Joe and Lou's Travel Blog

A cold, wet, dark winter’s day is not the best time to appreciate the wonders of St. Paul’s Cathedral. However the lack of crowds was nice. The cathedral was one of the few “must see” sights in London left for us. Although suffering from church fatigue St. Paul’s was fresh and exciting. It is not as cluttered with grandiose tomes like Westminster, or ornate marble like St Peters or as gothic as Notre Dame. St Paul’s is mostly white stone with mosaics in the Quire and dominated by the enormous painted dome. The whispering gallery (although being repaired at the time and so not in full working order) was a bit of fun. I also enjoyed squeezing through the tiny entrances and up the spiralling wrought Iron staircases to the amazing views afforded by the golden gallery. I could not imagine making this journey when the Cathedral is packed during the summer. I took a few shots of London from the golden gallery but unfortunately the camera ran out of batteries and so I have only a one shot of the interior. While at the whispering gallery we watched the choir file their way into the centre of the church to practice for Evensong the next day. Lou was quite taken with the young boys singing.

(0) comments

West from St Paul's

(0) comments

Clock tower from the Golden Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral

(0) comments

View down the South Aisle, St Paul's Cathedral

(0) comments

Farewell to EP

Well that interview I told you about must have gone well as I got the job! They let me know the same afternoon so I had to start getting into wind up mode at English Partnerships. What was initially a two month contract turned out to be 12 months and I really enjoyed my time there. My week was pretty busy as I had to finish off a few bits and pieces. My work mates gave me some lovely leaving pressies and we went out for a quick drink on Tuesday night. I took a couple of photos on the last day.

Hello to ARA

I’m now working for the Assets Recovery Agency. This young Government agency (just under two years old) contributes to crime reduction through asset recovery. It consists mainly of lawyers and financial investigators but also has a training centre that trains financial investigators for the police force. Everyone is very friendly and social and, because of the nature of my role, I’ve been able to get out a meet quite a few staff members already. My role is helping with the new intranet roll out by training staff members on how to add content to it and working with my boss on its design and structure. I will also get to go to Belfast to do some training. Bonus!

(0) comments

Photo gallery
I've been busy uploading photos to our photo gallery so click on the 'Photo Gallery' link on the right to see snaps from our travels around Britain and the Lum Family Trip.

Stop the war
This week we went to a war protest in Trafalgar Square where many famous and notable people read out around 2,000 names of people who died in the Iraq war. This coincided with readings around the world and, of course, the US election. What a disappointment that turned out to be. And it's come out that if all the votes were checked again Kerry would have won. All the Exit polls deemed him the most popular as well! Crazy. What kind of mixed up electoral system do those Americans have? They are world leaders in many things, but in fair, well organised elections they are not!

Bonfire night
It was Bonfire night on Friday so we headed to Dollis Hill to see the Brent Council display. We didn't quite get to the park where the display was going to be held however we still had a very good vantage point when the display started so decided to stay and watch from there. There were some new types of fireworks that impressed us. Always a spectacular sight. The weather is still reasonably mild for this time of year. Joe and I are wishing it gets colder as that would bode well for our skiing trip!

Interview nerves
I've got a job interview on Monday so cross fingers for me at 10.30am GMT (o: If it's meant to be and all that I guess. Must do some research this weekend so I'm ready with all the correct answers.


(0) comments