London Life - part 2
Two issues have been the main focus of our household: secondary school for Brannan, and employment for moi.
In this part of the UK there are no intermediate schools, so Bran will begin secondary school next September. This means by the middle of this month we have to nominate which 6 schools we hope Brannan will be offered a place at. This is great for someone who can’t decide what she wants for dinner tonight let alone where she wants her son to go to school in 11 months time :-)
We have visited two high schools so far and they couldn’t be any more different. The first was Queen Elizabeth Boy’s School, established 500 years ago, (I thought it was named after the current Queen Elizabeth!!) it looks like Hogwarts from the outside. Its one of the top state schools in the country and only 10 minutes walk from home. Only 180 Year 7 pupils are accepted with some 1600 boys applying last year. Brannan will have to sit and pass (with extremely high grades) two entrance exams if he hopes to get in. The school was exactly what you imagine a traditional old English school to be like, glass cases line one hall with the different school ties and what they mean (eg sports captain, prefect etc). It was extremely posh and would certainly be an experience for Bran to go there.
… then there was ‘The Ravenscroft’ a co-educational school, with a very community and modern feel. The school rock band was playing in the music department on the night of our visit. Ravenscroft has a special ‘Technology Status’ which means they have very up to the minute technology related resources (other schools have sports, science, music etc statuses). Bran is very keen on technology, so this school especially appeals to him and the entry requirements are based only on proximity to the school.
The job hunt has been on for 3 weeks now, admittedly I’ve only been giving it serious effort for the past fortnight. I didn’t want to be in the same situation as Mark, who couldn’t remember who, when and where he had promised himself for interviews. But my softly softly approach was fruitless, so I have now stepped up my efforts, am officially registered with four agencies and countless job websites. The real issue that I am facing is all my financial system experience is with an Australian product that isn’t available here in the UK. The systems positions I have applied for all require experience in very specific financial products, so I am now going to widen my search into normal accounting roles where I can at least get experience as a system user. Brannan came up with the perfect job for me, he thought I should become a London bus driver, he says I like people and driving around looking at London… hmmm he has a point :-)
I caught up with my friend Sheila from AgriQuality’s head office recently. Sheila arrived here in the UK a few days before us in July, and left to return to NZ via Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia yesterday. It was so lovely to see her, catch up on news from home, swap travel stories and just spend time in familiar company. I think we startled fellow shoppers at ‘The Spires’ with our squeals and then tears when we first spotted each other.
There have been no further complaints from our neighbour Norma, not sure if its because we have toned down our noise or whether she knows better because we could hear every word her drunk, swearing visitor said at midnight the other night...
I overheard Petra talking to a friend at school the other day, ‘…and we live in a hotel…’. I’m sure to a 5 year old who spent 3 months sleeping in different buildings, with furnished bedrooms and lots of neighbours, our apartment block could be described that way!
We’ve also been keeping up the momentum on our sightseeing efforts. We dedicate one day each weekend to go out and do something together. We initially skimmed over a lot of the sites in London, promising to come back and see them ‘properly’ during our stay here. A few weekends back we revisited Trafalgar Square (saw the new statue of a naked pregnant disabled lady!), took in one segment of the National Art Gallery, walked down to the Queen’s life guards, and stopped and peered through the bars at Downing Street.
Downing Street London
When we got back to Barnet that afternoon, there was a huge incident in the High Street outside the tube station. A very distressed man was holding up traffic, screaming, kicking and foaming at the mouth. Two police officers wrestled him onto the footpath and cuffed him, where some lady went through all his pockets. A police van then arrived, 6 policemen heaved him into the back of the van then took off. We watched the whole episode in fascination. Mark and I had a smile later when we realised the only thing the children will now remember about that particular educational day out was the drugged out lunatic we encountered on the way home :-)
I’ve had time on my hands lately to watch a bit of daytime telly, and was amused to see a segment on the ‘Morning’ show last week with a live vasectomy, I’ve been wondering exactly who the target audience was, bored housewives?? I was certainly riveted to the spot. Philip Schofield (remember him from Shazam?) did a grand job as a serious silver haired presenter, trying hard to look professional as he gazed over the surgeon’s shoulder. I can’t wait to see what stories they have in the pipeline for this week :-)
Thats all the news folks!
Be good
Hayls
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