Happy Halloween!

Justin and I were worried that we wouldn't fit in when we went out this weekend because we didn't have costumes. Turns out Justin didn't need one. While we were munching on a baguette at Liverpool St station last night a guy points at Justin and yells out:

"Hey - It's TinTin!"

Funny, right? :)

Gen

The Stressful Bits

As some of you have heard we rented a flat (yay!). It was a very different process than renting in Canada. Most things here, even jobs, go through agencies who act as middle men between renters and landlords, or companies and potential hires. I guess there is a reason for it, but it seems like a cash grab in most cases. Anyways, Justin and I went and looked at a flat in Wimbledon and ended up renting it through the agent who showed it to us. I pretty much pressured Justin into it; He was hesitant because our walk to the flat was through a pretty grim area. But I was told by a friend I met while still in Vancouver that 5 minutes away from the really shite areas in London is usually a good area, so I had faith that on the other side of us would be something good. Turns out there is. Justin says I just got lucky.

The flat is expensive, yes, but we knew it would be. We expected to pay about double what we were paying in Vancouver, and we are paying almost exactly that. The one real killer was that because we don't have jobs or any references here in the UK we had to pay for 6 months upfront to secure the place. It sucks but I get it. There are so many people moving here every day and the landlord needs some sense of security... anyone could pretend to be anyone. So I guess we are staying here for at least 6 months! :)

It's a really big place (by London standards) and has a living room with a futon in it, PERFECT for visitors to sleep comfortably on (HINT HINT). That is actually one of the main reasons we both really like the space- We really hope that you use us as an excuse to come visit London, especially now with a large comfortable space. Here is a link to it online so you can take a look. Keep in mind that the pictures greatly exaggerate the size, especially in the kitchen): Click here to see our flat!

We move in on Friday the 4th, and so now with that sorted we can focus on the next stressful bit - getting jobs.

As our flat was located only 3 tube stops from the cafe I had my interview at, I was really hoping I would get the job. On Thursday night Magda called me and offered me a part time position! Magda and her partner are really sweet and the Cafe opens this Monday. My first day training will be Wednesday. There is a facebook page you can check out if you want to see what it looks like. It's going to be very different for me but I'm looking forward to interacting with the customers and having a little money come in.

I also had a contact through Ben from Citytv ask me to help him out at a IIFF event at a film school in London. I went out and lent a hand on Thursday night and met a very sweet girl named Tamsyn, who is in drama school to be an actress, and an Italian director-hopefull named Fab, who both gave me a ton of advice about the city and were really fun to chat with. I am hoping to meet up with more of the contacts I have been given once we move into our flat.

Justin has started the process of getting his equivalency paperwork and will begin focusing on finding a job soon.

We've been having a lot of fun too.. went out to Windsor castle, had a good few drinks last night and met all sorts of people from different countries, explored some of the tourist areas of London... but that's another post; I just wanted to update you all on the tougher parts of this adventure. We'll tell you more about the fun stuff shortly.

I'll leave you with this - A couple nights ago I woke up and heard an animal in our room rustling in the garbage can. I elbowed Justin to get up and see what it was, so he reluctantly did. When he went to tie up the garbage a mouse jumped out and ran so fast across the room that there wasn't even a moment to try and catch him.

I guess mice are something I'm going to have to get used to. They have been here for centuries; I've only been here 6 days.

Deep breath.

Genevieve

This is the Piccadilly Line, with service to Cockfosters

It's pretty hard to fit in on a busy tube when you laugh out loud to this announcement. Such is life for us here on day 2. We were up at 5am, had a beer and then crashed again til 10, so not the most productive start. Tried to get a National Insurance number, integral to getting a job, only to be told you need an address to send the forms, much like you need an address and a job to open a bank account, and you need a bank account to apply for a decent phone plan, and so on. It's a bit of a chicken before the egg scenario that no one seems to care too much to remedy. We'll manage though, looking into another short term holiday let to give us a little more time.

