11.23.04
Autumn days in Bath … and extreme sports in Wales
It’s autumn and the days are getting shorter and the weather colder but fortunately we are firmly settled in our new flat in Clapham. We decided to stay south of the river because I work down south and because we stood to save about £50 a week on rent alone (not to mention transport and council tax) by doing so. We are in Clapham North, just off Clapham High St and less than 10 minutes walk from Clapham Common. It’s a lively area with lots of shops and restaurants and a large park nearby and it’s only a short tube journey into central London. We have the first floor flat in a Victorian terrace – it’s a spacious one-bedroom flat with a large living room and balconies at the front and back. We also have an organic bakery downstairs, which is a bonus!
I know it’s going to get a lot colder and undoubtedly I’ll be really envious of the summer weather in Australia after a few months of it, but at the moment I’m quite enjoying it. It’s a true autumn with crisp days, golden leaves and a few final flowers such as geraniums and old man’s beard and (touch wood) it hasn’t been raining too much. You don’t appreciate it as much in London but we recently went to Bath for the weekend and it was rather beautiful with all the autumn leaves. And another thing – I’m enjoying accessorising with hats and scarves and jackets much more than I ever could in Australia!
Autumn scene in Bath park 
Old Man’s Beard
Bath was terrific and I highly recommend a visit if you haven’t been and ever get the chance. We went down by train on the Saturday morning – about a two-hour journey from London – and stayed in a small B&B for the night. Despite the crowds, the highlight is definitely the Roman baths. It’s built over hot springs, which were considered sacred to the goddess Minerva and people came from all over Britain to take the waters. Many of the buildings still stand and there is quite a good museum alongside. Next to the Roman baths is Bath Abbey, which is quite beautiful and well worth a look inside. Take a look at the plaques on the walls – there is one dedicated to Arthur Phillip and one dedicated to Pittman (the inventor of shorthand)! On the Sunday we did a free walking tour of the city, which took in some of the most notable architecture and buildings associated with famous Bath residents. The one thing I would skip is the Jane Austen Centre as they had very little in the way of original artifacts (notably a letter from Jane to her sister Cassandra) and mostly had replicas or photographs on display. A bit of a tourist trap, I think. But the rest of Bath was lovely – it also has some good restaurants (we went to a great Indian place on Saturday night) and plenty of clothing boutiques. I would definitely like to return some time – perhaps when the long-awaited spa reopens!
Bath Abbey
The Roman baths in Bath
Caitlin at Roman baths
It’s a funny process going to a new city and knowing virtually no one but we are starting to find our feet. I have a friend called Natalie who I met through BookCrossing in Australia. She came over a few months before me and I have met a few people through her. We hung out with that crowd for Bonfire Night – we saw the fireworks display at Clapham Common and then went back to our house for pizza. I have also been nightclubbing a few times with Natalie and a few others.
I have made a few friends at work. There is another girl called Caitlin on Press Gazette, our sister paper, and we recently went to the Victoria & Albert Museum together. We saw the Encounters exhibition, which was a really interesting collection based on the theme of East meets West – so it included gifts that the Europeans presented the emperors of India, China or Japan (typically things like clocks and telescopes), and cabinets and furniture that Europeans had commissioned that were western objects in eastern style. I am hoping to do more of that sort of thing – there are so many excellent galleries and museums here and it’s good for the other Caitlin too as she hasn’t been to many of these places since she was at school.
In September my boyfriend went to see Shakepeare at the new Globe Theatre on the South Bank. We went to see Much Ado About Nothing and bought the £5 tickets that mean you stand in the round (fortunately it didn’t rain). The theatre itself is beautiful and it was a good production – although an unusual one because it turned out to be an entirely female cast! Standing for several hours was okay but tiring – I’m glad I did it for the experience but I’ll probably go for seats next time!
We also went to see the Shaolin Monks in the West End, which was amazing balletic Kung Fu a la Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I think they’ve played in Australia before but it was certainly the first time we’d seen them. I’m not sure if they’re the real Shaolin Monks (a Buddhist tradition that used Kung Fu to defend its monastery). I suspect not, but we were seeing it for entertainment so I guess it doesn’t matter. Also, on the Chinese theme, we went to see the Chinese State Acrobatics Troupe – the tickets were an absolute bargain at about £10 each but we knew it would be good as we’d seen acrobatics when we were in China and absolutely loved it. The funny thing is that we went to see it in Croydon, which was convenient for me but out of his way for my boyfriend, and now they’re playing down the road in Clapham Common!
We are hoping to see more theatre. Next year we are going to see a two-part stage adaption of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, which is supposed to be fantastic!
Work is going well enough. There are lots of good things about it. I’m learning about an interesting industry, I’m learning news editing skills and it has some nice perks. On the downside, I didn’t exactly come to London to work in Croydon! More seriously though, I would like to write about the wider business of media but we have a very narrow focus in that we write about advertising and specifically the media planning and buying side of that. It’s okay for now because there is still quite a learning curve ahead of me but I don’t find it terribly inspiring. I think in the medium term I’m going to work towards freelancing full time. That would give me more variety and hopefully I can make some inroads into UK national newspapers and consumer magazines as well as continue with the bread and butter work in the trade press. I also really want to be able to devote some time and energy into writing fiction. I am feeling particularly inspired about that at the moment as my uncle (who has been working at this for years) has just won the Queensland Premier’s Prize for best newcomer, which means a $20,000 cash prize and publication of his book! Very exciting.
I went up to Cardiff recently to see my aunt Michele and my uncle and cousins. We stayed with them when we first arrived but I hadn’t seen them since July. I spent the Saturday shopping with my aunt, buying clothes and Christmas presents. On the Sunday we all went to the seaside at Southern Down, which was nice. I miss the ocean, living in London. It was a fun day – I found crabs and anenomes fish in the rockpools with my eight-year-old cousin Aaron and tried out kite-boarding with my 14-year-old cousin Dominic. Yes, believe it or not, we’re talking extreme sports in Wales! A kite-board consists of kite and a large skateboard with big tyred wheels that run on packed sand and bindings for your feet like a snowboard. You have to get the kite in the air and then you jump on the board and get dragged along the beach. If you’re good you can steer and change direction. It was fun but I only managed to go about three metres before falling off or the kite coming down.
Aaron hunts for fish and shell fish
Dom takes a rest from kiteboarding
Dom practises spinning game
The big news in my world is that I now have my passport back and can travel in continental Europe. For those of you who don’t know, I had my bag stolen in July on the very day I had been opening a bank account. Along with quite a few valuables, I lost my passport. I had that replaced quickly enough but a series of bureaucratic bungles meant it took four months to get the visa replaced! I couldn’t leave the country because, while my work rights remained intact if I stayed put, if I exited and re-entered I would have been stamped back in as a tourist. Besides which, the Home Office physically had the passport while they sorted the visa out. Now that I have it back, we have booked our Christmas holiday. We are going to Austria for two weeks – skiing in Innsbruck over Christmas, a day or two in Salzburg and then Vienna for New Year’s Eve. Woo hoo! I can hardly wait.
