Looking Back... July - Dec 2007

After we returned from travelling late June, it was back to work for us.

July
For those of you who do not believe that England can be sunny, here is proof. This is Tim and Tim Briggs proving that short sleeved shirts are in fact worn in July. We enjoyed the festivities (mainly the fit men in lycra rowing past us) and Pimms at Henley Regatta.










We committed ourselves to the Berlin marathon in September so I made sure to employ only the best of coaches. First thing that coach Zoe did, is show me how to properly stretch after a run.









August
Whilst living at Tim's parents house, we had Tracey/Stew/Lily, Rowey/Linda, Nick/Juliette and a cameo appearance from David Weinshenker, who was over at Oxford at a seminar. The weekend was supposed to be dedicated to the Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta but was cancelled due to floods (?!). We found ways of entertaining ourselves such as borrowing the Stubbs boat to go on the river (watch that bridge), eating, relaxing in the garden and playing "extreme croquet".













Tim and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary and 2 year togetherness anniversary in Bournemouth. We stayed at a great new boutique hotel called the Urban Beach Hotel. Great atmosphere, bar and breakfast. We didn't surf this time but there are plenty of opportunities to go back. We did, however, do a great 3 hour run and caught a glimpse of all the great beach views on foot.













Tim and I want up to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see Martin, Julie and Zoe at their new house for a BBQ and spin on the merry-go-round (note the sunshine).

September

We are sure we have done more exciting things leading up to the Berlin marathon (oh, yah, we bought a house - see the section below this) but perhaps all we did was run. I am just writing about the photos that are on our camera :). Berlin marathon was great fun. Though we don't have photos, we proudly crossed that line at roughly 3 hours and 31 minutes! We wanted "sub-3:30" but we'll work harder next time. We also had Caelim, Karen, Karen and Christine out with us. The girls did the 26 mile rollerblade marathon the day before. Ask Karen and Christine about their course record!

In November, we went out to Boston to see Lisa and Trevor. We went walking, eating, drinking Peets coffee, visiting Harvard and MIT, enjoying their beautiful back garden, more eating and more Peets coffee.

Aside from all the Xmas celebrations with work and friends, we had a great Phillis Xmas, with our newest family addition, Sebastian (Congrats, Ben and Bettina!).

We also had some other great visitors that made our holidays very special. It was a great time had by all!

Latest Construction

Attached are the latest photos our the house. If you watch the video below and then look at the photos, the house will be hard to recognise.

History: We bought the house in October with planning permission and building regulations approved to add an extension for a 3rd bedroom, bathroom and conservatory. We bought it with the intention of staying in London for a while and renting the house out until we are ready to move out to the countryside. It's located 30 miles outside London, near Tim's parents house. We thought the house would be ready to rent early this year but we ended up having a construction nightmare: The soil was wrong to build the house. So, rather than go to the Rowe wedding in Thailand, we thought that buying 7 meter deep piling (the worst, most expensive option), to ensure the foundation stays secure, would be more fun than going to Thailand. Who needs vacation anyway? Who needs sunshine, relaxation, warm sand and blue ocean views? Look at this foundation! So beautiful, so inspirational...

We have really nice neighbours, Noel and Alison. Here, Tim and Noel are admiring the fine craftmanship of the fine piling job.

To add the 3rd bedroom, we had to turn the staircase around (not we, Darren, our builder) and rip lots of holes in the walls. The green stuff is the tarp that separates this little cottage from the harsh elements of the British winter.

We have spent many fun hours in both various home improvement shops and garden centres. Please tell me life will go back to normal after this. It really has affected our dinner party chat as well. Don't invite us around for a while because we are very enthusiastic about trees and shrubs these days. Tim's parents gardener had some serious connections at the local garden centre where we bought these little trees at a formidable discount, however, they don't seem too happy in their new home. Tim and I haven't quite mastered the shovel and compost.

The upside to our place is that it's a great period cottage, detached from other houses (very rare in the UK if you want to live close to a bigger town/city), built in the 1800's, with a stylish interior. And the view from our window is of countryside. Stay tuned!