Hello from London everyone! I have a new guestbook (see to the right-hand column) so feel free to leave me a message/comment/helpful suggestion/compliment! (or everyone from home - just to tell me you miss me!) It was horribly cold and windy yesterday, so this is what I spent my time doing (yes, I'm turning into a blogging nerd...)

Just got back from Heathrow and am a bit sad cause had to say bye to Greg who as we speak is on a flight back to Australia. It's been a fun six months with him, and it's sad that our London adventures with him are over! It's weird that he's left, and it's made me think about if/when I'll come home this year - technically I'm not supposed to work after October (because of the 12 month thing) so it will be interesting to see if I can work something out so I am able to stay and keep some sort of a job (although I could just be a lady of leisure for a while - having brunch and coffee all day and rely on my lovely English boyfriend...hmmmmm tempting, but perhaps not so practical!). Getting sponsored with a work permit is not really looking like an option, as unfortunately for moi, the UK is not short of editors, and even if my employer decides to sponsor me I have to go back to Australia and apply from there (and of course they can't tell you how long that will definitely take). I can maybe get a HSMP visa, but not too sure about that yet, have to do some investigating!

Well I was only a little bit hungover today so the Gods were not too evil! It was probably all good because due to our utmosat efforts we couldn't get in to a Walkabout ANYWHERE last night! (shock, horror, tragedy!). No, we really did want to go, but apparently every other Australian in London had the same idea (although some were a lot more willing than others to stand outside waiting in the freezing cold for an hour - which I certainly wasn't!)

Anyways, we went to the Jolly Gardener In Putney and had a great night wearing our garish Aussie scarfs :) The rest of ork yesterday was actually quite good - and even the singloang eventuated. One of the Aussies I work with is apparently a professional singer, and sang 'I still call Australia home' to the rest of our whole office (about 60 people) - fair play! All the Poms were a little bit miffed as to why we were all so patriotic about celebrating the day that australia actually got invaded by the English (and yeh, it does sound a little bit stupid when you put it like that), but we had to explain that Australia probably loves it so much because it is a chance to have a day off work in the sun and have a barbie. Ah, i miss the beach! Australia Day just wasn't the same without the beach and a barbie!

"We are one....but we are mannnnnyyyyy" - and yes, for the SECOND year in a row, I find myself in London for good old Australia Day. Last year I was only here for a four week sojourn, but who would have thought I'd be back here for good this year, to sing Waltzing Matilda in a dirty English Walkabout with a bunch of drunken louts in thongs (ok, here I'm just forseeing the rest of my night, once I leave work, but you get the drift!)
I was a little homesick this morning when I got out of bed and got my Australian scarf (we had Aussie Dress Up day here at work - I think they feel a little sorry for the nine Aussies in the office here who are pining after sun, sand and surf). But even though I'm not sunning it up at home (thanks everyone for the text messages telling me stories of BBQs and 38 degrees,by the way), I've had a great day so far, and think that I am now even more patriotic on Australia Day since I am now officially an expatriate. And my boss even bought me some Tim Tams so it can't be all bad! We had everything: Tim Tams, Minities, Fruit Tingles, Burger Rings - there's even talk of a national anthem singalong later in the afternoon. Yes, we are truly bringing the Aussie spirit to London! Strewth!

Work is almost over and I'm off to the Walkabout (cringe- but it must be done). If I don't have too much of a hangover tomorrow, I'll let you know how it all goes!
Many happy returns to everyone back home and Happy Birthday Australia! (I hope some joker didn't get Australian of the Year this year? And who won Triple J's Hottest 100?)

A wee matter....

I was walking through Soho on Friday night and was faced with another reason why this country is sometimes just a bit strange - public, very public, urinals on the side of the road!!! I'm sorry, what?! Apparently they have such a problem here with men urinating in the street, that they install these four sided trough-like things on the side of the road for drunken people to pee in! I found it very, very disturbing, especially when a couple of guys we saw apparently couldn't be bothered crossing the road to use the specialist peeing area, so just went in the gutter anyway! eeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww....! (apparently in Bristol they have peeing troughs that are installed in the ground, and stay hidden during the days, and are elevated at night for the drunken masses - can just imagine that happening on Oxford Street Sydney!!???!)

