It's that time again! Reading over last month's answers it seems like those experiences were so recent and I struggle to think of what else to add, yet as soon as I start typing my brain will go wild with all the things I have seen, felt, and experienced this past month. Today is the 9th, so exactly two months have passed since I moved in, and it was only a few weeks before I started calling this somewhat scraggy hostel 'home', but only in the last few days that I finally let my obsession with cleaning the kitchen and tidying go and really make this place - bolognese stained countertops and all - a home from home.
I've decided that I'll add a new question each month, and considering the general theme of my introduction is regarding my new home, thought it apt that the question reflected that (it may also be a foretaste of a blog post that I hope to do later this month!)
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| The outside of my house from the third floor staircase of London City Mission HQ, where I have my lectures each Thursday. The house looks rather lovely from this angle, I must say! |
1) Weirdest thing you have seen in London this month?
I have recently been spotting, on frequent occasions, a lady who rides over Tower Bridge on a pink scooter. I have smiled at her, but she is a very focused commuter, looking straight ahead to her scootering goal at all times and never pausing from her rigorous scootering stance. However, this has been trumped by an incident that took place behind my home two nights ago, with the police and fire engines blocking off our whole road, Tower Bridge, and surrounding roads, diverting commuters away. My parents were stopping by after work for a coffee and we were told, en route to Starbucks, that there was a suspected explosion. My housemate was told an hour later that there was a fire, yet there was no sign of smoke or anything being romotely burnt. This carried on for many hours and security got tighter - I even struggled to get back to the house! My housemates went for a walk to see what was going on and got no further than down the road where there were about 15 firemen lined up against the wall waiting for orders, as well as fire engines, police vans and explosive experts with their experty things (lots of suspicious looking metal cases). We decided to play lookout on the small play area behind us rather than panic about the fact that they were not evacuating local residents to safeguard against injuries from this possible explosion: who said young adults weren't sensible? Regardless, there was no explosion, or even a fire, and I am wary about posting what we were told was going on because the policeman who told us was being extremely sarcastic and basically said "yeah it just needed some water sprinkling on it, and now it's all good" - as if this potential explosive source just needed watering like a flower to stop it wilting. It doesn't necessarily count as 'weird', but it was too strange an occurrence not to share!
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| An image from near my house taken on the night of the explosion debacle - the large group of firemen aforementioned are on the far left, and the empty street (which heads on to London Bridge and would usually be awash with commuters) pretty much says it all, although this was taken towards the end of the drama. |
This month in our house was birthday month, with four of us having birthdays, which was a real opportunity for us to get to know each other better and basically spend time together that didn't involve watching a whole series of Miranda in one evening. Even by mid-October, it felt like the house had split somewhat because four of the girls worked together, and those of us working with London City Mission were together on Thursdays and had lived together for a week before any of the others moved in. We were all too tired from adjusting to our new jobs and schedules to bond late into the night and we had only a very basic knowledge of one another. When my birthday rolled around in early October, my fellow CV Emma made me a hunk of a chocolate cake with strawberries and the girls gave me chocolates, which was delicious and really made us feel more of a little community in the house, but by the time October ended there were three birthdays in the space of a week, so we celebrated with a meal out at Zizzi's on a Thursday evening, the only evening when it is pretty much guaranteed that we will all be together. It was such a lovely evening that had the potential to be horrifically awkward, but we chatted about our work, ourselves and had a good ole' chuckle. We then stepped outside onto the cobbled street (I do love a good cobbled street) and pretended that we were Mary Poppins, clicking our heels and taking photos like this:
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| From L-R: Helen (LCM), Naomi (XLP), Me, Mair (XLP), Emma (LCM), Anna (XLP), Ruth (XLP) |
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| My birthday cake! |
One of the best birthday memories comes from the last birthday. My fellow LCM-er Helen and I decided to make a cake for Emma, since they has made mine together. In doubling the recipe, however, we added an extra egg and forgot to purchase baking powder, meaning a well-baked cake but with absolutely no rise! Forced to be creative, as well as hiding our cake concoction from Emma when she returned, Helen transferred the cake onto a round tray and took it hostage in my bedroom, where we proceeded to have a birthday card writing and cake decorating session for the next few hours. The rounded tray meant, however, that while the cake was cooling two of the corners were fragile. Our solution? Cut off those corners and make them into a kite. In fact, let's make the cake a work of art! Cue caramel waffles being placed on the cake, following my pink cream cheese and white chocolate icing (a sunset, apparently), and marshmallow clouds. A cake fit for a (twenty) four year old!
Another major highlight was having some familiar faces coming to visit. While I love all the people I am meeting, it isn't quite the same as having your sister stay over and wander round London with her, or approaching a mentally ill man along the Thames with a friend from CU and offering him prayer, or asking strangers to take pictures with a Trevor the teddy. Those late night chats and film nights were so worth it and were just really comforting while my housemates were on their half term and the house was largely empty.
