London- A big city that brings you back to reality!
Good morning everyone from a very very very hot London
Well, I have been here for about 10 days now and I must admit it feels like I was never in Africa or been on holidays...it feels like I've run into a wall of reality and fast!
Since, I last left I arrived at Heathrow Airport after a 12 hour marathon from Turkey. Funny story, I caught KLM from Istanbul-Amsterdam-London and the air hostesses all thought I was Dutch so they kept on greeting and asking me questions in Dutch. I just smiled and nodded my head as I couldnt be bothered to explain I wasnt and it might embarass them as well.
Anyway, after a longer than expected delay at the airport due to a communications mixup I caught my first tube service to a friends house where I stayed for a week while I got myself settled. After folking out £26 for a weekly ticket, I had my first instance of 'converting pounds to Aussie dollars syndrome!'. That can really do your head in, but when you are not earning pounds its very easy to do.
For the first couple of days, I decided to be a real tourist as I had a few friends that were over here (Hey Rob and Coachy) and we went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, London Bridge, London Tower, St Pauls Cathedral etc. etc. I was a little awestruck as I couldnt quite believe that I was finally in London after wanting to come here for so many years. It was fun being a tourist here, especially during summer as everyone seems happy and there is a great vibe to this city. (I heard this changes during Winter!) Oh yeah, the weather has been phenomenal, so hot. Yesterday was 37C, one of the hottest days on record here and Im thinking to myself thats a mild day for us in February.. apparently, most school children were allowed to go home.. they dont breed them as tough as they do in Aus!
Like everything Im enjoying the hot weather while its here, as winter is cold-bitterly cold as everyone keeps reminding me.
After the initial few days of sightseeing, I have basically been behind a computer or on the phone doing the job hunting game.. Without wanting to bore you too much, it has been tough due to the fact its summer and everyone has gone on holidays and with my working holiday visa its really hard to get a look in for anything permanent in nature..in that it is nearly impossible.. or maybe they just dont want me..:( Anyway, I have a couple of leads so hopefully something comes up in the next week or so as my funds are slowing draining away..
On the accommodation side of things, after spending a week at a friends house Im staying at some short-term accommodation in Bayswater, its cheap (for London standards, back home I could have been staying at the Mariott for the week for the same price) but a little seedy and dodgy. Im in a quad room with 3 Frenchman, I think they were loving the fact they had a little extra space until I came in. Hopefully I wont be there much longer than 2 weeks.
Besides all the setbacks and job rejections Ive been getting (I havent had this many rejections since I turned 18 and started going to the local pub) things are pretty good. Its been great to catch up with people from my African tour and the friends that I have over here at the moment and Im enjoying the city but not the tube..I know its been said before but why cant they put a/c on the tube system!!
Its been great to spend sometime with Casey, and she has signed up to do a 3 month live-in caring role.. I even mentioned to her yesterday that I might have to do that.. actually I can barely look after myself how I could I look after someone else :) ha
I hope everyone is well and I will post some pics from our sightseeing in London.. (especially from the London eye, Rob and I took some great pics as we needed to after waiting 2 hours for it!)
Post a comment and stay in touch.
Cheers
Troy
Well, I have been here for about 10 days now and I must admit it feels like I was never in Africa or been on holidays...it feels like I've run into a wall of reality and fast!
Since, I last left I arrived at Heathrow Airport after a 12 hour marathon from Turkey. Funny story, I caught KLM from Istanbul-Amsterdam-London and the air hostesses all thought I was Dutch so they kept on greeting and asking me questions in Dutch. I just smiled and nodded my head as I couldnt be bothered to explain I wasnt and it might embarass them as well.
Anyway, after a longer than expected delay at the airport due to a communications mixup I caught my first tube service to a friends house where I stayed for a week while I got myself settled. After folking out £26 for a weekly ticket, I had my first instance of 'converting pounds to Aussie dollars syndrome!'. That can really do your head in, but when you are not earning pounds its very easy to do.
For the first couple of days, I decided to be a real tourist as I had a few friends that were over here (Hey Rob and Coachy) and we went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, London Bridge, London Tower, St Pauls Cathedral etc. etc. I was a little awestruck as I couldnt quite believe that I was finally in London after wanting to come here for so many years. It was fun being a tourist here, especially during summer as everyone seems happy and there is a great vibe to this city. (I heard this changes during Winter!) Oh yeah, the weather has been phenomenal, so hot. Yesterday was 37C, one of the hottest days on record here and Im thinking to myself thats a mild day for us in February.. apparently, most school children were allowed to go home.. they dont breed them as tough as they do in Aus!
Like everything Im enjoying the hot weather while its here, as winter is cold-bitterly cold as everyone keeps reminding me.
After the initial few days of sightseeing, I have basically been behind a computer or on the phone doing the job hunting game.. Without wanting to bore you too much, it has been tough due to the fact its summer and everyone has gone on holidays and with my working holiday visa its really hard to get a look in for anything permanent in nature..in that it is nearly impossible.. or maybe they just dont want me..:( Anyway, I have a couple of leads so hopefully something comes up in the next week or so as my funds are slowing draining away..
On the accommodation side of things, after spending a week at a friends house Im staying at some short-term accommodation in Bayswater, its cheap (for London standards, back home I could have been staying at the Mariott for the week for the same price) but a little seedy and dodgy. Im in a quad room with 3 Frenchman, I think they were loving the fact they had a little extra space until I came in. Hopefully I wont be there much longer than 2 weeks.
Besides all the setbacks and job rejections Ive been getting (I havent had this many rejections since I turned 18 and started going to the local pub) things are pretty good. Its been great to catch up with people from my African tour and the friends that I have over here at the moment and Im enjoying the city but not the tube..I know its been said before but why cant they put a/c on the tube system!!
Its been great to spend sometime with Casey, and she has signed up to do a 3 month live-in caring role.. I even mentioned to her yesterday that I might have to do that.. actually I can barely look after myself how I could I look after someone else :) ha
I hope everyone is well and I will post some pics from our sightseeing in London.. (especially from the London eye, Rob and I took some great pics as we needed to after waiting 2 hours for it!)
Post a comment and stay in touch.
Cheers
Troy
posted by Troy Aitken | 3:17 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Troy
DIIRD calling! The new pics of Troy doing Normandy were great - in fact I was going to make a comment about all the changes of outfits in the pics - I wondered how many bags you had dragged around to still have a few new looks. Great news on the work front - that first pay cheque won't last long but I am sure you will get to Norway soon. Enjoy XX Viv Ellard
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