Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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.

Monday, June 14, 2010

the ten botanicals


































the pub (still under construction)







✥ oh i know its been ages, but we havent had internet so its not my fault!!! ...so much has happened!!!! most importantly, we finally moved into our own apartment!!!
after a week mashed between the wall and the edge of a single blow-up bed in jerry's friend's lounge room with worlds on the couch next to us snoring every night, i was about to kill someone... jerry or worlds, most likely.

hallelujah and praise the lord, amen to jo, our fabulous real estate agent! the flat she found us is a gorgeous, cosy, modern, fully furnished apartment with wonderful views of london city, and all the special bits and pieces like dishwasher, washing machine and balcony!!! we're super super happy with it! i spent my first night unpacking my suitcases and nesting into my lovely new room...

probably because of the stress of couchsurfing and lack of sleep, jerry and i had a huge argument over the left side of the bed (closest to the windows) which ended in me forcefully removing and relocating his things to the other side...we've become like kids in primary school who share a desk and draw a pencil line down the exact middle, and measure chocolate bars with a ruler before cutting and sharing them. :o)

to add some finishing touches to the place, we made a sunday visit to IKEA and left with an overflowing trolley full of goodies, including wooden deck chairs, table and plant for our balcony, which would be so nice on a summers day if it wasn't london....

as for my job, i love it! ive been doing full time training, 10-5 each day and its been so much fun! my colleagues are really cool and my bosses are genuine, caring, friendly guys who really give a shit about their staff. the weeks activities included a three hour wine tasting with a french sommelier and a treasure hunt in the local neighbourhood around the pub! we've also studies all about alcohol, the different spirits, their histories and how and where they're made...which was really interesting! i even learnt to recite by heart the ten botanicals used in bombay sapphire gin... pretty random and some may say useless knowledge, but in my mind thats what sticks.

the pub opens next monday and it's gonna be huge! the owner (i think her daddy owns the business) has three PR companies advertising it and has invited 4000 guests to the opening launch... they're all from that snobby area so it'll be interesting to see how they are as customers. according to the toffy, model, PR guy called hugo, 'this season its not cool to party on saturday nights anymore... now its all about sunday brunch.... and dom perignon'.

jerry has been offered loads of jobs, so has worlds.. all three of us have been able to pick and choose. and all three of us have been offered bar-manager jobs! but none of us want them! too much stress. jerry's decided to take the job at a michelin 2-star french restaurant in the west end. when he was interviewed the italian boss said to him 'this is not the kind of place where the bartender is cooler than the customer'. not like in stockholm where the startenders think theyre all king of the castle. in fact he loved jerry and said 'if your friend (worlds) is a third as good as you are, we'll hire him too'.

PS. just in case you want to know, the ten botanicals are: juniper, coriander, lemon peel, almond, angelica, licorice, oris root, cassia bark, cubeb root and grain of paradise.

:o)

Monday, June 7, 2010

training day
































❉ so i had my first day of training today for the new job at 'the pub*'. we sat at a table in a snazzy restaurant in waterloo, which is under the same ownerhip (they own theatres, restaurants and pubs all over london and even a roller skating rink!) and we basically talked all day.
the owner came in to discuss the pub's concept, then the chef came in to go through the menu with us in minute detail (everything is organic, free range and very gourmet and we have to know exactly what's in the ketchup and where the eggs come from etc etc). the owners are so into the project that they're willing to pay the whole team full time wages for 2 weeks before it even opens, just so we know the business inside out! we'll be doing coffee courses, cocktail courses, role-plays and pre-opening test runs... its actually pretty fun, especially since my other colleaugues are all really nice and friendly.
after work, jerry, worlds and i went for a three hour walk around london, along the thames, through the beautiful gardens past buckingham palace, as the rain drizzled down... finally real london weather...

Sunday, June 6, 2010

...
































