It is Anzac Day. For those of you unfamiliar with this day, it is Australians' Rememberance Day. We remember the fallen on the 25th of April each year, as this was the day of the dawn landing at Gallipoli during World War 1. Scott and I got up at 2am to go to a dawn service in at Hyde Park Corner near Buckingham Palace. I had had a look on the Transport for London website to see what time we would have to leave. It said to be on the 3am night bus. So we were. The only problem was..... we arrived at Hyde Park at..... a quarter to 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we had more than an hour to wait until the service started. There was nothing to do, so Scott and I went for a very slow wander down Knightsbridge (the same street that Harrod's is on), and back again. We met Ayesha and her friend Karline at just before 5am.
The service was very good. Well worth getting up in the dark and travelling across London for! I always get goose bumps when I hear the Last Post. No matter in what context. It is such a powerful and moving tune.
I was supposed to have today off, but I am working for one of my colleagues, who will work for me when I choose. I would have liked to have a sleep this afternoon, but still. I must soldier on!
I am now out of the Museum's call centre. I was getting very tired of being here. I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but I was getting sick of certain things. But realistically, I am happier in the galleries, talking to real people.
I got an email today from Ian, the curator at the Commissariat Store Museum. He is my referee for my job, and he emailed to see if I got it. He will come visit the Museum and bring his wife Rachel and his baby George who was born in December. Should be lovely. And besides I have not seen him since last summer.
Should be getting the internet at home soon. The internet package we are looking at includes 2 hours per day of international calls. So all of you who would like a call, please let me know and email me your phone numbers!! :-D
xxx
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
I really need to update this journal more often. Don't I?
Anyway...
Even thought it was a four day weekend for Easter, I had only three. I worked on Good Friday. I am still in the Call Centre/Box Office of the Museum, which meant we were quiet quiet quiet. We had a fiar number of calls first thing asking if we are open, what activities we had on for the kiddies, where are we? That kind of thing. Once it hot lunch time the number of calls seriously died off. I came back from my lunch break at 3, and between then and 6 when I finished I answered zero phone calls!! Pretty amazing. I was surprised anyone called at all really!
Saturday Scotty and I made the trek to Ikea in Croydon. Croydon is in south west London, and we are in east London. So it took over an hour. But, on the plus side, we got to ride on the tram! There is a tram in the area, which is super speedy. And it took us right to the door, well, almost!! We bought some stuff for the flat - kitchen stuff that we needed, a dirty clothes basket, a shoe rack, those kind of things. We also bought two chairs. Sounds crazy I know. The flat is furnished, but the chairs that are in there are a bit crap, and are not very sturdy at all. So, we grabbed two really cheap, but sturdy and comfy chairs, that can be used inside and out (a consideration now we have a garden!!!!).
Sunday was a quiet day as there was nothing open in London. We stayed at home and tidied and found places for things. Not very exciting I know.
Monday we were going to go on a random tourism trip, but we decided we was too poor until payday on Friday. So we went to the movies instead. There is a deal over here with one of the cinemas, Cineworld, which allows you to join a club in a sense. You basically get as many movies as you like for £13.99 per month. Scott paid for his whole year's worth. I was lucky as I was given a voucher for a year's movies for free. So effectively, we are going for free!! It makes it much better when the movie is not so great. :-)
Not much exciting has been happening. I finished my knitted iPod cover though. I am so impressed with the way this has turned out. I shall have to post photos on here for you all to see (and of the new place). I seem to be an experimental knitter. I knitted the whole thing in two strands, changing colours as I went along the row to make stripes (vertical on the front and diagonal on the back). I am SO impressed with it and with myself. Another thing I am impressed with is..... I have taught myself how to do eyelets. They can also be used as button holes, but I have knitted a square with them, in alternate positions along the row thso it looks a bit like lace. I want to make a rug or a throw. So I am going to knit lots of squares and them sew them together. I am still a beginner knitter really. I am in need of practice. Well, maybe not a beginner, but I am certainly not advanced. Maybe intermediate then? Anyway, I really enjoy being able to create things. Things I can do: knit, cross stitch, tapestry, latch hook (a while ago now though). Yay me! ;-)
I hope all my readers are well and happy. :-D
Anyway...
