Fleur Tonkin

Rome, again!!

frenchflower24 — Mon, 9 Jul 2012 03:56:00 GMT

One month later and I'm back in Rome! One of the families I looked after back at home are here on holidays so I have taken a long weekend to catch up with them :) Unfortunately I arrived during a public transport strike, so it was a bit difficult to get around, but I managed in the end.

We visited some of the sights I'd seen in June; like the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain, but we also went on a small boat ride up the river, and a 4D film of the history of Rome which was interesting.

It was so nice seeing the kids again, (although it made me miss them even more) and exciting to take photos on my new camera. Hopefully I will go on another trip soon (one that's not to Rome!). Until then I hope you are all well and haven't found my stories too boring!

xox

Rome - Day 4

frenchflower24 — Thu, 7 Jun 2012 03:52:00 GMT

Our last day in Rome...

We had to be up early today to check out of our accomodation, so we packed up and checked out, but left our cases at reception and headed off to Campo Di Fiori to experience the markets. The stalls mostly sold fruit, veg and local produce, but we tasted some nice cheeses and fresh fruit, and I bought a necklace and a choc-chilli liqueur!

We wandered around the streets nearby and looked in a few cute shops. We eventually made our way to Piazza Navona where we saw hundreds of paintings of Rome and its' surrounds.

We took the tube and bus back to our accomodation at 4, where we caught the shuttle back to the airport and flew back to a chilly london night (12 degrees), at least we had coats to wear with our shorts!

It was a fantastic trip, and Joan was a perfect travel companion :) I think my favourite sights were the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum, but wandering the streets and discovering places frequented by the locals was very enjoyable too.

Arrivederci until my next trip

xox

Rome - Day 3

frenchflower24 — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:50:00 GMT

Today Joan and I had a nice lazy morning by the pool (which was rather chilly) and the spa (which wasn't any warmer)! Luckily it was a nice warm and sunny day though, so we hopped in and out of the pool to cool down and then warm up again.

In the afternoon we went to visit the Pantheon which was nice; not as ornate as St Peters' Cathedral, but still aesthetically pleasing (especially the dome ceiling with it's hole at the top). I wouldn't have been to keen on visiting when it was raining though!

We wandered around a few alleys and found an amazing hand made glass bead shop (the owner even showed us how he makes them), and a gorgeous family run Gelateria called 'Frigidarium Gelataria Artigranale'. We came across a winery with free liquer tastings. I loved the Nocciole (hazelnut flavour), but the Pistacchio and Limoncello were not to my tastes at all!

Afterwards we went to a square I had read about, called 'Campo Di Fiori', which had good markets. However, by the time we got there it was about 6pm and all of the market stalls had packed up for the day. There were lots of restaurants around though, so we sat and had a drink and watched/listened to several performers who were set up in the middle of the square. There were also several men selling bags and sunglasses, etc. But who obviously did not have a license to sell them, and would swiftly pack up their stalls and disappear when any police were in sight. I'm amazed that they were able to make enough money for the venture to be worthwhile, considering that they packed up and ran off so many times!

Rome - Day 2

frenchflower24 — Tue, 5 Jun 2012 03:37:00 GMT

Today we saw lots of famous landmarks; but my favourites were the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain. We started the day early and caught the train to the Colosseum stop. Coming out of the subway was so surreal – we walked out and the Colosseum was just right there across the street in all of its grandeur and glory. The queues were extreme though, so we decided to go to the Palatine first. It was still busy, but not too crowded because it was so spread out. There was lots to see, and many photo opportunities to be had!

From there we walked through to the Roman Forum which was much busier, but there wasn't as much to see there. We sat and had lunch in the shade next to the Temple of Venus and Roma with amazing views of the Colosseum. It took several attempts to get out (due to poor signage and one o the exits being closed), but once we did we walked towards the Il Vittoriano, which has a huge glass elevator (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!). After ascending what felt like hundreds of steps we finally got to the base of the elevator. As we went up the views were great, but out on the roof – we could see everything! We took lots of photos, and saw lots of landmarks including the Colosseum, The Vatican and St Peters Basilica. When we were back at ground level we found a shop to buy some well deserved gelato; Nocciole (Hazelnut) is definitely one of my favourites!

