the travel to the east

I had a most pleasant evening last weekend. Dad was in town for work, and I managed to spend some quality time with him. The highlight of the evening was having a nice dinner with David and Dad, following which we moseyed our way to a performance of The Lion King.

I highly recommend The Lion King - it was a lot of fun. An incredible set, creative use of the stage and some rather nice moments, including the moment when the animals came down the aisles of the stalls. It's been a while since I saw the Lion King at the movies - but bits and pieces of it came back to me during the performance. There was the baboon character who was played by the most amazing singer - she absolutely brought the house down. Even dad was impressed.

Though, I was even more impressed with the past weekend's sunshine - having lived through the longest winter of my life, I appreciate now why Londoners seem to strip everything off in public places such as parks the moment it hits 25 degrees. In fact, one day when it got to about 27 degrees, I was wilting away in my flat. The flat was only 22 degrees inside, but inside we had the fans going, all the windows open and I was still moaning away. Clearly my heat tolerance has taken some adjusting.

A couple of weekends ago I also took the chance to head to Windsor Castle and Eton with Frances. Windsor Castle was a grand old building, although I'm not sure the 45 minute wait in line to get in made it worth it. I suppose it was something that I needed to do while in London - a visit to see where Lizzie lives. I don't think Lizzie in was that day, but we had a gawk at St George's chapel (where we saw where the Queen Mother was buried), someone's Doll Museum (bizarre), and some of the State Rooms. There was excess everywhere - from the swords to the bayonets covering the walls, to the opulence of royalty. Bring on the republic. Though maybe not Napolean.

We also took a stroll around Eton where I must say it was interesting to see where numerous British Prime Ministers were schooled. The courtyard was nothing short of horrendous - jagged rocks, grey concrete and weeds growing in the cracked concrete. I suppose it drags down one spirit so that the little rich kids can concentrate on becoming Britain's future elite.

Speaking of disparity. Heading eastwards from Windsor, our train stopped at several stations including Putney and Clapham - where rudely speaking, all the bogan Australians live in their ghetto. Frances and I noticed that in the "nice" West side of London, the trains were mostly full of caucasian people. Changing at Waterloo back to head to the south east, we found our train entirely full of Asians (i.e Indians) and Africans and assorted other ethnic groups and I felt right at home heading back east in the melting pot of faces. I've always wanted to move somewhere "nicer" in London (i.e. the West), but I wonder if the east holds the key to one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world?

At this point in time, I suppose here is as good a place to tell everyone that I've decided to stay in London for just a little bit longer. At the start of June, I'll hit 1 year in London, and simply can't imagine packing up my life here to head back to Melbourne. As much as I miss home and my friends and family back in Melbourne, there's still a lot that I want to do in the UK. I've had a couple of sleepless nights thinking my long-term plans, but as I've gone about preparing my Highly Skilled Migrant Visa application, I know that this is the right decision for now.

Unfortunately, there's been a bit of stress with the new Home Office rule changes for my visa, and I'll need to head home for a little bit while the application goes through the British High Commission in Canberra. I'm looking forward to recharging the batteries, seeing you all again, and spending some time in my own bed.