The London way

Words for advice for those in London:
1. Stay left
2. The Oyster card is everything - if you don't have one you are a tourist
3. The idea that Wembley central has luxurious apartments is a lie - they do have good curry though..
4. frank mail is not 'a very honest letter' - it is pre-paid mail
5. Keep left
6. A chav is not a very nice thing to be called - on the other hand, if you are a chav you probably don't give a damn what people may call you.
7. Look right then left
8. When in doubt, don't cross in front of a double decker bus headed your way
9. Pants are trousers - don't refer to them as pants - no one has a bloody clue what pants are
10. On the other hand, jeans are still jeans
11. Primark is like Winners & Walmart on a wicked acid trip
12. Kensington Gardens is beautiful & worth the walking around
13. Keep left
14. central heating doesn't exist in older homes
15. A high-powered shower is a normal shower in Canada
16. Black is your best friend - black shirt, black trousers, black pantyhose
17. A 'fanny' is not referring to a rear end
18. If you are walking in certain areas (Alberton) you may stand out like a very strange sheep wearing baby pink sunglasses and an orange polka dotted umbrella on the serengeti
19. There is actually a shop that sells nothing but umbrellas
20. If you want food in a pub - walk up to the bar
21. Keep left
22. Leicester Square has discount tickets for all major shows especially during the week - use it
23. When someone says they want their tea or coffee dirty - they mean they want it with one milk. If they say they want it white they want it with two milks and possibly sugar
24. In certain parts of Ireland don't mention the name Woody Allen - some of the locals still haven't forgiven him for what he did to Mia Farrow
25. Get a Londoner's A-Z to find streets - google maps lie!
26. If you want to see the British Museum, Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery and some others - it's free
27. The Tower of London & Madame Tussaud's is most certainly not
28. the Borrough market is great for food, Camden & Portebello for clothes and other stuff
29. A jacket potatoe is a great little meal
30. Street meat barely exists
31. Bacon is different, and usually not as well done
32. There is some strange fascination with sausage...
33. Carphone warehouse has £9 cellphones for those who don't need anything fancy
34. everyone has a mobile (cellphone)
35. Marks & Spencer can refer to a grocer as well as a clothing store - make sure you know what you're getting into when you wlk in the door
36. Stay left

Sore feet & a place to live...for now

Today began at a bit of a clip...I had a job interview for a temp agency which I am now apart of and hope to have work tomorrow morning, I have an interview for a catering company called At Your Service which sounds kinda of classy - on friday. The majority of the stress came from a couple of things. One - the very bad directions I recieved from a catering company that I had an interview for at the docks. I spent nearly on hour walking up and down the piers trying to find where it was moored. Finally, I went aboard the HMS Belfast and one of the lads there was able to call up the ship and ask them where they were. What had not been mentioned to me was that I needed to cross the bridge rather than stay on the same side as the tube stop

Above is the view from the bridge I had to cross. Either way I have a trial run on Saturday with the catering company - they work on a couple of ships that go up & down the Thames on private functions.

Andrew & I found a place to live (in the interim of looking for something better) with an older woman who rents rooms to a lot of SWAPPers - the smell on the 1st floor is funny, but we're on the third - it's cheaper than a hostel & we can keep looking at the same time without sharing a room with 9 other people.

(As NEWLY WED COUPLE THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.)

I miss my littlefoot....

Thoughts from the job hunt (Andrew)

We spent most of today pounding the electronic pavement, as it were, sending out our CVs to potential employers. Leaves one in a stupor, let me tell you. To refresh our tummies and senses, we tried a "local delicacy" called a Jacket Potato. Fancy name for a baked potato, I grant you, but the Brits seem to have raised it to an art form by adding unconvential toppings such as the mozzarella, bacon and avacado that we shared. Deeeeeelicious. While there we made a discovery about positive and negative attitudes. We'd met a Quebecois traveller at our hostel with a very negative attitude, very cynical. I mentioned to Brianne, "Y'know, despite your pessimism, you actually are a POSITIVE person. You GET happy, you just don't EXPECT to." She replies, "That's going in the blog." Well, there you are.

