Christmas

Well this post is long overdue! Apologies for that. The build-up to Christmas at the Grouse & Ale was absolutely manic. We had Christmas parties, which require much more set up and later finishes, on the daily. It's been very tiring, but I've still managed to have a great time and make more special memories over here.

At the start of January my friend Aaron came to London for a night to visit me. He came from Ireland, where he'd been visiting his girlfriend who was doing a university exchange in Limerick. Not long before he came to Europe he'd returned from a 7 month deployment in Iraq with the NZ Army, so it was really nice to see him and hear about what Iraq life had been like (incredibly hot and boring, by the sounds of things!). I met him at Gatwick Airport and we got the train from there to Victoria station, then walked to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and on to Leicester Square where we stopped for a spot of lunch. We went to Jamie's Diner, the american style diner owned by Jamie Oliver. I had the pulled pork with cornbread and coleslaw and Aaron had a basket of roast chicken with chips and coleslaw. Very tasty!!

My lunch at Jamie's Diner, Leicester Square.

While we were there our other friend Ricky, who lives in Bracknell (Ricky is also ex-army so knows Aaron as well) met up with us. It was cool to see how stoked they were to see each other. Once we left the diner we went to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum just across the road. This place was awesome - heaps of weird and wacky displays and you're allowed to touch everything too. There's also a mirror maze, spinning vortex thing to walk through and a lazer maze at the end which was a lot of fun. 

This model of Tower Bridge is made out of TOOTH PICKS! Amazing huh?!

Taking selfies in the mirror maze

Buddies

After that, we all went back to the hostel we were staying at, had showers and then ventured out to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland Carnival. I'd been to this the week prior during the day with Ricky, and we'd both said we'd have to come again at night. And I'm so glad we did because it's 1000000x better at night when all the lights are on, everyone is in high spirits, the smell of fresh waffles, bratwurst, and crepes is all around, there's live music playing and all the rides are in full swing (quite literally for some haha). Winter Wonderland has been one of the best things I've seen/done in London so far. It was so much fun. The boys loved it too, and were having a great time playing all the fairground games. An Australian girl I met in Edinburgh, Amelia, was also in London that night so came to join us too. It was nice having a little crew of friends to experience it with. 

The carousel bar - yep that's a bar in a rotating merry-go-round.

Pretty lights, great markets, good times!

The best part of Winter Wonderland, in my opinion, was the Bavarian Village. It's a section that's been done up like a wooden German village. It looked so awesome! Beers are served in steins and at night, as we discovered, a huge hall is erected to replicate the tents at Oktoberfest. There was a stage with live music at the front, then just long lines of tables that everyone was sitting at, and all the drink and food stalls around the rim (but still inside the tent). The four of us went in here and had a few drinks and were just blown away by how busy it was and how awesome the atmosphere was. It was a Wednesday night yet it was packed to capacity. So many people were in Christmas jumpers (which is a BIG thing over here) and it was just such a cool buzz. 

This quick (terrible quality, sorry) video gives you an idea of what it was like inside the Bavarian village hall. 

Aaron gave me this teddy he won in a fairgound game, and this is it on the train back to High Wycombe with me. It was such a pain to carry on the train that I took it into a charity shop in Wycombe so I didn't have to cart it on the bus back to Lane End. I haven't told Aaron yet, hopefully he doesn't mind! I'm sure a little kid would love it more than me anyway, so hopefully it made a nice xmas present for a little one :)

The next day we checked out, went to the train station, had breakfast and then Aaron had to leave to head back to Gatwick for his flight back to Ireland. It was a quick visit but it was so much fun! Cannot wait for more visits from friends and family next year!

I was dreading Christmas day a bit this year because I had to work and I knew it was going to be insanely busy and hard and tiring and all that. But it actually wasn't too bad! We had plenty of staff on and I got to do the bar with Ron which was a nice change. It was stupidly busy but we coped. Apparently we did 150 people. Afterwards, 7 of us stayed on for a Christmas meal. There was Kevin (head chef), Ewan (sous chef who lives-in), Alison (waitress), Carlos Posse (used to work at the G&A and came back to help for the day), Kas (our Lithuanian floor manager), Costin (Romanian dessert chef who lives-in) and myself. Usually the owners Carlos and Joy work on Christmas day and sit down with the staff but this year they were with family because Carlos's brother is very sick with cancer. The meal was delicious! We had carrots, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, mini bread loaves, stuffed turkey wrapped in bacon, red cabbage, braised beef, pork belly and all the relevant sauces and trimings. It was GREAT. And for dessert we had chocolate mousse in brandy baskets, christmas pudding with brandy sauce, panacotta and cheese. Lovely company as well.

