How not to shop in London...
Yesterday Hayley and I decided to go shopping for a few house things. There's a shop over here called Argos where you go and select what you want from catalogues, order them from the sales person and then they go and get your items from out the back. Everything's quite cheap so we thought we'd buy the things we needed from there.
Our shopping list consisted of a dvd player, a microwave, coathangers, a rubbish bin and a clothes horse. Hayls and I, being fairly typical Aussies, didn't even consider how we were going to get all this stuff home. We just happily ordered away and then started getting worried as more and more stuff started coming out from the back. Then we got the giggles realising just how much we had to carry between the two of us. The sales guy was looking at us like we were crazy! Needless to say, we needed a black cab just to get all our purchases and us home.
I think we can safely say we've learnt our lesson - never buy more than you can physically carry in London!
Thursday, June 21
Wednesday, June 20
Monday, June 18
Bron
Well the hectic pace of life has continued. Hayley and I are now happily set up in our flat after getting the keys on Friday. Moving house with only the tube for transport isn't an experience I ever want to repeat! We have been good locals and stocked up on the pimms, lemonade, strawberries and cucumber for the traditional English alcoholic punch.
Toots and Trev have been in London over the weekend so we did the pom thing and had a curry and pint with them on Friday night, wandered around the Borough Markets on Saturday morning (an amazing food market) and then Toots and I did high tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace on Sunday afternoon.
The ex-E&Y crew living in London caught up for an afternoon at the pub yesterday so after high tea we joined them at a pub down on the Thames for a few drinks and a bit of Trev's singing. It was so good to catch up with everyone. Some that I haven't seen for years! I also picked up some good advice for job hunting from the seasoned professionals!
Thanks for all the news of home guys, keep the comments and emails coming.
xx
Toots and Trev have been in London over the weekend so we did the pom thing and had a curry and pint with them on Friday night, wandered around the Borough Markets on Saturday morning (an amazing food market) and then Toots and I did high tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace on Sunday afternoon.
The ex-E&Y crew living in London caught up for an afternoon at the pub yesterday so after high tea we joined them at a pub down on the Thames for a few drinks and a bit of Trev's singing. It was so good to catch up with everyone. Some that I haven't seen for years! I also picked up some good advice for job hunting from the seasoned professionals!
Thanks for all the news of home guys, keep the comments and emails coming.
xx
Thursday, June 14
Bron's Update
Okay people, that's more than enough of James - it's my turn!!
It's hard to believe that Hayley and I have been in London for less than a week. It feels like at least a month and I feel surprisingly settled. It has been a crazy time.
We have managed to find a gorgeous little two-bedroom flat in Fulham after seeing some horrors. It is within walking distance of some great restaurants and bars and has a back courtyard for the odd bbq. What more could we need! The bad news is we can't move in until our funds transfer from Australia goes through and we're not quite sure how long that takes. But my trusty banking advisor (Jo) is on the case. What would I do without her!
Also, despite my best efforts to stay unemployed for a while longer, I have had recruiters phoning every 5 minutes with job opportunities and I have job interviews set up for the next few days.
In between flat hunting and fielding calls from recruiters I did manage a mini break in Oxford to visit James and Liz and escape the rat race in London. What a brilliant town! All the students are having their final exams at the moment and they actually have to sit their exams in their robes, bow-tie and tails. It makes it kind of easy to pick out the students from the tourists!
So I think that just about wraps up my 6 days in the UK! I will try and upload some photos when I get my own computer but in the meantime I will try and blog on a more frequent basis.
It's hard to believe that Hayley and I have been in London for less than a week. It feels like at least a month and I feel surprisingly settled. It has been a crazy time.
We have managed to find a gorgeous little two-bedroom flat in Fulham after seeing some horrors. It is within walking distance of some great restaurants and bars and has a back courtyard for the odd bbq. What more could we need! The bad news is we can't move in until our funds transfer from Australia goes through and we're not quite sure how long that takes. But my trusty banking advisor (Jo) is on the case. What would I do without her!
Also, despite my best efforts to stay unemployed for a while longer, I have had recruiters phoning every 5 minutes with job opportunities and I have job interviews set up for the next few days.
In between flat hunting and fielding calls from recruiters I did manage a mini break in Oxford to visit James and Liz and escape the rat race in London. What a brilliant town! All the students are having their final exams at the moment and they actually have to sit their exams in their robes, bow-tie and tails. It makes it kind of easy to pick out the students from the tourists!
So I think that just about wraps up my 6 days in the UK! I will try and upload some photos when I get my own computer but in the meantime I will try and blog on a more frequent basis.
