Counting The Days Until We Finish Working

Jamie and I are totally fed up of working now! I know we shouldn't complain because we only have to work for a few more weeks (till end of June). But the nature of this temping work tends to be very tedious and repetitive. Plus we're more than ready to move on from Sydney now - been there, done that. I must apologise also to our readers, I guess our blog entries haven't been very exciting lately.

This week I've been working at MAN Financial on the 21st floor of a building in the Central Business District. I'm sure there would be a fantastic view if it wasn't for all the other tall buildings in the way! I've been doing data entry mostly. They thought I'd finish the work in 2 days, but I'm not that fast, often find my mind wandering. But my lack of speed has worked to my advantage as they're going to keep me on for the whole week, rather than just 2 days.

My mate, Naydine, asked me what we've been doing in our spare time. Well, we're trying to be good with our money, so often we just stay in, drink wine and watch TV. We get a fair few decent American shows in Oz, we also like to watch Rove which is a v funny Aussie chat show and Rove reminds me of Dave Walker, in a very obscure way (Dave, if you're reading this, I promise you that's quite a complement). We've also been to the cinema a few times, chilled out at the beach the weekend before last (jealous, anyone??) and we've been going to a weekly trivia night in a pub in Paddington with Kendi and Nigel. (Note to Mum: We would be v pleased if you and Pauline would like to accompany us on the trivia night!)

I had a tattoo done on my ankle at the weekend. The design was inspired by the Aussie flag: it's a 7 point star coloured in a shade of blue similar to the background colour on the flag. So, it's not an obvious Aussie icon, that would be silly as I'm English, but it's Aussie influenced. That was the idea, anyway. It's fairly small, can be covered up if necessary and I'm happy with it (that message goes out to any disapproving people out there).

Well, I guess I'd better get back to work.

Maybe Tomorrow, We'll Wanna Settle Down...

Good news: we've found somewhere new to live! Actually, we were quite lucky as we liked the first place we looked at last Sat. It's a similar kind of place to the English Lodge, we have our own room with bed, fridge, sink, TV, wardrobes, but we have to share kitchen and bathroom. The place is in Randwick which is near Coogee, the beach town that we stayed in in March. So, it's only a fairly short walk to the nearest bit of sea and sand :) . Anyway, even though our new place is very basic, it looks clean, well cared for and it has a little garden that you can sit in, plus the rent is pretty cheap. We're hoping to stay in the new place until the end of June - third time lucky..?

Jamie has had more luck with getting work this week. He's on the books for two separate warehouse-based jobs, so that has provided more work opportunities. One of the jobs is at Toys R Us and the other is at an electronics company, where he mainly has to pack stuff in boxes. He says his jobs are ok, just very repetitive.

My current job at Adcorp finishes next Tuesday, so I'm relying on the agency to find me a new role for when I've finished. It's been a nice place to work, the people are very friendly, always asking "How you going?" and the work has been ok I guess. It's been interesting to use new computer systems, like I've been testing a system called Connect2 that you can use as a template for adverts in newspapers and brochures. But, to be honest, I've often found myself with nothing to do (like now!) which can be frustrating. So I've been surfing the 'net quite a lot and at least when I'm typing away on this blog or an email, it looks like I'm working to any passing managers. When I first started here, I was told that the girl who did my job before me was actually sacked because other staff complained that she never did any work and that she would often sit and read a book. Can you blame her?? So I'm sticking with surfing the 'net - less obvious methinks.

New Home Needed - 2 Stray Poms & 1 Pampered Chimp

Well, we're on the move again! Nigel and Kendi need their spare room back, so we're looking for somewhere else to park our rucksacks. We've been a little bit down on our luck lately, as Jamie has been struggling to find regular work.

At the weekend, Nigel and Kendi had a housewarming party. It was only a small do, as there were just 6 of us there - a friend of Nigel's from Brisbane came with his girlfriend. But we had some good food and beer (Carlton Draught is the best Aussie beer, I reckon (p.s It was actually Tooheys Extra Dry - Jamie)) and it was warm enough to sit out at the back of the house.


Nigel & Kendi


Me & J

Later on, we went to a local pub, where Jamie got to watch the second half of the United match, so he was pretty chuffed about that! Unfortunately there wasn't a happy end to the night, Tim's (Nigel's mate) girlfriend got the hump with him because he was smoking Kendi's cigs and he was supposed to have given up; then I was refused entry to the club we wanted to go in as I didn't have any ID! Now, it's been a while since the last time that happened - I'm almost 26 years old for cryin' out loud!! However, it transpired that the bouncer was asking every woman for ID. He even admitted that I didn't look under 18. So I told him that he was sexist and full of bullsh*t, which didn't concern him in the slightest.

Wednesday night, we went to watch a stand up comedy show at the Metro Theatre called Il Dago. Basically, it was 4 guys of different nationalities, including a Sri Lankan called Nish who is also staying with Nigel and Kendi at the moment. We had free tickets that also included free food and drinks before the show which was nice! We were really impressed with Nish's performance and he handled it well when his microphone kept cutting out. But we ended up leaving early cos I was falling asleep (working full-time - it can't be good for you!)

Well, it looks like we're gonna have a fun-filled weekend, searching the 'net for somewhere else to live! Wish us luck - I don't think we could cope with any more bugs, floods, stinky carpets...

The Escape from The Bed Bugs

Great news! We've escaped from the clutches of the monstrous critters - commonly known as bed bugs. We've moved in with Nigel and Kendi who are friends with Matt, an ex work mate of Jamie's. They are renting a house in a nice suburb of Sydney called Paddington. All the guide books portray Paddington as the hip and happenin' place, which sounds promising. There is supposed to be some cool pubs and restaurants that I'm sure we'll check out at some point.

Monkey's Diary Post 7

G'day to all you Monkey fans out there!

Well the good news is we've moved away from those bed bug b*st*rds! I had to be left in quarantine over night because of those things - J and K had to put me in the freezer.

But the bad news is that I can no longer nip across the road to the titty bar (see picture) - jelly wrestling night was my favourite. Petersham was my kinda place - never mind the poncey bars in Paddington!


I love the Oxford Tavern!!!

The Attack of the Bed Bugs!!!! (Tues 1st May)

Current location : Work

Current state: Bored - nothing to do and supervisor has gone a.w.o.l. (as usual)

So, to explain the B-movie title of this post: our room at the English Lodge is indeed infested with evil zombie bed bugs! Jamie started getting itchy pink spots on him last week, so we figured he was allergic to something, like the washing powder maybe. Then, at the weekend, I started to develop pink spots too. My left arm especially is covered in them.

So, after doing some research on t'internet, we've concluded that it must be bed bugs. Bed bugs don't just infest the bed, they can also spread to nearby sofas, bags and clothes. So, Jamie has had to de-bug our stuff so that we don't take them with us when we move. They haven't had any work on at the warehouse for Jamie this week, but we're hoping they will do next week.