Tuesday 11th November 2003
Not much to tell today.
Just went to work and now I am on the net.
Last night went shopping with a guy Ben from the hostel.
He took me to Tescos which is a big supermarket (like Coles or Woolies) instead of the little ones the near the hostel.
It is walking distance but just a different direction.
Anyway - they sell Tim Tams so I brought a packet and now they are gone!
I am going to go and do some decent shopping later in the week,
but last night we brought enough for dinner tonight so we are going to cook a feed up for two instead of just one cause that is really a hassle.
Anyway...gotta dash - not much exciting news now!
Tanya.
Wednesday 12th November 2003
Yay!
Got given the two days off work that I need to go to Scotland for New Years...going to book tonight.
Also going to book a tour to Stonehenge on Sunday.
There are a few to choose from so I am about to go to the Backpackers Information Centre in this internet cafe and talk to the girl in there who I discovered last night was from Cairns and knows quite a few people I know from School.
How funny is that?
Anyway time to go...see ya!
Tanya.
Thursday 13th November 2003
No idea what I am doing for Christmas,
but it is not in Scotland because I have to work on Christmas Eve!
Just New Years up there!
Anyway - back to the hostel now...going to have dinner and do some grocery shopping.
I get paid tomorrow for the first time - YAY!
Might go shopping.
Decided not to worry about "The Rocks" (Stonehenge) this weekend because of all the football and go to Greenwich or somewhere like that.
A bit close and lots cheaper - just have to stay on the train I take for work for about three more stops I think.
Tanya.
Friday 14th November 2003
Tired - going to go and have a coffee and go back to the hostel.
Not much on tonight.
But I'll be at the pub bright and early tomorrow though for the rugby - 9.00am! (Australia v New Zealand)
Bye.
Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November 2003
Had another good weekend.
Didn't do much on Friday night just hung around the hostel.
I can talk to someone different everynight and they all have heaps of interesting stuff to say about travelling etc.
I really like living there!
Saturday morning I got up at about 7.30am cause I had to be ready to go to the pub at 8.30am!
Anyway...went down with Lesley, a girl from the hostel who is a Kiwi girl...she is on her own too.
She is really nice and was very gracious in defeat.
We were going to go to the Walkabout but when we got there just before kick off there was a lineup to get in so we went to the pub next door which is called O'Neills (the same pub as the one I went to in Oxford) and watched it there.
Heaps of room and heaps of Ausralian's and Kiwis and lot of ribbing going on
I was still thinking that NZ would come back right ot the end but they couldn't - the place erupted when the hooter went with cheers of "Aussie Aussie Aussie - Oi Oi Oi" etc and then someone broke out Waltzing Matilda!
It was good fun.
We left and went and put a deposit on our trip to Scotland for Hogmanay.
Lesley is going to come with me - so I have a travelling partner for that trip now!
She then went home becase she had to work last night and I went to Camden Town to the markets
It was amazing...heaps better than the Portobello Road Markets
I bought a new pair of shoes for £22.
They are great and Mum will hate them but they were so cheap.
I also brought a new scarf - a nice big wooly one.
Camden Town is full of punks and people from all walks of life...it is quite a place to people watch...gotta love hot pink mohawks!
I also went to Oxford Steet to do a bit of shopping but there you could barely walk up the street there were so many people.
I am going to do my Christmas shopping next weekend and then never go back - Christmas shopping there in December will be insane!
When I was on my way from the tube back home I ran into Ryan who runs the hostel and we went back home for dinner and then went to the Prince of Teck to watch the league.
That was quite scary...I thought we were going to lose but it all worked out in the end.
A heap of people from the hostel were there to so it was a good night.
I am meeting heaps of people.
A few are going to Hogmanay as well with different trips etc so we will all be about to catch up.
Had a bit to drink so was pretty slow today.
Just stayed at the hostel and then went and brought groceries and now I am here.
I am having a bit of trouble drinking enough water.
The tap water is yucky and the bottled water is pretty much the same - you know what I mean, Mum.
Anyway I found one I like at Sainsburys - it is their own brand.
I have just been and bought eight litres of it and I put it in a little bottle and drink it that way.
Got a dentist appointment tomorrow after work...my first one!
That all for the diary entry this weekend.
I didn't spend all my first pay!
See ya.
Monday 17th November 2003
Not much doing today.
Got back from work late 'cause of the dentist,
so I am going back to the hostel now to have dinner and chill out.
Tuesday 18th November 2003
Not much to say today except I am going home to cook dinner and then going for a coffee with Lesley from the hostel.
One of those nice mochas with fresh cream and flakes to dip in it!
Oh, and I was thinking on the way home how I haven't just sat around and watched telly for ages.
In the morning we eat brekky in the dining room and there is no telly in there
and then at night most of us sit around in the dining room too because it is busy with people coming and going and there is heaps of people to talk to.
Anyway - it looks like I have someone to meet up with in Turkey after ANZAC day.
There is a nice girl at the house who is a nurse and is going a different tour for ANZAC day but wants to hang around afterwards cause it is realy cheap.
People from the hostel are moving to Scotland so they have said to make sure I call because they would love to have me stay if I get up there any other time and am going to go to the Lion King with a Karen from the hostel too.
She is going to get a group together.
It looks like heaps of people will be at Hogmanay too so I have no worries about being by myself.
Anyway when Lesley and I booked for Hogmany the guy said between 800-900 were going on our tour anyway - not much chance of being lonely I wouldn't have thought!
Ok - bye now.
