Rugby & Kris Kringle

Yesterday arvo we went to the pub to see the Aussies beat those stupid Poms in rugby at Twickenham. We were extremely outnumbered in the backroom of The Bedford. There was a lot of "friendly" banter between the two teams' supporters, that is everyone else versus our little group of 7 from the old crew back home. I have to admit I was biting my nails at one point, I just could not have handled losing to the Poms again, they never shut up about it, especially the school kids!
"Hey Miss, do you follow the rugby?" And then I know what's coming, "What about the World Cup last year!?" Yeah, what about it you little turd?
Then we retired to number 64 where Bard and James joined us after actually attending the game (Twickenham is only about halfa from our place). We ordered pizza, consumed a substantial amount of beer (2 cases for £20 at Threshers, bargain!) and did Kris Kringle! And no it wasn't the same with out the rest of the old crew - Ervos, D&G, KJ and Carl - miss you guys!!!
This year, I cleaned up and got, in my humble opinion, the best present from one Paul Jones Esquire - Desktop Racing Minis. Addictive and fun for the whole sharehouse family. Thank you Bones and Kris Kringle.

Look at the concentration! 

"Mwahahahaha - no one can defeat me!" 

The Italian Job in miniature
 

Breaking news

Fed up and sick and tired of London’s school children, Miss Golding began the search for a new career in October 2004. In this article we speak exclusively to the teacher who quit. And discover what the future holds for the young Aussie.

Today, Miss Golding of London received job offers from two separate companies.
"I was shocked" said the 26 year old Australian, "I would have been happy with one but to receive two offers is unbelievable!"
Miss Golding began her teaching career in 2002 when see moved to the city of Nishinomiya in Japan to become an Assistant Language Teacher at Naruo Senior High School. Upon returning to Australia she began teaching at the wonderful Scots College located in Bellevue Hill, Sydney. Perhaps because of these two experiences she was lulled into a false sense of security and was ill prepared for teaching in London.
London schools are purported to be amongst the worst in the UK, if not the world. Being told in no uncertain terms to "F**k off" and standing by helplessly as chairs, textbooks and anything else that’s not nailed down are thrown across the room are daily occurrences.
"Even the good schools are bad" commented Miss Golding, who then went on to say "I mean, I expected it to be challenging, but I'm getting frown lines for God's sake, no job is worth that".
Miss Golding’s new role as a Relationship Manager will be for a company who has developed a ‘portal’ which is used in schools around London. Her duties will involve training teachers how to use the online ‘portal’. When asked what a portal is, the young teacher replied “I don’t know, but sounds cool doesn’t it?” In any case she has until January, when the new job begins, to find out.

Skating on thin ice

Somerset House is on the River Thames near Waterloo Bridge. It has an outdoor ice skating rink in the winter. Egg and I got some free tickets to the opening today from TimeOut Magazine. We were amongst the first group of people to "skate" there this season (it appeared that most people were beginners). However, I can only describe the experience as magical. I've never been ice skating before and I thought I did surprisingly well. It was great with the exception of the drizzling rain and the guy who thought I was trying to steal his child when I offered to help her up.
As we entered the central courtyard of Somerset House I felt truly happy to be in London. These sort of experiences are what it's all about. The ice rink stands surrounded by old sandstone buildings, with beautiful lighting and a giant Christmas tree. It was then I realised that I am getting so excited about my first Northern Hemisphere Christmas.
When we arrived, a guy was smoothing the ice over with one of those ice smoothing vehicles. I was instantly reminded of that "Endless Love" scene from Happy Gilmore.
"What? Friends can listen to Endless Love in the dark!" Adam Sandler's finest work...

To see a picture of the rink, go to:
http://www.somerset-house.org.uk

Long time no web log

Things have been hectic here. Between looking for a new job, interviewing for a new job, Spanish classes, Creative Writing classes, a 3 week Behaviour Management course (managing students' behaviour that is), shopping with the girls in Camden, telling a Persian belly dancer to f*** off (by accident) and eating Sunday Roasts at the Blithe Spirit (where they changed the nut roast, much to my dismay), I haven't had much time.
This weekend I'm off to Manchester (well, Warrington really) for what promises to be good times (or I'll expect a full refund!) with Sara and Maggs.

I pity the fool!

On the mantle piece, in our loungeroom resides my framed picture of The Fonz. Tom bought Michael a Mr.T keychain yesterday. Now they sit side-by-side on the mantle. The keyring has little buttons you push to hear a variety of Mr.T's catchphrases, such as:
"I pity the fool!",
"Quit your jibber jabber" and
"First name Mister, second name Period, last name T."

Fun for the whole sharehouse family. We've spent a ridiculous amount of time playing with that keyring, cracking up.

Guy Fawkes

Today is Guy Fawkes Day. We're just about to leave for a party at Carrie's. For those not in or from the U.K: Guy Fawkes means bonfires and fireworks. Personally, I'm looking forward to tomorrow - fireworks are readily available at every supermarket over here, we've had to endure a week of hearing fireworks every night in preparation for tonight. Try going to sleep with "bang bang bang" ringing in your ears.

Happy Birthday Michelle Quinane

Hope you had a fantastic day Shella! Miss you!

Is Joey Tribbiani the modern day Fonz?

Joey says "How you doin'?", equivalent to Fonzie's "Heeey!"
Joey always does well with the ladies, as does The Fonz.
Both are cool.
Both have dark hair.

Congratulations to Kristy and Robert

Congratulations to Kristy and Robert who just got engaged on the weekend in L.A. Well done guys! May you have many many happy years together!

Christian Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I've been a Christian Slater fan since my teenage days. It all began with the movie Pump Up the Volume. A film about teenage rebellion where he plays an underground radio DJ called Happy Harry Hard on. I loved that movie, for some reason it really struck a chord with the teenage me. Anyways, my Christian Slater worship reached an all-time-never to-be-topped-high last night. 11 of us went to see him in One Flew... at the Gielgud in London's West End. Now, I know I'm biased but I thought he was truly brilliant. He may be married with 2 kids, aged 35, and only 5' 8.5" tall but to me he'll always be the DJ synonymous with my teenage angst, starting his show with "Everybody knows that the dice are loaded, Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed". That said, he has proven to be quite the realistic mental patient, receiving standing ovations.

By the way, summer time ended over here, it's just after 5pm and it's pitch black outside. We're in for a long, cold winter.

Girly baking flapjacks and watching bad 80's movies day

"I carried a watermelon?"
Every girl secretly wants to be Baby Houseman. Don't deny it ladies, just go with it. I just want to know where's my Johnny Castle saying "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"?
Today Egg, Liz and I baked flapjacks and watched Top Gun and Dirty Dancing. We realised we really had no idea what was going on in these movies as children. How can a child understand that Penny is pregnant and needs an abortion when there is no mention of pregnancy or said abortion? How can a child be expected to understand all the military jargon, for example "Negative ghostwriter (?) the pattern is full", what the?
We watched the last scene of Dirty Dancing twice, debating were they going to leave when Dr Houseman came up to them to apologise? And, if so why were they then back on the dancefloor after that?
During the dinner break some kids showed up trick or treating, we lied and said we had nothing, "I'm not sharing the flapjacks" said someone.