Last year s Other Dress
Production Coordinator

shares her experience in

London

ving ‘a the easy lite

time everything is falling

 

Gur Head Office is located in Sea Containers House, 20 Upper Ground,

USANNA KONG

London SE) 9LZ, situated on the South Bank of the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge.

   
   
   
  
 
  
  
   
   
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
   
   
 
 
   
  
  
  
 
 
  
   

t's day IV as PA to KA, Partner for
| Franklin & Andrews, an
international property and
onstruction consultancy firm. So far I
ave avoided detection as a qualified
ngineer and am left to type up letters
d charts, answer phones and make
ea. But for £7.50 per hour (that’s
bout $18 an hour at current exchange
ates) I can handle it. Of course it
eans | have to rum around in fancy
ffice clothes (nothing casual and laid
ack here—dressing down is not
earing a jacket and rolling your
leeves up). Luckily, I knew the dress
ode (another long story for a rainy
ay) and brought along my Value
illage wardrobe!! Yesirree folks. I’m
rrently sitting here in a long black
enuine polyester skirt, electric blue
olyester shirt and blue/yellow stripy
carf. Only recent addition is a pair of
arks & Spencer's alligator leather
hoes (flat). My attempt at classy
ootwear (i.e. heels) was slowly
tippling me. So much
or fashion victim. Pes
f course, that’s
hat you get for
rying to squeeze
our feet into shoes

 

ere,a 10 1/2 ona
‘ood day).

Can hardly believe
's been two years
ince I was last here, ,
nly this time it’s just for the summer.

  

a ha. That’s what I said last time and
hat happened? Eighteen months later
was packing my bags. Of course, this

into place. It took a
week to find a room ina
flat (translation: apart-
ment) in South London
(SE23—near Dulwich
for those of you inter-
ested) with two Scottish
guys (traffic engineers).
Likewise, six days after I
rolled into Heathrow I
was sitting in a con-
struction site office as
“site secretary” in The

City (EC2—Moorgate, the Barbican,
London Wall, etc.). Funniest thing was
the secretary I was replacing was a
Canadian...from Vancouver! What a co-
inky-dink.

Well, looks as if I’ll be back here
next week too, although I don't really
see the need for it as today I've typed
one letter, made several phone calls and
drunk too much coffee. Hence this
rambling piece. All in all, if you can
type at least SOwpm and can look and
act the part, the office jobs are here.
There are also jobs as carers,
nannies and pub workers
which can provide room
and/or board. Only catch is
the visa. For students that’s
mr nO prob. Nor for those with
: English born parents or
= grandparents or with an EC
= passport. There's also the
s possibility of working for
cash-in-hand (i.e. under the
table). And, if you're not

too fussy, there are traveller

hostels with shared rooms and also
traveller houses (read Kiwi/Oz), bed-

sits (bedrooms in homes) and so on.

convenient for Central London.

  

main tube/train stations as well as at
the airports so it’s not essential to
book ahead. You can also use your
bank cards (known here as cashpoint
cards) in England as well as across the
rest of Europe. Depends on how well-
prepared you like to be and how many
countrics youre planning on hitting.
Personally, I don't bother with trav-
eller’s cheques anymore (in Europe);
cash (USD, DM, £—forget the funny
money aka $Cdn), bank cards and
credit cards work for me. You can’t
even get some currencies outside the °
former eastern bloc countries.
However, a warning. If you think you'll
need to open a bank account, bring a
letter of introduction from your bank
manager! Otherwise you'll start doubt-
ing your own innocence and wonder if
there’s a warrant out for your arrest for
corporate fraud.

Anyhow, work day is crawling to an
end. Must prepare to abandon shif

OPinion August 1998