Saturday, March 29, 2008

We're leaving on a jet plane...

Ok, so yeah, I've been back in Australia for ages, so this blog url doesnt really work anymore does it... oh well, I've set up another general blog at telstratouchfone.blogspot.com.

Come stop by and see what I've been up to, and what's been going on in my head.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Calling All Cars!!!!

Ok, I need EVERYBODY'S help on this one. Can everyone please go to www.eventful.com, create an account, and then go to here: http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-001029865-8

Once there, please click on the option to try to bring The Presidents of the United States of America to Sydney (as Brisbane probably doesn't have a chance, so we might as well jump on the band wagon of the largest Australian city requesting them)

If you could all do this I would appreciate it SOOO much. Thank you for your time :P

Sunday, January 20, 2008

We now return to regularily scheduled programming

Ok, so. A month since my last post. Whoops. I should probably explain. For two of those weeks, I was either really busy, what with work being busy owing to xmas, or the library (where I get the internet connection) was shut.

For the other two of those weeks, I was staying in London with some family, and I couldn't really get much of an internet connection there either. I'll come back to my time in London in a bit.

First and foremost, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2008 to all of you. I hope you all had an awesome time. Myself, my christmas was ok, had the whole english roast type thing, but I really missed spending it with my family, so yeah. I managed to talk to all of the family pretty much however, so that was good.

Next, I am 18!!! :D I have been quite enjoying my 18ness, and have been to a local pub a few times with some friends, and also went to a club in a nearby town/city to celebrate a friend's 19th birthday. Apart from that though, I haven't really used my 18ness all that much, but I hope to be going into London on Australia Day with a friend or two and celebrating there (money withstanding of course)

So, London. I arrived in London on New Years Eve, and was in the process of aquiring a cold (it seems to be the thing to do :P). Thanks to this, I spent New Years Eve lying on a couch watching television. The day after that, my family that I was staying with (Peter and Annie) took me for a ramble, or something like that. It's pretty much like a bushwalk, only with more mud, and less vegetation :P

Then I got down into the real heavy touristy stuff. The main problem that I have with it of course is that I did so much stuff, I have a bit of trouble remembering all of the stuff that I did. So I'll just note down the highlights that I remember :P

One of them was St Pauls Cathedral. I was really nice looking in the inside, but that wasn't really the thing that I loved most about it. Sure it had beautiful mosaics, and I'll admit the painting on the inside of the dome was fantastic, but there was something even better than that. You could climb up a near lethal amount of stairs all the way to the top. The first gallery you got to was the Whispering Gallery, where if you whispered right into the wall, you could be heard clearly on the other side or something. As I was by myself for pretty much the whole time that I was in London, I couldn't do it myself, but I witnessed someone else doing it, and it was amazing how clear the words came out. After that gallery, you climbed even higher to the Stone Gallery, which was outside on the top of St Pauls. It gave a stunning view of all around London, but it was halted slightly by the large stone wall that was running around the outside of where I was standing. But the best bit of all in St Pauls was the Golden Gallery. You climb up the stairs out of this tight corridor, and out to the open air at pretty much the very top of St Pauls, and the only thing that's between you and the view is a small iron fence. It was stunning. You pretty much get knocked back down the stairs by the breathtaking views. Well, that and the ferocious winds that were blowing :P

Another quite cool thing I did was to go to the Old Bailey and sit in on a court case. I only did this for a bit, but it was really quite interesting, especially seeing as the bloke who was on trial had just taken the stand, and he didn't speak English :P

Um, yeah, to be honest, I can't remember much else right now, which is odd, as I did shitloads of stuff. I shall have to looks through all the photos that I have taken, and maps that I have gotten, and make up some kind of report from that lot :P

So anyway, my current status. Well, after leaving Peter and Annie's, I came back to stay in Maldon with a friend. The only sucky thing about returning (as I was missing all my friends, and was ready for a break, what with my going out every day) was that because I had to go away, the job that I was working at had to give some of my hours to someone else, so I only have about 11 hours there a week, which ain't all that great. But I'm going around a few pubs and places in the area seeing if any of them can give me a job, so it shouldn't be all that bad.

Anyways, my time on the computer is running out, and my hand is starting to get sore too :P
I hope you are all well and safe, and I miss you horribly, and if I don't speak on this again (I will) I shall see you all in a month when I ger back on the 18th of February.

Keep on keepin on,
Dom

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I will survive, hey hey!

Yeah, ok, so I thought I might just drop a line or two down here to say whats been going on with me in the past... two weeks (?)

Firstly, sorry I haven't said anything for ages, but I got a massive cold (we're talking fever and hallucinations here), and then about half a day after I felt up to getting up and doing stuff, the internet disappeared on me. So I signed up to the local library, and I'm stealing their intertubes from them.

