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Published: April 4th 2006
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London
Big Ben After running out of funds I decided to head back to england to reimburse the wallet. I really did not want to leave Mexico but i knew there really was no other choice. It was kind of daunting after so many months travelling to go back to the hustle and bustle of "reality" shall we put it that so many millions of people do everyday to make a living.
I stayed in London for a couple months mainly looking for work in my industry of computers as I knew working behind a bar like thousands of other Aussies is just not going to make any money. But it was very difficult to find work and ended working in the London Underground for a short period as it was decent pay but the work itself left alot to be desired. I guess the best part about it was meeting the people that work there, mostly south africans, it was really nice to chat to them about their stories about back home and life in the UK.
I stayed a decent hostel in Bayswater for a few months called the millenium lodge. Baywater is a good area to
London
Halloween Party stay due to its proximity to Hyde park and central london even if it is pretty touristy there are literally handfuls of hostels to stay at. The Lodge was kinda a good place to be for awhile I met alot of really good people there and some really good parties including the halloween party which was a really good night. As for most of London there is always lots of drinking involved and its good in small doses, the problem is of course knowing the limit.
Due to the extreme price of using the tube I decided that it was a much better idea to just walk around the city. It is quite big and it takes a few hours to get where you want to go but I wasnt in any hurry and it was really good to see all the various areas of London and how they differ in wealth and appearance. Are really nice area to go and visit is Richmond in the south west which has enormous parks with alot of nice walks and you can even see some deer.
Overall, I have spent almost a year in total living in London
London
Statue in Hyde Park and like most people you have a love hate relationship with the place. You can have great times and memories with lots of night life and meeting travellers from all over the world in this massive city yet it is expensive to live here and you have to put with smog and noise and traffic and working long hours in the end you can exhuast yourself quite easily, but its defintely worth it in the end, London is a country in itself and it within you can find a place that suits your personality however strange or diverse it is.
I went and visited a friend down on the coast in Dover for a couple of days and it is quite a nice little town with little tourist activity. Its always interesting to see the real england as Lodnon feels like a completly different country. We decided to go camping behind the castle as not many people go there and it was surprisingly warm for late september and it was really nice to be outdoors with a little wine around the campfire.
Finally, a break came through and I accepted a job in Cambridge implementing new
Dover
Castle electronic /solar powered bus signs. The work itself is not in the least exciting but it payed the bills fast and time went very quick indeed.
Cambridge is a extremely beautiful old gothic city that is quite old. A couple of the oldest buildings date back to the normans around 900AD. It has quite alot of charm and the river Cam is very nice to walk up and down or to even to go in a punt is even better. It is considerably quite most of the time as well and so is alot less stressful than London and it is hard to believe is only 50 miles south. Due to the large student population there is alot of live music venues mostly rock and alternative which is surprising since alot of venues across the country have all been converted into techno and hard house. The problem I found with Cambridge was that it seems to exist in some kind of bubble totally sheltered from other areas due to its age and tradition. I have never seen so many bicycles this side of the Netherlands and the people seem very closed, introverted and anti-social. Most people spoke to
Cambridge
By the river me only via email even if they were next door and after all the places I have been I never met anyone that I really got along with so after about 3 months I had enough and quit my job and was really glad to leave.
I decided to go see a friend in Czech republic I had not seen for awhile in a small town south of Brno in moravia. I had been there for New Years Eve where all we did was get a few people together and drink as much svarak ( Mulled wine ) till you basically throw it all up. It was a great way to celebrate the New year until the next morning of course when you wake up with the worst headache and wonder why it sounds like such a good idea at the time.
Boleradice is a really nice small town about 40km south of Brno with good people and very tasty cheap beer. It was still snowing even in late march which is highly unusual for this time of year and everyone seemed to be sick to the sight of it but for me it was good
Cambridge
St Johns college to see some because I knew it would be a long time before seeing any again. There really is not much to do there when its snowing so badly but sit inside and watch it from the window drinking some famous Czech beer. I definately wasnt complaining the view was very beautiful.
I also went to see some relatives in another small town near Decin which is the otherside of Czech. Its a quiet little place and its no wonder beer is so popular here when its too cold outside what could be better than to sit in pub and drink and enjoy the company of others talking about simple matter that dont really have much importance but no one really cares. I tried to do abit of walking around the village and surrounding forest but it was pratically impossible due to the snow coming p to my knees I can understand why cross country skiing is so popular. It was a good time in all I really didnt do much sight seing around Prague this time as I have been here a few times before its just a very beautiful old city, and is just to walk
around and take in the sights. Its especially nice up at the Castle where you get a birdseye view of the whole city. It really feels like you are in a fairy tale land. Its a real shame that so many tourists are almost turning the place into a theme park.
My final stop in England was Brighton to visit another friend I had not seen for quite awhile. Brighton is like London on the beach there are pubs on every corner and alot of tourists living and working here due to the large amount of restaurants and pubs needing people to work at low rates, so there is alot of work available here if you are willing to be slave to the almighty empire. I had lived in Brighton previously so it wasnt difficult to know where are good places to go out and there are many to choose from. I was much more interested in just relaxing and sitting on the beach. However, this being England its almost impossible to even go near the beach 60% of the year due to the cold weather and extremely cold winds that seem to be strongest coming from across
the ocean. It didnt matter me too much knowing that in a few days I would be in Mexico in the hot weather so it was nice just to sit have a few drinks and meet some good people which you always find in Brighton.
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anonymous
non-member comment
oi - from dale
hey just a quick 1 Mark - your sounding like your having an ace time.... keep on going and enjoy. Hope 2 see ya soon maybe back in Oz. look after yaself cheers, d