Wishing you all a very
Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year
Lots of Love
Jam and Bev
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Rose Tinted Glasses
Hey peopley people
It is funny how the world takes on a whole new character when one has a steady flow of income!
At long last I have a more permanent flow of income! I went for an interview two thursday's ago for a project management job, and whala, managed to somehow convince them that I was the right person for the job. I am on a fixed term contract until March at this stage, but it is highly likely my contract will be renewed if I behave myself :o)
Because of Christmas being on our doorstop, and with me having been unemployed since I left the WI (why is it that work just seems to evaporate when you need it?), I asked if it would be possible to start ASAP, and they agreed, and so I started last Tuesday! Talk about madness - my work has just moved building as well(last Friday), so things have been a bit chaotic, and then this week is the week before Christmas so I don't think much work has been done! However the beauty of starting so soon, is that they are paying me to take the Christmas period off, right up until the 2 Jan - and.....this doesn't come out of my 25 days holiday they give me a year -NICE! The Brits win that one hands down! In NZ if I started before xmas, it would prob be unpaid(excluding the Stat days of course), and I wouldn't get holidays until I had completed my first 6 months of service!
So.....now all we have to do is start planning our holidays...I have 8 days leave that I must take before March 31st - damn :o)
The weekend before last, we didn't get up to much, just went to my kiwi friends' house for a festive party(see our Christmas greeting picture above), which was quite amusing, since she lives with an aussie guy and an Indian girl (sounds a bit like one of those jokes...an english man and irish man and a ......man :o)
But what was funny was that all of the friends that came, were more-or-less the same nationality as their inviter, making it extremely easy to tell which guest knew which host. The party was heaps of fun, and I got to try some Pimms winter - a classic British Alcoholic beverage.
Sunsetting at 230pm as we travel into Waterloo
This last weekend we just laid low, (although we went on our own walking tour of central London and then went out for dinner with some kiwi's from Bevs uni hockey team in NZ on Saturday night...and don't even get me started on the stupid "service charge" the restaurant wanted to charge us, on top of our payment for the meal -grrrr!) and tried to save some money for our trip up to the Lake District for Christmas - we've booked our tickets for this coming Saturday, and all things going well, I might attempt making a Pavlova for our British hosts - however I have never made one before, and we have a gas oven, so it could be quite interesting.....! Might have to do a practice one this weekend. However, it seems that the British have tried them before -what is it with everyone trying to steal a kiwi icon! But it wouldn't be Christmas without a pav (will have to see if I can get a kiwifruit for the top of it as well).
Hundreds of Santas at Trafalgar square protesting about the environment....
...or just an excuse to dress up and have fun!
Trafalgar square with carol singers
Buckingham palace
We randomly stummble upon hundreds of Santas skating pass Big Ben
We went ice skating in Hyde Park with our flatmates a couple of Wednesday nights ago, it was just magical! Winter Christmas's seem to have a far greater atmosphere associated with them, I guess because its cold and you have to wrap up warm and you cherish hot drinks, and everyone has really awesome big decorations and christmas lights, it is a very pretty time. Whereas in NZ it is always hot and we can't really be bothered doing anything other than lazying on a beach somewhere (damn I'm starting to feel homesick writing this :o)
It's not the London Eye in the background, just a theme park ride
Hyde park winter wonderland iceskating and Christmas markets
I have been thinking about some funny contradictions here lately -one of the most interesting is the fact that London is often seen as the hub of the world, or at least one of the hubs. One of the images you always see in the news in NZ is all the movie stars and their parties, and the rich upper class in their expensive clothes and cars, and all the things you can do in London including theatres, concerts etc. I guess to the most extent, these are all true, I love that so many singers come here as part of their tours, whereas in NZ it is a bit hit or miss as to whether anyone can be bothered to venture to NZ for a tour at all, let alone more than one in Auckland. Whilst I haven't seen any famous movie stars, it seems that the newspapers here are always reporting American actors walking the red carpet at premiers to their latest movies - sort of a "they just popped in", no big deal thing - whereas when stars come to NZ they are usually there for a holiday or longterm filming projects and it is rare to hear about it, and if you do, it is a big deal.
What I find interesting about this is the prestigous image London has - famous people, rich, fancy clothing labels, hub of the world etc, but simple things like setting up a bank account can be large obstacles taking far longer than in a little back-water like NZ, and NZ has far cleaner streets, and more organised systems and procedures. So in many senses I don't think it quite fulfils that metro, moving with the times rep it has, and I'm not so fussed by the glam and movie stars - give me a coromandel beach anyday :o)
Another funny contradiction is that NZ is known for it's clean greenness, however Bev and I are both at least 5kg lighter since being here because of all the walking you do on a daily basis as part of going to work (so you don't notice you are doing it) - it is really great!
A little while ago I tried to find breadcrumbs at the supermarket here - do you think I could find any! Nope, seems that in this crazy world of convenience food, when your veges are already chopped for you in a bag, and all foods are to go, you have to make your own breadcrumbs!
Anyway thats about all from us
Lots of Love
Suzanne and Bevan
Monday, December 3, 2007
"Please, sir, I want some more."
Hey Bev here again, at the end of last week both Jam and I were counting down to unemployment again. Jam finished her job at thte WI two Fridays ago and I had been given my marching orders for the 7th of December (not in a bad way, just my contract was coming to an end). However, at the start of the week just gone I was offered a fulltime, ongoing position at my work.....the Brits love kiwis over here! (and Jam although currently unemployed, has a job interview this coming Thursday - so our fingers and toes are crossed).
This weekend we went to Rochester for the Dickens Christmas festival. Rochester is about 45 minutes away by train, south east of London. We started out wandering the small town and sampling the carnival atmosphere before checking out the 1066AD built Rochester castle (older than your nana, and your nanas nana). Of course we had to wait in line as health and safety came first limiting the number of people who could go inside. It was awesome wandering around inside a structure that was almost 1000 years old.
This weekend we went to Rochester for the Dickens Christmas festival. Rochester is about 45 minutes away by train, south east of London. We started out wandering the small town and sampling the carnival atmosphere before checking out the 1066AD built Rochester castle (older than your nana, and your nanas nana). Of course we had to wait in line as health and safety came first limiting the number of people who could go inside. It was awesome wandering around inside a structure that was almost 1000 years old.
Rochester Castle
Inside Rochester Castle
At the top of Rochester Castle
We also checked out the Cathedral next door that was really busy as it was holding Christmas services with the influx of vistors for the festival.
Looking down on to Rochester Cathedral from Rochester Castle
We wandered the streets enjoying the festive atmosphere of brass bands, bagpipes, massive crowds, freezing temperatures, hot drinks, christmas carnival rides, roasted chestnuts (yay,finally tried some - yum), Christmas lights, cool old costumes, old story characters, and fake snow....before being entertained by a Christmas parade....very well done.
Bev covered in fake snow
Jam covered in fake snow
In a shop full of shiny battle items
Characters from Dickens' Books
Wana Kiss?
Over here you see some of the most funniest things. Last week at work I saw the finest example of a limited/vertcal job description they have over here. We took the lift to the loading bay where in the lift was a guy wearing a hardhat and hi-visibility vest sitting on an office chair pushing the lift buttons for you. And there was a sign next to him that said, only the lift operator is permitted to operate this lift. There was nothing special about the lift. He just pushed the buttons, and thats all!
I love how there is so much entertainment over here, even though it's just the simple things. At Harrods in the pizza parlor, there was Italian music playing in the background, then out of no where one of the chefs just belted out a song to the music for the crowd...very cool. We also tipped the icecream parlor guy, and as we left he started singing too...must have been happy to get tipped! Another story, we came out of a shopping centre one day, as we went in, a guy past us and when he got outside he belted out a note like a tenor! Where did that come from?!?!
This multi-nation city never stops to amuse us. Our cousin told us he saw 2 guys working as sign holders (they hold signs on a pole advertising in the streets because it's illegal to have a sandwich board sign out on the footpath in central London) and one was Asian and the other Eastern European. The Asian guy had limited english and he was trying to teach the European guy how to speak english!
The price of some fast food is something that doesn't really convert here. Dominos pizzas sell for a pricey £8 on special, thats about $20NZD converted. I tell my workmates that we get them for the equivalent of £2 onspecial and £3 normal price and they almost fall off their chairs! How do our pizza places in NZ make any money?
Anyway thats about it for this week
Lots of Love Bev and Jam
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Extravagantly Indulgent....Beer Bare Bear
Well aren't you all lucky - three new blogs in a week - now you'll be expecting this all the time won't you! (For those who haven't checked our blog for a while there are three new entries - including this one for you to read).
Now that we are up to date we are more inspired to keep up with the weekly reports :o)
I was again at the WI this last week, and it was all supposed to come to an end on Friday (as they were supposed to have run out of budget) however, the person in charge of me was able to convince the big boss that they had to have me for another week.....so yet again I am at the WI for another week (this is my 5 ½ th week there!).
This weekend just gone, Bev and I decided to brave the Christmas shoppers at Harrods! We spent an astounding 5 hours there and we could have stayed longer as there was more we hadn’t seen!
Wow Harrods is every bit as extravagant and indulgent as I imagined it would be – however the bit that I hadn’t realised was that there is quite a lot of affordable items there as well, so it’s not just for the superbly rich – however of course we were really only there to check out how the others live! And we weren’t disappointed – what with the £20,000 watches and jewellery, designer label clothing, £4,000 rocking horses, £200 little girl dresses – you get the picture. Not only does Harrods have clothing and perfume and toys like other department stores, but it also has restaurants, and ice cream sundae parlour (of which we couldn’t help but sample the goods from), a bakery, vege department, butchery (carvery), liquor store, pet shop, handmade chocolate stall...mmm yep. Each section impressively set out to the theme of the items sold there – ie the lolly section looked like Willy Wonkas factory etc
The kids section was like every kids dream (as was the lolly section), as they have some really impressive toys and it is huge – so many excitable kids! - see photos below......
Some well-fed Madagascan prawns on the left, and king sized prawns on the right....scarily impressive!
The rich desert we devoured in the themed bar
Now that we are up to date we are more inspired to keep up with the weekly reports :o)
I was again at the WI this last week, and it was all supposed to come to an end on Friday (as they were supposed to have run out of budget) however, the person in charge of me was able to convince the big boss that they had to have me for another week.....so yet again I am at the WI for another week (this is my 5 ½ th week there!).
This weekend just gone, Bev and I decided to brave the Christmas shoppers at Harrods! We spent an astounding 5 hours there and we could have stayed longer as there was more we hadn’t seen!
