Monday

Well, after emailing people about my photo website, I forgot to actually tell them the address. So blonde sometimes!

I had a great weekend.

Scott and I met Judy for coffee on Saturday afternoon. We met in a church, well the crypt of the church anyway. There is a cafe in the crypt of St Martin in the Field Church near Trafalgar Square. It is such a lovely place, with real atmosphere. We had coffee and apple pie, which was really tasty.

Saturday night we went to the movies at Shepherds Bush. We saw "In Good Company". Not bad really, some funny bits, but overall, a dvd movie I think. I did like the fact that the ending was not cheesy Hollywood style though.

Sunday we spent a lot of the day at the British Museum. I wandered around by myself a bit, which was great. I looked at the Japanese samurai swords, Korean artworks, the artefacts from the Near East, Egypt, and the Americas. I love the British Museum. Scott likes it, but I think he finds the lack on context difficult. I can understand that. To a certain extent there are not enough explainations provided for the average pleb. I am lucky in the sense that I have read about some of the items on display, or I have read about the civilisations that produced them.

Next week I think that we will head over to the Imperial War Museum. It's Scott's choice anyway, so we'll see!!

Work is ok. I am processing forms, and having email conversations. I wish I had msn. I miss it. And with the time difference, it makes it difficult to catch up with people. Out of sight out of mind for a lot of people I am finding out.

