And we're off...

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The big event started in style last night - and whilst I'm sure parts of the opening ceremony were a little incomprehensible to people outside of the UK, the prevailing view here was that it was overwhelmingly British and a job very well done by Danny Boyle. Filled with iconic images and moments - Shakespeare, Brunel, pastoral scenes, the industrial revolution, British children's literature, the NHS (quite a number of people from the hospital where I work were volunteering as performers at the ceremony), Bond, Mr Bean, the Queen (and the corgis...). And as ever, the entrance of the athletes is always a reminder of just how diverse our world and its inhabitants are. Fortunately, I was at a friend's house watching the event and one of the other guests has amazing geographical knowledge - so every time a country entered that we either didn't know where it was (or to be honest, some we hadn't actually heard of), O was able to give us a précis of location, and a little bit of history (e.g. Liberia is apparently historically populated by freed slaves from the US). It was like having a human atlas with us - no need to resort to google at all.


So today the sport starts in earnest. I'm finally getting around to painting my bookcase...accompanied by the constant tv coverage in the background...


And in other news, the fine weather continues (at least for another day or so)...

Summer has arrived...

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Given that I have spent much of the last month disparaging the London weather, I am delighted to announce that summer has arrived!!! Three consecutive days of bright blue skies and temperatures of 28-30 degrees is making us all pretty happy in this corner of the world. 

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Of course, we also have a little sporting carnival starting here on Friday (sadly, the run of good weather is meant to run out by Thursday, and it will be back to showers on Friday).


While the sunshine continues, so does our collective good mood. We are all so delighted to finally have some decent summery days that the majority of people are seemingly un-phased by the fact that:

• travelling on crowded (un-airconditioned) tube trains is not pleasant in 30 degree heat
• three separate incidents on the tube/trains this morning severely impacted commuting ability in London (and it will be interesting to see how quickly signal failures are remediated during the actual games - trains on one of the main lines to the Olympic Park area of London were suspended for 4 hours today during the morning rush hour)
• a significant proportion of lanes on London roads are restricted to official olympic traffic, and 
• a hefty contingent of the British armed forces have had to be roped in to cover the security fiasco.

Not to mention the planned strike by border control staff at Heathrow on Thursday...but apparently London is exceptionally prepared for the games, and most people seem quite relaxed about the whole debacle affair...

I'm getting excited - especially now that I have two teams to support (Australia and Team GB). Given that I decided not to sell an arm and a leg to purchase a ticket to Friday's opening ceremony, I am going to be watching the opening ceremony on television with some friends at their home...but come Sunday afternoon I'll be heading to my first event - gymnastics at Greenwich (provided the underground is working.....)

A customised doormat...

A few weeks ago I posted about some small projects I was planning around my home to make it feel a little more 'homely', and less of a temporary abode...


Full of enthusiasm, I headed to my local DIY store and stocked up on some necessary items for the planned projects...

...and then my enthusiasm waned for a few weeks. I was being productive - just not in relation to these projects (I have a knitting project to share once I sew on some buttons).


But, I recently found some motivation and completed the first item on the list - a customised door mat.


I toyed with ideas of how to make my plain door mat a little more bespoke. I considered various stencil designs, but in the end settled for a simple double border.


First step was to mark off the areas to be protected from the paint - I used clear adhesive plastic (the type you cover books with) as the painters tape I have is low-tack, and therefore wouldn't adhere to the mat.

Then it was time to brave spray-painting (remembering that this is an indoor activity for me - full of potential for disasters). On a side note, I discovered an interesting difference with procuring cans of spray paint between the UK and Australia. When I was in Sydney in January I was looking for spray paint in the local hardware store for a project I was planning for my mother - and found the cans secured under lock and key...I assume they must have a significant issue with either theft or wish to control access in relation to graffiti artists. No such issue with my local hardware store here in the UK - I was able to stroll in a grab a can from the shelf...

At this point I was a little worried. The sticky adhesive curled up once I'd spray-painted and I was assuming that the paint had worked its way under the marked borders.

