Summertime

Summer seems a long way off now, but here are some summery London photos. When summer does arrive, and for however long it is, a day or a week, London comes alive, parks are full, people are smiling, and as long as you don't have to take the underground, where it is 1000 degrees, life is good.

In our back garden.

mmmm Pims

Movies under the stars at Somerset House.

Day trip to Windsor.

Day trip to the beach, Broadstairs in Kent

Skyfest, summer doesn't always go as planned.

Another road trip. Alton Towers, scariest roller-coaster ever!

A trip down the Thames.

Regent's park, early spring picnic (in London you make the most of summer when it shows). 

An afternoon at the Rugby.

Sky ladies lunching in Chiswick (Colin Firth walked by and I missed it!)

Dartmoor in Devon.

Dartmouth in Devon

A light meal by the sea side in Devon.

Trafalgar square usually has something going on during the summer. This is a shot from Canada Day, more to follow on that.

Turkey - Dalyan

Since the trip to Slovenia went so well I decided to book a second and longer trip with Adventurea, this time looking for some sun. Turkey fit the bill for when I could travel and it is somewhere warm. There was enough time-out in the itinerary for relaxing and recovering from another exhausting football season at Sky Sports. So I put down my deposit and booked my fights.

Once I arrived a the gate at Gatwick airport, I checked out the crowd trying to figure out who might be part of the group. As it turned out I didn't have to wait long to find out, the seating had been arranged for us and I was sitting amongst the group so I got to know 2 of the group I was sitting with before landing in Turkey.

The group was a varied one and everyone brought something different to the group.  It made for a great week getting to know the others, exploring Dalyan, trying some new activities and relaxing.  My favouites were the Turkish bath and hot springs and mud baths. Canyoning pushed me to the edges of my comfort zone with ledges and cold water, as did Karaoke! There was lots of time spent on various boats and a couple hours on a beach with surf that was big enough to be fun but not scary.  The water was the perfect temperature and nice and clear.

Beautiful scenery.

Roman Ruins, those Romans, where have they not been?

The sheep have made themselves at home.

Kayaking

Mud baths and thermal hot springs my favourite.

It was deemed too hot for mountain biking so we went canyoning instead. Yes, it is as high as it looks, and that water is pounding down as you try to grab the rope. Testing the limits.

There was lots of karaoke. 

One of our many boat excisions.

I would definitely recommend Turkey, great weather, fantastic food, friendly locals who mostly understand English.  I look forward to returning and seeing more of the country.

Working in Television

My job as Studio Travel Coordinator at Sky Sports brought it's challenges.  I knew nothing about football other than the general rules of the game, and my UK geography on a local level was lacking.  So it was a stressful start with lots to learn.

This meant working about 10 to13 hours of overtimes a week. After football season ended and I had a break in the summer with lots of time off. I get 27 days off a year in England and not being used to having so much time off I didn't take many days off when it was busy so had about 4 weeks still left at the end of the year (end of June here) to use up. When in the office I used the quiet time during the summer to get myself organized for another crazy season.  It was about 3/4 months into the football season I knew it was not me or my lack of football/geography knowledge that was the problem, the workload was just to much for one person.

The job as Studio Travel Co-ordinator entails calling guests finding out what they need to get to the studio for the shows I worked on (mostly football) as well as travel arrangements for shoots and travel for Sports News reporters. It required a lot of prioritizing due to the work load, and careful timing to make sure they were here on time and there were no empty chairs on air.  It also requires keeping finance and producers happy about what I spend and keeping the guests and others happy with their travel I've arranged.

Over the next year my boss listened to my concerns about my workload, acknowledged them and over time I got help and my work reduced. At the moment things are at a good balance and I can go home most days on time.  A nice result, and much appreciated.

I would like to send a huge thank you out to google maps, saved me hours of work figuring out where things are and how far apart the are! Also thank you to my co-workers who despite stupid questions like "what is netball?", and "Does the name Ross Kemp mean anything to anyone?", still put up with me and helped me out loads.

Flatmates

When I first moved to London flatmates were an adjustment. I went from having my own house, with lots of space to sharing small London flats (some very small) with others that I didn't know. I've learned a lot over the past 4 years and come to appreciated my flatmates who make up my family here in London. It is nice to come home to a house full of people.

All in all I've shared space with 12 other people over the years. Some were dossers, those that stay temporarily on your coach while looking for their own place. All of whom I have stayed in touch with (minus the crazies). 

One thing learned is it isn't always easy to vet out the crazies in meeting someone for 20 minutes, about the length of a flatmate interview.  Another is, it can be a harder to flatshare with someone who owns the flat, you never feel on equal footing or that you have a say in how the flat is set up.  Over all it is best to stay flexible when it comes to common areas, be respectful of your flatmates, pay your bills on time, buy your share of toilet roll, and do your share of the cleaning.

Tweasel, it doesn't feel like home without my kitty around.

Camden Flat "Family Night Out"

Part of the fun is learning about another contries culture, and traditions, and sharing your own Olympic Hockey - Go Canada!

Girls night out

Some flatmates are temporary, aka dossers. 

Current and past flatmates.

My current flatmate and lovely boyfriend.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone. I shall be blogging again shortly. At the moment things are a bit hectic flat-hunting which is always a challenge and all consuming in London. This time I am looking for a whole flat to share with my boyfriend (and my kitty) which is exciting.  Fingers crossed something perfect will come up fast so I can get back to doing other things.

It has been interesting deciding on the location because we work on opposite sides of London from each other and nowhere near central London we have been out for walks in areas to see what they are like, so I've been able to see some new parts of London which I always like.

While I knew rentals are pretty crazy in London right now with more people looking than places available because of people not being able to afford to buy.  Still I was put in a bit of a tail spin yesterday after viewing a flat that was advertised as a 1 double bedroom (to be a double bedroom you must be able to fit a double bed in it).  The ad for this flat as it turns out used a photo of the upstairs living room, which as it turns out is double the size of the one in the apartment available.  The "bedroom" was an alcove in the hall that lead to the bathroom with a double bed in it, a hall my boyfriend had to turn to fit through the doorway no less, and no window! This is not a room in my world.  It was quite shocking!