Wotcha! (Apparently that is slang for hello in London. Yep, got me stuffed too.)
Thought it was about time I group emailed everyone with an update on how life is treating me overseas. Apologies to those who I may be repeating this to, but here goes…
So when I left you last, I was dossing on the couch at my sisters and cousins place. Good news is that the accommodation situation was very quickly resolved, when one of the girls in the house moved back to Mona Vale and I ended up grabbing the room – for what can only be described as a VERY reasonable weekly amount in London. Pity it’s the size of a shoe box (can’t open the door fully as the single bed gets in the way!) but at least it is a room of my own, and I can still hang all my shirts in coloured order. Hopefully will move into one of the bigger rooms eventually.
It’s been about 10 weeks now since I left home (doesn’t time fly). Happy to say that I haven’t been idly lazing around London, and for good reason. The place really is a big shithole compared to the rest of Europe, so as much as possible I will be doing regular short trips to the continent. The rest of the UK can be quite pleasant, and on a good day London isn’t so bad either. It’s just that the bad days really are shockingly deplorable, and it’s only one month into Autumn! Clearly, getting into routine has been the best thing to take your mind off the weather, and get over the homesick blues – which I am well and truly over now.
It didn’t take long for me to get into the rowing scene over here. Within a week of arriving in London, I scouted out the nearest rowing club to our house, and now I am happy to say that I am a proud member of the Putney Town Rowing Club (www.putneytownrc.co.uk). I started out training with the novice development group, and after about 3 weeks they were impressed enough to promote me to the men’s squad, where things are going really, really well.
[If you don’t wanna read about rowing, then skip the next 4 paragraphs!]
The club has approx 300 members, 200 of which are active rowers, the others are coxes, coaches, supporters and bar-flies. Naturally I’m still struggling with everyone’s names, but it didn’t take long for me to be known as ‘Aussie Matt’ around the traps. I am getting a name for myself in many ways, (nothing too bad!), pulling good ergo scores is one, and my choice of clothing for rowing is the other. Since I don’t yet own any proper rowing ‘kit’ I’m still wearing bonds singlets, shorts and thongs in the boats. The pommies over here can’t stand getting wet – something to do with the sewerage in the Thames – so they all dress in long sleeve pants and rashies, gumboots, jackets and other cold weather gear while rowing. Must admit though it won’t be long before I buy a long sleeve rashie. This last weekend especially was deplorable weather and I dogged a training session because it was soooo miserable (and because of the NRL Grand Final).
It is interesting being in a club that is purely focused on one objective – rowing. Unlike the surf club, nobody here has to worry about doing patrols, bronze medallions, politics between the various sections, etc. Best part is, the club colours are blue and white! I’m doing my best to get them to add ‘black’ to that combination, then I’ll really be at home with Cronulla colours J. They squads still have the same old timeless arguments about the women’s rowers and how they are always using and buggering up the men’s equipment! But it’s all light hearted banter really, and interestingly enough, there are probably equal numbers of active female rowers to male rowers, making it a very mixed sex club. Probably a good thing too, don’t tell Chesty I said that.
Training is intense, and I will point out that the season officially began 2 weeks ago, meaning we will be training hard for the next 6 weeks and then the regattas start, so there is no time off water just because it is cold! I am doing a regular 4 sessions per week; Tuesday nights ergos (like, ½ hour ergos!), Thursday nights Circuit Training, and then we row both days on the weekend. Lately we have been doing ‘double outings’ which means actually spending about 4 hours at the club, two sessions with a ‘tea break’ in the middle. Trust me you are bloody sore in the arse by Sunday arvo, and I have formed a whole new set of blisters on both hands and feet from the sculling. Top top it off, it’s 7km from my house to the clubhouse at Kew (near Richmond) so I bought a bike to help me get around and save on tube/bus fares. It has certainly done that – my odometer says I’ve already done 320km on the bike (that’s 14km return with every training session!)
