bloody hell Ihope this works!

Finally, a taster of New York photos! I know a few of you have been waiting for these. Enjoy! I can't be bothered putting them in with their respective blog entries so cast your mind back. In order, these include
-St Patricks Day parade, note crusty snow in background
-Rosa Mexicana restaurant with nones, me, julian and kerry
-I 'love' this photo
-Count how many cop cars! There were even more out of shot, more than 40! We never found out what was going on either. We are near Times Square.
-Arj Barker...the proof!








More coming in a few days, enjoy!

blue skies, I should be outside...

Hello again

Well it's Wednesday evening here now and I've just knocked off work and caught my bus, which stops right outside the library entrance. How convenient! Work has been good, quite quiet at the moment which means a bit of me sitting around trying to look busy or sitting around failing at looking busy and staring out the big window in my office outside onto the cherry blossom trees and blue skies. I hope it's the same tomorrow because for the first time at work I will have to go and buy a sandwich as my lunch stuff has run out. It's quite a residential area where I work so it's a bit of a hike to the shops. I've made a few mates at work, there are a few of us from Time Recruitment at the moment and some others catch the bus with me in and out of work so we get to chat then. Things are pretty good!

Briony yesterday accepted a 3 month contract with a real estate publishing firm, which is great. She starts today and has slightly different working hours, 12-7pm as a Customer Service Advisor. Sounds like a bit of a job she'll get bored in but I've got this feeling she might climb up the ladder there. So well done to her! Tonight we are celebrating my "birthday" as Briony wanted to celebrate my birthday overseas with me, so 2 months after my actual birthday, we are going to go to a mosque and have a cheap curry dinner. Apparantly it's really nice and huge serves. We've been hanging out for Indian while we've been here and it's all been a bit expensive so hopefully it'll be a great night.

Briony and I had a bit of a beauty night last night, after tea we washed our hair and painted our nails. This sounds disgusting but my toenails grow really fast compared to Briony's, so we are having a race to see just how much faster mine grow in the next 2 weeks. I'll let you know the outcome. The original polish on my feet I put on just before I left Australia and it was starting to look like I gave myself a french manicure with burgundy polish, so it had to go. Now I'm all summury in some Boots No 7 polish called Vintage, soft pinky colour. It was so good just to take my time in the shower and muck about, now we are in a semi-normal space with only 2 in a room, we still can't wait until we get our own place of course but all in good time.

So over the rest of the weekend Noni, Cheryl and I went and visited the Edinburgh Castle which was open all weekend for free, normally you have to pay to get in. We went pretty early to avoid the crowds, which paid off although it was busy when we left there were huge lineups to get in. We saw the Scot crown jewels and a war prison and also a 21 gun salute to mark the anniversary of the queen's birthday, which was full of pomp and ceremony, but we loved it. It was quite a cool day but after that Noni and I went on one of those open top bus tours around the city. A bit cliche but good fun and good to have a tour guide with us to hear little tidbits of info like how Edinburgh is built on 7 hills, now we know why there are so many stairs! I poo pooed those bus tours in London and didn't do one but I reckon the one hear was definately worth it, it only took an hour and got some good photos, which I will put up shortly (getting sick of hearing that yet?)

We met up with Cheryl again later for some early dinner/late lunch and shared some haggis balls, awful name but were actually delicious. I haven't tried actual haggis yet but I think I will. And vegetarian haggis sounds yum too, maybe I'll try that first. I've just got to forget what is actually in there to really enjoy it maybe by having vegetarian first that will help!

After that we went back and got ready to go out on the town, and met up with a girl called Nic, who works at our recruitment company and is from Bowral in NSW. The four of us had a few drinks in our room before heading out to a few pubs, some were good, others not so but we all had a good night and ended up at Nic's flat drinking lots of water before making the long walk back to our place. I had to go to the toilet so bad and couldn't even stop along the way because it was too late and everything was closed. Thank God we made it, I've never walked with such purpose in my life. The realy disgusting thing about Edinburgh is that piss, vomit and human faeces do line the streets here, you know not to walk close to buildings at night for that reason. It's really disgusting, but there's no public toilets around so people just go anywhere (especially when they're drunk).

