others

Yellow submarine - the beatles
5 chocolate eclairs?
tina turner
eurythmics -"it's alright babies coming home"
its a good thing your buying the CD at 8 pounds a ticket sounds like he could do with the cash.
Ill keep thinking about it,
hugs jam

more

what were the other rounds that mum used to sing with us?

Londons burning?

there were lots of tina turner songs, which stand out in your mind?

nut bush? hero? private dancer? rain on my window?

Jam

hope you got your invite, if you go to settings and permission we can change this to an invite only viewing blog

K so songs so far - ballad of cursed anna - jonathon kelly (may buy CD from amazon to get this song and then can give whole album as well)
- babylon - don Mclean
- summertime (and the living is easy) -
- scarborough fair -
-smelly socks in andora - gypsy kings
- eurythmics
- paul simon
-dirty red bandana -

the last weeks intake

I know its christmas but

I seem to have been out a lot, and none of the events were christmas related.

Friday last week I met david from work and we went for a drink with Ben and Kate, his work fellows, as they worked till 9.45pm we were at the pub till midnight ish and then went and ate at a pakistani restaurant, the only one that was still open in enmore. i was shocked that on a friday night in a big city there isn't more demand for places to be open late. anway my tikka was too spicy and david had what looked like beef in gravy with dried stuff sprinkled on top, but it was nice to be out as a couple.

Saturday was the day of rest, went to randwick library

Sunday david was working till 6. i got a phone call from him saying 'bring a picnic' with the promise of watching the sunset at the botanical gardens. walked up the road that his work is one and he was sitting outside their regular pub! picnic cancelled, beer ordered. Ahh well what can you do, so we shared the food i had made and bought with sylvia (french), tom (chinese/aussie), lambross(greek/aussie) and kate (country aussie), the pub kicked us out four hours later at 10, so we roamed the streets trying to find an open pub, eventually walked past scruffy murphies, frequented by many backpacker peeps, but it was serving so had a beer and listened to a band, had a wee dance and then walked home because we had ran out of cash.

monday i went and hung out at my pal jasmines, had a coupl, hung out with her friends, headed home to feed david.

tuesday we went to a wedding, tan-mai and keoni, at 9am in the registry office, nice red wall and fresh flowers, no songs or readings hence it only took 15 minutes. david works with tan-mai. then walked round sydney trying to find an open pub again, this time due to the early hour, found one eventually and we drank champers to celebrate then hung around till the restaurant opened, had somechicken and chips, and then david headed off to work, and i went home.

wednesday i finally had some work. Thursday too but nearly got sent home cause of a mix up with who they had booked for the shift. then met up with guilia.. story to be continued

well well well, its december and i am already on my fourth chocolate in the advent calender, although i was rather disappointed that there isn't a picture behind the chocolate. but what do you expect when its called a christmas countdown calender.

Had a nice couple of days, friday i didn't get any work in the day, then when i agreed to go out with my friends they called asking me to fill an evening shift, felt bad turning it down, but no point living in oz with money, but noone to hang out with. So went and met my pal jaz at the erko hotel, where erskineville kings was filmed, had a beer with her and her buddy brooke and then we walked to newtown for some chinese, yum yum, between bites pulled a drunk man back to his feet , sent him on his way, finished the crispy chicken and went for drinks at another pub on king st. chatted to jaz's friends from school, then mate david on his way back from work via the pub also. msn'd jam for a while, after david told him i was drunk, which i wasn't as i didn't have a hangover on saturday.

saturday we hung out, not really sure what we did except reading and playing online.

yesterday we both worked! i was in a random place north, i think, of parramatta, that was a steiner disability service, like garvald in many ways. I went to the carols by candlelight service with the clients of the house, and then made my way home by bus, train (when it decided to turn up, and foot).

Today has been lazy, but creative, playing with movie maker, and making christmas cards. with some korean dvd watching and book reading alongside. am now waiting for david to return from work so i can feed him some spag bol, or a variation of.

this week so far

Well life is ambling along.