Wow Harrods is every bit as extravagant and indulgent as I imagined it would be – however the bit that I hadn’t realised was that there is quite a lot of affordable items there as well, so it’s not just for the superbly rich – however of course we were really only there to check out how the others live! And we weren’t disappointed – what with the £20,000 watches and jewellery, designer label clothing, £4,000 rocking horses, £200 little girl dresses – you get the picture. Not only does Harrods have clothing and perfume and toys like other department stores, but it also has restaurants, and ice cream sundae parlour (of which we couldn’t help but sample the goods from), a bakery, vege department, butchery (carvery), liquor store, pet shop, handmade chocolate stall...mmm yep. Each section impressively set out to the theme of the items sold there – ie the lolly section looked like Willy Wonkas factory etc
The kids section was like every kids dream (as was the lolly section), as they have some really impressive toys and it is huge – so many excitable kids! - see photos below......
Some well-fed Madagascan prawns on the left, and king sized prawns on the right....scarily impressive!Some fine examples of how much you can fork out for normal items:
Fussball table for £7995
£549 for a toilet brush!!!!!!!!....who decides on these prices!?
A bottle of 1986 wine for £650
Christmas crackers £999 for a pack of 6. Thats over £150 a pop...POP!..where'd my money go?
An example of themed layouts:
The chocolate section was like heaven!
Even the staff are dressed to suit the scene
Each colourful tube in the backround is filled with jelly beans
The rich desert we devoured in the themed bar
On Sunday, we decided to get our butts into gear and find a church, so we went to Hillsong, and man it was awesome, it was in a theatre, and it really felt like we were at a rock concert! They had really cool music and everyone was around our age. Will definitely be going back there next week! Heaps of the people involved were Aussies, so it felt a little like home – yep I’m sad to say it, but I am starting to form an affinity for our aussie mates (don’t cough and splutter mum and dad – I am just as surprised) but Renae did say that this will happen, however I was quite sceptical at the time – but she is right, we have all just grown up with similar foods, sayings, and I guess we know the differences between kiwis and Aussies already so it’s all familiar ground – and hey they dipped out of the world cup before we did! :o)
Earlier last week, after a million years of not having a haircut, I decided enough was enough, and set about finding a Hairdresser. However, I nearly died when I saw the exuberant prices they want to charge you for a haircut around here – biting the bullet, I booked in for a haircut at a place nearby. Imagine my surprise when I bowl up to find that the one hairdresser I didn’t like from my last salon in NZ also works in the very same salon I chose to part with my precious pounds at here in London! I mean, of all the chances, I honestly should have taken a lotto ticket – however at least she wasn’t the one cutting my hair! Honestly, this world is far too small!
On Sunday we arranged to have dinner with Dee and Mark (Bev’s cousin and fiancée) as Dee is heading back to NZ for a couple of weeks, then they are heading Spain for Christmas so we won’t see them both together until January.
Bev’s IT work at the bank is starting to run out, which is a little bit of a worry as they said that it would be a three month contract, however it has only been 7weeks....so that is a little unsettling, however at this stage they haven’t given him an end date for the project, but they have another project starting after Christmas, which he may be able to work on, which therefore just leaves a couple weeks over Xmas that he may have to fill with something else – one of his workmates may train him in software installation of Blackberry’s (a type of phone/email/diary organiser for the IT illiterate – not fruit haha).
In a book that we were recommended to read before we came over here, called the Big OE companion (I definitely recommend it to anyone considering their OE- it is excellent info and very entertaining), one of the things the writer points out is the difference between the way the Brits say the following three words: Beer Bare Bear, and how we kiwis say them (ie Kiwis have no distinction between all three – vowel distinction is extinct, whereas Brits pronounce each slightly different!). So we tried this on a few Brits, our flatmates and Bev’s workmates. Bev’s workmates thought this was really hilarious, and continue to tease him about it – now a common joke if there is any communication breakdown!
You can surprise yourself by giving it a go and see if you can pronounce the distinction!
That leads me to another point – there are a lot of people – mainly British that don’t understand us – yep I know –how? What? It is really quite frustrating believe us! We speak English, and so do they so how can there be any confusion – beats me! One of our friends wondered whether it was because as kiwi’s we watch a lot of British and American Telly, but neither watch any Kiwi telly, so we are therefore more fluent with their accents, so when they come across ours they are dumbstruck?? Sounds pretty plausible to me.
Anyway, that is well and truly all of what we have been up to - please also see that I have added a photo of our lounge to the blog I wrote on Monday.
Lots of Love
Jam and Bev
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Interesting things
Here are some interesting things we have noticed whilst being here - we will try and write a blog for what has happened this past week soon - please also look for the blog immediately prior to this one as it is also new.
Everyday over here you see something funny or strange just because of the sheer number of people over here and also the sheer number of people you see everyday. Last week I saw this lady walking a little white scottish terrier on my way to work. With the footpath being quite narrow, they had to walk in single file, so the lady went first, and the dog towed along behind her, and you could see she really had to tug it along. When there was nobody walking the other way the dog moved from single file to walking beside the lady.
I also saw a guy riding a bike with a basket on the front, with a little dog in it barking furiously at all the passing people and cars on the road! He must have had such a headache by the time they arrived at their destination!
Around here there are quite a few people who bike to work, but the funny thing is, although they are saving the planet by biking, they are harming themselves as the pollution is quite bad, but heaps of them wear these gas mask type things.
A few other things that I have noticed:
At the chemist down the road from our house you can buy flea treatments for your cat
They lock the door at the laundromat at 8.30pm to stop homeless people sleeping in there – I didn’t realise this until the other day (during the day) I went to the laundromat to dry our towels, and it smelt really bad and I couldn’t work out why until I noticed the homeless guy asleep on the bench. He eventually got up, but he just stood watching everyone doing their washing – I guess he misses the usual goings on of life...? I find the whole homeless people thing really hard to handle, especially when you make eye contact with them and they ask for money. There are quite a few around generally outside the tube stations.
One thing I love about the Brits (see I do say nice stuff too) is that they call things like they are ie ATM's are called "The Hole in the wall", and their Eftpos cards are called "Chip and Pin" because it has a chip and a pin! (they have no idea what you are talking about when you refer to it as Eftpos!)
One thing we have really struggled with over here is the lack of businesses that accept Eftpos. I think we can blame NZ for making us so reliant on our eftpos cards that we never carry cash, and you can find yourself in some very sticky situations over here if you have no cash and only your card - you might as well have no money!
I think I finally understand now why everyone in NZ says “the brits love kiwis – they think we’re good hard workers”. I find this really funny, as I have noticed the large number of cup of teas had at my work – a sure sign that people aren’t doing anything :o), and also the extremely specific roles people fill. A good example of this is when I was working with that disabled lady and I had to take her to a course that she was enrolled for. It was offsite so we had to catch a taxi to the venue. As we left the course at the end of the day, we went through reception, and I asked if the receptionist could call us a taxi – a standard practice in NZ – she honestly looked at me as if I had two heads! Nope, obviously not part of her very limited job description – even for a disabled lady! I could’t believe how rude she was! So I had to flag one – no small feat for a Kiwi girl who had never had to flag a black cab before! That leads me to another point, anyone that works in customer service or some aspect of customer service is either rude or completely indifferent towards you – you are just a number. You become so used to this that when you do get a friendly, joking person, you are so taken aback you have to ask them to repeat themselves in case you were imaging things! I now understand why people say they are surprised at how friendly everyone in NZ is!
We have also noticed that Personal Assistants (PA’s) over here get paid quite hansomely in comparison to home. PA’s can earn more than people such as myself in science – even with a Masters!
The British find Kiwi’s and Aussies overly friendly – ie they think that you are hitting on them (didn’t happen to me but that’s what they said about my Aussie work mate!)
Also we have been learning a few terms/sayings that the Brits say:
"British term" = Kiwi equivalent
"Rough" = Hungover - "You're looking a bit rough" or "I'm feeling a bit rough"
"Muppet"= A dick head - "Don't do that you muppet"
"Asians"= Indians
"Orientals"= Asians
“Rubbish” = Crap
They also always use words such as Mad (said Mard with a british accent) ie Crazy
and Fab (Farb with a british accent) ie we'd prob say awesome
Haha we have also been talking about getting a wireless router for our computer, and we nearly wet ourselves when our flatmates started referring to it as a rooter!
We have also been trying to teach our flatties a few Kiwi words such as Puku, Kia Ora, Rangi,
Everyday over here you see something funny or strange just because of the sheer number of people over here and also the sheer number of people you see everyday. Last week I saw this lady walking a little white scottish terrier on my way to work. With the footpath being quite narrow, they had to walk in single file, so the lady went first, and the dog towed along behind her, and you could see she really had to tug it along. When there was nobody walking the other way the dog moved from single file to walking beside the lady.
I also saw a guy riding a bike with a basket on the front, with a little dog in it barking furiously at all the passing people and cars on the road! He must have had such a headache by the time they arrived at their destination!
Around here there are quite a few people who bike to work, but the funny thing is, although they are saving the planet by biking, they are harming themselves as the pollution is quite bad, but heaps of them wear these gas mask type things.
A few other things that I have noticed:
At the chemist down the road from our house you can buy flea treatments for your cat
They lock the door at the laundromat at 8.30pm to stop homeless people sleeping in there – I didn’t realise this until the other day (during the day) I went to the laundromat to dry our towels, and it smelt really bad and I couldn’t work out why until I noticed the homeless guy asleep on the bench. He eventually got up, but he just stood watching everyone doing their washing – I guess he misses the usual goings on of life...? I find the whole homeless people thing really hard to handle, especially when you make eye contact with them and they ask for money. There are quite a few around generally outside the tube stations.
One thing I love about the Brits (see I do say nice stuff too) is that they call things like they are ie ATM's are called "The Hole in the wall", and their Eftpos cards are called "Chip and Pin" because it has a chip and a pin! (they have no idea what you are talking about when you refer to it as Eftpos!)
One thing we have really struggled with over here is the lack of businesses that accept Eftpos. I think we can blame NZ for making us so reliant on our eftpos cards that we never carry cash, and you can find yourself in some very sticky situations over here if you have no cash and only your card - you might as well have no money!