On that pleasant note, I'm off for the night, will update you in a few days guys. Hope all is well!

Edinburgh update

Well we have been in edinburgh for over a week now, feels like longer though I suppose we have kinda squeezed so much important stuff in since we have been here. On Thursday I started my two week temping post with the Royal College of Nursing Scotland HQ. Im in reception, it's pretty relaxed and my colleagues are lovely. Half of them were away at Congress this week though, so I've only met half of them, which meant a gentle introduction before they all come back next week. Trying to remember 40 people and the jobs they do almost instantly is a bit daunting but I think Ive handled it well, considering this is my first admin job ever. My recruitment company, Time Recruitment, seem really good to work for and put on Temp drinks on Thursday night, down at Hudsons Bar. Great night, met lots of new people and had a really fun time...there were free drinks and food and the glasses of wine they were handing out were almost the size of Briony's head! Two glasses and I knew anymore and I wouldn't be jumping out of bed the next morning so it was water for the rest of the night for me. Briony has been working in the office at Time since Thursday, it may end on Tuesday but it sounds like they may keep her on. Im sure something else will come up for her really soon.

Last night we met up with Cheryl and had an after work drink on the Grassmarket, then cooked up a storm in the hostel kitchen, veggie pasta. Was yum, but we all ate a huge plate of it and were so sleepy after. The antidote? Go for a big walk, we dropped Cheryl off to her door then went and got some more milk (how domesticated).

Phew, Im now actually up to date with my blog! So there you go. I'm hoping to get back on here on Monday and pop some more stuff up and reply to the heap of emails I have got over the last few days. Keep it up guys, Im sorry Im so slow at replying but once again, my internet time has run out. Im off to go see Edinburgh Castle now, update you later!

Bus to Edinburgh *yippee*

Okay, a few days pass and we are ready to leave London. We get up bright and early and stuff ourselves at brekky before strapping on our packs and taking a big red double decker bus to Victoria Station. We then hop on a Megabus bus (Megabus=cheap coach fares...still havent heard of any £1 fares like they advertise though), and go up to Edinburgh. It was weird we stopped after about an hours driving for a half hour break, then had to stay on the bus until we arrived in Edinburgh, at like, 6 in the evening. The bus ride wasnt that boring though, lots of different scenery along the way compared to Australia, nice and green and all that stuff. The bus was fairly full and when we got to Newcastle (i think) a guy came and sat next to Briony and she had to spend the next few hours politely chatting with him. Ah, the joy of pretending to be asleep with headphones on. He was a bit weird, and smelt funny too.

So, here we are in Edinburgh! We get off near St Andrews Square in New Town and have to walk a little while to get to our backpackers, not too far. We are staying at a place called St Christophers Inn, no it's not a religious place, in fact, they have a big bar downstairs (another Belushis, like in London, it must be a chain).

The booking system apparantly is rooted and it has booked us in to four different rooms during our five night stay at this place. So we have to wait for ages while the chick at the bar tries to rearrange things and our first night is in one room, then we move to another for the rest of the time. Sorted.

Have a big walk around and get used to the fact that this place will be our home for the next few months. Such a historic place, Im not used to everything being so old! The scenery is just crazy, castles here, beautiful gardens there, it's so surreal. Settle in to bed and move the next morning.

Friday we move into another 10 bed dorm, where we discover the shower isn't working and we have to use the showers 2 floors up. How annoying. Oh, when it got dark, we discovered that the main light wasnt working...rolls eyes...lucky the beds are comfy.

Friday morning is spent jazzying up my CV into UK format and emailing it out to recruitment agencies, and trying to find a place to call home over the next few months on a website called Gumtree. By mid afternoon we had interviews with recruitment agencies lined up for next week, and a few leads for flats. One place said we could visit it in the afternoon so we headed to George the Fourth Bridge to inspect the place. A Polish girl called Agata advertised the rooms (one double, one single), and we all clicked straightaway. Briony and I took one look around and knew we'd be happy there, so after we left we rang and said we'd have the double room. Want to hear more about our new digs?

-Four bedrooms all up, will have 6 people all up living in it.
-2 gorgeous new bathrooms
-The living room has leather reclining lounges that...wait for it...are massage chairs! They have cup holders and everything, so increddibly funny, kitsch and comfortable too!
-New kitchen as well, laid out really well but only has a small fridge. Meh.
-Heating is good, wooden floorboards, high ceilings.

