Other stuff that happened

Well it has been a while. We’ve grown in so many ways. Anyway, I’ll give a brief run-down of what we’ve been up to over the past few days.

On Friday night: (After the bleeding nose). Went to the Pigalle jazz club in Piccadilly. Fred later informed us that that’s the name of a swanky brothel in Paris. Swanky brothels in Paris must be really expensive, because some guy there tricked us into paying four pounds for a bottle of water. The band there was really good. Unfortunately there was dancing, and after Shelley became hysterical with her pleas I finally gave in to the music. It was fun though. I trod on the same waiter’s foot twice. “Suffer in you jocks!” I said, and then twirled Shelley around into the centre of the dance floor.


On Monday: Went to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. This is one of the few museums I would actually recommend people go and see. Now, as most of you would agree, I’m not the first person you think of when it comes to running off to war (is it because of the bleeding noses?). But I don’t know, Churchill’s speeches were really good. I was really feeling the call to arms. I wanted to go and fight someone on a beach (he-he. Just imagined kicking sand in someone’s face for no reason). Anyway, I was inspired, but alas, behind my time.

On Tuesday: I walked around various places trying to feel cultural while Shelley had a rest at home. Shelley was right and I was wrong.

On Wednesday: Went to Greenwich. It’s a very nice town to walk around, and I’m sure you’d feel very cool if you lived there. Unfortunately it was raining the entire time we were there, so it cut short a lot of the walking. Found a really cool ‘Hi-Fidelity’-type record store there as well. You know it’s really cool if you haven’t heard of about 80% of the bands in stock.

We didn’t go up to the Royal Observatory because we’re going back with some other friends in about a week’s time, and wanted to save ourselves. Well that’s a big hill to climb twice. Maritime museum was OK, but fell victim once more to hunger and walking pains.

On Wednesday night: Went to Half Moon in Putney. This is one of the clubs the Beatles played at, just by the way. Saw two acts, of which the supporting act (The Ryes) was a lot better. That’s damning with faint praise – they were actually really, really good. I think they could be famous some day. And only five pounds – I was entertained.

So long.

And I mean BLEEDING

On Friday: Almost bled to death from a bleeding nose while walking to school. Seriously. I crawled down a side street to avoid the prying eyes of school children (how does one maintain authority while bleeding from the nose?) only to find that I just couldn’t stop bleeding. It went on like I had cut a main artery for close to an hour. My hands and face were completely red with blood, I was now 15 minutes late to oversee an exam, my mobile was ringing, and there was nothing I could do. So I started to tentatively call ”…heLP?” about seven or eight times. Nothing. Walked up and down the street for a while hoping to attract some positive attention. Finally a woman came out to her car to drop her kids off to school, and asked if I was “OK”. Anyway, to cut a long story short, she invited me in (you wouldn’t have if you had seen me) to get cleaned up, and I went off to school looking one shade whiter than usual. Will buy her a present. That’s the second time someone has been very kind to me in spite of blood. The first is an intriguing story interwoven with karma; I’ll save that for another entry.

BABY FACE SHELLEY

Here I am, thinking that I am all grown up... I have a big person job- I'm living in another country...

I had been doing supply at one particular school for five days, but obviously for some reason the security guard at the front gate didn't recognise me. He is a hostile foreign man who yells at kids in some kind of strange language (or so it seems- he looks Mexican, is apparently Indian, but speaks ogre). This morning he was raving and yelling out at the two girls who were walking in front of me in a voice that sounded not dissimilar to Fezzik the giant (I am the dread pirate Robberts- there will be no survivors) but less coherent. After great strain, I recognised the words "uniform" and "at school". When I got closer, he kept yelling, and I really couldn't understand him, so I went up to him and he continued to yell (barking is a better word) "arrg argg uniform argg". It turns out he was yelling at me the whole time- he thought I was a troublesome student (in my make up and business outfit). He seemed quite taken aback when I told him I was a teacher at the school.

The next day he was again yelling loudly and aggressively as I walked up to the school- as I listened to find out what he was going on about today, i think i understood him to be yelling "it's a nice day today". This time he smiled and said "hi miss" as I walked by.

OUT OF ORDER- COLD COLDS AND RICHMOND

After a record 2-3 weeks of glorious sunshine, London decided enough was enough and brought out its famous grey sky. Just in time for Julian and myself to be sick with the first of 8 (on average) cold/flus that Australians get when they first come to the UK. (We have both recovered now however). As the previous post states, we finally made it on our tour of Bath etc, after having postponed it two weeks in a row due to our sequence of illness.