I think I finally understand now why everyone in NZ says “the brits love kiwis – they think we’re good hard workers”. I find this really funny, as I have noticed the large number of cup of teas had at my work – a sure sign that people aren’t doing anything :o), and also the extremely specific roles people fill. A good example of this is when I was working with that disabled lady and I had to take her to a course that she was enrolled for. It was offsite so we had to catch a taxi to the venue. As we left the course at the end of the day, we went through reception, and I asked if the receptionist could call us a taxi – a standard practice in NZ – she honestly looked at me as if I had two heads! Nope, obviously not part of her very limited job description – even for a disabled lady! I could’t believe how rude she was! So I had to flag one – no small feat for a Kiwi girl who had never had to flag a black cab before! That leads me to another point, anyone that works in customer service or some aspect of customer service is either rude or completely indifferent towards you – you are just a number. You become so used to this that when you do get a friendly, joking person, you are so taken aback you have to ask them to repeat themselves in case you were imaging things! I now understand why people say they are surprised at how friendly everyone in NZ is!
We have also noticed that Personal Assistants (PA’s) over here get paid quite hansomely in comparison to home. PA’s can earn more than people such as myself in science – even with a Masters!
The British find Kiwi’s and Aussies overly friendly – ie they think that you are hitting on them (didn’t happen to me but that’s what they said about my Aussie work mate!)
Also we have been learning a few terms/sayings that the Brits say:
"British term" = Kiwi equivalent
"Rough" = Hungover - "You're looking a bit rough" or "I'm feeling a bit rough"
"Muppet"= A dick head - "Don't do that you muppet"
"Asians"= Indians
"Orientals"= Asians
“Rubbish” = Crap
They also always use words such as Mad (said Mard with a british accent) ie Crazy
and Fab (Farb with a british accent) ie we'd prob say awesome
Haha we have also been talking about getting a wireless router for our computer, and we nearly wet ourselves when our flatmates started referring to it as a rooter!
We have also been trying to teach our flatties a few Kiwi words such as Puku, Kia Ora, Rangi,
Slowly Slowly
Hey People,
Sorry it has been such a long time since we last wrote a blog....we have been waiting for our internet to be connected, but in true slow British systems as we are becoming accustomed to, our home internet is yet to be connected, despite the installers coming on Tuesday (even then they came to the wrong house!). Also I have had a bit of flack from my Kiwi-British friends about being so blunt about the things we don't like over here, so I have been waiting to be in a better mood/mind set to continue with what we have been up to :o)
So we have been over here 8 weeks now! Wow! (Two months exactly on Friday 16th Nov).
The first four weeks went really slowly, however, these past four weeks have gone really fast, I guess we are more settled now since we have our own house and have been earning a bit of money. Funny how time goes slowly when you are sleeping on a couch!
Anyhoo, we will try and update you in a chronological fashion about what we've been up to since our last blog
I found a duvet that I quite liked the look of on the Ikea website, and I also found out that Ikea was open until midnight, so Bev and I thought it might be quite exciting to go on a mission to this infamous place called Ikea - the closest Ikea to us is about 45mins (south) by train and tram away. For those of you that have no idea what ikea is, it is a massive Swedish department store quite like freedom furniture (but way cheaper). So on a Thursday night Bev and I braved Ikea and couldn't believe the place - it is massive! We were worried we might not find the stop to hop off the tram however, we shouldn't have worried as the tram stop was actually called Ampway Ikea so there was very little doubt about where to hop off :o) They basically have one giant warehouse with display kitchens, bedrooms and lounges all set up so that you can see all their products then at the end they have this giant store room where you can collect the kitset furniture and purchase it.
We have also tried traditional British fare - Fish and Chips
Our flatties decided that we needed to try Friday night Fish and Chips, and we were very impressed! They were very tasty and the fish was very fresh! And the vinegar on the chips wasn't half bad either! Annnnnnd to top it all off the chips weren't soggy as we had heard! Yum! However, at £5 (per person) they are quite pricey! The fish and chip shops here must do a lot better than our poorer NZ counterparts.
Stonehenge/Salisbury
We found Stonehenge to be really interesting, however a lot different to the image we had been mislead it to look like. Your first glimpse of Stonehenge is really exciting, it really is a set of large rocks in a paddock, however, as you get closer, you realise there are flaws with this picture.....including, large loads of people, a main highway right beside the paddock containing the “rocks”, an underpass for you to get from the car park to the rocks, and then when you get close to the rocks, you realise that you don’t get very close at all as they are cordoned off by a rope and a few pigtail standards marking out your path(our pictures are a bit misleading - you can get a bit closer than where we took our pictures from).
But as our guide explained the history behind the rocks you really do appreciate the scale of the work that was involved to get the rocks on site and then to make such a formation – considering they didn’t have the technology of today, as well as the underlying suggested purposes of the monument.
Sorry it has been such a long time since we last wrote a blog....we have been waiting for our internet to be connected, but in true slow British systems as we are becoming accustomed to, our home internet is yet to be connected, despite the installers coming on Tuesday (even then they came to the wrong house!). Also I have had a bit of flack from my Kiwi-British friends about being so blunt about the things we don't like over here, so I have been waiting to be in a better mood/mind set to continue with what we have been up to :o)
So we have been over here 8 weeks now! Wow! (Two months exactly on Friday 16th Nov).
The first four weeks went really slowly, however, these past four weeks have gone really fast, I guess we are more settled now since we have our own house and have been earning a bit of money. Funny how time goes slowly when you are sleeping on a couch!
Anyhoo, we will try and update you in a chronological fashion about what we've been up to since our last blog
I found a duvet that I quite liked the look of on the Ikea website, and I also found out that Ikea was open until midnight, so Bev and I thought it might be quite exciting to go on a mission to this infamous place called Ikea - the closest Ikea to us is about 45mins (south) by train and tram away. For those of you that have no idea what ikea is, it is a massive Swedish department store quite like freedom furniture (but way cheaper). So on a Thursday night Bev and I braved Ikea and couldn't believe the place - it is massive! We were worried we might not find the stop to hop off the tram however, we shouldn't have worried as the tram stop was actually called Ampway Ikea so there was very little doubt about where to hop off :o) They basically have one giant warehouse with display kitchens, bedrooms and lounges all set up so that you can see all their products then at the end they have this giant store room where you can collect the kitset furniture and purchase it.
We have also tried traditional British fare - Fish and Chips
Our flatties decided that we needed to try Friday night Fish and Chips, and we were very impressed! They were very tasty and the fish was very fresh! And the vinegar on the chips wasn't half bad either! Annnnnnd to top it all off the chips weren't soggy as we had heard! Yum! However, at £5 (per person) they are quite pricey! The fish and chip shops here must do a lot better than our poorer NZ counterparts.
Stonehenge/Salisbury
We found Stonehenge to be really interesting, however a lot different to the image we had been mislead it to look like. Your first glimpse of Stonehenge is really exciting, it really is a set of large rocks in a paddock, however, as you get closer, you realise there are flaws with this picture.....including, large loads of people, a main highway right beside the paddock containing the “rocks”, an underpass for you to get from the car park to the rocks, and then when you get close to the rocks, you realise that you don’t get very close at all as they are cordoned off by a rope and a few pigtail standards marking out your path(our pictures are a bit misleading - you can get a bit closer than where we took our pictures from).
But as our guide explained the history behind the rocks you really do appreciate the scale of the work that was involved to get the rocks on site and then to make such a formation – considering they didn’t have the technology of today, as well as the underlying suggested purposes of the monument.
After looking at Stonehenge, we had a quick look around Salisbury, and treated ourselves to a cream tea (Scones with Cream and Jam and tea). When we entered the tearooms, we had to wait to be seated, then once seated, we waited and nobody served us, so we ummed and urred as to whether we were supposed to go and order at the counter or whether someone would eventually serve us. We buckled after about 5 minutes, and Bev went and asked if they were to serve us, or what, (in a nice way), however I think they thought we were pointing out that they were slack at serving! Anyway they then served us, but as we were going to leave we got up to go and pay the bill, but of course this is also not how they do it over here, you are supposed to ask for the bill, mull over how much you are going to tip them for the service and then take the bill to the counter and pay(or hand over the money whilst still sitting at your table). I know at some places we do this in NZ, but either method is accepted. Here I think they are worried you are going to leave without paying your bill if you don’t put the money on the tray offered with your bill at your table! Something we are slowly getting used to!
Earlier in the blog we mentioned that we had a blocked drain outside our kitchen. A couple of days after we moved in, our flatmate dobbed them into the Environment Health council, the building’s external landlord (different from our landlord) therefore had so many working days to fix the problem before they were given a bill for the work having been done. So they acted smartly once given an ultimatium (surprise surprise), the external landlord sent round the supposed drain guys to unblock it. Now back-tracking, remember when me(jam) was given work by a temping agency, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, well the drain guys turned up looking like they came straight from a temping agency. According to our flatmate, this was quite a sight, one wearing a business attire and later on, he ended up standing in the poo hole with “wellies” on (gumboots), still wearing business attire, smoking a cigarette, speaking on his cellphone loudly in a foreign language – possibly to his agent! The other guy was wearing a nice leather jacket! However the issue is now fixed, for which we are grateful, as we can now flush the toilet, wash our clothes and dishes without flooding the drain outside!
As many of you will know Speights sent over a boat with a speights pub built on it to London via Samoa, and some other countries, and I think you could get yourself a place on the boat through ZM radio station. Well, on the day that it finally took up residence above temple station we were some of the first few people to have a Speights – I have to say that I am not usually a Speights drinker in NZ, however the fizzyness of the Speights was greatly appreciated compared to the English Beer that I have had since arriving here. The Pub also felt like home as it is quite similar in design to the Cadrona, with gorgeous Rimu floors, a shist bar and Dave Dobbyn music – that made us both feel extremely homesick! Pride of the South in the North 19100km from home! We had to laugh because there was a guy sitting next to us at the pub, an American I think, and he goes – so where is this beer from??? He obviously missed the whole point of the pub!
We went out to our first theatre to see Stomp at the Ambassador – it has been going since 1991 non-stop! It was a really great show, they made noise out of everything – and they even made noise out of kitchen sinks!(I thought that was a nice touch, and a good play on that particular figure of speech). However, there is only so much banging and clanking you can listen to, so we did find it got a little boring in parts – bring on a musical I say!
For Guy Fawkes, we went to a public display at Battersea Park – there was rumoured to have been 5000 people there (and we still managed to bump into someone from home!). We had heard that Brits don’t do things by halves, and we were not let down! The fireworks were fantastic! We also go to try Mulled wine, (we looked for roasted chestnuts but couldn’t find any) and chips and burgers (they are always marketed as Aberdeen Angus Beef over here – which I find really amusing – I haven’t quite worked out why Beef has to be Angus and from Aberdeen to be good – I guess they like to support the local farmers, but why Angus...? Is that the only type of beef cow they have over here?
