I think after NaBloPoMo is done, I'll go back to my sporadic posting. I think more people read my posts these days when I take my time and leave a bit of a gap between them - not that it matters, but the comments this time around have been pretty average!

It was a beautiful evening tonight, albeit wet and windy. I walked the 20-25 minute route to Bank station, as I'm trying to a) avoid the Central line at all costs and b) add some more regular exercise to my days, and as I was on my way I decided to step into the bank and withdraw some cash. The HSBC around the corner from work has its ATM's inside, so I decided to opt for that one.

As I opened the door, I wasn't alone - a homeless guy was curled up on the floor, escaping the wintery weather outside and enjoying the warmth. He asked for some change, which I literally didn't have to give him, and also asked for cigarettes. I had neither, and he thanked me regardless and asked me what my Christmas plans were in a lovely Scottish accent. He wasn't rude, he wasn't probing; he was just polite, and actually made me smile as he wished me a lovely evening as I headed for the door.

It's that sort of random niceness from strangers that makes you stop and think; and as I continued on my journey to the station, all of my random worries seemed so insignificant - because at least I was heading home to a comfortable bed and a cooked meal. If I see that man again, I'll definitely be passing him some change.

A few weeks ago, I came across a copy of P.S. I Love You. Yes, I know, I know, I'm the last person on the planet who hadn't read that book. But having stumbled upon it, I gave it a go and rather enjoyed it - even if certain parts of it annoyed me a tiny bit. The idea in itself is really quite sweet, and I liked all of the characters.

This evening, I remembered I had the film waiting around to be watched, so decided to give that a go. I wasn't convinced at the beginning, because it's quite drastically different from the book, but it definitely grew on me. It helped having random conversations about it on Facebook, too. Gotta love film reviews from friends. As for the actors! The dreamy men! With accents! Phwoar. Gerard Butler is too cute, James Marsters (Spike!) is always gorgeous, and I'm secretly going to elope with Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

I do feel sad now though after watching it, and can't wait for the boy to come home. And I suddenly want to visit Ireland, quite badly. It's only an hour or so away, too ... one day, soon I hope. It looks absolutely amazing!

I'm halfway across the country so far, so if you've stuck it out this long, keep reading!

10. Amarillo, Texas.

Home of lots of cattle and HUGE steak houses! Our first stop into the city was at the Cadillac Ranch, part of Route 66 that my parents had always talked about. I remember that they had signed and stickered a cadillac the last time they were there, so was trying to frantically text them to find out which one was 'their' cadillac. I had no idea the amount of visitors they get, though - and it's literally layer upon layer of spray paint. It was great fun - had a ball taking pictures of them, albeit that the smell of cow manure was a trifle overpowering. After this, we headed into the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of an obscene challenge involving a hunk of meat and an hour. Four people were trying it while we were eating our regular meals, and all failed. Ew.

11. Dallas, Texas.

Not really sure what I was expecting of Dallas - was just a rather big city! I love the history involving JFK so seeing all of those historical memories and being on the actual site of the assassination was really, really sad. So many buildings in Dallas, and then nice little patches of green scattered around it too. It was so hot while we were there, wow. Remind me never to go trekking across the south in summer again, please? The first night there I was meant to go out to a rodeo, but I felt a bit ill so gave that a miss. The following night we went out to eat at Dick's - home of the famous mean waiters & rude paper bag messages. I guess I came off relatively easily, and decided to take my hat message as a compliment.

I'm saving at the moment - saving rather madly, in fact. I've been in London for almost a year (seriously?) and so over the next few months, I need to work Visa-wise what my next option is. I've already decided on my plan of attack, but it's unfortunately a very pricey one. Not only do I need to pay for the Visa alone, I also need to return home to start the ball rolling, and wait there while it's processed. Trust me when I saw it's a lengthy and painful process.

Suffice it to say that for the next couple of months, I'll be saving.

I did make one little splurge earlier this month, though. The first was a Christmas tree, a tiny 3 foot pre-dressed plastic tree. I flew out on Christmas last year, so I kind of missed it here in London - and there is no way I was going by this Christmas, the first one Jase and I will be spending with JUST US, without a tree. So, bought! I'm not sure how Oscar is going to take to this, seeing that he's now discovered how to jump great heights; like on the top of our huge chest of drawers and onto the waist high kitchen counters. Bugger.

The second? A boxset of the Harry Potter books, all of them. Now anyone who knows me, will remember that I already have all of the HP books, and have been a die hard Potter fan for years. Unfortunately with the great move, I couldn't bring them with me; so I've been contenting myself with the movies as a substitute while looking for second hand copies in the meantime.

After eleven months I've still had no luck; and all the second hand copies I've seen were on sale for almost the same price as the new ones! The set I got was from Amazon, and came with a cute little box, and all the paperbacks neatly inside. It's adorable. Well pleased with that purchase - not so pleased with Amazon though. Silly, silly little people - they shipped me two of it, thankfully haven't charged me for both yet, but I now have to go and return the second one... not happy, Jan.

