a series of "lasts"

We are soon moving on from London and the last few weeks look to be quite emotional. We are both very excited to be moving, but saying goodbye is proving to be difficult. Last weekend I went into Canary Wharf for Ant's leaving drinks at work. I know a few of his colleagues quite well and I enjoyed chatting with all of them.


The wharf area is beautiful in the evenings. Even though these shots are from my mobile phone camera, I hope you can still see how pretty it was. We will see lots more cityscapes, though, when we are in Hong Kong.

Ant left last night and this has left me feeling a bit bereft. He has arrived safely and is being looked after by Matt and Bree as I write this. Thanks, guys!


This is the view from the railway platform yesterday morning on my way to work. It's funny how everything seems more poignant when I am looking at it thinking soon I will not be there to see the everyday life in our area.

party with friends

Ant and I hosted a little house party this weekend. We had such a great time visiting with all our friends. We had an open house from 3 pm to midnight, and loads of people came over! Above are Mandy and Thom--Mandy is a colleague of mine.

Below are Pari and Geary, friends from church. Geary's wife Helen snapped a lot of these photos while I was busy pouring drinks and trying to find seats for everyone!


Ant and Craig provided so much help and support. They both were my sous chefs. Craig made some delicious cheese balls--I hope to write about them over on my food blog soon.



Classic Ant move: part way through the evening he asked casually, "So where are the muffins?" This set me mixing while he chopped chocolate and we made these crystallised ginger and dark chocolate muffins.


Ant's colleague and best friend at work, Viviana, came with her husband Victor.


My colleagues Rachel and Amira had a good natter, and I got to meet Amira's boyfriend Jess.


Fellow Canadians Joe (a physics teacher) and Laurie came by (they are our Settlers buddies).


Georgeta, my Romanian friend, came over and was enjoying meeting some new people.


At the end of the night, we left all the empty glasses (but saved the extra food!) and sorted them out in the morning. What a great time we had with all our friends. We had loads more people than we anticipated and we also learned that our little living room holds more friends than we thought.

half term

My half term break last week was a much needed rest. I met up with some friends, visited some galleries, and ate in some cafes. Basically my usual favourite things to do!

I met up with Ellie for lunch in Pimlico and we had a lovely leisurely chat over sandwiches and soup. It's so nice to get to know someone new from our church. She was able to take a long lunch--what a luxury. In the afternoon, after a long walk through Victoria, I visited Ottolenghi, a restaurant I have been craving since I heard about it from food blogger friends. I spent a long time looking at all the delicious food in the window (pictured above) and on display inside. I ordered a caramel and macadamia nut cheesecake with a mug of Earl Grey tea. I ate so slowly, drawing out every lovely bite while I watched other customers ordering delicious food and pastries.


On another day I visited in Whitehall with Pari and we ate lunch at a bustling Italian cafe, of the sort that is so common in central London. The staff were so efficient they were brusque, and the food was fast and in big portions. There were plenty of office workers such as Pari having lunch there and also a good collection of tourists. After our meal I returned Pari to her work and then I visited the National Portrait Gallery nearby.

Naomi came into London for a lunch date and we had a delicious salad and soup (soup is always my favourite lunch choice!) and then headed over to Paul for tea. It's such a nice little French bakery and cafe. We sat upstairs where I could look down on the busy counter and smell the bread baking.


Naomi and I headed over to the V&A after tea and started to wander through the galleries. There is so much there that every time I go I just choose a floor and see something new and interesting. Take, for instance, this hanging display of flattened brass instruments.


Here is an inventive tea pot we saw at the V&A.



My last lunch of the week was spent with Helen near her work and we had a tapas meal at a little spot near her offices. So many new things to try and we were both so pleased with the plates we shared. After lunch she took me to her work and I got a little tour of the mixing rooms, the editing suites, and met some of her colleagues.


