lisushi and the world

2003-03-25T16:46:00.000+02:00

// slacker update //

i know it's been literally forever since i updated this but i have clearly been too busy having fun to do so :) Actually, more like i've been too busy working which isn't that fun but still. anyway, way too much to actually mention here of interesting and fun stuff done so i'll reel off a few things while i can think of them:
-clubbing (anywhere and everywhere- it's great especially brixton academy what an insane night!)
-drinking (anywhere and everywhere- it's great- especially on the tube on a sunday arvo :) this after visiting the redback and walkabout, notorious aussie hangout pubs which are incredibly cesty but fun and cheap.)
-shopping- have bought a lovely tshirt and bag for myself from spitalsfield markets, which is without a doubt the best market in london (from the three that i've seen), and only about 2 min walk away from the pub. also went to harrods and bought myself a lovely baguette to enjoy in hyde park. also went and waded my way though camden markets which are great fun if full of mostly crap :)
-actually they're about the only 3 activities i've enjoyed so far :)

What else is good....feeling oh so young and interesting as we stroll through soho on a saturday night, sunday arvo strolls down to the pub at trafalgar square, eating mountains of chocolate and pasta (my diet is basically consisting of pasta and bread at the moment which may explain current ill health!) :)

And theres still so much I want to do!!

and so little time and money to do it with!!

off to use rest of valuable internet time to figure out how i can possibly see all of europe and still go to Homelands and Glastonbury in between (it shall be done!)

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2003-03-07T13:02:00.000+02:00

// yay for public libraries //

and the free internet that they provide. Well, so much has happened in the last week (can't believe it's been a week and a bit i've been here!)

First, started the job. It's pretty good, really, how hard can it be to pull beers all night? Of course things got interesting last night when a pissed guy fell off his stool and totally gashed his head open and then abused anyone who tried to help him until the ambulance got there. So that was fun. But generally it's pretty good. I moved into the pub yesterday, and I'm glad to get out of the hostel (sharing with 14 people is just too crap). At least now I can cook my own food and stuff to try and save a little bit of money.

My body has finally protested at the way i've been treating it (although I don't know what it's complaining about, i've been feeding it plenty of alcohol and chocolate), and I've got a rampaging cold (very nice trying not to sneeze into peoples beers while I'm serving them!). Hopefully it doesn't last too long, I'm now on a strict diet of lots of multivitamins orange juice and fruit (and chocolate).

What else can I say? my brain is feeling a bit full of cotton wool due to my cold, so sorry for any lack of insightful comments into living in europes largest city. I am missing everyone at home very much, it's so hard when you're just constantly meeting people and you hang out with them for a day or two, and then they (or you) move on and you have to start all over again, it's a bit of a strain. Fun, but it will be nice to at least get to know some people a bit better while I'm at the pub. I think we are off to see the ballet next week (wuthering heights- are you jealous peter?), so that will be very cultural and lovely. I walked down oxford street yesterday and can't wait till I get paid so I can go spend it all :)

ok off to go check emails (and see what's on at fabric tonight coz I really want to go see some drum and bass soon!)

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2003-03-01T22:04:00.000+02:00

// good, well good, proper good //

yay london is being so much better now. Tis a small world after all, i know about 3 people here, out today I saw the two people who were staying in my dorm a couple of days ago! I think I may go stay at their hostel down the road with them coz it's cheaper (£10 a night). I can't move into the pub till thursday (start monday). So I've got a whole weekend of freedom to enjoy before I start work (and believe me, I am enjoying it :)

Am currently trying to plan a night out with a guy I know from home who's here for the weekend. Shall be most excellent. Went out clubbing last night and saw lots of fluro and fluff, much fun :)

Also had training for my job today, and learnt how to pull a pint of guiness. Also have decided that I actually do hate the tube now as all 4 lines I could have taken out of Kings Cross station today were not running hence making me late for my first job training session!! (only 5 mins, was ok). I was thinking the tube was so fun. I am still impressed by westminster station it is really cool. Ok gotta go running out of time.

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2003-02-27T19:33:00.000+02:00

// lucky me //

Yay I got a job!! within 24 hours of getting here!! I think that's impressive (it might not be but oh well), especially when you think I don't really have any proper bar experience. I am going to be working in a pub (not a lab as planned, but oh well i really don't mind at this point!). Anyway a pub will be good coz at least then i will be doing something different to what I do at home!

