Joey Blogs

Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Monday nights are always the same aren't they? You return from work, frazzled, collapse on the sofa and try to figure out how it's not Friday already. Then you give up trying to figure it out, sigh and get on with life.

For me, getting on with life usually starts with busting out ye olde laptop to see what's going on in the world. A quick glance at Facebook, Twitter, my RSS reading list and the news. But this Monday I didn't make it past Facebook. On opening my news feed page, I was greeted by the artwork from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album cover. It had been shared between two of my Sydney friends, with a note: "2 days to go!!!"

Whaaaaaa?

My memory flicked back to several months earlier when I'd received an email telling me Bruce was going to be in town - but I had no money at the time and it'd totally slipped my mind. Crap. I've always loved Bruce, and since watching the BBC coverage of him heading Glastonbury back in 2009, he's been on my 'People To See Live Before They/I Die' list.

So I checked Ticketek. There were tickets left. Good seats as well. For $180. Ouch.

Anyone who knows me will tell you: my favourite type of music is "dad music" - i.e. if your dad likes it, then I probably will to. Eric Clapton, The Who, Paul Weller... *coughs* Duran Duran. Bruce absolutely falls into this category and so in this situation I was like a moth to a flame.

20 minutes later, after a few texts to one of the friends on Facebook and a quick chat with myself about not needing to eat for the next 2 weeks, I'd booked it. I'd just spent my entire food budget on Bruce.

Two days later, Sydney Olympic Park beckoned. I met my friends for a quick pre-gig drink, then we dashed off to the stadium to find out seats.

Exactly 27 songs, 3 hours and 12 mins later, I was in love. I'd just witnessed a 63-year-old Bruce crowd-surf, dance his way through the masses, and knee-slide across the stage - all while singing some of my favourite songs. I'd never seen anyone command a crowd so magically before.

Love. True love.

On return home, my first task was Google tickets to Hyde Park Calling for this June. It's only £70 for the day and would happily coincide with Wimbledon. Totally worth the airfare, non?

Return to Oz

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:06:00 +0000

Here’s a post I never thought I’d write…

When booking my flights home for Christmas, my initial worry was “will 4 weeks be too long?” Well, here I am having returned from those 4 weeks at home in England and feeling like I've been unwillingly torn away.

Strolling home from my last day at work before heading back to England, I recall walking along the harbour path as the sun began to set, the water gently lapped at the sand and rocks, and a kookaburra laughed somewhere up above in the trees. How could I leave paradise for 4 weeks during the summer?

The morning I flew home I went for a swim in the pristine waters of the tidal sea pool at the end of my apartment block. The weather was 27 degrees and clear skies. The thought of landing in ice cold London filled me with dread. In fact, at that point, if someone had said to me “you don’t have to go home now, you can wait until the British summer” I would've seriously considered it.

Fast forward those 4 weeks and something in my brain has completely switched.

Waking up on my last Friday at home in the UK, I was overwhelmed with an ominous feeling – the only way I can describe it is that feeling you get when you have an exam coming up which you know you’re not prepared for. You pray for time to slow down and hope it just magically disappears overnight. But it doesn't. I had just under 48 hours left of being part of a family and having a group of ready-made friends.

That night I went for a final drink with a few of my besties. Our chat ranged from the usual nonsense to the year ahead, my next visit home and talk of people coming to visit me. I felt truly grateful for every second I spent with them all. We said our goodbyes – and I was genuinely surprised at how sad some of them were at me leaving. In fact, it hadn't hit me until I returned home just how much people had missed me, and worse, just how much I hadn't been there for.

Stupid Australia with its not-as-great-as-the-ads-make-out-weather. Stupid ridiculously high salaries. Stupid booming economy.

Less than 24 hours later I was speeding down one of Heathrow’s runways. The plane felt heavy. (It was probably my extra bag of luggage - made up purely of Cadbury chocolate and Boots goodies.) That day I had barely been able to speak without feeling a lump up in the back of my throat. And now, on this runway, it felt like I was being ripped away from where I wanted to be. The polar opposite of the freedom I’d felt when I left of Sydney 16 months earlier.

As the plane lifted up, I focused on the lights down below – Windsor Castle dipped out of my view as we banked to the left (to the left) and I closed by blind, unable to take any more of the torment.

Maybe there would be an electrical malfunction and we’d have to land again. Just one extra day? But no such luck. The cheery pilot was soon chatting away about the smooth flight ahead of us and how Hong Kong was going to be warm and balmy when we arrived. Stupid Hong Kong.

The next several hours were spent staring at the screen in front of me trying not to completely lose the plot (I've no idea what I watched) and before I knew it I was back in my least favourite airport in the entire world. Hong Kong.

Before I knew it I was back on the plane and landing in Sydney. My heart sank as we disembarked from the plane. As the cheery hostesses welcomed us to Sydney and all I wanted to do was punch them in the face.

And here I am. Two days later, back at work, and feeling the most unsettled and weird I've ever felt in my entire life.

Sculpture by the Sea 2012 – Pics, Tips and Lowdown

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:26:00 +0000

The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk is (what I would consider to be) one of the most beautiful walks in the world. Even on bad weather days, the views are breath-taking and I would encourage anyone visiting Sydney to experience it. And if you’re in town from mid-October to September, then you’re in luck as this is when the Sculpture by the Sea event takes place.

There’s not much explanation needed, it is exactly as it sounds – lots of random sculptures nestled into the coastline for all to gaze at and interact with.

Here are some highlights from this year’s event:

Fancy visiting in 2013? Here are my...

Top 2 tips for surviving Sculpture by the Sea

If you can, start at Bondi and walk to Bronte – or even all the way to Coogee. The scuptures stop at Tamarama but this way you’ll avoid the crowds (and bumped up prices) when looking for a post-walk meal and drinks.
Take a camera – the weird and wonderful sculptures range from fun to inspiring. Plus the event takes place during whale migration season so you never know, you may be lucky and spot some humpbacks passing by!
Don’t like crowds? Head down before 10am or after 5pm and if possible choose a weekday. It can get pretty manic!

Moving to the Dark Side...

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Since moving to Sydney, one of the main similarities to London I've picked up on is that there’s a very strong north/south divide. In London, if you live north of the Thames you are programmed to dislike the south, and if you live south you’re programmed to dislike the north. I've never really figured out why it’s like that but it is.

Same goes with Sydney.

If you live in the city or Eastern Suburbs, the thought of crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge and relocating to the North Shore is almost as mad as choosing to get a coffee from Starbucks. And if you’re a North Shore or Northern Beaches soul, moving back to the city side of the water is something you only do if you’re and looking to escape home.

As a Bondi-ite, I have to admit that, even though I traveled to Manly for work every day, I was definitely a member of the anti-north crew. Why would I want to be that little bit further away from the buzz of Sydney? Slightly more disconnected and away from the action. I was an Eastern Suburbs girl and that was that.

Then months of commuting two hours in each direction every single working day, not having any time to do anything extra-curricular, and spending 99% of my day sitting down, finally caught up with me.

My shoulders have never been so tight and tense. My back hurt and my lunch breaks were my only opportunity to see daylight. In short, I was miserable. This was not living the dream.

Then as fate would have it, just as I started to consider relocating, a friend of mine who lived just outside of Manly mentioned that her flatmate was moving back to UK in a few weeks. Fast one month and here I am, moved in. A fully fledged Manly-ite!

I've swapped one beautiful beach for another equally (and possibly slightly better) one. My home is right next to the harbour – I can hear the clicking of moored boats when I have my window open – and I’m 20 minutes walk from my office.

We have resident penguins here. I walk to work along the edge of the harbour, past little coves and beaches and this is my back garden:

Something tells me I may have been wrong thinking I was living the dream in Bondi…

January's Flying By...

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:29:00 +0000

How is it the third week of January already?! HOW? I’m convinced time goes faster when you’re upside down. There must be scientific evidence to prove it somewhere?!

Following my previous post about regrouping, everything has changed. I am now doing at least one run a week, plus I’ve taken up regular swimming and have significantly cut back on my coffee and alcohol intake. And I feel GREAT!

On top of that, I had 10 days off over Christmas and New Year, allowing me to catch up on sleep, generally revive myself and, more importantly, tick a few things off my ‘to go/do/experience’ list. I experienced a hot Christmas, watched the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht race, visited Palm Beach (the setting of Home & Away), experienced opening night of the Sydney Festival, tried stand up paddle boarding, and went to the Apia International Tennis Men’s Final (sort of). But those are stories I’ll tell you about at a later date. (I keep saying that don’t I? I need to get into the swing of regular blogging again!)