Our dinner spread - not the best lighting but the food was excellent, trust me!

My kiwi friend Biana came in to the pub on Christmas eve and gave me this kiwiana cracker! (Sorry I don't know how to rotate the picture on here). I also got a christmas gift from Costin, Linda and Tamsin and cards from Ian, Sue, Tamsin, Ron, Linda, Jaclyn, Carlos&Joy and Mum &Dad. Mum and Dad also sent me a lovely Christmas present which arrived on Christmas Eve! 

I also had to work boxing day, but only from 11-5pm which wasn't so bad. It was quite busy though! Going to the pub is such a big thing over here, regardless of whether it's Christmas or not. Even on Christmas day we had all the regulars popping in for pints. Not staying as long as usual, but still popping in. Boxing day night Costin and I went round to Linda's home for another Christmas dinner. It was really yummy, we had roast turkey and lamb, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, peas, yorkshires and all the trimmings. Then chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert! Linda has a beautiful family and their hospitality was so nice. We played UNO and Trivial Pursuit afterwards which was fun.

Even though I've been away from my friends and family this Christmas, and I miss them terribly, it's still been great. I'm so thankful for the friends I've made over here. They're some of the warmest people I've ever met and I feel really blessed to have them in my life. CHEESY I know, but very true.

xx

Just English things

When I moved to England there were a few things I found strange, as is the case whenever you get to a new country! Each country has it's own way of doing things, and it turns out that while England and New Zealand are super similar in a lot of ways, there were a few things that stood out to me when I first arrived on this side of the globe.

1) Traffic lights - In NZ the lights change from green to orange to red, orange meaning it's time to slow down cause they're gonna be red soon! Over here it's the other way round. Lights go orange after red, just before they go green again, to signal to drivers that they can get ready to go again.

2) Street signs - This one confused the heck out of me! When I arrived at Kings Cross Station after 30 hours of travel and knew I had to find Kings Cross Road a few blocks over, I immediately looked for street signs on poles. But lo and behold they were nowhere to be seen! I was slightly freaking out at this point because I had no internet on my phone to use google maps, and I couldn't see a street sign anywhere. I ended up asking a woman at a market stall nearby, who pointed me in the right direction. Then as I was walking towards the hostel I spotted one! The street signs are stuck on the side of the buildings! No white poles with blue street signs on them like in NZ. Since then, I've discovered that this is customary across Europe.

3) E-cigarettes - I don't think I saw a single e-cigarette in NZ. In England they're everywhere, especially in London. I saw hundreds as soon as I got out of the train station. Some people call them 'vapes' because they're 'vaporizers' and people use them for vaping.

4) Greetings - One of the most common greetings here in England is 'Are you alright?' or 'You alright?' which I found odd at first. In NZ you'd only ask a person if they were alright if they looked upset or if they'd injured themselves or something! So the first few times I was greeted in this way over here I was like 'yeah...I'm fine...why?' and was wondering if I had an upset look on my face or something! Fully used to it now though and when I eventually return to NZ I'll probably find myself using it, and getting a strange look in reply! Haha.

There are lots of other things, but these are all I could think of at the moment. I need to write them down when I think of them. So this will probably be a post I'll add to in future. And here are some more pictures of my time being a tourist in London...

Weird floaty Yoda wanting our money in Trafalgar Square. 

Me outside Buckingham Palace.

Squirrels are everywhere! I got excited when I saw my first squirrel.

The changing of the guards outside St James' Palace.

That's all for now. Be back soon! xx

Amsterdam

Last week I had two and a half days off work, so I did a quick trip to Amsterdam. Flights were only 50 pound return and the flight from Luton airport was only 50 minutes! This is what I love about Europe. Whenever I travel to another country, the first thing I do after touching down is locate the place I'm staying at. Even if I get there well before check-in time, I like to know where I'm going to come back to, and where I can orientate myself from. Plus the front-counter staff are always super helpful with giving directions and will often keep your bags safe for you so you don't have to lug them around with you for the rest of the day. When I arrived at Amsterdam Schipol airport (where by the way, the male customs officers, policemen and currency counter workers are SERIOUSLY good looking), I took a train (it was double-decker which was interesting!) to Amsterdam central station and then took a tram from there to the stop nearest my hostel. When I got to the tram stop I was kind of confused as to how you paid for the trip, so I just jumped on the next tram, took a seat and figured someone came to collect money or something. But then I saw that everyone who boarded the tram after me put a card to a card-reader just inside the tram doors, before sitting down and then again before exiting. I was a bit worried then, because I didn't have a card and hadn't made any payment when I boarded. Oops! Plus the intercom kept saying "don't forget to check-out before exiting the tram". The last thing I wanted was to get fined as soon as I arrived in the country! But there wasn't anything I could do because you couldn't buy these card thingys on board. Sooooo I jumped off at the station I needed to and got the journey for free. I felt really bad for it, buuuuut it wasn't intentional.

