Cocochops

Author: Natalie

  • Raining in London

    Hi guys,

    Hope everyone is well and that some rain has come to the land down under. Probably hasn’t actually because it’s been raining monstrously here. It has been a very lukewarm winter though. This week and probably about four other weeks in the entire winter have been cold ie. around zero, otherwise, it’s been around 10 deg which I can’t complain about.

    I have continued to ride my bike bravely throughout the entire Winter. I have yet been saved any side-scrapings by the mad London buses or impervious drivers. Touch lots of wood. I am still in the large Hospital in South London called St George’s but hopefully not for too much longer. It’s with the NHS and for those of you who have had the pleasure of the NHS, the free bit is but a small attraction when the queues and complete rudeness of the customer service becomes so apparent.

    I have been pushed lately to find a way to extend my visa but looks like I have found a way. I thought naively that I would automatically qualify for the highly skilled migrant visa as I fulfilled their new set of criteria, the main one being the gross earnings, but as it turns out, the way my evil limited company setup was taxed worked very much against me so after 5 gruelling months of lawyers and accountants trying to piece together an application for me and after 7 interviews I sat trying to get sponsorship, it looks like one has come through. It looks like I will be working for the BBC and London Fire Brigade in Westminster for a guy over here and he is happy to sponsor me. I have 3 and 1/2 weeks to actually get a visa though so I won’t rest assured until I have that little puppy safe in my hands!

    Some of you may have heard I got into Med school at home. I have deferred it and will just sit on it until I feel I can make a decision about whether it’s what I want to do for sure.. Was nice to know that I got an offer though..

    As for London, I am still living with Libbi. We haven’t worn thin of each other yet and looks like Kristy will join us next week. I have been seeing a guy called Andy from Sydney now for four months or so which is also going well. We met (of all places) at The Walkabout in Cardiff. I cannot explain the Walkbout in London but lets suffice to say its an “idyllic Aussie pub” decked out with Aussie beer on tap and green and gold walls and a messy clientele! Not somewhere you expect to meet a boyfriend put it that way!

    Recent trips have included a much yearned for and needed ski trip to the French Alps–we had great snow which has been a worry all winter because of the warm weather here. Also, Andy and I just got back from Iceland a few weeks ago which was crazy and cold (!) and soooo expensive. A meal for two (which crazily included their local shark meat-rotten and diced… “when in Rome..”) cost �150 (2 mains, 2 entrees and one bottle of wine). Thats $425 in AUD… Don’t do it unless you’re earning the pound. Great place though–the last day, we just floated in the Blue Lagoon–a natural blue hot spring with white mud “silica” that turned my hair to paper but my skin to baby’s bum softness!

    Well, that’s it for now. Below is the address for Libbi’s website which she has had the luxury of compiling whilst working obviously NOT a perk of a physio job)… so please check it out as there are some photos up until our Morocco trip last year (myself, Zara and Libbi).

    Happy Easter to you all. I always love hearing from all of you…

    libbimacgregor.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

    Love Nat XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  • Back in London

    Hi guys,

    Hope all is well and warm at home in Oz. Im back into the swing of London life. I am cycling 30km most days to and from work which is a decent workout. I have bought one of those fluoro yellow reflectant back pack covers so i am now a really London cycling nerd!

    I am off to USA next week for thanksgiving with my brother and his wife/family etc. in New Hampshire so I’m looking forward to my first American Xmas-experience! I have finally sorted out my photos so I will soon send through a few recent ones including our house I rave about!

    If you get a chance this attachment (needs volume up) is fantastic. As a physio, I advocate you all try it!

    Nat x

  • Leaving for Turkey

    Hi guys,

    Leaving today (supposedly) to go to Turkey, that is if the flight takes off. There were 18 people arrested this a.m. at Heathrow trying to smuggle liquid bombs onto planes going to USA. They caught them and now security is at critical alert for a terrorist attack!

    I’m spending a week in Turkey with Nic, my housemate–she and I are doing a hop on hop off tour from Dalaman (south beach) to Cappadocia (inland, eatsern mountains) to Instanbul. Then the second week I fly to Zagreb (capital of Croatia) for a night by myself then meet up with 50 other friends from London to do a one week sailing cruise along Croatia. Can’t wait for all of it. Myself and another girl have organised for 50 people we know to go on three boats on the same journey south to Dubrovnic and back (yes-mostly Aussies, in fact all Aussies I think!). It’s all inclusive for �250 and we dock at nights to party.

