Leaving the Hare and Hounds

I wanted to take a picture with all of our stuff set up but then realized it was empty when we arrived and this is how we are leaving it now. Last memory of our room at the Hare and Hounds.

I had so much to say about the Hare and Hounds, but in the end it wouldn't mean anything to anyone that wasn't there. We worked with great team of people and we were able to overcome any kind of curve balls ... technical matter to customers flooding in all at once. The reason we decided to go work there in the first place was because on interview day we got the vibe that the managers were looking to add to their family rather than just expand their workforce, and in the end a family is what we were.

 L-R: Charlie, Leo, Jen, Micky, Sean, Cariad, Sara, Dan, Jesus. There were many many more.

 

Our Massive Garden!

The Summer BBQ, I really liked working outside.

Pub cat Guinness, or alternatively FatLazy,

I will miss this wonderful place but as they all know I got places to go new people to meet. 

Spitafields Market

I have had tonnes of recommendations to head eat in London over to Spitafields and visit the markets. Not only that if you keep walking that way you intersect with Brick Lane (if you like Indian food you will love this street) Lots of restaurants with hosts trying to entice you with deals and bottles of wine with your meal.
During our adventure there was lots of art to be seen, from within the shops, art galleries even through the streets and ally ways.

There isn't a shortage of stalls, I hear there is even more on the weekends.

A possible Bansky?

Definitely, would recommend going to Spitafields.

Richmond Park

It has been far to long for us to make it to Richmond park since we moved into the East Sheen area in December we haven't actually walked around in the park. We were scolded a bit by some of the locals for not taking the time to see the local greenery. So today we finally did it, zig zagged for as long as possible throughout the park. 

There a nice peacefulness to the area since you could hear all the different bird calls and observe the deer that were taking a rest.

This guy was just posing, we took many pictures of him.

Spooked them good.

I approached this guy since he wasn't gonna move, I know they are a lot bigger but there was a part of me that really wanted to pet it. I got about 5 meters away. Later on we found a sign that says you should be 50 meters away from the deer. 

Amongst the nature there were wooden hovels built around the park, some were really small and would provide no coverage if it started to rain others even had eats within.

There was a lot of trees here with faces upon the barks. Here is one that reminded me of arms of a haunted tree found in a deep dark forest.

Four hours later we finally made it back home, it was a wonderful walk with autumn in the air. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day, I can't wait to walk through Richmond park again when the grass is green and the tress are swaying with leaves.

Markets in London

There is a lot of shopping in London, now the thing is where to look. Since there are an abundance of main streets and shopping centers for name brand clothes I was in search for a more alternative shops. I asked around and and it turns out that there are many hidden away or easily accessible if you know where to look. We were able to hit up two of the destinations recommended by the people we work with at the pub.

Borough Market

Near London Bridge tube stop you can walk for less than 3 minutes and bam you are in the midst of a market. Food aromas wafting through the air, fresh produce, healthy shakes, pastries, jams, organic makes of yummy everyday foods, don't forget fudge and honeycombs and lastly cheese stalls with samples. I don't think I covered all the basics but there it is a market that is available everyday for people from all around to buy food.

You have to check it out yourself when you are in the area, I hear that Saturday at lunch time is when the action happens.

If Borough Market was a small slice of London market life, then Camden Town is that slice writ large. Stall spill out across many huge rooms and swathes of yelling vendors, overcoming their boundaries and spreading out onto the street.

Camden Town

Take the tube to Camden Town when you exit the station you should be able to sense the large streets with stalls. From there they are outdoor catacombs of stalls arranged in a way where you can squeeze past, the thing is that comes with shopping like this are the vendors. They instantly break into sales mode, grabbing you sizes from anything you look at trying to herd you into trying on clothes. I get it most people who come here browse at the merchandise and never come back. I still just don't believe that being pushy is the way to sell, I have been in situations with restaurants in Rome yelling at every person to walking by to come in and eat. Through China store owners almost drag you in and won't let you go until you have bought something. Times are hard and we become more persistent. So don't take it personally and remember to try to haggle for a deal, the people here are happy to knock off a couple pounds for your purchase. 