I stayed at a place called StayOk Vondelpark, which was super easy to find. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the tram stop and I'd figured out the route before leaving England so it was no problem. The roads of Amsterdam are interesting though! There are tram tracks everywhere, cycle lanes that aren't marked as cycle lanes (I almost got hit by a cyclist a dozen times) and just general mayhem everywhere, so you really have to have your wits about you and be concentrating at all times. I got to my hostel unscathed though, and was in time to check-in to my room. It was such a nice hostel too! Super clean and modern, and my room has an ensuite bathroom, instead of a shared one down the hall which is always a bonus. There wasn't anyone else in my room when I got there, which was kinda nice actually.

Once I got sorted I decided to head out to check out some museums, which were literally just down the road. It was rainy and cold - perfect museum weather. I first went to the Rijk Museum, which is basically a 3-floor art gallery. It's the one that the I AMSTERDAM letters are outside, and the building itself is a sight to behold.

 The back entrance to the Rijk Museum

And the famous letters at the front entrance - I'm under the M!

I spent about 2 hours at this museum, it was absolutely fantastic. The main attractions were the large amounts of original Rembrandt's and a few Van Gogh's. I've decided I love Rembrandt's works but am not a massive fan of Van Gogh. I love how Rembrandt's works depict historical figures and events, and the amount of detail in them.

 Inside the Rijk Museum

Van Gogh's self portrait

Rembrandt's Night Watch - this painting is 3.6 x 4.4m and has ridiculous amounts of detail.

I loved this Rembrandt - Man in Oriental Dress - I just think he has so much personality, I love the way light is portrayed and I love his jewels.

Description of the above painting.

One thing I was delighted to come across in the Rijk Museum was the Doll's House of Petronella Oortman. I have recently finished reading The Miniaturist which is all about Petronella Oortman and her husband Johannes Brandt, who was a wealthy Dutch merchant, and the amazing dolls house he gave her as a wedding present. I had no idea they were historical figures and that the dolls house was real!! So to come across her actual dolls house in the museum was a real treat. It's HUGE and incredibly detailed and exactly as described in the book. I'm guessing the author spent many a day at the museum, staring at this dolls house.  Apparently having realistic dolls houses was a popular thing in 17th century Holland. 

The intricate interior. The house was made to replicate the Oortman's actual home.

Description of the dolls house.

This photo gives you an idea of the size of the thing.

Another gem in the Rijk musuem was the research library. Libraries are one of my favourite things in the world, and this one was just so impressive. It's the largest public art history library in The Netherlands, with works collected since 1885.

Isn't it amazing?!

I had to get a selfie inside. lol.

I left the museum at closing time and it was dark outside, so I decided to walk around and find a supermarket to get something for dinner. I found one, which was called 'Albert Hijn' which is a chain of supermarkets, apparently! I had no idea what 'supermarket' was in dutch so was just wondering around until I found it! I grabbed some food and took it back to the hostel. There was still noboby in my room so I ate my meal then spent the rest of the night reading the diary of Anne Frank before going to bed early (it had been an early morning) in preparation for the coming day.

I woke up to a roommate! Yay! Her name was Gabriella and she was from Brazil! She was super nice, and we went down to breakfast together after getting ready that morning. The breakfast spread at the hostel was epic! Cold meats and cheese, eggs, fresh bread rolls, breads and lots of spreads (including pots of nutella - yuss), fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals, tea, coffee and juices! We were stoked, and made sure we had a big brekkie to keep us going. Gabriella hadn't booked anything to do that day so at breakfast was deciding what to do. I'd booked on a cycle tour that day, so unfortunately we didn't see much of each other for the rest of the day. But my tour didn't start till 12 so after breakfast we wandered down to the Albert Cuypmarkt - a huge street market, for a bit of a browse. It was an exceptional market, and it's there every day of the week. It had everything from clothes and shoes to furniture, homewares, gadgets, flowers, cheese, dutch baked goods, fried chicken, chocolates...you name it! 