Anyways, after an obviously respectable night out in Soho on Friday night, had a lovely weekend out of London on a little one-night trip to the countryside, but still no snow :( We're at home watching the soccer at the moment (I'm still yet to start getting excited about this game - but I'm trying!). It was another lovely sunny winter weekend in London, am looking forward to some summer days but can definitely cope in the meantime!

OK, this is cheating a little bit, since i haven't ACTUALLY been to Edinburgh yet - but my friends went for Hogmanay, which is the awesome New Years festival there where everyone kisses in the street at midnight, and I wanted to put a couple of their photos here! Before I came to the UK, I had never really considered going there (as everyone wants to go to Europe first), but I've heard such good things about it, and from the photos, it looks really beautiful (especially the old city). You can get really cheap train trips there, and flights as well, so it is next on my list (we might even drive up there for the weekend- it only takes eight hours or so I think).

Would you believe it's actually a tad warmer in London at the moment? (I think the city is in excited anticpation for Australia Day next week). I honestly got excited yesterday when it hit ten degrees (how sad is that!). I had some comfort from home though, when I was told that the weather in Sydney hasn't been brilliant.

In celebration that some of my favourite TV shows are back on TV (bring on the O.C and Desperate Housewives!), my favourite site of the week is www.lowculture.co.uk. Check it out, it can brighten up a boring day at work (and teach you a bit about the beloved trashy parts of UK culture!!

What you've all been waiting for!

Pics from my first New Year's Eve in London - I claim responsibility for everyone's state as I made some fairly lethal punch. But it was all in good fun :)
I love the mo on my friend Ray (he's an 80s Wimbledon player)

Look here!

For the past three years I've spent New Years in a different country (Australia, Germany and now England) which I think is quite cool (and very worldly of me!)

Tomorrow my birthday festival comes to an end with a night out in Chelsea. It's always a bit depressing the few days after your birthday isn't it? Now I have to wait a whole another year! Oh well - I think I can still milk it for another few days at least.

In traveller news: I think I said here a while ago that working travellers were not able to claim back their National Insurance Contributions they made while working in the Uk (which is what I heard). BUT my friends who arrived a couple of weeks ago have been told that you can do something when you apply for the number which means you can transfer the funds you contribute back to your superannuation fund in your own country (which means your contributions are not wasted!). So, I'm on the case to find out exactly what is going on. Watch this space!

Also, with my technical genius I have worked out how to put news headlines at the bottom of my site for your viewing pleasure - hope there's something interesting there!

Birthday girl!


I'm going to be completely self-gratuitous and tell you all that it's my birthday today (and I've been milking it all day!)
Have had a brilliant day, and just want to say thanks to all my wonderful friends and family from Oz and here, who have made it such a wonderful day. Thanks for all your emails/phone calls/messages - I love you all!
Just got home - we have been out for dinner at a beautiful Thai restaurant by the Thames and I even got cake! (thanks to the Putney girls!). The birthday celebrations are not over yet though - I think I can get another week out of this yet! Saturday will be more parties, more drinks and more partying to celebrate my 23rd (everyone at work keeps telling me how young I am? makes me feel good about having moved to another country when I'm apparently I'm so young!)
Anyways, it's really sad I know, but I've got to go now to watch the final episode of Lost (I missed it back in Australia). I do love Jack and he is calling me...:) (The OC is also back this week - wooohoo!!)

New Year's photos are still on the way - plus updates on my pending trips to Venice and Greece!

It's very, very disturbing when you can pass by an entire Sunday watching back-to-back episodes of America's Next Top Model. Yet that is exactly what I have done today, sitting on my couch, and I'm now getting motivated to go off to the pub. The reason for my lethargy today is that I am still recovering from a big Friday night (I'm very ashamed to admit that I voluntarily went to a Walkabout! cringe). Despite bad music, embarrassing Aussie paraphernalia (ie signpost marked "11,120 miles to Wee Waa"), and really bad DJing, it was actually a fun night and we didn't manage to get home until after 4. Needless to say, most of Saturday was spent, in true London style, sitting in a cafe, eating bacon and eggs and drinking coffee.
I'm feeling so lazy right now, that I really hate what is on TV at the moment, but the batteries in my remote are dead, and I can't be bothered actually getting off the couch to change the channel. Oh dear.
In other news, my brother has ended his suffering on a casual wage at the Telemarketing centre, and has again found a web-design job in a publishing company to tide him over for the next few months, and possibly permanently. Yay for working travellers!

