Tom Gurney London Blog, UK

New Flat – Move in at the Start of December!!

tomgurney — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:36:49 +0000

Success! After being told to move out of our flat before xmas by my landlord, i have quickly organised a new flat, in Bow, East London. Why East London? No idea, really. It was something that i could fix up quickly and also is a cheaper area so we do get a nice brand new flat which we’d never be able to afford to rent in the Clapham area.

I am also excited that we can try out a new part of London having only ever lived in Clapham whilst here in London town.

We’re slap on the Devons Road DLR and close to Mile End Tube so getting to work should be fairly easy.

After flat sharing for a year it is great to finally to have a place of our own right in time for xmas, which will be a great relief. There is enough storage space to finally tidy away everything as our current room is messy and it will be more comfortable when we’ve moved.

Here we go for some lovely Chinese food….

Just needs a big TV on the wall…

Tidy bedroom

Scary stranger in the bathroom

Get Well Soon to the Butcher…

tomgurney — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:28:58 +0000

It is time for a shout to a certain Butcher who is recuperating at the moment. I hope he will be on the mend soon. Ruby and I fancy popping up to the land of industry and the Reddick and Caveman are welcome to join us too. I am up for some crab catching by the sea, but would it be safe to eat them??! Oh and Strachan is out finally, so you can enjoy that too.

On another note, i hope Reddick is recovering after some exhuberant celebrations with his FC United and their famous victory last weekend (at Rochdale?). Reminds me a bit of Cambridge in the 1990s when we used to win lots of Cup matches.

I am pleased to announce i have two 3-week holidays coming up soon so will be really enjoying the xmas period this year. I’ve two weeks to use up before the end of the year which roll onto xmas week. After that we’ve a trip to China for 3 weeks in Jan/Feb to see Ruby’s family and enjoy Chinese Spring Festival. For the first time since arriving in May, Ruby is starting to miss China a little bit so i am hoping that this long holiday will make her happier. After paying for the two flight tickets i am going to keep it cheap for the rest of the month, spending time on my affiliate sites to make a little extra cash, and also hopefully brewing some decent cider at home with my fancy new kit. The cider should be ready in a fortnight…

Recently we popped out to Battersea fireworks plus some mushroom picking in Essex a few weeks back, but not much else apart from that.

Am excitedly waiting for the Ashes to start at the end of the month and can’t wait for some time off at last!!!

Chinese Antique Necklace

tomgurney — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 10:05:00 +0000

Ruby has started selling things on Ebay today and her first item is this Chinese Antique Necklace which i hope sells for mire than she paid for it!

She loves the item, so probably shouldn’t be selling it, but she wants to learn more about selling online and thinks people might go for this. I wish her good luck!

Great Weekend, Longer Holiday Needed!

tomgurney — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:06:17 +0000

We had a great trip for the weekend to Oldbury Hill Campsite in Kent for a truly quiet and relaxed time. In fact i walked for two hours before finding a shop that was open on Saturday morning such was our location in a forest somewhere in this pretty county.

There really wasn’t much to do around the site but we did at least locate the Crown Inn, a decent pub with good food and cold cider which tasted even better than normal after dragging our camping gear up a hill for a mile from Kemsing train station.

On the way home we arrived to find the station would have no return trains at all, which is typical for my usual appalling planning which could’ve left us stranded in Kent for the evening. Fortunately i had one bar of battery left on my mobile so could google some local taxi numbers and get ourselves over to Sevenoaks which was on the mainline.

I hadn’t been around Kent at all before and really liked the look of the places that we visited. It also seems commutable to London in some places too. I expect we’ll be back at some point to try another area.

32 Years Old Is Nothing To Celebrate

tomgurney — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:10:33 +0000

As it says on the tin, i am not pleased to be 32 this weekend, but i also am reasonably relaxed with the fact that i have got a few good things done in recent years making my age less of a worry.

I rarely receive presents these days but that makes anything i do get a bonus. Generally if there’s something i want, i have already gone and bought it, so it’s never easy to think of anything. To be honest, i am just happy this weekend as we’re away from London and enjoying a little bit of green scenery and peace and quiet. As brilliant as London is, i do appreciate getting away into the more boring places for a few days. I can now see us living somewhere else one day, though the money in London is much better so we have to stay for now. Perhaps a smaller city would be the right balance between relaxation and not getting too bored.

Times are tricky after paying off my credit card, but we’re getting by on Ruby’s chinese cooking at the moment which is proving quite fun. The only downside is she’ll occasionally throw in a little more chilli than is sensible and i’ll be left with a throbbing mouth afterwards. But we’re hoping to recreate over favourite chinese dishes over time with a little research and practice to get them just right.

No Extra Languages Thank You Very Much

tomgurney — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:02:55 +0000

I started off trying to learn Italian, and went over to Florence for a month to do some intensive teaching. After being bored out of my tiny mind i left and went around the country on a train for the rest of the month. A good decision it was too! I then tried to learn some Chinese but gave up that as well, after returning back to UK where it isn’t much use. I am now going to give up learning any new language, i have tried and it just isn’t my bag. So i will stop and let others who are much better at it carry on.

I will experience other cultures through their food only from now on!

More Camping

tomgurney — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:01:35 +0000

Ruby has well and truly got the camping bug now, and we’ll be off again this weekend to Kent for some more of the same. Finding suitable sites has proved a bit tricky as we don’t have a car but there seems just about enough available to pick from that are walkable to a train station.

This trip will be for just the two of us, with little to do around the area we’re in, but im hoping just to sleep and relax in a quiet place outside London for a couple of days which is something we really appreciate at the moment.

Ahoy there Sky Sports!

tomgurney — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:28:53 +0000

I have finally given in and gotten Sky Sports, even though i don’t have a TV plugged in for it. My groovy laptop can take Sky Player for now, and the amount that i’ll watch it on there warrants the £35 or so by itself. Watching matches streamed on dodgy sites (if i was to try that!) only works well sometimes, and to have the proper Sky coverage is always preferable. As much as i hate Murdoch, the twat, this service is good and as a sports fan is well worth the cash so i can’t grumble.

With my handy HDMI cable i can also play Sky on the main TV via the laptop.

When we get moved out to a proper flat with our own space then i can get the rest of the package and get a top TV to match with all that 1080 magic etc.

Football is Back!

tomgurney — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:27:48 +0000

I am truly excited that my weekends will soon be full once more of bad language, frustration and ultimately disappointment as the football season gets underway again. It doesn’t matter how old i get, and how many seasons i pass through, there is always an unrealistic expectation at the start of August every year. That is probably because i support Liverpool, which is a bit like supporting England except that the pain lasts for a whole year

Anyway, we’ve a new manager who might get the best out of the average fringe players and perhaps even play a more attacking brand of football, only time will tell. I’d be happy with a top-three place and a new set of owners come May 2011. Until we get the yank owners out of the club, there won’t be a new stadium or any success on the pitch.

Anyone been to Borneo or Sri Lanka?

tomgurney — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:25:52 +0000

Maybe a strange question, but i am really hoping to go to one of these next year for our special Asia trip. I am hoping someone out there might be able to give some advice on either to help me make up my mind as to where we go.

I want to go somewhere that is not entirely common, but at the same time is well known enough that we can research about it online before we go. The good old pound also goes further in the less touristy places i guess.

Having said that, if you know of any other places that we might consider then add those in too.