Raining in London

Hi guys,

Hope everyone is well and that some rain has come to the land down under. Probably hasn’t actually because it’s been raining monstrously here. It has been a very lukewarm winter though. This week and probably about four other weeks in the entire winter have been cold ie. around zero, otherwise, it’s been around 10 deg which I can’t complain about.

I have continued to ride my bike bravely throughout the entire Winter. I have yet been saved any side-scrapings by the mad London buses or impervious drivers. Touch lots of wood. I am still in the large Hospital in South London called St George’s but hopefully not for too much longer. It’s with the NHS and for those of you who have had the pleasure of the NHS, the free bit is but a small attraction when the queues and complete rudeness of the customer service becomes so apparent.

I have been pushed lately to find a way to extend my visa but looks like I have found a way. I thought naively that I would automatically qualify for the highly skilled migrant visa as I fulfilled their new set of criteria, the main one being the gross earnings, but as it turns out, the way my evil limited company setup was taxed worked very much against me so after 5 gruelling months of lawyers and accountants trying to piece together an application for me and after 7 interviews I sat trying to get sponsorship, it looks like one has come through. It looks like I will be working for the BBC and London Fire Brigade in Westminster for a guy over here and he is happy to sponsor me. I have 3 and 1/2 weeks to actually get a visa though so I won’t rest assured until I have that little puppy safe in my hands!

Some of you may have heard I got into Med school at home. I have deferred it and will just sit on it until I feel I can make a decision about whether it’s what I want to do for sure.. Was nice to know that I got an offer though..

As for London, I am still living with Libbi. We haven’t worn thin of each other yet and looks like Kristy will join us next week. I have been seeing a guy called Andy from Sydney now for four months or so which is also going well. We met (of all places) at The Walkabout in Cardiff. I cannot explain the Walkbout in London but lets suffice to say its an “idyllic Aussie pub” decked out with Aussie beer on tap and green and gold walls and a messy clientele! Not somewhere you expect to meet a boyfriend put it that way!

Recent trips have included a much yearned for and needed ski trip to the French Alps–we had great snow which has been a worry all winter because of the warm weather here. Also, Andy and I just got back from Iceland a few weeks ago which was crazy and cold (!) and soooo expensive. A meal for two (which crazily included their local shark meat-rotten and diced… “when in Rome..”) cost �150 (2 mains, 2 entrees and one bottle of wine). Thats $425 in AUD… Don’t do it unless you’re earning the pound. Great place though–the last day, we just floated in the Blue Lagoon–a natural blue hot spring with white mud “silica” that turned my hair to paper but my skin to baby’s bum softness!

Well, that’s it for now. Below is the address for Libbi’s website which she has had the luxury of compiling whilst working obviously NOT a perk of a physio job)… so please check it out as there are some photos up until our Morocco trip last year (myself, Zara and Libbi).

Happy Easter to you all. I always love hearing from all of you…

libbimacgregor.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

Love Nat XXXXXXXXXXXXXX