WE KNOW WE HAVE FOUND Tony and Sarah’s home when we spot a house with the green and gold kangaroo flag draped across the front window. Sarah and Tony are both at work when we arrive but we are warmly welcomed by their housemates. In the bewildering breadth of London and her suburbs, it is sooo good to be warmly recieved.

When Tony and Sarah arrive, we are given a tour of the house. There are 10 Australians living in this white, three-storey home. To accomodate everyone the dining room has been converted into a bedroom, there is a bungalow in the backyard and rooms are mostly shared: I am a little disconcerted to realise that most bedrooms have two double beds in them, the mind boggles. So begins our introduction to the world of “young Australians living in London’.

YOUNG AUSTRALIANS IN LONDON:

As Sarah and Tony explain over a yummy London curry, many Australians living in London are working low-paid jobs in a bid to save money to travel further. In an effort to escape the high rentals and cost of living in London, groups of Aussies share rooms, convert living spaces into bedrooms, and eat a good deal of pasta. They also embrace the use of credit-cards. It is not uncommon for travellers in their 20′s to return home oweing thousands of dollars to credit card companies. Sarah and Tony know some Australians who owe tens of thousands of POUNDS. The pattern of life is to work hard during the week and then spend the weekend partying with other Australians. Londoners are generally regarded as unfriendly and cold. Little effort is made to establish contact with ‘the locals.’

AS WE WALK HOME FROM THE CURRY HOUSE through drizzly streets, I reflect on how tiring it is to live in a foreign country, and how comforting it is to meet/live with other Australians. When you are struggling to interpret all the subtle nuances and differences of a new country, it is so nice to come home to your own culture. But as Sarah and Tony point out “What’s the point of travelling half-way across the world only to spend all of your time with other Aussies?”

LONDON IS BIG. It is a cold and echoey place in which to live and work. The housemates of Sarah and Tony have created a little piece of community that they can come home to at night. It means that, exhausted by work, they do not have to face the challenge of showing up at the nearest community centre and asking “Which room is ‘latin dance’ held in?” They eat together once a week. It’s not a lot of community to feed on, but if your priorities are saving money and moving on, it is enough to survive on. just.

As I look out at the London skyline through grey fog, I am reminded of the scene from Oliver in which Oliver holds up his bowl and pleads “Please sir, I’d like some more”.
I turn to Timshel and say “I don’t ever want to live in London.”

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