Bath

Boot Camp III

AAAAAAAAAAAAH, my legs are still sore. I've never felt my quad muscles hurt so bad!!!

Well as you can tell the third session of Boot Camp was trying. I think about 30% of the time was spent doing or holding squats. And of course the other time was spent doing push ups or running.

I seriously doubt whether I would make it as a solider! I tell you what after the running I'm finished and then I've got a dude up on my back and am doing squats, and I thought I could only do squats at 30kgs, well I now know I can do them at about 60kgs!

Now is the time that you think I'm totally ridiculous and stupid:
At about half way through the session it started to rain, neither fast nor slow (I think that's called medium pace) but the drops were huge!!! And I thought yip this is what I signed up for, it was great, really great. It was about 10 mins later that the sun came out while it was still raining, I wanted to say it was a monkey's wedding, but the Aussies and Brits would've just looked at me, so I smiled inside and thought sheepishly: this is what it's about, doing army exercises in the Queens park (Green Park) in the rain in London.

AWESOME. Life is what you make of it after all. If you don't have the map to guide you, better make sure you pick the right roads.

Interesting Bit of Today

I saw a bird actually eating a worm. It's the first time in my life that I've ever seen that!
Ja, Ja whateva - I've never actually seen a bird eating a worm in real life (not that I can remember), it's one of those things you read in books or see pictures of.

Look ok - I'm sure I'm not the only one!!!

Interesting Bit of Today

Have you ever wondered why English pubs in the city have shelves and bigger than normal ledges on the outside?

Well it's because the pub can at times become too small inside especially on Thursday and Friday after-work-noons so people standing outside and use the 'ledges' as somewhere to place their drinks. I think more and more ppl are going to be doing that after 1 July as then the new law banning smoking in pubs and , restaurants WOOHOO for people who don't smoke...

Interesting Bit of Today

Two well dressed gentlemen, suits, fags and ties - wearing running shoes...

London is fascinating - I'm sure it's the only place a well dresses woman, good looking, hair done, make-ups on can carry a backpack as a bag....

Boot Camp

I've been going to gym for 2 weeks now and wasn't really looking forward to going on Monday but I'm paying for it and well amongst other things i need the exercise. Well it's not like I'm fat or anything...

After having a decent day at work I was happy to go, you don't really enjoy going when you've got a headache. As I go into gym the receptionist asked if I was doing Boot Camp, an army style training session. A first I thought it was the session where you do a whole lot of weight training under instruction of a trainer, basically highly motivated gym training. Then I heard it was outside and it was really wet from raining. Oh well, I signed up...

I brought a shirt from reception to keep me just a tiny bit warm, armed with my towel, water bottle and gloves on hands I went to wait in the reception area. Ready for my mistake, it became evident that more pl had been caught in this trap. And I was really impressed to see that there were as many females as males. All rearing to go and ready to be mudded up we had 5 minutes to chicken out.

No-one chickened out and soon we were all following Capitan Carnage and Sergent Slaughter up the stairs and out into the wet. There were 15 people lead by guys in khaki green being shouted at while jogging to Victoria.
It was really fun to be part of something as a group and be participating all together. Everybody was smiling at us and getting out of our way, it must've been a right sight. All this in the wealthiest borough in the country. My ankle washurting, my calves were burning but my mind was smiling.
After fetching the ppl who were joining us from the Victoria gym we ran past Buck Palace (the Queen was home) and all the tourists started cheering us on - so this is what it feels like to run a marathon I thought. NICE.

Once in Green Park we ran around abit while Major Pain set up his Chelsea flags (I support Arsenal) in a square, we then ran around the square 4 times. This was the following schedule for the next hour:
Push-ups,
Running,
Star jumps,
Running,
Squats,
Running,
Lunges,
Streching,
Running,
Frog jumps and sprinting,
Running,
Resistant exercises,
Running,
Sit ups,
Plank exercises,
Sprinting and lastly more stretching.

Yip I was buggered, I was seeing white spots and was light headed, but my body felt alive and terrific. It was excellent and during the exercises we had different partners. It was all very good, different from the norm and really motivating.

Will I do it again? Would anyone like to donate £25 for the nest 4 sessions?

Interesting Bit of Today

Waiting for the bus after catching the tube home, the bus was due in 3 mins.
After standing for around 1 min or so this auntie pulls up with her shopping bags. She goes to look at the time schedule display and I've got to imagine that it is saying 2/1 min(s) by this time.

So what does she do? Stands right in front of me and lights up. I thought how damn rude, if you are short at least light up next to someone short so that the smoke doesn't go straight up into the tall person's nose. Then she walks away, what the hell?! You could've just light up there!

But it was sweet sweet karma next: the best starts to pull up. This auntie then starts to puffle on her ciggie like an aeroplane was about to hit her. Every single breath was a puff on the smoke, I've got no idea how she didn't pass out. SO in 20secs her ciggie was down to half. This is where karma comes in - she wasted half a ciggie when she threw the rest of her tobacco plus butt of course on the floor, hee hee hee, SWEET SWEET karma!!!

Canary Wharf

Well being so hot lately and with another stunning weekend on it's way, I decided there are no way I was going to let my stressful problems with having to move get me down. And I most certainly wasn't going to waste my time off with looking for/at rooms to stay. It's enough that I have to dedicate a day to cleaning and shopping.

Dressed in my baggies and armed with my HUGE camera backpack and tripod off to The Millennium Dome (now called the O2). Wait wait wait you're saying I thought you were going to Canary Wharf. Well actually first I was wanting to go to the East India Docks to photograph The Dome from across the river. I took a good 1 hour tube ride, from Boston Manor to change to the Jubilee at Green Park. I jumped off at Greenwich thinking it would just be a short walk across a bridge, ha ha ha. So I thought, well, there was no bridge, just an under river tunnel in which ppl could not walk. So after reading all of the bus stops I chose one and hoped to hell that my map book would help me in deciding to get off at the right stop. Well it did and I jumped off after the under river tunnel. Now I was under the impression that I would have a 10 min walk. After walking the wrong way I followed the signs to the nearest DLR (docklands light rail) station. I then waited for the train to simply go to the next stop, this pissed me off coz I could actually have walked for the time I waited for the train (that's Train Luck for you which is very similar to Bus Luck, see previous post).

I finally got to The East India Docks station and boy was the sun nice! Earphones plugged in music playing I walked along the Victoria Quay. The Victoria Quay is where the ships set off to settle in America and alot of the original fixtures are still there and protected as well as restored and maintained by the city. It was really lovely to see history being preserved, coming from a country where the history is torn down, disrespected and down right thrown away.

Another thing about this part of town is that it's off of the conventional tourist path. This makes it really quite. I had my own space and for a good half an hour while shooting photos. After finishing my 500ml bottle of water and tummy grumbling it was time for food. Luckily there was a Budgets (similar to an Engen Quick Shop) on the corner next to the DLR station. I brought myself a rack of ribs, 1L Pineapple juice and a packet of sweets. Walking back to the quay I realised that I hadn't taken any serviettes, with ribs, I mean really how stupid.
Never the less the ribs were tastes and juice was quenching.

After studying my newly brought pocket guide of London I decided that before I went to Canary Wharf I would go to the South for the Isle of Dog to Island Gardens. I got off at Island Gardens Station and walked in what I thought was the right direction. The maps are a bit hard to read coz some roads are for cars and others are just for ppl and not all of the maps are clearly marked. As I was walking around I noticed that this was actually a council area. Meaning the houses are not as well looked after and a few even looked like prefab. Not wanting to 'discover' all the area had to offer I marched back to the station and hopped onto Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf is like the New York City of London I tell you. Tall glass buildings, stunning shops and clean streets. I was in architecture photographer's heaven. There was a little garden with ponds called the Jubilee Gardens. It was small but when you walk through there it, it creates this at home feeling - I thought that it could only be fantastic when you need a little breathing space from your busy office.
An underground shopping mall stretched from the Canary Wharf DLR station to the Underground station to the West India Millwali Docks - it's actually really big and has quite a few exclusive shops. After exploring the immediate area I spotted some seagulls under the DLR rain bridge over the docks.
I was standing on the ledge (behind the banisters) photographing the seagulls flying around and dipping into the water to eat bread that someone had thrown into the water when my memory card ran out. So I turned to get off and there was this little girl playing with my giraffe key ring. She was so cute and started asking me what I'm doing and what was the giraffe then her dad came along to rescue me. Back to the seagulls I was. I was really enjoying shotting them and then my second memory card ran out!!! ARGH! That meant it was home time, but I was enjoying the sun so much and the buildings hadn't completely shaded over. So I went to simply sit on the wall just outside of the tube station. Ah it was so nice to be having all of this sun.

