Textick

So we’ve been in London for just over a month. We’ve got jobs, we’ve got a room with an en suite, we’ve seen a few of the sights, and yet it still doesn’t feel quite like we’re here. Sometimes I see something (a squirrel, a snowflake, a line of terraced houses) and I’ll be reminded where I am . But otherwise, it’s easy to fall into the lull of everyday life, to forget you’re somewhere supposedly exotic. The fact that we can fly away every weekend hasn’t quite hit us, but that’s probably more to do with the fact that we’re still waiting to get into a regular routine of getting paid. It seems like most businesses pay by the month, which means that if you don’t come over here with already existing skills in budgeting, you better learn them fast, or you’ll be rich for one week and poverty-stricken for three.

The most exciting thing (aside from discovering tame-ish squirrels in Hyde Park, one of whom jumped onto my coat, which was both scary and exciting) so far is that I had an interview with Random House. I mightn’t get a second interview, but I’m thrilled that I got a first. It’s funny to compare my interview process with Random House (an undeniably powerful publishing house) to my interview process at Helen Exley publications, a not insubstantial but definitely less impressive giftbook publishing house. What did I experience there? Three interviews, two written tests, and a knock-back despite being the only candidate. Reassurance lies in the fact that my recruiter even dropped them as clients, claiming he didn’t know what they wanted and it wasn’t worth his time trying to find out. My knockback consisted of an explanation that I was too ‘creative’ for the role, and should ‘follow my dream’ which is the biggest load of…ugh. Never mind, I’m over it now (maybe) because nothing but wonderful things have happened since. We have an amazing share-house only three streets away from Ange and Dean (the people who kindly put us up for the first month when we were trying to find our feet), I got a job only hours after the Exley Debacle (which goes to show how long I put off working to chase up the stupid job), and I’m really enjoying my new position as receptionist for a charity called the National Childbirth Trust. It’s not the best pay, but it’s an easy job that is a strict 9-5 position, so there’s no over time. And the best thing of all? This job is literally one street away from our new place, so I leave at five to nine, and I’m home by five past five. Our new housemates are a couple from Melbourne (although Mike is originally from Perth, and he’s a Southie as well, so James is all left out with his ‘I Love Greenwood’ banner). We seem to have a lot in common with them both, so we’re enjoying casual nights at home, just chatting and watching TV, eating yummy home-cooked meals, surfing the net…ah, the life of a household of semi-nerds (I say semi because I still like to think I’m cool. A flailing belief, perhaps, but a belief all the same).

The strangest thing that happened was in Hyde Park on Saturday (the day the squirrel jumped on my overcoat). I was walking along with James, when I heard someone say, in a very incredulous voice, ‘Angela??’. And there were three friends from Uni, all staring at me in shock. We were all like ‘what are you doing here??’. They’re here for a few days for a conference they are performing in (and for any ex-Curtinites, the three people were Lawrie, Zoe and Fiona), and had been in London for only 48 hours and, of all the people here, they bumped into me! It’s such a small, small world. And then, to make the day even more fun, we found the craziest squirrels, who ran around and came really close to us. And jumped on my coat! Have I mentioned that yet? That whole day was great; we went to the Natural History Museum, and had to actually queue to get in!! Only in London! It’s a free attraction, though, renowned for it’s Dinosaur exhibit, which we ended up rushing through because it was unbearably crowded. It was neat and stuff, but there were sooooo many people there, it just became way too much for us both. We quickly looked at the stuffed animals, then left. The annoying thing was that we went for three reasons: 1) the giant squid, 2) the stuffed dodo, and 3) the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit. But the giant squid wasn’t on public display, the dodo was gone for maintenance, and the Wildlife photography exhibit cost to view, which I don’t remember from last time I was here. Goes to show how much my mum must have paid for without me even realising (I was 13 at the time). So we slunk away and breathed in sweet, sweet polluted but uncrowded air as we strolled through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Green Park(?) towards Buckingham Palace. We saw the Princess Diana memorial (which is not a fountain, but rather a waterfall thing reminiscent of the Ascot Water Park in Perth), and the Peter Pan statue (where a plucky squirrel came close, but not too close). After seeing Lawrie, Zoe and Fiona (this was also after a brief pint in a local pub, to warm up, because it had also started snowing as we walked through the parks), we continued on our journey to Buckingham Palace. We saw the guards do a little march, but that’s about all. Then it was home again, home again, for a relaxing night in watching ‘Top 100 Children’s Programs’ (the winner was ‘The Simpsons,’ with ‘The Muppet Show’ coming second) with Mike and Roger. Plus wine.

So these are my journeys in London from this weekend, but not my journeys in London thus far, and I apologise profusely for not keeping this blog updated with our crazy adventures. You’ve all been deprived of my witty observations at Tate Modern regarding a ‘sculpture’ that looked like a TEE art project by the kid who did art because it was a ‘cruisy subject,’ and my elated joy at seeing ‘Fame’ and then prancing down the street afterwards singing ‘I’m gonna learn how to fly!’. But alas, no more, because I will endeavour to update my blog far more regularly with my London fun, and I hope that you’ll continue to visit. Otherwise I’ll just be talking to myself. Which is probably fine as well.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 at 8:55 am and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.