I can’t recall where I left off, Stafford? Cambridge? Northampton? Well, I start off from where I think I left off. I was in Stafford for two weeks, oh yes; I left off saying I was going castle hunting the next day… it didn’t pan out. It was too far and I was too lazy! I got a photo of it in the distance! Between some trees and over some houses…you can barely make it out! Lol. No seriously, by the time I was done with shopping for supper and doing all the little things I was in no mood to get lost…again! If you recall, I had already ridden the bus along the whole circuit. I didn’t want to do that again!
Just a little warning: this is a long post, so you might want to mentally prepare yourselves!
I got on well with the dude there, he reminded me of Dom…a big loud, affectionate Dom. Sorry Dom:) I’m going back to him in November. I then went back to Cambridge to my first client, well I consider him my first client cos my actual first client had a permanent carer and I was more of the paid help than a carer! I planned on going to the museum that I hadn’t managed on visiting the first time round but as you can guess, I was too lazy. No, I was too comfortable. I wouldn’t say I’m lazy, it makes me sound…looserish? Is that a word? I was only there for a week but I’ll probably be going back there when the dude has a vacancy. Especially since I helped with the fishing!
We went fishing twice while I was there. Once to a small lake fill of hungry ducks and mosquitoes, and again along the river Cam, near the mathematical bridge. The wooden bridge that looks funky, apparently when it was originally built and designed it could be held up without a single nail! I mostly sat and watched the dude and his friend fish while I listened to a combination of AC/DC and Cat Stevens on my iPod and stared at the willow across the river. I must say, willows are so beautiful and whimsical; they remind me of those heavy downpours that I miss so much. I helped unhook the fish when he did catch something, and apparently I impressed them both by not being squeamish about it. I even unhooked the pike when the dude’s friend didn’t want to…it has wicked sharp teeth. I didn’t know any better (and besides, the hook wasn’t anywhere near the teeth!).
The week after that I was off to a new client in Northampton, claim to fame in my Britain guidebook…was responsible for supplying shoes for most of the British Empire. It is definitely not as picturesque as Cambridge and Stafford, as it’s mostly warehouses…that I saw anyway. The dude there ran me ragged. I’d only get 5-6 hours disturbed sleep at night and then I was on my feet for the rest of it. Either cleaning, cooking, or helping with his weights. We got on well I think, I don’t know yet if he will want me back as I haven’t got feedback from cc yet. I don’t know if I want to go back…maybe if it’s for short stints only! Cos I was buggered at the end of the week…and I was sleeping through my breaks in the afternoon.
My feet and back were killing me by this time. My feet cos I badly needed new shoes, I threw out the one pair on my last day there so that I wouldn’t be tempted to carry on wearing them. I couldn’t throw out the other cos then I would have nothing else to wear on the train except sandals…and those aren’t shoes to wear when you carrying a backpack! My back cos, well, I don’t know why… a combination of my left ankle and bad posture maybe?! I could feel the muscles at the back of my shoulders and up my neck contracting. It felt like a thin line of ants crawling along my skin…annoying as hell and quite distracting as the whole week I was arching my back trying to relieve the pain. It’s all very well saying lift with the knees and don’t bend the back… I tried; it isn’t possible all the time. Especially as this dude has a low bed and didn’t like it lifted too high, so I had to bend over to get him into bed at night and out in the mornings!
For once I was proactive, I booked myself a massage in London for the day after I finished work. I had planned on being in Coventry for the following two weeks but the dude there had asked that he keep his other carer for the week as he was busy with meetings etc. Rather have someone who knows your routine and who you are familiar with than having the added stress of teaching someone knew and getting to know them as well! I totally understood, and will go there for the second week only with a 24 hour handover. This left me free to have my massage!!!
I planned on staying with my brother in Harefield again, and smsed him saying so, just checking it was still ok and that he hadn’t lent the bed to someone else etc… just being my usual polite self:) He phoned on the Tuesday night (the night before I finished work) to let me know that Ele, his girlfriend, hadn’t been feeling well and that the doctor had said she might possibly have had the swine…so he suggested I avoid the place like the plague!!! Imagine me arriving at a client…”hello there, my name’s Jo. I’m your new carer, oh…I might be carrying the swine!”… Lol, I organised to stay at one of the youth hostels in London while she was still contagious, and have actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Besides the excellent internet signal I get here (I get s*** all in Harefield) I’ve actually managed to do the touristy thing at last.
I arrived on Wednesday evening, my client in Northampton kindly let me stay on an extra hour or so after I was replaced so that I could organise my life, so kind of him…lol, he’s a good guy actually. So yeah, I arrived Wednesday evening, tired out of my head. I think I was in bed by 8 and asleep by 9pm… Granted the dorm (sleeps 10 in bunks) is rather noisy when ppl come in at all hours of the night, but it’s fine cos I’m used to waking up at all hours to turn a client and then fall back to asleep again. No-one actually talks to each other, unless they know them…so it’s not like there are ppl talking at all hours…just making noise getting ready for bed, opening lockers, unzipping zips, crashing into doors etc.
