Our weekend in Dorset

A view of Lulworth Cove from the coastal path. Picturesque, even in the mist and rain.

Some of you may have seen the pictures I posted on Instagram of our trip to the beautiful Dorset countryside. It was a fantastic trip and we learned a lot about traveling outside of London for a weekend away, renting a car and pumping petrol. We stayed the night with my Aunty Margaret and did some tourist sightseeing. Although the fickle English weather didn't come to the party, we did have a lovely time. Kyle and Kelly also joined us for the trip, adding a fun-with-friends feeling to our road-trip!

Frans and I decided to rent a car and do our overdue visit to my special Aunty Margaret and Uncle Brian. We had been told by Kyle that the car rental company to go for is Kendall Cars in Wimbledon which was sound advice! The car was affordable, performed brilliantly and the proximity of the rental ground to the edge of London meant that we didn't have too many scary London roads to navigate before we were on the (more) open roads to Dorset.

Kyle had to teach us how to pump our own fuel. In South Africa, you
always have a petrol attendant to do it for you! 

We had been meaning to go and visit Margaret and Brian ever since we arrived in London, so we decided that last weekend was the one. Aunty Margaret is actually my mom's aunt; she is my gran's sister and we have been very close to her all our lives. She has come to visit us in South Africa many times and has lived in Dorset her whole life. Margaret, my gran and her two brothers John and Bob grew up on Poxwell farm where their parents were farmers. In her twenties, my gran married my grandfather and they moved to South Africa.

Margaret has always been a deerstalker and supplies the local pubs with a variety of venison cuts for their dishes. She, like my gran, has a palate for the foods that the rest of us might find a little gross. She is as strong as ever and takes regular walks around their steep and uneven farm land with her terrier, Terry. We had supper at a local pub which Margaret supplies with meat. I had the venison loin and Frans had the venison faggot, a large, rich, stuffed meatball containing all the bits and pieces that don't usually make for perfect cuts of meat.

From left to right: Uncle Brian, Aunty Margaret, me, Frans, Uncle John,
Aunty Lynne, Kyle and Kelly.

On our way down to the farm, we visited the abandoned village of Tyneham. Due to its close proximity to a military training ground, the village was evacuated during the second world war to be used as a practice ground for military practice. The village was never repopulated but in more recent years, has been carefully preserved and the church and school house have been restored to their original state. It is a really interesting place to visit, but our favourite part was the incredible, remote roads and views on the road leading to the village. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of the spectacular scenery as a chilly mist had descended!

The restored telephone box at Tyneham Village

We then made our way to Lulworth Cove, with the intention of walking the few miles along the coastal path to see Durdle Door. Lulworth Cove is a cute little village on the Dorset coastline. It started raining as soon as we arrived there so we didn't really get the sunny seaside experience we were after. However, we didn't let the rain get in our way and persevered on with our short hike. Although we got drenched by the irregular downpours, we thoroughly enjoyed our walk and the scenery was well worth the squidgy shoes and chilly cheeks!

Durdle door and seaside chalk cliffs. Pebble beaches make walking
on the beach in shoes much more pleasant than on sandy ones!

On Sunday morning, we had a lazy morning followed by a fry-up breakfast, which included black pudding! After breakfast, we went for a walk on the farm, guided by Margaret. We scrambled through the woodland, hopping over brooks and bashing through bracken. We popped out of the forest at the top of the farm with delicious views of the countryside stretched out in front of us. I didn't take a camera, so these images are recorded in the photo album of our memories only. Later that day, we took a scenic route back to London, stopping off at the Cerne giant and Fovent badges, some of the many hillside carvings in the chalk landscape of Dorset. 

A terrible picture of the Fovent Military badges with a field
of bright yellow Rape below it. 

Taking the scenic route meant navigating some rather narrow lanes, putting Frans's driving skills to the test! Every so often we would suddenly come round the corner to find ourselves in another village out of a post card! the houses are all right on the street with beautiful stonework. It was a perfect drive home. Back in London on Sunday evening we decided that it was a very worthwhile outing and we will definitely be doing something similar again.

Village lanes

Weekend fun in the sun

The sun came out and London went crazy this last weekend. Up until now we have had some really sunny days and the lovely light late evenings have been amazing, particularly for my post-work morale, but this weekend it got HOT. Well, not hot by South African summer standards, but hot enough for everyone to scuttle outside and try and catch some rays. And that included us of course!