Sunday we did some shopping, got a free shower head, which we were about to fork out 23 dollars for, but then saw the water people giving out energy saving bags. Even though we didn't have any ID for our address the fellow was kind and gave us a shower head anyway.

David went swimming in enmore pool whilst i read my book in the park. Its a pretty good book then spans across four or five generations of original australians and the early settlers.

On monday i didn't get any shifts for work so i did our boring paperwork banking etc and then came home and did some painting for a few hours, then i watched a dvd called Twist, loosely based on oliver but updated and set in Toronto. was a bit full on for me.

yesterday i got a shift at a place i used to work at, but nobody, well except for one person, remembered me. Thanks Kevin!! Even though i managed to remember all their names and all the clients names. Even stranger they were expecting someone else also called lydia. I heard the asst manager say to the guy i was working alongside, 'forget what i told you about Lydia, tis is a different one'. So I was even more intrigued and asked him what she had said about this 'other Lydia', turns out that she was really lazy and just sat around not doing any work at all.

Now I don't know if that was actually me, but they think I'm a different person cause of my new funky hair, or whether there is someone sullying my good reputation. I am pretty sure it wasn't actually me because I don't sit around doing nothing, I am pretty involved with the clients at least, and at the time they kept asking the agency for me to work there. So now I need to ask my work to make sure the day centers know they are getting hardworking Lydia, not lazy Lydia. This may explain why I have not been offered many shifts recently.

David is working evenings this week because there isn't enough work at taverner at the moment, so I have been left to my own devices, generally painting and reading, trying not to go out and spend money, as it seems I'm just as good at David at frittering it away.

I have been trying to upload some pics onto the blog but our net connection isn't coping well, so it hasn't been poss as yet. But I am working on a Christmas special that I hope to send all the loved ones so everyone can see what we look like after nine months in Oz.

Today I worked at another place that actually remembers me, and left with an invite to an xmas party!! Took the clients to a sensory room at another day centre, which cost 15 bucks each. seemed a rip off really, but they enjoyed the outing anyway.

Also got talking to a member of staff that seems to think she is doing art therapy, even though she doesn't even have her degree yet. Not really sure how to approach these people, do I just say, 'YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO DO THIS!!!' or 'WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT ART THERAPY ITS JUST ART YOU SILLY SILLY WOMAN' or something along these lines, obviously I don't I just sit there asking questions and listening politely to them telling me their vast amounts of knowledge, blah blah blah. It makes me understand why there is a push to call it art psychotherapy, because we can never stop people saying that they are doing art therapy, especially when of course art is therapeutic, but it needs to be with a trained therapist for it to be therapy, so if we change our name then they can have art therapy, and we can have art psychotherapy.

Anyway I am back at home in the attic now, planning my relaxing evening, waiting for a call for a shift tomorrow.

Ooh yes, and I had my first Christmas stuff arrive in the post yesterday, but I have promised father Christmas and my mum and my sister not to open it until the 25th december. Need to go and make cards to send to you all. Please give me your address if you want a card, I should have them all somewhere but just incase I have lost it send it to me.

long time no blogging

well its been a while since I actually posted anything here. so I will start from today hopefully, being a little more dedicated to reporting events while we are in Oz.

To keep things up to date, David is still working in market research, but he has been promoted to team leader, and I have finished my first year of Art Therapy masters, and so I am working as a support worker for an agency.

Here are some pictures of me with short hair (chopped off a couple of months ago when i was a hair model) and some pictures of our area Enmore and some other random things.

Lyd

See we are in Australia, although Lyd needs to rethink her pose. OPEN YOUR EYES GIRL!

Lydia on hong kong harbour, feeling jetlagged

Birthday Man

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. Happy birthday Roger John Bamkin hope you like your presents, although they may arrive late because of a hiccup with my credit card and amazon.

