Advertisement
Published: February 7th 2006
Melbourne
Departure TimeA bearable 23 hour flight which thankfully saw the five of us - Pete, Cossie, Azz, Emmo and myself treated to the comfort of emergency-exit seat living came to an end as we touched down at Heathrow airport, a nation where I would spend the best part of the next 12 months.
The volume of alcohol that we had consumed had been adequately matched by the amount of water, and by heeding my mothers warnings, not only was I extremely well behaved on the flight, she would have been proud knowing I was able to have a relatively clear head when touching down in this foreign land.
Until this time we had encountered no hiccups, apart from a dodgy Singapore Spicy Chicken Burger, which momentarily unsettled Pete’s stomach. That was until, our connecting flight to Manchester was delayed, cancelled, and then delayed once more. Eventually we boarded, and able to easily endure the 55 minute flight. However, the baggage terminal was less enduring, particularly for Pete and Cossie, who were informed that their baggage had been left at Heathrow airport. Secret high fives between Azz and myself, were kept to our selves as our respective lifts awaited couriering us
Headingley
Melbourne - Glasgow to Headingley, Leeds.
Shopping was made painful with Pete’s insistence on filling the shopping trolley with every necessity known to man. But the purchase of Bed linen and Kitchen requirements did give us a better understanding in the value of the Pound. Truth be told, our 7 bedroom Langdale Gardens situated house is now probably the most livable one in Leeds.
Leaving the muggy 34 degrees Melbourne temperatures and then being smacked in the face with a chilling - 2 degrees, almost immediately took a toll on my once rock solid and ever reliable immune system. A runny nose, quickly developed into a sniff, and then a cough and before long I was given a damming lesson on how to appropriately dress for their depressing winter. Put me on record as saying - never again will I knock a Melbourne Winter, in fact next time, I will embrace it.
We quickly learnt how lazy the sun is over here. With it setting around 4pm, and then not seeing it until well after 8am. Cossie, the only non-teacher amongst us, made the comparison to the work hours of a teacher. We had first hand experience of this on
Headingley
Why am I wearing a TShirt? our first morning awakening to pitch black darkness. This was quickly forgotten, as a downpour of constant snow blanketed across our neighbourhood, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Seizing this opportunity, and dressed in only Boxers and our respective footy jumpers we set about in certainly giving nearby residents something to talk about over breakfast. Together awe went about gathering enough snow to form the latest additional member of our house - Spade the Snowman.
At 11am I had an informal job interview in Leeds. Despite several other interviews later this week, I accepted the offer. Tinshill Learning Centre is a Co-Ed school that has a high percentage of special needs students. Huh, look out Mr.Alexander. The pay rate is 135 pound a day, which is equal to a teacher of 5 years UK experience. Seems too good to be true… but in saying that I don’t know our tough the students will be yet. I am taking the approach that they are only kids, how hard could they be.
The rest of the day, saw us sitting in the pub, doing what the locals seem to do best… drinking pints of what ever brew there
Headingley
Straight to the Pub is on offer.
With the house now having a homely feel to it, all the university students that make up 95% of the residence here due to sweep back into town tomorrow, and now the comfort of knowing that I will be one of the more better off people in this village, despite the depressing weather things are looking up.
Love and french kisses. Dave xo
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 13; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0481s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
DJA
David Alexander
I plan on using this Bog site to keep my journal entries... so after you have a bog, stop for a minute and think of me and my travels. Happy bogging.