The week that was

This last week has been really busy for both of us. I started a new job and Daniel did a training course for CCNA.

CCNA was extremely interesting for Daniel, it is all about networking and looking at how the internet works. His course went for 6 days and boy did he work hard. At the end of it Daniel felt like he had learnt so much. He Will have to do an exam to get the certificate. He even wrote so many notes that he ran a pen out of ink. He will look for jobs this week.

I started work on Monday at Boots. Boots is the largest pharmacy chain in the UK. The pharmacy I will work at is in Islington. That is in central/north London. It takes me about 45 minutes to work on the Tube. My position is Team Manager. This is sort of managing stock onto the store and managing staff. I won't have a lot to do with the pharmacy side of things (I think). My first week was a bit of a mess as my induction didn't go to plan (my store manager had the week off). I am feeling good about it though, as they are very customer focused.

Our new place

We signed all the papers for our place on Saturday 14th and moved in. It has heaps of storage cupboards, a good sized kitchen with washing machine and dryer, neat bathroom, small bedroom, lounge room with sofa bed (so if anyone is coming to London, there may be place for you crash a few nights) and is on the second floor on a fairly main road. Our new address is 4/49 Station Road, Hendon London NW44PW. We’re a short walk away from a tube station and buses go past. We can see Wembley Stadium from just out our front door. There is a shopping centre 15 minutes walk away and a Tesco (like Woolworths) within walking distance. There are also plenty of parks nearby (but haven’t seen a cricket ground just yet). The landlord lives upstairs and has been very helpful. We blew a light on the first night and he replaced it the next day. We went to Ikea and bought basically all the essentials we needed. We also splurged on a decent TV as you get free HD here, with about 30 channels.

Disappointment:

We then had to spend 1 night in a hotel before we could move into our flat. I booked us a place on the internet, close to the station for 75 pounds (close to the cheapest we could get). Well- when we got to our room it was tiny. When we put all our bags down, there was no floorspace left. None whatsoever. To say that we were not happy is an understatement. Anyway, we spent the night but will know not to go back there again.

Back to London:

We caught the Virgin train home- but there was a bit of a mishap. In a hurry, I bought the tickets- we had 4 minutes to catch the train. By the time we took our (6) bags down to the platform the train had arrived. We got to the first carriage and looked at our tickets to see which carriage we needed- but it didn’t say. I asked a lady what carriage I was to go on and she told me I didn’t have tickets, only reservation tickets and that I must have not picked up the tickets at the counter (oops). She said- ‘just get on!’ So we did. The train was packed and there were people in the aisles and no place for us to put our luggage. Seeing as we didn’t actually know our seat number, we couldn’t exactly go through the carriage and take someone else’s seat. So we sat it out at the end of the carriage, next to the toilets. I was lucky enough to have a seat (the seat that is usually for people waiting for the loo) next to a lady who had hopped on the wrong train. Daniel sat the hour and a half trip on his suitcase. Then the man checking tickets came through the carriage. Luckily, he just stamped the back of our reservations and didn’t read the details. The Virgin train is pretty awesome, really fast and is a tilt train. We know for next time to buy our tickets in advance as they are very expensive on the day.

Wales- Llandudno:

Colin and Carol took the day off work to take us (and Monty) to Northern Wales. We went to the coast, which was about an hour and a half away. They come there quite a bit on weekends, so they took us on a walk along the beach to a pub, then we walked back again. It was funny that while at the pub, they had a dog drink tray partly filled with beer for monty. Spoilt dog! The walk over was fine, but on the way back the wind picked up. As it was blowing straight off the water. We FROZE!

We then went to Conwy Castle. Unfortunately as it is winter it had closed by the time we got there. Within the walls of this castle is the smallest house in the UK. Maybe one day we can go there in summer and see inside the castle. Colin took us home on a very scenic route up in the hills. It was lovely (and a tiny bit scary in the car with Colin’s driving. Those tiny country lanes are very windy, and he did it in a faster speed than I would drive).

Our trip to Winsford to visit Colin and Carol:

Daniel and I caught a train up north to Winsford to visit Colin and Carol Jacobs. Colin is Daniel’s mum’s cousin. They are lovely people, who have welcomed us into their home and have said we can stay as long as we want and can come back at any time. Daniel is learning a lot about his family’s English history. They have a huge dog Monty who is a big softie inside. We went for a walk with him through some very muddy paddocks, past the salt mines. They mine salt for gritting the roads, so they have been extremely busy this last week. Carol (in red in the pictures) showed us where there are normally these huge piles of salt, but there is nothing there because it has all been used in the past week. Underneath the whole town are these huge caverns where the mining is taking place. We also saw their local golf course with snow on the green. That would be pretty difficult to play on.
On our second day here we walked into town for a bit of a look around. It has been a rainy day, so we didn’t do or see much. Colin introduced us to his local pub. It is in the brand name Wetherspoons. We had a real good meal for lunch today, as well as dinner last night. It has good cheap beers and decent pub meals so we’re going to find one close to us. We did a bit of window shopping, and I wanted a pair of Wellington’s so I bought some- when I called them gumboots Carol thought it was a funny thing to call them, so now they are my ‘wellies’.

London Dungeon

We got up early and went to the London Dungeon. It basically markets itself as a place for you to get scared. There are lots of people dressed up in character as old time Londoners. It was parts which detail Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, The great London Fire, being tried and hanged and medieval London. At the end is a ride which you go on and you’re ‘going under the hangman’s noose’. The ride picks you up then drops you free fall for a few metres. It was actually pretty scary as it got us by surprise.