By this time it was about 3pm, so we walked back to the Colosseum where the queues were much more maneagable (although the queue to buy tickets was still quite long); luckily we had purchased tickets online, so we went through quickly and then got audio guides which were quite good. I found the history really interesting, and could have stood and stared at the ruins for hours. Joan and I both agreed that we would have loved to see a reenactment of the fights that happened thousands of years ago. We headed back to the train station, and got off at the Barberini stop (near the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps).

By the time we reached the Trevi Fountian it was about quarter to 6, and whilst it was busy, we were still able to take lots of photos, and even got a couple right infront of it! We both threw coins in and made our wishes, and then headed towards the Spanish Steps.

The Spanish Steps were crowded and whilst they were good as a photo opportunity (with a nice background); as an iconic landmark, I didn't find them too impressive. After dinner at an entirely unimpressive restaurant (the fine print on the menu said that the pasta was frozen and not fresh!), we headed back to CVR. I still can't believe we saw so many famous, and amazing things all in one day!

Photos: Fleurs Big Trip 2012-??

frenchflower24 — Mon, 4 Jun 2012 04:24:00 GMT

Miss Pole Dance UK and Rome - Day 1

frenchflower24 — Sun, 3 Jun 2012 01:58:00 GMT

I have a week off work this week as it's the 'half term' break for the kids, so their parents are taking them up to Wales to visit their grandparents and my friend Joan and I are going to Rome! Joan took the train from Ipswich on Saturday and then we drove to Brighton to see the “Miss Pole Dance UK” championships. Unfortunately I'm not sure the 90minute drive was worth it! As some of you may know; the WA heats for Miss Pole Dance Australia have been held at Burswood Entertainment centre and usually attract more than a thousand people (I'm estimating here). The heats for the whole of the UK were held at the back of a bar without any seating, and a crowd of around 150 people. There were a couple of quite good performers (and also a few who had never even performed on stage before!) but considering that the winner will be representing their whole country at the World Championships, I wasn't too impressed!

Joan and I flew from Heathrow to Rome Fumicino (aka Leonardo Da Vinci) airport on Sunday night, arriving at 7:10pm as scheduled. We rang our accommodation to request a shuttle pick up (advertised on their website for 11 Euros pp), only to find out that all bookings have to be made 48 hours in advance (which was NOT advertised on the site!). After several laps of the airport, trying to find out the best way to get to the accommodation, and finding all of the information and tourist centres closed, we eventually paid 20 Euros each to get a private shuttle from the airport to our accomodation; “The Camping Village Roma” which is 20min outside Vatican City.

Once we arrived, things went more smoothly. We checked in (to our small twin bungalow with ensuite), walked down to the Supermarket to get a few things, and had tea at the restaurant (all part of the 'Camping Village'), but didn't make use of the pool, or bar (all open until 11pm every night).

Today we went to the Vatican City. We took a shuttle from the Camping Village Roma (CVR) which dropped us off near the Vatican for only 2 Euros return pp (and it didn't require 48 hours notice for booking)! We were approached by various touts trying to sell us guided tours and tickets which allowed us to skip the lines, however apparently they are not all licensed and have reputation for selling tickets which are not valid! I was considering taking the risk when I saw the size of the line to get in to the Vatican Museum, but the lines moved quickly and we were inside within 20 minutes.

We took our time looking around and taking lots of photos, looking at galleries, sculptures, The Vatican Gardens, endless amazing ceilings, tapestries and paintings. We went through the Sistine Chapel looking up in awe (and finishing with rather stiff necks)! And walked up and down hundreds of steps. After a couple of souvenir purchases, we headed to the cafeteria for lunch (and to rest our feet).

