Do I Look That Bad?

7:00 - Wake up, get ready for work
7:20 - leave the house.  Walk to bus stop (because I'd much rather have 15 minutes extra sleep instead of walking to the tube)
8:00 - Arrive at Victoria, wait for Lucinda and walk up to Hyde Park (get coffee if needed)
8:25-8:30 - Arrive at work  - Sign in and start work
2:30 - 2:45 - Quickly eat some food - Continue working
8:30 - 8:45 - Quickly eat again - Continue working
10:00- 10:30 - Finish work.  Walk back to Victoria
11:05 - 11:15 - Get bus back to my street (I've walked all day - too tired)
11:25 - Get home, make lunch for the next day, shower
11:45 - midnight - Bed

REPEAT

(Oh and do this every day because days off are for the week - currently on day 11 of 13)

I get that sharing this information with you means you can now stalk me but I'd like to think I'm looking alright for someone with this schedule.

However the other night on the tube, somebody physically jammed his body in the doors (he was already on the train) so that I could get in the carriage.  Once I got one that train somebody stood up to give me their seat.  I'd love to think that chivalry isn't dead but I think I just must look like the walking dead.

3 weeks to go.

Aussie Out
xo

Read On >>>

Christmas Boyfriends

Last year I got a Christmas job.

It was going to be my first Christmas away from home and I figured the best way for me to deal with this was to work as much as humanly possible.

Lets go on an adventure back to last year.  I was working 16 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week.  Trying and very often failing to function of very little sleep.

Then one day out of the blue, I was working in a booth by myself minding my own business when a security guard walked past me.  He smiled as he sung along to one of the many Christmas songs that are played on repeat throughout the day.

A couple of hours later I was joined by another person and this security guard, (lets call him 95.. because thats what his number was, and what I still refer to him as) he thought it would be a funny thing to try and scare me.  So he snuck up next to my booth and slammed his fists on my window.  Scaring the bejeus out of me... ACHIEVED!

He eventually said sorry and kissed me on the hand as a token gesture.  Then the flirting began.

I've been told before that I am oblivious to men flirting with me, but with him it was a no brainer.

Blowing kisses, flirty smiles and always trying to make time to come and talk to me.  It was exactly what I needed to get my mind off being homesick and it also encouraged me to get out of bed after only having 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

Christmas Eve was the high point.  He asked me to meet him after work and with the hopes of a Christmas kiss I went.

He seemed shocked that I actually showed up.  We exchanged details and saliva (boo yeah) and he walked me out of work trying to convince me to go to the pub for a drink.  As I had friends waiting and I am not one of those girls that ditches her friends for a guy, I informed him that we would meet up another time.

Later that night he was messaging me and phoning me.  All the right signs were there.

Fast forward to New Years Eve.  He promised me he would come and see me and chat and keep me company.  He never showed.  I was pretty sure that my work Christmas boyfriend had dumped me!

Throughout the year he would send me random messages, and would make drunken phone calls which included all the empty promises from the both of us about meeting up for a drink the next time he was in London.

A couple of months ago, I received a message from him asking if I was going to be working at Christmas again.  I told him I was but only until I fly home for Christmas.  He told me that he had no intention of coming back.

I think that really put me at ease.  As harmless as the flirting seemed, when he broke his promise and didn't get in contact with me, it hurt.

I think I had real feelings for this Christmas boyfriend, even though he wasn't very nice to me at New Years and was ( well still is) much younger than I am.

So not seeing him at work was a healthy thing.

Friday was the first day back.  It was like walking into a time capsule.  As my friend Lucinda and I arrived early, we decided to go for a walk around and see if anything was different.  Some rides were in different places, some food stalls have changed, but the most shocking thing was a certain security guard who wasn't meant to be in London was once again in uniform and working.

I felt sick.  I tried to him.  I had no idea what to do.

I managed to get through that shift without him finding me, however the next day I was found.

