Monday, April 09, 2007
Beautiful, sunny London
Contrary to all my expectations, that's exactly what I'm experiencing so far. London has been putting on the charm.
Yesterday I got up pretty early and almost woke up two sleeping bodies in the lounge. Apparently everyone else had stayed up until about 4am, so I was the only soul stirring. I explored all around Lewisham village, which I really like! People keep making jokes about how dodgy an area it is, but it seems really nice so far. At the leisure centre they let me in for free to "have a look around," and I got to have the weights room all to myself and do a proper workout. Then I went down to another, flasher gym to compare prices, but there were no membership consultants in, so they couldn't tell me anything. The fact that they have membership consultants suggests it may be out of my price range... Felt so good to use my body again, so I'll go down to the leisure centre again today and see if there are different people on the desk ;) I will sign up, I just can't until I have a UK bank account fully sorted (and preferably an income...)
After wandering all over Lewisham and buying some groceries I went back to Pascale's house. Oh, and the sun has been shining the whole time, ok? Sat around with some of her friends having a long discussion about social evolution and what Ba'hai think about it (most of the people I've met so far are Ba'hai), then went into Greenwich for lunch. It's really nice! We strolled through the park near the former Naval Academy (now the university) which was designed by the same guy as St Paul's cathedral, so is very pretty as you'd expect. In the Greenwich markets we bought good food (salad, cashews, sour cherries, chocolate brownie, sushi, polenta roulade, frittata, dried pears, cranberries, and razzapple, which is pieces of apple soaked in raspberry juice), then took about half an hour to meet some more friends of Paz, and settle on the grass in the park to eat and talk. Meanwhile, the sun shined and I took off my sweater! That's right, jeans and a tee-shirt sufficed! But that's not all: on our way back through the market I bought some Havaianas (the best jandals in the world, just ask Matt) and wore them for the rest of the day. That's how nice it was. Mmmm.
So, the friends I met at Greenwich were Nick and Sarah-Jane (hope I got that right!) who are kiwis here for about 5 months so far. I've been picking up lots of bits of info about the sorts of jobs people end up doing, and how much you can reasonably live on, etc... I've also met a South African couple, Ben and Fatima, who are really nice! They were here at Pascale's the first night, and came around again last night for my birthday. They are seriously lovely people and I hope to get to know them better. I cooked a lasagne without any lasagne but lots of veges and some other kind of pasta and bucketloads of cheese, and beefed up the remains of a salad from the night before. Pascali cooked a fantastic chocolate cake, and a guy called Stephen (who seems really nice but talks so seriously all the time that when he starts joking around you have to pinch yourself and mentally change gears to keep up) brought around bags of pastries and sweet things. Very spoilt. So nice to have great people around for my birthday when I'm only here a day! Pascali is great like that: instant circle of friends.
So today I'm 24 and frustrated that it's another public holiday. I'm the only one, I'm sure, but there are lots of things I want to get on and do, but everything is closed! I can't get a sim card, buy some pants, get a haircut or talk to my job-agent people. :(
So that all starts tomorrow.
Yesterday I got up pretty early and almost woke up two sleeping bodies in the lounge. Apparently everyone else had stayed up until about 4am, so I was the only soul stirring. I explored all around Lewisham village, which I really like! People keep making jokes about how dodgy an area it is, but it seems really nice so far. At the leisure centre they let me in for free to "have a look around," and I got to have the weights room all to myself and do a proper workout. Then I went down to another, flasher gym to compare prices, but there were no membership consultants in, so they couldn't tell me anything. The fact that they have membership consultants suggests it may be out of my price range... Felt so good to use my body again, so I'll go down to the leisure centre again today and see if there are different people on the desk ;) I will sign up, I just can't until I have a UK bank account fully sorted (and preferably an income...)
After wandering all over Lewisham and buying some groceries I went back to Pascale's house. Oh, and the sun has been shining the whole time, ok? Sat around with some of her friends having a long discussion about social evolution and what Ba'hai think about it (most of the people I've met so far are Ba'hai), then went into Greenwich for lunch. It's really nice! We strolled through the park near the former Naval Academy (now the university) which was designed by the same guy as St Paul's cathedral, so is very pretty as you'd expect. In the Greenwich markets we bought good food (salad, cashews, sour cherries, chocolate brownie, sushi, polenta roulade, frittata, dried pears, cranberries, and razzapple, which is pieces of apple soaked in raspberry juice), then took about half an hour to meet some more friends of Paz, and settle on the grass in the park to eat and talk. Meanwhile, the sun shined and I took off my sweater! That's right, jeans and a tee-shirt sufficed! But that's not all: on our way back through the market I bought some Havaianas (the best jandals in the world, just ask Matt) and wore them for the rest of the day. That's how nice it was. Mmmm.
So, the friends I met at Greenwich were Nick and Sarah-Jane (hope I got that right!) who are kiwis here for about 5 months so far. I've been picking up lots of bits of info about the sorts of jobs people end up doing, and how much you can reasonably live on, etc... I've also met a South African couple, Ben and Fatima, who are really nice! They were here at Pascale's the first night, and came around again last night for my birthday. They are seriously lovely people and I hope to get to know them better. I cooked a lasagne without any lasagne but lots of veges and some other kind of pasta and bucketloads of cheese, and beefed up the remains of a salad from the night before. Pascali cooked a fantastic chocolate cake, and a guy called Stephen (who seems really nice but talks so seriously all the time that when he starts joking around you have to pinch yourself and mentally change gears to keep up) brought around bags of pastries and sweet things. Very spoilt. So nice to have great people around for my birthday when I'm only here a day! Pascali is great like that: instant circle of friends.
So today I'm 24 and frustrated that it's another public holiday. I'm the only one, I'm sure, but there are lots of things I want to get on and do, but everything is closed! I can't get a sim card, buy some pants, get a haircut or talk to my job-agent people. :(
So that all starts tomorrow.