So it begins

Free is good

Published Date : March 19, 2004

I’m on a roll with the freebies these day.  Free theatre tickets last week, free movie this week…what’s next?

Last week, the intranet at work had an advertisement for some free theatre tickets.  It was for a 3-man show called How I Got That Story, about a journalist in Vietnam during the war.  The theatre was only a 10-minute walk from the hostel, and the show was excellent.  The theatre was tiny, with seating for only about 20-30 people and it was only half full, so it was very intimate. It was a great performance though and a fun evening out.

This week it was free movie tickets.  Some guys came through Ayers Rock (the Rock) hostel looking for people to attend a screening.  They needed people to watch a really good film that hasn’t been released yet (Jonjo Mickybo it’s about a couple of kids in Belfast in the 70’s – definitely worth seeing), and then fill out a questionnaire.  Tough life.

I’ve been spending a lot of time over at the Rock with Gray lately.  They’ve got a good group of people over there, and it’s much smaller than Olave House.  Plus they’ve got Sky TV – I didn’t know what to do with myself having more than 5 channels to choose from!  It has been nice talking to some new people, and just getting out of Olave for a change.  I wouldn’t want to live over there though; the place is practically falling apart!

Moving Out??

Published Date : March 24, 2004

How quickly things can change.  Ayers Rock hostel has been sold and it’s closing down next Tuesday.  It’s already half empty, and the new owners have already started renovating.  Obviously that means everyone is looking for new digs.

Gray found a double room in a 7-bedroom house in Fulham that’s going for £140/week and he wants me to move out there with him.  I wasn’t too keen on the idea of paying more at first (I pay £60/week now), but the idea has grown on me.  For that extra £10 a week, I get some privacy and Sky TV, and I can actually buy food and not worry about whether or not it will still be there later.  Plus the price includes all the utilities, and they only require two weeks rent and two weeks deposit.  It’s a pretty good deal really.

It’s in quite a good area, and an added bonus is that it’s about the same distance from work that I am now.  I’m still not totally convinced, but we’re going to go check it out tonight.  We shall see…

Moving Out

Published Date : March 26, 2004

Sunday is moving day.  Yay!  I’m so excited!  The room and the house turned out to be great.  Big room, our own TV and fridge, a big lounge, nice new kitchen, garden, plenty of bathrooms, and – most importantly – a cleaner who comes in twice a week.

The trip to Mallorca is coming up fast as well.  Only two more weeks until sun, sand, and sangria.  I am really, really, really looking forward to the break and the change of scenery.

I can’t believe how fast the months are flying by.  It’s already the end of March. When did that happen?  It’s just over 6 months until I make my great escape.  I can’t wait.

Settling in

Published Date : April 2, 2004

Gray and I are pretty much all settled in to our new digs now, but it was an adventure.  The Brazilians who were leaving didn’t even start packing until we got there at about 7pm on Sunday night.  By the time we even got access to the room it was about 11pm, and then it was only to discover that the guys were absolute pigs.  The room was a total disaster.

I should probably backtrack and tell you about the very uneventful departure from Earl’s Court first.  I was up early to check out before 11am so I could get my £10 key deposit back.  Not so early, except that the clocks changed so I lost an hour there to start with, plus the only packing I had managed to that point was to pull my backpack out from under the bed and clear the dust off it.  I’ve done a pretty reasonable job of keeping the pack-rat tendencies in check, but after 8 ½ months in London (jeez has it really been that long already?!) I had managed to accumulate enough new things to make packing a challenge.  Luckily I managed to fit it all into two very overloaded packs on the first run.  I’m definitely going to have to do a proper clear out before I leave London for good.

I hung around Olave House for a couple of hours to say all my goodbyes, but not a lot of people were around and it was pretty anticlimactic.  So over to the Rock I go, surprised that I’m actually able to stand up with my packs on.  They looked a heck of a lot heavier than they actually were.  A long couple of hours spent dozing on the couch at the Rock, and we finally got the word that we could head over to the new place.  Bonus: the landlord actually picked us up and drove us door to door.  Excellent!  I was not looking forward to struggling with my bags on the tube.

After finally accessing our new room at 11pm, I was tired, and I was cranky. We had been sitting around waiting for the room for 4 hours.  We finally got in only to be faced with 2 hours of major cleaning.  Knowing I had to be up for work in the morning, I was not a happy camper.  The icing on the cake is that the guys took the TV with them, they had broken the fridge, and we had no sheets for the beds.  Isn’t moving fun?

Anyway, apart from the long and painful moving process, it has been a good transition.  We’re getting a new TV and fridge, the place is great, and our housemates are awesome.  There are currently 12 people living here, which is a big improvement over the 50+ in the hostel.

After all that great effort of finally getting out of the hostels in Earl’s Court, Gray and I are rounding out the week by going to see a play called Kangaroo Valley which is about – wait for it – backpackers living in a hostel in Earl’s Court!  How sad are we?  Haha!  It should be entertaining though ��