So many lovely flowers

These flowers were glittery! Weird!

The Dutch do love their cheese.

Mmmmmmmm chocolate...

Dutch baked goods. The smell was divine!

After the market we parted ways (she went on a canal tour) and I went to meet up with my bike tour group. I did a city tour with the company Mike's Bike's (recommended by my sister who did one in Germany). We got some pretty sweet bikes to cruise around on and there were about 13 of us. Our tour guide was a super cool Canadian dude with a great sense of humour and extensive knowledge of dutch history. Cycling around Amsterdam is so much fun - it's really flat so it's not hard and with the cycle lanes, it's easy to get around. Plus cycling along the canals is so scenic. It's a great way to cover all the main sights as well. We went throught the lovely Vondelpark, to Museumplein (where all the main museums are - I went there on day one), through the stylish Jordaan area, past the Anne Frank House (the line was insane - I planned on going after the cycle tour but I would have had to wait at least 2 hours to get in. In the rain and cold wind. So I'll have to do that next time), through the Red Light District (wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - the girls had clothes on at least!), along the canals and ended up with a drink at a bar next to a windmill. It was so good, I would recommend it to anyone.

 Typical Amsterdam - houseboats and canals

The building with the white flag pole coming out of it is the Anne Frank House. The entrance is two houses down to the right, hence why you can't see the massive line to get in.

Windmill!

Charging points for electric cars are all over the city.

Pretty Amsterdam <3

That night my room mate and I went out for dinner and had bitterballen (traditional croquette type things) and dutch pancakes! They were very scrummy. The next morning I got an early bus to the airport and had to return to England. There is still so much I want to see and do in Amsterdam. Of all the cities I've been to, it's the one I want to return to the most. I loved it.

xx

Linda

I've met some really great people over here in England, but there's one lady who I've made a special bond with. Her name is Linda, and she's a 61-year-old, chain-smoking waitress/dishwasher with a heart of gold and a terrible chocolate addiction. I'm not quite sure why Linda and I became so close, I suppose we just clicked and she was so kind and welcoming towards me from the outset that I think I may have clung to her a bit! But now we call each other 'girlfriend' and go jiving together on Wednesday nights and she comes up to my room to vent to me about various things when I've got the night off, so it's a full-blown friendship, and I'm so grateful. 

I will try and describe Linda. She's a tiny wee woman, about 5'3 or maybe even less, with shoulder length dyed-red hair and zero derriere. Not even kidding, it's pancake flat. What she doesn't have in the rear department she makes up for in the chest region though! She's got skinny wee legs and a deep, raspy smokers' voice. When she works in the kitchen she wears leggings and usually a polka-dot top, and when she's doing front of house she wears a nice black dress and tights. She usually gets a ride in to work with Ron, who works on the bar, and sometimes even comes in when she's not working, just to hang out and have a drink. When I finish my shift on Sunday I usually sit down in the bar and chill out with Linda for a while, sometimes we do a crossword together. And sometimes I'll just sit in the bar and chat with her after I finish my shift on a week night, if she's also been working. 

Linda is even more addicted to chocolate than I am. She and Ron used to work at a gas station and she said they'd both have two double mars bars every day. Now whenever she comes in to work she has at least two chocolate bars in her bag that she gets through and often will bring in a box of malteasers or quality street chocolates that she puts behind the bar for all the staff to share. It's so funny.

Linda is married to a man named Pete, who is a nice chap. He's a bit quiet, but I suppose that probably works quite well because she's not quiet at all. Pete is her second husband. She has three sons, one of whom lives in Oxford, the other two live with her. And she has a daughter as well. And a few grandkids. She has a terrible diet consisting of tea, white bread sandwiches, biscuits, cake, potatoes, chocolate and cigarettes. I've asked her whether she eats any fruit or vegetables and she says she'll eat potatoes and the occasional banana. What about salads, green vegetables and fruit? Nope, she just screws up her nose. 

From our various conversations I've found out that Linda has had a very tough life. She has spent time in prison (I didn't think it appropriate to ask what for) and her oldest son has been in and out of prison for the majority of his life, which has taken a toll on the rest of the family. He's constantly asking her for money and when he seems to be doing well he falls back off track and ends up in prison again. Linda says she's had to distance herself from him a bit, because it's too painful. In addition to this, Linda's first husband beat her. She was in a violent relationship with him for years and tried to leave him a few times, but he managed to hunt her down. He is now dead.