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| My sister wouldn't want her picture up on here, so here is one she took of me in front of the Houses and Parliament and Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell but oh, well) |
3) Favourite part of your work this month?
I would have to say meeting with local women in their homes - they have so much to teach us reserved Brits about hospitality. Seeing the other side of life and meeting with one particular woman who everyone else would despise - living off benefits (although not by her choice, she struggles to find work and is actually very intelligent), overweight, living in chaos and clutter - yet seeing the effort she goes to, buying us cake from her very little money and even giving us a huge three course meal because she wanted to show gratitude to us for bothering with her. Sometimes, that means gritting your teeth and drinking out of an unclean teacup or having tea without milk because she hasn't got any money left for it, or trying on her cloths that she wants to give you even though they're not to your taste. But I love it. I love seeing her curiosity about faith and her willingness to ask us questions and simply showing her the compassion that no one who lives near her has. It is an immense privilege, and is eroding my sense of entitlement. For that I am elated.
I am also enjoying my Monday Asda trips because when it is really sunny you get beautiful views of the docklands and Canary Wharf!
4) Least favourite part of your work this month?
Pretty much the same as last month. One week, I think I am getting the hang of things, and the next I am stuck in the kitchens chopping up salad and washing up so that everything I used to know just pops out of my head! I have also had a particularly clumsy week this week, knocking a tray of flapjacks off the counter onto the floor (losing the cafe money-wheey to go!), putting spoons in the bin and emptying cappuccinos into the bin, and then putting our order slips into the refrigerator instead of the milk. This was all topped off when I got home and microwaved some soup for myself and upon taking it out of the microwave, dropped it all over my left palm. Playing a clean version of "I have never" with frozen peas with Helen in A&E wasn't the best way I could have spent my fireworks night! I also struggled working Friday evening yesterday. It was rather disorientating and I didn't really know what was going on, and all the people I work with regularly weren't there. Hopefully I will get used to it!
5) Hardest part of your work this month?
I would have said the long hours, but these have been reduced - wahey! I would say, therefore, having the motivation to study alongside my work for my lectures. You really need to concentrate and often I find myself quite tired or, when I start, I realise after a few hours that nothing has gone in. It's weird juggling the two and putting so much physical energy into one and all your intellectual energy into the other and basically becoming a ball of exhaustion, hence having Saturdays as a 'resting day'. I have absolutely no idea how others play in bands or work as artists or illustrators alongside this job, or just go out and spend time being cultured in London. I know I need to get a better social balance but at the moment I am enjoying watching film after film each night.
6) Would you kindly sum your working month up in three alliterating words?
Creative, complex, clumsy.
7) Weird habits developed this month?
Still obsessed with cleaning the kitchen, but a more rewarding habit has been reading my Bible both morning and evening. I normally stick to morning and do a longer session, but doing both has been really useful and given me a little less strictness to my morning schedule, which I have enjoyed.
8) What are you missing the most about home this month?
The boringness of Croydon. I didn't ever really feel guilty about not going out and staying at home when all you were greeted with was an overpriced cinema, shopping (which would have been less stressful online) and grey buildings against dull skies. Living in London, however, gives you this pressure to be more outgoing and extroverted and to cease all these opportunities that are in front of you - going to see a play, a gallery, trying new food, meeting new people and exploring all the city has to offer. Truth is, I would rather order a film off Amazon and spend my day with a tub of Ben and Jerry's because I am not cut out for spontaneity, but sensibility. Not to mention that I can't afford to be eating out, going to exhibitions and certainly not musicals! I spend my money (that I have been saving for the past year) treating myself to a nice shampoo from Lush that will last me six months, not a meal that will last me ten minutes. That being said, I have been for a few meals this month - just look at this corker from Las Iguanas, where my mum took my sister and I. Curry hemmed in by a shell of butternut squash with rosemary crumbled over the top - my tastebuds were having a party!
9) Best housemate moment?
There have been far too many in the past few weeks! The cake captivity debacle aside, I would have to say the evening this past thursday which involved singing Christmas songs in our worst singing voices, learning a dance routine, moaning, eating freddos (we were given a box of 60!) and watching series 3 of Miranda. We were also planning our house Christmas dinner and how we were going to decorate, which got us all extremely hyped up for the Christmas period, and not just because of the twinkling lights and presents, but for the singing of our favourite hymns and remembering the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it.
Apologies for the length and somewhat dodgy photography - I have been too scared to take my big camera out too much so a lot of it is HTC One quality and a lot of cropping!
-Antonia
P.S. Many of these photos were taken from my Instagram
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