Update: August 20-29

I spent the weekend of 20 August unwinding for the most part except for Sat. night. My friend Flora, and her boyfriend Alistair host a boat dance party down in Vauxhall once a month. They rent out the Battersea Barge and two of their friends dj. Check out the link: http://www.batterseabarge.com/main.asp

It gives them with the opportunity to meet up with all of their friends. I invited my buddy Brad down with me. Everyone had a riot. We all began the evening by mingling on the upper deck of the boat and then when the music got a bit louder we all headed to the dance floor. I danced til 3am! So much fun! On Sunday, much recovering was required. Brad had the brilliant idea of going to Surrey for the best croissants from this little patisserie that he had discovered. I can say they were melt in your mouth good!

The week following was extremely busy prepping for my camping trip in the Lake District for my birthday. I decided to take Friday off so I could stretch the long weekend into an even longer one. 5 days of camping! It was so good to have a bit of a road trip with the girls: Lisa and Helen. We left Thursday night, made a pit stop in Litchfield to pick up some gear before crashing at Helen’s friend Ian’s place. One of my favourite moments in the car was when Helen and Lisa were trying to figure out how to get the iPod to work with the car’s radio. I was thoroughly entertained in the back seat for an hour:

Helen (who’s driving): Lisa, now hit the pause button.
Lisa: Okay, done…nothing’s happening.
Helen: Hit the pause button.
Lisa: I did. (presses it again.)
Helen (looking over): That’s not the pause button. That’s the pause button.
Lisa: Oh! Okay. Done. It’s not working…let me try it again. Just one more time.

Now repeat this conversation over 6 more times, and you can see why I was hysterical in the backseat.

We made it to Warrington by 11:30pm and we’re on the road the next day by 8:30am. Lisa driving with Ian, and Helen and I driving in her cute little Peugeot, Declan, the 2nd. I was fascinated by the scenery as we got to the Lake District. Beautiful rolling hills and ahem!…mountains (large foothills, if you’re from Canada) bisected by stone walls for as far as the eye could see. The campsite that Helen had originally booked for us had conveniently cancelled our reservation but we found another campground a few miles down the road on a farmer’s property, 5 miles from Ambleside. The site was nestled on 3 sides by a large ridge with a waterfall running down the centre of it. As we’re getting out of the car, Lisa says to me, “Gill camping in Britain is totally different than at home.” I couldn’t agree with her more!! Hot showers, no campfires, a pub within ten minutes walking distance, and the most dangerous animal that can tear through your tent is a sheep.

Lisa and Helen headed out for a hike after we set up camp and Ian and I chilled. I had bought myself a new pair of hiking boots in town for a bargain of a deal, and thought it best to break them in on a short jaunt to the pub. (insert Cheshire grin) Ian and I had a few pints before Helen and Lisa joined us. We headed back to the campsite for an early night. Besides, we were still expecting for the other half of our party to show up that night and the following morning. Some of Helen’s friends showed around midnight, trudging through our campsite. The next day, we got up and did an 18 km hike up onto the ridge, passing a tarn and then crossing over a waterfall. It was fabulous!! And so picturesque…I was half expecting to cross paths with Anthony Hopkins in a tweed jacket and mahogany walking stick.

I had a bit of trouble jumping from rock to rock in the waterfall – Lisa and Helen have about an extra four inches of leg than I do, but I still managed even if it meant throwing large stones in the river so I could more easily jump across or a kind hiker lending a helping hand (Gilly's pride hurt a bit then). After we cleaned up and we’re getting ready to head to Wainright’s Pub that evening, I was delighted to discover a birthday cake and a gift in my tent. We had dinner at the pub that night – roast lamb with mint sauce…my fave!! And it was onto the drinking games. I haven’t laughed that hard in so long!

The next day we woke up to torrential rain. Some of our party hiked over the ridge to Grasmere and the smart ones (myself included) drove there. I visited William Wordsworth’s grave and some of the other quaint sites. The weather got progressively worse so the rest of the day was quite quiet, that was until 3 in the morning when the rain turned to monsoon and gale force winds.

We woke though to beautiful blue sky. The weather finally had turned nice, but as luck would have it, it was time to head home. We packed up and headed to one last mountain – Gowers craig. It was a quick hike but the view was spectacular. We all mellowed out in the long golden grass watching the clouds blow by. By 2pm, we all went our separate ways – Helen and I headed down to her parents place, just outside Rugby (yes, that’s the town where rugby was invented). We had a bit of tea with her Mum and was back on the road.

