Josh On Tour

Hi all, haven't been doing much touring lately just been applying for jobs and registering at recruitment agencies..and the odd night out, so no photos. Mike just arrived so have been giving him the grand tour, have now got a cellphone 0044 7909658281, though I've found I cannot text 027's, also have a flat for the next month
8 Rowan Close
Streatham Vale
london
SW16 5JB

Have picked up a couple of day jobs, a couple of hours in a retail store, today I have to go some invoicing for an auction and on the weekend i'm off to the Wimbledon Tennis centre to be a "crowd filler" which means Im getting paid to make it look like the tennis is busy...

Anyway gotta run

Brighton is where Londoners go in the summer to lay out on the beach (but not go for a swim). It is an incredibly diverse town with a really relaxed party type atmosphere. On the train ride there I was reading my lonely planet guide book and got a little worried when it mentioned that it would definately pay to book ahead on summer weekends for accomodation do to its immense population so once the train broke down I was preparing myself for perhaps a night on a park bench. I did eventually find a hostel thanks to the help of a local named Katie who broke the english mold of never initiating conversation, saw how lost I was and offered to help me find a hostel. I managed to pay for the very last bed in the Baggies Backpackers Hostel moments before someone else called to book a bed for the night and was denied, so big thanks to Katie from Brighton. The basic setup of the Brighton coastline is a line of highrise hotels with the occaisional restaurant, followed by a road, then walkway with steps leading down to the beach, then another walkway with pubs, icecream stalls and live bands playing at various intervals, followed by a huge lineup of table with local hippies selling jewellry etc, then finally you have the golden pebble beach which when the sun comes out is jam packed full of scantilly clad people, and then you have the nearly deserted ocean. This scenery goes for literately miles in either direction (see photo's above).



There is also a pier which has an amusement park upon it (above left) though I was informed that it was not worth going to as it was incredibly tacky. Above right we have Katie modelling one of the strangest things I've heard of, a line of multicoloured sheds all about 3m by 3m which people hire out (or purchase) for the summer so as to have a space to lay out on their stored deckchair, apparently these things aren't cheap either. Brighton also stands somewhat appart from conservative England with a large gay community, abundance of hippies and, as I discovered when my phone went off while I was engrossed in reading my book on the beach, I checked my text message put my phone back in my bag and after a quick glance around my fellow sunbathers, noticed that in Brighton bikini tops are indeed optional.

The Cathedral was absolutely incredible both inside and out, the guided tour was also very interesting we walk along the same route that over 800 years ago 4 knights under the Kings (Henry II) apparent orders went to find and murder the archbishop of Canterbury, who later after a series of miracles at his tomb became St. Thomas Beckett.

I'm now back in London, red as a lobster and finally completly sober (excluding the steinlager I had with lunch). Only managed to do half the trip I planned (just the southeast), was still a fantastic trip and I am eagerly awaiting doing the southwest sometime soon. As planned I did make it to Canterbury on the first day albeit late in the afternoon, saw St Martins church and found a backpackers run by some aussies...long story short we soon found that New Zealanders, Aussies and the South Africans at the hostel all had a soft spot for having a few beers around a bonfire which led to a pretty huge night in Canterbury and to myself not being fit for travel till very late the next day.

I did manage a guided tour of the cathedral before having one of my trademark change of hearts and decided that I would indeed head to Dover that night instead of Brighton.
Socially Dover was pretty dour though I did tour Dover castle as well as the (not so) secret World War 2 underground tunnels, which was fantastic. I managed to find a train to take me to Brighton however unfortunately half way there just outside of the town of Rye the train broke down and we had a well over 2 hour wait before we were on our way again.

Made it to Brighton very late and after some initial hiccups finding accomodation found a most excellent hostel and was up very late having some quiet drinks with the other international residents. Being a true Kiwi I still managed to pull myself out of bed at 7 the next morning and spent the next hour in a terrible state roaming the streets of Brighton trying to find a pub or hotel that would be agreeable to playing the All Blacks game. Luckily enough I did find an Australasian pub with a group of fellow dedicated kiwis waiting outside and did manage to watch the game, while eating a traditional english breakfast and drinking some traditional Irish Guinness's. Spent most of the rest of the day reading a book out on the beach...for some reason thinking I was immune to the English sun. I got a text from Amelia saying there was a flatwarming back in London, now realising that as sunburnt as I was and that I was now on my last clean pair of clothes I figured discretion was the better part of valour said goodbye to my new friends and trained back to London.

Very nice place, with some very friendly people, there is a University here so its quite a young average population, didn't get here till quite late and due to a few beers last night I may have to cancel the Dover leg of the tour as its 2pm now and I should have been leaving Dover about now not sitting at an internet computer in a backpackers in canterbury with a chronic hangover. Saw Englands oldest church yesterday, called St Martins, got photos will have to put them up later. Off to the cathedral shortly, and then hopefully catch a train to Brighton for the night. Really recommend Kipps Backpackers for a place to stay real friendly and good as facilities

I've spent the last week or so camped in internet cafe's applying for work and for registration with recruitment agencies, yesterday I got my first possible offer however it was a 12 month contract paying only £18000 which would then leave me in a pretty unstable position not being legally allowed to work in the UK for my last year. So sick of waiting around I figure I'll go see some of the country while I still have the cash on me, my plan (at this stage) is to find either a bus or train (or a friendly irish girl) to drive me to Canterbury where I hope to check out the cathedral today, as well as the local night nife. Then on Thursday (tomorrow) I will attempt to find some transport to Dover to see the fortification as well as the 250m chalk white cliffs, before somehow getting a ride to Brighton which apparently has a well excellent nightlife. On Friday I plan to travel to Portsmouth where I want to check out some of the boat museums including the famous Admiral Nelsons boat. I then hope to somehow make it to Salisbury for the night (again a good reputation for nightlife).On Saturday and also perhaps Sunday morning I plan to catch a bus through to Stonehenge and also the other older and larger stonehenge...I think its called Avebury or something. I then expect to train back into London, wake up monday contact all recruitment agency's for any jobs that have come up, take the first job that pay's decent, find a flat Tuesday and hopefully start some work later in the week. At the moment the weather here is absolutely awesome, mid 20's and the sun doesn't burn so much as it makes you brown, god bless the generous smog UV protection around here.

Our original plan for this brief venture out of the city was to go and visit Leed's castle, however we didn't arrive until quite late in the morning and we found the price of £12.50 was a little steep for the short while we were intending on being there for. Instead we decided to just go for a bit of a drive and see if we can find any other castles. It wasn't long before we did find some ruins, the details of which I am not sure of as the information post in front of the ruins itself was so old all the information on it had become indecipherable. All I can guess is that the ruins are very very old indeed and are now inhabited by a family of doves.

Here we have Kris, Luke and Imelda attempting to decipher the information post

And here we have myself proving once and for all that I am indeed the king of the castle

Imelda and the dove


After the Ruins we looked into our Lonely Planet guide book and found that the small town of Rye wasn't too far from our current location. Rye is described in the Lonely Planet as "The impossibly picturesque medieval town of Rye looks like it has been preserved in historical formaldehyde...half-timbered Tudor buildings, Georgian town houses, winding cobbled streets, abundant flower pots..." Upon arriving we soon found this desciption extremely apt, the place felt like a much older version of Taranaki's "Pioneer Village" but with people actually living there.


The streets of Rye and The Church of St Mary the Virgin

The turret clock on the church is the oldest in England (1561) and still works with its original pendulum mechanism.

Ryes Fortifications and one of the impressive stained glass windows inside the church.