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Thursday 1 May
Today is May Day and as
I type a protest march is going on outside. The May Day protests against globalisation, corporatisation etc are infamous
here and apparantly have been known to get violent (more info here). After spending
some time on the internet I caught a bus to Notting Hill. Notting Hill the movie is one of my favourites and I am determined
to get to see where it was filmed. I didn't manage to today, but I will be back!
This evening six of us
from the hostel went down the road to the local pub. It struck me how much I do love travelling. There were six
of us, from five different countries, all having a great time. None of us knew another one a couple of days ago.
We spent ages discussing the differences between the English language we all supposedly spoke and of course our accents! Ellen
from Alabama just kept demanding 'y'all come back now y'hear' and she and the Canadians pondered when on earth the word
'fortnight' would be used. We had a great time until the pub closed at 11pm! That's what travelling is about!
Friday 2 May
Today the weather packed it in a bit and so wandering around the
city, underdressed as I was, was not so pleasant. I took refuge from the cold in a McDonalds (all I could afford was
a hot chocolate which I nursed for over an hour!) and read my tourist guides. I happened to notice that there was a
London City Walk entitled "Legal and Illegal London" at 2pm - a guided walk of Holburn, the legal centre of the city.
I decided to go along - a bargain at £4. It was a really fascinating couple of hours - the guide was full of useful
information, much about the British system of solicitors and barristers and their training (some of which I knew, much of
which I did not). She showed us through the four Inns of Court, where the barristers hang out to this day. These
are private areas, but open to the public - if you know where to find them! We walked into one courtyard from the busy,
noisy street, and the noise was instantly, noticeably reduced. It was quite heartening to find there are places of refuge
from the noise and busy-ness in the City.
I was never a fan of English History (I did physics in Form 7 rather
than study English Kings and Queens in history!), but being here makes all the difference. I am a convert! It's
just so fascinating to see such old buildings and to stand in places where Shakespeare or Queen Victoria watched the first
ever production of Twelfth Night (as we did today). I can see myself becoming a little obsessed....
This evening I made my way to Kat's in Blackheath, near Greenwich. We had fish and chips
with vinegar and mushy peas for dinner! Great stuff!
Saturday 3 May - Monday 5 May
I invited myself to Kat's place for the weekend - to house sit
of course. It was alovely quiet weekend. I got my haircut in Greenwich on Saturday and walked around the Greenwich
area. The weather's a bit miserable though so I've spent ages lying on the super comfy couch reading and watching the
TV. It is nice to chill and have some space to myself, even for just a few days. Sunday I went into London and
checked out a couple of short term flats I found on the gumtree.com. I moved into the flat, in Southfields on Monday
evening, once again, feeling like a true packhorse as I caught a train and two tubes laden down with bags.
Sunday 4 May
I am at Greenwich this weekend staying at Kat's flat for the weekend. Andy and Kat are away in Devon for a wedding, it is a Bank Holiday
here this weekend. Today I got my hair cut and I feel better now - it was looking really shaggy.
I have to find somewhere else to live on Monday! Getting sick
of beng homeless. It's really nice having Kat's place to
myself for the weekend though. I have taken down about half
a dozen listings from thegumtree.com - where flats for Aussies and Kiwis etc are listed. I have to ring around this
weekend and find a place. I really just want something for a week. I am hopeful that this time next week I will
have a job and can look for something permanent.
I have a couple of interviews lined up: Portsmouth Council on Thursday, and one with the London Borough of Hackney on Wednesday.
I want that one now. Partly because it pays much better and also because I am really enjoying London and think I wouldn't
mind living here after all.
I went on a London City walk yesterday
around the legal area of Holburn. It was really interesting. I rather like all the history of the place.
It's neat to stand somewhere where Shakespeare did!
Tuesday 6 May
Yesterday I moved into a flat
in Southfields, near Wimbledon in South West London. I'm here for a couple of
weeks, with the everlasting hope that soon I will have a job and so be able to look for a permanent flat in the right area.
I am sharing a room with Alandi, a South African girl who has been in the UK for over two years. In the other room
are Elizca and Chris, who have been going out for years and living here for about a year. They are all very friendly
and I am looking forward to going out this weekend!
The flat itself is quite decent - fully furnished with nice furniture and applicances. I think those years of flatting
in North Dunedin's student flats has helped me to have very low expectations of rented property. Everything I've seen
here so far has looked fine to me. I might change my mind when I have to start looking for a permanent flat
this week!
Wednesday 7 May
I am still loving London! Today I had my interview at Hackney - a
borough of East London (population 200,000! - bigger than Dunedin!). This area is clearly the poorer end of town - it
was dirtier and there was piles of litter and graffiti everywhere. The council is struggling a bit after receiving some
severe criticism recently about how it was being run. I am sure though that I would be able to feel at home in not too
much time. I think that I would probably live outside the area though, and commute in. Hackney is not serviced
by the tube (although it has an overground train), so commuting may take a little longer.
Today though I caught a bus back into Central London. It's so much
more interesting than the tube! I am slowly getting to know the approximate areas of the boroughs, although I would
still like a good map that shows them. The tube map is not to scale at all and can be quite deceiving. It pays
to check whether you can walk between stations in the City, as some of the stations are only a few blocks apart, but you can't
tell this on the tube map.
I love how busy it always is, how I am so totally anonymous that I have
no problem stopping in the middle of the street and checking my A-Z - I'll never see these people again! There are shops
galore - although I can't afford to buy anything in them yet! I can see that those pounds I'll soon be earning (I'm
remaining optimistic!) will start to burn holes in my pockets if I'm not careful though!
