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 ;-)