A few day trips and a BBQ

Sorry for the silence on the blogging front... believe it or not I've been quite busy while recovering from my wee accident..

So... where we last left off I had just exited this place...

I've actually been healing very quickly... it's been 6 weeks and yesterday I attempted my first jog / run. Painful yes... but I managed.

But in the meantime I haven't let a broken pelvis or two slow down my fun.

I've been on a day trip to Hever Castle

(that's real England blue sky!)

Went to Winchester with Tane, Lauren, Renee and Stephen.

We saw King Arthur's Round Table

We went into Winchester Cathedral while humming the corosponding song.

And to welcome Spring (who shows up only now and then), my flat had our first BBQ of the season!

As the only man of the flat, Steph's boyfriend Neville took charge. I'm holding the box that says

BBQ just in case it wasn't clear what it exactly was...

You see, they have these small pocket portable BBQ in a box kits here... and it just didn't really seem like a REAL BBQ. But it was. The sausages were cooked and eaten.

So it's coming up to 3 months for me living in London. I can't believe it's gone so quickly. But at the same time I feel like I've always been here. Odd.

This weekend is the Cheese Rolling Festival tour, so I promise not to wait a month and get photos of that up quick smart.

x Laura

The Grand National

I've spent the last five days telling this story to about 15 different doctors, 20 nurses, a dozen patients and that's just the beginning now I'm home, so you understand I'm somewhat over it.

I was helping run a tour to the Grand National in Liverpool and I got crushed by our tour bus.

What happened is that the bus driver asked me to direct him when he was backing the bus in the parking lot. He must not have had the best vision or stopped watching me but he kept going despite me telling him to stop. He wasn't just backing slowly and carefully either, there were definite bursts of speed.

Anyway it happend so quickly that I didn't have the time (or good sense) to get out of the way. He crushed me between the bus and a parked car. It took a passenger running up the bus yelling at him to before he stopped. So there was a fair bit of continuous crushing.

They called an ambulance and took me to hospital. I got a few shots of morphine and the doctors paniced about whether my spine was damaged (despite being able to wiggle my toes etc). They x-rayed me and eventually moved me to a ward.

In the ward I shared the room with 5 delightful elderly ladies. Them and the nursing staff (and the drugs) made the next 4 days of boredom ok. They kept me there cause they wanted to run a few tests and scans to make sure there was no internal damage (which there isn't yay). I progressed from complete bed rest, to an A frame walker (ironic with the old ladies there), and now I'm on crutches.

But they finally released me yesterday and my boss drove up from London to pick me up.
I'm pretty bruised and sore but that will all heal quickly. I have two broken bones in the right side of my pelvis.

So that's it. It sounds a lot worse than what it is - getting crushed between a bus and a car seems pretty horrific. I'm really lucky I didn't damage my spine and got away with the injuries I do have.

If you're in the neighbourhood I'd love company so pop in for a visit. I'm planning on going back to work after Easter as I can tell I'll be sick of sitting around at home by then. I'm perfectly able to work, walking's the only obstacle. But there are buses I can take, and the crutches get me around so all's well.

p.s. my doctor was INCREDIBLY hot. I just wished I'd shaved my legs when he was checking my reflexes.

Video from Valencia

My fireworks antics were caught on camera (thanks Alison!). Me and Vegas were trying to blow up a roadcone - much to the annoyance of the people sitting behind it. Watch them jump!

Lets blow some shit up: Las Fallas Festival in Valencia

The Fallas:

The flower virgin

Tapas

Pre burning

Fireworks

Kaboom
More burning

The tour group

Photos from the road: Bath

Busy Busy

I've officially started work this week and it's keeping me pretty busy. On my list of things to do is blog about Valencia and Bath and put a few pics up. In brief they were both great and life is pretty fab.

Today is my 4 week anniversary of being in the UK. It's amazing how quickly time has flown by, but yet it feels like I've been here forever. I guess when it comes down to it London isn't that much different, people are generally the same, they just talk with different accents.

Work is great. It's always hard getting your head around a new job but everyone in the office is making it easy for me to slide in and become part of the furniture.

The flat is pretty much the same, I feel like I've been there forever and I'm not the newbie.

Well four weeks down, checklist time...

• Job - check
• Flat - check
• Travel - check
• Doing the London thing - check
• Meeting new and interesting people - check
• Meeting potential husband - not yet ;-)

Blakesley Court

The lovely street, something out of Coro st:

Blakesley Court (not quite as picturesque as the rest of the street)

And finally, our flat (we're on the left - but just the first two floors)

My room is the window above the door!

