It's totally snowing outside! In London!

Sure, some may say it's just a flurry, but there are flakes. All drifty! Oooh!

I tend to disappear for a month or two, do a spat of posting, and then disappear again. Will I ever change my ways? Who knows?

Anyway, I'm on the train back to London from York at the moment, where I spent a rather nice time. I didn't think there would be any tourists there at all as this is hardly the season, but there were still a reasonable amount. York does have a lot to do if you're a tourist, I have to admit. The Minster is the big one, but there are many museums and heritage sites. I especially recommend the Castle Museum, which is huge and awesome.

As well as York, since my last post I have:
- visited Colchester (the oldest recorded town in Britain, apparently)
- visited Brighton. In the rain.
- watched Guy Fawkes fireworks (two days after Guy Fawkes night, because it was a weekday)
- went to the Natural History Museum again. Finished looking through all the sections that were there last time, but there's another that's been opened since then!
- went to a matinee of La Cage Aux Folles with John Barrowman in it
- went to Dusseldorf and Essen in Germany, in order to attend Spiel, the largest board game convention in the world. It was pretty awesome, actually.

I'll try to do a bigger update soon. Maybe? Hopefully? :-)

Hope all my flist is well :-).

...then I'm going to head back to the UK probably until March, I think. I mean, I've got the visa until my birthday in October next year, so I may as well use it, right?

I've come back for a few weeks to catch up with people, attend a teacher friend's wedding and see S and confirm her okayness :-). She's out of hospital and recovering well, so that's a relief.

I'm staying at my parents house and it's nice to just relax for a bit. I haven't really gotten everything done that I said I would, however. Ah well.

In other news, I've decided to attend Spiel 2009 in Essen, which is basically the biggest board game festival in the world. I've been really enjoying the games I've played at the game club I joined, and since I'm going to be closer to Germany this year than I'm likely to be for a while, I might as well go for it. Boo-yah!

- London MCM – This was a film, comic, but mostly gaming convention at the Excel centre in London. They were trying to set a record for the most people dressed as video game characters in one place, which means there were lots of awesome costumes around.
- The Hub 2 – A Torchwood (Doctor Who spin-off) convention in Northhampton. Most of the cast where there and they were very entertaining.
- Torchwood mini-series preview – At the BFI on the river. The first episode was really character driven and team-centred, which was why I was so disappointed when the whole mini became less and less about the original characters and more about a bunch of new characters I wasn’t half as interested in. And then they pretty much killed off the whole original show in the finale, which was just fine if you hadn’t actually liked the original show.
- Watchmen and Wolverine – Saw the first in a tiny theatre in Leicester Square, the second in the local cinema near where I live. Gambit and Wade Wilson were cool. Plus the Watchmen credits.
- The Torchwood Forum Meet-Up – Met up with a bunch of people from an online forum I browse at. We hung around Cardiff and had a lot of fun.
- The Doctor Who Exhibition in Cardiff – This was seen while we were there. You needed to be a kid to really get into the ‘terrifying atmosphere’ but it was fun seeing all the props :-).
- London Film and Comic Convention – I saw Tom Baker at this one, although it was hard to tell what he was saying because of poor sound equipment and a stage that was not cut off from the rest of the convention. What I did hear proved that he was just as bonkers as everyone always said he was :-).
- Joined a weekly board game club – I’ve always been interested in board games, but could never really find enough people who were interested in playing a variety of complex ones regularly. The great thing about being in London is that there are always people around interested in anything. This is a well organized club and the people are very friendly. My favourites from what I’ve played so far have been Amun Re and Stone Age.

( Pictures: )

My contract is finished and the school term is over. Teaching in a school in another country was... well, an experience. Not really that different to home, although the kids were perhaps a bit rowdier. I'll have to collect my thoughts on the whole thing now that I actually have time to think and post a proper post about what I've learnt. For now, I'm resting a bit before I launch in more touristy pursuits. Hopefully this will mean more posts, both about holidays and fandom things (or both- I have been to a few conventions now!).

