We're leaving on a jet plane...

On our first Bank Holiday in the UK, Cigdem, Michelle and I decided to spend the long weekend Monday in Bath.

This historic city has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and presents some of the finest architectural sights in Europe, most notably the famous Roman Baths.

• Bath is about 2 hrs west of where we were and I must say, it was a pretty surprisingly interesting town. It has a very strong Roman influence and it's biggest attraction are the Roman Baths which were situated on top of a natural hot spring, thought to bring healing/magical powers. Natural hot water still flows through here but the baths themselves are no longer used and the water is sort of greenish in colour but yes, hot.
• At the end of the Roman baths, we were able to sample some of the actual water, which is thought to be good for your digestive/overall health. YUCK! Tasted like hot water that had a million pennies in it..
• We also took a sightseeing open-top bus tour that took about 45 minutes and wandered throughout the city. We also passed by the place where Jane Austen lived (woohoo! :P) and got a quick glimpse of the famous Royal Crescent, a crescent shaped street, with 30 houses, and amazing architecture. Drove through the University of Bath (they also have a separate university in town, Bath University!) which is known for medical engineering and sports/athletics. A lot of Olympians have schooled/trained here and also the English Rugby club prepares here for international matches.
• "Pulteney Bridge, together with the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, is one of the world's most beautiful bridges. Like the Ponte Vecchio it is one of a handful of historic bridges in the world with shops built into it."
• Ate at Sally Lunn's restaurant, which is in the oldest building in Bath. It's famous for Sally Lunn's buns (originally Soleil and Lune for the dark top and light bottom colour of the bun itself).
• The city of Bath has all these different pig sculptures all over the city - just like Toronto has it's mooses! They're all commissioned by various artists/businesses and there's a pig-hunting treasure hunt involved with them, if you have the time.
  

Spent this past Saturday in Brighton, which is about 1.5 hours South-East of us and by the coast.

• Brighton Pier - this is probably the most famous landmark in Brighton and is a long long pier with a carnival at the end of it and hundreds, well probably thousand of tourists just wandering in and around it. We actually didn't go on the pier but instead sat on the beach.
• The beach itself was odd in that it was completely small rocks. No sand whatsoever. So when i stepped into the cold water and got up to my knees wet, the walk back uphill to my sandals was painful on the feet lol.
• Norbert brought along his kite which he flys in a sport called 'kiting'. Basically its hard-core kite-flying and pretty cool. Though when I tried, i didn't quite get the feel for it and i had to luckily struggle and crash land it between sunbathers! whoops! We will definitely try it again, but at an open park!
• Brighton has also a large gay community and that's cool and all of course. The funny thing I noticed was that on the radio, there was a local radio station called 'Gaydar Radio' which played mostly electronic music...lol love it!
• There was also an Indian-Chinese pavillion called the Royal Pavillion which Michelle and Cigdem toured through but Norbert and I skipped it and just headed to the beach.
• Great shopping in and around he city of Brighton, with lots of little independant stores that outnumber and type of chain-type stores. We will definitely go back to do more shopping for unique stuff. Also bought my new Prada sunglasses there lol. Who would've thought eh?

Just a short note to keep track of the dates/courses i've played and any quick general comments:

2008-06-17 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers); average course
2008-06-25 - Chobham Golf Club (solo); short layout, hard fairways
2008-07-08 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers)
2008-07-15 - West Hill Golf Club (solo); excellent course condition, fairways/greens in great shape
2008-07-16 - Pyrford Golf Club (solo); links-style course, great condition, looooong round as i was trapped behind a tournament and all foursomes..ugh
2008-07-27 - Milford Golf Club (w/Michelle's co-workers); hard, dry fairways, short course but challenging; shot a 92 and lost by 8.

Oh..and Happy Bday to me today. Getting alot of well wishes from great friends and it's only 11:00am back home!

So after being here for the past few weeks, I realized that this place is pretty damn expensive. For people back home, i try to compare it by saying, "..imagine living in Toronto, with the usual cost of living/stuff but cut your salary in half."

Really. That's how i've been experiencing it so far so I made the decision to look for a job and earn some British Pounds. It also helps us do all the things we want to do while we're here and not go broke in the process (travelling within Europe, dining out at nice restaurants, shopping..)

Recruiters. Hate em, love some of em, hate the rest of em more. Seriously, i have had some interesting experiences with recruiters over here and I'm sure its not a UK thing but the whole dog-eat-dog world of recruiting definitely turned me off the last few of them and I was not being very co-operative. But I guess, i should look at it as I have skills that employers need and they recognize that and i could be a good recruit for them. Anyways, i met some good ones and some retarted ones but i can admit that i did need their help.

Anyways, had 5 (apparently) very interested clients, 4 set me up with interviews, 1 i was underqualified for, 1 i was overqualified for and the 2 others gave me 2nd interviews immediately after the 1st round.

Glad to say, that I accepted one of the offers and will now be a working citizen of the UK.

Now to figure out how taxes and how Canadian laws come into play...ugh.

(The working couple..?)

We went to the Cotswold today, a range of hills in west-central England, with towns with weird names such as Bourne-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold (which we both visited). We met up with Richard, another one of Michelle's co-workers who lived near the area and showed us around and took us for 'clotted cream' (see below).

• Bourne-on-the-Water - first place we went to, and probably the most popular, tourist-attraction one. It was characterized with several small footbridges crossing a little River Windrush that winded through the city center. The weather was unpredictable (again) with rain, sun, rain, sun..all day long.
• Visited the Miniature Village which had a complete 1/9th replica of the town and within that replica, had another mini-replica..lol.
• Had afternoon tea with cream tea. Cream tea is basically regular tea but served with scones and a butter called 'clotted cream'. Cream that was as thick as butter - minimum fat content of 55%!!!!. It was sooooooo good but i believe that if you had this every day or every other day, your arteries would get clogged up mighty fast.
• Stow-on-the-Wold - took a short drive out to this next small town but it wasn't as picturesque as the last one. A bit more mainstream and busy with local traffic. If this were Markham, this would be Markham Main Street and Bourne-on-the-Water would be Unionville Main Street.
• Tried hand-pulled real english ale, Arknell's, for the first time at a pub here. Very flat and served at room temperature. "Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as 'beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide'" - Wikipedia. Basically you can tell real ale from lager in that it doesn't go down with that carbon dioxide fizziness in your throat..less carbonated.