THE SECOND HALF OF 2012

OK, given that we are now about 7 months behind, I think it's safe to say we're not going to be making individual blog posts about all our adventures. Instead, I'm going to share a selection of photos with you which will hopefully give you a bit of an idea of how we spent our time between July and December 2012.

J interviewed for and got a job near Battle in East Sussex, and we moved down here


Crossing Dartford bridge on the way to the interview


Staying with a friend in Robertsbridge while we looked for a house


Just around the corner from the little house we rented


An early autumn walk through the fields


Battle Great Wood - J can ride to work through here


The view from the upstairs window


Our street at sunset


Going for a walk in the local area, autumn has arrived


We're not the only ones who enjoy it!


Autumn glory


Darwell Reservoir


Battle Abbey - a couple of minutes down the road


Visiting the Abbey with a friend

*

We went to Norfolk twice - in August and December


Walking with the family


Cute dog


This was clearly the August visit!


We got drenched shortly after


By this point we were soaked


This is clearly January!


Land art at Courtyard Farm

*

J did a sponsored walk/ride from Suffolk to London


Teammates


Somewhere in Essex...


We didn't make it across this 'ford'!


We managed to catch our boat


From the water


Trusty steed!


The others checking the map


Back to the edge of London

*

We visited some interesting places


At Knole House


With a friend!

These are Mad Jack Fuller's follies - look them up!











*

We've hung out in Hastings...


The Old Town


The view over the town


The English Channel


Near Hastings Library


OK, this is technically Bexhill!

*

And that's just up until December 2012. We will share more photos from 2013 with you in the coming weeks. But before that... we are going to Norway!!! See you when we return!

ONE YEAR IN THE UK

We've been in the UK for a year, now... A good time to take stock of what we've done.

* We moved to the UK with a few bags and boxes of stuff and ended up living with DB's parents until August.
* We WWOOFed at a couple of different places in SE England - planting trees, laying hedges, pruning woods and gardens, cutting back brambles, digging holes, etc.
* We visited Brighton and Bristol and went to Westonbirt Arboretum.
* J helped redesign a diversity monitoring form at the Ramblers.
* We helped press cider with a friend in Oxfordshire.
* J did a major editing job for a Legal Aid report.
* We visited Norfolk a few times.
* J volunteered at the London Short Film Festival.
* D had an interview for a Masters place at Brighton University (spoiler: he got it).
* J volunteered at Burgh House and Hampstead Museum from January to September.
* We started a walk from London to Norfolk and got about a quarter of the way (would love to finish it at some point - we just ran out of time).
* D volunteered at an opshop managing their music and media department with great success.
* Spent time with old friends from Australia and the UK and made some new friends here.
* We did a 3 day walk along the snowy tops of the South Downs.
* J did a 12 week internship with Cancer Research UK.
* We did a lot of walks around London and explored it more than we had before. We also did quite a few walks in Bucks & Herts.
* D volunteered at the National Portrait Gallery library doing indexing and cataloguing.
* J did a 3-ish month internship with the Bat Conservation Trust.
* We house-sat for friends in Islington and looked after their cats.
* We saw Stewart Lee, the Infinite Monkey Cage (with Brian Cox), our friend doing stand up, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stage show with original cast (and Phill Jupitus as the book), several films/film festivals (there are lots of fests in London).
* J did a 3 month-ish internship with the Ramblers.
* We bought a tent and went camping in the back yard, in Wales and in Epping Forest.
* We went to Wales! It was lovely (again). Can't wait to go back.
* We walked the Grand Union Canal (Paddington/Regents Canal arm) from the Thames at Limehouse Basin to the junction with the GUC proper. We also walked the Wendover and Aylesbury arms.
* D volunteered briefly with the Ramblers and built them a small library database.
* We didn't get to go to Norway because the UKBA kept J's passports for a ridiculously long time (they still have them) for a simple transfer of visa conditions.
* J got a job as marketing officer in East Sussex.
* We moved to a tiny old terrace house in Battle with a carload of stuff + a couple of kindly donated bikes.
* J did the Constable Scramble with the folk from Burgh House.
* We bought a car (well, D did all the work).
* D has just started his Masters at Brighton University.