Today is THE BIG ONE though. The two main reasons I even considered coming to Australia are about to be checked off my list. Tonight I fly out to Melbourne: the city my parents lived in for three and a half years, and the home of The Australian Open. To say I’m excited is an understatement.

For those who know me, aside from the fact I’m not keen on flying, I’d be quite content if my job was to follow the ATP tour around the globe. One of my ambitions is to go to all four Grand Slam tournaments within one year (I’m secretly hoping this will be that year, although I know I need to win the lottery for that dream to become a reality), and so this is a big deal to me! After YEARS of staying up late to watch matches and organising my birthday plans around the final, I’m finally getting my wish to experience it first-hand. One day of grounds admission and another in Rod Laver Arena! Dream. Come. True.

On my one “day off” from tennis (on which I fully expect myself to end up either back at the grounds or watching in a bar) I’m heading out of the city to find the place where my parents used to live. I’ve been told SO MANY stories about this place (many I’ve heard so many times I can repeat them accurately as if I were there) that it’s been on my bucket list for YEARS. My parents are the reason I’m in Australia now. Without their stories I would never have thought of coming over here, so to visit their old home sort of feels like I’m fulfilling some kind of family rite of passage.

And with that said, it’s now time for me to head off to the airport and bid Sydney farewell for a few days… wish me luck!

Heading to Melbourne...

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:39:00 +0000

I strongly believe in buying yourself a Birthday present each year. I’s nice to mark the occasion with something nice and there's the added bonus of getting something which is exactly what you want.

This year, as I'm in Australia and have no idea if I'll still be here next year, I went all out and treated myself to a trip to Melbourne and tickets to the Australian Open.

I'll be spending three days in Melbourne in total - two at the Open and one visiting the neighbourhood where my parents used to live. Thus ticking off two major life ambitions in one short weekend.

On Saturday night I jet off and (once I get over the slight panic of flying having to get on a plane) I couldn't be more excited!

A Very Soggy Apia International

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:42:00 +0000

As the new year starts, most people spiral into a pit of depression in the UK. There are the bleak winter months to get through, we've all just binged our way through the festive season, and on top of that we're all in the process of setting ourselves up with unrealistic New Year resolutions which we know we're ultimately going to fail at.

But not in Australia, oh no! In the southern hemisphere it’s the height of summer, which means long hot days followed by warm blissful evenings and weeks on end of glorious sunshine in picture perfect settings… right? WRONG!

I've literally never experienced rainfall like that of the Australian summer. And I’m British - I know my rain! Gone are the days of camping trips in the beautiful English countryside, sheltering and shivering inside your tent and mumbling something along the lines of "I wish we lived in Australia where it’s all sunshine and beaches". Now I know it’s all a massive con. All these years I've thought us Brits had it bad - how misled we were! Rain here is apocalyptic. It’s either nice weather or it’s the end of the world. The streets turn to rivers and wind becomes your umbrella's worst nightmare.

Anyway, January in Australia is where the tennis year kicks off – which means not only is it the month of the Australian Open, but it's also a month packed with smaller warm-up ATP and WTA tournaments. So as a treat to myself, a friend and I booked tickets to the men's final of the APIA International in Sydney, and were both pretty chuffed that we could, a – afford the tickets in the first place, and b – were actually attending a final! Dream come true! Right? WRONG!

On the day of the finals the weather report showed showers.But that was okay, we are British after all. We know how to handle rain delays. But for the past few weeks, the weather had been what we Brits like to refer to as 'changeable'. Showers were forecast pretty much every day but actually experiencing them was hit-and-miss.

We arrived at the grounds early – where everything was already soggy from the earlier showers – and the rain pretty much kicked in straight away. Heavy drizzle. Fantastic! For anyone who has ever attended a tennis event, you’ll know that there is nowhere to shelter from the elements. Rain or shine, it's either the overhanging stands of a show court (flashback to Wimbledon) or the on-site shop (flashback to Wimbledon again) that provide protection.

An hour of sheltering went by before an announcement came: play had been suspended due to the rain but they were hoping to start the match within than half hour. So we filled the gap by getting something to eat. But that half an hour turned into an hour. Then an hour and a half. Then the rain stopped! Eagerly taking our seats in the stadium, we settled ourselves in and… then I witnessed one of the most bizarre rituals I've ever come across at a tennis event.

Now, I have only ever attended grass-court or indoor tournaments prior to this, so maybe this isn’t odd at all, but I can’t help but think there must be a better way to dry a court…

Step 1: Give the ball boys/girls a towel each

Step 2: Line them up

Step 3: Get them to drag their towel across the length of the court 2 or 3 times

Step 4: Enlist the help of the linesmen and arm them with leaf-blowing machines

Step 5: Get them to wonder around to court drying out remaining puddles

Strange, non? Would covers of some form not be easier? I realise this clearly isn’t the case – my faith is in the hundreds of tennis professionals that work at these tournaments and venues – it just all seemed a little bit time-consuming considering the situation.

Anyway - so the court was dry. The players were about to come out… and then there was another heavy downpour. After which, the drying process was repeated. And again. And again. Life became a bit like groundhog day. Rain. Bizarre drying ritual. Rain. Bizarre drying ritual. Rain. Bizarre drying ritual. I witnessed it happen 4 times. And then play was cancelled for the day. BRILLIANT!

I had moved to the other side of the world, where the Tourism Australia ads PROMISED year-round sunshine, only to find that it’s actually just as rainy (if not more) than England, And tennis events here not only get suspended due to rain, they also get fully cancelled.

So off we trudged – getting soaked by the rain (neither of us had an umbrella) and piling into a freezing bus (air-con was up full whack as it’s summer – there appears to be a rule that during summer, no matter how hot or cold it is, air con is always on!) that would take us back to the station. Game over.

Fortunately we were given the option of returning the next day. Neither of us could attend so we opted for a refund instead. And what was the first thing I did when I got home? Google the dates for next year's tournament of course! I will not be defeated...

New Year in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

When you've moved from London to Sydney and New Year Eve rolls around, there’s only really one way you’re going to spend your evening isn't there? Sydney has one of the most famous New Year firework displays in the world and, having grown up watching TV coverage of the display every year, there was no way I was going to miss out on experiencing it in person.

Fortunately for me, my office is based in Milsons Point and sits just above Luna Park. There is a massive double balcony, complete with BBQ, which looks out across Lavender Bay, towards Darling Harbour and (most importantly) at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Waking up on New Year’s Eve to the warm weather was a good omen. I kicked off the day the polar opposite to how I would at home – which would probably include sleeping in, spending the day prepping myself for the evening ahead and travelling to wherever I was celebrating, Instead, I was up early and my first port of call was a swim here:

Not a bad way to end 2011, huh?

That evening, I met up with a few friends and we made our way to the office. Battling through the hundreds of people making their way down to the harbour’s edge reinforced just how fortunate I was to have landed myself a job with such an amazing location.

Settling in for the evening at the office, the drinks flowed, music played and we all hung out on the balcony awaiting one of the greatest shows in the world. Although arriving early to avoid the crowds on public transport, there was plenty to keep us occupied - including an impromptu visit to the sausage sizzle across the street whilst try to locate the bottle shop with the shortest queue, one of my friends getting locked out of building for a considerable amount of time without anyone noticing, plus the usual drunken antics.

What they don’t tell you on TV is that the main display at midnight is not the only one of the evening. At 9pm them is a warm-up firework display, meaning that families with young kids or long distances to travel can still join in the fun. Then, on the hour every hour, there are short bursts of fireworks which act as a ‘countdown’. It’s basically fireworks galore. And if there is one thing the Australians can do amazingly well (apart from coffee, drinking and brunch) it’s fireworks. The photos don't do it justice, but here's a snippet of what we saw:

And to make things a little bit more magical, after travelling back to the office on New Year’s Day to help clean up, I spent my afternoon drinking champagne at Opera Bar with this as my view:

Happy 2012 everyone!

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:26:00 +0000

Aside from eating turkey-based leftovers and watching movies, Boxing Day at home usually involves flicking through the news channels to find coverage of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. I'm not sure why it's become such a Boxing Day ritual as none of my family sail, but I love boats and would jump at the chance to try sailing so I always take interest.

This year, being located in the starting city, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to watch it for realz so I made the loooong, cramped and ridiculously busy bus journey to the headland above Watsons Bay to catch a glimpse of the action.