I must say that after living in London, the people I met from the Midlands and the Lake District were so friendly and down to earth. It felt so good to get out of London and see how the rest of the country lives.

Update: August 1-20

On the weekend of August 6-8, I spent Friday night at my friend Diana’s house in West Hamstead. Her flat overlooks the common…so beautiful. We had a tasty 4 course meal and wine and just chilled out. I was praising myself as I entered my front door at 12 that I had a very relaxing evening. However, that quickly changed as I discovered two of my housemates needing much help finding toilets because they had apparently had too much fun. (insert eye roll here.)

Saturday, I met up with Helen and had an awesome workout at her health club. After a great run and a power swim we went to Burrough Market in London Bridge. It’s so great to grab a bite to eat and chill out in the church yard behind the market on a perfect summer’s day. That evening Helen and I decided to head out to a dance club – my first in London! As we were lining up, Helen spotted 20 quid on the ground which paid for cover. We danced and had a fabulous time. The next day, I had a beautiful pub lunch out at Wandsworth Common.

Tuesday, I caught up with my friend Flora. We headed up to Marlebone for a drink at a snazzy little wine bar after work. It’s really nice to catch up with your Canadian friends so that you can dish about your experiences in the UK. I had told Flora how I was frustrated by the Brits constantly correcting my English when there’s nothing wrong with it. ToMAYto, ToMAHto. (insert Cheshire grin) Flora told me that the next time a Brit criticized me for my ignorance of the English language to subtly point out there ignorance: ask them to name the countries that make up North America. I thought she was kidding. She told me every time she’s asked a Brit, they’d managed to get it wrong. So I tried it out and I’m shocked!! I even gave them a hint that there are 3 countries that make up N. America…their answer: US, Canada, and Alaska. Gilly smug now. (insert Cheshire grin)

The work week was spent trying to obtain a bank account and an NI number. (insert head shake) Don’t the British want to take my money?! It’s amazing – you need so much documentation (passports, letters from employers and the like) to simply open an account AND it takes forever. Finally, by Friday, I was accepted but I still have to wait another week before I can do any banking due to their efficient administration. So frustrating.

And it’s official…Gilly managed to be told off by a bus driver on Wednesday. I was going to my National Insurance appointment (SIN equivalent) and had to catch the bus to get there – it was in Camden. I had politely asked the driver if he could tell me when I should get off the bus as I was unfamiliar with the area. He managed to grunt and shot a thumb to say: “Back of the bus!” I didn’t trust his response, so I followed along in my A-Z. When I thought I was close to my destination, I asked the bus driver. He snapped back at me, “Where do you need to go!!” I responded and he laughed at me. So I calmly asked him if this was my stop and he laughed again. I politely told him I didn’t appreciate his smart @ss attitude and that’s when he called me something too nasty to repeat here. So I gave him “the whatever”, flashed him the black eyes and got off the bus. Luckily it was the right stop. Would it have killed him to have just answered me in the first place?!!

I hadn’t even arrived at my NI appointment and I was already stressed. Stupid bus driver – day can’t get any worse…or can it? I get to the government office and they had lost my appointment. (sigh!) English bureaucracy at it’s finest. Luckily someone was available for me. We proceeded to go through a HUGE booklet just for a bloody NI no. It’s worse than filling in a student loan application!! My favourite question was: so what did you used to do in Canaidia? Canaidia, are you serious?!! No lie. Try ignoring that and answering with a straight face – well, I was captain of the dog sled team (is what I really wanted to say.) Needless to say, the agent was very kind and I’ll be getting my NI no. in a few weeks too.

Wednesday’s not over…Charlotte, my workmate had informed my boss a few weeks back that I run from time to time and ever since then, I've been prodded into joining her run with one of the other executives after work. So finally, Wednesday, I gave in. We ran from the office and around Hyde Park…I thought I was gonna die. They run it twice a week and have been doing it for 2 years. Gilly typically runs on her stumpy legs 2 days a week but does interval training at 15 mins each for an hour. I managed to run with them 3.8 MILES barely stopping for traffic lights…cursing Charlotte the whole way. And, because I’m a sucker for punishment, I’m doing it again this week…this time I’m bringing Charlotte. (Muhahahah!)

