Catching up

This isn't quite going like i planned. As you may have noticed things are pretty hectic... hence no posts for quite a while. But i'm going to now catch up in one fell swoop.

The rest of the holiday was really amazing, and it was great seeing everyone again... it actually didn't seem like i'd been away that long. Funny that however much things change they always seem to stay the same.

Landing back in London was cold and rainy, and finally stepping out into the open air made me wonder for the hundredth time "what am i doing here?" With heavy bags I opted out of catching the bus and caught a cab back to the flat, where i could barely lift my bag.... finally inside we all fell asleep for a good couple of hours. Then tried to unpack our bags, i think it took me the better part of 2 days to get everything in its place again. The change from the hot sunny weather to the rainy cold played havoc with our immune systems. Kev was the first to come down with the flu, followed about a week later by me.... luckily i didn't catch it as badly as he did, and it was gone in about a week. Record time by UK standards.
Going a bit further into January we have Seth's birthday. After taking a good half hour to find the place we settled down with a couple of friends for drinks. That was the first time we saw Miss Thompson in London.

February proved to be a quiet month, with not a lot happening for the first bit... Valentines day had me getting hit in the face as hundreds of people were crowding onto the trains laden with flowers and chocolates..... Amusing for the first couple of stops until the hayfever set in. Apart from that the monday night pub quiz was progressing well, we were climbing in the ranks along with a little help every now and then from the quizmaster.

VIOLENT FEMMES

A sunday night is probably not the best time to go to a bounce around concert... but it was the femmes... nobody could resist. They were playing at Shepards Bush Empire which is a nice small venue.... so Kev, Grant, Lauren, Deon, Doc and myself headed off to get there early. The opening act was a brit group called Milk Kan. I'm not too sure exactly what they were playing as they had very strong accents... anyone who is curious can go to www.milkkan.com where they have their hit single "bling bling baby" - It was quite a laugh. Especially "Without you".

The following week ran the same as most others, chasing foreign people for excel documents and booking travel for my boss who travels nearly every day.

ST PATRICKS DAY WEEKEND

Friday... always good because I can go to work in jeans, but today being St Patricks Day, i was wearing Kev's green irish rugby shirt and a fluffy top hat.

After work it was off to Aardvark bar in Canada Water to meet up with Jacques and Maresa Kriel for drinks. We arrived at a bar full of saffas drinking guinness and falling over. It was a very festive vibe. The group grew and grew with Grant, Lauren, Nicole, Doc, Eric and Deon joining the party. After we'd all had enough it was off home, the only problem being that the tubes had stopped running ages ago, and none of us knew the bus routes. So 2 cabs it was. Being a PA has it's advantages... one being that I have the numbers of a couple of cab companies on my cell. The first cab arrived and we sent the first group off and waited for the second one..... which arrived about an hour later.... I have decided that in future.... i'm taking the first cab, particularly if it's in the middle of winter.
The Saturday we met up with Kate, Tanya, Seth and Stuart at Chez Gerrard's Zinc Bar in Covent Garden for a couple of drinks. But the place closed far to early for our taste. And we spent the next hour walking around trying to find somewhere that was open, and didn't have a 20 minute queue outside. We eventually gave up and went to the queen mary for a drink and then headed home.

Another quiet week followed, with our usual Monday pub quiz seeing us take second place. Which was cause for huge celebration. But on to next week and birthdays and stuff

Cape Town again - pictures to be added

So after a stint with Tom and Amber we headed back to Cape Town for New Years. On the 31st we were at Rhonwyn's place where we started out by making Yakka (evil stuff) and then lying beside the pool for the rest of the day. Of course because we weren't thinking we had forgotten to get drinks for the evening and it was a mad rush to find some... eventually we found a shebeen in Diep Rivier where we got the necessary supplies. Back at the house the rest of the hordes had started arriving.... lots of people who I hadn't seen since the previous December.

All was festive and we were all chatting and dancing and at some point swimming again. This carried on until about 4:30 where we all decided that it would be a good idea to catch some sleep.
But the early birds woke us at about 9 when the clean up started.. so being hung over, and dosed with red bull we cleaned the house and then retreated to the pool where we spent a lot of the day. Later in the afternoon the 30 seconds board was brought out and a competition started.... Sandy playing the floating player and answering any question she knew the answer to... this was the start of ducks and sweet and sour pork (for those of you not there.... DON'T ASK)
A couple of games later the hunger had set in and we were trying to find somewhere to eat. This got postponed after someone started a game of famous names that just went pear shaped. Eventually we decided on going to the Cape Town Fish Market at the Waterfront. We had a booking for 9 and since we arrived early we made our way down to Quay 4 for a drink... we hadn't counted on the music being so terrible.
After drinks it was back to the fish market to enjoy some sushi... and the experience was something that I will not soon forget.... the description of everything that went wrong would take quite a few pages, so let's just say that the waiter was putting very serious downward pressure on his tip. At the end of the evening Hawk, Rhon, Carl, Sam, Pete, Sandy, Kev and myself had had our fill of sushi and decided that retiring for the night would be a good idea.

2nd Jan - Andy's farewell. After a good nights sleep it was off to Camps Bay and Cafe del Mar to say goodbye to Andy, there we met up with the rest of the crowd and the party started all over again. Bacon, Feta and Avo pizza, not something you'll readily find in London... so I had one and it was divine.. as the crowd started to scatter we got ourselves a smaller table and started in on the cocktails... with a name something like sunset... which after a while James was describing as smoggy? Not too sure either. A beautiful sunset and we were off to Sushi Zone in obs for.... you guessed it... more sushi. I've now learnt to eat sashimi, which is the raw fish version of sushi and is actually quite nice. Kev asked the waiter for a bit more wasabi and was presented with enough to sink a small ship, but he made his way through most of it. A surprising thing was when a 2meter long tuna was carried through the front doors... well at least we knew that it was fresh.
Another tiring day was past and we headed back to Petes' place to catch a bit of shut eye and see what the next day would bring.

