November Update

The last couple of weeks have been very muddled to say the least.

After spending the weekend parked up outside Matty and Amy’s we decided to visit Winchester as we didn’t want to go too far away from Brighton where Nicky had just had a trial.  We visited a couple of properties Northington Grange and Hinton Ampner (pictured) in the countryside and City Mill, Great Hall and City Museum (very impressive roman mosaic floor) in the town.  Back in the countryside we took a woodland walk at Farley Mount Country Park and visited Flowerdown Barrows.  Late in the week we attended interviews at two hotels and visited Oxford.  In Oxford we bought a guide map and followed a recommended route around the town, deviating only to make a visit to the Natural History Museum.

Then back outside Matty and Amy’s for the weekend.

This time because we were going with Matty (+2 friends) and Greg to the Four Nations Rugby League double header at Wembley.  New Zealand beat Wales and Australia beat England.  The final is between England and Australia today.  Nicky had a trial at a café called the Roastery and subsequently accepted a job there.  However not until after a minor saga with the Coppid Beach Hotel.  We had interviewed together (for live in positions) and they had confirmed that I could have a bar position but there was a delay and a second interview required for Nicky to get a position as a leisure attendant in a Gym.  After being advised it was likely to take a minimum for 5 more days for a decision Nicky accepted the café role only for the hotel to ring and offer the job a couple of hours later.  Too slow too bad for them they miss out on us. However the week was not all about jobs we visited Hughendon Manor, Windsor Castle (pictured) and Cliveden.

A job was one thing somewhere to live another.  Nicky accepted the job on Wednesday and started work on Saturday, so once again we parked outside Matty and Amy’s for the weekend.  Greg has been entrenched on the floor of Matty and Amy’s living room since he arrived about a month ago and last weekend we went and checked out the Lord Mayors show (most pictures on my Flickr at the moment are this) a big parade.  I think I saw enough military personal and hardware to take out New Zealand J.  Then we visited St Brides Church and the London Natural History Museum.

The past week has been spent searching for somewhere to live and a job from our base at Crystal Palace Caravan Site.  Several dodgy or unsuitable flat/house visits later we found a couple of suitable candidates.  I tried to get one with a couple in Mitcham, the location and price was good but for some reason my good looks must have put the guy off, his wife was like sure I think so but he wanted to see more people.  So we went with a room in Camberwell/Stockwell/North Brixton area 30c Lilford Road.  So on Friday I unloaded the van and hauled all our stuff up three floors of stairs.  Please take this nest comment in the spirit it is intended – the last few days in South London have been the first culture shock I have had over here as I think I have seen more black people than the rest of my life put together.  It has been the first time that I really felt as well as knew that I wasn’t at home, everywhere else could pass for New Zealand.

I’ve been putting in for all sorts of jobs this week, customer service, retail, reception while still looking for relevant environmental work.  Hopefully something will work soon.