Advertisement
Published: January 2nd 2009
The heading of this page hightlights a couple of the first things I head when I arrived in London. I jumped on the tube from Heathrow Airport to meet Louise and Alex in Hammersmith. The female voice over on the tube said... "This is a Piccadilly line train stopping all stations to Cockfosters..." being human, I giggled to myself. What a funny name for a suburb! Gold!! Then at every station "Please mind the gap..." Now it's just a part of daily life, though I must admit I still tend to giggle to myself when I catch the Piccadilly Line 😊
One of my first nights out in London was in east London (can't remember exactly where) in a warehouse to celebrate Halloween. My friend Jo, a super fun/crazy gal I went to uni with, and her best friend Lauren aka Lol, invited me to the party that a friend of Lol's had organised. It was a really fun night, from getting dressed up, having Jo put on our make-up, drinks with the gals b4 hand and then our mission out there. The stares and comments we got on the tube was quite halarious! Everyone at the party put in
so much effort. Dress up parties are so fun when everyone gets involved and goes all out. Was my first Halloween experience, I think I may have dressed up once when I was little, but it's not really celebrated in Oz, so it was great to be a part of it here in London. Thanks girls for inviting me and making me feel so welcome!
I have spent a few night with best friends of mine Naomi, aka Na, and John in there very comfortable and homely flat in Islington, also a really nice area in London. I have spent a lot of time there now and have grown to love it. They also introduced me to the famous Borough Market. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it... as most of you reading this know I am all about FOOD, and Borough sure has some delisious varieties to offer. I'd have to say so far my favourites are turkey, stuffing and cranberry baguet, also the fresh scallops with chirizo sausage, oh and the Brownies, you can't go past them. I have been back a couple of times since and am sure I will continue to frequent there during my stay in London!!
Inside the market
Such good food!! Mmmmm the turkey roll!I spent my first month in London living with the lovely Louise and Alex. I had so much fun living with them both and felt so comfortable and at home in their Hammersmith flat. Though after a month of living out of a suitcase I was excited to unpack my clothes and make myself at home in my new room, in my house in Fulham. Thank-you Louise and Alex so much for being so generous during my stay with you both in Hammer. I really loved living with you both and getting to know you even better. It was nice to come home to a warm flat and two smiling faces, always good meals, wine, chats and yummy sweets 😊 Standard!! Also when I had a bad day at work you always knew how to cheer me up! You have both been amazing, and helped to make my first couple of months in this crazy city an easy and quick transition. I feel very settled here already and a lot of that is thanks to you two!
So I am now living about a 8min walk from Fulham Broadway Station, great location, everything at our doorstep. Supermarkets, cinema,
tube, gym, post office, news agent, bars/retaurants/cafes... you name it we have it at our doorstep. I am living with 6 lovely housemates. I know it sounds like a lot, 7 in one house, but you wouldn't even know. It is so clean/tidy, and we all come and go as we please so are rarely there at one time. Two guys from France - Luis and Nicolas, and 1 guy from Hong Kong - Ka, and 3 other girls; Finland - Martina, Oz - Jess, and Lithuania - Chantelle. A great mix in one house. The house is very spacious, and we have 2 bathrooms, a girls and a boys! Perfect! We all love to eat and are pretty healthy... though also love to drink 😊 We are lucky also to have Sky TV and wireless internet, so though it ain't a cheap spot to live we have all the mods and cons you could ask for. Super spoilt!
A few weeks before Christmas we decided it would be a fun idea to have a Christmas dinner together and then invite some friends over for a house party. Was a FAB idea. Unfortunately one of our house members couldn't
make it as she was seeing the Lion King, however it was still a super fun and very eventful day. We hit up the shops around midday and bought everything we needed for our big dinner. Luis cooked up the most amazing delicious turkey I have ever experienced, (thanks Luis), and the rest of us chopped, stirred, wisked grated, pealed etc... we made roast potatos, salad, turkey, mulled wine (I feel like I have tried this b4, though I don't remember it tasting so good, thanks Chantelle and Martina), a delish chocolate ripple cake, vodka jelly shots... was an awesome combination. We also had Chrissy carols playing in the background all day. Such good times! We spent the whole day cooking and then enjoyed our master piece together as a family 😊 It was such a great way to get to know each other better! I really had such a fun day with you all!! We all invited other friends over, who started to arrive from 9pm onwards. It turned out to be quite a drunken fiesta! I look forward to more! Thank-you to everyone who came and made it such a memorable night 😊
I have also discovered
Hammersmith flat
Camping out in Louise and Alex's lounge room some other markets, more to do with arts/craft/funky clothing and jewellery, than food, but great all the same 😊 in Camden and Shortage. When I visited Camden I was in ore of all the craft, and alternative/creative clothing. There was a dude graffing hoodies and caps, love it. Was a hip place to be full of alternative fashion and culture, as Louise said to me b4 I went there "It's very Anna, you'll love it..." so true! Also Shortage Market that my friend Zoe introduced me too. I like Shortage as is wasn't so crowded, a much smaller market and they have a fantastic undercover passage with brilliant artwork, like an outdoor gallery. Opposite the market is London's oldest bar Ten Bells. Such a good vibe. When I first walked in and they were playing Jurassic Five I was instantly in my element! Though I must say the toilets are nothing to write home about 😊
I was teaching in a school north of London when I first arrived. It was very challenging and I feel I put in my best effort, however I just don't think I was tough enough to handle the kids I was up against.