Cape Town, and beyond

I landed in Cape Town after a fairly bumpy Kulula flight and was met by Andres, who in true style hailed a golf cart to take us to his car... he later explained that this was the only way that we were going to get there without having to walk miles, as CT airport is under heavy construction. We got back to the house where we had the obligatory glass of red wine and started the phone calls to see where everyone was... Andy was the first we got hold of and after a while of trying to ascertain which Cubana he was at (because there are about 10) we met him at the Tableview one. I didn't realise at the time but he didn't know who he was on the phone to, and when he saw me was quite surprised, Pete was also there so we had a good party after which I drove him home... it was quite amusing because he couldn't remember exactly where he lived. Then we pickeled off home and chatted till early the following morning when Andres had to leave for Hermanus for work reasons.

The following evening we were meeting up at Shonga with Herman for a dinner and to do some catching up. It was a lovely evening chatting and laughing again like old times, with dinner only costing a fraction of what it would have in London... then it was off to bed because the next morning early it was off to George to see the folks.

Arriving in George was a surprise for mother as she thought I was only arriving in 2 days time. While there we watched soapies, went shopping, had coffee and lots of other things, but being that relaxed the exact time frame is a bit of a blur. But it was nice to see the folks again along with the animals. I managed to salvage some of the clothes that I had left behind and add a new suit to my wardrobe. But after 2 weeks there it was time to head back down to the cape for the traditional new years party.

Kevin fetched me on his way down from East London and we stopped over in Klein Brak to visit with Tom and Amber and their puppy wolfhound Hagrid.... who at 4 months is about as big as a normal alsation.

Week 47.1

So after taking 2H30 to get to the airport and then being told that I couldn't check in for another hour... in case they lost my luggage I was left wondering what to do, there isn't much to, especially this side of the boarding gates. So i sit and wait, have an overpriced airport coke and read my book, which at this stage is Terry Pratchets - Going Postal. Finally time comes for me to check in and I'm the first in the line.... "emergency exit seat if possible" I asked, to which the woman stood up from behind her counter and looked me up and down and said "but you're to small love"... Right... fine... i can handle that... then how about a window? All fully booked there too.... how could they be fully booked? I was the first one in line when they opened for check-in... anyway. Sulking I went through boarding where I got to the real side of International Departures... the area with all the shops. Having a good couple of hours to kill I mooched around the shops and then found myself a little corner couch where I could have a bite to eat and read my book undisturbed. Having sat in one position for the better part of 2 hours I made my way along the concourse towards my boarding gate where I came across massage chairs... they look something like a lazy boy.. and for £1 you get a 10 min massage... lovely. So once relaxed I made my way onto the plane and took my seat, in the middle. I had a lady on one side and a gent on the other. Unfortunately the gent had failed to shower for what must have been the better part of 2 weeks. Supper came around and it was fairly edible and there were some good movies on. So after watching 2 movies I decided to get some shut eye, which unfortunately was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The girl next to me must have thought in her sleepy state that I was her male companion and tried to snuggle against my shoulder, the gent next to me was hogging that arm rest... the little girl in front of me had put her bag of toys under her seat which effectively cut my leg room to zero and the guy behind me snored like a tractor... so with the idea of sleeping gone I watched another movie or 2 or 3. It's okay.... i'm landing soon.

I landed at JHB at about 6:30 in the morning where I collected my bags, changed from my snow suit into something a bit cooler and went outside to meet Mia, who I was staying with for the night before heading to Cape Town.

It was nice to drive in a car again. And within 30 minutes of being outside in the glorious SA sun I had managed to get a sun burn. We went and did a bit of shopping at Menlyn Park and had lunch, then it was back to her house where we relaxed for the rest of the day. Mia was off to Greece and London a couple of days later so I loaded her with an A-Z of London and a tube map, as well as some numbers to call in case of an emergency.

Then on to Cape Town....

Week 47 - to home

The time has finally come to try to fit all my summer clothes and christmas presents into one bag and still be under my weight limit for the flight.... how do they expect you to travel with only 25kg worth of luggage. So after packing and repacking and removing some things which aren't classified as essential ( like the 3rd pair of jeans) it's off to the airport.... I'm only flying at 6pm but I figure leaving at 2 is the safest option, since the tubes aren't the most reliable of things. It should only take around 1H30 to get to the airport, then I can find a nice pub to sit in and have a last beer before I fly.

Sunshine, here I come

Week 46 - Food glorious food

The countdown is on.... 9 days till I arrive in hopefully sunny JHB for the start of my summer vacation. A quiet saturday passed, with Lauren and Grant moving into their new flat, which turned out to be a lot less furnished than they had expected. So they were off to Ikea for some home shopping and it was our turn to try to return the flat to some sort of order... vacuuming, dusting, stacking the dishwasher and setting the washing machine going. It's amazing how quickly time goes by when you are trying to clear up... 4pm eventually rolled around and we were finished. So it was time for some relaxation in front of the tv..... with the usual problem of 999 channels and nothing to watch.

