29 September 2007
26 September 2007
Everyone who just got a new job, put their hand up!
Me! This is me with my hand up. :)
It's working for a real estate company in the Mayfair office in London.
(email me for a link)
My role will include the designing and setting of ads for magazines, newspapers and general print material that is needed. There's only three of us who work upstairs in the marketing deparment, and I'll be the only one on design - so it looks like I'll be quite busy. My biggest challenge will be in convincing them to swap over to Indesign rather than using Quark 7.0
I did a test yesterday morning using Quark, and a page advert (with instructions on where the files were and what they expected) that normally would have taken about 30 mins took me almost an hour! It was only a straight repeat of the material that was already there.
Oh well. It made me realize that it's been a while since I worked on Quark...and there are genuinely big reasons why I love Indesign.
Haha. I love that it's in Mayfair. You can see Park Lane from the link - Land on this square and I'll claim rent.
The job is guaranteed until the end of the year, and then they're either going to rehash the department or it'll change to a permanent position. I'm quite fine with the option to re-think the position at the end of the year, as I'm not sure how long I want to stay in London for.
In other news...I've been to see another house, one that I really liked, great price, location and the people were pretty cool too. They were looking for someone to fit in, which I can only assume I didn't, as I haven't heard back from them. Very sad.
Time is getting on and I really don't want to outstay my welcome in Golders Green.
Still searching...
It's working for a real estate company in the Mayfair office in London.
(email me for a link)
My role will include the designing and setting of ads for magazines, newspapers and general print material that is needed. There's only three of us who work upstairs in the marketing deparment, and I'll be the only one on design - so it looks like I'll be quite busy. My biggest challenge will be in convincing them to swap over to Indesign rather than using Quark 7.0
I did a test yesterday morning using Quark, and a page advert (with instructions on where the files were and what they expected) that normally would have taken about 30 mins took me almost an hour! It was only a straight repeat of the material that was already there.
Oh well. It made me realize that it's been a while since I worked on Quark...and there are genuinely big reasons why I love Indesign.
Haha. I love that it's in Mayfair. You can see Park Lane from the link - Land on this square and I'll claim rent.
The job is guaranteed until the end of the year, and then they're either going to rehash the department or it'll change to a permanent position. I'm quite fine with the option to re-think the position at the end of the year, as I'm not sure how long I want to stay in London for.
In other news...I've been to see another house, one that I really liked, great price, location and the people were pretty cool too. They were looking for someone to fit in, which I can only assume I didn't, as I haven't heard back from them. Very sad.
Time is getting on and I really don't want to outstay my welcome in Golders Green.
Still searching...
21 September 2007
I think I'd forgotten what hard work was...
After only one day of working as a temp, I'm sore. My back, that is. Now remember, that I've been on holidays for 5 weeks. (haven't holidayed this long since school summer holidays!)
Today was full of filing and alphabetising sheets of paper. Oh, joy.
It was nice to have something routine to focus on, after having so much time and things to think about.
The job will go for about a month - time to collect some £ and keep me on my feet. Hoping I'll be able to go to Wales for a short time after this job, so I can check out Cardiff.
I didn't get the orange room, which was disapointing. I hate searching for rooms!
I've decided to post my own notice on gumtree, which will hopefully bring me something good...
Apparently there are a lot of people out there looking for rooms at the moment. Another place I went to look at last night was 'females only' (not really my pick, but when you're desperate you'll go anywhere!) and not too far from where I'm staying now.
It didn't have the net on, and was a bit further from any train stations than other places I've looked at - though there is a bus stop near by...everything else looked ok. But even that place had about 7-8 people who'd looked before me, and more to come.
Argh.
Today was full of filing and alphabetising sheets of paper. Oh, joy.
It was nice to have something routine to focus on, after having so much time and things to think about.
The job will go for about a month - time to collect some £ and keep me on my feet. Hoping I'll be able to go to Wales for a short time after this job, so I can check out Cardiff.
I didn't get the orange room, which was disapointing. I hate searching for rooms!
