Another week has past, along with another set of bombs, this time luckily they were all duds, but still the tube lines were closed and that means walking home.... I'm really glad that I live quite close, otherwise I may have had to catch a cab which over here is about enough to bankrupt you in one fell swoop.
But apart from that it was a good week. Work was pretty chilled out, apart from the odd rant that the mac that i'm using kept crashing and I don't know how half of the darn shortcuts work.... what I wouldn't give for a normal pc. And since it was a quiet week I found myself fiddeling around on the new DOZ (debating.org.za) website and on request trying to break it... not something one gets asked very often so off I went breaking things.... I suppose it's better to have people break them and then tell the guys to fix it rather than have someone else do it and not find out till much later.
Eric, Kev and myself went to look at a place to rent in somewhere near battersea, but because I only finish work at 6 and then get stuck at every tube station and get delayed at every stop, they had already seen the place when I finally got to the station. Aparently not a very nice place, so we headed off to another place in Battersea that they had seen earlier and wanted to look around the area. Apart from it being miles from the nearest transport and just about everything else, it seemed quite nice. Eric suggested we take a look around the area, which didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, until after a few blocks my feet registered that I was wearing heels and didn't want to go any further, so off came the shoes. We ended up walking all the way to Clapham Junction, which sort of feels like walking from Stellenbosch to the N1, okay, maybe not that far, but it felt like it.
Friday wound round at last and the prospect of a weekend was very welcome. Along with a phone call from kevin to say that he had gotten permanent work at a asset management company, finally, now all the old debators who are in london are working. My boss brought out a couple of bottles of wine and many many beers at about 5ish and then the party started. Everyone gathers in cafe chill (the couch and music area in my office) and starts off the weekend with a couple of drinks... I'd promised to join Kev and Eric for some drinks at 6... so with much willpower needed I dragged myself away from a lovely bottle of Aussie Merlot and joined them at Kev's place, where we immediately went into a bottle of Chilean Cab Sauv and followed that by watching Madagascar on Kev's laptop.
So for the first time in many months Saturday morning arrived without a hangover. Got up a bit late so it was a rush to meet everyone in Putney at O'Neills for the rugby.... also hindered by the problems with the tubes (i think i'm starting to sound like a broken record with that comment :-) ) but arrived in time to watch the game with Stephan, Eric, Kev and a couple of Eric's mates and see us beat the Aussies, after the pub started emptying a bit we headed for Zulu's (another one) and enjoyed some good homestyle Windhoed and Hunters Dry.. which continued until about 12 when the pub closed, then it was a mad rush to the train which we were lucky to catch, unfortunately it wasn't very cooperative and dropped us unexpectedly a couple of stops away. So that meant the bus, when you're in an area you know the bus is fine, it's getting to one of those areas that can be a bit tricky, but we eventually managed it.
Sunday morning rolled around, along with one hell of a hangover ;-) The GP wasn't really something memorable so I made some lunch and settled down to read the rest of my Harry Potter... which always leaved you wanting more, but I guess I'll have to wait another 2 years for that one.
I'm hating doing laundry without haveing a tumbledrier, wierd how you get used to thing and then miss them when they're not there anymore, the water in london is so hard that I'm having to iron clothes (shock horror) when they're dry otherwise they're as hard as a board, no matter how much fabric softner you put in, it makes no difference.
But that's another week past and the countdown is on until I land back in the land of the sun, 13th December. Really can't wait, I need a suntan and to go shopping, things here are just too expensive, even when you're earning pounds. But now I'm running off to lunch before my stomach consumes the rest of me ;-)
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
July 16th etc
It started out as a quiet friday at work... that was the first indication that it wasn't going to stay that way, work is never quiet. The office pretty much officially closed at lunch time and everyone went down to the local pub on the corner for farewell drinks for one of the guys.
That was at about 2:30ish, at 4 we all headed back (most people many drinks strong) to the office to finish last minute things and turn the systems off and lock up. By 6pm we were all sitting in the Freemasons Arms (on the other corner) and the party got started.
After about an hour or so Kevin joined the crowd, followed by Stephan, Ndanga and Scott... so all in all it was a large party.
Departing from there when the lights were turned up bright we made our way to meet up with Jak at a place in Oxford Circus called The Phoenix, a really nice place that plays lots of old music, mostly mo town... they even had girls dancing, nothing fantastic, sort of Saturday Night Fever stuff, which in itself was highly amusing.