I promised my friends Shell and Ray, who arrived in London to live about a week ago, that the weather was sunny and not really that cold. Suddenly they think I'm a liar, as this week the big chill has definitely hit - and apparently it will snow tomorrow. It's all well and good when you're wrapped up cosy inside, but it's a bit of a killer when I'm walking home by the river! Ah well - lots of time to enjoy the creme of English TV. Last night we stayed up (well, we just couldn't be bothered moving really) and subjected ourselves to 'Big Brothers Most Scandalous Scenes Ever'. It makes me think Aussies are a bunch of prudes, as if even a fraction of what I saw on TV last night made it on to Aussie television screens, there would be a massive public outcry and letters of disgust in major national newspapers (Remember the Hot Dogs incident last year - absolutely nothing compared to what goes in the English BB!).

I'm reliving the 'newly arrived in London' vibe through Shell and Ray - they are in the throes of flat hunting/job hunting/bank account opening/holiday planning. I just love every bit of it! They've got me inspired and we're all off to Venice soon. Can't wait!

Yes I haven't forgotten the New Year's pics - some have to be censored, but they'll be up here soon.

And on to another year...



It's only now, two days after our party, that I have found the strength and stamina to write about what was an awesome night, and a fantastic way to herald in the New Year. I think for most people the night passed by in a drunken punch-filled blur, but there were some great costumes and at least one person ended up face down on the kitchen floor at 4 in the morning - always a sign of a good time :)
Shell and I were ABBA (obviously coming as Waterloo - see pic), and there were lots of Angels, an Elvis (Kings Cross), St John, Chalk Farm, Maida Vales, Shaft (Shaftesbury Avenue) and Shepherd's Bush. No music was too corny, and I apparently thought my Abba moves were very cool, when they were in fact, not. At the end of the night we all had to fight the drunk people who had taken up residence in our beds for the right to sleep there, but it was all in good fun (everything except the copious redwine stains that still inhabit our hallway).
I can't write anymore now as the computer is in demand but I will write more and add mor embarrassing pics later.
Happy New Year!

The London Underground map: an iconic symbol of London if ever there was one!(apparently the poor lad who designed the map back in the day only got paid the equivalent of one pound for doing it - even though it is world-famous today and helps makes sense of one of the most complicated transport systems in the world - ripped off!) Anyways, I am blabbing! This is the theme for our NYE party tonight- you have to come dressed as a London tube station, and although a lot of people are keeping theirs secret, it sounds like there are going to be some good outfits!

Hope everyone back home has a great New Year. I've heard the theme on the Sydney Harbour Bridge this year is "Have a Heart", which is feelgood-nice. Pretty apt considering the disturbing news of racial riots we've been getting over here. What's going on? Honestly, I leave the country for three months.....

Anyway, must be off as there is punch to make and fireworks to buy. A safe and Happy New Year to all. Here's to 2006!

So this is Christmas...


After a few days of the most (and best) Xmas food and drink that I think I have ever consumed, I'm back in London feeling like a little fat pudding.. and yet I must continue the indulgences, as it is almost New Year and there is still lots of celebrating to be done! (the pic is not from xmas day, but from our orphan xmas dinner at our place last week).

Christmas was lovely and I was rewarded with a gorgeous (but brief) snowfall in the country and in London. (I even did the whole ten-year-old kid thing: "Wake up everyone, it's snowing!!" and then running outside in to the snowflakes in nothing but my PJ's and jumping around stupidly - yes, i was a tad excited). Paul's family were all so nice to Ben and I (us being orphans and all), and we had a very decent present haul, and they didn't even mind when it became obvious that there is truth to the rumour that Aussies tend to drink a lot. (I felt a little sheepish when Paul's 80 year old aunt said to me the next day 'Are you feeling ok dear, it all seemed to hit you at once didn't it?'!). Oh well, I always like to operate on the basis that even though yes, I may have been drinking from midday to 8pm, I still appear to be as eloquent and sober as a judge at all times :)

The extremely exciting development of the last couple of days is that Shell and Ray have arrived to live in London, and they will be the next fabulous addition to our expanding gang of Aussies. Being the London vet/tourguide/expert and all, I'll be showing them all the wonders of this fine city and revelling in the virgin excitement of the newly arrived traveller (awww, it's so cute when they don't know what money to pay with!).

