Thames Path Appreciation Society

Twickenham Amateur Regatta

I’ve been back for two weeks now. I’ve shaken off the holiday blues, started a new placement, and am back in full London-swing. Although I’m back, I haven’t totally pushed NZ/Oz out my mind. I have plans to return, for a longer time, in the future. But there are a few things I want to tick off the list before then.

The past two weeks have flown by, partly due to the fact that I’m really enjoying the new placement at work. I’ve moved into IT Infrastructure and it’s likely to be an area that I’m in for some time. Placements are usually about 4 months long but what with the Games and me out volunteering a chunk of that time, we haven’t actually set any end date yet. I’ve started in the End User Computing team – involving everything to do with the user from investigating computing faults to creating new user accounts and granting users access to share drives and various softwares and applications – which, I KNOW, sounds fairly boring, but I actually find quite interesting getting to see how the back end system is all linked together. I like the customer contact and getting to talk to, and help people. Anyway, enough of that for now – more news soon…

The La's

Last week was pretty relaxed; the jetlag definitely affected me more on the return leg – AKA I did nothing of interest to tell you about. That’s not totally true, I did spend the evenings researching the IT job market in Sydney and the visa application process...
On Friday I jumped on a train and headed to Manchester Piccadilly to catch a ride with Naomi and Dad back home – via a lovely dinner at the Brinsop Arms where I talked basically uninterrupted for two hours! - sorry Fam!

  

On Sunday I went to Manchester. I went for a sensible, sophisticated lunch with a select group of close lady friends. What I got was a beer and a burger, inappropriate hilarity, penny poker, Jӓgerbombs, tequila shots and shisha pipes with a group of peer-pressuring barely-women. Such a good day (minus the footballing saga which we’re definitely not mentioning here). In fact I had such a good day that I decided it would be best if I just stayed in Manchester all night and got the 5.05am train back to London on Monday… Seemed wise at the time. I survived Monday – but it was definitely touch-and-go more than once during the day.

During the past week I went to another BCS lecture about something probably fairly uninteresting for most, I also went to my first netball practice session in a while and caught up with how the second season has gone so far – pretty much the same as last season. On Friday I finally got around to doing my practical assessment for my ICSA license. During the busy morning period I pulled on my hi-vis jacket, picked up my baton and PA walky-talky thingymajiggy and off I went announcing destinations, warning people to ‘please stand well behind the yellow line for your own safety’ and asking everyone to ‘please mind the doors, mind the closing doors please!’ - I passed! And then, it was the weekend again. I bumped into one Mr James Brook for a cheeky pint in a great place after work on Friday and then went home for a Skype session with Sydney, Australia.

Ham House

Ice Cream

And now we get to the good stuff – Saturday. I’d seen a free give away in the paper last weekend 'Great British Walks' – so I went for a walk. I got the tube all the way to the end of the District Line to Richmond and according to the route map I was supposed to head in a south easterly direction. I didn't. I soon realised it was Heineken Cup Final day! So I decided to walk to Twickenham Stadium. There was a lot going on and a lot of excited Leinster and Ulster fans! After spending a bit of time there I jumped on a bus to Kingston and joined the Thames Path at Canbury Gardens. I walked for miles, stopping along the way to enjoy the Twickenham Amateur Regatta (all VERY la-di-daa!) and the gardens of Ham House. I didn’t venture inside on this occasion but I’ll be back because it’s a bloody lovely place. I highly recommend that everyone walk some of the Thames path - it's 285km in total, starting in The Cotswolds and ending at the Thames Barrier in Greenwich. By the time I arrived back at Richmond station I was exhausted and had walked over 8 miles meaning I slept the entire way back to West Ham only just waking up and realising where I was in time.

Random Shoes

Twickenham

I’m on the early shifts this week and next, meaning I get to finish at 4pm and enjoy the last the days good weather! Which I’m hoping lasts through the weekend because on Saturday I’m heading up to Liverpool for the night. But I’ll tell you more about that next time.

Until then,

Bren x

STOP PRESS

WE WON OUR FIST NETBALL MATCH!

FINAL SCORE: 13-8

Ps, I've signed up to do shifts at a couple of stations during the first week of the Games - If you’re coming down to see any of the events and heading to the Olympic Park you might even see me at Canning Town or West Ham.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE WEEK: