I thought I should put up a nice photo to make up for my hideous drool-pic below! This is us on Saturday night - out for Bec's birthday. We went to a great pub called The Anchor on the Thames near London Bridge, sat outside and watched the sun go down, then up to the verandah until closing time - really nice! Bec's mum, bless her, had also made us all little 'party bags' filled with heaps of stuff she had brought from home – Caramello Koalas, Tiny Teddys, Violet Crumbles, Aussie tattoos. Needless to say we were all overwhelmingly happy – and I actually remember a twinge of homesickness when I bit into my first tiny teddy! It's always the little things hey! :)

In other news – apparently the godsend e-mail address that new arrivals to London have been using to e-mail for a National Insurance number appointment (to avoid waiting for hideous amounts of time on the phone) is NO LONGER IN OPERATION. My friend got this e-mail:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting the London National Insurance Number Call Centre.

As from Thursday 06th of July 2006 the London NINO call centre will no longer accept any further email NINO application forms. This is due to the London NINO booking service being centralised in a National NINO Call Centre in Grimsby.

Customers can only contact the Grimsby NINO Call Centre by telephone on 0845 6000 643 or textphone 0845 6000 644.

Regards
London NINO Call Centre

This is really disappointing, as that e-mail address was a little gem (as I have said here a milion times before - I sat hold for AGES). i guess now people will just have to make the time. Try and call this number as soon as you get a job in the UK, because otherwise you will be placed on emergency rate (for those without NI numbers) which can be up to 50% of your wage. A good thing to do is as soon as you get hired (even if you haven't started) ask for a letter of employment or confirmation from the person who hired you, so you can get the ball rolling.

Tonight am venturing to a corner of London I haven't really been to much before - Greenwich (well, been there once, and was very impressed, but haven't been back since!). It's where Sim's new abode is (near Cutty Sark) and she is cooking us a gourment meal tonight. Our housewarming will be soon too - got to find a day everyone can come - people are too busy with their summer plans, trips abroad, concerts, gigs etc - what a life!