Chapter 4: Missing the house. Forget the people.

We are once again moving, hopefully to a new place in Wimbledon by this weekend. I don’t even want to go into the amount of stress, anxiety, anger and delirium that both Thuy and I went through to get this place. We’re still slightly disbelieving until we actually walk into this house, plant our stuff down and then nail boards to the door of the house so that no land lord can Ever EVER drag us out!

The house it self is wonderfully located next to all the shops I like to shop at (I have on my big cheesy grin right now). It’s also close to a park where I can do my fitness thing AND close to Al forno, our favorite pasta place here in London. But it’s no place like home. As in home home.

I guess I might be a little bit more sick of the whole moving thing simply because I have made 4 moves in the last 6 months. First from Australia to a temporary 1 week stay with friends, then to Richmond, then to Birmingham (which I’m still half living at) and now Wimbledon. I hope this will be my last before I return back to Australia. I’m thinking I wont be so lucky.

I was flicking through FB the other day and saw photos of my friends partying it up at my home back in oz. I wanted to cry. There was my kitchen, small and neat and oh! my backyard patio with the 6 burner BBQ, and the brown sofa that I had got for so cheap at an auction, the amount of space! God. Even the bloody carpet bought tears to my eyes. And the people in the photos? Well forget the people, they could never shelter you the way a house can.

Anyway, the point is - I used to just miss everyone back home but now I miss everyone back home PLUS the bloody house too. Moving houses just exacerbates it all.

Chapter 3: Happy as a Chappy.

Ok so moving on from the setting up stage and moving even further past the making friends bit and getting me some moola. Where am I now? Well…my gorgeous room will no longer be affordable, I am slightly less friendless and I'm on holiday until further notice.

Gorgeous room becoming a bit of a high maintenance girlfriend
Sam, our questionable landlord, decided to drop in last Sunday. Thought he’d stop by to say hello and ramble on about his younger years and how awesome he was. Amidst all that useless chatter (and us kissing his butt so that he would extend our lease) he also briefly mentioned that the rent would increase an extra 115 pounds per person. I looked at Thuy and she looked back at me - I knew that look. We were both punching Sam in the face. Only in our minds though. Damn him. Time to house hunt again.

Just when I started to make it homey too

I’m only slightly less friendless
Making friends is hard work. I’d like to think of it as a three part process, quite similar to how men pick up women. Some boys label each stage as the “start game, middle game and end game“, which I think perfectly describes the process of friendship making. lol

Start game: This is where you either make or break. Your potential friendship heavily relies on this initial contact. Generally you would start socializing in a group. You would target the ones who you find interesting. Then, you need to make a good impression by conversing appropriately, maintaining their interest, looking like you’re interested, being funny, having a good fake laugh so that they think they’re funny, avoiding looking too eager, but most importantly being cool. Being very cool. No pressure at all. I think I have this stage down pat. I’m really good at it especially when I’m drunk. Although people do tell me that when you’re drunk your perception is greatly distorted. Ohhh maybe that’s why I never get past this stage Oh! So that's why Carmela never got back to me.

Middle game: This is where you move in for the kill. They’re interested, you’re interested. It’s time to build a foundation for the friendship to build. I think it’s at this stage you start to discuss interests and hobbies and find common ground so that you can connect without having to rely on the person who introduced you or on the group. Yes. kinda like making the cream between two biscuit bits to make a cookie. Like I said, I rarely get to this stage.

End game: Well according to boys this may mean sex is involved or getting a number. This is also the same for friendship making. Oh. Except for the sex. Have I been successful in friendship making? The answer is yes. Once. I have a friend from London and more importantly, she still is my friend today. What did I tell you? I’m only slightly less friendless.

You’re stuck now wing Lau.

On Holiday until further notice.

So my era of denying really old frail people wheelchairs is at end at the wheelchair service. Such a shame because I was, I feel, at the peak of my reign here. What? Don’t look at me like I’m cruel - you’d think that by their age (especially those 107 yr olds) they’d have learnt how to walk on their hands by now! So asking for a wheelchair is a bit much, don’t you think? Lol. I am so going to hell.

Ok, on a more serious note though. I was really lucky to have stayed here for so long. Generally, locum positions don’t last longer than 4 - 6 weeks and I was here for 4 whole months. A real blessing for my finances but damn it really sucks when you have to move on (especially when you actually start to like the people you work with). Give me enough time in a place and emotional attachment is bound to happen with me. Yuck. So… finding another locum position does not look too easy at the moment - the job market here for locums have slowed right down. Something to do with budget cuts and lack of finances - usual shit. Next plan of action? Well.. Because I have a shopping problem and because I am a bit of a pansy when I work in a place long enough, I have decided to opt for a permanent position as it will best meet my needs.

Well then. I guess I am on holiday until further notice

In summary…
I may be back in square 1 (jobless and soon to be homeless) but life has never been better :)

Chapter 2: Right. Down to business.

The holiday (short lived) is over. Now to get me a life here in London.

I thought I’d initially focus on sustainability and making new friends, two components which I feel are essential to having a successful life in London.

1. Sustainability

I guess having a source of income would be a good idea.

