Hey everyone!
Sorry for no post yesterday. Was a big day and I was out late.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time preparing for my job interview which is now in just a couple of hours (eek!). Then I headed out to Liverpool Street station to meet the new Europe tour of East London.
My guide was Australian and he was alright, but whenever I asked a question or anything he made me feel silly. I did learn a lot though and it was great seeing the east end in a different light. We walked around a lot of places that are right near where I live!
Firstly we stayed outside Liverpool Street station. There was a statue there of some children which I had seen before but didn't know the meaning of. It turns out in 1938 when people could sense the war was coming, children were transported to England. A lot came through this station. We also saw a sign about the first Bethlehem hospital. Apparently when they were digging out the tunnel for crossrail which is opening in 2018 they found a plague pit in there too, with bodies buried in a mass grave that died during the bubonic plague.
Our guide told us that all the skyscrapers in London have huge pylons under them because the land has lots of mud and clay and isn't very stable. There are 9 million people living in London now, before World War II there were 8.8 million but the population took a huge dip after that. Apparently there are a further 200-300 applications for skyscrapers to be built in London in the east and south. I hate to think what it'll look like then!!
Tower Hamlets is the poorest borough in greater London. Apparently the east has a reputation for being so poor because in Europe the wind blows mostly west to east. Therefore in most big cities the industrial parts of town were built in the east so the smog didn't blow across the city.
We walked all around east London and went to Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane. We saw so much street art and it was interesting seeing all the different kinds - sticker art, stencil art etc. Street art really took off here in the 1990s.
The strangest thing we saw on the tour was a high rise building full of students. Apparently all the really rich students live here. Unbelievable, the gap between rich and poor here just gets worse and worse!!
We ended the tour in Boxpark in Shoreditch and then I headed to Ravenscourt Park for more fireworks. Lexi and I didn't pay to go in but instead stood outside and had just as good a view. It was great!
Then we got the bus to Fulham and met Shannon and Alisha for Shannon's rugby club belated Halloween party. I went as a Collingwood bogan and borrowed Alisha's tattoo sleeve haha. Had a great night chatting, drinking and laughing. Stayed at Alisha and Shannon's and crashed on the couch about 2am. I fell asleep before Shannon brought the takeaway so I missed out - bugger!!
This morning Shannon drove me home across Tower Bridge which was so cool! I got some things done and then caught the train to South Kensington. I went ice skating with Alisha, Lexi and Bec (a friend of a friend who I'm glad I got the chance to meet!!) outside the Natural History Museum. It was lots of fun! We missed 15 minutes of our time slot because there was hardly anyone working on giving out skates.
But we had fun. The decorations were beautiful and it got dark as we skated! We saw lots of domestics, lots of stacks but also lots of people having fun. I only fell over once but got saturated because the ice was covered in water. I ended up getting fairly good though and did well!!
Now I'm doing a bit of last minute practice, watching TV and trying not to be nervous. As hard as I try though, I am. Send positive vibes across the world please!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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