Category: England

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Oh, hi there!

So, I haven’t posted here in about a month. Whoops!

I’m still puttering around London and am still trying to figure things out. I’ve been busy with website stuff, moving house, job hunting, etc.

It’s my favourite time of year though, and I can’t wait to explore London in the fall. The leaves are changing, there’s a nip in the air, and it always puts a smile on my face.

I wish I had something more exciting to update with, but unfortunately not! I want to get out and get some pictures in the next week or so, so I’ll try and get those posted.

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Day… I’m not too sure.

I’m not even entirley sure if it’s Wednesday or Thursday, let alone what day I’m on. And as I’m sleepy and not at my own computer, I can’t be bothered to count. Heh.

I do know that on Saturday I’ll have been in London one month. As such I’ve started reflecting a bit on my time so far.

I should mention that life took an extreme detour since my last post, so some of what I mentioned in there is no longer relevant. But I don’t care to discuss that in detail, other than to say I was about ready to fly home on Monday afternoon. But after some excellent advice from some amazing people, I’ve decided to plow through it.

Anyway!

I spent 8 months in the UK in 2005-2006, but in an experience far different from the one I’m having now. At that time I was here through a Canadian univerisity, surrounded by fellow Canadian students and instructors (for the most part), living a very sheltered life. Not to say there weren’t opportunities to become less sheltered, but as a shy, awkward 18 year old, I didn’t take any of them up.

Now I find myself emersed in the British culture and way of life. It’s exciting and challenging. Challiting, if you will.

I find being here like being in a strange alternate reality. It’s like Pete’s World in Doctor Who. Everything is so similar, while being ever so slightly different. I speak the language, yet can not understand what people are saying. It’s a strange position to be in.

There are the big things that most people know about: Driving on the opposite side, the accent, the outlets, the currency. But then there’s a million little things that I’ve just been learning through trial and error. The computer keyboard, the tumble dryer, looking the right way when crossing the street, the television times, calling landlines versus calling mobiles, and the terminology.

It’s not a store, it’s a shop. It’s not a backyard, it’s a garden. It’s not a buck, it’s a quid. It’s not a resume, it’s a CV. It’s not a cell, it’s a mobile. It’s not a closet, it’s a wardrobe. It’s not gas, it’s petrol. It’s not a pharmacy, it’s a chemist. And a million other little things.

I think I’m slowly catching on though.

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Day 23

I started work at my new job last week. I began training in one position, only to realize it was very much not for me. I told them so, and they kindly offered me a job in another department. I started training on Thursday and found it was a bit better. That’s not to say I’ll like the job- I really don’t think I will. But I’ll feel more comfortable with the new department at least. At least I hope!

I had the weekend off. Didn’t do much of anything during the day yesterday, and in the evening FINALLY made it to Pizza Express with Sally and Sophie. It was as delicious as I remembered, though I didn’t get the banoffee pie. Le sigh.

This morning I went to look at a room for rent, and Sally’s mom kindly came with. It was perfect for me. Small room with a bed, wardrobe, chair, TV, shelving, drawers, and an en suite, as well as an all inclusive price. I know they say don’t go with the first one you see, but I don’t think I’d find such a good deal anywhere else. The house was big, clean, and very nice. It’s also a close walk to the station I’ve been using. Plus, I could afford it! Always helpful! Heh.

So, I’m no longer unemployed and homeless! Go me!

(Not to say I was ever homeless. Sally and Karen have been amazing and put me up in their home for the past 23 days. I don’t know how I would have fared these first few weeks without their kindness and support and I am so happy to have been welcomed in to their home! Which brings me to another pro point on the new place- 5 mins from them! Heh.)

I’m still applying to jobs and am still waiting to hear back from ones I applied to ages and ages ago. But, for now, I’m getting settled, have some money coming in, a room to call my own, and the support of some amazing friends. What more could a girl ask for after only 23 days after moving halfway around the world?

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Day 19

I found a job today.

I wish I was more excited about that. But, it’s at a call centre, which is what I left Niagara to escape! It’s temporary though. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. Ideally I’ll stay there for about 12 weeks, save up enough money to get a flat, and in the meantime hopefully have more gainful employment lined up. But, it’ll do for now.

Unless I suck at it, and they ask me to leave… Heh.

Other than that, things have been relatively uneventful.

Last week my friend William and I went down south to Herstmonceux Castle and Eastbourne, which was a lot of fun!

Aside from that, just pounding the pavement to find work!

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Week One

It’s Saturday, which means I’ve been in London for an entire week already. It’s gone by fast and slow, all at once. I also feel like I’ve accomplished a great deal, and absolutely nothing, all at the same time. I hate that feeling. Everything seems so chaotic, and I’ve not been good with chaos this year, so it’s no surprise that I’ve started to lose my head a bit in the last few days. Today was especially bad, but I’m hoping that a good nights sleep tonight will help. We shall see…

I’ve been applying to job upon job all week. A few in person, a lot online, so I’m really hoping to hear back from something in the next week. I didn’t come here with the expectation of finding something right away. I know that’s not realistic! But something soon would be nice. There’s an amazing job that I’ve been short listed for so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Again, we shall see.

