The Talking Traveller

My count is now on 3300, during my brief position as Pierman I talked to approxamitely 200 people each day. Unfortunately, the Excell Express that we were hired for, that is a fast ferry service to the big motor show, was cancelled. Not enought people used the service and they had to let us go. What a bummer. I only got two thirds of the money that I expected and this will make my travelling budjet really tight. But all & all, it was a very good experience. I would like to thank all the personel (mostly lovely ladies) at Thames Clippers for their kindness and support. Also a special thanks to my Master Pierman, Ian. I can assure all the people out there who are thinking of using a water-taxi service that the Themes Clippers is definately the fastest and most reliable. Check out there website at www.thamesclippers.com. Even thought my speech was far from perfectly fluent (which is something I should really get out of my head) I could call out announcements, use the walkie-talkie and answer any questions that a confused tourist threw at me, sometimes three simultanously.

Tomorrow we have a improvement day in London. That is basically a full day of sports and fun for all us McGuire, stuttery people. Activities includes verbal games, contacts sessions, public speaking and a meal afterwards. I will meet many of the UK McGuire grads and I'm really looking forward to that. Then on monday my itchy feet will be scrathed as I continue to travel. I have been stationary for 4 weeks and I feel a bit lost. I will travel to Dublin, explore Ireland from there, attend the course in Galway, and then return to England on the 27th of August.  I am feeling a strange at the moment, the world is turning very fast. Everything I plan seem to change from day to day by things that I haven't thought of or took for granted of assumptions that are proven false. I attended another toastmasters meeting last night nearby the Victoria tube station, called the Corinthiants club. I was treated with some very advanced speeches. One was a interpretive reading and the other was a story telling. Possible some of the best speakers I have ever heard. Really impressive. So there you go...

I am the Pierman assistant at the Canary Wharf Pier and I work for Thames Clippers. I am earning money by talking, yes by verbal communication (and a bit of walking) I am earning those golden pounds that we all desire. My first two days on the job has passed. I am part of a temporary team that runs an express service from the Pier to the Motor excel show. On tuesday the show was only to Press and not the general public, so we weren't that busy. Yesterday however it was the first open day to the public. I had made 203 contacts yesterday, I had answered questions, I had talked on the walkie talkie and my shift lasted from 8:00 am to 10:15 pm. Today I have the day off and will be working again on saterday, I expect us to be very busy. It will be weekend and the advertising of our service would have attracted many more passangers. The questions that you would ask......Am I enjoying this?Am I coping with this? the answers.....Yes, absolutely yes. I have never had to do work that fully rely on my verbal skills and not my brain capacity to process loops and patterns. I am doing a good job, enjoying it and had no bad incidents thus far. My speech with good technique is holding up the majority of the time. I am appreciating all the practice I get. I do have a few slip-up now and again, but I do know how to correct them, and I do just that.

My count is now at 2451 contacts. Sad news however......I will not be going to the Netherlands. That is because I had made an assumption that I can go to the embassy directly, without a appointment, and my application for a shengen visa willl be processed in a few days. As I did with my UK and Australia Visa. Wrong assumption. The next appointment for the embassy I can get is only on the 21th of August. That is too late as I want to arrive there the 16th Aug. I have to pospone my holland visit until the next course in November. The lesson I learnt is obvious. The good news !? I will be able to spend some more time in Ireland! and I will have to oppertunity to learn how easy/diffucult it is  to get money back after cancelling a plane/bus ticket.

Moving on from that, it is very hot in london. 30 degrees celcius up to 10 o'clock at night. Phew, and I can't find a swimming pool or a plaasdam anywhere. The sun is shinnig brillianty and the spirits are up. I will be staying in London for antoher week and a half and then travel to Ireland, or so I plan. O yes! I visited a toastmasters club on Monday and I had to do a impromptu 90 seconds speech on "Should political correctness be applied in fairytales told to children?" My answer......No, black rabits, blue rabits, white rabits, yellow rabits. Don"t punt any limits on developing a childs imagination. Once they are all grown up they can worry about politics and other boring adult stuff. They should get rid of that purple dinosaur however... Cheers 

I washed the face of my blog, and put on some new makeup.

