London is burning

Third night of riots here in the capital, and irritatingly they have creeped south, into my hood, with riots in Peckham and Lewisham, not too far from where I live. This is mainly irritating because it is undoing many months of hard work I have spent trying to convince my parents back home that my hood in 100% safe. But I think a couple of kids in hoodies carrying molotov cocktails maaaay change their minds. Call me crazy.

So London is all excitement as the riots continue, and part of me thinks its hilarious that it all began when all the politicians (Boris, David etc) were on holiday. Apparently they are all "very concerned" and will come back just as soon as their tans are topped up. I think we are all rioting because we can't afford luxury vacations to Italy :p

The good news is I have lots of time inside to work on my dissertation which is ticking along nicely with the first draft FINISHED and a second draft in the works. Had a job interview today so fingers crossed that gainful employ lurks just around the corner... I could probably get a job at a post-looted H&M as I imagine they are strapped for staff these days. Thoughts? Saddest thing I saw in the footage today? A Greggs bakery burning. Oh the humanity! But seriously people. If your bored, buy the box set of the West Wing and GO HOME.

August dreaming

Well, I won't bore you with discussion of how long it's been since I last blogged, as this is clear. But come on. I've been on holiday! My lovely sister and her husband came to visit, so we have been trekking about the country, visiting York, Cambridge, Scotland and hte Lake District. Here are the highlights for anyone planning on following in my footsteps:
1) Riding Clydesdale horses on the Lake Districts. Awesome.
2) The drive up to the Isle of Skye. Very beautiful, but take some car sickness tablets first. Up and down and round and round, the roads are mad.
3) Perth. The Scottish version. Small and quaint, and Scone Palace is pretty cool too.
4) York. Do the ghost trail. Do it! And walk on the walls. For some reason its a quicker way to get around.
5) Watching the firemen in Windemere "practice" but pumping water out of the lake, filling up the tanks then blasting the water back into the lake. Time well spent, boys.
6) FINALLY WATCHING THE HARRY POTTER MOVIE. But you could probably do that anywhere.
Anyway, then my sister was in London with me for a bit, so we went to the Kensington Roof Gardens and to the Polo (saw Prince Phillip) so it was all very fun. Thens he left, and I was quite sad.
I spent the last week working tirelessly on my dissertation (two thirds done!), hoping I can get the first draft out by Friday to my draft readers, but it'll be tricky as I am going to a wedding this weekend.... I can be typing during that right?
Then my partner in crime Judith left yesterday, which was sad. Who will I go to gay cabaret bars with now? I am bereft.
The face of London is changing for me. Hmm.

Touristification

Yes, after a year of living here (almost exactly) I am getting my tourist on. My beloved sister and brother-in-law have come to visit, and we are roaming the streets, doing touristy things, seeing touristy things and standing in people's way to snap photos of touristy things. It's great! They arrived on Monday, so we've managed to pack in the Tower of London and Windsor Castle yesterday, and a walking tour of the Southbank, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and St Paul's on Monday (I say walking tour, I mean, I walked with them and made up stories about the land makrs along the way). Today I am abandoning them to the Red Bus Tour (I'm not that touristified yet) and then this afternoon we are going to afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason, then heading over to the Globe Theatre to watch Hamlet. So lots planned but it should all be fabulous darling. Can't wait to get out of the city next week!

Aside from this..... not much. Studying is not happening, so I am trying to get some in now (clearly that's going well) and I am still unemployed :( except for fab All Bar One. Woot. And last night I had my THIRD celebrity sighting, of one of the guys from Made in CHelsea, and sure you may say that's not famous enough to count, but to that, I say, HOW MANY REALITY STARS HAVE YOU SEEN? EH?? Haters! Hahahaha.

The self esteem lowering experience that is.... shopping

Well, I hit the sales today, and I can confirm: I am between sizes, neither one nor the other, so I have the twin mortifying experiences of trying to squeeze myself into the lower size, or trying on the larger size, and watching it swim depressingly around me, which somehow also serves to make me look fat. Depressing. Then you have to stand in the changing room wearing your bad bra (because shopping is always an impulse is it not) listening to 15 year old girls scream about how FAT their arms are. Compared to barbie, perhaps. Compared to normals? No. In the end I purchased two dresses (different sizes, naturally) and came scurrying home to try on some of my OLD clothes, satisfying myself that they still fit. This leads me to conclude that the sizes are getting smaller since last year I fit perfectly well into the lower size, and I still fit them perfectly well. SO this year, the sizes are a tiny bit smaller. Poor me.