Ok, first things first. I have a job now, which is excellent because it means I have money to spend. Some of that money is going towards the chick that I met over here (Faye)

We've been out on a date after... meeting :P and she seems to be pretty cool.

Apart from that though, I haven't really gotten up to much to be honest, just working and hanging out around the town I'm staying in.

Yes, still no pictures, but they will come... someday :D


Catch you all on the flipside yo
Dom

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Rates from mobiles and pay phones higher

Just in case any of you wanted to know, my new number (its in words to try to stop spammers and the like) is plus four four seven seven one seven five three five two seven five.

So yeah, drop me a sms sometime if you want to.

(Starting to miss you all)

Dom

Sunday, December 2, 2007

This is London calling

Good evening, and welcome. Before we begin our broadcast this evening, first, let me apologise for the lack of pictures so far. Trust me, I'm getting round to putting them up (both pictures from my travels AND my 18th birthday party). They will be up soon in a mass photo post.

So, I've finally gone in to check out London. It was quite fun, and also fatal at times, but more on that later.

So, on Thursday, I got to London Liverpool St Station, and just started walking in a random direction, figuring that I'd eventually stumble upon some touristy thing. I didn't, so I got out my Lonely Planet (TM) United Kingdom guide to check out what was in the area. The Bank of England was apparently, so I went to check it out. It was during this journey that I was almost killed by a taxi. I would just like to say that the English obviously don't like ANYONE being in their major cities. If you're in a car, you have to pay a congestion charge, and if you're walking, fat chance if you want to cross the road. Anyways, as you may have guessed, it was during crossing the road (at the closest thing to a crossing a could find) that I was almost run down by a taxi.

While I was walking through the City of London to the Bank of England, I was surprised at how few high rises that the city had. Brisbane has more high rises by the looks of it. The ones in London I DID see looked really quite lifeless, which was unnerving.

Eventually, I found my way to the Bank of England Museum. They have a hell of a lot of security over here. Every thing I went into required me to go through a metal detector and have my bag checked. Inside, the museum was actually a fair amount more interesting than it sounds. It wasn't brilliant, but it was still OK. No pictures of this though, as they wouldn't allow it for some odd reason. No idea why :-$

After that, I went to seek out something called the Monument. I have no idea what it was for, but it sounded interesting. Unfortaunately, I never found out what it was a monument for, or even what it really looked like, as it was covered in scaffolding. It was right next to the Thames though, so I went down for a walk along that towards the Tower Bridge. I went under the London Bridge as well, and I can confirm that the popular theory of it's structual instability is a falacy.

After a fair walk, I got to the Tower of London. I would have gone in, except that it was already about 2pm, and I wanted more time for something like that. Instead, I got some lunch in the general area, and went up to the Tower Bridge. That was a pretty awesome experience, and it had stunning views, as well as a shitload of information. It also had a bunch of different possible designs. For example, did you know that the Tower Bridge almost looked like the Sydney Harbour bridge?

Speaking of stunning views, the London Eye. After leaving the Tower Bridge, I had no idea where I had to go, apart from the fact that I had to walk along the Thames. Which I did, until I got to a point where it forceed you up onto the road. Somehow, after much walking and with the feeling of being lost, I made it to the London Eye, operating off just the odd glimpse through a multitude of buildings. I'd just like to say that the 15 pounds that it cost to go up in that thing was well worth it. Especially seeing as I had gone up at dusk/early evening. It was amazing just to see the orange sprawl of London, stretching out before me.


On Friday, I went back into London to meet up with Beth (she was already in after visiting someone the day before) at the British Museum. I didn't see all of it (which isn't really a problem, I can always go and see it again, its free :P) but what I did see was amazing. Especially the Rosetta stone, and some of the Greek Sculptures. There was a part of one statue there that was a section of arm from elbow to hand that was a big as a person. It was massive! After that, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant where I had a pretty decent Lasagna (it was still bubbling when they brought it out to me!) Then we decided to walk from there down to Hyde Park to check it out, which was a fair journey, as well as the fact that there were thousands of people. As soon as we got there though, guess what? It started to rain :P So we decided to go back to the flat in Islington via the Underground for a bit while we waited for it to be time to go to see Bill Bailey.

While Beth had a snooze back at the flat, I went out into Islington in search of a Barclays ATM. That was fun *rolls eyes* I was blundering around a market that was there, as well as a shopping centre before finally discovering that there WAS one in the area. At the other end of the district, near the universty but still within walking distance, so I set of in search for it. And then it started pissing down. And then it finished pissing down, and started blowing a gale. So at least I got dry again :P

Once I managed to get back after being lost (again :P) for a while, Beth and I set out to see Bill Bailey.

