One way to the UK?

Okay so it’s been almost two months since I properly wrote in my journal, so hopefully this entry won’t seem too rushed but I want to update everyone and also get up to speed on current happenings…

So returning from Turkey coincided with the end of the 6-month rental agreement Mara and I had with Keymoves, in Bromley-By-Bow. I initially was very settled in East London; had gym, trainer, people to see, kickboxing nearby etc, BUT anyhow, due to some personal circumstances and also considering I had my new job at the NHS in Victoria, I decided it would be a good time to move onto the other side of London - almost another world away! So I moved to Battersea Park - Battersea and Chelsea run into each other in South/West London, and are quite the posh area to live, however, I’m actually in Battersea Park Estate so a bit like being ‘on the other side of the tracks’!!! Many shops and just a short bus ride to Clapham Junction which has loads of things there; however it’s on the National Rail which isn’t so bad being 1 stop from Victoria (work), however the trains aren’t nearly as often as a tube and so lately I’ve instead been taking the bus each morning to get to work! It’s quite nice to be above-ground with fresh air and being able to read a good book on the way into work.

So I moved house and hence gym, local shops etc all change also. I now shop at ASDA on weekends! It’s quite a cheap shop for those who don’t know. I guess I’m lucky that London offers flexibility to change things in an attempt to make life in general seem better… so after a few hectic weeks involving situations and moving house etc, my boss called me into his office for a ‘bringing to task’ speech, where he told me I hadn’t been performing well over the past few weeks and that I seemed to be reading the paper or being online during the days, and also coming and going at all different times… so I agreed to one point only, that I had been slack lately and that would change, however I stook my ground on the other points! I am employed specifically as his Personal Assistant, and explained that if he doesn’t give me work to do, then I have no work to do! Hence why I read the paper or go online. I also explained that seeing as he doesn’t have much work to do, to pass onto me, that when he does actually give me work I make it drag out over the day to stop me being so bored with nothing to do come the afternoon! I also explained I’d only ever taken two lunchbreaks since I started working there, and I start at 08:30am every morning, then no lunch break, and so that’s why I leave ‘early’ at 4:30pm, which is STILL working an extra hour each day! And I showed him my flextime sheets recording all my movements. So ‘two up’ to him. I stated my intention to resign the following week. And so for the last month every morning I begin by asking him for work… and asking again before he goes out to a meeting, and also telling him when I come/go for lunch on those occasions! Gosh without being too slanderous, he seems weak of character, or at least uncomfortable trying to ‘bring someone to task’ as he was with me. The whole 15 minute conversation he sat there with this smug/weird smiling thing on his face and was quite surprised when I said ‘yep that’s fine, I agree I’ve been distracted lately and I’ll pick up the slack right away’ he was like ‘ohh. okay’. As my HR officer said anyway, he can’t actually threaten me with ‘you’ll be gone in a few weeks if this doens’t change’ as the NHS and all Government employees have a certain list of things which needs to be done for a grievance or dismissal! You would think he would know those things…. obvioulsy not. IT’s strange too, as he didn’t seem to realise you need to tender for certain works to be done until another team member explained it to him… Heaven forbid we are actually audited or someone applies for certain freedom-of-information documents as my boss and some external people would probably be done for some form on insider trading!

Anyhow as much as I love the health department; I definitely prefer the NT/Australian system which just seems to work and isn’t so disjointed as here, and I definitely prefer a more ‘hands on’ type role, like in a Hospital or CEO office, and working with people who actually have healthcare experience. Most of my current Healthcare for London team has never even worked in a bloody hospital of GP clinic, and yet it’s them, along with pan-london consultations that are deciding the 10 year plan of healthcare in London!!!

Well, ANZAC Day in Gallipoli was definitely an experience of a lifetime and one I would encourage any Aussies and Kiwis, even Turks and Brits to attend (oh and the French), as all of those countries lost men fighting for their freedom, and ours.

We travelled on the Lets Go bus down to the Galipoli peninsular and due to the very early start, to try and beat traffic, our leader Fahrid was giving a generally good speech abou the history of the war, however he was going about it the long way and as many people were asleep, he restarted it later when he’d woken up everyone (clicking noise in mic!) so I think I heard like four hours of the same speech… anyhow I did hear some very interesting things at times which was great. I never really studied history at school, and primary schools only really cover the discovery of Australia, so it was good to hear all about the war and from a turkish person giving both the Turkish and Australian sides of the story. We toured around the peninsula and the memorial sites and then went to the war history museum before heading to the BBQ and then back to ANZAC Cove at about 5pm to find our spots for the night. WE thought we had arrived quite early, 12 hours before the service, however pretty much all the grass area was already taken up with people and after searching around a group of girls from our tour bus (Q or 124) settled into a position in the grand-stands. Not the most comfortable 12 hours, however, when you think what the soldiers went though everyone stopped complaining pretty quick. The area was pretty well set out, albeit a bit small for the crowds of people who continued to arrive well into the night/morning. The toilets were constantly cleaned, there were food and drink stands and clothing/blankets for sale; I bought a singlet with the ‘words’ of General Ataturk, to weep not for your sons, for they are resting on friendly land… (I’ll copy the actual wording as it’s quite nice and I was surprised I never learnt about it). All throughout the night, which was freezing (literally below zero) there were interviews with veterans, screenings of various interviews and shows commissioned for ANZAC day and the AUS/NZ military and airforce bands keeping everyone entertained with the songs that soldiers would have listened to prior to setting off for Turkey. My favourite was ‘run rabbit run rabbit run run run, don’t give the farmer his fun fun fun, bang bang bang went the farmer with his gun, so run rabbit run rabbit run run run’!

Apart from the screenings and entertainment, I think generally, everyone had a sense of quiet and realised we were standing and/or lying on hallowed ground; above the place where thousands of men died and where their blood stained the same soil. ANZAC Cove is really quite beautiful, but it’s still so easy to visualise the hardships faced by the soldiers as the cliffs look so daunting; with years of erosion showing too.

TBC

Well I've just written so much, and waffled on about Istanbul and it's sights that I'm going to regather my thoughts before writing about my actual ANZAC day experience

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