Acton / Ealing

I decided to post some photos of the local Acton and Ealing area so you get an idea of what its like around here.

It started getting cold for the first time last night, I hope I am prepared for the bitter English winter! I might book some flights to southern Spain and Portugul now actually. I also just found out that the terror warning has gone down from Critical to Severe, how reassuring!

Acton Town tube station which I use every morning, you get a free paper on the way in called the Metro so its not that bad. The only problem is you rarely get a seat in rush hour.	Our local Royal Mail postbox
The Redback Tavern, one of the best Aussie bars in London(Apparently). They play some good live music and best of all its just down the road.	The Red Lion and Pineapple, great for a decent priced meal and Beer.
Acton Town, the best and cleanest Station in London ;-)	A local squirrel from Gunnersbury Park, there are hundreds of them in there.
The large mansion in Gunnersbury Park, just across the road from our place.

Gunnersbury Park tour

Melissa went for a walk through Gunnersbury Park which is just across the road from our Flat. The park is massive and can accomodate thirty-six football fields in the winter.

There is a boating and fishing pond, overlooked by a temple folly dating from 1760 – the only eighteenth century building still standing in the park. Opposite this is a large Pitch and Putt next to some tennis-courts. There is an Orangery built in 1836 and the remains of a Gothic fantasy disguising the old stables.

Some of our photos are of the bathhouse, a “battlemented Gothic building” still visible in the park near the eastern end of the small mansion. Apparently the visible building is 19th century, although the 18th century foundations of the original bathhouse have been identified under the floor.

Gunnersbury Mansions

We arrived 6am in London after a very painful ferry ride from Brussels. We were lucky to met a nice Aussie guy called Greg from Brisbane on the ferry who's cousin was working at a pub in Putney so we had a place to crash for a couple of hours. We got up at 11 am and headed to acton to check out the mansions which we found on http://www.gumtree.com Our viewing wasnt till 5 pm so we hung out in the huge park across road feeding the ducks. We then went up for a look, loved the room and got it straight away. It was great considering we had no where else to go. There are six flats in the Mansions and we are on the top floor in flat 5. There are about 50 people in the complex and most are Aussies or Kiwis but there are a few Saffas hanging around. The whole place has a party amosphere and there is always something going on. There is a nice BBQ area out the front and a huge park across the road to kick the footy round in. There a few good pubs close by including the Red Back aussie pub which has some great specials on Sundays.

We have survived the first week so hopefully we will be able to handle the place ;-) I got a job the other day as well as a web administrator and start next thursday, so will finally be able to start earning some pounds.

I got the broadband connection online as well so I will be on messenger a fair bit from now on.