As with everything over here we had to join a giant queue to buy food, but we were pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of the fastfood caravan workers – obviously far more accustomed to large crowds than our NZ equivalents! – Bev was also stoked to hear that Skyrockets are not banned over here!
Every major park around London had big expensive displays. After work on Friday night we went to Putney and watched a display from the bridge near Bev’s cousins house(it was held in the park we went for a walk in with Bev’s cousin when we first arrived with all the established trees that we drawled at), and then went home for some strawberries – Fireworks and Strawberries, just like home (well a tradition that Bev has introduced me to – he swears that the best strawberries are the first ones in early Nov coinciding with Guy Fawkes (hence the association). The ones over here were of course from Holland – but good nonetheless. One thing we have noticed over here is that all the fruit is imported from all over the world, Strawberries from Holland, Apples from South Africa – and they are all really fresh – however quite pricey as a result.
The people at the Women’s Institute(WI) like me so much they have extended my time with them. I find it extremely funny that I am working at a magazine for old ladies, but the most amusing bit is the letters that the old ladies send in and the phone calls they make! One old lady wrote a letter to the WI telling them that she thought the magazine smelt funny – however, not only was it funny that she had time to write a letter, she also had enough time to make the letter into a rhyming poem! Haha some people have way too much time on their hands!
Mum sent over our Christmas presents, and some long missed vegemite and marmite - our saviour. We tried our British flatties on the Australasian versions but they weren't taken with them - however we are pleased not to have to share!
On Thursday Bev and I had the morning off work so that we could go to a meeting to get our National Insurance(NI) numbers (similar to IRD numbers) set up. We just about wet ourselves laughing when we found out that we wouldn't receive the actual card stating our NI number until 9 months time - haha 9 months! That is a classic example of how long it takes to do anything over here.
We have started watching a TV programme over here called Spooks which is much like Alias, however it is set in London, so it is quite nice actually being over here, because all the places they go to we have been to! (I have no idea if we have it in NZ – I think we may do on Channel 1?).
This weekend we just laxed out on Friday night, then on Saturday we went to Yum Cha (Chinese Brunch) and then a matinee of Fiddler on the roof, and then a nice pub meal (all with Bev's cousin and her fiancee). It was great just to lax out and eat some really nice food :o)
On Sunday we had a lazy morning, went to a breakfast bar (not really a cafe, more like a fish n chip shop at home but with seating) for brunch, then bought a desk for our laptop to sit on and then put it together at home. We then did our usual boring house chores:groceries and washing.
I have included a few pics of our house - our's is the bottom floor house on the very left of the picture - you can see the bay window of our lounge. And the last picture is of our back door (very right of photo) and shared garden with the other people living in our building.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The homeless become homed
Hey guys,
Well it is with great joy and satisfaction that I can now tell you that we have a home! Yep after five weeks of being Gypsies, we have now hung up our clothes and ditched the backpacks - believe me five weeks is far to long to live out of your suitcases!!!!
Our sanity is slowly returning however, London being London still persists to drive us nutty!
Last week when Bev went to Hockey, I caught up with two of my oldest friends -and I mean playing on the rockinghorse, and exciting family trips to Cobb n Co old! Christine and Monique :o)
Again it was great catching up with some fellow kiwis -it always turns into a mock the brits session I must admit - but if we didn't I think I really would go insane! Anyway we went on a big walking tour, past my old mate Liz's house - otherwise known as Buckingham Palace, down a few famous Monopoly Streets - such as Pall Mall, Trifalgar Square, Whitehall and then out for dinner at a cheap but decent little restaurant - a fun time had by all!
Last week I wasn't working Monday and Tuesday, so I applied for heaps of jobs then I got rung up to go and work for National Women's Institute ie WI for any of you brits - yep its an old ladies magazine - target market is 50 to Dead haha! Maybe my ol mate Liz reads it??
Anyway, so my job uses about half a brain cell - although that could be contended - maybe one quarter of a brain cell....all I have to do is enter all of the castles and historic houses from the UK, from a book that has just been released into an excel spreadsheet! They are then going to write to these places to see if they would like to advertise in WI.
But I am not complaining, as one it is ££££'s and two, they think they can give me a job until the end of next week which is awesome(wow money two weeks in a row - I won't know what to do with myself!) - and three it is not helping disabled people to go toilet - long story, but some how telling a temping agency that you want administrative work means helping disabled people go toilet! Anyway..... And four, the people are really nice, and five it is quite a laugh, because all the readers are so old and they ring up for reader giveaways etc from the magazine or to tell the magazine writers that they have things wrong -haha these old people have far too much time on their hands and nothing better to do! I'm glad I don't have to deal with any of the readers!
This last weekend - yes I know while all you NZ'ers were enjoying a long weekend (Yep sux to be me) Bev and I moved into our new flat. It is a three storey building, we are on the bottom floor - so no stairs amazingly. The flat is thought to be circa 1870 - strange to be living in a house as old as my great grandparents! It also comes with all the delights of such an old house, like leaky toilets, blocked kitchen waste drains and the likes - so we are in the process of sorting out these pleasant surprises - now I understand why dad doesn't like old houses! And to think we could support a mortgage in NZ for the amount of rent we are paying for it - whew another thing not to dwell on!
It was nice finally setting up a room and unpacking our bags, we made use of that Argos store again - such fun, and the "Pound" store - where you can get 12 plastic coat hangers for £1 - pretty bloomin good. We then did our first proper shop at the supermarket, and almost couldn't carry the bags home - yep supermarket shopping totally sucks without a car - and as a result you buy little, lots, so you end up always at the supermarket - so annoying - especially when the amount of people at the supermarket is like Christmas shopping in NZ - except its like that everyday!! So if that isn't frustrating enough, imagine our blood pressure levels when the guy at the checkout decided to show how small minded and racist he is by exclaiming about four times how I was white, and Bev was pink(haha although we did find that bit a little funny - don't think asians usually get called pink!) and he couldn't get over that Bev was Chinese but not from China - honestly I could have hit this guy!! What I couldn't get though, was that London is like the most multicultural city in the world - and we can't have been the first mixed race couple this guy had ever seen - and to top it off he was black himself - so he mustn't have been adverse to racist comments himself?? What hole did this guy crawl out of? Where has he been living for the last 5o years??? And to make matters worse he took his sweet time handing over our change and receipt etc so we couldn't get out of there any faster! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Anyway...........and then to top off our high blood pressure few days, Bev went into the Bank before work today - no mean feat as the bank is nowhere near his work......and the stupid bank has sent our credit card stuff to NZ again!!! The second time in 5 weeks! Honestly!! So we still don't have credit cards!
We have noticed that the way British people deal with these blood boiling moments is to take it out then and there with the person, the manager of the shop, or anyone that's there to listen - perhaps we might be more like that when we get home!
On a funny note, at my work there are a couple of South Africans - (Yay for them for winning the rugby too - if we couldn't have it (AB's) I certainly didn't want the Brits to have it(nor would you if you had read their big gloats in the papers about how they are wonderful, and they'd be the first to defend and win the cup ever etc etc) - and especially when all they know how to do is kick! What a boring game the first half was! I did however feel a little sorry for the English when they did work out that rugby involves getting trys(shock horror what a revelation), and then the try wasn't awarded - at least the South Africans forced the English to play some good rugby - but the better team won on the day fair and square) anyway I got some lunch with one of the South Africans on Friday, and she was asking how I was finding London etc and I said I find the life fast paced but the systems so slow - ie banks, and everything, and she was like oh I find it to be the opposite - and it made me remember a South African guy from Mum and Dad's work saying that in South Africa if you post a letter it may take a week or two or three - you can never tell, whereas in NZ you can pretty much guarantee it will be to the NZ destination within two days :o) Interesting people's different views on this place.
Anyway, I feel after writing all of that my blood pressure is starting to level off :o)
We hope to head to Stonehenge this weekend so that should be exciting (with me working there is a few excess pounds to spend - YAY!) and perhaps I should start planning which theatre show we are going to see first - maybe the lion king....hmm
The weather here is starting to cool considerably - who's idea was the two winters again? Next weekend daylight savings ends here, so we go into darkness so that will be interesting!
Ok must go, would love to hear how things are at home, and what you all got up to for Labour weekend - I have realised having a blog can be convenient for you guys at home cos you can just read what we have been up to without any effort - please write to us!!!! Getting emails from home is a big excitement! I found it really hard not being home for Labour weekend, as it has such significance for being that first weekend just on the verge of summer when everyone goes to the beach and imagines what the coming summer is going to be like haha - (I hear the weather was cold and miserable - that made me feel heaps better :o) I am also very cat sick - I really miss my kitty, so if you have a cat or a dog, give it heaps of smootches from me :o)
I really need to find that elusive animal behaviour job..............
Lots of Love
Jam
Well it is with great joy and satisfaction that I can now tell you that we have a home! Yep after five weeks of being Gypsies, we have now hung up our clothes and ditched the backpacks - believe me five weeks is far to long to live out of your suitcases!!!!
Our sanity is slowly returning however, London being London still persists to drive us nutty!
Last week when Bev went to Hockey, I caught up with two of my oldest friends -and I mean playing on the rockinghorse, and exciting family trips to Cobb n Co old! Christine and Monique :o)
Again it was great catching up with some fellow kiwis -it always turns into a mock the brits session I must admit - but if we didn't I think I really would go insane! Anyway we went on a big walking tour, past my old mate Liz's house - otherwise known as Buckingham Palace, down a few famous Monopoly Streets - such as Pall Mall, Trifalgar Square, Whitehall and then out for dinner at a cheap but decent little restaurant - a fun time had by all!
Last week I wasn't working Monday and Tuesday, so I applied for heaps of jobs then I got rung up to go and work for National Women's Institute ie WI for any of you brits - yep its an old ladies magazine - target market is 50 to Dead haha! Maybe my ol mate Liz reads it??
Anyway, so my job uses about half a brain cell - although that could be contended - maybe one quarter of a brain cell....all I have to do is enter all of the castles and historic houses from the UK, from a book that has just been released into an excel spreadsheet! They are then going to write to these places to see if they would like to advertise in WI.