One thing my students taught me, however, are some brand new words to use! Here's a quick guide for all you Aussies out there on how to speak like a proper East London school kid! :-)

Word: jack
Meaning: to steal or take without permission.
Example:
Me: Why aren't you doing any work?
Student: Miss I can't. He jacked my pencil at the beginning of the lesson.
Me: 40 minutes ago?
Student: Yeah!
Me: ...
Student: What?

Word: innit?
Meaning: short for 'isn't it?', or "isn't that right?' Added to the end of a sentence to reinforce it or get someone to agree with you.
Example:
Student: This book is boring though, innit?
Me: We have to do it as part of the course. If we get through this bit we'll do some work in the computer rooms though.
Student: *elaborate, put-upon sigh*

Word: allowit
Meaning: stop it, or leave it; don't go on about it.
Example:
Me: Sit down and stop flicking other class members with pieces of paper!
Student: Miss allowit. They threw them at me first!
Me: Didn't we come across the quote 'an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind' last lesson?
Student: But they flicked paper at me!
Me: *sigh*

Word: spud
Meaning: to curl your hand into a fist and touch it against someone else's fist. Sometimes known as a fist bump.
Example:
Student: Miss, spud me! *holds out fist*
Me: Errr... *looks confused but obligingly bumps fist*
Student: Hah! Look at Miss's face!

Word: try'nit
Meaning: trying to make trouble with someone
Example:
Student: What you doin' man? Why you try'nit? *pushes other student*
Student on the sidelines: It's okay, they're not really fighting...
Me: *disbelieves*

Word: bunkin'
Meaning: skipping out of lessons. Wagging for Aussies
Example:
Me: Where's (insert student name here)?
Student: Miss, he's bunkin'! I saw him jump the fence!
Other Student: No he's not; he went to the dentist last lesson.
Student: Aww, you spoiled it!

I'm really quite crap at this updating thing, mostly because when I get home from work I always feel like doing stuff that doesn't actually involve thinking much, and so I end up playing games instead of writing about what I'm doing.

Anyway, significant places visited since the last post include:

* Another go at the Natural History Museum. I've only got one gallery to get through now!
* Covent Garden, lots, because it is awesome. Also, I found a game shop in the Seven Dials next to it, and bought Zombie Fluxx, Once upon a time and the roleplaying game based on PS238!
* The London Transport Museum, which is also in Covent Gardens technically.
* Borough Market, twice, because there are tasty things.
* Spitalfields market (awesome) and Petticoat Lane (kinda sucky).
* Saw Watchmen at a teeny theatre in Leicester Square.
* Saw Wolverine: Origins at a slightly less tiny theatre in East London.
* The Bethnal Green Childhood Museum. Took photos of almost the whole damn place, for it was awesome!
* The London MCM Film, Comic, Anime and Gaming Expo. My first big multi-fandom convention! It was insane and cool, and I listened to Linda Hamilton and met Craig Charles!
* The official preview and cast and crew Q and A of the new Torchwood Mini-series!

Perhaps, if I can get my butt together and all goes well, I might actually put together proper posts for all of these. For now, I sleep :-).

Chocolate covered toffee butter popcorn from Marks and Spencer. There goes the idea of losing weight while I’m over here…

Also: I have a cold. Dammit.

Today I purchased a Doctor Who ice cube/chocolate mold, because it was clearly awesome. At last, my dreams of making small tardis-shaped edibles will be fulfilled!

Also: the Belgium waffles available outside Baker Street Station are nummy. If only they weren’t so awkward to eat. Curses!

...is slowly being whittled down. THERE'S LIKE FOUR DAYS TO GO OMG!!!

*takes deep breath*

Ok, so I will be working in East London. I've booked a hostel for the first week at least, but I really should try to find either a) a one bedroom flat, b) a studio flat or c) a room in a shared flat.

Gumtree London seems like a reasonable place to look, and there are a few other places with decent classifieds. But I have to ask, because I am strange and it would be nice to flat share with people who appreciate the value of a conversation about, say, cracky Torchwood fanfic on the web b:-). Does anyone know of a classifieds site that favours geeky people? Surely there must be some fan types in London looking for flatmates!