About 80 gazillion people had the same idea which resulted in myself and my two companions ditching the bus half way and walking the rest in in the muggy heat. Totally worth it, even if the bus did eventually overtake us and arrive at our destination before us…

Once arriving at the headland we clambered around to find a good spot and eventually perched ourselves on some rocks that gave us a view back across the harbour and out to sea – perfect! The next 45 minutes or so were spent watching the yachts gradually move their way along the harbour, with small boats and helicopters following alongside, ducking and weaving ridiculously close by! Very cool to see in real life – I’m a great believer of experiencing something rather than watching it on TV, but in this case I reckon you watch it for real once and then revert to modern day technology!

Watching the race was awesome, even if it was as muggy as hell and the rain was just hanging there in the air, waiting for an opportune moment to pour down on us! One life goal complete, one life goal created: to be in Hobart when the race finishes!

A Hot Aussie Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:37:00 +0000

I've always wanted to spend Christmas ignoring the fact that it’s Christmas. Every year in the UK, as soon as October arrives – BANG - Christmas is the theme at every shopping centre, on every radio station and on every TV channel. There’s NO ESCAPE from festive cheer being shoved in your face and by the time Christmas actually rolls around I’m completely over it. A Christmas without any of that commercial rubbish being forced upon me would be perfect, right? So why exactly did I spend the run up to Christmas feeling like I was missing out on that cold, festive cinnamon-y cheer that comes hand in hand with December?

I’m putting it down to weather. My mental state depends a lot on the weather (weird but true) and is a large part of why I left the UK. December in Sydney was unusually “cold” (22 degrees – that’s summer to us Brits) and rainy, with forecasts telling us right up until Christmas Eve that the big day would be soggy. Not what you want to hear when you’ve saved up for eight months and left everything you know and love in exchange for a new sunshiney life and beautiful Christmas on the beach. Couple that with the fact that there is nothing traditionally festive about Australia during the run up to Christmas and what you’ve got is a grumpy expat on the other side of the world from their family, with an empty fridge and a long weekend ahead of them which will be spent watching re-runs of 80s classics such as Love Boat and I Dream of Jeannie because there’s nothing else to do. Not ideal. Not the dream.

As it turns out, the weather gods were good to us and Christmas day was brilliant. Myself and a group of friends ferried ourselves across the harbour to Shelley Beach in Manly for a day of swimming, bbq-ing and general festivities… along with hundreds of others. The gorgeous weather coupled with good friends and good food meant that everyone was in high spirits and the day played out exactly as we had all dreamt it would. We couldn’t have really asked for anything more!

On reflection, I still haven’t quite figured out quite how I feel about the whole Australian Christmas thing, purely because it didn’t feel like Christmas in the slightest. On Christmas morning I woke up alone, I saw no family members, had no Christmas dinner, no presents and no decorations. Then when the day was over I went back home alone, slapped on near enough a whole bottle of aftersun and collapsed into bed hoping I wouldn’t wake up bright red. It couldn’t have been more different.

Not that it was all a bad experience of course. I had a lot of fun, but whether I’d want to spend Christmas without family or friends again is another question. I missed having people around at home and I missed the M&S and Waitrose food - maybe if I could bring both of those things over here it’d be the perfect scenario!

Regrouping

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Right, so it’s fair to say that my blogging over the past few months has been pretty poor. It’s now almost the end of December and my last blog post was in October. Shocking. Obviously a lot has happened since then and I have a lot to update. I had started putting together ‘how-to’ guides over the past few weeks (as was my original plan when moving over here) but they’ve never actually materialised thanks to my erratic schedule. I’m annoyed with myself for letting this slip but now I fully intend to made amends.

Where to start…

So not too long after I started looking for a job, I landed a social media role at an advertising agency in Milsons Point – just across the harbour bridge and next to Luna Park. A couple of weeks later I got the hell out of the hostel (which I had started referring to as purgatory), moved into an apartment in Bondi and I have never looked back. That was 2 months ago.

So much has happened since then, I don’t even know where to begin - I’ll have to relay the stories gradually over the coming weeks. One thing I have noticed that’s happened though is that my focus has slipped. Having got swept up in the world of having a job, actually being able to afford things and having a proper social circle again, I’ve found that I haven’t really achieved much. Or at least, I haven’t achieved what I set out to achieve. I’m not saying I haven’t had fun, far from it, but I look at my bucket list (and the various other lists I’ve made since arriving) and there’s not much I can check off.

When I made the decision to move to Sydney I was at a low point, and although it wasn’t the best time of my life, the decisions and ambitions I had at that time were 100% ‘me’. Since settling into Sydney working life I feel like I’ve started losing that ‘me’ because I’ve been swept up in it all. I barely run anymore, I’m always out and I’m constantly drinking. I’ve had mid-week hangovers more times than I care to remember, and that really is not the ‘me’ I wanted to become when moving over here.

So as much fun as it’s all been, I’m now deciding to make a change. Since finishing for Christmas I’ve been running again, exploring new places, trying to get my healthy balanced diet back (ie. no dinners made purely from alcohol) and I already feel better for it. I’ve also planned out and budgeted so I can actually do the things on my various lists - which will hopefully stop me carelessly spending money, keep me active and stop me from wasting my time here.

This week I’ve been reminded of how quickly the time you thought you had can be taken away from you, and I don’t want to be one of those “I wish I’d done this, that or the other” people. I’m very aware that I may only be in Australia for a year (although I’m hoping this is not that case) and so time is of the essence. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to be here and I don’t want to look back with any kind of regrets.

You Know We Belong Together….

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:49:00 +0000

…You and I forever and eveerrrrrr! Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. Anyone from the UK and Australia knows the Home & Away theme. And I bet you know all the words, don't you?

I used to watch it years ago when I was growing up but have lost track over the past few years. Still, when a friend mentioned that the infamous Summer Bay was just a short bus journey north of Sydney I jumped at the chance to visit.

Getting up at ridiculous o’clock and trekking into the city at 6am wasn’t too fun, but after grabbing a coffee and a Danish pastry balance was soon restored. Much to my amazement, a return ticket from Central station – which is an hour and a half each way - was only $8. Another reason I love Australia. An hour and a half journey in England would be more like £80! And it would be horrible. You'd probably have to stand the whole way. Anyway, we boarded our bus and were on our way!

The bus journey, although over an hour, was awesome. Bus journeys at home are generally quite grey and dull. I’m particularly thinking of a bus route in London I used to take which went through Elephant and Castle and past a load of council estates where people regularly got stabbed. (Yay for London!) This journey, however, followed the coastal road, winding its way up past all the little bays and brilliant ocean vistas to our final destination of Palm Beach, the last of Sydney’s northern beaches. And to make things even better, the sky was blue, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Bliss!

Palm Beach itself is stunning. The deep golden sands and massive surf are exactly as they are on the TV, so you can see why it was chosen as the filming location! Our first stop was what can only be described as a photoshoot fest at various points of the beach, outside the surf club, in the surf, walking onto the beach, sitting on the fence at the top of the beach… here in Summer Bay I had no shame about how many photo’s I forced my friends to take of me posing. In fact, if I’d seen Alf Stewat I would’ve high fived him and asked him for a photo. But alas, this did not happen.

What did happen though, was a walk along the beach, lunch at The Boat House and a brilliant afternoon beach nap (one of my favourite things to do in Australia). On this day I was most certainly winning and I cannot wait to go back!

Summer Bay / Palm Beach

The infamous walkway

The infamous fence :)

B.E.A.UTIFUL

Surf Club!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It… Why Is It So Hot?!

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:50:00 +0000

It’s not that I’m against experiencing new things, far from it, but for whatever reason I’ve found the run-up to Christmas in Australia both frustrating and upsetting. Call me crazy, but looking at cards, Christmas trees and decorations with fake snow on them when its 28 degrees and you’re wearing shorts and flip flops is just plain wrong. WRONG I TELL YOU.

Christmas just doesn’t really happen here in the same way it does back home. It’s like it’s not Christmas at all. The only clues are the massive Christmas tree in the CBD, the inflatable Santa on the side of the Sydney Convention Centre who looks like he’s trying to break in, and the inflatable Christmas crab (crab with a Santa hat – I kid you not) on top of the aquarium at Darling Harbour.

Since arriving on these sunny shores I’ve never really felt like I’ve missed home. Before leaving I’d been told that I would get two or three months into living here and suddenly the reality of being on the other side of the world would hit me… but I’m still waiting for that to happen.

