A Green That Hurts Your Eyes

You can't half tell that summer is just around the corner here. The deciduous trees are a crazy shade green and in full bloom. It certainly helps that Didsbury has some lovely tracts of green space - from formal parks and gardens to sports fields to pockets of woodlands. In addition to this, the River Mersey (as in the Beatles song) actually runs behind the village itself, and has loads of walking tracks. This far inland, the river is just a fraction of its size at Liverpool - you don't need a ferry to cross it!

The photo on the left was taken at Fletcher Moss, a beautiful formal garden just around the corner from our place. The entrance to the garden is, in typical English style, wedged between two pubs!

Last weekend Kel actually did a waitressing trial at a restaurant housed in one of the pubs. It is called the Loch Fyne and is a rather posh seafood restaurant. The wages, however, are a throwback to Manchester's 19th century cotton mills, so I'm guessing she'll drop any commitment to the job once teaching work is available. But I'll let her tell you all about it in her own posting soon.

On the right is a pic of the Didsbury Presbyterian Church, which is also close to our apartment. While I don't know the architectural influence (I'm guessing Gothic?), it's definitely an impressive structure.

In an upcoming blog: "The Cats of Didsbury". A must for feline lovers and haters alike. Bet you can't wait for that one...

Abu Dhabi Mosaics and Putney Pints

Now I'm a little more savvy with this whole blog set-up, I thought I might post a few pics that look back at our arrival several weeks ago.

The first leg of our trip to the UK involved a 14 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE (and just down the road from the Middle East's version of Surfers Paradise, Dubai). We had a stop-over in the rather small airport terminal, which, on the positive side, featured some lovely blue and green tiled arches.

After a noisy and restless 6 hours in this terminal waiting for our plane to Heathrow, we walked to our departure gate...only to find that, to our chagrin, Etihad (our carrier) had recently completed an enormous new (and blissfully peaceful) terminal a short walk away. Quite bizzarely the walkway to this mecca for weary travellers was not signposted, and was well-hidden behind an inconspicuous door. Religious symbolism in the Middle East - who would have thought?

Our arrival in London, and subsequent tube transfer to Brixton (South London) was smooth. Dean, our mate from Dixon Park SLSC, met us at the station and chaperoned us onto the correct bus to his place at Streatham Heath. Once all our bags were safely inside, Nerida (Dean's partner), let out excited yelps that threatened the integrity of house's double-glazed windows.

The following day, Anzac Day, we did what every self-respecting Australian does on this important occasion and, err, had a beer (there was some intention of attending the dawn service, but suspicions of impending jet-lag quickly ended the thought).

Photos below show us enjoying the sun, a view of the Thames at Putney, and a good old catch-up.