Hope you get a nice cake and all the kids were nice to you, including tessa and marianne.

love you loads and miss you and thinking about you..............lyd xxxxxxxxx

opera's house

Yesterday I was meant to audition to be a hair model for a hair expo, it was in sydney so i arranged to meet my friend before to have a chat and then i was going to meet david from work. well then my friend got told about a free showing of films at the opera house starting at 3.30, my hair thing was at 5. But it was already 3pm and we had to meet david, and then decided we couldn't make it to the opera house in time, so we went and bought posh icecream in chinatown. i had choc mint, david had choc nut, g had pistachio (she is italian-australian).
Then her pal called again saying there were more screenings so instead of going to be a hair model we walked down the backstreets of sydney to the operahouse at circular quay. There was a huge queue so we debated about whether to join it or not, then they said there would be another screening at 6.30 if we missed the 5pm one, which we did. so we queued for 1 1/2 hours to watch a free film. eventually we got in, tired and hungry and watched two shorts sponsored by some indigenous funding, about la perouse rugby team and an actor from water rats whose brother had cerebal palsy and a learning difficulty. Then there was a new film being screened, we tried to stay inside the theatre but they wanted us out, because tons more people were queuing for this showing. So we went and checked out the queue and thought it was too long, then a woman sidled up to us and asked if we wee going in, we said the queue was too big, and she said that they were going to give free tickets to another play in the opera house to those who didn't get in. So obviously we joined the queue. I wanted to get the free tickets to the other thing but unfortunately we got in to see this film. It has apparently won lots of awards already and is about a philipino boy and his family. We also got to see the directors of the films and the people from the documentaries and ask questions. We hadn't set out to queue for half a day or to see three free films but it was worth it. Then we had a long bus ride home.

Hi guys, we've been up to stuff this week too.

on sunday i went to the fitness expo and had a look round, then i helped david and workmates take town their stall. then the guy that was running the stall, born in leic, raised in oz, living in korea, took us all out for dinner. Had a nice pub meal and a couple of schooners. david didn't really make any money out of the work, but didn't lose any, and had a chance to meet some people. The guy, kerry, also said he might have some work for david writing english books, and may may out some commission if he gets any business deals from the expo.
David had a great contact though, who has followed him up and invited him in for an interview to lecture on the fitness qualification courses.
I had interview for support work but i'll have to do(and pay for) a first aid course first, which is about seventy five quid, and i'm not even guaranteed work after that, so i'm applying for lots of shop jobs hoping they get back to me soon.
Also went and looked at a room to move into in june, sharing with the owner. the room is huge and much closer to the city, (you can see it from the next street, although may take an hour to walk there) its five mins away by train, and close to newtown which has tons of retro, gay, punk type people and shops. So we are moving there for the winter.
David also has some work starting on wednesday, at last. although not sure how regular or well paid it is. doing market research. Included a picture so you can remember what we look like.

lots a ozzie love

Easter was busy, no eggs though

So we've actually had quite a busy week this week, and I haven't even been having lectures (Easter hols). On Sunday we decided to treat ourselves and blow some money(eight quid) on a day trip to the blue mountains. We packed some bread and crisps and cereal bars and water, I packed three tops and gloves (it had been 9 degrees the day before out there) and we caught a train to Katoomba. We didn't know where we were going, or what we were going to see, I'd forgotten to look at our lonely planet, so when we arrived we walked out onto the high street and kept going. Hoping that the people in front of us were going somewhere interesting and not just round to see their pals. Passed a chocolate shop, and then arrived at echo point, where there were tons of tourists looking out onto a vista of beauty, the Jamison valley. This is basically miles of trees in the bottom of the valley, and we were on one side so we had a good idea of just how huge the blue mountains park is. We saw the three sisters, which was really just some old rock and not very exciting, and then went for a walk into the bush. We saw a little waterfall, and two red parrots. We also saw loads of brits wearing t-shirts and shorts, and I was wearing my jacket and jeans.