On Friday after school, I was whisked off to Soho square for drinks in the park with school friends. At first, I thought it was an odd choice of place to go because it is a tiny little grassy square right in the center of London, and there are some perfectly good parks here in the west that we could have visited. However, I trusted the judgement of Sophie and Lisa-Joy and I'm so glad I did. The park was buzzing with loads of people just having a casual drink on the grass. A neighbouring couple gave us half a bottle of prosecco that they weren't going to finish and a friendly Hare-Krishna representative gave us a pamphlet and sang us a song!

Soph and L-J are just two of the awesome people who have desks in the workroom I am based in at school. We don't have our own classrooms, but rather all teachers are based at desks and give their lessons in different venues depending on the timetable. Our workroom is super fun and we have a really good time. There's Elyse and Sofija who are Chemistry teachers, Sophie teaches Geography and Lisa-Joy is the head of English. Will teaches IT, Economics and does some other career guidance things too I think. Daniel Podibinski is a physics teacher and is mostly called Pods (although after the skiing accident he was known as Podabin-ski-accident, and because he had to use a crutch was sometimes called Poda-stick-ski). Ellie and Anna are part-time teachers and so, although they aren't in often, it's always nice to see them. There's also Pete and Ian who grudgingly put up with the antics in the workroom (but secretly love the fun). I'm so grateful to be able to hang out with such super people at work, and after work a lot of the time. It does make the day much more fun!

On Saturday after Parkrun in Gunnersbury Park, Frans and I headed off to Richmond Park to meet up with Kyle and Kelly for a picnic. We were running a little late and not a hundred percent sure where we were going so it took us ages to get there. Then we realised there wasn't anywhere nearby to buy picnic food (and, due to bad planning, we hadn't already bought any) so we had to walk miles to find a little Tesco and buy some snacks. Once we finally met up with Kyle and Kelly we had a lovely relaxing picnic near to the Isabella Plantation gardens. They were filled with beautiful flowers and lovely little streams. After that, when we had had our fill of the sights inside the Park, we took the scenic route back to the station walking through Richmond town center. Richmond is beautiful, I was amazed at the spectacular views over the Thames and the masses and masses of green space.

The warm weather has waned somewhat and we've had a few wet days this week, but it stays light late and we can keep the windows and doors open well into the evening. This afternoon it was raining hard but it cleared up beautifully at about 8pm - so off I went for a run in the park. It feels like there is so much more time in the day when it's lighter for longer. Oh no! I really am living in the UK, all my chatter is revolving around the weather! I'll leave it at that for now. Below are some pics of the weekend, enjoy!

Lisa-Joy waiting for the train to London
to get going again. 

Sophie having a sip during our selfie

The little park was packed with people
on the sunny Friday evening.

A deer in Richmond Park

Obligatory pic of us!

Beautiful views of the Thames from Richmond

The walkway beautiful walkway in Richmond

First of May - what a marvellous day!

The first of May was Caitlin and John's wedding in Bathurst, South Africa. It was not a wedding I could miss - the three of us have had too many adventures of our own together. Not to mention that Caitlin and I are pretty sure we were sisters in another life! So what this meant was that I had a whistle-stop trip back to South Africa over this long weekend.

Leaving on Friday

Flying direct made a huge difference to the travel time and meant that I didn't lose any days, as I flew overnight. I managed to get quite a bit of sleep on the plane, especially on the way back, which is very rare for me! Part of the reason why, I think, is because I was so tired from the lack of sleep on the weekend.

Landing in PE

Landing in Joburg on Saturday was such a lovely feeling. Spotting all the familiar sights out of the plane window and hearing familiar accents in the airport. I sat next to an English girl who was going to Cape Town for a week's holiday with friends and she was so excited about all the sights to see and activities planned. We chatted quite a lot during the flight and enjoyed a dignified dinner with wine - well about as dignified as you can get while using plastic cutlery and wearing aeroplane socks!

