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He he, Dave and I went to Fulham Palace a little while ago to have some afternoon tea. Its just near our house and it is a lovely little place to sit relax and enjoy :)

Spring has Sprung

Hello there :)

Things looked really dead when I arrived in London - thats probabaly coz it was winter! (der). But over the past month, all the scarey dead looking trees and woods have come to life and its has been so lovely! Lots of colours and blossoms and lovely green leaves have been popping up all over the place. It looks quite pretty out my window these days!

Sorry to hear its been raining for you aussies. It might just be the time for you to pop on a plane to come and see me and enjoy an english summer! (please come to see me! anyone, anyone)

Ok, well I will go now and miss you all silently

Lots of love

Melissa

Me Birthdee

Easter Monday saw me turn 26! Can't really believe it! Where does time go? I don't feel 26 but I suppose that is a good thing!

Lovely Dave had planned me a day out, a boat trip on the Thames up to Hampton Court Palace etc but bad bad apple mac computers stole his Easter Monday holiday and rostered him to work! Grr to them! So Susannah my flat mate stood in and we enjoyed the plans Dave made together. It was fun!

The palace has over 500 years of royal history, Henry the VIII and William III lived there, you can see the real Tudor Kitchens where they fed about 800 people a day. It holds an important part of the largest private collection of art in the world, the Royal Collection, the property of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

There is also a Maze! It was planted as part of the gardens laid out for William of Orange (nice name!) between 1689 and 1695 by George London and Henry Wise.

I had a lovely day here for nearly 4 hours and still didn't see everything. Definitely worth another visit!

In the evening everyone came up to our pad and Susy organised a little party for me :) There was even balloons and I got to blow out candles on a caterpillar cake!(never to old)

One of the great things of my day was being remember by family and friends back at home. Thanks for your cards, pressies, emails, and sms's. Very special to me :)

Keep in touch

Melissa x






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These photos aren't mine they are from the net but you weren't allowed to take photos inside and I capture any of the true awesomeness of the place! The bedroom one is a drawing of Queen Mary's State Bedchamber, its pretty sweet!

The Easter Weekender

The Easter weekend here was the great! The sun was out for the first consistent time since I got here and there was a sense that 'life will be ok!' as we took time out from the business of work and enjoyed friends, the sun and some of what London has to offer!

Good Friday
Dave and I travelled up to town to St Paul's Cathedral to attend what is called the 3 Hour Devotion. It is an anglicanish thing to do, based on scripture which indicates Jesus was on the cross for three hours from midday till 3pm. Whatever the case, it is a time of 3 hours of reflection, bible readings, medication and hymns. It is run in 30min intervals for people to come and go. It was an amazing experience to sit in this brilliant building and to take time to reflect upon the gift of Jesus and the sovereignty of Gods redemptive plan. I am not sure how to put what I thought and felt into words, just to say I think it is a real blessing to be open to experiencing how others undertake worship and christian commitment. Its just great that we can all be so different yet still worship the same God. St Paul's is a must see if you are in London, it is so big! And full of the most intricate details, paintings, gold and art work. Although this day we were not to take photos in respect for the fact a service was going on so I will have to return another day to do the tour and walk through.




The Boat Race
On Saturday our little 'ol Putney town (where we live) was host to the beginning of the famous boat race.

"The Boat Race is a rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club. It is rowed annually each Spring on the Thames in London. The event is a popular one, not only with the alumni of the universities, but also with rowers in general and the public. An estimated quarter of a million people watch the race live from the banks of the river, around nine million people on TV in the UK, and an overseas audience estimated at anywhere from five million to 120 million. The first race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856, with the exception of the two world wars

Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue"

There you have it .. and excerpt from wikipedia says it all. Of course I had no real idea of the nostalgia of it all .. but it was fun to hang out with the crew on the banks of the river. Sadly a huge steam boat parked right in front of the spot we had been warming for hours, so we could see neither the huge screen or the boats themselves at the starting line .. but it was a good day!