The only catch is the people currently in our room arent vacating it until May, so we have to stay in short term accomodation until then. The landlords threatened Agata to find new tenants or lose the lease and she didnt want to leave but that's why we have to wait a bit. We arrange to drop part of the deposit off tomorrow.

Friday evening we met a Canadian girl called Cheryl who has become our first friend in Edinburgh! She just moved here as well and so we celebrated finding places that day with her doing lots of crazy dancing at pubs and clubs in Old Town. Favourite place was one called Whistle Binkies, live band, great atmosphere. Best part is places close early here so I was in bed by 3!

Time has run out, will add to this tomorrow!

Jas and Shoana weekend!

Its easter weekend in London and we caught up with some of my cousin Kara's mates, Jas and Shoana. They've set up house in Fulham, on a road called Munster Road, which I found hilarious and so easy to remember. I think Id only met Shoana briefly once before but Jas used to come over to our house with Kara and Fil for Sunday roasts every now and then, which were always really good times. Jas looks really well, she had just come back after doing a trip to Egypt so she was really tanned and I was jealous. We caught a bus from Hammersmith to Fulham for 5 minutes and walked a bit to their house, another beautiful day...this weather is so unusual they are saying that there will be a shortage of ice cream in the UK...how funny!

I've only got 5 minutes on the internet left so Im going to put our wicked time with these guys in note form:
-Went out to a few local bars, much fun and hilarity ensued. Crazy dancing.
-Duty free vodka and Sainsburys cheap Red Bull substitute made for a great cocktail.
-Their housemate Lucas is a laugh and comes in handy when you have unwanted attention from crazy French men. He also gets points because he drives a little green car, how very Shrek.
-Shoana is crazy, especially on the walk home she got up to mischief swapping dustbin lids and the like, all whilst acting like it was completely normal. Genius. Briony has photographic evidence, and could also catch me in the act of sitting on a parked scooter on the way home also, but we wont talk about that.

So the morning after we all gradually arose from our stupor, feeling a bit sorry for ourselves and treating ourselves to cable tv to recover. They call it Sky TV over here and I think its even worse than American cable. No joke, we spent the whole day on the couch, well Shoana managed to pull herself away from 16 straight episodes of 'girls of the playboy mansion', its the new The Simple Life, apparantly. It sounds so strange but after weeks of sightseeing and on the go, it was so nice to lounge about, it was kinda just like being at home with the girls!

The next day, Briony develops a case of sudden onset conjunctivitis and we decide to celebrate that as well as more glorious weather by visiting Portobello Road Market. Ive always wanted to go here, great shopping and great atmosphere. Because it was a public holiday some stalls were open but it was also Monday so it was nowhere as big as it normally is on the weekend. It was great to visit, but so hard because I knew I couldnt buy anything. We were all in the same situation of being a bit skint for luxuries, so we pretty much just drooled at all the nice stuff that was available, clothes, accessories, house stuff. We then went and did a bit of High st window shopping before we were completed pooped and caught the tube back. By that stage it was early evening so Noni and I said our farewells and hopped back on the tube with all our gear and took 3 lines to get to our next hostel, where we stay until we go to Edinburgh on the thursday. It's nice and we get a few more sightseeing things done. I like London but Im not in love with it and dont know if Id live there. the tube is crap and always breaking down, the subway is luxury compared to it and so much less expensive. I'll definately head back there before I completely strike it off the list. PS the pidgeons are after me

Tiffany and Co!

Monday is another big walk downtown via Madison Ave until 55th street, then we walk to Tiffany and Co., where Noni almost justifies buying a pair of earrings. Theyd make a nice souvenir but I doubt theyd remain nonis if we stay in any dodgy backpackers. The whole day has been window shopping (window drooling) and gasping at the prices, when we can find them. We also visit Trump Tower, which is stylish in a 1980s gold EVERYTHING way. Too gaudy! In the late afternoon we jump on a subway to Magnolia bakery, the rival to Buttercup - as to who has the best cupcake in NYC. We buy some cupcakes to take home and a slice of Red Velvet cake for Kerry. The verdict in the cupcake war is Magnolia 1 (me), Buttercup (2, noni and kerry). I think the cake is better at Magnolia, but the icing a lot sweeter. Buttercup seems to win in the icing stake, its undecided who has the better cake. It was worth the trek and getting lost on a new subway line. We order indian for dinner, really yummy and relaxed.