The best thing of the whole outing was that I completely forgot about my stresses at that time.
The relief was really nice.

Convent Garden

After my first attempt to spend a day at Convent Garden failed due to having to move, I decided to go back and make my way to the London Transport Museum, which was gonna be one of the few places I was actually going to have to pay to enter.
Ha Ha Ha - what happens? I get there and it closed!!! And until November none the less. DAMN.
So what would be my next stop? Somewhere free, seeing as I didn't have my guide book with prices in to tell me that I wasn't going to spend an arm and a leg, plus I had to know where it was, all I needed was to wonder into a dodgy neighbourhood!

Ah, yes, the Science Museum. But before I hopped on the tube I decided to wonder around Covent Garden a bit, it was windy and cold but none the less I much see a little bit.
As you walk out of the tube/up to the tube there are lots of street performers. There are ppl that have, black or silver or gold or multicolour clothes on that stand as still as statues.
One guy sits with his guitar that acts as a robot, when you put money into his tray it's as if you are switching him on and he plays a song.
Unfortunetly he is over shadowed by a guy two ticks down that uses a devise in his mouth to sound like a cartoon. He plays this character that is like a pissed of mime with a voice. He stands on his podostil and makes fun of ppl as they walk past, it's hard to describe but he's damn funny. So everyone gathers around him and waits for someone to walk past and be picked on, it's all in good fun.
Another performer is dressed up like a fellon and gets someone from the audience to wrap him in chains from which he escapes, but bad and pretty entertaining.

The Royal Opera House is just a block from Covent Garden Tube station, I never went inside, I can only imagine that is it absolutely stunning inside there. Buskers stand up and down the roads surrounding the opera house and hold signs pointing in the house's direction to entice ppl to pop in, have a look and hopefully buy a ticket or two or three for a show.

I did however go into the little Disney shop that was just outside the Arcade/Plaza (picture above) and holy hell was it hot in there! I think they had the heating on so hot that they were soley responsible for melting the polar caps. I know it was cold outside but it was so hot in there is was just ridiculous! I actually heard quite a few shoppers commenting on the heat and said they were leaving, and honestly I would've stayed and browsed some more and more than lightly brought something that I so didn't need but it was crazy hot in there, so left.

Okay, enough time wasted off to the tube station it was. Now to get to South Kensington.
Once there it's Museum City, you don't even have to walk up top, in between the traffic and deal with the elements. And the Science Museum was at the end of the underground path. It's probably a good 1km walk. It was all good as long as the museum wasn't boring.
As I was walking the crowds and masses started to tapper off. Pretty soon it was only myself and one guy heading to the Science Museum exit, oh my, is this such a boring museum that no one wants to go there?

Turn right the sign said so I did, next thing through the exit doors I saw a set of wheels for a commercial airliner, well well well maybe this was going to be interesting after all I thought...

The Shame Of It All

So y'll are wondering why rather where I've been for the past 3 weeks.
Um... Well at least I hope you have.

I've changed addresses again, WHY?!?! Well it's a freeking long story... So let me tell it:
When I first moved into the house, with 5 ppl and landlord staying in a flat in the back (not actually using the house), I asked the Spanish guy to not leave fish sitting in the plug hole of the kitchen sink, he had also done it with vegetables. And this was not received well. It was seen as a personal attack, so I apologised if he felt at all victimised and we both agreed that what he was doing was wrong. Problem sorted, so I thought.
About 6 weeks or longer ago, the other SA guy and I come home to find that someone has thrown up in the bathroom and not bothered to clean the rim, you know that part ladies when in the middle of the night you go to the loo and sit down and nearly fall into the toilet coz the gent before you hasn't put the seat down. Yip that part had sick all over it.
Not wanting to offend anyone AGAIN the two of us decided that a letter to be left on the toilet door would be the best thing. The letter was left and no one cleaned it up, so the SA guy cleaned up the toilet after not being able to look at the sick while he was wizzing, me I could put the lid down
Then 5 weeks or so ago I noticed at an increasing rate items of mine were being used in from the kitchen and fridge, so again not wanting to single anyone out. I left a note on my kitchen cupboard door.
It came to light 2 weeks ago that someone had apparently taken offence, how did I find out?

Keep reading:

On Wed the 12th of April the landlord (Martin) had his girlfriend come up and tell all of us to leave our rooms open as someone was coming to look at the house. I asked why and who. So she replies, that's none of your business. I promptly answered well actually it is, as it is my belongings in the room. Now coming from SA I know that someone can come and service your house and then tell their "friends" what it contains and they then break in and viola your items are gone, and that's what I didn't need. Without explaining all this to her, I continue on the point. She slots in some where that I pay Martin rent and it is his house to do with what he will. I resisted the urge to say well - why the hell isn't he talking to me then. Eventually after some reasoning with a woman who's English is limited I got it out of her that it was someone from the council. I said ok, that's fine then and it won't be a problem to leave my room open. She then had the cheek to ask me to tell the other room mates. I thought hell no and told her that they are in she can just knock on their doors as she did mine.

I then went to make myself some tea and as I did I heard the Greek guy talking to her about the safety of his belongings as well. While I was washing up from supper the girlfriend went ou the back door to Martin's flat. About 10 mins later she comes back in and says that it would be best if I move. I then said well if that's the the topic of conversation then I would like to hear it from Martin. She says "I will not do talking to Martin, he doesn't come home from work to fight with people". I'm now thinking well is that what you came here for? To fight? I could feel myself getting really angry at her for her attitude and at Martin for being a coward and not wanting to deal with his issues. I eventually get it out of her that someone wants to move out because of me, so I ask who is it and she wouldn't say, but did keep on saying he. So it can only be 2 people.
Apparently the issue was the letters that I left, it doesn't matter that I wrote them in a non accusing manner and the most polite English that can e put on paper because no one has English as their home language and probably didn't understand a word of it. And what they did understand they surely misinterpreted it. She also says that this person is feeling uncomfortable with that fact that the lounge door gets closed, as this feels that they are unwelcome. So now I'm thinking that this person is as much a coward as Martin. Hell we all live together and you can't just talk to the people you're living with?!
She then starts on about the SA guy and I thought why are you talking to me about him, surely their is no need for that. For the most part I was thinking: you are so full of shit!

Result: We agreed that I would talk to the housemates and see if the 'issue' is an issue at all that can or can't be resolved and we would take it further from there.

After 3 days of stress and emotional anguish ad not eating. I'd spoken to everyone and all of them deny anything to do with anything. Well at least that is sorted out and I'm safe in the knowledge that I haven't done anything wrong and we can all live normally again. Ha Ha Ha, what a joke!

Bus Luck

What is bus luck?

1. When you decide to wait for the bus and it's 10 mins late (you're walk hoe was 10 mins).
2. When you decide to walk coz the bus is always late and it drive past you 2 mins later.
3. You're on the bus and have no seat.
4. You're on the bus, have a seat and a smelly person next to you.
5. You're at a bus stop, it's raining and there's no shelter at this bus stop.
6. You're on the bus, cutting time close and there is traffic (or in my case, with frozen food and the bus ahead of us hits someone, causing the road to be closed for 4 hours).

Bus luck is when the bus NEVER does what you want it to do.

First Distance Healing Reiki Session

So I've been very very stressed and have a had bad karma apon me. I know why I'm stressed and it because of the bad karma and what it's doing in my life and to it. The events there of are to follow in another blog once I've sorted everything out.

For now the Reiki - My mom has just qualified as a Reiki Healer and wanted to connect with me and seeing as I'm going thru such a bad time this was the prefect time for her to heal.

What is Reiki Healing? (fromWikipedia)

Reiki (霊気 or レイキ, Reiki^? IPA: [ˌreɪki]) is a form of spiritual practice, often compared to faith healing,^[1][2][3] proposed for the treatment of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual diseases.^[4][5][6] Mikao Usui developed Reiki in early 20th century Japan, where he said he received the ability of 'healing without energy depletion' after three weeks of fasting and meditating on Mount Kurama.^[7] Practitioners use a technique similar to the laying on of hands as well as gestures in the air, which they say will channel ki energy from a disembodied spirit or spirits. They say the energy then flows through their palms to bring about healing. A 2002 study indicated that there were over one million U.S. adults who had experienced Reiki treatments.^[8]

The majority of the scientific community considers Reiki to be pseudoscience.^[9] Some studies have shown that the effect of Reiki is similar to that of a placebo.^[10]

I was advised to play calming, soft music, no lyrics and lie on my back comfortably.
At the given time 9.15 I started my music and lay down placing a pair of shorts over my eyes to cut out all light without actually being in darkness.

