Plotting our escape ...

So Craig and I went to look at two flats last night.

We saw the estate-housing outside of one and sent a message to the agent saying we were no longer interested.

We saw the outside of the other, the one suggested by a friend of a friend & the area and realised that it was perfect. Less than 5 minutes walk from the place Craig is starting at on Monday and unbelieveably close to the Tate Modern. I mean, out the front door, turn right, at the end of the street (which is ... fewer than 100 steps away) you look left and bam it's right there. A block away.

I was certain that we weren't going to get it. We looked around inside and it's tiny but it all looks new and pristine and the other flatmate is a girl called Sally who markets haircare products and brings her work home with her. She once had 70 bottles around the bathroom.
We talked and joked and asked about her and she asked about us, told us that there were 8 other people viewing it and that we would know by Friday.
We walked back down the 7 million stairs (on the 4th floor. No elevator). Outside, Craig turned to me and said "it's perfect. Yea. We're never going to get it".

You know where this is heading right?

We walked to the central line tube station at St Paul's (yes. St Paul's Cathedral is walking distance. I was in love) talking and talking about how pefect it is. How we were so never going to get it.
It's in SE1 which is ... about as close to the absolute centre of London as you can get. There is no SE0.

As we were sitting on the bus I got the call from Sally.
Craig saw me on the cellphone, peering around the legs of the man standing in the aisle between our seats and trying (failing) to sound cool & calm I eyebrow-ed him as I said to Sally "It's ours!?!"

It is more expensive than the place we're living at the moment. But not much more considering we're moving from W(est)4 to S(outh)E(ast)1.
I'm not even going to tell you the rent because you may make the mistake of converting, like I did. And my head hurt just a little. I have to remember that we're paying less than 25% of one income for rent. In New Zealand we were paying close to 45% of two. So London is cheaper to live in.
Comparatively.

We're still living ... in the flat of horrors until the 5th of September.
As we walked home from the bus stop (across the park & field where I expect to find a body one say) we discussed how to tell the people we're living with that after only a week we're moving.
It was not made any easier by the fact that when we got to the lounge (through the wide-open front door) they were all sitting around playing cards and were genuinely nice & funny & oh gosh I almost feel guilty ... almost.

We have a place to live! we need another. ASAP.

Everyone's so happy that we finally got a flat but I have to say that it is HELLISH and we're looking for a new place already.

8 people in a flat? too many. We moved in on Wednesday and it was nice. The people were friendly and welcoming. I noticed a funny smell in our room and the bathroom but put it down to settling in problems ...

Then Saturday night and Sunday morning came around.
I was already feeling a little wary because the girls (house music & cocaine girls) make me feel bad about myself, the room smelled stuffy & felt stiflingly hot even if the window was open as far as it would go & I'd forgotten my pashmina & had to run back up 3 flights of stairs to grab it. But I thought that was all teething problems.
Sitting around before we're meant to be going out one of the flatmates mentions that she's put a lock on her bedroom door. Apparently she has had drunk people walking into her room in the middle of the night. Drunken friends of flatmates. Not cool.
But Craig & I went out to the movies & dinner and had a mini fight on the way home (he wanted to go home and I wanted to go to a bar for a bit. We went home) but when we got there? the front door was WIDE OPEN.
And the person who (thankfully) was home? didn't even look up to see who it was wandering through the front door (not so thankfully).

We decided that the next day we would make a pro/con list to see if we wanted to look for a new place or stay here for awhile.

We were up until just after midnight but after we went to bed, and sleep, some of the flatmates came home. Drunk. With friends. We think. They ran up and down the stairs, screaming and yelling (every so often they would Ssh but then 2 minutes later ...) and even using an electric fucking drill. It was still dark so I guess at about 2am it started and they were still going just as it hit dawn. 5am.
Craig slept through most of it but I was awake & horrified. And in that too-asleep to move too-awake to sleep stage. I fell asleep at 5 and then at fucking 7 am on a SUNDAY MORNING one of the girls was screaming at one of the guys for one reason or another and it was too too much.
Craig was awake by now so I just looked over at him and said "Well, guess we don't have to make that list anymore" and thank everything, he agreed.

It may have just been that one night but their whole behaviour pattern is indicative of a lack of respect for people and property.
It may be that we're over-reacting. It may be just settling-in issues.

Sadly, they're fun, nice people.
But it's kind of like how I had 2 groups of friends, one great only for going out to bars and drinking and dancing, and one that is good for the bars and drinking and dancing but also sitting around and watching bad tv and bitching over wine. And I know which group I want to live with.


If we had done the Pro/Con list? it would have looked like this:

Pro : entire fridge (but we don't need that much space, really).