We spent about an hour in St Peter's Cathedral taking lots of photos and watching a procession of people led by priests in white robes; all singing Hallelujah in mournful tones. We had some gelato and walked to St Angelo's Castle (which unfortunately turned out to be closed on Mondays). We walked along and found some markets (leading to more souvenir and personal purchases!), and decided to walk the rest of the way around the walls of the Vatican City for a change of scenery. However, we were not able to walk in a very direct path, and ended up doing much more walking than we had bargained for, so we decided to catch an earlier shuttle back to CVR and find somewhere local for tonight's tea.

Tomorrow we have plans to see the Colosseum, The Roman Forum, The Palatine, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps...however we may go back on Wednesday if we don't get around to it all!!

Arrividerci :)

The weeks fly by and a visit from Joan :)

frenchflower24 — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:59:00 GMT

My first day was a complete breeze, I was pretty sure that it was a fluke and Tuesday proved me right! The girls were pretty good on average though, and the star chart seems to be making a big difference.

I really love having my own room and space on the top floor, and having an ensuite is great too, it's nice to have some time to myself after a full on day. I went to the Camden Markets on Saturday (By very bravely driving through the city!) and loved every minute of it. Camden is a great area with lots of shops, restaurants and pubs - and the markets were great too. I may have spent most of my first paycheck there...!

My second week didn't go so well; I started feeling sick on Wednesday and by Friday morning I was at the Doctor (luckily I had registered with the local practice the week before, and Cienwin had the day off so she was able to take the girls to school for me). The doctor said it was just a virus, and I got through the rest of the day dosed up on cold and flu tablets feeling glad that I had the weekend off.

Joan took the train down from Ipswich on Friday evening, so I pickd her up from Hammersmith, and she came back and stayed the night and then we spent Saturday sightseeing in London. We started the day with a walk around St James park, and then went to see the Horse Guards and watched the 'changing of the guards' ceremony. We headed over towards Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards there too, but there was some sort of event happening with lots of the Queens' guards in a marching band, but that was good to watch anyway. From there we went to Trafalgar Square and saw Nelsons Column, we had a quick look at St Martin in the Fields' 'Cafe in the Crypt', and then headed to Portobello road markets (which were quite disappointing compared to the Camden Markets). We headed to Harrods and had a competition to see who could find the most expensive pair of shoes (I won, finding a pair for 1,100 pounds, although the Louis Vuitton shoes didn't even have price tags so we suspect that they were more expensive still!) We finished the day in Convent Gardens; browsing around the markets and then in a few awesome quirky shops which I fell in love with (and also found several 'must have' items in!). I have attached some photos of things I bought to pesonalise my new room.

On Sunday I was feeling worse again, so I went back to the Doctor on Monday and got some antibiotics.

My First Week of Work!

frenchflower24 — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:29:00 GMT

This week was really good. I'm so glad I've had Kate to show me around and give me an idea of the girls' routine, etc. Kate is also a really nice person and we get along well. I will be sad to see her go, but she will still be in London (she is going back to Nursing), so we will still see each other, and the girls have already planned several picnics to have with her during the summer holidays.

Tuesday and Wednesday I hung back and watched how Kate did things, saw what the girls routines were like and got to know them a bit. Kate was also driving on these days, and the insurance flipped over to cover me at midnight on Wednesday night. On Thursday, I took over; I drove the car and took charge of the girls, while Kate hung back, gave bits of advice, and helped me navigate so I didn't get lost! Luckily, I had ordered a Tom Tom, which arrived on Friday morning and made it much easir to navigate a new neighbourhood!

The general daily routine was something like this;

I would wake up at quarter to 7, and get ready for a possible 7am start, but most mornings Dilip and Cienwin didn't need me until 7:30. I would get the girls ready (breakfast, getting dressed, doing hair and brushing teeth), aiming to leave for school at 8:30am. We would drive to school (5 minutes), and walk Alyssa to her class (Reception, which is like Pre-Primary)for an 8:50 start, and then walk Lauryn around to her class (Nursery, which is like Kindy) for a 9am start. Kate and I would then go to the gym, go home and do some washing/empty the dishwasher/tidy up a bit, and be back st school to pick Lauryn up at 12. Lauryn would come home and have lunch, and then a nap (we only did this some days, she could easily have one every day, but will be starting full time school in September, so is slowly being weaned off them) for an hour or so, some play time and then we would go back to school to pick Alyssa up for 3:15pm. Some days we went to the park with another parent and one of her friends, and others we just went back home. We would make tea for 5:30pm (the girls take forever to eat so we set a timer for 30 minutes, but they usually take longer), and then a bath, brushing their teeth and reading some stories before mum and dad come home at 7:30 and put them to bed.