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Easter Sunday
We attended Shepperton Church in the morning for the Easter service. Then, since the sun was still out! we packed a picnic and went to Richmond Park near our house. It was a brilliant day when we finally got to lay our rug on the grass (man it was packed!) and we just relaxed, ate, read parts of the paper and snoozed! Kinda felt like we were at home at Stirk park or something, except with deer and squirrels! (As you can see it was very exciting for some of us .. eg rory!)




Hope your easter break was lovely too.

Melissa x

Flat D Roehampton Lane

Hello. Its been hard to keep updated, but I tell you what I have a backlog of photos waiting for you all .. so watch this space! Anyhoo, for now, due to popular demand I am posting some photos of my flat! I can only show my room (which I share with susannah in the bed in the sky) and not the second room which Jane has (as I didnt ask), so know there is another room not shown. So as you can see, we have a hallway (derr! which links my room (the room at the end) and the kitchen/dining room & lounge!). That is pretty much it, oh yeah and the bathroom and the phone which people from the street buzz! I love them!. So that is that! A bit of a glimpse of my world!

Much love to you all :) Thanks for popping by!

Melissa x

Hundred Acre Woods

As it is staying lighter longer, dave and I go for walks every arvo to get some exercise and fresh air ... not this day though! The air was smoggy and misty all day. At my work our office is on the 9th floor and the 'whatever it was' that was in the air meant I couldnt see the houses or trees below! The people in the office said it was pollution that had blown over from Russia?! Hmm, could it just be the pollution for London? Better to blame someone else I guess! Anyhoo, it meant that the sunset was very iteresting ... the sun was completely bright orange.

Thats all I wanted to say. Here are some pics of the sun set and our walk in the park .. well its more like a woods, but they call it a heath. I like to think of it as the hundred acre woods :) Later dudes. Mel x

A wittle update

Hi ya everyone,

Life happens and it keeps you busy, so sorry not exciting updates for a while! Though I am sure you have much better things to do than wait around for my updates!

So what to say, here are some things that have been happening here in London but in point form this time just to mix it up a bit!

- It snowed again for one random morning after a whole week of sunshine, cherry blossoms blooming and warmth that required only a light jacket when outside! I suspect that will be the last snow we see, but it was nice to have it fall on our heads one last time
- A kid got stabbed at Susannah’s school .. no such a highlight, but a very regular occurrence here. It is insane to say the least what is going on in the young people here. Out of control, who knows what this place will be like in 20 years.
- Dave got a sofa bed in his kitchen/lounge/bedroom which has replaced the blow up mattress he has been sleeping on the past 3 months! Its really nice and very comfortable, so I think that is a highlight!
- I am off to Scotland in May with my friends Bec n Andrew Logan and little Ethan! It will be so cool to see some of this country, rather than Roehampton lane that is! I am so excited!
- Its my little brothers 18th at the end of this week and my 26th! Crazyness
- My sister and brother in law have returned from the land of the rising sun, to their home in the great south land of the holy spirit! Yay, so good to know they are back in visiting for coffee distance (well not for me, but for the rest of my fam that has missed them muchly!)
- It is light till like 7.30 here now, so lovely. Dave and I go for a walk every afternoon before dinner
- Dave is off to NY, Switzerland and somewhere else to shoot for his friends perfume label! Till be a great adventure! He is working a weekend job at Apple Mac store at the mo, a bit of photo editing on the side at Wire Image, and seeking some weekday temp stuff to fill in the gaps before he leaves. He is lovely and doing well.
- I am still awaiting this job interview on April 12 which has been so long due to them moving office. It is working with a faith based agency helping young mums and their children that are experiencing exclusion. It would really help my experience for where I want to be in the future, so I need Gods direction on this (and quite frakly to kick butt in the interview) if this is where he wants me to be. Other wise back to the drawing board!
- I had tea in the drawing room of Fulham palace yesteday it was so lovely! Forgot the camera so no pics, but I did feel very smart indeed!

I think that is all for now.

Here as some pics from the tube .. just for something different!

mel x