I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my blinds on Saturday morning to find this fella stretched out in the corner of my garden. Strange to actually see a fox in my back garden considering I’ve got 6ft fence panels all around. It was freezing outside and he was quite comfortable on the icy grass. Could not get more photos because he spotted me and got a fright. There is a big park a street away from my house, probably where he came from.

We had to go into Central London today; decided that it would be wise to drag my digital camera with in case I get to see something awesome. I have been reading a lot about the Royal Wedding and definitely felt like I was in the mix of it all. Central London is really cashing in on the whole wedding fiasco, every store I walked past had something to celebrate or promote their products.

A strange feeling of patriotism came over me as we walked down Regent Street and saw all the flags hanging down the middle. It’s bloody weird considering I am not even remotely British. Hey, I am happy for the couple, got to take it while it’s hot. I wouldn’t want to be them in the spot light though… got to be tough!

Oh well, in our strange little way, pre-congratulations to the happy couple, may they have many wonderful, crazy filled years to come.

We have taken the word slacking to a whole new level with the amount of updates posted on Stooly.com lately. Work has been a rollercoaster demanding more of my time but I had to soldier through to get to this point. Some good news…our time has officially changed and pretty soon we will be having a lot more daylight in the evenings.

Anyway we are also preparing for a friend coming from Southern Africa to join us in London in a few days, so it’s been hectic trying to sort out everything and it made me realise that we are blending in more and more into the British culture forgetting the grief we had to go through to get where we are. I am pretty our accents have changed a bit as I do not get as much ….. “You from Australia?” We have also picked up a lot of phrases, some still make me laugh but it rolls so naturally from the tongue now. Guess we should be compiling some sort of list to help others who come here understand the locals.

Oh, my poor old Blackberry is now in Blackberry heaven (dropped in toilet) but I’ve got a sweet replacement which will help with this website. Got a sweet Dell Streak, yeah it is a bit big but it’s damn nice and does everything and more than what I wanted. The Dell Streak is mixture between a tablet and mobile phone, so follow us on Twitter if you want more on the minute updates.

As summer is knocking on our door, we will be finally doing some competitions to make the deal sweeter, so stay tuned folks… we are definitely still here!

I have been tossing and turning for the last hour and a half, finally decided to get out of bed and do something constructive. The insomnia could be sparked by the fact that I had way too much sleep today due to a clingy migraine which simply refuses to leave me for a week now. Whilst I was in bed tossing and turning it hit me that Neurofen could be behind a major conspiracy with regards to London doctors.

Ok, I may be going nuts here or I may have had way too many painkillers in the last twelve hours but I think there is reason behind my madness. This morning at eight I decided to see if any surgeries had an available spot for me to see the doctor about these headaches / migraines of mine. Surprise, surprise, none of them had any available spots due to the increase of flu this time of the year. Decided to be brave and head for the nearest Walk-in Centre which is quite a way from home. Admittedly, the doctors there saw me pretty quickly and came to the conclusion that we should “keep an open mind” and drink a lot of Neurofen.

For those of you not familiar with Neurofen, it’s basically over-priced and over-marketed Ibuprofen. This is when it hit me, this is not the first time I had seen a London doctor who simply just told me to drink Neurofen and it would be all better.

Hey, I am not dissing the NHS, I think they do a fantastic service but this is strangely suspicious. Do they get special handouts for promoting the brand? Is it a brainwashing exercise to use Neurofen instead of an alternative, cheaper option? It makes me wonder…. Maybe I am reading too much into this but it sure kept me occupied for the last hour and a half. Anyone out there experienced the same thing with NHS doctors or is this just a strange coincidence?

Oh shucks, now I just did it. There you go Neurofen, some free advertising!

The photographic evidence proves that I am not crazy, yet! The sound of an ice cream van chime has been haunting me all weekend. I have to remind you that we are in the first half of January which is still considered as winter and people do not normally run out to the ice cream van when they hear it. It seems like this ice cream van is desperate for money as I hear it quite often. So who still eats ice cream during winter?

I have been meaning to take a photo of this scene for months now and finally got round to taking my camera with today to finally take the photo. There is something about the view that is wonderfully brilliant. Wow, that sounds a bit too British for my liking. Anyway this area is somewhere between Grove Park, Downham and Bromley if anyone out there is curious.

See, London is not just all about Big Ben, the London Eye and London Bridge. There is a lot more to London that what people stick in every review magazine and guide. To truly experience London you will need to get lost in it and take the time to explore it all. We have been here for five years now and I would say we explored about 3% of London! Yup, 3%, it is nothing and I look forward to exploring the other 97% in the years to come.

*Walks sheepishly into the room*… yes, we have been missing in action for almost two weeks since our last post and I apologise. Blizzard released their latest expansion pack for World of Warcraft on the 7^th of December and since then I have been playing non-stop every spare minute I had at home. This game is highly addictive and I am a sucker for it every winter now it seems. The best thing about living in London is the ability to get your hands on the latest games quickly and affordably and then there is the great links to technology. My internet speed is bloody amazing compared to dial-up in Africa (ok, they have advanced a bit more by now).

The weather is supposed to improve this weekend which is a great relief as I have missed feeling my toes on the platform this week. Believe it or not but we actually still have stick pieces of ice on our walk-way, that is how cold it still is. London is due more snow next week, yipeeee, can not wait, more delays and cancellations going to and from work but at least it is pretty to look at.

Have a good weekend people, uhmm, check our World of Warcraft if you are bored, it might just be your cup of tea. They tend to give away 10-day trials to test it out before you buy it kind of thing.

Earlier this week I decided to sacrifice my lunch-hour and head over the Imperial War Museum in London. The Imperial War Museum is one of the best museums I have been to in a long time. You really get to see things up close and personal and get a feel for the events that happened. The Imperial War Museum has an impressive collection of war artefacts and their exhibitions are top notch.

Considering that you do not have to pay an entrance fee, the museum is well looked after. Donations are always welcome and you could literally spend the whole day there soaking it all in. There are quite a few busses that pass the Imperial War Museum from Elephant & Castle. You could always take the tube to Lambeth North and walk 2minutes down the road. The Imperial War museum is surrounded by a decent sized park which is great for picnics, no need to fork out a few pounds for a drink or snack, entertain yourself.



This guy is on the same street corner at Waterloo for the last couple of months. It is both a vehicle and a mobile coffee stand that only uses solar power. That is one risky business in winter when there is hardly any good sunshine about to charge those solar panels. This guy is braving the elements every day to make an honest living and people should rather be buying coffee from him than Starbucks, unless his coffee tastes horrible. I have yet to purchase a cup from him but it is kind of pointless considering my office block is right behind him and we get unlimited free coffee.

Here is a glimpse of the work in progress on a new building in London called The Shard. Construction on the building is coming along quickly now and you can see the difference every day. It is quite nice to see something else in London’s skyline other than the usual buildings. Once the Shard is completed, it will be a staggering 310m tall stretched over 72 floors.

I can not wait for it to be completed as I would love to take a few photos of London’s skyline from the top public viewing gallery!