York, Hammerton, Knaresborough and Sutton Bank

The Shambles

Knaresborough

York town walls

York Minster

A wicked weekend had by all at Helen and Chris'. They live in a small village called Hammerton that has a post shop and a train station. It is a 10min train ride to York from their village. On Saturday morning we had a look around York - climbed the city walls, visited the York Minster, sampled local food at the market and walked down The Shambles. In the arvo we went to picturesque Knaresborough and rowed along the river under the train viaduct stopping in at the local afterwards. Saturday night was really fun with team challenges of Wii and Cranium - Naths favourite! Sunday was not a lazy Sunday. Nath and I walked around H&Cs farming neighbourhood - coming across blackberry bushes, pheasants and tractors. We all took a drive out to Sutton Bank where we did a track walk to the white horse carved into the hillside. After all the activity it was time for a hearty cavery lunch and then home time back to London.
It was great to catch up with Brenda and Jonte over the weekend, had loads of fun with everyone. It was neat to be with NZ friends (and Brenda bought us pineapple lumps and jaffas - legend).
Work has been picking up for me lately. I had 3 days work last week and this week I have 5 days. Three days are working for TFL (Transport for London) again so hopefully they keep booking me as they get busier. Nathan is away in Liverpool for work today and tomorrow. Doing some product demonstrations and hosting user groups for those that have the software already. His family arrive in London tomorrow evening so it will be a busy week trying to fit as many things in for Kylie and Ash to see and do before they fly out. We are hoping to hire a car and spend a day around Bath, Stonehenge and Oxford. I have Stonehenge is crap but I will go there myself and let you all know what I think. Im going to be knackered after this week - I havent worked a full 5 day week since the end of June.
This is a video of our boat race. Half way through Helen felt sorry for the losing boat and asked Chris to slow down. Very funny.

Pope's Visit

The Pope

Looking towards Buckingham Palace

St James' Park

St James' Park

Yesterday we lined the parade route to catch a glimpse of The Pope. Very pompous affair. The parade route was patrolled by police from 2 in the afternoon even though the drive by wasn't until 6. Nath and I arrived in town at 2 and had a look along the parade route then wandered around St James' Park. We also met up with Bhav and Emma who we managed to convince to come with us to see the Pope, and they convinced us to go to Brick Lane with them after for curry. Good end to the day. Especially as I bargained well for our group at dinner and got free popadoms, no corkage or service fees, and 2 4 1 on everything. So our dinner cost us £4.50 each - popadoms, vege samosas, curry, naan and rice. Bargain.

Update

Hi Team,
Not a lot to update you with. Nath brother, Chloe (CJ), Nath boyf and myself took a day trip to Brighton last weekend. It was a good opportunity for Nath bro to catch up with Uncle David and score a free lunch for the rest of us. For those that don't know - David is my Dads older brother. We did the usual tourist stop off at the Pier and wandered through the old narrow lanes. Both Naths were dismayed at how many jewellery shops there were. Chloe and I didn't mind looking at rings. Typical Nath bro wondered if the shops were prepared to give discount if two rings were bought.

Nath and Uncle David

Biggs family photo + Oscar

Other than our adventure to Brighton we have been fairly quiet, staying at home most nights in an attempt to save money. I have only had one day of work since school started back so Im starting to get a bit worried about the job situation and the lack of money coming in. Im hoping to hear back from a school today - hopefully they'll want to interview me, then I can work my magic and get the job.
Next weekend we are of to York - to visit Helen & Chris and Brenda & Jonte - all the way from NZ. Brenda is a colleague and footy mate from Pram days so it will be good fun catching up. Im thinking some backyard footy is on the cards. Im hoping to do a ghost tour of York at night. I think it is one of the oldest towns in England and has a lot of history.
The following pics are rather random and taken when walking around London.

The amazing differences in architectural style in London can be seen everywhere.

Crazy people waiting for Topshop to open midday Sunday.

Uncle James and his Tobacco manufacturing business. Hopefully if you enlarge the image you can see the inscription on the building.

England v Bulgaria

We had another action packed weekend. It started on Thursday night with us going to watch Blood Brothers. It was ok, nowhere near as big a production in terms of cast and stage set up as Oliver. Still it is nice to get out and do something.
Friday night we watched England kick Bulgaria's butt 4-0. It was a great atmosphere as the English supporters (73000 of them) were breaking into songs. Not that I could understand what they were saying. My favourite footy match of all time is the All Whites v Bahrain in Wellys and I dont think I will ever watch another game that aweseom again. England played pretty well except for Rooney who is as useless as tits on a bull.
Saturday we hung with my bro and checked out his new flat - very flash. And on Sunday we watched the Black Ferns beat England in the Rugby World Cup final. Unfortunately the Black Ferns got beaten by the ref and as a result the score line didn't blow out like it could have considering we had the best of possession and territory.
This Saturday we are having a day trip to Brighton with Nath and CJ to catch up with my Uncle. Fares were only £3.75 one way so pretty damn cheap and a good excuse to head out of London. The last of summer is quickly fading away. I have noticed it is getting darker earlier in the evenings.
Waiting to hear if I have a secured a long term contract at a school, my agencies are expecting to find out today. Pretty bloody useless on the schools behalf - why wait til the day school starts back before deciding on a PE teacher. Surely this could/should have been organised during the summer break so the teacher is ready to go for the 1st day of school!!

National Anthem

Rooney with the ball - I'm waiting for him to pass it to the opposition!

Nath looking quite bored with the action - probably wishing he was at a hockey match

Gerrard, Defoe and Rooney

Wembley Stadium