The past week has been full of ups and downs. Traveling is wonderful but I've found my self getting quite bored in London after a few months. I've applied for my British passport and now all I have to do is wait. Thankfully my boredom is alleviated by some great friends and some great adventures around the country.
Last weekend Georgia and I went to Oxford for Easter. We stayed in an old style country pub about three miles out of town. We didn't do a great deal of sight seeing (there's just so much to see in Oxford) but we did go to New College, Christ Church College, the Inspector Morse bar, the Alice in Wonderland shop, the botanic gardens and we went on a lovely cruise down the Thames. We also did one of those bus tours - I've never done one before despite the fact they have them in hundreds of cities across the world.
Our tour guide was an older gentlemen who had been a student at one of the colleges. He was very humorous and eccentric and told us all about the old pranks they used to play at his college. My favorite story he told was about some of the fellows who got a tame pigeon, over fed it and then let it go in their rival colleges dining hall so the pigeon defecated all over their food! Outrageous!
Most of the time we were there it was overcast but on the Monday we were lucky enough to have a glorious sunny day so we went walking around the Christ Church College grounds and went on the river cruise.
It was a lovely weekend. I've been very glad of Georgia's friendship here. She has certainly become a close friend over time and I really enjoy and appreciate her company. We both seem to have similar random and open personalities which is why we get along so well I think. She is just a wonderful person. :)
Anyway, so Oxford was really great and when we got back to London I pretty much spent the week doing NOTHING at all because I don't really have anything to do there any more. I've done all of the touristy things and I can't legally work, so all I can do is wait for my passport. I did kind of get a bit down during the week as well. Not having anything to do, not knowing may people in London, missing home, back pain and other issues made me feel really low. So I decided to head down to Torquay for the weekend!
Lisa had said I could stay with her in her huge house, so I got the train down on Friday afternoon and I'm still here now. On Friday I went out with Dave, John, Jess, Nick and others to the cider bar in Newton Abbott - this is the oldest public house in Newton Abbott (a good few hundred years old!) and there they serve traditional home made ciders. The alcohol content is high and the prices are low - just the way I like it! We went to a few other pubs in Newton Abbott in Torquay as well. It was a really fun night and I met quite a few really nice people.
The next day the sun was out and Lisa, Emma and I went for lunch in Paignton and a drive to the beach and the cliff tops over looking the lovely Tor Bay. In the evening a load of people came over to Lisa's for Emma's birthday - FANCY DRESS! I dressed up as a pirate (I bought my costume in the day for about £20) and there was some wonderful costumes - a ladybug, superman, batman, the pink panther. It was lots of fun indeed. The people I know here in Torquay are really lovely people and I'm glad to be getting to know them. This weekend really cheered me up.
Back to London tomorrow and dinner with Georgia in Chinatown the evening. So much to organise this week: Georgia, John and I have decided to go to Scotland (Edinburgh) in two weeks and on Thursday I'm going to Swindon to visit my cousin Louise and her family!! So exciting. Oooh, and a big group of us are going to the Greek Island Mykonos in late August. I can;t wait!! :)
