And the winner is...

Drum roll please... Liverpool. I'm sure you could have guessed it. I quite liked this little town my first time around and knew immediately that I would come back. There was just something in the air... It seemed perfect to me.

I am on the coast of the Irish Sea and in the town where the Beatles made a name for themselves. What more could I ask for? Liverpool is a rather small city, may be I like it because in some ways it reminds me of Ottawa, but with a British Twist. It's population is just around half a million and the core of the city itself is small and walkable. The people here are friendly, but at times I struggle to understand exactly what they are saying when they speak -- who would have thought that there would be a language barrier for me. The accent here is a combination of your traditional British accent coupled with some mumbling...

Work? Yeah.. that would be nice. At the moment I am living and working at a hostel. We've negotiated a deal ... I volunteer some hours a week offering my excellent skills as a front desk receptionist and in return, I get to live and stay there for free. Can't go wrong. It does however provide me with the motivation that I need to get out and look for a real job. Ahh.. a real job. I'm anxious to become a contributing and functioning member of society again... I'm not sure how functional I'll be or what I'll be contributing to... only time will tell.

I've been back in Liverpool for about 4 days and I've managed to get myself a library card and a bank account -- not a bad start. The real trick is to find a job... it's difficult to wrap my brian around working a minimum wage job that pays only £5.50 an hour. It sounds like so little... I guess it is in a way. I'm afraid my university incarceration isn't going to get me much further ahead over here. Office work pays just on or pound more and it would bore me to death... so I've opted for the former option and will hope to find a place on the other side of the bar again -- at least there's a chance to have some fun and be social... no longer incarcerated to a cubicle. Yuk!

That's it for me at the moment. Somedays are better than others you know? Looking for a job is a full time job, and not always a fun one.

What is fun is mocking the (and I quote) "style" over here... let's just hope that I don't return back to Canada wearing the very popular polyester half dress, half shirt top... or the "city shorts" with lycra nylon things underneath... oh my! Alcohol consumption is something else over here as well... tricky to avoid especially when you're manager brings you beer and cider while you're working the front desk.

So with that, I'm going to dive into Liverpool life and try to escape unscaved by the fashion and beer belly (which is seemingly in style with the some of the ladies...compliments the the nice polyester tops... but that's a different story).