Our Very Own Rooms

Well hello again. Another few months have gone by! We've been in our new flat for 2 months now and have been enjoying the freedom of our own rooms and lots of storage space. It's a really lovely flat, very close to where we were living previously and still only 2 minutes' walk to the park. I have taken over the smaller bedroom which has avocado-green walls (people who don't like avocados think this sounds horrid but it's actually a nice colour, promise). Minnie has a nice double bedroom with her very own door onto the balcony, and then there's a third bedroom for which we found a lovely flatmate who joined us a week after we moved in. The balcony is rather handy for hanging washing out (I felt rather more domesticated hanging washing out on the line than just putting it in the dryer...) and is big enough for a couple of chairs and a small BBQ (if summer ever makes an appearance over here). There's also a planter box currently occupied with some geraniums which, when we're a bit more organised might be nice to turn into a herb garden. The spacious lounge/dining room also has a door leading onto the balcony and even has a little gas fire (rather cosy for cold winter evenings, although we've only used it once so far!) That side of the flat overlooks a school and its playground and the other side of the flat (where the entrance is) overlooks a big triangle of grass and trees and dead daffodils (they looked very nice when they were alive), so it feels rather spacious and not at all closed in. The kitchen is smallish but is bathed in sunlight in the mornings, and has so much cupboard space, we have yet to fill it up. The bathroom and toilet had recently been redone so are also very nice.

Since the big move, we've settled in quite well and time has flown by. We had a white Easter which was rather exciting (thankfully it wasn't enough to kill the transport system). Neither of us went away but we had a nice relaxing weekend in London. The Good Friday service at St Helen's was followed by fresh-from-the-oven hot cross buns after which we joined a bunch of people for a pub meal by the river. Minnie and I went on to the Imperial War Museum to have a look at the exhibition of war posters they had there (Weapons of Mass Communication) which was quite interesting, then we popped up the road to have a hot chocolate at Andrew's. The rest of the weekend passed by with shopping, church services, dinner parties, Brick Lane curries, and making hot no-cross buns (I couldn't be bothered with the crosses and besides, I don't like the taste of them). That was the start of a four-week break from uni for me which I somehow filled with a variety of things such as unpacking (most of) the rest of my stuff that was still in suitcases, doing some work for my previous boss, sorting out my papers/lecture notes, doing a bit of photo-sorting and not much study!

I went to New Word Alive during that time and thoroughly enjoyed it - a very pretty location and great teaching. I was with a big group of St Helen's people, some of whom filled a 70-seater coach which was hired to take us to Pwllheli, Wales. We had planned to get there in plenty of time for the first 6.30pm meeting but due to roadworks and the driver being told the wrong time, we left two hours late (this was in fact a good thing because it meant I had enough time to go back home and get my camera which I had forgotten to pack). It was a rather long journey and the snowy hills of Wales with green grass and lots of little lambs was a welcome sight. With not far to go, and the hope that even though we'd miss the first meeting, we'd be there in time to go to the student one later (a repeat of the first one), the coach's brakes started smoking and we came to a halt on the side of the road. We all piled out thinking it wouldn't be long till they cooled off and we could get going again. Two and a half hours later we were still waiting by the side of the road as it got progressively colder and darker. The coach was going no further so everyone who had friends with cars already at NWA rang them and begged them to come and pick a few people up, and others rang taxis, so eventually we all made it to the holiday park. There was also a bit of a wait there for acquiring caravan keys and wristbands, but we finally had some dinner about 9.30pm before tumbling into bed. I was in a caravan (larger than a typical caravan) with 5 other girls and a married couple. It was of course quite cosy, but they had designed the caravans well and the living room was fairly spacious. There was a little kitchen complete with oven, hob, microwave, sink etc., and separate toilet and bathroom. John Piper (on 1 John) and Hugh Palmer (on suffering) were the main speakers (we missed Terry Virgo's talk on the first night) and gave very helpful and challenging talks. Stuart Townend lead a lot of the singing including teaching us a new song, and getting the 2000 people in the marquee to all sing in parts (very fun!). There were also several seminar series during the day - I attended Mike Ovey's series on the doctrine of humanity which was very helpful. A talk by Roger Carswell on evangelism was likewise helpful and inspiring. The holiday park was right on the coastline so I had a few lovely walks along the cliff-top and beach (when it wasn't raining!). I was also persuaded to join a few brave souls to go swimming in the sea! Mini-golf was another fun activity, and despite it being quite cold, there was some lovely sunny weather along with the rain. It was a really good holiday with lots of time to hang out with friends.

Last weekend was, of course, ANZAC Day, so Minnie and I got up at a-quarter-past-three-in-the-blessed-am to get to the dawn service at Hyde Park Corner at 5am. It was quite cool to be there with lots of other Kiwis and Aussies (and to spot them on the bus to Hyde Park as they came on sleepy-eyed with poppies or NZ flags). Minnie then spent the weekend exploring Canterbury and I went to stay with my first-cousin-once-removed in Cuckfield, which was really nice. That Saturday was the only day of summer we've had, a really hot, sunny day - I'm hoping there might be more like it! Now, I've only got a few more weeks of lectures before a study break then exams in June. A research project fills the summer for me - it's all coming to an end rather quickly.