Then more things have happened, David got offered a job working at a market research place, but doesn't start till may, is nights, and he doesn't know what the wages are. Then he got offered a pretend job (travel and meals paid for) which is where he is now. Its helping a fellow from leicester who lives in south Korea, but was brought up in Oz. He has a company selling vibration platforms (yes we know!!) and wanted some people to help him at the Sydney fitness expo. He is a nice guy, and has been treating them to lunch and dinner, and its great for David to be able to leave the house. He also has the chance to see the expo and make contacts!! So he started thurs and finishes Sunday, and I'm going to pop down on Sunday and they'll try and get me in free. Oh yeah, and if they guy actually sells one of his machines David will get two hundred and fifty bucks, more if the guy sells more, or if David personally secures a deal (which is very unlikely).

More things we are doing, have been arranging somewhere for us to move, and so we're meeting a girl on thurs to see if her house is nice. I am meant to be doing work rather than writing all this so goodbye until something else different happens. Leave us a message too.

Trauma in Werrington

Well this week has been entertaining. I really don't like being late for things so imagine how I felt when I got locked out onto our balcony, on the morning of my presentation!!

I missed it, but someone filled in for me.

I was very traumatised and can't really write about it much, except that I cried, I was out there for 2hours before anyone even heard me shouting, David had gone into Sydney. I was very embarrassed. I felt like a caged animal at the zoo that has been closed for the holiday.

But I don't think it will affect my marks, thank heavens, I just have to write about it.

I am now the UWS ANZATA representative. cool huh. means that i tell uni about things happening in the art therapy assoc. and then tell the assoc. about things happening at uni, will get to go to conferences too.

Still no work, if anyone has contacts in Sydney please tell them david and i are nice and need jobs soon, or we'll be coming back to the UK.

changes

You can now add comments even if you aren't a member. I think

:(

Lydia had a stressful day today at uni.

perhaps beginning to feel homesick after phoning home last night.

:(

This is a tapestry/weaving I made for my group presentation on art therapy history. It symbolises many things. The girl looking in pain is from my class.
We now have work visas. yeah, just need jobs now and we'll be settled.

The end of March, not achieved much

Well we haven't vanished off the face of the earth, we are just in hiding in a remote township west of Sydney.
generally our weeks have been made up of going into my university and david will read while i study, and occasionally he'll look for jobs, trying to find the cheapest kinds of foods, hanging around our flat reading and studying, and two days a week i have to go 10-5 to lectures.

This week we had a powercut!!! Right after I came home from doing my first presentation on the history of art therapy. We thought it wasn't that big a deal, just had sandwiches and went to bed early but we don't have many electrical products, still no fridge, the street lights, shops and train station all lost power. lots of people were looking confused outside the chippy, no power = no chips.

My presentation was very successful, lucky really as we put a lot of effort into it. i was out of the house at 7.30 and the presentation wasn't till 10.am and was only meant to last 30 minutes. The weather is getting colder, yet the airconditioning stays on.

Lots of love to you all

We have now seen kangaroos. on my campus no less!!! ther were four grey ones and smaller than i expected.
I started my actual lessons on monday and tuesday 10-5, i have made some friends on the course. there are only two of us doing the masters full time starting this year but a llot of people doing the masters part time or the grad dip full or part time, so there are quite a few people on the course. it is taught in an old farm cottage (the campus used to be a farm and this is the homestead) and it has a lovely veranda that looks out over the countryside. as you can guess we are in a rural area.
The course tutors are very friendly and we even have a little kitchen (which has better facilities than ours at the moment)
I have also seen parrots, cockatoos, budgies, lizards and big ants. Luckily i haven't been too plagued by mosquitos yet, but the cockroaches are big here.
I have lots of reading and assignments to do in the next 12 weeks, but luckily no exams!!!the weather isn't very hot at the minute, we even had thunder and lightening, but the ozzies were glad of the rain.
We have been taking advantage of the uni free stuff this week, getting free lunch (bbq) yesterday and today, and i got a free candy floss.

just a quickie

So we have arrived safe and sound in sunny Oz, there are journal inputs from the last few days that david is going to put online so you'll just have to be patient. This is just a quickie to say we are alive. Miss you all, lyd and david