Happenings and highlights...

Hello all! It's almost 10pm on Friday night, so this won't be a long post (famous last words perhaps?), but I wanted to give you all a quick rundown on the recent happenings and highlights before tomorrow begins! That's because tomorrow we're off to London for a day of sight seeing and various touristy activities, which will probably give me so much to write about that I'll never go back and tell you about the last week if I don't do it now!

Let's go back to Thursday of last week... that was when we went to Trev and Sharon's to help set up the marquee for Saturday's party. Thursday night marked the third time we had eaten tea at their place in the four days since we met them!! Hmmm – I think they're glad to have another young couple around!!! Anyway, from my last post and photos, you can see enough about how the marquee-erecting went that I don't need to go into it here!

After tea that night, Trev wanted to go to “Hove actually” to pick up a picnic table for the party. “Hove actually” is what the town of Hove is often jokingly called, because people who live there, when asked where they live, say “Brighton... well, Hove actually”. Hove is on the coast next to Brighton, about 20 minutes' drive from Trev and Sharon's. Anyway, the four of us jumped in the car – and I think it was at least 9 or 9:30 by then – and set off for Hove. We collected the table and a large trailer from one of Trev's job sites, then had a little meander to find out where the new gospel meeting at Saltdean (also on the coast near Brighton) was starting the following Thursday. We drove along a road which had a stunning view down over the ocean and the city lights, and saw the Brighton Pier (mentioned in a previous entry) at night, all lit up with thousands of little lights – I liked it much better than the first time I saw it (day time, very crowded, etc), and resolved to go back some night when we can leisurely explore it on foot!

We also went through a gorgeous old town called Lewes (pronounced “Lewis”), which has lots of REALLY old shops and quaint narrow streets. Trev and Sharon told us about Guy Fawkes celebrations in Lewes (the biggest Bonfire Night celebrations in Britain, I think)... thousands of people line the streets to watch the local fireworks clubs carry flaming torches and roll flaming barrels through the town, and the night culminates with everyone walking to the top of a hill to watch fireworks displays in the surrounding villages! So we are definitely going back for that in November! Anyway, I was so tired on the way back to Lindfield that I fell asleep in the car!

Saturday was the marquee party. This was a farewell gathering for Max and Elaine, who go to our meeting. They are from NZ and have been living here for 7 years, but are off to the Ukraine for a while! At the party, we met lots more people, ate lots of yummy food, played cricket, and had a sing. They even had a welcome cake for us, as you may have seen in the last entry! So that was a really lovely afternoon.

On Sunday, we had Trev and Sharon over for lunch. I made Jynni's “Honey Mustard Chicken” from our wedding recipe book (I got Mum to email me the recipe as she has the books while we're away), but unfortunately it was more like “Mustard Chicken” due to my not anticipating that English mustard (which we had) is a good deal stronger than American mustard (which was in the recipe)!! We had to put a tissue box on the table because it kept burning up our noses/ sinuses and Sharon was almost crying! Anyway, she did eat the rest of Trev's too, but she could have been trying to make me feel better... :P For dessert, we had delicious blackberry pie, which Ben had made from the blackberries we picked with Trev and Sharon the previous Sunday.

On Wednesday (two days ago), Ben and I went to Brighton for his appointment to get a national insurance number. I don't actually know what this number is for exactly, but it seems a bit like a tax file number in that you need it to work here, you only ever get it once, and it's yours forever, even if you leave and don't come back for 30 years. When Ben had booked his appointment by phone, they hadn't been able to get me one on the same day, and booked mine for the 30^th, but when we were actually there we managed to get mine done right after Ben's! So that was rather good. We gave them a lot of proof of everything under the sun, while they filled out the forms, and afterwards I was very happy to learn that our car hadn't got clamped or fined even though I had parked it in what I thought was a “permit holders only” zone – but what was actually a “permit holders OR pay and display” zone that I hadn't paid and displayed for. But that is another story, and one that is too long and makes me look a bit silly, so I won't tell it. :D

Afterwards, we drove down to the beachfront and ate fish and chips (Ben) and chicken and mushroom pie and chips (me) for lunch, just down from the Brighton Pier. We then took a walk out along the Pier, which was absolutely incredible! It was a clear (although slightly chilly) day, and the ocean was a lovely aqua blue colour that we could see through the gaps in the boards beneath our feet, as well as stretching out into the distance on each side of the Pier. The remains of an old pier looked amazing silhouetted against the ocean off to one side. Families were relaxing on the beach down below, a kid was flying a kite, and a surfer lying on his board was lazily paddling around. Sound blissfully tranquil?

WELL! ... ... ...

We then walked into a large building on the Pier, and it was a total sensory overload! This building was a MASSIVE games arcade, with every kind of game imaginable crammed all over the place, and all available floor space covered with kids and adults either playing the games, watching the games, or weaving their way through like we were. There were games where you move the big claw to pick up stuffed toys or tacky gold watches, racing games with driver's seat and steering wheel, games where you could pilot a jet, games with drawers full of coins sliding in and out constantly, games where you had to dance as the screen showed you where to put your feet...!!!! HUNDREDS of games!!!! And I want you to imagine every one of those games occupied by at least one player with their friends and family looking on, every one of those games playing the beeping, pinging, boinging, loudspeakered music and sound effects that such games employ, and every one of those games covered in flashing, flickering, blinking lights and signs!!! It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!

We then emerged out the other side of the building, where there were more vendors selling everything from fairy floss to henna tattoos to glass cubes with your 3D lasered image in them. Back at the start of the pier, there were stalls selling various foods such as crepes and donuts, as well as those show-type stands (but permanent ones) where you could shoot the ducks/ pop the balloons etc to win prizes. By this time our “pay and display” parking was about to finish, so we hurried back to the car – going around the games arcade this time! But what a tacky yet totally fabulous place it is!!! I'm still planning on going back at night time when it's all lit up so amazingly! I also need to go again when I have my camera, as the last two times we were there, I didn't have it with me!

Anyway, it's getting late, so I must wind this up. By the way, three job agencies now have my CV, and two of them have sent it to an employer re an advertised job in the last couple of days. I'm just waiting for some feedback, but so far I must say they've been much more proactive than Australian job agencies! It turns out that they can only put me forward for “temporary” (i.e. not “permanent”) jobs, as they know I'm only here for a year... which eliminates lots of really good jobs and may explain why the applications I submitted from Australia didn't amount to anything!! Anyway, hopefully something great will show up within the next couple of weeks! Ben starts work on 3 September, so he will be going into school next week to find out his timetable and start planning etc.

Well, that's all for now! LONDON TOMORROW!!!! Goodnight!