Caitlin through the Looking Glass
I released this on Friday 29 August 2003 at Barmuda Cafe, Australia St near King St in Newtown, New South Wales Australia.
It was caught by an anonymous finder who left this journal entry:
Journal entry 6 by AnonymousFinder(3,210/5) from n/a, n/a n/a on Sunday, July 18, 2004
I will be leaving this book at Kawa on Crown Street in Surry Hills
CAUGHT IN SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA
book rating: 7/10
See all journal entries for this book.
Everything is going well for us in London so far. I have a job and it looks like my boyfriend does too. We’re enjoying summer – the weather is not quite as superb as it was in May and early June but it’s not bad. And now that we have a bit more money, we’re taking advantage of all that London has to offer, in particular trying to go to the theatre semi-regularly.
I started my new job as senior reporter for Media Week last Tuesday, so it’s still pretty new. Media Week is a weekly magazine covering the business side of the media. There’s a bit of news involved but it’s mostly features and analysis. I’m writing a 1500-word analysis most weeks so it’s quite different from what I was doing at The Aus. It’s a good job because media is such a fascinating industry anywhere, but particularly in London. I’m writing about everything from digital radio to the Telegraph sale, but my primary beat is magazines, which promises to be heaps of fun. It’s a very gossipy and relationship-driven industry so I have to go to lots of parties and out to lunch once or twice a week! The downside is that my office is in Croydon – I live in central London and commute to Surrey! At least I’m going against the traffic.
We had about five weeks in London before we had jobs and, thanks to the cheap rent at our studio, we could treat it like a holiday without worrying too much. I finally registered at a temp agency and was about to do some secretarial work when the job at Media Week came along. We had a great time visiting the British Museum and the galleries, especially the Tate Britain and the National Gallery. The galleries and museums are mostly free or donation only, which is lovely when you’re out of work! Then there are the lovely parks spread throughout the city, which are full of flowers, squirrels and baby ducks.
Roses in bloom in Hyde Park 
Caitlin in Hyde Park on a summer’s day
Irises in bloom in Hyde Park
Water birds nesting in the pond in Green Park
Swans enjoy summer in Kensington Gardens
I do miss the water but, while the Thames is no Sydney Harbour, it is some consolation. There are some pubs in boats moored along the Thames from Westminster to London Bridge, with great views of the Millennium Eye. We’ve also been out to Richmond, where you can sit with a beer on the river bank and watch the ducks. The pubs here compete for the silliest names – for example there’s a chain called The Slug & Lettuce.
We’ve discovered the delights of Borough Market (a recommendation from Clive at The Aus). There’s nothing better than to go there on a Saturday morning and stroll around with a coffee, having breakfast and buying everything from pork and stilton sausages to fresh strawberries.
My birthday was in early June and we went to Claridge’s for high tea, which was wonderful. It’s a classic art-deco hotel decked with lovely striped arm chairs and sofas and a violinist and pianist playing in the corner. High tea is sandwiches – cucumber, ham, smoked salmon, chicken – followed by scones with cream and jam, followed by pastries and sweets. It’s all washed down with lashings of tea of any variety you could desire – there is a menu with several pages of teas, from black to green, from white to herbal. There’s even coffee, but I can’t help feeling that’s missing the point!
We have a few friends in London already but not many, so we’re hoping to get out and about more now that we are earning pounds. We have caught up with a friend called Natalie a few times. She is working in Prague during the week but is in London most weekends and she is going to be our theatre buddy. The first time we went to the late-ticket office at Leicester Square and ended up going to see Agatha Christie’s The Mouse Trap. I think it’s one of those things you have to do in London! It wasn’t the latest greatest production or the hottest young actors but it was immensely entertaining and enjoyable. The play I’m most looking forward to going to see is the Trafalgar Studios production of Othello, which looks superb.
I am planning to take a week off in July or August to go and visit my family on the west coast of Scotland. I’m hoping my boyfriend will be able to come too but his schedule is a little less certain – I’ve already cleared the holiday leave but he hasn’t. If we do go, we will probably go to Edinburgh too. We’ve heard fantastic things about the place and also have a friend there, Scott, who we would like to visit. We actually have quite a few travel plans – we intend to spend a weekend in Amsterdam visiting another friend, Jann, and maybe go and see Natalie in Prague, plus I’m desperate to go to Paris! We’re also having people visit us – my boyfriend’s brother came to stay with us for a few days at the end of June, my cousin Jenny is coming down from Scotland next week, and my boyfriend’s cousin is coming in a couple of weeks’ time.
All in all, things are going well. I’m not too homesick, although I do miss everyone, particularly my little sister who is just two years old but a regular chatterbox on the phone. I’m hoping to see most of our friends and family over here at some stage.
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