Christmas in Scotland

cooTowards the end of October 2014 (a while ago now!), R and I starting dating. He had been planning to go home to New Zealand for Christmas, but the British Government still had his passport (to assess his indefinite leave to remain application) and he didn’t think the passport would be back in time to fly home for Christmas. My plans had recently fallen through as well, and so after roughly 6 weeks of dating we decided to head up to a little town called Dunblane for Christmas.

Weekends: Past and Planned!

When we were in Copenhagen, we talked a lot about the things I want to do before I leave, and started a bit of a list. Not everything on the list will get done of course, and it’s added to all the time, but the really important-to-me things were added to people’s diaries when we got back. A selection are:

• York
• Hop on hop off London bus
• Punting in Cambridge
• Motown The Musical
• London Docklands Museum
• Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
• Samuel Pepys: Fire, Plague and Revolution at the Greenwich Maritime Museum
• Painting the Modern Garden: From Monet to Matisse at the Royal Academy of Arts
• Fashion and Textiles Museum
• Vogue 100 Exhibition at The National Gallery
• Curtain Up at the V&A
• The Grapes Pub

Some of these are booked in – we’re going to York in early April, and going punting in Cambridge later that same month – but some aren’t. Yesterday (Sunday 21st Feb) we ticked two that are close to each other off the list! We went to the London Docklands Museum – which is a shoot off of fantastic (and free!) the London Museum, and The Grapes Pub.

The London Docklands Museum was absolutely fantastic, it was really interesting. The first level is about the slavery that London is built on, which was quite depressing but of course important to know about. After that it’s all about the development of the Docklands area – from a thriving port to a base of wartime operations to the bright, sky-scraper-filled centre of banking it is today. I highly highly recommend it, and best of all, it’s free!

The Grapes Pub is an odd one on the list. Some time in October when we were house-sitting, R and I ended up watching an oddly memorising TV show about an older couple – who we vaguely recognised as English actors, but couldn’t name – navigate their way through the canals of London. It was very pleasant watching, and eventually they stopped near the Docklands/Canary Wharf/Isle of Dogs/whatever else you want to call it, and popped in a pub called The Grapes. Turns out, the pub is owned by Ian Mcgregor – it even has Gandalf’s staff behind the bar! It also has a view right out over the Thames, which a fair number of pubs in London claim, but few actually have. After we finished at the museum, we headed here for that age-old tradition, a Sunday Pub Roast. Unfortunately one of our group couldn’t have lunch – they were out of the vegetarian option, and the bartender either couldn’t understand or didn’t want to understand the concept of just serving the roast vege, so we didn’t stay long.

It was good to get some activities crossed off my list, and it’s made me think about all time I’ve had in London, and all the things I could have seen but never got around to. I’m determined not to let that happen when we get to Auckland, so I’m going to start a list – anything you think I shouldn’t miss?

Paris – Summer 2014!

When I was planning to come to the UK in 2014, I didn’t really know what would happen. I had been told time and time again I needed to be prepared for failure, I needed to be prepared to give up and come home. Well, I wasn’t going to do that before I did two things, or more accurately, went to two sporting events: Wimbledon (which you can read about here), and Le Tour De France.

My Favourite – Paella!

Paella is my absolute favourite dinner to cook. It’s also R’s favourite dinner to eat, which works out nicely!

Wimbledon

My family has watched tennis for years, and if you watch tennis, there’s really only one place you need to go: The All English Lawn Tennis Association, also know as Wimbledon. We (being myself, mum, dad and brother) tried to take a tour of Wimbledon in 2009, but it was unfortunately closed in order to fit the retractable roof. So, being in the UK for the tournament itself, there was no way I could pass up going. I didn’t get a ticket through the Ballot, but there is quintessentially British way to obtain a ticket on the day: The Queue. Most days there are tickets for all centre courts as well as ground passes, and prices vary. Because I didn’t want to take time off work, I went on the last Saturday of the tournament. This was one of the cheapest days to get a grounds pass for – mostly because there are very few courts outside one to four that are hosting games so very little tennis to see.

You can, if you’re lucky, spot a finalist warming up or practicing, which is what I hoped for when I went. Spoiler alert: I was very, very lucky. I saw not one, but both Men’s finalists, which also happened to be my favourite players – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. I didn’t see that much tennis being played – although I also saw Sam Stosur warming up for her doubles final – but it truly didn’t matter. Having seen Djokovic and Federer so close, playing such suburb tennis, was a dream come true.

Gingernut Biscuits

These are by far and beyond my favourite holiday baked treat. And I’m finally (for 3 more months) in a country where you can enjoy these in the right cultural and physical season, yay! There’s something just not quite right about gingernuts at Christmas… on the beach.

I’ve been tweaking my gingernut recipe on and off for years now. This recipe doesn’t use molasses (which are had to put your hands on in NZ or the UK) and the dough is only cooled in the fridge for 30minutes – or, just enough time to finish getting ready for the week to come! (Or watching X-Files, whatever floats your boat)

R and I went to Prague for Easter 2015. At some point, likely as a pre-teen watching quasi romcoms, I had seen a film that spent a large part of the story in Prague. I don’t remember anything else about the film, but from then on it was one of the top five places I wanted to visit. Funny how a piece of media crossing your path at the right time can influence you so much.

Things I’m Loving Right Now

Grease Live. Oh my god you guys it’s just so good. This may be sacrilege, but it might be better than the original. Aaron Tveit! Keke Palmer! Vanessa Hudgens should just play Rizzo for the rest of her life. Or at least keep the hair and the style. The whole thing is just so so well done. With so many pretty costumes – did anyone else immediately start browsing the Vogue Vintage patterns?

Piecing together my own underwear! Even if it doesn’t work, I’m really enjoying the process, and for me that’s at least 70% of why I sew. Yay!

Catching up on my favourite London haunts before I leave – this weekend we went to the V&A (which is my absolute favourite), and the Tate Modern (which was as fun as it is weird. I don’t really get modern art, but I do enjoy it. Except for Rothko, I don’t think anyone enjoys Rothko)

RUNNING. I finally conquered Week 5 Day 3 of the Couch to 5k program yesterday – which is (not including warm up and warm down) 8 minutes running, 5 minutes walking, 8 minutes running. I’ve never managed this run before – I have infact stalled at exactly this spot twice already, so finally beating it felt absolutely fantastic. Now to see if I can do the 10 minute runs that come next…

The Ticket To Ride Pocket App. Ticket to Ride is a board game I’ve loved for years, and recently (this weekend) discovered there’s an app for that. And it’s super addictive. £1.30 very well spent!

Things I am both loving and hating: planning our final months in London. We both handed in our (three month’s) notice last Friday, so no backing out now (not that I could anyway!). There are so many things I want to fit in over the next three months – including going to Motown the Musical (amongst others if possible), visiting York and Cambridge, taking R to the Changing of the Guard (10 years in London and he hasn’t seen it…), there’s at least three museum exhibitions I want to see, along with spending as much time with friends and family here before we go. Plus, we need to pack!

Weekly Meal Planning

R and I do a weekly shop on Sunday mornings, and try to get the majority of the week’s food then – partly because planning meals for the week in advance is cheaper, partly because I like getting home from work and knowing what I have to cook and that all the ingredients are there. It’s just so much easier than going to the supermarket on the way home, having to decide what we’re going to eat, not knowing what we have at home, dealing with the after work crowds etc. Plus, it means we can plan to try new things, and we can manage the cooking fairly.