I've decided to post my own notice on gumtree, which will hopefully bring me something good...
Apparently there are a lot of people out there looking for rooms at the moment. Another place I went to look at last night was 'females only' (not really my pick, but when you're desperate you'll go anywhere!) and not too far from where I'm staying now.
It didn't have the net on, and was a bit further from any train stations than other places I've looked at - though there is a bus stop near by...everything else looked ok. But even that place had about 7-8 people who'd looked before me, and more to come.
Argh.
19 September 2007
Good News
I went and looked through a really awesome house last night - the room I'd have is very small and painted bright orange (woohoo!) but would be comfortable enough and they have the internet on. The price is really really good, and since I've pretty much got a temp job (data entry, fingers crossed I'm waiting on a call to say it starts tomorrow)....all is looking bright today.
Except for the weather, of course. Though, I did see a patch of sun shining through earlier - for at least 5 whole minutes.
Honestly, the weather here isn't as bad as they make out, and I've had a great time in summer here so far. It's starting to get darker earlier, and colder in the mornings so I can tell that Autumn is well on it's way.
Someone told me the other day that it's not that this summer has been especially bad (as I had heard from a number of people, complaining), but a more normal English summer perhaps. Just that last year it was particularly brilliant - unexpectedly hot.
Writing to you from Marylebone Street (yes, another to cross off on the Monopoly Board!) at an Internet Cafe. I have cold called a couple of printers today as well, just in case they have anything opening up, or know of anything.
I've finally got my CV finished and looking good, after quite a bit of re-writing over the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping that my old work will send through some physical examples so I can get some kind of Portfolio working - I only have a few examples on the net and most places want to see actual examples. I do have a Hub Newspaper with me, so that's going to be pretty good evidence of my work -THANKS MUM!
Except for the weather, of course. Though, I did see a patch of sun shining through earlier - for at least 5 whole minutes.
Honestly, the weather here isn't as bad as they make out, and I've had a great time in summer here so far. It's starting to get darker earlier, and colder in the mornings so I can tell that Autumn is well on it's way.
Someone told me the other day that it's not that this summer has been especially bad (as I had heard from a number of people, complaining), but a more normal English summer perhaps. Just that last year it was particularly brilliant - unexpectedly hot.
Writing to you from Marylebone Street (yes, another to cross off on the Monopoly Board!) at an Internet Cafe. I have cold called a couple of printers today as well, just in case they have anything opening up, or know of anything.
I've finally got my CV finished and looking good, after quite a bit of re-writing over the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping that my old work will send through some physical examples so I can get some kind of Portfolio working - I only have a few examples on the net and most places want to see actual examples. I do have a Hub Newspaper with me, so that's going to be pretty good evidence of my work -THANKS MUM!
17 September 2007
shows in London
A couple of things that I have failed to mention, is the shows that I have seen whilst being in London. I went and saw 'The Lion King' with Michelle, Ben and his parents about a week and a half ago, and last week saw 'Wicked' with Janine, Jodi and Jason Carr. Both were excellent - I really loved Wicked, as it had half a dragon surrounding the top part of the stage which went into full motion a couple of times complete with smoke and glaring red eyes and it also had a brilliant array of emerald stars/lights around the stage, and all over really, that sprung up every now and again. The singing was moving in both of the productions and we had pretty good seats for both. So easy to go and see a show here - any night of the week!
news of the hour
Well, good news is that I have decided to type with capitals again...(finally getting used to a PC keyboard) and slightly more prominent news, is that I've decided not to move to York.
Turns out that there aren't many rental/house shares available for professionals in York, as most are set aside for purely student housing so there are no council taxes to pay and I wasn't keen on staying in a hostel for a couple of weeks just trying to get the rare appointments to go and look at housing. Also, York on a second glance wasn't a big as I had first thought, and the lack of printing/graphic work in the area was also a turn off.
On top of that, I've been having hassles with the recruitment agency (apparently that's pretty normal) and I'm waiting on some mail to come from back home in Australia to get things where I need them for interviews.