    So not sure how much e-mail access I’ll have if you’re wanting to get in touch with me. Will have both mobiles. Will try to e-mail where poss otherwise I’ll be in touch once I’m back on London at the end of August in my hot new pad 🙂

    Let me know those of you who said you were/might be coming over later this year–if you want to catch up or do some travels togther. I’m still in a very cruisy day job with the NHS so they don’t mind if I take lots of hols 🙂 Nice for me.

    Ok well hope all is well and fingers crossed no bombs on this side of the world.

    Speak to you all soon.

    Nat xx

  • Off to Stockholm

    Hi peoples,

    I know a lot of you have written to me over the last month or so and its unlike me not to reply within 72 hours ha ha! I am working a 60-66 hour week at the moment between my physio Monday-Friday job and my rugby league job, 6 days a week. so I’ve been flat strap. Not to mention I can’t say no (nothing’s changed) so I also squeeze a social and travel life in between those hours.

    Speaking of which I’m off to Stockholm today with a friend. Thought why not check it out?! It’s been great weather in London 30-35 degrees C so I haven’t complained once. The English refuse to move their arses more than they have to cos it’s so hot, but it’s ironic cos in winter, they refuse to move their arses more than they have to cos it’s too cold!! And it amuses me to no end the number of BEAT THE HEAT messages they send out and give out free water at the Tubes.

    Anyway, I’m moving into this giant five-bed house soon with Lib and a few others in Fulham. On the river with big garden and massive lounge/kitchen. We move in late August when we get back from Turkey and Croatia.

    Anyway hope you’re all well. I’m barely surviving my ridiculous lifestyle but once rugby season finishes, 2nd week September, I will be a normal woman again. Oh and I’ve had two big job offers to extend my visa past April next year with top private practices, to start towards the end of this year I think so will keep updated about that. Would love to make it home later this year to see everyone before another stint in the UK. Libbi’s visa was approved too (obviously).

    Take care and I will write individually to all you lovelies soon 🙂

    Love Nat x

  • Italy vs. Australia

    Hi Aussies,

    Is everyone as devastated as we are here? Soccer is for pussies.

    Nat x

  • Ibiza next

    Hi guys,

    Sorry I just sent that London e-mail to you instead of the London crowd! Hope you also had a good weekend. I had my bday party which was a large and eventful day. It was a lunch that became an evening event! Lots of fun. Will forward on the photos when I get organised.

    I’m currently working part time which is good and bad. It’s not entirely through choice. The physio market is dry right now. Two of my physio friends are working as medical receptionists. I’ve just signed a contract with a professional rugby league team called the Skolars. They are great bunch of guys–actually mostly Aussies/ Kiwis/ Saffas and a few random Poms! So that takes up a lot of my time–they train 3x a week and have a game each Sunday.

    I’m working two days a week for my old job in Chelmsford, Essex which is a hike and a half to get to each day (the things we do in London to get by)… I commute up to 2.5 hours one way! And then I sat two interviews last week and looks like I got one job which is just one day a week for good money. So all up, I’m hoping my income will amount to a small full-time wage, certainly not what I was used to. So I’m sharing my room for May and June with Mel, a friend from the Goldie. I have a habit of throwing my arm and leg over her in the night time!! Hee hee. Wonder how long she’ll last?!

    So I’m also looking for one-off jobs I can do as I don’t work Monday, Wednesday and Thursday!! Coming into summer I’m hoping there’ll be catering services I can work for, i.e. functions. I’m also working from home with my physio/ acupuncture which helps.

    Anyway, my next trip is Ibiza with a few girlfriends at the end of May (another long weekend for us here). Keep me in touch with the goings-on in Brissie.

    We’ve had three whole days of 25 degrees–you should see how excited British businessmen get here on a hot day–they take their business shirts off in the park and just wear the bottom half of their suit–it’s not the sexiest look but we all appreciate the beauty of the sun after living in this country and its a good thing 🙂

    Speak soon and thanks for all my bday wishes.

    Nat x

  • A working holiday in the UK

    Hey peoples,

    Hope you all had a nice weekend. I certainly did and to those who helped me celebrate the big 26, thanks cos I had a great day 🙂

    Here’s testament to the friends and good times of London–read the excerpt below.