I just found that piece of news out which has totally changed my outlook (obviously). I was getting totally depressed that everything was going to go totally crap and not work out and I was going to have to go home early coz I was going to run out of money and stuff. But all is good. Now I can do something to celebrate tonight, I don't know what, or who with, since I still haven't really got to know anyone here yet, but I don't care I'm happy :)

In between running all over london for 3 more job interviews today I also managed to cram in the tower of london (well, looking at it anyway) and a bit of the natural history museum, which is totally amazing. I walked around for an hour and must have seen about 20% of it. So I wanna go back there. My tube ticket is still valid so I might head down to picadilly circus tonight to have a look at all the pretty lights :)

Ok I'm also starving since I have literally only had bread and water as sustanance today :) Off for feasting and merriment....

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2003-02-27T14:51:00.000+02:00

// job job job job //

still looking. had a few interviews for bar jobs which are live in so that would be good. dunno though. think i may just see what happens, if I get a job well and good, if not i may just shoot off to europe a bit earlier than planned which would be nice. I really can't afford to stay in london longer than a week or two without working.

the hostel got even creepier last night with mysterious noises coming from the bed above.

well i am going to at least go and enjoy my afternoon by having a look round some museums and around picadilly circus.

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2003-02-26T17:52:00.000+02:00

// the big smoke //

excuse any typing errors the keyboard at this internet cafe is shocking. anyway, i'm in LONDON! woo hoo!! well, kind of woo hoo. i was a bit more excited when i wasn't spending every second of the few hours i've been here so far looking for a job :) and the hostel is a bit creepy, they're mixed dorms and i'm sharing a room with a strange bald canadian who was sat playing james bond on his laptop when i arrived. creepy.

but i think the job thing may be ok, so far have had one interview (and I only got here 5 hours ago!), am going down to another pub in a minute to see if i can apply there, and there's a few others floating around that i'm checking out. and i walked all the way to trafalgar square from london bridge (ok, i don't know how many kilometres that is but it took me ages, it took me that long to find a internet cafe!!). especially when you don't know where you're going.

anyway the job hunting shall continue now.... (i've decided to forsake any actual fun until i feel a bit happier about the money situation :)

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2003-02-25T18:47:00.000+02:00

// ye olde gift shop and central heated castles //

I'm glad that such an effort to make tourists more comfortable, such as central heating of castles, has been undertaken. Todays excursion was to Warwick Castle, which is now owned by Madam Tussauds. The castle is not a ruin, it's still full of beautiful (i'd use the word elegant, but I don't know if they quite qualify), rooms (four poster beds, cedar panelled rooms, massive chandeliers) with stragetically placed wax figures in appropriate period dress. There was also the section on medieval torture (yay), and armoury, and convieniently after each section, there was it's own appropriate gift shop you HAD to walk through to get out (i think i counted about 5 gift shops all together).
Still, I can't complain, becuase it WAS more fun than just looking at a bunch of old ruins. At least you could imagine a bit more easily what the place looked like in all it's glory. And I even learnt what a portcullis is (the big gate thing behind a drawbridge that goes up and down).

In other news am still trying to find out what's going on re london and working. Sent a whingy email to the agency rep in australia, i think she was a bit horrified that I may be stuck so i think she's going to call. I've now emailed my resume and details to a few other companies who do the same thing, as well as looking up some other (much less better) paying bar/waiting jobs. I have been offered some help to find a job here in Birmingham (from my uncle i'm staying with), but I'd rather go down to london. However, may take up the birmingham offer if I run out of money in a couple of weeks :)

ah the joys and perils of international work and travel

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2003-02-24T18:32:00.000+02:00

// brum brum.... //

Birmingham is totally not what I expected. I was thinking big ugly industrial grey city, which to an extent is true around the outer edges, but in the city centre they've done a whole heap of redevelopments around the canal area which is full of chic little cafe's and restaraunts amd shops. Quite nice really. I love the fountain of the large naked lady sitting in a bath in the middle of the city which is known locally as the floozie in the jacuzzi :)

Yesterday increased my culture quotient by visiting the birthplace of shakespeare at Stratford-upon-avon. I took a photo of it like all the other tourists. It was too much of a rip off to actually go inside (who'd want to go into an old house that's been there for so long it's all sagged in and looks like it's going to collapse anyway?) Nicer were some of the villages in the cotswolds, which were so very english and quaint.

Am currently in the process of making angry phone calls and emails to people in london who are supposed to be finding me a job to start next week who still have yet to tell me what on earth is going on....but i'm not too worried i should be able to hang around the hostel for a bit longer if all goes horribly wrong. May be meeting up with a friend from home who'll be there that weekend which will be excellent!!

till next time then....

