London one-way!

“Because we can, because we’ve got nothing better to do!” That has become our motto for the time spent preceding jobs in London. We seem to be living the London life, but still as inconspicuous tourists.

We have our shoulder bags instead of backpacks and we don’t use maps because frankly, if we get off a stop too late or walk in the wrong direction it really doesn’t matter – we’ve got nothing better to do and we could discover something new!

It also means we get asked by a lot of real tourists where places are and although we try to help them, it’s still funny that we seem to fit right in. But that’s probably because there are so many Aussies living and working here that it’s not unusual to hear the accent, including Kiwis and Saffas.

Well guys, you laughed at me when I told you that I was going to go jogging along the Thames, but it’s Sunday afternoon and this morning I went for an hour and a half run – sort of lost track of time as I do when the cool breeze is whipping my face, head held high, running to the beat of Spiderbait, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Wolfmother!
I ran through Mile End Park, along the Regent Canal and found myself at the Thames. I ran along there until I saw the sign for London Bridge and decided that was far enough, but it was just surreal. Cruise boats packed with tourists were pumping down the river, people were sitting reading the paper on the balconies of their expensive apartments and I was in the middle of it, oblivious and overwhelmed.
On the way back though, and don’t laugh, I was running through the park, up the bridge, and this small creature jumps out from somewhere and starts running beside me! I don’t know if it was a chip monk or a squirrel, but it was small with a bushy long tail and it reminded me of Hammy from Over the Hedge. He only ran alongside me for a couple of metres and then off into the grassy park, but it was so hilarious I actually stopped running and pissed myself laughing! Which as you can imagine I probably looked like a freak because London is home of the stodgy uptight who don’t initiate contact with strangers let alone strangers in hysterics in the park!
Ok, laugh of the day on me!
Not much to tell you about Wednesday to Friday. We spent it window shopping down Oxford Street. Yes – every day! I’ve been trying to find some nice decent work shoes, and the only ones that not only fit, have a good heel and look good will be an investment for the future – they were ₤40, which isn’t too expensive in British money until you convert it – $90. I won’t care when I start earning pounds, but for now when I am still converting and haven’t got money in my British account it seems expensive.
We finally found a sushi place the other day, which we’ve both been hanging out for. We had sushi train on Thursday and made-up trays on Friday. Their single hand rolls are sold in plastic wrap, each little piece of salmon on rice, and then they charge a pound for it. The actual hand rolls aren’t cylindrical but a cone shape, which is pretty fun to try and work out how to eat.
Carrie, Joel, Ian,  Kayne, Leigh and I all went to Walkabout on Wednesday night, which is the Aussie pub. It was pretty crap music and not very busy, but hey, it was Wednesday, and Ian got in as a student so it was cheap drinks.Friday night was more rocking; we went to Inferno, a club in Camden, which is twenty minutes by train. It was quiet at first but soon livened up. It’s got funked up old girly songs like “Girls just want to have fun” which meant a lot of girls go there, which meant a lot of guys go there. Eh, Lija and I just danced with the boys – none of them picked up, the poor souls. Lija and I left at about 3ish and were home by four. By the time we jumped into bed it was getting light outside!

Yesterday I spent half the day at the internet café and half the day in my room on my laptop. I applied for an internship for an online financial magazine, and the editor wants me to write 300 words in their style so hopefully it’s good enough. If not, I’ve been applying for several different media jobs and Lija’s friend Ali’s housemate works for The Guardian online in the sports department so hopefully I can meet him soon, and he’s going to find out who I can contact to get in the biz!

Oh it’s so scary having to find a job, exciting too. I’ve always flowed into a job and never had a real interview, even though every placement I’ve done is proving myself, it’s doing so for free. And I’m worth more than that    🙂

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.