So we arrived safe and sound in Sunny Sydney.
We’re staying a divey/studenty/TABy/bar/hotel place in Chippendale, which seems to be a student area. The area is quite lovely and quaint. The hotel room is bare minimum, but it fits the bill and seems friendly enough. Oh, did I mention they have FREE WIRELESS!?!?!
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A lot has happened since my last update…I went to that football game, we went to Shrewsbury (where we spent New Year’s Eve), I got a mean cold, I turned 25 and now everyone is back at work and we now have to entertain ourselves.
I had a really great time at the football. It’s more about the audience response to the players and the game than the game itself. There was much singing and standing up and sitting down…very similar to church actually. Arsenal were playing some other team whose name escapes me - but it really isn’t all that important cos Arsenal won 4-0. If I lived here and I could afford the £35 tickets I’d probably go to more games.
We took a train from London to Shrewsbury (which is in Shropshire - which is really really close to Wales) on New Year’s Eve. We arrived in the tiny Tudor village of Shrewsbury and went directly to the pub. Guiness. The night was spent at a pretty big house party with far too many Welsh people and far too few places to sleep. It was an awesome night, though. Three of my old mates were brave enough to actaully drive from London to Shrewsbury to spend the evening with us. Go Warren, Terence and Sam!!
Monday the 9th is my birthday. Those of you in New Zealand have already celebrated it (right?!). On Saturday night we went to a very cool rockabilly pub called Big Red. It was a massive reunion of sorts. I’d seen people there that hadn’t seen in well over 5 years. It was fucken awesome to catch up and get mangled on Wife Beater (this is what the locals call Stella lager…it’s cheap and strong).
I think I’m going to buy myself a 350D for my birthday. It’s all quite exciting - and on that note I’m outta here.
For the past week or so it’s been relatively warm. Temperatures seldom dropping to below 4°C but now things have changed dramatically! It’s fucken freezing out there. Like for real. Car windscreens are caked in ice, and puddles have solidified. And on top of that we got some snow. For about an hour yesterday there was much excitement as Manda, Evan and I ran around in the street giggling and going ‘OOOOOH! I’ts snowing!’
Unfortunately with the snow came the flu. I’m feeling completely shit at the moment. My head is swimming and my nose if stuffed up…it’s most unpleasant. So today instead of going out in the sub-zero temperature I’m going to sit on my arse in Brad’s flat and watch UK Telly. I have to save my energy for tonight when we’re going to a football match at Arsenal Stadium. I’m pretty sure its going to fun…at least that’s what I’ve been told.
I’ll give a not-so-thorough account of the game tomorrow…once I’ve thawed out.
I had forgotten how overcast it is in London. The cold isn’t too much of the problem. It’s the heat I’m having the trouble with. They have one setting on their central heating - extra hot! Especially public transport! I’d rather walk to Angel from my brother’s place than take the bus.
We went to the Tate Modern yesterday. It was excellent! I got to see some really cool art by some of the world’s best artists. We had a massively overpriced sarnies. Mine pastrami, Manda’s tuna. Manda has taken some photos of the huge installation they have the in entrance foyer. It’s 100s of white boxes stacked on top of each other.
Unfortunately I don’t have too many photos of exciting stuff as my camera ran out of space because i took too many photos of the inside of pubs and airplanes.
Now that I’m coming out of that jet lagged slowness I’m hoping to be able to take more photos and write a little more in this here blog. New Zealand is currently having their Xmas - but here it’s still Xmas Eve so everyone is out doing last minute shopping. But after that we’re going to hit the design museum. It sounds rad. The sun is shining, so that’s a total bonus.
Hope you all have a lovely Xmas. I’ll probably post again once the Xmas excitement dies down.
So we arrived at the airport late Saturday evening ready to depart on our epic 24 hour journey only to be told by the check-in dude that we cannot fly cos our plane is due to stop in LA for an hour and it’s now law that South Africans require a Transit Visa for the US.
Fucken balls!
So Monday arrives and we go to the US consulate to get the visa so we can be on the Monday night flight. No luck. You have to make an appointment to see an immigration officer at the US consulate. The next available appointment is 11th January…so needless to say we have to get a completely new ticket that doesn’t go through LA. We were lucky to have Amanda’s mother to help us convince the travel agent to change the tickets without any extra charge. Score.
So now here I am coming at you live from a flat in North London. Its about 2°C and overcast at the moment. There’s no denying the fact that we’ve finally in London!
Today is the first day of our month long holiday. This is the day we’ve waiting for since July. Today is the day we leave for London Town.
Sofuckenstoked!
I’m going to try my hardest to keep this blog up to date. I’ll try and write stuff at least twice a week. There’ll be a lot going on so at least there’ll be something to write about. If there is no writing on this here blog then be sure to check out my flickr account where I’ll be adding a lot of photos and commenting on them fully.
