Hey everyone,
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| Me waiting for a bus in London :) |
so you've probably been wondering what I have been up to since I completed my Contiki and Paddywagon tours so this blog is a bit of a mixture of things I have been doing whilst staying at Holly's house over the past month.
After touring around Europe and Ireland I was looking forward to relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep. I have been sleeping on the couch at Holly's house which is actually really comfortable and soft for the past month. In this time I have been relaxing and trying to save money as I didn't budget too well at all whist travelling and came back to London almost broke. I knew that Holly and her flat mates all worked extremely hard and often didn't get home until late each night. I decided as a favour to them that I would make it my job to be the little in house cleaner as the house needed a little bit of a women's touch as the saying goes. For the first week or so in between sleeping and relaxing I started cleaning different areas of the house. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love cleaning and tidying and am often anal with making things neat. I started with the kitchen throwing away out of of date food, I washed the fridge draws and tidied cupboards and the spice rack. I disinfected the sinks and benches, swept the floors and tidied the cleaning cupboards. The girls were very thankful each time they got home after I had been on a cleaning spree and couldn't believe I actually wanted to clean their house. I explained to them that while I had time and they were nice enough to have me stay here with them I was more than willing to help out and do my part to make the house look nice and clean.
Over my weeks here I have since cleaned the lounge room, toilet and bathroom. I have also tidied little things like the book shelf, dining table and I have also vacuumed the bedrooms. I buy the necessary food staples like bread, milk, peanut butter, vegemite, butter, toliet paper, cleaning products and have even bought them new toilet and bath mats. I was doing the washing up for them each day and have even done Holly's washing and hung it out to dry one day as she works so late at night and I wanted to help her out. I have loved staying with the girls here at Barlby road and have actually enjoyed making the house look neat and tidy for the girls as my thank you to them.
Besides being the live in 'Sadie the cleaning lady' or as Georgie calls me 'Big Kev's wife' I have been writing lots of blogs whilst staying at Holly's house!I have written over 40 new new blogs to keep you all updated about my travels and happenings over the past 3 months and must say thank you to Georgie for letting me use her laptop as without it I wouldn't have been able to write any of them. I have loved reminiscing about all of the things I got up to on Contiki, Paddywagon and in London and it made me realise how lucky I was to see and do so many amazing things whilst I have been overseas. It has become like an enjoyable job but has proved to be time consuming as it sometimes takes me over 3 hours to write my blogs by the time I proof read, save and attach photos to add to them. I have now completed all of my Contiki and Paddywagon blogs as well as including a few random ones from my days in London in between each trip. I have spent hours and hours either on the lounge or in Holly's bed writing them over the past month in between cleaning, watching British TV and reading books. It felt so weird not working while all of the girls got up and ready for work in the mornings but I made it my job to write my blogs throughout the days they weren't in the house.
Whist staying at Holly's I have made really good friends with her house mates Georgie, Sarah and Anna! I have loved seeing them after work and hanging out with them at the house on the weekend. They have made me laugh endlessly with their crazy stories and they each have amazing personalities. Without these girls my time in London would not have felt like home and would not have been nearly as fun. They have been so good to me and I cannot express how thankful I am to these girls for having me stay with them. They all don't want me to leave which is lovely!
My bestie from Contiki Rachael broke her leg whilst I was in Ireland after a drunken night out in high heels so I was visiting her in Euston University College Hospital within the first few weeks back in London. The poor girl broke it really bad and now has a permanent plate and screws in her leg and can never wear high heels again. She was in hospital for 2 weeks and in this time I went and spent a few hours every couple of days talking to her, bringing her coffee and treats and keeping her company. I felt helpless and couldn't believe this had happened to her especially when she had just started a new job working in a bar. Steven and I along with her friends Lucy and Laura where there for her when she was in hospital and her parents felt terrible they couldn't fly over to see her so we made it our job to become her London family and look after her. I have since been back to the hospital with Rachael to watch her get her cast cut opened, her stitches cut out and a new fiber glass cast put on which was gross but a first time experience for me. I have still got her out of the house to go to the pub, out for dinner/lunches and shopping which has kept us amused and I can't wait until her leg gets better the poor thing!
In my time back in London I have also been to Portobello Markets, Shepherd's Bush walkabout to watch the State of Origin, The West End to watch 'One man, two guvnors' at the theatre, been out to many restaurants where I have tried amazingly different foods, visited the trendy and hipster area of Shore Ditch, got set up with a teaching agency and started teaching at a variety of schools all over London. I will include details of these things in blogs which follow this one to keep you up to date.
To finish I just want to say I have been overwhelmed at the response to my blogs and love hearing your feedback on them through your texts, inboxes and wall posts so keep them coming. I love filling you all in on what I have been up to and giving you an insight into my travels around Europe and the UK. My blog has been viewed over 4 500 times already which is fantastic and keeps me motivated to keep writing them for all of you to read.
Love The Couch Surfing Backpacker
x
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