Home and Work
22/08/2005
The place that I have been staying at up to Saturday was a new two bedroom apartment in a low rise block (only 2 floors) in Stoke-on-Trent with my friends Geoff and Claire. I was on the couch a couple of nights initially because their other friend Paul was there as well. However, after that I got my own room and was able to unpack all my stuff. Most of the houses in England are rented on a fully furnished basis which I think is one of the best ideas yet, especially for itinerant foreign travellers like me! (On the negative side, council taxes (ie. council rates) are payable by the tenant.) Some are obviously better furnished than others but I've never been too particular about that. The other good thing was that I didn't have to pay any rent as Geoff and Claire are working 'out of town' and charging in those living expenses.
At that time I was also working from home and so I spent a lot of time in the apartment. Working from home is something that I would have killed for back in Melb but it was really boring and really, being in a new country I wanted to meet new people, not be stuck in a house all by myself for most of the day. The great advantage of working from home though is I get up really late and have a 5 m commute from my bedroom to the loungeroom with my computer laptop! No traffic, no squeezing onto trains or being frustrated that they're cancelled or running late.
It took a lot of discipline to stay focused on work at home, what with Messenger requests coming in frequently.
After a while I was able to arrange a couple of days last week to work on site at Derby University. This is about 50km from Stoke-on-Trent but Geoff works there so we just drive down and I didn't have to go through troublesome public transport. Once I figure out what I'm doing workwise and where I'll be, I'm going to get a car! There are so many Peugeot 206's around it makes me think about my car that I left back home! Peugeots are very popular here and they're everywhere, it's not that I notice them because I have one. I won't have to get a new licence either as you are allowed to use your existing licence for a year. If you stay in the UK for more than a year you have to get a UK licence.
As luck would have it one of the days I was in Derby, one of the Ciber UK managers was back from the US and was checking on our progress. As part of this visit there was dinner at a restaurant afterwards. Woohoo, free dinner! Very up-market place overlooking part of the river (not sure which one, asked the locals, they didn't know either). Food was most impressive and service was attentive. It was also a good chance to get to know some of the guys that I am working with in a bit more detail. Even though I was on site I don't interact with a lot of people as the type of work I'm doing stands alone in some respects. Overall it was a good night but a late one as we had to drive back to Stoke.
Yesterday I moved from Stoke to Manchester and will now be working on site at Manchester University. I have 3 more weeks to go on my current contract. I'll be talking to the manager this week about further work opportunities but can't write much about what's going on there as it relates to current negotiations.
Manchester is a more historic city than what I had expected. One of the first things I saw was a massive historic stone building that seemed to be a whole city block long! When we got to the front of the build I discovered it was a church as wedding photos were being taken at the entrance. I think it was St Peter's. There are also a lot of other nice buildings.
After lunch we went to the city centre as we all needed to do some shopping. I had to get some cuff links for the shirts that I had bought from Bangkok. The shopping mall was just abuzz with people like it was Christmas in Bourke St mall! I thought it was some special festival or event but it was just a normal Saturday shopping day in good summer weather! It really gets the people out. And the people of Manchester seem to be a big melting pot of different nationalities and races. I guess Melbourne is the same but I never noticed it. I think there are a lot more Africans and Indians here. Even though it was busy like London, Manchester had a different feel to it. More of the yobbo feel. Young single mothers and young would-be soccer hooligans in greater quantity.
Geoff and Claire had kindly driven me here from Stoke and we were going to meet Gregg, Elly, Barbara and Nicole for dinner at Panama Hatties (Food was 6.5/10 - King prawns are not king sized). Gregg and Elly were friends from Rockhampton. I have been blessed with friends from Australia here in Manchester as well so it will be good to progressively catch up with them.
The place that I am staying at is a umm...well a house that the owner rents out to people. She's been doing it for 15 years and rents out 3 spare rooms. I was fortunate to find accommodation in Manchester as owners don't like to rent a place out for just 3 weeks and neither do people looking for someone to share with! I got a few rejections but I knew that God would provide so I wasn't too stressed.
It's only me and the lady at the moment as the other boarder has gone home to Spain for the holidays and a new person won't arrive until this weekend (which is Bank Holiday incidentally). I have the 'yellow' room. I dunno, maybe because it's got yellow curtains. It's a funny house with carpet in the bathrooms and wooden weave flooring in my room like it 's a Bali beachfront hut! Nevertheless it's comfortable and easy going. A far cry from what I came from and not sure whether I can and want to stay here longer than 3 weeks!
I went for a walk around the house and there's a great park nearby with squirrels, a lot of people sunning themselves, a playground, fields, 5 free tennis courts with intact proper nets at the right height and a basketball court. However there were only two people making use of the courts! No wonder people get fat around here! Free courts of that quality in Melbourne would still be used in the middle of a summer thunderstorm! Organising youth group here would be a lot easier and cheaper with the number of facilities not being used!
So I'm settling into my new room and figuring out how to get to work and all that stuff. Getting competent in a new city and seeing what it has to offer. (Note to self: must go watch a Man United soccer match.)
