February 9 2006

I have officially started looking for work. I registered with a recruitment agency yesterday and I will register with another one tomorrow. The agency I registered yesterday has put me down for temp work while I am looking for a permanent role, so with any luck I will get some money coming in until I get a job. This is all in PA work but I am happy with that for now. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get any work in a school so I am inclined to leave that and try and get involved with kids programs at the local church. I have found a methodist church around the corner from our place so I am going to go there on Sunday and see what it is like.Everywhere I seem to go there is a very high police presence. The other day the mounted police rode down our street. I thought it very novel, but everyone else seemed very nonpluss. It makes me feel a lot safer with all the police around, but I guess it could have the opposite thought as well that why do there have to be so many police around. When I tell people where we live now they say it is a really nice area and that we have done well, so that is good enough for me.The thing I find most intriging is all the pubs. Almost every corner has a pub, some even have two. Near us we have the Victoria and the Albert, then the other way is the Drop Inn and the Friendship Inn. All four are slightly different, the Inn's serve food whereas the others only serve drinks. No matter where you go you will always find a pub. The Vicotria is what I always thought an English pub was like. It looks very much like the pubs from the English Detective movies. Very comfortable and warm. All the pubs have a very welcoming atmosphere, which is probably why there are so many. But if someone can give me a good answer as to why there are so many pubs in England that would be great. I went for a walk the other day and walked past a Red Lion and a White Lion pub. I think it has something to do with the allegiance of the pub during the reigns of different kings, but again if someone can explain it all to me I would greatly appreciate it. Then there is the fact that you can buy alcohol in the supermarket, general store and the petrol station even. It is a concept I am still trying to get used to. It seems to be a very alcohol driven country. They are having issues at the moment trying to curb alcohol fuelled violence etc. They also seem to be very relaxed on their drink driving laws, there are no breath tests done so people do drive home. Coming from a country that is very strict about that kind of thing it seems very foreign to me. But I guess that is what you get when you go to another country.It is another beutiful sunny day. I think I am starting to get a handle on the cold because I didn't have to go out in my big coat today I am wearing a much lighter one, it could have something to do with the sun. Something I find amusing is the differences in what people wear. On the same day you will see people with big coats, scarves and hats. Then you will have people in just t-shirts and girls wearing skirts. I find it very bizarre.There are bikes everywhere around as well. A lot of people ride bikes but only a very small handful actually wear helmets. Again it is not something that police look at as important to be firm with. Andrew and I are looking to get some bikes when we have a bit of money so we can go a bit further afield at times.