It was just like the old time.  The flirting, the joking, and all of the butterflies.

I don't fly home for Christmas until late December so the big question is - Do I once again have a Christmas boyfriend?  Do I want to get attached and get my heart broken?

One thing is for sure, the one day this week that I haven't seen him (how dare he have a day off when I don't have one) was not a fun day.

God help me.

Stay tuned for what will be plenty of blogs about heartache and trying to accept being #ForeverAlone

Aussie Out
xo

Read On >>>

I used to have a life

So I quit my job as I was going home for Christmas but I also wanted the opportunity to work at Winter Wonderland.  I worked there last year and had a great time and was looking forward to working there again.

What I forgot about is how little of a life you have.

I don't see my housemates anymore.
I have started wearing some of my clothes to bed so I can have an extra 5 minutes in bed, get up and throw up my trousers and jumper and I'm dressed.
I've had to get my housemates to buy me ham for a sandwich.

Its dire.

I am working from 8:30am until 10:30pm.

Add in travel and you have a tired Aussie.

I've gotten to the point where I'll say something that doesn't make sense and then laugh for 5 minutes like a crazy person because I have realized how stupid I sound.

So please forgive me if I don't update much over the next month or so.  I'm hoping that I can do at least 1 update a week (and I'm sure they wont be making much sense)

A very tired Aussie Out
xo

Read On >>>

Mean girl

I think I am a bad person.

I mean nobody is perfect.  Sure I know very well how to get my sass on when the occasion calls for it, but something came out of left field a couple of days ago.

“I think Sam hates me”

I really didn’t think that 5 words from a complete stranger could affect me so much.

If you know me and you feel that way, then I’m sure you deserve it, but not a stranger.

Let me explain.

There are quite a few job openings in my current workplace.  They have hired some people, however not nearly as many people as needed, but that isn’t the point.  There were 2 people who were put onto my team and it’s basically up to the team members to train the staff on procedures that need to be followed.  There was one girl called Kerrie who was fantastic.  Asking questions, doing everything right, involving herself in workplace banter.  Then there was the other girl.  Lets just call her “L”

L was really quiet.  Nothing wrong with that.  Maybe she was just shy.  However that was proven wrong when she was speaking and flirting with all the guys but as soon as she was back with me it was silence.

She also wasn’t listening to instructions.  I was there to help her and explain what we do and how we do it, but she was so dis-interested that it was alway a genuine shock to see her at work the next day (late of course)

When she started working with some other friends of mine, I warned them that she didn’t really care so just be careful.  She was exactly the same with them.  They had told her their whole life stories and she had barely spoken a word.  The only thing she did say was “I think Sam hates me.”

They didn’t deny it.

So now I have to work with somebody who thinks I hate them.  Which is super untrue as I don’t even know the girl.

But then to make matters worse, L is starting it get signed off so she can now work without supervision.  She approached me and said “Oh hey you need to sign off as my supervisor.  They asked me who trained me and I said Sam… wait, your name is Sam right?”

A whole week I spent with this girl, as she ignored me and everything I said and she didn’t even bother to get my name straight as she starts telling people how much I dont like her.

Well If I wasn’t Regina George before, I will be now.  

Aussie out

xo

Read On >>>

Too Soon?

As the weather gets colder and the halloween decorations are replaced by Christmas decorations, I have the internal debate about when is it too soon to start decorating for Christmas?

Normally it is a tradition in my family for the tree and decorations to be put up on the first of December.  That gives a whole month of Christmas cheer.  However last year due to living with a grinch and me working 12 hours almost every day, the tree barely had a chance to share joy in my house.

This year again I will be working crazy hours, not to mention flying for a whole day to get back home.  So when is it too soon to start getting in the Christmas season?

I have started seeing Christmas jumpers not just in the shop but on people around town and a couple of days ago, I had to try and hold in my excitement as I saw a man on the tube with red Christmas converse.