Stay tuned for more exciting news about the NYE party of the century...

Oh, and for more exciting pics from the Xmas party, go here

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

London is getting pumped for Christmas, only two days away! I spent a good ten minutes transfixed by the HUGE Xmas tree in Covent Garden last night, apparently donated to London each year by Norway (or somewhere like that). The famous Xmas lights on Oxford Street and Barnaby Street are also really cool.

This might be my last post before the big day, as Ben, Paul and I are off to the Cotswolds for a country Christmas (and hopefully it will snow!). There has a lot of drinking and eating this week, and not much else. I'm in my office at the moment and it is completely empty since everyone has jetted off early. Probably because everyone has been driven more than a little mad by the insanely repetitive Christmas songs everyone goes crazy for. You can't escape them. I think every crap band from the Spice Girls to the Sugababes have released a Xmas single over the years, which get dragged out and massacred again and again every year.

It's my first Christmas away from home, and it doesn't really feel the same. It's cool being in a big new city though and seeing how it's done over the other side of the world. It's a cool 38 degrees in Sydney at the moment which I'm missing, but I'm also hanging out for some mulled wine and turkey by the fire, with the snow falling outside frosted windows (I'm living the Bridget Jones/Love Actually Christmas!)

Anyways, better get back to pretending I'm finishing up lots of important work before I leave for my little holiday. A very merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Thank God for Coke and Ribena

I'm nursing a terrible hangover at work today after a fabulous night of festivities at our Christmas party last night (what kind of crazy people have Christmas parties on Monday night?!). This morning on the tube I was extremely glum, with a bottle of Coke in one hand, and a Ribena in the other (they are my hangover cures). I may as well have had 'seedy drunk' plastered on my forehead as I tentatively sipped the Coke at eight o'clock in the morning, much to the disgust of fellow passengers (who gave me some dirty, disapproving looks).
This is me at the party with Stacey and Matt - fellow members of my trust editorial team (Matt in the middle is actually my boss, the Senior Editor). It was a really great night, although fairly tame for a Christmas party! I was very well-behaved and in bed by 12 (albeit more than a little bit sozzled). The funny photos have been circulating around the office all day and there are a few red faces - bless Christmas!!!

Getting in to the festive spirit again: my funny Santa site of the week is one that Phil sent me and kept me amused for hours this morning when I was incapable of anything requiring more than the brain capacity of an ant. You can make Santa do whatever you want! Go to http://www.santasez.sig-ad.com/

I went out every night this week and have now been left on Saturday feeling really tired and headachey - how does that work? I should definitely do these things the other way around. Looks like next week will be no different though, as everyone is gearing up for Christmas and there is so much to do! I've got my Christmas party on Monday night (and then i will suffer through work on Tuesday), of course I still have a ton of xmas shopping to do, and I'm also having a Christmas dinner at our flat for everyone one night this week, then heading up to Gloucestershire for christmas...very exciting! :) My bank account has taken a huge bashing but spirits are high AND I found out yesterday that my work is sending me to Greece next year for a week!!! (I have to work there, but hey, it's Greece and I get excited about things like getting on a plane!) There's also talk of Paris but that's not definite yet and just a little too exciting to think about. It's a nice Chrissie present, seeing as I was getting all depressed last night cause my flatmates are off to Switzerland and Australia, respectively, today. But all is well and Christmas is near - wooohoo!

Check out this funny Santa site that made me laugh - there's some Santas looking like they just got out of jail and some poor scared little kids, what a recipe for comedy.... Scared of Santa??

Aussies in the World Cup!!


Ahh, perhaps Aussie sport is not dead after all! I got sent this photo today - this is my lovely friend Shell from back home celebrating after the Aussies qualified for the World Cup. Seeing the Sydney Morning Herald made me miss home! Shell is also sitting in what used to be my office back in Australia (before the OE adventures started). i'm sure she'll be featuring lots more over the next few months, as she arrives on London's doorstep for a working holiday on the 28 Dec.

