Hello
everybody! I’m guessing you’re all as impressed with England’s comeback
against Sweden, as the 150 people in the pub at 06:45 on Saturday morning here
were. Believe me, if you were feeling frustrated at the English teams defending
in that first 15 mins of the second half, imagine how we all felt having gone
to the pub for a 06:45 kick off! Still, as we all know the English team are
pretty good at raising hopes before eventually snatching defeat from the jaws
of victory. We’ll see on Tues/Weds or whenever the final group game is.
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| Wind & Rain shelters on many a street corner! |
This
leads me to share a little event on Monday morning, where having contemplated
if getting up for England’s first game of the tournament was a good idea or
not, I decided that I would get up and set my alarm for Monday morning at 03:30
– time to wake up, put some clothes on and get to the pub. I not only managed
to wake up at 03:30, but dressed myself in some half-decent clothes and arrived
at the pub at 03:55 to be greeted by a strange sight…
The
sight was that of 10 people sat in front of a big screen, it took a moment to
realise why one of the guys was wearing a Barcelona shirt – The Spanish team
appeared from the tunnel, followed by the Italians… IT WAS THE WRONG DAY!
England were playing on Monday evening, = Tuesday morning here! I had no choice but to stay and watch the
game, then returned to bed for 90 mins before work. I arrived the next morning
at 0400 knowing I had the right day as I could hear the English national anthem
blasting from the pub as I approached. The pub had about 200 people (see video
below)
GENERAL
WORK RULES:
I
have learned a about some quite different work practices here over the last couple
of weeks which may seem a little strict or odd to some of you. For example:
1)
You only get a total of 14 weeks maternity pay
here, you can have the 12 month period off, but you better have saved up for
it! Don’t worry folks, it’s not something that’s going to affect me for a long
time yet!
2)
Whilst I have heard from people that arranging
some unpaid leave is not so difficult here, you are ONLY ALLOWED 10 SICK DAYS
EACH YEAR, after that, its unpaid leave! Quite a few of my ex colleagues would
not be so quick to have the odd sick day off under these rules!
3)
You have to pay to see a doctor here – it seems
to range between $30-$60 per consultation – that’s 15-30 pounds! You also have
to pay for your prescriptions (normal for most places), including if you need
the medications to be put in a blister pack – though I have been told there is
a yearly limit that once you reach (depending on your income) then allows you
reduced rates.
4)
Annual leave – I have a set number of days of
leave, though instead of starting the year with that time and then using the
days up - I have to earn the time before having the holiday (again I have been
told you can take a little more time than you have earned depending on
circumstances).
I
wonder what other rules are here that I am yet to find out!
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| Love the name of this shop! |
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| Modern shops eh! |
CHINESE
BEATINGS:
Now
throughout my travels and time overseas, I have experienced all kind of strange
massage practices, and have experienced paying good money to experience pain in
many forms (massage related). Just this
Saturday, and also two weeks ago, I went a Chinese massage place on Cuba Street
(see picture below).
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| The Massage place on Cuba Street! |
The
first visit I paid $40 for a back, neck, shoulders & foot massage. A small
Chinese woman then appeared and took me into a partitioned ‘room’. I was asked
to take off my shirt, and then place my feet in into a steaming hot bowl filled
with water and flowers. All seemed well, until I suddenly felt a sharp knee in
my back. I thought hey hey, must have been a mistake, then ow! Another knee to
the back, and soon enough I was having my head twisted whilst my shoulders were
pinned! Clearly liking such treatment I went back for more yesterday… I went
for the full body massage this time $60 for 60 mins, and found myself in a
proper room this time. When I looked up, the ceiling was quite high, and there
was were metal bars above the massage table – what could they be for? I quickly
thought it’s best not to know, and lay back for 60 mins of mild-moderate pain…
feels great now! And just incase you were wondering about the metal bars… they
were so the masseur had something to hold onto whilst walking on your back
above the massage table!
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| See - the strange use of the word 'Manchester' |
On a
final note, I just wanted to say I met so many nice new people this week,
especially a Steph’s birthday at the Shed 5 restaurant! So thanks for the
invite, and also if anyone was thinking of going to watch the movie ‘Prometheus’
– don’t do it! It’s so ridiculous it’s almost a comedy! A brilliant line at the
end whilst the female heroine is talking to the decapitated head of a robot:
Robot
– “ I don’t understand that feeling”
Female
character – “that’s because you are a robot and I am a human being” –classic!
Regards
from New Zealand
Dan
Got you! No full stomach or bladder for chinese massage.
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