beloved bel

I haven't thought much about getting a pair of wellington boots until recently.  To me having a pair of wellies signify festivals, rain, mud, hikes, walks in the forest… because it rains so often here, it's quintissentially British... you get the drift.  It probably means more than that because recently it seems to be a fad, or at least I have been made aware.  So much so that Hunter had their flagship store opened on Regent Street late last year. Hunter Boots is probably the mother of all wellies and goes back a long way. "The story of the Wellington boot begins in England in the early 19th century. The Duke of Wellington commissioned famed London shoemaker Hoby of St James to modify his military Hessian boots. These first boots, the Duke's namesake style, were made of leather, cut close to the calf and were designed as a fashion item. Later with technological advances, the boots were made from rubber, employing the innovative technique of vulcanisation, paten...

K being the loving hubby that he is, decided that he wanted to buy me an armchair for our room for Christmas.  I have mentioned it to him sometime back before about having a cosy reading spot in our room, but I didn't pursue the idea further because we already have a comfy bed to laze around on.  Since he insisted on buying one, ok then! :) We decided to order one from made.com in October after hearing good reviews about them, but had to wait 3 months for the delivery of the iceberg blue colour armchair we chose.  It's quite unheard of to me actually - ordering a chair online without seeing or trying on the real thing.  I was secretly hoping it would be a comfy armchair and that the blue would not be too bright.  It had to fit into the greyish theme of our room. Finally the day arrived and it came in a huge cardboard box.  When the delivery men brought it out, I was relieved.  It was a very subtle shade of blue (almost light grey) and looks as good...

Last Friday night after work K and I met up with some friends and we went to this Japanese restaurant in Soho that is called Eat Tokyo.  I don't know why I have not even heard of this place but it was proper busy.  We were late by a bit more than 15 minutes and the waitress had to give up our table.  Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long in the cold to get our table of 5.  Our friends warned us that the portions are huge in this place, so a good suggestion was to order a variety of dishes and we all share. That was such a great idea.  We ordered a sashimi boat, a plate of Japanese curry rice (double size), a sushi plate and a tempura bento box set that came with rice and miso soup.  There were 3 guys and 2 girls.  We polished up everything and felt so stuffed.  In a happy way of course. Sashimi boat with a bonsai plant no less Some of the fresh sashimi we had Close up of the bonsai tree lol After dinner, RX then decided to...

After 2 months, I managed to track down the official photos taken at the reception with President Tony Tan and wife! Resolution isn't great but oh well, it's fine. On a separate note… It's so hard to get back to the routine of long hours and intense days back at work.  I was working throughout the holiday period with the exception of the normal public holidays and boy was it quiet.  My phone barely rang and I could leave early because most bankers went home to celebrate Christmas and New Year's.  Now that everyone's back in full swing, everyone is struggling.  Eek! Hope everyone had a good break and is struggling less than me here in London :S

I was asking K what's one or two of the most memorable things that happened for him this year, and he said "hmm doing up this house... and probably the trip to San Sebastian". I think I would have the same answers as him.  And more.  This post being a reflection of the year gone by, is gonna be a long one. The Home We moved in beginning of this year.  If you remember, the house was cold and uninviting.  We struggled with the temperatures and the frequency of train services.  Today, I'm proud to say that we have turned the house into a home, and it is finally warm (literally temperature wise because we got a gas engineer to come to fix the central heating - yay).  We still struggle with the lousy train frequencies and the frequent delays and cancellations… but I see it as the price to pay for space.  We also spent the first Christmas celebrating in this house, where we invited a group of friends over for a Christmas party a few weeks ago if you re...