22 Sleeps To Go…Objects of My Desire…

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Kym Hamer

Let’s all take a little respite from World Cup mania for a moment and chat about a couple of very exciting occurrences in the GiddayfromtheUK house today:

Firstly, I have FINALLY upgraded my mobile phone (after my G1 was stolen in March and the contract ran out in May etc).

Eeeeeeeeeeee!!! (that was a squeal of delight escaping)

Sitting beside my blogging-elbow is a sleek and sexy HTC Desire – aptly named as it has just become the object of my Desire…I may be in love….sigh!!! Is it wrong to want to sit and play with it to the exclusion of the glorious day outside?

And that brings us to a nice segue to exciting occurrence number two – the glorious day outside. It’s hot peeps, gorgeously and gloriously, sunshine-y, top-down and heat-on-my-face hot…enough for me to have finally taken the fan I bought 2 years ago out of its box last night and assembled it (tapping into my IKEA skills from way back only sans allan key). I am now enjoying its soft background whirr after much pondering about whether it would actually work…

…which segues beautifully into a long-awaited News From The Patch announcement (speaking of wondering about things)… the strawberries are coming! Yes, a couple of tender green berries have appeared amongst the greenery – we are checking on them daily like a couple of proud parents, largely to try to avoid a repeat of last year’s berry-napping incident, but also because we are saddos and can’t help ourselves!

And although not part of The Patch as such, the other exciting news is that the mini-jet rose bush that J gave me 4 years ago (on our first Valentine’s Day together), after blooming marvellously in Year 1 and then stubbornly refusing to be bloomin’ anything since, has graced us with two luscious, velvety-red blooms. Could this be a sign, I wonder…persistence, patience and a bit of tough love overcoming the odds to glory in the end?

We could do with a bit of that here!

A REMINDER A LITTLE LESS GENTLE THAN THE LAST ONE:

There are now only 22 sleeps to go people – that’s 21 days if you are here in the UK or in Australia – to what I have come to call with considerable affection, ‘The Big Birthday – Plus 1’. I have already arranged my first birthday present to myself too – taking a four day weekend! I love weekend birthdays…

28 Sleeps To Go…Allegiances

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I just watched Rafael Nadal pretty much demolish Tomas Berdych to win the Wimbledon Mens Final and Spain is through to the next round of the World Cup…tha last time I thought Spain was this prolific in the sporting world was when Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez were on the tennis circuit…

Coming from a nation who has some history of sporting success I am now wondering what happened with Leyton Hewitt (I am sure he was still doing ok?), Australian cricket (the world’s most boring game though it may be) and Harry Kewell (red-carded in the Ghana game…what the #@!!?!). Are we regrouping in preparation for London 2012 or just a little tired of the sporting limelight?

It’s a convoluted web determining loyalties when your automatic allegiances are not an option…so I am now torn between Germany (money on them in the sweep at work) and Holland (heritage thing you know) to reign supreme at the World Cup.

Other than that, it another sunny Sunday afternoon here on Kingston Hill. A bit breezier than others of late but still managing to dapple my front path with light and dark and light again. What’s not to love about that?

A GENTLE REMINDER:
There are only 28 sleeps to go…so get yourself a pen and mark that first day of August on your calendars, in your diaries and tap-tap-tap it into your phones and computers. I wouldn’t want you to miss it…

Happy Summer Sundays….

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I just watched Germany beat England 4-1 in the World Cup…happily! Whilst England did not cover themselves at all in glory, to my un-soccer-fied eye, I thought the Germans played well, great accuracy in passing and really tight plays up and down the pitch…and my money is on Germany to win in the World Cup sweep at work so even though they trounced Australia in the first match (and my heart bled a little at this), at least my hard-earned £5 is still at work. You never know, someone might topple the mighty Brazil or Argentina…maybe???

It’s just over 30C here today and between yesterday and today, I have indulged in a frenzy of washing all of the bedding, towels and blankets I could get my hands on (oh the luxury of having them all dry outside in a day!), windows (this glorious sunshine shows up the dirt magnificently, thus the urgency to deal with this today after a week of procrastination) and am now ensconced in my blogging chair at the window enjoying some Kylie tunes (inspired by seeing her interviewed on Jonathan Ross on Friday night – the woman is a class act!), checking sporadically on my latest Facebook obsession – CafeWorld…and studiously avoiding eye-contact with the gi-normous bag of summer-time ironing sitting on my bed in the other room – when I finally iron this stuff, it will be like having a whole new wardrobe…which has just produced a tiny surge of motivation so I’m off.

Happy Summer Sunday everyone!

ps…Alfie is enjoying the sun and says hi…

pps…did you realise that that last para was all one sentence? You are allowed to breathe at the … and the – !

ppps…yes this is more avoidance of the ironing bag…I’m really off now!

Australia’s New Head Girl…

Posted on June 26, 2010 by Kym Hamer

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post so apologies to those of you who went blue whilst waiting with baited breath for my witterings. It’s been an exhausting time with lots of the usual great highs and ensuing lows only a bit more extreme and I needed a little time out to be gentle with myself before crusading out into life again.

But I’m still here with things to say and wonder about.…and the first thing that springs to mind is my complete surprise on waking up Thursday morning to learn that not only does Australia have a new Prime Minister (and a female one at that) in Julia Gillard but that I had no idea who she was or that a change of leadership was in the wind! And upon posting this black hole in my knowledge on my Facebook status, I got 7 comments in return – opinions are divided with 5 slating Gillard as ruthless, calculating and cold and 2 being excited by her success and looking forward to the impact she will make.

