Wandering in Wandsworth
Robert and I have been feeling unwell again. I've been terribly tired and we've both got headaches and a tickle at the back of the throat. So this weekend has been all about taking it easy and catching up on sleep.
In a bid to relax and to help us feel better we went for a wander down to the local park. Wandsworth Park has been in existence since 1903. Can you believe it cost 33,000 pounds to buy just over 100 years ago. The park runs along the edge of the Thames and has a lovely avenue of trees. We sat and read our books and watched the people with their dogs wander by. I took these photos with my phone camera so they aren't the best, but it adds that nice soft focus effect well :-) If you want to know more about Wandsworth Park you can on the
Wandsworth Council website.
This week has been seriously busy at work. I wrote my first full specification and attended my first 2 real client meetings. I also experimented with catching the bus to and from work for 2 days. The trip takes pretty much an hour and I did get a lot of reading done. However, I'm back on the train next week as Robert has determined that it's going to be more tiring and more expensive to ride the bike to and from Milton Keynes each day.
On Friday night we caught up with Suzanne and Chris and bought them dinner for helping us in our first two weeks. I needed red meat so we went to a restaurant called "
Sticky Fingers". It was originally opened by one of the Rolling Stones. It had lots of memorabilia, loud rock music and lots of BBQ meat - ribs, chicken, prawns, steak - and not to forget the deep-fried onion rings. It was pretty good value and we probably ate just a little too much. We finished off with Sticky Date pudding which was very good. The restaurant was in Kensington so it was a quick journey home on the tube.
The summer sales have started in London. We caught a bus down Oxford St on Friday afternoon and the place was jam-packed with shoppers. The footpaths were positively heaving with people. I'm a little reluctant to go to the shops during the sales. It's busy enough when there isn't a sale. Good thing I bought my outfit last week. I have noticed how difficult it is to walk down the street on the footpaths without having to duck and weave around people. I know that almost the entire population of Australia lives in London but I sometimes wish they would all go home so I could just walk in a straight line for a few minutes! Did I mention that the footpaths are also dotted with chewing gum? Luckily the streets are so dirty it gets worked into the concrete quite quickly so it doesn't stick to your shoes!
This weekend will have been our last weekend to relax and get organised as next weekend starts a relentless regime of motorcycle events, travel and visitors. Next weekend we're going to Donnington Park racetrack which is up near Manchester. I also have a social event with work people on Saturday. It is meant to be a pool party, but given Wimbledon starts this week, it is likely that it will rain (the forecast for the next two days is rain by the way). I did manage to buy a motorcycle jacket off ebay yesterday so hopefully that will arrive in time for the big trip up north next Sunday - it's waterproof.
Another early night is in order I think. We've done our weekly shop (although half the shelves were empty as we got to Sainsbury's 1 hour before closing time) and even managed to pick up a couple of bottles of Australian wine for a reasonable price. Here's hoping we both wake up feeling brighter!
The new machine
I bought a new bike!
It's a 1997 Triumph Daytona T595 in yellow.
The bike is in excellent condition and has a new back tyre and a new chain. It's also just been serviced, so nothing needs to be spent. Apparently this model is fairly reliable, but we'll have to wait and see if this proves to be the case.
I decided to buy it for a number of reasons, not least because I need to be able to go for a ride occasionally. It's also a triple (3 cylinder motor) and I've never owned a triple before.
Another reason for buying this bike is that it's a British bike and I'm in Britain. It's also a very capable bike for when I want to do a track day but is more comfortable that some of the other hyper-sports bikes as it has more of a road focus.
From my perspective it's a pretty good compromise as I can commute and still take it to the race track. :-)
I'm looking forward to going to see some motorcycle races now.
Alone on the bus
I wrote this while traveling home on the bus on my own - Friday 17 June.
