arrivals and departures

If you commit a terrible crime and are on the run from the law, or if you’re looking for a fresh new start in a place where (unlike Cheers bar) nobody knows your name, you would think that a big city would offer the anonymity you desire. But if you’re a Melbournian in London it is likely your cover will be blown in a matter of days. At least 4 times since we have been here Brendan has spotted someone in the street and said, ‘That guy/girl used to work at [insert name of financial institution here]. Of course, that does not include the people we knew from back home before we arrived.

This phenomenon reached its peak during the last weekend of October. Firstly we met with Vinka, who used to live around the corner in Hughesdale, but more recently was on holiday from tour guiding in Vietnam and visiting her brother Yuri (of Carnegie). On Saturday night we visited St Albans to bid a sad farewell to Trish, Paris and Hugo (from Kensington, moving to Elwood) whose England adventure has come to an end after three years.

On Sunday we met up with Margaret (old Bentleigh school chum) who was over in London on a work conference.
With so many familiar faces it makes it seem perfectly natural to be having coffee or dinner with someone you’re used to seeing on the other side of the world. My first temp job was so full of antipodeans (collective noun for Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans) and the cubicles were so similar to my last office (universal grey), it sometimes made me wonder just how far from home I’d travelled.



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In other news I started a new job on 1 November. Probably for the first time all year, I have been really busy at work, hence the long gap between entries. Also, they have a strict policy on accessing hotmail on work computers, meaning I haven’t been able to check my messages in a while (unlike at my last job where I had the time to checked them, oh, at least five times a day). I was also hoping to download the digital camera software here, but unfortunately its bared. I’m really enjoying my new job, but I consider it a great shame that you can’t bring up your extracurricular computer requirements when they invariably ask at job interviews, ‘So, do you have any questions for us?’