Admittedly I am without any fervent view as yet but am finding the strength of other people’s opinions on the matter completely fascinating from my less-engaged position on the other side of the world…so here’s some to read for yourself.

The Australian
The Sydney Morning Herald – smh.com
The Herald Sun
The Guardian
The Huffington Post
Antony Loewenstein

Although whatever your opinion, you’ve got to admit it’s a historic moment…Australia’s ultimate glass ceiling has been broken!

Weird Science…

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Kym Hamer

I was reading my free issue of Stylist this week when I came across a small box containing ‘random science facts’. My curiosity piqued, I read on to discover:

a) there are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the Earth (what, there are other human beings below the surface??)

b) the microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket (what was it doing in his pocket – chocolate is for eating?)

c) an inflated balloon contains about a hundred billion trillion air molecules (I can’t even imagine this number but that’s quite a lot, isn’t it?)

and

d) our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing (I don’t know whether to be worried about all the little porkies I’ve told or to try and measure my eyes!)

These facts (and some other ones too) were all courtesy of the Science Museum promoting something called Who Am I? which apparently opens on June 26th. Which all sounded very erstwhile and count-on-able (and maybe even worth a visit) until I re-read fact number one in the box:

Scientists don’t know what makes up 90% of the Universe!

Might just stay at home….

Lazy Sundays…

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Kym Hamer

Well here we are, the Sunday of the May Day Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK and it would appear that those recent gloriously sunshine-y days have been washed away and there has been nothing for it but to curl up indoors on my big green sofa and potter away at menial, been-meaning-to-do chores. I am now just finishing off the last of a dark chocolate Green & Blacks Easter Egg, flicking through a foodie mag and gazing out the front window at how green the rain has made my garden…isn’t that what Bank Holiday Sundays are for?

Moscow Circus Maximus…

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Kym Hamer

So it was off to the circus for this little black duck yesterday – the Moscow State Circus at the Old Deer Park in Richmond to be exact – so me ‘n’ J set off to catch the matinee performance with our 50% off vouchers expecting a jolly afternoon of old-fashioned family-style entertainment. And…well…wow! We loved it!

The theme was the story of Rasputin (you know, Ra-ra-rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen for all you Boney M fans) and while that side of things didn’t really grab me, the performers absolutely did. What amazing discipline and precision…even the mad man who ran around the OUTSIDE of the sky wheel WITH A BLINDFOLD ON completely impressed me despite the rising tide of fear in my belly while watching this one. But I’ve included pics of my faves for you (scanned from the £3 program) and at £7.50 for each ticket, that’s excellent value for a pretty awesome afternoon’s entertainment!

ps…speaking of circuses, I had a terrible fright today when I opened my blog – the face of David Cameron stared out at me! Good grief how did he get there??

A Park About Politics….

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Kym Hamer

So it was announced at the end of last week that car parking charges are to be introduced to Richmond Park. All I can say is ‘thank God it’s over!’

The issue of car parking charges for Richmond Park has been used by politicians, most recently Zac Goldsmith, to wave the flag of ‘we are the voice of the community’ and general ‘defender of the everyman’ and I am heartily sick of it.

Sick of sensationalist flyers being pushed through my letterbox.

Sick of emails (trying to be inflammatory) requesting my signature on a petition.

Sick of unrelenting requests to attend rallys to demonstrate against this.

Not one party has delivered anything on this issue other than sensationalist rubbish. Where was any understanding demonstrated about the massive cost of upkeep to Royal Parks which all of us are free to use? What about the preservation of a wonderful, natural space for people to enjoy?

Don’t get me wrong. I think there are a multitude of issues here and living near Kingston Gate, I do wonder whether we will have a return to careless (and sometimes ridiculous) parking exploits in the surrounding streets and whether any parking fine revenue raised (and there will be!) will be added to the coffers for the upkeep of the park itself. But I am tired of the grand-standing and the lack of substantive information on this issue particularly given one MPs ‘soap-box’ stance on this following their move from Green to Tory party MP for the constituency.

My hope is that MPs will now focus on issues for the community, ones that will make a real difference to people living in the borough rather than the ones who may (or may not) visit it. We have just come through one of the most difficult economic periods in the last few decades and I would like to see a focus on responsible economics and community values…

Let’s see who delivers.

For The People By The People

Posted on January 10, 2010 by Kym Hamer

There has been some exciting news on the work front this week.

(No I have not been offered an amazing, multi-million pound job which involves travelling, eating and laying about – btw, how do you get one of those?)

We have launched a new site in our localpeople.co.uk network – kingstonpeople!

It’s a website for the people of Kingston but the great part of it is that it’s written by the people of Kingston so we get to bang on about politicians (who was that brave man from the Lib Dems braving the icy conditions on Windmill Rise yesterday to knock on doors and garner party support?), snow (how pretty, annoying, inconvenient, cold it is), transport (train delays), road works (including the question to grit or not to grit), and art (Out of Order, The Rose Theatre) as well as our fave (and not so fave!) places to eat, drink, shop and generally frequent…

So you can all go on and find out about the place I love to live in! You can even register yourself and bang on about Kingston too…

Yay! I am excited….

Gidday from the UK

Thoughts on life from an Aussie sheila in the UK

Category Archives: Expat moments