21.18 - Feeling heart beating in throat not chest and pressure on my brow above me eyes, as if someone is pressing with their thumbs against my head
21.23 - My nose felt like it had been punched and was swollen - numb top gums
21.24 - pressure back on my eyes - gums still numb, I was feeling actually aware of my tongue and heart was beating in chest again now
21.27 - pressure back on nose not eyes anymore, jaw stiff, heart beating in throat, chest and coxix (don't know how to spell that)
21.32 - left shoulder twitched
21.36 - I felt like a hand was squeezing my breast bone in order to get ot my heart
21.39 - the muscles in my lower back started to pull
21.40 - I saw a cyan light in my left eye, like a line with a star attached on the right end
21.44 - I was finding it heavy and hard to breath, started getting itchy then my body started to twitch (legs, ankles, neck, arms) I saw a black, dark cloth over me, it then started rising then came back down and inveloped me in darkness, pure darkness - I actually got scared and started to cry, and head was moving side to side. the darkness then turned to material as i focused inside and the material was drawn away by a central point over my head, I was fighting it coming back down and white light started to come up under it, but when I opened my eyes it was still hanging over me like it wanted to come down and 'take me again'
21.50 - i then lay back down to calm myself and my eyes were burning

Result:
I got up when my breathing was normal again. while i was lying down i heard things in the music that I've never heard before (and I've listen to this kin cd over 10 times)
As i was writing i felt cold and weak but my eyes some how felt happier, just my eyes
When i went to make my hot choc, lights seemed brighter and my vision clearer
My soul def feels lifted, but I still feel like there is a darkness larking about

All in all I feel like I can carry on living - when all of the shit that is currently going on started, I actually considered a quick fix of suicide with a note for the police to investigate apon - but then I thought, I'm brave and not stupid and wouldn't wanna do something like that and life goes on and it only makes us stronger as we learn.

Plus karma is a killer....

I Got Me A Workstation

YIPPEE!!!

I did got my a desk with lockable draws and all!!! My own login ID and access to the internet. How sick is that?!

So I was shown were the shops in the area where today at lunch. WOW, I tell you, a glass wonderland, really stunning - I've def gotta take my cam to work and take shot on a sunny day, it'll be so fun! It's call Cavendish Square I think. I'll remember when I look in my map book *wink*

I really just wanted to pop in and say that I'm pretty stoked with my new job, I got to run a script today and it was cool, only made one mistake... Not bad and at least it ain't life or death...

I've got my first officially assigned job waiting for me in the morning, can't wait and hope I get more. I'll prob be a bit slow in the beginning but at least I'll be busy... And 1 script takes like 30mins for a short one so that day 'should' (and I say should) wizz past. And getting home at 18h30 ain't a bad thing...

And of course the Queen was in again, so I went to visit her, when she's not in I'll pop into the park and visit the squirrels and feed them an orange and some biscuits, LOL.

I Can Do It

Today was my first day at work and it was actually good, I was quite surprised. The work looks easy enough, provided I don't get anything too complicated to handle anytime soon. And the office is wonderful.

We can wear what we like at long as we look decent. Tesco does 2 deliveries a week to fill the kitchen fridge up with cheese, tomatoes, cold meats, butter, sauces, mayo and tons of other stuff. And lemme tell you this fridge is huge. So provided there is food in the fridge and bread, bagels or pita breads in the cupboard you need not bring lunch. SCORE, save a bit of money, pity I'm not into bread, I'll just eat everything separately.
Plus the office is fully air conditioned so that means no hot sticky days in a non ventilated office like TLC was. No being on the phone all day - freedom to have your cellphone switched on - internet access to just about everything but porn and hotmail - email that you're allowed to use for personal use. And did I mention the huge 72" TV to watch during lunch time?

And possibly the best thing of all, I can walk for 5 mins to Buckingham palace or St James's Park to plonk my arse down and eat lunch, which is what I did today, it was so nice not to be in a hot stuffy lunch room that smells of fish and curry where ppl leave their Mac Donald's packets and cartons lying about.

I was due in at 09h30 and not wanting to be late I got there at 08h55 so decided to take a stroll to the park, as I was sitting, enjoying the air and ducks landing on the water, the sound of birds chirping and the overwhelmingly strong smell of pollen with all of the flowers blooming I heard a marching band. I stood up to hear where the sound was coming from at first I thought it might be the palace guards announcing that Queen Elizabeth II was going out. Then I realised it was the coming from the guards house building. Off I trotted to see what was up hoping that by the time I got there they wouldn't have packed up already. I was in luck they were actually practicing out in the court yard, behind big bars of course. I stayed and watched until 09h20 and then made my way to make my entrance.

I was pleased now, I got to stroll in the park, saw the Queen was in and visited her for lunch as well as learnt that I'm working in a pretty cool environment.

It was a good first day!

South Africa vs England

So I decided to make a list of things that are better in SA and things that are Better in the UK.
Yes I know some of these will not come as a shock and some will, but most won't, I'll keep updating the list so if you'd like to RSS the feed, fell free. And to all the patriotic Brits, don't get your pants in a knot




South African Pros:

• Biltong - as if that wouldn't be on the top of the list, the UK has imported jerky, I advise you don't be a fool and buy it!!!
• Prices of food - if you sit back and look at the earning ratio to food prices, it's about the same % both ways but in conversion food in SA is much cheaper and take out is much tastier.
• The Sun - you can get a tan in DBN all year round and we all know that the African su is the strongest, making for nice hot summer days.
• Health Care - our government facilities may not have the newest equipment but if you need a scan or x-ray you don't have to go onto a 3 month waiting list, you've simply got to wait in the queue. And private facilities are much cheaper as is medical aid/insurance.
• Children - our children are exposed to the same amount and same styling of media yet are still 2 steps ahead on the discipline chain.
• Political Correctness - it can go to far and in the UK it has, everyone has to watch their P's and Q's it is crazy, no one has a sense of humour and takes everything personally.
• Location, Location, Location - coz we are a neutral country and at the bottom of the planet, we'd probably be one of the last hit countries in WW3.
  

England Pros:

• Pork Scratchings - you know pork fat fried in oil until it's fatter than it went in and all crispy. Mr Porky's scratchings are the bomb, not like SA's normally off junk.
• Fruit - with all fruit being imported, you get southern hemisphere fruit in winter and northern in summer so never a shortage of fruit plus it's all 1st grade, juicy and sweet. So when you buy it you don't have to think OMG am I gonna regret this nor do you have to stand for hours sorting thru the already gone bad fruit.
• Public Transport - not only is the system organised all bus stops are marked with times. Trains are less reliable but they are fast and there is never more than a 5min wait between each train during normal hours.
• Safety - you can walk home from the bus stop at 5am all by yourself and not have to feel unsafe, hell you can walk around during the day talking on your cellphone in one hand and mp3 player in the other without being worried that someone is going to jump out and mug/rape or kill you for £10 around the next corner.
• Men - apart from public transport, men always let woman in the door and out the door first as with lifts and escalators, in SA the average man will push you out of the way and look up your skirt as you fall. I've simply found English men to be more polite.
• Pavements - the UK pavement/footpaths are huge, probably to accommodate for the tourist traffic but it's nice.
• Litter - no one litters in most areas, most of the litter appears after a Sat night when you see multiple beer cans lying around other than that ppl hold onto their litter and wait for a bin, and trust me there ain't that many bins around - not like in SA were there are more bins than jobs in the country. It's refreshing to step into a civilized world.
  

That's all for now - I'll update as I notice/see things.

My First Weeks In Northampton

Written in Early Dec '06

So I know all of you have been waiting to know what I’ve been doing since here… Apart from spending rands and feeling so bad about it!!! Hey it’s not like I haven’t looked for work!!! In total I’ve applied for 13 jobs and only two have gotten back to me – the one was a no it was a long shot anyway) and the other one (Barclay Card) I’m still waiting for them to get back to me with a telephone interview…

So flying an international flight is BAD BAD news, apart from having 4 good bye drinks at the airport (and I choose to drink something that they have here) I got on the plane and want did they offer me?! Wine!!! So I had 3 or 4 (I can’t remember) glasses of chardonnay. MMMM nice food! Duck starter and lamb for mains with some funny yet good tasting egg dessert! So I tried to watch “the lad in the water” but I was too pissed and it was 11pm SA time anyway so in an attempt to get my self to UK time I went to sleep. Woke up at 2am UK time and realised I had a hangover from hell – nauseous, headache, disorientated… I shouldn’t have gone to sleep, oh plus before I went to sleep I had 3 cups of coffee!!! Argh!

I spent the next 5 hours awake, looking at all the sleeping ppl, trying to watch movies – getting up and thinking whether I should throw up or not (I didn’t – I just don’t do that).

