Some photos from when Karen came to London December 09!

The first time, we went to the Hummingbird Cupcake shop in Notting Hill. Awesome cupcakes, and huge queues, as you can see from the photos! We ate the cupcakes in Oxford Circus tube station because it was peaceful, and most importantly WARM!

The second time, we met up with Hannah and the family and had dinner at an all-you-can-eat Chinese food place in Maidenhead. It had the same menu as the Yangtze in Windsor for those of you that have been there and remember it. I’m not a huge fan of the food but because it’s all-you-can-eat I love it.

… and I can’t wait!

But there’s supposed to be snowstorms in London tonight, which is predicted to bring London transport to a standstill tomorrow (Wednesday). Luckily I’m flying Thursday, by which stage the forecast is only “light snow”, and they give long-haul flights priority at the airport, but my connection time in Korea to catch my connecting flight is only 80 minutes, so any delay at Heathrow may cause me to miss my second flight which would mean that I’d be stuck in Korea until the next flight a day later!

SNOW HAVOC!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/Snow-havoc-in-UK-more-to-come

In case you’re wondering, there was originally 2 hours between flights when I first booked them, but Korean Air kept changing the times of the flights. Who knows, they might still change them again! And, if there’s enough snow I may have to walk to Heathrow.

God getting out of the cold is going to be great. It’s constant snow and constant 0-2 degree days. This is by far the coldest winter we’ve had since I moved here in mid-2006.

For New Years Eve, Hannah and I went to South Shields to stay with Naomi and Paul.  The drive up on 30 Jan after work from London was quiet and it was good to see the extended family.

We went shopping in Newcastle and found some interesting things for sale.

In the evening seven of us went out to the bars around South Shields.

Normally it is fun going out in South Shields, however this time it started snowing hard around midnight, and there were suddenly no taxis. I waited in the taxi stand line for an hour, and only one taxi turned up in that time, and there were at least 50 people waiting.  I got bored of waiting and by that time was almost freezing to death and so decided to jog back to Naomi’s place with only a thin jacket through very heavy snow.  Here’s a photo I talk on the way back – you can kind of see how hard it was snowing.

The rest of the group huddled in a nearby kebab shop and waited until it closed, when they paid the kebab shop owner to drive them home!

The snow wasn’t all bad though, at least the next day Naomi and I made a snowman! You can see here the massive effort we put into it:

It’s been so cold this winter in England.  I can’t wait until I’m back in New Zealand on Saturday and back to the beach and the warmth.

How to remove a stuck screw.

• Turn screw, doesn’t budge.
• Turn screw harder, still doesn’t budge.  Bits start coming off the screw.
• Consult internet for best way to remove old screws.
• Suddenly remember that turning to the LEFT loosens the screw, not the RIGHT.
• Screw suddenly comes out easily!

WHOOPS!  DUH!