Bringing Home the Bacon

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  London, United Kingdom
Monday, April 10, 2006

Finally Rick got a job! What we thought was going to be impossible finally happened. His days of sitting around doing nothing but watching the crap UK daytime television were over. Back home in Australia he had absolutely no problems finding work, but here when you've only got a 12 month working holiday VISA, most companies aren't interested. The pressure has now been taken off as the high cost of living here in London was taking a huge hit on our savings. It has to last us another year or so on the road.

After he got some more business shirts and ties he was set (even though ties don't seem to be the "thing" here in London, but they do have a big love affair with cuff links for some reason). His office is right next to Liverpool Street station and is very easy to get to from the Northern Line on the Tube. Getting the Tube at peak hour in the morning and at night is quite a challenge for the un-initiated

01 - Mind the Gap

. Most days he can get on the 3rd or 4th train that passes through the station. It is a free for all as everyone pushes and shoves their way into carriages that seem to have been designed for midgets back in the 1960s. They are way too small for tall men and women and it always ends up a huge crush. If there are any of those guys from Japan that shove commuters into the carriages on the Japan railway out there, this could be a business opportunity! It all makes sense when you consider the population of London is around 7.5 million. It's like a football Grand Final crowd everyday!

The other day he did feel a bit weird while on the train coming home from work. The carriage was overly packed so he pushed his way on, standing just in the doorway, head bowed down as it touched the roof. After a couple of stations a few people got off and he managed to move in the carriage a little bit more. At this stage the guy behind him was rubbing up against Rick's bum. Not in a sexual manner, but this guy was definitely invading Rick's personal space (if that even exists in this country). This wasn't the best, but then the guy right in front of Rick decided to pick up his newspaper from a bag, near his feet. There was absolutely no room for moving around, it was standing space only. Rick was now stuck in between a guy rubbing his bum and another with his bum being wedged into Rick's groin. Can you picture this predicament? Rick came home, feeling quite violated.

Now back to work, in the first week Rick had a lot of customer meetings and was thrown straight in. He also went to a seminar from a vendor and the sale team had their monthly offsite meeting. This is basically a team get together and piss-up put on by the company. As he was the new "convict" from down under joining the team they made sure there was lots of Hahn Premium stubbies available for consumption. After sinking a few dozen he managed to get the last (non-crowded) train home.

At home we were running out of power. Sounds like we were playing an arcade game, but no our power credits on our old meter were running out. Over here in London landlords like to install both power and gas meters that you need to charge up with a card or token down at the local Off Licence (corner) shop. We had about £5 credit, but it was running low, so off to the store to get a new charge card. How old fashioned is this? In some respects London is a very forward place, but it is also very backwards too.

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