Next stress was landing – are they going to question me for like an hour? But I was lucky, armed with x-ray I went to the health check place, got passed and the kind man stamped my visa – the chick in front of me got the third degree… Now I was so lost, thank god for all the signs!!! BAGGAGE CLAIM here I come to wait for the huge, 28kg, big green bag! WOOHOO, it came thru relatively fast! Off I was with my stupid “one wheel not working you know how that can be” trolley. I must say thou that JHB is so much better in space and design than terminal one of Heathrow – it’s just plain ugly!!!

ARGH, I couldn’t see my uncle so after looking outside I went to buy an international calling card to call him. Long story short – I found him and we were off. Driving to Northampton I learnt that they grow cabbage in winter – lots and lots of cabbage!!! I saw my first Tesco’s truck and Marks and Spencer convenience store.

What else? COLD COLD COLD!!! Nah it really wasn’t as bad as I expected. The next day my aunt took me into town and she made me walk myself flat – mainly I was looking for a hat, gloves and a warm jacket – coz a huge 7kg army jacket an only be worn to so many places… I was really impressed with the pricing and selection that was offered in just a simple town. I think the best think for me thou was walking out into the market square between shopping complexes, and I saw these stunning old buildings bathing in a bright, rich, warm sun light.

SO now needless to say - I can handle my own on the busses and even know how to save money on them. I’ve been to the town museum which has this STUNNING shoe collection with a pair dating back to 300BC and it’s still intact, I know – no ways but it is really amazing. They also have an art gallery with some stunning paintings and drawings – beautifully framed and ready for purchase. Up stairs is the real art – all from really old schools – one is even from the 1400s and you can literally see how old it is – I was in awe. And just we you think it’s over there is another floor with a history of the town, I couldn’t read all of it but I’m get back sometime.

There is a park in every suburb and Abbington is the biggest, I’m so sad that I missed that autumn weeks – there were still trees with some leaves on – which is weird apparently. Everyone reckons isn’t pretty warm still and its gonna be really real cold this winter… hell anything’s colder than I’m used to!!!

Went to my first pub on Saturday with 2 cousins and 2 of my one cousins friends. I felt really weird coz there were like 3 ppl of colour around and all these white ppl dressed funny. The one thing here is some of the hairs styles!!! Eish!!! So after 3 drinks we went to an high end bar and after a few red bulls it was off to the only club tat would let us in – a gay club – for some music and pool. No where else would let us in apparently – well 3 of us coz they had takkies on. So this place was really small and shyt but the pool was 70p a game and we were too pissed to care about anything else, just the price of the pool made us stocked. And we was all too pissed so I got a ride in my first taxi – a real back cab, 5 of us and a 4 mile ride cost £11.30 – better than I expected but sharing is much more cheaper!

Bad news! I find myself saying yeah instead of ja. And what’s more is pl here don’t understand me – I mean really they are the ones with the accents!!!

And what else am I gonna do? Near future: Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge and some other day trip places. Not too distant future: London and Cornwall for Xmas.

BTW – I brought this awesome 17” widescreen laptop, Intel Duo Core 2 processor, 1GB RAM, 100GB hard drive, HD mobile ready, wireless, Bluetooth, brightscreen movie quality 1440 x 900 resolution. It’s killer!!! All for £800, it’s so cool to have a £ sign on my keyboard!!! Next thing subscribe to skype!!!

What else is cool? Walking the streets and only having to worry about the cold and not getting raped, mugged or killed.

Oh ja! The music shops!!! Huge, for anyone that knows me and the problem that I have with LOOK AND LISTEN you can only imagine my issues with a music or cell phone shop on every corner!!!

And they’ve got pot noodles here!!! Not sure how many of you remember those… and pickled onion flavoured chips, the beef flavour is up to shit but…

What else? Oh my aunt is totally Xmas crazy, but Xmas has a different feel here – it feels traditional not so commercial, plus stuff is on like 20% mark down now on top of all the specials already… and me without a job!!! I’m really dieing without a job – y’ll should know me and that I hate doing “nothing” and hate being unproductive!

…

Ah…

I got nothing left (look t pics)– but my brain is going into sleep mode, gotta mail y’ll tomorrow so getting up to Mac Donald’s for the “free” wireless that you have to buy a voucher to use… (Can you hear the tome or my voice?)

Meeting New Friends

So in an effort to meet new people and network off the network, I got together with a Renderosity mate. Apke aka ultimatemale.
I tell you what! What a lovely guy. You know how you're meeting someone for the first time and you think - oh no, I hope we get along or it's going to be a total waste of time? Well thank goodness neither of our time was wasted - sorry Apke I'm assuming you enjoyed my company

We met at Trafalgar Square and trotted off to St James's Park. Yes that's how you spell it, don't ask me why, I ain't the Queen. It was around sunset time and we were scouting scenes to shoot. Apke said that this was his first Landscape Outing, I still reckon he's fibbing...
As the sun was so low and skies overcast we were finding it hard to shoot the budding flowers and swimming birds.
What exactly do you call it when ducks and swans are doing the thing they do when on top of a body of water, floating about?
I knew that there was a bridge that crossed over the little lake and had stunning across water views of the Jubilee Walk that runs next to the Horse Guards Parade and of Buckingham Palace the opposite side. SO that was our next port of call where we spent a good hour and more. I think Akpe was having a hell of a lot of fun. When his first memory card got full, I think that was our indication to move on to the palace.
We walked up to the road leading into Buckingham Palace and while Akpe was standing in the middle of the road shooting (hee hee after walking into the path of an on coming black cab - he was just so excited) I was shooting him, well the whole mood/scene that is. I got this most awesome shot with a Volvo that was kind enough to stay still and make a lasting impression for me. I love light trails and tryig to get the full sequence of the green red and amber in my shutter timing.

After being denied the use of the Queen's toilet we aimed for Piccadilly Circus a mere 20 mins walk away and Akpe filled up on a burger and chips and I got myself soft serve with cookie pieces in < my mom's favourite.

We even sat for another 30 and more minutes chatting just getting on really well. And at 22h30 or there abouts decided to hop aon the tube and make our way home.

Thanx Akpe for being a great/cool dude. Look forward to the next meeting/outing.

Got The Job

So I went for my second interview last Wednesday before going on a photo hunt and meeting Akpe (ultimatemale on renderosity). What the 'interview' entailed was watching an old hat do the work and explaining what was being done and then it was up to be to basically replicate what she had done or at least some that I could follow instructions.

It was all easy enough but I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy doing the job too much. It looks very tedious and mind numbing. ut at the same time, it's a good set of skills to have and the job ops from this position are really good in SA (which is where I'm probably going to have to live forever). And damnit I don't wanna live in middle class forever. I want the holidays to exotic places and the house that is big enough to throw a party in!

Anyway so the boss man called me and told me today that they wold like to offer me the position. I virbally confirmed that I was accepting it and was told to wait for written confirmation to start on the 10th of April. I get home today and the 'recruitment officer' who sent me and email a few days before to say I had been unsuccessful, had sent me an email asking about my visa. I hope there isn't now an issue with the visa being a holiday one!!! He originally sent me a letter to say that I was unsuccessful (after 2 interviews already) after he'd come back from holiday. He didn't confirm what the managers had done in the meantime and jst went on his merry way. Shows you how you can get blown off from HR or recruiting and they haven't even got a clue what the co is looking for nor the potential of a person.

To be perfectly honest I think that they are only employing me coz I have no experience and they can pay me less at the end of the day... I've only been offered £17,500 pa which is not too great but I'm hoping that I will get an increase really soon, like in 3 months, provided that I'm actually still there - it would suck to have to look for another job...

Well if all is still going according to plan (visa not being an issue) I should be earning a bit more money and not be getting my ear munched at day in and out by next week.

Wish me luck in my new endeavor.

Oddly English

So there is something that I learnt about that will explain a lot.

It's called fly tipping. What is it you ask? It is the English people's habit of leaving rubbish out in their unused front lawn, space, patio. And I'm not talking garbage, I'm talking rubbish: prams, bicycles, skates, tyres and any thing generally large and non-decomposable that is no longer of service - chairs included. It looks disgusting and there is no reason for doing it but sheer laziness to go to the dump/tip and dispose of this rubbish. And yes there is a law against it, it's that out of hand.

Anyway so the point? It's quote fascinating actually.

I've now seen 3 television sets being left outside the bounds of the fly tipping area (in front of the wall on the pavement). Apparently if you don't want your old, still working TV anymore you don't take it to the 2nd hand store for a bit of cash. You simply leave it outside with a note on saying that the set is working and consider it a donation. Some soul then comes walking past and picks it up to do as he pleases with it...

Fascinating isn't it?

