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Published: August 12th 2007
LDN!
So the blog has finally arrived! The build-up has been as long and exciting as for the recent Harry Potter book, but nobody dies in my story!!
A long time ago, in a distant galaxy, I returned from Ireland. Arriving back at Barbara's I planned on a life spent on the couch - unfortunately it was not to be mine!! As I had to go into LDN on the 17th of July for vaccinations (everytime I went in for some reason they didn't give them to me - but this would be the third time lucky) I arranged to have a look at some properties when I went in. I also had to deal with the demon-lady from HR who kept messing up my references. I don't want to dwell on this part as I hope soon to be able to suppress all memory of our dealings but suffice it to say that almost all the other new people starting at my job also mentioned how unbelievably slow at contacting references she was. Despite having asked her months ago to check, they were finally all in on the day I went into London exactly one week before I began work! One of the two apartments that I looked at that day seemed quite good but involved a bit of a commute, and sharing a room with two other guys. So that night I checked gumtree.com again and discovered a room in Shephard's Bush which sounded reasonable. I called them up and asked whether it would be possible to wait until Saturday the 21st to go as I was going to be in London again that day and the girl said it was. But of course by the time I called again the room was gone.
On Saturday was the day that Barbara had been counting down to for weeks (very little exaggeration there!!) and as it had been over a week since I had last seen a last band I have to say that I think the timing was right!! We were off to see Keane (or KEEEEEEEEAANE depending on how big a fan you are!) at the O2 stadium. The O2 stadium is the millennium dome which had been such a financial disaster that it had been sold and now hosted a range of events including high profile concerts. That week included shows by Barbra Streisand and the Scissor Sisters. Me and Barbara caught the train into London on the day of the Keane concert and then went to catch a taxi to our hotel from just outside the tube station (which is also where the O2 stadium is). We were most insulted when we got into the taxi and the driver decided to make small talk by saying, "Let me guess, you're here for the Barbra Streisand concert!". So we arrived at our hotel, had a beer and then set off back to the O2 arena for the big event. They called a taxi for us, and we climbed in the back and said O2 arena. The taxi driver just said "what is the address?". Now not knowing how to get to the O2 arena (which is about a 10 minute drive from the hotel) is equivalent to a taxi driver not knowing Telstra Dome in Oz. He was equally clueless when we asked for the millenium dome, and all of a sudden I noticed Barbara was out of the cab and asking for a new one. The taxi driver didn't argue much (I mean how can you when you have no idea where to drive to!) and the next taxi arrived and deposited us at the O2 arena safe and sound. We arrived and scoured the entire venue in search of a restaurant but they all had hour waits to get a table so we ended up getting some food from WHSmith (a newsagent)! Classy!! We then headed into the venue and up, up and up to our seats. Just before we bought some booze and my beer came in a plastic bottle which looked exactly the same as the glass ones!! After arriving at our seat and recovering from the vertigo, we sat down to enjoy the warm-up act. Well actually Barbara and I had listened to a little bit of the band - called Ghosts - on the internet and I think it took Barbara a record 12 and a half seconds to decide that they were "Rubbish"! So anyway they completely lived up to all expectations, and along with "rubbish" sound quality (which stressed Barbara out that Keane would be the same) and fairly inane songs, Ghosts were pretty crap!
At little while later and the big moment had arrived! Keane came out and won me over to their cause. I'm not the biggest fan of their music but I really enjoyed the entire concert. We were far away but it didn't feel that far in the end because they played on a little island in the centre of the crowd. They played all their big hits from both of their albums and i think everyone really enjoyed it. I'll put some photos up soon and add more detail then! They recorded the gig for DVD and B really wanted it straight away, but unfortunately they don't release it till Christmas. But that hasn't stopped her from complaining, "But I want it now!!".
After the concert we caught the bus back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep.
The next morning we had the full, high fat, artery clogging, English breakfast (although they didn't have fried bread!). After breakfast we walked over to Greenwich village and walked around. We headed to a couple of markets, visited the observatory which is the home of Greenwich mean time, drank a smoothie, had a beer in a pub and ate some really yummy food in the park. After all that we headed back to B's house and collapsed!
The next day I packed up my stuff and make the exciting move to LDN. As I hadn't been able to find anywhere to stay by that point and I was due to start work the next day I had organised to stay with my Nana until I was able to find somewhere to live. I had a look at a couple of places that day and stupidly decided to think about one which was taken by the time I called back. I also bought the new Harry Potter book that night. The next day i got up and headed in for my first day of training for the job. I met the team who all seemed really nice and had a full day of training which completely stressed me out as most of the training focused on problems you must deal with when looking after children with special needs and not any postives (and few solutions as well!). The next day was less negative and I had already started to make friends in the group. That night I finished reading Harry Potter.