Check out the new London Album. He he he

I have reached the 2000 mark in my contacts. He was quite a nice fellow  called Philip Black, he works at "The Travel Bookshop" located in Notting Hill. It was also this bookstore that inspired the bookshop that featured in the movie, "Notting Hill". Unfortunately Julia Roborts didn't stumble in :(. Check it out at www.thetravelbookshop.co.uk. In these type of bookstores you are likely find somebeody strolling around, who calls himself the talking traveller :). At the stage I am going to be honest in saying that doing contacs in street by asking questions is becomming pretty boring. I have little or no fear to approach anybody and tell them my story or ask a question. No, my speech is not perfect , I do stumble, fumble, jumble and even crumble over some words in certain scenarios, but I do give it my all to cancel out those words by repeating them with good techniques I have been taught. At this stage my speech feels pretty damn strong, the danger now is to go into complacency state. I still need to practice everything, from the basic breathing to the NLP of the unconcious mind. And I know I have the support of everyone to remind me of this, this is as a fact, one of the main reasons for this trip, practise. It is very easy to lose focus while the world is zooming by (litteraly "the world") while sitting on a train or aeroplane. That is why I read my mission statement as often as I can, and maybe you should to, and remind me. Furhter along the line...I am in london at this stage, dossing at my friends place. I am searching far and wide for a job for a few weeks, and also a place to stay. It is not as easy as everybody says, I have been trying all week but I'm sure I will find something next week, or the one after, etc. I'm expecially trying to get into charity fundraising. Face-to-face contact with strangers would fit me idealy. I would be able to talk alot, earn some money, and do something worthwile. It would also challenge me alot in my speaking and people skills, it will be a great oppertunity to grow under some stress, fatique and survival as motivation. But that is not all I've kept myself busy with, I have also explored london. From the mechanical differation machines and first computers at the science museums, to the queen's swan's at Kensignton gardens and the funny red men at Buckingham Palace. I have also been in the house of Sherlock Holmes, and shook the hand of Mel Gibson at Madam Tussauds Wax Museum and watched time ticking by on Big Ben. I've visited toy mecca at Hamley's and Princess Diana's Memorial fountain at Hyde park. There is still alot to see, but watch out for photo's shortly. And thanks to superman(my brother) I recovered my photo's lost from New Zealand and Australia. Tip for travelling: Photo's will be your most valuable asset, make sure you make backups on cd's or other mediums. Make back-ups of the back-ups and send them home, I learned that in the last week.  My initail plans were to visit Ireland for the course 9-12 August and then Holland 16 - 20 August and then a course in Swindon 30 August. This might change as time progresses, I want to spend enought time in each country too see enough, and  don't wan't to rush as I did in New Zealand, anyway, one of those lessons you learn, Tip no 2 : A little planning goes a long way, and can save you money, time and frustration. 

In this following week I plan to get other accomodation, see legoland, apply for some jobs, visit London support group, visit london toastmasters and get into shakepears house. All and all, I am having a great time! I enjoy london and the huge amounts of sunlight, I enjoy all the sights and attractions, I enjoy the feeling off arriving at a tube station after being lost for a hour, and I enjoy the smile of the beautifull people  that I approach. And I enjoy "enjoying life" between those grey areas of confusion, hunger pains, sore knees and counting pounds.  

Going a bit back in time to 17 June.......After a day of trotting in the concrete jungle of Sydney I had very sore knees from all the leg movement. Arriving in Katoomba the following day by train I felt like I just wanted to sit and rest all day. At the hostel I tried doing this for about 1 hour. Giving the oppertunity for my mind to wonder, it convinced me that I should get off my behind and explore this area as I paid alot and I have only 2 days here. I should grab the day! The feeling of losing overwhelmed the physical pain and I got up to go go go. I purchased a hop-on hop-off ticket for a big red explorer bus and hopped-on the first oppertunity that I could. I opened the brochure and decided to hop-off at the most exaggerated point on the colorfull tourist brochure, which is called Scenic World!. There I had the choice of doing either a cable car ride or a railtrain ride. Being the dare-devil that I see in the mirror every night I decided that the 52 degree decline railway ride is the onbly way to go. Of course I hit the luck of getting the front seat. Slowly we started trancending down, and we kept going slowly until we reached the destination 1min 23seconds later. O well, yeha anyway. I was left stading with several choices of hiking trails and first did a circular trail layed out with a wooden walkway elevated above the forest floor. Along the way several icons of mining history were on display with interactive audio and video. I followed the easlily walkable walkway throught the rainforest and completed the circular trail. Discovering further detail on the pathetic tourist map I took-off on a route that would take me to the underside of a cliff.I kept on that trail being constantly mildly reminded of my sore knees, especially when realising the body is acsending or decending to or from a elavation. Along the way I met a middle aged woman while she was taking a rest. And I controlly asked "Taking a break?" (smile, release residual air). I ended up doing a full disclosure about my journey through the world and the effects of stuttering on my world, and that she is helping me to lift the invisible veil just by being nice and talking to me. We parted with smiles enjoying Kathy's comment that I had made her day by giving her the number of 1136.