But I am not complaining, as one it is ££££'s and two, they think they can give me a job until the end of next week which is awesome(wow money two weeks in a row - I won't know what to do with myself!) - and three it is not helping disabled people to go toilet - long story, but some how telling a temping agency that you want administrative work means helping disabled people go toilet! Anyway..... And four, the people are really nice, and five it is quite a laugh, because all the readers are so old and they ring up for reader giveaways etc from the magazine or to tell the magazine writers that they have things wrong -haha these old people have far too much time on their hands and nothing better to do! I'm glad I don't have to deal with any of the readers!
This last weekend - yes I know while all you NZ'ers were enjoying a long weekend (Yep sux to be me) Bev and I moved into our new flat. It is a three storey building, we are on the bottom floor - so no stairs amazingly. The flat is thought to be circa 1870 - strange to be living in a house as old as my great grandparents! It also comes with all the delights of such an old house, like leaky toilets, blocked kitchen waste drains and the likes - so we are in the process of sorting out these pleasant surprises - now I understand why dad doesn't like old houses! And to think we could support a mortgage in NZ for the amount of rent we are paying for it - whew another thing not to dwell on!
It was nice finally setting up a room and unpacking our bags, we made use of that Argos store again - such fun, and the "Pound" store - where you can get 12 plastic coat hangers for £1 - pretty bloomin good. We then did our first proper shop at the supermarket, and almost couldn't carry the bags home - yep supermarket shopping totally sucks without a car - and as a result you buy little, lots, so you end up always at the supermarket - so annoying - especially when the amount of people at the supermarket is like Christmas shopping in NZ - except its like that everyday!! So if that isn't frustrating enough, imagine our blood pressure levels when the guy at the checkout decided to show how small minded and racist he is by exclaiming about four times how I was white, and Bev was pink(haha although we did find that bit a little funny - don't think asians usually get called pink!) and he couldn't get over that Bev was Chinese but not from China - honestly I could have hit this guy!! What I couldn't get though, was that London is like the most multicultural city in the world - and we can't have been the first mixed race couple this guy had ever seen - and to top it off he was black himself - so he mustn't have been adverse to racist comments himself?? What hole did this guy crawl out of? Where has he been living for the last 5o years??? And to make matters worse he took his sweet time handing over our change and receipt etc so we couldn't get out of there any faster! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Anyway...........and then to top off our high blood pressure few days, Bev went into the Bank before work today - no mean feat as the bank is nowhere near his work......and the stupid bank has sent our credit card stuff to NZ again!!! The second time in 5 weeks! Honestly!! So we still don't have credit cards!
We have noticed that the way British people deal with these blood boiling moments is to take it out then and there with the person, the manager of the shop, or anyone that's there to listen - perhaps we might be more like that when we get home!
On a funny note, at my work there are a couple of South Africans - (Yay for them for winning the rugby too - if we couldn't have it (AB's) I certainly didn't want the Brits to have it(nor would you if you had read their big gloats in the papers about how they are wonderful, and they'd be the first to defend and win the cup ever etc etc) - and especially when all they know how to do is kick! What a boring game the first half was! I did however feel a little sorry for the English when they did work out that rugby involves getting trys(shock horror what a revelation), and then the try wasn't awarded - at least the South Africans forced the English to play some good rugby - but the better team won on the day fair and square) anyway I got some lunch with one of the South Africans on Friday, and she was asking how I was finding London etc and I said I find the life fast paced but the systems so slow - ie banks, and everything, and she was like oh I find it to be the opposite - and it made me remember a South African guy from Mum and Dad's work saying that in South Africa if you post a letter it may take a week or two or three - you can never tell, whereas in NZ you can pretty much guarantee it will be to the NZ destination within two days :o) Interesting people's different views on this place.
Anyway, I feel after writing all of that my blood pressure is starting to level off :o)
We hope to head to Stonehenge this weekend so that should be exciting (with me working there is a few excess pounds to spend - YAY!) and perhaps I should start planning which theatre show we are going to see first - maybe the lion king....hmm
The weather here is starting to cool considerably - who's idea was the two winters again? Next weekend daylight savings ends here, so we go into darkness so that will be interesting!
Ok must go, would love to hear how things are at home, and what you all got up to for Labour weekend - I have realised having a blog can be convenient for you guys at home cos you can just read what we have been up to without any effort - please write to us!!!! Getting emails from home is a big excitement! I found it really hard not being home for Labour weekend, as it has such significance for being that first weekend just on the verge of summer when everyone goes to the beach and imagines what the coming summer is going to be like haha - (I hear the weather was cold and miserable - that made me feel heaps better :o) I am also very cat sick - I really miss my kitty, so if you have a cat or a dog, give it heaps of smootches from me :o)
I really need to find that elusive animal behaviour job..............
Lots of Love
Jam
Monday, October 15, 2007
The week that was.....
Hi! Bev here. I haven’t had Internet contact for almost a week now. I have been so busy with my new job, doing some overtime and trying to impress, so hopefully they can give me an extended contract. I haven’t worked out if I should use the internet at work for my personal use yet, I’m unsure how anal they are.
Anyway, last Friday (6th) we were jumping for joy that I had got a job. It was a bit of a sticky position in that the interview for this job was very early Friday morning 8.30am , but I had to get up at 6am to find the place. But I also was offered an interview for work at Cadbury in the IT department, but that was at 4.30pm, and if I got the bank one I had to make the decision asap as they required me to start on Monday!
The interview was in Canary Wharf, where the Speights pub has just landed by ship. WOW! What a place! It’s the financial hub of London, which looks like Auckland’s Viaduct, but with massive high rises of banks, and with big TVs outside showing financial news, and scrolling stock market stuff on the side of the buildings! I was blown away at the corporate-ness of the place. Everyone wanders around dressed in smart business clothes. Anyway, the interview went ok, and I had the advantage that I could start on Monday (the interview room had a nice view of London!) I got the call back just before I had to leave for my second interview, and accepted it……Whew! The weight came off my shoulders.
We were really stoked to see Corey last weekend. After knowing him for many years, who’d of thought we’d be having a beer together in the Northern hemisphere. Before we saw Corey, we went to check out some shops down the famous Oxford Street. We saw some extremes of prices, £160 for a jumper to £5 for a fancy handbag. And some cool gadgets like a James Bond like underwater propeller....how about £8000 for a full sized terminator? We also got to watch the reactions of the English and Aussies at a street pub during their quarter final....I wish I had my camera at the time!
Hockey: I had my 1st look into a club on Wednesday night, took me ages to find the place by foot (this has taught me to not take owning a vehicle for granted!) I had my 1st game yesterday. It’s a very different structure here, and I still don’t understand it after many explanations. We had a team made up of half British, 1 Aussie, 1 Saffa (South African), 1 Dutch, 1 French and me. We won the game and looked liked we had played together for the last 5 years. We went down to the club house for dinner and beers before watching the English vs France semi final….where I got hassled heaps for being an AB’s supporter!
Work: My title is an IT hardware engineer (sounds like a cool name, but the job is easier than it sounds). Working on a trade floor is a weird experience. Its one of those places you see on the movies but never thought you’d ever be at. The floor is massive and open and littered with 4-6 computer screens at each desk, with big digital clocks hanging from the ceiling of time zones of major city times on them. You quite often see traders treat their job like a game, and also hear people yelling out to each other in many different languages. It’s also quite a daunting thought about making mistakes when I’m working on managing and executive directors computers. But most of them seem down to earth…..mind you I haven’t made a mistake yet! Security is huge, inside and outside, even in the mall at Canary Wharf.
The canteen is the coolest place! The breakfast selection is huge, and Lunch selection is even bigger. They have heaps of sections, like a food court, and you can grab something from any section you like and pay for it at the end. They have a pizza and pasta section, a deli sandwich bar, bbq grill, stir fry, roast carvery, baked potato, soup, fruit, and massive salad bar. They also have a theme section, where it’s curry Thursdays and fish n chip Fridays and the other weekdays are other continental themes. Each section there is a huge choice of toppings, fillings of the freshest meats, breads, veges, and fruit of the highest quality! I just can’t explain how cool it is, it is so awesome that the canteen alone is an incentive to keep working there! On my 1st day I had a bbq chicken breast burger, and the quality was as good as the burger we had at GBK the night before! Paying for it was a weird experience. We had to load £ onto our security card, and it gets taken off that.
I had to laugh at something funny the other day. Most people’s work places have a regular lunch or food guy come in each week, e.g. At Anne and Wayne’s work place in Hamilton, they have a sushi guy bring sushi on a Wednesday. But where I work, they have a shoe shiner come in each week! It is a good market for him, as I saw him shine at least a dozen shoes for a good $10NZD a pop!
Last week I kept getting calls from agents who had found my CV online and wanted to get me an interview, so it’s a nice feeling that I can still pick up work else where when this job ends….I hope it doesn’t, I love the food aspect of it too much.
After this last week, I have realised how much I should be thankful for the experiences of working for Concord. I am thankful for being dropped into the deep end and working long and funny hours (as much as I hated it at the time), as it has made me more flexible and given me heaps of experience and knowledge to put on my CV and it’s helped me impress at work…..Cheers Concord!
The funniest event happened on the tube on Thursday night coming home from work. The tubes are known for minimal eye contact and lack of being sociable. This tube I hopped on was the opposite. There was an English supporter dressed in white, face painted and he wore the English flag as his cape, cricket pads, gloves, and had a rugby ball. He was getting hassled by some kiwi guys, and he was giving it back as he was hopping off the tube. Everyone on that carriage was cracking up at the silliness of it. After he had hopped off, a French guy decided to have a go at the kiwis. This was a crack up too, but by the time we got to the next stop, it got personal….the French vs ABs calls started coming out. As the French guy got out, the last call one of the kiwis made was “So what! The only thing you French guys are good at is beach war fare!”. The carriage went silent….
Today we are just laxing out and again doing all our chores, and again, we are still gypsies. Hopefully we will have heard by tomorrow as to whether all our stinky references have been checked and approved so that we can move into this house we have put in for - we aren't holding our breath - as I am sure they will find another of roll of red tape to dispense as soon as we jump this hurdle! Grrrrrrrrrr!
Anyway, last Friday (6th) we were jumping for joy that I had got a job. It was a bit of a sticky position in that the interview for this job was very early Friday morning 8.30am , but I had to get up at 6am to find the place. But I also was offered an interview for work at Cadbury in the IT department, but that was at 4.30pm, and if I got the bank one I had to make the decision asap as they required me to start on Monday!
