the balancing act

at the pub






✥ how does anyone find time to pick their nose in this rat race, dog-eat dog world called london??? i'm not bagging it out as a city - i love it! ...its just the hospitality industry here is more like the slave trade.
the last 3 weeks i've worked harder, longer hours than ever before and for wages that seem too low to even be legal. how can people afford the rent, let alone hold their heads high when they're making £6.50 ($11 AUS) per hour, before tax, working weekends and late nights with no tips!???

At 'The Pub'* (real names have been changed since one of the guests yesterday told me he read my blog!!) situated in the richest neighbourhood of London, the guests expect a silver-service fine-dining experience, even though its just a pub, and no matter how friendly and accommodating we are, they very rarely tip.
and we're so busy sprinting around the place for them all night that we don't have time for breaks or meals (although on the up side i have managed to shed a few unwanted kilos because of this...)
listen to me, whingeing and moaning like a pom! i am actually enjoying myself! my colleagues are great! having survived the stress and trauma of an opening together, we've become a really close-knit team. and the place is gorgeous. once everything's running smoothly, it'll be a really nice place to work.

i just need a weekend job to pay the rent... and today i think i found one. the bar manager of 'The Gardens'* a members club owned by richard branson, asked me for an interview today and i totally aced it. interviews are one of my fortes, i have to say. the trick is to go into 'stage mode', treat the interviewer as a friend, look them straight in the eye and relax, have a laugh, tell some stories... i honestly get every job i'm interviewed for!

jerry and worlds have been dragged down by the slave trade lately too... even though they work in a super-snazzy michelin 2-star french restaurant, they're so insulted by lack of tips, tired from the long hours and bored by the job in general, that they're both missing stockholm, where bartenders make as much money as doctors and live lives of luxury...

i read my own tarot cards, as i always do when i need a little comfort, and they revealed that this juggling and balancing act will only last a while and then ill find happiness, inspiration and spiritual enlightenment ;o)

i actually do get the feeling that an exciting whirlwind is around the corner. coca cola is considering buying my brothers iphone application 'dreamwalk', which could turn them into instant millionaires. luckily i'd conned jerry into buying some shares from them so we'll be able to cash in on it too.
and anyway, samuel promised me that as soon as he's rich he'll finance any project i wish to pursue... i'm dreaming of a little cafe on the coast, with good coffee, a garden, a room for art and photography exhibitions, maybe a little boutique, a yoga studio upstairs... a collective type thing. although the idea sounds suspiciously hippyish to jerry, he's still totally into it.

lately we've been working so much that we barely see each other. we're so excited when we do have a rare day off together that we walk around holding hands and pashing on street corners like new lovers :o) .... and we do love london, even if she has enslaved us.