The best thing about Camden Town is the fact that everything here has a very alternative/punk/Victorian feel to it. From there stalls upon stalls have set up with their fashion, knock offs,tattoo and piercing parlors, shoe shops, smoking paraphernalia you can find pretty much anything here.

Don't forget there are food stalls here, tonnes of restaurant and pubs around the area. 

Whilst you are here don't forget to visit The World's End a pub that is much bigger on the inside. They played metal the whole time we were there but it was late afternoon and it wasn't ear blaring. It was a nice change from the top 40 radio playlist that is found at more mainstream pubs. 

Aquarium and the London Eye

We wanted to see more of London and there were so many sights still left on my list to check off. I was suggested by the lady at the salon to visit the London Sea Life aquarium. On their website we were able to pick up a duo package for another attraction within London. Making it more economical to visit all these places since a single ticket costs more.

We decides to do the Sea Life and the London Eye, with our online tickets we were able to go through the priority line at sea life and skipped the line which is always a nice perk. Inside the aquarium are guides, tours and people bringing awareness to how human lives impact sea life. On top of that there are different species of all kinds of sea animals, even penguins.

During the walk through we were able to see giant sea turtles, sting rays of all assortments and walk through a tunnel that was fed through the large aquarium. I was luckily enough to touch a star fish during a presentation. If you like sea life it is worth the walk through.

I always love seeing these mini eels.

it is really hard to get a good picture of a sea horse.

I have many photos from the aquarium but I will let you see it yourself. Our London Eye pass is valid for one month after our first attraction visit. So we were thinking since it was valentines day there would be a huge line up for the ride. When we walked out at sunset there wasn't anyone, I guess it was dinner time so we hopped right on. No line or anything, it was a nice slow incline with about 6 other people a very calm overlook of the city. It didn't go high enough that you could see how vast London was but you could see all the nearby landmarks.

Us at Southbank

Me on the London Eye.

Happy V-Day Everyone! <3

The London Sea Life is located on Southbank which overlooks the River Thames home to great views of London.

Much love <3

East Sheen

After the incident in Hagley it was time for a fresh start we were given a job in the Lake District but had another interview lined up that we had already agreed to attend. This is how we came to live in East Sheen, the people that interviewed us wow'd us with their personality, freedom and friendliness. Above all they were personable and cat lovers.

The last thing that we wanted to do was work for another manager that treats us like we were robots for the company that they are trying to run (Mitchells and Butler, building teams of soleless automatons since whenever, I don't care enough to look up when they started). Not saying that the employer that hired us first was going to be like that, they however did request that we show up with several white shirts and black trousers as our uniform...5 days a week. Black tie too for Dan.

By contrast Sara and Simon at the Hare and Hounds were personable real people, and we got the sense that they were looking to add to their working family rather than recruit robots. That plus a laxness on uniform policy were two major factors in influencing our decision to shove the Lake District and live in London instead.

Hoping on the train we arrived at Mortlake station a mini little stop that is around the corner from High Street from there we are just a hop, jump and skip away from Hare and Hounds our new home. East Sheen itself is an affluent residential district with a serviceable high street (Waitrose, Tesco, WHSmith, cafes and stores), far enough out of the city to not be overwhelmingly busy, but still with attractions of its own, such as the nearby Richmond Park. There's little else to be said for the place other than that the locals as we've met them through working in the pub are an eclectic mix of normal people, overly spendy people and the usual slightly odd regulars that you get anywhere. Whatever they are they're better than the pretentious snobs that made up the target market for the Lyttelton Arms. No-one at the Hare and Hounds bemoans the fact that they can't have a slice of cucumber with their Hendricks.

Hagley - The Lyttleton Arms

After almost a month in the Nottinghamshire area we were off again, I liked the fact that we were with good friends and things could have been more stressful. Luckily for us we have good people sending us positive energy throughout that time. For the people out there this is my shout out to them, thank you so much for supporting us in what we are doing. Searching for that place in life that makes us happy isn't easy and sometimes we need those wonderful people to lean on.

