Whitby

The Peaks District

Pic 1- Looking out toward Edale

Pic 2- The awesome foursome about to head for the hills in the Peaks District

Pic 3- The old stone wall farm fences near Castleton

Pic 4- Tiana and Katie admiring the view over Castleton

Out and about in York

Pic 1- In the garden behind Holy Trinity Church in the centre of town.

Pic 2- Picnic in the park with 1000 geese!

Pic 3- View from the top of the Minster

Hi-ya! You alright? (Yorkshire greeting)

As we sit to write this (well overdue) update we have just clicked over 4 months in York, 5 months in England and 8 months away from the land down under. There has been so much happening, and even more to come that it is difficult to know where to begin. As we mentioned last time, both of us have begun working and are enjoying a better routine in life. In hindsight we have come to realise what an amazing blessing finding work has been. We have met many people who have been actively looking for work for a long time in York and struggling, so to walk up and get straight into it has been a real answer to prayer.

One of the things we have really missed about home has been being involved in our church family at Wagga Evangelical Church (WEC), and having the opportunity to encourage and be encouraged by other Christian people. Once again God has provided for us abundantly in this regard. The week after we arrived in York we went to check out York Evangelical Church (YEC- just one letter different!) The people there are wonderful and we have a great time getting to know them and looking for ways to get involved in the many outreach activities they have going across the city, like the monthly film night at the Knavesmire pub. They have been a terrific support and welcomed us in like family from the very beginning; looking out for us, introducing us to other people and regularly inviting us for meals. A standout occasion of the last few weeks was the baptism of two people from church, an 18 year old girl and a 70ish year old man. It was awesome to hear their very different testimonies of their journey to becoming Christians and was a great reminder to us of the fact that God is in control and his calling will happen at any time he chooses.

Another exciting episode since our last blog was a visit from our dear friend Angela from WEC. It was so nice to hear a familiar accent and to get the opportunity to show off York to someone else from Wagga. Although only a short visit we crammed as much in as possible and really enjoyed her company.

Slowly we’ve been able to get out and see a bit more of the Yorkshire countryside. This included a days walk along a trail in the Pennine mountains ranges with JJ and Katie from Doncaster (soon to be married and moving to sunny Wagga). The weather was fairly ‘pants’ (Yorkshire for not terrific). We experienced all 4 seasons in one day with spells of blasting winds, pelting hail and a smidge of sunshine all happening almost simultaneously. We took some awesome pictures of the countryside, including the stone walls that have been standing for hundreds of years to divide one field from the next. We’ve never seen so much green grass! More recently we took a day trip to Whitby with some friends from church. Whitby is the former home of Captain James Cook and the village where the ‘Endeavour’ was built and launched. We had a lovely day by the sea side, played some beach cricket and ate the traditional English fish and chips for lunch. Again we had some excellent photo opportunities as we walked around the ruins of Whitby abbey and marvelled at the colourful beach houses.

Looking ahead, we are like kid’s at Christmas time waiting for Tim’s mum and dad to arrive in August. We have already planned a couple of days in London and Paris and are also hoping to venture up into Scotland for a wee look. Other than that we would very much appreciate people’s prayers as we consider the next step in what we’re doing. Our lease agreement expires at the end of August with no option of extending. We are currently deciding whether we should be looking for a new place or maybe consider coming home. To be fair, neither feel like wrong choices. All we want is live out God’s will for our lives, whether that be in York, Wagga or on the moon peeling oranges. Please pray that we would find peace in whichever way we go.

We’ve added an assortment of pics for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Pic 1- Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year. This picture was taken at 11pm!

Pic 2- View of the city centre from the top of York minster.

Pic 3- Statue of Constantine, crowned emperor of Rome on the current site of York minster nearly 2000 years ago!

Pic 4- Our bikes outside the minster.

Pic 5- Sharing a 'half' at the Rooke and Gaskill pub.

The job front!

Now onto the job front. Tim hit a fairly major stumbling block.... The British Criminal Records Beurea.

Turns out that York schools employ teachers exclusively through job agencies with each one wanting to complete their own CRB which takes a mere 6 WEEKS to complete. Tim has tripped around the town introducing himself and handing in his resume but no-one wants to know you here without a current CRB. One school was willing to go off his Aussie Police check and gave him 1 casual day. Tim had a great day at Osbaldwick Primary with 32 year 6 kids. The Aussie accent and Flint charm worked a treat ( if only he had his didgeridoo!)