Fortunately, when I removed the plastic my fears were unfounded...

And here it is, ready for action in front of my door (excuse the odd lighting...there is horrible fluorescent light in our foyer and no natural light)...


So, now the entrance to my flat looks a little more welcoming, I'm feeling motivated to get working on my other projects.

Dual nationality...

I first moved from Sydney to the UK 15 years ago (I actually can't believe it was that long ago). On that occasion I only stayed for 12 months before taking some time to travel and then return to Sydney.


Two and half years later, I decided to make the move from the southern to northern hemisphere once again...this time to Dublin. I loved living in Dublin, but after I had been there for about 18 months a job in Australia came up which was what I thought I had always wanted. So, I packed up everything again and moved to Brisbane.


Two years later, I was ready to admit that for a combination of reasons, I was ready to try the UK once more...so, once again everything was packed, shipped or stored and I arrived in London.


Six and half years on I attended my British naturalisation ceremony this week. In some ways it felt a little anti-climatic as it has been such a long and expensive journey to get to this point (ancestry visas, settlement visas and the citizenship applications do not come cheap). But on the other hand, it also felt 'right'. My adult life has been split between Australia and the UK, so now I feel that my dual citizenship reflects who I am and the choices I have made with my career and life over that time.

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The ceremony was held at York House in Twickenham (on the banks of the Thames in South West London). York House is a beautiful 17th century building - and we did have some lovely sunshine for part of the afternoon (in between the rain showers).

There were 30 people being granted British citizenship during the ceremony (from 22 different countries). We collectively stood to give the oath and pledge of allegiance to the Queen and to the United Kingdom, before being presented with our citizenship certificates by the Deputy Mayor.

My friend C came with me to the ceremony. We made friends with the American I was seated next to, repairing to a lovely riverside pub in Richmond after the event for some celebratory champagne. C also gave me this beautiful wedgwood tea cup and saucer as a 'new-citizen' gift. Which will be a lovely memento of the event...

So now the final step is to complete my passport application for a British passport (and hopefully avoid those horrendous queues at Heathrow forever more!). I'm off into Richmond this morning to have my passport photos taken - and unsurprisingly, it is raining. So I fear that I am going to have to live with a passport photo for the next 10 years in which I look like a drowned rat!

Soap, boats and eggs...

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I hope you all had a lovely weekend. It rained here...again... I'm gradually coming to the realisation that I should probably give up hoping for a summer. The long-term weather forecast is for continued showers and cooler weather for at least the next four weeks (and that includes a prediction for some pretty atrocious weather for the first week of the Olympics). So whilst I feel for all of those people in the parts of the US that have been experiencing extreme heat and power failures, I would at least like an opportunity to feel some warmth!

 

Despite the weather, my friend C and I had a busy day on Saturday. She had organised the first part of the day, and I had been in charge of the second half. In the morning, after managing to get ourselves lost once in the myriad of streets tucked behind London Bridge Station, we attended a cold-process soap making workshop. C had seen the workshop advertised on groupon and thought it would be something we would both like. After brushing off some basic rudimentary chemistry, we had a very interesting and enjoyable morning (if only my chemistry teachers in high school had told us that chemistry would come in useful for lovely things like soap-making I'm sure I would have made more attention at the time!).

 

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It turns out that cold-process soap making is a little like baking a cake (only with oils and caustic soda/lye). You follow a recipe to make up the basic mixture - and then all the fun begins in terms of adding all of the extras such as scent, texture, colours etc. And at that point, one's creativity is only limited by one's imagination.

 

We were able to bring home the two little cakes of soap we made (one is green tea and lemongrass, the other is honey and oatmeal). Now they need to cure for a month before they are ready to use. C and I are already planning a production workshop in her kitchen for one weekend in September as a way of getting ahead on our Christmas gift planning - I'm already planning home-made soap as my contribution to the hand-made Christmas gifts/decorations that my old school friends and I exchange each year.