P.S. I've since seen 2 more TVs wondering about (10.04.07)

Play Bar - Old Street

After taking like an hour and 30 mins to get ready I finally left at 10pm for the party. I had checked out the clubs website ad to be perfectly honest I wasn't expecting too much from the venue. Plus I could only imagine the budget that Meirice had to work on.
Getting off at Old St Tube Station, I've got to tell you I was actually scared, the station is def the worst and most run down off all the tubes I've seen, hobos sleeping and begging in the underground shopping centre's hall ways. I was walking with purpose and conviction to get out of there. When Londoner's voted Baker St as the worst tube station, clearly not many of them have been to this one. And Baker St was only vote the worst coz it's still old with all the original fixtures and wood work. Personally I think It's beautiful.
I was hoping the when I reached the surface the streets and building would be cleaner and at least look safer (I didn't hold my breath). And no they weren't, there were indescribable smells, bad lighting and def not clean. At this point I was getting really really worried, I can now see why Debbie told me to stay away from the East side. I was now regretting trusting someone elses judgment and regretted coming. Funny thou there was still a glimmer of hope that the place would be decent enough and the time would be fun.

Apon arrival, I was searched (not a convincing move seeing how I was feeling) and was lead up these stairs to the second floor where the party was booked. Walking in I've gotta be honest - I was less than impressed, maybe my standards are just too high?
Now that I was used to paying to hang my jacket in the cloak room, I went to pay. Well it wasn't much of a cloak room, multicoloured plastic coat hangers on a few rails behind a little bar counter style effort, not convincing that you're items are going to be kept safe...

Never the less I didn't right the night off. As I came in a girl from work was there, Renee. Thank God, some one that I knew. Seeing as Laverne was at the door and Meirice was no where to be found. I wasn't feeling too comfortable with bringing my camera now. I had to leave it in the 'cloakroom' as I didn't see Meirice sitting behind an 'entrance desk' as she said she would be. Laverne was downstairs just standing at the door. The club was actually actually an old 2 story house that had been converted into what looked like two flats at one stage and when the area turned commercial it was brought out and converted several times since then. And the latest happen to be this 'club'. So the first downstairs 'flat' was one section of the club and the upstairs was the hired part for the website bruin-ou.com's function. As I was saying Laverne was just standing at the main 'house' door no till, no desk, chair or nothing. collecting money with two bouncers behind 3 red velvet ropes.

Well I thought, I so need a drink, at first I was just gonna buy a water but the look or lack there off 'lead' me into the alcohol. Vodka, lime and lemonade - single please, I would like my wallet to come home with me... £3!!! damn that's like R45, I might as well be at Sun City! Well I was gonna drink this very slowly, well so I thought. I tagged onto Renee and her boyfriend, they were so in love and into each other it was making me sick - I hate being the fucking third person and more so I hate not knowing anyone and worst off I hate coming to a party apon invite and being hung out to dry when I get there! And hence the drink disappeared in like 5 mins. Oh that's another thing, it was damn hot in the club, yes it's cold outside but you've got ppl crammed in here, um, you can switch the heating off.

So not bitching and moaning too much (oops too late) the night was a bugger up and I could only stand it for 3 hours, after the first hour I wanted to leave and Meirice told me, no this is my last night, and then I'm going on holiday. This gave me hope that she would actually come back to the little hell corner I was in and I would have some conversation. Ah, no don't be stupid!

When I eventually did leave I walked to the bus stop that I had looked up on the tfl.gov.uk site while planning my route. it wasn't far at all. But my ankle was killing me, I was walking like I had a cleft foot, slower than an old lady on crutches with constipation... Get to the bus stop and look at the time table, yippee, I missed the bus by 3 minutes, it always happens with me. Oh well, I had my iPod Shuffle to listen to and a pink limo across the road, I was scouting it to see which hooker was gonna get out - no luck there. The bus arrived at 03h23 and I hopped on. So time to look for stop K. literally 2 mins down the road I saw stop K and got off, only to find that I'd gotten off too early. DAMNIT, now I gotta wait 30mins for the next bus!
A luck would have it there was a Texaco with Somerfields Easy shop across the road, I went to make myself a caffe late (machine served) and brought a double size Twix. I needed all the enegry I could get to wait in the 4 deg air outside and to be able to sleep in the next morning without having a hungry tummy wake me up.

Bus came and I was thinking, yippee, home time, thank god. You know you have those nights that you know you just shouldn't have left the house? This was about to turn into one of those.

While travelling I was frantically looking on my cellphone at the image from multimaps.com that i had gotten as well at the one from tfl while trying to read every number on each bus stop. We go around what looks like the corner that the map shows and I couldn't see the street name but someone else pushed the button so at least I didn't have to puch it and not get off. 4 or 5 ppl got up to get off, so I thought that this must be the one, surely they are getting the next bus too. So I get off, look at the stop number and it's M, shit, hop back on as the driver is closing the doors. In hind sight I shouldn't have done that. The next stop was K and I saw the road name as the robot before the corner was luckily red. So I pushed the button and got ready to get off.What happens? The fucking bus driver didn't stop, so I thought fine I'll get off at the next one, he doesn't stop again, a passenger gets up and says blah blah blah, stop at the next stop, does he stop? NO, he carried onto Waterloo, where we all have to get off. Boy was I pissed, Now I have to walk to Piccdilly Circus. Now for all of you that don't know London, that's a good 30min walk, for someone without a completely fucked ankle. Me - 45mins.
And would you know it: every bus stop I saw I had just missed the busses!!! Eventually I got to Trafalgar Square and I was actually in luck, the bus I needed the N9 was stopping there. After waiting for 5 or so mins I was so please to see the bus stopping. Up to the top level I went for some peace.
Nope, no such thing there were 2 totally out of contract girls up there screaming and shouting, well I could handle that coz I just turned my iPod up to fuck my ears even more. Now it was time to settle for a good rid home.
Um, what ever!!! I start smelling cigarette smoke. The 8 immature 16 year olds behind me were all smoking with no regard for the passengers on the bus nor the actual rules. Well let me open the window. As did a few other ppl. They soon started getting cold as they were at the back of the bus and of course all the air flows there. The girl behind me asked if I had a problem with closing the window, so I said yes. One of the boys closes it anyway, I reopen it. After a few more open and closes they start throwing things at me. I hate being the bigger person but I didn't have any backup so I simply ignored them.

My luck would get better - 6 of them get off at the same stop as me and get on the same damn bus! Thank goodness they got off before me and didn't see what stop I was getting off at, I really didn't feel like dealing... Esp not while I was carrying my camera with me.

Home at 6am, and in bed at 06h30 after a shower and teeth brushing.

Not a bad night for wanting to go home from the moment I got off the tube, don't you think?

Durban Devistation

From Sun 18 Mar through the week to Thurs the 22nd Durban was ravaged by electrical storms and high seas never before seen in the city's history.
Due to the Sun, Moon and Earth all aligning in a specific way the tides were raised enormously and to add self raising flour to the mixture Madagascar was experiencing a Tropical Storm. These factors caused tidal waves to descend apon Durban, South Africa.
The effects have run into the millions, with destruction to property, businesses, roads, signs and sea side attractions.

For further photographs or the destruction caused to Durban and the lower south coast please click the following link:
Durban Disaster Pictures

Interview

I went for an interview today with a company called IPT. The position is for a Data Protection Consultant.
It involves pulling reports and coding in SQL. I don't have any experience in that field not even any in coding. The guy gave me a grilling, asking me things that I didn't know about and I had to ask him to explain what he meant with most of the questions. I felt like a right arse, but none the less he did take me into the office where the team (14 people currently) work and I had a very nice lady explain to me what they do and she showed me a little bit of the coding and how they received their job cards and so forth. It looks pretty easy, def something I would be able to pick up fast and handle.

The thing is with computer stuff is it's logical and straight forward, you don't have the human issue to deal with. You don't have to deal with people's emotions and their politics and bullshit.
I know that in the end photography is going to be the thing I wanna be doing long term. And once I've saved enough money for a bit of travel I will save to do one or two courses. I've got two that look equally as good as each other and if I can get this job with regular days and hours I will be able to join a camera/photo club in London. Maybe even the Royal Photographic Society. You pay for your membership and then they give you names of courses that you can do to achieve a certain status. I'd love love love to do that.
But for all of that to become a reality I have to have a good paying job...

And best of all this job is in Buckingham Gate Lane - the road that leads to Buckingham Palace's Main Gate where Queen Victoria's Statue is. WOW. Maybe it's a tourist thing... It's not that I like the Queen or anything it's just that I love the whole culture and all.

But lets not get my hopes up. I'm sure he's had plenty of people with experience applying and unless the company needs to save money on salaries, I'm sure I'll be a last resort.

Typical

Two recent court cases, have earned the attention of newspaper readers in South Africa:
1. One person was fined R1 000 for not having a TV license.
2. Another was released on bail for R500 after being arrested for murder.

The moral of this South African story:
If you do not have a TV license and the inspector comes round, kill him. You'll save R500.