Cons : Barely any freezer space.
Worst shower EVER. Worse than we saw travelling around Asia.
2 bathrooms but even the better one is crappy.
Smelly room.
Only a tiny portion of the window in our room opens, room gets very hot.
3rd storey so if you forget anything ... lots of stairs.
Outside of house ugly, inside dark.
Not the best area, too far from tube.
Have to cross an un-mowed park of a park to get the path to cross the park to get to bus.
Flatmates are inconsiderate. Sometimes.
Danger of drunk people walking in to room.
Front door left wide open.
I don't feel like we or our property is safe there.
£50 per month (per person) for bills but they don't have internet, telephone or pay tv (well, at the moment. Apparently tv and phone are being connected soon).
Barely any plates/bowls/cutlery let alone oven trays.
Too many people. Too many people for my moody little head.

And that is just too too many cons for that one poor little pro.

From "Misery Patch" to "Britannia" & everything in between!

I finally finally finally have all our trip photos uploaded and online!
There are One Thousand and Thirty Nine of them.
Ouch.

Luckily for you (ha) I gave into my ocd-tendencies and have sorted them into sets according to city, and then region.
And all of those sets are gouped into a collection here:
Travelling.



Or you can see them all in a big mess o' photos here :
1,039 Photos

In the Tate, it came to me ...

I find myself doing what I dreamed of so so long ago (it seems), sitting in a quietly murmuring gallery, scribbling away in a notebook, surrounded by the contained, constrained riches of the world.

It only took two days but I finally found the Tate Britain ...


I took an orange!

There was an installation by Roelof Louw called Pyramid (Soul City).
It was a pyramid of 5800 oranges! and each visitor was invited to take an orange and eat it (outside of the gallery), but as mine came from basically the bottom layer of 5800 oranges, it wasn't so much able to be eaten as ... practically dissolving.

But I did still enjoy it. Little orangeface.

Sometimes? Sometimes you can't think of a title.

A somewhat goofy looking Dinosaur in the Melbourne Museum.
I think I love him!

He is now my favourite. Seeing as how Brontosaurus (Brontosauruses? Brontosaurii? or IS Brontosaurus the plural already? of Brontosaur? My head hurts) NEVER ACTUALLY EXISTED?? because they were my all time favourite before.

P.s. No I don't know what kind of dinosaur it really is. Probably less goofy with flesh and skin.

P.p.s. This means I'm finally going through all 1100 of our Trip photos and writing about them. But I'm only on Melbourne so don't hold your breath.

P.p.p.s The delay means a lot of the descriptions may be "This ... appears to be ... a building ... of some description ... in Thailand. I know that because of the date!

I love Paris in the Winter when it Glistens ...

January 14th 2007
Bolton Street Cemetary
Sarah: Baby? let's go to Paris for our next anniversary.
Craig: Okay.
Sarah: no, I'm serious! I mean, we'll be close enough.
Craig: ... oh, okay.

In my mind we walk the streets of Paris wearing long coats, scarves and a beret non-ironically. At least, I will. Craig is eerily immune to the cold. And the heat. I think he's a robot.
Strolling arm in arm down the Champs-Élysées, looking our over the softened grey snow-clad city from La Tour Eiffel, curling red hands around cups of chocolat chaud in Montmatre, cracking the top of créme brulée while La Vie en Rose plays in the background ...
It's like a romance novel.

Then we had to plan a trip home.
We're attending a wedding (I love weddings! Drinks all around!) in very early January (the 3rd) and so decided we may as well spend the holiday season with the OhDarling families.
But boy, is it pricey to fly around Christmas. Seems a lot of people have that idea. In order to fool the system we have to fly before & after certain dates. Namely the 9th of December and the 9th of January.
And wouldn't you know it? that's not a unique idea either. I know! I'm shocked too.
Our travel agent did the best she could ...

6th -> 7th December : London -> Hong Kong
11th -> 12th December : Hong Kong -> Auckland

(We don't have our New Zealand domestic flights organised as yet)

11th January : Auckland -> San Fransisco
(We arrive before we leave!)
14th -> 15th January : San Fransisco -> Los Angeles -> London

Did you notice that? The 14th January. Go check again, I'll wait, I don't mind. Really.

The 14th January 2008 will be spent at two different airports & on two different planes. Overpriced fast food & aeroplane meals. Tiny cans of coke & trying to sleep through the roar of the plane. (Yes, Craig can do that too).

My Darling Robot Husband and I will spend most of our second wedding anniversary at Los Angeles International Airport. It's like a romance novel.

(seriously though, I am so so excited! Hong Kong! family! San Fransisco!)

My tube was delayed ...

They don't exactly mince words around here.

P.s.



(you may need to click and enlarge it, but that's Nelson's Column with a helicopter and a plane!)

Falling in Love, One Cobblestone Street at a time.

Today I got charmed into buying a watch. Charmed by London.
I was passing an old victorian shop with antique rings in the window and a "& Sons" name when I saw my tiny slip of a thing watch.
It cost enough for me to say "Oo I better start earning pounds" (which was not that much, seriously. Only when you convert it. Then it's almost $300.) but it is perfect. And powered by the light!
I have a magical watch.