Sunday morning was a crisp morning with and early start to head to Zulus for the spit. Notorious as usual, everyone was late... sitting at the bar you had the smell of the spit wafting through and making everyone hungry.. i think if we didn't get food for Eric he would have taken a bite out of someone. But we were all seated at a long picnic style table and everyone ate their fill, some even eating all the leftovers. We all migrated to the large leather couches to let the food settle. After a couple more beers and ciders the food had taken it's toll and most of us were falling asleep. So we were off to find ourselves on the couch at home having a quick cat nap, then a shower and off to bed, ready for the next week.

So it's monday night and i'm bored... so for once i decide to get organised so that it's not a mad rush next monday when i decide to get things together and pack. So I have all my papers and passports, etc etc... but have you ever noticed, that no matter how organised you are there will always be something at the last minute that will put you into a flat spin. I'm trying to be most effient this time round but inevitable the cab will be outside hooting and i'll still be trying to find things. But I'm flying at 17:50 so it does give me a fair portion of the day to get things sorted out.

At the moment I'm sitting at the office on and 8 to 6 shift, and my eyes are threatening to close on me at any second. It is different when you only have to be at work at 9:30, it's light when you leave the house for one. Leaving at 6:45 means it's still dark and will stay that way for a while.... i'm longing for the sun to be up before me for once.

So i'm off to see the wizard.... maybe he has some coffee to wake me up.... I really hope so.

Week 45 - Bonjour - Je ne parle pas français - But anyway

Another fantastic weekend has passed.... along with a number of euros. Friday morning was a fairly early start with myself, Kev, Lauren, Grant and Doc heading off to Waterloo to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Being a pretty cold morning we were all wearing most of the clothes we owned, and looking somewhat like the Michelin man. The trains that we were expecting to be packed with early morning commuters were actually relatively empty... lucky for us because of all the luggage we had between us. Arriving at Waterloo we made our way down to the Eurostar entrance and waited for the rest of our group.... also being South Africans they were still working on "africa time" and arrived about 20 minutes late. Once we had organised everything we were off to the train. Onboard spirits were high and since the first plane had already flown over the guys headed to the bar. Unfortunately I don't think the bar really catered for a carriage full of rowdy SA rugby supporters, and they soon ran out of decent beer. Which left us with Duvel, which is a Belgium beer weighing in at over 8% vol... and tasted terrible, so the girls switched to whisky. We arrived at Gard du Nord in Paris a little after 2, their time, then it was off to find the hotel, which proved to be quite amusing, we walked around a bit and eventually found the right road... so after going 2 blocks out of our way we found the hotel to be only about 100 meters from the tube exit... never trust men to give directions. Checking in was another fun point with most of the people trying to speak french but not getting anywhere close - "bonjour, ek wil my room keys have please" as I heard one of the guys say. So once we'd all moved in to our respective rooms it was off to explore Paris... and with Doc leading the way we didn't actually get too lost. Our first stop was the Champs-Elysees. The most expensive area in Paris. We wondered up towards the Arc de Triomphe. After Kevin had a run in with a group of pigeons, we all had an amusing time avoiding one of the mechanical street cleaners, whos driver was aiming to knock down a pedestrian. Another thing is they all drive on the wrong side of the road... a bit confusing when you are trying to cross. So getting pretty cold we made it to the Arc, where we looked around at the magnificent architecture.... While Doc was taking pics of the eternal flame it started snowing, and not the little flakes one would expect, but rather lots of them all at once. We got some pics, along with a fluffy white haircolour, which melted soon after we went inside. Grant, Lauren and Jane wanted to grab some McD's but the rest of us decided to head into a quiet little corner pub and have a glass of port or wine and in my case coffee (personal note, coffee in france is the equivalent of an espresso). Unfortunately for our grumbling stomaches they had already finished serving lunch, so it was off to another cafe to try to find some food. The next place we came across you had to ring a bell before you were let inside, but once inside it had very low lighting and red velvet all over the place... so a quick look at each other decided that this was not the best of ideas, after a bit of investigating it turned out to be a type of brothel.... so leaving there at speed we looked across the road to a little cafe called Le Balzac where we had crepe and a glass of rouge wine... and that was pretty much the start of things to come. We heard that most of the group had ended up in St Germain for an evening of exploring the local nightlife. Arriving in st germain we headed in the direction with the most lights blinking and figured it was a good place to start. Our first stop took us to a cute little bar on a corner which had a sort of plastic protection around it... we managed to seat ourselves around a table probably meant for 6 year olds and ordered our glasses of wine, which to our delight came with table snacks of honey nuts and olives.... a trend that was followed throughout the night. We were perfectly warm under the heaters until after our drinks arrived at which point Kev was getting inexplicably cold but Doc and myself were still toasty warm... it turned out that our waiter hadn't quite zipped the plastic sheeting closed behind Mr Burden and he was getting the brunt of the cold wind. So freezing cold outside and getting warmer inside we headed off to our next experiment. Etages St Germain had the cutest waiters that I have ever seen... getting better at ordering red wine in french we each had a different kind of wine to decide if we should get a bottle... although all were fairly nice the best would have to be the Cote du Rhone which I had. With sitting right next to the door and having the breeze hit us every time the door opened we decided it was time to move on to another restaurant where we met up with the rest of our group... but since we had found warmth and a good bottle of wine we decided to call it home for a while. Shortly following that we headed for supper at a lovely Chinese/Thai place. And then to bed to prepare for the following day. We awoke on Saturday morning a little later than anticipated due to the time difference and red wine delay and headed off once again into Paris with the hope of seeing the Eiffel Tower. Which after Grant called and said visibility was down to 200meters we decided to attempt later and hopefully have some more luck then. So we were off to Notre Dame to look around and stand on the stone... which legend has was the centre point of Paris way back in the day and if you stand on it now you will always return one day. After milling around the Cathedral for a while we headed to the Latin Quarter for some lunch, and subsequently a quiet stroll along the Seine.... when the wind had sufficiently frozen us we headed for the Metro to make our way to the Eiffel. On the way Kev noticed a sign that said Bastille, which we all agreed was a good idea.... of course not realising that when it was seized in 1789 it was also raised to the ground.... oops... so we walked around looking for it for about half and hour. After being told numerous times that the Bastille opera house was the Bastille we gave up the search in favour of a warm glass of Gluwyn at the Falstaff with the intention of checking the net when we got back to the hotel to see where exactly the Bastille was located. Back at the hotel we donned our best green and gold and headed out to the Stade de France for the reason we were there... the SA vs France rugby match. It was very festive outside the stadium, with trains bringing an endless stream of people..... even a strange frenchman with a rat who was drinking his beer..... Before the game we had transferred out OBS (to keep warm with) into plastic coke bottles, as most stadiums won't let you in with glass bottles, we never thought that you weren't allowed any alcohol in the stadium, so in we went, with the officials assuming that what was in the bottles was actually coke. Doc and I found our seats and were quite charmed to find they were on the one try line, only 6 rows back. With much action, and for the SA supporters, who were really expecting a last second come back, much dissapointment we headed out of the stadium, not quite as noisily as we went in and stopped off for a final beer at the Heineken tent before trying to make our way onto the train and back into town. Once again back at the hotel we warmed our feet and headed to a bar on the corner to analyse the game to death, as the boys tend to do, when the bar closed a small group went out to finish the party else where while we climbed into a bottle of Jameson at the hotel and got an early night. Sunday morning was comprised of packing and making our way to the train station, and then bidding a fond farewell to France and heading back through snow covered fields to London. Another week has started and our landlady has had double glazing put in so the flat is much warmer and the heating bill has gone down. Not much happening on the social side, but we are going to be having a spit braai... WITH PROPER MEAT on sunday... and after that we'll have to see