London is expensive and I am a girl who likes to spend. I can tell you a comprehensive list of things I need to buy (note the need, it isn’t ‘wants’ it’s ‘need‘) but unfortunately I can’t tell you a comprehensive list of occupational therapy assistant (OTA) positions going in London. Until my HPC goes through (to work as an OT), I am stuck in a rut. Fortunately, I managed to score an OTA position with the hounslow wheelchair service. This will do for now. (I know I don’t sound appreciative, but in reality I nearly cried with relief when I got the position and practically kissed their hands and feet! Phew! I can continue to financially support my eyelash extensions!).

2. Making new friends (housemates don’t count)
This might be problematic since I can be quite shy, not much of a talker and apparently when I do speak, my stories are not interesting (thanks C for the critique). I think I solved this problem by installing the shut up button on my iphone.

The second potential problem which I can foresee is the reliability of my ‘friend’ filter. When alcohol is involved, everyone is my friend. Yes. This includes the crazies too and there are plenty of crazies here in London. I obviously need to set up some sort of system to sort the crazies from the not so crazy from the normal. If only there was an iphone application which could do this in a second. Some sort of face scan. It would save the unnecessary investigative conversations ( ’Soooo… are you into killing people, like random oriental people you meet in pubs?’) . With the iphone scan I could just walk up to potentials and be like ‘Please look directly here. Now keep your head still and your eyes wide open, you might feel a burning sensation as the laser scans your eyes. Not so long now, just keep still a little longer…a little longer. Oh damnit I moved, I’m sorry we need to do that again’. All the application would then need to say out loud is either ‘Warning! Crazy person ahead!’ or ‘Safe for befriending!’. I guess for those of you (like me) who would like that extra bit of confidence in managing difficult situations (where a crazy person is involved) - you could opt for a deluxe version of the app where it could offer advice like ‘1. Wait until subject has his/her/its back turned. 2. Make your escape quickly, quietly and preferably with style through the back door. 3. Whatever you do, do not look back.’ I think this could be a potential niche market. But until that app is developed, I guess I’m going to have to rely on my not so reliable ‘friend’ filter. Lucky I have Thuy around.

Down below is a picture of the first friend I made at Clapham North pub. I found her on her own. She then followed me to the next bar and gave me her number. I think she was normal, she was just alone, dancing alone and I think I saw her talking alone. That’s normal right?

My first friend Carmela and me (obviously drunk happy)

Chapter 1: Independence

This week has been so busy for me, setting up things like bank accounts, oyster travel cards, sim cards, work interviews… the list goes on. The most exciting part of this journey so far was when I first walked into the room that will be my room for the next 6 months.

My room

Scared? No. Anxious? No. Sense of pride and independence? Hell yes. Sure, I have been free of my parents apron strings for at least 5 years now aswell as been self sufficient with a decent mortgage at home. Well… when I say self sufficient, I mean I have managed financially. I’m lucky to have a fantastic job and a boyfriend who is super smart and manages everything else, I just have to make sure I pay bills when he tells me too. But this is different. I am alone here. There is no one to guide me through this, no one to manage my finances or tell me where I should stay or even how to decorate my own room. I get to do it all myself and that is the most wonderful feeling.

Anyway, the house looked like shit when we first went to visit prior to moving in. It had recently undergone a big makeover …actually it still IS undergoing the makeover, which explained the mess it was in. Nothing was complete, no carpet, dust and dirt everywhere, no washing machine, tiny bathrooms and toilets (as in I could have a shower while going to the toilet at the same time).

My tiny but sufficient bathroom


I couldn’t even lock my room because the lock and hole were misaligned and to make things worse there was a gigantic spider residing at the front door.

Ok so it doesn't look that BIG here, but it was I swear.

But you know what? this place had me at hello.

In a nutshell, it is a two storey heritage house that is sitting directly across a church. Apparently, this house used to be a safe house for priests during King Henry VIII’s reign. At that time, there was an order to wipe out any religion that was not ‘Church of England‘. So the priests would then access a secret underground tunnel connected to this very house where they could hide. Interesting history hey?


So there are four bedrooms in total, with three being upstairs and one downstairs. I am sharing the house with one of my closest friends plus two other flat mates (who are both best mates with my friend). For those of you who know Thuy, she could easily be mistaken as a hobbit. So she got the dwarf room with a dwarf door (unfortunately, not by choice).

Dwarf Thuy

So here I am, finally settled, working and learning to become truly independent. How do I feel?
Freaking awesome.

A world in one city...

After 20 hours of very uncomfortable flying time with airasia plus a 10 hour stop over in KL (compliments of airasia again), I finally arrived in London. At Stansted airport. Only to wait another 3 hours because train lines and shuttle buses did not operate until 5:30am. That's cool, that's ok I didn't mind because I AM in london, a world in one city (and also because I had my trusty muesli snacks).

So plus another 1 and half hour bus trip later I am finally in the heart of the city. I am at Victoria station which is brimming with people, all heading to work and it feels amazing to be here. Well it should feel amazing but all I can bloody think about is how cold it is!!

London, so far, is everything I imagined it to be but more - I expected the gloomy, the wet,the grey, the crowds and the cold. But what I didn't expect was how friendly and helpful people have been or how many trees there are and that yes that the sun does shine here (just rarely).

Maybe I am still in the honey moon phase or more likely just delirious from lack of sleep but whatever it is I am in love with London, I have only been here 42 hours and 6 minutes and I already know I love it.