Our yearly trip to London

Mom and Jürgen came to visit for the weekend two weeks ago. I've been waiting this long to get the photos from Andre. We couldn't believe that it's been 11 months since the last time we've been to London! We might actually go tomorrow so the once yearly thing won't be completely true then anymore. That weekend, the 17th of March to be exact, was also two year since we arrived here in the UK.

It was really nice to stroll around London again. This time we did a less touristy day and instead of charging around the city trying to see everything in a few hours, we went in a bit later, strolled around at a more leisurely pace and left the city long before the last train does.

On Sunday (which was also Mother's Day here in the UK) we visited Burford before heading back home for a quick curry (the second one of the weekend!) before mom and Jürgen had to catch their flight back home.

A few photos from our day in London.

M&M world!

Loads of M&M's in every colour you can think of

M&M Easter selection

This many M&M's need a guard

The Beatles as M&M's

I think there were at least three levels of M&M's

At Piccadilly Circus

Changing to private blog soon

Hi readers,

I've decided to set my blog to private from tomorrow. Kind of because I'd just like to keep my private life somewhat separate from my work life. If you'd like to continue reading my blog just email me and let me know so I can send you an invite. I'll send invites to those I know are following my blog anyway, but if I miss you just let me know! I'd still love for you all to carry on reading if you're interested!

Thanks for stopping by!

xx

Gardening, biking and photographing fish

We've done some gardening both yesterday and today. The weather has been lovely this weekend. So sunny and quite warm at around 14C. Which is warm for us after winter. Andre mowed the lawn yesterday, first time since before winter. The grass completely stops growing during winter unlike in SA where it only slows down slightly.

We've already got some pretty flowers flowering and expecting more soon.

I think this is a tulip. Not the typical ones like we had last
year, the shape is a little different when it opens up.

Hyacinth

I don't know what this is, we have one in the front garden
and one in the back. It smells really sweet.

Here's a close up of it.

So that was all Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening Andre went to do the first part of his photography course which he enjoyed very much.

photo by Keith Lyall

Watch out for that lion fish!!

This was in a pool. The second part will be in the ocean once it's slightly warmed up.

This morning we went for a bike ride. It was an awesome day. Even sunnier than yesterday. We drove to Henley. It was about a 45 min drive and I can do just over an hour before I need to stretch my legs so we kept going past Henley for a bit before we turned back for a stop in Henley on the way back. We passed another couple along the canal also with a BMW bike and Andre said he thought he recognized them so we turned back. Turns out they were the couple who picked up their bike right before Andre last Saturday. And they're also South African! 

We chatted to them for about an hour, a good long break with some coffee and hot chocolate too, before making our way back home to come and do more gardening.

Back home in our sunny garden I did the weeding in the vegetable patch while Andre made a path between the greenhouse and the veggie patch which now looks very neat.

Me in the veggie patch- a "before" photo of
where Andre's path would be.

And the "after".

We rewarded ourselves the rest of the afternoon with drinks in the sun under the apple tree and ended the weekend with barbecued chicken burgers- our first braai of the season.

New bike

Last weekend Andre took his bike, a BMW GS1200 Adventure, for a service. While there he chatted to the owner of the shop, Paul at Bahnstormer, who happens to be the same guy he bought his first bike from here in the UK in 2004. Paul worked out a real good deal for Andre on a different bike with some discount which basically came to the same he's been paying per month for the GS.

I was on first aid training last Saturday. When I got home we had to go to the BMW shop so Andre could show me this bike. I played devil's advocate. He really didn't need a new bike. But since it wasn't going to cost any more, then why not if it's what he wants.

So he ordered it right there and then. So not him. Andre always sleeps on things like this before making a decision. 

Here he is leaving for the last time on the GS.

He picked up the new bike this morning. It's a BMW 1200RT. 

Arriving home for the first time with his new bike.

We've just come back from a nice 2 hour ride. Started out a sunny 14C, then started raining on the way back and dropped to 6C before it started hailing! We stayed dry :-) When we arrived home we realised even though we made sure to take house keys, my keys were still in the front door on the inside so we couldn't open the door from the outside!! We managed to get the garage door open the way the locksmith did it a while back. (I don't think I ever told you that story here.)

Some details Andre would like me to tell you about the bike:

Firstly it has heated seats!! Even my seat is heated with a switch which I can adjust myself while I'm sitting behind Andre.

While the GS was more of an off road bike, this one, the RT, is a road bike, but not a sports bike. So you still sit upright like on the GS. As I understand it, it's just more comfortable for long trips and seeing as we won't ever do any off road riding here in Europe we don't really need a GS anymore. It's supposed to be more comfortable for me too. My heated seat sure makes it nice and comfy!

The windshield in the front is electronically adjustable so Andre can raise it for more wind protection. Of course it still has the heated grips as the GS had too. Still no heated grips anywhere for me though.

Oh, it also has cruise control so on the motorway Andre can sit back and relax. (not quite!)

It has speakers so you can have a radio installed although that's an optional extra which Andre didn't take.

Some things I know nothing about and can't explain is:

it also has stability control, ABS brakes and adjustable suspension for either one person, two people or with luggage.

World Book Day

I said I won't be posting anything about work here but I'll post this link for you to go have a look at since it's online for all to see anyway ;-) World Book Day photo

We all dressed up as story book characters. I was Puss in Boots. I ordered the musketeer hat and the sword which the child on the left is holding. The children robbed me of my hat and sword as soon as I arrived and played with it most of the day. I let them draw my whiskers with eyeliner and they did a pretty good job. I did request a maximum of three whiskers each side and they did them quite small. You can't even see them in the picture really, only what looks like a dimple is really the children's whisker art on my cheek!

It was a really fun day, as most days are when you spend it working with children!

I wish I could share more of my job with you here. You can go like our Facebook page and see more photos there if you'd like.