and again

another update. There may be less things to write about now that I'm safely locked away in an open floor office in London. Work is alright I guess. Now that I know what I'm doing its become painfully obvious that I have in fact got nothing to do. This is a bit of a problem having come from a job in which scratching was considered a luxury. I did raise my concerns with my supervisor. She looked at me like I was Oliver, you want more??? I persisted and was given a job involving paginating and hole drilling. Ah well, for this sort of money thats probably alright, probably won't be complaining in the weeks and months to come. It is a funny place to work at. Last friday a couple of the workmates said that they were going to the museum at lunchtime. The british museum is just around the corner, I thought there might be a nice egyptian exhibition or something. Of course, the museum is a pub right across the road from the museum. The only pieces of history there were the barflys who looked like they'd been there since the 20's.

Found a place to live. Its in Streatham, a nice residential area south of the Thames. Way south actually, its about 3 stops past Clapham for those of you in the know. Its a big room, will be sharing with 2 pleasant English girls, the place has a backyard and a bbq. It was always the preferred option for a number of reasons:
1. There is a common nearby.
2. There is no walkabout pub nearby.
3. There are no New Zealanders in the house. At least, not if I've got anything to say about it. :-)

That'll do for tonight, see ya.

Salaryman

well, just finished 3rd day at work. Managed, once again, to successfully pass an entire day doing absolutely nothing. Read an accounting book for most of the afternoon before reading (once again) my one allocated file and trying to understand just what on earth I'm supposed to be doing. Did a bit of photocopying on Tuesday, that was fun. Found a machine on monday that dispensed something which the English refer to as 'coffee', although it doesn't resemble the drink of the same name from home.

Was looking at a flat near Finchley on Monday night, would be sharing with a houseful of Greeks. The smell from their kitchen at dinner time was so damn good. One of the girls casually announced that she was from the island of Lesbos. All sorts of comments flashed through my head at the time, but remembering the kiwi incident I just turned casually and gave her a knowing sort of smile. The kiwis still haven't called by the way.

Finally, just to prove that its a small world after all, 2 of my ex-collegues work with me. Michael Kely and Kat Dent. Both are ex-dpp. I can see Michael from where I am sitting, which is just a little bizarre.

Anyways, off for an early night. Adios.

Big and smelly

Yup, London's all that. Random street corners that smell like vomit, women wearing ridiculously skimpy garments in cold weather, lager louts singing songs at train stations, it all happens here...

am back after spending 3 days in Edinburgh, what a city that was. Small, clean and absolutely packed full of history. Another place other than london which I could easily go to and be happy. Scotland was quite similar to ireland in that sense, both have made quite an impression, and I can't work as a lawyer in either.

Looking for a place to live now, which is proving quite difficult. Went and saw a flat today which I would have been sharing with 3 kiwis. I asked for a reduction in rent on the basis that I would be sharing with, well, 3 kiwis. Got 3 blank looks in response. They haven't called back either. Talk about sensitive, jesus!

Starting work on Monday, booooooooo.........

Scottish adventures

Adventures is a loose term, designed to hide the fact that I'm still in Fort William. Am leaving for Edinburgh tomorrow for a couple of nights, meaning that Scotland has been limited to one night in Glasgow, 2 in Edinburgh and 7 here. There is a lot more that I wanted to see, the Isle of Skye for instance, but this has been a most excellent week. Have made some very good friends at the hostel, and have even been upgraded to sleeping in the staff dormitory. I can't remember being this relaxed in a long time, and the prospect of starting work in a week is not a happy one.

Fort William is set amongst a mountain range and a Loch. There is so much to see and do, it seemed a shame to leave without having a proper look around. The highlight was probably canyoning, which basically involves jumping, sliding and swimming from ledge to ledge down a rather large waterfall after signing a pretty flimsy disclaimer. The grand finale was a blind 30 foot jump over a waterfall and into a freezing cold rockpool below. Something you should all try once.

Climbed Ben Nevis yesterday, the tallest mountain in Britain. Was very lucky, the visitor centre claims that the peak is covered in cloud for 355 days of the year. I picked a day where there were no clouds, the view from the top was incredible. It made the 9 hour trek worthwile. The Ben Nevis Inn is quite possibly the best located pub in the world, its at the bottom of the mountain at the finish of the walk. It was a relatively hot day, just about everyone who climbed the mountain stopped for a beer at the end of it.

Of all of the sights I've seen so far, none has been quite as strange as the whiskey flavoured condoms sold at vending machines in the pub toilets here. I've often thought that the concept of flavoured condoms is a strange one, for reasons which I won't write about here because my mother reads this regularly. Yet, my confusion was nothing compared to a friend of mine named Maz, who admitted to a table full of people that when he first encountered flavoured condoms, his first thought was 'wow, do women have taste buds down there?'. This is a man with 2 degrees, obviously anatomy wasn't one of the subjects covered. My own embarresment was to come later, when I returned to the hostel armed with the condoms. A spanish girl in the living room asked me to try and put one over my head and blow it up. I tried, it tore, so I put the tip over my nose to amuse everyone. I then blew out heavily with my nose, which sprayed the spermicide hiding in the tip of the condom all over my face. Many things could be said at this point, but again, mum reads this...

Anyways, hope you are all well. My phone number here is +44 7789 055 716. I'm going to switch off my Australian account pretty soon, but feel free to send texts to that number. It won't cost you more than if I was in Australia stil.

Ciao.

Fort William

Hi kids,

Fort William is a little town in the west of Scotland which advertises itself as being the 'outdoor adventure capital of the UK'. If one were to venture outdoors today, 5 minutes is all it would take for one to get very wet and freeze ones tits off. As such, I'm stuck in the backpackers reading books, which isn't a bad thing I think. What really sucks is that I've left my camera at home, so there won't be any photos of the haggis I ate last night, or the lone piper on top of the mountain. (Kidding, there is no piper) Haggis, well, its glorified sausage mince really. At least thats what it tasted like. They don't cook it in sheeps stomach these days, they have plastic stomachs.

People seem to want to know about the job. Well, the insolvency service acts as an official receiver for individuals or companies that have been declared insolvent. Ross was right then, they oversee the disposal of the remaining assets of the company. A debt collector, as my mother so eloquently put it. My role is in the investigative department, I will be investigating insolvent company directors with a view to determining whether they have acted in breach of the law, and whether an application should be made to the court for additional penalties. To be honest, it sounds dead boring, theres no court work and there is masses of financial documents to wade through, but its an income and that will do for now. Don't worry about that though Alice, just get yourself over here!

Anyways, better get back to the book. miss you all.