So needless to say that I felt nothing but joy when walking home from work last night, as a Michael Bublé Christmas song came on my ipod, I did not skip it like I have been doing all year, I let it play and dreamed of a white Christmas right along with him.

Christmas decorating is a very serious thing in my eyes.  Everything has to be done a particular way and it hurts me when I see bad decorations.  This led to my Mum one year testing my strange Christmas OCD.  My colour scheme on my tree is normally red and silver.  I am normally very particular about where I put my decorations on the tree.  One year as I came downstairs in the morning, sat down on my sofa and looked at my tree, I noticed something was off.

"Has somebody moved one of these decorations?  The tree doesn't look right."

My Mum then proceeded to tell me that I have a problem because she had moved one of the decorations just to see if I would notice.

What she failed to noticed is that I would never put 3 red decorations next to each other, and hence was her downfall.

Last Christmas was the first that I have been away from home.  My sister and her husband, who I was living with before I moved over to London,  are also big Christmas people.  However while they were putting up some decorations, I asked for photos and from the other side of the world, directed them on where things should be placed and in what order.  After about 3 photos however, they had it a way that I would normally do it and although I wouldn't be there to actually see it in person, just knowing that my Christmas decorations were the way they should be gave me peace.

So reading back on this I realise that I have a problem, so maybe the house decorations can be held off for a little longer.... for my own peace of mind.

Either way this year I get the best of both worlds.  A cold Christmas with my housemates (a little earlier of course) and a stinking hot Christmas with my family.  And this girl cannot wait (to fix decorations)

Aussie Out
xo

Read On >>>

Poor London

So this month I am discovering just how hard it is to live in London on a budget.  Being paid monthly hasn’t been a problem, but having to pay for my trip home for Christmas has hit me hard.

I have 13 days left until I get paid and I have worked out a budget.  My budget per day is £4 and then I’ll be fine.  Now this wouldn’t be a problem normally but it seems like everybody wants to do things in the up-coming weeks.  Drinks after work, dinners out and my farewell drinks as I have given in my notice at my job to do something different over Christmas.

Living off tinned soups and pasta isn’t something I am looking forward too.  But it’s going to make pay day all the more sweeter.

I have big plans for that money.  First things first.  Starbucks!  I keep seeing everybody walking around with those festive red cups and I need to conform to the rest of London and carry one around aswell.

Second thing is Christmas shopping.  I had plans of just buying a big bow for me to wear as I am going home for Christmas and I figure I am a great present.  Turns out the family expect a physical present.  So all the gifts for my Aussie family plus my London family.

Third thing would be to buy a new Christmas jumper.  Living in a hot country for Christmas, I never really understood the joy of a Christmas jumper.  However now, I fully appreciate a festive jumper.  The more outrageous the better!

But I shall try not to get ahead of myself.  I need to focus on soup and pasta.  Let the hardships begin.

Aussie Out

xo

Read On >>>

Travel Tuesdays Part 2

The London buses are such an iconic thing.

It's such a shame that they are either your cheap friend or your worst enemy.

As a newbie to the country, I found buses terrifying.  I didn't know where I was going or when to get off the bus.

A friend of mine and a native Londoner told me about an app that has saved my life.  It is one of my most used and and first suggestion to any new person to London.  City Mapper.

All you need to do with is app is let it know where you are, type in where you are going, and then it will give you all the options of how to get to that place.  Whether it be bus, tube or overground.

Armed with this app, I decided to give the buses a chance.  After all, it would give me more of a chance to see London.  And I saw it alright.  I just don't know if it's a good thing.

One of the first times I caught a bus by myself, I sat on the upper deck (as that was still a novelty) and was shortly joined by an older gentleman from Ireland.  I had been warned that nobody on the tube will talk to you so I assumed that the buses would be the same.  WRONG!

This man decided that he wanted to tell me his life story about where he lives and his job, all the while drinking whisky that was in a brown paper brown (cliche I know.)