Learning technique from different people has been good also, I have finally homed in on some of the things I’ve been trying to master at Cronulla SLSC, so it helps to have a different perspective. Our coach James is really good at technique, not justin the boat but also with weights. I’m now lifting 1/3 of the leg weights that I was, but with proper technique, my muscles are still sore and developing in the right places. With any luck I will learn a lot and bring all this knowledge back to Cronulla, where I intend on taking the boat section to new heights! The discipline and the training regimes, and the facilities of the rowing clubs here are something to behold, and we need the same at the surf club, so anyone from Cronulla reading this, let’s pull our finger out and get the bay shed redevelopment back on the agenda!
[End Rowing Stuff]
Ok what else is news…
Just 3 hours ago, I was running along the Grand Union Canal (since it was a nice sunny day for a change, I was out doing some training), and I got the phone call I’d been waiting for. That’s right, Brucey now has a job!
I start tomorrow, working for the Henley Marketing Group, located in Old Street, Central London – as Online Project Manager. Specifically I’m working on a massive (government supported) project called National Family Week. I went for this role as it was not entirely technical – I don’t want to be programming for 8 hours a day. We have a couple of other developers to do that, so my main role is project management, creative elements, writing features and some editorial stuff, and also assisting the development of a few other minor projects along the way. I’m not complaining about the wage either! I’m very happy about getting a job, as the ‘Bank-O-Mat’ was starting to look quite skint, as the pommies would say. Plus the economic outlook over here is quickly going down the gurgler. On the news over here, everything you read about is either ‘credit crunch’, Gordon Brown’s demise, or someone getting stabbed. Job will be long hours, but hopefully keeping me out of trouble at the same time, plus look great on the resume and hopefully be a lot of fun too!
From here on, I’ve got a few travel plans set – in 2 weeks Michelle (cousin) and I are going to Italy for 2 nights. We found these cheap 2 pence flights (that’s about 5c) with Ryanair to Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliette. It cost us more in Visa Card charges than for the actual plane tickets! Then the very next day, we are off to Sweden, staying in Stockholm for 2 days, followed by Uppsala where we are meeting up with Kajsa, one of the Swedish lifeguards I met at the World Lifesaving Championships. Hopefully I’ll also see Rachael Holland that weekend too, not sure if she’ll be around at this stage but she lives there for uni. Interestingly, Kajsa is having a ‘farewell party’ which we have been invited to. She is moving to Sydney in November to spend 5 months in Australia and talked up joining Cronulla SLSC to swim I believe. If she does and you see her around, make her feel welcome.
Apart from that, I have well and truly enjoyed my travels over the past month or so. I’ve been back to Germany to sort out some stuff for SLSA, sightseeing around Salzburg in Austria, experienced an unbelievable ferry ride around ‘Kings Lakes’ in Bavaria, the cleanest most beautiful lake in Germany, and of course, made my mark on Oktoberfest, which was just an unbelievable, unforgettable experience (partly because I don’t remember all of it anyway!). My outfit especially is one to behold – authentic Austrian national lederhosen that was just an absolute hit at the festival, (and cost me a bloody arm and a leg, but was so worth it!) There has also been plenty of touring around the UK, from Cambridge to Dorset, and I’ve uploaded several photos just of ‘Life in London’ including our Aussie BBQ and the ‘rat hunt’…
I’m glad that many of you have replied to me that you like the ‘commentary’ associated with my photos, so I have kept it going, and will try to keep the dialog as interesting as possible and full of my warped, dry humour. I’ve kept it going, so you can see what I’ve been up to – all are worth a few laughs, if you are inclined to read through it. My latest adventures are always available on Facebook and I’m working on getting them onto this blog for those who don’t have a Facebook account – might make it a bit easier for you.
OK well, I’ll try to keep the updates a bit more frequent, since obviously there’s a lot happened since my last email, and seriously you will be up all night if you read everything, so I don’t expect everyone to. Except you Skinny Green, I expect you to.
Cheers everyone, don’t forget if you are in the area (Europe) please drop a line!
MATTHEW BRUCE
Foreign Correspondent | Cronulla SLSC
