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.