Tuesday 26 August 2008

Item 31: Notting Hill Carnival

Location: Notting Hill, Chepstow Rd, Westbourne Grove, Ladbroke Grove, W11 1HT

In the pleasant streets surrounding Notting Hill, the sound of the bass calls to you. You follow the crowd and stumble across the beginning of a parade. Extravagant costumes, clever use of body paint and dancers who've got all the moves. Yes, the Carribean party has come to town.

A celebration of culture and diversity, the Notting Hill Carnival is held during the August bank holiday weekend. The parade's route sections off an area containing 38 soundsystems scattered within its boundaries.

Walking around it's hard not to stumble upon a funky sound stage as well as some finger lickin' jerk chicken! Hot hot stuff!
But the fancy stores, with their windows boarded up for the weekend, provide a quick reminder that this is London. And these precautions by the shop owners don't go to waste.

The BBC today reports two stand offs and 330 arrests in total for the event. From it's historical aim of calming race riots in the 60's and 70's, how disappointing to see how little things change.

Item 31: Notting Hill Carnival?
CHECK!

Monday 18 August 2008

Item 30: Way Out West - "way way waaaayy out"

Location: Slottsskogen, Göteborg, Sweden

As a music festival virgin, this was a great weekend introduction to some quality acts during another visit to the Göteborg. It was its second year running and everything was smooth sailing over the three nights and two days. Well done my Swedish friends! With three stages in the park as well as in the clubs in town at night, choice was plentiful. This also meant running shoes between acts would have been handy.

Unlike the famed Glastonbury, there was no camping at the site. Although the muddy marshes from rains during the nights called for wellington boots by some, we got to go home to clean up when the day was over. This, in hand with our lucky emergency ponchos was the perfect recipe for a good time.

As for the artists there was so much to see and it all happened so fast!

The Caesars and Mando Diao represented the host nation with pride.

N.E.R.D had the crowd raise their hands with the Star Trek symbol before getting them to clap and bounce. Yes, Pharrell was there too.

Sigur Ros took us away to a magical place, possibly Iceland, as the sun went down.

The Flaming Lips surfed the crowd in a giant bubble before dancing with the Tellie Tubbies on stage for the rest of the set.

And as a side note, there seemed to be excessive facial hair sported by the majority of the male artists: José González; Wayne Coyne - The Flaming Lips; Sam Beam - Iron & Wine; Nick Cave – Grinderman; and the amazing NEIL YOUNG!

Item 30: Way Out West? CHECK!

Monday 4 August 2008

Item 29: Visa!!! The Waiting Game

Location: London, United Kingdom

29 June 2008
The UK Boarder Agency made changes for people on working holiday visas:

We have now closed the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme to applications from people who are already in the United Kingdom, so it is no longer possible to stay in this country by switching into this category. The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme has been replaced by Tier 1 (General) of the points-based system. It is not possible to switch into this category if you are here as a working holidaymaker.


20 June 2008
As I had always expected, to prolong good times in London I would be required to get a proper work permit when the Working Holiday Visa expired after a year of work in the UK. However the impending changes at the end of June called for a race against time to get my HSMP application paperwork submitted to the Home Office before the closure date.

Around antipodean circles throughout the country, the confusion and frustration of interpreting new eligibility criteria, new processes to extend the visas of the long-termers over here and for me, a poorly timed trip back to Australia to get the passport stamped is a hot topic. (The old HSMP application followed a two stage process. The first was for approval for the permit in the UK. The second, which changed in February, requires entry clearance to be applied for in your home country).

Visa agencies are milking the changes for all their worth right now. They charge extortionate prices for doing not much except for giving their client's peace of mind, "No visa, no fee".

Waiting periods are estimated at 10-12 weeks before people get any response from the Home Office. Updates on their website regarding their current processing times are not even as promising. My new favourite site has become www.trackitt.com. Providing a community for people to eagerly wait together for outcomes of their application, allowing them to compare dates for the whole process with each other.

But enough with the complaining. We have only Australia to thank. This is after all,
"an Australian style points based system for managing migration"

Item 29: Visa? Waiting....