I admire how strong Linda is, and how happy and bright of a person she is, considering all she's been through and had to deal with. She has such an infectious personality, which I love about her. She's the kind of lady you can't help but love. She's blunt and hilarioius. Loud and sometimes obnoxious. But she's so caring. She's made me feel so welcome and gone out of her way to include me in outings with her family, invited me over for dinner, taken me to jive class, given me boy advice and cared for me when I've been under the weather. She is simply a fantastic human.

The lovely Linda in the middle - the grouse girls went out for her birthday last week.

Linda and me taking a break from jiving. Not a great photo of either of us! 

xx

What NZ does better

I've been over in England for long enough now to comment on things that I believe New Zealand does better than our English relatives. I've heard customers over here refer to New Zealand as 'little Britain' in the sense that when they've visited NZ they've felt that it was like Britain on a smaller scale. I've also heard it said that NZ is like England was 50 years ago. While I see a lot of similarities between the two, I think that New Zealand has a really solid identity that makes it beautifully unique. And there are some things that Aotearoa does that I think are just great.

1) England never really sleeps. Well, London in particular, but in comparison to NZ the country doesn't really. By this I mean that shops are open really late and don't close on any day of the week. In contrast, for most of my life in Hastings and then in Palmerston North, you'd barely find anything open on a Sunday. While it's convenient that things don't close, I think it's nice because it means more time spent at home with family. More time making memories and less time focusing on money and consumerism. Which leads in to my second point...

2) The lifestyle. New Zealand definitely does this better. People over here seem to be all about the money, and are definitely more uptight about things. Again, London is the exaggeration of this and it's not as bad in other places but it's still more so than back home. In London everyone's in a rush, life is mostly all about work and hours are long. But even out here in Lane End, the office lady Pam is in the office by 8.30am every day and doesn't leave till after 7pm, sometimes even as late as 9pm. That's 11 hour days. She doesn't work on the weekends but still, those are long days! Also kiwis are a lot more relaxed about things. Small things that have caused big issues at work here would be shrugged off in NZ, or noted but not stressed about. NZ is definitely more kick-back than England. No one would argue any different.

3) Smoking. What I've come to appreciate about NZ since being here is the way that smoking is perceived in the culture. Back home it's pretty anti-social and definitely frowned upon. There are also sooooo many anti-smoking campaigns from local and national governments and it's not as common as it once was. Which is GREAT. Over here though, smoking is VERY common. Most of my workmates are heavy smokers and I've yet to see a quit-smoking or anti-smoking adver in the newspaper or on TV. C'mon England - get your country healthy! It should be a priority!

4) On a similar wavelength is drink driving. Working in a pub I'm more exposed to this I suppose, but it's pretty shocking. So many people drink drive and no-one seems to bat an eyelid. A couple of weeks ago one of the ladies that works in the office was obviously very intoxicated (we're talking couldn't walk straight, obviously couldn't see straight, was blurring her words etc etc) and when she went to leave everyone just said 'bye, see you later'. No one asked her whether she was ok to drive, no one offered to call her a taxi or anything. I had seen her state but didn't see her leave, otherwise I would have said something. I think that's really terrible, and found it quite shocking. And so many customers do it. From what I've seen, there isn't the police presence that we have back home, and there's no media reinforcing the message that it's not acceptable. No good.

5) Weather. New Zealand weather > England weather.

Here are some pictures of my time in the London Eye (which is over-priced and over-rated in my opinion).

Me and Ben

The Albert Bridge over the Thames

Big Ben and the parliament buildings (And a red double decker bus! This photo is so London.)

Nicole, Colleen and me with London in the background!

xx

Museums

I love museums. I didn't realise I loved museums until I came to England and visited some of the exceptional ones on offer. There's just something so great about visiting a space dedicated to expanding one's knowledge of the world, and I always feel smarter afterwards. I think museums are best visited when it's raining and dark outside. They're not particularly cosy places, but when it's moody outside it just feels better. I dunno.

Anyhow, England has so many great museums that are mostly free to get into! It's amazing, I don't think museums are free back home. When I first arrived in England and spent 10 days in London, I visited three museums, all very different. Another thing I love about museums over here are their exteriors! Just look at these photos - such striking buildings.

