Christmas Eve 2008

We have been really busy at work lately and the short week didnt help. But at 5pm we cracked out the champas and got stuck into it; despite still having lots to do. At 6, feeling a bit tipsy Anette had to go back to the ward. I had since given up and decided to meet her at the local. But at 6.30 they called last drinks and closed at 7. We went to another on, which then closed at 8. After that we gave up and came home.
This was pretty weird because at Home on Christmas Eve i would normally go to the pub with friends and family and get really pissed. Then Poor Mum would have to pick us up at middnight cos there were no cabs.
Even the shops were closed by 4 or 5 pm. Though this is the strange country where its illegal for shops to open for more than 5 hours on sundays.
So in the couple of hours we had, we managed to have a good time and not wake up on christmas day with a hangover. So that was a nice side effect.

Winter Wonderland 20.12.2008

Today Karen decided to take me to Hyde park to go ice skating. I havnt done this since i was about 12! i was a bit nervous to start and had to hold on to the wall. As did everyone els. But once i got started i had a great time. It was quite funny because it was a "warm" day so the ice was covered in water and was a bit bumpy. But i still managed to not fall over. However i still had really sore legs when i finished. I must be getting old.

Work Xmas Party 11 and 12.12.2008

We had our christmas party a couple of weeks before christmas. We had a team dinner on the thursday, with a secret santa. That was a really fun night and was nice to see everyone outside of work.
On the friday we had the NHS party. It was a bit like a ball and everyone got really dressed up. IT was so much fun and everyone got really into it. It only cost 7 ponds for dinner and as much wine as we could drink! I had a great night despite spending 2 hours in the freezing cold trying to get a cab!

Oxford 5.12.2008

After my very busy weekend in bath, I went to oxford for a few days to relax. It was so lovely to just walk around and see all the old buildings. Some about a thousand years old. While i was there i went to Blenhiem Palace which is amazing. The grounds are magnificent. As much as i love living in London, it was nice to get out to the country breath some fresh air.
I did a walking tour of the Uni. Its so traditional and pompous. Some of the colleges have to wear their academic dress every day just to have dinner. Dont think i could get away with my jeans and thongs. Not that you would wear thongs in this weather!

Bath 28-30.11.08

I loved Bath, ill definately be going back! Its such a quaint little town.
Its like taking a step back in time (with starbucks and burger king).
The roman Baths are really fascinating.
While i was there i did a jane austan walking tour which was really interesting. I saw where she used to live and many of the sites mentioned in her novels.
I climbed the bell tower in the Abbey, which provided a beautiful view. While i was there i went to Stonhenge, which is not that exciting. If ur driving past its worth a quick look. I dont understand why some people think its a sun dial, wouldnt get much use out of it in this country.

Last weekend i went and checked out Notting Hill with Julie and her friend lisa. Its one big market. Ayesha you would love it. Its such a posh area, the houses are mansions, wouldnt mind living there one day.
On saturday I had dinner with my family in Canary Warf. Thats another fancy area, that used to be a bit of a slum.

Sorry, i know i havnt updated this in a while. Ive mostly been working and saving up as i plan to travel lots next year, starting with paris in the beginning of Jan. Cant wait!

Last Saturday I went to the Lord Mayors Show, which is a parade thats been running for nearly 800 years. It was cool to experience something thats been running for so long. 

That night we went to the Guy Fawkes Night fireworks/bonfire.  

"Its an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November, 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, were alleged to be attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England". 

"It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom where it was compulsory, by fiat, to celebrate the deliverance of the King until 1859, but also in former British colonies including New Zealand, Newfoundland, and parts of the British Caribbean.^{[citation needed]} Bonfire Night was celebrated in Australia until the mid to late 1970s, when sale and public use of fireworks was made illegal and the celebration was effectively abolished". "it involves fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which traditionally "guys" are burnt".

I was surprised how much i enjoy it, cos i usually get bored by fireworks, but we were really close so they were exploding just above us. After the firworks they lit the fire. It was really weid cos as soon as the "Guy caught fire, everyone left". 

Overall i had a great time!

Work

I Started work on Monday 22.9.08.