Danielle

Okay... i'm trying to get the hang of posting pics, it's a bit more tricky than i thought..... this may take some work

Week 38 - 44

Once again I realise that it's been a while since I last posted but it's been pretty slow. So what have I been doing?
I've now left my old job due to reasons of disagreement, the kind that makes it impossible to work with some people. And now I'm just doing temp work.
Over the past few weekends there has been a lot of international rugby on... and yes, as surprising as it may seem I've watched every game (i think) with the guidance of Kev and Grant as to which ones are worth it.... Sky here had the wonderful idea of showing the England vs Aus and Kiwi vs Ireland games at the same time... which meant finding a pub/bar which was showing both. The one that we found closest to us was Temple Walkabout, but by the time we got there there was a queue about 200 strong waiting in line to get inside..... after discarding that option it was off in search of another bar. We ended up going to Covent garden, where the walkabout there told a similar story. So as per usual the Saffa bar came through for us. We ended up in Bok Bar and enjoyed our Windhoek and Hunters Dry. After the games we were all feeling a case of the nibbles and headed off to Fuel, a small little restaurant in The Garden. One which I came across while doing market research for the company.... 25 bars and not a single drink... so as one can imagine I was pretty grumpy by the time I got back to the office.

Next weekend was a similar story, off to watch the rugby, this time it was England vs Kiwi and SA vs Wales ( once again, I think) we left the flat in plenty of time to get to our chosen venue and get a table.... but due to London traffic, which is a royal pain we ended up travelling about 100meters in half an hour.... so dreading missing the start of the rugby again, we all hopped off and walked.... what we didn't realise was that it was quite a long walk. About an hour if not more after we left the flat we arrived at Zulus in Fulham. Where we found seats and got comfy to watch the games.... much beer was had, along with an inspired idea of boerewors rolls.... just to take the edge off the beer.
After the celebrations of SA winning Kev, Mac and myself headed off to Tim's winter blues party.... where we drank some yakka and more scotch than was wise.
The next day was pretty slow... we meandered around the house, napped on the couch and scrounged some lunch out of the desolate looking fridge (which reminds me, the fridges here are the size of bar fridges back home..... you can only keep about a weeks worth of food in there)
Around 5pm we headed off to South Kensington and the National History Museum. Not to look at what was inside, but rather to go ice skating on the adjoining rink. It's a beautiful place where there are blue lights focussed on the ice and lots of fairy lights in the trees... very pretty. Eric, Kev, Mac and myself were fitted with our skates and we were off. I think ice skating is like riding a bitke, you never really forget how to do it... so after a few laps I was up to speed and having fun. There were quite a couple of divets in the ice, some arguably the size of canada which when hit give you the most awful speed wobble and you really expect to be sliding across the ice on all fours a second later. But luckily not the case. The kids on the ice are maniacs, you see them come haring towards you and then they lose their balance and try to grab the nearest person to avoid falling.... Perhaps being mean but I avoided the mad grabbing of hands and so managed to stay upright. Eric who hasn't skated in 11 years was going quite well, a couple of monster falls, but generally not doing to bad.... Mac got the hang of it quickly and she was off in a blur... Every time I felt a gust of wind go past I looked up and it was usually Kevin acting like the speed demon he is....
So after a while I stopped along the side to take a few pics.. Mac, going past in a blur, Eric very carefully watching his feet, and then the amusing bit, Kev came past and looked up to smile at the camera and managed to stick both skates into one of the aforementioned canadian divets... and went sprawling on the ice... which I also meant to get on camera. Wish I'd had multishot on.... would have made an interesting sequence.

