A interesting first week in London

uk_traveller_2008 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:50:00 GMT

So another week, weather has been pretty good and I have been trekking around seeing more of the sites. I caught up with Nathan (I grew up with him back home) and we went out for a beer on Thursday and he asked me if I would house sit his place for the weekend, a chance I jumped at. So I am getting the hang of the underground, however the overground is proving a little more challenging with all the trackwork going on. So after meeting with Nathan I tried to make my way back to my local tube station, however the train skipped the station I needed to change at and I ended up about a 45 minute walk away from where I needed to go, so I needed to catch a bus. When the bus arrived I got on and sat down in an empty seat, however there was a reason it was empty as I soon found out. As soon as I sat down I realized, from my wet butt, that someone had had a little accident on the way home and decided to relieve themselves while sitting down. I couldn’t believe it, I almost vomited everywhere. I got of the bus at my stop and then quickly made my way home, where I stripped down and had a VERY long shower. I spent the next day washing my favourite pair of jeans three times just to make sure.

I caught up with Chris and Bec at Ealing Broadway for a coffee and a chat before they had to make their way to see more relatives. I then heading to Camden to house sit and decided to hit the town. I ended up at Camden Lock at a pub where I got talking to a couple of guys from out of town. They were having a birthday party at the pub later on and asked me to hang around. After about 10 or so beers I headed back home. The next morning Nathan’s housemate suggested a great little café for breakfast which has a huge breakfast for about £4, which was a bargain. I then headed down to Camden markets and just strolled around the various stalls and food stands, which had food from very corner of the world. Sunday I again headed down to Camden but just walked along the locks, taking photos and grabbing a pint or two along the way. Then headed to Regent’s Park and walked through all the gardens before heading home.

Monday I headed up to Watford and caught up with PJ. We grabbed lunch at the local pub with a couple of the guys he is working with and discussed business for part of the afternoon which was good for the brain (talking business not drinking). After that I went down to Parliament Houses and took some photos at dusk, which were pretty good. There was a protest in a nearby park and there was a lot of police standing guard, so I knew something was up. At about 6:30pm I was watching the protesters and then they all started to run across the road to the doors of parliament, that’s right they were trying to storm parliament, they almost got in too, but they only made it to the big wooden doors, which they tried to kick in, before a swarm of police started taking people into custody (no they weren’t arrested, they where just taken outside the parameter and where then allowed to take part in the protest again). I stuck around for about an hour and watched the protesters get pushed back inch by inch. It turned out that it was the anniversary of women getting the vote by storming parliament, so the protesters thought they would do the same for climate change.

Tuesday I headed down to Buckingham Palace and as I got there there was the changing of the guard, which is a huge procession of marching band, guards with rifles and horses, all that for changing shift, maybe engin could work something out like that every time the call centre changed shifts. It went for about 20 minutes and then the guards getting off duty did the same, it was pretty big. I then headed into Parliament House to try and get pictures of Big Ben and Parliament House (no protesters this time), the Abbey and just made my way around Regents Street (looking at all the clothes and stuff that I couldn’t afford.)

Yesterday I had another interview with an agency, from there the recruiter said he had an interview for me in an hour. I was stoked, I had been put through for positions, but I had never made it to interview stage. I got to the interview and they asked me how comfortable I was using Excel and how good my skills were in it (I just sat there and smiled on the inside while explaining my limited Excel knowledge). I left the interview feeling like I hadn’t really sold myself that well, then I rang the recruiter about 15 minutes later and apparently they were so impressed they offered me the role, so now I’m gainfully employed (for the next 3 months anyway). I then headed up to watch the England vs Belarus match at a small (I had to keep ducking under the rafters) pub which had a very cool, old English pub feel to it.

So all in all it all seems to be going well (aside from the urine soaked bus seat incident), I start work on Monday and am moving out of the hostel (dossing on Nathan’s couch for a while), so I’m pretty happy about that. Just need to work out where I’m going to go in Europe for my first weekend away.

Getting there is half the fun

uk_traveller_2008 — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 06:39:00 GMT

So my flight was to leave at 3:30pm on Friday and I was all set to catch the train but then Rach kindly offered to drive me out to the airport, so I accepted allowing me a bit more time to get my stuff together (yeah I will still packing on Friday morning).

So we get to the Harbour Tunnel and the Tunnel is closed due to a crash on the Eastern Distributor. It took us 1 and 1/2 hours to get across the bridge and once we got to the other side I quickly raced to Wynard station to make it to the airport. I had already rung ahead and once I got to the counter they took my bags and I headed up to the departure lounge. I had made it in time for the plane so I decided to celebrate with a couple of beers.

So I got on the plane after a final call (reminds me of the trip to the US) and took my seat. We took off (which is really weird in an A380 it doesn't seem to get any speed, almost like the pilots are not wanting to put the pedal to the metal or something). First thing was drinks, I got another beer and then decided I need to go to the toilet. Unfortunately the individual infront of me had put his seat back and I went to get out accidently kicking my beer into my seat. The French guys next to me just shook his head but the stewardess' were really good about it and offered me another seat, but I refused and just sat on a blanket. So no more beers for me for the rest of the flight, it didn't really matter because there was plenty of in flight entertainment, enough movies to get me to the UK and back.

Landed in Singapore and went outside, well I thought I did but I must have missed the sign saying sauna because it was stinking hot and humid (at 11pm), so I spent most of the time in the bar having rum and cokes (I had banned myself from beer, but I found a loop hole).

Flight to the UK was a lot longer and quieter, but I only got about 30 minutes sleep. Hit the ground at Heathrow at 6am on Saturday, went outside to a barmy 5 degrees (yeah I left 35 degree tempretures in Sydney) but it got sunny. Spent the rest of the day get everything sorted and then went up to the local pub and watched a local football game.

Started to get a bit homesick (yeah I miss you all, who would have thought it) so I went for a walk (in the rain) around Paddington on Sunday. I asked a local where I could find Paddington bear but they just looked at me like I was speaking French (maybe I don't have my English accent down pat yet), but I find him yet.

I went and saw some recruiters on Monday about jobs and it's been pretty positive, here's hoping. Hit the pub on Monday night and struck up a conversation with an expat and a couple of locals. Turns out the expat is the maintenance man for the hostel I'm staying in. We got to chatting and he strongly advised that I learn the language before I travel to the country, so I spent the next day downloading foreign lanaguage lessons onto my iPod. At this point I have got French and Italian. Danish and German are only being released in the next couple of months so I only know hello, goodbye, thank you, please so far.

Went down to London Bridge today and then onto London Bridge Tower. Didn't go inside the Tower, have left that for another day when I can get down there before the crowds. Got bombared this afternoon with phone calls from one of the recruiters with about 5 positions that they are putting me forward for. Some I need to fill out an application form, of all my accomplishments, so have started on that but everyone knows how good I am at selling myself. It can wait until tomorrow.

Feel free to add comments etc if you want.

My European Adventure

A interesting first week in London

Getting there is half the fun