 

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After we finished the workshop, we walked back to London Bridge Station, and then hopped on a train to Greenwich. It was the first time I had been there (which is shameful when you think I have lived in London for over 6 years). We had a brief wander through the market, and then headed to the National Maritime Museum. First stop was a lovely lunch in the 16" West Brassiere, and then we had tickets for the Royal River exhibition.

 

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I'd seen this exhibition advertised a few months ago and thought it would be fantastic - we weren't disappointed. In fact it was the painting by Canaletto above that inspired the Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant that was held last month. The exhibition was exceptionally well curated with a mixture of objects and artwork, and covered the history of the Thames over a period of 500 years. From royal barges, to Thames Watermen, from the first bridge to the Lord's Mayor procession, and all of the royal palaces that used the river from Hampton Court to Greenwich, it was a fascinating insight into the role that the Thames played in the establishment of the city that London is today. If you are in the UK and anywhere near London, then I can wholeheartedly recommend a visit.

 

I'm definitely planning a trip back to Greenwich (post-Olympics when all of the temporary grandstand seating that has been erected for the equestrian events has been dismantled). It is a lovely part of London, and the National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, the Royal Observatory and Royal Naval College are beautiful - well worth a return trip.

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Sunday morning I awoke to rain...again...But that made it the perfect opportunity to make my way to Notting Hill for brunch with my old flat-mate at Granger and Co. Nothing like a plate of the best scrambled eggs in London to start off a leisurely Sunday morning...

Changing my mentality about rentals...

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Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to change my mentality about renting my flat. For a long time I've thought of it as a temporary situation - something to do the job of keeping a roof over my head until I was in a position to purchase my own property. That approach however always left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied with my little flat - I was overly conscious of the magnolia wall colour, the limitations on storage, the inability to change anything of a permanent nature...And when one spends a 'reasonable' amount of time reading decorating/design blogs, well it all adds up to a little dissatisfaction with one's home surroundings...


But, over the past few weeks I've come to the realisation that with the financial climate in the UK, and the increasingly uncertain nature of the banking/finance sector, is likely to mean that I am staying put in my little flat for a little longer than I had originally anticipated. So, rather than focusing on all of its negative attributes, I'm choosing instead to focus on what small changes I can make that demonstrates that I value this little corner of my world. After all, I am fortunate enough in the current financial situation to have a secure job, one that affords me the opportunity to rent a little space for myself in a very pretty corner of London...there are many others who are not nearly in as fortunate a position.


So, this weekend, I finally made it to my local DIY store to stock up on some supplies to tackle a few little projects that had been sitting on my 'to-do' list, but which I had been lacking inspiration to start.


So here is my list of tasks to tick off over the coming weeks/months...

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I've been planning an attempt on this ikea hack ever since Kristine first shared her fabulous makeover on The Painted Hive. It took such a long time for my local Ikea to have these little drawers back in stock (perhaps everyone had the same idea??), but I've now acquired a set for myself and am all set to start my own little transformation. I'm thinking they will be a perfect solution for storage of all of my electronic cables (phone, camera etc)...

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I've recently discovered this beautiful food, entertaining and lifestyle blog by Jenny Steffens Hobick....and was so very taken by her baking cabinet...all of that order and symmetry is so appealing to me. So, I think a little pantry reorganisation may be in order...

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And probably the biggest job on my list is to paint a set of bookshelves (isn't this picture of Emily Clark's home office beautiful?). I was forced to retire two tall Ikea Billy bookshelves a few months ago, as by placing 6 years worth of research articles and textbooks on to them finally proved too much and they were collapsing under the strain. I managed to find a lovely wide pine bookcase on preloved, which is actually a much better size for my flat, but have yet to paint it. I'm planning white shelves with a pale grey back to make the books and objects stand out a little better. I'm having to psych myself up a little for this task, as painting furniture inside one's home (I have no outside space), is an exercise in anxiety for me as I am always terrified that I am going to knock over the paint tin on the carpet...

So, I'd best make a start...

PS. Julie - many thanks for the tip with regards to Sibella Court's book - it is already sitting in my shopping basket on amazon!