And that was my exciting past couple of weeks, not much, but then again it's getting cold... about time to dig the thermals out of hibernation.
Off to France on Friday to watch the SA vs France rugby match, for which I've managed to acquire a springbok jersey that didn't break the bank (usually about £80 here) and I've still got to get out and buy some OBS to warm us at the game.
So until next time, and hopefully a post with eiffel tower pics.

Week 37 - what is it about home

I realise it's been a while since I've posted anything, but the problem came from the mac at the office, which didn't like the cookies, even when i offered it milk to dip them in (lame joke i know, but it's that kind of day)
I've been thinking a lot about home and all the things I miss, and the list keeps getting longer by the day...but I've just seen the best description of our native folk when found abroad... so i thought i would share it on this brisk winters morning


What is it about South Africans abroad that make them so easy to spot? On
home ground, one looks pretty much like the other (despite some minor
differences in size, colour and fashion sense), so why is it that when
they're overseas they're more conspicuous than a Yank in full
Nikon/Hawaiian-shirt battle-dress?
I've spent many happy hours in airports playing 'spot the sarfeffrican' and,
lemme tell you, my success-rate is pretty damn frightening. I'll catch a
fleeting glimpse of someone in the duty-free shop and confidently put money
on the fact that he/she'll be standing on my foot in the queue for
SAA-whatever in two hours time. I'm rarely wrong.
Impressive as this undoubtedly seems, there's really nothing to it. You just
need to know what to look for.
Let's take Bangkok as an example. Great place. A lot of tourists take
advantage of the stalls along Sukhumvit Road and in Patpong to load up on
cheap clothing and accessories. And why not? Why should anyone pay a
thousand bucks and more for a pair of sunglasses with a fancy 'G' on it?
Fair enough. But only a South African turns up at the airport to catch their
flight home actually wearing every single item of contraband they've bought
over the last two weeks.
Crass clichés of kitsch
Dressed from head to toe in patently obvious knock-off gear, they pose in
the check-in queues like garish advertisements for provincialism, crass
clichés of kitsch.
From his Billabog cap to his Ferrori jacket, his Oakey sunglasses to his Tag
Hewer watch; from his Levin jeans to the soles of his Reebuk takkies, his
ensemble screams out: "Look at me! It's my first time out of Benoni ever,
and I have no taste at all!"
Why do they do it? Is it the shock of finding themselves in a foreign
country and still actually being able to buy anything at all that drives
them to such extremes of counterfeit sartorial madness?
Perhaps the Bellville-Boykie-Westrand-Cowboy gene-complex lurking in their
DNA has mutated out of control in a foreign clime? Whatever it is, it's a
dead give-away, and it's embarrassing, and I wish they'd all stop it.
Immediately.
But, tragically, even if the homeward-bound Sarfeffrican arrived at the
airport in a Saville Row suit with a set of Louis Vuitton luggage in tow,
they'd still stick out like a boep in a bulimia ward.
It's also got a bit to do with size, sure - male or female, black or white,
there's a physical bulk to the children of Africa that few other nations can
match - but it's got far more to do with houding.
Expressions of ferocious purpose
Where fat Americans are normally to be found slouching petulantly along,
bleating and whining like lost sheep, the South Africans charge through the
departure halls like prop-forwards on amphetamines, wearing expressions of
ferocious purpose and certainty no matter how profoundly lost and confused
they might be.
While a Dane will stand at the information desk and painstakingly look up
every word of their query in a well-used Dansk-Thai dictionary, the South
Africans truly believe that English (even Brakpan-accented quasi-English)
need only be spoken very loudly to be universally understood. Thus:
"Sawadee ka, sir. Can I help you, please?"
"JISLAAIK, JA! TELL ME, SISSIE, WHERE IS THIS BLERRIE TERMINAL ONE, HEY? I
TUNE YOU, THIS DONNERSE MAP IS SOMMER KAK, AND NOW I'M MOS GETTING LEKKER
BEFO..."
"Escuse me, sir?"
And so on.
Faces, too, have their stories to tell. Show me a face that looks like it's
been hacked out of an old tree-stump, a face flushed red with the lingering
memories of a million Texan plains and klippies-en-cokes, and I'm not about
to mistake it for any English Rose.
Haircuts that still remember the Group Areas Act; enough jewellery to keep a
coven of chiropractors in profit; tight shorts and ski-pants on butts that
should know better; cosmetics applied with a plasterer's trowel. These are a
few of my least favourite things.
Misplaced manne and dipsy dames
Ja, they're a strange bunch, these misplaced manne and dipsy dames. So why,
I wonder, do I feel a smile threatening to crack the carefully neutral
façade of my airport-face every time I spot one of them? Why do I feel that
much more impatient to get on the plane and fly back to millions more just
like them?
I'll check the time on my Polex, fiddle with my Ray-Cans, and tap my
Nikea-shod foot until they call the flight. Then I'll stand in line, jammed
between Mrs Molefi's 50-kilo handbag and Kaas Visagie's sweat-stained
joggers, waiting for that endless, cramped journey back to my basket-case
country to begin. And I'll be grinning like an idiot. Because it's at
special moments like these that the beauty of an eternal truth comes shining
through:
Be it ever so weird, there's no place like home.

Week 36

Well, seeing that I never seem to be able to keep track of dates etc, I'm stealing formatting from Mr Burden and doing this week by week, but this one's going to be a bit longer because I have a couple of weeks to catch up on.

A couple of quiet weeks at work, but it's looking like the job may turn permanent in January, which will suit me very nicely... gives me time to look for something else while still earning money, which is a very very big part of life in London. Because here money does make the world go round.

