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Published: September 4th 2007
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Ana on the crossing
Looking windswept. Luckily I gained some weight back after eating all that yummy food in France othe1rwise I might have been blown off the ferry Hello dear friends and family! After numerous complaints from avid fans of the Chasanaski travel blog, we have succumbed. Please do not be alarmed; our long absence from the web after our "two-a-week" schedule can be easily explained simply through busy schedules and limited internet connections. Hence why Sof and Zac are beating Chas at Arrested Development trivia on Facebook. Anyway, here is our long-awaited, much-demanded blog on life in England.
Our arrival into England
Well, after traveling for hours by car and ferry from France, our arrival at about 11pm into Poole, England was not the warmest of welcomes we've experienced. Our wonderful friends Don and Alison Cameron had very kindly offered to drive us from St Just all the way to Sherborne, as they had space in their car. However, after waiting our turn in the line of cars at passport control, the immigration officer took one look at Ana's Aussie passport that had no form with it (not that anyone on the ferry mentioned that non-British citizens had to fill out a form, or where to find one) and asked us to park by the fence and wait until he had processed all the other cars lined
Cheap Street on a sunny day
Do not be deceived by the name of the street up behind us.
After waiting about half an hour, the officer collects our documents, seems a bit worried and notifies us that he needs to consult with his senior officer who was currently dealing with another carload. Great. So then come all the questions about my visa rejections, is this the first time I was entering the United Kingdom, have I had previous immigration issues, etc, all the while making me feel like I'm some criminal or illegal alien. We were held up so long that the security guards thought all the ferry passengers had long gone, and had already locked the gates up. But thankfully after all the questions and reinforced instructions that I am not allowed to work, they let us through. So we arrived into Sherborne sometime around midnight.
And do you know why Ana isn't allowed to work in England? Because she married Chas. Had we not been a married couple - no problem. Had Chas been a Litchenstein citizen, and Ana an Iraqi citizen - no problem. In fact, we could have got a work visa for free! Instead, we had to pay something close to AU$900 to find out that there is
One of my favourite buildings in Sherborne
And it had to be Woolies. THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT! no possible way that Ana can work in the UK on a temporary basis. It's either visitor, or permanent resident. And if I had tried to change my immigration status as a visitor, then I would have my name listed as a suspicious person.
Anyway, I'd like to move on as it has been a great source of stress, anger, anxiety but after about 3 weeks of research in the UK, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Oh, one more thing, I'm not even allowed to
volunteer. Not being permitted to work includes any kind of unpaid work.
Not that I think Australia is any better. I hear there a nightmare stories trying to get into Australia too, even if you're British.
Life in Sherborne
Once we arrived to England, we decided that we could not afford to live and work in London as planned as Chas was the only one earning pounds. So fortunately enough, Leigh, Chas' mum, offered to have us to stay in their house in Sherborne. It's this really cute place, called Crown Cottage, right near the centre of town so well within walking distance of everything we need in
the town. The house is ironically about four times the age of Australia.
And for those who weren't aware, Sherborne is where Chas was born! So for him it holds many old memories and some really good childhood friends. It's a beautiful old town, down in the south east of England in the county of Dorset, has an astounding quantity of pubs (11 at last count and we haven't had a thorough investigation) for a town its size, has an amazing abbey (the ceiling itself is worth a visit) and has a really good feel to it.
The Ugly Swan
So, as Chas' luck would have it, on our first day there, he walks into a pub and asks if they're looking for bar staff. Sure enough, they are, and two days later he's got his first shift. Working in a bar has been a bit of an adjustment for a person who has recently been admitted to the South Australian bar, but it really is fun work and the easiest thing to get at short notice in small town.
However, the Swan in Sherborne does not show off the town's prettier side. Friday and Saturday nights
The crew of the Swan
Let it be known that this was after a long night of hard work! have become known as fugly nights due to the sad parade of the same drunk people getting even more drunk and trying to pull the other ugly drunk people they regretted pulling the week before. Plus it has some pretty suspicious work practices. But the people behind the bar are fantastic; loads of fun and make a tough job easy. For an example (and I am being serious) look up
straight jacket accidents on youtube. Find 'Ed at Dan's party'. You can hear the sound of him breaking his collarbone. Hilariously tragic. As Ed has said: 'Spread the Ed'. And that is only the tip of the iceberg featuring Sally (Steve), Bob (Chris), Tink (Martin), Dave (my own brother James) etc.
The best example I can give is of this guy who was so drunk that he was dancing by himself at nine o clock at night. It was hilarious just watching him by himself bust some moves and then he took his pants off. GOLD. For non-Australians, pants are trousers not undies. I took a video but it was too dark but that memory will stay with me forever.
Old Friends and New Locations
We had the
Bath in all its glory
Oh! And do you want to hear the exciting Bath news? Johnny Depp has just bought a house in this town. pleasure of catching up with Rohan a couple of weeks ago as he stopped by Sherborne on his way westward. We met Rohan in India through People's Watch as he and Chas were both volunteers there. He arrived on a gloriously sunny day, on market day and with just enough time to have a nice lunch at one of the local pubs on Cheap St. It was lovely to catch up with and learn that he is heading back to India to more work! It was really inspiring to hear.
The last of these photos show the start of a trend. In the first few weeks Chas worked weekends and spent the weekdays studying and researching with Ana on the immigration issues. But when we took a trip to Bath it marked a new phase in our stay in England: work weekends and travel the country during the week. It has certainly put a brighter spin on the country; we were feeling very unwanted and alienated.
So we went to Bath to catch up with Chas' friend from his very first years of school, Tom Cracknell. It was great to go back to Bath which is a stunningly
beautiful city. Centred on Roman baths and hot springs, the city was rebuilt in the Georgian era in beautiful, honey-coloured local stone. There is not an ugly building in the whole place and it melds beautifully. (They tore down the big ugly shopping monstrosity in the centre of town and are in the midst of building what will hopefully be a better one).
The night started with catching up with Tom, a mate of his Ted, Tom's elder brother Nick and Nick's girlfriend Cheski. It turned into a huge pissup where we closed out two places and ended up dancing at a third. We got so drunk that Chas could not remember the next day buying a
jug of
pink alcohol. Damn alcohol for making you generous! The recovery from the hangover was just as nice, walking in the drizzle around Bath, camping outside Johnny Depp's house for a perv (well, it's what Chas wanted to do), and retiring to a wonderful pub called to Raven to eat, drink and play board games that they keep on site for patrons such as ourselves.
To looking at the brighter side of life!
We love and miss you all!
Coming up soon: reunited with Luke and Molly in London and then a trip to Edinburgh!
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Zac
non-member comment
ironic???
I fail to see the irony of a house being 4 times older than Australia. Unless you went to see an agent requesting a house to stay in that was much older than Australia, due to your keen interest in pre-european Australian history, but much to your disappointment there was no such house available. But you accepted because there were no other options. Then, upon arriving at the house, you found that it WAS in fact older than Australia, and much much older at that. THAT would be ironic. You doofus. Oh, and Sof says I should say something nice as well... the photos look nice.