Hello World!!

Wow it has been a really long time since we blogged! I know, I know, it’s a rather poor effort on our end but we really have got some good excuses! We have finally managed to get the Internet at our place after being here for more than two months! Basically there were a few technical difficulties with my computer when I first set it up so I had to get that fixed. Then we investigated some internet plans and talked to a few people about who was best in London, so after waiting for one particular company to release their new range of plans we finally got ourselves connected! So now we are able to post on our blog and pictures galore!!

So what have we been up to? Well unfortunately not a great deal… we both work full-time in retail at the moment and finish work between 6 and 7pm most nights, so we rely on our days off to do touristy things. However Jo and I don’t often get the same days off each week, the curse of retail unfortunately. But we have plenty of time here in London so we are not particularly worried at the moment. But that doesn’t mean we’ve done nothing, so far we’ve managed to see….

• Madame Tussauds
• The London Eye
• The London Zoo
• Westminster Abbey
• Gothic Nightmare exhibition at TATE Britain
• An attempt to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (which didn’t happen the day we went due to a “shortage of soldiers”)
• We’ve mastered the tube system and have already learned how to complain about it! Seriously track work is the bane of human existence no matter which country you live in!
• Found a couple of nice restaurants around the place, even if they are buried in dodgy neighborhoods!
• …and much more on the horizon!

Well let’s go back to the big problem we were having when we last spoke, finding a place for ourselves to live. Thankfully we found ourselves a great place in Willesden Green, which is on the outskirts of Zone 2 giving us the perfect balance between rent costs and travel costs! We share the place with four other people and we have 2 bathrooms between us! So I don’t think we’ll be coming back with any horror stories of having to share a house with 18 other people and only having one bathroom. However that doesn’t sound like an uncommon predicament here in London… Scary! We were lucky enough to get a separate lounge and dining area as well (I guess the landlord forgot to convert it into another 3 bedrooms when he had the chance). Our place is situated on a main road above some shops, (don’t worry we have double glazed windows) but it still looks rather odd seeing our stained-glass front door wedged in between a discount/variety shop and a used car dealership!

As for work Jo and I decided we’d get retail jobs so we could basically just walk away from them whenever we felt like it. I work for Sunglass Hut! Same company we have in Australia. I spend my day perfecting my cheesy salesman smile and often like to throw in a bit of Australian charm when greeting customers “G’day mate how are ya today?” it really gives me an unfair advantage because many people think the Sun was invented in Australia and as a result I am an expert when it comes to sunglasses “Of course you need those £200 pair of sunnies, trust me I’m Australian!” However the job does strike me as somewhat hypocritical as all I do all day is sell brand names at exorbitant prices to people with too much money, which isn’t really the best way to save the world, but hey a mans gotta eat!

Jo is working at Trotters a children’s clothing store on Kings Road (Posh area of London where people think they can have anything because they have money) and is fitting children’s shoes. The job is hazardous, requiring a great deal of dexterity to avoid flying limbs during tantrums, falling dribble at any given moment, and stomping feet while shoes are being checked (even though the feet are tiny it’s still painful when they stomp on your fingers). Despite these hazards the other staff are lovely and there is always someone to have a laugh with in the shoe store room when a mother thinks they know best, but really has no idea.


Now it’s time for a lesson in English phraseology

English: “That was well funny!”
Translation: “That was very funny”

English: “Are you having a laugh?”
Translation: “You’re joking, right?”

East London: “Does this face look Bovered?”
Translation: “Does it look like I care”

English word: Chav
Definition: Teenage girl trying to be Paris Hilton, wears big tacky jewellery, pretends they can afford brand name sunglasses, often tries to wear jeans 6 sizes too small resulting in a literal overflow of poorly concealed midsection, (also known as “muffin-tops”) midsection is revealed regardless of ambient temperature.

That’s all from us for now, we promise to be better now that we’re all set up at home, so check back regularly!!

Lots of love
Jeremy and Jo