(I'm currently redesigning the blog, as I do often; and I'm stuck on a background & theme. Watch this space for a better... look.)

Thursday 27 March 2014

Overcast Day

You know those dreary days...
It's probably a bad idea to blog right now, but I'm bored.


I stayed up late last night finishing an assignment. I am very much a last minute person. I'm glad I'm doing uni, and I enjoy the readings when they're not a chore. I love writing but I not when it's on somebody else's words.
"Do you want to be a teacher?" I ask myself. "Yes." "Then you simply have to do this."
".........OK."


I'm almost at the end of Week 5 of 6 here in the office. The weeks themselves flew by, but the daaays draaaaaaag like stringy cheese on pizza in a bad way. There's horizontal rain outside. Lovely. I like the walk to the station in the evenings (it will clear up, yes it will) (oh that was thunder, oh dear) and even the tube ride is fun. It's great for people watching - guessing the job, the relationship status, the contentment in life... Maybe that last one is a bit weird. I love changing platforms without even thinking - like a pro - and watching London out the train window as the sun sets for the day. A few days ago I saw a builder man walking along the scaffolding several stories high, and I wooshed past with Paul Kelly in my ear. It was beautiful. It's a part of my London adventure that's once-in-a-lifetime type moment.


Still lovin' mah church. It's my family and my whole life over here. At the moment I'm finding it really hard to know I'm going to have to leave. Am I? Yes. I want to be at home too. It's hard. I'm homesick though I don't want to be yet, but of course I am because I miss my family and friends and sometimes I wonder if Australia is even any different to the UK.. are we even a nation of our own? And then I see a photo with a gum tree or I think about the days I used to go barefoot outside and hang with people who are capable of making fart jokes and I know I'll never be British. I feel kinda cooped up in the city. There's no where you can be where no one can see you. No rivers or paddocks (fields) or backyards out of earshot of anybody. I need to get out more...


See this is why I only write when I feel like it. Don't be disappointed when my posts are few and far between - the days I didn't write are the days I would have liked to have a right old moan about life. You've dodged yourself many bullets. Either that or I was too busy having a nice time to bother with condensing it into words.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Houseboat!!


I had a marvellous weekend, involving a visit from an Armidale friend who is on exchange in Ireland, lunch on a houseboat, canoeing on the Grand Union Canal in Uxbridge, glorious sunshine and a wonderful time with church folk as usual.
Such a cool way to live! The home of a lady at church.
Standing on the roof was amazing.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

After Stonehenge

Oh golly I'm just going to crack on with it.

I got job, I started uni; basically I increased busyness by 500%. It's great. It took its toll on Sunday evening though (about halfway through the church service, thank you) when I hit the Peopled Out Point, but I went home and did the comfort food thing but instead of food it was music (I'm not a foodie). Months of nothing into double full time is a big shift to make and it's been fine other than that. My job is a temporary stint in an office. A huuuge office. I never, ever thought I would be doing a 75 minute rush hour commute by train and bus to a 12 story building to do numbers and money and spreadsheets all day. But hey! It's kinda cool to have landed it. When I say 'kinda cool,' I mean flipping awesome. This job couldn't have come any sooner - I was feeling pretty desperate about having no income - and I'm really grateful for it! It's the best pay I've ever had, too. When I say 'landed it,' I mean it fell into my lap. Housito (that's my housemate, the male one, in case you missed that explanation - Housita is my other housemate and she is female) needed a temp at work so I was the man. Girl. OK, so the work is dead boring, and totally not what I want to do with the rest of my life, but I will not complain!

There's a blow fly in my room. I didn't even know they existed in this country.. On that note, though, the weather is finally warming up. The other day I was outside and I rolled my sleeves up. It was amazing. I like the cold, to be sure, but winter is a lot longer here than in Armidale. And a LOT colder. The daffodils are out and daisies too - soon it will look like what it did when I first arrived! Now THAT'S a crazy thought.

Uni is good. I dropped a unit, which I'm not too fussed about. The workload was a bit much and sourcing textbooks hasn't been that easy. The content, however, I'm finding interesting and it's making more and more excited to be a teacher. Phew!

One thing coming up in my life is this conference, church is taking a group, and I'm well excited: http://wordaliveevent.org/

Another thing is... WEDDINGS! So many weddings. I think it's up to 10 engagements since I left. I started a list. Anyway, I'm coming back in November for at least three of them (!!) and at this point I'm thinking I will move back to Armidale (indefinitely) then, too. It's exciting and sad and homesickening all at once. I don't want to leave all my lovely friends here! But I do want to come home soon.

Anyhow, there is a lot to be done before I say goodbye to the UK. Like see Stonehenge.