The other highlight of the day was Daniel buying himself an Iphone. It really does have some good features on it such as GPS and weather. He will be occupied for hours now.

Sunday 8th February:

We went to the National Science Museum. It was interesting in some parts, but others were quite boring. Daniel enjoyed reading about computers and their development over time and I enjoyed the exhibit on plastics. We then had a good look around Kensington, which is a posh suburb.

Saturday 7th February:

Daniel and I went to Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. We wanted to go to the London Dungeon, but when we got there the lines were huge, and we would have had to wait in the rain. Instead we went for a walk along Southbank where the London Eye and Aquarium are. It was an overcast day so we didn’t want to go on the Eye either, and half the aquarium is closed for refurbishment, so instead we went and played a few video games in a games arcade. When it was time to go home, we tried to go on the Tube, but it was Waitangi day, like New Zealand’s Australia day and there were kiwis everywhere, all drunk and had closed the train station.

Day 6-8 house hunting:

We had decided on a budget, but after viewing a few properties and seeing the response we got from estate agents when we said we’d like to spend that much we decided to look into spending a bit more. For instance, there was a place for 150 pounds per week in a studio apartment and you literally had to cook your meals next to your bed, and there was also another place with a crazy lady upstairs. Because we don’t have jobs yet, we have to pay 3 month’s rent up front, which when you convert to AUD is a LOT. On day 3 of searching we found a nice 1 bed flat in a suburb called Hendon, which is in north-west London and about 25 to 30 minutes from Central London on the tube. We move in on Saturday. The next priority will be finding a job to pay the bills.

For Daniel’s birthday on February 4th we didn’t do anything too special as we were so focused on house hunting. We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant and it was very tasty.

THE SNOW

The warnings were there and on Sunday night as we went to bed, it had started snowing but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what we woke up to.
When we got up at 7AM there was about 30cm of snow everywhere. We went for a walk to a park nearby and I got to make a snow angel. While the snow was fun, it was widespread and as a result a lot of roads were not cleared. It turns out that although it rains a lot on London, and snows occasionally, it never snows this much. The entire London bus network was shut down and only about a quarter of the underground lines were operating. The news was recommending people only travel if absolutely necessary. London, a city of millions just shut down.
We had to get to the bank, so we took the underground in to Oxford Street. When we got there, after walking a few blocks in the snow, it was closed. Instead we went shopping at Primark again and spent some more money on clothes.

Madame Tussaud’s:

Some of the wax models were really good, while others were a bit unrealistic. Daniel had fun poking fun at the models, such as pretending to shake a one-armed man’s hand, handing Warnie a mobile phone, having a race with Stephen Hawking, punching Johnnie Wilkinson in the head, and laughing at John Howard. I liked the models of Barack Obama and the President’s desk, and enjoyed standing next to plastic faced Nicole Kidman.

After we’d been there we went to the pub down the road and I had my first pint of beer. Yes I drank it all by myself!

Day 4 Tesco

I wanted to buy a hairdryer so we thought we’d find our way to Tesco. Tesco is like Woolworths but sometimes has extra electrical/clothing range. The nearest one we could find was on Old Kent Road, which is South of the river. Now we know why Old Kent Road is only worth $60 on a Monopoly board! It was pretty slummy and to make matters worse it didn’t open til 11 and we got there at 10 and it was cold outside. We decided not to move to the South.

British TV

The predominant things about British TV are the news, game shows and American sitcoms. They always present the worst news first, their presenters have bad dress sense and it plays 24/7. We get a selection of Frasier, Will & Grace, Raymond all day long. Then there are the game shows: Price is right, Deal or No deal, Gold Balls, Weakest link, Eggheads, Take it or leave it, Wipeout to name a few. I think at any time of day you can see a game sow of some description and sometimes there are 3 on at once. On Deal or No deal they take it so seriously and often people cry. They also play Australian Border security a few times a day. Haven’t watched Neighbours or Home and Away yet.

Primark Day 3

Daniel needed to buy a jacket, so we went to Primark. What an experience!! Primark is a clothing shop where you can get basics for as little as 1 pound. Problem is it is so popular that people get changed in the aisles and if they don’t want something they just throw the clothes on the floor. We lined up for 17 minutes at the registers in a line that wound around the store. We bought 2 bags of clothes for about thirty five pounds- bargain. It was lots of fun! I also stocked up on gloves and scarves as we knew the next day would be even colder.

Grocery Shopping:

We did our first grocery shop and were pleasantly surprised by the price. A few baskets of groceries only cost us 30 pounds (about 70 dollars). Problem is the food is RUBBISH! We bought sausages- never again. Fanta is carbonated orange juice- yuk. Decent meat costs a fortune- we expected that. There’s so many help yourself things- salads, nuts, lollies, cakes, bread. Not very hygienic. The packaging is very retro too so it all looks a bit dodgey. One thing that amazed Daniel is that the checkout ladies all sit down and you bag your own groceries. No wonder they earn minimum wage.

Buckingham Palace

We went to Buckingham Palace and it was a cold, windy day. Daniel didn’t have a coat by then so he nearly froze. There were lots of tourists there so we got someone to take our photo together. We didn’t stay too long. We might go back one day in better weather and see the changing of the guards. The highlight was probably this bunch of guys who came running past in costumes including superheroes, fairies and cartoon characters. Most had bare legs and would be freezing if they weren’t so drunk. We reckon they were probably on a buck’s party or sporting trip.