Here's more pics- Jane Austen lived in one of the houses on the right.
Saturday 26 September 2009
Stonehenge and Bath Fall 2008
Here's more pics- Jane Austen lived in one of the houses on the right.
Crete 2008
Mark came to visit in May/June of 2008 again. As I was craving some sun- and we both wanted history/culture- we managed to book a last minute short trip to Crete in Greece ! It was great - warm- AND we got visit Minoan ruins at Knossos. We also toured the island by bus-saw lovely little villages and olive orchards ,went to the "top of the divide" where you could see both sides, spent late afternoons at the pool and ate great food while enjoying gorgeous sunsets. Weather was lovely-(hot- finally!)as were the people.I hope to visit more of the islands in the future.AND sail around them !
France
Although the "group" broke up after about a year- while I was in the life drawing group , I met a lovely French woman, Marie. She was studying English here (works in computers) and is also an artist on the side (and jewelry maker)We hit it off and I count her as good friend- one of the best I've made here (even if we sometimes struggle understanding each other:) . Fortunately or unfortunately,she lives in Paris! So I have been to visit her- and hope to again soon.She has come and stayed with me with friends as well. When I visited ,having seen Paris before, we went to Fountainbleau and saw the Palace where Napoleon abdicated. (and also where her sister lives:)But I can't find those pics:(
MORE UK TRAVELS
Besides Glasgow and Devon- a few more places I've been in the UK include Brighton (with Mark and several times after-pic is of the Royal Pavillion- an unusual palace) Cambridge- which was LOVELY in the Fall-- punting on the river- beautiful-- Bath- Charming; brief trip to Cardiff (only went to a reconstructed old Welsh village- but very unique!- and cold !). Had been to Stonehenge before- but went again.Visited several castles-- Can't do all the pics on here- but you'll get the idea of some. You must come see for yourselves !!!
MORE UPDATES
I'm back (same day same time)- Still working this out. Not sure how to do the pics right- ,but if you click on the one that's hiding you'll open up Arisia and I tucked into a booth in an old pub in Glasgow. Hopefully I'll get better at this- but so far pretty good for me!
I also DID see Greta in London when first here- and that visit went OK. But that was BEFORE PRAGUE.sigh.
Anyway- one of the fun things to do here is to hook up with generic social groups- (non-dating). With them and other groups (my artist friends) I have gone to some "fancy dress" or costume parties for fun.The first time was a Murder Mystery weekend in Devon.I turned out to be the murderess ! Another was a Hollywood themed one- I was one of 3 Marilyn Monroes. (pardon my red nose-not meant to match my dress- I had a cold)I also did a Roaring 2o's (no pic- sorry)- and spent a day pub crawling in London with about 80 Pirates- that was the most fun ! YAARGH! Can't wait for them to do it again!
WELL WELL- that went OK. SO now where to START! SO much to catch up on! So I'll go with a (hopefully) short chronology of my time here: (feel free to skip ahead)
Feb.7, 2006: Arrived- had found split level studio flat online so had a place to go right away! Turned out over priced, (as is everything here)dumpy, but good location- only stayed 6 mos.
Started working for the London Borough of Merton. Includes Wimbledon area ( posh/bordering suburbia)but most of borough is lower income, varied racial area, somewhat depressed, but not a seriously inner city heavy duty gang, etc. area. Although the council estates (social housing) are not too pretty. I worked my first year on the "Leaving Care- or 16+ - team) Worked with older adolescents transitioning to indepednce and a few unaccompnaied asylum seekers ( Asian middle eastern youths- refugees/illegals etc).System very different that in US, but kids are kids.Got on fine with them.But here,as in US, more paperwork than actual direct service, which is frustrating. SO I applied for another post doing- mostly - paperwork. In Aug.2007 I started as the Agency Placement Social Worker (team of 2- have a great boss- Nick- who is good at sharing the work and leaving me to get on with it.)Those who know me in the workforce know I have always worked pretty indepedently- so we are a good match-supervision on as needed basis only). Anyway- I have two "hats"-- one is being the reviewing officer for our "in-house " foster carers- sort of quality control. Meet each of them annually, check what they've been doing- and write a report and any recommendations. Boring. The other part is searching and helping to arrange specialized foster care or residential placements for more difficult chidren. This has been more fun, occasionally exciting (in emergencies) and involves more interaction with more people.This side of the job has gotten VERY busy lately though,so my foster care reports are alway behind on the other job- a bit stressful- but this is more the nature of the kind of job Iwas looking for when I FOUND the ad to come here by accident.So Iam happy enough with work(if I ust still work).Not everyone is.Of the 12 of us US recurits that came over- only 4 of us remain- at least with this department.Having worked in several counties in the US before, I know that the grass is rarely greener- so I figure I'll stick it out here as long as possible. Although there are a lot of opportunities- private and public- they are VERY short of social workers here! Anyone else interested in coming over ?