But on to the fun stuff ;-)

Sadly Jak Koseff decided to leave our little adopted island for a much bigger one... he's now finishing his studies at Columbia university in New York. Lucky bugger. So for his farewell instead of the yakka party he was planning (stellies will know what i mean) he opted rather for the more civilised cocktail party, where everyone brought their own favourite bottle of poison and we went from there. The evening started out with Catherine mixing multiple jugs of Mojitos which were consumed very quickly, and then as the party progressed it turned into a case of mix what was left and hope it didn't kill you. Having spent as much time as i did at D&D in stellebosch I ended up mixing some very potent cocktails which left their consumers a little less stable than they were.... but then again, you have to taste constantly to ensure they are okay to serve.... which in turn led to Cath and myself being the founding members of the national lawn rolling championships, although there were no other competitors we figured that the world couldn't really spin much more than it already was... or could it. A very kind Tal Gilbert pointed me in the direction of the bar (for the purposes of drowning the booze with water) and then Kev lent a hand in getting me home in one piece.... the hangover the next morning wasn't half as bad as i thought it was, which leads me to believe that if you have enough sugar with your drinks it seems to absorb the alcohol while you sleep... ( must remember that for the future)

A while ago Kev, O'Connor and myself headed off to Alexandra Palace to watch the Pixies... imagine lots of people jumping up and down. The concert hall itself is a exhibition center which is huge and must have had a crowd of 10 to 15 thousand people. It was an amazing concert, where Kevin and Tim wanted pics of the crowd, so I got lifted up like in a line out, it was like standing on someones shoulders above the crowd. But when a beer can came whizzing past my head I figured it was about time to get down (grumpy brits). Since the concert was in a exhibition center we were quite a long way from the stage but at the same time quite near to the bar, where O'Connor made a brave attempt at drowning myself and Kev with beer and smirnoff ice... unfortunately, Smirnoff Ice tasted terrible when it's warm so that idea was abandoned very quickly. So all in all the concert was loud and bright with lots of people.... in short it was fantastic
Luckily we managed to catch the last train back otherwise it would have been a very very long walk or and exceptionally expensive cab ride. I really think I need to earn enough that I can take a cab home after a late night out, but at the moment paying somewhere in the region of R300 to R550 for a cab home is a bit hard to swallow even when you're paying in pounds.

After Tim left we inherited another flat mate for a couple of weeks, Grant Penrose who's a mate of Kev's from school arrived on the Saturday of the last Aussie vs Kiwi test. So I guess we didn't mind missing it too much. We took a walk around central with Grant and stopped for lunch at a strange little pub called the Lantern.. or something like that. My lunch was fine but the guys burgers could have been used as bowling balls they were so hard... So after that we were running pretty late to pick up a TV from Tubs (tim schultz) and catching a cab home to meet up with some of Grant's friends at the Woodman (our local)... it was a good evening with much fine whisky being consumed.
And hence the Sunday was made up of doing nothing... less than that if possible ;-)

The following couple of weeks have been very uneventful due to very hectic days at the office and also a case of my bank telling me that all the social events in the past have put a serious dent in my bank balance... but it's nearly pay day, and then the whole cycle will start again.
But I'm saving now, because I have some serious shopping to do when I come home.... a £55 for a pair of cheap jeans over here imagine what i could get for that back home... I'm starting to like this idea of going on holiday with pounds, sounding very appealing.

And since i'm learning to speak spanish

Adiós y buen día a usted todo

Which translated means Good Bye and good day to you all

Beginning of August

Well, I've pretty much given up with trying to get the dates etc right on this thing.... so my aim for now is just to get it in the right part of the month ;-)

I've realised that there is a way to see if you've been in london long enough.... when you are going somewhere and you know exactly where to stand to be in front of the doors when they open and when the train stops you are deposited with the exit in front of you. Something which I now have down pat. Routine is a funny thing, I don't mean getting up in the morning, because anyone who knows me will know that i'm like a bear with a sore foot in the mornings (until many cups of coffee have been consumed) But working in central London like I am the commute in the morning takes about an hour so I get to work about 5 minutes before i'm supposed to (provided I don't oversleep) and that leaves little time for breakfast, so I've taken to the american way of having breakfast..... Get off the tube at Leicester Square walk over the road to the PRET and get a ham/cheese croissant and a mocca or latte.... mocca has definately become one of my favourite forms of coffee.

I'm never moving again... and that's final. After much searching and very sore feet we finally ended up taking the Battersea place.. and so that meant packing all the worldly belongings I had... which was actually more than I expected. Trying to get a cab that was big enough to fit everything in and on Wednesday, after a rather long day running around work... pretending to be the local gopher... moving house. So now i'm living in Battersea with one Mr Kevin and one Mr Eric... It's a really nice place, that although it's small it's just right, my room could be classified as a closet, but we're not going to go there.

So, it's right next to a cute little cobble stoned square with has got some quaint little restaurants. It's close to clapham junction which means i can take the overland train in to work instead of the tube the whole time. When we first saw the place it was covered in saw dust and there were pieces of floor missing but luckily that was all cleared up pretty quickly. There are a couple of things that need to be replaced, like the kettle, which is a breeding ground for limescale and an iron and ironing board that look like they'll break if you look at them too hard, so next weekend i'ts off to ikea for some serious shopping.

So after spending the better part of 2 days unpacking the flat and trying to find place for all our stuff it was off to Dale Parkers' birthday out in wimbledon where the guys were rushing to watch the rugby, so we rushed down there, the guys all headed off to the pub and the girls stayed in and sorted out lunch. After a good braai and some amusing conversations everyone headed off to the dog races but Kevin and myself went back home to veg in front of the tv and get take aways... I fell asleep on the train so luckily kev woke me when we had to get off.... (I think one day i'm going to end up at heathrow if i don't have someone to wake me.) So a quiet sunday followed where we all just slept late and did nothing.