What a great half term. It was relaxing and enjoyable. I also did some marking (as always) and some work around the house, so it was a good mixture of rest and chores.

church friends

Last Sunday, Jennifer was visiting from Wales and so we had a few people over for lunch to enjoy some time with her. I was busy making lunch for the first part of the afternoon, and sadly I didn't get the camera out early enough to snap any photos of Jennifer. Bu we all really enjoyed seeing her and also spending some time together. We also got a chance to Skype with Matt and Bree in Hong Kong--what a nice treat. Armond was keeping Timothy amused (above) and Ben and Jermaine had a good chat (below).


Christopher was a fast learner when I asked him to say "cheese".


Ben and Claude (below) now live quite close to us and so I hope we get to see them more.


And Judith (below) is now my neighbour as well, so we pop over to her whenever we need a different screwdriver or dishwasher tablets! I think one thing we love about our area is that it is starting to feel more like a community. We all live quite close together.

trip to Liverpool

Ant and I spent last weekend visiting his family and friends in Liverpool. One of the highlights was seeing Laura, a friend who used to live in London and has now returned to her roots in the North West. Ant, always the joker, pulled this face without Laura even noticing.

We also enjoyed seeing Ant's sisters. His sister Rachele has had a baby since we last saw her. We met our niece, Kaitlin, who is a gorgeous and placid baby. It was fantastic to try to make her laugh.

small steps

We are making slow progress on our flat. Life seems so busy at the moment. We haven't got a blind in the bathroom so I hung up my flag instead. It fits quite well and does the job!

We built a little tent in our back patio to hold our bikes. I got mine back from the shop yesterday and I hope to start riding to work again this week. I don't know if I still remember how to cycle! I stopped riding at the beginning of December and the bike was at the shop for the whole time we were away in Canada and until now.

We have enjoyed having a few people over to the house since it has been tidy enough to have space. It's so lovely having friends around our table, eating, laughing, and drinking tea.

anniversary

Ant and I are thrilled to be celebrating our five year anniversary! Wow--it's flown by we don't even feel as though it's been hard work.


Ant's my hero--making me laugh every day and supporting me in everything I do. I also really appreciate all the little things he does for me, such as:

heavy lifting
hooking up electronics
researching big purchases and our recent move
financial planning
feeding me tea

Here's to many more happy years together!

confessions of a messy house

Here are some photos from our new flat in London. I am ashamed of the mess in our place at the moment. We don't have the right furniture to start putting all this stuff away. So we are climbing over boxes to get into rooms and cupboards. The bedroom is overrun with boxes and I have to climb over them to get into the far side of the bed. My clothes are stacked up on a suitcase next to the wall.


About half of our books are stacked up in the front hallway until we get some bookshelves. The stairs go down to our bathroom, living room, and kitchen at the back of the flat.


All our houseplants are enjoying being in the bathtub. It's nice and damp in there. We have a separate shower (you can see the glass in the foreground). Also, note the filing cabinet next to the toilet! It's empty since I didn't want any papers to get damp. There's not a lot of space elsewhere in the house.


Looking into the living room and kitchen (above). No satellite TV yet, so the bunny ears ariel is out.


The kitchen is a bit smaller than our previous place, but I have successfully cooked a few dinners in there. Matt bought a new four-slice toaster; you can see it on the right counter.


This shot (above) of our living room is taken from the kitchen area. I have now moved the Christmas tree outside (it's a potted one). It should last through the year on our (very) small patio garden out back.

New Year's Eve

Ant, Mum, Dad, Jeff, and I went over to Grammie and Grandad's for our end of the year celebrations. Everyone felt quite mellow so it was a quiet evening of cards, reading, and eating.


I was practicing with my new camera while the others were playing cards. Ant loves 45s and he looks forward to the family games all year.


Mum and Jeff were looking at Grandad's new reference book and saw that on the alphabets page, the Chinese characters were the text of John 3:16. Jeff pointed out a few words since each character represents one word. It must be so hard to learn Chinese! The characters are pronounced differently for Mandarin and Cantonese.


