I'm sitting in The Barley Mow, down Horseferry Road after the first part of my walk from Waterloo Station to Victoria station. No wireless here, so this won't be a "live blog" as in post 'n run, it'll run over several hours ... here we go.
The morning was one with a quick reconnaissance mission to check out a new digs for £90 in Wimbledon Park. The area is perfect, 2 minutes from Wimbledon Park Tube Station, bus stop around the corner, 10 minutes walk from friends in Earlsfield and only 15 minutes walk to Earlsfield station for national rail to Clapham Junction & Waterloo. To get back to Wimbledon high street will take 10 minutes max by tube and to my favourite pub, The Swan, it will be 25 minutes at most.
A quick visit to the library to check up on job prospects, then over to the Job Centre to "sign in" and look for jobs. I got heavily depressed after this and not a little bit pissed off. This silly "signing in" every two weeks business is irritating. I got asked "So what did you do to find work" and replied "This and that", signed a piece of card and that was it.
I could've said "I sat on my fat arse for two weeks drinking beer and eating crisps while watching the telly and waiting for someone to give me a job.", for all the difference it would've made.
I looked through some depressing job roles, like shelf packer, leaflet distributor, trainee bus driver, kitchen porter, pigeon dewormer and other dire prospects and decided to get away from this horrible job center before I broke down in tears of frustration.
Right, lets phone my contact I've been waiting on for a while - Charlie Hyde.
Well, he cheered me up no end. I should know by this afternoon whether I get an interview. There's a 1 in 6 chance. He told me to just chin up and keep at it. I told him I'll be in a cardboard box in a park soon, he thought that was funny.
Ok, back to the B&B, haul out the camera and lets go walkabout. On the train to Waterloo I got another lead for contract work starting at the end of the month. Got most of the details until the phone cut off due to a bad signal, but I will get a call back on this one - I bloody hope so anyway, as I was told I would.
It was at Waterloo that I decided to walk to Victoria station for no other reason than "Why the fuck not ?" - ok, there was an underlying reason, if I get a call back from that lead, it wouldn't do much good if I was on the underground at the time.
It's a crisp clear day and the sun is shining. I'd decided to give the thermal undershirt a try that my brother gave me before I left Joburg and it works damn well, except for one small problem, I'm rather over warm here in the pub. Outside it works a treat though.
From Waterloo station I walked past The London Eye and decided to rather walk down to Lambeth Bridge. I wondered into the St. Thomas hospital grounds and took a few silly arty shots of The Clock Tower, then I veered off down Albert Embankment. The HP Sauce Buildings were picture perfect - no boats on the river, sunny day. Absolutely amazing.
I even got a photo of a cozzer complete with a tit on his head with the HP sauce buildings as a backdrop. Sorted.
The Lambeth is serene compared with Westminster or Tower Bridge and has some great touristy river photo opportunities. On the other side of the bridge I consulted my aging AtoZ map (1990 edition, from my Mom) and decided to wiggle my way through the streets of Westminster to Victoria station.
Half time at The Barley Mow, only because the sun was shining on it and told me to walk through the door and order a pint. I had to obey.
Right, lets consult the AtoZ and see what winding route I can find for the next part of the walk, which to be honest, isn't exactly a major hike.
In fact, all told, I'll be lucky if the walk is any more than 2 miles.
The walk to Victoria was far closer than I thought through the winding streets of Westminster. There's some stunning old buildings intermingled with modern trash, which is typical London. They are like gems amidst the cold harsh modernism. Westminster Catherderal is visible at every turn, which is something to really like about London as a big city. Many of the views have been spoiled over the recent decades, notably, the Millenium Bridge has spoiled one of the few remaining glorious views of St. Pauls from the Thames. A small window opportunity for a view now lost. You need to be Walking on the bridge itself toward St. Pauls.
This is the price of progress.
I arrived at Victoria and decided to forgo the Underground to get back to Wimbledon and took a national rail from Victoria to Clapham Junction and a train from there to Wimbledon. You get an excellent idea of the extent of the rail network around London going from Victoria to Clapham and the Junction itself has 15 platforms with trains constantly moving.
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Sometime later ...
Sitting in The Woodman in Wimbledon Park, just down from the station, killing 20 minutes before going to see this new spot to stay at 6pm.
I don't like this pub much - very smokey, no wireless, not very welcoming or comfy.
I don't mind pubs with games rooms and pool tables, but I do know that these types of pubs are not usually the best for sitting alone. They are the types of pubs you go with mates for a pint and some pool. First and last time here regardless - lots of pubs to choose from, this one doesn't make the grade. You have to check these things out. Don't think much of this half pint of Abbot Ale either.
The local high street looks good, not that it matters with Wimbledon 5 minutes away.
It's odd writing like this, haul out the laptop as the hours go by and add bits and bobs till a story builds up, edit it a bit to make it flow a bit better and post it rough as a Blog, ready for a rewrite at some point in the future, maybe to fit into a fictional story. Who knows.
Oh yes, I never did get a return call from that lead I got when the phone disconnected on the train. It's now the third time it's happened to me and once again, call register has (no number) - fucking T-Mobile. As soon as I can, I'm ditching it in favour of Vodafone or Orange.
Phoned Charlie Hide back - he still hasn't heard from the client. This has now been going on for three days. I really hope to hear positive news tommorrow before the weekend sets in.
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Time goes by, back at The Swan.
This new spot is OK, I'm undecided but I think I will go with it. The lady who owns the house is Nigerian, which is cool. She has two teenage kids that seem to be the type who just mind their own business. The location is great, the price is good. Definately not as comfy as my current spot, but I can no longer afford to stay there.
Damn pity really, if I knew a job was starting within the week, I'd stay where I was.
On the way back, waiting at Wimbledon Park station, I saw my first city fox.
Out of the corner of my eye I thought at first I saw a large cat, then out of the darkness a fox was walking swiftly on the outside edge of the tracks near the bank. He paced back and forth for a few minutes, then vanished into the bushes.
Nobody on the platform paid the fox much mind, it's a common site around these parts I've heard. (excuse the pun)
I had a tinge of loneliness walking from Wimbledon Village down to The Swan as the place was partying. Outside one of the sidewalk wine bars, a Jazz band was playing and people were dancing on the streets. It was really great. If I were a more gregarious outgoing person, I probably would've popped in. Ah well.
Just ordered myself some fish 'n chips to try and cheer up. I'm "gatvol" of the type of food I've been mostly eating since I arrived - salad sandwiches, pita bread with humous & fruit.
Can't be arsed posting any photos for this blog, nothing much worth posting - general touristy type snaps and the photo of the cozzer with the tit on his head didn't come out all that great. I'll have to try that one again ...
--- unedited blog, full of spelling errors,typos and disjointed clumsy time changes, 17 November 2005 ---
