Chasing the Royal Wedding

The Royal Wedding. A once in a lifetime experience. And I was there!

The first sighting I had of the Royal Couple was on the balcony...OK, so the first balcony was Chiquito in Leicester Square!


And then the race was on. My plan had been to watch the ceremony on the big screen in Trafalgar Square and so, rather naively in hindsight, I aimed to get there around 10am, find a prime spot and watch the service that started at 11am. Hmm...not quite so easy. I had met my friend Lisa in Leicester Square at 10am, got tickets to see Dirty Dancing that evening, then turned all our efforts to watching the Royal Wedding. Our first hurdle was a police barricade at Trafalgar Square as it was already full and had been for several hours. OK then. On to Plan B...Hyde Park. We set off for Hyde Park, following the crowds and got as far as Marlborough House on Pall Mall, where we met another roadblock of police.


Weaving through the backstreets, we ended up on Piccadilly with the rest of the world, where we managed to see Kate arrive at Westminster Abbey on TV through the window of the Hard Rock Cafe (now there's a story for the grandkids!).


At Hyde Park, we came across some girls clearly hoping that Kate would be a no-show!


From our "prime" vantage point we saw most of the ceremony, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying a lunch of Pimms and chips!



From Hyde Park, we thought we'd try to get as close as we could so we set out for Wellington Arch and Constitution Hill where we met yet another police roadblock. There was some excitement when the Horse Guards came past and Lisa and I resigned ourselves to the fact that that would be all we would see.



When the road re-opened, the crowd moved towards Constitution Hill and sure enough, more police. Just when all looked lost, the police line moved forward and we were almost running down Constitution Hill towards Buckingham Palace.


And yes, we made it in time to see the family on the balcony and the now famous double kiss! Yes, I know, we were too far away to really "see" the kiss but I was just too excited that after our epic journey across London, we had made it in time for the all important moment.




And it's fitting that my last sighting of the Royal Couple is also on a balcony...this time the right one!

After it was all over, the city had a very strange feel. Strangers had smiled at each other and bonded over a shared experience. No one seemed in a rush to leave the city and the crowds sprawled out all over St James's Park to eat their sandwiches in the sunshine. Union Jacks could be seen hanging out of almost every backpack.

Then, after Dirty Dancing, those still on the streets simply looked exhausted. Just like me.

So thank you, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I will remember this day for the rest of my life. No doubt you feel the same!

20 kgs!

With only three days to go before I fly out of Australia, I seem to have come down with the flu! This is quite possibly the worst time to feel sick! Not only will the flying be really uncomfortable for my poor ears, but with all the drama about swine flu that's going around, I keep having visions of myself stuck in quarantine for days on end and having my picture all over the news as the latest victim of the "pandemic". These visions usually come at night, when I really should be getting a good night sleep so I can feel my best. Add to that, the stress of realising that I won't be able to fit everything in my suitcase and will have to keep culling items so I can keep it below 20kgs!

Personally, I think 20kgs to move your life overseas is ridiculous! Even after shipping a second suitcase to the UK, seeing your life fit into two suitcases is pretty sad.

This has been an interesting week. On the happy side, I finished work and have had plenty of time to get stuff done, catch up with friends and get excited about the move. On a sadder note, I sold my car this week. That was hard. My little red car has been through a lot with me and it was difficult to let it go. While my car was a symbol of my freedom, selling my car was a symbol of the start of a new chapter in my life - stepping out and living the dream.

Today, I just need to make a trip to the bank for a final statement in case they quiz me at customs, meet some friends for lunch, buy my nana a Mother's Day present and clean my house. Tomorrow, the family are all out for a Mother's Day lunch and on Sunday, after my last Sunday at church, I have a wedding to go to.

Then Monday, I'm off!

I spoke to my friend in Abu Dhabi yesterday and now I'm really looking forward to my holiday in the UAE. It looks like we'll be spending some time in Dubai too. Very exciting!

OK. Time to get back to work on that suitcase. 20 kgs....!

One Last Week

I finished work yesterday and said farewell to my career in the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, commute-to-work-in-over-crowded-trains-full-of-noisy-school-kids...I hope!

This is my last week in Australia for a while and it's going to be a tough one. Now the serious packing needs to start. On Sunday, my mum and my sister have organised a farewell / birthday party for me and while it will be great to catch up with everyone one last time, I'm really not good at big parties and especially not good with goodbyes.

