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

Back to the blogosphere

Hi there!

I'd say most people reading this already know who I am, so I'm not going to write a long introductory post. But I will tell you this: four months ago I was living in New Zealand. I had a good, steady job and was surrounded (or not too far away from) friends and family.

The only problem was I had a mad desire to go out and explore the world. To challenge myself. To get out of my day-to-day routine and shake things up. So that's exactly what I did. I bought a one-way ticket to London and left my comfortable life in New Zealand behind.

Now, four months in to my adventure, I've acquired a laptop. Which means I can blog again! And there are so many things I have to blog about since this major life shake-up.

Stay tuned for the upcoming posts about this 23 year old's adventures in England and beyond...

xx