Having said that, during this usually festive period, I’ve found myself missing really random things from home. Not ‘things’ as such, but more events. For example, yes I’ve been sad to miss out on people’s birthdays and parties, but what’s really had my gut wrenching is not being able to enjoy Firework Night, not being able to watch Children in Need or the rubbish (sorry, but it is) Royal Variety Performance, not being able to join in with Remembrance Sunday (I HATED not having a poppy to wear), and most of all… missing out on that wintery magical excitement you get during the run up to Christmas.

I’ll admit that I’ve never really been a big fan of Christmas so it may seem a little hypocritical me saying all this, but the thing I’ve found myself missing about all this is the thought that for ten straight days you’re going to be tucked up at home with your family, awesome food, no work to do and plenty of catching up with friends. This year I have none of them. Not that I’m complaining, I just mean that the one thing I usually look forward to is not an option, so I don’t know what to expect or how to feel. And most annoyingly, seeing friends from home all experiencing it all via Facebook while I am not can makes it REALLY hard to block out.

Apparently I’m not alone. Other Brits I’ve spoken to have said similar things. It’s not home as a whole that you miss, it’s missing out on the little traditions and annual events that you’re so familiar with that make you feel sad to be away.

Thank god I’m in Australia… after half an hour’s worth of feeling glum I generally take myself off to the end of my road where I can find this:

Homesickness doesn't last long here. There are so many awesome views here that you simply have to step outside in order to remember how lucky you are to be here.

Case in point: due to general frustration with the non-Christmassy vibes in Sydney, Christmas Eve arrived and I felt the only way to make things better was to revert to one of my favourite past times: nachos and cocktails at the Hard Rock Cafe. I grabbed two of my best friends here and off we went, nabbing a table on the balcony which turned out to be THE best location for the carol singing (again, so wrong – singing about snow when it’s still 25 degrees at 10pm?!) and fireworks over Darling Harbour.

A very non-Christmassy Christmas experience, but brilliant in its own way!

This Is Halloween!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:15:00 +0000

One thing I really miss about being in the UK is my involvement with Alberg & Austin. Since I’ve been away they’ve been appearing at festivals, hitting the music scene with Dancing Lotus and making a name for themselves on ASOS.

More excitingly though, they’ve just teamed up with isavelaurence creator, Laurence Davies, to re-stock one of his most popular designs. Just in time for Halloween, this spooky little treat, which has been spotted on fashionistas such as Pixie Geldof, is now back and available in a selection of coloured tees and jumpers for the Autumn/Winter season.

Kicking off back in 2004, Laurence created his brand isavedlaurence independently and as a way of getting his designs out there into the fashion world. His style was a massive hit, being picked up by over 100 high street retailers and establishing its own concession in Topshop’s flagship store on Oxford Street just six months after launching.

Impressive stuff, huh? Over the coming months there will be more designs hitting Alberg’s online store, all of which are limited edition and will be selling out fast - so act soon or regret it later! www.albergandaustin.com GO GO GO!!! :)

I may be in Australia but I’m ordering mine as soon as pay day arrives… Which is also mainly because I want the free Wham bar that comes with it! (Australian sweets SUCK)

Life Is A Rollercoaster, Just Got To Ride It

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:26:00 +0000

Oh god I can’t believe I just quoted a Ronan Keating song. I apologise. Let’s pretend I actually came up with a much cooler title and move swiftly on…

This morning I sat down to write a proper update about relocating but instead this was on the brain and felt far more relevant: The one overriding thing I have experienced since relocating is that the perception of my current situation can completely change from second to second. One moment I’ve lost focus and just want to be stuffing my face with nachos and cocktails with my best friend, then the next moment the sun is shining, I’ve met someone who restores my faith in humanity and I don’t want to be anywhere else. Days later they leave, I’m back to wanting the nachos then, as I give my reflection a pep talk about staying positive, I get a phone call offering me a job interview and I’m back to loving being here again… only I have no one to share the joy with!

Fortunately, the majority of my time in Sydney so far has been pretty good (touch wood!). I’ve had so much positive feedback from recruiters and potential employers that it’s completely restored my faith in my professional ability - I actually feel like I might not be the waste of space the London recruitment world led me to believe I was! Over here I have people who are genuinely helping me and I am being encouraged to aim for jobs I want and apparently deserve rather than things that are below my ability. I’ve had more feedback in the last two weeks than I had over the whole two years I was job searching in London and it’s the most incredible breath of fresh air.

The only thing I’m really struggling with is being completely alone. Not that I am actually alone, just in the sense that I have no one familiar around me. There are moments when you just want to call your parents and when you want to tell a friend about an encounter with a cute guy but you simply can’t because they’re asleep on the other side of the world and won’t get your message for another eight hours! I’ve found this leaves you feeling a bit empty, but you just have to get on with it and process those emotions yourself. I can only assume that this is what they call a “character building” experience. It’s also massively crap.

Don’t get me wrong though, I love being over here alone and figuring everything out for myself. I feel like this is mine and mine alone. Everything I achieve (and fail at) is completely down to me - which I’ve come to realise was the main attraction of me coming out here. If I’d come out here with someone I knew, the experience would be completely different, and the thought of anyone I know from home coming out to join me at this point would completely rain all over my koala bear themed parade (although I encourage visitors once I’m sorted!).

So basically what I’m saying is that this transitional stage is a bit hard-going given that it’s constantly changing, but it’s also opening my eyes to new things and giving me the confidence to push myself. I’ve met people across the last week or so who, although I have only spent a few days with them, have made me look at things completely differently, and I genuinely hope that our paths cross again in the not too distant future.

And now, as the sun is shining and it’s like a good British summer day outside (even though it’s early spring), I’m off to the beach. Just because I can!

Oh and I didn't have a relevant picture to post, so I thought I'd share this with you instead. Because it makes me smile...

Australia vs The UK -The Random Differences They Don’t Tell You About

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:53:00 +0000

Right, I know I haven’t done a proper update about life Down Under, but that’s because there’s been so much going on that I have no idea where to start! Plus I’ve been writing in my travel diary every day so I’ve simply not had the time to update everything.

So instead, while I’m gathering my thoughts together into an easy-to-decipher post, I thought it’d be fun to point out a few little differences I’ve noticed in between Australia and the UK. Here goes:

Burger King is called Hungry Jacks – This baffles me. Anyone know why it is? Who is Jack and why is he hungry?

The seagulls are exactly like they are on Finding Nemo – If you’re down by the water and stay sitting in one position for more than 30 seconds, you will suddenly find yourself surrounded – it doesn’t even matter if you have food or not! And I’m 99% sure they squawk ‘MINE’ rather than a normal seagull squawk.

In the city it will take you about five minutes just to cross one road – This drove me completely MENTAL for the first week or so of being here. If you’re from a big city you will find yourself teetering on the edge of the curb desperately wanting to get to the other side but being forced to wait by the unfazed people surrounding you and absence of that stupid little green man! Also, the lights beep even when you can’t cross. I haven’t figured out why this is yet.

You stand on the left hand side of escalators – I’ve worked in London since I was 18 so it’s been drummed into me to stand on the right for years. I spent the first week of being here generally getting in the way and being confused as to why people were glaring at me… oops.

It takes ages for you to order a coffee, smoothie or anything else that needs to be made for you there and then – It seems Aussie’s really do work at a much slower pace. I waited for over ten minutes for a couple of slices of toast the other day…

Ugg boots are not worn as casual wear – They originated as something surfers could slip on after emerging from the waves, so some Aussies find it a bit weird when they’re worn for just strolling around the shops or going about your daily routine. Oh and it’s normal for guys to wear them too apparently.

The coffee is GOOD – There is a massive coffee and cake culture over here and it’s all about independents. Unlike in the UK and the States where you’re never more than 10 metres away from a Starbucks, there are hardly any to be seen here! It’s very refreshing.

It’s expensive – I’ve been told that this is because there are less people, so less consumer businesses and therefore less competition between pricing. Which means that a pre-made sandwich will cost you $6-8, a bottle of water will cost you $3 and a tube of toothpaste will be about $7.

People run and work out anywhere and everywhere – I reckon this must be because of the cakes and massive portions. Hotspots I’ve found include the Royal Botanical Gardens, Bondi and the Eastern Beaches walk. You can find people walking, running, working out, stretching, rollerblading… you name it, they’re doing it. And they all have beautiful (and tanned) bodies to show for it.

