One Month in London

I have now been in London for a month and I am still really enjoying being back, especially as summer (my second one this year) gets under way.

WORK

(comments about job at a law firm - excluded from this public blog)

FUN

There has been plenty to do in London since I have got here, and I have not gone traveling around Europe just yet. I have been concentrating on work, with some play in my spare time. Here are some of the things I have gotten up to of late:

SEEING THE QUEEN AT ROYAL ASCOT

A few weeks ago I joined some friends who were going on a package tour to the races at Royal Ascot. As you know, we Melburnians love going to the races, something that we grow up with, thanks to the Melbourne Cup spring racing carnival.

The races were good fun. The Royal Enclosure requires you to wear a morning suit - top hat and a coat with tails, but we were in the (less formal) commoners’ Silver Ring enclosure, which, as it turns out, was mainly full of Aussies. Ascot allows BYO alcohol, as long as it is a moderate amount… whatever that means.

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family attend every day of Royal Ascot, and the Queen opens each day. She arrives down the straight in an open horse-drawn carriage. Our group lined the front of the fence, and as she came past (with a marching brass band playing God Save the Queen right behind us), I finally felt like I had a real British experience, seeing Her Majesty. I swear she looked at me!

The Queen is really into her horseracing. She even owns horses that compete. In fact, she won the first race of the day, and I laughed as the big screen flashed to a shot of her as the winning horse crossed the finish line. She did an almost Lleyton-Hewitt-like fist pump and she cheered on her winner, showing that even she gets excited like every other human being.

HIGH TEA IN MARYLEBONE

My housemate J got a new job, so Amanda, J and I celebrated by having a Sunday afternoon tea in at the Landmark, one of London’s five star hotels. We dressed up in our best Sunday attire, and headed off to the lovely Marylebone area.

Tea consisted of:
- little sandwiches with the crusts cut off (4 varieties: smoked salmon, cucumber, egg and chicken);
- a variety of little French cakes;
- scones with jam and cream;
- champagne; and
- of course a selection of tea.
- And one big price tag for the service!
It was a good experience though, which made me feel more British. I think I will have to have tea again some time. The Dorchester or the Ritz, I’m thinking.

BARS AND BEER GARDENS

I have continued on campaign to catch up with friends from my previous stay, as well as meeting plenty of new people. I’ve had many nights out in bars I’d been to before, and ones I’ve just discovered. The temperature lately has been consistently in the high teens or low twenties, and mostly sunny, so there have been some perfect afternoons for sitting in beer gardens having a few ciders. I guess that’s close enough to a BBQ, when you don’t have a back yard.

Yesterday it was a high of 28 degrees, and they said that it was probably the hottest day of summer. 28 is as hot as it gets??? Admittedly, 28 here feels a lot hotter than 28 in Australia.

LONDON SIGHTSEEING

I never seem to do much sightseeing in London as I do anywhere else in the world. I guess that’s a part of the whole thing of London feeling like a home to me.

But a couple of weeks ago I got sudden notice of a friend from Australia being in London for a few days on a last minute business trip, so it gave me the excuse to meet up with him in the afternoon and do some sightseeing. We spent a lot of time walking the streets and along river banks, and visited the underground rooms used for Winston Churchill and his Cabinet during World War II.

I often forget that they weren’t as lucky as Australia here. Aussies were mostly unaffected by the war (but for those who had to go abroad). Here, people had to crowd in tube stations just to seek shelter from bombings, and the Prime Minister was stuck in accommodation worse than some of my hostels in recent months.

ENGLISH BUREAUCRACY

It’s often a pain to have to organise anything official in this country.

When I was last here I had so much trouble getting a bank account, and the one I eventually did get, was such a basic kiddy account that it didn’t do everything I needed, like allow online banking transfers. Every time I wanted to send money home to Australia, I’d have to take cash out of one bank and deposit it into the bank account of my transfer company. Not good walking around the city with £600 ($1300) cash in your pocket!

So this time I tried opening a bank account with a new and hit the usual British difficulties. To open an account you need proof of address, like a Council Tax or water bill. Which is a bit hard when you just came to the country. You also need to prove your income for the bank’s credit check (despite the fact you’re not asking for a loan of any sort). In the end I managed to convince them to open a proper bank account for me but it took many phone calls and many bank visits, the details of which I won’t bore you with now.

The next step in my English life was to get a National Insurance Number (like a tax file number), which involved its own nightmare visit to the Job Centre (like an even less efficient Centrelink) to be interviewed by a fat grumpy public servant, and various superfluous paperwork. Next I have to register with a local doctor, because you need to be “registered” with a GP to get any sort of medical access, so I figure its better to register just in case.

THE FUTURE

There is plenty of work to be done in my job, so I’ll continue working to get my financial situation back in the black, as I keep my eyes open for a good job.

I’m planning various bits of travel for summer, including a weekend in Berlin this weekend, and another trip somewhere later in summer. So far Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Spain or Portugal (or a combination) are all possibilities