London

Arriving in London, the lovely Sheena was there to pick me up and take me to the house. It is in Acton, in West London, about 6 train stops from the centre of London. Ten people living in a 5 bedroom house, the similarities to Big Brother are endless (except for the cameras).

Had time to put my bags down and relax for a few hrs before hitting the town into the early morning.Initiation to London - Me and Sheena in a phone box in Covent Garden

Some things about London:

• Public transport runs all the time. Trains run every few minutes until midnight, but buses run all night. But with no air conditioning, they are sweatboxes in summer. In fact there's hardly any air conditioners at all...
  
• I am not classified as "Asian" here - that refers to people from the subcontinent (India, Sri Lanka, etc). The term Oriental is still used - I haven't heard that word since I was little...

After recovering from the 1st night, it was off to watch Australia v Brazil. Disappointing ending, but not suprising, Australia didn't lose any respect in losing. We watched the game at the Walkabout pub. Well our nearest one anyway - it is actually a huge chain of pubs across the UK, designed to look like an outback pub. Nice to visit if you ever feel homesick, but not a regular hangout.

After the game, it was off next door to see NZ band Shihad with some my Kiwi housemates. They warmed up the show by performing songs as an AC/DC tribute band (with guest singer), and then they came out and blew the crowd away with their songs. My shoes have never recovered from this gig.

Simon (Jon Toogood) says "clap your hands"

The first week was spent mainly registering with agencies and looking for physio work, but with no luck. Thanks to Sharni, got a job working for Fine Burger Co., who not only own restaurants but also run outdoor mobile units that appear at sporting events, concerts, etc - that's where we work. Pay's ok (slightly better than bar work), you get free food, and free entry to cool events that we work (more on that later). Bad news is the work can get pretty hectic, and you walk out with a few layers of grease on your entire body.

Then next week I got a 2nd job working for Wyoming Studios, a company that provides a swish venue/catering for companies who want to run market research. Job just involves looking after clients and making sure food/drink is stocked for everyone, then cleaning it up when everyone leaves. Again with the pay and free food, and it's in the basement of a building, not a big metal box, and it's greaseless.

Note: if you want to see more picures, go see http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneakykangaroo.

DN