Sunday, July 12, 2009

Vivo en Londres

Hola!!
I have just returned to London after a blissful month basking in 40+ heat in the mountains in the tiny Spanish village of Daimuz. Being back in London is a bit of an assault on all senses, the biggest one being the 22 degree weather that greeted us in a rainy torrent the second we emerged from the plane and descended onto the tarmack. Martin and I were definitely overdressed while standing at the Granada airport in our jeans, sweaters, and hats amongst all the burned- to- a- crisp sundress short wearing tourists groaning about heading back to the UK. But we were better off when we stepped out into the rain, protected by our hats and jumpers!!
Stanstead airport was a NIGHTMARE upon arrival...we think that too many planes arrived around the same time so the corridors leading to Immigration were chockful of people. There were security guards allowing only a certain number of people through at one time, so every few minutes the crowd stopped and we had to wait up to 5 minutes before moving forward again. This happened several times, and we were stuck in a stuffy wet corridor full of crying babies and tired people slugging forward complaining. Once we finally hit Immigration, Martin and I separated as he got to queue in the EU line up and I went to the non-EU passport holders line. The lineups for both were enormous, but I thought that I would clear before Martin...except I was wrong! Martin cleared in about 45 minutes, and it took me about 1 hr and 15 minutes. The immigration officer grilled me about why I was coming back into the UK, and finally let me go after asking me 3 times how long I was comng into the UK for. I could see Martin waiting for me, and I thought that he had collected our bags so that we could head to our cabbie who had been waiting for us for ages. Except our baggage hadn't come through due to a staffing issue...we didn't even have a carousel number! Finally one appeared so we raced over to carousel #2. Then the carousel stopped...and we were again waiting. People were losing their tempers and a pregnant woman had a go with one of the airport staff- which were very scarce to locate! Finally we got our bags and rushed out to meet our cabbie, who was patiently waiting. We got into his car and off we went on the M-11. Things were going great until we saw a sign "Accident Ahead" and then the trafiic stopped to a standstill. I passed out at this point, and awoke when we were in London. We got in a half 3, and crawled our way up the stairs at Ricky and Nicki's and passedout in bed.
We spent Sunday with Ricky and Nicki looking at their new home and passing an hour in the pub. I was reunited with a delicious halloumi cheese kabab that Martin had introduced to me when I was here in June and washed it down with a spicy ginger beer. Ahh blisssss.
Today (being Monday) Martin headed off with Ricky to his first day of work as a rigger working on a blockbuster movie (200 million dollar budget) starring Leo Di Caprio. I got up at 8:30am and spent basically the whole day applying for jobs on Gumtree (a Craigslist type website). The only response back was for a phone position working 11am - 10pm at an escort agency...this was listed as a receptionist at a dating service. A bit disheartening but I just have to keep positive and keep trying. I'm missing my friends and family a bit and really want to get myself into a routine. I am starting a bellydance class tomorrow night with Anne White so that is great, and I will attend the flamenco class with Jackie at the Greenwich Dance Art Academy on Wednesday. I'm missing dance so much right now, and I think that I will be set right after that. I do have my first booked show with BellyWorld on July 26th, its only paying 10 pounds but at least I can get some exposure and land some work for the future. Anne White has also asked me to perform in her next show, although I think that the July line up for the show is full so I may have to wait till August to dance.
I'd love to hear from you, I'm a bit homesick and lonely so email or call me if you have a chance. If you are dialing from Canada: 011447506552011. try using YAK 1015945 before the 01144 to save some money. Or find me on SKYPE: ashleygreeneyes and call me for free!

Thinking of you all.....
Ashley xoxo

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