Today I made sure I could find where my job interview is going to be on Wednesday.
I had been told to go to Whitehall and halfway down look for the entrance with the Soldiers on Horseback outside.
Statues, I thought to myself, of Soldiers on Horseback. Right, must look for the statues.



Not so much statues!
Real soldiers on real horses standing on the side of the street.
I love London.



I also inadvertantly saw the changing of the guards, found a museum by just wandering the streets and felt chic in my black-rim glasses, bright red pashmina and black umbrella, looking through the rain spattered windows of Mont Blanc and Gucci.



p.s. I think I might need to start a thing. Monuments and Planes.

Believe me when I say: I took more than 1000 photos!

Craig and I have now been safe and sound in London for one week, two days and seven hours.
I have tried and tried to get the photos edited and online but seriously ... I took over a THOUSAND. I've only just finished uploading the Australian photos and there are three hundred and eighty of them!
And I'm in LONDON. I don't want to coop myself up just to get them all done. You're lucky enough that the rain has delayed me today enough to say screw uploading them all in order and just threw some of my favourites online which I will share with you now.



(Sadly the street is named after a politician, not the superhero)



The Royal Exhibition Hall reflected in the modern façade of the Melbourne Museum.
Can you spot Craig?



Colourful huts along Brighton Beach, Melbourne.



Riding the Quadbike behind Craig in Thuddungra



He always drove at a very sensible speed.



Kaz, who enjoyed covering me with mud.



Sections of a Sphere. And me.









In Bangkok we walked until we thought we would drown. It was always over 30 (even when we arrived at 11pm) and the humidity was intense.
We were almost scammed and got lost once. We also found our way around and took boats and tuktuks and the skytrain.
We almost sold our souls for airconditioning.



It was beautiful and awe inspiring. Spiritual and friendly. It was dirty and smelly and full of people selling things.
We didn't get anything stolen from us and a stranger helped us cross the road.
I loved it and I hated it.



The Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) brought tears to my eyes. He is beautiful and bigger than you could ever imagine.
He is 46m long and 15m high. But you really can't imagine just how tiny you feel staring up at his beatific face with gold just ... everywhere.





We didn't ride elephants but we fed monkeys and snorkelled with tropical fish.
The monkeys are eerily like tiny humans. You feed them bananas but you can hold out a banana skin in the shape of a full banana and they will just look at you like "Uh yea? That's just the skin. We don't Eat that. Crazy humans"



Turns out, fish BITE. See the little yellow and black ones? they're called Tiger Fish. And I got bitten twice. Little fuckers hurt too, but they don't leave a mark.
We were snorkelling and the people who stayed on the boat would throw in piece of bread and the fish would just swarm. And apparently I look like bread.







Craig and I both got stung by jellyfish. We'd only been in the water about 10 minutes when it happened! definitely unfair.
Craig got stung on his knee, I got stung on my left ankle, the back of my left thigh and the one pictured, by far the biggest, it wraps three quarters of the way around my thigh. And it hurt. A lot. But now I can say I've been stung by a jellyfish!



We went to an Insect and Butterfly farm in the Cameron Highlands.



I don't exactly know why they had a turtle there. But I held the angry squirmy thing.





In Kuala Lumpur we went to see the Petronas Towers at night.
We'd never seen them before and we walked out to the viewpoint with our eyes firmly fixed on the ground just in front of our feet then turned and they were amazing!
They are so much brighter and whiter than the photo allows. It was raining too hard to attempt a no-flash picture.



Proof that I carried my bag(s). Proof they were really huge (17.4kg on my back alone) and an indication that they were rather cumbersome. With them on I am filling the doorway.
I think I'm shorter now.





A plane above St. Paul's Cathedral. I love this shot as it gives some indication of just how immense the Cathedral really is.
One day we will walk up to the dome. One day.



Look Mum! A Squirrel! in Hyde Park!



I'm sorry, it may be hot and crowded, and you miss out on seeing a lot of London but I still Love the underground. I love my oyster card, I love being able to get a seat and I love emerging from the stations to have say, Big Ben smack me in the face.



Dali Universe! I am so excited!



Big Ben - seen through the gate to the Houses of Parliament.



The Great Court inside the British Museum.



Britannia on her fountain outside Buckingham Palace.


p.s. the trip was amazing. More difficult and rewarding than I ever thought it would be. We got lost and found again, stung and bitten, sweltered and froze. And at the end of it all? we get to be in London.
And planning a trip home to share stories in person.

p.p.s. remind me to tell you the story about how I almost saw the Queen.

More clichés ... like sitting on a suitcase to close it.

Craig and I have spent today packing.
Our bags are heavy as all hell and teetering on the brink of pay-extra heavy.

Over the next two weeks I will probably have pretty easy access to the internet but the two weeks after that? I really don't know.

What I will be doing is using my darling-heart twitter.

This is it!