I am going to introduce a star chart for next week to encourage the girls to take a bit more responsibility for things like getting dressed, going to the toilet and eating their dinner and brushing their teeth without a fuss!

Time Flies!

frenchflower24 — Sat, 5 May 2012 21:58:00 GMT

Wow, I'm really sorry I haven't written in so long - so many things have been happening and I've been so caught up that I haven't documented them! I will domy best to catch you up on all the things I've been doing (hopefully I will remember all the important things!).

Ok. So, after Inverness I went back to Edinburgh and stayed with my friends in Kinross for 2 weeks before moving to Chiswick to start work with my new family. I spent most of my time there getting into a fitness regime as part of Michelle Bridges 12 WBT weightloss challenge. I had one week where I did lots of walking (with Zac the Rhodesian Ridgeback), however the weather didn't allow that for too long, so I joined the local gym and started doing lots of classes like aerobics, body conditioning and 'legs, bums and tums'. I lost 6kg befor I went to London.

I went to London on Friday 5th May and moved into my new house with Cienwin and Dilip (the girls parents, who are Welsh and Sri Lankan respectively), Alyssa, 5 and Lauryn, 3 (the girls I look after) and their current Nanny, Kate (from New Zealand). It was a long weekend, so I had a few days to settle in to the area before my four day hand over with Kate. I joined a local gym (which Dilip and Kate both go to) called Roko which is amazing; it has a cafe, beautician, pool, spa, sauna, steam room, big gym area (with tv screens on most pieces of equipment), and a veritable smorgasboard of classes. I also got a new sim card for my phone, to enable data usage and had a hair cut. I had a bit of a browse along the high street (which is so long that it has 3 tube stations along it!)

Chiswick is a really nice area, with lots of parks, and is close to lots of public transport. It is a 15 min walk to the Gym (or a 5 min drive), 5 min walk to the nearest bus, which takes 10 minutes to get to the town centre or tube stations, and a 10 minute walk to the bus whcih takes me to Hammersmith or Westfield in 15 or 20 minutes.

At the moment I'm staying in the guest room on the 2nd floor, but when Kate leaves, I will be moving up to a nice, spacious room on the top floor, with an ensuite, and my own tv and sky box.

I spent Sunday and Monday at the British Museum (it took two days to see everything!) which was good. I have included some of my favourite photos (but I'm pretty sure I took at least 100!)

I'll write about my first week of work in the next entry to break things up a bit!

Inverness

frenchflower24 — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:46:00 GMT

It took 4 hours to get to inverness from Edinburgh by train, and started snowing on the way, but luckily was fine again by the time I arrived. The accomodation is abt a 10 min walk into the centre of town, which is fine as the weather has been nice both days so far. I will catch a taxi back to the train station though, simply because I'll probably hurt my back if I try to pull my 2 cases up the hill and it will only cost 4 or 5 pounds. The man who runs it (and is probably in his late 60's) obviously has dogs as the whole downstairs area smells of 'dog'. The rooms upstairs do not smell and each has its own en suite, so that is nice. Breakfast this morning was not a pleasant experience - trying to block my nose and eat some fruit and toast was hard, but then the man brought out 'breakfast' consisting of bacon, eggs, mushroom, sausages, cooked tomato, baked beans and haggis (and you didn't get to serve yourself!). I had about 2 mouthfuls of mushroom, and eggs, and one of bacon before I discovered a hair in the food and decided that I could not eat anymore without gagging. I felt bad leaving a full plate, and the man asked if there was anything wrong with the food when I went back down. I know I probably should have said something, but he was trying so hard, so I just lied and said that I dont usually eat breakfast and would just have some yoghurt tomorrow!