God. Damn. It.

That man is hilarious. Best 30 pounds I've ever spent. It went for 2 and a half hours, but it didn't feel anywhere that long. The man had me in stitchs. The only bad thing about it was the bloke sitting behind me, who was yelling out "YEAH!" for the whole time, and managed to tip beer down my back three times XD
Ah well, it was still an awesome experience.

And thats the news. We'll be back at a random time in the future. Enjoy the fest of your day.

Dom

Saturday, November 24, 2007

This is CNN. I mean England

Well hi there campers. That's right, it's your old pal Dom, coming to you live from Maldon, England. I got in at about 4:50am-ish on Tuesday to an overcast, rainy, cold day. Good thing it was, as that way I knew it was England :P

Anyways, apoloigies for the large gap in writing, but my laptop is a retard, and for some reason, it won't connect to the network in this house. So this is the first chance I have had to update since I got here really. Also, this is why there aren't any photos yet. ButI promise you that they are coming.

So I left Heathrow by way of the Tube. Wow. That system can be really depressing. I felt like if I talked to my single serve friend from the plane that I would have been arrested. But I finally got to Liverpool Street Station (which looked rather impressive I might add), and transferred to an above ground train out to Chemlsford. I made it there easily enough, and then it was the simple matter of catching a bus out to Maldon. And here the fun began *rolls eyes* I got on the bus, and passed a place called "Cherry Garden Lane". I was ACTUALLY headed for "Cherry Garden ROAD" :P So there I am, stranded in the middle of a rainy countryside, with no idea of WHERE I am actually going. I finally made it into the town of Maldon, but still couldn't find the road. it turned out I has passed it, after going to the Tourist Info Centre. See, the problem over here is that they don't have good street signs like we do in Oz, oh no. They have these crappy little signs low to the ground near the start of the road, that can't neccesarily be seen from either direction *rolls eyes*

Anyways (I use that a lot, don't I?), I finally made it here, and was that lagged thankfully. On Wednesday and Thursday, i went into Beth's school with her, which was pretty cool. Because she's in 6th form (a combination a Grade 11 and 12), its an incredibly relaxed and informal atmosphere, and whenI was inside and everyone had their head's down working, I couldn't really tell any difference between here and an Aussie school. It hasn't even really been all that cold. If it wasn't for the architecture and the accents, I could swear that I was in Toowoomba.

To conclude this little blog entry type thing, I'm having a fairly awesome time so far, and am about to apply for a job. And I promise that I will post pictures soon.

So for now, my ddear friends, I bid you adieu.

Dom

Monday, November 19, 2007

In Transit

So anyways, here I am at Hong Kong International Airport. What's that I here you say? Wasn't I supposed to be going through Abu Dhabi? This is true.

See, what happened was that my original airline (Etihad) delayed my flight to Abu Dhabi due to fog. Which meant that I wouldn't get to Abu Dhabi in time for my connection to London. So they chucked me onto Cathay Pacific (economy, cheap bastards) to get to London, and it's going through Hong Kong. I DID take pictures, and I shall post them soon, but I was intelligent and put the cable for my camera in my checked in luggage. To be fair though, I didn't think I'd be making an entry. Hoorah for free wireless.

The trip was painfully long (8 hours, and it gets worse from here), but the food was excellent, even if it DID look a bit weird :P The view as we flew into Hong Kong was amazing. It is really a beautiful city, and I'm glad that it was the first non-aussie city I had ever seen. Even if it WAS difficult to see the CBD due to smog :P I managed to make out the Bank of China building though, which was pretty cool. Anyways, the airline. Cathay Pacific's economy is fairly good. All seats have screens to view different channels, and you can always get service from a flight attendant. The seats were a lot smaller than they would have been on Etihad though, and there wasn't any power for laptops or anything like that. But I'll get to check out Etihad on the way home thankfully.

Anyways, I shall leave you lot to it. If you feel like it, comment me on some of the airline experiences that YOU'VE had.

Peace out y'all. Dom

Friday, November 16, 2007

And so it begins

Well now, this is the first (of hopefully many) blog posts in my journey. Yes, it's true that I'm NOT ACTUALLY in England yet, but I thought I should kick off by telling a bit about who I am.

My full name is Dominic Edward Cole, but everyone just calls me Dom. I'm 17, bout to turn 18 mid-December, although I've been told I look older. I'm fairly tall, and I'd like to say an easy going/laid back nature.

Umm... don't know what else to put really. If anybody reads this thing, put a question in the comment, and I'll answer it in this.

Dom out