On Saturday last, Anne and Fred took us to Richmond Park (an enormouse national parkland), promising us that we would see some of the many wild deer that roam around the parkland. After 2 hours of walking across the park and no deer- Julian and I remained sceptical. Fred kept saying to us "I have never been to Richmand park before and not seen deer, never". We managed to get all of the way across the park and back again before we finally saw the deer- right next to our carpark. The parkland has a beautiful tendered garden in the middle, with some really incredible flowers (I would go on with my flower descriptions, but I am afraid of more torment from a particular sister-in-law). Anyway, let me just say that it was the most impressive park I have been to.

Bath et al

Well, after two failed attempts, Shelley and I finally made our way out to Bath, Stone Henge and Windsor Castle yesterday. Premium Tours was the company’s name, premium tours was not its game. It was still very good though.

So Windsor Castle. Those guys are rich, and I mean really rich. If they sold some of the stuff they’ve got there in the Trading Post they’d make an absolute mint. Ethiopian crowns, jewel studded Persian swords, innate warrior costumes from northern India. I mean if I went around the world killing people and putting their most prized possessions in glass cases to charge an admission fee, they’d call me a sick murderer (albeit with a keen business sense). The audio guide told us most of what was on display were “gifts” to the Queen, but don’t you believe it. You’ve got to ask yourself, “What did she say just before they gave it to her?” You heard it here first.

Anyway, the castle as you might imagine was very impressive. The ludicrous number of rooms; the fact that everything is gold-plated (or is it a crafty use of paint?); and the sheer sheerness of it all – all this combined to make the Castle, how do you say, good to see.

Next was Stone Henge. On the long bus trip to Stone Henge I began to make a delightful rhyme in order to remember the details surrounding the Battle of Hastings. If you too want to impress your friends, here it is:

Ed the Confessor,
he had no successor,
so promised his Kingdom to Will.

Of Normandy birth,
he had some French turf,
but wanted the English land still.

Now years they went by,
and Edward soon died,
so William came forth for the crown.

But as he knelt down,
to pick up the crown,
he found that he wasn't alone.

Harold was sure,
the weight of the law (what law Julian?),
should make him the king to be.

Oh forget it, it's too long and lacks sense. The Saxon lost and the Norman won.

Next was Stone Henge. Now even though it was a gloriously (Shelley just got up) sunny day, it was cold up there. I can’t imagine what that place is like in winter. Anyway, I’ve decided the druids probably didn’t build Stone Henge. I mean, how many ripped druids have you seen walking around lately. Like Windsor Castle, those rocks are big, and would require a straight back when lifting.

The audio guide for Stone Henge was hilarious. It prefaced everything with, “Well, you might be asking yourself such-such”, and followed everything up with, “Well, the truth is, we don’t know. Perhaps…” Time and time again this guy just “didn’t know”, and instead served-up some lily-faced conjecture and hearsay. But Stone Henge was also very good.

Next we went onto a dismal pub lunch. Now the tour guide (who all day seemed to think he was winning loyal clients with rare and brutal honesty) really let himself down here. In a moment of frankness with a Swedish couple, he told us all that, “Frankly, I’d prefer to skip the pub lunch thing and give you another hour in Bath, but you know it’s all a money-spinning exercise. I think the company makes about three or four pounds for every meal bought at the pub”. Hhhm. If only I could go back and make an offer on one of those jewel-studded Persian swords. Luckily Shelley and I were not chumps. The Americans were. He-he. “We’re from LA and we like to pay!”

So Bath. Bath is really amazing. It pretty much looked like Italy, which makes a bit of sense. I think we will certainly go back there just because it’s very nice to walk around, and I’m sure there’s plenty we didn’t see while we eating our pub lunch. The Baths themselves were very impressive. I like to walk on worn paving.


On leaving Bath the tour guide told us that Peter Gabriel used to live in the city (apparently he was good friends with Jane Austin), and that the hill we were climbing (Salsbury Hill) was the inspiration for one of his songs, “Salsbury Hill”. So in one of those cheese-ball moments that you actually enjoy, he put the song on while the bus climbed up Salsbury Hill. Nice. I still want that three or four pounds back.

All in all it was an excellent day. I found out that Pete Townsend grew up in a house just two or so minutes walk from where we live now; that Jimi Hendrix died in a hospital ten minutes down the road; that the Clash came from the suburb next-door to us, and that Sting is a poo-poo head.

