St Patrick's Day Shenanigans!

Well, as I'm sure you are all aware, last Saturday was St Patrick's Day. So naturally, Josh, Pete and I had planned for a big day of drinking.

Firstly though, some other news. Josh has managed to get himself a job. Pete and I called our agency for him and 2 days later he was in work. He's working in a telemarketing company like Pete and I are but the hours are from 1pm-9pm which is alright but I think he'd rather a 9-5 job.

My arm is healing quickly, the bruising is completely gone and the movement is getting much better, I can now almost straighten & bend it completely. Its a huge relief to know that it wasn't serious, I was worried for a while back there that it may have affected my trip somewhere along the way.

Also, the other week we decided to do some sight seeing because Josh and Pete hadn't really had a chance to get out and see the city. We got off the tube at Westminster station which brought us right into the centre of some major attractions. Just by looking around from the station exit we could see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. We decided to stick around here for a while to take some photos and soak in the atmosphere of London as the sun sank in the distance .
Now for St Patrick's Day. Our day began at 10am when we arrived at the pub around the corner from our house for a 2pound full English Breakfast. Because it was a special occasion we all decided to indulge in a Guinness with our breakfast to prepare our taste buds for what was to come. I somehow convinced the barman to give me a Guinness hat which made the day all the more St Particksy!

After brekky, we grabbed an 8pack of Fosters and jumped on the tube. The plan for the day was to see the sights of London, accompanied with our trusty tour guide called Foster. Being the perfect gentlemen that we all are, we decided that we would be so kind as to include our guide in our photo's. We walked across the city from sight to sight and continued to bev along the way. We managed to see, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus.



After the sun set and the pubs began to fill we decided to finish off our supply and head to the nearest Irish pub, which happened to be in Piccadilly Circus. By this stage our kindness to our guide had worn off so we ditched him in the gutter and off we went, walking like crippled men, to the Irish pub. It was packed full with fellow St Patrick's celebrators singing and dancing and a good night was had by all, especially Pete and Josh! (you know what I mean).

And that was our St Patrick's Day...

The End.

Blakos has arrived!

Fortunately & unfortunately, since my last update a lot has happened!

Fortunately, Josh has arrived in old London town. He arrived last Thursday. Pete and I both took the morning off work to collect the man from the airport. We'll we thought it would only be the morning... Unfortunately for all of us, Josh's flight was delayed for 4 hours! The only good thing about that was the extra few hours sleep Pete and I got that night. Josh didn't know we'd be meeting him at the airport as we'd told him that we couldn't get the morning off work. After a good hour on the London underground, Pete and I arrived at the airport, waited for another 45mins and followed Josh down into the tube station for our long awaited surprise appearance! Unfortunately he spotted Pete before we had planned but was still a good surprise for the old boy. The long tube ride back to our house left us with no choice but to hear the stories of home from the freshest Aussie in London!

Unfortunately, after showing Josh our house, Pete and I had to make our way back to work. By the time we walked in the door at work, it was 2pm... Luckily our boss is pretty easy going and didn't mind, too much, that we were a few hours late. I offered to work back an extra 1/2hr for the next week to make up for lost time. Not to help them out but rather to recuperate lost funds from our morning with Josh. Then, 4 hours later, we were back home again, sitting down to a nice meal with a few beers celebrating Josh's arrival.

Friday night came quickly, and the alcohol disappeared equally as fast, and before we knew it we were out on the town, Camden Town... Josh made his mark on the town as expected VIDEO HERE! and Pete made his mark on the bus, also as expected. VIDEO HERE! The night was a success and Josh had done many things that he wished he had fond memories of...
Saturday night was planned out as another night on the town in Camden. The three of us went around to our old housemate, Yasin's house just around the corner and had some drinks there before heading out. Unfortunately we didn't get far... We bumped into the landlords on the street who Yasin had a massive grudge against and a fight broke out between them. Pete and I both jumped in to give a helping hand and unfortunately I took a nasty fall and screwed my arm. The elbow bent out the wrong way and the pain was excruciating. So after everything calmed down we all went home and I just nursed my aching arm which was now almost twice the size of my left. Strongarm? The next day I went to hospital to get it checked out and after waiting for about 3.5hrs I got some painkillers and an x-ray which showed that it wasn't broken, but I still couldn't move it without extreme pain.
Since then, it has bruised up massively but the swelling has reduced and I can move it a fair bit. Still can't straighten it out or bend it fully. I've got another appointment at the hospital on Monday for a review which I'm hoping will bring good news not bad :(

Everything else is pretty much the same old. Still working at the same place, still drinking at the same place and still sleeping at the same place. Maybe next week I'll have another update. We have planned to see a bit more of London on the weekend, with the help of the tasty tour guide named Fosters!