Last night I went on a walking tour about 'crime and punishment'. There is so much history in Inverness - dating back to 565 AD! The tour guide was very informative and dramatic, and got everyone to have a go at a scottish accent! It was good fun. There were about 8 others on the tour; all part of a group of engineers in Scotland for 3 months of training in the oil and gas industry. One of them was from Brisbane (Carindale, where the big shopping centre is!) and I got along well with a girl from Canada too. We all went for coffee/hot chocolate afterwards to warm up before they caught the last train back to Aberdeen. I walked back along the bridge to my accomodation and took some photos - there are rainbow coloured lights that light up the bridge at night, and silver fairy lights in the trees lining the Loch - my snap shots didn't do it justice, but I bet Dad could get some amazing pictures there!

This morning I went on a tour to Urquhart Castle, and the Loch Ness exhibition Centre, which included a 1/2 hour boat cruise along Loch Ness. Urquhart Castle is a ruin, but has some great history, and lots of stairs to climb! Our cruise on the Loch was nice, but I found the Loch Ness Centre quite a dissappointment. Apparently there are two centres and this one was just a series of 6 rooms; each room with a video proving/disproving facts about the Loch Ness Monster - I think we must have gone to the other centre which the tourist bureau said is more child friendly. I met two girls from Tasssie on todays tour too!

We got back to Inverness at 2:30pm and I went on another walking tour (about the History of Inverness) which was good. There was only me and two other girls from Barcelona and Germany. I went to a pub for tea last night (they have a family area to eat that's not too noisy) and the food was cheap and nice, so I will probably go back there again tonight.

I ended up going to an Italian restaurant called Bella Italia. The carbonara was quite bland, but the chocolate cake was exquisite and more than made up for it!!

I had to check out at 10, but my train wasn't until almost 3pm, so I put my case in storage at the train station and had a look around the Victorian markets before lunch, and did one more browse of the main street before taking the train back to Kinross via Perth.

Interviews, Trials and a Job Offer!!

frenchflower24 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:37:00 GMT

I booked a hotel for my stay in London this time; it;s cheap and the room is tiny, but it's clean, I have an en suite, mini fridge, breakfast is included, and it's close to buses and the tube.

I arrived back in London on Monday morning, and thus far, only had a trial booked for Tuesday. By 9:30am on Tuesday I had two trials and an interview booked for that day and another interview booked for Wednesday!

My first trial was for the family in Ealing Broadway with one 8 month old boy. I was there for 3 hours and in that time, I played with him, fed him lunch and put him down for a sleep, however; I never actually got to put him 'down' for his sleep, because the only way his parents put him to sleep is by letting him fall asleep while they hold him, and then trying to transfer him into the cot. I tried to put him into the cot 5 times, and every time he woke up and started crying. The end result was that I stood, holding him for 50 minutes! I can't even imagine what it will be like when his parents have another child! Aside from that though, he was gorgeous. The house is nice, and his parents are really lovely. They said that they had one more person to interview, but that they really liked e, and would contact me on Thursday.

From there I rushed off to my second trial of the day, got lost, asked for directions, got directed to the wrong road, caught a bus back to where I'd started , met a nice Irish lady who gave me the correct directions, and eventually got to the house 45 minutes late! Luckily the family were very understanding. This trial was for the family of the lady I'd had the interview with last Thursday (Sukhi). The kids were having tea, but the 18 month old was not eating his meal, so mum got up and made him a second (and then a third) one! The five year old played with his food and his fork through out the meal, and his parents were quite happily letting both children draw and play with toys while they were supposed to be eating!!! To me, one of the most important things about working with a family is that the parents have the same rules and expectations of the children as I do, and there is no way I would make 3 meals every night just because the kids changed their minds! Also the 18 month old could not walk, could hardly speak and seemed very detached (I wonder if he also has autism?). Regardless, this was not the family for me.