The interview was in Canary Wharf, where the Speights pub has just landed by ship. WOW! What a place! It’s the financial hub of London, which looks like Auckland’s Viaduct, but with massive high rises of banks, and with big TVs outside showing financial news, and scrolling stock market stuff on the side of the buildings! I was blown away at the corporate-ness of the place. Everyone wanders around dressed in smart business clothes. Anyway, the interview went ok, and I had the advantage that I could start on Monday (the interview room had a nice view of London!) I got the call back just before I had to leave for my second interview, and accepted it……Whew! The weight came off my shoulders.
We were really stoked to see Corey last weekend. After knowing him for many years, who’d of thought we’d be having a beer together in the Northern hemisphere. Before we saw Corey, we went to check out some shops down the famous Oxford Street. We saw some extremes of prices, £160 for a jumper to £5 for a fancy handbag. And some cool gadgets like a James Bond like underwater propeller....how about £8000 for a full sized terminator? We also got to watch the reactions of the English and Aussies at a street pub during their quarter final....I wish I had my camera at the time!
Hockey: I had my 1st look into a club on Wednesday night, took me ages to find the place by foot (this has taught me to not take owning a vehicle for granted!) I had my 1st game yesterday. It’s a very different structure here, and I still don’t understand it after many explanations. We had a team made up of half British, 1 Aussie, 1 Saffa (South African), 1 Dutch, 1 French and me. We won the game and looked liked we had played together for the last 5 years. We went down to the club house for dinner and beers before watching the English vs France semi final….where I got hassled heaps for being an AB’s supporter!
Work: My title is an IT hardware engineer (sounds like a cool name, but the job is easier than it sounds). Working on a trade floor is a weird experience. Its one of those places you see on the movies but never thought you’d ever be at. The floor is massive and open and littered with 4-6 computer screens at each desk, with big digital clocks hanging from the ceiling of time zones of major city times on them. You quite often see traders treat their job like a game, and also hear people yelling out to each other in many different languages. It’s also quite a daunting thought about making mistakes when I’m working on managing and executive directors computers. But most of them seem down to earth…..mind you I haven’t made a mistake yet! Security is huge, inside and outside, even in the mall at Canary Wharf.
The canteen is the coolest place! The breakfast selection is huge, and Lunch selection is even bigger. They have heaps of sections, like a food court, and you can grab something from any section you like and pay for it at the end. They have a pizza and pasta section, a deli sandwich bar, bbq grill, stir fry, roast carvery, baked potato, soup, fruit, and massive salad bar. They also have a theme section, where it’s curry Thursdays and fish n chip Fridays and the other weekdays are other continental themes. Each section there is a huge choice of toppings, fillings of the freshest meats, breads, veges, and fruit of the highest quality! I just can’t explain how cool it is, it is so awesome that the canteen alone is an incentive to keep working there! On my 1st day I had a bbq chicken breast burger, and the quality was as good as the burger we had at GBK the night before! Paying for it was a weird experience. We had to load £ onto our security card, and it gets taken off that.
I had to laugh at something funny the other day. Most people’s work places have a regular lunch or food guy come in each week, e.g. At Anne and Wayne’s work place in Hamilton, they have a sushi guy bring sushi on a Wednesday. But where I work, they have a shoe shiner come in each week! It is a good market for him, as I saw him shine at least a dozen shoes for a good $10NZD a pop!
Last week I kept getting calls from agents who had found my CV online and wanted to get me an interview, so it’s a nice feeling that I can still pick up work else where when this job ends….I hope it doesn’t, I love the food aspect of it too much.
After this last week, I have realised how much I should be thankful for the experiences of working for Concord. I am thankful for being dropped into the deep end and working long and funny hours (as much as I hated it at the time), as it has made me more flexible and given me heaps of experience and knowledge to put on my CV and it’s helped me impress at work…..Cheers Concord!
The funniest event happened on the tube on Thursday night coming home from work. The tubes are known for minimal eye contact and lack of being sociable. This tube I hopped on was the opposite. There was an English supporter dressed in white, face painted and he wore the English flag as his cape, cricket pads, gloves, and had a rugby ball. He was getting hassled by some kiwi guys, and he was giving it back as he was hopping off the tube. Everyone on that carriage was cracking up at the silliness of it. After he had hopped off, a French guy decided to have a go at the kiwis. This was a crack up too, but by the time we got to the next stop, it got personal….the French vs ABs calls started coming out. As the French guy got out, the last call one of the kiwis made was “So what! The only thing you French guys are good at is beach war fare!”. The carriage went silent….
Today we are just laxing out and again doing all our chores, and again, we are still gypsies. Hopefully we will have heard by tomorrow as to whether all our stinky references have been checked and approved so that we can move into this house we have put in for - we aren't holding our breath - as I am sure they will find another of roll of red tape to dispense as soon as we jump this hurdle! Grrrrrrrrrr!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
You win some you lose some
Hey kids hows it going?
Jam here, I thought it appropriate to address the large white elephant in the room first - how can the All Blacks be out of the world cup when it has only just started! And more importantly, how can the English still be in it (sorry to anyone supporting the English - but come on lets be realistic here!) All I have been able to read about it (the All Blacks)was the single page allocation the English newspapers gave to it!
We were in a pub watching the game (8pm Sat our time) and all the bloomin English were cheering on France - because they were too scared to want to play us - and to make matters worse, they had all put £10 bets on France winning! GRRRRR! Aaaanyway thats about all I really want to say about that!
However, on a far happier note (the win some that the title is referring to), Bevan scored himself a very nice and well paying job at a bank as their IT/hardware guy, so that is very exciting! And it started on Monday! This has now taken the pressure off our finances somewhat! This has therefore allowed me to ease up on the awful temping, so that I can apply for some jobs. This week I am only working three days, because the problem when you are temping is that you are so busy working there is no time to look for other more suitable, better paid jobs. However, I can't be referred to as a lady of leisure - as ladies of leisure can afford fancy lunches and outings to the theatre, and manicures...........haha and technically I am working!
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate the occasion(Bev getting a job), to a nice local pub and then went to a movie. I ordered a wine and ended up drinking a very nice NZ Sav, and we were served by an Aussie! Only in London!
However, probably due to the fact that we haven't had a lot of money as of late, we haven't been eating much, so this uncharacteristic gorging in conjunction with a fast-paced movie with lots of camera switching led us to both feel very motion sick! Haha that will teach us! Talk about nana's!
On Saturday we went and checked out another flat with our British flat mates as the other one had fallen through, for some reason there seems to be a problem with two couples wanting to rent out a two bedroom house.....there is sooooo much red tape over here! We put an offer in on the flat - and have since heard we have it as long as our references are accepted, which is helped by Bev having a job, but still a little dodgy because of more red tape!
We then went to Hyde Park with them, and saw some more cool little squirrels flitting around :o) We bought Bev a few more work clothes, none of those scody grey polo shirts that concord insisted on!
We then caught up with Corey and Heike late Saturday afternoon, which was really cool to see someone from home. We went to the Tate Museum together, and then watched the unmentionable rugby game!
On Sunday we did all the usual household chores - made more difficult since we are still gypsies - we have to do our washing at a laundromat, and then we caught up with Corey and Heike for dinner - we went to a really nice burger place which is run by Kiwi's - called Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) so much better than Burger Fuel mmmmmm!
We also found the Kiwi shop (although it was closed) so will have to go back there and get some vegemite sometime - British Marmite tastes like bum, and is runny like honey - go figure! Also another thing that tastes like bum over here is their water - it is really thick like milk to drink ewww! And when you boil it you get this big scum collecting around the jugs element - one has to wonder why! It also doesn't get any better tasting after you have boiled it either. When we were in Edinburgh we drank so much water because they had really nice water. I hope when I get a job they have a good water filtering system!
Today as I was walking down to the Laundromat to do some more washing it was raining, and a big truck drove past and it splashed through a puddle and totally soaked me on the footpath! So it really does happen like in the movies! Argh so disgusting!
Anyway thats about all our news for now, hope everyone is ok, and looking forward to hearing from you! (That's a hint to email us if you didn't see it through my subtlety!)
Jam :o)
Jam here, I thought it appropriate to address the large white elephant in the room first - how can the All Blacks be out of the world cup when it has only just started! And more importantly, how can the English still be in it (sorry to anyone supporting the English - but come on lets be realistic here!) All I have been able to read about it (the All Blacks)was the single page allocation the English newspapers gave to it!
We were in a pub watching the game (8pm Sat our time) and all the bloomin English were cheering on France - because they were too scared to want to play us - and to make matters worse, they had all put £10 bets on France winning! GRRRRR! Aaaanyway thats about all I really want to say about that!
However, on a far happier note (the win some that the title is referring to), Bevan scored himself a very nice and well paying job at a bank as their IT/hardware guy, so that is very exciting! And it started on Monday! This has now taken the pressure off our finances somewhat! This has therefore allowed me to ease up on the awful temping, so that I can apply for some jobs. This week I am only working three days, because the problem when you are temping is that you are so busy working there is no time to look for other more suitable, better paid jobs. However, I can't be referred to as a lady of leisure - as ladies of leisure can afford fancy lunches and outings to the theatre, and manicures...........haha and technically I am working!
We went out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate the occasion(Bev getting a job), to a nice local pub and then went to a movie. I ordered a wine and ended up drinking a very nice NZ Sav, and we were served by an Aussie! Only in London!
However, probably due to the fact that we haven't had a lot of money as of late, we haven't been eating much, so this uncharacteristic gorging in conjunction with a fast-paced movie with lots of camera switching led us to both feel very motion sick! Haha that will teach us! Talk about nana's!
On Saturday we went and checked out another flat with our British flat mates as the other one had fallen through, for some reason there seems to be a problem with two couples wanting to rent out a two bedroom house.....there is sooooo much red tape over here! We put an offer in on the flat - and have since heard we have it as long as our references are accepted, which is helped by Bev having a job, but still a little dodgy because of more red tape!
We then went to Hyde Park with them, and saw some more cool little squirrels flitting around :o) We bought Bev a few more work clothes, none of those scody grey polo shirts that concord insisted on!
We then caught up with Corey and Heike late Saturday afternoon, which was really cool to see someone from home. We went to the Tate Museum together, and then watched the unmentionable rugby game!
On Sunday we did all the usual household chores - made more difficult since we are still gypsies - we have to do our washing at a laundromat, and then we caught up with Corey and Heike for dinner - we went to a really nice burger place which is run by Kiwi's - called Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) so much better than Burger Fuel mmmmmm!
