First couple of days at work went well. Everyone is friendly, there's room for promotions, and I have one heck of a view of the Thames from my desk!

There's even a girl there from the Gold Coast (she went to St Hilda's; TSS's sister school, for those of you unaware). Small world!

A quick photo update today with a selection of piccies from our time in Germany. If it looks cold, it's because it is.

(1) It was so cold I got frostbite and my head fell off.

(2) The trick to successful tobboganning is to stay on the board, jam your right leg deep into the snow as you reach peak speed, and brace yourself for impact.

(3) Just a streetscape picture. You've got high expectations if you

expect a witty caption to this.

(4) Horses. Obviously. Don't remember where this was or why there were horses there, but I like the photo. So there.

More pics soon!

Well, I have a new job.

Tomorrow morning, I start work for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Central Communications Unit. It's an ongoing full-time position in Vauxhall, right on the Thames, on the same street as MI6 and a whole pile of other Government offices. It's a bit out of the way of Bayswater, where we live, but it looks to be a pretty good job, which is very similar to what I was doing back home! Am very excited!

We're actually toying with the idea of staying a little longer in London, since we're all slowly but surely, landing jobs in our chosen fields that pay adequately. The original plan was to stay here for a few months and then travel in Summer, but if we're all making money and getting experience, we're considering staying here for possibly six months (which will take me through to when Mum and Dad pop over for a visit).

Other than three weeks of uninteresting data entry, there's not much else to report. Tried my feet at ice-skating last week and let me say that I put those alleged athletes at the Winter Olympics to shame (I've perfected my own manoeuver in which I leap spectacularly into the air, click my heels not once, but twice, and land gracefully on my rear end, my arms splayed out behind me... such a beautiful move it makes a swan look uncoordinated).

Did a wee bit of sightseeing yesterday and today with another couple of visits to Leicester Square, a trip to Buckingham Palace and even scoped out the secret location of the offices of Eon Productions, who produce the 007 films (I know, I'm a geek). Only in London!

Hope everyone is safe 'n' sound throughout the wild weather at home!

Two months.

Two whole months.

How time flies.

I suppose there's still an element of surrealism about being here. Whilst the incidents are less frequent than earlier this month, I still can't help but find myself dropping everything and thinking to myself, "Hold on... I'm in London..."

Yet at the same time, the stress of finding employment, paying rent, calculating bills, taxes and other expenses, triple-checking prices to try and find the best deal on three tea-towels (£2.98 for future reference)... well, it's enough to shock some reality into you.

I don't think I've ever been as simultaneously stressed and relaxed in my life (to all you naysayers who said I'd be able to stop worrying about everything for the next 12 months, you weren't exactly right).

That said, at the end of two months, it seems like things are finally falling into place. We've got a great flat, work is chugging along (first paycheck comes Friday!) and-

Hold on... I'm in London...

By (un)popular demand, a (very small) photo update.

Given my next three months' worth of posting will be rehashed whining about my data entry job (see Thursday's post), I'll throw up a handful of pics every day to tie you over until I have more exciting adventures than locating lawyers for people during my lunch hour.

Hopefully, I'll have the proper photo gallery up and running again soon, but until then, I'll simply upload them here.

Enjoy!

(1) Me 'n' the scorpions in Singapore. The only thing stopping them from going absolutely bananas was a 60-watt bulb. I hope it gets changed regularly. (2) Soaking up the sun before heading to heat-deprived Europe (if Mum and Dad are reading, those are non-alcoholic beverages; if not, the name "Singapore Sling" says it all).

(3) Said heat-deprived Europe. This is actually a fountain situated outside Marienplatz, a spectacular old building in the city centre of Munich.

(4) Snow angels!

(5) The view from our first stop in Germany; the ice at the top of the picture is hanging down from the roof (and, pardon the pun, it was just the tip of the iceberg).

More pics to come!

...is it the weekend yet?

I know, I know, I only started work four days ago, having come off almost two months of unemployment, but I'm only human!