Even thought it was a four day weekend for Easter, I had only three. I worked on Good Friday. I am still in the Call Centre/Box Office of the Museum, which meant we were quiet quiet quiet. We had a fiar number of calls first thing asking if we are open, what activities we had on for the kiddies, where are we? That kind of thing. Once it hot lunch time the number of calls seriously died off. I came back from my lunch break at 3, and between then and 6 when I finished I answered zero phone calls!! Pretty amazing. I was surprised anyone called at all really!
Saturday Scotty and I made the trek to Ikea in Croydon. Croydon is in south west London, and we are in east London. So it took over an hour. But, on the plus side, we got to ride on the tram! There is a tram in the area, which is super speedy. And it took us right to the door, well, almost!! We bought some stuff for the flat - kitchen stuff that we needed, a dirty clothes basket, a shoe rack, those kind of things. We also bought two chairs. Sounds crazy I know. The flat is furnished, but the chairs that are in there are a bit crap, and are not very sturdy at all. So, we grabbed two really cheap, but sturdy and comfy chairs, that can be used inside and out (a consideration now we have a garden!!!!).
Sunday was a quiet day as there was nothing open in London. We stayed at home and tidied and found places for things. Not very exciting I know.
Monday we were going to go on a random tourism trip, but we decided we was too poor until payday on Friday. So we went to the movies instead. There is a deal over here with one of the cinemas, Cineworld, which allows you to join a club in a sense. You basically get as many movies as you like for £13.99 per month. Scott paid for his whole year's worth. I was lucky as I was given a voucher for a year's movies for free. So effectively, we are going for free!! It makes it much better when the movie is not so great. :-)
Not much exciting has been happening. I finished my knitted iPod cover though. I am so impressed with the way this has turned out. I shall have to post photos on here for you all to see (and of the new place). I seem to be an experimental knitter. I knitted the whole thing in two strands, changing colours as I went along the row to make stripes (vertical on the front and diagonal on the back). I am SO impressed with it and with myself. Another thing I am impressed with is..... I have taught myself how to do eyelets. They can also be used as button holes, but I have knitted a square with them, in alternate positions along the row thso it looks a bit like lace. I want to make a rug or a throw. So I am going to knit lots of squares and them sew them together. I am still a beginner knitter really. I am in need of practice. Well, maybe not a beginner, but I am certainly not advanced. Maybe intermediate then? Anyway, I really enjoy being able to create things. Things I can do: knit, cross stitch, tapestry, latch hook (a while ago now though). Yay me! ;-)
I hope all my readers are well and happy. :-D
Thursday, April 13, 2006
COMPUTER DEFINITIONS AUSSIE STYLE
LOG ON: Adding wood to make the barbie hotter.
LOG OFF: Not adding any more wood to the barbie.
MONITOR: Keeping an eye on the barbie.
DOWNLOAD: Getting the firewood off the ute.
HARD DRIVE: Making the trip back home without any cold tinnies.
KEYBOARD: Where you hang the ute keys.
WINDOW: What you shut when the weather's cold.
SCREEN: What you shut in the mozzie season.
BYTE: What mozzies do.
MEGABYTE: What Townsville mozzies do.
CHIP: A bar snack.
MICROCHIP: What's left in the bag after you've eaten the chips.
MODEM: What you did to the lawns.
LAPTOP: Where the cat sleeps.
SOFTWARE: Plastic knives & forks you get at Red Rooster.
HARDWARE: Stainless steel knives & forks - from K-Mart
.MOUSE: The small rodent that eats the grain in the shed.
MAINFRAME: What holds the shed up.
WEB: What spiders make.
WEBSITE: Usually in the shed or under the verandah.
SEARCH ENGINE: What you do when the ute won't go.
CURSOR: What you say when the ute won't go.