..It's the Right Thing To Do..

Just Take Advantage Why Don't You

So I discovered on Sat why The Listening Company likes to employ a lot of South Africans.
I hear chatter of working 6 days straight in a week and only having 1 off. Needless to say I jumped into the conversation. What's going on here? 6 on and only 1 off? I heard that the weekly Friday meeting produced results of things that didn't quite add up. The company what's to change the shift rotas to be 6 on, 1 off. ARE THEY MAD?! I ask really, where's the point in that? The staff will be over worked and even more frustrated than they are now.

Let's think what can you do one your one day off? ... Certainly not sleep in, because you'll have to wake up to do your house cleaning, washing, ironing, shopping and if you're lucky you can squeeze in a visit to friends or family should you have any near by.

I say again: ARE THEY MAD?!

So short of getting really annoyed that they want to change the whole rota for some over stupid South Africans who what to and can work themselves to death. Oh the reason is it was requested. By who I ask, coz there was no general form to fill out, there was no discussion, nothing. It later came out that it was discussed late Jan, early Feb. So I ask we started in Feb, why weren't we asked? And if the question arose late Jan, we were training, why weren't we notified of this before we signed our life's away?! I'm glad that there are people willing to get shouted and moaned at for 8 or more hours in a day for 5 days in a row. THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!!! I'm glad there are people who think they are not worth more than £6.50 per hour when the industry standard is £9. THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM. While I'm looking for a job, I want days off to be able to go to interviews and to do site seeing and shopping etc.

Well the night went by with a bit of a bother, my brain was working over over time. Thinking about how pissed off I was about it all, I mean the people on shift 3 must just hear this news via the grapevine, WTF!!!

Sunday rolls on in and the topic of the day? Well the same of course. After 8 of us agree that this new 'proposal' sucks I take it apon myself to make a proposal. After managing to get 7 signatures, I'm told to sit down and get back on the phone. Apparently they needed everyone on the phone. I get back on the phone and look around like 6 people without calls. So I reckoned it was a 'stop making trouble' warning.
I then decided to ask a South African guy who I think works a lot what he thought. He reckons that he was asked about it and said he's all for it - he reckons, more work = more money. Yes wally if you wanna work for shit, you gotta work overtime, hello!!! The thing is that that's not even the half of it. I then ask him so when was this discussed and why were the rest of us asked? He replies: end of Jan or begin Feb when we were in training and could be asked, so it didn't affect us. He didn't just sa that did he? Oh yes he did. How the hell doesn't it affect us?! We should've been told that the shifts are due to change and how and if they were asked begin Feb, we were working and out of training. Nice, so that's the way it works?! The elders get promoted and the elders get to make decisions for the 'clan'? Bullshit!!!

So it would seem all the oldies where consulted right? NO. the discussion was put to like 6 or 10 people out of 40 oldies. And it was put to the people that work the most. Hello, of course they're gonna say yes, go figure, I mean must I draw a picture?! Now the poor guy feels affected, he feels that we are telling him that it's his fault no matter how much we assure him that he just gave his opinion and we would like to give our opinions too...
DRAMA: I can handle drama to a point and this drama I created, but it was getting a bit much now... Dude, I can't make you NOT feel responsible, maybe there's more to the story that he isn't mentioning...

Now that I hit the Hornets nest I was stressing. What have I done? Can I handle the heat? Well at worst I was expecting no one to stick by me (I'm used to that) and being singled out for a meeting to tell me to stop making vibes. DO you think I could sleep? No. More than anything I was not wanting ppl to not stick to their guns. It's happened to me before, I stand by my convictions and for some unearthly reason I seem to want to help other people learn how to do that... STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!

Monday rolls on and everything is fine, no one's being funny to me and I wasn't called into a meeting the whole day, WOW. So I reckon it was probably ignored - not surprising. Later in the day one of the girls informed me that they weren't going to do the 6/1 shift idea anymore as too many people were unhappy about it and it would affect them.
So look it might not have been my actions, but I'm gonna think that it was and if it was I'm glad, proud even...

So what the hell has the whole story got to do with the topic? Well just coz you're paying peanuts and the South African's are working double time to be able to live, travel and save that doesn't mean that you should abuse that or that advantage of your other staff.

If you get an inch, ask for the next one, don't take the whole damn mile!

Shopping Prices

I thought a few of y'll might like to know what I'm spending on the average item... Now remember South Africans times the amounts below by 15 to get an aprox as to what this would be costing in direct exchange and then find out how much the amount is. Not forgetting I earn on average: R3225 per week.

Shopping done today at Tesco:

Peperami Individually Packaged Salami Hot Sticks (5 pack) - £2.18 (on special buy 1 get 1 free)
Digital Photo Magazine - £4.99
Pc Advisor Magazine - £4.99
Serrated Kitchen Knife - £0.78
2L Evian Water - £0.75
British Style Ready Meals (Cumberland Sausage Pie + Cumberland Pie + Roast Chicken Pie) - £4.00 (special buy 3 for £4)
British Style Ready Meal (Beef and Mash) - £1.75
White Seedless Grapes - £1.35 (£1.97 per kg)
Dove Gradual Tan 200ml Body Lotion - £4.98 (on special buy 1 get 1 free)
Travelers First Aid Kit - £4.99
Mud Face Mask (2 applications) - £0.99
Airwick Gel Freshner (lasts 4 weeks) - £1.98
Can of Fizzy Passion Fruit Drink 340ml - £0.35
Vit C Chewable Tabs 500mg - £0.86 (on special buy 1 get 1 free)
Colgate Total Toothpaste 100ml - £1.67
Heinz Spaghetti Hoops - £0.38

Snowy

I want to share my experience of snow for all those who've never had it or don't fully appreciate it.

I have seen snow before when I was 10 or 11 while on a camp in Howick on a farm. We traveled there in our bakkie (US: truck, UK: Flat Bed) and it was so muddy we were lucky that it didn't get stuck *good driving mom* . While there on I think the 3rd day or so it started to sleet one day and we thought that was gonna be it. The next day we woke I can only assume that the camp leaders had gotten a message on their radios coz after breakfast we were pilling up in the vans and went off to see the snow. There were limited pairs of gum boots (UK: wellingtons) and only one size 7 which was my size of course this boy grabs them and refuses to do the gentlemanly thing by letting me use them. So I was "playing" in the snow with my old holey takkies (UK/US: trainers) on. Needless to say that wasn't the best first experience of snow for me. Crappy shoes, no gloves and only track pants. I do remember sitting in front of the fire when we got back thou, to thaw my feet out.

Anyway so one of the reasons that I was so excited to come to England was to experience the snow. It had been bloody cold for 2 months and all I had seen was true frost for about 2 days. I was like a head light when I first saw the frost, it was magical and so so beautiful. If I wasn't going to work I would've taken photos. That was only around for 2 or 3 days and there was no sign of the snow.

After moving to London I was hoping that there was finally going to be some snow. But the lightly hood of that happening was nil, as London is warmer and the seasons were supposed to be changing around now. There were however ppl who were saying that the weather was supposed to just be getting colder.
After being in London for 1 week and getting a job I was off to work for my 3rd day of training. After getting ready for work the sun was just coming up at 8am while I was checking I had all of my things I looked up and saw that it had snowed. First thing out of my mouth? OH MY GOD . I was in total shock, I never say those words. I honestly thought I was dreaming because I had had dreams of it snowing before all which were of course not true. I was so so so happy, I grabbed my cam and found a bag to carry it in. While walking to work I was smiling my head of like a loony person. It was very very clear that I hadn't experienced this before. Fresh snow!!! AWESOME. I missed the first train to work coz I was standing on the platform taking pictures and had a Russian woman ask me to take a photo. I didn't care tht I missed it, I was so happy to finally have the snow. Enduring all of those cold days was really worth it!!!
Unfortunetly it all melted before 11am, the spread was too thin, so that meant no photo's during lunch.

The newspapers were reporting even heavier falls for the next day - and honestly I believed it. Woke the next morning, of course the first thing I did was look outside. No snow. Oh well I thought, one day was better than none.
I was plesantly surprised thou, as while on the bus to the tube I was looking outside and it started to snow. And what did I do? Yip, get that goofy smile on my face, I could actually feel my brain getting happy. I didn't wanna get into the tube, I wanted to get snowed on. I stood outside the entrance for a while with my hand out stretched letting the snow land on me as I watched. When I got out of the tube and onto the train platform at Islington the snow had stopped. I was still happy that I got to experience it snowing on me.

My next experience was to be in 2 weeks.