Nanaga with Vicky (and Dylan
making a face in the bacground)

It was straight on to Port Elizabeth from there where I met up wit Pippa, Graeme, Vicky and Dylan. It was amazing to see their friendly faces after travelling for so long. We picked up the rented car and begun the drive to Port Alfred. Of course, there was the obligatory stop at Nanaga for lamb and mint pies all around, yummy! We got to at the Mason's house in the nick of time because everyone had already begun arriving for Caitlin's Kitchen Tea. What fun that was! There were at least 50 ladies there, all sitting around, drinking tea and delicious cake, giggling at the naughty poems and skimpy underware! Caitlin loved the afternoon and felt so spoilt - as it should be!

So lovely to see Pippa

Saturday evening was a little dinner with the family and was so relaxed. We sat around with a few glasses of wine and chatted and caught up. The plan was to get to sleep early but, when three close friends are sharing a room, that seldon happens... we chatted way into the night! Sunday morning was also so relaxing, Caitlin, Kate and I snuck in a stroll on the beach bringing back so many memories of doing exactly that when on an escape weekend to Port Alfred from Grahamstown and Rhodes. After some sitting in the sun, showers, hair, makeup and a last minute flurry of getting dresses on, we were ready to head to the wedding!

Walking on the beach like
the old days

What a marvellous day! Caitlin and John put so much careful and deliberate thought into their vows, their speeches, and how the day would run. Family and friends worked really hard to make the day happen and to fulfil all the wishes of the happy couple. And boy did it get pulled off! There were songs sung, poems performed, tears shed, meaningful and entertaining speeches made, bonfires burned, blessings given and lots and lots of dancing!

The view from my room

On Monday I had to leave Port Alfred way too early to catch the plane to Joburg. The early wake-up was made even more difficult having only a few hours sleep (literally 2 hours!). Thank you so much to Vicky for driving and to Dylan, Graeme and Pippa for leaving earlier than they would have otherwise had to! It all worked out perfectly though because I got to cross paths with my dad in Joburg airport while he was on his way to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for work meetings.

Hanging out in Joburg

So, now I'm back in London after only being away for three days, it does feel kind of like it all happened in a dream. The trip was really so worth all the time travelling and the money spent to see such special friends begin the new chapter in their lives. This short little nip back to South Africa has also really helped me feel less far away from home. It is amazing to realise that one day I can be in London and the very next I can be in Johannesburg!

What we've been up to

I am so sorry that there has been a hiatus on the blog for the last few weeks. There is really no excuse, except that I have been lazy! But there is quite a lot of news to catch you all up on so here goes.

The big news, I guess, is that Frans has started his REAL job. As some of you know, he was working temporarily at a removal company packing and carrying boxes and furniture. He enjoyed the work because it was nice to get out the house, do some physical labour and meet new and interesting people. But he was only ever going to be working there for a few weeks while he was waiting for the contract for the permanent job to come through. So Frans's job at The Royal Bank of Scotland started on the 7th of April, exactly two weeks after we moved into our new flat. He works in "The City" as the center of London, and particularly the banking sector, is often referred to. It takes him about 40 minutes on the underground to get to work in the morning and home in the evening. He's enjoying it at the moment, although he's still brand new to the project and there is a lot still to figure out.

While Frans was waiting for his security clearance to be granted so he could start working and I was still on school holidays over Easter, we had a few days where we were both free and we could do a few more touristy activities! We spent one day exploring the center of London. We started by going to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham palace. It was an eye-opening experience, partly because the demonstration was really impressive but also because there were SO MANY people there to watch! I have added a few photos we took but they don't really do the parade justice. Unfortunately, we didn't have a great view and so we didn't stay for the entire 45-minute parade.

Watching the parade through the massive
gilded gates of Buckingham Palace

A short video of the guards

The guards as they arrive at Buckingham Palace

 We then walked down The Mall from Buckingham palace towards Trafalgar square, passing across The Parade ground and spotting some on duty horse guards. At Trafalgar Square, we spent some time enjoying the fountains and massive bronze lions before heading to the National Gallery. It was beautiful, quiet and grand in the Gallery and I was so excited to see one of my favourite painting of all: Geroge Stubbs' Whistle Jacket.

Walking across The Parade Grounds

The National Gallery entrance as seen from Trafalgar Square

The beautiful fountains at Tafralgar

Fountains in the pools at Trafalgar

From Trafalgar Square we wandered towards Leicester Square to eat our picnic lunch. There were quite a few people with the same idea and the pigeons were having a good meal from the scraps that were dropped. From there we made our way to Hyde Park for a walk and it was really lovely to see the famous grounds. There were lots of gardeners busy at work preparing the grass and flower beds for spring and summer. I can imagine that the lawns will be packed with people soaking up the sun as soon as it is warm enough.