Robert has bought a motorbike (a 1997 Triumph Daytona Triple in burnt orange). Thanks to the efficiencies of the Oz banking system the money was transfered into the sellers bank account as we slept. As a result Robert gets to pick it up this afternoon. Hence my travelling home on my own. I decided to catch the bus as it seems slightly less traumatic than the train plus it means less walking.
The tube was in complete disarray today. So catching up with Suzanne for lunch was made somewhat more complicated than it should have been. Instead of 2 tube stops each it became a couple of phone calls, a brisk walk and a bus. Still, we managed to get there in the end. At least I learnt some new streets and bus routes.
Today's challenge was communicating with a difficult client. I'll find out whether my email had the desired effect on Monday. The desired effect is some actual communication and content from the client instead of a wall of silence. I must say that there are some very handy terms & conditions that can be called upon to encourage communication in these situations.
So now to the weekend. I guess we should do something fun - aside from riding on the back of a motorbike. I am secretly hoping for sleep as I'm quite tired from a week of late nights, early mornings, shopping and transport chaos. Yes, I've been shopping. I managed to buy a new outfit - skirt, top, shoes, bag and necklace. I'm saving it to wear on Monday when I've got a client meeting. I'm a little nervous about the shoes - I hope I'll be able walk in them for a reasonable distance. I tested them out at work on Thursday afternoon and they seem ok but it's always hard to tell until you start hitting the streets. Robert is a little nervous about the fact that i'm so close to all the shops in Covent Garden. He shouldn't worry - I wont spend all his motorcycle race money on clothes...
We caught up with a friend for dinner last night. We tried out a Thai place in Soho which was was close to the Thai in Sydney that I've tasted. I could tell I'd arrived in the right place due to the smell of Thai cooking wafting out into the street. The only problem was the noise (very busy) and the fact that they have communal tables. But the food was defnitely good. We met Lorraine through Astrid back in Sydney. She's been here for 2 years and lives near to Putney. We're going over to her place on Sunday to watch the Australia vs Brazil game. For those of you who don't know, it's World Cup time and the English are loving it. So far England have won both their games so everyone is happy. I can't help but get a little bit excited about the Soccer or Football as they call it over here.
Well, here we are back in Putney. Just need to walk around the corner and I'm home.
Hoorah for Broadband
Normal operations have resumed. We have our broadband. We have our ADSL wireless modem router. We are sitting in front of the television, a computer on each lap, and browsing the internet independently. Along with the purchase of our rice cooker we can now safely say that it's just like home! It's been rather stressful not having a permanent internet connection. Having it at work is a help but the lunch hour isn't really enough time to browse far and wide. I managed to find a "free" dial-up (so last century) connection which did cost us a couple of pounds in phone calls, but did tide us over for the last week. It was so very slow and the new broadband is so fast.
So to the last week. It's been hot. Yes, it has been slowly heating up over the last week only to culminate in a horrible sticky day of 30 degrees which thankfully produced a storm over night to cool things down. It's not that outside is very hot. It's just that there is no airconditioning or ventilation in buildings, buses, trains or tube and it just makes you feel hotter than you should. Our unit isn't much better. It doesn't have a cross draft so it's difficult to cool it down and we can't sleep with the windows open because it's too noisy. Sorry, just practising my whinging pom :-)
Robert and I have both been sick. I had the virus late last week and Robert came down with it on Sunday. He's now at the annoying cough stage. It was just the usual run of the mill virus - runny nose, sore throat, aches and pains. Still, it came and went very quickly which is good.
One thing I can be excited about is the joy of living in a country with a local Amazon. Robert ordered our ADSL wireless modem router on Thursday at lunch time, it was dispatched at 1am on Friday and by lunch time it had arrived at my work in Covent Garden. Now that's service for you! Even more exciting is the fact that delivery was free!!! There was much mirth and merriment when I announced to my colleagues that my router had arrived. You see they call it a rooter (spelt phoenetically for clarity) and when those who had lived in Australia explained why not everyone uses the word rooter, we had a good giggle. It's so nice to be able to pass on some of that culture from the colonies.
