Portobello Markets, Billy Elliott and a day at Townsend Primary!

So I feel it must be high time for another blog post. Friday evening was exciting... We are in London, we are young and fancy-free- so in theory we should have hit the town. But we were both too exhausted- I had worked four days and Bryce one. I have to say I am already looking forward to the mid-term break haha. We stayed in on Friday evening- but that meant we could go out on Saturday night! We left the house about midday Saturday and went to meet with a land agent about a flat. We walked into the flat and both got a good feeling- our code for "oh my god get me outta here" was "I wonder what your mum would think?" (Subtle but worked well) and neither of us piped up with that line, like we previously had at another flat viewing in Southwark. 


This one is only one street from Clapham North station and both streets are well lit so safe for me to walk home at night. The flat itself is not huge - but has a combined lounge/dining, bathroom with shower over bath, new kitchen and 2 bedrooms. One bedroom is opposite the front door- I was crossing my fingers that Bryce wouldn't mind taking that room as I don't want to be the first room in if an intruder should get in! Thankfully he thought the same and is happy to take that room. My room is down about three steps to the right of the front door and is a decent size. I can swing a cat. Not that I have a cat, but if I did - I could definitely swing it!

It's nice to have a new kitchen- it has a washing machine (woo hoo and hehe it being in the kitchen!) fridge, dishwasher, microwave and a gas hob. I'm pretty pleased with it- it will be so nice to finally have somewhere I can call home!

So we signed it all up- it is £320 a week between us, and we were lucky to get it for that because a flat just two doors down is on for £350 a week. We move in on Saturday the 22nd January, which is two weeks away. Two more weeks of an hours travel to work and an hours travel back- over it! This flat is only 15-20 min from work - yusss! If you go here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=51+sandmere+road+lambeth&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=51+Sandmere+Rd,+London+SW4+7PS&gl=uk&ei=h30rTaLBHJK1hAeU68mxAg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ8gEwAA  or if the link doesn't work, go to Google maps and type in 51 Sandmere Road, Lambeth. It will find it and you can see our front door, it is the black one to the left of the blue one hehe.

If you'd like the address please private message me on facebook or email me ;)
Gifts of marmite, pineapple lumps and Milo are always appreciated haha!!!

We were quite excited after that and decided to go to Portobello Markets- which are AMAZING. There are antiques as far as the eye can see- clothes, bags, shoes all vintage and so much jewellery. It was quite something to see! Some fabulous buskers too. I bought some cherry blossoms that have lights in and are really pretty when on at night, they'll look lovely in the flat :)

 Yep - that's the sun you see in this photo... hahah!

 Jam packed streets of amazing stalls as far as the eye can see!

This is the 'Travel Bookshop' used in the movie 'Nottinghill'. It actually sells shoes and bags LOL!

We then (after two hours of exploring) went into the city to Piccadilly to buy some theatre tickets. Most of the half price booths had sold out but we found a place that had a choice of Billy Elliott or Wicked. We chose Billy Elliott and made our way to Victoria Station, the station opposite the Victoria Palace Theatre (which is where Barnum was on with Michael Craword many years ago!). We paid £35 a ticket and had great seats. Yes we were in the gods, but to be up that high you could appreciate the choreography and dance formations so much better and the set. It seemed like there was set even behind the set- seamless. E.g it looked like people walking down the street at night but they were behind the set- people in the stalls would never know it!

 There she is... the Victoria Palace Theatre. And an AMAZING show waiting to be seen!

 This was our view... in the Gods but a great view all the same :) I video skyped Rebecca from inside during the interval and showed her around. Tried skyping Mum but she wasn't online :(

Seeing another show. Happiness. 

The show was stunning. I was blown away at the talent of the 12 year old playing Billy. He tapped, he did ballet, he did interpretive dance. He was just amazing. The costuming was fabulous and the characterization impressive. Direction great- amazing use of space and stage and the set- OMG!!! there was a staircase with Billy's bed atop that came out of the floor- the kitchen table came out of the floor too- it was really quite amazing and made transitions between scenes so seamless. The finale had the entire cast tapping- LOVE! Overall I was very impressed and it's well up there on one of my favourite musicals ever. I would like to see it again but there are too many other shows to see first!!! Tracey Andrews was right; I'm just like a kid in a sweet shop!!! The only downer was that the girl next to me was taking photos the whole time which was really pissing me off. It was distracting- but also I know how illegal it is. And it was excessive. I'm not talking a few here and there- in Act 1 she must have taken 50 shots. I went and told a member of staff at halftime but her camera never came out in Act 2 so she got away with it. Some people!!!

After the show Bryce and I were in high spirits so went in search of a cocktail bar to celebrate having a flat. Thank goodness for iPhones with the Internet as we could google an address. We found one called Jewel on Glasshouse Road and it was INCREDIBLE! We had a few (!!) cocktails and then headed for home. It was 1.15am and unluckily for us we had forgotten that trains finish at 12am. Oops. So we went in search of a bus. Again- thankyou iPhones!! We had to catch two buses and it took two hours to reach home. Not a mistake we wish to repeat- but it was so worth it!!!

This guy was great, I danced around him on the street haha. Oh, and gave him £1. 

I'm on the tube as I write this and it stuns me how quiet it is. You can hear the rumbling of the train and newspaper pages turning. Insane.

Anyway- today was the first day of my actual timetable. I started my day with Year 2. I taught music for 30 minutes (which really is not enough!) and then poetry. After that there was an assembly (there is one everyday... Waste of time much?!) and then PE which the kids seemed to love. After lunch I supervised 8 kids for writing 'intervention' which is like remedial help. I ended up with the top group who are above their chronological age and was told to play word games for half an hour, before getting the rest of the class back for more music- again only 30 minutes which is not enough. I then taught the year 4's Religious Education which was on Sikhism. Omg. I knew nothing about this. The plan I was given was far from helpful. Google needs to help me be at least one step ahead- eek!!

After a long and exhausting day I met Bryce at Elephant and Castle station, but dragged him (he actually didn't need much persuasion) into a market just below the station. I got some purple leather gloves for £5 and a black Louis Vuitton handbag for £35. Amazing. I even bought jeggings. Kill me now. Haha.

Well, home now ready for another amazing meal prepared by Tony and Maria (gosh I'll miss that when we move to our flat!) and then another early night. It's a long day with all the traveling. (I won't miss that once we're in our flat.)

Hope everyone back home is well...until next time...

Cheery Bye :)