Until then... Cheerio!!!

Time for a change...

Well its been almost 3 weeks now since Pete & I moved into our room in London. Over these past few weeks I've learnt what its like to live with total strangers, and how to deal with the problems that arise within these living arrangements. For example, the house has been without electricity for a total of 5 out of the 18 days that we have been living here! Yes, there's a few lazy, tight-arse, & dirty house mates living with us but it's all part of the experience I guess. Pete's the dirty house mate, as you could all guess... and sometimes the tight-arse one too!

After these 3 weeks in the house, we are looking at moving out and finding our own place when Josh gets over here. It will most likely cost about the same as we are paying now, so it will be good to have our own kitchen and bathroom etc so we can blame only ourselves if it's dirty, or Pete.

Since my last blog update, we have started another job. Its basically the same type of work, on the phones, but its closer to home and better money! I'm sick of this type of work already, its so boring and repetitive but I keep telling myself its only for a few more months then its eurotrip time! Trying to save save save but its hard... Gotta get into the saving pattern asap!
Pete & I have been hitting the town almost every Friday and/or Saturday night for the last 3 weeks. It's almost become a ritual, buy a bottle of bourbon, drink it at home then head out to Camden Town. Our local playground... Some crazy nights have already been had out there as I'm sure most of you have seen on my myspace page. Josh is arriving next week and no doubt we'll make his first night the most unmemorable! If your reading Josh, get excited buddy!

Until next time...

Don!

London - Getting Settled!

Just a quick update this time!

So, if you read my last blog entry, we were in the process of finding work and a place to stay in London. Well, after some hard work for a couple of days we managed to find some work and also a double room in a shared house to stay for a while!

The job we got ourselves into is basically in a small call centre. Our duties are to call people around the world and ask if they will be attending various conferences that the company has organised. Its pretty boring but its very relaxed and we can just chill out all day, surf the net and call people back home. So if anyone wants a quick call anytime over the next week or so, leave a comment and I'll give you a buzz!!! Leave your number if I don't have it...
The house we moved into is starting to become "home" which is a really good feeling just to be able to come home and relax, leave our stuff everywhere and not have to worry (too much) about things going missing. Now the net is up and running I can update the blog more often and send/receive emails etc. So keep up the emails, its always good to hear whats going on back home and how everyone is... and I'll do my best to keep you all updated!
We went out the other week to Camden Town just down the road which was a crazy crazy night and marked our first weekend in our new house, so we had a big night to celebrate, not that we needed something to celebrate to have a massive night! You all know that... Ive put up a video on my myspace ( HERE) of a bit of funny drunkeness, you all know how it is!

So we're about to head out for another night on the town, Friday night, so maybe we'll have some more stories & photos in the coming days! Anyway, thats it from me for now, hope your all ok back home and make sure you all keep in touch!

Catchya's!

Ashwell, Liverpool & Australia Day!

Pete and I decided that we’d go to the Ashwell house for a few nights while we waited for confirmation that our bank accounts were opened successfully. While we were in Ashwell it snowed overnight and we woke in the morning to see the streets covered in a thick blanket of white. Quite a pretty sight and one that I didn’t think I’d get to see.
Two days later we got the call and it was time to book a coach to Liverpool and begin our quest for work and a suitable place to live for a few months. An early wakeup and a two-mile trek with our packs and we were back on a train to London. I got away with a free trip by using an old ticket but Pete got pinned and had to pay the fare, and for those of you who know him and how much of a tight-ass he is, you can imagine how long he moaned about it for…

After an uncomfortable 6 hour coach trip from London to Liverpool, I was very glad that we’d arrived. I had just sat next to a large, putrid woman with excessively bad BO for 6 hours that for once in my life made me wish I had a blocked nose. We booked into a hostel and applied for a few jobs over the internet. One of which was advertised as being for a variety of hotel based positions like bar staff, cleaners, porters, reception etc. After receiving a reply email a few hours later offering an interview to both Pete and myself we had high hopes.

On interview day we were told that we were being interviewed for a management position within a worldwide marketing company that is expanding within the UK. So we went along with it and answered the questions they threw at us and later that day was to receive a call to accept or deny us to the next stage of recruitment. We got the call, and were both accepted the round 2. At this stage I was becoming very skeptical about the whole thing and wondered if the whole thing was just some sort of hoax.

