Mrs.B

I think the British are some kind of a mutant superior race when it comes to handling freezing temperatures.

It’s been hovering around 0°C for the past week or two and this is what I see on the streets:

• At least half of the people don’t wear hats
• 90% of women wear the same shoes they would wear in the summer – ballet flats, etc.
• 100% of men wear the same shoes they would wear in the summer
• Teenagers do not wear coats
• Teenagers do not wear scarves or god forbid – hats
• An occasional adult walks by wearing a skirt and BARE legs
• An occasional adult walks by wearing flip flops

The mind boggles. [...]

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Post updated at 19:45pm with proof to my Mutant Race Theory :)

On Monday Oskar had a bit of a cough and knowing him (he breathes through his mouth a lot – an old habit from when his nose was stuffed due to adenoid issues) I emailed his teacher asking whether he could not participate in the soccer game outside on that day.

Teacher replied “No problem… although it IS the house matches today… does he have a coat to keep him warm?…” [...]

In August 2006, 6 months after we had arrived in London, my husband had a very unfortunate incident – as he cycled to work, an oncoming car decided to take a turn in front of him and my husband ended up flying through a car window and his bike ended up looking like this.

(You can read about it in a post called “&*^%$# cars!” and one called “National Lampoon’s European Vacation“) [...]

London is a weird and a wonderful city. One of the things I love about living here is the unique system of recycling unwanted large items of furniture or toys – you simply put the items on the sidewalk outside your house and within a few hours they have found a new home. An absolutely brilliant system!

A couple of months ago we ordered a new armchair and a sofa for the living room. The ones that we had were bought in Australia more than 10 years ago and due to several moves and kids who liked to jump on them and a cat who liked to scratch them, we decided that it was time to upgrade. [...]

It’s so hard to come back from a long holiday in a country where the pace of life is about a million times slower than it is here in London. I feel like my head is still up in the clouds and I find myself walking at a slower pace than normal… at a pace [...]

My latest trip to Australia was only a week long, but by the time I came back, summer had arrived in London. For the past three days it’s been nothing but sunblock and scooter/bike rides, painting the fence (with water) and watering the suffering tulips that are not made for 23°C.  If only James were [...]

What a glorious (non working) day I had today – almost summery temperatures in the sun, Eton Mess and coffee from our new coffee machine outside in the garden, many great mini walks with Oliver and his scooter.  

This was the line into the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Hyde Park the other day.  The gate to the playground is somewhere behind the clock tower….  They only let as many people in at a time as left, so it was a very slow moving line :|

This weekend has been great.  After months of mud and no chance to play outside, we can finally be out of the house again :)

It’s a bit scary to think that we’ve been in England now for almost 5 years. Where do the years go??? We both thought it’d be a couple of years at most, but somehow London isn’t letting us go. It drives us mad with it’s speed and size sometimes, but we are mesmerized by all [...]

Despite the fact that I’m an Aussie at heart, I actually do like the snow. I have no desire to eat it or throw myself into it like the kids do, but I like to look at it and I like to slide as I walk to work from the tube station. The past few [...]

A lovely iphone photo here taken at 7:25am this morning of our street. Oskar’s school is closed. Mom only found out after she trekked there through the snow with Oliver’s pram (1.6km). The text message from school this morning said they were open, no subsequent message was received. Bummer for mother. She didn’t sound too [...]

It’s one day after Guy Fawkes Night, but it’s today that our neighbourhood is truly like a war zone – fireworks are going off all around us every few seconds.  It’s our 4th Guy Fawkes experience here though, so by now I’m used to it :) At the local fireworks display earlier this evening. Oskar [...]

The tubesters were striking again today.  In the morning the Jubilee line was working so I got to work ok, but coming home I had to take the riverboat to Waterloo (to then continue by an overland train).  In the end my journey home was only 35 minutes longer than usually and quite scenic for [...]

Tube strikes are strange – some lines work, some don’t, the ones that work only stop at certain stations and correct information can not be found from anywhere or from anyone until you’re actually at a particular station and then you only get guided to your next transfer point and there you have to investigate [...]