Walkin'

I've had a bit of a tough time recently, feeling incredibly homesick and financial woes. They've both combined to make me quite anti-social of late, and stressed to the max. So it was nice on the weekend to get out and relax a bit, despite me still not being able to sleep. Have to learn to switch my brain off!

Anywho, my housemate Tang and I went by train down to Kingston on Saturday morning. Kingston is in the very South-West of London, still on the Thames. It's a university town and has a really great vibe to it. From there we walked all the way down the side of the Thames to Hampton Court Palace. The Palace is MASSIVE. When I'm no longer poor (perhaps in a few years!) I'll go back and pay to have a look around the inside and the gardens. Although, we did get a sneak peek at the gardens through the fences at the back. We wandered through a gate into what's known as the 'Bushy' - a cute wooded area behind the Palace - and then back up to Kingston. All-in-all, a VERY long walk but it was a beauitful day and I was just happy to get out in the sunshine.


Hampton Court Palace


Hampton Court Palace and the River Thames


Sunday morning most of us were up fairly early and we decided to go to Starbucks for a coffee. Kerry and Audrey - two of my South African housemates - and Kyle's friend Ryan (who is staying with us temporarily) and I all walked to Southfields and then hopped on a tube. We alighted at London Bridge and I proceeded to take them on Mel's Tour du Londres! I'm constantly amazed at how much useless information I keep in my head. I can organise myself at work, organise other people, but can't organise myself and can never remember important dates and details, but I can remember useless information! So basically, I was a walking guide book. Despite being in the country for some time now, Audrey had seen very little of London and Ryan had only just arrived in the country, so it was a good chance to see the place. Again, it was a beautiful day although it clouded over by evening. We walked past the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral. On our way to Covent Garden, we had to take a rather long detour because they had a central road blocked off - they were making a movie in which there was an explosion and there were hundreds of extras around and dirty busses and things, all part of the explosion effect. So we got to Covent Garden and then wandered to Trafalga Square where we met up with Kyle. From there we took in Leceister Square and Picadilly, before taking a bus along Whitechapel and past Downing Street towards Parliament House and Big Ben. We alighted there and walked around Westminster Abbey before heading home.


We found this statue on the banks of the Thames and thought it was pretty....that's pretty much the only reason for the photo!:D


Tower Bridge on a nice day!


Pawo, our old housemate, left us his tellie when he went off to Ethiopia and so Kyle has hooked his playstation up for us to watch DVDs ... and we've been watching DVDs every night for the past week or so! It's cool though - one of our landlords owns the video store in Southfields and so we hire DVDs for free. All very convenient!

I've been super-busy already this week, just trying to organise my finances. I've got an appointment with the bank tomorrow and one with an accountant on Monday, along with applying for my NI number last Friday (THE definition of 'frustration') and sorting out my ltd company stuff... It's going to be hectic! I'm also taking Friday off because Andy and Sara will be here from Oz and I'm going to show them around.

Once I get this finance stuff sorted, I know I'll be poor for a really long time ... but at least everything will be above-board. *sigh!* Life would be great were it not for money!