New job's going fine, but anyone who's done data entry in the past will know the nauseating dullness of an eight-hour shift of copying and pasting. Aside from the four ways in which one can do this (I'm optimistic I'll eventually find a fifth), there's frighteningly little variety in the everyday routine.

I'm working in Soho, which is one of the more expensive regions in London, which is a bit of a thrill, except when it comes time to buy lunch and a humble baked potato sets you back somewhere in the region of $AU12.

I'm working in a team of five temps, several of which are Aussies, which is cool (although I'm running out of diplomatic ways to answer the question, "Are you bored yet?").

Perhaps the most exciting thing that happens during the work day is when the phone rings. Y'see, the number of the line on my desk (complete with extension) happens to be the phone number of a service listed in the Yellow Pages as Locate-a-Lawyer. I'll leave it to your imaginations to figure out where I'd love to tell callers they could find one (fortunately, I don't get many calls; I assume that's because no-one out there really wants to find a lawyer).

Anyhow, time's ticking away, which means two things: my time in this Internet café is almost up, and the weekend is now twenty minutes closer... hooray!

I have a job.

In London.

A job in London.

Wow.

I didn't even have time to walk home from the recruitment agency (Office Angels) today before they phoned me with an offer to start work on Monday for Total Jobs.com, an online recruitment agency.

The position is an ongoing temporary one, which is ideal, and pays decently. It's a data entry position, which probably won't be a thrill-a-minute, but it pays the bills and shouldn't be too stressful. Strange, considering I've never done data entry before, but I think I nailed it on my recruitment evaluation this afternoon. Better still, it's about a 20-minute walk from our new flat (near the green section of the Monopoly board), so transport costs have been slashed! Hooray!

Speaking of which, we move into our flat tomorrow... can't wait!

Not much to update, aside from that.

Peace out!

If someone had told me, even as recently as three months ago, that my first home would be on London's Hyde Park, I'd have probably told them where to go.

Yet, two days after signing the dotted line on a lease, here I am.

Yep, from Friday, we'll be living in a wonderful, modern apartment no more than a minute's walk from Hyde Park, Whiteley's Shopping Centre and a stone's throw from many other London highlights (including, but not limited to, the entire green section of the Monopoly board; yes, that's the second-most expensive one). The rent is a bit on the pricey side, but considering the area, Bayswater (one of London's more upmarket suburbs), and its proximity to much of the city, it's a fantastic place. Pics to come soon (I'll be uploading a tonne over the next week or so, I hope; apologies for the lack of updates on that front).

After staying in a few dives over the past week, we're all excited about settling down somewhere we can make our own mess, as opposed to wading through everywhere else's.

In fact, it's funny how your idea of "swanky" changes over time. On the weekend, we stayed in a hostel room with a creepy, oafish-looking guy who silently paced the room cracking his knuckles (we wisely opted to change rooms before he went postal) and a hotel in which the shower was situated conveniently on a wooden crate in the living room / bedroom; the shower, meanwhile, had to be running for the sink taps to work. Yet both of those places seem like the Hilton compared to our current accommodation. The foyer had us all fooled with its royal blue carpeting and gold lettering on everything in sight. However, the façade was shattered when we discovered the pile of dishes perpetually sitting in the kitchen sink (beneath a sign kindly asking patrons to clean up after themselves), the communal cutlery set (singular) and the room that once housed a double bed, but is now home to a cramped eight bunks.

Surprised we're keen to move into our swisho new apartment?

Job-hunting's on the go-slow, but now we have a home locked in, we'll knuckle down and find some work. Went to a temp agency today, who seem to be shaping up alright, and I hope to be signed up with another tomorrow. The pound is knocking my savings around something chronic.

Of course, one upside of moving back to London is the commencement of The Monopoly Challenge™: 22 photos of me on each of the Monopoly streets. Let the mayhem begin!

Oh, and it snowed today! And it was sunny! At the same time! In London! Crazy!

Anyhow, thanks to all of you who've emailed. It's great to hear from you all! Hope all's well for everyone back home!