We set off to Bath for an interview at a B&B for a hotel management position in hopes to run a B&B like our own. A place with Roman baths and much to see and do, a very touristy place. Daniel and I didn't have much time to explore the city since we were off to the next work location for the Christmas.

Be wary of this station we arrived early in the morning to pick up our tickets to head to Birmingham and they were shut. This was at 8am, says that it opens at 7am during the week. Is it just one guy that works here? I guess he isn't coming to work today.

After many transfers on a train (4 to be exact) we made it to Hagley train station to start work at the Lyttleton Arms. We were greeted with warm welcomes and talk of a wonderful establishment that caters to  large events and many menu specials throughout the week. We got a three course meal from the boss to see how the place works and a room to ourselves in the staff house next to the building.

A picture I snagged off of their site.

The staff house lounge area and kitchen was not very clean but we were told that it was horrid before they had fired everyone that partied to much. It is hard to manage so many people into clean after one another. Plus. people like to party when they are far away from home and working hard all day. At least our room was clean even though I thought we would get a double bed instead we got two singles pushed together.

The next day of training a very brief run through of the table numbers and the tills, I asked as many questions as possible in hopes to get more training and answers. I ran food to tables to get a hold of the menu that was pretty self explanatory. I guess everyone here just gets to get out there and prove themselves that they are good enough for the company. Award driven and corporately involved with making the best of the average is what they are going for here.

Following my very short training I went live on the floor, the tills were messy and disorganized. Luckily for me the people that I was working with were friendly and helpful. I got very little assistance with learning things correctly and being informed so I could do my job right. I asked a lot of questions this week, in the end we aren't going to be staying.

A night out in Birmingham was fun but it is a bit of a ways out, there isn't much to see in this area. The main street is mini and only runs about half a km long.

Now we are on the move again. Seriously I think we are professional nomads, Scotland left a much better impression on us. We miss you Harris.

Couch surfing Nottingham Part 2

After eating a Thai lunch I was fully stuffed and ready to wander around town, after doing several loops and stopping in Nero to grab some coffee it was time to meet my next host. I figured I would get more from staying with another host. Plus this would mean that I would get to see more of the city.

Troy and I walked over to the Burger Kitchen to meet her and her friend. After chatting for a while we all went our separate way. Ili and I went over to her place in a fancy upper class student apartments. Shared kitchen but their own en suite bathrooms. I really liked this place reminds me of the high rises we have back at home with a gym and other amenities available on site. The building itself seemed to have very high security and lots of rules but I guess that is just to enforce proper living within the building.

She flashed her key card on several doors through corridors and on a lift we finally made it. This place is much larger than I had expected. I wonder how many people live in this building alone, must be a lot since there was three flats per one kitchen. Maybe more!

Ili and I had a nice Big Bang Theory marathon since I hadn't watched any of the new season, so she caught me up. I think I have re kindled my love for the show as well. After the mini marathon we stayed up talking into the night about life experiences and adventures abroad. Ili is one awesome girl! I had a great nights sleep and was ready for the next day.

I had told her about the music festival Branch Out we did a bit of research on the venues and ended picking one in the same. Called Malt Cross but the music didn't start until earlier hours of the evening. We still had some time to explore and get into town. Ili mentioned a vintage fair, sure why not it was a £1 to get in and we would get a chance to find some antiques.

We entered this old building which I am sure was used for a theatre or still is, there was tea, cupcakes and all sorts of things for sale. From jewellery, clothing, accessories, tie dye, military camouflage and tonnes more of nick nack type items. What I wasn't quite prepared for was all the people that were going to be there, swarms of people of all types and sizes were there trying to muscle through to the next stand. I couldn't tell who was selling goods verses the consumers. After a short while we believed we had seen it all and were tired of the crowd. Time to find a nice place to get a hot beverage.

Their speciality drink is a hot chocolate with Maltesers, they also do a pretty good Chai Latte.