Speaking of the colonies, we spent Saturday night at the local pub with Matt and Mel and a whole bunch of ex-pat friends. Matt and Mel are about to move to a South Eastern suburb at the end of June and wanted to farewell the local pubs of Putney. We had a very pleasant evening in the beer garden.
I apologise for not having any further pictures or tourist-type information. We have been trying to get our place sorted (yes ok, i'll take some pictures of Putney for next time). After all a rice cooker and a router are essentials for living. We've been working out where all the supermarkets are and adding to our pantry. We've also got a pop-up mesh laundry thingy, a new toilet brush and a wooden spoon. Like I said, all those essentials that make life more pleasant. Robert has been hard at work looking for cars and motorbikes. We spent Saturday trapsing around the place checking out the local motorcycle dealers. We didn't see anything particularly good. However, they are relatively cheap which is good. You can get cheap second hand cars too. Robert thinks having an old banger to get out of the city could be cheaper in the long run than hiring a car each time we need it. Still, we'll see what happens when we start looking at those 500 pound cars... Robert has standards you know.
So from the land of heatwaves and bungled police raids I leave you until my next crazed rant.
Commuter Blues
It's Friday and Elisabeth and I have both been getting used to working again. The travel for me a bit more than I'm used to, 3 trains and a total time of ~1.5 - 2 hours! (depends on whether I make the connections - really have to study the timetables to work out the best plan ;-)
I'm working in Milton Keynes which is about 50 miles from London to the North. There's a direct train service from Euston station, but first I have to make it to Euston. That requires two trains as there isn't a direct connection from our local station.
I tried a new way this morning which takes me on the Victoria line from Vauxhall. From our station to Euston it's about 27 minutes. Assuming all goes well, I could make the fast train from Euston to Milton Keynes which would reduce my door to door travel time to about an hour and twenty minutes.
Doesn't really matter in the long run as I am going to buy a motorbike. Once I have a bike it'll be so long to the miseries of public transport! (and welcome to the miseries of London traffic!)
At the moment I'm trying to decide whether I want a sports bike or a sports tourer. I'm thinking a sports tourer would be a better choice as these are more comfortable for long distance riding and usually more comfortable for the pillion (aka Elisabeth). Now just have to decide which one - this decision is made more difficult by the numerous choices available.
I've discovered that there are some other bikers here at work. A lady here says that she and her husband have 8 (yes 8!) bikes between them. They choose a bike (or bikes) depending on where they're going and how long the trip is. Now if I can only convince Elisabeth that we need more than one bike...
We've almost got an Internet connection at home. Just waiting on the ISP to send us the modem (free one) and the details as they've taken our payment and have confirmed that we can get ADSL where we are. Once that's all sorted, it will make planning our trips that much easier.
Back to work
Today I started my new job. I'm working for maximalls.com limited. They are a small company that develops business to business websites for the property and construction industries. They also run portals for these 2 industries. So far it's just like working at IML - lots of really nice people, too much work, not enough time - so I have high hopes for a familiar and happy work environment. You can see more about the company on their website
www.maximalls.com. It's been a very busy day. Lots of meetings and lots of new faces to remember and lots of new TLAs to memorise - I think my brain is ready to explode. Now I just have to get home again without getting lost...
In other news, Summer has really arrived in London. On Saturday it was a perfect blue sky day with highs of 24 degrees. It's going to be warm all week apparently. This is good news as I was beginning to wonder why I had brought any summer clothes with me at all. It stays light at night until about 9.30pm which is also nice, but a bit strange as you don't quite know when to have dinner. At least it's dark at night when you have to sleep.
We moved into our flat in Putney on Friday. I was not entirely pleased with my decision of location. It turns out that it is on quite a busy road. There is no cross ventilation in the flat and the kitchen equipment is not exactly up to scratch. Robert is quite upset that the toilet doesn't flush particularly well. I guess it just confirms his belief that the plumbing in the UK is not always up to spec. I spent a very sleepless night on Friday night working myself into a frenzy over the noise and making myself sick about it. By Sunday I had recovered my senses somewhat and am now sleeping with ear plugs and learning to ignore the traffic outside. I'm hoping that I wont need to spend too much time in the unit - with going to work everyday now and getting away from London on the weekends, it will all be fine.
