House and home

Before I started to travel, I was definitely a home body, I loved having a place that was something I could call home, and even though I don't own a home it’s always nice to have somewhere that you feel you can just be you and have everything how you want it. Moving half way around the world hasn't taken that out of me, though I have relaxed a lot more about the living situation, I still miss having that home feeling. I have been living in my current flat for 14 months, I think that's about the best approximate time frame and while I have been here 14 months I still feel like a stranger.

You know that feeling when you come home from work and it's nice to just relax and unwind after a long day, I don't really feel like I can do that here. It's hard coming up with a compromise about living conditions when you know you're travelling and as long as you've got a decent room that's the main thing. The room that I am renting at the moment I actually really like granted it's small, but that's OK for me, right now I have no need for anything big and spacious. The whole house is actually rather nice, and I do think it is somewhere that has great potential to be a lovely place.

Prior to finding the flat that I'm in now, I did feel like I was in dire straits trying to find somewhere to live in London. It can be hard when you're on your own; you need to find a room that seems comfortable, warm, welcoming and most of all in your price range. Goodness when I was on the lookout did I see some horrible places, and I did start to become extremely worried that I wouldn't find something that was in my price range that wasn't freezing cold, mouldy, grubby, or the size of a shoe box. So I think that's why as much as where I am doesn't have the most comfortable vibe, it's nice and I'd much rather be here than living in some grottsville.

I think it just boils down to that situation when you just don't really seem to click with the people that you live with, and that's me right now. I just can't seem to click with my flat mates and it makes the living situation harder than it should be. Don't get me wrong I do get along with them, but it's always those small meaningless conversations, and though I do get along with some more than others (there are 4 other I live with) it still doesn't really seem to work. Though this is not all without effort and I have tried to be friendly and extra nice, I do like to think that I get along with a lot of people, it's just a little bit unfortunate that I've managed to find a bunch where I can't seem to break that sense of unease.

I do very much look forward to the day when I will have something that will be home to me again, and hopefully my own home. Though for now I still consider myself lucky, I have much better living conditions than a lot of people in the world and I am grateful for having a roof over my head, it's just a shame that I really can't enjoy this house like I should be able to and that I look forward to the day I move out of here and into something much more me.

Madame Tussauds

On Saturday a few girlfriends and I went to Madame Tussauds for a girly afternoon out. Zaira had managed to use some sort of magic to get us two for one vouchers, though unfortunately her magic didn't work in making the queue go any faster, note to self (and others) Madame Tussauds on a Saturday afternoon has a rather large line, and it will take you two hours to get in. The two hour line didn't really seem to affect us, I hadn't seen the girls for a while so two hours went by rather quickly with us all having a good catch up chat.

Once we were in, it was a great adventure... we got to meet celebrities! I don't like to count the fact that they are made of wax. So we had our photo with Bruce Willis, got up close and personal with Leonardo DiCaprio and took some hot snaps with Christina Aguilera. After the first room, we managed to somehow get on the X Factor, the Madame Tussauds version. So we all put on our sunnies (because that's how we roll), and sing and dance the Peyonce (that was our band name), version of Single Ladies, by Beyonce. Though we must have looked and sounded absolutely horrific the judges gave us great feedback, especially Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowel.

 After our X Factor experience, we headed on through to see more celebrities. We got to see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Audrey Hepburn. There was also a sport and world leaders section which was fun, especially when Jayne decided to comb Hitler’s beard! The musical influence section was a bit of a hoot; I had my picture taken with Michael Jackson, and gave Justin Timberlake a peck on the cheek. 
 

 After all this excitement, we headed towards the scary part of the tour, so scary that only Jayne and I were brave enough to do it. Now I don't want to give away too much and spoil what goes on for those who are yet to go to Madame Tussauds, but walking through dark rooms with horrible noises and people that could either be wax or real all around, it is a tad creepy, but definitely worth it!

We were nearly at the end of our journey for the day, and we got to finish it off with a little cab ride through some of the history of London then a 4D experience like none other I've been to!
Madame Tussauds is a great afternoon out, and I would recommend it to anyone young or old, there is plenty to do and see there and would be great to go on one of London's rainy days when there isn't much happening outside.

London and riots

This time a week ago London was not the place to be, what started out as a small protest in Tottenham, turned into 3 days of riots, looting and stealing. The usually bustling, lively city of London went very quiet and eerie by the time Monday afternoon came around, supermarkets closed, people were sent home from work, shops were boarded up and everyone was walking around with a sense of unease. I was finding it hard to believe what was going on around me, and though I never saw any trouble over the days or rioting, it was bizarre to try and get my head around the fact that something like this would happen somewhere like London.

Monday was a strange day, you didn't want to watch the news and see these terrors ripping apart this amazing city, but you couldn't not watch the news as you needed to know where all this was going on and every now and again throughout Monday evening you would've found Neil and I peering out of the bedroom window on lookout for when they would decide to come and steal, destroy and burn down shops in our area. Thankfully they never did come, though there are always those poor people who have now lost their homes, jobs, and places of sanctuary.

Everyone is still talking about it, all blaming one another for what happened and it's hard to know whose fault it is. The communities blame the police, but the police had no power to lay on brute force. Then there are the people that started this all, where do you even begin to solve that kind of a problem. The government, at what point did they fail for this to all occur. I'm not starting a debate about this, there is far too much of that happening right now on the news and Internet for everyone. 

For now though things seemed to have calmed down again in London, it is still a wakeup call though, that something like this can just spring up without any warning. Let's just hope that for now and a long while that London will remain riot free.