Friday 2nd December

The small people who reside with us decided that 5am was a pretty good time to start the day, and seeing as we has all had a good 12-14 hours sleep, we got up and ate breakfast and waited for the sun to rise.

The day before Adam had gone for a wander and discovered that there was a pretty big shopping area within walking distance of us, so the days plan was to head off to check out some shops. Somewhat prompted by the fact that I had forgotten to pack a scarf and the new undies I bought (and clearly didn't try on before departure) were so freaking uncomfortable it wasn't even remotely amusing.

We needed to wait for the owner of our house to come and collect the rent, which he did around 10am. Lovely guy, very friendly and he also confirmed that the shopping area we had seen was one of the best in London. Apparently people come from all over to shop in Kingston, and its where he and his family were heading to spend up the rent money we had just paid.

On stepping outside, I decided that it wasn't cold enough to wear my coat, the sun was shining, and I was cursing not packing sunglasses after all. The air was cool, but it certainly wasn't freezing. A long sleeve thermal under a t-shirt was warmth enough for most of the day.

We ended up spending about 6 hours in town looking in shops and general wandering. Being Christmas there are lots of little market areas spread around the town, we checked out an indoor craft market, where I may return to buy a gorgeous scarf I saw but was distracted by Xavier tipping the entire pram on himself. There is also a food market in the center area that smells amazing as you walk past, late in the day while Adam and Stella were off looking at some old building, Xavier and I shared a sneaky hot chocolate from one of the stalls.

On the walk home I also discovered a fabric store that I will be investigating further another day. 

Some may be aware that Adam is quite the Mcdonalds addict. Yes, I like the stuff, but if I were choosing between the evils of fast food, it wouldn't be my first choice. But we decided on Maccas for lunch, after all, we had to sample the flavour difference in England. For the record when we were on honeymoon in Bali, it tasted completely different, the chicken burgers in Bali are awesome, the chicken burgers in England are NOT! Big Mac's taste the same, but McChicken is not cool at all. Xavier was rather impressed that he could have a fish finger happy meal though.

We grabbed a ten quid phone and 2 sim cards on our walk back, so have phones to use here now, nothing fancy, but we are contactable. Then I committed the ultimate sin while in the supermarket getting shaving gel, I queued wrong! Can you believe it? Apparently the English are very fond of queuing, and I did it wrong. Long story, but the guy who told me off was a dick and I was a narky bitch back to him.

I put up all of the Christmas decorations that I had made to make our home away from home feel a bit more Christmassy. I still need to sew/glue decorations onto the tree, but the stockings and bunting look awesome. 

Our felt tree that needs decoration

Bunting and Stockings

Dave and Teresa headed over for a visit after work hoping to find a niece and nephew ready for fun, however, try as they might the kids crashed about half an hour before they arrived. They were both sleeping in the bean bags and despite Teresa's bests attempts as poking, tickling and talking loudly, they both slept through it all.

All tuckered out

Adam and I headed to bed around 10:30pm and we all slept well.

Oh and not long after dinner, we remembered it was 14 years since our first date. Wow, who woulda thought we would be here now, overseas, married, 2 kids, and still loving each other like crazy.