Today Sally and her mum took me to Enfield, where I’d never been. It was lovely. A very picturesque London borough with tons of shops and restaurants and parks. I handed out a few resumes while there, we had lunch, and did some shopping. Well, I looked longingly at pretty things I can’t afford until I find work, but, you know. I did buy a portable wardrobe. Woo!

No, I shouldn’t mock. I am pretty excited about it. I’m not good with living out a suitcase, so it’ll be nice to get my things out and organized. I’m hoping it will be help dampen a bit of chaos I’m feeling.

Shopping in Enfield when a rain storm came past.

I was invited out to dinner and a movie tonight with Sally, Michelle, and a friend of theirs, but opted out. I don’t think I’m very much fun to be around today, so it’s probably best for everyone. Plus I’ve gotten myself completely paranoid about spending money. This is also why a job can not come soon enough!

Not much else new. I have a lot of paperwork to fill out tonight (National Insurance, NHS, bank), and am hoping to get to bed early. My jet lag has been terrible, and I’ve been up until 3 or 4 every night. I got up early today though and am feeling quite tired, so hopefully I can get this sorted! Everything seems worse when you don’t sleep, and between that and my normal anxiety I’m surprised I haven’t booked myself a flight home in a moment of panic! Heh.

But, all in all, things are good. Aside from my moments (err, hours, maybe) of panic I’m feeling pretty hopeful. Give it time and patience and good things will come, right? Once again, we shall see.

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Checking In

I arrived in London on Saturday after an uneventful journey over. The flight was on time, there was no line up (and I mean not a single person!) at immigration when I arrived, no bags were lost, and the Gatwick Express was waiting when I arrived at the platform.

Michelle was kind enough to come and meet me at Victoria station to help me with my things. And thank goodness! We got on the underground, did our one transfer, and shortly after the entire line shut down due to a signal outage. We had to transfer to a third train and exit at the final open stop where we then had to find a bus to take us up the rest of the line. With my 100 lbs of stuff. But we eventually made it!

On Sunday I slept. And slept. And slept a bit more.

On Monday I headed in to Central London to a new arrivals orientation through BUNAC Work In Britain. It was very helpful. They told me everything I need to do to legally work, how to file taxes, where to get a bank account, employment agency recommendations, etc. After the orientation I headed to Angel to buy a mobile and open a bank account. I’d never been to Angel before, but it was so nice! And very easy to get to from where I’m staying. I’ll have to remember that.

Yesterday I started the process of getting a National Insurance Number, NHS, applied for a pile of jobs online, and checked in with a few jobs I’d applied to before leaving home to let them know I was now here.

Today I headed in to a big shopping area close to where I’m staying and handed out my CV to anyone willing to take it! Fingers crossed that something comes up in the next week or so.

That’s about all that’s new here. I’m still jet lagged and exhausted as I’ve been having a lot of trouble falling asleep. I’m hoping that that passes soon though.

Ummm… Yeah. That’s everything! I’ll hopefully have good news on the job front the next time I post. *Fingers Crossed*

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London 2012, Part One

It’s closing in on 2 months since my London trip (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?), so I figured I should probably get the promised blog up! It was a rather long trip, and I’m not too sure if WordPress will let me put all the pictures I want to in a single post. We shall see!

I left for London on February 14th, and came home on the 26th, making it the longest single trip to London I’ve ever done. And I had a marvelously wonderful time!

I landed on the 15th, stood in line at immigration for nearly 2 hours, and then headed out in search of Sally. 3 trains, and 2 extremely graceful falls later, I found myself Hertfordshire, in North London, where an extremely cold Sally sat waiting for me for hours (I didn’t anticipate the 2 hour immigration line and had no way to contact her!) We then made our way back to her house where I promptly collapsed after 15 hours of travelling.

The next day (Thursday) Sally, Michelle, and I headed to the country for cream tea, shopping, and lots of general tourist-y things.

(As always, click on pictures to enlarge)

Cream (Creme?) Tea:

The Roman ruins at St. Alban’s:

That night we decided to take on the daunting task of making Orla a TARDIS cake for her birthday as a surprise!

And the finished product, a good 6 hours later:

(Don’t laugh- making a TARDIS cake is not as easy as it seems!)

Picture Op!

The next morning, after a whopping 2 hours of sleep I headed in to central London to meet up with Orla and Aideen. With two pieces of luggage, a backpack, and an enormous tupperware container holding the cake, I ventured out solo and somehow managed a bus, two trains, and about a kilometre of walking. Eventually I made it to our hotel to find Orla semi-conscious in the lobby waiting for me. She was early, I was late, and the hotel was in my name. Woops! But, we checked in, managed to not pass out, and actually ventured back out to find food!