Pre-pay buses – With a lot of the buses you have to buy a ticket before you board. If you get on a pre-pay bus without a ticket because you’re new and confused, the bus driver will get angry. Luckily when I did it the guy let me off and just let me pay, but I’ve seen people being shouted at and thrown off…

The trains have three levels and the seats are AWESOME – I’d go as far as saying it’s my favourite thing about being here! On my first train journey I was just about getting over the brilliance of having three levels (we need this in London) when I witnessed the magicalness of the seats. I don’t want to say what it is because I want newbies to the city to discover it for themselves. It’s an experience. The first time I saw it, it BLEW MY MIND!

You can crumple up a note and it just flips back to its original shape – Ever played Monopoly and wished the money was real? Well wish no longer! Aussie notes have see-through bits on them and feel plasticy (maybe because everyone lives by the sea and sweats a lot in the summer?!). So when you scrunch one up it doesn’t really crease like British notes do. Hours of fun.

They don’t have one or two cents coins – I find this a bit weird because they still price things at in-between numbers, then just round up. Crafty!

It’s like being in a time warp when it comes to music – I’ve heard songs here that I haven’t heard for YEARS! We’re talking Billie Piper, various Eurovision songs and 90s club anthems. And of course there’s loads of Savage Garden, Delta Goodrem and Kylie.

They put bucket loads of salt and pepper in everything – Which means you’re constantly thirsty and sometimes things like pie and sandwich fillings simply taste of just pepper. Blarg.

Credit, cheque or savings – When you use your card you’re asked what type of account you want to withdraw from. I didn’t have a clue what mine was first time round. After trying the other two options and failing, I pressed ‘credit’ and it worked (even though it’s not a credit card!), so that’s what I roll with each time I withdraw money.

They don’t seem to care about swearing in songs or on TV – Which makes hearing the unedited version of Cee-Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’ a bit awkward when you’re in a shop and there are kids around.

Some places still freak out when you pay by card – With some things it feels like Australia has only just discovered technology. They don’t do ‘chip-and-pin’ (which they refer to as EPTFOS) the way we do in the UK and in most places you still sign on the dotted line if you pay with a card. Bizarrely though, my card has that ‘wave’ technology where you just perform a jedi-like hand gesture with your card against a machine and it automatically debits your account. Bit of a massive contradiction in security! They also seem to be mortally allergic to splitting the bill in restaurants.

There’s loads of FREE services – The best one being the completely free shuttle bus that runs up and down George Street (the main street) from Central station to Circular Quay. There are also free city walks, free tours of the Botanical Gardens and free places to charge your phone in bars and pubs. This would never happen in London – Boris, mate, you need to sort it out for us!
Their chocolate is RUBBISH - Like... seriously bad. I can't physically eat it. Luckily though, you can scout out places that import the proper English stuff. Thank god!

So there we have it, the first few things I’ve noticed. I’m sure there’ll be more to come…

Things I Don’t Understand About Planes

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Other than the fact that I HATE flying, there are a few things that I quite simply just don’t understand when it comes to planes. These are the things that have been troubling me since my flight to Oz two weeks ago…

1 - Toblerone - why can you only ever get giant Toblerones at airports? It seems to be the same world-over. What is that about?!

2 – Safety demonstrations – I understand being shown how to use your life jacket and oxygen mask just in case the cabin depressurises or you land in the Hudson River, but why bother with a ‘brace position’? Having your head leaning against the seat in front is not going to help you if the plane crashes (although I’ve been told this is so that your neck is broken on impact which avoids any suffering). And bizarrely, if you’re in First Class, you’re told to sit in an upright position with your hands on your lap… as if that’s going to do anything except make you feel a little bit stupid! Someone please explain this to me.

3 – Cup? This is more to do with my Qantas flight to Australia. What exactly is this:

Is it a cup? And if it is a cup then why have I also been given an actual cup? Is it actually for something else? Is this an Australian thing? Admittedly this was a 22 hour flight and I only had a couple of hours sleep over that period, but I literally didn’t know what to do with this… so I resorted to using it as a rubbish bin.

thing with actual cup. confused.

4 – Orange juice in a pot – they always do this on flights. WHY? How exactly am I supposed to open and drink this without spilling most of it down me? It’s like drinking from a yoghurt pot. Why not just give it to us in a bottle?

Can anyone shed any light on the matter?

Becoming A One-Man Wolf Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 08:13:00 +0000

So I made it! I’ve been here just under two weeks now and I haven’t done anything particularly disastrous yet (touch wood) which I think is an achievement in itself!

It’s a very bizarre feeling being here – I’m not sure it’s a feeling you can really explain to someone unless they’ve been in the same situation. All I can attempt to describe it as is an overwhelming mix of stunned fear and absolute contentment - when you think about it in a literal sense it should be terrifying but in reality it’s actually quite cool. Think of it in the same way as doing a bungee jump or sky dive – throwing yourself off or out of something should be scary but when you actually take the leap its brilliant. Or so I hear. I’ve never done either!

Anyway, hooray for me because I can now tick off four things from my bucket list – fly to Australia, open a bank account, sort out a phone and make some friends (although this is a work in progress). I only just realised this a few days ago, but I actually got on both of my flights without going through the usual freaking out, crying and needing a strong drink (or five!) to calm my nerves. Maybe I was too preoccupied with what lay ahead or maybe I was too tired to care about the wing falling off. Either way, I got on a plane without crying or turning to hard spirits to help me through it. Check me out guys, I’m growing!

Before I left England, I opened up a bank account and transferred my money across like a proper grown-up. Now that I’m in Australia I have a bank card and internet banking set up so I can spend everything I spent months scrimping and saving up for. Win! My phone has also been sorted. I’m on a rolling contract with Optus where I have to top up with $30 every month – pretty sweet, especially as all social networking is free! And finally, I have made a few friends who are doing the same or similar thing to me. All of this will feature in ‘How to’ posts as soon as I no longer have to pay bucket loads for internet time!

So there we have it. I’m in Australia and embarking on my One Man Wolf Pack Adventure! More to follow…

Freedom & Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:44:00 +0000

Last week, after 16 months of being stuck in a role where I can honestly say I never once experienced a day I could categorise as ‘good’, I left my job. 5pm arrived, I shut down my computer for the last time and stepped onto the streets of Farringdon where I did a little victory dance and skipped off into the sunset. FREEDOM.

On the train home I reflected on the past year or so, trying to piece together the highlights. I couldn’t think of any. In fact, there were no working days I could actually remember - everything just blurred into one. My only memories came from colleagues’ birthdays and leaving days where we’d gone out for lunch or drinks. Proof that I have absolutely done the right thing in leaving.

Thinking back, I was applying for so many jobs at the beginning of 2010 that I don't even remember applying for this one. I knew nothing about the company as it was undisclosed, only the basic details of the role and nothing about the salary. Fail, fail, fail. When I was invited for an interview the first thing I did was Google the company and, ironically, for a company that said it specialised in websites, the company website included little to no information. In hindsight I should’ve know there and then that this wasn’t for me. Nevertheless, the interview took place the next day in a small room with no windows but plenty of artificial yellow light, they offered me the job and here I am today.

All in all, I wouldn't say the last 16 months have been a complete waste - if anything they’ve reminded me of who I really am, which was someone I had lost amongst the previous few years: I want to live rather than exist, and actually make something of my life.

My levels of non-achievement at work have caused me to take up running, do more with friends, see more, travel more, meet new people and generally just have fun. On the flip side, doing a job I really didn’t enjoy has been difficult and at times really got me down. But now I’ve escaped and vow to never go back to that situation. There will be no more masquerading as someone else. Life is too short.

It’s now only a few days until I leave and everyone is asking me if I feel scared, nervous or excited. To be honest, I am looking forward to it but I don’t really feel any of those emotions. The only way I can describe it is that I feel content. It just feels right. I’m finally embarking on something I’ve wanted to do since I was young and something I’ve been planning since University, and it’s come with the added bonus of having a bit more life experience, more money, and not having to share it with someone who caused me to lose who I was in the first place.

Since applying for my visa back in February everything seems to have been working in my favour and falling into place. Even in the past couple of weeks I’ve managed to recognise the opportunities that are out there for me and find closure on other issues. My philosophy these days is just to trust the universe and go with whatever happens. If it’s meant to be it’ll work itself out. I’m in the best place I’ve been in since I was 18 and I’m worried I’m tempting fate!

I know what I’m doing is going to be challenging. I know there are going to be times where I hate it and want to jump on the next plane home, but I also know that even if it’s an awful experience and I lose my limbs to a hungry white tip reef shark / rabid possum then at least I will learn something from it and will have a story to tell. (And I’ll be able to talk about it at TED!) Unless I die… in which case it will have been the biggest mistake I ever made.