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2003-02-22T21:27:00.000+02:00

// beer is bad //

Well, when you drink too much of it it is anyway. Went for an extended drinking session in Newcastle last night, which was loads of fun, if incredibly embarrassing considering how messy I got towards the end of it! Arghh too much alcohol for one night! The train ride home was interesting, how could it not be when it's full of drunk people at 2 in the morning? Started talking to some other people on the train after (for some reason) we'd been throwing things at each other for a little while. I was asked to speak some "Australian" to which I did my best Steve Irwin Crickey! impersonation. Lame actually but quite funny when you're drunk :) Another guy then managed to squeeze himself into the overhead luggage compartment for a section of the journey. All in all a fun night out, if a little excessive.

Am now in Birmingham visiting with another set of relly's. For a change of pace have this afternoon been birdwatching (well, walking around the lake anyway), which seems to be a very british thing to do.

Am starting to miss all my lovely friends at home now!! this time next week i'll be in big scary london all by myself....

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2003-02-20T17:49:00.000+02:00

// mingin' //

MING- it's the word of the new generation. Well I'm gonna try introducing it into australian language as soon as I get back. Basically it means the same as crap (ie something that's ming is bad). Such a great word.

Have spent the last couple of days drinking (pretty much). Actually have been spending time with my Grandad down at a pub called the Boot and Shoe, which is a typical english pub (full of old men who go there every day). It's great though, especially when they'll buy you free drinks all day and tell you stories about their friends who died years after being stationed at Maralinga during the atomic tests, or when Shane Warne was spotted in a Darlington pub, or how you used to be able to go on holidays and stay in Barcelona in a 3 star hotel for two weeks and it would cost £5 (in 1953!) :)

Tonight I am on a mission to cook some delicious green chicken curry for my lovely cousin who has put up with me for the last week or so. Yesterday we bought lunch from Marks and Spencer, which was totally delicious and I'm definitely going to be doing that again! (think David Jones food court). Not everything here is delicious, but that certainly was :)

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2003-02-18T22:48:00.000+02:00

// 'I was born a citizen of the world, and my inclinationled me into all scenes where my knowledge of mankind could be enlarged', (Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy)//

During my travels around the Scottish highlands I was inspired to learn a bit more about the history of the country, so upon returning to Edinburgh I went bookshopping. The offer of Rob Roy for £1.50 sold me, so I've been reading that.

The rest of my trip around Scotland was very enjoyable. Saw magnificent scenery around lochs and glens (Glen Coe is beautiful, would love to go back there one day for some hiking), drank some more beer (600ml Stella bottles for sale in tesco's for £1.50), and went to my first (and probably last for this trip anyway) Scottish night club, the Liquid Room in Edinburgh. Went along with a lovely melbourne girl I met called Princess, and while we were both in search of some chunky drum and bass, we both settled for a progressive house night. Interesting to watch the locals out for a dance anyway (one sweaty dancefloor is the same as any other I guess!).

My final day in Edinburgh I spent by myself (as all the people I'd met on the tour had left by then), and hiked up to Andrews Seat which overlooks Edinburgh for some amazing views. Equally amazing was the fact that I was dressed in a tshirt because it was such a nice day. (well, i must admit, it did get very cold later).

Today was spent mostly on the bus getting back down to Darlington, where I had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to someone who not only smelled bad, but insisted on cracking all the bones in his neck, wrists and fingers during the journey. ewww. The day was rescued, however, when my cousins boyfriend took me out on his motorbike. I have never been on the back of a proper motorbike before, let alone one doing 125 miles per hour (our top speed I was told). It felt like it too, I was shitting myself that I would surely die, until after a little while it was a bit more fun as I got used to it. Although my legs froze and my hands and wrists cramped up from holding onto the handles behind me for dear life :)

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2003-02-14T00:48:00.000+02:00

//nude for nessie//

Well i figured out what you do when you dont know anyone at the hostel. You sit around in the lounge until you find out where everyone is going and go along. Thats why I spent my first night in Scotland in a pub watching Australia thrash England at th soccer, which was a great way to spend an evening.

Have travelled up to the highlands today on a backbacker bus tour thing. Theres only 4 other people on the bus so it's a pretty much personal guided tour. Highlight of which has involved swimming in loch ness. I didnt believe the guide at first when she said that people actually do it, but they do, and we did (whiskey consumption may have influenced the decision slightly). Well i went in in my thermals. Still bloody cold though!! when i got out i was strangely warm, except for my feet which werent even cold just numb and hurting!! One of the guys on the tour, a californian, did it buck naked!! Well, its one of those things you do purely to be able to say you did it really.

Im extremely tired now, for some unknown reason, and this internet terminal is really crap (crappy individual button keyboard thing you cant type on im having to stab at each letter), and it's all too much like hard work so im off to bed.