    Have a good week and who knows–maybe the rhythm of the sun will about face and come out on the weekend cos so far the weekly sunny outlook is dismal!

    Nat x

    Life goes on… A working holiday in the UK gives us just enough time to get far too comfortable. We soak up a new way of living, weekends become a blur, we make new friends, enjoy great parties, different work and carefree travel. But before you know it, you find yourself in an empty room drinking cheap wine straight from the bottle while you try to cram two years of life into a couple of tea cartons. It’s only when the rug gets pulled from under you that you remember the whole thing was only temporary. It’s the bittersweet finale we all face eventually. Going home isn’t easy when you don’t necessarily want to go. You may be headed back to the best country in the world, but it’s little consolation for everything you’ve left behind or the gut-wrenching reality that descends with your final long haul flight. The first tentative weeks are a novelty. Or rather, “you” are. Old friends mock your accent, Carlton Draught is back on tap and mum washes, dries and irons your laundry the same day you threw it out. Then suddenly life seems far too normal and you realise that, apart from the new McDonald’s drive thru restaurant and the death of your old next door neighbour, nothing much has really changed. It seems that while you spent the past two years carving it up at house parties, skipping across to the Continent and generally taking as little responsibility for life as possible, all your mates were getting married, taking out mortgages and buying golden retrievers. And just to twist the knife, they don’t particularly want to hear how good you had it.

    That’ll leave you to contemplate a 500 pound overdraft you still can’t afford to have processed. But it’s not the end of the world. Chances are you could still get your old job back and, if you don’t want it, you have the freedom to shop around think about life and what exactly you plan to do with it. It’s easy to forget how good London can look on a resume. In the grand scheme of things, there aren’t many people who’ve done what you have–pulled the plug on life, headed to a new one on the other side of the world, claimed a legitimate job of your own and not had a mental breakdown in the process. You could turn up drunk to an interview and the employer will still think you’re responsible, motivated and independent. More importantly, though, coming home finally gives you an opportunity to relish all those things you missed most. Things like cruising down the coast with the window down and the stereo blaring with all the music you never got sick of three years ago. You can eat hot pies from the servo, order Chiko Rolls with the ends burnt and drink chocolate milkshakes that aren’t thick with preservatives; shop assistants actually assist and nobody heads down to the pub before 11pm. Meanwhile, the only person deemed worthy of conversation in Australia these days (apparently) is a bloke called Shannon Noll–a farmer turned popstar who’s been swooning the nation singing about his black car. Jebediah have a new album, Daniel Johns has done something different with Paul Mac and Andrew Denton is more popular than ever. If nothing else, there’s always Ray Martin–Channel Nine put him back at the helm of A Current Affair and the ratings have soared. Perhaps the strangest part about coming back is getting used to the little things you never gave much thought to in the first place.

    Like watching the weather report and seeing a map of home instead of a cloud covered Blighty. Back here you top up electricity, not your phone and, while we’re at it, folks SMS each other–they don’t text. Coming home is certainly an experience. Everything’s different on the one hand and nothing’s changed on the other. But you’ll still like the place. For a little while, you’ll still log on to Yahoo.co.uk to get news updates and check Ryanair to see where you can fly for 1 pound, but eventually you’ll sink back into the way it was always going to be. It’s likely your local Kmart plaza will still be dominated by pregnant teenagers and politicians will still be rambling on about the Children Overboard affair. You’ll still miss the other side of the world, but you can frame the best bits and sit them next to the pictures of friends you made and left behind. Most of them will keep in touch.

    The really good ones won’t have to.

    (Author not known.)

  • Renting in London

    Hi boys at home,

    Read this ad for a housemate on Gumtree–this is what you may have to get excited about when/ if you come to London to live!! He he.

    That’s a woman who knows how to assert herself. Praise the Poms 🙂

    Nat x

  • Rugby teams and a trip to Bruges

    Hi home!