But monday comes around again and it's back to work.....

July 25 - 30

Well the work week past cannot be described as anything but mind numbingly boring... I'm still working in Covent Garden but the receptionist decided to take the week off.. that translates to me sitting and answering the phone all day. I'm really not sure how people can sit all day and do this, it was driving me out of my mind by mid day... and people do this as their permanent job??????????

But enough about that, the week was quiet with a couple of house viewings, one in Battersea that is really nice and I think we'll probably take, and then the next day another one in Wandsworth. Picture the scene.... it's a rainy london afternoon, okay, make that pouring down... we get off the train and then realise that we have miles to walk, and after a quick look at the map Kev informs me that the street we were looking for backed onto something called HMP which actually stands for Her Majesties Prison (charming). So we started off, after walking for about 30min we decided that however nice the place was it was just too far...FROM EVERYTHING.... we eventually found the place.. well it has a communal entrance which we would have shared with 3 other places, not really very secure though. Coming in the front door you took one step and you were at the door of the first bedroom, really nice and big, but i'm not entirely sure i'd want to sleep so close. The living area and kitchen are right at the back of the flat along a really narrow corridor. The place said it was partly furnished but i'm not entirely sure that a couple of beds and a couch could even pass as partly furnished. Then came the best part, the garden, tiny, overgrown and backing directly onto the prison... NO THANK YOU, something about watching things like Con Air etc have me a bit wary of living behind a prison.

Friday came and went without much ceremony, we ended up going to Cath's flat warming in Balham which was really nice, she's got a cute place with a garden which she and her housemates have filled with pretty flowers and bushes. The place was overflowing with people by the time we arrived, me having to work till 6 and all that stuff. So Kev and I decided to share a bottle of whisky, him getting the larger share due to the usual friday after work drinks that i had. And time passed and conversations got more animated as the alcohol took effect. Some were more effected than others, one Mr Jak Kosef in particular ;-) And finally headed home, arriving at the tube station just in time to see them putting up a sign saying that the last northbound train had already left. That meant bussing it home... a bus that landed me in Elephant & Castle.... with no idea where to go from there. Eventually saw a N148 which is the night bus that goes about a block from where i live.... eventually got home where i promptly fell asleep on my couch, only to wake up just after 5 absolutely freezing and crawl into bed.

Saturday morning was an early one, accompanied by a distinct whisky headache. Then it was off to meet the gang at the Temple Walkabout, which subsequently I've heard referred to at Tollies on the Thames, so that gives the stellies people an idea of what the place is like. After many cokes and some very good rugby the party started, we ended up leaving at just before 6 having been there since 1 and then running across the Embankment Bridge to the dock where our party boat was leaving from. Imagine, a boat filled with South Africans and beer, it could only spell disater, or probably more accurately H.A.N.G.O.V.E.R. It was a nice party with cool people and much whisky flowing. I eventually left with kev sometime after 12 and headed to subway food being an essential for actually being able to continue walking up straight.

A quiet sunday where I made a sunday roast for Kev and Cath and we all sat and watched the GP... which is becoming a sore point.... then settled down for a cat nap and a good movie.

Now it's back to work, another long week ahead.... and counting down till i get back to SA

Another week on

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 ;-)

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

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 ;-)

Monday 27th June - the weekend past

It starts out as a lovely Friday afternoon, the sun is out and as usual on a sunny day, I'm stuck inside.
Work is very relaxed today, with most people headed off the glastonbury festival.... otherwise know as concert in the mud... with tents washing away in flash floods and everything else just being covered in mud. Since I'm working in Covent Garden there are lots of nice places to go to for lunch. So I met up with Pete and Kev in the market and had lunch in the sun, it was lovely. Once back in the office i found that the usual here was for people to go in relay teams to the pub for a pint, something you wouldn't really find back home. And then 5:30 comes around and the entire office goes to the pub for a few, on the company account no less.

So after a beer or two with colleagues it was racing back home to pull on something warm, as the rain had started bucketing down and then off to the London Eye for a bit of sightseeing. Met up again with Kev and Pete and we even got our own capsule, good thing to because the capsule ahead and behind us were filled with kids... It's amazing how much you can see from up there, I thought I saw the Eiffel tower but realised that it wasn't infact that close, i really must brush up on my geography over here.
After the Eye we went in seach of somewhere to eat, and after much walking around in the rain we came across a nce little mediterranean place in Soho, and after that it was off to Sports Cafe for cocktails.

Since it was a 2 for 1 special on cocktails at sports cafe it was a bit difficult getting up in the morning, and being saturday that meant rugby, Tim recommended that we all meet in a little french bar in Battersea, whose name i can't remember, let alone spell or pronounce. So there we were 7 South Africans and lots more french, all cheering at the top of our lungs, Luckily we won otherwise the mood might have been a bit less jovial. And after the rugby, being in a french bar, i had a craving for garlic snails, except over here they are little pieces of rubber in a shell, which you are supposed to hold with a little pair of tongs.. think pretty woman and you'll get the idea of how i handled that one ;-)

After that we met up with Eric and Jacques in Canada water for the Ddisselblom concert, which was held in a sports centre. We arrived there to the smell of boerewors and not an english word to be heard anywhere. The opening act left much to be desired but when the main act started it was really good, and for all the slower songs the obligatory lighters came out and waved from side to side.