This one is the Brisitsh Museum, which is in Trafalgar Square in London. I went here with my hostel friends Nicole and Colleen for about 3 hours, which wasn't enough time to get around the whole place. But by that point we were kind of museum-d out! I loved the classical history part of this museum the most. It had reliefs from ancient Roman structures and original busts - including the one of the Emperor Augustus. Soooo cool! The ancient Egyptian section was also cool - it had lots of mummies on display, including one that was believed to be Cleopatra! The Rosetta Stone was also here, and was what all the tourists (including us) were cramming around and trying to get a good look at.

This one is the National Gallery, also in Trafalgar Square Not a 'museum' as such, as it's a gallery, but I'm going to include it here. I think this was the place that made me think 'oh my gosh I can't believe I'm seeing these in the flesh!' Because there were works by MONET and VAN GOGH and DA VINCI!!!! Being able to see these paintings I've read about and seen many photos of in real-life was just awesome. There was also live classical music playing and a guest-artist painting in one of the rooms, so the whole ambience/experience was perfect.

The famous Natural History Museum! I came here with Nicole, who had to leave part-way through for a flat viewing, so I saw most of it on my own. This place is also free and I want to go back already. It covers everything imaginable about the natural world - including geology, how the human body works, dinosaurs, birds and insects, mammals, geography, etc etc. It's all very interactive too - which is fun for kids and also was fun for me cause I like to have a go at all those sorts of things too. haha. 

The next museum I visited didn't have such an awe-inspiring exterior, but was well-worth a visit. This was the National Museum of Denmark, in Copenhagen. Also free! I went to this museum with a Korean guy I met on the walking tour I went on in the morning. It was super cold outside so was nice to come inside and soak up some culture. The museum covers the history of Denmark as well as other cultures. All the annotations were in both Danish and English, so no problems there :)

This is the Ashmoleon Museum in Oxford. The Ashmolean is the world's first University museum - originally created to house a cabinet of curios donated by Elias Ashmolean. I think this is my favourite museum so far. Well, that's hard to say cause they're all soooooo good but this one wasn't so huge to the point of being overwhelming (a la British museum), had a few interactive things and had some exhibits that were different, like a whole section on Imperial Japan, which was really cool. There was also a huge collection of china crockery which was very impresive. It's very modern, clean and well organised as well. Plus it's in Oxford, which means it's fantastic by association.

Oh, I also went to Brighton Museum when I was there. It wasn't too bad, but kinda had the same sort of cultural history stuff I'd seen in other museums already. Still enjoyed the visit though.

I <3 a good museum.

xx

The regulars

The pub culture over here is something else. Pubs are everywhere, and rather than being a place where people go on the odd occasion, or once a week, going to the pub seems to be part of the daily routine of a lot of English people. Well, in my experience anyway.

At The Grouse & Ale we have quite a number of 'regulars' who come into the pub every day. It's quite an eclectic group of individuals, and they all know each other which makes for a nice atmosphere. I thought I'd share a bit about our regulars in this post, to give a better sense of the people I have met during my time at The Grouse.

Wayne and Jannina - Wayne is a short, ruddy-faced blonde man with a really rough English accent. He comes in every day, without fail, and orders a fosters with a dash of lime cordial. The way he speaks is very emotive, he's expressive and always laughing. I think he's a landscaper of some sort. His wife Jannina is also short and blonde, but she always looks like she's sour about something. You never know what to expect from her - whether she'll be in a good mood or whether she'll snap her order at you (which is always a white wine spritzer, soda, no ice). I think she's a teacher. They both smoke like chimneys.

Ollie - Ollie is a lovely 50-something Irish man with a great big bulb of a red nose. He's one of the kindest customers, always saying 'and would you like a drink for yourself, Dale?' when he orders his pint of fosters. He has a son called Dayle, which he told me not long after I started working here. He often brings his gorgeous little brown and white cocker spaniel Georgia in with him (Yep, dogs are allowed in our pub. Actually, dogs are allowed in most places in England. It's weird), who is very well behaved and just sits there watching him the whole time. Sometimes she even gets up and sits on one of the chairs and stares out with her big brown eyes. She's a lovely little dog. And it's clear that Ollie and Georgia are the best of friends because if Ollie passes her lead to someone while he goes to the bathroom, she gets all anxious like 'where is my master gone?!' until he gets back. Ollie reckons the All Blacks are going to win the RWC.

