Once I arrived I was introduced to Rachel who was the girl currently doing my job and she would be the one who was training me for the week. She is also an Aussie and has been in London for two years so she taught me a lot about the city as well as the job. So after a quick introduction to what I was doing we got stuck into the work. I am working in the legal department that deal with cases of misconduct by nurses in the UK and its basically my job just to maintain the database with case details and manage spreadsheets with information. I also process a few files and do some basic paperwork so overall its a pretty cruisy job and after a couple of days I think I had it pretty much down pat.
Its clearly not my ideal career but I am happy to be out and working. I only work a 36 hour week and get paid fairly well (in terms of admin assistants anyway) to do not a very strenuous job. I don't have to report to anyone regularly and so I just plod away with my files and my data and do my own thing. This is both good because it means there is no pressure and no one breathing down my neck but its also slightly lonely. Luckily for me one of the girls I was working with at Topshop also got a temp job there so I at least had one friendly face. There are also about 6 or 7 other Julia Ross temps there who are all young Aussies so there is at least some similar people to chat to during lunch. Overall my first week went pretty well and I think that while I am getting settled in London it will be a good stepping stone and hopefully in a few months time I am able to score that dream job! If not I am still working and living in London and thats the real dream! The highlight of my days during the week is lunchtime because it means I can get out of the office, wander down the street and get a coffee/sandwich/chocolate and walk along the Thames or Fleet Street which are both near my office. I also work right near the Strand which is a fairly famous street that has the royal law courts (ohhh all the men in their fancy suits - best lunchtime entertainment ever). It kinda fun to know that where you work is actually a spot on a Monopoly board. Depending on what tube I get I also get to walk along the Thames and get views of Big Ben and the London Eye regularly. There is nothing like an icon of London to lift your spirits and remind you why you are living thousands of miles away from your family and friends. So while its not a perfect job and I am not going to change the world doing it - right now its perfect.
During the week I also checked out a few places to live as I was determined not to stay in my falling down house. I did find one place that was really good and almost took it but after a bit of consideration (I'm not rushing into anything this time) I decided it probably wasn't right for me as I didn't meet all the housemates (because we were all going to be newbies in the house) and it was a bit out of the way. By that I mean it was a good 20 min walk from the night bus stop - which is clearly a priority at the rate I am boozing my way around London haha. So still no where new to live but I still have a little while until I am homeless so I wasn't massively stressed.
Since I finally had one part of my life sorted it meant I could relax a bit about my future in London and so I decided to spend the weekend down at Hawkesbury Upton with family friends. During the working week it was so good to have something to look forward and when Friday finally came around I was super excited to be getting away from the city and seeing some close friends. I was also looking forward to being looked after by my 'other mum'. Friday night was supposed to be a quiet one at Toni's place with her, Leanne and myself having dinner and a few drinks. Well, I should have known better. A quick phone call from other Topdeckers and our quiet night and few drinks turned into a whole bottle each and a impromptu gathering and piss up. We spent most of the night talking and laughing and planning our trip to Edinburgh, Belgium and onwards. At one stage we even had a world map out and were pointing to places we were planning to go. I'm not sure if these plans will go ahead but we did create a plan for Edinburgh from a drunken night out and we are actually going so you never know!
After getting home at 2am I was looking and feeling a bit worse for wear when I woke up at 6am to get ready for the bus down to Bristol. I'm not sure if you guys remember but me and Caroline nearly missed our bus there last time so I was determined not to miss it this time. So after a quick pack of my backpack and a shower I was out the door and ended up getting there 45 mins early. Sitting at a crowded bus station in the cold while I am hung over really early in the morning is SO not the way to spend a Saturday morning! Luckily I was able to have a bit of a snooze on the bus and when I arrived in Bristol I was feeling much better. After a quick pit stop to a local shopping centre on the way home I arrived in Hawkesbury about 12ish to a big hug from Sylvia and a hot cup of tea. Those two things made me feel so happy and calm it was a nice feeling.
After a quick catch up chat with Sylvia I spent the afternoon eating and drinking my way around the area. A big pub lunch in a restaurant/pub then onto another little pub to try a cider (I really need to get into it I think). We had a lazy drink while answering quiz questions (which I totally won even though we weren't really keeping score but I can't help it if I LOVE quizzes) before heading to ANOTHER pub to catch up with a friend of Sara and Mark's. It was sort of like a pub crawl really... That night I was treated to a roast dinner (YYYYUUMMM!) and more drinks before me and the kids went out to a neighbouring village (or town??) to hit up some more pubs and have a bit of a dance.
By this stage I was already a bit pissy so I was having a great night just drinking and dancing as I hadn't been out 'clubbing' since my first weekend in London so I was loving it. I also go introduced to raspberry cider which will probably lead my demise into true alcoholism as it is delicious! With the mixture of a dance floor, fun people to hang out with and lots of booze I was a very happy girl.
The next morning after a glorious sleep in I was happy to find that I wasn't hung over at all. Well not very much at least and I was treated to a proper home cooked English breakfast which made a welcome change from cereal (that I have EVERY day). Sunday was spent doing what everyone should be doing on a Sunday - being lazy. We basically just hung out in the conservatory, listened to music, watched tv and all together just lazed around. I had been feeling a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) as I knew that all my London friends were hitting up Brick Lane - where they have heaps of curry houses - without me and I was devastated. I didn't feel too bad for too long however when I got ANOTHER roast dinner with desert. Take THAT London friends - when is the last time you had a home cooked roast! Oh I was so spoilt while I was there and I was pretty bummed to leave. Two days wasn't long enough and I felt a bit down on the way into London as it was rainy and I was tired and I was going home to a place with a hole in the roof and average house mates. In saying that I am lucky that I have a place away from the city that I can go to and be with friends and hang out so I shouldn't be bummed at all! Plus, I better not get used to running 'home' to visit them or they will get sick of me and I wont get any more home cooked meals!
It was a big week of work and play but the next one is going to be even bigger as I was on my own at work now with no trainer (such a big kid) and the next weekend is a bank holiday and our trip to Scotland. Hopefully next time I write I've got loads of stories and photos!
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