I had my massage on Thursday afternoon (after a lovely chat with Dom in the morning), I left 3 hours early so that I could find the place and then go shopping for some new shoes. I found the place easy enough, the lady said I was just a bit early, so I had to reassure her I wasn’t that eager!!! I was but you know what I mean… Lol, I then went looking for some good shoes. Do you know how hard it is to find a pair of good shoes that will handle day in day out wear? So hard, I couldn’t find any in the small suburb I was in, so I ended up lying in the park soaking up some sun while I watched some leaves get blown around in little twisters by the wind and the clouds race by in the sky. I could feel the sun on the back of my eyelids it was so strong, yet the wind was almost like a gale and I was glad for my jacket!
The dude who gave me my massage said my back was fine, nice healthy muscles…then he got onto my left leg…and 30 minutes later I think he was still on it! Lol, it was locked up tighter than Fort Knox! Still is actually, but I can definitely feel it’s a bit looser! My upper chest muscles were also tight, apparently from stress and breathing shallowly. So I have to practise breathing with the whole of my lungs rather than with just the bottom. I think I will go back when I’m off again…it’s just a bit expensive, but if I can bend over to move a client without first tensing up and bracing myself then I think it’s worth it!
So that was yesterday afternoon, last night I went off to Trafalgar square planning on watching the sun go down and then catch a movie. However the sun wasn’t playing along and it wasn’t as photogenic as I wanted it to be so I moved straight onto the movie without bothering to wait for the sun to go down. I ended up watching “Angel’s & Demon’s” the first Dan Brown book. Definitely not as good as the book, and not even as good as the first movie… I’d only give it 3 stars. While I waited for the movie to start (I had over a hour to kill), I went into a small second-hand bookshop off Leicester square and brought a fantasy book. Lol I couldn’t help myself. I still haven’t finished the last book I brought, War & Peace, but I needed something light and easy to read for awhile. I got back to the youth hostel after 11pm and paid back the others for disturbing me the night before… Lol, no. I was very quiet. I didn’t even bother unlocking my locker as my pj’s were out already!
I got the fright of my life this morning when I opened my locker, and realised that my lock …hadn’t been locked! I had left my laptop and everything in there the night before while I was out and it was all still there but I must have not locked the lock properly when I left for Trafalgar square! I’ll tell you, it won’t happen again! Anyway, when I did finally get out of bed, and on the move, i planned out plan for the day. I planned on hitting the outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral, along the millennium bridge, past the Tate Modern along the river, to the London eye, go on the London eye as it looked like a nice day out, go across Westminster bridge, past the buildings of parliament, along horse guards rd, along the mall to Buckingham palace, through Hyde Park finding the peter pan statue along the way, and then along oxford street where I finally aimed to find some good shoes and then back to the hostel. I knew I might be too optimistic cos I measured it at roughly 10 km…so I was prepared to cut out the Hyde Park bit…
I arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral and started taking some photo’s of the huge dome, where I saw that there where people walking along the edge of the dome… I wanted to be up there too, so paid for a ticket and then went inside the church. It is huge (and doesn’t allow photography inside), and beautiful. Intricate carvings from little rosettes that are all different from the other, to the decoration at the top of the pillars (I forget the correct term). The Cathedral, like most all churches, is designed like a huge cross, the longer end of the cross’s roof it fairly plain, with just a few gilt edgings. You then get the huge dome above you with the masterfully done paintings that make it look sculpted. On either side you get small naves (the two arms of the cross) and then you get the quire (as they call it), the musical brains of the church. The two naves and the quire are all gilded up to kingdom come. The mosaics depict saints, disciples, angels and other Christian (and pagan) symbols. The central area where the dome is built over could quite possibly fit the Voortrekker monument in it. If this is only England, I would love to see Rome and St. Peter’s. It was huge, I can’t imagine something bigger that would still stand…but I know it exists!
Since I wanted to get to the top, I had to go via the stairs…all 528 of them as the friendly guy who took my ticket ‘happily’ told me. You get three galleries, as they are called; the whispering gallery, the stone gallery and the golden gallery. The whispering gallery is the first, which you are quite happy to reach cos the infuriatingly low steps have made you quite tired and dizzy. This is above the gilded section of the church and just below the painted dome. If you whisper against the wall on one side, you can hear it on the other side of the dome 32 m away. The second gallery is reached via some narrower stone steps that while not as low as before are now not long enough for your feet as it twists so much. You have to hold onto the wall just to tell yourself you not falling you get so dizzy. The stone gallery is at the lower part of the dome, and is quite windy. I quickly moved onto the next gallery without bothering with picture taking cos the balustrades were in the way.