Since we were meeting up with Doc Young at the crack of dawn the next morning, we left there quite early. The bus that Kevin and I decided to take to get somewhere near the area we lived in moved about 20meters in 15 minutes, so we decided to walk.... throught piccadilly circus... where traffic was at a standstill. We walked down Haymarket Street, where we usually catch busses from, but it was cordoned off and swarming with police, the official statement was that there was an accident somewhere further down the road.... as far as I know, you don't cordon off a 6 block radius for an accident. So we assumed it was a bomb threat and we made our way home via another route.
Saturday morning arrived along with Doc Young. It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take a picnic and go and sit in Hyde Park. Lying lazily in the sun we saw them setting up for the REM concert later that evening, all of us sort of wishing we had tickets, since it was the final stop on their last ever tour.
But at about 4pm the support acts started and we heard everything clearly, so we decided to move closer and stay in the park just to listen to the music. We found ourselves a little patch of grass, which took ages for all of us to come to a consensus on, right in front of one of the screens. And there we sat and watched the concert on the screen. Being that summer in London does not guarantee warm nights we were all pretty cold by 9pm, Stephan decided to use Kath as a hot water bottle and I used Kev. Which helped a bit, but it was still really cold. After the concert we watched as thousands of people streamed out of the makeshift areana, glad that we weren't trying to travel along with half of London, so we opened another beer and sat down again.
Sunday morning... no one really hungover, Stephan, Kev and myself left for Ashford, to go cable water skiing. It was strange to see everyone doing this in the middle of England... Kev and Stephan tried the wakeboards and I decided to work on my suntan. It was amusing the watch the guys starting out on the wake boards, mostly standing up on them and then around a meter later doing a nose dive into the water.... but I got some cool pics. I enjoyed watching the guys doing tricks on the boards, something i don't think I'd ever be able to try. There were little kids there of about 6 or 7 years old who were showing up all the older guys.
So me with my slight suntan and Kev and Stephan with their sore arms and bright red faces headed home.
All in all a really cool weekend. Lots of time outside, which I miss more that I ever thought was possible, and good friends to share it with. Perhaps Brighton this weekend... but we'll have to see
Take care till next time
Bye bye
That was at about 2:30ish, at 4 we all headed back (most people many drinks strong) to the office to finish last minute things and turn the systems off and lock up. By 6pm we were all sitting in the Freemasons Arms (on the other corner) and the party got started.
After about an hour or so Kevin joined the crowd, followed by Stephan, Ndanga and Scott... so all in all it was a large party.
Departing from there when the lights were turned up bright we made our way to meet up with Jak at a place in Oxford Circus called The Phoenix, a really nice place that plays lots of old music, mostly mo town... they even had girls dancing, nothing fantastic, sort of Saturday Night Fever stuff, which in itself was highly amusing.
Since we were meeting up with Doc Young at the crack of dawn the next morning, we left there quite early. The bus that Kevin and I decided to take to get somewhere near the area we lived in moved about 20meters in 15 minutes, so we decided to walk.... throught piccadilly circus... where traffic was at a standstill. We walked down Haymarket Street, where we usually catch busses from, but it was cordoned off and swarming with police, the official statement was that there was an accident somewhere further down the road.... as far as I know, you don't cordon off a 6 block radius for an accident. So we assumed it was a bomb threat and we made our way home via another route.
Saturday morning arrived along with Doc Young. It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take a picnic and go and sit in Hyde Park. Lying lazily in the sun we saw them setting up for the REM concert later that evening, all of us sort of wishing we had tickets, since it was the final stop on their last ever tour.
But at about 4pm the support acts started and we heard everything clearly, so we decided to move closer and stay in the park just to listen to the music. We found ourselves a little patch of grass, which took ages for all of us to come to a consensus on, right in front of one of the screens. And there we sat and watched the concert on the screen. Being that summer in London does not guarantee warm nights we were all pretty cold by 9pm, Stephan decided to use Kath as a hot water bottle and I used Kev. Which helped a bit, but it was still really cold. After the concert we watched as thousands of people streamed out of the makeshift areana, glad that we weren't trying to travel along with half of London, so we opened another beer and sat down again.
Sunday morning... no one really hungover, Stephan, Kev and myself left for Ashford, to go cable water skiing. It was strange to see everyone doing this in the middle of England... Kev and Stephan tried the wakeboards and I decided to work on my suntan. It was amusing the watch the guys starting out on the wake boards, mostly standing up on them and then around a meter later doing a nose dive into the water.... but I got some cool pics. I enjoyed watching the guys doing tricks on the boards, something i don't think I'd ever be able to try. There were little kids there of about 6 or 7 years old who were showing up all the older guys.