My final stop of the night was for a family in Chiswick, with two girls; Alyssa, 5, and Lauryn, 3. Their current nanny is leaving to do nursing. The girls were cute if a little over excited, but I got along well with the parents who were very down to earth, and seemed to have all of the same values and expectations that I would have for the children. The eldest girl is at school full time, and the 3 year old will start full time in September. I really like this family – they are definitely my favourite so far!

On Wednesday I had an interview with a family in Dulwich, a lovely green area, but not very close to public transport, and not accessible via the tube. The mother was nice enough, but kept saying how she did not trust her 2 year old son Caspar, with her 4 month old son Xavier, and that when Caspar had been born she had not liked or wanted him! I also got a strange vibe being there – another job to cross off the list.

Later that afternoon I had a phone call from one of the agencies saying that the family in Chiswick really liked me and would like me to come for a trial on Friday 13^th. I started the trial at 10am and at 1pm the parents asked me if I would like the job! I said YES :) I will be moving in on the 5/6^th May, doing a weeks' hand over with the current nanny and then it's all down to me! :)

Easter Sunday and Rolling Eggs

frenchflower24 — Sun, 8 Apr 2012 06:08:00 GMT

I've had several interviews now; one of which was an interview with a 3^rd nannying agency. I figure the more jobs I can apply for the better my chances are of getting one that I really want!

On Thursday I had an interview with a lady called Sukhi who has 2 sons; Kieran, 5 and Hari, 18 months. She seemed lovely and the job sounded pretty good. They live in a Suburb called Clapham; on the Northern Line of the tube. Kieran has mild autism; he is quite high functioning, but does not like sudden changes to his routine, and only eats 'dry, crunchy foods'.

On Good Friday I had an interview with a family in Ealing Broadway, and got to meet their 8 month old son, James. They were really laid back and friendly – it didn't even really feel like an interview!They asked me to come back for a trial on Tuesday (11^th April), so I'm excited about that!

I flew back to Edinburgh that night to spend Easter with my 'wee Scottish pals'. On Saturday I did my best to make a “football” (an Australian soccer ball) cake, for Max next door who turned 11 on Good Friday and is having a party on Easter Sunday. We spent Saturday night decorating hard boiled eggs to roll down a big hill (A UK tradition!). I decorated one for Susan and I (a hedgehog and a silver disco bunny), Ian made a simple yet impressive snail, Bernadette made a cheerleader and Neil made a Welsh dragon. There were plenty of others too (see attached pictures)!

On Sunday morning we drove to the base of a big hill near Fife, took our eggs and climbed to the top. From someone who lives in the hills, I has quite impressed, haha. It took about 30 minutes to climb; the first 2/3rds weren't too steep, but the last part felt like it was almost straight up! (Worse than Bailey road for any Glen Forrestites reading)! We sat up the top and caught our breath for a bit (and waited for the stragglers). I took some photos of the view, but it was so windy that I was struggling to hold the camera still! Eventually we launched our eggs off the top of the hill, but they didn't go too far, and Max and Jay (Susan's neighbours' boys ) brought them back up for us to throw a few more times. Going back down the hill was much easier that the ascent, and we sat at the base and had a picnic lunch; which we finished just as the rain began!

When we got back I got stuck into icing the two mudcakes I had made the day before. Unfortunately one of them had fallen apart slightly, so there were two halves of a soccer ball, rather than one whole one (!) but they tasted nice and that was the main thing. We stayed until late in the evening, and I went back next door to finish packing and get some sleep before my 7am flight to London tomorrow!

My London Nightmare...

frenchflower24 — Sun, 1 Apr 2012 06:19:00 GMT

My flight to London from Edinburgh was delayed, but only by 15 minutes. When I arrived at Stansted airport, my case came through quickly and it was easy to catch the train into central London. The train itself however, got caught behind a much slower train and ended up taking an hour and a half rather than the usual hour to get to Liverpool Street station! I needed to get to the East Aldgate tube station on the Hammersmith line (Liverpool is the Central line), but wasn't sure where to go to catch it. The lady at the information desk told me that it was only about a 5 minute walk, and said that I would be able to find it easily...

