in search of something more...

the temperature is just above 0 and my hands are too cold to use a pen. winter is here, my reckoning has come, its time to be tested and see if london is going to make it!

i cant turn on the radiator in my house. i am following the instructions…hold in the big knob, click the small knob three times and then rush back to my bedroom anticipating warmth. but even when i find one of the three boys i live with to operate said radiator i am practically straddling the vent in my room to warm up.

ohhhhhhh chilly times ahead!

today the sky was bright blue, sun was shining and i smiled to myself as i walked past the london eye on my way to work, as i do everyday, because it was gleaming up there in the sunshine. this huge white ferris wheel makes me smile everyday and reminds me that no matter how shit work was, how annoying it is that the boys don’t clean and watch football, how useless my heater is - i am in london. its a symbol of tourists, and travelers, and bigger things than me, and awe and wonder and standing still while looking up with your mouth open. and i smile because i can chuck it all in and travel for all i care.

thank god for the london eye to remind me of this daily.

the london eye keeps me sane. now i have to collect my delicates from the washing machine. and hold the big knob while clicking the small knob three times as i try for warmth again.

this is for my mum, because she insists we are not facebook “friends” and therefore she cannot log on and see my photos, posts and stories (upon further probing, she cant recall how to ‘log on’, or the last time she did ‘log on’ to facebook so we could, in fact, be friends…). but not for my friend Pikey, who was adamant i confine all my adventures to facebook, because she cant be bothered to trawl the internet in search of them. sorry pike.

i joined an initiative last month called “30 days has september” where users are encouraged to try one brand new thing every day for the month of september and in the process raise money for the fred hollows foundation, or youth off the streets, or possibly both (as well as enriching their own lives and making september that little bit more interesting). well, i got a bit too preoccupied with settling myself in london to participate (packing up and moving to london, getting a new job in a foreign industry and moving in with three strangers is brand freaking new! that should count for at least a few weeks worth of activities!). but i think this initiative can extend to the rest of the year…and not be restricted to one per day. 

I have just moved to a city that plonked ping pong tables at random inner-city parks, that is going through a phase of holding gigs and drinks in laundrettes around town, and one that has flatmate speed-dating nights to secure yourself a flatmate in under 60secs - i am going to name my inititiative london-has-a-lot-to-do and i am going to record my experiences here.

some weeks i wont do much. others i will throw myself into the unknown (depends on my mood, my cashflow and who is visiting me in the city at the time!) but rest assured i am armed with a holga, a digital camera and plenty of excitment to be living in london (in style).

xx