Wow I’ve just realised I’ve not posted at all during the entire month of November! Somehow it’s nearly Christmas and the entire autumn season has nearly passed me by! I know I’ve posted before about being busy and life getting away from me a bit but it seems to have reached a whole new level! Work has just basically become my whole life – 14 hour days, weekends, sleepless nights thinking about it, late night emails and calls to the US, work events – you name it.
A friend of mine who used to live here texted me the other day and asked if I’m still enjoying London and I realised I wasn’t actually seeing any of it. My days had become getting up at 5 or 6, going to work, leaving work at 8pm and going home to bed! I hadn’t been outside or seen any sunshine for about 2 weeks!
The whole life work balance has tipped so much into the work side of the scale, I have wondered this weekend where my life has actually gone – I haven’t seen any of my friends, I’ve done absolutely zero baking and cooking, I’ve only managed 2 runs in the last 30 days, barely gone out, and oh how I’ve missed my blog.
I’ve missed my blogger friends, I’ve missed the delight I take in reading the daily posts, I’ve missed the laughs and most of all I’ve missed the actual writing part! I’ve been longing to find the time to sit down and write!
But I’m determined to catch you all up and not let my blog become one of those blogs that sits idly waiting to be updated! So much has happened in our lives since I last posted and I’ve just been so busy trying to work and still have a life that writing has taken a massive back seat.
On one of my two runs this last month it hit me that it’s my favourite time of the year and I’ve almost missed it. Nearly all of the autumn leaves have finished falling and it’s nearly winter. Autumn is my favourite what with all the colours, the change in food and flavours and the festive vibe. I also realised all the Christmas lights were up and it was time to get into the festive season! The city is adorned with Christmas lights and festive art installations and giant snow globes and ice skating rinks! I just love the thought of being a part of it all!!
So this weekend, the work laptop went away and I was determined to have a proper Christmasy, autumny weekend! C and I went to Winter Wonderland yesterday and then took a stroll down to the Christmas markets on the Southbank as well, taking the time to wander through the parks and check out what was left of autumn and take a moment to look at some of the London sights we normally take for granted!
We figure if we’re going to be staying in London for a while longer (long story) then we may as well breathe it all in and take a moment to feel grateful for living here and stop taking it all for granted and getting so entrenched in routine we miss it.
Winter Wonderland is a Christmas market / fair that happens every year in London’s Hyde Park. It’s free to get in and the whole place is transformed – there’s a German style Christmas market, loads of rides, an ice skating rink, Santa Claus, a circus, some funfair games, food stalls selling bratwurst and pretzels or hog roasts, big bars selling gluhwein and hot chocolate, and German style beer halls.
On a Saturday it gets pretty busy so I recommend getting there early if you’re not much into crowds or try for midweek. We played a few games without too much luck although we did managed to win a prize each… But hubby was quite put out when I won a bigger bear then him because I scored more points.
We then wandered through Green Park, past Buckingham Palace and through St James’ Park, past Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace (Big Ben) and over the London Bridge to the Southbank where there were more Christmas markets to wander around. It was a long day of walking, eating too much sugar, spending too much money and getting into the festive spirit and it was exactly the type of day we needed – getting out of the house and out and about!
Almost English 