We also found the Kiwi shop (although it was closed) so will have to go back there and get some vegemite sometime - British Marmite tastes like bum, and is runny like honey - go figure! Also another thing that tastes like bum over here is their water - it is really thick like milk to drink ewww! And when you boil it you get this big scum collecting around the jugs element - one has to wonder why! It also doesn't get any better tasting after you have boiled it either. When we were in Edinburgh we drank so much water because they had really nice water. I hope when I get a job they have a good water filtering system!
Today as I was walking down to the Laundromat to do some more washing it was raining, and a big truck drove past and it splashed through a puddle and totally soaked me on the footpath! So it really does happen like in the movies! Argh so disgusting!
Anyway thats about all our news for now, hope everyone is ok, and looking forward to hearing from you! (That's a hint to email us if you didn't see it through my subtlety!)
Jam :o)
Friday, October 5, 2007
Rollercoaster week!
Bev here, me luv you not long time......or long time no see!
What a long couple of weeks! We have been so busy that we have been unable to update this blog. It has been two weeks of ups and downs. For me, downs on not having any feedback from applying to jobs, ups on getting interviews, downs for failing interviews, ups on more opportunities, downs for still not having a job yet! For Jam, downs for not having a job last week, ups for getting temping work on Monday, downs for stinky temp work, ups for possible science job interview! For us, ups on finding some really nice and cool British flatmates(gumtree is a great thing - a website bulletin board where you can find flats and flatmates), downs for not having a flat yet, ups for going out to get our own bed (we have left Mark and Dees), downs for dodgy hostel, ups for looking forward to seeing Corey this weekend....yeahhhhh!
I have been job hunting this week and it has been frustrating. A tip for others coming over: We highly recommend getting a job before you come over if possible(although in our case it wasn't really possible). The funny thing is that I have spent countless hours applying for jobs, but have had zero reply from any of them. But have had 4 agents contact me for other jobs because they found my CV after I spent 15 minutes uploading them on jobsites!
Jam has been temping at a couple of jobs this week. Although Jam doesnt like her current job, it's got awesome views. It's at the St Thomas hospital by the Thames next to the London Eye, it is such an awesome sight! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera when I picked Jam up from work....but plenty of time to still be a tourist.
I did manage to find time to got to Tottenham Court yesterday after an interview....WOW! This street is a geeks dream! There is a massive street of shops that sells computers and electronics, and all the latest stuff too. I dared not to enter many shops because I would have wanted to cried! Im glad Jam had the credit card that day...in some respects!
Last week we got excited when we spotted our first Squirrel while flat hunting, to which one of our new flat flatmates and the letting agent thought we were nuts! Apparently they are pests, as we find possums in NZ. I guess the novelty of seeing them will wear off later on....I wonder what they taste like? Nutty?
The novelty of living here has worn off a little, mainly due to the fact we have no income yet to buy and try stuff. But once we're settled, we'll start going out and about to remind us of why we came here in the first place :) Bring on the money, and the London lifestyle minus the bad bits!
What a long couple of weeks! We have been so busy that we have been unable to update this blog. It has been two weeks of ups and downs. For me, downs on not having any feedback from applying to jobs, ups on getting interviews, downs for failing interviews, ups on more opportunities, downs for still not having a job yet! For Jam, downs for not having a job last week, ups for getting temping work on Monday, downs for stinky temp work, ups for possible science job interview! For us, ups on finding some really nice and cool British flatmates(gumtree is a great thing - a website bulletin board where you can find flats and flatmates), downs for not having a flat yet, ups for going out to get our own bed (we have left Mark and Dees), downs for dodgy hostel, ups for looking forward to seeing Corey this weekend....yeahhhhh!
I have been job hunting this week and it has been frustrating. A tip for others coming over: We highly recommend getting a job before you come over if possible(although in our case it wasn't really possible). The funny thing is that I have spent countless hours applying for jobs, but have had zero reply from any of them. But have had 4 agents contact me for other jobs because they found my CV after I spent 15 minutes uploading them on jobsites!
Jam has been temping at a couple of jobs this week. Although Jam doesnt like her current job, it's got awesome views. It's at the St Thomas hospital by the Thames next to the London Eye, it is such an awesome sight! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera when I picked Jam up from work....but plenty of time to still be a tourist.
I did manage to find time to got to Tottenham Court yesterday after an interview....WOW! This street is a geeks dream! There is a massive street of shops that sells computers and electronics, and all the latest stuff too. I dared not to enter many shops because I would have wanted to cried! Im glad Jam had the credit card that day...in some respects!
Last week we got excited when we spotted our first Squirrel while flat hunting, to which one of our new flat flatmates and the letting agent thought we were nuts! Apparently they are pests, as we find possums in NZ. I guess the novelty of seeing them will wear off later on....I wonder what they taste like? Nutty?
The novelty of living here has worn off a little, mainly due to the fact we have no income yet to buy and try stuff. But once we're settled, we'll start going out and about to remind us of why we came here in the first place :) Bring on the money, and the London lifestyle minus the bad bits!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Patriotic Kiwis and Kilts
Following on from our last blog (sorry we've been slack!)........
We went and had our first UK pub meal(on Saturday night) - with Mushy peas - eww yuck! They are every bit as bad as I imagined they would be, however we were able to wash them down with a very nice Stella Artois - ON TAP!
On Sunday, we got up early, put our faces on(see photo below) and got to the train station for the trip back to Edinburgh for the Scotland vs All Blacks game. It was quite amusing walking through Glasgow to get to the train, as I think they didn't really understand why we were painted up!
Once we got to the train station, were learnt why people say that Brits/Scots know how to cue - there was a ginormous cue for the train to Edinburgh - all people with the same intentions as us. The cue went from inside the train station, to outside and around about four bends of a carpark! Once we arrived, although we had no clue where we were going, we just followed the sea of people and got to the stadium nice and early - however the extra time was spent having photos with tourists - they quite liked our painted faces! Some little kids in the stands beside us liked our faces so much that we did theirs for them too!
One thing that really astounded us, was that about 1 in 5 people that were dressed in All Blacks supporter clothing, weren't actually kiwi - but foreigners - we hadn't realised that the All Blacks were that popular outside of NZ.
We had a couple of big loud Kiwis in front of us, and they were really funny when the members of each team were introduced on the big screen - they cheered at each All Black, except didn't cheer for Reuben Thorne - making their lack of interest in him quite public.
Anyway, as you all know the game was a goody - bar all the dumb AB handling errors, (NZ 40 - Scotland 0)however I would say about 50% of the errors were due to the closeness of the jersey colours between the two teams - somebody majorly stuffed up there! After the game we hung back, and were able to see Jonah Lomu and Justin Marshall in the seats below us.
We then joined the sea of people walking back into Edinburgh - though the council hadn't closed the road, we did! No cars could get through. What was even funnier was that someone had brought a rugby ball with them, and they were kicking it up into the crowd, much to everyone's delight. It got lost a few times, in some scrub on the side of the road, or hitting a double decker bus or down a basement(below road level) it was greeted with cheers when it was booted up in the air again/or hit something.
One of the funniest incidences was this convertible with some pretty young girls in it, thinking they were cool with the top down of the car, waiting for the crowd to pass. A Kiwi guy takes a blow up Kiwi (bird) over to them and said something along the lines of "Safety kiwi thinks you should put your seat belts on" - that got a roar from the crowd as the girls weren't wearing seat belts, and felt obliged to put them on!
We then caught the train back to Glasgow for the night, just managing to get to a Buffet Indian restaurant for dinner - top class Indian food, and as much as you want mmmmm.
By the way we also learnt that Glasgow did have a festival on, so the large crowds were due to this!
The next morning(Monday) we again returned to Edinburgh, however we thought we would be clever and use the station beside our motel, however this turned out to be an hour longer then the other trip, with 18 stops around the Scottish suburbs! Oops!
Once in Edinburgh, we caught our first Black cab to our motel, dropped our stuff, then made our way back to town to do a couple of sightseeing bus tours - very interesting. As we were deciding on what to have for dinner that night, we bumped into a friend of Bev's from his Massey Uni hockey team! Such a small world!
On Tuesday we got up and left early for our 9am train back to London(we didn't miss it this time) - back to the grind of finding work and accommodation, and sleeping on the floor!
We went and had our first UK pub meal(on Saturday night) - with Mushy peas - eww yuck! They are every bit as bad as I imagined they would be, however we were able to wash them down with a very nice Stella Artois - ON TAP!
On Sunday, we got up early, put our faces on(see photo below) and got to the train station for the trip back to Edinburgh for the Scotland vs All Blacks game. It was quite amusing walking through Glasgow to get to the train, as I think they didn't really understand why we were painted up!
Once we got to the train station, were learnt why people say that Brits/Scots know how to cue - there was a ginormous cue for the train to Edinburgh - all people with the same intentions as us. The cue went from inside the train station, to outside and around about four bends of a carpark! Once we arrived, although we had no clue where we were going, we just followed the sea of people and got to the stadium nice and early - however the extra time was spent having photos with tourists - they quite liked our painted faces! Some little kids in the stands beside us liked our faces so much that we did theirs for them too!
One thing that really astounded us, was that about 1 in 5 people that were dressed in All Blacks supporter clothing, weren't actually kiwi - but foreigners - we hadn't realised that the All Blacks were that popular outside of NZ.
We had a couple of big loud Kiwis in front of us, and they were really funny when the members of each team were introduced on the big screen - they cheered at each All Black, except didn't cheer for Reuben Thorne - making their lack of interest in him quite public.
Anyway, as you all know the game was a goody - bar all the dumb AB handling errors, (NZ 40 - Scotland 0)however I would say about 50% of the errors were due to the closeness of the jersey colours between the two teams - somebody majorly stuffed up there! After the game we hung back, and were able to see Jonah Lomu and Justin Marshall in the seats below us.
We then joined the sea of people walking back into Edinburgh - though the council hadn't closed the road, we did! No cars could get through. What was even funnier was that someone had brought a rugby ball with them, and they were kicking it up into the crowd, much to everyone's delight. It got lost a few times, in some scrub on the side of the road, or hitting a double decker bus or down a basement(below road level) it was greeted with cheers when it was booted up in the air again/or hit something.
One of the funniest incidences was this convertible with some pretty young girls in it, thinking they were cool with the top down of the car, waiting for the crowd to pass. A Kiwi guy takes a blow up Kiwi (bird) over to them and said something along the lines of "Safety kiwi thinks you should put your seat belts on" - that got a roar from the crowd as the girls weren't wearing seat belts, and felt obliged to put them on!