The golden gallery, which is at the top of the dome, is reached via some twisting metal stairs. You also have to go through a very, and I mean very narrow section of stairs which makes me glad I’m not a fat American, even a large American would of had trouble! I also had to watch my head. While the second gallery had been windy, the third was gale-like! It would come in gusts and whipped my hair in all directions…which ruined all my photo’s with me in it:) A friendly foreign lady (no idea what nationality, French maybe) offered to take a photo of me with the London eye and river Thames in the background after watching me take numerous failed attempts. I reciprocated. It seems like an unspoken rule of tourists to offer when you see the need, and then you get the same service in return. I walked around looking at the view, taking photos and just getting blown apart. It was lovely!
When I got down (by similarly narrow stairs) I went to explore the rest of the cathedral. They were even allowing people near the main altar. Not on it, but right up to the stairs that lead up to it, with the large marble canopy over it with twisted columns. I think it’s an imitation of St. Peters. As I stood in front of the main alter which is dedicated to those who died in the second World war I said a small pray for Michelle, a big pray felt a bit out of place. I then carried on to the basement or the Crypt. I saw the tomb of Lord Nelson, the same Nelson that has a column in Trafalgar Square, the same Nelson that is like a god to the British Empire. I didn’t realise till I was halfway through that the floor was covered in slaps of marble (I think) with writing on. And it took a second for me to realise that there were bones buried under them. I was walking over peoples remains. I felt disturbed by literally walking over peoples graves! Along the walls are plaques dedicated to the numerous different wars that British Servicemen have fought in. It’s quite a sad place the crypt. And then they go and put a restaurant and shop down there! When I saw that all I could think of was when Jesus threw the money counters out of the Temple over 2000 years ago. We haven’t come very far! For those of you who don’t know, I went to a catholic pre-school, so I grew up with Bible stories as nursery stories… which is why I seem to know the Bible well. I don’t, I was just brain-washed at an early age!
By this time, my calves were sore. The rest of day I could feel them tightening up, especially when I stood still on escalators. By the time I left the cathedral I didn’t feel like walking all the way to Buckingham palace let alone Hyde Park. I was even contemplating not going all the way to the buildings of parliament and the London eye. I decided to take one step at a time and just see how far I could go. I crossed the millennium bridge, the one that got destroyed in the most recent Harry Potter film, towards the Tate Modern. There I saw an advertisement for a Futurism exhibition. I didn’t plan on going into the Tate Modern, but I really wanted to investigate, cos it was my favourite art section at school. I had to pay to see it but I had just been paid for last week’s work so I was happy to. I saw some lovely art paintings, even a Picasso or two, none of the blue horses or the yellow cow jumping etc and the bronze sculptors just called out for me to touch (which I couldn’t).
I then walked along the river, a section called the Queen’s walk. Saw all the picturesque buildings across the river with a solid line of emerald green trees before them. Cleopatra’s Needle, an obelisk from Egypt, had scaffolding over it so I didn’t take any photo’s of it. And before I knew it I was in front of the buildings of parliament and the London eye. I didn’t go on the eye as besides the line being all the way to China, i had already seen a panaromic view of the city at St. Paul’s. I managed to take some photo’ of Big Ben as it was chiming the hour, so when you look at the photo’s (when i do finally upload them!) you can imagine the bells tolling loudly from across the river with the wind blowing in your ears, and a bit a bagpipe music floating to you from a lone musician on the bridge playing for penny’s…and getting accosted by tourists wanting photo’s taken with him. As I crossed the bridge I saw an underground station ahead of me and just cut out the section i had planned from Westminster to Buckingham palace to Oxford Street via Hyde Park. I caught the underground instead.
Oxford Street was its usual hectic self. I’ve never been there when it’s been empty. Which makes me want to leave, fast! I managed to find some shoes that I thought I would like, but they didn’t have stock or not in the women’s range or some reason or other, so I left without buying anything! They said come back in September/October… I was like it is September! And I need them now, not in a month’s time! Anyhoo, you don’t need to know how I managed to shop, you all know how it’s done! Hopefully! I suffered through it. I hate shoe shopping. I hate shopping! I finally found some shoes in John Lewis, they were actually the same brand that I had been looking at previously which made me happy if not poorer. But hey, invest now and reap the benefits later…at least that’s what I’m telling myself!
And that is how I ended up sitting in the hostel lounge, typing up the last few weeks of my life, in my new shoes. I have to go upstairs now, cos my laptop has like 28 minutes of battery life left. I’m off to Harefield tomorrow, my bro says Ele is not contagious anymore and then I leave on Tuesday for Coventry for a week. Then I’m off for a week and I’ll see Amy when she arrives, and then I’m back at the chipmunk dude’s for two week’s! I hope I have satiated any desires to know what I’ve been up to because it will probably be another month before I write again… I’m bad like that.
Toodles:)
P.S. I just got upstairs to plug my laptop in, to find I left my locker unlocked again! The lock on, just not locked! So much for that not happening again!!! Don’t worry mom, everything is still there! I checked…