YAHOO: What you say when the ute does go.
UPGRADE: A steep hill.
SERVER: The person at the pub who brings out the counter lunch.
MAIL SERVER: The bloke at the pub who brings out the counter lunch.
USER: The neighbour who keep's borrowing things.
NETWORK: What you do when you need to repair the fishing net.
INTERNET: Where you want the fish to go.
NETSCAPE: What the fish do when they discover the hole in the net.
ONLINE: Where you hang the washing.
OFFLINE: Where the washing end's up when the pegs aren't strong enough.
Monday, April 10, 2006
It's a new week, and I am already tired! But I have had a long couple of weeks now, what with moving house twice!! We picked up the keys to the new place a week ago now. Signed all the scarey paperwork. Well, not scarey, as we are dealing with an agency, and not with a dodgy landlord!!
Early last week I caught up with Melissa and Ayesha. The three of us went to the theatre to see The Producers. The show was fantastic. Better than the movie, even though I remembered some of the lines. It was nice to catch up with the two girls. Melissa is going travelling for a while and Ayesha started a new job this week.
On Friday morning I had help from my friend Giulia from work. She and I have the same roster, which came in handy. We made three or four trips from Isa's house to the flat - one way it would be about 400/500 metres. Giulia and her luggage trolley were a big help in getting things moved!!
Friday afternoon/evening both Scott and I had doctor's appointments (nothing is wrong, just a check up for him and a prescription for me). We decided to drop in to the old house to see if there was any mail. We had contacted the guys we used to live with, but the response was "we will contact you". We decided to go around there anyway to see what happened. The guys were both there and let us in around the back of the house. This was because, as we saw as soon as we entered the house, that we saw why. They had completely looted the house. Turns out they had found a place in Canning Town, but it's completely empty. Considering that the landlord is not giving them any deposit back, they are taking everything they can from the house - including the kitchen cupboards!! It was going a little far I think, but still.
The weekend I worked. We kept Isa company on Friday night as her mum had had a stroke that day in Portugal and she was feeling a bit sad and lonely. We had pizza and watched a movie. Saturday night was the first night we spent at the new place.
There is still stuff everywhere in the new place. But hopefully by the end of the week we shall have it organised and everything in it's right place.
So there you have it. :-)
Early last week I caught up with Melissa and Ayesha. The three of us went to the theatre to see The Producers. The show was fantastic. Better than the movie, even though I remembered some of the lines. It was nice to catch up with the two girls. Melissa is going travelling for a while and Ayesha started a new job this week.
On Friday morning I had help from my friend Giulia from work. She and I have the same roster, which came in handy. We made three or four trips from Isa's house to the flat - one way it would be about 400/500 metres. Giulia and her luggage trolley were a big help in getting things moved!!
Friday afternoon/evening both Scott and I had doctor's appointments (nothing is wrong, just a check up for him and a prescription for me). We decided to drop in to the old house to see if there was any mail. We had contacted the guys we used to live with, but the response was "we will contact you". We decided to go around there anyway to see what happened. The guys were both there and let us in around the back of the house. This was because, as we saw as soon as we entered the house, that we saw why. They had completely looted the house. Turns out they had found a place in Canning Town, but it's completely empty. Considering that the landlord is not giving them any deposit back, they are taking everything they can from the house - including the kitchen cupboards!! It was going a little far I think, but still.
The weekend I worked. We kept Isa company on Friday night as her mum had had a stroke that day in Portugal and she was feeling a bit sad and lonely. We had pizza and watched a movie. Saturday night was the first night we spent at the new place.
There is still stuff everywhere in the new place. But hopefully by the end of the week we shall have it organised and everything in it's right place.
So there you have it. :-)
Monday, April 03, 2006
200th Post!!
I can't believe I have written in this journal 200 times now. Scarey thought. Although I think I have had this now since June/July 2004, so I could document our preparations for leaving Oz. It seems so long ago now that we left Australia. So much has happened since then.
:-)
:-)
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