London: An early Christmas

November 2016

Returning to London after my time in America felt strange, almost like returning home as finally I was in a familiar place again. A few months before I had laid plans to finally return to New Zealand for the first time in a few years, and it had all been planned without my mums knowledge so as to surprise her, so I was very much looking forward to seeing her over Christmas (finally a summer christmas again!)

Because of this I would be unable to spend the festive season with Yannick and Necia, so we had decided to have a small Christmas celebration of our own before I left.

 Necia's dad was also over and visiting for a bit, so it really was like a miniature Christmas! We had decided to wait until the weekend however so Yannick wouldn't be working, so Necia, her dad and I had a few days of exploring in the meantime, whilst my poor brother slogged away at work.

The leaves were still in beautiful autumn colours in many places, so Necia suggested we make a trip out to Primrose Hill which was a lovely park with a walk up to a gorgeous view of the city of London.

We also made a foray into Regent's Park, and wandered through some lovely Japanese gardens as well as enjoying the many strange names of different varieties in the Rose garden. We also popped into 'The Attendant' a cafe with a twist, as it was quite obviously once a Victorian public toilet. The idea at first seemed vaguely unsettling, but knowing how well it would have been cleaned and how long since it was last used for its original purpose made things better. It was slightly claustrophobic as it was underground and rather small, but it was quite a nifty idea.

Finally our early Christmas arrived, and our food celebration began. It was a fun day of cooking in the kitchen, from roast chicken and vegetables, to our nibbly starters of many cheeses and salamis, to Necia's stuffed peppers (inspired from our Greek trip) which were the highlight of the night for me. We also indulged in Prosecco, and overall had a lovely eart Christmas (finishing with homemade apple cake and three tiered chocolate mousse!)