    Hope this finds you all well. Just been out on a big night and still buzzing so thought I’d hop on the net–why not?! I was on a boat cruise tonight with Carl Cox, Kid Kenobe and Krafty Kuts! It was such a cold night but I think the temp inside the boat rocketed to about 30 degrees. The humidity of everyone’s sweat caused the roof to look like it was leaking! Droplets of water (really sweat I think) were falling down and everyone looked like drowned rats, but at least we were having fun 🙂

    Have started doing physio for a rugby team and they’re great! Not good at football, to clarify, but nice lads. Most of them are Irish and the rest English (who ordinarily shy away from conversation with a stranger but because there’s cause to talk, are friendly)! I took over from a friend who joined another team and she told me “no worries Nat–they’re not very good so you don’t get many injuries unlike in Australia”… First day I had to relocate two dislocated shoulders, assess a guy for a potential neck fracture and deal with a bad concussion that wanted to sleep standing up! (it’s bad to let someone sleep after a bad knock as they may comatose)… Aussie luck would you call it? I think I earned my �25 an hour!! Especially seeing it’s officially spring here and it was so cold today doing the rugby that my fingers wouldn’t work to peel the tape. Oh, and it was snowing. I was thoroughly bemused until I saw their “tracksuit” they wear over their rugby jerseys–it’s most analogous to a 1980s tiny tots all-in-one-zip-up-at-the-front-ski-outfit!! hilarious 🙂

    I’m still working at what I refer to (eloquently and with due respect) as the “arsehole end of the world”–aka Croydon. My boss day one tried to explain to me what a “Croydonite” was. She was trying to be diplomatic but I got her drift after seeing two patients. They nod to everything you say and answer yes to every question e.g. “Where does it hurt?” (Answer: “Yes”) and you think they have taken in all your education and advice, when they return the next session to show you their exercises they’ve been practicing and you wonder if they were on drugs when they were listening the previous session cos there was not even a remote resemblance to the exercises I’d had in mind! And they’d clearly be branded in Australia a “Motor Moron” (a term denoting people who have much difficulty in skill acquisition and coined by my old lecturer, Ms. Cupit). I don’t think their internal feedback mechanisms function like they should… My train rides are even more telling–all the school kids sound like they’re from The Catherine Tate show–if you’ve seen it you’d know what I’m talking about. They sound worse than East Enders and I once wondered what language this 15 year old hot shot was speaking in until I reaslied it was English!!

    Got offered a job this week in a top private practice just out of London in Chelmsford. It’s exciting cos the physio is the best I’ve EVER seen–although not sure if that says much… Anyway, it’s really hard to get a private practice job here cos you have to be 5 years graduated and I’m only 3 but he was willing to take me for a locum position for a month over April. Very excited as that should get me a foot in the door. He said he’d consider me for a part-time position after that which might work in cos Virgin gyms offered me a self-employed part-time job for then too. (They’re gyms would make a gym junkie itch with excitement. You havent seen a gym til you’ve seen these–typical of Richard Branson…)

    Not as many trips lately which the pocket liked–one to note and great to see if you’re over this side of the world–spent a weekend in Bruges–the beer and chocolate capital of the world, in Belgium. (Nat’s Heaven.) The beer would turn a beer hater into a beer appreciater. It is amazing and Leffe is so strong–11% that they serve it only in wine glasses. I dragged Richy, Jane and Amy into the chocolate factory (OK–I only dragged Richy, the girls walked in quite willingly). We conveniently bypassed the entry fee and I had my photo taken next a 2 tonne chocolate easter egg–real, kid you not–I know cos I had to taste it–there’s a tiny nibble mark out the back–hope they didn’t have cameras cos I’d feel a darn right FOOL if I was caught for that! We met this random guy–Frederick–on the train on the way up to Bruges from Brussels and he met us out and brought his friends. We thought he liked Jane (Jane and Richy were pretending to be engaged) but it turned out he liked Richy instead!! Richy was mucking around with the boys looking quite chuffed at the attention until one tried to grab his butt and you should have seen the look of horror on his face! He kept saying “Frederick did a Hopoate on me” I think he was seeking attention personally but maybe that really was Freddy’s cup of tea 🙂

    Missing the sunshine (still) and all of you lovlies that come with it. Hope everyone is good. Have a few trips planned for the summer over here for those planning on coming for a trip so keep us updated.