So if I'm missing in action for the next few weeks, fear not. I'll just be going back to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione, is all.

My morning LOLcat ritual always starts the day off well - this one left me giggling. He's totally about to break out into the Thriller routine.

(And I love the random dissaproving kitty on the left. He's not impressed.)

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK - a day where people celebrate a guy attempting to blow things up by, well, blowing things up. Yep, there have been fireworks going on and off all day - in every which direction. Being that I work fairly central (about a 10 minute walk to the Thames near South Bank) I had a lovely view of fireworks over the old court buildings of London - very pretty! Made the walk halfway home in the rain much more pleasant.

For me, though? Every firework is celebrating the US election results. I'm thoroughly pleased. I really hope that Obama can bring about some positive changes - although just the fact that he got in, shows that people are thinking differently already.

Good days. Loving the good days.

I've been spending the day listening in on the American election news - it's amazing how tense I feel, when I'm thousands of miles away and can have absolutely no impact on the overall decision. I'm really hoping things work out the way I envision would make the most difference; but who knows? I never trust my judgement when it comes to elections. Things swing way too easily. Heck, we've had Dubya for how long now?

I guess the thing that freaks me out the most is just how much influence American presidents have over the rest of the world. Yes, Australia may have its own political figures and procedures, but when push comes to shove, the power doesn't lie with us. The strength of the economy doesn't lie with us. We're all so closely tied to this election, I wish I was able to somehow contribute my own two cents on the matter.

Alas, we can't. And to be fair, I don't even understand how the election system works in the USA; it seems so long winded and complicated. (I can't believe voting is not compulsary!)

That's why I'm hoping that loads of people voted today, and voted smart.

Because, for a London-based Australian girl, your votes will make a whole lot of difference to my world too.

So I realise when it comes down to it, that I shouldn't actually complain about the public transport in London. I've done it before, and yes, compared to what we have back home in Sydney, it's fan-freaking-tastic, but seriously - some days I wonder how the whole system stays running.

The usual 4-5 minute wait between my local train has been doubled since June due to line maintainence, meaning that if I miss the train of a morning? 10 minutes until the next one. Now there's an instant way to RUIN the nice early start you had planned for that particular morning.

If you thought that once you actually got on the train, things would be relatively speedy, you would be wrong. Nope. My line is possibly the slowest journey over the shortest distance imaginable. On a good day, the first part of my journey only takes 15 minutes. Since I've come back from my overseas trip? Nearly every morning, it takes me double that time again. Why? Because apparently the trains like to stop dead between stations now for absolutely no reason what so ever. No, really. I'm not in a rush. Please, stop at the next station with the doors open for ten minutes so that the already over-crowded trains can become even more crowded by random people crushing into the carriages.

Sigh. I'm not bitter, really I'm not.

Okay. Fine. I'm bitter. But every morning? It's getting a trifle irritating. Let's not even go into the fact that the second part of my journey is on the most disgusting tube line in London - the dreaded, squished Central line. It's becoming so congested and disgusting in the mornings (and don't even get me started on the evening time frame!) that I'm debating leaving home earlier and just walking the tube line. Only pain is that a five minute tube ride turns out to be a 25 minute walk. Maybe alright for summer, but it's getting cold already. Hrm. Might have to give it a shot, sometime. At least it'll add to my exercising routine!

Apart from signal failures and defective trains, my all time favourite reason for train delays would have to be due to a 'person under a train'. I swear, there are people under trains every hour in this city; what is going on? Are people falling under them? Jumping? Accidentally finding themselves wandering the tracks of an afternoon? I don't understand.

It's days like this that I miss my car.

So it's your turn to share/gripe/complain - what's your journey to work like?

Time to continue on with the travel pictures; because reminiscing makes me smile, and it is most definitely something that I have meant to blog more about.

8. Alberquerque, New Mexico.

We arrived in New Mexico really quite late, so didn't see much in the evening - other than some karaoke in the hotel, that is. Bright and early the next morning, we pried ourselves up out of bed to head into the city and get ready for our hot air ballooning adventure. It was surprising how terrified I was, leading up to the event - watching the balloons go from flat pieces of fabric to baskets ready to float around in the sky got me a trifle paranoid about HOW it would actually work. We had a cute balloon though, and were soon off cruising along the sky. It was incredible, absolutely incredible. So peaceful, such a pretty view, and just a surreal experience. Loved the landing too, despite being convinced we were about to die.

9. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We didn't stay long here, unfortunately - just a lunch stop and wander around. It was really, really hot while we were here, and there were crowds of people everywhere. Loved the achitecture and the Indian jewellery that was being sold everywhere was beautiful. I'm sad we didn't get to go further down into NM and see Roswell, though. I would've loved to find myself my very own alien (in the form of Max Evans, of course) down there . . .

I'm giving it another whirl; it is November, after all. This is the third time I've participated in NaBloPoMo - perhaps it'll give me a big kick in the butt with blogging.

Nothing much going on to report at the moment - same old, same old. But I'll be sure to be reporting to you all about the same old for the next thirty days! Stay tuned!