:-)

~~~Toodles!~~~

Photos on the internet....Finally!!!!!!!!!!

Hello people,

Well, I have spent time uploading photos. So I now have them on a website for you all to enjoy.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v696/alexoverseas/

Go look and admire my photographic skills!!!

:-)

:-)

Nearly Home Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday!

Yay, it's Thursday, and it's one day closer to the weekend than it was yesterday. I feel at times I am wishing my life away. It feels terrible to wish it were the weekend, or wish it were 5pm. But, I guess that comes from not enjoying work? Anyway, not a good start to an entry, or the day, but that's the way it is today.

Scott has today and tomorrow off. He was going to come with me to the tube, but didn't get out of bed. Lucky for some, right?

I need to get back to the Family Records Centre. I am trying to trace my great great great grandfather who was born in London in 1854. It is hard though, as his name is Charles Stone (common name) and the indeces here are not very good. So I will have to pay for them to check if the certificate has all the details I want when I order it.

I sometimes get a bit down, so just ignore me, ok? I get a bit homesick occasionally, and I think today is one of those days. I don't want to go home, but I do miss things. What I really want though, is photos of people, places etc, so I can look at them and smile. It sounds really corny, I know. But I have photos up that my mum sent me at Xmas, and I look at them every day. I smile at the photos, knowing that I love the people in them, they are my family. I smile at the photo of my niece and nephew because they are so damn cute. :-)

Ok, that's it for now. I will post this entry and I might do another one later!!

Sorry for being mopey.

Toos-Dee

Hello!

I was so excited last night. I mentioned yesterday that I could see the snow from the window of my office in downtown London. Well, it kept on snowing last night. I went to clean my teeth before bed, and looke out of the window at the top of the stairs. And the whole street was white! So of course, even though I was meant to be going to bed, I couldn't! I took photos, and I went downstairs to talk to Nat, who was also admiring the snow.

I had a great weekend too. Saturday I had the day pretty much to myself as Scott did 8 hours overtime. So I went to the library to borrow some books on Ireland. I ended up with a book called "Teach Yourself Hungarian". Not sure how successful I will be, but it could be fun. I found quite a few books on Ireland, but as I had to catch the bus home, I had to limit the number of books I could take home!

I went to Ikea in the afternoon with Nat. Nat lives in the room next to ours, and she is a fun gal. So we made the trek to Ikea, with two buses. I bought two more pillows, as the ones we have are giving me a sore neck. Nat needed to buy something to hang coats on at her work, but ended up with other things, and nothing at all to hang coats on. Ah well!

Saturday night was dvd night with the flatmates. I enjoyed myself a great deal. And yes we were at home, but we were not by ourselves. :-)

Sunday morning we headed off on a bagel quest. We were successful! We bought bagels and some other yummy goodies too. Then we headed back home as Scott spilled hot chocolate all over himself, and seeing as though it was about 3 degrees outside, it was not really a good idea to wander around in wet pants all day! So we headed home, dropped off the stuff we bought and caught the tube into the city. On the tube, there was a man who was slumped over asleep/passed out. There were three teenage boys on the train too, who thought it would be funny to wake this guy up. So one of them (being filmed by another one) slapped the guy square across the face. Now while it was an awful thing to do to someone, it was the funniest thing I saw all week. The guy took several seconds to wake up, and when he did he was obviously confused as to why his left cheek was stinging. So he left the train. Everyone who saw the incident on the tube was laughing. :-)

Sunday afternoon we had a trip on the London Eye. I highly recommend this to all visitors to London. We were lucky to have a nice clear day which was great. We could see a long way. I took heaps of photos too. So I will be able to post a cd of photos home soon too!

Yesterday I had an interview with the London Transport Museum. I think it went ok. I tried my best, that's all I can do really, isn't it?

Anyway, today is tuesday, so there are only three more working days until the weekend! Not sure what the plans are for the weekend, but we will think of something!!

Toodles!

Snow

You know, there is something quite novel to me as an Australian - sitting at my desk in the centre of London, and looking out the window to see.....

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday!

Hi there,

Yep, I survived another week. Not too bad overall really. Vege out night tonight, then I have the day to myself tomorrow. I will go to the library, put my pants in to be mended, that kind of thing. Then it is off to the huge ferris wheel on Sunday. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Toodles!

Thursday

Helloo!

I have the office to myself at the moment, as the supervisor is off at some meeting for three hours! So I have had a great time. I have done the work I was supposed to, as well as book my flight to Ireland in May, have email conversations with mum and dad and Scott. So I have had a great day so far.

Last night we met up with Aaron, our tour manager from our Contiki tour. We met him at Piccadilly Circus, and from there went to a Japanese Restaurant. It was yum, and reasonably priced too, which helps. He shouted us to dinner, which was lovely of him. We then flipped a soin to see what to do next. The coin decided that we were to see a movie. So we trotted along to the cinema in Regent Street, the West End Apollo. We saw "A Very Long Engagement", a French film with the actress from Amelie. I highly recommend it. I won't spoil the story for those of you who have not already seen it, but it was excellent.

I need an early night tonight. In bed by 9pm tonight. Boring I know, but necessary. I have had two very late nights in a row, and I am starting to get grumpy - not a good sign. Means I need sleep!

x

Still Wednesday

Here I am again. I forgot to write about my night last night, so I thought I would before home time.

Last night we met Rob and Dan. It was really weird seeing them after all this time, but we all got along really well. They are very well travelled guys and are full of laughs and stories. Physically they had not changed in the time I had not seen them, which was weird to me. I don't know why.

Tonight Scott and I are meeting Aaron, our Contiki Tour Manager. Should be fun. He is a great guy, funny, and we think not quite straight. He is the same age as me, and we got along well on the tour. We are all going out to dinner, meeting at Piccadilly Circus, and going from there.

