London - back to reality (for now)

Sunset at the London Eye

Another overnight bus (hopefully the last!) from Edinburgh and I arrive in London on the 3rd of January with no home and no job. It's quite a horrible and daunting feeling and I am lucky to have some lovely friends volunteer their couches to me while I find my feet.

Searching for a flat was proving to be a bit of a drama - I had been emailing from Hamburg for over a week and found that most people were looking for a longer term lease than the 3 months I will be here for.

The first one I went to view was eye-opening..........so much built up dirt and grime, I was pretty sure you would have to wear Havi's to walk on the carpet or shower.

The second one was a live in landlord who told me that there would be "no doing the business" on her property.


The third one...... I would say the owner was a "collector"...........good luck finding the sink or lounge among the piles and piles of god knows what - although the collection of glittery, plastic flowers in the room for rent were quite lovely.

The fourth one had an interesting housemate - after arranging the viewing via email, I texted on the day to alter the time slightly which was agreed to - then took a phone call from her about an hour later and had to listen to a lecture on why I did not reply to her message (that came through while we were on the phone) and how could I not reply to someone I was supposed to be living with..........gosh.




Fifth time lucky - a nice room, good price, decent location and what seems to be a lovely, young Italian couple - fingers crossed they are what they seem!

Finally my own room!

So now to find a job.............I have completed the tedious and time consuming process of registering with 7 different temp agencies - who each insisted on me rewriting half my CV into THEIR template and sit THEIR Microsoft suite testing for up to 3 hours...........they will also insist on my referees (all employers over the past 5 years - no choosing who you provide) completing THEIR form.........I really hope I have references left at the end of it!



The salaries over here have also been quite a shock - very low compared to Australia with some roles only paying around £10 per hour. Hopefully something will come along soon so I can start to focus on my social life!

I'm dreaming of a............non-white christmas?

Christmas in Germany is traditionally celebrated on christmas eve and it is white with piles of snow everywhere. Not this year! We had plus 10 degrees and the only thing coming from the sky was light rain.
We had a lovely christmas eve dinner with Maren's family, complete with lots of food (leberkase - like a meatloaf, cooked ham and potato salad AND the chocolate mousse and green and red jelly THAT I MADE - yes that's right people, I COOKED), lots of wine, presents and crazy kids running round leaving wrapping paper and toys all over.

Christmas day is known as the "first christmas day" and boxing day is known as the "second christmas day". So ultimately that is three days of eating, drinking and socialising - these people know how to do it! Then it is goodbye to the christmas markets - another 11 months until gluhwein and pfaffengluck make their much anticipated reappearance!
Then it was another overnight bus - this time a 4 hour train to Cologne, a 14 hour bus ride across to London (complete with a middle of the night ferry trip from Calais) and getting dropped off at 4.45am in the backstreets behind Victoria Coach Station with 2 suitcases.

Edinburgh Christmas markets

Torch ceremony

Next day straight off again up to Edinburgh for Hogmanay - the New Year celebrations. We stayed at an amazing luxury apartment in a cobblestoned street about 10 minutes walk (uphill - they love their hills in Edinburgh) from the main shopping street.

On the 30th we joined in a torch light parade from the Old Town up to the Castle - thousands of people streched out for kilometres walking along and carrying flaming torches and finished off with a fireworks display - pretty spectacular.

Edinburgh Castle

Apartment street - Circus Lane

The 31st was the big Hogmanay street party - stages with concerts, bring your own alcohol, portable toilets (nearly got crushed in a crowd surge at the 11.30pm line up - then when i finally got to a loo it was almost overflowing - fabulous) and people EVERYWHERE.

NYE fireworks

Fantastic fireworks display at midnight with a perfect view from the street up to the Castle with the fireworks exploding over the top - definately the highlight of the night.

AND STILL NO SNOW!!!