January Update
Happy New Years!
I hope that January finds you all well, and working hard (or hardly working) on any of those pesky new years resolutions. Besides having spent most of this last week sick, I’ve been doing well. In keeping with my resolutions of traveling more and generally enjoying life in London, here is January’s update.
A few weeks ago, we spent a weekend in Zurich, Switzerland. See Allen’s pictures here. Zurich was a cute town, it was unseasonably warm there - no snow, and I think the Swiss were about to overheat. We wandered around the city centre, went up to Uetliberg, the mountain overlooking Zurich, for some views, and ate Italian food with Allen’s former intern and his girlfriend. All in all, a good weekend getaway. We chose Zurich because Allen was already there for work related things earlier in the week (and the Swiss chocolate is great too)
We were supposed to go to Bath this weekend, but both of us ended up sick, so we’ve postponed that trip for now. The next planned trip is Rome the first weekend of March. We want to make it to Germany and Belgium for sure in the next few months (hopefully coordinate with family and friends in both those places), as well as see places around England and Ireland. Hoping for an African safari in October, a trip to Prague, Austria, Venice, there are simply too many places and too little time.
Speaking of too little time, it seems like we will definitely only be here for 2 years - through April 2008. Allen is apparently being too productive at work. So, any of you who would like to take advantage of free lodging in London, better act fast. We would be happy to reserve our spare room on a first come, first serve basis. Lodging can be the most expensive part of the trip to London (especially if you get a good deal on airfare), so take advantage of it whilst it lasts. (Besides, we like visitors). Did that sound too much like a commercial?
In London this month, we’ve seen Spamalot, the last performance for Tim Curry. Highly entertaining if you like Monty Python. If you don’t, don’t bother. We also explored the Borough Market south of the river (the area where Bridget Jones’ diary was filmed). Allen’s photos are here. Very crowded, but lots of organic foods, cheeses, and breads. We’re looking forward to seeing the Tempest in March, with Patrick Stewart which should be enjoyable as well. Its a production of the Royal Shakespeare Company, but unfortunately won’t be in the new (recreated) Globe Theatre, although I’m still wrestling with how much, if at all, of a tourist trap the new Globe is.
In London this month its been unseasonably warm, but we’ve also had snow! It was neat to wake up and see a coating of white all over the ground and trees. It wreaked havoc with public transit (of course, even the wrong kind of leaves wreak havoc), but I was sick, so I didn’t get to go out and freeze my butt off. Allen took a few photos here and here.
On a brief work-related note (all those who don’t care, you can skip this paragraph), I’m still continuing to enjoy my job, settling into a different pace from the hospital. Home visits aren’t nearly as bad as I expected (although, I’m apparently going to see a smelly guy next week, we’ll have to see after that). In our corporate induction, I got a crash course in local government which was interesting. Amongst other things, I learned that there are 33 boroughs in greater London. I also went to a course on Fair Access to Care Services, where we learnt all about the dilemmas of how to determine how to distribute the money fairly. An interesting exercise, but only raised more questions than it answered. I learned that there are a few universal truths. There always seems to be a struggle between mental health and social workers about who should provide services to those with mental health issues. Also, it is very difficult to get a doctor to declare someone incompetent (apologies to the doctors reading this).
