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Published: December 20th 2006
train to redcar
view of the english country side13th Sept
Woke up thinking it was the 14 and got all dressed up for an interview lol
Then realized my mistake and checked my emails and ebay where I found a ford transit 1991, 2.5 diesel with bed, fridge, stove, basin with running water, cupboards and an awning which seems perfect. Only problem was it was about 350miles away!!! After calling the guy it seamed even better as he would accept 600p for it ($1800) once again pretty cheap for England and it had a new MOT(wof) So getting a good feeling about it I did a bit of research into getting there, had planned on going after the interview on the 14. But on a spur of the moment decision I called the guy and told him I was coming to have a look and could I buy straight away. He said yes and by 11 I was in traveling cloths and on my way 300 miles to redcar, the train took 4hrs and had to transfer 3 times but the worst part was it cost 89p($270) for the ticket!!! But having no cheaper option and a really good feeling about the van I went for it. Arriving at
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My temp bedroom 4.30 I walked to the address and the van while being a little rough around the edges it was perfect and a really good price, as well as being really good mechanically😊 after settling on 575p as I still needed to buy 100p of tax(like reg)
Once all this was sorted it was too late to go to the post office and change the ownership so the guys was nice enough to offer a place to stay, his family were really nice and even made me dinner and set out the pull out bed for me😊 so I’m writing this here from there lounge lol I’ll send more of an update tomorrow after I’ve navigated my way all the way back to London!;-p
14th Sept
Woke up nice and early to get to the post office change ownership and buy the van some tax. Got there and we had filled out the form which mean’s he couldn’t buy the tax for me and it turns out that in the UK you have to have insurance to buy tax and own a vehicle!! So he decided that I could get the insurance and tax on my own and I dropped him
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my bed mate.... off back at home. And went to the next village along called Saltburn and had a look at what was probably u bustling holiday town😊 after which I bought a UK map book and started on my 350miles journey back to London, I stopped once at a rest stop but managed to get back in about 6hrs, I had, had to reschedule an interview with a temp agency to set up a few things and had also had to call the hostel to move my stuff to the next room they had put me in. I had a few issues when I got back to the hostel finding my stuff but in the end it all worked out and I had nachos and a cider for dinner;-p
15th Sept (Friday)
Woke up had breakfast and packed all my stuff into the van being very creative with the space available;-p but got all my stuff in and got it looking almost half way presentable. I then went online and applied for another 20 or so jobs, and had a look for a campsite I could stay at, I found a few but they were all asking more than a night
redcar
houses at the hostel!! I got 3 calls from different companies saying they were putting my name forward for a few jobs… so we will have to see what happens on Monday! I found a 2nd hand store and was looking for a frying pan and a pot but only found some travel books Europe and Ireland, so looks like I’m defiantly going to have to visit Ireland now haha;-p
At about 4 I hadn’t found a decent place so decided to go for a drive and found a nice reserve type thing i could park alongside and got to go blackberry picking😊 after which I decided I wanted to visit Reading and see what it was like, as I had applied for quite a few jobs in that area, so I drove the 50ish km to reading and after driving through the city a few times and not seeing anywhere promising to park I found a parking lot that wasn’t to full or bright and settled down for the night sadly I found that my second battery seemed to be dead… but the normal interior lights worked fine.
16th Sept (Saturday)
Saturday morning I explored reading centre on foot
redcar
My first english pier and drove around a bit then found a supermarket and surprisingly found a cheap nonstick frying pan and pot and some cleaning equipment as well as a few forks and spoons. I searched for a place I could buy a new car battery or some more wood, but couldn’t find any where I did find an address for a car boot sale, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to be running. So I decided to explore suburban Reading and found a nice little spot to park where I ate lunch and read and generally relaxed, I also spent the night there and had my first self cooked meal in ages it even included some vegetables;-p
17th Sept
Sunday I woke up and made a nice breakfast of fryed onions baked beans and eggs😊(all im my van)haha anyway then I did a bit of exploring and found a car boot sale but was nothing looked very nice. After that I drove back to London and on the way dropped in at Westminster and had a look at the outside of the castle, which was really cool and bought some shortbread. After which I drove into central London fought traffic over the
redcar
My first english pier thames and found a place to park. Turns out the thames river festival was happening and I walked to the river and watched a few free shows and had a loot that some of the tate modern but modern art I have realized isn’t really for me(no big surprise there).
Then before it got dark I went back to the van and read in a little park type place just next to it for an hr till it was dark.