I love the freedom of jumping on the tube or the bus or the train and going whereever I want.
This depends on having the extraordinarily expensive travel card of course, and on having the time. I wonder if London
will be so exciting when I'm working 40 hours a week and commuting for another 10?
I love finding little grassed 'squares' in the middle of the city, where hundreds of people congregate
at lunch time to enjoy the faux-naturel feeling. I will definitely make it my business to find new lunch spots whereever
I end up working.
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Thursday 8 May
I had two more interviews today. The jobs are all so different they
can hardly be compared: Policy and admin work for an East London Borough Council; work with the British Insolvency
Service right in the heart of London or Child Protection work for the Portsmouth Borough Council.
After my interview this afternoon I popped in to the British Museum. It clearly deserves some real quality time,so I will have to go back. There are some real treasures.
I saw the reading room today - it is magnificent - a huge round roomwith a glass domed ceiling, the walls (wall?) lined with
three levels of books justlike you see in old libraries on the TV!
I'm thinking of some things that Kimberley and I can do together
when she is here. It will be a good excuse (as if I needed one!) to see some of the tourist sights. She's going
to get a bit of a shock at the prices though too! (I have stopped multiplying prices by 3 - it was too traumatic!)
Wednesday 7 May
The interview at Hackney tod
y went fine - it was very short though so I don't know what to make
of that. I think I'll find out tomorrow whether I've got it or not. Tomorrow I've now got two interviews!!
I went to another recruitment agency today and she's got me this interview tomorrow with the Insovlency Service, which would
be good too. It's a shame becuase now I have to go all the way to Portsmouth and turn straight back to get back to London
for the afernoon. I was going to spend the day in Portsmouth. Oh well, maybe I'll have 3 jobs to choose between!
(ever hopeful you can see)
Otherwise, weather is lovely here,
really warm and sunny (quite untypical they say). Two recruitment agencies have asked me about SARS. It's the
PM's 50th birthday. There's some real rubbish TV over here - the non-BBC of course! Phone calls are very expensive.
There are lots of chemists and mobile phone shops. You can find cheapish food if you look hard. I took an hour
long bus ride today, seeing I could spare the time. I am hoping to see someone famous soon (anyone!). The people
in this flat in Southfields are really nice and good cooks! We had roast chicken tonight. Chocolate is quite cheap
(bugger). I still have a tan that everyone comments
on - but not for much longer I think! According to this week's TNT mag (the mag for Oz/NZ/SAs in UK) it is cheaper to
fly to Rome than catch a train to Stansted airport.
Friday 9 May
Well, I have a job! I accepted the job at the British Insolvency Service, starting Monday!
Things sure move fast! I don't think it's sunk in yet. I sure it will by Monday evening when I'll probably be shattered after my first day working in eight weeks! Fancy having a job in London....
Friday 9 May
I went to 'We Will Rock You - The Queen Musical' last night.
It was aboslutely spectacular. I loved it. There was great music and costumes and it was funny too.
It was set in 2303 and all music was banned expect mass-produced 'boyband' music. There was a group of bohemiems however who had heard rumours of real rock and roll and they eventually managed to find
an old guitar of Queen's and set the real music free! It was full of one-liners taken from Queen songs and full of Queen
songs, some with the words slightly changed. It was really very very clever and just spectuacular. We gave a standing
ovation at the end and apprantly the two leads last night were stand-ins, not even the real leads. They were excellent. I
will definitely be spending some of money on going to more musicals (once I have some money that is!)
Wednesday 14 May
I've realised that I haven't been taking any photos. I didn't take my camera with me when I spent a week looking around London, because
I had been carrying it for three weeks in Asia and wanted to walk around without it. You look like such a tourist
when you walk around with a camera!
This morning it took
just about 65 minutes to get to work. It all depends on
how the connections work out I think. I have to change twice - tube, tube and then overland train. It's nuts!
I am going to look at some more flats tonight, hopefully I will find something nice. Wimbledon/Southfields area is very
nice and Southfields is full of South Africans. If I'm going to live on the west though, I would prefer to be in Willesden
Green with the kiwis.
Friday 16 May
Guess what! I have found a flat and it's perfect! I am so happy! The people in it seem absolutely great - just my sort of people. The
place is owned by a young guy, Guy (!!), who owns three places in the same area. All of them are really nice and similar
and the people in them all get around together, so I have instant new friends.
In my flat are Bree, and American girl, Matt and Aussie guy and Laura an Irish girl (who I havent met yet).
In a couple of months a South African couple will move into the loft which is yet to be built. I have met them (Fred
and Marike) as they are currently in another of Guy's flats. They all seem like great people, really friendly and into
going out and stuff.
The flats are brand new inside - ie I can't
even move in yet cos my room's not finished! It's in a really nice area of London, south east, near the river, and,
according to the very helpful londontransport.co.uk, only about 30 minutes to work. Guy's house is great, right on the
River Thames - you go out onto the balcony and the water is right there! There's no rooms available in that flat yet
though, so I wanted to get moved in staright away, even though I really didn't need the - ENSUITE that is in my room! What
luxury! Anyway our house is the most modern of the three, although it only has a concrete yard.
I'm so excited
I feel great. I can't wait to move in and settle down!
The flat really is luxurious, it has all the mod cons you could want and I'm so pleased that the people just seem great.
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