It's a new dawn, it's a new day!

Two weeks (almost three!) have gone by since the long-awaited big day and almost as much as to my new life in London as a married man. To be quite honest, I found it much harder to settle back into the London routine and, especially, to resume with my academic work, than my wife found it to adjust herself to a new city, a new country, a new life. She is progressing through it all seamlessly, while I seem to be lagging behind. Truly embarrassing! Nevertheless, I will summarise what these past few weeks have entailed for us both here in London as we ended March and ventured into April...

Soon after flying to London, it was all about the logistical hassles of unpacking suitcases, filling up wardrobes, decorating rooms, buying supplies and all those necessary antics associated with moving in to a new place. Various trips to stores, supermarkets and the high street, in addition to the added bonus of being 2 rather than 1, happily made these otherwise stressful antics a pleasure! With Easter round the corner, a couple of College closure days meant that we had to organise some extra-curricular activities, both out and indoors, and these started off with a trip down to the Richmond area of the River Thames, to Syon Park/House to be more precise. A pleasant visit to a "garden" which required an hour to explore, countless numbers of pictures (needless to say!) and an interesting tour of the Robert-Adam-designed Syon House, which is the home of some Duke. Very English indeed. A chilled day finished off by a visit to a garden centre and a purchase of an indoor plant for our room!

The obvious religious chain of events which is what Easter is really all about started off on the Thursday with a "Passover meal" in our hall of residence, complete with old-school candle lighting, unleavened bread, wine and a thorough explanation of what the Passover was really about. A new way of celebrating the Maundy Thursday, which incidentally was the first time I did this outside of Malta. Good Friday 2010 had to be done without the usually compulsory visit to a Maltese village where the figure procession takes place. I dare say that the English way of celebrating Good Friday is far more secular than anyone in Malta would ever dream of; indeed, the religious celebration was topped off by tea and hot-cross-buns! All in all, it was a new way of living the Easter spirit.

On Saturday night, we ventured off for an Easter vigil service in a nearby Catholic church. A service which kicked off at 8pm and lasted till 10.30pm, at which point we were smelling of incense and with an overdose of Gregorian-chant-style singing in our heads. Catholicism in England is really conservative - they do love their ceremonial antics here! Easter Sunday was started off in truly Maltese style with a devouring of a Maltese figolla shipped all the way from the Med a week earlier and then continued with a trip to Westminster Abbey, where a morning service was held in the most enchanting of settings and with superb organ playing and real choir singing, which was wonderful. Obviously, the whole ceremonial parts did not lack here, either. Finally, Sunday was concluded with a great dinner in an Italian restaurant and some really awesome dessert and a good night's sleep!

The bank holiday on Monday was nothing more but lazy and chilled, with nothing more than a visit to Holland Park and the high street. By Tuesday, the guilt feelings started to kick in and I made my way to Imperial to check out where my work was at...and it seemed that "normal" life was about to resume from the rest of the week onwards. Normal in terms of work, that is, for now it is far more exciting than before: I have a wife awaiting me at home! Spring is well known to spur new life and, in my case, a new lifestyle indeed! And I am loving it!