✽ aussies take nice weather for granted. a beautiful sunny day in london feels the same as it does in sweden. people go crazy, rushing out to fill the parks and outdoor cafes, desperate to soak in any speck of sunshine they're lucky enough to get, before it disappears...

yesterday we chilled out in hyde park in the beautiful sun and then ate a delicious lebanese lunch at an outdoor restaurant, watching the thousands of demonstrators marching towards the israeli embassy, in protest at the gaza situation.
i recalled my uni days when i would join any and every march and demonstration going on in melbourne, being so young, passionate, full of opinions, and set on making the world a better place... i'm so much more blazé now.

london is such an exciting city!
last night we met up with one of jerry and world's friends drufu and his girlfriend for beers at the corner pub, which turned into cocktails at 6 different bars in mayfair. (its so strange finding yourself on monopoly squares!) we had so much fun on our bar crawl, even though i had to swap a million times between flip flops (for the walk there) and then my new 6 inch heels (to go in)..
at the end of the night, feeling quite pissy, we decided to visit one of the strip clubs down soho, but were rejected because girls are not allowed inside!! that can't be legal!


Saturday, June 5, 2010

hello London!



























✯ WOW- too much has happened to even write about in a blog!! I wish i'd had time to write daily updates but we've been crazy busy!
...London rocks!!
ever since we arrived, its been glorious, sunny and hot, like a proper summer should be and like i didn't expect of london!

i've had so many requests for job interviews that i cant even keep up with them all!
i had my first interview and trial at 'the lanesbourough', a super snobby 5 star hotel in the city, a sea of marble floors, butlers in white gloves and bowler hats who open the door for you and where only millionaire hoighty toighties go.
my trial was as cocktail waitress in the garden bar, where guests come to sip expensive cognac and smoke cuban cigars. one bottle of cognac in the cabinet was from the 1700s and sells for £4000 per shot!!!! regular guests include CEO's, big bankers, hollywood celebrities and royalty.

the designer uniform fit me as if the tailor had sewn it onto me and although i was only a lowly cocktail waitress, i felt like a million dollars in that dress!
all the staff were italian guys except one chatterbox scottish girl who took me aside immediately and warned me that if i have other interviews i should go for them. although the italian guys were all friendly and fun to work with, she warned me 'you expect to get a lot of tips here but you don't because they pocket it all themselves.' the only reason i would act like a servant and suck up to all those rich people, stifling my entire personality like that would be for good tips. the boss loved me and asked me to start the next day... and i decided not to...

we'd spent the first 3 days in london searching for apartments, in the meanwhile staying at jerry's friend balloon's house. balloon, who's away in miami, has a luxurious pad overlooking hyde park, interior decorated with plasma TV's in every room, including over the bath!
the flats we were inspecting were not quite as snazzy ;o)... after a few apartment viewings, we decided on a cosy 2 bedroom apartment in islington, very close to the city, renovated with modern furniture and nice city views. we signed the deal and had to cough up £9000 deposit since we have no credit history or references in london... but the place is nice and we're moving in on wednesday! yay, finally our own home!!!

i had my second interview for 'The Phene' a classy place in chelsea thats been taken over by new owners, renovated and turned into a gastro pub. the manager interviewed me in the pub with construction men working all around us. although it's 2 weeks away from opening, i could see that the place will be beautiful, the concept is really cool and the manager is a good one. I agreed to join the new team and start training on monday!

we met up with my old friend dan, who was one of my best friends and colleagues when i lived in japan. i hadn't seen him since japan, 5 years ago, but he was exactly the same and as with all good friendships, we just clicked back into place like no time had passed. he took us on a pub crawl through islington and over a few pints we caught up on 5 years of news.

i knew i would love london but its even exceeded my expectations! jerry, who'd had a bad experience last time he lived here ten years ago, loves it now as much as i do. he's gotten every job he's applied for including as bartender in a gordon ramsay michelin star restaurant. jerry's friend world's, who's moving in with us, did a trial as a bartender and was offered a bar manager position on the spot!...
welcome to london, the city of opportunities! i'm gonna run to meet the boys in the park before the sun goes down!

love you all! xxxxx
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