Hooray! :)

What Not To Do When Running In An Unfamiliar Location

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:42:00 +0000

Over the past five months or so I’ve been trying to convince everyone (myself included) that I’m quite sensible and will be fine travelling solo to the other side of the world… and then I go and prove the exact opposite by not only getting lost, but getting lost in the Dorset countryside whilst accompanied by two other people – one of them being “a seasoned scout leader”.

Less than 12 hours earlier, the weekend had already started off on the wrong foot. Having arrived at the station 15mins early for our train we found the ticket queue to be longer than The Great Wall of China and of course only one window was open. Typical. We got to the front of the queue with minutes to spare and just as we were about to pay, the bright spark serving us decided now was the time to cancel our transaction and see if there was a better discount we could use. There was not. We made it through the ticket barriers just as the train pulled out of the station. Balls. Onto plan B… we could get the train to another station and change instead of waiting an hour for the next direct train.

20mins later we arrived at said station. Pretty certain of the train we needed to get, but not trusting ourselves, we went and asked a train man to confirm it for us. The guy on the customer enquiries desk (who was on the phone the entire time he was talking to us!) couldn’t have looked or acted more disinterested. He mumbled the train we needed to get, which was not the one we thought, and off we went to catch it. Of course once we were on it and it had pulled out of the station we realised it was the wrong one – which meant another change. So in short, we ended up getting two slow trains, only to end up at a station just a little way down the line, waiting for the train that left our initial location an hour later than the one we missed…

Anyway, after arriving at our destination, doing some food shopping (where we excitedly bought marshmallows to toast over the fire but somehow forgot the skewers) and finding the campsite (which was run by a complete fruit loop!), we started looking forward to the weekend… starting with our morning run.

Now, in case you’re not interested in how this all happened, these are the main lessons I learnt that day and the main points I want people to take note of:

Always ALWAYS look at a map and figure out a route before setting out
Take a phone
Take a camera
Take some water
Take a small amount of cash
Wear sun cream
Listen to your common sense
Do not trust maps that have been drawn by locals and stuck to village notice boards

Now you can stop reading. And for those of you who want to hear about the full extent of my stupidity, here’s how it all unfolded:

9am: Alarm goes off. I eventually crawl out of the tent, get ready and spend the next 30mins waiting for the others to do the same.

9.40: The OS map has been unfolded and the other two are arguing about looking at the map. I stay out of it and subsequently don’t take a look myself. Neither do they.

9.50: We set off into the unknown Dorset countryside promising the friend we’re leaving behind that we’ll only be around half an hour.

10.05: We’ve been running for 15 mins. The thought enters my mind that we could turn back now (thus making the run 30mins - genius) but we’ve just turned onto the main road and I figure there’s probably a lane that’ll loop us back round to the campsite in a few hundred yards. The others have looked at the map after all…

10.20: Nobody told me Dorset had hills! The road we’re running along resembles the foothills of the Andes. There’s still no right hand turn in sight.

10.30: We realise we’re going to be nearer to an hour and joke about our friend calling search and rescue. The skies are brilliantly blue and it’s starting to get hot, but for whatever reason none of us mention turning back. There’s definitely a turning on the right and we must nearly be there, so it’s not like we’re not lost or anything.

10.40: YES! We’ve found the turning! The excitement is short-lived when we realise the road takes us uphill. The sun is also getting hotter. I contemplate the health implications of licking a puddle.

10.45: We arrive in a village. East Lulworth to be exact. There’s no one around but there is a tap! We decide not to trust the water and opt to put it on ourselves rather than in ourselves.

10.50: At this point we finally realise that none of us actually looked at the map. Luckily we find a hand-drawn map on the side of an old wooden bus shelter which seems to show the main roads. If the map’s right then we just need to go to the the next junction, turn left and we’ll be there. So off we go again, jogging in an attempt to get back faster. (I’m not convinced we were going any faster than we would have been simply walking.)

11.10: We found the junction!!! The only problem being that there are no road signs. Option A – turn right and run about 200m to the only signpost we can see. Option B – turn left (which is uphill) and follow what the dodgy hand-drawn map said. We end up opting for secret option C – sit in the middle of the main road and talk about how ridiculous this whole expedition is.

11.15: We’ve taken option A, only to find that the signpost doesn’t mention anything that was on the map. Our intentions to ask for directions are completely steamrollered when a delivery van man simply waves back merrily as we try to flag him down. The next two cars don’t even acknowledge our existence. So much for the good of the British people. THANKS A LOT GB.

11.25: Having decided to head back the way we came and up the hill we had initially avoided we find a woman in her garden and ask for some directions. She responds with “you’ll need to go two miles down the road into Wool village, then take the turning on the right and it’s about another two miles from there…” She could’ve said anything after that. I was no longer listening. All that was going on in my head was buzzing and a little voice saying “2 + 2 = 4 MILES!!! Why God WHY?!”

11:35: After a brief chat and much buzzing in my head we left the woman’s house and headed back down the road again, past the signpost where the delivery van man had waved at us. Bastard. Then we walked/jogged for what felt like days.

11.55: Finally arriving in the village, we pop into a bakery (torture) where we ask where the nearest place to get a taxi would be. The station was the answer - which means more walking.

12.00: Like a mirage in the desert, the smallest station I have ever seen appears in front of us and… YES! ONE EMPTY TAXI! IT’S D-E-S-T-I-N-Y. In we jump. The driver is worried we’re going to sweat all over his seats but we don’t care ‘cos it’s OVERRRR!!! 5 mins later we’re back and I’m running AGAIN to get money for the taxi!

The friend we left behind is not too impressed, but luckily none our other friends haven’t arrived yet and thus are completely unaware of our stupidity. We relay our story and swear never to speak of it again. Ever. Until now… sorry guys!

The thing is that despite the fact that we felt guilty about leaving our poor friend alone in a field for two hours, it was actually quite fun. At no point was I annoyed or frustrated with myself because it was all quite funny and a bit like being on an adventure. This probably means I haven’t learnt anything from the experience (let's hope there's no repeat in Oz). My only mild regret was that I didn’t have a camera on me. It wasn’t until eight hours later when I realised the full extent of my sunburn that I felt any real pangs of regret. Three words: t-shirt tan lines.

Oh and you’ll be happy to know that the rest of the weekend was pretty awesome. Aside from the detachable pan handle being accidentally left on the roof of the car, eventually falling off into the middle of the road as we turned out of a junction and subsequently being run over and squashed by a BMW, everything else went pretty smoothly!

our route: 12k, 2 hours, 1000 calories burned

just to give you an idea of distance...

Tennis and 10k's

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 21:57:00 +0000

So much has happened over the last few weeks I’ve barely had time to think. But then that’s why I love the summer months – there’s always something good going on!

Two of those weeks were purely taken up by Wimbledon. I disown a lot of my friends and family for these two weeks because I enjoy it more that Christmas. During this magical fortnight I don’t care how your day went or what you said to the man who sneezed on you on the tube, all I want to know is who won which tie breaks, how many break points our latest junior has notched up, and what Boris and McEnroe think about the 4^th game of the 2^nd set. I know it’s completely selfish but that’s just how I roll during the Championships.

Needless to say, I visited on my usual two days (the first Wednesday and the middle Saturday) and this year those days couldn’t have been more different! Wednesday (which I actually had Court 3 tickets for!) was a mess of rain delays, shivering and drooling over Andy Roddick, whereas Saturday was all about queuing, donning my RF hat and getting a tension headache from the most incredible match I have ever witnessed on Centre Court (Djokovic v Baghdatis). I could bore you with endless stories but I’ll save you the eye strain. Instead, here’s a few pics from my adventures…

The Greatest Arena In The World & My Happy Place

Another thing that has been taking up all my time has been my training for the British 10k – which I ran and completed in 1hr 7mins. Huzzah! Not a brilliant time (I plan on cutting it down to at least under an hour), but I’m still proud of it considering it was a muggy day and I was running with 24,999 people!

I say ‘proud’ but really I achieved nothing compared to the 70 year old woman who completed the race, and the guys fundraising for Help for Heroes who ran the entire 10k with 30kg packs on their backs. RESPECT!

Nevertheless, so far I’ve raised £110 for the RNLI and BHF, which is still a way to go ‘til I hit my £200 target but there’s still time! You can read about the charities and sponsor me by clicking here. DO IT!

