Place to stay!

So not much has happened recently.

I'm getting my resume re-written by a professional company, We've decided on living in Richmond definitely, we've contacted realestate agents asking requirements etc. (they just mentioned bring some sort of proof of income from Australia so they know earning potential etc), obviously we won't be signing a lease until at least one of us has a job.

The jobs I'm going for start at 40-45k and go up to 70k for permanent roles and between 400 and 550 pounds per day for contract roles. all of them are central london or on the isle of dogs (the little jutty out bit bit in the thames to the east of the london CBD)

We're going to be staying with some friends of my boss in Clapham (just south of the CBD) for a short while when we get there. it's a great relief to know that we've got a roof over our heads for a few weeks until we can get our jobs sorted out. hopefully it won't be more than 2 or 3 weeks. They're very graciously only charging us 100 pounds per week

Ok - here's some google maps of where we'll be staying:
Richmond

And Clapham

If you've not used google maps before, just click on those links and it will take you straight there - you can zoom in and out with your scroll wheel and drag the map by clicking and holding with your left mouse button.

in other news, our car recently got it's roadworthy done....... $1,500 just to get a roadworthy due to the fact that we had a crack in the windshield, a cracked tail light assembly, suspension issues and two bald tires... also got some other stuff done that needed doing so it's all ready to sell.

Our line of credit is dwindling... we're down to 15k from the 30k that we got approved - 5k of it got converted to british pounds and is sitting waiting for us in a london bank. 5k went on airfares and insurance and the rest has gone on visa fees, car stuff, buying new work clothes for debbie etc. we're hoping to make up 8,000 at least on the car and perhaps a few more thousand on the drum kits we'll see how it goes.

Currently I'm investigating whether or not to go with an umbrella company or not if I get contract work. due to this law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IR35), companies set up solely by individuals to get tax breaks are subject to the same taxation rates as employees. this is good at getting to employees who want to pa less tax, but hurts contractors who have more than a few different jobs per year. hence the need for an umbrella company to get arround it..... still investigating I don't know too much of the specifics yet.

also spending a bit of time reading up on the history of England. until a couple of days ago, I'd never heard of the treaty of perpetual peace that united Scotland and England and all I knew about the 100 year war until today was that it actually lasted about 116 years..... facinating stuff. I've got to get used to the age of the place. We're going to be staying next to a wildlife park set up by King Charles I 382 years ago. Australia hadn't even been discovered then and North America was still being collonised by the dutch!

Also, I'm looking seriously at learning Krav Maga when I get to London. it's quite a bit different to normal martial "arts" in that it's got no spiritual component. It's the standard self defence training of the israeli military and apparently quite effective. it also gives you a good work out from what I've seen of beginner classes on youtube.

anyway, that's all for me at the moment.

Debbie just came in and saw me writing and laughed and said "no one's reading it!"..... I assured her that there are people reading this..... you are aren't you?


Over and Out,
Andrew.

Approved!

So yesterday our Visas came through! I sent them by express post last Monday and they arrived back completed on Tuesday dispite the public holiday! That would have to be the fastest time dealing with a government organisation that I've ever experienced. Since they said 10 working days I didn't expect them to come until next Wednesday :D

So last night I got busy applying for jobs. Hope it goes well.

A correction to the last blog entry - it's Richmond, not Richland both Kingston and Richmond are in South-west London, Surrey to be specific. Putney is a bit closer into the centre and quite a bit more expensive so it will depend on how much we make. you can check the area out on findaproperty.com the rent's a killer. here's my favorite place so far: Click me

Go Go Gadget job-getting mechanism!

Landlords R Us

Just a quick update to say that we've got our house up for rent on realestate.com.au finaly. if you search for houses for rent in our area you'll be able to find it fairly quickly - it's worth taking a look, you'll have never seen it looking so good!

(I could post the direct link but I don't want to give away where we live to the entire world.)

or you can e-mail us and we'll send you the direct link if you like.

also a bit more of an update:

It's been recommended that we live in Kingston, Richland or Putny, so we'll be looking for places arround there. people at work have been so willing to offer contacts in both the IT industry and potential people we can live with for the first couple of weeks or so.

We've also now got a UK bank account via HSBC, so we're ready to go. need to go pick up our debit card from Regent street believe it or not. We'll probably end up taking photos of all the monopoly streets in the first couple of days. I'm sure the novelty will wear off. I'm still trying to find GO street on the maps so I can collect my $200......

I've also changed the post-times for this Blog to Greenwich Mean Time so if it looks like I'm posting at odd hours in the morning, you know why.

ok, finally, I'm going to try posting a picture - this is of my mates Glen, Rowan and Shane from Christmas time:

First Post!!!!11!!!1!!one

Hi all,

Just created this blog, felt the need to write a first post, in "work mode" so am writing incomplete note-like sentances.

We've created this blog to let everyone know the latest about what we're doing and to hopefully allow people to keep in touch.

Summary so far:

• We're Moving to London to work for a year or two
• We're leaving Australia on the 24th of July 2007
• We're staying two nights in Japan (nihongo o benkyoushiteimasu)
• At midday on the 26th we'll fly for 12 hrs and arrive in London 4.5hrs later.
• Debbie is working on her Certificate III in Business Admin
• Andrew is working on his Oracle certification
• Converting Aussie dollars to British pounds is depressing

Feeling a bit nervous putting the story of our life online.... sends my spidy sense tingling, but all the bloggers in the world can't be wrong can they? .... and besides, when we're really famous we'll have to cope with the press following us around 24/7 so we'd better start getting used to it now.

I'm having trouble deciding the scope of this blog also... being the IT guy I am I'm paranoid about sticking personal details on the interweb for all to see. The narcissistic part of me, however, really likes the idea. I feel compelled to do it mostly to provide an easy way of updating everyone who cares about what we're doing. so.... I guess.... you could say that writing this blog is a purely selfless act, done for the benefit of humanity.

on that note - I am also struggling with the personal pronoun issue. I've decided that I'll just write in first person and only say "We" when I really mean it.... Debbie, on the other hand, may choose to write in third person for all I care :-) we'll likely have different styles.

I'm also thinking.... I feel the need to occasionally let the world know about useless tidbits of information that may one day help me win "Who want's to be a millionare" but for now aren't really that important such as "Wow! did you know that you can make yourself temporariy savant like by zapping your brain with electricity?" or occasionally I'll link to a really cool youtube video or something.... I'll try to restrain myself as much as possible.

anyway, enough from me.