in london.. again

Yes, I am here again. We have had a nightmare of an adventure over the last few days. My last post I think spoke of our future of working in a pub. Well, as I sit here, back in London in the lounge room of a distant relative, I can safely say that I think I don't even want to start!! We have been led on a wild goose chase, crossing three counties of southern England, and we are back on London, four days later and some 10 miles away from where we started on Monday morning!!

Let's start at the beginning shall we???

So on Monday morning Scott and I head off to Guildford for our first pub job. To get there we have to catch a tube to Waterloo, a train to Guildford and then a bus to a place outside Guildford to the pub. We get there, after some two and a half hours travel time, only to find out that the people who were supposed to leave decided not to only the day before. So there was no job there for us. We rang the company who placed us, and they arranged another placement for us. So we had a noght in an English pub. The pub itself was great, real character. The staff there were so helpful too.

So the next day we travelled back into Guildford, then caught a train to Havant, where we were picked up by our second employer who took us to the pub in a place called Emsworth. Nice enough town, but the pub had a funny feel. It was kind of a yuppy bar in the middle of a seemingly sleepy riverside village. I didn't feel comfortable there at all. We met the wife of the guy who picked us up form the station. The guy was really nice, but his wife was an absolute bitch. She basically told us that they were under the impression that we had experience, and that she did not have time to train us. In other words, for the second time in as many days, we were told that the place that we had lugged all of our luggage to, had no job for us.

We made the most of the day though. We headed into the next town and organised our mobile phones. So I can be contacted now! And I can send smses home which is fun too.

The company arranged a third placement for us in a place called Newdigate. Spoke to the boss, who sounded nice on the phone. Basically it was his idea for us to be there and get trained and then start getting paid when the other staff member left. Sounds good in theory right? Okay, so we get there, after catching two trains to get there from Havant (and going through Guildford where we had been some two days previously). So we get there, meet the boss. We were basically ignored by the guy and his wife all day, which was fine as they were busy. So we try, much later that evening, to do some washing. We asked another staff member about the washing machines etc, and placed our stuff in one of them. I have never used a front loader before, so i mentioned it to the boss. He then told us that it doesn't work. So we asked if there was a trick to get it open. Apparently I looked at him funny (and who wouldn't at the prospect of losing all of your underwear to a hungry washing machine, and given the previous few days), and he decided that because of that, that we were no longer welcome. WTF? I still don't get it. So I rang a cousin of mums and explained the situation to her. I had spoken to her the previous day from Emsworth. She said that we will have to stay with her. Bless her! I had not met her until today, but she is just lovely. So we have a roof over our head, we are back in civilisation and on our way to getting jobs. And not in pubs!

We have been turned off pubs, and I think this whole debacle has proved to me that I am a city girl at heart. The countryside is nice, but only if you have a car. Not if you have to deal with public transport.

I am falling asleep here though, so I shall sign off. I hope all is well with all of you. :-)