In other news, I have been working, not studying and applying for jobs. Joyous. Tomorrow is the new financial year though, and Monday my sister arrives. Can't wait!

Summer unemployment rears its ugly head.

Well, technically I have a job. But, in a manner frighteningly synonymous with this time last year, I am sat at my computer searching and applying for billions and billions of jobs. Only this time, the stakes are higher, because after September I am no longer a student: I'm just unemployed. Shudder. Although I think I could handle it. Anyway, with the job searching comes the questions: where should I go? How much money do I need to live? Should I do an internship first? Do I want to be a lawyer? And on and on and on. And in the end, life is so confusing and difficult, you just have to switch off the computer and watch some television. Which is exactly what I plan to do once I have posted this entry.

In other news, today is my half birthday (woo! 22.5!) and also one year and one day since I moved away from the lucky country. How sad. I'm sitting here trying to take stock and decide what I've learned and how I've grown, but I think I am probably the wrong person to judge that. However, in the interest of learning, here is a list of the five best things about living in London, followed by the five worst.

Best things:
1) You can wear whatever you want and no one bats an eyelid.
2) Plenty of good looking men everywhere.
3) Easy access to Europe.
4) Cultural sights etc.
5) Even though for legal reasons you don't, you always know that if you wanted to, you could stalk a celebrity.

Worst things:
1) You can wear whatever you want and no one bats an eyelid. I mean really, it's the social pressure that prevent fashion errors!
2)All the good looking men are gay/taken/ass holes.
3) You can't afford to go to Europe.
4) After the first few cultural sights, you get bored, go to the movies, then realise that in the last 12 months, most of the icons of London you've seen have been at the cinema.
5) Family being so far away :(

It really has been a while.

Well I took a break from you, study, life in general while I was in Australia, but now that blissful time is over and I am back in London, where the sun is beaming weakly down from above making a half hearted attempt to instil a sense of summer into us all. Ah well.

Yes AUstralia was lovely and my interviews went fine, I think, although I'm not holding out a lot of hope for either of them. It was great to spend time with my family, eat way too much and be generally lazy. Perfect holiday! On my way back I even got a free flight to use within six months and a free upgrade, because my flight has been overbooked. Score! So the flight was good too. Shockingly.

And now I am back in London, and reality is setting back in. The following concerns jump to mind: I have to write my dissertation!!! I have to earn some money!!! I have to find a job!!! The last one is clearly the most pressing. Mid August would be the preferred starting date. So if anyone has anything...... call!

Also, I have moved flats. Yes, I now live above my church, so no more excuses for being late or missing meetings, ever. Oh well. The price you pay for location, haha. But it's a nice flat, although I am hearing horror stories about nosy neighbours.... better not try anything with me!

So that's all. Three weeks boils down into a few paragraphs. I will try and be more entertaining tomorrow!

I'm hungry, but not to worry, my mother is cooking for me.

So I am at home, as promised, and have only just recovered from what was easily the WORST jet lag of my life. This is because I flew from London to Singapore to Sydney to Canberra (where I stopped off for an 8 hour interview) then Perth. So I left Tuesday evening and got into Perth Thursday evening. No sleep in between. It was hell. But the good news is I made my interview, against all the odds. This meant taking a taxi, running, not checking luggage and being very rude by pushing in front of people. But i made it! Just. Then I had to sit through hours of aptitude tests and psychological evaluations. Since I am probably crazy, I doubt that I will get the job. Hopefully they will let me know if I am a time bomb waiting to explode insanity all over the world though. That would be top.

And now I am home, back in the familial embrace, being fed by my mother, and mocked by my father. Ah, the wonders of home. It's nice though. The odd thing is that it is around the same temperature here as it is in London. Hmmm....

Another interview on Wednesday (tomorrow). Fingers crossed!