Its mostly been orientation so far and IT training, as the medical records are electronic. So its a bit early to tell, but all the people seem cool. My office is based office the acute hospital, but i will probably be working at the rehab hospital, which i think ill prefer. So now i just have to wait and see.

Hull (17-21.9.2008)

Last week i went to my mums home town of Hull, in the North of England. I met family on my nan and grandpas side of the family that i havnt seen in ten years as well as heaps of family that i hadnt even heard of. Even though i didnt know them it still felt like family! Im so glad i met them.

My Cousin Mark and Tarsh from Oz are up there at the moment, and it was so good to see them too. We went to my grandpas brothers 70th surprise party, he is one of ten children, so there were lots of new faces there. We also went to the street that mum grew up in. Its now just full of shops, but the fish and chip shop and the pub, Rayners that my grandpa drank in was still there, so of course we had a couple there. Dont think the pub had changed much. 

We also had a tour on the fishing trawler that my uncles used to work on. I dont think id like to do that, working 18-36 hour days, not changing ur clothes in 3 weeks and chopping all the ice off the ship so it doesnt sink. 

My Birthday 13.9.08

Today My Family Took me out for a lovely Lunch, after cooking me a huge breakfast!

One thing i was looking fwd to before coming to London was going to the theatre. I love that there are theaters on every other corner and it is so cheap. So my family took me to see Wicked. It was so much fun and definitely recommend it! for those of you that dont know, it tell the story of the Witches of Oz.

The following day i met up with Sim, (one of the many Aussie Social Workers here in the UK) and went to the Thames Festival. This was also a lot of fun, and was great to see a familiar Face.

This weekend I met up with Bec from Australia and her friend Jess, as they were in London for a few days before starting a Contiki Tour. So we did lots of touristy Stuff.

We started by doing the London Tour Bus, and checking out all the sights. We then did a walking tour, to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and the marching band. The guides were quitethe characters, one of them was such a stereotype of a pompous pom!

after that we went inside Buckingham Palace. This was amazing. It doesnt look like a palace on the outside, but it certainly does on the inside! We checked out the banquet room. The table is set two days in advance, and it can take up to 18months to organise one dinner. There are hundreds of bed rooms, and the back yard isnt to bad either.

After the Palace, we did the aquarium and the London Eye. I had already done it, but wanted to dao it at night.

On the Suday we did the London Dungeons, Which i would recomend. Its quite a fun experience.

We also did a river cruise and the Jack the Ripper Tour.

Work

I went for a job Interview today, for a position in a hospital in Camden, North London. The position seems like it will ultimately focus on discharge planning. The interview must have gone much better than I thought as i received a call 15 minutes later with an offer, Yay! Not sure when i start yet. So hopefully the job is not to bad.

 

Today I walked across Tower Bridge and checked out Tower of London. Tower of London was a really interesting place to visit, with the last person being executed there as recent as world war 2. The Jewel House ( second from top) housed various crown jewels from over the centuries. I dont know much about Jewelry,  but i reckon some of those crowns, and swords covered in diamonds might be worth a bit. I was very impressed. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos in there, so you will just have to use your imagination. 

Spotty Dick

So i thought i'd live life on the edge and try the STD flavored dessert. It actually wasn't too bad.

Sun!!!! 30.8.08

Feeling quite hungover, i was tempted to just go back to bed, but for the first time since I arrived there was not a cloud in the sky! And being the second last day of summer I thought i better make the most of it. 

So Karen and I went and checked out Hoarse Guard Parade, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Harods. I was surprised to see that Harods is much more prestigious than Buckingham Palace. 

Harods is so strange. Most of it is really tasteful and classy, then they have their tacky Pet world. Its so scary. But what is scarier is that its August and they already have the Christmas Department open. Christmas Crackers range from about 60 pounds to 500. I think this Christmas ill be satisfied with a crappy plastic toy and pathetic  joke. 

My Aussie day 30.8.08

(Top: Blanche; R: Jenny)

I spent most of yesterday getting really drunk and playing drinking games and discussing the weirdness that is England. 

