The Big City

Last Monday Allyson and I packed up and left the pub, bound for London, and haven’t looked back. We moved into a studio apartment on Caledonian Road (which didn’t come cheap, but we’ll survive) and got ourselves jobs at Bagel Factory. We’ve settled in quite nicely and we’re thrilled because we’re living a 15 minute walk away from a Friday night Roller Disco! We went on Friday, and it was great, but next time we’ll be pre-ordering tickets because we had to stand in a line out in the cold (around 0 degrees) for more than an hour. Brr.

By the way, we’re not sure what sort of things to write about in this blog to make it more interesting… if anyone has any ideas, please comment and let us know!

Hyde Park and Christmassy Things

Hi everyone! Yep, I’m actually writing on here for once. Natalie says she needs my help to keep this page up to date, so here I am (though still, Natalie is the one actually typing this up).

Living in London has been great so far. I’m not sure if it’s just that I haven’t got the reality check yet - you know the one where you realise that you’re on the other side of the world with no money, but so far I’m enjoying the convenience of being a few doors down from an Iceland supermarket, an Ethiopian restaurant and a laundromat, and within walking distance of Camden Town & Kings Cross St Pancras stations, with links to just about anywhere in the UK and even the rest of Europe.

Yesterday Nat and I had the day off work, so we went to Hyde Park to the “Winter Wonderland” fair, which has an observation wheel, outdoor iceskating and rides, along with market stalls. We didn’t do anything there because we had no money (we haven’t properly set up our bank accounts so we be paid for another week or two at least), but it was a nice way to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit.

In terms of us experiencing a winter Christmas, most of what we have done so far is try some wintery beverages - spiced apple juice (yum!), mulled wine (yuck), and gingerbread latte (yum again).

We had hoped to go rollerskating in the park yesterday, as a free alternative to the iceskating, but it was a rainy and windy and overall horrible day yesterday. We ended up getting a bit wet while we were out as it was, so we abandoned the winter wonderland pretty quickly and headed to the Natural History Museum instead. It has a similar market and ice rink there over Christmas. We went into the museum, but left quickly because of the Sunday crowds. We saw a few fossils and dinosaur skeletons, but not much else.

Yesterday afternoon we met up with a guy from one of Natalie’s forums that lives around Camden. We wandered around the markets and had spiced apple juice in a nice little cafe. Afterwards, Nat and I intended to head for home but ended up having dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Camden Lock. It was excellent!

Anyway, that’s all I’ll get to say for now… until next time!

A Bagel Life

Ugh, I think I’m feeling a bit bageled out at the moment. As a results of working at Bagel Factory, we’ve been eating bagels for a minimum of two meals a day for just under two weeks straight now and I can feel my jeans tightening around my bloated stomach. It has saved us a bit of money on groceries, though, so I don’t want to complain too much.
Today I started my third and final week of management training with the company at the Canary Wharf store. I still feel a little bit hopeless and my bagel-making skills are yet to be properly honed, but it’s not too bad. This new store is a real shop rather than a mere kiosk and has seating and its own bathroom, so I’m enjoying myself a bit more here. It is situated in a really businessy district, with most of London’s tallest buildings and loads of rich executives in designer suits, so I feel a bit out of place on the tube in my bagel factory t-shirt and cap.

Days are getting shorter…

Hi again,

While I have the urge to blog, I might as well indulge, so here I am for the third day in a row. Unfortunately, not much has happened in the past day, so I haven’t got a lot to report on.

Today I started work at 8, which was later than last week but earlier than yesterday and I noticed that the days are really getting dark and dreary. Even after I had started work the sky was still dark, and by the time the shop closed at 4:30, it was dark again. It feels like my work days are longer than they really are because I don’t get to be out in the light of day. One good thing, though, is that the Christmas lights around the city are used to their full effect and boy are there a lot of Christmas lights around. Canary Wharf looked so much nicer this morning lit by Christmas lights than it did yesterday, lit by the sun.

I am yet to explore any more of the Docklands than Canary Wharf, but I intend to have a sticky beak around there sometime this week, if I get the time to do so before it gets too dark!

At the moment I am home alone, as Natalie has been working. She should be finished by now, but she may be going to some pub to watch a band with the bloke from the internet that I mentioned the other day. I’d tag along, only I have to be up early tomorrow and I’m in need of a really good massage- my whole body is in pain. Might have something to do with sitting on the hard tiles every night while I’m connected to the internet (we can only connect to the network if we are sitting by the door, so we have set ourselves on the bathroom floor).

Oh, and I’ve discovered our residential area’s claim to fame- both Arsenal stadium and the prison where Amy Winehouse’s husband is locked up are down the road. Wow, what a place!

Photo of the Day - Thu 6 Dec 2007

Hey everyone,

I decided on Monday that I should be taking at least one photo a day to post here in the blog. I’ve been taking the photos but haven’t got around to putting any up yet. So here is today’s photo.

Just a question though… is this guy slipping over, or jumping into a pool?

Place Taken: Platform 2, Paddington Underground Station, London

Last day at Canary Wharf

My training is over at Bagel Factory. It’s a bit of a shame as it means that I’m no longer at Canary Wharf, but it’s good to know that I have a permanent home now and will have a fair idea, in advance, of my shifts each week.

Again, my day today has not been worth writing about, really. All I’ve done since my last post is serve bagels, cash up, travel on the tube and bus, bought orthotic insoles, try on jeans (what kind of crazy sizing do they have for jeans in this country? size 12 didn’t even fit me, yet most of my pants and 10-12 and I wear 8-10 up top), and sleep. Man, now that’s something worth blogging about!
Oh, I did find out something that might be of interest to Kelly. One of the guys I’ve been working with has just started a job at Harrods and I’m now glad I missed the interview. Apparently before you get the job they give you a medical and anyone with even one noticeable pimple on their face gets rejected on hygiene reasons. Hygiene!! Pimples rarely have anything to do with hygiene. Also, the staff discount only reduces the prices enough to be on par with other retail shops selling the same items, because Harrods is so overpriced. There is a Bagel Factory within the Harrods2 store and they don’t get to have a free bagel like the rest of us. They have to pay to eat in the Harrods staff canteen, and have to go through security and keep their bags in lockers all day. The guy said that they are treated badly, paid badly and work long hours, with lots of rules and restrictions. So there you go. Since my skin has broken out a bit again, I probably would not have passed the medical and all of it would have been a waste of time. Hooray for my laziness that morning in Earl’s Court!