Later in the day Aideen arrived and we set out on an evening stroll, got some dinner, and headed back for some much needed sleep!

St. Paul’s Cathedral at night:

Saturday was jam packed. It was Orla’s birthday, so we’d planned a pile of fun things to do! In the morning it was raining, but we headed out to Camden regardless to wander around the markets and grabbed some lunch.

After Camden we headed to Oxford Street to find the Hummingbird Bakery. Unfortunately it was packed, so we opted to come back another day! Still, the rain had let up, so we wandered around shops for the afternoon. That evening we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the birthday festivities. Cake, out to dinner, cake, GloZell, cake, out dancing, and, of course, more cake!

(Please ignore our friends behind us: Mr. and Mrs. Dryhump)

Sunday was the last full day with three of us, but we were also exhausted, so we opted to have a full, but relaxing, day. We headed to Kensington Gardens, saw Royal Albert Hall, wandered through the shops in Kensington, and then went to see The Muppet Movie!

Monday we headed back to Oxford Street to get cupcakes at the Hummingbird Bakery. Well worth going back for!

We then walked to Covent Garden, and back to our hotel. A carnival set up under the London Eye:

Aideen headed back to Dublin that evening, and Orla and I transported ourselves from our fancy birthday weekend hotel to the Travelodge. And we, thankfully, had a much better experience that this Travelodge (Southwark), then we did on our last trip to London (Travelodge Waterloo). On Tuesday Orla and I headed to the Olympia for.. *drumroll* THE DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE!

Mock us all you want, it was amazing! They had everything there. We even got some sort of Platinum package, which means we also got a bag of nifty-gifties, including a certificate saying we flew the TARDIS. That’s right, be jealous.

WordPress is starting to freeze, so I think it’s time to end this one. More in Part 2!

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And we’re off!

Ello, ello!

It’s our last few hours in London. So sad! But, we’ve had a fantastic time. We were able to fit in much more stuff than I was expecting, which is great. If anyone is visiting London I highly recommend The London Pass. It was so handy, and saved us a ton of money. Win, win!

On Monday we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, Downing Street, Churchill’s War Rooms, Harrods, Westminster Abbey, and Parliament.

(If you click the photos you can see larger ones)

St. Paul’s Cathedral: We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but it was gorgeous!

10 Downing Street: Orla’s unimpressed with David Cameron face

Inside Churchill’s War Rooms:

Westminster Abbey

Parliament

Shopping at Harrods

And, finally, the highlight of my day: Banoffee Pie! (Kidding, kind of. I’ve been waiting 5 years for this!)

I haven’t uploaded pictures from yesterday yet, but there isn’t much to see (didn’t take many pictures), so, no worries. We visited the British Museum (saw the Rosetta Stone, and some original columns and plaques from the Parthenon), the National Gallery (Renior, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Picasso, general awesomeness!), I had more banoffee pie, and then we went to A Conversation with Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish BFI centre, which was great. Edgar Wright is a director (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and most recently, Scott Pilgram). The show was so funny. I’m really glad we went.

We leave in few hours for Edinburgh. The weather is gorgeous in London, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we have the same luck up there! It’s the Edinburgh International Festival, so there’s a lot happening in the city right now. Should be exciting! Maybe we’ll spot some celebrities. I think Angelina Jolie drove by us the other night as we were eating dinner. We were a few blocks away from the Salt premiere, and a car drove by with papparazzi chasing after it.

Anyway, I should get packing. My things are a mess at the moment.

We won’t have Internet, I don’t think, until Sunday. So, talk to you then!

~Spencer

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London, Part 2

It has been a busy couple of days here in London! I’m pretty exhausted and I probably won’t be too detailed in this post. But, I have pictures!

Saturday, August 14th

We started the day out by walk to Trafalger Square, visiting an info centre there, and grabbing some breakfast:

We then took the tube up to Nothing Hill to visit the Portobello Market:

We then took the tube to Earl’s Court to visit one of the city’s few remaining Police Public Call Box’s (Because we’re enormous Doctor Who nerds. Don’t judge!):

After that we got on the tube again and went to Picadilly Circle and wandered around. We then strolled over to Buckingham Palace:

After that we wandered around some shops, got some dinner, and walked along the Thames at night:

Sunday, August 15th

This morning we walked to the Globe Theatre and took a tour:

After that we walked to the London Bridge to go through the London Bridge Experience and Tombs. It was terrifying! I didn’t get any pictures since they weren’t allowed.

We then walked down to Tower Bridge:

Followed by Tower of London:

And finally a 2.5 hour cruise down the River Thames. I took too many pictures and can not decide what to post! I did get a picture of the 500 year old pub where we had dinner:

We have another busy day tomorrow, so I really need to get to sleep. I’m so tired! But feeling great.

Hope everyone is doing well!

~Spencer