The importance of being idle

Good title for an Oasis song I think. It's also what I'm feeling like at the moment, a bit idle! Having now not worked for... some time and desperate to get back into things. It's been a slow going for me, with about 30 job applications and just a single response so far. Still, it's potentially a good one, so fingers crossed.

Kat on the other hand has had great success. She's currently temping at Deloitte, with other options in the pipeline too. I'll not say too much here, but things are looking rosy for her... proud of the gal.

Well, had a couple of weeks here now and feeling much better (finally). Still, I went out for a run last night with Kat, Cass and Steve and nearly died.... seem to have lost a lot of fitness since we left NZ. Now why would that be? Speaking of runnning, we went for a long one a few days back early in the morning, across the frosted fields. It actually looked quite nice. The hills weren't quite as steep as Queenstown, but still enough to have us gagging for breath.

The attitude of people of London ranges from funny to disgusting. Drivers are aggressive all the time. Litter and dumping is a huge problem. I was walking through town yesterday when a guy finished his pack of nuts and basically threw the packet straight at me. There was a bin about 2 metres further on his left. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen people dropping cans and just want to give them a slap and point out the nearest bin. I would, but for the fear of being stabbed or shot if I did! Anyway, enough of the eco-warrior rant.

The photo's here then. The first one's the view from the front room of the flat. The second ones the local pub (which we haven't been in yet!). They were both taken early in the morning, so a little dark and grey... but that's kind of how it always looks in winter! No, it's not that bad, really. Today it's sunny and is topping out at 3 degrees - roll on Summer!


Things in the flat are working out well. We got the stuff back from NZ, but I had to shed a few tears and sell my amp and give my speakers to my brother. There's just no way they'd fit in here. Still, you can't have everything.

Have caught up with a few people since I've been back, but we're heading to a ball on Saturday night, so should see a few more. No one has grown a second head while we've been away. In fact, they are pretty much all doing the same things they were when we left. For more coin though of course.

Here's a view over London from Alexandra palace, which is on our back doorstep. It's on the 'long' running route and offers a good view over London on a clear day... I'm told.

Ok, more positively. Shows. Entertainment. Cheap flights. Shopping. Oh yes, that's what it's all about. Sadly, I don't yet have the money to go splashing out, but hopefuly I soon will have. The West end has loads and loads of shows on all the time, so I imagine we'll frequent a fair few of these. Shopping is unlimited here, although a recent trip down Oxford street was almost enough to put me off! I did my ignorant tourist bit on the way back too, diving into the closing doors of the tube train mistakingly thinking that they'd stop rather than dismember me. Wrong. Brusised and embarrassed I was, but the others had a good giggle. Briliant.

I like Tesco. It's started doing everything... not just food. I bought some work shirts there (positive thinking) for 4 quid each, bargain. And they survived the initial wash, which you have to do to avoid the obvious "I've just bought this shirt" look. They also do househould stuff, toys, DVD's and electronics, therefore giving the male half of a relationship an escape from the games of trolley dodgems that go on in these aisled supermarkets.

For those UK mates, here's a great site which I've been reading up on since being back to save all kinds of money. No nonsense advice on everything from savings and loans to cheapest telephone calls. A good read, especially for tight ar$es like me!

Oh, and if you want to find out the cheapest petrol in your area, go here. And if you want to find out how much people paid for their houses, go here. See, you do get something useful from reading my waffle.

One final thing for now. We did Ceroc last week. It's a dancing thing baby, yeah.

Simply put, it is the sexy side of Salsa meets the energy of Rock n Roll. Gene Kelly dances with Jennifer Lopez.

To me, it's like old school jive. Not that I'm that old, but I've seen Grease. Good fun though I must admit and a welcome venture out of the flat. Man I need a job. Speaking of which, I have 2 new e-mails with a potential 2582 jobs. Off I go then...