Smed - I have no idea what Smed's real name is, but he's a very friendly little tubby man who works as a builder. He kind of reminds me of one of the 7 dwarves. lol. He always gets a pint of guiness and often brings his dog Willow in with him. Now Willow isn't quite as welcome as Georgia because Willow is a GREAT DANE. She doesn't bark or cause any mischief but she's just so big it's a pain to get around her at times!

Kronenbourg Phil - Phil is a big, bald guy with an even bigger beer-belly who comes in most days for his pints of Kronenbourg. He's about to get married so all we've been hearing about lately is his stag do and the wedding, which half the pub is invited to. I think a lot of the other customers find him irritating, from the looks I've seen them exchange, and the comments I've heard. He's not too bad, but not a favourite of mine.

Marina and Dave - Now this couple is one of my favourites. Marina is a short, fat Irish woman with a blonde bob and a heart of gold. She's so friendly and always greets me by name and calls me darling. She made sure to tell me when she drove past the All Blacks on the M40 the other day too! She's an avid rugby fan - supporting Ireland, of couse, and came in wearing her green Irish rugby jumper the other day when they were playing. She's a gem. Her husband Dave is great too - he tries to copy my accent (terribly) and pokes fun at me, playfully, which is fun. Marina always gets a small chardonnay and Dave gets a fosters.

Graeme and Nicky - I wasn't quite sure about these two at the start, but I've warmed to them. They come off as a bit posh, and apparently they sometimes complain that the music is too loud, or that they can hear the washing machine upstairs, so they are a bit high maintenance. Graeme is a very articulate man in his 60s who gives an air of being very well-to-do and wealthy. Yet he drinks fosters - the cheapest beer! haha. He's friendly enough though, and greets me by name. I don't know what he does for a living but I reckon he's an accountant or something like that. I'll ask Ron. Nicky is a bit quieter but she's also nice and greets me by name now. She drinks strongbow - the cider we have on tap.

Two-pint Steve - This guy is everyone's favourite. He got his nickname because he always comes in for two pints of guiness and two packets of crisps. And he always comes in around 10.30/11pm and stays until closing. He's a decorator by trade and has 2 daughters, and grew up with 3 sisters, so my workmates say he comes in to get away from the women for a bit. He's a really good guy, Steve. I did a couple of closing shifts on my own when another staff member was away and everyone was saying to me 'oh you'll get two-pint coming in around 10.30' so I was very curious about meeting this guy. And, embarassingly, when he did come in, another customer told him I was excited to meet him. lol. But Steve is really nice and easy to talk to. He's very interested in sport so we talk about rugby a bit, and he's always interested in what I've done while I've been over here. Ron and Linda always toy with him and give him grief, but he loves it. He's a bit of a silver fox too - good looking for an older man! haha.

Skels - His name is Dave Skelsey but everyone calls him Skels. He's this super tall, chubby bald man with a very distinctive (and loud) voice. He's a really playful, cheeky guy who always stands at the end of the bar, blocking the staff exit on one side. Sometimes I'll go up to him and say excuse me but he purposly won't move, just to be a pain. It's all in good fun. He drinks fosters too and sometimes brings wifey in with him. She's a riot as well - seriously all she does is laugh when she comes in. You can hear her laughter from a mile away (and from upstairs in my room it's particularly noticeable). They're both lovely people.

Colin - Awwww Colin. He's an old dear that one. Comes in as soon as the pub opens every day for his pint of deuchars IPA. He always says 'Hello Dale' and 'Bye Dale' when he leaves, and gives me a great big smile. His son died about a year ago in a car accident, poor old thing. Ron said he has aged a lot since that happened. He only ever gets one pint, so I think he just comes in for the camaraderie. His son left him some money and when he was alive he wanted to buy his Dad a car, so Colin has honoured that and bought himself a nice new red Kia with the money his son left him. Sometimes Colin orders ham egg and chips, but can't have them without vinegar!

John - Wears a flat-cap and is a terribly heavy smoker (seriously, sooooo many people smoke over here, it's terrible). He's a bit of a seedy old chap, making off-hand comments towards me sometimes. But I know to just ignore him. And he's told me to ignore him! He's only got about two top teeth left. And he's always laughing and picking fun at people, and talking to all the customers that come in, whether or not he knows them!

So I don't have any photos of the regulars, cause that would be weird. But I do have a couple to share..

This is my Romanian workmate Costin, who I talked about in my previous post.

These are some typical English houses in Lane End - always brick and always joined together. Each of the houses in this picture is effectively two houses. 

That's all folks!
xx

My current life

Not quite sure what to start the blog posts off with so maybe an overview? So, since the 15th of June I've been living and working at the Grouse & Ale, a typical English pub in a tiny village called Lane End.