Along I went further on my hike.I ended up the day at the top of the most attractive attraction of the "Blue Mountains" which is the "Three Sisters".An outcrop of rocks that forms three distinct points on the landscape. To end up there however I had to climp up several meters of stairs, when I reached the top of those stairs I read a sign stating that I had just done the hardest hike off all, in the hardest direction, from down to up. I could not decide if I should accept myself being completely mad or a well done tap on the shoulder. I was laughing to myself hard, very hard and I felt better. But I realised half-way up that even though my knees are complaining, I have to ascend this staircase. There is no turning back, this is the only way and I can just as well enjoy it. I made it interresting by having breaks and taking photos trying to absorb as much of my surroundings and perceptions, both internal and external. I ended up way after dark back at the hostel, cold, tired and hungry. I didn't know if my knees were beyond pain or just numb from the cold, but it didn't hurt. Anyway they had supported me and I made it back. I woke up the following morning not knowing if I would be able to stand upright properly..............and I did, I stood up tall.  My knees felt as strong as ever. I had a very nice hike for the rest of that day as well, well beyond my expectations.

Did I learn some deep needed life lesson of pushing through the pain, making the best of a scenario and never giving up?? Did I learn that sometimes it is better to not know where you are heading, but put in your best effort anyway? I dunno, but I definately had a delightfull chuckle of laughter getting up that morning, and that was good enough for me. Welcome to my mind! See the photos.

I got a mobile!

My number for UK friends:077 476 35849

for international friends : +44 77 476 35849

All calls and text messages will be answered...........

So I blinked for a second and another week has passed, I find myself coming to a calculated contact number of 1753. Wondering with a bit of confusion what has happend in the week, and also feeling a bit quilty that I hadn't phone home in 7 days, the book falls open at the Brisbane airport. I departed from brisbane airport last week monday at 2005h. I had my last taste of TimTam's (An addictive aussie choclate biscuit) and spend my last Aussie dollars on a pen, 2 postcards and breathspray. The flight went smooth, stopping over at singapore as well as dubai airport and finally arriving at 1230h in Heathrow, London on Tuesday. Heathrow, recalling rumors that it is a very big airport and quite easy to get lost and into a state of panic, I feel special because I got on the underground(tube) within 20mins after having being chest X-rayed (compulsary for super-heroes) and getting a warm welcoming booming voice "MIND THE GAP!". I jumped of the station which I thought was closest to my friend's place and started asking people with badges and shiny yellow jackets if they could direct me to his address. The nice lady at the Bus Terminal Info Booth tried her best, but we just couldn't find the address on the endless london map. I couldn't phone a friend because he was visiting SA at that time, he left keys and instructions at his flat reception. Looking down, as we down when making decision's with a 23kg backpack strenghning your shoulder muscles, the little voice in my head shouted  'No Worries Mate!, just book into the nearest backpackers hostel! Good on you!' It was a little inn in Greenwich, with a 8-bed dorm, costing me £13.  I jumped on a bus wednesday morning at 9:30 and preceeded to the course in Dundee, Scotland. The course lasted from Wednesday night (I arrived 10:30, 13hrs on the bus, eina) until the sunday afternoon. I had a great time, meeting many new friends, working hard, appreciating the sounds of bagpipe and drum and the taste of beer at the pubs.I especially found very usefull tips and advice from people who have been recovering for a number of years, and who have become excellent speakers and entertainers. Another 6 new members climbed on the road to free speech by joining the McGuire Programme. Monday morning started early as I leaped onto a Megabus and made my 11hour, £14 journey back to London. I found my friend and I'm now staying at his place with a beautifull veiw of London and the Greenwich line. The Greenwich line is in reality represented by a green laser that can been seen in the dark.

Today(Tuesday) I will start exploring london, and get my mobile number. I will start searching for a job that suits me in terms of people interaction, fun, responsibility and a less than moderate stress-level. Enabling me to progress and grow in my speech and communication skill in that kind of environment, one step at a time, not to steep a gradient.