Also, the new doctor! He looks... interesting. I actually would have liked to see Paterson Joseph as Eleven, but I have to say that his earnest conversation in the Confidential special about having to keep the fact that he had been cast as the next fricking doctor from the world kinda won me over :-).

Hasn't stopped the internet from exploding over the news of his casting though :-).

It's almost 8.00am Christmas morning here. The sun is out already, and it's warming up. Supposed to be 32 Celsius eventually. My cat's outside enjoying the sun.

Presents are bought and wrapped; food is ready to be assembled (hey, it's salad and a platter!) All's well and I'm surfing the net.

According to NORAD, Santa's in Romania right now, although that may have changed as I'm typing this. He's quick, that Santa.

Merry Christmas (or insert other relevant holiday of choice) to my flist :-).

Reading seems nice. There's a school in East London that needs an English teacher and it seems like a good place. Nottingham needs supply teachers, although apparently the crime rate there isn't great. I got an email from Peterborough saying they need supply teachers too...

I only signed up to two agencies! Dammit, maybe I should just stick a pin in a map.

From: CANCGVisaInfo@fco.gov.uk
Date: Friday, 14 November 2008
Subject: Your Visa Application @ Canberra

Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued. Your passport and visa should be despatched within the next 5 working days.


I have a working holiday visa for the UK. Gah!

I didn't want to write anything here unless it didn't go through, but... I am officially going to the UK for six months to a year to holiday and work as a supply/contract teacher. I've never even been overseas before! It's just that if I didn't apply for the working holiday visa before I was 31, I'd never be able to use it, and I thought, dammit, don't worry so much.

Now I have to put my name down at teaching agencies, and book a flight, and decide what I want to see and where I want to settle down for a while (London's expensive apparently, a smaller town would be good... maybe York, or Cardiff?!), and figure out hostels to stay at and buy better luggage and...

Gah!

Birthdays just aren't as exciting now as they were when I was a kid. I kinda miss the anticipation, but it really just seems like nothing to get worked up about. Ah, well. That's ageing for you.

Presents from family also seem rather pointless considering that all the kids have grown up, earn their own money, and can generally get anything they really want for themselves. Mum says she'll get me luggage at some point in the future (more info on why I may need that when some paperwork goes through) and that's fine with me. I got some well wishes, chocolates and some goodies from overseas (Shakespearian insult gum!) from friends. It's all good.

Also, a touch back on The Book Depository, the online shop in England that has free postage. I'm pleased to say that I'd definitely recommend them to the Aussies who want to get books that aren't available in Australia. Seriously, even though the book prices are slightly higher than on some sites, the lack of postage makes a massive difference in the price.

My own experience? I ordered four Torchwood books from them that weren't out in Australia yet. The two novels were about $12.50 Australian each (they will be $25.00 in Dymocks in Australia), the Torchwood Yearbook was about $15.00 (instead of $20.00 here) and the Torchwood Archives were about $28.00 ($45.00 here). Instead of paying $115.00? It was $68.00.

Rather than wait for all of them to be available to ship at once, the books were all sent separately. I ordered on October 13th, and the first novel appeared on the 20th. The archives and the yearbook were there on the 24th, and I got the last novel on the 28th. That's 7 days at the least, and 15 at the most, which is pretty decent when shipping from England to Australia.

All books were in excellent condition except for one of the novels, which had a little ding on one corner. Nothing terrible though, and I have no trouble recommending them in all. Cheap books; no fuss, and instead of waiting until December, I get to read the books now. Awesome!

...come to think of it, it'll probably sell bucketloads.

It's the Show next week, and I'm going out of tradition, for I seriously haven't missed it since I was five years old. Hey, it's the most exciting thing in the town for the slightly-over-a-week it runs, and it's actually good entertainment beyond the rides and novelties. You can pick up tons of samples from the various companies on display, and the kids' enthusiasm can be rather infectious :-).

