Finally.. a place to call home!

We have finally moved into our permanent unit!! Finally a place to call home! It’s a one bedroom unit with neutral furnishing, lots of natural light, and a bit more spacious than the other units we saw. Actually this was the only one, we could consider being able to live in, we inspected around 12 properties in one day. I am so glad we had a relocation consultant to organise all the viewings for us, otherwise it would have been a nightmare! Another painful experience was forking our almost 10 week’s worth of rent to the agent (6 weeks bond and 4 weeks in advance). To write out a cheque for over £3000 was painful and left my bank account barely on the credit side!

We’re in an area called Chiswick, closest tube is Turnham Green, and it’s in Zone 2. It takes me approx 30mins on the tube to get into work, so travelling time here takes abit longer. Chiswick is very similar to Leichhardt/Drummoyne/Chiswick!! Although a lot more boutique shops, the high street goes on forever. It’s very leafy and in a nicer part of London. It does have a familiar feeling about it and Joe even catch the 440 bus to work!! [There is a 440 bus from Rozelle into the city we use to always catch in Sydney]

Now, Viet restaurant here are OK, edible, but not something you have cravings for. We’ve tried 4 now, one in Hackney, and 3 in Shoreditch, of which only 1 I would return to. Joe has tried pho in almost all of them. Far from the standard in Sydney, but seeing as it’s something I can’t cook, we have to live with it. I’ve tried a few others banh cuon, bun bo hue x 2 and bun thit nuong. The bun thit nuong is the only thing I’d go back to have again.

Other restaurants, we’ve tried a few Japanese, we’ve been hooked on Japanese food ever since our trip to Tokyo last year. We’ve tried Kobe Jones here in London, pretty good but still not as good as Sydney. There are a few we will go back to.

Food I do enjoy here is their roast, and baked veges, it’s yummy, but quite heavy, not use to eating it too often. We’ll be trying more of the French restaurant but again, that’s pretty heavy as well.

Travelling updates, we’ve got a trip to Brussels booked in 2 weeks time… we’re going to stay at the Raddison, so that would be nice, and catching the Eurostar. Looking forward to eating the mussels, and the Belgian waffles. In August, we are going to Copenhagen for a long weekend, the accommodation there is so expensive!!!

For to my favourite part!! Shopping!! I am getting over the shock of how expensive everything is!! I think rent and getting around London is ridiculously expensive.
I have been fairly disciplined with shopping, I have only added 2 pairs of shoes to my collection, black going out heels which I forgot to bring (brought all black work heels) and a pair of cream and white flats (which are really cute). We’ve bought a fair few Burberry stuff as we’ve found the outlet, but still not that cheap if you convert to AUD, a pink checked scarf, a wind jacket, an umbrella (it rains often here so I could justify the $90 I paid for it!). Joe has picked up Burberry pants and shirt (you can’t tell it’s Burberry, but the fabric is of excellent quality). I also picked up an MP3 player which acts and looks like a USB stick…

My shopping list to search for: is a nice red coat, willing to spend top $$ for it if I find the perfect one and a vintage cocktail watch, both of these items, I have been searching for almost 2 years for! I am hoping to find something here. There is so much more tripled mill French soaps here, I love the creamy lather and the smell of them. I would highly recommend the L’occitane Lait or Verbena soap if you haven’t tried it. This is my little luxury in life!! What else? I’ll be picking up a little red Longchamp pilage bag when we visit Paris later this year and stock up on L’occitane handcream, surprising not much cheaper than Sydney’s price.

Joe and I are such snobs when it comes to coffee, my prayers were answered when our espresso coffee machine arrived in the air freight. At the moment, Joe makes the best coffee in London [however I have been told of a café called Flat White in Covent Garden, and guess what? Owned by Aussies!!]

Anyway, gotta go, take care!!