18th Sept
I woke up made an omelet for breakfast and when I had just finished cleaning up a motorcycle pulled up and a traffic warden got off so I waved to him and he drove off again. Then making tea and hot water for a “bath” I head something from the front of the car and another traffic warden had given me a ticket!!!! So my missing for the morning was to get out of the ticket unfortunately after talking to the ticket office it seamed I was F*(ked so had to pay the 50p($150)!! I thin went back to the ticket office and used there power to charge my laptop haha thought I had paid them
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My first english beach 50p I might as well get something for it. Before I left I tried paying for my parking but the machine was broken so I left a note in my window. When I got back I had another ticket!! So I went back and they said to come back tmrw and they could prob do something about it for me. Oh well tough lesson on where not to park!! Dam London.
I went for my interview/set up session and during it I got 3 calls about jobs and one setting up an interview for tmrw!!! Is working in central London for 25k!! that’s about 75k nz!!! I spent another hour or so at the interview office using there computer and connection so I could research the company I then went back to the van where I had had to pay 7p for parking!! London is too expensive to own a car I now know this but it’s a little late. I’ll figure something out tho. after picking up the car I drove just next door to an private property area where I made and ate dinner then seeing all the looks I was getting I decided to move, driving around
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the inside of the van for about 30 min and didn’t really find anywhere so I am now in a residential parking area parked next to a garage I’ll no doubt have to move before 8 in the morning but it should be alright for tngt, I am in need of a free place to park this van! All the money I am saving on board is going right back into paying for parking not to mention the dam ticket’s!! so impressions of London if you come her make sure you don’t have a car!! It is for public transport only!!!
19th Sept
Alright well day of the interview, I went back to the dam ”Parking Shop” and got off my newest ticket! Then drove through London getting lost only 4 times and got back into the backpackers at swiss cottage turns out cheaper to stay the night and get a free breakfast than to pay for parking in the city haha. After booking 3 nights I showered and was off to the interview. Got there way too early so settled down in a bar and did a bit of research then went in for the interview, I went really well and I seemed
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the inside of the van bed down(satin sheets brought halfway around the world with me;-) to be everything they needed! Afterward I checked out the London museum with is literally next door and headed for home(got the wrong tube to finchly not finchly rd) made it eventually and had a nice dinner cooked in the van.
20th Sept
Woke up this morning met a nice Korean girl at breakfast named Jill, am thinking of arranging a trip to south England - Dover? or somewhere similar? Just charge whoever wants to come with gas? After breakfast set up in the lounge with the laptop(this thing is a lifesaver) and got a call at 10 saying I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!! Am so happy is paying 23k a year on a 6month contract so If all goes well I could even save $, of course it all depends on how much a place to stay with parking is. So, so far it has been a great day I’m pretty sure I’ll be starting on Monday.
I left an add in Gum tree a backpackers travelers Londoners forum type place;-p and got an emailed about a place for 250 a month west of Greenwich with parking and a back yard so sound really good, have been chatting
to her(22) about the place and am due to have a look at it end of the week. I was having some trouble with the vans dual battery system and fridge! But after 2ish hours of playing around with only a light bulb and a piece if wire I managed to figure out all the relays fuses and dual fuses and what the *%$^$^&% they all did;-p Matt would be so proud of me lol, the previous owner had messed with it and made the main positive a negative lol but its all up and running now and I have an ice cold fridge yay. Also meet 2 American girls over here on an exchange program and Coner(Ausie Irish guy) and I had a few drinks with them at one of the local bars. So all in all its been a pretty good day.
21st Sept Thursday
I had breakfast and met an Aussie girl who is also just about to set herself up in UK, so spent a while talking to her and helping her set up her cv and job apps. Then at about 2ish I headed to the city and did the tower bridge tour and
london
a church interiour met two Canadian girls and an American guy on the tour and got to see the bridge from the inside and check out the boilers and the engine room. Afterwards we had a look around the general area and had a bagel for dinner. By that time it was getting quite late so I headed back to the hostel and joined the guys at the hostel bar, then at around 9ish we met up with the American girls and decided to go out the the local bars, or at least the ones we hadn’t seen yet. After the fist bar we decided to turn it into a 9 drinking hole’s game, so after that we tried to go to 9 different bars and have a drink or a shot in each on after 5 we had run out of local bars we hadn’t been to so we caught out 6th drink back at the hostel bar then headed to Camden town a short bus drive away. Once there we went to a heavy metal bar and a few others. Then after the mandatory mid night feed we headed back to the hostel. On the way back we pickup up one
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the dining room;-p more drink at an off license(24hr shop that sells alcohol)
Then meet up with a few guys that were drinking at the water fountain, hang around with them group of Germans and locals for a couple hours then headed to bed.
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