After 9 weeks I am feeling pretty comfortable in the UK. Shortly after my last post I got a call from an agent on a Monday, had an interview on the Tuesday and was starting a contract the following week. So with a weight off my shoulders I wanted to make the most of my last free week.
I organised a day trip to Nottingham to visit my friend Emma. It was a nice train ride (about 2 hours) and I had a great day and checked out the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and Nottingham Castle. I am hoping Emma will make a trip to London one of these days (hint, hint).
The Monday I was meant to start work was a public holiday (an extra day off after 4 months - can't complain) so Roger and Marj had organised a trip to Bath. A couple of my flatmates and I did some fast running to make the 8:30 train at Paddington, arriving with seconds to spare. I am seeing a pattern with running for trains. Bath is another spectacularly picturesque little town. The roman baths were amazing and we managed to hop onto a walking tour of the city. It turned out that 90% of the people were from Australia :-) I have put a link at the bottom to pics.
So the fateful day finally arrived however after so long off work I was feeling excited and looking forward to working. I got a contract with QBE (an Australian insurance company, funnily enough) as a SQL/Wintel technical specialist for a new insurance underwriting project that they are rolling out. I have been there just over a month now and am loving the work.
So anyhow, being back at work is taking up most of weekdays. The crew I am working with are very social and it is not unusual to have several nights a week where we will go to the pub. Tomorrow night my project manager is taking the team out for curry :-) I did have a little issue after one night out where I fell asleep on the last tube and it took me a couple of hours to get back from Wemberly. One suggestion has been to stand on the tube when I am tired....
Just over two weeks ago Kasey arrived for a whirlwind 10 day stay. I met her at the airport on the Friday morning and we caught up with her dad who had just finished a two week golfing trip to wales. She spent the day with her dad while I headed into work. After work I caught up again with Kasey, her dad and her sister. We went out near the West End for dinner with their family friends the Tierney's. After a lovely meal and a grilling from the Tierney's over dinner Kasey was zonked and we tubed it home.
Saturday we all met (the Clark's and the Tierney's) at the Imperial War Museum at 10am. There was an Ian Flemming/James Bond display on which I enjoyed and the bunker exhibit was impressive. We ended up at embankment for lunch and experienced some woeful English pub service though when we finally got the food it was nice. After parting ways with the Tierney's We spent the afternoon around Covent Garden and went to see Buddy Holly in the evening.
Sunday it was a later start and Amy, Greg, Kasey and myself went to this awesome wine bar at Embankment called Gordon's Wine Bar. It is like catacombs carved into the rock and is only lit by candle. They server an amazing cheese platter as well. We then headed to Surrey to have a look at the school where Amy works and to have high tea at Great Fosters. We left Amy at Surrey and Greg, Kasey and myself headed back to London.
Kasey and I got up early Monday to help her dad take his gear to the airport. Our plan had then been to head to London tower and make our way along the river however in true London form the weather was dismal so we headed to Harrods instead and found their chocolate cafe :-) Absolutely delicious. We then headed to Leicester square to the biggest cinema in the UK, seating upto about 1700 people to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Both feeling a bit buggered we had a quiet meal together in West Hampstead.
I was back to work on Tuesday so Kasey was left to entertain herself. Tuesday night my flat mates, Julie (a Kirribilli Running friend) and Amy (Kasey's sister) all met up at the pub for a beer before going out for dinner. It was a very entertaining night.
Wednesday I worked again and then in the afternoon caught up with Kasey to catch the train to Luton Airport to fly to Italy. We had a good flight and arrived in Milan pretty much on time. We had hired a car so I got my first experience driving a manual with the gear stick on the wrong side :-) All went well and we got to Como about 1am. We caught up with Catherine (this was the girl Kasey was visiting when she was in Australia) in the morning and began our touring, eating and drinking. We had a fabulous time and the scenery was spectacular. Links to pictures at end (have to motivate you to read the blog....ok I know you are just going to scroll to the end anyway).
We got back to London late Sunday night and then once again Kasey and I had to say goodbye when she flew out on Sunday.
I am off to visit Nigel in France in a fortnight which is very exciting. I am catching the eurostar through the tunnel. I also have a few other trips in mind but nothing definite yet. I will probably go to Boston for 10 days at the start of August but still working that out as well.
If you have got to here I hope you haven't fallen asleep. I definitely wasn't born a writier and struggle to post more often. Oh well below are a few links to photos. Hope you enjoy.
Photos of Bath & Nottingham
Photos of Kasey's visit & Italy