I must have asked 10 people how to get there; some had no idea and others had a vague idea of the direction I needed to head in, but one nice girl looked it up on her i-phone for me (I miss my data so much!), so I followed her directions, and some signs, but then it wasn't where we had thought, so I began asking again. Several people pointed down the road and said it was 'Just down the road' (always adding the quintessential “You can't miss it”). However I walked and walked and still couldn't find it! I was lucky enough to ask a pair of women who had a map and had come from the Tower Hill stop on the District Line Railway, and I had been going to Aldgate East to connect to the DLR, so I went there instead! I got off at Beckton, and found the street my accommodation was on easily enough, but for the life of me I could not find number 207! I walked up and down the road several times, but the numbers jumped from 191 to 232 and no one else seemed to know either. I tried calling the host I had booked the accommodation through, but she did not answer so I sat on the pavement for awhile and eventually she called me back and explained that it was Flat 207 at number 191 (it would have been helpful if it had said that in the directions she gave me!).

The lady who owns the flat and rents the rooms was very specific about keeping everything clean when I booked, i.e. sweeping floor daily and cleaning the shower out after every use. When I rang her about the location she also mentioned that the stairwell was not very clean but assured me that inside the flat all the rooms were very clean. So I lugged my suitcase up 3 flights of stained, cigarette littered stairs and the other 2 flatmates Paolo and Marush let me in. I asked who I was supposed to give the (100GBP) deposit to and they said neither of them! I went into my room. It was not as clean as I had been expecting, with marks and chips off the walls, crooked curtains and a cupboard that almost fell apart when I opened it! There was no living area, just 3 rooms, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom, it was very isolating! I had a shower, and discovered that the shower and ceiling were covered in mould and the shower head had come off the wall so you had to hold it up while you showered. The bathroom also reeked of smoke – so badly that I literally had to block my nose!

The shower was the deal breaker – I could not stay in the flat. I also found it strange that the host had been so emphatic about her guests being clean, and I wondered if perhaps she did not realise what sort of a state her flat was in, so I sent her some photos (included in this blog). She rang me and said that it had been clean when she visited the week before. There is no way that mould like that builds up over one week, and I suspect that what she deemed 'clean' is a long way off what I would consider clean, especially living in a first world country! When I said that it was not acceptable she said that it wasn't a five star hotel and maybe I expected too much. Maybe I had, either way I did not want to stay there for the 5 nights I had booked. I told her this, found a place to check into the next morning and figured I would be okay there overnight (at least the room itself didn't smell like smoke.

I went to bed early, tired from a long day of travel and woke up in the middle of the night to find fleas/ticks (some species of insect crawling on me)! I could see quite a few 'bugs' on the bed and in the doona. There were 2 kinds, some like ticks/fleas and some more like small beetles (which I assume were bed bugs). Needless to say, I was disgusted! I spent the next 8hours sitting on the floor (as far away from the bed as I could!) waiting until I could check in somewhere else. I left the flat at 8:30am and checked in at a guest house/inn in East Ham, right around the corner from the tube. It felt like a luxury resort compared to what I'd come from! I had a lovely spacious twin room, there was a nice CLEAN bathroom and a huge modern kitchen with a washer/dryer and iron, etc. Now I just have to try and fight to get my money back from the first lot of accommodation!

Settling Back In

frenchflower24 — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:50:00 GMT

The weather has been fantastic ever since I arrived - the day I flew in it was 23 degrees, Wednesday was about the same, and today was cooler (probably about 20), but still sunny and pleasant. Susan got badly burnt sitting outside on Wednesday, and I even got a touch of sun on my cheeks! The UK has also switched over to daylight savings at the moment (so is now only 7 hours behind WA) so it's still light past 8pm which is really nice (especially considering that it was dark by 4:30pm when I was here in winter)!!

Yesterday I went shopping with Susan and her mum Rena in Perth. It was funny seeing all of the shops I got used to before going back home, but in alot of ways it doesn't feel like I ever even left. I got a new watch (because the only one I took with me decided to die on the plane!), I found some bargains in Primark, a bracelet for 1 BGP, Undies from 1.70 GBP and Sunglasses for 3 GBP! I bought Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on dvd for Susan to watch, and they were only 3.99 and 11.99!