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2003-02-12T20:48:00.000+02:00

//now what do i do?//

I have been in Edinburgh for about 2 hours now after arriving on the bus and finding my very own way across town to my hostel without getting lost!! First impressions are that it's an absolutely amazing city. The buildings are breathtaking.

Apart from that I have now realised that I am truly a backpacker. I'm in a hostel where the rooms all have different names and i'm in the Mr Men room sleeping in the Mr Tall bed (awww....not the Mr Small bed, that would have been nice :) After walking around the hostel in a bit of a daze I then realised that I actually don't know anyone and that i'm too chicken shit to talk to anyone yet!! lame I know. So I've been down to the pub around the corner for tea (by myself), where at least the simpsons was on the telly at 6pm which helps the body clock adjust nicely. Now it's only 6.45 and I've no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of the night, since, whilst I am getting to be an intrepid world traveller (ha!) I don't fancy walking the (narrow and steep) streets of edinburgh by myself at night. Ah well this will all sort itself out. And it really is an amazing looking city!

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2003-02-11T23:26:00.000+02:00

//Yorkshire puddings the size of your head//

That's what I had for lunch on Sunday. A massive Yorkshire pudding the size of my plate filled with chips and gravy with a huge swalesdale sausage circling the rim, looking not unlike a dog turd. Fortunately it didn't taste like one, and it was quite delicious. This marked the beginning of a sunday drive through dales and over the moors. Very english, very picturesque, luckily it was a crystal clear day (even with sunshine!), and there were even people eating lunch outside the pub at Reeth (unheard of in Febuary usually apparently, but I of course have bought sunny weather with me :)

Afternoon tea in a pink and lacy tea room followed, as did a walk at Aysgarth Falls. It really is very pretty countryside, even in winter.

Have spent the last couple of days doing not much at all but shopping (well, looking at shops, not actually spending and money though, unfortunately diesel shoes are still prohibitively expensie!), and trying to organise my trip up to scotland, which is now all ready to go tomorrow which i'm really looking forward to.

I would write something witty and insightful now, except that I can't really think of much else to say.

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2003-02-09T00:39:00.000+02:00

//so, what's happening in neighbours then?//

It's amazing that I actually have been asked this question (and by complete strangers when they find out I'm australian!). Went out last night for a drinking session round the local pubs (of which there are dozens within a couple of hundred meters!), which was great. I find it amazing that girls can still walk around in tiny skirts and tops made of string when it's 2 degrees outside. Everywhere seems to all shut at the same time (about 2am) when all of a sudden there's swarms of drunk people lurching about the streets in search of kebabs and pizzas. Surprisingly well behaved drunks though so it wasn't too bad.

Ate out with my whole family tonight, which was lovely and now am battling some jet lag which has finally kicked in and left me a bit dead.

While I remember, one of the best things so far (one of the most breathtaking sights i've ever seen), was when I flew into heathrow. A totally clear morning, about an hour before dawn, and I had a window seat to look out over the whole of london sprawled out like a gigantic motherboard of orange circuitry below. It looked totally amazing and circling for 20 minutes while we waited to land just gave me a better opportunity to enjoy it! It made me realise just how huge the city is (unbelievably so).

Anyway must go be social now :)

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2003-02-06T15:57:00.000+02:00

//i made it//

Well I actually did it and made my way from adelaide to Darlington in one piece. One very tired and exhausted and barely coherrent piece but still one piece.

The plane trip was ok (as far as 22 hour plane trips can be), made much easier by the fact that I had a squaa seat next to the window near the exit (lots of leg room) and the fact there was a kewl artist from melbourne flying to spain to sit and talk to next to me. We discussed many things including where is the best place to buy shoes (spain apparently), and the importance of a good tshirt in fashion. Watched some lame movies, ate some even lamer food and eventually got into heathrow. Catching the bus out of heathrow to london was a bit of a nightmare in my mentally tired state, but arriving in London was pretty kewl. I had a few hours to kill before my next bus so I walked up to see Buckingham palace (as you do). It's quite ugly and not that impressive really. I can't wait to get back down there and have a proper look around though.

I'm up in Darlington now (south of Newcastle), where all my family are. Everyone has been delightful and the weather is truly not that bad (sunny today!) there was a bit of snow around, no one else can understand that I want it to snow again!

Being in britain I have of course already been to the pub, which being 1.30pm, was already packed with people drinking! And fosters! What is going on there? Aussies wouldn't touch the stuff with a 10 foot pole but it's all over the place here. eww.

Anyway am off for more drinking and devilry tonight (well, the drinking bit is true anyway), will update with more adventures as they happen.

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