English Lesson 1.01

For those of you who have any english friends you will know that they speak a little, well, strange to be quite frank. I have learnt the following things since I have been here -

• Pluggers are not called thongs over here. Thongs are g-strings and what we call thongs are actually flip flops. Geddit?
• 'Hiya, you alright?' means 'How are you?' I have been here six months and still feel like a nob saying 'You alright?' when they clearly are 'alright' so I just go with the standard Aussie 'How's it going?' Yes, I am shamefully Australian
• 'Rubbish' means bad / crap / not good etc. Ie: the english football team is rubbish.
• 'Quality' is the opposite of rubbish
• 'Muppet' is idiot / nob / stupid etc. Ie: the Australian goal keeper against Croatia is a muppet.
• 'Minging' is ugly / bad etc. Kind of the same as rubbish but you tend to use it to describe unfortunate looking people
• A doona is a duvet
• Ice blocks / ice creams are lollies and lollies are sweets

I am sure that there are heaps more things but that is just a brief venture into the joys of living abroad. I am proud to say that I have been spreading the good word and teaching my workmates some quality Aussie words like skirt, sook and manky. I am yet to convince them of the virtues of Vegemite though. I am sure that they will come around eventually... Oh and if you are wondering about the pictures, Rich bought an England hat for Dipti's birthday (which coincidentally coincided with the world cup) and has become a bit of a running joke around the office. I thought as this post was about England that it was kind of fitting.

Refresh Boat Party

It was quite uncanny that I seem to have spent so much time doing river cruises in the past few weeks. I had been saying for ages that I had wanted to do a boat trip down the Thames and then all of a sudden I did like three in as many weeks. Bizarre! Anyhoo, the latest boat trip that I did was on Saturday - the night after The Cat Empire gig. If anyone comes over to London and for those of you who are currently in London, I would recommend doing a river cruise. It is a really great way to see the city and a whole new perspective of the city. We ended up going all the way past Greenwich and the Thames barrier which was pretty cool. The tunes were pretty cool too - I am not normally into oonce-oonce kind of stuff but it was really hardcore and surprisingly good to dance to. One of my mates from work (who as of this weekend will also be my housemate) boyfriend DJ's and so she was helping to organise it. I think there is another one in a few months that co-incides with London fireworks so I will definitely be up for that. The photos that I have included are Lou, Hayley and I on the boat in front of Tower Bridge, Hayley and I, my ticket, and the dance floor. As you can probably tell, the roof of the dance floor was quite low. There were some more guys that were unfortunately a little tall for the dance floor and had to float about in the middle section where there was an oval bit cut out of the roof. I felt sorry for the poor guys but at the same time it was really quite amusing!

The Cat Empire

I went to see The Cat Empire at the Shepherd's Bush on Friday night (4th August) with Hayley and two of her mates, Jo and Stacey from work. Aaron (Kristy's mate that we met just before we left Oz) was there too and so was Laura and her two house mates Brendan and Pete so there actually ended up being quite a decent sized crew of us there. Went to the WalkAbout before the gig (think Friday's on a Saturday night crossed with the Down Under bar and you get the idea) for a few brewskies. Saw the drummer from TCE - Hayley nearly had a coronary (admittedly she was the only groupie among us) and headed next door for the gig at around 8'ish (I think!) The gig was wicked - anyone who has seen these guys live will know how much they rock. The She Bu Empire is a great venue too. We had standing tix so we had a good view of the stage but could also look back up into the rest of the venue - there are three levels / balconies and all of them were packed which made a pretty cool view from where we were. Highlights included wearing Krispy Kreme hats and just dancing my ass off, lowlights included being elbowed in the face by an angry tall man who had an angry short girlfriend. Oh and we ended up in Chiswick at the end of the night as we got on the wrong night bus. Where is Chiswick I hear you ask? Good question really... The photos that I have included are of Hayley, Jo and I with our tix, the view back up into the venue, us with our Krispy Kreme hats on and a cool, psychadelic pic of Hayley and I.

Picnic in the Park

As the weather has been so brilliant over here I decided that it might be a nice idea to have a picnic in Regent's Park to take advantage of the sunshine. Having to give everyone directions over the phone to a place that I had never been to was slightly interesting but we all made it to the designated meeting spot in the end. We ended up having enough food for about three small countries (anyone who has shared a meal with Liz and I will know that we do tend to over-cater for things) and ran around like idiots playing football and frisbee. Well, I was running around like an idiot and everyone else just looked normal! I also managed to nearly decapitate a small child with my lack of Frisbee throwing skills. I swear it was the wind! The park itself is pretty nice - I haven't really had much of a look around but there is heaps of open space and there are lakes that you can go boating in (that is another adventure waiting to be had.) A 'highlight' of the day was watching a hairy Italian man run around playing football in his green underwear. Oh dear... The pics I have included are of 'us' (Andy, Rich, Donna, Lou, Hayley and Kym) and my Frisbee throwing prowess. I have also put in the flyer that I made up for the event.

Staff Boat Party

I am blessed to be working in an office that strongly believes that staff outings are integral to the workings of a modern office and essential to staff bonding. Our latest social event was a boat party on the Thames. Not only did we get to finish work early, we got coach driven down to the pier (though it was insanely hot on the coach - yes, people it does get hot in London) and we also got free food and drinks all night with a wicked view of London from the vantage point of the deck of a boat. What more can one ask for really?! It was a really fun night though I think that the highlight of the night would have to be being shown up on the dance floor by a certain Russian colleague. I think that I could show a few of you some pretty uh, blush-worthy dance moves involving a pole. Need I say more? The pics that I have included are of a view of Westminster Abbey from the Thames, a gorgeous sunset over Tower Bridge, a group of freakily stunning women (yes, I work with some hotties!) and the boat's dancefloor. Note the pole in the foreground.

The Return of the Brian Doll

Before I left Oz I sneakily 'borrowed' the resident office mascot otherwise known as Fred Gafney or more affectionately The Brian Doll (due to its uncanny resemblence to none other than our retail manager Brian.) Now, I left Australia about ooh six months and am only just now getting around to posting up some Brian Doll pics but in my defence he is a slighlty cumbersome fellow to be carrying about in one's handbag (and yes, I did get some 'Uh, you have a little manin bag' comments from the lovely security folks at the National History Museum.) Lawsy and I did a few treks around ye old London (in the rain no less) and have some slightly dodgy Fred photos for you to feast your collective eyes on. Enjoy! (Yes, I am telling you to enjoy looking at a freaky looking plastic doll in front of several well know London tourist attractions. Strange but true!)