Goodbye London, Hello Continental Europe

Hello, and happy Easter!

Today is my last day in London before I take off to France and Switzerland for three and a half weeks in the first chapter of my European adventures. I have no schedule at present, I take the Eurostar through the Chunnel to Paris tonight, I have a train ticket to Lyon on the 30th, and then I fly home to London from Geneva on April 16. The rest is to be filled in as I go. I plan to visit Normandy to feed my unusual and slightly disturbing fascination with war, and I also want to visit the Swiss Alps, possibly to do some skiing, depending on my financial situation. I have been learning some French in the last couple of weeks; I can now say "Would you like to drink something?", and I only have to think about it for three minutes before I speak. So that should come in handy. I wouldn't understand the response, but hey, you can't have everything.

I had my last (ever) class at UCL on Wednesday morning. I now have only exams left, they run between May 1 and May 14 and I have four that are evenly spaced through that period. I will have to call on my cramming skills, which may have seriously atrophied since the last time I used them at Nanhob street in November 2006. I suppose it's like riding a bike, though a lot less healthy and enjoyable.

Maybe it isn't like riding a bike.

I ordered a travel backpack off eBay. I gave myself about ten days, though it's next day delivery so it shouldn't have mattered. Turns out it did. They wouldn't accept my credit card payment, because they'll only deliver to the card's billing address, and the backpack wouldn't have been nearly as useful if it was in Perth. I tried to link it to my UK bank account, but it takes nineteen days to clear. So my last option was to send a postal order. This came to light on Sunday, with six days before I got on the train. I sent the postal order on Monday morning. It was to be delivered in one or two working days, and the bag would be delivered the day after it was received. So fine, I would get the bag Wednesday or Thursday. The seller received the postal order on Wednesday, so the bag was to be delivered here on Thursday. Though it turns out the reception desk staff decided to go on holiday from Thursday for a week, so there was noone to sign for it, and my backpack spent Good Friday sitting in the local (closed) Royal Mail office, where it still sits and will continue to until mid next week. Shit. Luckily I have a friend at work who was kind enough to lend me her backpack.

I have been jamming a bit in a west London studio with a Dutch drummer who's pretty handy behind the kit, and doesn't mind humouring me by playing several consecutive Dave Matthews songs.

Yesterday I went to the park with my Czech flatmate Martin and my AFL football, and taught him how to handball and drop punt. He's a quick learner, I have to admit he's better than many Queensland/NSW blokes at it already. He also managed to take an excellent photo of me burying a left foot snap into the rugby goals at Regents Park, which was well appreciated. The sun was shining but it was really windy and the rugby field was covered in mud, as were we after not very long.

I also have to let you know, after several failed attempts in the last 18 months, I finally got dad's chicken curry right. See the photo and compare it to the one in my "First Days in London" entry. I was exceedingly proud of myself, and followed it up by going to the farmers market, cooking a mountain of vegetable curry and hosting a large dinner party (in a small kitchen).

Well, I better go and start packing. I hope you all have an excellent Easter and don't eat too much chocolate. It's bad for you, like cramming.

Love Renan.

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