So, my next step is to stay in London, try and find some temp work to get me through and some accommodation. I'm really keen to settle somewhere for a bit, but it's tough as I really don't want to stay in London for too long. Don't get me wrong - London is a great place, heaps to do and see on the tourist circuit, nice places to go out to dinner, the tube can be annoying but convenient most of the time and there's quite a few people to catch up with here. I just prefer something else. I'm still keen on Cardiff and also Edinburgh - hopefully after I get some £ coming in I can check these places out a bit more and explore my options.
On Saturday I met up with my friend Erica and her brother Rowan at Trafalgar square. We hung out for the day, mostly at the Tower of London. I didn't realize the history of that place, or that's where they kept the crown jewels and the royal armory museum. It was incredible.
I've heard it's good to go in the winter, as there's less people and you can spend time listening to the audio commentaries - but even with heaps of people around and just the three of us wandering, it was a great landmark to go and visit. I was suprised - didn't realize how large it was until I was inside, having unwittingly managed to avoid pictures and outright descriptions. I thought it would be a big high tower somewhere in the centre of London. It's more like a small fortress surrounded by higher walls and turrets with a few other buildings inside as well as rows of smaller housing apartments and a grass moat in between the inside and outside walls. I'll put some photos up on the flickr site soon.
We also had a bite to eat on the river bank and took photos of the tower bridge. I'll go over it at some stage, but hey - there are a few people who've said they'll be making their way over here at some stage in the next year so I have to save some tourist sites to see with them!
Turns out that there aren't many rental/house shares available for professionals in York, as most are set aside for purely student housing so there are no council taxes to pay and I wasn't keen on staying in a hostel for a couple of weeks just trying to get the rare appointments to go and look at housing. Also, York on a second glance wasn't a big as I had first thought, and the lack of printing/graphic work in the area was also a turn off.
On top of that, I've been having hassles with the recruitment agency (apparently that's pretty normal) and I'm waiting on some mail to come from back home in Australia to get things where I need them for interviews.
So, my next step is to stay in London, try and find some temp work to get me through and some accommodation. I'm really keen to settle somewhere for a bit, but it's tough as I really don't want to stay in London for too long. Don't get me wrong - London is a great place, heaps to do and see on the tourist circuit, nice places to go out to dinner, the tube can be annoying but convenient most of the time and there's quite a few people to catch up with here. I just prefer something else. I'm still keen on Cardiff and also Edinburgh - hopefully after I get some £ coming in I can check these places out a bit more and explore my options.
On Saturday I met up with my friend Erica and her brother Rowan at Trafalgar square. We hung out for the day, mostly at the Tower of London. I didn't realize the history of that place, or that's where they kept the crown jewels and the royal armory museum. It was incredible.
I've heard it's good to go in the winter, as there's less people and you can spend time listening to the audio commentaries - but even with heaps of people around and just the three of us wandering, it was a great landmark to go and visit. I was suprised - didn't realize how large it was until I was inside, having unwittingly managed to avoid pictures and outright descriptions. I thought it would be a big high tower somewhere in the centre of London. It's more like a small fortress surrounded by higher walls and turrets with a few other buildings inside as well as rows of smaller housing apartments and a grass moat in between the inside and outside walls. I'll put some photos up on the flickr site soon.
We also had a bite to eat on the river bank and took photos of the tower bridge. I'll go over it at some stage, but hey - there are a few people who've said they'll be making their way over here at some stage in the next year so I have to save some tourist sites to see with them!
13 September 2007
photos on 'oselle' flickr site
Just in case you haven't caught them yet - I've uploaded more photos on the flickr site (just from my tour) I haven't taken any after my tour...as I pretty much gave up so much obsessive clicking!
I guess that's part of theh touristy thing though.
hey. ther's a pidgeon peeking at me from outside the window at the internet cafe. woohoo. how funny. those beady eyes...