Back in London

Haha! If this text appears in purple then who would be writing this?
So We are back in London close to all the jobs and have residence in a Hostel right across from Kensington Gardens - where James Barrie's statue of Peter Pan stands in the Italian Garden section. It is also where the Diana Princess of Wales memorial play park is, which is really cool as it is Peter Pan themed. There are teepees, musical toys, gardens, and a great pirate ship to climb or just through a mate off the deep end. We've made friends with two young Californians who are rather liked minded and a little over whelmed of the city, so we'll make a great set.

Aside from that not much is going on. We'll load some more pics tonight and do a lot of job hunting in the next 2 days. Hope everyone is well,

Brianne

Tower of London pics

Yeah, so I finally figured out how to uplaod pics to the blog and figured out how to get onto wi-fi networks. (OH so important right now.) Kay - so Bristol is really quiet. Too quiet in fact, and there aren't as many job postings as there are in London...so... we might be heading back to London seeing as that everything SWAPP is able to help us with is right there. darn it, eh?

These shots here are from the view of Tower Bridge and the new monument that they have on Tower Green for the scaffold site. Very sweet, a lot better than the old sign that just stated who had been exectuted there. I asked some of the Yoeman Warders if there were still ghost sightings and one said that just the other week his wife had seen something eerie on the Tower Green.

Yesturday in Bristol we walked the entire city in half a day and climbed lots of hills. (It's like San Francisco) ...I can't believe I am going to say this but...I miss London.

Aside from that I am applying everywhere for a job, Madame Tussaud's, London Dungeons, anywhere touristic with a gift shop I am willing to do. And starbucks. No tim hortons though..sigh.

I guess things will pick up in a few days when we are back near civilization. (I hope.)

cheers!

Oh wow, we're actually HERE! (Andrew's entry)

Our first two days in London have been a bit of a blur, but the prevailing feeling is one of "This is crazy!" We got into Heathrow around 6am local time after a 7 hour flight which was surprisingly comfortable but did not afford much (or ANY) sleep. We made to our hostel intact, grabbed a continental breakfast, and then took a walk thought the busy streets to the SWAP office for orientation. Along the way we saw the outside of St. Paul's Cathedral, which is spectacular and reminded me so much of my childhood days of watching Mary Poppins over and over. After our info session with SWAP we took another little walk, then a nap on a bench, and opened a bank account. This fiscal responsibility gave us new life, so we jaunted off through the West End and passed actor Tim Roth on the street! If he hadn't clearly been having an important cell phone call, I'd have said hello, but que sera. We found ourselves at Trafalgar Square, and this iconic Brit image made it all begin to feel real. We swung through the National Gallery, traipsed past Big Ben (I've never heard a clock so in tune!), and then got a bit lost on the way back to the hostel, where, after a bit of Chinese food, we COLLAPSED.

We're sharing our dorm room with some very polite French kids; Brianne can talk with them, I can nod along and smile. We hit the streets this morning and crossed London Bridge to stroll along the Thames, and though we had thought to try other things, we just couldn't stay away from The Tower of London. We had a great day in the Tower. Brianne is, of course, the ultimate tour guide, and we actually managed to find a family from Virginia to look around with, Brianne narrating all the way! We saw the Crown Jewels, went on a Yeoman Warder tour, and took part in a fun activity of following actors portraying the key players in the War of the Roses around the castle grounds. After some authentic fish 'n' chips, we strolled back to the hostel.

We've made our plans to head to Bristol tomorrow. London's fun, but really fast and busy, and we feel like Bristol will be a better fit to settle in to right now. We'll stay in another hostel for a few days while we try to find a room or flat, as well as start looking for work. We also look forward to seeing our friends from the honeymoon, David and Jo.

No Prince William sightings yet. (Sorry, Brianne.)

April 9th, 2008

JETLAG.......

Well, It's less than a week to go until we fly off to Heathrow. We will be flying out of Ottawa on April 8th and landing in London on April 9th! No clue as to what we will do when we first arrive (suggestion: sleep.) but we may go out to Madame Tussaud's on the second day and ride the Eye of London. Prince William - here I come. (Sorry Andrew...)