Then there was a time on a night out when there was a lady on the bus singing (badly) at the top of her lungs to different 80s disco classics.

It seems to me like the tube is a silent world where you do not speak, and the buses is where all the crazy people come out to play.  Its just a little creepy after the sun goes down.

And just remember Please move down the bus

Read On >>>

Real life struggles

So I was casually on my facebook page when a link came up and I thought it was spot on.

18 Struggles Of Having An Outgoing Personality But Actually Being Shy And Introverted

Read On >>>

Travel Tuesdays

a rare moment indeed.  A whole carriage for myself

If anybody has ever been to London and caught the tube, you would know how rare it is to get a seat.  I liken it to feeding time in the African Savannah.  

There are the lions who are quick to the seats.  If you get in their way prepare for their wrath as they will push and nudge you until you move out of their way.  These lions are the businessmen who have been sitting down all day and seem to believe that the money they have paid to use the tube is so much better than the money of anybody else - and therefore, they deserve a seat.

There are the vultures who stand in certain places just waiting for those lions to leave so they can swoop down and get a seat.  These people have most likely been standing up all day and were too tired for the initial push to get a seat.  However, once they have stood in the armpit of a tall stranger who has forgotten about deodorant, for a couple of stops, they are quick to get the seat leftovers from the lions who are only on for a couple of stops anyway.  They can’t be seen outside of zone 2 after all.

The herbivores.  They are happy to stand.  They will generally stand in the middle of the carriages, or right near the end.  They don’t want nor need a seat.  Even if there are seats available and no fight to the death is necessary, they just want to use their 2 feet and stand.

If you are pregnant or injured on the tube, you are a weak animal.  The lions wont stand for you and the vultures will make a big show about standing up for you.  So my advice is to find the herbivores and stay near them as they will always offer you the seat first (unless another vulture has swooped in and “doesn’t see you”)

The tube is a jungle and its a man eat man world. 

Good luck wild life warriors, and just remember, There is another tube in 3 minutes.

Aussie out

xoxo

Read On >>>

Sing-A-Longs = Fun-A-Lot.. what?

Its the days were you don’t do much that can turn into an amazing day.

With big plans to go to thorpe park with Charlotte today, me finding out that it will be busy as fright night was still on, me hurting my knee at work the day before and how horrible the weather was, we agreed to stay in and have a baking day instead.

So armed with our coats and our umbrellas we walked down to the shops to grab our ingredients for our baking (rocky road from Charlotte and lamingtons from me).  Charlotte also came up with the idea of making cheese steak sandwiches with chips with chicken salt (the salt of Gods)

After cleaning the kitchen, the baking began while watching Bridget Jones’s Diary and discovering that we are living a slightly younger version of that movie and figuring out how much time we have left until we meet our Mark Darcy who will like us “just as we are”

Maybe it was the chocolate and sugar in the air but an impromptu sing-a-long/ dance-a-long started.  It started out innocent.  A bit of one direction.  A bit of S Club 7 , throw in some Nikki Webster and we were off.

We then got the brilliant idea of getting dramatic whilst singing into a sky remote and a febreeze air freshener bottle while singing no air from Jordan Sparks which lead to a killer dramatic playlist.

Un-break my heart - Toni Braxton

Hero - Enrique Inglesias

Against all odds - Mariah Carey ft Westlife

Without you - Mariah Carey

Make you feel my love- Adele

Bring me to life - Evanescence

End of the road - Boys 2 men

Never ever - All Saints

Things picked up after that with rousing renditions of the cell block tango, Hillary Duff songs, and then the sad realisation that I still remember all the words and dance moves to high school musical.

At this point the rest of the female housemates in my house arrived home so Charlotte and I decided to end the night with the Time Warp.

I think it is important to remember that we were both completely sober and both had a great night.  

Oh and yeah we did bake our goodies aswell.

Read On >>>