It is such fun living in a city where you can, on one day be a normal local, travelling to work, and the next transform into a tourist! This entire day of activities cost us almost nothing! We had already bought our travel cards for the month which meant that we didn't spend anything on transport. None of the sights we went to had an entrance fee and we took our own picnic lunch. Who said London had to be expensive?

A copy of Whistlejacket by George Stubbs

Moving house over the Easter Weekend

I have mentioned that we are moving into our own flat in the past few blog posts and this weekend that day finally arrived. We are finally in our own little place in Acton.

Moving our stuff from Sutton to Acton without the help of a car was interesting; moving house entirely using public transport was rather tricky. On Thursday, I had to be in Acton 9.30 to meet with the representative from the inventory company. They are in charge of documenting the state of the property before you move in so that if there are any damages incurred during the stay, you can be charged accordingly but not overcharged for things that were broken before you moved in. The process was much more thorough than I expected! He used a recording device and moved around the house identifying everything from scuffs on the walls to the number and type of glasses in the cupboard.

I had done this trip on my own because Frans has taken up a short-term job for a few weeks while he gets all the clearance necessary to start his “real” job. At the moment, he is working for a removal company packing boxes and heaving furniture from place to place. It is back-breaking work, but he is enjoying having something to do during the day and a little bit of extra cash coming in. He has met some interesting characters, many South Africans and Zimbabweans, and always comes home with a story to tell about a huge and beautiful house that he packed up and moved that day.

On the 4^th of April, Frans will start working at Royal Bank of Scotland as a Business Analyst – what that entails, I am not that sure. But it has something to do with making sure that the computer programmes and systems are complying with the necessary financial regulations that all banks are required to follow. He will be working as a contractor which means he has had to register himself as a Limited company.

We spent the Easter weekend in our new spot. We don’t have TV or internet access yet, so we spent a lot of time listening to the radio – which was actually quite fun and different from the “usual” entertainment that we have come to rely on!

Then we went to Hammersmith on Sunday to watch the famous head-to-head between the Cambridge and Oxford rowing teams. We had no idea what to expect and only knew that there would be hundreds of thousands of people lining the 4.5km stretch of river where the race was taking place. We met up with Paddy and Kerry at the station and arrived to absolutely pelting rain, luckily the weather cleared up fairly quickly and it ended up being a lovely outing. We managed to find a lovely spot on the Thames walkway with a bench and an uninterrupted view of the river.

On Easter Monday, Frans and I went for a long wandering walk. We walked through the closest park to us – Gunnersbury Park. The far end of the park is near Kew so we wandered through the streets of Kew for a while. We wanted to visit Kew gardens, but they were closed due to the weather. In the morning when we woke up there was rather aggressive wind and rain but by 10am it had cleared up to a lovely sunny day. We discovered later (thanks to Chantal in South Africa) that there had been a rather scary story, Storm Katie, which had lashed many parts of the UK! And this was presumably why Kew Gardens were closed. But we are very keen to visit again soon while it is spring and see the lovely blossoming flowers. Instead we walked along the Thames path spotting the Mallard ducks, swans and barge houses. 

Living Lightly

The process of moving to London has forced me to deal with a part of my life I was always uncomfortable with, but never actually took the time to engage. I have always wished I could be more objective and less sentimental when it came to holding on to things; silly trinkets, old jars that may come in useful and other clutter that I didn't ever take the time to fully decide why I was holding on to. Well, packing all my possessions into boxes to be stored for years or, alternatively, fitting them into a limited 30kg of luggage to take with me, has really made that process happen through necessity. 

We had decided that we weren't going to ship anything over to England and we would just survive with the combined 60kg of luggage that we could take with us on the flight. So, I had known that we would have to get rid of a lot of useless junk when we moved; it doesn't make sense to hoard items for a long period of time when they don't have a particular use. It started when I considered my wardrobe. I have managed to cart a lot of clothes along with me throughout my life and I often only throw something out when I haven't worn it for an unnecessarily long amount of time. I knew I was going to have to donate a lot of clothes, many of which I still wore and loved, because I could only pack a limited amount. I didn't think it would be practical to store clothes for 2 - 5 years in boxes with mothballs! As hard as it was to admit, I was certain I wouldn't want to wear them after that. 