We then caught the train back to Glasgow for the night, just managing to get to a Buffet Indian restaurant for dinner - top class Indian food, and as much as you want mmmmm.
By the way we also learnt that Glasgow did have a festival on, so the large crowds were due to this!
The next morning(Monday) we again returned to Edinburgh, however we thought we would be clever and use the station beside our motel, however this turned out to be an hour longer then the other trip, with 18 stops around the Scottish suburbs! Oops!
Once in Edinburgh, we caught our first Black cab to our motel, dropped our stuff, then made our way back to town to do a couple of sightseeing bus tours - very interesting. As we were deciding on what to have for dinner that night, we bumped into a friend of Bev's from his Massey Uni hockey team! Such a small world!
On Tuesday we got up and left early for our 9am train back to London(we didn't miss it this time) - back to the grind of finding work and accommodation, and sleeping on the floor!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Less Glamourous Glasgow
On Saturday- This morning we had a yummy breakfast at an Italian Cafe - then we checked out, and caught the train to Glasgow - approx 50 mins away - only because we couldn't get accommodation in Edinburgh for the game - the guy at the train station had a good chuckle at our train plans...Edinburgh to Glasgow on Sat, Glasgow to Edinburgh to Glasgow on Sun, Glasgow to Edinburgh on Mon!
Once we arrived we checked in to our hotel then watched a very gripping Tonga (said Tong-ga over here - hehe) vs South Africa - aw shucks I am so proud of our pacific island neighbours - they made South Africa sweat something chronic!
We then had a look around Glasgow mainstreet - I am in materialistic heaven - there are so many cool clothes and shoe shops over here I have just about abandoned all ideas of ever seeing the rest of Europe just to have an awesome wardrobe! However, since we have don't have much money -we can't really do either(travel or Me have a glamourous wardrobe)- well at least until we earn some of those elusive pounds :o)
We were even more stoked when we saw our first black, sleek Lamborgini - I think they saw us drooling, and revved the engine for us! Must practice nonchalance!
So town was extremely busy - just loads and loads of people - like some sort of festival or something was on! But I think it must always just be like this on a sat! Glasgow definitely isn't as cool as Edinburgh, I think it is the whole castle sitting on a hill thing that really makes Edinburgh special. Glasgow appears to be more of a Metropolis for shopping (not a bad thing in my book) whereas Edinburgh is more touristy?
We saw that the Scots of Glasgow have a sense of humour -see photo below (I think maybe it's just that Glasgow has uni students too!)
We walked into a sports shop - Bev wanted to check out this game that they play over here very similar to hockey but with loose rules and funny but similar looking sticks - however we didn't find any, but were welcomed into the shop by a shop assistant( I like how they do that here - very polite) - he took one look at us in our black adidas tops with silver ferns on them, and said that we could find rugby equipment downstairs - we chuckled at his acknowledgement of our nationality and rubgy enthusiasm!
Anyway, had heaps of trouble with the last internet cafe we were at cos it only ran Windows 98 on all its computers - hello what century are we in! So we had to change and come to a different internet cafe.
Anyway, better go and do some more stuff so that we have something to write about next time :o)
Jam
Ach Lad We're in Scotland
Hey - Jam here - we're in scotland!
So thought I better update you on our travels thus far.
On Friday morning we got up early to make the journey across London on the tube(underground) to Kings Cross station to catch the Flying Scotsman to Edinburgh(overland). However, this proved to be far more stressful than we had intended as we got away later than we had hoped(I know some things never change!), but to make matters worse, we had our route all planned out and were very excited that the first tube we caught went 75% of the way to Kings Cross - however about two stations before our stop we were all kicked off the tube as another train in front of ours had broken down, therefore clogging the line! Argh! Conveniently however, this happened at a station that had access to an alternative link.
We did pretty well with making up for lost time, but never the less missed our Edinburgh train - and we got a little overwhelmed by which platform we had to catch the train on etc. We soon found out that our tickets could be used on any subsequent trip however(whew), and we found the correct platform and got on the next train half an hour later - the only drawback was that we didn't have any allocated seats - so had to "gypsy it" moving everytime someone hopped on the train with the seat number for the seats we were sitting in! Whew - crisis averted.
Anyway, so we made it to Scotland - what a beautiful place, the coast and farmland leading to Edinburgh reminds me very much of home (where I grew up - Matira). Actual Edinburgh reminds me of Dunedin - so I can see why the Scots settled there in NZ! Edinburgh Castle is so cool! - It sits on a hill overlooking the middle of town - just think Napier hill but with a Castle on it.
So we got to Edinburgh, located our hotel, dumped down our bags then walked back into town to have a look around. As we were walking we were commenting on the number of Kiwis in town(recognisable by the black adidas tops featuring silver ferns), when who do we bump into..........the very people we were in town to see - my "peeing on the field" mate Jerry Collins and Sione Lauaki - we got a photo just to prove it(not of him peeing thank goodness)! Nobody else walking around had noticed them, but took a second look after we asked them to pose for a photo!
This put us on quite a high for the rest of the afternoon - however the second funny incident for the day was when I was buying an umbrella (as it had started to rain), and I went to the counter at Marks and Spencer to pay. The retail assistant was chatting to me about the umbrella and how to open it (had some difficult button that required a degree in Umbrella operation) when I spoke - I have never caused such a scene in a department store before! There was an elderly lady being served beside me by another shop assistant and they both stopped what they were doing and whipped their heads around in my direction for a huge gawk - obviously hadn't come in contact with too many Kiwi accents in their time, I have never felt so self-conscious as they were waiting for me to talk some more! I guess I had expected it but not at the time!
The Scots are also really hard to understand, it honestly feels like some of them are talking a different language and you feel really silly trying to work out what they've said!
Anyway to finish our expedition we thought it appropriate to dine at a familiar scottish restaurant - McDonalds :o)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Onward to smallville tomorrow....Scotland
Bev here again: Ahhhhh…..day 3 and 4 how not very interesting. We pretty much spent both days not doing much. Just attempting to get jobs really. We did go for a walk to the nearby area of Parsons Green. It was posh, you could tell by the amount of real estate shops there were about half a dozen. Apparently that’s a good indication of a nice expensive area; lots of real estate shops. And on the other end of the scale is fried chicken shops. We’ve been recommended to stay away from the area with lots of fried chicken shops…..mmm fried chicken :) But I love fried chicken!
We had a quick look at some of the places for sale. If you think Auckland was bad, this place will blow your socks off, absolute daylight-white collar-whatever you wish to call it-robbery; £1.5m (about $4.3m NZ) gets you not much more than a poshly decorated letterbox with a garden barely worth owning a lawn mower for. A few nice porches driving around this area though.
We decided to also look at a few places to rent. Again, if you think Auckland was bad, this place just stuns you. We’re average Kiwi’s looking to pay about £120-150 per week, how about renting a place for £2400 PER WEEK! That’s right, that’s about $7000NZ PER WEEK!……Even $2400NZ is crazy money. Our looking at a few places bubble got the pop, big time, when we discovered that agents ask for a fee of about £70 ($200NZ) just to show you the place! No wonder people say accommodation is expensive in London!
I’ve noticed that personal space seems interesting, especially when walking down the street. You’ve got to be careful not to suddenly stop, otherwise you might get mowed down by the little old man walking his dog too close to you. The number of mums and prams walking around during the day is unreal, and getting mowed down by one is easy, especially when I’ve stopped to look into a shop window. I guess it’s because of the narrow width of the footpaths.
The amount of noise pollution is a worry. I generally rely on my ears to cross the roads at home (kids take note – do as I say, not as I do. Id be history when NZ introduces silent electric cars), but here there is so much going on, you HAVE to look both ways a few times.
We had a quick look at some of the places for sale. If you think Auckland was bad, this place will blow your socks off, absolute daylight-white collar-whatever you wish to call it-robbery; £1.5m (about $4.3m NZ) gets you not much more than a poshly decorated letterbox with a garden barely worth owning a lawn mower for. A few nice porches driving around this area though.
We decided to also look at a few places to rent. Again, if you think Auckland was bad, this place just stuns you. We’re average Kiwi’s looking to pay about £120-150 per week, how about renting a place for £2400 PER WEEK! That’s right, that’s about $7000NZ PER WEEK!……Even $2400NZ is crazy money. Our looking at a few places bubble got the pop, big time, when we discovered that agents ask for a fee of about £70 ($200NZ) just to show you the place! No wonder people say accommodation is expensive in London!
I’ve noticed that personal space seems interesting, especially when walking down the street. You’ve got to be careful not to suddenly stop, otherwise you might get mowed down by the little old man walking his dog too close to you. The number of mums and prams walking around during the day is unreal, and getting mowed down by one is easy, especially when I’ve stopped to look into a shop window. I guess it’s because of the narrow width of the footpaths.
The amount of noise pollution is a worry. I generally rely on my ears to cross the roads at home (kids take note – do as I say, not as I do. Id be history when NZ introduces silent electric cars), but here there is so much going on, you HAVE to look both ways a few times.
Just sitting in the lounge, you hear a lot of emergency service sirens going off throughout the day. I can honestly say I’ve heard sirens go by half a dozen to a dozen times each day. Heathrow is not that far away. You can hear a plane taking off/landing every 2 minutes.
I’d hate to be a retail sales person here. In 3 trips to the local shop we’ve so far seen a lady pack a wobbly at a manager for no apparent reason (maybe just letting off steam because she had a bad day), customers being rude to staff, comment and borderline racist comments to staff.
I bought a USB pendrive from the local computer shop, it was £5.96, and I gave him £6. He said in a timid voice: ‘Im sorry I don’t have any change of 4p, but you can come back later for it’. It was like he was expecting to be burnt for not being able to give me 4 cents! I do feel sorry for the crap they have to put up with.
Marketers on the side of the street trying to hand things to you or get you to sign something is really annoying. Not only is there a lot of them, but if you make the slightest eye contact, some will ram a bit of paper at you. Jam got pulled up by a phone line selling guy, and he jumped out in front of her with an ‘excuse me, BEFORE you run away, do you own a landline?’. She fended him off with an ‘I’ve just arrived from NZ’ card. He backed off quickly.
Ah….the big city…much different from small farms :o)
Heres some late photos:
from Day 1: central London. Picadilly Circus near Soho
mmmm KFC with mashed pota....baked beans???
Yes we got bored searching for jobs, so we had to complete our gingerbread wo/men....Nice handle bar mo
Our couzzie Dee munching on her creation
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