Anyway, have to work tomorrow. A grave and foreboding sense of incompetence has just overcome me.

Julian.

p.s. - will post photos a little later

ALL WORK AND A LITTLE BIT OF PLAY

Having started work the day after we arrived, we feel as though we have settled into our new lifestyle very quickly. Julian is teaching Music three days a week at a Roman Catholic school in East Croyden, while I have managed to secure myself a Biology position in a really good government school in Upminster. My position doesn’t start until July however, so I could be in for a rough time until I am due to start. So far the schools I have been teaching at have been a mixed bag, from kids jumping from desk to desk, putting each others’ books under the classroom taps, physically pushing me out of the way of the door so they could run outside etc… to my nice school- with students actually sitting quietly (sometimes) and being polite- pleases and thankyous etc. I was seriously considering giving up teaching here after my first week.

Interestingly, a teacher at one school I was teaching at came into my classroom to help me gain some control back, but when he entered the classroom, the kiddies began to muck up further... he did not have a great presence. After some conversation, I discovered that he had once been PC Bolter in "The Bill" (1993-94). His character was killed off for being too agressive- slapping around suspects etc. What a strange world.

We have been trying to get out and about as much as we can on the weekends, and have been exploring around the city by tube and foot. This weekend, we went to the Borough markets at London bridge, and wandered around the southbank area. It is a really nice place with a great atmosphere. We found some lovely cobblestone streets that had a very Yea-old feel about them. Anne and Fred took us to the Tate Modern on Saturday evening, where we enjoyed a nice meal while looking over stunning views of the city. We were also introduced to the National theatre, where it seems there is always some free exhibit/ musical act going on. It is definitely a place to spend a lot of time at. We were going to do a tour of Bath/Windsor/Stonehenge yesterday, but Julian has been unwell, so that has been postponed until next weekend. We’ve got a lot to look forward to.

ARRIVING IN LONDON

Finally, after several years of planing and preparation, we have achieved our goal and have landed in a surprisingly sunny London. Wearing Tee-shirts in the sunshine at 8pm was an experience that I didn’t expect so soon after my arrival in the UK- it was, however short lived. Friday I went out completely underdressed. I am still recovering from my near-fatal mistake. I understand now why Britain is a tea drinking nation. It is both tasty, and toasty.

Usually, people describe London as ‘grey’, but after a very brown drive to the Brisbane Airport (and given the fact that it is spring over here), I am completely delighted by the vibrant colours- the greens are amazing, and the gardens are so colourful- Anne and Fred have beautiful Tulips, Bluebells, and Apple blossoms in their garden. Julian and I were very impressed by squirrels frolicking in the back garden- that is, until we found out they were an aggressive imported species, who virtually wiped out the native variety. They are still cute though.

London Transport is expensive, but efficient (so far). It is so easy to get anywhere, from anywhere. The tubes are frequent and it is so easy to switch and change directions to get to where you need to go. I feel very confident in my ability to get places here. The Tube stations are a constant reminder of the ‘threat of terror’ however… every 2-3 minutes, a booming voice descends from the speakers “SECURITY ALERT, SECURITY ALERT.” (at this stage, you begin to feel alarmed). “Please ensure you have your baggage with you at all times, and report any suspicious behaviour”. Phew, we live to see another day.

AARON AND SUE LEWIS

Congratulations Aaron and Sue! What a great couple. The ceremony was held in a Beautiful chapel at Coolaba Downs. Sue looked amazing, and did an incredible job decorating the reception venue to set the tone. Dessert was outstanding, the Sewell girls slaved for an entire day to create the cupcake extrordanaire. Aaron and his groomsmen (Julian included) looked very handsome in their suits. Ooh La La…

WEDDINGS, BRUNCHES, BIRTHDAYS AND ENGAGEMENTS

It was a stunning send-off week for us, with two weddings, several brunches, a 21st birthday, and a surprise engagement.

Friday the 13th was a happy occasion, as Anne and Fred (Our new ‘roomies’ in London) were married at Mt Mee Glengara Estate. Beautiful people, beautiful venue, beautiful food. All round a beautiful day. Just two days later, The Lewises were out in force to celebrate Aaron and Sue’s wedding (see next entry). The next evening was further cause for celebration, with the first of Dan’s 21st birthday parties. Happy Birthday Dan!

Last, but not least, on the night before we left, was the surprise announcement of Abbie and Matt’s engagement! Congratulations to you both, and welcome to the family Matt!