Same same but different
OK so the whole going away party thing was no doubt harder on my liver than anything else, a good turnout to the hotel formerly known as Dooleys for a merry beverage or 15. It’s been only 3 weeks since I started my new gig and things are going well.
I’m too lazy to look but I know I posted something about my desk in Sydney, I spent all of 2 days there, enough to get this laptop and a phone, fill in some health insurance stuff. I think I left a name badge and a flat panel there, I think maybe squatters will move in, but I won’t be there to stop them anytime soon.
The flight on Qantas was good, usually 21 hours on a plane would shit anyone to tears but I recommend the lie flat skybed if you have the chance. Neil Perry designed meals were not memorable at all, and if you can swing the stop in Singapore rather than Bangers, it’s probably a good thing. Not that Bangers is bad, it just doesn’t feel good to be there. I did spot some 17yr old Wild Turkey aged in sherry casks… which will be pocketed whenever I get on a plane home again.
So, London… Most things people have told me about it being expensive, and the food being bad, is all crap. Surely if the hotel is coming out of your pocket, you’d be staying in some hicksville backslappers, and feeling the strain on your wallet full of Aussie dollars, but that aside if you look a little harder there are good cheap meals and a cheaper ways to get somewhere. In fact if you think London is expensive don’t go to Sweden.
The best thing by far about London, is alcohol. You can drink on the street, on the tube, most anywhere, but there are no toilets on the tube and it looks like it’d be hard to piss between carriages. It’s good that you can go inside the pub and it isn’t crowded as everybody is outside. And even then if theres a problem, there is 3 more within 2 blocks walk in either direction. You can get wine on tap!
Besides booze, there is architecture, for those antipediens from recently settled lands it is novel for about 2 days. Art is big in London but the best art is on the street… always good when you spot some almost fresh banksy!
And London is certainly one place that is better after you leave :) I am however glad to be going back tomorrow… because it is cold here in..
Famous for women and meatballs. But there are far too many men pushing prams, they try to tell me it is because men get paid maternity leave too, but I really think it is because the women wear the boots. I’ve never seen so many women in tight jeans and FMB’s ever, I think the Swedish massage is all about sore necks and this is probably the outcome of the vikings killing all the ugly ones 1000 years ago.
Alcohol is expensive, expect to pay AUD$9-12 per pint of beer, but there is usually a good selection. Finding a bottle shop is hard as they are all owned by the government, open only until 6pm on weekdays, 3pm on Saturdays and not open at all on Sundays. Some wine is cheapish but I had to pay about AUD$52 for a bottle of JD. Sounds expensive but then AUD$20 for a premium mixed spirit in a nice restaurant bar is going to empty your wallet faster. Any shop appears to sell beer but no stronger than 3.5%, which sounds sucky after time in England, but if you could buy mid strength beer anywhere in Australia, it would be an upgrade. Also worth mentioning is the range of quality ciders produced in Sweden!
Restaurants are also rather expensive but after a while you find some places that are acceptable and you get away under AUD$35. Supermarkets are quite cheap and packed full of tasty European goodies, but alas I don’t have a kitchen at the hotel. At lunch there are a fair few smörgåsbord for AUD$12-15 that are all you can eat, good because the Swedes like a BIG lunch.
Something unique is snus, which is a bag of tobacco that you put under your top lip, I was told they have some sort of glass fragment in them to break the skin so it gets into the blood but I suspect that person was pulling my leg. It is very popular and you see them all over the place like cigarette butts. They even sell them in the office cafeteria, as you can consume nicotine indoors with no smoke, I guess when it’s snowing outside and you are not allowed to smoke inside, they are the go for your fix. If you choose to go outside for a durry most places have courtesy smoking blankets/ponchos to keep you a little warmer.
On a different topic, it is the 1 month anniversary since guru posted on his blog, and Saturday is the 1 year anniversary since munga posted on his…
Off to London again tomorrow, then back here for some snow in November, although it is supposed to snow tonight, as it is currently raining, and it got to -4 last night.