*Before I get into the body of this post I will point out that I will not be posting a day by day run down of my adventures. Just day 1.*
I awoke on day 1 in Guildford to rain. Surprise surprise... I was also very confused about the time. My body clock was telling me it was 5pm and I should be knocking off work, the outside light was saying 4am and my watch was saying 7am. An interesting feeling to start the day.
Breakfast was served 7 till 9. Not a minute later! So I made sure to make breakfast and had some tea. Now I am not a tea drinker, but when in Rome...
I also tried Marmite during breakfast. I was a bit apprehensive at first due my recollections of how bad Promite is (anybody that says differently is crazy. That stuff is foul). As it turns out, it's very much like Vegemite, only with most of the salt removed and the strength of the flavors toned down majorly. So I know if I am truely craving Vegemite I can get a jar of that and add in equal parts salt and it'll be pretty close.
After checking out (and leaving me stuff at the hotel) I put on 5 layers and wandered down into the town centre. It was raining just that annoying amount where you down really need an umbrella but you do end up damp. Not a nice feeling when you're already freezing your tits off.
I got a couple of things sorted and then wandered around aimlessly for a while. The main street is stereotypically English, with its cobblestone road and numerous side alleys containing all manner of shops. I also noticed there are a lot of coffee shops everywhere. Given how cold it is I don't blame them.
It wasn't until I was in a bank checking out a few things that I realised it was valentines day. This then explained a lot of things that I was seeing.
After leaving the bank with my newfound realisation, I noticed a kid in a pram playing with a plush monkey. As I noticed this, the monkey wolf-whistled at me. Both myself and the kid's mother found this hilarious.
Come lunch time I decided to make my way to a pub called The Keep that I had been informed of. After getting lost a couple of times I finally found it. It wouldn't have been bigger than the living area of the Bulkony. Still, they did a fantastic lamb curry.
I also tried my first English beer. Having heard all about their warm, flat beer I was a little apprehensive but I had to dive in and give it a go. It was everything I had been told about: warm, flat and delicious. To us Australians (and most of the rest of the world), it seems impossible that a warm, flat beer could be delicious but it was. I suppose after doing for hundreds of years I concede that the English know what they're doing when it comes to making this odd style of beer.
I also did something else that I had been told about. My accent got the attention of old guys (who were obviously very much the regulars as they knew every bartender that ever worked there) who I struck up a conversation with. It was 2 hours before I got out of there. However I did learn quite a few things about the area. Nothing particularly useful, but interesting none the less.
The rain had stopped (and by stopped I mean reduced to a light mist) by the time I left the pub and by that time I needed to head back and collect my stuff. It was a 10 minute walk back to my hotel to collect my stuff. During this walk I realised just how hard it can be to dress for the conditions. When I was just wandering around, ducking in and out of shops, I felt the cold quite a bit. When you go for an expended walk, the amount of clothing you have on makes you hot very quickly.
So I made it back with my torso overhearing and my ears and nose about to fall off. An interesting juxtaposition of sensations.
By the time I had made it to where I will be staying over the long term the jet lag was starting to catch up with me big time. So thus ended my first day abroad.
(Yes I do realise that the photos are of my lunch however the rain did not exactly make for interesting photos of the scenery.)