On the Thursday was my first day actually doing the job. There are lots of confidentialty issues with telling stuff about my job so any descriptions I give about the actual children are going to be very vague and I'll never use names. That day was a pretty good day although as my child was very placid and happy to play on the same thing all day it did drag a little bit at times. I made really good friends with everyone on the team (in fact I really love working with everyone - although I do have my favourites - and they are a big part of the reason that i love this job). So the day ended well even though one child went swimming in muddy and very shallow water with all their clothes on (in fact, they lay face down in the horrible water!). But at least they had fun! That night I organised to go and see a flat in Acton on Saturday which sounded reasonable.
The next day we went to a huge playground at the Diana memorial. Its an amazing playground but it was filled with hundreds and hundreds of mainstream kids which meant that it was very chaotic. I was supposed to be with the same kid as the day before but hes a bit of a ladies man and quickly attached himself to one of the blonde female workers and so I looked after another kid that day. I had a great morning but then my kid didn't want to eat and threw a fairly impressive tantrum. The early afternoon was okay again but then someone needed me to switch with them to give them a break so I ended up with the other kid I mentioned from Thurday who was running around tripping everyone in the playground. Eventually he settled down and went swimming instead (luckily I managed to rescue his clothes this time so he didn't go home soaking wet!). That night I met up with Barbara to go and see "Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly" - thats right, the guy that she decided to give a plug to on the comments for one of my blogs. She'd bought the tickets a few days before, and the gig had been arranged along with a few other bands to support truck drivers who had been affected by the floods. We expected that it would be fairly busy so straight after dinner we headed there and Barbara stood by the door looking anxious everytime people went in even though the doors weren't officially open yet. At one point she decided to check it wasn't open and walked in. Suddenly she turned around to me with an expression of suprise and delight as the guy who is Get Cape was actually the one just behind the door!! I think that moment Barbara reverted to an excited school girl and eventually we decided it wouldn't be too stalker-ish for her to get her album signed (which she coincidentally had in her bag). After that we went in for the first two acts who were both solo female singers. One was fun and upbeat dance type music, and she had a big singing voice. The other was poetry spoken with music behind (which completely drowned out her words) - she was definitely less good! During this time we expected that it would fill up as Get Cape isn't huge but is definitely an up and comer and was nominated for best new artist at the Brit awards along with Lily and The Fratellis. But although it did progressively fill up a little it still remained very quiet and with less than 100 people watching (we estimated 70 at most!). So in the end it resembled a secret gig. He played all the songs that B wanted him to play, including "I Spy" which always gets well and truly stuck in my head! It was a really good performance despite the absence of a crowd, and afterwards me and B went our seperate ways.
The next day I went and looked at the place which was really nice so I took it. Unlike some of the places I got my own room, only shared the place with 3 other people, didn't have to pay bills and it was also fairly cheap for the area. I couldn't move until Monday when the person whose room I was taking was going on holiday so that night I headed back to B's house. I spent the night there and then the next day we had lunch at the Peldon Rose before I headed back to Nana's house for the last night. I had enjoyed my time there and it was really good to see Nana more regularly but I was ready to give moving out a shot.
Monday was a "perfect" day in the words of Karian - one of my fellow workers, although I've had better since, and we all objected to use of perfect without "almost" attached to the front. I was with the swimming child again, although this time we went to Fulham where there was no water. I had a great day playing with all the children, and we didn't have to be as much on-top of them as usual. I was physically exhausted at the end of the day as I didn't stop running or pushing the big swing (the worst was when four of the heavier children got on at once!) but I was having a really good day. That night I moved into the Acton apartment. My flatmates are all very nice, but have their own lives and aren't really my type of people so I haven't actually done anything social with them except watch TV. But I wasn't too bothered because by this time I was completely comfortable with all my colleagues and had made some real friends. It took until the weekend before I actually unpacked because even though i love the job it completely sucks all the energy out of me! Especially as we don't get a break so it is very difficult 8 hour shifts. Oh, and that day was Sophie's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPH!!
My routine for getting into work is- I get up at 6am (I've gotten faster so its closer to 6.30 these days) and then leave the house at 7 to 7.15. I walk to Acton Town station and travel to Hammersmith on the Picadilly line (which is always crowded and hot). I then switch at Hammersmith onto the Hammersmith and City line and travel to Westbourne Park. I arrive at 8am although i don't start until 8.30 but a few people arrive early and it means we all have fun and start the day in a good mood. On Tuesday we went to see a stand-up routine designed for children. However it didn't start until 11 so we killed some time in the park unfortunately one of the children is always trying to get away and I went to assist his worker. The situation escalated a little but in the end we got him on the bus and went to the theatre. The stand-up was okay but it was all fairly crude with lots of fart noises. The kid I was with is always hilarious and cracked me up in his reactions much more than the comic did. At one point the kids were supposed to boo but they didn't stop when they were supposed to which i know I should'nt have found funny but all of the workers were having a really hard time not laughing with them! After that we headed to Croxley which is an indoor centre. Unfortunately we were there for 3 hours and it was a nice day and the centre is quite small so everyone was bouncing off the walls and it was quite an unpleasant afternoon in some ways.
