October madness

On Thursday I handed in my resignation. It was a long time coming and I was so nervous about doing it but wow it was worth it. Its the first step in moving up to scotland and i am so excited about leaving London and living somewhere with fresh air and room on public transport!!!I have been applying for jobs in Glasgow and Edinburgh and have a few interviews set up for the end of November, so fingers crossed I will have something worked out before my last day of work in London on the 26th.


The last month has been really busy. My mum and her partner chris arrived in London at the end of September and after we showed them around for a couple of days they headed to france to soak up the energy of the rugby world cup. We joined them a couple of weeks later in the south of France where the sun was much appreciated! We flew in to Nice and mum and chris came and picked us up in their flash hired sports car to head to the hotel. It was so good to see mum after 10 months over speaking to her on the phone, and the week with them both went far too quickly. They spoiled us rotten with lovely meals and wine and we had a much deserved break.

Outside our hotel in Nice

For the first couple of days we spent some time wandering around Nice and eating a tonne of really nice food. After some time in Nice, we jumped on the train to Menton and Monaco to have a look at how the rich and powerful people of the world live. Menton was stunning, Monaco was a bit odd with all the white suits and gold chains on the people walking around but well worth visiting and while we walked near the water I am sure all of us were dreaming about winning lotto and buying one of the massive yachts in the harbour to spend our summers in.

One of the yachts in Nice

Zane and I headed to Cannes for a few hours on our 3rd day in France to see where the film festival was held. Again it was a queit sea-side french village where everyone seemed completely chilled out.

Mum and me

After one more night in Nice, with another amazing meal - Mum, Chris, Zane and I jumped in the car for a long drive up the country to Paris in time for them to make the semi-final game on the saturday. On the way we stopped in a gorgeous town called Aix-en-Provence and spent the night in Lyon followed by another day of driving the toll roads up to Paris. Chris did a fab job in not getting us killed by the crazy parisian drivers and we managed to get to our hotel safe in sound with out getting lost on the metro. We had just a day and a night in Paris, so to make the most of it we decided to go up the effiel tower again, but this time at night to see the lights of the city.

Lyon at sunset



We met with Mum and Chris the next morning and walked towards the Arc de Triomphe while Mum kept an eye out for scalpers to buy the gold semi final tickets from her - they managed to get a pretty healthy profit for them and to celebrate we had some coffee at a cafe near the Arc. 3 coffees, 2 Oj's - 47 euros!!!!! Whatta rip!


We then jumped on a bus tour and after a couple of hours got off near the Sacre Coeur where we climed the 40 steps to take some pictures of the paris views. I said a rushed good bye to mum at the metro before leaving to grab our bags and jump on the train back to London.


It was probably best to do it there as I know if I said good bye to her at the airport I would have been a crying mess otherwise, knowing that I am not going to see her for another year and a half :(.

We arrived in the door minutes after the English had defeated the French and spent the next week being mocked by work mates about the loss of the kiwis. Thank god the saffa's showed those poms where to stick there confidence, I dont think I could have coped with anymore taunting!!