Scott bought us each a card called an Ace Card. It basically gets us a whole bunch of discounts, like two for one tickets to the theatre, 10-20% off restaurants etc. It is a great idea, and I think it will encourage us to go out more, to use it!

The fingers on my right hand are sore today too. I will be happy when I can stop typing for the day!

Wednesday

I was thinking. Seeing as though I am on the computer, on web mail, all day, if you would like to have an email conversation with me, let me know! I am in front of the computer between 9am and 5pm GMT (add 10 hours for Brisbane, 11 for Sydney, etc). I would love to hear from people. So send me an email, see what happens!!

My day has been slow. I have had things to do - entering details into a spreadsheet, issuing receipts, etc. I am stretching it out a bit though. I have to!!

Bye for now!

40 minutes to go

Hello. Well, there is not much to do, surprise, so I thought I would write in here again. Not much to say really!

I have decided that I will go and check out two places if I can. I have an hour to kill between finishing work and meeting up with Rob and Dan. So I will visit the Hungarian Cultural Centre, or at least suss out where it is. And then it is off to the Australia Shop. This is the place where all the homesick Aussies can go and get their Australian goodies, like food, drink, etc. All at high prices of course. But, it's certainly worth a look. They have a website too. http://www.australiashop.co.uk So have a look!

:-)

Tuesday

Hello! Yes, it is Tuesday which means that it is one day closer to the weekend. Thank goodness! I had work to do this morning, but nothing so far this arvo. Oh well, I have been looking at websites about Ireland tourism. I have ordered a whole bunch of brochures too. I love getting mail, so I figured useful mail is a good idea!

Scott has done an update on our housemates in his journal (http://dibsyoverseas.blogspot.com) so I think that he says it quite well really.

Tonight I am meeting up with two guys I used to know in Melbourne. Well, they are the sons of a family friend who lives in Melbourne. It will be interesting seeing these guys after more than 10 years though. I can't remember having much in copmmon with them, or ever really wanting to spend time with them when I was young, but I guess that was 10 years ago, and on the other side of the world. I am keen to meet them, and see what they are like now, what they are doing etc, swap travel tales. Rob, the older one, sent me a photo of himself and his brother, Dan. They have not changed in looks, but I guess a lot of people don't do they? I guess you can't really tell on yourself though.

Is it 5 o'clock yet???

Tomorrow night I think we are meeting up with our Contiki tour manager Aaron, aka Gollum. I have no idea what we will do or where, but it will be nice to see him. He is about 6 days older than me I think, and a Kiwi. But we won't hold that against him.

I think this weekend we will go on the London Eye. It is our 18 month anniversary on Sunday, so it will be a great way to spend the day.

Ciao for now

Valentine's Day

Hi there.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am at work, with not much to do. Well, there is stuff to do, but I am waiting for the IT department to set me up on the database here that I have to use to do the work. Hmmm...

Anyway, I shall fill you in on my weekend. Friday night was quiet. I spent some time at the internet cafe, and joined in a chat that happens between my mum, uncle, and two of my late grandfathers cousins. It is a great way for them all to keep in touch, and I like being able to join in. I think it is fantastic that four people (or five when I am there) can have a conversation from 4 different parts of the globe. Ain't technology wonderful??

Saturday. We decided to go to a suburb called Golders Green. It is about an hour away on the bus, but it's only one bus, which is handy! It is a Jewish area, so I wanted to check it out. However, I knew that many of the shops would not be open. But I wanted to check it out anyway! There is a Bagel Bakery (yum!!!), and many kosher restaurants. I am not kosher, but it is handy to know! :-) From there we walked to the next suburb in the rain (and snow briefly!!) to try and find the Hungarian Food Centre. I was not happy when I found out that the business no longer exists!! Oh well, no Hungarian goodies for me then! We caught the bus from there to Regent Street. It was an old red bus too, the ones where you can hang off the back if you want (trying not to fall off into London traffic!). We walked to Piccadilly Circus, and then to the London Troccadero, which is an entertainment centre on steroids. They have arcade games, cinemas, bowling, that kind of thing. We decided to go bowling. It was a lot of fun. I lost, but I enjoy ten pin bowling. They would only let us have one game, to keep people moving through.

After bowling we wandered through the centre looking at what was on offer. There were heaps of arcade games. I am glad we were broke at the time, as some of them looked quite good really. From there we headed over to the theatre. We saw a play called "A life in the theatre", with Joshua Jackson and the guy from Star Trek, I have forgotten his name. I got to see Joshua in his underwear, which not many people get to do. It was an excellent play. There was no leg room in the theatre - I am sure when they built the theatre, the people were much shorter than me!!! I thoroughly enjoyed the play. It had just the two actors, so it was quite intense. I think there were about 40 scenes in the hour and a half (no interval). A great Valentine's Day present though. :-)

Sunday. It was Scott's turn to clean the house. We also went out to the huge supermarket near us to get food, and stuff for the house. We were having dramas with the kitty. Let me explain. We have a house kitty, and it covers items such as toilet paper, coffee, sugar, cleaning products, etc. It is 5 pounds per month per person. Not a big deal. But for some reason there are some in the house who are still months behind. And it's not fair on the others in the house. One of the Poles in our house (as in from Poland) is not working at the moment. Fine, I understand that, as I have been there myself. She is two months behind in the kitty payments. She sits around the house all day, expecting the jobs to come to her. She drinks 15 cups of tea per day with tonnes of sugar in each cup. So, of course, she used up all of the sugar. Princess Kamilla, as some call her, is so lazy that she did not go buy any. Even after many hints to her. Personally, I think that if you don't pay the kitty, you should not use the stuff it pays for.

Sunday afternoon I had my course at the British Museum. It is going well, and I am enjoying it a great deal. I came home from there to our party at our house. It was supposed to be a time to get to know our new flat mate Alana. Well, she didn't bother to turn up. Nice one. We all have issues with her at the moment, and I am not sure if she knows about them. Ah well! The party went well. Everybody did a dish. I did pasta with black oilve pesto. I had found a jar of it a while ago in Sainsbury's and I thought it would be perfect for the party. It was yummy, and everybody liked it which was great. There was a potato dish, a salad with chicken, corn and pineapple, and yummy desserts. A bit light on the vegies, but we have decided to do it on a regular basis, so next time will be a healthy one apparently!