Team Run!

Agassi

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:18:00 +0000

I’ve got three blog entries on the go at the moment. Two of them were intended to be posted last week, but I’ve had so much going on that I haven’t had time to finish and proof them. I had in fact intended upon doing so this evening, however moments after returning home I stumbled across a tweet from the ATP that stopped me in my tracks.

The tweet posted a transcript from yesterday’s induction speech from Andre Agassi into the Tennis Hall of Fame. Of course I bypassed it and headed straight to YouTube. Half an hour later and here I am, completely discarding my half-written posts and writing this instead. Because this is a speech by a man I believe we can learn a hell of a lot from.

The girl introducing Agassi was a bit much to take, so if you’re less tolerant than me I would suggest forwarding to the 10 minute mark. From then on all you have to do is listen, contemplate and try not to worry too much about whether he’s used a high enough factor sun cream on his head or not. I'd recommend watching the video, but if you’d prefer, you can read the transcript by clicking here.

Enjoy…

You can read the personal tributes he talks about by clicking here.

A Guide to Wimbledon

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:23:00 +0000

Pimms? Check. Strawberries? Check. Are your whites white? Check! Wimbledon kicks off on Monday and, as a bit of a tennis junkie and SW19 regular, I thought I’d share some stories and impart some wisdom (ha!) which may or may not be of use to people interested in visiting the Championships. Here we go…

How To Get There

Train

Trains run every 5 – 10mins from London Waterloo and a return will only cost you a few quid. There are also trains every 10 – 15mins from the Guildford / Woking direction. If you’re coming from somewhere else then best check the South West Trains website for times and changes.

Tube

Jump on the District Line (the green one) and head south. You can either ride all the way to Wimbledon Station or jump off at Southfields (two stops before) and walk. (Head down Wimbledon Park Road and after 5 - 10mins you’ll see the grounds on your right).

Buses

Once at Wimbledon Station, head out the main exit and there are shuttle buses directly in front that leave every 5 minutes and take you straight to the grounds and the queue. A single costs about 2 quid and a return is a bit more – please note that prices vary each year. (This is my transport of choice. One year we found ourselves walking back to the bus stop with Nikolay Davydenko wandering along a few steps in front of us without a care in the world… in the following December he went on to win the ATP Finals at the O2. Bizarre!)

Taxi

If you don’t want to wait for a bus, there’s a taxi rank outside the main exit and to the right. Obviously it works out cheaper if the cab’s full, so if there are only a couple of you why not befriend some strangers! (But don’t accept sweets from them!)

What To Take

Sun cream

If you don’t take anything else with you, make sure you take this! The last few years have delivered incredible weather and even though I’ve reapplied throughout the day I’ve left the grounds slightly toasted every time. My friend makes sure she reapplies every hour or so and yet she still burns. One year she even got burnt through her scarf (much to our amusement!).

Water

Forget what I said about sun cream – this is the one thing you need to take! Unless you’re on Centre Court all day and the roof is shut, you’re going to be in direct sunlight all day. Add that to queuing time and you’re probably going to be in it for 12+ hours, which means you’re going to be dehydrated before even considering a Pimms. Luckily, you can bring a bottle and keep re-filling at one of the taps around the grounds. You can also use the taps to cool yourself off it gets really hot… not that I have ever done that…

Lunch and snacks

Unless you’re lucky enough to be dining at the Wingfield Restaurant, you may want to bring your own picnic lunch. There is a food court but the prices are high and the food, honestly, isn’t anything to write home about. You’re better off heading to M&S Food for a selection of treats before you set out.

Camera

Obviously. You literally never know what’s going to happen at Wimbledon or what you’re going to see. Take a camera or regret it forever.

Umbrella

…ella, ella! Because, let’s face it, we’re in England. Plus it can double up as a sun shade (as long as you’re not on the show courts and obstructing someone’s view).

What To Wear

Obviously this depends on the weather. The last few years have blessed us with some absolutely glorious sunshine, meaning shorts, skirts, t-shirts and flip-flops have been standard attire. This year looks like it’s going to me more like the Wimbledon’s I remember from my childhood – rain delays, cowering under umbrellas and wishing you’d worn more layers.

However, this is England so there’s a good chance it’ll be brilliant sunshine one minute and freezing downpours the next. So the key to surviving the day is layers! Here’s what I’m planning to take:

- An outfit suitable for sunshine and heat

- A slightly warmer layer in case it’s a bit breezy

- A jumper / hoodie for colder moments and in case play continues into the evening (Isner v Mahut are scheduled for Round 1…)

- Waterproof jacket

Things To Check Out

Outside courts

If you’ve only got Grounds tickets then that doesn’t mean you can only watch stuff on the big screen. There are loads of outside courts featuring lower seeded players and doubles matches, some of which have seating and others where you can only stand. But they’re still good – last year we stood and witnessed an incredible doubles match where Dominic Inglot and Chris Eaton (two un-seeded Brits) defeated the world No.1’s – Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic. It was brilliant! The first week is the best for these courts – there’s more going on so the chances of seeing higher-ranked players is greater.

New plaque for Isner and Mahut

One of the outside courts is the now infamous Court 18 where John Isner and Nicholas Mahut played out their ridiculous 11 hours, 5 min battle. To celebrate their ridiculousness a commemorative plaque has been added – worth checking out if you’re around the court.

Practice courts

If you want to sneek a peek at your favourite players warming up, head down to the practice courts. There’s usually someone good down there – over the years we’ve seen Fed, Djokovic, Soderling, Monfils and Rafa. It’s a bit like a zoo in the sense that you have to queue up for a few minutes and the players are behind a fence, but if you can get past that then its brilliant!

Autograph island

You never know who’s going to be here but there’s usually someone signing stuff and smiling for photos with fans. So if you want someone to sign your giant novelty tennis ball, or even your arm, then keep an eye out!

Winners walk

If you snoop around under Centre Court you’ll stumble upon a wall charting all the winners of the singles and doubles matches throughout the years. Perfect for sheltering and killing time during rain delays!

Ticket Resale

Anyone with tickets who leaves before the end of play is encouraged to pop their ticket into one of the resale boxes outside the courts. They’re then re-sold for £5 (with the money going to charity) to anyone already in the grounds. The queues for Centre Court and Court 1 tickets are often long but it’s worth it if you want to see the greats in action, and around mid-afternoon they start to go down quite quickly. I do this every year and always get to see at least one entire match.

What Not To Do

Shout “C’mon Tim”

It is sort of mildly funny the first time round, but 5 days into the tournament and for the 3rd time during a match which doesn’t include a Brit, the joke gets a bit stale. It’s been 4 years since Tiger Tim played on these hallowed grass courts, time to move on.

Drunkenly complain about how much you hate tennis

Big sporting events attract corporate idiots. You may be there because of the free alcohol your company is providing and so you can boast when you’re back at the office, but remember there are genuine fans here who have literally queued for hours in burning sun / torrential rain and won’t even get onto a show court to see their idols. Shut up or hand in your ticket and get out.

Act like a crazed, tennis-loving 13-year-old girl

Okay, I may be slightly guilty of sprinting through the crowds to get a picture of Andy Roddick (people say they’ve never seen me move so fast) and I may have gasped quite loudly at Rafa removing his shirt when he was standing only a few feet away from me (In my defence I wasn’t alone and it was purely a reflex and thus out of my control – that guy has the body of a Greek god!), but I’m not proud of it. I would never run up to anyone and stutter “oh my god, I’m like, your biggest fan and I like, totally love you, please sign my face.” That’s not cool. Many of the players, particularly lower seeded ones, wander about the grounds along with everyone else. Respect their space, it’s not a zoo!

Take in massive banners and flags

First of all, this isn’t a football match. Second of all, anything that could obstruct spectators’ view will be taken off you at the security gates.

Shout, make any sudden movements or use flash photography during a point

This is a Grand Slam, not a quick rally in the local park. For the players, this is their livelihood and winning matches here can determine the path of their entire career. If the flow of the game is interrupted and the players get angry you’ll be glared at by the crowd and thrown out by security.

Litter

This really annoys me. Whether you’re in the queue in Wimbledon Park, sitting on Henman Hill or in prime position on Centre Court, take your rubbish with you. There are plenty of bins and there’s no excuse for being a slob.

Be annoying

Smoking and mobile phones are a massive NO. Don’t smoke in the stands, put your phone on silent and leave the stands before you make a call. It may be Wimbledon but the fans will lynch you if needs be.