I guess that's part of theh touristy thing though.
hey. ther's a pidgeon peeking at me from outside the window at the internet cafe. woohoo. how funny. those beady eyes...
from york
I was sooooo annoyed that I missed the first direct bus yesterday. I don't hail it as being my entire fault, as the buses should really state their number on front and back and NOT all pull up at the same time...but nonetheless, I had to pay another £3 and wait for another 3 1/2 hours (which I whiled away with coffee and the internet - still fixing up my resume for a creative recruitment company I've applied to) and then caught the 1.30 bus.
I had a 'house looking' appointment that was originally scheduled for 3pm, moved to 6.30, but because there was an accident on the road we were later than expected and pretty much missed the appointment.
Was still able to go to the house without the agent and have a look around (probably better, actually!) but wasn't really keen on the house. Nasty kitchen, needed heaps of repairs, lounge smelt...rubbish fridge...It was cheapish though, and 15mins walking distance to the station and city.
I'm holding out for something better atm - going to see another one this afternoon. It's a bit further out (have to catch the bus) and there's about 2-3 appartment houses on some farm property or something. eek. sounds ominous. But apparently there's a house with 3 other working professionals in it, and a student house there as well. So must be kinda ok.
Hoping to have an interview with the creative recruitment agency later today, or tomorrow in Leeds, if I can make my way there! (busing back down to London for the weekend, and to grab the rest of my gear...at 4.30 tomorrow - fingers crossed!, though this one should be way easier than catching a bus from London).
Might catch the train back up instead. It only takes 2 hours instead of 4 1/2...and they're harder to miss. (just that the bus is almost half the cost of a train!)
Hope you're all well and having fun keeping in touch, as I am!
I had a 'house looking' appointment that was originally scheduled for 3pm, moved to 6.30, but because there was an accident on the road we were later than expected and pretty much missed the appointment.
Was still able to go to the house without the agent and have a look around (probably better, actually!) but wasn't really keen on the house. Nasty kitchen, needed heaps of repairs, lounge smelt...rubbish fridge...It was cheapish though, and 15mins walking distance to the station and city.
I'm holding out for something better atm - going to see another one this afternoon. It's a bit further out (have to catch the bus) and there's about 2-3 appartment houses on some farm property or something. eek. sounds ominous. But apparently there's a house with 3 other working professionals in it, and a student house there as well. So must be kinda ok.
Hoping to have an interview with the creative recruitment agency later today, or tomorrow in Leeds, if I can make my way there! (busing back down to London for the weekend, and to grab the rest of my gear...at 4.30 tomorrow - fingers crossed!, though this one should be way easier than catching a bus from London).
Might catch the train back up instead. It only takes 2 hours instead of 4 1/2...and they're harder to miss. (just that the bus is almost half the cost of a train!)
Hope you're all well and having fun keeping in touch, as I am!
11 September 2007
7 September 2007
haggis tour
we went through so many incredible places - some of which we stayed at for a fairly lengthy time, but most only for an hour or two.
on our first stop, we visited windsor castle, just to see the outside though. took the first of our many obligatory tourist shots. (normally the tour doesn't go here, but since it was the public bank holiday on the day we left we were going to leave london more quickly than normal).
we ended up seeing numerous castles on this tour, but i neglected to do an actual tour. Figured I'd have time later on to do that if i felt so inclined. mostly, i love the way that the castles/cathedrals and other touristy things are so close within in the city. I guess they've just built up around the major sites - makes for an incredible feeling of history within almost every single place.
Even the places that I visited with Uncle Dave & family had that presence of age. It's something that I cherish, having lived most of my life within man made structures not more than 100 years old.
in most of the places I've been to, the mix of medieval and modern is bizarre. something i didn't really think about before I left. I've been overwhelmed by looking in one direction and feeling an old time nostalgia, then the other direction...brand, spanking new buildings, styles and ordinary people. edinburgh is a nice example where that's not so obvious. they built the original city and then another one pretty much next to it (over the river) when we stayed here (this was our longest stay anywhere on the trip) we were in the medieval part of the city and i only ventured to the other side once. i liked staying in the old part of the city but would love to go back and explore the rest another time.
