Our First Week

Well it's safe to say we've survived our first week relatively well. We're fairly settled despite the broken sleep, but we're hoping that will all get better this week. We've had a chance to explore our new neighbourhood which is extremely multicultural, and Mike's started at his new school. For those who haven't heard he has a year 4 class and is really pleased with his class. Apparently they're like little angels compared to his last class!

The first three days we were here we headed into London. From where we live there are bus stops and an above ground train station within walking distance. We catch the train to Stratford which connects up with most of the tube lines. It takes us about half hour to get to London plus 10 minutes each way walking to the station. We've learned not to catch buses during peak hour as it took over an hour to get home from Stratford, which should only take 10-15 minutes.

Anyway, the first day we headed into London we ended up buying tickets for 'We Will Rock You', which was on at the Dominion Theatre. There are all these discount booths to buy half price tickets from which we thought was great. The show was great, or the music was. The storyline was a little tacky but over all we had a great night. Here's a picture of the theatre entrance;

We've had a good look around the shops and pubs in Central London, but haven't had a chance to do any of the touristy stuff like museums etc. We've also explored the shops at Stratford, and more recently Romford. I can't work out how to get an actual map on here, but here's a link for those who are interested http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ilford&ie=UTF8&ll=51.562559,0.070038&spn=0.094763,0.31929&z=12&om=1 You should be able to see Ilford in the middle, Romford to the right and Stratford to the left.

I'm not sure whether I'm not looking in the right places, but England doesn't seem to have a Westfield, or anything resembling a multi-level shopping centre. According to the locals Romford is massive, but somehow or another I don't think they truly know what a massive shopping centre is. Despite it's shortcomings, we still found stuff to buy so it's not all bad!

The last few nights our main source of entertainment has been our favourite new reality show called Dumped. They've basically thrown a group of people in a dump, and they have to live off the dump for three weeks. Fascinating viewing! Been pleased to discover some local shows too like Kath and Kim, All Saints and Neighbours. I have to wait another 10 weeks before I'll see a new Home and Away because they're behind.

In terms of work, the agency I'm using have done quiet well considering schools have only been back for 2 days. I've got work Monday and Tuesday next week which should lead to a couple of weeks relieving someone off on sick leave. The school is in Loughton which isn't too far either which is handy. A full time position also came up but it was in South London and 1.5 hours away on a good trip so decided to hold out for something closer.

Will update again soon. Love Mike and Krystle xo