Since we really didn't have any place in mind we figured we would head over to the Malt Cross early to check out the venue. we had a back up place in mind since the music started at 3 pm at one of the other stages. When we arrived though I absolutely loved the converted style that had taken from this old theatre into a pub venue. A balcony level giving full view of the stage from above and also a more private seating area, the stage itself was on a mezzanine where it looks like only staff can get to. Which was a nice change from the usual pub seats shoved aside for a dance floor and a stage at the end. The bottom floor has nice long cozy sofas for more a booth feel. Ili and I loved it we were engaged in conversation until the bands started playing I think we spent about 6 hours sitting there, luckily for me I enjoyed every moment of it.

What a wonderful time I had with Ili now I must say good bye to Nottingham.

Couch Surfing Nottingham

Since I had a weekend free to do whatever I wanted I figured that it would be a good idea to see the sights of Nottingham. After doing a bit of research I was able to locate some people that I could stay with and not only that I had found a music festival that I could go to. With many venues and all for free no less, local musicians and tonnes of talent to be displayed. Since that was only Sunday I had some time to kill, what better way to pass some time than to meet the locals.

I headed off to meet my first host from Couchsurfer (I highly recommend this site) he was very friendly and we had a long conversation in regards to travelling, teaching around the world, music, movies and even relationships. He was very easy to get along with. The next day I got a nice hot shower and it was off to see some sights in town.

Robin Hood!

I think it speaks for itself. 

Inside the oldest inn in England the rooms were all part of the inner workings of the cave, my host was very nice to give me a historic tour whilst we were walking towards the inn. They had lots of beers and ales for people to try offering three mini pints for £4 where you can pick and choose. Pretty good deal! So we indulged a bit and had an early afternoon drink. There were also swords and gauntlets of all sorts in the display cases along the walls. They have a pretty comprehensive menu but I didn't order any food so I couldn't tell you if it was any good. I can however let you know that it was packed in there and finding a seat could prove to be difficult. The bar itself was labelled crematorium which I thought was a nice touch and the ceiling above the bar had all sorts of bank notes from around the world. Even saw a 20 dollar bill from Canada. I didn't realize how long it has been since I had seen one. :P

We considered going into the history museum but there was a door fee on  the weekends and there was a children's event going on at the Nottingham Castle mind you I did get to take a quick peek through the gates. I guess after seeing the Edinburgh Castle this one seemed small. Mind you their gift shop had lots of interesting Robin Hood swag.

He was nice enough to wait with me at the town centre square where I waited for my friend for a wonderful lunch.

Leaving Edinburgh

Greyfriars Bobby

From check out we had 9 hours to kill, what to do next? Since Danny and I are so fond of our museums off to the national museum of Scotland. A place that matched the British museum. With tonnes of unique animals that I have not seen before a rarity for myself since I have been in so many.

The best thing I saw there was the Crysophase, or 'time eater', a crazy clock adorned with a massive decorative grasshopper that kept irregular time, resyncing every five minutes as a means of representing the varying speeds of time's passage as humans perceive it.

The Time Eater 

 The second one was the 'millennium clock', it was made in the tribute to human suffering with many layers of historical figures of war time. Like Lenin, Hitler, Stalin I can't remember the last one. Not only that it stood so very tall with tiers that mirrored other evils humanity had to suffer through.

The Millenium Clock. 

When our feet started to ache once more I dragged Danny to Dim Sum since it had been far to long. I researched a place after looking through the to do guide for Edinburgh in our hotel room. The restaurant we ended up eating at was called Saigon Saigon, I had initially been looking for a bowl of pho. This restaurant served very little Vietnamese food despite the name. When I did get on their website it had a very colourful menu, with an all day a la carte section. Making it very enticing and hard to refuse.

Now it was time to sample their food, the staff all spoke Mandarin so I couldn't communicate with them very well. Most of the wait staff seemed to know enough to take an order,  after ordering exactly what I wanted and some more to go I was supper happy.