At about eleven o'clock we had a snack of crisps, nachos, and cakes. Grammie served these fruit cake bars and Hello Dolly squares (below). "I wonder why they are called Hello Dolly squares." I asked. Without missing a beat, Grandad quipped, "They can't even talk back!"

visiting with Sonya (and a new camera)

Ant and Mum and Dad bought me a new camera for Christmas. I have been playing with it and both Ant and I have been getting tutorials from Paul. I took it with us on a visit to Sonya's home (away from home) where we had a wonderful lobster dinner. (More about the food over on my food blog.)


Sonya and Kevin's children didn't remember us, but who can blame them since it's been a year--and that's a large proportion of their lives so far! Claire was keen to help me make cookies, which turned out rather well considering the mistakes I made.


Max handed Ant a book and then climbed on his lap. Ant began to read about Thomas the Tank Engine and both Max and Claire were enraptured.


Later in the evening Kai slept in my arms while we four adults chatted.

Merry Christmas

How wonderful it is to be with family for Christmas. My mother was hosting the big dinner this year, and she did a great job. Grammie supplied the mince pies (above) and a few other key items. Mum made the turkey and I helped a bit with the vegetables. Ant fluffed the mashed potatoes, Dad cleaned the whole house, and Paul moved furniture. There were fifteen of us and it was wonderful.


Two games of cards were set up after lunch. In the living room Ant and Grandad took on Linda (and Glenn).


In the kitchen Paul is chatting, while at the cards table in the dining room Dad and Lillian were playing with...


...Grammie and Katherine. I was happily reading and observing from my easy chair. Thanks to God for Jesus, his indescribable gift. And thanks also for all the gifts he has given us, including family and food.

no, I am not ignoring you

Christmas time is always busy with special church events, gift buying, and parties. But I have more reasons (or "excuses") than these for neglecting my friends and family. Ant and I are moving this weekend and the whole flat is in total chaos at the moment. There are half packed boxes in most rooms and big piles of things to give away in the corridor. The fridge is becoming bare and there is paperwork littered everywhere. Trying to sort it all out while still working full time has proved to be a challenge.

But there is another excuse for my blog-post-less-ness. My laptop's hard drive has crashed. When I switch it on there is a clicking noise as the needle searches for the disk like an old LP trying to find the groove (or at least that is how I imagine it!). On Saturday Ant and I managed to use the boot disk to turn the computer on. We tried to use the "disk repair" utility only to discover that the computer thought it no longer had a hard drive at all. Next we managed to prise open the case--yes, the hard drive is still there, and no, it is not working at all.

I have ordered a new hard drive that is meant to arrive today, so hopefully I will soon be back in business. But all my photos, music, and personal files are probably lost. (Consider yourself told: Back up! Back up! Back up your files!) You think it will never happen to you and then--wham--the needle is knocked off the track and everything is gone.

Well, things are looking up. We will soon be a bit more settled in our new home (pictures to follow!) and my computer will be restored to new-born health. More updates when those two things have happened.

PS. Don't tell Ant that I wrote this post at work today in my down time. He has banned me from doing this becuase it makes my productivity go way down (duh!). But he hardly ever reads this blog, so please don't tell on me! :)

maths department

Today we took a group photo in the maths department. At lunch time we all met up in Scott's classroom and posed in front of the whiteboard. (You can see the posters of Pythagoras' Theorem and the area and circumference of a circle, so check back if you ever need to remember them!) We've got a great team of teachers in the department and I feel privileged to be working with them all.

I know that I winge (:complain) about teaching quite a lot, especially in person. I try to tone it down online.... But I realised today how much I love my job and it's mainly the pace and pressure that can get me down. I have been making more resources lately and noticed how much I enjoyed devising and creating them. And I have turned a corner (almost, I think, she said tentatively) with my most difficult class, so I am starting to feel a great sense of satisfaction with them. If they do well in their GCSE mock exams next week I will be really pleased. And my colleagues are great to work with. I wish we had more time to share ideas, both maths related and otherwise. What a great team.