Tuesday I powershop (unsucessfully), but bought new socks and a few cheap tees from Old Navy. Briony is more successful but has trouble packing, so I silently pat myself on the back for my restraint. Went down to SoHo today for a haircut, my last treat before I delve into poverty and poor exchange rate in the UK. I have more of a fringe and its shaped slightly different at the back. Looks good and easy to take care of, I wasnt happy with my last cut so this is good. It gets the thumbs up from the girls, and we head out for our last night in NYC. The same group as Saturday all head out for burgers at JG Melon one last time, only 70minutes for a table tonight! good as ever. After JG, we head to the Imperial Mandarin to try and get a better view than last time, but cocktail lounge is closed. We have a drink in the bar next to it and our view is now an office block. Not as exciting. 1 drink and then the bar closed so we asked the doorman where to go, apparantly 2 blocks down there was a hotel with 4 different bars so we went there but it only had 1 open. It was like a club, and it was funny. We stayed there until it closed (everything closes early here!)

Next morning we found out that Kerry had been really sick all night, vomiting etc. We had another lazy morning (crappy weather didnt inpsire us to do one last Central Park walk), then one last walk round the UES. In the rain. Bought some flowers, some body stuff and lunch for Kerry, and a card as a thankyou. then it was time to leave the for the airport, got into a cab on Park Ave, we had a weird taxi driver, he had the blondest hair but black eyebrows. I almost threw up in the car, for some reason something came over me, but it passed as soon as we got to the airport. Bought some duty free vodka and on we got onto the plane!

The plane was only 1/3 full so we got to spread out which was good. It was an overnight flight and despite taking two temazapan I didnt drift off to sleep. 1 hour if lucky. When we landed in London, the host pointed out all the landmarks, Buckingham Palace, the new Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park - we flew right over them. I felt really calm, must have got all my nervous energy out before the flight. caught the tube to our backpackers, staying in Hammersmith for 2 nights. Too early to check in so we dropped our bags and walked for a few hours, bought some tinned spaghetti from tescos and a bag of apples from a farmers market to last us for a few days (brekky provided at backpackers). the weather was beautiful, supposed to be all weekend...blue skies...tshirt weather...what a great welcome to Britain...if only it was like this all the time. Hostel is clean and once we were all unpacked we had a nanna nap then went for a big walk in the nearby park. Its huge and everyones out, the only gross thing was there was a paddling pool kids were playing in but it was grey. A whole heap of schoolkids were splashing around, uniform and all. Came back, showered and then went to an internet place up the road to find more accom for after we check out here. What a nightmare, everything is booked out because of Easter, bad timing on our behalf. We find a hostel near the Thames, think it is a bit dodgy but itll do. I am stressed, we ring my cousin Karas frind Jas who is in London and who Id love to catch up with. We get through and she offers to take us out Saturday and for us to stay with her Saturday and Sunday nights as her flatmate just decided to go to Germany for Easter. She doesnt live too far away from where we are staying, which is great! We change the dates for our next hostel stay (now leaving for Scotland on thursday) and feel a little less stressed.

6/april
Wake up early for free brekky, really good spread, it feels like we are on school camp. I think the building used to be a boarding school or something, its got a school vibe to it. go back to room to get ready for another walk around the park when I realise my day pack is missing. Freak out - if it hasnt been stolen, its probably been left at the net cafe we were at last night. They open at ten and by the time I get down there, its right on 10. A lot of shops are closed as it is a bank holiday, but these guys were open. I had resigned myself not to freak out if it wasnt there,it didnt have anything too important like my passport in i, but it did have my iriver. Plus, its the only think I hadn't labelled but thankfully it was there and everything was in it. So lucky, I gave the guys behind the counter a big hug. I must have just been so stressed last night my only thought was to grab my jacket and satchel bag with my wallet, passport that I carry everywhere and forgot my backpack. Ive learnt my lesson 100 times over. The annoying thing is Im not usually like that with my stuff. Whew!