The place that I have been staying at up to Saturday was a new two bedroom apartment in a low rise block (only 2 floors) in Stoke-on-Trent with my friends Geoff and Claire. I was on the couch a couple of nights initially because their other friend Paul was there as well. However, after that I got my own room and was able to unpack all my stuff. Most of the houses in England are rented on a fully furnished basis which I think is one of the best ideas yet, especially for itinerant foreign travellers like me! (On the negative side, council taxes (ie. council rates) are payable by the tenant.) Some are obviously better furnished than others but I've never been too particular about that. The other good thing was that I didn't have to pay any rent as Geoff and Claire are working 'out of town' and charging in those living expenses.
At that time I was also working from home and so I spent a lot of time in the apartment. Working from home is something that I would have killed for back in Melb but it was really boring and really, being in a new country I wanted to meet new people, not be stuck in a house all by myself for most of the day. The great advantage of working from home though is I get up really late and have a 5 m commute from my bedroom to the loungeroom with my computer laptop! No traffic, no squeezing onto trains or being frustrated that they're cancelled or running late.
It took a lot of discipline to stay focused on work at home, what with Messenger requests coming in frequently.
After a while I was able to arrange a couple of days last week to work on site at Derby University. This is about 50km from Stoke-on-Trent but Geoff works there so we just drive down and I didn't have to go through troublesome public transport. Once I figure out what I'm doing workwise and where I'll be, I'm going to get a car! There are so many Peugeot 206's around it makes me think about my car that I left back home! Peugeots are very popular here and they're everywhere, it's not that I notice them because I have one. I won't have to get a new licence either as you are allowed to use your existing licence for a year. If you stay in the UK for more than a year you have to get a UK licence.
As luck would have it one of the days I was in Derby, one of the Ciber UK managers was back from the US and was checking on our progress. As part of this visit there was dinner at a restaurant afterwards. Woohoo, free dinner! Very up-market place overlooking part of the river (not sure which one, asked the locals, they didn't know either). Food was most impressive and service was attentive. It was also a good chance to get to know some of the guys that I am working with in a bit more detail. Even though I was on site I don't interact with a lot of people as the type of work I'm doing stands alone in some respects. Overall it was a good night but a late one as we had to drive back to Stoke.
Yesterday I moved from Stoke to Manchester and will now be working on site at Manchester University. I have 3 more weeks to go on my current contract. I'll be talking to the manager this week about further work opportunities but can't write much about what's going on there as it relates to current negotiations.
Manchester is a more historic city than what I had expected. One of the first things I saw was a massive historic stone building that seemed to be a whole city block long! When we got to the front of the build I discovered it was a church as wedding photos were being taken at the entrance. I think it was St Peter's. There are also a lot of other nice buildings.
After lunch we went to the city centre as we all needed to do some shopping. I had to get some cuff links for the shirts that I had bought from Bangkok. The shopping mall was just abuzz with people like it was Christmas in Bourke St mall! I thought it was some special festival or event but it was just a normal Saturday shopping day in good summer weather! It really gets the people out. And the people of Manchester seem to be a big melting pot of different nationalities and races. I guess Melbourne is the same but I never noticed it. I think there are a lot more Africans and Indians here. Even though it was busy like London, Manchester had a different feel to it. More of the yobbo feel. Young single mothers and young would-be soccer hooligans in greater quantity.
Geoff and Claire had kindly driven me here from Stoke and we were going to meet Gregg, Elly, Barbara and Nicole for dinner at Panama Hatties (Food was 6.5/10 - King prawns are not king sized). Gregg and Elly were friends from Rockhampton. I have been blessed with friends from Australia here in Manchester as well so it will be good to progressively catch up with them.
The place that I am staying at is a umm...well a house that the owner rents out to people. She's been doing it for 15 years and rents out 3 spare rooms. I was fortunate to find accommodation in Manchester as owners don't like to rent a place out for just 3 weeks and neither do people looking for someone to share with! I got a few rejections but I knew that God would provide so I wasn't too stressed.
It's only me and the lady at the moment as the other boarder has gone home to Spain for the holidays and a new person won't arrive until this weekend (which is Bank Holiday incidentally). I have the 'yellow' room. I dunno, maybe because it's got yellow curtains. It's a funny house with carpet in the bathrooms and wooden weave flooring in my room like it 's a Bali beachfront hut! Nevertheless it's comfortable and easy going. A far cry from what I came from and not sure whether I can and want to stay here longer than 3 weeks!
I went for a walk around the house and there's a great park nearby with squirrels, a lot of people sunning themselves, a playground, fields, 5 free tennis courts with intact proper nets at the right height and a basketball court. However there were only two people making use of the courts! No wonder people get fat around here! Free courts of that quality in Melbourne would still be used in the middle of a summer thunderstorm! Organising youth group here would be a lot easier and cheaper with the number of facilities not being used!
So I'm settling into my new room and figuring out how to get to work and all that stuff. Getting competent in a new city and seeing what it has to offer. (Note to self: must go watch a Man United soccer match.)
posted by boarderbob at
9:38 AM
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