ok, so some of the places we've been:
windsor, wantage, marlborough, lacock, bath, river severn, (crossing over and back to wales/england all day) chepstow, river wye, hereford, lludlow, STAYED AT A FARM HOUSE SOMEWHERE IN WALES! Snowdonia (absolutely beautiful) isle of Anglesey, lanfair... (longest place name), Ambleside - which was in the lake district, jedburgh - in scotland, edinburgh, york - back in england, nottingham forest (robin hood country) and then stratford-upon-avon (shakespeare country).
that's the full week's itinerary, though i may have some of it wrong and left out a lot of places! i did keep a written journal for most of this trip, so if i feel so inclined i might update this later if there's a bit difference.
had such a great time meeting the others on my tour, i really made an effort to hang out with everyone at different stages - it makes the time spent in these places all the more worth it when you have wonderful people to share it with. i've already been on face book pouring over friend's photos of this tour and smiling gleefully at the memories.
one of the funniest nights was when we met a scotsman in edinburgh who took a bunch of us on a merry (or not so merry for some...) galavant around edinburgh while supposedly looking for a cool club that he knew about. (ok, ok, we probably should have just stayed where we were) he'd taken a keen interest in one of us who was wearing a gorgeous red dress and was trying to impress her. half of us got a big sick of it after a while and split off from the group with the scotsman. (i admit i was keen on the walk and thankful for the fresh air that night) i found out later that the 'club' had been closed, and with a bit of effort and a few harsh words managed to get away from the persistant scotsman. remarkably the group with the scotsman made their way back to the hostel before the our group.
i put it down to all our grumbling and groaning from our guys about the crafty scotsman who they pretty much pegged from the beginning. something to laugh about. heh.
when i got to York, i immediately fell in love with the place. it seems a reasonable size, even has a uni and an opera house - jazz on tuesday nights and social clubs. the main reason i'm keen on living there is because of the stong viking history. with gail, jen and monica, i went on a tour of the Jorvik Viking Centre. i wanted to spend another hour in the place - and determined to do so another time. i came out of there with a longing to know more of the place and a stamped coin (the mark was from an authentic coin stamp [or replica of one]) that the vikings had used in the very city. it's likely that the one they found was stolen and left covered over before their diggings in the last few years uncovered that and many more of the viking artifacts.
since one of my desires is to spend a decent amount of time in iceland, York seems like a brilliant place to base myself before i make it over there. plus, i did come over for a more authentic english experience, rather than just hanging out with other aussies in the metro centre of London. lets just see where this takes me anyway.
i plan to look for work/housing in York for the rest of this week, and travel up sometime next week to check things out a bit closer. will keep you posted on how things go.
just before i came in here, i successfully landed an english bank account - thank you dad for my citizenship! i didn't need proof of residence because of the uk passport. i'll receive my card/cheque book etc in the mail in the next 7-10 days. now i just need a national insurance number and i'll be all set.
i called up a few friends today who live in london, hoping to catch up with them before i move up to York. this weekend will be good for that, though i have to say i'm hoping i feel a little more fresh and less flue like by then!
on our first stop, we visited windsor castle, just to see the outside though. took the first of our many obligatory tourist shots. (normally the tour doesn't go here, but since it was the public bank holiday on the day we left we were going to leave london more quickly than normal).
we ended up seeing numerous castles on this tour, but i neglected to do an actual tour. Figured I'd have time later on to do that if i felt so inclined. mostly, i love the way that the castles/cathedrals and other touristy things are so close within in the city. I guess they've just built up around the major sites - makes for an incredible feeling of history within almost every single place.
