Summer Days at Last!

May and June have flown by and summer is finally here! It is a very hot 35 degrees today in London and a lot of people are sipping Pimms and eating strawberries and cream at Wimbledon while some of us (me!) have to work. Even though I am Canadian, no one at my work agreed that I should get the day off. How unfortunate that I can’t take advantage of the fantastic weather! Before I move on to what I’ve been up to lately, let me wish everyone a Happy Canada Day! Here is an amazing picture I found on the Canadian expats Facebook page. I just can’t get over how amazing it is:

So I have busy with fun random things lately, here’s a sampling and great examples of why living in London is so amazing – there is never a shortage of things to do!

In May I went to see a live taping of the Graham Norton Show where tickets are free! When you get tickets, you don’t know who the guests are going to be but I got very lucky and one of the guests was Simon Pegg who I absolutely love! Kylie Minogue, Michael McIntyre and Brandon Flowers were also on the show. It was a really fun experience and Graham Norton is hilarious both on and off the screen, I definitely recommend this if you find yourself in London, you can’t go wrong with free tickets anyway really! Try to spot me in the audience if you can:

In May I also let out my inner geek and went to the Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses concert and to the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular which were super fun. The Doctor Who one in particular had many of the show’s villains and monsters walking around on stage and in the aisles during the show which was really fun. To cap off May, I also met up with friends to watch the Eurovision song contest on television which is a bit of a big deal over here (depending who you ask). It is an extremely cheesy American Idol-type of show where each European country (and somewhat confusingly Australia this year) gets to send one performer and people from all over Europe vote for their favourites. Sweden was the winner this year replacing last year’s Austrian (bearded!) lady Conchita Wurst. It’s not for everyone but we did have fun, enjoyed some Pimms (my new favourite drink since moving to the UK) and sported furry moustaches in honour of Conchita:

In June I celebrated my 30^th birthday (cue hysterical tears) and went to a few nice places. First, we went to Escape Rooms where you essentially get locked in a room for an hour and you have to solve a series of puzzles, riddles and everything in between to escape the room. We succeeded with 6 minutes to spare! It was very challenging but also very fun. I’m a little bit hooked and can’t wait to go back and try to solve some of their other challenges. Here is Team Poutine’s victory picture that now hangs on the walls of Escape Rooms:

On my actual birthday I took the day off of work and was treated to a day at the London Zoo. Those who know me know that I love giraffes and I was very pleased to spend a part of my birthday with 3 lovely giraffes. The London Zoo is very nice. The animals look healthy and happy, the enclosures are clean and there is sufficient space for them to roam and even hide if they want to. Here are a few of my pictures from the zoo:

For dinner we went to Berner’s Tavern which is a fantastic restaurant. The vibe is casual yet classy and there is only one enormous room where the walls are lined with framed pictures and paintings from floor to ceiling. The food was fantastic (probably the best chicken I’ve ever had) and they gave me a nice little cake and birthday card when they found out it was my birthday. The cocktails are also very unique and fun. I had the “Cereal Killer” which is rum, Kahlua, white chocolate liqueur, coco pops milk (that’s right!) and chocolate bitters served in a very cute tiny milk bottle and candy stripe straw. It was a really great place for a special occasion.

I also had a chance to visit Borough Market, London’s oldest fruit & vegetable market (although there is so much more there now!) and it was amazing. Here is just a taste of what you can find there:

Lastly, after a year and a half of waiting, I finally went to see a movie at the Electric Cinema. This super old cinema is expensive but worth every penny. You can either sit on the 2 seater sofas at the back, on your very own armchair (with footstool) or on one of the 2 seater beds at the front and all seats have cashmere blankets! We opted for one of the beds at the front and it was fantastic! Not only are you super comfortable and cozy during the movie, the cinema offers snacks like nachos, burgers, chicken wings, candy, etc and drinks (champagne, beer, wine, etc.) that you can enjoy during the movie. I will definitely be back – especially considering that it’s less than 5 minutes away from my house!

I plan to now enjoy summer, try to spend as much time outside picnicking in London’s many parks and enjoying everything London has to offer in the summer, including the sometimes unbearable heat in a place where air conditioning is not always that common. Here’s a quote that summarises how I feel about summer here:

“Ah summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”

Russel Baker

Highs and Lows

In order for this blog to be as realistic and truthful as possible, I realised that it's important for me to write about all the good times (as I have been doing) but also about the more challenging ones. The last month has been a bit of a nightmare and I thought I should post about it.