And today, I am at work. Not much to do, but the people are nice. I am getting paid. It was really cold in the office today. It was icy walking to the tube this morning too. And the icy wind that was blowing didn't help either!!

Ciao!

TGI Friday!

Hello! Yes, it's Friday afternoon. I have nothing to do, so here I am. How is everyone? I am happy it's the weekend.

Yesterday, seeing as though there was nothing for me to do at all, I left work at 3pm. With full pay which was great. So, I headed over to meet Scott at the Family Records Centre. It was raining and miserable, but I made it there. I arrived grumpy, but I soon cheered up in the warmth. I ordered a certificate for my great great grandfather, a Mr Charles Stone. I am hoping it is the right certificate, but if it isn't, they are not that expensive over here. I love being able to research my family. It is quite satisfying when I can establish another link in the tree.

This weekend should be great. Scott is taking me to the theatre on Saturday night, to see a play called "A Life in the Theatre". It has Patrick Stewart from Star Trek and Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek in it. Should be great, I am really looking forward to it. It is my Valentine's Day present. :-) Very sweet.

The minutes are dragging by today. I have had things to do today, which has been good. Not as much as I would like, but I am getting paid, so who am I to complain right?

Toodle-oo!

Bored bored bored

I have two more days until the weekend. Yay! I think we are going on the London Eye this weekend. We bought our tickets in Australia, so it's high time we got ourselves on it. The biggest ferris wheel in the world, here we come! The views are meant to be spectacular if it is clear, but in London you never know. Ah well, it's all part of the fun. Saturday evening we may be going to the theatre, if Scott can get tickets today. Sunday I hope to head over to a place called Golders Green and check it out. There are meant to be lots of yummy shops over there, with a Hungarian Food Centre nearby. Yummo!

Scott is sending out letters today to 38 other Dyballs. We found them in the phone book, and he has written them each a letter. I hope he gets some feeedback, or at least some interest from some of them! It would be really odd to receive such a letter in the mail I think, but really interesting too I should imagine.

I am trying to look busy, but I am failing miserably. I have asked if there is anything for me to do, but I was told there was not. So, I wait. The other guy in the office is so shy I am sure he would not say anything anyway.

:-P

Job Interview!!

I got a call today from the museum I really really want to work for. They invited me for an interview, which I am stoked about. I thought I was unsuccessful, as the closing date for that particular job was a month ago! I thought they would have had their interviews etc already, so I just forgot about it! I am very excited, can you tell? I would love to work at this museum, as there is a huge bonus included, and that is free transport for myself and Scott. The cost of transport is phenomenal here. I spend some £25 per week on transport if I am working in zone 1.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. I just have to get the job now!

Scott's Journal

Go read Scott's journal too people.

http://dibsyoverseas.blogspot.com

:-)

:-)

Hi people! Well, it is the start of another week here in London. Well, in the rest of the world too I suppose!!

My weekend was a full one. Saturday I spent the day at the Science Museum. Not actually looking at the displays, but handing out maps of the museum to people and giving directions. Pretty funny really, seeing as though that was my first time there - ever! A bit of a boring day, but hey, it was money, and a mooseum!

Saturday evening was spent in a place called Upminster. A friend in Brisvegas gave me the details of a friend of hers in London. So we hooked up. It was so much fun. We had dinner, played Upwords, checked out the local pub, and generally had a fun time. Sarah and Jake are really cool, and it was nice to be able to hang out with new people! Everyone seemed to get along famously. So I think I shall organise another get together sometime soon.

I got a surprise letter from my friend in Melbourne Katie on Saturday. Yes, we get mail delivered on Saturdays! I emailed most people with our address details here in London. If anyone missed out, please let me know, and I shall get them to you!

We have a new housemate too. She is an Aussie. And rather shy. Her name is Alana, but we only found this out yesterday, even though she has been living there for nearly a week! We need to coax her out of her room and get her talking. I was a bit shy when we first moved in, but it really only lasted less than 24 hours. Then I was my normal dorky self once more, and all was well. :-)

So that is my life up to date at the moment. I hope you are all well etc.

:-)

New job...

Well, a new temporary job. But I think I am going to like this one. While the work is not that mind bending, the people are lovely, are there are some Aussies there too, which will be cool. And people my age, something I have not experienced in a workplace yet.

I got an email today from one of my uni buddies. He is in the Australia Army, and he emailed to tell me he is off to Iraq. It freaks me out a little. I have been watching the conflict on tv for so long now, but now that someone I know is there, or soon will be, it makes it all really odd, and very close. He was in the SAS in Australia in the 1990s, but recently he was a trainer in the use of communications devices - radios, signals, etc. So, I assume he is back with his SAS unit. I remember him saying that they wanted him back, so maybe they got their way. :-(

I got a call today from the other agency I am registered with. So I have a days work tomorrow at the Science Museum. Sould be groovy.

Then tomorrow night we are meeting a friend of a friend. We are off to the Romford dog track, at her partner's suggestion. Should be a fun night actually. I think Sarah and I will let the boys go off and bet or whatever, and we will sit back and watch the weirdos!!

Ciao! xxx

Helloo!

Well people, good news. I had an interview yesterday with one of London's large museums. It went quite well I think, but I don't find out for another three weeks if I got the job or not. Oh well, it was a good day. I have never been to an assesment day before, so it was a good experience even if I don't get the job.

As for this week, i will be starting another temp job on Friday. Awesome, so I am covered for work until the end of March if I do not get a museum job in the meantime. So I am a happy girl. :-)