We finished our shopping with a trip to Marks and Spencers, where I found my favourite bourbon madagascan vanilla custard, and some of my beloved banoffee pie, but Susan and I went for a nice long walk in the evening to work off some of our treats! I also saw a bee, and could not believe how big they are here - about the size of one of our cockroaches, you could even see the fuzz on them!

Today Susan and I walked down to the local post office, and I took my old watch in to get fixed. I thought it was quite funny when I handed my malaysian knock-off watch to the jeweller, and he said "That's a nice little Gucci you have there"! I made a few batches of muffins for Ian's 'piece' (his lunch) and we hung around at home, waiting for the plasterer to come and fix some parts of the walls that had been damaged when Ian and Susan got new windows put in. We also spent a few hours outside chatting to Susan's neighbour, Bernadette over the fence.

Tomorrow Susan and I are going to Falklands for a bit of sightseeing. I'm looking forward to seeing my first Scottish palace!

Falklands Palace

frenchflower24 — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:07:00 GMT

Today Susan took me out to Falklands Palace in Fife. It was built in the 15th century, and was partially restored in the 18th century, but the King restoring it passed away and the work was never completed, so we could only see some parts, but the parts we saw were amazing. All of the furniture was original or a replica of an original, and there was so much colour everywhere! Unfortunately you were not allowed to take pictures inside, but I have added some of the palace and the grounds.

Here are some facts that Susan and I managed to remember;

The palace is still technically a royal palace as it is owned by the Queen, but as she cannot stay there (due to only partial restoration and lack of plumbing) they do not recieve funding to maintain or restore it.

The beds back then were extremely detailed, all hand carved, and would have taken months to build. One of them was made entirely of palm trees in what is now Asia, and another made for Kng James V with advice inscribed on it!

The Royals used to take all of their things with them when they moved around from palace to palace, including their tapestries, linens, furniture, and lots of clothing! One one trip the Queens wardrobe required 9 carriages to carry it and it took 7 carriages and cost 160 pounds (the equivalent of 167,000 pounds today) just to move his bed!

The ceilings of most rooms were decorated with colourful painting and pictures, and the childrens' nursery was painted with characters from popular nursery rhymes. Servants were required to discipline the children but were not allowed to touch them, so when the children misbehaved they were put on a tall wooden chair (like a high chair), which was not very stable, so that when the child wriggled or fidgeted, they would fall down, and the chair would fall on top of them!

The King and Queen slept on separate floors and in separate apartments, which were burnt down from a fire during Cromwells reign and were never restored.

The palace has its own (very large) chapel for when visitors came, including a priests room which was also used as a private confessional for Queen Mary of Scots. The church was one of the only Roman Catholic churches that was not destroyed or redesigned when Protestantism came through, and it is still used today. There is a picture of Lady Madonna a the church that was made by Polish soldiers during the Falklands war, made out of corned beef tins and bullet cartridges!

The kitchen in the palace would churn out hundreds of loaves of bread per day, and when there was a Royal Supper; only the Royal family and special guests got to eat meat, other guests were given eggs, fruits, nuts and bread, and ale was the preferred drink, as the sewage systems did not garuantee clean drinking water!

The palace was last used by royals in the 1590's!

We had a great day, and the weather was perfect for it, I'm looking forward to visiting my next palace already :)

'It Can't Be The End'...

frenchflower24 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:16:00 GMT

So I went to the movies on Saturday night and saw 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', and one of the main characters had this saying that was something like “In the end everything works out well, so if nothing is working out then it can't be the end” - thus the title of this blog.

Things did not work out as planned on my trip back to the UK – not that changes are always bad, but this change was not exactly what I'd call good. Still, we all make mistakes (even when we probably should know better)!

I flew from Perth to Dubai, an 11 hour flight (with a few interrupted hours of sleep) and arrived at the Dubai airport ready to transfer onto my connecting flight to Heathrow with just enough time to go through security and get a drink before going to the gate.