it is quiet and bushy and not so hard to believe we're running through the wilderness (even though it is only 5 or so meters wide).

Despite being a little poverty stricken we have been doing our best to do something a little 'London' each week. We have been to lots of museums, lots of parks, and even a couple of theatre shows (of which I especially enjoyed Spamalot, not that the name really made any sense). Last week we went out to Hampstead Heath, one of London's largest and most magnificent parks. A good idea as it turns out, as it was the last sun we have seen. And even Peter came out to play with the Wolf.