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Published: June 25th 2008
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As the lady at work next to me makes yet another cat noise, I figure there is no time like the present, to punch out another blog of what I have been up to the last few weeks in London.
I am currently temping, and my first job, that was meant to last one week, is now into its sixth, with a possible five more to go. Good news for me. It is situated right opposite the Tower of London, and at the beginning of Tower Bridge. If you are going to work anywhere in London, it may as well be here where it feels like you are really in London.
The last few weeks have brought a few little adventures.
Upon returning to England, it was time to find a job. Hoorah! The joys of it. Luckily, the job above was found quickly. One can hope that I will have the success in finding something when this job runs out. With only eight weeks to go until my travels through Europe, I need all the cash I can get!
The weather was actually perfect the first two weeks back in England, so James and I thought
it perfect to hold a BBQ. True to form, the rain came down and it was freezing! We also had the council knock on the door at 11.15pm with a noise complaint from the neighbours! Everybody knows how long it takes for the council to do anything, so it must have been very early that the call was made. The noise was about eight people talking outside, on a Saturday night. It might be a long, long summer in regards to the neighbours. They are a barrel of laughs! Just your friendly alcoholic, drug binging, feral family with annoying feral kids. Bliss! Besides that, the BBQ was a lot of fun.
The next week was Eurovision week! We spent our nights at Shaun's house watching the two rounds of Semi Finals, and the Final. I think this might be a little two much, but while in Europe... And it was trashtastic!
In feeling worldly, I decided to have a proper look at the British Museum. I also read that there is a crystal skull there, so tried to hunt that out. Indiana Jones I am not. Couldn't find it and gave up. This place is way too big.
Welcome to the Mudfest
At the bottom of the hill Monday the 26th of May was a bank holiday, and also the day of the Cheese Rolling Races in Gloucestershire. I'm sure you have all seen the footage of people recklessly throwing themselves down a hill after a wheel of cheese, so we thought it would be to go and watch this. Hiring a car Megan, Sam, Shaun and I made our way across country. We knew when we were close, for in true British style, there was a queue of cars. Parking was an issue, so we decided to stick it out with the queue and make our way to the official carpark. We were in the line for hours. The first race came and went, and a few more came and went, still we were in line. The first sight of the hill that the races take place on was amazing. It is a monster!
Fifty minutes after the first race, we are not far from the carpark. Then she came. A police woman told us that there was, and I quote, "No more cheese racing.". Shattered at missing out, we drove on to a little country town, Painswick, and had a pub lunch. It was
Sam making his way up the hill...
...as a little boy makes his way down great to get a roast lunch, but my new "Wellingtons" remained clean. That just isn't right! Sam was disappointed that he didn't get to compete, so we decided to go to the hill anyway so he could have a run down. The gum boots were christened and many laughs were had while Sam had his run. While there, there were still a lot of the event people around. I went and asked how many races were held that day, as usually it would run well into the afternoon, and we were surprised that they finished at 1. The reply was that they finished at 2.30! Shattered! Stupid police woman! But still a good day was had, and we did manage to see an uphill race for the carpark line.
The week following, a dreaded cold hit me. Horrible, but temping, I had to keep going. Saturday came up trumps with TV for sick people. I got to watch "Kermit: The Swamp Years", "The Karate Kid" and "The Princess Bride". Starting to feel better, Sunday was off to the seaside to see the family in Hastings. Yet another fantastic Aunty Julie roast.
Starting to realise that time is really
ticking away in London, it was time to get out there. Saturday the 7th June, James and I met up with Shaun in Camden. Interesting place. We pretty much only glanced around the place before getting a drink next to the wharf. It was then back to ours for a low key BBQ.
Sunday was a crazy day for me. I covered a lot of ground. I first started at Green Park. Seeing crowds over at Buckingham Palace, I made my way over there, narrowly missing a parade (this seems to be a theme with me, narrowly missing things). There were still some fairly impressive giant flag on displace to have a look at though. I then wandered over to Hyde Park, walked the full length, and sort out the main attractions there. The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain is an interesting one. Crossing the road, I was then in Kensington Gardens. There is a small contempary art gallery there...interesting. But the main attraction was to find the Peter Pan statue. On the way there I saw a bulldog nearly get attacked by a white swan. Swans are so evil. There was also another incident with a dog who lost
his ball in the Round Pond. The swans gave chase to the poor fella, but the dog got out of there in time.
Kensington Palace was my next destination. It just looks like a really large house, more then a palace, but I would certainly live there. Think I might have to get a tour of it in one of the up coming weekends.
Leaving the parks, I headed towards the Science Museum. I think it would be interesting if you like trains (Lachlan) and cars and space travel, but it failed to hold my interest for long, so I moved on to the Natural History Museum. I first went to their Earth Centre. The entrance was very interesting, and inside wasn't bad either, but the most impressive of the lot is the main Natural History Museum, if only for the building alone! This is so impressive with detail. Every corner has a snake or monkey climbing it. I was tired by this stage, so decided that I would go and see the famed T-Rex before making my way home. Pretty cool, and I think this is another place for me to revisit with more time.
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Emily Grant
Finally!
On the sly at work, finally got videos to post. Back track through the blogs for more!