Even the places that I visited with Uncle Dave & family had that presence of age. It's something that I cherish, having lived most of my life within man made structures not more than 100 years old.
in most of the places I've been to, the mix of medieval and modern is bizarre. something i didn't really think about before I left. I've been overwhelmed by looking in one direction and feeling an old time nostalgia, then the other direction...brand, spanking new buildings, styles and ordinary people. edinburgh is a nice example where that's not so obvious. they built the original city and then another one pretty much next to it (over the river) when we stayed here (this was our longest stay anywhere on the trip) we were in the medieval part of the city and i only ventured to the other side once. i liked staying in the old part of the city but would love to go back and explore the rest another time.
ok, so some of the places we've been:
windsor, wantage, marlborough, lacock, bath, river severn, (crossing over and back to wales/england all day) chepstow, river wye, hereford, lludlow, STAYED AT A FARM HOUSE SOMEWHERE IN WALES! Snowdonia (absolutely beautiful) isle of Anglesey, lanfair... (longest place name), Ambleside - which was in the lake district, jedburgh - in scotland, edinburgh, york - back in england, nottingham forest (robin hood country) and then stratford-upon-avon (shakespeare country).
that's the full week's itinerary, though i may have some of it wrong and left out a lot of places! i did keep a written journal for most of this trip, so if i feel so inclined i might update this later if there's a bit difference.
had such a great time meeting the others on my tour, i really made an effort to hang out with everyone at different stages - it makes the time spent in these places all the more worth it when you have wonderful people to share it with. i've already been on face book pouring over friend's photos of this tour and smiling gleefully at the memories.
one of the funniest nights was when we met a scotsman in edinburgh who took a bunch of us on a merry (or not so merry for some...) galavant around edinburgh while supposedly looking for a cool club that he knew about. (ok, ok, we probably should have just stayed where we were) he'd taken a keen interest in one of us who was wearing a gorgeous red dress and was trying to impress her. half of us got a big sick of it after a while and split off from the group with the scotsman. (i admit i was keen on the walk and thankful for the fresh air that night) i found out later that the 'club' had been closed, and with a bit of effort and a few harsh words managed to get away from the persistant scotsman. remarkably the group with the scotsman made their way back to the hostel before the our group.
i put it down to all our grumbling and groaning from our guys about the crafty scotsman who they pretty much pegged from the beginning. something to laugh about. heh.
when i got to York, i immediately fell in love with the place. it seems a reasonable size, even has a uni and an opera house - jazz on tuesday nights and social clubs. the main reason i'm keen on living there is because of the stong viking history. with gail, jen and monica, i went on a tour of the Jorvik Viking Centre. i wanted to spend another hour in the place - and determined to do so another time. i came out of there with a longing to know more of the place and a stamped coin (the mark was from an authentic coin stamp [or replica of one]) that the vikings had used in the very city. it's likely that the one they found was stolen and left covered over before their diggings in the last few years uncovered that and many more of the viking artifacts.
since one of my desires is to spend a decent amount of time in iceland, York seems like a brilliant place to base myself before i make it over there. plus, i did come over for a more authentic english experience, rather than just hanging out with other aussies in the metro centre of London. lets just see where this takes me anyway.
i plan to look for work/housing in York for the rest of this week, and travel up sometime next week to check things out a bit closer. will keep you posted on how things go.
just before i came in here, i successfully landed an english bank account - thank you dad for my citizenship! i didn't need proof of residence because of the uk passport. i'll receive my card/cheque book etc in the mail in the next 7-10 days. now i just need a national insurance number and i'll be all set.
i called up a few friends today who live in london, hoping to catch up with them before i move up to York. this weekend will be good for that, though i have to say i'm hoping i feel a little more fresh and less flue like by then!
antics in the UK
Hey there blog followers.
so, since i've been here, i've done quite a few things. i've been having an incredible time, and have only just been able to wipe the smile off my face (that's because i have a miserable cold and feel all nasty at the moment. but it's ok. lemsip is slowly saving me - my favourite cross-continent survival tool).
when I first arrived, Ben's parents were here as well, but staying at a hotel in central london. (i'm staying with ben, chelle & their housemates in 'golders green' just north of London (zone 3 in tube terms) it costs about £5 a day if you travel in to london and back from here. it's quite a great place to live, though like everywhere in london it smells a bit icky and the water isn't great.