    Say hi to Brissie 🙂

    Love Nat xxx

  • Australia Day, Ireland and Germany

    Hi Folks,

    Well firstly Happy Aussie Day for last Thursday. I have experienced many an overseas Australia day and its always involved something physical (in Aspen, it was boarding down Highlands Mountain in bikinis and the Aussie flag, lead by leopard-skin-G-banga-attired-Chris-Day… to Whistler, it was playing kick the footy and catch the snow ball and pretending it is warm weather and hence wearing thongs in the snow (not the Chris day type, the flip flop variety as they are ONLY known in the UK/USA)… to Irleland, it was more shanangans outdoors with a cricket bat (a fence paling) and an attempt at wickets (3 huge empty magnums of champas)… all of which was spiced up by a little alcohol consumption and some sort of Aussie tucker.)

    Not in England.

    There was nothing about being outdoors except for those poor working people who had to painfully line up at 5 o’clock to get into any venue. It was all about being warm inside a very British pub called the “Slug and Lettuce” but which claimed being Australian and sadly, got it all very wrong. They had Aussie specials for the day–you could get �2 snakebites (yes peoples, thats a traditional Austraylian drink made from 1/3 fosters, 1/3 strongbow and 1/3 grenadine/red cordial, in a pint glass, in case you were unsure), 2-4-1 cocksucking cowboys (cos they are from outback Austray-ya), an Aussie menu which consisted of fries, wedges and curryworst hotdogs (they naievly forgot the meat pie)… They played very Austray-yan songs from our local bands like U2, Violent Femmes, Coldplay, James Blunt and Madonna… So all in all it lacked the basic fundamentals of what we would call Australia Day except the end result was still a drunken smile, a cheers and a bit of a boogie!

    To fill in time between the excitement of house hunting and job hunting, I have taken a few little vacations. Two weeks ago I joined 5 others on a trip to Belfast then Dublin. That’s the 3rd time I’ve been to Dublin and for those of you who have been there too, would know that it really only takes one full day to see the sights and then it’s over to the nightlife (which becomes a day event anyway). I’m sure thats what the Dubliners would want you to experience anyway–so I just saw more pubs than I had previously. Unique to this trip however, was an unexepected invite from Superman to ride in his cart while he ran infront in his outfit yelling at people on the streets of temple bar to “get out of the way cos Superman’s on a mission”! I swear I nearly fell out: (a) from laughing so hard and (b) cos bloody cobblestones aren’t easy to cart along on when you’ve been drinking!

    Belfast was great–definitely worth 12 hours of your time (no more though). We obviously had a Protestant bus/tour driver cos he told us his side of the ongoing “civil” war that still tangibly exists in Northern Ireland. The most confusing tour, because he was simultaneously showing us: the peace wall (it stands at 5m tall and topped with barbed wire to separate the Catholics and Protestant schools and neighbourhoods), the Catholic real estate, the Protestant real estate, the orange schools, the green schools, the war memorials dedicated to the Catholics and those dedicated to the Anglicans/Presys whilst telling us that Belfast is a united city, peaceful and egalitarian!! He said there’s no more fighting, animosity, that they all live in unity there!!!! During our tour and checking out the mural walls the Catholics painted, a Catholic ran up to us and asked us if he could tell us the story of Northern Ireland from his point of view!! When he finished (35mins later) we asked him if there was somewhere we could go to get the History of Belfast and he summed up all our previous questions with one reply “there are no museums that will tell you about our history cos it’s not history, its still going”… Okey dokey… so we hopped on a train and went to dublin 🙂

    Went to Berlin last weekend with 5 girls. Got VIP tickets to James Blunt which was a great concert but he was a bit or an arse himself (typical English!). Fobbed us off at the after party and wouldn’t even get his photo taken (his guard said it was a “tall order girls”). Sure. I insisted we do this 5 hour walking tour through Berlin that everyone I know who went to Berlin has raved about. I stupidly did not put two and two together to realise that these friends did this tour in summer and being winter and close to Russia, the temp that day never rose above -17 degrees C. The coldest was -23deg C. I cannot tell you (prob much to your relief cos this e-mail is now a melodramatic saga) what was said on that tour after WWI cos I was so zoned in on my pain and numbness! Not a smart idea unless you have a thing for extreme weather.

    Anyway, so I start my new job on Wednesday in a back stability clinic in London. Sounds like it should be alright. Good experience anyway. I get every second Friday off too, also appealing. I am currently “room-hunting”–very unfun and some dodgy characters out there in London Town but I will be sure to find something sane and fun soon… Keep in touch and let me know all your plans!!!

    Speak soon Love Nat x