The weekend I just had was spent chilling as well. I met up with Helen on Friday night. We went down along the North Bank of the Thames to a bar on a ship called Tattershall Castle. Check it out:
http://www.thetattershallcastle.co.uk/gallery.htm
On one side was the London Eye and if you looked down the river you could see Tower Bridge. We had a quick drink to catch up and met up with Lisa at the Tate Modern Museum for drinks on the 7th floor. Such an amazing view of St. Paul’s. Checkit out:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/building/default.htm
I’ll definitely have to get back there to check out the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

Saturday, Lisa had invited me and Helen down to Twickenham to watch some rugby – the Middlesex 7s. It was so much fun!! My first live rugby tournament. What a great sport – much more exciting than hockey (sorry Dad!). Before heading home we had a celebratory pint at the Cabbage Patch Pub. There were 100s of rugby fans singing bawdy rugby songs – that was an experience in itself!

Sunday was a super chill day at my place in Dollis Hill. I stayed in bed late, had my cup of tea and read several chapters of my novel. Last week, I finished Wuthering Heights (so killer!!) and have gone onto something completely different…The Da Vinci Code. I finally convinced myself to go out for another run too…in the sun, wind and showers (all in an hour). Ahh!! London!

Update: July 18-August 1

Well I negotiated a permanent position with Estée Lauder. It's not fabulous pay, nor is it a fabulous job, but I work in a great office with some really nice women. My workmate Charlotte is awesome! She's from Sydney. We're usually laughing our butts off. One of our tasks last week was to buy two suitcases. We headed into this one luggage store owned by this Turkish man. We found what we needed and began to deal with him. We had £100 to spend. Charlotte said, “I guess they'll do. £35 each though…hmm! Pretty steep. How'bout 2 for £50.” The guy looked at us and said, “They're already a good deal.” So then I looked at Charlotte and down at the bags and said, “Well Charlotte, I know there's another luggage store up the street. I think we should really go there instead…” The man interjected with “I'll give you 2 for £55, no less!” Charlotte and I both nodded and agreed. We wheeled the suitcases back to the office laughing our heads off. Man!! I can't wait to get to Turkey to wheel and deal.

So right now I'm a Sales Administrative Assistant for the Estée Lauder UK. I support the entire Sales team as well as all the various regions in the UK. My day usually consists of editing and processing different types of letters withsome other Admin tasks, like booking travel to keep me from going insane. Somaybe I'll just stay with Lauder for the next little bit and see where it leads…at least the free cosmetics are a good perk! If I get super board I've still got my connections at various financial institutions. And at least my commute is quite short - 25 mins. door to door on the Jubilee Line. And yes! Istill take the tube!!

For the weekend of July 23-24, all my flatmates were travelling (1 in the GreekIslands, 1 in Wales, 2 in Alaska, and 1 in Amsterdam) so I thought it was best to take this opportunity and have a mini house warming at my new place. I made a nice Italian dinner and my friends (Lisa, John, Helen, Ian, Brad) chilled outin the back yard. Sunday I spent having Chinese in Soho, then to watch a movie in Leicester Square (where I only heard North American accents).

Afterwards, Brad and I took the train down to Surrey (where he lives) and raced around the streets in his new Mini. Such beautiful countryside when it's not blurry!

Last week, I finally did some shopping in London. I finally received my new visa after the other one had been stolen along with the rest of my wallet. So I sacrificed my new card to the shopping gods on Oxford St and got my hair cutdown in Putney…I feel like a new me!

Last Friday, I met up with Lisa, Helen et. al. at the Old Bank pub on Fleet St. So gorgeous - huge vaulted ceilings ornately gilded in gold trim. It was builtin 1888 and was the old Law Courts branch of the Bank of England. It was transformed into a pub in 1995.

Sunday, I took off with Brad down to Brighton for the day. It's SO beautiful. There's a huge pier with amusement rides and arcades…I guess you could say it's like Coney Island. We have a lovely lunch at an Italian café on the patio. Now all day I had felt as though I was going to run into someone. My back was facing the main street but I turned to look over my shoulder and I saw a familiar face - one of my ex students from the Vancouver Film School - Claire. I ran over to her and filled her in. She was so surprised. We'll probably meetup for a drink later this week. Bloody small world.