This is my pub - the left back window on the second level with the sign hanging outside it is where my room is.

Lane End has a population of around 1000 people and is quite a cute, affluent little village. There are two pubs, a chemist, a vet, a barber, a soap/aromatherapy store, two little cafes, a garage, a chinese takeaway, a corner store called McColl's (which is a chain of dairy-type stores here in England) and a shop called Londis, which is equivalent to the Four Square in NZ, but it has post-shop services as well. That's pretty much all in one street, the 'High Street'. As cute as it is though, there's not a lot that happens here!

Lane End is a 15 minute bus ride from High Wycombe, which has a population of around 100,000. It's the largest city in Buckinghamshire (I love how the regions over here are all 'shires'). High Wycombe is really quite rough. The people, the shops, everything is run-down and I've been told a number of times not to go there at night! I thought Hastings was bad, but High Wycombe is 10x worse. There are three good things about High Wycombe though:
1) It has a mall with decent shops and a library in it.
2) It's a fairly central place, with excellent bus services to other (vastly superior) towns and cities.
3) The BEST thing is it has a train station which can take me to London's Marylebone station in 27 minutes.

When I first moved to Lane End I was quite gutted at being placed in such a small village. There aren't many people my age and there's nothing going on. But now that I have a routine and have made friends at work, it's not so bad. Sure, I'd still rather be living elsewhere, but it's alright for the time being.

Two other people live at the Grouse & Ale, both kitchen staff. There's the white-haired, Romanian dessert and pizza chef Costin who must be around 58 or so (He's got a 5-year-old daughter back in Romania though! What a sugar daddy hahah) and there's 40-year-old sous chef Ewan who keeps his dog Boris in his room with him. Weird, right?

Costin and I get along really well and he is always giving me food and offering to make me food (no wonder I love him! ha). He speaks in heavily accented, broken English. He will often tell me about things in his life and calls me 'darling' or 'baby', but not in a creepy way. Sometimes he tries to be vulgar/seedy like the other two chefs, but it doesn't quite work coming from him. Which is funny. I feel sorry for Costin sometimes because Kevin and Ewan (the two main chefs) don't like him much. Mainly because he's slow and seems to make mistakes a fair bit. But he's the hardest worker of them all. He's always the first in the kitchen in the morning, and last one to leave.

Then there is Ewan. He's really bubbly and friendly - sure doesn't act his age! I like Ewan but I also don't feel 100% comfortable around him. Not that he's creepy or anything, but you know how with some people you don't care and can be yourself but with others you're always conscious of what you're saying and feel awkward? Yeah it's kinda like that. I don't really know why. Ewan smokes like a chimney and also sometimes smokes "special" cigarettes which he tries to mask the smell of with air freshener, but that never quite works. Everyone knows he does it but no one says anything. Pretty sure if the big boss Carlos knew he wouldn't be happy. Especially because the bar has a big 'No drugs' sign up! Ewan goes out with Alison, who is one of the other front-of-house staff members. Ewan and Costin both live on the third floor.

I work around 30 hours a week, with usually 2 days off a week (sometimes it's 3, sometimes 1). A typical working day for me is as follows:

7.45am - wake up, get changed into gym gears
8.30am - gym for an hour or so
10-12pm - shower, breakfast, get ready
12pm - start the lunch shift
3pm - finish the lunch shift, eat some food, watch some tv, chill out, sometimes have a nap
6/7pm - start the dinner shift
10/11pm - finish for the day

About an 8 minute walk from my pub is the Lane End Conference Centre. This is where I go to the gym. And THANK GOODNESS it has a gym! Honestly, I think I'd go insane here if I didn't have my little gym/sanctuary to go to every day. It's in a part of the centre called The Cedar Club, which is a bar/lounge/leisure centre. When I joined I was the first member because it was brand new, and I've still yet to have a workout where there's been someone else there! It's so great. It also has great showers (better than my one at the pub), a steam room and a sauna (which I looooooooooooooove to use). There's a big TV in the gym which I turn to the radio. So I turn up the tunes and have an hour's solid workout where I zone out of the rest of life. As opposed to when I use the sauna, in which I always seem to think deeply about life. LOL.

 This is my lovely gym. It's small but has everything I need. I love coming here.

So this is my life now. It's not fantastically exciting (except for what I get up to on my days off - which I will detail later on) but it's not so bad.

That's all for today.
xx