In sadder news, it looks like we're losing the last cinema that's in the city itself. Apparently people prefer the suburbs and the numbers are way down (also? it's kinda in the seedy area of town and that hardly helps). It's being let out as a church. That probably says something, but I'm not sure what.

I've been ill for the last few weeks with the cold-that-refused-to-die, but I'm finally starting to shake it off, thank god. I'm still way too tired though, and report writing's coming up. Damn.

Links:

Photos of abandoned Tube stations. Man, it'd be awesome to visit some of these...

10 creatures that people didn't think existed. For all the cryptozoologists out there.

Sexual harassment okay as it ensures humans breed, Russian judge rules. That's certainly a special interpretation of the world, Russia.

And 15 images you won't believe aren't photoshopped!

I've been watching classic cartoon openings on YouTube. Pinky and the Brain may be the most catchy tune ever. Do, do, do, do...

I don't do enough everyday posts about random stuff. So.


Today I went to work, and taught, and didn't have to teach my year tens in the afternoon because they were learning how to minimise harm if they insist on using drugs and alcohol. It was a decent course; ever if they're not users themselves, many will go to parties with people who are. It's a good idea to know how to deal with things like an overdose or overheating or panic attacks or one of the many reasons I'm glad I've never actually taken illegal drugs.

I went to town after and got many things done. I have up-to-date timetables, forms for a passport because I am considering actual overseas travel next year, pop tarts from the local import lolly store, cheese and juice and rolls, and the Back to the Future trilogy on DVD because I am doing 'Time Travel' as my theme in Year 9 English right now and I couldn't find "Bill and Ted". D'oh.

On the way home I picked up some sushi rolls for tea and discovered to my amazement that Adelaide has acquired a Beard Papa in the last week. I say amazement because South Australia is small and puny and never seems to get all of the cool franchises that I hear people talking about on the internet all the time. Anyway, I purchased a puff and an éclair and yes, they are really nice. Not the ambrosic dish that I've seen some people call them, but nummy nonetheless. I have to say, though, I still like the Puffys I found in Sydney better. The crust was almost biscuity and brilliant.


Also: pollymel came over from Sydney a little while back and crashed in my spare room. I pressed Torchwood upon her and showed her all of the exciting sites of Adelaide, which took a few hours. No, I laugh, we really only saw the highlights (you'd need whole days to see it all) but fun was had, and my cat was pleased to have another worshipper for a couple of days :-). And even cynical me is happy to admit that the Adelaide Fresh Produce Market pwns many states'.

Also, she brought Krispy Kremes :-).

I keep meaning to update, and then I'm tired and I get distracted by a shiny thing to read and then I've got marking and then...

I'm really beginning to suck at LJ.

I'm going to attempt to rectify this. Look out for quite a few posts this weekend. Just pretend they came regularly spaced instead of all at once :-).

So, once again school has gotten horrendously busy, and to compound things and make them just that little bit more annoying, we're in the middle of a heatwave. A heatwave in autumn. A record-breaking heatwave in autumn. Yes, we have now broken the record for the most days in a row over 35 degrees C in an Australian capital city. By several days. And still it goes on. *wilts*

Man, the heat is just so freaking tiring. Just getting through the day is ridiculously hard. Grrr... *waves fist at global warming*

I am still alive?

Okay, what actually happened was that I got home from Sydney all enthusiastic about using the last days of my holiday to get some content up at my journal, and then the next day I was called up and offered a semester appointment at a school, with the proviso that I go in for the rest of the week for training and prep. This threw me off somewhat, and then I had to do prep work and figure out what I was going to teach, and... yeah.

On the plus side, I have actual money for the next two terms. And because it's not a year contract, I can do relief teaching in term three when it's winter and people are away with colds, and possibly fulfill my wacky idea of going to Europe with a friend on a six week holiday after that. *crosses fingers*

I really need to socialise more, both in real life and online. I'll try to post more. I really wanted to write up a few entries on my holiday in Sydney, so look out for them over next few days (weeks?).

In other news, I was unimpressed and drifted off after the first few episodes of Torchwood last year, but this season's actually really good. And Ianto kinda rules.