Thursday, April 12, 2007

Finally!!

This post comes to you from England.
Sunny England in fact. Nice.

Been lots going on since I last posted. The most significant of which is me now being in a different country. Yes, the one with big red buses and big clocks and all that.
England is nice. I was expecting grey skies and the smell of apathy in the air, but it's been warm and pleasant and i'm loving it.

Flew in on the 1st... Got to see my Charlotte (w00t!!) who had a hostel in Earls Court booked for us, so spent a couple of nights there, then, realising we had to get more accommodation as the hostel was booked out we did a mad internet scramble and found another hostel in nearby Bayswater, so packed up and moved all our stuff there. Spent a couple of nights there, then it too was booked out, so found another hostel back in Earls Court and then moved all our stuff back there. Gah! Was pretty crazy times. In between all the moving stuff around we got to do some nice stuff though, spend a day in Kensington Gardens, visit the Victoria and Albert Museum (yeah, the free one) and stroll around south-west London looking at English things like pubs, which I don't think are found anywhere else in the world.
After 4 more nights in the last hostel and much stress, we finally found a place to live in Hammersmith. When I say place, I mean a room in a share-house. Which is nice, although the bathroom smells like wet. So good though, to not have to move all our shit around anymore. I'm very happy about that. Other benefits include close proximity to tube station, heaps of shops, restaurants, the Thames, parks and a nice little pub with a beer garden a mere one minute walk from our house. ahh... beer garden... Not that we have the money to spare to indulge in things like drinks and food at the moment...
Charlotte has quite a bit of work scheduled which is awesome and I am endeavouring to attain some, pending a haricut and suit purchase. Can't wait to start earning the pound and then saving some of it and spending a little.

Currently on our list of things to purchase:
-Pillows (I'm sleeping on a rolled up hoodie)
-Food (I'm hungry)
-Suit and haricut (I'm sure I can find some place which offers those as a package deal)
-A pet bumblebee and an extendable bumblebee lead. Seriously, if for nothing else, come to England to see a bumblebe. They look ridiculous. (I don't actually think I could buy a pet bumblebee, but maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places.)

Hmm...

We haven't really done any tourist type stuff yet, but once we're more fiscally empowered, I think we'll venture out and do some more exciting stuff.
In the meantime, I'm looking at ads for crap jobs with wanky titles; Senior Customer Service Advisor (read: call centre vegetable). I'm also lying in the park, stealing someone innanets and soaking up some English sunshine. Maybe I can get a job writing ads for recruitment companies:
Requirements: Ability to carry on about some absolute rubbish.

Position Filled!

Anyways, will put up some photos and stuff soon.

Scones and Tea from the Motherland,

JC

14 comments:

Jasmineflower said...

Hi JC

I hope you will be able to survive the warm beer!!

Here in sunny hot Switzerland today its a whopping 26 degrees celsius. My view which overlooks onto France the village of Evian (yeah the bottled water mountains) the snow is starting to melt away.

As we speak i have a COLD beer, a VB to be precise, which i found in Geneva. The only problem is its bottled in the UK. But hey at least its cold!!

Good luck with the job hunt and all the best with the hair cut (and suit)

jhcrow said...

Haha! I'm adjusting to the warm beer...
Unfortunately though, my views aren't as breathtaking as yours. Currently in a park overlooking a 'dog exercise area'-I'm pretty sure nothing get's bottled from there...
Nice to see another Toc person out in the blogosphere! I laughed when I realised I was playing in the footy match you have a photo of!
Nice photos of the Sunday afternoon view too!
Enjoy Kenya!
JC

Jasmineflower said...

OMG another Toc lad!!!

This is bloody scary!! We could have a Toc reunion in Europe and send a write up to Liz for the SRN under 'Toc Tells'.

1. Who do you belong to?

2. Do you know who my father is?

3. Which one of the lads in red and white stripes (and the short shorts) is you?
If you play footy you will know my father.......

I will now have to go back and look at the picture.

Did you see the pic big fish?

Have you heard of the Montreux Jazz Festival, its in the Village i live in, very famous and thousands of people, very good fun. Here is the website (cheap tickets with easyjet) http://www.montreuxjazz.com/home.aspx
and then you can also look at the mountains that are on the label of Evian (better than dog training)

jhcrow said...

lol... Yes, another Toc lad...
Going back to Justin's blog to see if I can't deduce who your father is...
A Reed perhaps??
Or am I confused??
I belong to a school teacher (not at toc) and a farmer... My grandfather was in the Fire Brigade...
Dad has played for many many years and been involved in the footy club... ummm... I dunno what else...
I dunno if that helps you!
This is like cluedo!

I haven't heard of the Jazz Festival, but it looks great! May have to look into that! Definitely better than dog training. Thanks for the link!
And i don't think I'm in the actual photo you took, but I was playing in that game... Damn Barooga!

Jasmineflower said...

Shite!!

It is like cluedo. I am not going to be able to rest until i know who you belong to.........are you a Jones?

(im playing safe as we have many Jones and Kellys in Toc, its like starting with what tribe do you come from)

Oh with saying that are you a Kelly?

jhcrow said...

lol....It is indeed like tribes...But I'm not a Jones or a Kelly. (Which i think narrows the town down to about 15 people.) I'm actually a Crow...
Not the bird, the family...

And I think Liz Mclaurin would have a field day with an overseas Toc ex-pat meet-up story!

Jasmineflower said...

Yes i do know your parents (but not you) I think once when i was at school your mum did teach a drama class workshop.

Do you give in..... would you like for me to reveal my identity???

Yes, (re Expat meet up)we would probably be the most exciting news they have had for a long time (we will need to avoid dates around Finley Show, Berrigan Show, Toc Races, any 'cattle type thingy' days and anything to do with irrigation as we will have a better chance at getting closer to the front page)

Did you go to the Footy thing last year where Ronald Watt did a speech?

another hint: Do you know Tom and Petra Cromack? they are our neighbours

jhcrow said...

Yes, you must reveal your identity as I am stumped...

I didn't get to the Ronald Watt talk thing, as I was travelling up and back every weekend from Melbourne and I missed that due to some other appointment which I have now forgotten...

I saw that pictures of Tommy and Petra, but now can't for the life of me remember where they live!

Stumped!

Jasmineflower said...

Ok, are you ready....drum roll!!

Bruce Reid is my father and Mary Reid is my mother, my sister Lynsie lives in Scotland

jhcrow said...

ah ha! I thought so.
And your Uncle Merv drove my school bus from time to time.
Excuse my earlier typo too! Reed!?!? Oops.
Small world...
Might have to start up a little blog aggregator that gets all the latest news from all the ex-Toc people that are doing things around the world...
You were talking of the Carters on Justin's blog, have you seen what youn Nathan is up to?
http://intotherisingsun.blogspot.com
Interesting stuff hey!

Jasmineflower said...

Gosh can you imagine the Toc Shindig if we did meet up!!!

My sister is in Edinburgh but is going to Ireland soon.

It is such a small world!!

Nathan, no i didnt see his website will have a look now. His brother Ashley i did play tennis with, Ashley was in my sisters year. Im a little older so i think thats why i was struggling with the faces.

I am very excited about Kenya. Another good music festival in Switzerland is the paleo http://www.paleo.ch/live/paleo/home/

non-Blondie said...

haha jem...sounds like you got yourself a new girlfriend. hey, she knows the same people you know, and shes bound to be a lot better than me.
good luck!

jhcrow said...

shush your blog heckling... Don't be silly babe! :P
No one's better than you. Except maybe me!
xo

non-Blondie said...

ha. ps: i think you only love me for my macbook.