What I've learnt this past week

I don't have a remotely intelligent espose of myself this week (even if the format was entirely plaguirised) I do have an update on the incredibly difficult choice I made in moving to London.

I finally rode a double decker bus!

Things I have learnt:

• That I improved vastly as a teacher from when I started and even from when I took a break from it in 2010. I have particularly latched onto the elements of trust and respect. How you talk and listen to students is vital and putting things in terms of respect or trust is hopefully going to reduce my stress levels compared to when I began teaching.
• That my Head of Department (HOD) has done an infinite times more amount of work for his staff than any other I've come across and that doesn't necessarily criticise other HODs
• The schools here actually have the numbers of staff needed to achieve something. The Qld schools I've seen are doing things ridiculously innefficiently. The Qld government could do a lot better by paying more staff rather than paying their staff more (or even as much as they do).
• There is a desperate need for experienced cyclists to teach other newer riders how best to ride. While I hated it at the time, being intimidated by other people while trying to enjoy myself riding, I have become a conscientious and safe rider. Whilst riders in Australia take arrogantly unecessary risks, riders in London and the crit I did yesterday regularly have no idea about riding around each other safely (some, by no means all). Given this is the country where I don't worry at all about buses hitting me, but expect to have more pedestrians walk out in front me than spokes in my wheels.
• Park run is just plain fun. Having a girlfriend that can just roll up to any race she does and win, having done half the training you have done isn't.
• I can understand how the plague wiped this city out. If H1N1 got in here or anything like that, London would be ruined. Yes, I have been sick three times in less than three weeks.
• Hollyoakes is better than Neighbours because something happens every episode rather than just Friday night.
• Chris Williams is right, the difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude. I took this advice and mantra with me on the way to work on tuesday morning and enjoyed the best week I've had since arriving here, despite spending the week ill and still not having a fridge!

4:15pm and street lights dominate the sunlight

If someone has a flat and you have a track pump, offer them use of it.

London: 10 Things I Hate About You

Before I start blogging about my "new" life, I will do a quick retrospective about 2013.

2013 saw me make the dumbest mistake of my life, to have it pay off and see me achieve the second thing in my life that I believed wasn't possible. Racing ITU as an Elite was a great achievement for me. The year saw me focus on training and working an average of two days a week. I was more relaxed and happier than any sustained time in my life. 2013 was an excellent year.

I can't say that 2014 could exceed last year for me, but I have taken another gamble to push me to greater achievements. My girlfriend and I have moved to London permanently. The idea for her is to travel and fund further travel by working as a teacher here. Our visas run for two years, so there is potentially two years of travel to be done.

My plan is to earn a bit of money teaching full time for a term, before trying to replicate 2013's combination of triathlon and supply teaching. It is going to be an incredibly difficult task, though the best things in life come from overcoming such difficulties.

I've been in London since Christmas Day and having lived in the one country for my entire life, having only visited China and Hong Kong for 2-3 weeks, living in (and being a toursit in) one of the most mutlicultural and historic cities in the world has expanded and exhausted my mind. Here is a novel description of how:

London, 10 Things I Hate About You:

1. I hate the amount of shopping there is to do. Since arriving here I have been dragged around Covent Garden, King's Cross, Harrod's (which I found inspiring - using my Law Degree inspiring) and Selfridge's. Then there is Westfield Stratford. I don't think I've ever been in the same place as so many people in my life. My girlfriend has bought herself and me so much stuff it's silly.


2. I hate how many things there are to see. As an indication, there have been so many things to do that it's taken me this long to get some hotel room time to blog.


3. I hate how I have to google maps new runs to do. In Brisbane, there aren't parks like Hyde Park or Victoria Park to run in, so you can just run next to cycle paths on the river or in a forest.

4. I hate that there are so many trains and buses that I don't need a car. Seeing people driving the European cars that are so expensive in Australia as though they are for free is annoying.

5. I hate that I'm going to go out and have dinner in a moment for half the price it is in Brisbane. It had better be, the AUD just dropped to half the GBP.

6. I hate that it took moving to London before someone I didn't know recognised me as a triathlete. I felt really embarrassed not to have a clue who he was, but he knew plenty about me.

7. I hate the way Harrod's made me feel inadequate. The first few floors are full of clothes and items that I can't and won't be able to afford without a few adjustments in my life. I hate that you've inspired me to step up my game outside triathlon.


8. I hate the way that you're making me sink or swim. I have come from a life of comfortable wealth. Little of it mine. It wasn't nourishing for the soul, but it wasn't a bad life. Having to fend for myself and develop my own pathways to success coupled with the necessity of succeding will make me grow up.


9. I hate that it's relatively cheap to travel to places in Europe and even America. I look at so many ads on tv and public transport that I immediately battle with myself over the want to save money and the want to travel to all of these places I'd always dreamt of visiting.

10. I hate that I don't actually hate you London.