I met some wonderful people there who were very supportive and I hope to keep in touch with, however after nearly a month I decided it was time to move on. I am now enjoying the felxibility of supply teaching. I have taught at some great schools, and can now have the weeknights and weekends to myself and not have to worry about planning. I am much happier and enjoying my London experience more! I have joined a gym 2mins from my house and though I have never been a gym junkie (having joined a couple in Melb and left after a couple of wks, I prefer exercising in the outdoors) I have grown to enjoy it. They have a really clean and ususally empty (lane to myself, gotta love it) 25m pool that I am just loving!
A friend of mine, Mark, a graphic designer informed me about a graff and paste show he was going to be part of in Charing Cross Road. As I love this kind of artwork I was keen to check it out. I went along one night on my own... I walked up and down trying to find the numbers. I stood
outside what was supposed to be the show, but it was an Indian takeaway. I was confused so rang Mark, but to my disappointment there was now answer. I had another look then saw the poster for the show behind these huge iron gates. The gates had a chain round them, though I noticed the lock was open, and the poster said it was open till 7pm weeknights and it was only 6:15pm. I pushed the gates open and walked through these big black swinging doors to discover a dark and gloomy alleyway with puddles and potholes. The walls were covered in graff and I was curious to see more. Though to be honest I was a little (well a lot) creeped out. I didn't really know where I was, I was on my own, it was dark, and not what I was expecting. I left pretty quickly and decided I would return during the day b4 the show finished.
I did return one afternoon, thinking it would be day time. Of course (though I should be used to it by now) it gets dark about 4pm in London, so when I reached the iron gates it was dark again.
This time I had my camera and decided it wasn't so creepy after all. I took a bunch of pics and marvelled at the London talent. I know many people think graffiti is distructive and ugly, but I think it takes a lot of talent to do what these artisits do. It is always so different and original and every piece has a story behind it. It's not just about leaving a tag to say "I've been here" it's about being expressive and leaving an impression of you view of the world. I really admire this kind of art and look forward to more exhibitions and general street art spottings in dark alleyways 😊
My friend Tom, who I travelled with for 2mths in South America, and his girlfriend Chrissie came to visit for a couple of days prior to Christmas. It was so fun to see Tom again after over a year had passed since our adventures together. It was also really great to finally meet Chrissie who I had heard so much about. Tom and I had fun reminising about our time together in rickety busses, driving with crazy people on windy roads, speaking Spanish (when we
The kitchen
where we made lots of good food, Louise's curry was my fave! both knew next to nothing), the heart-breaking but rewarding voluntary work in Picso, the amazing people we met along the way, the food, the wine... we both have such fond memories of our time together. In London the three of us visited many a bar, markets, SoHo, and Tower Bridge, which I just loved. I remembered that The Brooklyn Bridge was my fave thing in NYC, and I have to say I feel similar about Tower Bridge London. It is stunning, to look at from a distance and to walk over and look at the structure up close and personal. WOW!!
Christmas was a super fun time. Louise, Alex and I were invited to have Christmas with some family friends of theirs, a neighbour Louise grew up with and spent every Christmas with. It was in Islington and lucky for us, Na and John had gone away for Chrissy so they very kindly offered us there place to stay (as there was no public transport on Christmas Day. Thank-you both so much!). We spent Christmas Eve eating, drinking wine and enjoying each others company. We headed over to Lucy and her boyfriend Adam's place around midday. They also had
some friends, an amazing chef from Oz, Jeremy, and a friend of Lucy's from Scotland, Ed, who is in the music industry. So it was a fun mix of people. And wow did they spoil us. The spread was insane! We started off with smoked salmon, dips, olives, mmmmmm deliciousness. Then moved onto mains which was goose (first time experience, delish), carrots, cabbage, roast potatoes, pig in a blanket (a lil sausage wrapped in bacon, Dad you would LOVE it), green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce... the WORKS! It was all cooked with so much love which made it taste amazing! We were all pretty stuffed afterwards, but it didn't stop there... next was chocolates followed by pudding, brownie, cream and strawberries... no wonder I had trouble sleeping that night! We also had a lot of fun playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation. Guitar, drums, singing, and everyone joined in! We felt like rock stars 😊 It was such a fun way to spend Christmas in a foreign country. Good wine, good food, and great company! Good times!! Thank-you so much Lucy and Adam for hosting such a FAB day!!
New Years Eve was another fun filled event with my
close friends, Na, John, Louise and Alex. It was pretty low key but exactly what we wanted. As usual we enjoyed wining and dining and chatting all night long. We went out on the street at midnight to watch the fireworks (just lil ones) and yell HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our neighbours. We then watched the fireworks display in the city on the River Thames. It looked spectacular though we were happy to be in the comfort out my house in Fulham and not with all the thousands in the city! It was a really great night with great friends! Love you all so much!! Thanks for the good times!!
So all in all, my first impressions of London have been exciting! I just love this city and can understand why so many Aussies try to extend their visas to stay on. So many people say, "why would you want to live in London, it's so cold and gets dark early, and people are rude and it's so busy and everyone's in a rush, blah blah, blah..."
That's what's so exhilerating about it all. Yes it's a big city and yes everyone is in a rush and yes
it's cold and dark, but it has SO much to offer. Every night of the week there is something on, every night of the week people are at the bars having drinks with friends, or wining and dining, the shopping is incredible, the markets wonderful, the tube system blows my mind, people can be rude, but they can also be extremely helpful... the cold and dark are just a part of it that you take in your stride and enjoy it for what it is!
In just two and a half months I feel very settled here, yes I've had my ups and downs, as you do adjusting to any new environment but I am very happy to be here. I still have so much to discover in this amazing city and I look forward to it daily! And with Europe at your doorstep how can you complain... really?!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.162s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 22; qc: 82; dbt: 0.1129s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
