Well I'm here! Where to start?
Had a lovely dinner at Cocos with my parents and grandparents Sunday night, the food was AMAZING and the view wasn't bad either. Then had to say goodbye to Nanna & Pop, give Pop his birthday present and head home to get some sleep. Got several hours sleep, probably because I was so exhausted!
Monday morning was a bit of a panic, people calling my phone every 5 minutes (special thankyou to Frances who called from Tasmania!), trying to down some breakfast and get some pounds ($400 = £157 = not happy Jan) for my cab fare. Managed to down a cheeseburger on the way to the airport, didn't get too upset saying goodbye to Bubbles at home, but was a complete mess at the airport. I just hate sitting around waiting to leave, it makes it feel 10 times harder and I started crying almost as soon as we sat down in the cafe near the departure gate. I ended up going through to the departure lounge a little early because I was getting too upset and didn't want Mum and Dad to get too upset either. Before I knew it I was sitting on the plane, heading down the runway.
The flight was really good, just
really long. I'm normally not too bad with long haul flights, but this time I was in an aisle seat next to 2 guys from Essex. They didn't really speak much and took up a bit of my room as well. I had a few hours sleep max. We had a bit of light turbulence going across the Bay of Bengal (well known for turbulence the captain said) so the seatbelt sign came on for about half an hour. I'm proud that I didn't completely freak out like I normally do, I hate turbulence with a passion! The food was very good, although I had a bad stomach ache for most of the flight due to nerves and adrenaline. Watched Just Like Heaven and then The 40 Year Old Virgin on my own individual screen (thank god for those otherwise I would have been bored out of my mind).
Caught a cab out to Renae's place in Clapham, the taxi ride was insane! It was really dark still and the windows were all frosty so I had no idea of where I was. Its a bit scary to be so disorientated with your surroundings! The traffic on the highway was crazy even for 7am. Basically spent the rest of Tuesday sleeping, chatting to Luke and Danny and watching bad British television. I've hardly eaten since arriving, my stomach was still playing up and I've had a couple of headaches so I couldn't keep anything down. I ate nothing the day I arrived. I'm still not feeling hungry much, but I've had a few little things to keep me going. I'm not complaining though, with all the walking I'm doing and the less eating I hope to avoid the 'Heathrow Injection'!
Today I caught the tube for the first time, out to Fulham Broadway (Mum we stopped at Pimlico and I thought of you then!). Walked around Fulham, which is gorgeous and has heaps of shops/pubs/cafes. Then caught the bus to Clapham Junction where I was told that my phone is locked with Telstra (grr even though it was pre-paid) still and couldn't be unlocked because of the model of phone it was. So I have to get a new phone tomorrow, more £££ gone. I'm checking out some advertised flats over the weekend and I've found a couple of others in Fulham which sound promising, so fingers crossed by the end of next week I have my own room and a home to live in!
The weather has been shocking, very cold and expected to get colder next week. There's some weather coming over from Scandinavia, so it'll probably be below zero or snow or something. The sun comes out here every day for like 30 minutes and everyone rejoices, haha.
Ooh I've already seen some cool clothes/bags/shoes here! One lady on the tube today had a gorgeous pair of suede and leather pointy pumps, I should have asked where they were from!? Maybe at the start of next week I'll get a chance to hit the city (which I still haven't seen).
Going out tonight to celebrate Australia day, we saw a few pubs in Fulham putting up the Aussie flag which made me feel all patriotic. Hope the skyshow went well at home!
