Life in London update..
Since we last blogged, the weather has improved considerably. We are enjoying stunning Spring weather, and no longer venture out armed with jackets, scarves, umbrellas & thermals! Lucky for us, it is apparently on track to be the hottest
April on record, with most days reaching low twenties at the moment. And don't the English love it! With the first sign of sunshine out come pale, pasty bodies in not much clothing sunbaking on any patch of grass they can find! Fake tan sales also seem to have skyrocketed, with lots of
orange legs wandering the streets in miniskirts in balmy fifteen degree weather.
Mark has recently joined an AFL club, the mighty Wandsworth Demons. While there is lots of hard training, this mixture of Aussie & European boys don't mind the odd beer to help cool down!
Jess has enjoyed a couple of weeks off after finishing up at her first locum job. She is due to start working at a wonderful school for children with Autism next week, was lucky enough to be offered a permanent contract.

Something we have been surprised by since arriving is the British healthcare system. After hearing horror stories about the lack of medical care available in the UK, we have been quite impressed by the services that are actually available over here at little or no cost. Everyone registers with their local GP,
and can then receive free medical treatment. Dental is also free for basic treatment, and heavily subsidised for more complex problems. The waiting lists are small or non-existent. Given Jess's hypochondria and the fact that Mark is coming home from footy battered & bruised, this is probably a good thing!

On one of the brilliant spring days we recently ventured to the bayside town of Hastings. Not only does Hastings boast a beautiful (if not somewhat pebbly!) beach, it is also the home of Hastings Castle. After a short educational film to catch us up on our history, we learnt that the castle was
built by William the Conquerer after the battle of Hastings in 1066 (apparently this was a pretty big deal in England's history!) Hastings Castle served as a home to kings & queens for over 500 years, until 200 years of freakishly bad weather erroded the cliff and sent much of the castle
tumbling into the ocean (we thought the weather was bad in Ballarat & Canberra!). What remained (mainly the church & one wing of the castle) was unfortunately destroyed by order of the infamous King Henry the eighth when he declared himself the head of the Church of England & ordered the destruction of
all other religious buildings.
After exploring the ruins of the castle, we wandered into Hastings which is divided into Old Town & New Town. While the New Town still looked pretty old to us, the Old Town was full of winding cobblestone lanes, beautiful old buildings and a strange of collection of antique stores & cafes.

As we write this, we are on the train on our way to Gaerdydd (Cardiff!), Wales for the Easter long weekend. We will fill you in on our adventures on our way home (the trains have powerpoints which make laptop use very convenient!)
Happy Easter to everyone back home, we are missing you all!
Finally, we say a huge thankyou (with blushing cheeks) to Jill & the gang for organising Mark's boss to give us Easter Eggs on their behalf! Very sneaky, made our week guys!

Cheerio :-)