Today was Australia Day, and of course after a hard day we deserved to party, hard! I donned my Aussie gear; singlet, boardies, fosters hat, aussie tattoos, flip flops, & the flag and we headed out to the Walkabout to celebrate. It was the 1st Australia Day away from home and the boys but it delivered a very Aussie day and one to remember! The morning came and we had aching heads and another successful Australia Day had passed us by.
Stage 2 of the recruitment process for this company and within 15mins of the day beginning I knew it was not what we wanted. They said take this big bag and go with our salesman and try and sell as much as you can. Haha, the guy basically bent over and said remove some fresh shit from my ass and go sell it for me! We finished off the day and were offered the job, never to return…

The next day we booked a bus back to London as we were sick of messing around in Liverpool trying to find work and a place to stay. Not to say Liverpool was bad, we had a great time there but we are here to work and that’s what we need to do. After an odorless bus ride back to London we stayed in a 5pound a night hostel which was by far the worst place I’ve stayed yet but was cheap and it was a bed.

Today we spent 4 hours on the internet sending off resumes to heaps of recruitment agencies in London and we’re going to look at a shared house later tonight with a bunch of Kiwi blokes. So hopefully over the next week we can get settled in and start earning some mullah!

I’ll keep you all updated…

London & waiting...

After seeing Brad off at the airport I went back to stay the night at my cousins place in Boston Manor outside London. I was planning on spending a few days in London and meeting up with my auntie and cousin and do a bit of sightseeing with them.

I booked myself into a hostel for a few nights and then met up with my aunt and cousin and did some sightseeing around the Westminster area of London. Firstly we planned on taking a ride on the London Eye, but unfortunately it had been closed for maintenance for a week. Alright for me because I was sure that I'd have plenty more opportunities in the future.
Next was a ferry ride down the river Thames to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We bought tickets to the Tower Bridge which gave us access to the walkway high above the road and also into some of the behind the scenes operations of the bridge. Its amazing that so many years ago they were able to build such massive structures with such intricate details in the stonework. After freezing ourselves on the bridge it was time to defrost with a coffee and a bite to eat.
After lunch we went for a tour through the Tower of London. It's a massive fortress, surrounded by dried up moats and has been around for hundreds of years. Some of the stories about the place and the history were very eye-opening as to how far the world has developed from this period of time. Inside the walls of the fortress the Crown Jewels are kept locked away but available for viewing for the public. I tried to sneak a few photos of the crowns but unfortunately got caught almost instantly. See what I have to go through to try and keep you all visually up-to-date!

After the tour we noticed that the day was slipping away and we decided that we wouldn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see in the one day. My aunt offered the floor of her hotel room for the night so we could finish off the sightseeing the next day. Obviously, I took her up on her offer.

Day 2 we planned to see the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. 1st stop was to be Westminster Abbey. This massive cathedral is decorated with perfectly carved stone walls and ceilings and lit by huge stained glass windows. Here hundreds of important people, from priests to kings to killed soldiers to poets, are buried beneath the floor under massive slabs of stone.
Next stop was the Houses of Parliament. We managed to get into the House of Commons and the House of Lords while they were in session. The House of Lords was decorated in gold leaf and was almost overdone, a bit hard on the eyes! Interesting but boring... I don't have much to comment on here.

Finally we walked passed the Big Ben and headed home for some dinner. Time to say our goodbyes and it was time for me to head out to Ashwell again to waste a few days until Pete arrived on the 21st.

Ashwell, Manningtree & B-rad’s departure...

The bus ride to London was long, but 5 1/2 hours later we arrived. Our plan was to head to Ashwell for a few days just to relax after our long week of partying. Ashwell is a small town about an hours train ride from London with only a thousand or so residents. One of my dad’s mates Allan owns a house there and said it was cool if we stayed there a while.

Our time in Ashwell was boring the say the most. But we couldn’t complain we were looking for somewhere to relax that’s exactly what we did. I don’t have much to say about this part of our trip other than it was great to chillax.

From Ashwell Brad wanted to go and see some family friends in Manningtree, near Essex. So off we went again back on the train to London then out to Manningtree. They were very good to us, cooking breakfasts, dinners and giving us a nice place to sleep for a while, and I can’t forget the beers too. They also took us out to see their part of the world which was interesting and quite different from other places I’d visited, from the small traditional English pubs to the luscious green fields to the babbling brooks. In some places it was very surreal.

After a few days of chillaxing there with Brad it was time to leave again, this time was the big departure for Brad, time for him to head back home to Sydney. Back on the train again, next stop, Heathrow Airport. So after 2 weeks of B-rad, the awesome times we had were coming to an end. He was very excited to be heading home and said that 2 months was more than enough for his travels.

It was time to say our goodbyes and good lucks and then he was gone… Lining up in a line for security checks that was no shorter than a few hundred meters long! I’m not sure how long it took you to get through Brad but it seemed like it was a bit of a wait!

Now that I was by myself again I had planned to stay in London for a few nights and meet up with my aunt and cousin, who were also here on holiday from Australia.