Oxford

On Saturday 14th April we took a drive out to Oxfordshire to visit Sarah’s uncle John and family. On the way we stopped for breakfast in Oxford and then a spot of shopping at Bicester Village (yes that’s right – more shopping!)

Our Zipcar selection for the day – a BMW 3 Series



Harry, Lisa, Imogen, John, Pete, Serena and Francis



Cousins Serena and Harry



Serena, John and Sarah at the ford over the Thames – yes that’s the Thames!


Pete waded out onto the ford – it was freezing!


Sarah and Serena crossing the bridge

Sarah and Harry in the canola field

Pete, Harry, John and Francis playing cricket on the lawn

We had dinner in Oxford Castle, which was operating as a prison until 1996 and was only opened to the public in May 2006 – Pete ate so much that they locked him up!!

Montpellier, France - Easter

Easter long weekend – Montpellier (South of France)

We set off for Montpellier for early on Easter Friday morning. – 3am in fact! Something like this:

2.30am – alarm!
3.00 – walk to main road and then cab to bus stop
3.15 – bus arrives and departs for Stansted Airport
4.30 – arrive airport, check in. Security (100ml limit, so many toiletries were donated to the airport staff!)
5.00 – Breakfast at Pret and repurchase confiscated toiletries from Boots (in special travel sizes). We now know this rule for future travels!
5.30 – Board budget airline. No champagne before take off here!
9.00 – Arrive at Montpellier
9.15 – Reunited with Caroline (plus the new addition to the family – Emma). Sarah’s friend from University who we have not seen for 7 years. “Bonjour Caro”

After a French breakfast of café, briochette et croissant we headed into the town of Montpellier. Traditionally a University town founded on the two key disciplines of Medicine and Law (also the town in which Caro et Philippe grew up).

Caro and Sarah walking down through the old part of town



Louis XIV (and Caro, Sarah and Emma the Beautiful)


Highest point in Montpellier



Saturday we went to a gorgeous little village in the foothills, 1 hours drive from Montpellier.

The village – Saint Guilhem du Desert. Approx 1000 years old!


La Place de Saint Guilhem where we ate lunch



Caro and Sarah did a spot of shopping (no matter how old a town is there is always shopping to be found)

To get to Saint Guilhem we crossed the Devils bridge


Easter Sunday we went to Le Jardin (a private garden owned by Philippe’s uncle) for a family feast. There were many Uncles, Aunties and Cousins, some of which could speak a little English. Alhough we couldn’t understand all the conversation, it was fun to be part of as it so closely resembled our family gatherings…. Too much yummy food, men around the BBQ, women fussing over babies and catering and the kids playing Frisbee.

This is Emma. (mademoiselle chausette). She was a delight!

We had such a great time in Montpellier. We stayed with Caro and Philippe in their flat and were treated to great hospitality, fantastic French cooking and lots of funny French/English memories. They even managed to organise sunny 20-24 degree weather for us!

Merci Beaucoup – Au revoir!!

Week 5

Hello. Lots of news, not many photos for this blog.

Sarah has a job!

Starting after Easter, 6 month contract with Land Securities (Large Property Coy over here, FTSE 100). The role is in the London Portfolio team looking at management reporting on the property and development portfolio.

Located on The Strand (as featured on the Monopoly board), so great location and I will be working for an Aussie! The office is huge, it sounds like an interesting job and they are apparently a good company to work for. So I am hoping I will manage to win them over in the 6 months and then they will offer me some amazing job to stay on (that's the plan anyway)!

We joined a car club - Zipcar!

Such a cool idea. You sign up and get a proximity card. There are Zipcars (ranging from BMW’s to the equivalent of a Toyota Starlet) parked all around London. You book the car over the web or by the hour and just go and pick it up. All petrol, insurance and congestion charge included. We have 2 Zipcars parked around the corner from our house.

We have moved into our new flat!

The flat is great. The transition was not so great. On Saturday morning, we packed our things and drove over (in our Zipcar) only to meet the previous tenant still in the flat. This caused a few delays, but we are finally moved in. The furniture has not arrived yet, so no photos to show you. Stay tuned.

Thakeham

We went to Thakeham for Pete’s cousin’s 40th Birthday Party on Sunday (Again in our Zipcar). Raclette for lunch. For those of you who have not experienced this, it is melted cheese with potatoes, gherkins and onions. It is all about the technique though, Pete’s Swiss Uncle was the chef (so very authentic, he didn't English, so I couldn't quiz him on how to do it). See the photo below for the line up and if you look closely you can see the cheese melting mechanism (quite impressive).