So me with my slight suntan and Kev and Stephan with their sore arms and bright red faces headed home.
All in all a really cool weekend. Lots of time outside, which I miss more that I ever thought was possible, and good friends to share it with. Perhaps Brighton this weekend... but we'll have to see
Take care till next time
Bye bye
Monday, July 11, 2005
Regatta and more
The idea came to me that perhaps a bit of English culture would be just what we all needed... hence, tickets to the Henley Regatta on the 30th June. So Cath and I packed our picnic bags and donned our floaty skirts and tops and decided to leave the hats at home. Got Kev dressed in his chinos and off we went. At the meeting point where we were to catch the bus to the regatta, Kev bumped into some friends he knew from back home and that's when the party started. We arrived at Henley some hour and a bit later and then started walking. We seperated from most of the other people on the bus and went to find somewhere to sit. After walking for about 15 minutes we were starting to wonder how much further we had to go before we were back in London, but another bridge and a couple of hundred meters later we finally found the halfway tent.
There we set up camp for the day, unpacked our picnic basket on one of the tables and got comfy. Kev went on a bar run and came back with a jug of Pimms, which set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. We sat around with other South Africans and drank Pimms and chatted, occasionally getting up to see a boat go past. But after 6 or 7 jugs of Pimms it just became too much, and we still had 4 hours to kill before the bus left again. Budweiser tent was open so we drank there for a couple of hours and watched the live broadcast of the Live 8 concert. Eventually caught the bus back and slept most of the way back to london.
After that it was a fairly quiet week where apart from work, nothing much was happening. Then london's less spectacular version of 9/11 hit. On the tube to work on Thursday morning I was forced off and told that because of a power failure on the line we would all have to walk.... muttering along with the rest of the passengers I set off on foot for the office, which was luckily not too far away, probably only a 20 minute walk. I arrived in the office to the phones going crazy with people saying they were going to be late because of tube problems. Me being nosy as usual set off to the internet to see what the bbc had to say about the power failure, that was where we first heard about the Liverpool street explosion "caused by a power surge" was the official line, then reports of the other explosions hit and we all began to piece things together, and the people phoning in were told to go home or stay at home. As usual mild hysteria spread through london, but escalated after the bus bomb. An office meeting was called and the office was closed. Now it was up to everyone to find a way home. As I left the office the army was getting into position around Covent Garden and apart from them and the 2 other people walking with me there was not a soul in sight.... which for the usually bustling Covent Garden is very disconcerting. Eventually made it home and heard from all the other friends around the capital. And settled in for a quiet night at home.
Just a thanks for the sms's and emails I got from everyone..... concern was much appreciated.... so from a capital that is trying to return to normal, I bid you adieu ;-)
There we set up camp for the day, unpacked our picnic basket on one of the tables and got comfy. Kev went on a bar run and came back with a jug of Pimms, which set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. We sat around with other South Africans and drank Pimms and chatted, occasionally getting up to see a boat go past. But after 6 or 7 jugs of Pimms it just became too much, and we still had 4 hours to kill before the bus left again. Budweiser tent was open so we drank there for a couple of hours and watched the live broadcast of the Live 8 concert. Eventually caught the bus back and slept most of the way back to london.
After that it was a fairly quiet week where apart from work, nothing much was happening. Then london's less spectacular version of 9/11 hit. On the tube to work on Thursday morning I was forced off and told that because of a power failure on the line we would all have to walk.... muttering along with the rest of the passengers I set off on foot for the office, which was luckily not too far away, probably only a 20 minute walk. I arrived in the office to the phones going crazy with people saying they were going to be late because of tube problems. Me being nosy as usual set off to the internet to see what the bbc had to say about the power failure, that was where we first heard about the Liverpool street explosion "caused by a power surge" was the official line, then reports of the other explosions hit and we all began to piece things together, and the people phoning in were told to go home or stay at home. As usual mild hysteria spread through london, but escalated after the bus bomb. An office meeting was called and the office was closed. Now it was up to everyone to find a way home. As I left the office the army was getting into position around Covent Garden and apart from them and the 2 other people walking with me there was not a soul in sight.... which for the usually bustling Covent Garden is very disconcerting. Eventually made it home and heard from all the other friends around the capital. And settled in for a quiet night at home.
Just a thanks for the sms's and emails I got from everyone..... concern was much appreciated.... so from a capital that is trying to return to normal, I bid you adieu ;-)
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