1.  Beef ho fun
2.  Chinese doughnut wrapped in rice noodles
3.  Steamed pork buns
4.  Rice noodles with peanut sauce
5.  Sticky rice with Chinese sausage egg and chicken in a banana leaf

The food was good but the prices for each dish seemed expensive £ 3+ per plate, the noodles were from the main menu costing £8. 

Either way I was pleasantly full and it was time to start the journey down country. Let's quickly recap.

1. Ferry 1:40 
2. Bus 4:20
3. Gondola 0:30
4. Train 5:15
5. Train 5:00
6. Train 0:45
7. Bus 0:20
8. Car 0:20 

From Tarbert to Long Eaton, over 18 hours!

Finally made it into a bed, time to sleep and get things sorted in the morning.

Thanks Tax Man

I came home from work and there was a letter waiting for me, how nice it is to get mail. Lucky for me I don't have any bills under my name so no one bills me for anything, all I really get is bank statements and I read the pizza flyer's.

I found out something wonderful about England, it was even worth writing a post about it. Back at home in Canada we have to fill out these horrendous forms after waiting ages to get all the T-? papers from previous jobs, banks etc. These forms come in a manner of colours and variations depending on what kind of life status you currently live. There are more forms for some and less for other, it pretty much equates to matching line numbers and filling out the amount making sure your math is correct and then sending it off to the Tax Man. After the tax man receives it you have two letters sent to you the run down on all the income you have filed on your forms followed up by a cheque or a bill for outstanding balance months later when you have forgotten about it.

Most people take it to an accountant in hopes to get more money, or they take it to a place call H&R Block which will charge you a fee ($30-60) for filling them for you on their slick program and give you your refund right then and there.

Instead of going through all that hassle, I just received a cheque for £292.00 from HM Revenue & Customs. I really like the fact that I only had to fill out one piece of paper work when I started and they do my taxes for me. I am sure I am just being nieve and there is a pile of paper work somewhere waiting to be done by somebody. At least I don't have to. Now what should I buy with this money?

Torquay, The English Rivera

There is so much to say about this place but let me first complain a bit about transport. We wanted to take the train there but in total it was going to cost us 160 Pounds (for two)! Instead we thought if we can cut some costs that we can spend that money on a hostel. In the end we decided to take the National Express Bus, from Derby -> London and then London -> Torquay leaving us with a total of about 10 hours on the bus verses the 4 hours via train. We ended up paying 90 Pounds for the bus tickets for two. The saving did go towards accommodations since we only ended up paying 72 pounds for the two nights at Clifton Grove.

Mental Note: Take the train.

When we arrived trekking past residential areas and tall trees we ended up at the town centre, a lengthy street with all sorts of things. Reminding me very much of Whyte Avenue at home minus the on and off rain spurts.

This place is made of nothing of hills from the most rolling and unnoticeable ones to the steepest of breath catchers. After making it all the way to the hostel which looked very small from the outside we were directed to the top floor to enter the very last room at the end of the hall, of course. Caught more than forty winks and woke up with a rumbling tummy. Off to wander the sea shore to see what was available to eat, too bad we were on a bit of a budget. Luckily like everywhere else in the world Torquay had a 24 hour Subway by the harbour so that took care of that, freeing us up to go back to bed because we were still very drained.

So, a bit of information. We were in the area that is known collectively as both Torbay (because it is indeed a bay) and The English Riviera. It's generally very nice in Summer, but we were there at the wrong time and so sunny spells alternated with cascades of icy rocks from the skies. But there were palm trees! Torbay is made up of the main location Torquay as well as the smaller towns further around the bay, Paignton and Brixham.

I went in here thinking that it was going to be a farmers market of sorts, but when I went in I found out that this building has quite the history. The pavilion.

Oh the beach, how wonderful to hear the sounds of waves once again! Feel so at peace. 

Danny and I walked up to where those trees are, great view.

All in all I didn't write down all the details of Torquay but if all things goes well I will be moving here to teach ESL. So there will be many more posts about Torquay. End note: Lovely city.