the first full day (after a normal night's sleep) i went sightseeing with ben, chelle and his parents where we went to st. pauls cathedral (hence the previous picture). it was fantastic, though i was tired and almost out of my brain by the end of the day. (we went out for dinner for ben's birthday at wetherspoons, great english pub!) i figured it was the best way to get through jet lag, as i'd been given advice to keep busy when i first arrived and fight the urge to relax. it seemed to work quite well as i didn't really have any hassles with jet lag. that said, i've been told it's 10 times worse going back the other way, to australia - so i wasn't expecting any major difficulties.
the next day i travelled down to cornwall - such a brilliant train trip and because i was so excited to be there, i hardly slept at all. about 4 1/2 hrs with wonderful views and chatting to randoms almost the whole way.
i spent the rest of the week there (you can see photos on my flickr account - see the top left of this blog) and travelled back on the saturday. BY THE WAY, Ange, I PLAYED BINGO FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE TRAIN RIDE BACK! some kids who needed to be entertained the whole way came and sat near me with their mum, and i helped them out a bit! yay - can't believe i've never played it before. again, again!
ben and chelle met me at paddington station (yay for bear! teehee!) and then i stayed at their place until early monday morning.
i hated getting up so early - 5ish to catch a bus on my own into london for the start of the haggis tour.
if anyone ever gets the chance, i thoroughly recommend doing a haggis tour. the driver we had was 'fergie' and except for 3 people, we were all aussies. two were from newzealand and another from canada. 2 of the travellers were actually from Launceston (the place in tassie, not Lornce-ton in England!). we did check to see if we had any connections, but i didn't know any cook's in devonport.
i'll put up some photos soon (i know i keep promising people i'll do it, but the uploader on flickr and facebook seems WAY too slow and i can't get either to connect properly whenever i try. don't worry, i'll persist). as i have over 300 from our tour.
so, since i've been here, i've done quite a few things. i've been having an incredible time, and have only just been able to wipe the smile off my face (that's because i have a miserable cold and feel all nasty at the moment. but it's ok. lemsip is slowly saving me - my favourite cross-continent survival tool).
when I first arrived, Ben's parents were here as well, but staying at a hotel in central london. (i'm staying with ben, chelle & their housemates in 'golders green' just north of London (zone 3 in tube terms) it costs about £5 a day if you travel in to london and back from here. it's quite a great place to live, though like everywhere in london it smells a bit icky and the water isn't great.
the first full day (after a normal night's sleep) i went sightseeing with ben, chelle and his parents where we went to st. pauls cathedral (hence the previous picture). it was fantastic, though i was tired and almost out of my brain by the end of the day. (we went out for dinner for ben's birthday at wetherspoons, great english pub!) i figured it was the best way to get through jet lag, as i'd been given advice to keep busy when i first arrived and fight the urge to relax. it seemed to work quite well as i didn't really have any hassles with jet lag. that said, i've been told it's 10 times worse going back the other way, to australia - so i wasn't expecting any major difficulties.
the next day i travelled down to cornwall - such a brilliant train trip and because i was so excited to be there, i hardly slept at all. about 4 1/2 hrs with wonderful views and chatting to randoms almost the whole way.
i spent the rest of the week there (you can see photos on my flickr account - see the top left of this blog) and travelled back on the saturday. BY THE WAY, Ange, I PLAYED BINGO FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE TRAIN RIDE BACK! some kids who needed to be entertained the whole way came and sat near me with their mum, and i helped them out a bit! yay - can't believe i've never played it before. again, again!
ben and chelle met me at paddington station (yay for bear! teehee!) and then i stayed at their place until early monday morning.
i hated getting up so early - 5ish to catch a bus on my own into london for the start of the haggis tour.
if anyone ever gets the chance, i thoroughly recommend doing a haggis tour. the driver we had was 'fergie' and except for 3 people, we were all aussies. two were from newzealand and another from canada. 2 of the travellers were actually from Launceston (the place in tassie, not Lornce-ton in England!). we did check to see if we had any connections, but i didn't know any cook's in devonport.
i'll put up some photos soon (i know i keep promising people i'll do it, but the uploader on flickr and facebook seems WAY too slow and i can't get either to connect properly whenever i try. don't worry, i'll persist). as i have over 300 from our tour.
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