So there we have it. Forget Christmas, this is what I consider “the most wonderful time of the year”. I’ll be down at the grounds for a couple of days over the coming week and following the rest of the action like an absolute hawk. Feel free to send any questions my way and I’ll try to answer them!

For all the official information from the Championships, visit the Wimbledon website.

Enjoy! (And beware of Wombles!)

Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:24:00 +0000

After writing about TED at the weekend I got hooked once again on their content and wanted to share some of my findings with you guys. Not only does the site feature talks from its own conferences, but it also lists talks from other meet-ups and discussions and speeches from Ivy League graduation ceremonies. There are loads of grad speeches on there, including a lol-tastic one by Seth Macfarlane, but there were two I found particularly inspirational and dished out what I considered to be some pretty damn good advice.

First was from the Harvard graduation ceremony in 2008 and given by a woman you may or may not have heard of… J.K. Rowling. Drawing on her own experiences, she talks about failure and achievement in the big bad world, how to deal with it and how to not lose hope. I have so much more respect for people like her than the Paris Hiltons of the world. Check out the video and the quote I found had the most impact below.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

“Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV are not your life.”

Next was a speech by Steve Jobs at the Stanford graduation ceremony in 2005. His talk covers the story of his life, from being adopted to becoming CEO of Apple and Pixar and fighting cancer. Here’s the full video and a couple of quotes that stood out for me, the second of which I believe is some of the best advice you can give a person.

“You can't connect the dots looking forwards, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will connect some time in your future... believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe it great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet keep looking and don't settle.”

And that’s where we leave TED… but I couldn’t talk about inspiration without mentioning a book (yes, a book) that inspired me back at the beginning of 2010. As you know I’m not a big reader (understatement) but occasionally I’ll start reading something and won’t be able to put it down - which was exactly the case with Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open.

Thrust upon me by one of my bezzies, I wasn’t particularly enthralled with the idea of reading a book, but at the time I was intermittently temping, at points snowed in, and thus had a lot of time on my hands. Plus I love tennis so I figured I’d give it a whirl. I read the first few pages and didn’t look back. Agassi’s story is fascinating. I loved reading it, to the point where I had to ration myself to a chapter a day because I was literally doing nothing else – very bizarre given my relationship with books!

Open inspired me so so much. For some reason I can relate to SO much of what Agassi writes about. Not the experiences, obviously, but his thought processes, reasoning and constant struggle to understand himself. In fact, as I went through the book some of his words spoke to me in such a way that I felt it necessary to make note of them. Here's a few I picked out...

"What you feel doesn't matter in the end, it's what you do that makes you brave."

"Even if it's not your ideal life, you can always choose it. No matter what your life is, choosing it changes everything."

And finally this quote – which is one I now live by. When I’m running and I want to stop these few sentences run through my head… I may as well get one of those wrist bands and have ‘What Would Agassi Do' on it! Anyway…

"This run, even if it brings on heatstroke, will give me peace of mind tonight in that all important ten minutes before I fall asleep. I now live for that ten minutes. I'm all about that ten minutes. I've been cheered by thousands, booed by thousands, but nothing feels as bad as the booing inside your own head during those ten minutes before you fall asleep."

So there we have it: a collection of words that inspire me and have lead me to make the decisions I have made over the past year or so. What’s your inspiration?

Haaaaaaaave You Met TED?

noreply@blogger.com (Joey) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:51:00 +0000

The other day I was killing some time and catching up on events from the Twittersphere (cool-kid lingo – check!) when I came across a tweet linking to a video about happiness. Now, for those of you who don’t know me, here’s an insight into my teeny tiny brain – as soon as it comes to figuring out life and why people do and think the things they do I’m completely hooked. I’m fascinated by how different things affect different people and the whole psychological aspect of what influences both our everyday and life choices. So discovering TED.com was like discovering a secret stash of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk during a lengthy stint in the USA.

TED (which stands for technology, entertainment and design) is a non-profit organisation made up of two annual international conferences and a bunch of smaller projects dedicated solely to discussing and spreading ideas. No matter what your background, religion or race, TED is about sharing knowledge and inspiring others in order to change attitudes and lives.

Each year at the two main conferences, the world’s most captivating speakers are invited to each give an 18 minute speech on whatever takes their fancy… as long as it’s relative, that is. There’s no chat about favourite family holidays or who should have been voted off last week’s X Factor. The conference is extremely popular and ridiculously expensive, but luckily for us mere peasants all the talks are uploaded onto their website for our viewing pleasure. Excellent if you like to dabble in all things philosophical, not so excellent if you have a life to lead and deadlines to meet. I wrote off almost an entire Saturday because of this site. In fact I was so absorbed by it all that I believe I even missed a meal.

So anyway, this video about happiness had me engrossed from the word go. Over the past couple of years my main aim has been to achieve a good balance of happiness in general life and work, but it’s not something I’ve managed to grasp just yet. As a result, the ideas discussed in this video induced what I can only describe as an absolute headf**k. By the end of it I was questioning EVERYTHING. Is leaving England the right thing to do? Do I really want to do it? Did I really just miss a meal? Oh. God.

This 20 min talk by Srikumar Rao, a teacher, writer and life coach, explains the concept of how people use what he calls the ‘if/then model’ (If I do this, then I will be happy), how it’s flawed because we’re constantly changing the ‘if,’ and thus how we’re ultimately setting ourselves up for failure by using it. This worries me a lot because my whole reasoning for leaving was something along the lines of: “if I go somewhere new, meet different people and follow one of my ambitions then I’ll be happier than I am now, sitting in this dungeon of an office and doing something irrelevant to my life.” But by this guy’s reckoning, once I do all that, I’ll find myself unhappy again and I’m just going to change my ‘if’ to something else, like: if I go back to England and get my dream job, then I will be happy. Ahhhhh! So am I just setting myself up to fail? AM I? I hate this website.

Mr Rao explains that the reason the model is flawed is because people do not accept the world for what it is. When you see a rainbow you stand back and admire it, you don’t stand back and say “that’s a nice rainbow but it would be better if you moved it a bit to the left and that tree wasn’t blocking part of it.” Which is exactly what we do with life… “I’ve just got my dream job but it would be better if it didn’t have a one hour commute” … “My boyfriend bought me some beautiful earrings but I wish they were the ones I pointed out to him last week.” We say stuff like this all the time.

As for accepting the world for what it is, I’m a little confused. During the several months after I graduated I definitely didn’t accept the world for what it was, but then that was hugely influenced by other people rather than my own judgement of situations. After that, my only way of digging myself out of the disaster that was 2009 was just to accept what was going on a roll with it, even though I was far from happy. Back then I was definitely guilty of using the ‘if/then model’ – if I get a job then I will be happy. Well, we all know how that’s worked out… But then on the other hand I don’t believe we should accept what happens to us just because that’s the way the world is. Yes, you can apply it to mother nature – rainbows are great and hurricanes are bad but either way there’s nothing you can do to change either; but when it comes to what we do with our lives surely it’s up to us to accept what we do or do not settle for? I’d rather strive to achieve my goals than sit back, accept my bad luck, wait for something to happen and then regret all that I didn’t bother trying for.

But Srikumar Rao reckons there’s still hope. Apparently the way to combat this flawed model is to invest in the process rather than the outcome. That way if the process fails then it doesn’t mean you’ve failed to meet your goal, just that you need to try a different method of reaching it; and I think that is more appropriate to me. I don’t believe that moving will miraculously solve all my problems and make me happy. If anything, it’s going to be one of the hardest challenges of my life. I need to make new friends, find somewhere to live and find a job, and do all of it on my own. Even though I have a visa I’m fully expecting it to be just as hard, if not harder, than finding a job here in London. I know there’s every chance I may fail, end up travelling until my money runs out and return to the horrible job market and recruitment agencies of London with my tail between my legs. But at least I’ll be living. Ultimately, all I want to do in this next year is challenge myself and prove to myself that I’m not totally worthless as a human being – like I was made to feel in the months after graduation.

I suppose the biggest issue I have with this ‘if/then model’ is that I can’t focus on the outcome because I don’t really know what it is I’m aiming for. I have no idea what’s going to make me happy which means I must be investing in the process rather than the outcome… right? All I know is that I want live abroad for a bit and I enjoy writing so that’s what I’m going to do. Writing this blog is all experience and, even if it’s not a paid profession, one day it may help me in some way.

So that’s that. Analysis over. To be honest I’m not really any clearer on the matter so I’m just filing it away in my brain as ‘food for thought.’ Maybe you can make more sense of it…