Everyone thought Wednesday would be a disastorous day but by the end Karian used the word "perfect" again. The whole group headed to Play Day which was a series of floats and rides but was very crowded with children and we thought that it would be chaos. It was also the first day I was responsible for two children, and even though one was a mainstream sibling it is still more stressful. But the whole day went great and the performance we had to do on the stage which had never been successfully rehearsed was actually really good!
On Thursday I went to the pool with the teenagers. The two I was looking after this time were very capable and so we had a great time. They even made me go down the really fast slide which was really narrow and I had images of me getting stuck like Homer does in the Simpsons. At the end of the day we were exhausted and nearly everyone on the bus fell asleep!
Friday was an interesting day. Whilst at the end we were able to laugh about it a lot it was challenging at the time. At the end nearly all the workers (especially me and Karian) were soaked in water (which may or may not have been pissed in!), I was covered in sunscreen (on my clothes not skin), Karian was covered in mud and we'd nearly all been spat on! We went out for drinks that night (although Karian had to find a change of clothes!) and had a really good night, and I became even better friends with all of them.
Saturday was a lazy day but also the day when i finally unpacked and sorted everything out.
On Sunday I travelled out to Colchester to see Mum who had arrived on Wednesday night. We went straight to the Peldon Rose for lunch where I had another roast dinner. That night we watched some of the Glastonbury videos. We spotted me at the Kaiser Chiefs, but then we didn't need to spot me during Lily Allen as they did a close up on me watching!
One of the reasons it has taken me so long to actually update this blog is that for about a week I was unable to gain access to it, however I assumed it was something to do with the internet cafes and wasn't too stressed. So when i was unable to get in on B's computer on Saturday I began to get stressed it might never come back and I would lose all my blogs! So I was very excited on Sunday to get in - until I clicked on to see my blog entries and it only brought up the first 5! All my blogs up until Edinburgh (which feels like a life time ago!). Everything after that was gone! After the initial panic I tried a few things and was actually able to press cache when i searched for my blogs using Google and eventually retrieved them all. But for a while the thought that I had lost all my blogs was really upsetting! I now have back-ups on B's computer. We then headed down to Frinton (which is a posh beach town) and ate really nice fish and chips and walked along the beach, after which I travelled back into London on Monday night (I wasn't working that day - typically when its the day that they went to see The Simpsons Movie!).
On Tuesday I was switched to the teenagers again. This was because they needed a male worker on the team as they had a couple of the guys that were going to need changing. However we were very understaffed that day and it was a very challenging day. In the end the bus driver helped out heaps and especially compared to the other drivers is such a legend! We went to the Stowe which is a centre that they can play on computers and watch TV, etc.. and then to the Park that afternoon. It was a hard but okay day in the end.
For the same reason I was switched to the teenagers again the next day. This day we had more staff and actually had a great day. The morning was spent at the Stowe, and the afternoon at Ebory Bridge which was a great inclusive centre for mainstream teenagers where they took our lot off our hands are showed them around and played with them all.
Thursday was one of the best days I've had on this entire trip. I was on the bus with Karian and Rina who are the two funniest workers, as well as all the funniest kids. We laughed the whole day and everybody's faces began to hurt from laughing non-stop. In the morning we all went to the circus skills workshop where all the kids tried walking along a tight-rope, and wearing stilts, and heaps of other cool stuff. They finished by playing a game where you have to jump over a rope that he spins in a circle and if you touch the rope then you are out. Me, Karian, Lizzie (whos really cool girl and started a couple of days after i did) and Anna (who organises the activities and sometimes comes along and is heaps of fun) and quite a few of our kids joined in. We were doing okay until we had to start doing leapfrogs over the rope. Most of the kids had gone out by this time, Lizzie didn't even attempt to leapfrog over and went out. But for some reason no-one hit the rope for ages and me and Karian were ready to collapse but kept going to try and outlast each other. Finally the rope hit Karian and then proceded to wrap itself around her legs several times. And then the guy spinning the rope pulled it towards him and she fell over backwards. Luckily she wasn't hurt so i was able to really laugh at her! Later that day we went to the park and had lots of fun there and then everyone headed home.
On Friday the teenager I was looking after had a serious incident that i don't want to mention on the internet but can probably tell people in more private ways if they really want to know what happened. All the staff got hurt and shaken up and we self medicated at the pub that night. We had a great time and I got to hear all the gossip from Rina -I always tell her that she is evil - and she knows I'm right!! 😊
The next day i was quite tired and still a little shaky but met up with Mum and Barbara to go to Greenwich market again. We looked around the market and had some nice food from one of the stalls. Then we went to catch a ferry to Westminster along the Thames. Unfortunately someone had collapsed on our ferry so were left waiting a long time before we were crammed onto another boat. The trip was very enjoyable and pretty but better described when I put pictures up. After that we headed to a pub and then onto China town where we had a really nice meal and then i headed back here.
So finally I'm upto date. That was probably less detailed then usual but its finally been done!
Today I've been in the internet cafe most of the day, but I hope to finally see The Simpsons Movie tonight!
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Barbara
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Can't think of anything original so there's no comment title!
Can't wait for the KEEEEAAANE and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly! photos to go up. Don't dare put up that awful one of the two of us at the gig!