Christmas cheer and lots of beer (and how having friends smarter than yourself works to your advantage)

As I sit here and gaze at my tackily decorated office Christmas tree (I can't complain, it was me that added the purple tinsel), I'm missing the sunny build up to an Aussie Christmas. BUT, we are doing enough celebrating to compensate, and today was my team's Christmas lunch which was a lovely decadent three hour booze-up at the delightfully titled Giraffe cafe. Next week is the real Xmas party for the whole office which should be great. In the spirit - here's a letter I pulled from the Metro this morning which made me giggle so much on the tube everyone looked at me strangely...

Letter from Chris in Edinburgh:
"We had our annual office Christmas party the other night. I heroically did my bit for the common person by telling my boss he was a fat slob, two girls had a serious slap fight over a Spanish barman, and another normally quiet guy fell off his seat and vomited all over my boss' wife. Needless to say, it's a very quiet office this week. I love Christmas."

OK, so I've only been working here for a couple of months, so I'm going to be very well-behaved!

In other exciting news, our Trivia/Quiz night team made it's spectacular debut last night, with no help from me whatsoever! The Heathrow Injections (plus one Pom) stormed the Jolly Gardener to take out the £50 bonus round cash prize (but came in a measly fourth place thanks to my poor Charade skills). We didn't even use the old 'mobile phone in the toilet to check answers' trick, and now Ben (my brother) has enough money to buy some groceries this week - woohoo!

Pru's English observations for the day...

They drink so much tea here it's ridiculous! Now I'm not adverse to a nice hot cuppa of Tetley's every now and again, but the UK should adopt tea drinking as a national sport. And it's not just little old ladies sitting down to their afternoon tea, it's the big English blokes, and they all have it so milky and sugary it's horrible!

I've been sucked in to the 'tea cycle' at work - the endless tea runs that have someone coming to your desk every 5 minutes asking if you want a cup of tea while they are fetching their own, will have you drinking gallons before you know it (and have me needing to go the bathroom every five seconds because I've drunk so much). I appreciate the friendly service - but I had TEN cups of tea the other day and it's got to stop! I've bought some green tea now, so I've started getting cups of hot water delivered instead. What I would give for an espresso machine....

The tea thing I can kind of understand (and it's definitely acceptable at work when a trip on a tea run is the perfect distraction) - the English obsession with Neighbours however, is still a completely mysterious phenomenon. A man here can also profess his love of Kylie, Take That and gossip endlessly about the results of the 'I'm a Celebrity..get me out of here!' show and 'X-Factor', and no-one will even question his masculinity. Maybe Aussie men are missing out :)

In the latest news...

I realised today that I have been in London for over three months and have not yet set foot outside of the country! This needs to be rectified immediately, however I just looked at my calendar, and don't have any spare time until the beginning of February!! (just call me Miss Popularity :) I think I may go to Karneval in Germany, but I really want to go to Edinburgh as well, and just about everywhere else! I never even thought about going to the US while I am here, but now I really want to go there too because it is much closer to here than Australia (and people go to New York just for the weekend! crazy). I definitely want to get something organised soon - heaps of people from my work are going away for Christmas and were making me very jealous yesterday with their plans for Morocco, New York, Italy etc. At least I know I have plenty of time - I've just been so happy about being in London that I haven't thought yet about going anywhere else!

In other good news for travellers - of my friends who arrived from Australia about a month ago and settled in around the corner from me, two of them have found jobs they really like (one of the girls is now working for Associated Press), and two of them have found temping work. So more evidence that it can be done.

Last night we attempted to resume our quest for the best 'Quiz night' which has so far been unfruitful due to our complete lack of effort. The pub we went to has theirs on Monday nights (not Tuesdays) so I'm sure we will go soon.


We ended up having a great night at this brilliant pub though (plug here for the Jolly Gardener in Putney) - really cosy pub and they have..wait for it....board games! What could be better than a beer and Monopoly? We actually played Taboo, which can get a little violent once everyone has had a little bit to drink... :)

My photo for the day is this one - This is me feeding a squirrel in Hyde Park - how cute!! (the squirrel, not me :).