Wednesday, June 13
James' Keen Observation #1
coke cans (amongst other popular drinks) will rarely have english on them!
in England!
the one i drink from now is in Deutsch, and i had a Red Bull with what looked like Russian printed on the side of the can.
ahh the free-wheeling European Union!
note: Russia is not in the EU.
in England!
the one i drink from now is in Deutsch, and i had a Red Bull with what looked like Russian printed on the side of the can.
ahh the free-wheeling European Union!
note: Russia is not in the EU.
Tuesday, June 12
James in the fast lane
yep, i am now the proud owner of a smooth black macbook. (crowd cheers, claps fade after 10 mins).
however, at times i thought it may not be so.
**pardon the flaky prose, i've been reading a lot of so-called books by so-called authors (*cough* wankers) since i've been gone
first, i thought "i'll use my trusty credit card" and went to town.
in oxford they write with quills so they hadn't heard of laptops.
but an indian restaurant "curry's digital" showed promise. behind the covert shop front was an electrical goods store, with bollywood music. and one macbook on display.
but while krishna went out back to check for the box, he found a faster/better/blacker mac for only 60 quid more.
"great" chorused james and liz.
but alas, my transfer into my credit card to top it up needed more than 15 mins to clear.
krishna apologised and wrote a sign on the laptop's box "reserved".
liz and i met bron at the oxford traino to greet her...
and ask to borrow her credit facilities
she said "yes"
we wheeled her suitcase into curry's and hailed krishna. he brought back the box with a sign "reserved KRISHNA".
he thought it was a bargain.
so did we.
alas! when we got the laptop home, we faced two curious situations.
no power cable
and it was locked with curry digitals passwords
we returned, and his supervisors pissed themselves apologising. he was new.
but their shop was closing.
today, heroic sister bron returned to the shop where they formatted the computer to factory default, and packed in two power cables.
i came home to a brand new, working laptop!
i just worked til 5.45pm
i must stop writing.
love and peace
-james
however, at times i thought it may not be so.
**pardon the flaky prose, i've been reading a lot of so-called books by so-called authors (*cough* wankers) since i've been gone
first, i thought "i'll use my trusty credit card" and went to town.
in oxford they write with quills so they hadn't heard of laptops.
but an indian restaurant "curry's digital" showed promise. behind the covert shop front was an electrical goods store, with bollywood music. and one macbook on display.
but while krishna went out back to check for the box, he found a faster/better/blacker mac for only 60 quid more.
"great" chorused james and liz.
but alas, my transfer into my credit card to top it up needed more than 15 mins to clear.
krishna apologised and wrote a sign on the laptop's box "reserved".
liz and i met bron at the oxford traino to greet her...
and ask to borrow her credit facilities
she said "yes"
we wheeled her suitcase into curry's and hailed krishna. he brought back the box with a sign "reserved KRISHNA".
he thought it was a bargain.
so did we.
alas! when we got the laptop home, we faced two curious situations.
no power cable
and it was locked with curry digitals passwords
we returned, and his supervisors pissed themselves apologising. he was new.
but their shop was closing.
today, heroic sister bron returned to the shop where they formatted the computer to factory default, and packed in two power cables.
i came home to a brand new, working laptop!
i just worked til 5.45pm
i must stop writing.
love and peace
-james
Wednesday, June 6
james update
yo
last week i was a general maintenance assistant.
this week i am a receptionist / data enterer
that means i am also on a computer with the internet!
other news so far:
last week i was a general maintenance assistant.
this week i am a receptionist / data enterer
that means i am also on a computer with the internet!
other news so far:
- watched Zodiac, 3 hour cinema experience #2. it was crap
- i have to go.
Saturday, June 2
James after 1x Week in The UK
hey hey hey
yes, it has been a week since our qantas plane landed at heathrow and i cruised through immigration (without my uk passport).
therfore, as you can calculate, it has pretty much been a week without the internet...
so here we are.
things i have done so far
yes, it has been a week since our qantas plane landed at heathrow and i cruised through immigration (without my uk passport).
therfore, as you can calculate, it has pretty much been a week without the internet...
so here we are.
things i have done so far
- slept lots, and drank very little tea...
- almost finished the harry potter series
- worked a week as a maintenance assistant, cleaning drains, checking boilers and shopping at Wembley IKEA
- assembling much, much IKEA furniture.
- purchasing (and wheeling down our small pot-holed country lane on a stolen IKEA trolley) a bar fridge for our room.
all in all
Very Cool.
peace (for about a week)
Go Lebron!
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