So all in all a good weekend, now it's time to get back to work....

Touring London - Sun 19 June

Sunday morning started with the sun beating through the window announcing the second sunny day in a row, which is not a regular occurance, after rushing through a cold shower (it was too hot to add any more heat) and a quick coffee it was off to Leister Square to catch the Original Sightseeing Tour on an open top red bus with Kev and Pete.

Kev brought Baballaas, his green frog along for the ride, so with the sun baking down on us we set off, but were quickly off the first bus at Green Park because the tour guide was as interesting as a blank sheet of paper, and we figured we'd try our luck with another one. The second was much better and took us around some interesting sights in central. Our next stop was at Buckingham Palace... where we tried to get one of the Bobby's to hold the frog so that we could get a pic, but they flatly refused (must have missed something there) so we just walked around the front gates and i dipped my hands in the water in the fountain opposite the gates, which was refreshingly cool in contrast with the heat of the day.

After there we headed towards the bus again for some more sightseeing, stopping next at the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill's museum. It was very interesting to see what things were like back then, and listen to mock ups of some of the conversations. The museum itself was fascinating, they have used sound and lighting and touch screen computers to give you a feel of things likke Churchill's paintings, quotes and time lines. It was incredible. It also took Kev forever to get through ;-) whereas Pete and myself were content with browsing through and stopping to look at things of interest, Kev looked at everything.... maybe some twice. So when Pete and I had finished we sat outside under a large tree and watched the people go by, including a roller blade party.... one man on a bike with a boom box followed by some 60 people on blades, it was fun to see.

Eventually when Kevin rejoined us, some 30 minutes later, we headed for the next stop which was St Paul's Cathedral. Being a Sunday though, all the attractions were closed to the public, so we only got a chance to watch part of a service and look around the back, so we decided that we'd have to go back and do the other things during the week sometime.
Following on to the Cathedral we caught the bus down to Westminster Pier for our boat cruise. Unfortunately we were sitting on the wrong side of the boat, the commentary was running for the people facing the other way, but it was entertaining anyway, especially when another boat passed us and the wake hitting our boat pretty much soaked us all.

It was nearly 7pm by the time we got off the boat and then the mad race started to get back for the start of the GP... as we turned the tv on we saw what we all had feared, only 6 cars running, so the watching of the gp became more of a having chinese for supper and discussing the repercussions than anything else...

Then for me it was off to bed, sunburn and all. Because Monday morning i start work again...
This temp thing is getting pretty old, I want a real job, and a salary would be nice. But all i can do is wait and hope.

Johnny Clegg and other stuff 18 June 2005

It started out as a quiet day at the office, followed by a bit of boredom releasing internet surfing. And that's when it hit, Johnny Clegg was playing at the Carling Apollo Hammersmith, after a set of frantic phone calls we had people interested and tickets.
We arrive at the concert with about an hour to spare and spend that time standing in line to pick up the tickets we booked on line. Seated and the show starts. You know the feeling when music just sends shivers up and down you? That was what most of the concert was like. People standing and singing along, even if they didn't know the words. All in all it was amazing.

Slept off the beer from the concert and gave my voice a chance to recover, because even much to my surprise I knew most of the words and Eric and I sang along at the top of our voices. And was off to meet the crowd to watch the SA vs France rugby at the Temple Walkabout, which is becoming a regular occurance. Tim as ever was dressed up enough to go to work and the rest of us took the opportunity, which comes once in a couple of weeks to wear shorts and t-shirts. It was a "scorching" 29 degrees with clear blue skies. Unfortunately we only drew the rugby so that means next time the guys will be screaming at the tv with much more force in the hopes that this time it'll pay off.

Following on to our stint in the Aussie pub we went aboard the Queen Mary which is more a supported piece of metal than an actual boat, every time another boat went past the wake it left sent our boat rocking, something about the motion of the ocean and the sun topped off with beer sent a couple of people running. There is definately something about the sun and the water that is very relaxing.

So hopefully tomorrow will be just as sunny and warm for a open top bus tour with Kev and Pete and a late afternoon thames boat cruise before the Grand Prix.

So until another time, good night.

Things I've learnt in London

Well I've now been in London for just over 6 months, it's amazing how quickly time flies. Things have been crawling along slowly, jumping from temp job to temp job all over London. You get to meet a lot of people doing temp work, but it's not good for the nerves when you are sitting for a week without work..... work = money, so it's important to have both.

Going out in London has been an experience. From the sound of Koos Kombuis and David Kramer coming from Zulu's in Leytonstone, to the mellow sounds of the blues from the Blues Bar just outside Soho there are so many different places to choose from, one to suit everyone's taste, even if the retro bar Kevin thought would play his sort of music turned out to be a gay bar (with a barman who was shouting "does anyone want to be serviced by me" Needless to say with Eric in the lead we exited very quickly). But the british not being big drinkers and all, the damn things call last rounds at just after 11. Now what self respecting South African student would really stop drinking at that time? You do get the occasional bar with a 2am licence but they are few and far between, with loud music and annoying people.

There is a chain of bars over here called the Walkabout, they are full of Aussies and snakebites (pint glass: half cider, half fosters and topped up with cranberry juice) there are 6 or 7 of these scattered around London itself. The music is good and the people are friendly, plus they show most of the SA rugby games. I've discovered as well that paying £3 or £4 for a beer is normal. When i come home, if I manage to spend the same amount of money in a night that i do here, someone will be carrying me home.

But talking about home I do miss it, Ddisselblom is going to be playing soon (25th June) and i'm definately going to be there.

But until i next get a chance to blog... fair well and happy drinking