Temple of Mithras, London

Yesterday I headed up to check out the ruins of the Roman Temple of Mithras here in London. What…what…WHAT you ask? There are still roman ruins in London? Yep! And within walking distance of my work, so for a lunch time wander, I headed up to check it out.

I first heard of the temple in Edward Rutherfurd‘s novel, London, an historically accurate reimagining of the history of London, from the very first settlers, right through to present day.

My dad, who’s also reading the book, noticed that the temple ruins were still preserved in (almost) their original position. So yesterday, during my lunch hour, I took the 20 minute stroll up to check it out.

Note the red tiles notable of Roman walls

The ruins are situated just up the road from Cannon Street station on Great Queen St. I say almost their original position because when they were discovered in 1954 on the banks of the now covered river Walbrook (and on the present day street by the same name), however they were moved around the corner to their present position, much
higher to allow them to be seen.

There is some talk that this year, they will move the ruins back to their original position, as the building that necessitated their removal is being demolished, and the ruins are being included in the design of the new Walbrook Square development.

Today, Temple Church, as made famous by the Da Vinci Code!

Snow in Roehampton

Wow! So Sunday night, Monday morning, it was the heaviest snow in 19 years! What a great finale for my time in England! I know, I know, I’m not leaving til September, but it’s great to have a proper snowfall here in London!

The snow was about 15cm deep when I used my sophisticated finger and thumb measurement, which is not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it was certainly more than normal for London! And more than enough to play in!

As the city ground to a halt with no public transport, we worked from home. One of the downsides of having a web job is that you can work from anywhere. So while my flatmates were happily ‘unable to work’, I still had to!

Best snowman ever... with totally awesome snow hat!

Nevertheless, I rushed outside in my lunch hour to build a snowman and play! 

It’s in times like this I really feel Australian. We don’t do snow. Not like this. So I was out with all the ‘other’ little kids who haven’t yet grown up and grown jaded with the snow! That been said, workmates today even admitted that this was a bit special!

All in all, I’m glad I finally got a real snowfall before I leave! It reminds me I AM in a different country, and lucky to be so! 
Now all we need is a decent Summer…

Even MORE awesome snow hat!

Aussie Food from the Australia Shop

Today is Australia Day, and to celebrate I bought a whole bunch of yummy Aussie goodies from the Australia Shop in Covent Garden to show my workmates!

I also baked some Anzac bikkies to keep in the spirit!

Everything seems to have gone down well because there’s nothing left but crumbs!

But I’m holding out the piece de resistance… Tim Tams!!

Anzac Biscuits made by ME!

From Life in London – December 2008

After a few teething issues with our network (it seems our D-Link DGS-1248T switch was too smart for us and sporadically had trouble talking to our servers – anyone else had this problem), we finally managed to get the office to a running state on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, I was called for a meeting with the Director and more or less told I was being made redundant. However, in a follow up meeting on Wednesday, I managed to prove my worth to the bottom line, and saved my neck from the chop. Heavy…

On Friday, to celebrate our first week in the new office, we went to a new local pub (The Mad Hatter in Southwark for those of you playing at home). The Mad Hatter is a Fullers Ale and Pie house and so we had the very British (or at least very Londoner) meal of Pie and Mash. I had the Steak and Ale pie with mashed potatoes and roast veggies. Very nice! All that was missing were the jellied eels, and I’m not sure I’d have eaten those anyway!
 

From Life in London – December 2008

Finally, it was a remarkably nice weekend (clear blue skies all day Saturday and Sunday), so Bibi and I went for a wander through Richmond Park all the way to Richmond and had another British (and Aussie for that matter) staple, the Sunday Roast, overlooking the Thames at Richmond. Beautiful! 
 

	From Life in London – December 2008

From Life in London – November 2008

But Autumn’s over, on with Winter! Yesterday morning it snowed! This is most exciting as again, this will be my last Winter here in England.

So the concept of snow has regained its glory as I remember that, NEVER does it snow back home, so I should be enjoying this!

Unfortunately it was pretty piss weak snow, so didn’t settle on the ground, but nevertheless, snow it was!

From Life in London – November 2008

I’m also looking forward to my last chance at a White Christmas. Bought some mulled wine from the Co-op last night. Beginning to feel a bit festive. Yum!

More details will come soon but the rundown went like this:

• Friday 19th – Monday 22nd September – Prague with my Aussie mates, Luke and Tony.
• Saturday 27th – Tuesday 30th September – Paris to meet mum and dad after their Europe tour.
• Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th October – Barcelona with my workmates for teambuilding.
• Saturday 11th – Wed 15th October – Palma, Mallorca with Bibi for sand and sun relaxation.

The Needles

Over the last weekend, Mum, Dad and I headed to the Isle of Wight for an overnight weekend stay.
And I have to say, I was impressed!

Atmospheric Weather

I think it was the coastal feel that really worked for me. It reminded me a lot of home, with a more relaxed atmosphere than I’m used to in London.

Probably the highlight was driving along the southern coast road from the Needles along to Ventnor.

The road has some fantastic views back to the Needles and we had some pretty atmospheric weather which I think made the pics even better!

So Isle of Wight, well recommended!

First up is an ad for Bogan Bingo at The Slug pub in Fulham. The Slug has a good antipodean feel and for those that don’t know, bogan is Aussie slang for someone who’s a bit rough, dodgy, uneducated and lower class. It’s similar to a chav in the UK or white trash in the US. It’s also usually associated with the mullet hairstyle (long at the back) as it is in the photo.

And second, wandering the grounds of Fulham Palace with mum and dad, we found a gum tree!

Mum and Dad will be over here for about 8 weeks with a couple of weeks in London, a couple travelling around the UK (Land’s End to John O’Groats) and then a couple touring Europe on a Cosmos tour.

But anyway, here’s mum and dad!

And for a little while whilst mum and dad are with us, we’re housesitting in Fulham! Nice!

A few of us headed down for some after work drinks at The Barley Mow.

First up, a fruit machine. This is the english version of a pokie except they generally only have 1 or 2 in the pub instead of the 20, 30, 40 we have. (They also seem to have them in some takeaway shops too. Odd.) They’re also generally older styled with all sorts of strange bits and bobs. I watched Matt play and can honestly say I haven’t got the foggiest idea what he did.. but same result, he lost!

Watch out in a later post for another pub staple, the quiz machine which has computerised trivia games that can win you money.

But anyway, I present, a fruit machine!

Here’s the work crew looking happy having fun!

And a rainbow out our window at home! One of the things I didn’t expect when moving to London was that the rain isn’t really that good. It never really pours that often, but just falls fairly gently (albeit for days or weeks on end). But last night had a really good fall of rain, it really poured but towards the end, just as the sun was about to go down, the rays shone in from the west to create a really bright rainbow. So here it is! (Shame about the scaffolding though)