Fox's

Fox's seem to just roam around London

Brighton 25.8.08

On Sunday My cousin took me to Brighton, in the south of England, on the coast. Apparently it is still summer, but it was a good thing I took a jumper and a jacket. I thought I was going to get blown away. 

I thought the tiny patch of imported sand, amongst all the pebbles was hilarious! And as soon as the sun came out, so did all the people. Its clearly to cold to swim, so they have a huge pier, with an amusement park, restaurants and bars on it. Of course, we had fish and chips for lunch. The restaurant was were I discovered that the to the Poms, Spotty Dick is a dessert, not an STD. These people really are strange. 

It is quite a pretty city, and I'm looking forward to heading back down there for a weekend. Dont think i will bother taking my bordies though, but may try a bit of spotty dick.

Football

On Saturday, my cousin took me to a football match. We saw Crystal Palace Vs Burnly. Crystal Palace was my dads local team when he lived in London. I had a great day. And to finish off the day we had dinner in an old English Pub, which are everywhere. I cant believe how many pubs there are, I'm in heaven! 

The UK 17th of August 2008 -

So now I'm In England!! I arrived a bit over a week ago and finally feel like I'm over the jet lag and recovered from all the traveling. I am staying with my family in West Norwood, which is South London. 

So far I have been having a really great time and have been doing the touristy things like the London Eye. Today I did the"London Bridge Experience" which was really for kidds, so obviously I had a great time. I also met with the job agency today, which seemed to go quite well.

Zurich

After the Rein Falls tour I went into Zurich and walked around in the pouring rain. It is a beautiful city, not a high rise in site. I don't think they have built a new building in the last 200 years. Its also such tiny city. 

Lucerne

On the way back fro Mt. Titlis, we stopped in a beautiful little town called, Lucerne we had an hour there and we rushed around taking photos of everything.

Mt Titlis

I had booked to go on an all day tour, up Mt Titlis, the highest mountain in Switzerland. I ran into Anu at the main station, and she was going on the same tour. We took the Tour Bus from the station, and there was another Australian couple sitting with us on the bus. We dropped off other tour groups along the way.

When we arrived at Mt Titlis, we took a cable car to the top. It takes 45 minutes and 3 seperate cable cars. The last cable car has a revolving floor. The View is amazing! At the top of the mountain, there is snow all year round. It was beautiful.

At the top, we walked through the glacier, which was a little cold, but it was definitely worth it. Then we jumped on the sky ridder, another cable car, which took us to the snow sledds. It was so much fun, and quite hard to control. We then rushed back to the bus thinking that we would get there right on time. But we wer'nt paying attention to the time and got there an hour early. Knowing that it was 45 min to get back up, we went up halfway, and came down on the scooters. That was so much fun, though there were cars on the road and you couldnt see them when coming around the tight bends. I braked when one was coming towards me and went straight over the handle bars as the brakes were really jumpy. The driver was kind enough to stop for half a second look at me and keep going. Despite this it was still so much fun, and now I can say I rode down the Alps on a scooter.  

Rein Falls

I booked tours through the Hotel. I Went on a half day tour to the Rein Falls, which is close to the German Border. The weather wasnt the best, but we were going to see a water fall anyway. The waterfall was magnificent. It wasnt very high, but it was wide and extreemly powerful. We went really close to it in a boat, and walked up a rock in the middle of it, to stand right at the top. It was amazing. I met Anu on the tour, and it was nice to travel with someone and have someone to take photo's.

Switzerland 14 - 17.8.2008

Switzerland is a beautiful country. I was only there for a few days, so I tried to make the most of It. The day after i arrived I did a tour of the Rein Fall and explored Zurich in the pouring rain, which was great practice for England. The following day, I did a Tour of Mt. Titlis.

I loved the way my hotel was 5 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from Zurich, but looked like it was in a Tiny Village. 

I had a wonderful time in Switzerland, it is quite an interesting country. I found that generally the people were not overly friendly, and could be quite rude by Australian standards, but they make amazing food, so that Kind of made up for it. Although they are quite happy to ruin the meal by smoking in restaurants. Bringing dogs into restaurants was also a little strange.