Inside my room... the word cosey comes to mind :)

An address

Howdy!

I have an address! For sending letters, gifts, CDs, wedding invites (I'm actually expecting two different invites!) and other snail mail related items.

Email me for it :)

So it's been a few days since my last update, and as I managed to get the job within a week of arriving in London, it seemed my great London Luck didn't run out there (or careful planning and determination as my mum puts it). Yesterday I found a great flat. I move in tonight (thus the purpose of the blog- having an address...) I will be living with 3 other kiwi girls (keep it local) in Ealing (keep it local again - all the people I know in London live in Ealing). But it's perfect as I work in Acton Town, which is a 5 minute bus ride from Ealing.

I have a lovely snug room (read tiny) and the flat is modern and has a great lounge. The girls keep a spare mattress in the corner for visitors, so if you're in need of a floor to sleep on in London I have one! They seem very friendly and social so I don't think I'm going to be lacking activities over here. I'll take some photos tomorrow and put them up here. The street is something out of Coro St!

That's about all the news - though it's been a pretty action packed two weeks. Thanks so much to Chris and Sal for putting me up while I job / flat hunted. I really have had the dream run over here.

Take care

x Laura

A job!

After only one week of being in London I have a job! It's my dream job too - so many people said I'd end up having to work in a bar, or even worse, packing up and having to crawl back home with my tail between my legs... well it has all worked out perfectly. I not only managed to get a job in no time at all, but it's a job I really wanted too!

Last year I was recommended by a friend to contact a touring company called First Festival Travel. They are a small company (owned and run by kiwis) who specialise in tours to European festivals, such as the Running of the Bulls, St Patricks Day, Beerfest etc. I emailed them and was told they would have an office position available March 09 (and I'd also get to go out on the tours now and then). So we booked an interview for the day after I arrived in London. Jetlagged (on my part) and hungover (on their part - they had a Bushfire fundraising event the night before) we had a lovely interview and....

Waahlaahh I got the job.

They have their shop / office in Acton Town, which is right by Ealing- where most of my friends live. It really couldn't be any more perfect.

But most of all I'm really excited to work for them. They seem to be an awesome bunch of people and I can't wait to throw myself whole heartedly into the job. I said it was my dream job and I meant it. I get to be involved in organising trips to some of the most exciting festivals in Europe. I get some travel, and still get to be based in London.

I don't start for a few more weeks so that gives me plenty of time to find a flat and do a bit of site-seeing. Annnnnnnnd (perks already!) they have two festival events in a weeks time - and if they have a spare spot, Steve (the boss), said they'd take me along to give me a taste of how it works. Pretty effing awesome festivals tooo... St Patricks in Ireland or Las Fallas in Valencia. Yup.

I love London :)

Do check them out - http://www.firstfestivaltravel.com/

Safe and sound

Just a quick blog to say I've arrived safely in London. The flights were as ok as far as flights go. The only drama was that my suitcase was about 5kg over weight - but a quick reshuffle into my hand luggage solved that. It turns out they don't weigh your hand luggage so it was fine for that to be 5kgs over weight :)

Yesterday was a bit of a haze. I ended up sleeping for about 13 hours (broken up with attempts to get up and not sleep too much) but this has left me fully recharged at 4am. Oh well, maybe a midday nap will get me into the new time zone today.

x Laura

All packed and ready to go!

I'm off to Hamilton for the night today and then I fly out tomorrow morning at 11am! It's suddenly here and I honestly don't think it's hit me yet that I'm MOVING to London.

A big thankyou to Jess and Paul for having me to stay for the last 3 weeks. It's been great to be back in Ferndale Heights (and out of South Auckland!)

T minus 5 days

I've gotten very good at answering the same questions over and over in the last few weeks, but for those who haven't asked, here are the top ten questions and answers on my OE.

1. When are you leaving?
Wednesday! Flight departs 11.15am
2. Who are you flying with?
Royal Brunei Airlines
3. Is it a direct flight or are you having a stop over?
It's direct (ish). I fly to Brisbane, then Brunei, then Dubai, then London. Got an hour or so in each, so not bad at all.
4. Working or travelling?
Working (hopefully).
5. Have you got a job?
Nope! Got a few things lined up, an interview, my CV is with a recruitment agency, so fingers crossed!
6. Where are you staying?
With friends in Ealing till I get myself sorted.
7. Are you packed?
Pretty much :)
8. Are you scared / excited?
Yes to both.
9. What's your email address to keep in contact?
l_shackel@hotmail.com
10. Are you nuts quitting your perfectly good job and moving to London in the middle of a recession?
Yes!