Wednesday 19th November 2003
I had today all planned.
Work as usual...come home..shower...dinner - leftovers (very quick)...and do my washing then get on the net and home for an early night
BUT
About ten stops from home...Mansion House...the trains were suspended due to a faulty signal a South Kensington.
So I had no idea what to do.
Got off the train and went outside and attempted to catch a bus.
I did manage to do it.
Caught a bus to Picadilly Circus and then caught the tube from there home...it is a different line...the blue one called the Picadilly Line if you want to look at the map
I sat up the top of the red-double-decker bus in the front seat...it was a bit strange.
The bus went past St Pauls Cathedral which I will definately go back and look at properly, down Fleet Street, down The Strand (past all the theatres - I saw where Lion King and Chicago are on) and past Trafalgar Square into Picadilly Circus.
That place was pumping and I will be going back there for sure too.
Was too tired and cranky to wander around too much after it took me an extra hour to get home so I ate my dinner and didn't shower and did my washing and now I am at the cafe at 10.00pm when I should be in bed!
That is about it.
Getting ready to go home and have a cuppa tea and go to bed.
One of the boys at the hostel makes a mean cup of tea with fresh ginger, a slice of lemon and honey (should keep the bugs away, hey Mum?)
I have one every night....but if he isn't around I will have to do it myself.
Mum - Enrique Eglesias is turning on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street on Friday night...guess where I have to collect my pay from...Oxford Street...might try and catch a glimpse!
That is it - despite the train drama I can say I saw a bit more of the Monopoly Board today and will be going back for a better look.
Seeya.
Tanya.
......and another note on Wednesday
Can you believe I have been here four weeks already?
Only 100 more to go...
Tanya.
Thursday 20th November 2003
......when the trains mucked up and I got to the shop I wanted to go to as it shut!
"Cranky arse" here!!!
(this is the second night in a row "The Tube" had problems and Tanya had to transfer to a bus!!!)
Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd November 2003
Friday was very quiet night.
Just stayed in and cooked dinner and stayed up and chatted as usual.
Saturday morning up bright and early to go to watch the Rugby Union final
Went to Walkabout Leicester Square to meet friends from work and some guy picked me up on the tube cause he was in his Wallabies jersey the same as me
He was on his own.
He asked if he could come with me and I said yes.
He turned out to be very annoying!
Anyway, got to Leicester Square and couldn't find the people from work so I rang them and it turned out they changed their mind and went to the Walkabout in Shepherds Bush but didn't have my number to call me.
It didn't matter because the place was packed but this guy would stop talking.
I kept saying to him - "sorry no talking, game on trying to concentrate" etc etc.
I really had no desire to listen to his opinion.
I was standing near an Aussie guy, his American girlfriend and their two pommy mates.
They were very cool and there was a bit of banter back and forward
and the Aussie guy knew what he was talking about - not like the dude from the train.
After the game 'train dude' asked what I was doing and I said meeting girlfriends for coffee so he wouldn't want to come and he left!
Anyway...there was about half Aussies and half Pommies at the pub and it was really good fun
Everytime Elton Flatley took a kick the Pommy crowd would chant "Boring"!!!
The national anthems went off - every one was signing really loudly
and when Elton Flatley made the kick to tie the game Waltzing Matilda was sung so loud.
I rang Mum then!
It wasn't the greatest game ever cause of the mistakes but because the score was tight it was fun.
The Poms seriously went off when they won
I watched the presentation and then left.
I walked to Traflagar Square and I could hear singing and when I got there all the poms were all over Nelsons Column singing and chanting...I took some photos
I did some Christmas shopping as well - got Mum and Dad sorted but not Brett - tooo hard to buy for...will have to think some more.
Went back to the hostel and had some food and sat around.
A few people went to the pub but I wanted to watch the Rugby League Test Game #3 so me and Nathan stayed back and watched it.
I couldn't believe it - two tries in the last five mintues and we sweep the series.
Nathan and I were sitting there going 'we can't let these guys win two games in one day' and pretty much thought it was over and then the Roos went nuts.
The last try was awesome.
Then Nathan and I went to the Prince of Teck to meet everyone else...there was about 15 people from the house there and it is always good fun down there.
A guy called Mick who is in a room near me on the top floor works behind the bar so we get pretty well looked after.
Had a couple of pints and danced and chatted and then the place closed.
It is very bizzare when they turn all the lights on and kick you out and when you get outside it is only 11pm.
That is what time the pubs close over here so we then went back to the house and watched movies.
I managed to get the boys to sit through Save the Last Dance.
I was very surprised and I didn't even have to hide the remote...I think everyone was too stuffed to care but I liked it.
Today I slept in until 10.30 and went downstairs and sat around and talked as usual and then Lesley and I went to Tescos and now I at the internet cafe.
Been asked to go to dinner tonight or to see the Christmas lights.
Think I might stay home.
It is raining and not really nice to be sightseeing.
Anyway...that is about it.
Let me know what you think of the photos...especially the one of me and Gilly and Jason Heatherington!
Tanya.
Monday 24th November 2003
Email from Tanya who was at work
We are both sitting at our computers and it is pitch black outside.
Same as you, except it is 2.40am morning where you are and only 4.40pm where I am!
I have a feeling there will be a temperature difference too!
Got asked to go on a ski trip next year...
First week in February with two Aussie girls from work and some of their friends.
Should be good fun - Dianne is just sorting out the details... the 'specials' don't come out until after Christmas.
Anyway...have a good day.
Tanya.