Again the weather man predicted snow. This time I didn't believe. But sure as rain the next morning, there was fresh snow all over. And guess what? It was still snowing. I stood at the window and watched, amazed at how it was floating down and the ways the wind was blowing it. When I left for work it was still snowing, pretty hard now. And me again, I was beaming with light. Smiling as I was walking to the bus. 15 mins walking in the snow and then 10 mins waiting at the bus stop, yippee, I was so so happy. My gloves, cap and jacket were dripping as the snow landed on me and then melting. I didn't care, I wanted it to snow until lunch time so I could get some photos. While I was sitting at work looking at the snow outside I was saddened to see it melting so fast but then it started to snow again and my hope of a lunch time photo shoot was revived. Alas all but a little had melted by 2pm which was my lunch time.

I will never forget seeing that first day of snow and the joy I got will the new experience of walking in the snow and watching the drops falling off the brim of my hat peek. It was truly wondrous what mother nature had created and I felt privileged to have experienced it. Coming from a sunny, hot, sticky climate I was truly blessed.

Thank you northern airflow from bringing the snow.

National Insurance

I went for my NI Interview. I wasn't stressing too much I was just worried that I was gonna give some inappropriate answer that would screw up my chances of getting the number. Or even worse would get me in big trouble and I would have to go back home... I haven't earned nearly enough money to go back home or done enough touring!!!

I was told by the agent that I called to book the interview "Get there at least 10 mins early coz if you don't they won't consider seeing you". So I plan to get there 15mins early. Knowing me I leave earlier and actually wind up getting there 30mins early.

After researching which bus to catch and how long it would take to get there I get off at the stop, walk up the wrong street, look at my map and find the right street. Ah ha I see the building. What the hell?!?!? IT ONLY OPENS AT 9!!! Why tell me to get there early?! So I went to find a sunny spot and sat down, lucky me the two ppl next to me decide to light up and puff away. There's nothing worse than ppl that smoke and that's ppl that smoke in their cars and worse than that is ppl who feel the need to smoke at 7am as soon as they wake up! I sat there for about 5 mins thinking, okay their cigs will finish just now... THEY DIDN'T. It was really bugging me coz being the smoke attracting machine I am, the damn wind is blowing my way!!! I tell you the fire brigade should hire me to stand in a certain place for all the smoke to come towards me so they can see to fight the fires!!! It's ridiculous.
What was I saying?...
So I was getting pissed off but didn't wanna move coz the sun was warming me up and I'd made myself comfortable. The smoke proved too much and I got up and tried to storm off to show my disgust (I don't think it worked). I then stood in what looked like the next best sunny place, but I was leaning against a stone wall, cold very very cold. Still it was in the sun at leadt. As I waited I saw the pile of ppl outside the doors growing, I'll be damned if they were gonna get in before I was!!! Eventually at 8:55 I walsed my way past the ppl and stood in front of the door. It was like the January sales when the security guard opened the doors (2 mins late I might add). The front of house person announced that NI applications are on the 5th floor, next thing everyone turns like sheep being herded by a sheep dog and walking to the lifts. Four of us get in the first lift and then 3 more ppl decide to cram in, hee hee hee, the voice says - this lift is over crowded so the 3 get back off. 2 dudes get off on the 3rd floor and there is me and a chinese woman left. YIPPEE, now I'm thinking about beating her out the lift and hoping that the other lift hasn't beaten ours.
Well I never beat her out the lift (she was too large for me to push past). But at least we beat the other lift. We both handed our reservation letters in and were told to sit and wait. We only waited for about 2 mins and the ppl called out our names.
I got someone by the name of Ruth. She was nice enough. I was now waiting for all these questions. I handed over my paper work (letters, payslips, proof of address, visa details etc). Ruth photocopied everything and then went on filling in the forms. All she asked me was if I had family in the UK and how I arrived in the country as well as when I started work...
The Spanish woman getting interviewed next to me was getting grilled!!! 40 mins later and all the paperwork was filled out. Ruth gave my passport and ID to go to data entry. As I sat waiting for the docs to be returned I saw Ruth interviewing her next person. A Polish man with a woman to interpret. Ruth wasn't impressed that he had been working since August and hadn't made the NI application earlier nor had he learnt any more English than hello and kiss my arse (not literally). I've gotta say Ruth had it easy thou, the lady behind me was interviewing a Polish man too and he didn't speak a word of English but understood it, she was having a really hard time. That dude then came around to ask the girl that was at Ruth's desk if she can come help him... Ha, I wonder how long she was going to be there for... To be very honest, I can't understand how ppl can come and live in a country and they don't know the language, I holiday is okay, but actually living and getting by day to day on no English is just stupid to me. I mean at to not have even learnt any at all, that's crazy...

I sat for the next 30 mins waiting for my documents to came back. I wasn't worried about the waiting, but I did have a monster pee on board!!!
EISH, WENNA how can I publish that?! well I just did...
And I was beginning to wonder how I got off so easily. Coz the foreign language speaking ppl were getting grilled, mother's maiden names, first thru to current addresses, how long are they staying, why are they here, are they going for English lessons - and more...

And that was that, it was off to find the bus out of this dodgy town and then off to work. ARGH, wake at 6am and only get home at 11pm wind up sleeping at 1am or so after watching a movie.

Life is tough I tell you but it's all worth it in the end!

No Jacket Day

Today was the first day without a jacket for me, granted it was midday and the sun was shining. Still thou that's saying something!
This dude called me think on the phone t work today and started swearing at me, bloody wanker... He'll get what's coming to him, in fact I have it on good authority that he is gonna drive into a pole in the near future, cutting his head on the steering wheel leaving a nasty scar. Yip, karma is a killer.

So my question for toady is: why is it called soft ice?
I saw an ice cream van while getting on the bus after work this afternoon and it had soft ice written on the front and sides, of course with the pictures of products all over the outside. And ice isn't soft so why call it soft ice? Ice is hard and not that tasty (even thou I love eating it) so how did soft ice come along? It's soft serve and ice cream as far as I know and the English mate I have from work whom catches the bus with me couldn't explain it either... MMMM, me thinks it don't make sense.

The latest topic that I'm seeing in papers most of the time is "Child Poverty". The parents of kids who are living in one roomed places that include the kitchen and bathroom in that one room are complaining that the government isn't doing anything for them. You know what I think? Stop having children DAMNIT! If you know you can't support yourself properly use a condom, take the pill, both of those are free. Should you get pregnant after using those two, learn from your mistakes and close your legs!!! The thing is a lot of girls are having r have had kids coz of the governments arse about face policy that they would give houses to all the single girls under 18 and older than 16 if they were moms. Now look what take that funding away and what have you got? A problem of too many kids, poverty and a vicious cycle. But on the same token, it takes two to tango and I believe if the mother know who the father is she should report him and then extra taxs should come out of the fathers pay cheque, that would surely encourage a hard penis to go abit softer more often?

What did I do this evening after making my supper, oven cooked ready meal? I proceeded to spill it on my hand and burn it. God, I'm a numbnut!!! I burnt myself with tea once and that lasted like 4 days, at least I didn't have to work for 2 days. Now I have no choice. Lucky I click with the right hand... But I'll really need to go to the pharmacy and buy some medical supplies now. Funny how I thought about it a few weeks ago and now look. Well they do say always follow your instincts.

Another Nations rugby match was played today and where I work in Richmond, Twickenham Stadium is just a 30 min walk away. So all the fans come by train to Richmond and then catch buses for 50p to the stadium. What does this mean at lunch time? Over crowded pavements, roads and shops. Not to mention full buses going home and drunk ppl leaving the pubs just when you wanna go home. The matches usually finish at 5pm so ppl stay for that final beer and leave at 6pm when we leave work. There are of course the good things. The feel of the English patriotism. And even ppl dressed up. In the first match the England vs Scotland match there were ppl all over in white shirts and other ppl in kilts. It was totally awesome, seeing really Scottish ppl in there dress, socks, shoes and lack of underwear too I'm sure.

Check: another experience off my list.

I really wanted to go and watch the England vs France match today. Little old me goes and looks for internet prices thinking innocently, ja they'll be like £70 or so. NO FREEKY WAYS, £270 at the cheapest are you bloody mad?! So that was no no, maybe I can find a special package for the world cup, question is would I go by myself that is?

Protestors

So today I saw my first ever peaceful demonstration. Protesters outside The GSK Pharmaceuticals company. Apparently they do research on animals and that was the subject of the protest.
It was all a bit sad really coz even thou the case is a great one, there must've only been about 30 people protesting all in all. Accompanied by a big drum, four mega horns and of course the essential: posters and police. The chants were "SHAME ON YOU" and "NO MORE CRUELTY". I applaud them thou for sticking to their convictions and having the balls to do something about those convictions. Even if it does all just amount to hot air.
The building itself is 20 mins from my house and is stunning. Fully glass and really a wonderful piece of architecture.
I used to be very anti animal cruelty when I was a kid, I'm pretty indifferent now. But above all of that I still think drug tests should be carried out on criminals, not animals. Coz criminals are the real animals. What did a bunny rabbit ever do wrong? I'm actually tempted to go outside and chant with them, but I would be a hypocrite coz if it was GSK's drugs and research that was to save my life, I would buy the drugs.
Long story short - I'm stoked I got to see my first peaceful demonstration, posters and all. Not like back home where ppl just strike and march up the the city hall for more money.

