born.from.an.egg.on.a.mountain.top

Just like Monkey, I am on a quest too. It's a mission to find some decent asian food here in London. I think it's going to be a recurring theme that I will be whinging about.

In our short time here we have had some really bad stuff. I don't think the iron chef's here have heard of the word "flavour". I mean, either all the dishes taste the same as each other (ie. bland), or they get the ingredients totally wrong. Passing off egg noodle/soba noodle type thing in salty water as ramen is just not on (tip: don't go to Taro). I mean it was that bad I couldn't eat it. And what's the deal with cutting the chicken feet in half at yum cha (they do that at every place we have been too). Ripped off!

So we've come to lower our standards now ... if it tastes average then it is really good. We've found a few places that are pretty good: this thai place in Angel, japanese place at Piccadilly Circus and a Superbowl type place on the edge of chinatown in the city.

In the end, I am pretty sure I know where this quest will end ... in our own kitchen eating the food that we've cooked ourselves. Time to ask my parents for all those seclet Ly Inn recipes ...

london>convicts>aussies>london

What's the deal? Back in Sydney, half the people on my team at any company I work at are from the UK (the other half are normally gopals).

I come over here and their are aussies everywhere:

• Here in Fulham there's a big convict colony
• Most of the new friends we have made are aussies
• Almost everyone at work on the project I am on is Australian (and also all ex-consultants as well. Talk about inbreeding ...)
• Apparently at any one time, 5% of the australian population is here in London. Must be weather that brings us all over
• Can't even escape the australian celeb either ... we saw Mr Hugh Jackman tonight at the premiere of The Prestige (saw Scarlett (.)(.), Andy Circus and Rachel Hunter as well ... man she is tall)

when.is.a.holiday.not.a.holiday?

When it is a working holiday.

Things we've had to do in the past couple of weeks - pick up debit card for bank account we had set up from home, apply for credit card, set up limited company and other stuff for contracting, applying for jobs, going to job interviews, looking for place to rent, get a UK SIM card etc. Work work work work. As you're told when you were a kid ... gotta finish you homework first before play.

Good news is now that work is behind us we can start playing now. Holidays have been booked, and need to get some tickets to see all the shows that are in town. Everyone comes through here ... not like back home when you wait ten years for some rock band to come out, queue up overnight for tickets, and then find out the shows cancelled ...

guy.fawkes

Only the poms would celebrate a failed bombing attack on their city. I guess they're not as smug nowadays.

Fireworks have been going off all night. Walking home just then, it felt like we were in a warzone with the explosions right above us and the smell of smoke in the air. I was waiting for something to land on my head. There are gonna be a few kids making trips to the doctors tonight with missing fingers/eyeballs/noses/ ...

there's.a.new.geezer.in.town

Okay, I've decided to dust off this blog that I never used. Going to use it post random thoughts on our time here in Europe. This first post is going to be a lenghty one.

Might as well start with our first 3 weeks in London. Observations so far:

• The weather has been good ... sunny and blue skys. Go figure. But we are bracing for the worst come Dec. Heard talk about some syndrome Londoners seem to get from the lack of sunlight in winter ... apparently people are more grumpier. I just reckon they're just upset from losing the Ashes every year.
• We've worked out all the decent shopping areas (that we have been to so far). Mainly Oxford St, Regent St, Carnaby and the back streets around Covent Garden. Plenty of nice winter clothing to buy that will be totally useless back home in Oz.
  
• Now we're earning the local currency we've stopped multiplying the cost of everything by 2.5. That helps. A lot.
• There are friends and a $hitload of expats here. So it hasn't been to difficult settling in.
  
• Aston Martin's, Porsches, Mini Coopers and Audi's galore here. I hope I haven't forgotten how to drive. Some say I never knew how to in the first place ...
• Love the choice of stuff in the supermarkets here. And it's cheap too. They seem to love their pre-made meals. Even saw peking duck in the supermarket the other day.
• We love all the old architecture in London. Can't wait to see the rest of Europe.
• There seems to be a Starbucks on every block. And a sandwich shop where ever you look (Pret, Benjy's). I'm gonna be sick of sandwiches. Correction, I already am.
  
• Love the portable card readers they have at all the restaurants. No more waiting for them to swipe your card when you pay the bill ... the do it at your table. You can even organise to split the bill with the machines.
  
• Gotta install central heating back home in Sydney when we get back.
• They weren't joking when they said it was hard water here ... you can actually tell the difference. Skin feels dry and you see ads for lime scale remover on TV all the time.
• The Tube. Firstly, the trains are designed for Hobbits. It's stuffy. And seems to be breaking down half the time - I mean, things mustn't be good when there are signs at every station informing you what kind of service each line is experiencing (ie. good, bad, closed etc.). But the Oyster card does rock.
  
• Cyclists everywhere ... grown 75% over the last few years. Tour de France starts in London next year too. I drool like the bike nerd I am at all the machinery that past me by as I walk along the street.
  
• Lingo. All of a sudden I am an oriental here. Asian = Indian. Pants = Underwear, so you say trousers. Thongs = Flip Flops. They have no idea what a bum bag is. And they think they are better than us.
  
• Chinese food. You would think the British link with Hong Kong would help the local food here, but all I can say is it is crap. It either looks and tastes all wrong. Or it looks right, but just tastes bland. I mean, we had yum cha today, and all I can say is the prawn dumplings and the dim sims tasted the same (ie. tasteless). Dunno what the deal is, must be the quality of the meat or something.
• I think we must sound like food snobs to all the locals.
  
• What is the deal with street parking here. You can park any side of the road you want. It's confusing to me ... I mean only the habib's do that back home. Everyone does it here.
• Speaking of habib's, the cops gotta get better cars here. I mean an Astra isn't gonna be able to keep up with the cyclists, let alone a getaway car.
  
• Not only are the trains on the Tube smaller, so are the soft drinks here. I knew something wasn't quite right with the cans of coke. They're 330ml, not 375ml. Jipped!

That's all I can think of saying right now. Will post up more stuff as they happen.