Finally at week 7 the CRB came through and so did the work. CRB came in on the Monday and by that afternoon the next 3 weeks were booked up! Things are looking good!

Tiana on the otherhand had a much easier transition and got a full-time permanent job within 2 weeks of moving to York. Tiana registerd with a job agency and did a few temp days, one working in a local pub for a band going round and getting email addresses for his fan list. By the way if anyone receives a fan list subscription to Pete Lawrie you were there and you loved it :) I was referred to a local law firm, got straight in for an interview and they offered me a full time job as a legal assistant. Minster Law is a large law firm in York specialising in personal injury compensation. Nothing like my job back home but a fresh challenge with lots of new things to learn. My first few weeks have been hectic with Dave, who i am assistant to being stuck in Bangkok due to the flight delays from the Iceland Volcano. I've had to learn things pretty quickly being on my own the past 3 weeks and not really knowing what i'm doing but i've bluffed my way through and am looking forward to his return.

We have been in York 7 weeks now and have enjoyed to transition from freezing cold to mildly cool weather. The sun does shine here, but not consistently. The daffodils are in full bloom all round the city and any hint of sunshine makes the population of York skyrocket. Funny how the first glimpse of sunshine and all the locals are out in their short shorts and T-shirts with their blotchy pale skin on display. It seems they dress according to the calendar not the actual temperature.

From Donny to York

Hello all

It has been a while and we need to get this blog up-to-date or time just passes by. Had an awesome 2 weeks living with JJ and Katie in Doncaster. They were gracious enough to let us set up camp at their place and they treated us to some awesome hospitality and a great introduction to life in Yorkshire. Most memorable was our first encounter with snow (falling from the sky!!!) The weather was icy cold and we didn't leave the house in less than 1/2 of the contents of our backpacks. The streets were covered in a beautiful thick 6 inches of snow, it was like the whole town stopped. We ran a muck frollicking around the streets, making snowmen, and launching a snowball assault on eachother. We were like kids in a candystore.

Our entire 2 weeks in Donny were spent looking through real-eatate websites and employment classifieds waiting for something to jump out at us as the right fit. When this didn't happen in the first week we decided to venture out around Yorkshire to check out the surrounding area. We visited Leeds and Sheffield but their big city feel was a bit much for us. The cities felt like they would swallow up us small town folk so we moved onto the historic city of York.

York has a population of about 200,000 and is in the county of North Yorkshire halfway between London and Edinburgh. Its only about 2 hour train trip into central London but far enough away to be affordable. The town has a rich history which includes periods of both Roman and Viking occupation. The town has a huge Castle and Minster as it's main tourist attractions and the whole town is within an ancient Roman wall which you can walk right round. The city centre is a warran of cobblestone streets, historic pubs and buildings with museums, art galleries, ruins, churches. The list goes on and on.

We spent a weekend in York soaking in the atmosphere, getting a feel for the place and trying to find somewhere to live. The real etate agents didn't want to know about us being from overseas, with no references, no jobs and no bank account. But we finally found a place with a 6 month lease and kind landlords willing to give us a start. Our place is in quiet location about a 5 minute walk to one of the city wall entrances perfect for what we need for the time being.

We have bought push bikes as our main means of travel and cycle around the city and to church on weekends. Our trip to the grocery store have been somewhat anoying having to struggle home (a 15 min walk) with 5 bags of groceries hanging on each arm or hanging from the handlebars! but it's keeping us fit and allowing us to branch out to surrounding suburbs and onto some of the many cycle tracks in Yorkshire.

"Advance to Trafalgar Square"

We finally made it!!!

After stepping off the plane from India we knew we were in London by the distinctive crispness of the night air. Although jet lagged and tired we couldn't resist the hotel restaurant after seeing lamb shanks and beef burgers on the menu. Regretfully we spent 30 quid on a meal we couldn't even finish. After 2 months without red meat the richness of the food was too much to stomach.

The next morning we ventured into London via the tube to stay at a youth hostel on Oxford street. It was like being on a giant Monopoly board as we navigated through the streets of London on a open topped double-decker bus. Thankfully we had purchased leather jackets in India beforehand otherwise we would have frozen to death. After a full day sight seeing in the freezing cold we couldn't wait to get back to the warmth of our dingey little room at the YHA. The sheer cost of a London was fully realised when Tim bought a bottle of Lucozade for the same price as dinner, coffee and dessert for both of us in Sri Lanka. This fact caused an early retreat to Doncaster where our friends JJ and Katie kindly offered us a place to stay until we found our feet.