The flat I moved into in October was always meant to be a temporary flat since my boyfriend was moving to London to be with me in January and we were going to get our own place. To keep a long story short, my landlady decided that Dan and I had to be out of the flat by the end of January (when it was supposed to be the end of February). Flat hunting in London is extremely competitive and stressful enough as it is but with this short a timeframe it became even worse than we expected. We also kept getting rejected by landlords because they kept telling us that they would prefer to have a single tenant versus a couple (despite their ads stating that they were fine with having a couple rent a room) which was incredibly frustrating. As the weeks flew by, we became increasingly stressed and worried that we wouldn't find a flat in time. After lowering our standards and widening our search area, we finally found a place to live in Notting Hill. We have been living here for a few week now and we couldn't be happier. 

As a funny story, when I first moved to London in January 2014, I visited a flat in Notting Hill that was right above a fish mongers and smelled awful. There were also 7 other people living in the flat, which hadn't been expressed in the ad. Needless to say I didn't move there. But, believe it or not, when Dan and I were visiting flats a few weeks ago, we went into this building in Notting Hill right above a fish mongers and as I was starting to get flashbacks of January 2014, I realised that we were visiting the exact same flat I saw a year ago! Again, this isn't where we moved but I found it really funny that I have now seen this horrible flat twice!

I think the best advice I can give for anyone looking for a flat in London (which I will remind myself of if I need to search for a flat/room again) is:

1. Rent from an agency or make sure that you have an official contract with your landlord so that they can't just evict you without a reason - it protects both you and the landlord and is definitely the way to go (despite occasional agency fees).
2. Expand your search beyond what you know. I hadn't looked for flats in this area before because I didn't know the area but it's actually a wonderful, lively and quirky neighbourhood and I like it more than any of my previous ones.
3. Websites like Spareroom are great and definitely help with the search. There were a few ads on the site that I thought were a bit too good to be true and sure enough, Spareroom emailed me after I tried to respond to the ads to let me know that they had determined it was a scam. It helps to know that they are taking safety seriously.

Now that the stressor of finding a flat is gone, we can focus on enjoying our new neighbourhood. We have already found a few wonderful pubs and gastropubs in the area and even some that serve Sunday roasts - I'm definitely happy about that!

All that's left on our to-do list at the moment is for Dan to find a job. Almost exactly like flat hunting, job searching in London is extremely competitive. He had to leave his job in Portsmouth when he moved to London and, now that we're not homeless, he's looking for a job in London. It has been difficult for him and I remember being in the same position a year ago when I moved here. I think that the best strategy is to cast a wide net and apply to all kinds of jobs, any that you are qualified for basically and see what comes of it. I have always said that it's easiest to find a job when you already have one. It’s also good to manage your expectations; for example, one job that Dan applied for had 11,000 other applicants! We know what the competition is like so we’re putting as much effort as possible into each application and now we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he finds a job soon and that it will be a job he enjoys!

Now, as if flat hunting and looking for jobs wasn't enough, my grandmother passed away a week ago. I decided I wanted to go home for her funeral and I wanted to be with my family so I travelled back to Ottawa in very cold February (it was -45!). The flight was outrageously priced but it was worth going home and I am happy that I was able to do so. I had heard that there were discounts/refunds on flights when you are travelling for bereavement reasons but I did not get any support from Air Canada when I phoned them. This is something that had been brought up a lot on the Canadians in the UK Facebook page so I had built up an expectation but it looks like there’s no such thing. I suppose that, for this reason, it’s probably wise to keep some savings (even though it’s tempting to spend a lot in a city like London) for unforeseen events like this one. It’s hard enough to deal with the death of a relative but doing so when you’re living abroad can make it more difficult. I feel that if you are able to go home at a time like this, you probably should. In an effort to bring a little happiness to my Ottawa visit, I did go to Winterlude with my dad and had a tasty beavertail, I lost when playing Roll up the Rim at Tim Horton’s, I ate some delicious poutine (a must!) and I spent some time with my family, remembering my amazing grandparents. Here are a few pictures of my Ottawa visit:

My mom always says that bad things come in threes. I think with (1) horrible flat hunting, (2) a very daunting job search and (3) a funeral, we've covered all three! Now bring on the happy and fun times!  So now we will focus on exploring Notting Hill, getting to know our new flatmates (it's a very international house with two Italians, two Spaniards, a Canadian and a Brit!) and enjoying living together in London.

All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Walt Disney