It's awesome to see different things and firsts that you don't think you would see normally had you not traveled. I saw this dude riding on one of those trick bikes when I was on the bus the other day while stopped at a robot. It was hysterical, a grown rather large man riding a trick bike at 11pm at night with bag on back.
London is also the only place, I've seen, where it's acceptable for a business man in a suit to carry a back pack around instead of a briefcase and no body says anything.
Linked to the spring post, woman are starting to wear skirts again, with thin stockings, I mean really ppl, it's still cold outside!!! Plus when I go to bed a 2am most of the time, there are birds chirping, I'm being to wonder if they are just as happy that it's spring as the humans are or if the light pollution is making the city too bright and they think that for like a good 6 hours the sun is rising...

Spring Has Sprung

Today was the first day of ppl cutting their grass in about 4 months. It's so nice to be experiencing this coz back home it's summer and spring all year round.
I've been noticing things for a few weeks now. One of the biggest things that has really impressed me is last week, everyday that I woke and walked to work a new tree had bloomed, having the whole tree covered in flowers.
In partiular I've been keeping an eye on these little pods, growing on a creeper that is cascading over a wall on my work walk route. These little pods started off as what looked like baby acorns. Last week they popped out of their casings and looked like caterpillars all covered in fur. During the week the fur got thicker and whiter and this week I see that there are now pollen heads off of every strand of fur/hair. I can't wait to see what happens next.
I think coming from a country where flowers are so abundant and frequent that you start to over look them and don't ever see the process that the plant goes thru in order to bloom that beautiful flower. I find that I'm paying more and more attention to things now.

As well as the plants changing, the weather is too. There are more sunny days and the wind is starting to pick up more. Also when it rains it's not that soft drizzle any more, the rain is getting heavier and if it does rain it's for the whole day not just in patches. But I've got to say that there are more non-rain days than rainy ones. And by that I mean, cloudy or sunny. And really you can face the cloudy days, at least you don't have to drag an umbrella around. I still haven't even brought one... I just wear my huge big army jacket and get told I look like a man, some ppl really should get their eyes tested!!! The sun is also warm now, meaning you can actually stand in the sun to warm up, not like in winter where it's just as cold as the air is. I can't wait for summer when all the trees have their leaves back and the air is hot.

You really don't think that you'll see some thing as simple as the seasons changing to be a big experience but it has turned into an appreciation for me as well as an eye opener as to how much you really can neglect.

Royal Botanic Gardens / Kew Gardens

I hadn't managed to take any photos for 3 weeks while I was getting used to my new job and time schedules. So I made a point of getting out of bed on one of my days off. I had said to myself that if the sun was out then I'm going to The Royal Botanic Gardens (which I ride past everyday).
Seeing as the sun was out and the clouds weren't building up too fast, I packed my camera, battery, memory cards, put my huge jacket on and walked out the door. I was going to use this trip for a photo project too. Shooting on my 70 - 300mm all the time. I had packed my 18 - 55mm kit lens just in case, you never know when a totally awesome shot is going to jump out and hit you. One doesn't wanna be unprepared.
When I got to the gardens, I've gotta admit that I was a little shocked to see that there was an entry fee. In SA all botanical gardens are free. So I stood by at the entrance wondering if I really wanted to pay £12 out of the £20 that I had left til payday (4 days down the line). I decided to pull my socks up and do it. So I whipped out my £20 to pay and was pleasantly surprised to find that the fee was only £9.50. Yippee, I was feeling good already.

I was greeted by a most amazing sight, a green floor peeping thru in patches, between a whole stack of purple and white flowers, Crocuses. I was truly in awe, I've never actually thought of spring as a season until now. Of course I took pics of those and the pigeons that were walking about. I tell you what the pigeons are huge here!!! They are the size of a baby chicken the you pay R90 for in a restaurant.
I received a nice little map with my receipt of entry so proceeded to read it and find out where I was to go first. Off to the glasshouses that I see everyday on the way to work and so desperately what to go into. I was side tracked on the way how ever, by The Palm House and the beautiful gardens surrounding it, not to mention the statues of animals representing different countries. click click click and click .
Seagulls were flying about and my attempts to capture them in flight were terrible so those were deleted.
Going into The Palm House is a whole nother experience! It's sunny outside, yet still unbelievable cold and inside it's hot humid and just like home. I seriously wanted to whip out my bikini and just enjoy the heat. My camera didn't enjoy it too much thou, from being at about 8 or 10 deg C outside to being instantly warmed to about 30 excluding humidity was, well a wet experience for my camera. My glasses, the lens, viewfinder and LCD screen were all misted up. I didn't wanna risk damaging my cam so I went outside in a split second.
Now to find my glasshouse... But again I was distracted, I saw this view point atop a hill, it was so secluded and peaceful that I had to go and see what pics it would yield. The Temple of Aeolus was it's name, it was beautifully placed, I really enjoyed sitting there and looking around, just smiling to myself while taping my foot to my music. I reckon I looked like a right nutter...
Finally, to the Princess of Wales Conservatory. This place was awesome. As you walked in you could unzip your jacket and stop chattering your teeth as th first climate you hit was a semi-arid one. Filled with cacti and plants that live in those conditions I spent a good 20 mins taking pics of just that section. And the sunlight was streaming in making for a photographers dream with backlight plants and sun streaming onto prickly surfaces. I found myself again, just smiling and enjoying every moment of this experience, my £9.50 seemed to be paying itself off already.

Hunger was starting to set in so I went to a converted manor built in 1791 to get something to warm me up. Sitting on the bench outside, enjoying the sun a seagull flew up and stood in front of me talking, asking for some muffin... At £1.50 a muffin, there's no ways I'm going to give him any. I even drank my latte with no sugar coz I totally forgot. It was organic coffee thou so it tasted very good never the less. After taking some pics of Kew Palace I wondered off to the Temperate House.
This is the largest, oldest still free standing Victorian glasshouse today. it's realy pretty big and the outside is just wonderful. There is a whole wing dedicated to plants in South Africa. Do you know that SA holds 6 or the 8 different climates that plants can grow in and we have the largest amount of different species at 22000 different kinds!!! Amazing, no wonder we keep on winning the International Flower Show at Chelsea (32 years running now). So we can't play rugby but we can grow flowers...
I then stopped of in the Evolution House. This building is dedicated to showing the evolution of plants from 300 million years ago. It was then off to the Japanese section of the gardens but not before stopping off at the Pavilion Restaurant to see what snacks they had. The Japanese section has a huge Pagoda and this giant sized zen garden hosting display to the Japanese Gateway which is part of a gift to the Japanese from one of the kings in the 1400s. The gateway is made out of two of the original doors to replicate the original gateway built. The original gateway is 5 times the size of this replica.

I was walking towards the river walk when I spotted these stunning birds eating under a tree. The were brilliant red with fan like tails and feathers that they lifted to spread around their beaks. I snuck past them to get a good place to photograph them, I felt like a spy. Once I had my 300mm lens back on cam I was focusing and the birds were attracted to the noise. They started to surround me 7 - 10 males. I honestly at one point think they thought I was food and were going to attack, so I stopped and just admired. The day was turning out to be so brilliant.
While I was waiting for the sun to set I walked to Queens Chorlotte's Cottage which was built late 1700s as a place for the Queen to take her guests to picnic and have tea, what a life. It was then off to the Badger Sett and Minka House to see how badgers and Japanese ppl live and how their houses are constructed respectively.
After walking thru the Bamboo Gardens I then went to the Palm House again and sat down on some stairs waiting for the sun to set. Low and behold , what should happen? nothing other than a swan swims up to me and talks, asking for food. I opened my hand to show that there was nothing in it and he starts pecking at my fingers. It was really soft, I was so shocked and he stayed by me for about 10 mins just to make sure I wasn't holding out on him.
Unfortunately I didn't get to see the sun set as the gardens closed at 17.30 and the sun was only due to set at 17.40.
All in all thou, I filled both of my memory cards and had a better time than I expected for 6 hours. I would say photo project and great day out complete. I was really surprised as to just how many ppl there were and how many ppl had really great cameras, lots of like minded ppl here. The best thing when you're lying on a bench to get shot, no one looks at you funny, they just acknowledge and don't think you're wierd.

Acceptance with no prejudgment.