Cos Its good Friday I open up the card Mum and Dad gave me for Easter - it has a lovely present of 30 pounds in it, what an awesomely welcome surprise! thankyou, I miss you too - had a little cry today. Hope you enjoyed the choccies and card I left for you. happy easter everyone!

HAPPY EASTER

Hope its a safe and enjoyable easter for everyone. thinking of you all! My blog is all written down in my travel diary, but getting the time to put it up on the internet is another thing. Just quickly want you to know we are safe and well in London, except Briony has a bit of a cold. Im also having problems with putting up photos, Im so sorry it makes the blog boring without them but use your imagination!

Stay tuned!

Saturday, my typings getting worse...

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), so we walked up Fifth ave, to the left is Central Park. Another gorgeous day. Lucky we got in for half price as "students", because we thought we could knock it over in a few hours. Wrong! |This place is huge , takes over several buildings (i think the architecture is just a beautiful as a lot of the artwork). I dont know much about art, thats why we havent chosen to go to a lot of galleries here (in London lots of them are free so we should make time for some). What I did like about the met was it was like a cross between a museum and an art gallery, lots of history. Briony was having a haircut and gye job (shes going back blonde) so she left for SoHo at 4 while I stayed to check out some more of the place. Some of the art we saw inlcudedL drawings and prints, european art, islamic art (sorry no time for capitals), Japanese Art (my favourite, so delicate and I really identified with a lot of the contemporary stuff that blended new media with ancient techniques), modern and contemporary art, photographs, egyptian art, european sculptures (beautiful hall looking over Central Park), Greek and Roman Art - and thats just what I covered, so much more we missed including an exhibit of Dali and Gaudi.

Saturday night, Viraj made late dinner reservations at Lucky Chengs, where the sign out front read "the mroe you drink the prettier we look". Its an Asian Fusion restuarant run by drag queens! They waitress and provide a type of entertainment all night. The place is PACKED and we are squished in like sardines but its all part of the atmosphere. It's me, Viraj, Kerry, Noni and Johnathon, another Forum colleague who is visiting from Geneva. The night was a blast, by the end of dinner we were ordering what can best be described as baths of alcohol, which everyone from the table can drink from (huge cocktails). A real sight, and it got us primed for karaoke, which is coming later.

Our dinner is finished and Briony is hauled up onstage to be a contestant in a banana licking contest. A lot of hens nights end up here for tea so imagine. Briony gets shy but Johnathon took some great pics (a secret crush perhaps?). At least none of us were pulled up in the last contest, which was to perform a lap dance for one minute up on stage to a random male guest. In between all this, one of the queens (called Japanese Bitch, I kid you not), were pulling up audience members onstage and doing routines with them. those gals are strong! they were flipping them this way and that to the receivers mortification and the audiences delight...lots of laughs and "oh my gods" were shared. After this we headed to a bar with karaoke to try to get Kerry to sing (no joy).

Most of the people who went up were great, a really young, funky crowd and good songs. Everything sounds better after a few cocktails and we are in fine voice in the crowd. The best thing about this bar was that the film Anchorman was playing silently on a plasma at the bar, over and over. I loved that movie. One by one we drop like flies, I lasted until 430am, just after our limo ride (classy...not!) to the meatpacking district with a tambourine playing driver. I kid you not...

Sunday - another sleepy day, late brunch and we all catch a movie with Vriaj and Johnothan. The Premonition is not worth it, wait for DVD or not at all. Crappy weather too today.

Wednesday, thursday, friday

Real touristy stuff today, beautiful weather meant we made it back to the Empire state Building and no line up which was sweet. WE got an audio guide between us , it definitiealy was worth it, otherwise I wouldnt have got my walue for money up there in the first place. Im usually really skeptical about those things, too. After that we stretched our calves and limbered up to walk the Brooklyn Brisge. Really enjoyed this - great views, great walk. The bridge itself isnt heaps long but after the bridge ends you ve got to walk over a km on the a walkway to get out of the traffic and into Brooklyn. By the time we did this we had lost our enthusiasum to return over the brodge, and walked round Brooklyn, about 20 blocks. Not as fancy as old Manhattan but what is (this is the UES snob coming out in me). Headed back on the subway.

