From Wasteland to the Market - Live from The Globe

I'd been online looking for walks around London and happened across a walk which takes you around the Rotherthite area

I was planning to take a packed lunch out tommorrow and make a day of it.

Instead, I decided to go today, for want of anything better to do.

I got off at Canada Water and out of the station and found myself surrounded by shopping centres and tower blocks on a grim grey day.

Hmmm, not really what I was expecting.
I started walking in a direction that felt right, hoping to come across something interesting to look at other than Pizza Hut, BHS and ugly modern buildings.

After 20 minutes of this completely dull experience I decided to hop on a bus, which took me right back to Canada Walk station. I wasn't about to give up that quickly, so I jumped on any old bus that went around the entire area and on to London Bridge.

I more or less traced the same route that the walk would follow, except it didn't run near the Thames, so I found absolutely nothing of interest to make me jump of the bus. Rotherhithe central near the tunnel had potential, but nothing enticing enough.

I realised that to see what was on the walk, I would need to plan my journey more carefully, getting a map or two - I'll leave it for a sunny day.

This is where luck came into the equation, I decided to just sit on the bus all the way to London Bridge and when we were in the area, look for something interesting.

I found it, big time.

The Borough Market !

Just to get a sense of perspective on all this :-

Borough Market has survived for 20 centuries, and remains a centre of food excellence. We are looking forward to another 2,000 years of trading!

Pretty damn amazing.

I'm sitting in The Globe having a pint after eating a delicious chicken wrap made from all organic produce and some freebies - cheese, olives, breads etc.

Once again I find the London I've dreamed about, those romantic notions where the local market is next to the church under the iron bridge. It exists and it certainly can't be found anywhere near Canada Water, although if I get the map out, I'm sure I'll find a more appealing side to Rotherhithe.

So, this is me coming to you live from The Globe pub at the market. I shall shortly brave the crowds and search for something for supper - yum !

I'll leave you with a few photos I took this very day, indeed.

Free wireless access here too ! - make a note for your future travels.

I think that I may try and find my way to The Mayflower after this - it can't be that far, can it ?

Blogging on the move - I could get used to this.

Another day job seeking. Pickles.

Got to the Cafe Natural fairly early and spent a good 4 hours there doing job searching and a bit of freelance for a client in South Africa.

So what did I do ?

Applied for 3 new jobs, 2 via the various job networks and one direct to client.
I've exhausted the various job site backlogs, so it's now on a day to day basis searching for whatever crops up.
Spent the rest of the time battling to get 2300 emails with 534k PDF files attached sent out via a web based mass mailer.

At 12.30pm, I walked down to the Job centre and spent an hour searching their database for anything IT related with a reasonable salary, yielding no more results from the leads I followed up last time. Went into Blue Arrow consulting, from there to Office Angels and finally into the Computer People office, where I had a long chat with two of the agents.

They looked at my CV and indicated that it's well written. They were a little suprised that I hadn't landed an interview yet, considering the amount of applications I've sent out, although one guy did reckon it's really slow at the moment for web work - no shit !

I also started looking at the type of bar jobs on offer - well, they are all crap, no matter what. I'm holding thumbs and ears that it doesn't come down to a bar job, although I may see if there's anything available at The Swan in the evenings - I'm there every evening there anyway, so I may as well use that time to earn money instead of spending it.

It's still too early to go back to the B&B, so after a £1.63 triple vegetarian sandwich (egg & cress, cheese & pickle, tuna & celery), I'm having a quick pint in The Alexandra while I follow up with all my various contacts - I have 5 numbers to call today just to say "So, hows it going ?"

Lets start ...

Jason :- Still waiting for client, this client has been asking questions about me, so it's still a very good lead. He's going to follow that up today.

Anthony :- The client no longer needs freelancer. This is fairly typical in the design industry, potential projects often are cancelled etc. - I know this from experience. Agent reckons "hang in there" and keep trying - yadda yadda.

Ben Jewitt :- Same spiel as the last 10 times. "I don't personally have anything, but I will let my colleauges know" - alrighty then, strike Ben off the list for good.

Cairon :- Not available right now

Ian :- Not available right now

... and there we have it, £1.80 in calls.

Back to the B&B just now to do a few hours on another freelance job & then it's up to The Swan to do the emailing and job searching all over again.

Exactly a month has gone by and I'm wondering where my luck has gone ?

I'm now holding out for my closest lead, which will require a relocation to Hampshire. Please God, just let them give me an interview and I'll sell myself without a problem.

*** update ***
I just fired off an email offering to work at a reduced rate to get "my foot in the door" - sounds a bit like "foot in my mouth", ah well, desperate times = desperate measures.

(I would make a terrible barman anyway)

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Side Notes

Sitting in the Alexandra in Wimbledon in a real locals pub. Lots of old farts, everyone with heavy Laaandan accents, innit.
Got a bloke that sounds exactly like Lou from Little Britain, keep expecting to hear Andy saw "I wan tha one"

Some of the banter in the pub :-

"You dan't wanna go in that sandwich place on Broadway mate, you can gerra sandwich for 99p mate. Just go dawn Tesco. You don't wanna get rubbish there, is that what you eat innit ?"
"Yeah, that'll make you fuckin' 'appy"
"Cut yer 'ed off, do the operation, put yer 'ed back"
"Want some chips ? fish 'n chips ? - we'll get yer some chips if yer want, £3, we can get um."
"Give my love to sainsburys then."