Well, time to brave the trip home on the train. I tried the walk, train, walk option this morning. It only took about 45 mins so not too bad. In my commute I get to see the london eye, the thames, waterloo station, cleopatras needle and the strand. Sounds more glamorous than it is - lots of traffic, people, bikes, roadworks and general busyness. I have hopes of being online a lot more frequently next week. We have ordered our internet connection for the house and I should have my own PC here at work by the end of the week once the person I am replacing actually leaves.
Oh, and thanks to my references for providing such a glowing report of my abilities, without which I wouldn't have the job I have. :-)
Pigeon pair
Our friend Suzanne did predict it and she was right. On her arrival back in London from a week in Tuscany she just knew we'd both have jobs - and we do! Robert was offered the job he went for in Milton Keynes yesterday and he'll most likely start on Tuesday. It is a 3 month contract, which is what he wanted, so it's all good. There is the small issue of him having to catch a train to the far reaches of the universe everyday, but I guess that's his excuse to get a motorbike!
So last night we saw Simone and the exhibition (http://www.growgradshow.co.uk/) that her digital media students put on in Brick lane. Apparently each year all the universities put on these graduate shows. It's a really nice way for the students to get exposure, and potentially a good place to pick up new talent. We had a great indian meal in one of the hundreds of Indian restaurants along Brick lane and have now got a very smokey throat. I can't wait for them to ban smoking indoors in this country! It was great to see Simone and a whole bunch of ex-sydney siders.
Anyway, today is moving day. Better start sorting and packing. Putney, here we come!!
Gainfully employed - almost
Well, it looks like I have a job! I can't say too much yet as we're still in that final checking phase. They have to check my references and I have to have lunch with the team today. I'm very excited at the prospect of going to work every day again. I know that may seem strange but, hey, that's me.
Robert is also closer to having a job. He's going for a 2nd interview this morning and then he'll go for a trip to Milton Keynes for another (rescheduled from Tuesday). So fingers crossed something comes out of that today. You never know, we might be hitting the streets with all the working masses on Monday morning!
Since the big race on Sunday we haven't done terribly much. We spent some time in Putney with some friends. Had lunch in a local pub and wandered around the shops. Our trip to Ikea ended up happening on Tuesday rather than Monday. Note to the unwary - never try to go to Ikea in London on the Monday of a long weekend. Tuesday morning at 10am was much more civilised. So we now have bedding for when we move into our new flat on Friday.
So today is all about interviews and then we're going to the opening of student art work from Bournemouth University and catching up with Simone (for those of you who know her). So we'd better get moving. We may not be able to blog or chat for a couple days as we wont necessarily have internet connection straight away when we move. But stay tuned :-)
In a bid to relax and to help us feel better we went for a wander down to the local park. Wandsworth Park has been in existence since 1903. Can you believe it cost 33,000 pounds to buy just over 100 years ago. The park runs along the edge of the Thames and has a lovely avenue of trees. We sat and read our books and watched the people with their dogs wander by. I took these photos with my phone camera so they aren't the best, but it adds that nice soft focus effect well :-) If you want to know more about Wandsworth Park you can on the Wandsworth Council website.
On Friday night we caught up with Suzanne and Chris and bought them dinner for helping us in our first two weeks. I needed red meat so we went to a restaurant called "Sticky Fingers". It was originally opened by one of the Rolling Stones. It had lots of memorabilia, loud rock music and lots of BBQ meat - ribs, chicken, prawns, steak - and not to forget the deep-fried onion rings. It was pretty good value and we probably ate just a little too much. We finished off with Sticky Date pudding which was very good. The restaurant was in Kensington so it was a quick journey home on the tube. 