We ventured out to Putney today for Gen's interview for a job at a cafe, far as I could tell the position wasn't really ideal for either side, so that's probably as far as that'll go. The trip out there was cool though, the city just keeps on going, and although similar worlds, every little part of life here is a bit different which keeps it interesting. We checked out High Street on the way home, browsed Marks & Spencer's, which is essentially the Bay, just enjoying the little differences.

Went to the Natural History Museum afterwards, which was on a whim, but actually somewhere I was really looking forward to. The main entrance had an enormous line, which caught us by surprise at 3pm on a Tuesday in October, I guess tourism season is a little longer here.

We were sent to a side entrance that was line free, but not understanding the sheer volume of the museum we spent over an hour in the geology section before realizing the good shit was over where the huge line was. We got to the dinosaurs at closing and had to sneak in the exit and walk against the flow of massive pedestrian traffic. Well worth it obviously. That's somewhere I plan to hit up again when someone comes for a visit...

We went out for dinner at a Canadian themed pub called the Maple Leaf, the food and atmosphere was good, but I don't think we're homesick enough because it wasn't really very Canadian, or maybe just too focused on Ontario, not interested.


Walking around this city is a huge change, every time you feel like you're on the busiest street, you take a turn down a busier one. Its like Granville and Robson is every intersection. There aren't really any landmarks to look up at, so getting your bearings is tough too, for someone who prides himself on a good sense of direction, London is gonna be a test. Challenge accepted.

Back in bed now, procrastinating tasks and watching some sweet British accents on TV talking about who cares what,

Oh, and today marks the first of many things we'll miss back home, I of course mean the first Canucks game.... and Lorna's 50th birthday too I suppose. Happy Birthday Lorna! And Go Canucks Go!

-Justin

In Between Day One and Day Two

It's 4:55am and we are jetlagged pretty bad. We have been up for about 2 hours already. Looks like an interesting start to day 2 here in London.

Before we left Vancouver we had booked a room in a flat for a week through the website wimdu.com. It's basically a rental site where people offer up rooms in their homes or income properties. We handed over about $450 Canadian dollars to a man named Marcos and crossed our fingers that he wasn't a scam artist.

When we arrived yesterday our first order of business was to meet up with Marcos and see if we in fact had a place to stay. Justin tried calling him on a payphone at the train from Gatwick, but we couldn't figure out how to use the payphone. He called from his Canada cell instead. After riding a train into the city and a tube to Liverpool station we wandered through a couple blocks of very busy streets and found Marcos waiting for us outside of 25 Widegate street.


Our temporary home is through a small red door above an Indian restaurant. When you first walk in the hall is overtaken by the restaurant and you can see right into the kitchen. We haven't discussed eating there yet, but I think we probably should.

Up 4 flights of very narrow stairs is our flat. It has 4 or 5 rooms (we haven't snooped enough to remember right now), a small shared kitchen, a toilet room with a sink (that we are not allowed to flush anything down, even TP), and a shower room with a sink. Our little room is pretty much as shown in the pictures we saw on the website, but the pictures seem to have exaggerated the size. We'll have to keep that in mind for finding out more permanent place. We have a small fridge, table, and wardrobe in the room, and the bed is pretty comfy. Our window looks onto a side street, and we just noticed a strange flashing light coming from a flat across from us. There seems to be a lively bar or house party close by as there was bouts of singing as we were sleeping.

We tried to get a bank account but we need to have proof of residence so we will have to wait until we find our home and get a bill sent there. The situation was the same for getting mobiles; we need an address before they will give us a contract. So we have pay as you go - Justin on his unlocked blackberry and me on a sweet flip phone Erika and Ryan gave me before we left Van. If you for some reason want our mobile numbers send us an email or facebook us.

Thats about all we had time to do yesterday. We had a quick shop at Tesco (cheese is really cheap and we got a can of beans for 26p), then both felt quite cranky and realized we really needed to sleep. Once the regular folk are awake we plan on making some calls to see flats, getting our national insurance number, and I have a job interview at 2pm. We're hoping to feel a bit more confident about finding a permanent home once we see a few.

That's all for now. We are going to try and sleep one more hour before rising for the day. It's a big one ahead.

Miss you all lots.
Gen