Ramblings of a Brit girl living in Sydney

Everyday musings on life in the Motherland vs. life in Oz

Sunday, May 31, 2009

A fitting representative for the Queen

This is Quentin Bryce. Apart from having a very cool name, she is the Governor General of Australia and today she opened Sydney's new Google offices as I and the rest of the Sydney media looked on.

It strikes me in a country often seen as bit behind the times/racist/sexist, she is a wonderful example of true girl power. She is Australia's first ever female GG. Her Excellency's role is to represent the Monarch (that's our very own Queen of England) in this country and she exercises the "supreme executive power of the Commonwealth". She very much reminded me of Queen Elizabeth, with her fabulous matching skirt suit and shoes (emerald, or perhaps Google green?) and was truly the epitome of ladylike.

The Google offices themselves were of course, amazing and I am now suffering from severe workplace envy.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

What a swine...

This cruise ship, carrying 2,500 passengers and crew, is currently in the middle of swine flu hysteria. No surprises here in a country so paranoid about what—and who—it lets in, that I had to have a chest x-ray to get my second visa, just in case I had tuberculosis, riddled as the UK is with that particular disease...

This is also the country whose Customs quarantined the mulled wine spice a friend sent me at Christmas on the basis that that highly dangerous substance allspice was banned under quarantine law. (Although further investigation by myself on the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service website has in fact confirmed this to be wrong, but whatever). And let's not even get started on the fact that, as a Pom in Australia, I can't give blood, just in case I have mad cow disease. Fine, I'll keep my blood!

Whingeing aside, there is actually a serious point to this particular blog on Anglo-Oz comparisons. Easy as it is to mock Australia's paranoia, it's something fellow island the UK could probably learn a thing or two from. It's nothing new that immigration in the Motherland is through the roof and that it has a reputation as a pretty easy place to just turn up and start claiming welfare. Better still, have a couple of kids and get a heavily subsidised flat thrown in for good measure. I'm happy to have to prove I'm a useful, skilled, working, tax-paying addition to Australia. Just saying...

Monday, May 18, 2009

It's so not cold!

It's my second Aussie winter and yet again I'm amused by the amount of clothes people have started to wear because it's so "cold". I guess being a Pom, I am used to much worse weather conditions, but I wouldn't even call it chilly yet. I keep getting asked: "Aren't you freezing?!" when I continue to come into work without a jacket. We're talking the 15-to-20 degrees mark here. 20 is a virtual heatwave in the UK!
I must say, I'm really enjoying this Sydney weather. It's sunny and crisp, the leaves are changing colour and falling, and there's not much rain. The view from my balcony looks particularly lovely in the mid afternoon light.
And really hot all the time gets a bit boring... (OK, don't slap me, those of you in the Motherland!).

Monday, May 4, 2009

I'm back!

I've been back in Oz for 48 hours and the jetlag is still very much with me, but it's about time I updated on my first trip back to the Motherland since I moved here. And what a wonderful visit it was! I caught up with so many people and did so much that I barely had time to breathe, but I absolutely loved it and definitely made the most of the quickest three weeks of my life.

When I left Sydney I felt almost anxious about how I would feel when I got 'home'. Would I suddenly be hit by homesickness and not want to come back to Sydney and leave my family and friends again? And, if that was the case and I then decided to move back to the UK, how would I cope without my lovely Aussie friends? Talk about worrying about things before they even have a chance to happen! And that didn't happen of course. As much as I loved every second I spent with the many special people in my life over there, I didn't feel any urge whatsoever to abandon Australia for the UK. I'm not going to win any prizes for being a Great Brit, am I? I think I left my patriotism at the airport.

Talking of airports, the first thing I saw on arriving at Heathrow was a massive pink and glittery banner reading: "Welcome back, Jen!" being weilded by my lovely, grinning dad and my best friend/unofficial second sister, Danielle. At last, I got my Love Actually airport moment! It was fantastic. Second impressions of London were not so good, struggling with my 21.5kg suitcase up and down stairs on the Underground with not a single gentleman or offer of help to be seen. Then onto the dirty Tube carriage which stank of BO and burgers and was full of miserable-looking, unfriendly (and in some cases, unwashed) people. Yuck. Luckily when I arrived at my aunt and uncle's house in their leafy suburb, it was all pleasant again and dinner with them and my long lost little sister Kate, was great.

Then followed three weeks of meeting and greeting friends I hadn't seen in over a year (I'll have to summarise or this will be the longest blog in the world). Highlights included the wedding of one of my best school friends Bonnie and her now husband Phil in Cardiff. A beautiful bride and a great day all round, plus two nights in nice hotels with my sister and plus-one for some quality gossip and catching up.

Then there was meeting my quite frankly GORGEOUS six-month-old god daughter Genevieve, aka Bob (don't ask), for the first time. A relaxing two days in the country were spent hanging out with her, her mum (my good friend Kelly), dad and brother Roan. Three year-old Ro's vocabulary had increased one hundred-fold since I last saw him and even when he would bang on my bedroom door at 6am shouting "Auntie Jeno, is there a monster in your room?" he was still adorable. Sort of....

I spent the most time with aforementioned best friend Danielle, who, amazingly, took two precious weeks' leave from work to spend with me. We had a great time and I can't wait for her to come over here and spend Christmas with me and our friends Matt, James and Jo.
Then there was the girls' day out to Paris with Lucy and Ruth. It's amazing how much (food) you can fit into one action-packed day! Fantastique!

Around 40 wonderful peeps turned up to my Back From Down Under Party at a Covent Garden bar and although I felt like I only spoke to each of them for about 5 minutes, I was really touched to have so many there. If only the music hasn't been quite so loud (I'm showing my age).
So many lovely, memorable times were spent with people inbetween, I can't possibly list them all. Suffice to say I left feeling incredibly lucky to know so many great people who are great friends and great company, many if whom went out of their way to spend time with me.
The only regret I have is not having met baby Troy (although I did see his mum, Lou when she was a week from 'popping' so I almost did!) before I left.

But it's good to be home. The most important thing that trip taught me is that Sydney is home now.