So in preparation for this traumatic throwing out session, I began to seek solace from people who had done something similar before. I looked up people online who had purged their stuff for various reasons. At first, I was doing this as a way of fulfilling my desire to ponder on the future task at hand, rather than a deliberate act of learning how to do it. But, I soon began to become excited at the prospect of whittling my wardrobe down to those essentials which I love and need, and not have the clutter of items which I thought I may someday use, but never actually would! I came across some inspiring bloggers who give advice on simplifying a wardrobe as well as living a more simple and deliberate life when it comes to possessions. 

Caroline Rector, of Unfancy, is a proponent of what has become known as the Capsule Wardrobe. This approach requires that you pare down your clothes into 36 items per season. You pack the non-current-season clothes away and only have your 36 items in your available wardrobe. The process of selecting your 36 items is very deliberate and they are ones which you love and wear often. That way you are likely to get the most use out of those items and not have any extras cluttering up your wardrobe and mind. Obviously, this approach couldn't work exactly for me as I needed all my clothes, not only those which were seasonal. And I needed a lot of pieces which would work both in summer and in winter. However, I did find Caroline's "wardrobe planner" to be surprisingly helpful in identifying the kinds of clothes that I like and tend to be most comfortable wearing. I was quite sceptical at first but I would honestly suggest to anyone to take the time (an hour or so) to set to working through the steps to identifying your own unique style and preferences. Although I haven't done much shopping since following the process, I have walked through a clothing shop here and there and have felt much more confident knowing exactly what I am looking for, rather than overwhelmed by the masses of pretty things. 

Since arriving in London, I have discovered a video blogger called Aileen Xu of Lavendaire, who has set about recording videos cataloging her life while she attempts to live more simply, happily and deliberately. She posts videos about everything; from how she organises her desk, to her morning routine, in such beautifully edited videos that they have inspired me to create a life which is more conscious of what makes me relaxed and happy. 

Another interesting, albeit more extreme, online website I have come across, is called The Minimalists. These are two friends, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who write about their journey towards living a truly minimalist lifestyle. They also produce podcasts, which resemble radio talk shows, in which they discuss the reasons for decluttering their physical and mental space of all the stuff that we are conned into desiring. Their approach is a little too severe for my taste, but I really found a lot of good advice on intentional living while perusing their site. A favourite article was this (very short) comment on the prospect of having a President who was a minimalist. There are some lovely quotes from Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United states. My favourite is “Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.”    

And so, although Frans and I do have a lot fewer items than we did when living in South Africa, the deliberate choice of it all has been surprisingly freeing. I am so grateful that we were "forced" to consider every possession we own and decide its usefulness. It has already made life so much easier and less cluttered. 

A fox, the River and Kurt Darren

This weekend we saw a member of the London wildlife that we haven't seen before, a fox! Frans and I were walking home from a lovely afternoon spent in Wimbledon watching the Super Rugby. We passed through a parking lot that we walk through on our way home from the pavement and as we came round the corner, we saw a little animal. At first, I thought it was a big cat, but he stopped and looked at us and we saw him quite clearly. It was lucky that we were in the well-lit parking lot or else we wouldn't have seen him in the dark! He trotted off into the bushes - where presumably he lives!

As promised, I've put together a few pictures of the Thames that I've snapped through the window of the train. There's one in the morning looking into the sun and one looking up the river. And then there's one at night looking at the neighboring bridge, Battersea Bridge. I'm enjoying crossing the river twice a day, but since we're moving to Acton just before the easter weekend, this won't be the case for much longer. And although I'll be sad to give up my train view, living 20 minutes from work is much more appealing than having an hour and a half long commute! We are so excited for our lovely little 1 bedroom flat very close to Acton Town station which meets all our needs AND has a little garden to have braais in.

We went to Wimbledon (aka little South Africa) on Saturday to watch the Sharks pip the Stormers in the aforementioned Super Rugby match. It was such fun to be surrounded by so many South Africans. We met up with lots of our South African friends there later that evening and it was lovely to catch up on everyone's news and make some new friends. Once the rugby had dies down, the pub morphed into something resembling a night club But the DJ began the night off with some good old treffers!! Dancing and singing along to Kurt Darren's Captein while in London was really quite fun!