Meantime I lived in a 6th floor (also dumpy)walkup flat in very trendy area- but it was only for a year. Then in AUg 2007-I then - VERY LUCKILY- got into my current flat. A 1 bedroom in a 4 yr old modern bldg section allocated to "key workers" (socialworkers, nurse, teachers, etc)in an otherwise posh complex.I get a reduced rent (still not cheap) in an area I could never afford otherwise.I am only a couple blocks from the tube/train station and 20 min.from work so great location! Not the quaint Victorian bijou place I hoped for- but can't complain !I een have secure parking- which I rent out. I WILL NEVER DRIVE HERE! All backwards/no street signs/no stop signs/scary roundabouts/ and way too expensive.
OK- so on to more interesting things:
TRAVEL- LONDON- GLASGOW- PRAGUE
My great friend Mark visited in Spring of 06 and we did the London sites together.
Arisia had a short visit as well.
Haven't done as much travelling as I 'd like ($) but-my daughter Arisia came out in Summer 07 and we went to Glasgow (Cold and rainy- but people were fabulously friendly). Returning to London- I set her up with young friends I'd met at an art group- and she hung out with them - and they/we even threw her a birthday party at a local funky pub. It was great ! Then we went to Prague. Stayed a few days in Plsen with Greta first. She was a great tour guide- but after we got to Prague and Arisia left for a music workshop week- well- those who know Greta..--- anyway- no longer speaking. I hope she is OK- I welcome word on her- but I doubt our paths will cross again.But PRAGUE was beautiful! Like a grown up version of Disneyland ! Highly recomended!!!And the food scrumptious!
Feb.7, 2006: Arrived- had found split level studio flat online so had a place to go right away! Turned out over priced, (as is everything here)dumpy, but good location- only stayed 6 mos.
Started working for the London Borough of Merton. Includes Wimbledon area ( posh/bordering suburbia)but most of borough is lower income, varied racial area, somewhat depressed, but not a seriously inner city heavy duty gang, etc. area. Although the council estates (social housing) are not too pretty. I worked my first year on the "Leaving Care- or 16+ - team) Worked with older adolescents transitioning to indepednce and a few unaccompnaied asylum seekers ( Asian middle eastern youths- refugees/illegals etc).System very different that in US, but kids are kids.Got on fine with them.But here,as in US, more paperwork than actual direct service, which is frustrating. SO I applied for another post doing- mostly - paperwork. In Aug.2007 I started as the Agency Placement Social Worker (team of 2- have a great boss- Nick- who is good at sharing the work and leaving me to get on with it.)Those who know me in the workforce know I have always worked pretty indepedently- so we are a good match-supervision on as needed basis only). Anyway- I have two "hats"-- one is being the reviewing officer for our "in-house " foster carers- sort of quality control. Meet each of them annually, check what they've been doing- and write a report and any recommendations. Boring. The other part is searching and helping to arrange specialized foster care or residential placements for more difficult chidren. This has been more fun, occasionally exciting (in emergencies) and involves more interaction with more people.This side of the job has gotten VERY busy lately though,so my foster care reports are alway behind on the other job- a bit stressful- but this is more the nature of the kind of job Iwas looking for when I FOUND the ad to come here by accident.So Iam happy enough with work(if I ust still work).Not everyone is.Of the 12 of us US recurits that came over- only 4 of us remain- at least with this department.Having worked in several counties in the US before, I know that the grass is rarely greener- so I figure I'll stick it out here as long as possible. Although there are a lot of opportunities- private and public- they are VERY short of social workers here! Anyone else interested in coming over ?
Meantime I lived in a 6th floor (also dumpy)walkup flat in very trendy area- but it was only for a year. Then in AUg 2007-I then - VERY LUCKILY- got into my current flat. A 1 bedroom in a 4 yr old modern bldg section allocated to "key workers" (socialworkers, nurse, teachers, etc)in an otherwise posh complex.I get a reduced rent (still not cheap) in an area I could never afford otherwise.I am only a couple blocks from the tube/train station and 20 min.from work so great location! Not the quaint Victorian bijou place I hoped for- but can't complain !I een have secure parking- which I rent out. I WILL NEVER DRIVE HERE! All backwards/no street signs/no stop signs/scary roundabouts/ and way too expensive.
OK- so on to more interesting things:
TRAVEL- LONDON- GLASGOW- PRAGUE
My great friend Mark visited in Spring of 06 and we did the London sites together.
Arisia had a short visit as well.
Haven't done as much travelling as I 'd like ($) but-my daughter Arisia came out in Summer 07 and we went to Glasgow (Cold and rainy- but people were fabulously friendly). Returning to London- I set her up with young friends I'd met at an art group- and she hung out with them - and they/we even threw her a birthday party at a local funky pub. It was great ! Then we went to Prague. Stayed a few days in Plsen with Greta first. She was a great tour guide- but after we got to Prague and Arisia left for a music workshop week- well- those who know Greta..--- anyway- no longer speaking. I hope she is OK- I welcome word on her- but I doubt our paths will cross again.But PRAGUE was beautiful! Like a grown up version of Disneyland ! Highly recomended!!!And the food scrumptious!
HI ALL! Welcome to my London (B)Log! Having been horrible at writing everyone the last year or so, Fear of Facebook, and general computer/email burnout (social work now seems to be mostly practiced on computers and rarely people anymore) I have decide to try this as a way to keep in touch! However, as I've not done it before- and have no idea what this will look like- this first note- here- is a test! Please standby...
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