Monday I need to get my car ready to be sold. Tuesday, I'm doing some final shopping for last minute items and meeting a friend for lunch. Wednesday, I'm getting my haircut and I have an appointment at the doctor to make sure there is no trace of swine flu! Thursday is my only free day so far and Friday, I'm meeting the girls from my last job for lunch in the city. Saturday is for cleaning and packing and trips to the dump and Sunday is Mother's Day and I have a wedding to go to in the afternoon. Then it'll be Monday...the day I leave. Oh, and I need to finish packing somewhere in there, too...

At least being busy will help to keep my mind off the fact that I'll be leaving everything I know (again!), moving somewhere new (again!) and starting over (again!!). But even though the thought of that is hard, I am excited. I get the chance to start fresh. The chance to do things differently and not be locked in to doing things the same way I have done them for years. That thought is liberating!

This time in two weeks, I'll be in London, starting my new life and living my dream. I know it won't be easy but it will be an adventure.

And to use one of my favourite quotes by Jane Austen: "If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad".

"Mine!" ... "Mine!"

On Sunday, I packed up my car (and my sister's) with most of my household items, left home at 5.00am and headed off to set up a stall at our local market. This was the first time I have ever done a market...and I was not prepared for the "feeding frenzy" that occured.

We pulled up at the car park of the train station that is home to the market every Sunday. The sun was not even out and the cars not even unloaded, when the "seagulls" arrived! Out of nowhere, we were suddenly surrounded by shoppers we could barely make out in the dark dawn. All of a sudden, my boxes were unpacked at the speed of light and we had already sold about $40 worth of stuff by the time I had everything out of the car. Just as quick as they arrived, they disappeared. It reminded me of all the seagulls in Finding Nemo (hence the title of this blog! If you haven't seen the movie, where on Earth have you been??).

To say the least, I was overwhelmed. Even my sister, who is a market veteran, had never seen anything like it. I am happy to say, that although we stayed busy throughout the day and I made over $800, we didn't have a repeat of the first half hour.

So apart from the sunburn (yes...again!) and the emotional breakdown in the middle of the car park at the end of the morning, it was a good day! I had been so good at seperating myself from all the stuff that I had to sell before I move overseas, telling myself that "it's only stuff", and "I can't take it with me", but once most of it had been sold and I was packing away the remaining few things that I could give away, it hit me that, yes, it is only stuff, but it's my stuff. It all has a story, memories that make up my story. So, looking around my place at the moment, it looks a bit bare, but then to cheer myself up, I look at my bank balance and start to feel a bit better!

It was a full-on weekend. On Saturday, I woke up at 4.30am to call the family that I'll be working for in London, then I couldn't get back to sleep. The night before, I was babysitting my niece until about 12.30am and I had her all day Saturday as well. We went shopping to look for a dress for me to wear to my best friend's wedding in Sydney next month and came home with a pair of jeans and a jumper...as you do! I can justify the purchase...I had jeans and a jumper on my list of stuff to buy before I move to the UK, so I've just bought them a little earlier than planned! I actually wanted to go and see Trinny and Susannah who I thought were appearing at Westfield that day, but they'll actually be there next saturday...maybe they can help me find something to wear...or what not to wear!

And to today...today I may just have done something crazy! I have accepted an extension to my contract at the Government call centre until 1 May - 5 weeks away! Can I do it? I hope so. Before I accepted, I called all my recruitment companies just to see if they had anything else for me and sadly, they did not! On the upside, it's guaranteed work until I leave, I have made friends there and I know the job, so i'm pretty sure I can last another 5 weeks. But in this "Current Financial Crisis" (sorry to have to use the tired, old cliche!), it seems that beggars cannot be choosers!

So it looks like I'll be a Call Centre Customer Service Agent for a little bit longer. I can handle that. Soon it will all be behind me. I'll be a nanny. I'll be living the dream.

I'll be in London!

P.S Update on whereabouts of British Ancestry Visa...who knows?? I am getting a bit nervous, but I still have plenty of time yet. I just need to stop checking the tracking page on the Australia Post website EVERY...SINGLE...DAY!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend, Prue, is getting married.

After getting engaged on Valentine's Day, they have set the date for ... April 17! The best thing is, I will still be here, in Australia, so I can go! I'm so excited and happy for them!!

I have known Prue for years and years. When I was moving to the UK the first time, Prue was planning a move to Sydney, so we were in the same boat. Both facing a life changing move...the only difference, a few thousand miles.

We made a promise that we would be at each others weddings, no matter where we were in the world.

And a flight from Brisbane to Sydney is certainly cheaper than from London to Sydney!