Volume 3 - UK Adventures

Day 1

Ms_havachat is exhausted but is so excited about the success of the first morning in Winchester she HAD to share with you.

DH picked us up at Heathrow. We were thru immigration and customs so quickly that I didn’t get the real feel for the size and scope of the airport. Tho part of me is very pleased about that. Fingers crossed every time we return ‘home’ it’s as quick and painless.

The drive to Winchester was about 50 minutes. The traffic going into London was literally at a stand still and represented more of a car park than a motorway.

Besides the incredible amount of traffic (which reminded us of the drive from The Hills, Sydney into the North Ryde and onto the Eastern Sububrs along the M2. Guess every city in the world grapples with urban sprawl and increased traffic congestion) we saw the top of Windsor Castle!

‘Look Mia, there’s WINDSOR CASTLE!’

‘Who lives there?”

‘The Queen of England’

‘Who’s she?’

‘The grandmother of the Prince and Princess who’s wedding we watched in Sydney with Nana’

‘Oh WOW! She’s lucky to live there’

DH drove thru Winchester city before heading into the office.

MissM and I settled into the apartment; unpacked 5 bags worth of clothes and toys. Then we got into BOOTS AND JACKETS and walked thru the High Street. We were both so excited we didn’t mind being tired.

The Town Clock can be seen on the old guildhall with timber-framed 16th Century God Begot House opposite. At the far end of the street is Westgate - one of two surviving medieval city gates.

Will have to do more research ... ...

Looking up Hight Street towards one of two Medieval city gates.

Found her a great pair of boots; and a dress (she’s so little cool/cold weather clothes); had a Starbucks; popped into Marks and Spencers and bought dinner (Oh how I missed their incredible food hall), bought a prepaid mobile phone then strolled home.

Tomorrow we’ll head back down the road and find the Castle and Cathedral.

The apartment is ok, but only just.

DH said ‘it must have been designed by a man’ which I found so interesting!

DH’s issues are:

·      The main bedroom is small, so small that the bedside table stops the wardrobe door opening all the way making it difficult to remove clothes.

·      The wardrobes in both bedrooms have ½ hanging space; so there’s nowhere to hang long coats, dresses etc. In fact, his shirts touch the base of the wardrobe.

·      The only place in the bathroom to put ‘stuff’ is the window sill.

·      There is no food pantry (or any spare cupboard) in the kitchen.

·      The dining table is a tiny weeny square table for 4, but there’s cutlery and crockery for 12 taking up much needed cupboard space.

·      The blinds are see-thru white, which means even at night the apartment isn’t dark.

·      There are only 4 TV stations, and not one is kid friendly.

Not bad for 1 ½ days observations from DH. When he gets going about something he really gets stuck into it. Now I know why the house in Dublin was so incredible – he chose it LOL. 

I ‘ll have to lift my observation skills 10-fold when house hunting Thursday.

I’ve loved all the comments received about how much you’ve enjoyed the Countdown over the transition period. I did wonder if it was too much at times, but according to those who have emailed apparently not.

The next few weeks will be the other side of transitioning to a new country – finding a house, school, friends, hairdresser, chiro, doctor etc. Finding things to do on the w/ends will be a no brainer here for sure – pacing our selves, or, pacing MOI more to the point.

Hope you continue to enjoy reading,

With friendship

x