Thursday we went to Chinatown, was like Patong Beach all over again, everyone is trying to sell you Louis Vuitton, Prada, Rolex. The real stuff of course, hehe. I dont buy anything but wanted to get a particular handbag for you Jen, as a laugh. This normal looking handbag, but with massive zips on it. Hilarious, I mean, like 15cm long zips hanging off the pockets and zippers.

In the evening we went to a comedy club near Times Aquare, total tourist trap, no locals here. The comics were pretty funny but a real dingy place. 4 black comedians who called themselves "souled out" comedy and a bit predictable when they start with jokes that go ~black people drive like this (imitation), whereas white people drive like this (imitation). Some good sets, 1 guy was so "relaxed" he barely had his eyes open through his whole spot. One of the guys wrote and did some stuff on the Dave Chapelle show. On the way home we have a slice of pizza (huge and tasteless) and then a wine at an Irish Pub.

Friday was the opening day of Blades of Glory at the cinemas, so we went dutifully, and were disappointed. Nothing will top Anchorman. This was almost as bad as Talladega Nights, has Will Ferrell lost his spark?

Getting used to NYC living

We had a really lazy day today, another sleep in and stayed mostly inside. I the late afternoon I headed out for a wander around the neighbourhood, walked about 50 blocks up and down Lexington, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st avenues. I took my mp3 player and really enjoyed listening to some music. Josh Pyke released his first album a few days before I left - I love his stuff and I think hell do really well for himself, kinda laidback singer/songwriter stuff. A young Paul Kelly/Neil Finn kinda thing. I brought back a latte for Nones and we looked at the Timeout that I bought yesterday. there was a free comedy night at a bar on the Lower East Side and it had Arj Barker doing a spot so we headed down. We had to change subway lines which was no worries, ut I felt really disoriented when we came up from underground. WE couldnt find the street we were looking for and the few people we asked had no idea either. As we were walking up the street, Briony tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and I looked up at the guy walking past to see if he giggled (because sometimes its funny) and thay guy was Arj Barker! I said "Hey Arj, can zou tell us where youre playing tonight?". He gave us directions (thank god!) and we had a bit of a chat. For those that dont know - Arj Barker is a comedian from San Francisco who has done a lot of touring in Australia and is quite popular there. He was going to be at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, but has to cancel at the last minute cos he got a part in a sitcom to be filmed in NY. He said he only works 1 or 2 days a week on that so in his spare time he does things like this. Arj said the place was pretty small and not to expect much, but we werelooking forward to a free night of comedy. Off we went and found the bar - Lolita - and headed downstairs, as the show had already started. The room was tiny, like a hallway, and a few comedians were on before Arj. Arj came down and did his spot, not a routine like he would in Adelaide but just a few minutes of jokes and not a lot of it was funny(!) It was almost like he was embarrassed he was playing to such a small crowd as he isnt that well known in the States. Anyway, his spot finished and we needed fresh drinks so we headed upstairs back to the bar. A few minutes later Arj joined us and we sat around talking for a few hours, hanging out. Good fun! A guy at the bar heard me talking and said "Are you Australian?", thats how we met Antonio, a young bloke from Brisbane, en route to Costa Rica to live there for a bit. So he and his friend Rhonda joined us for a bit before heading to another bar. We also met Liam, the guy who put on the comedy night and after it wound up, he offered to take us to an open mike night he was playing at after at a place called The Bowery Poetry Club, funnily enough, on The Bowery. So we left Arj and headed over to the open mike night. Monday nights are really happening in NY - we watched some cool and not so cool acts including a homeless guy who rambled incoherantly on stage for 5 minutes and a crosdresser with lipstick all over his face, singing along to Reba McIntyre in lycra fluoro leggings. What an experience! At about 2am we felt like a bit of dinner so we walked a few blocks with Liam to go to the best gyro (yiros) place in town. They lived up to the claim...we had a great, unplanned and unexpexted night out. Cara - dont be too jealous, Arj was cool, but he was still pretty normal. But a scab, he was scabbing money off his ladyfriend all night, which was really weird.

Tuesday was another lazy day, rest and recovery.