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Published: June 18th 2009
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Towards the end of our Chennai to London flight the captain announced very surprisingly, "ladies and gentlemen the weather in London is well, actually nice". Yep we flew in with great views of the English Channel, following the Thames from its mouth up to London. Our warm welcome continued - with the exception of a surly, questioning immigration officer - as we took a quick tube ride to Baron's Court and the home of our good friends Clare and Robin, also to be our place of abode for the following days and weeks. Clare (jen's schoolfriend) and Rob are good friends from sydney who have recently made the move to seek their theatrical fortunes in ye olde london town, and seem to be having quite a good time!
Having been warned that the good weather was unlikely to last, the next day we made the most of the sunshine, admiring the many sunbakers in the local cemetry as we made our way to Herne Hill park to catch up with Tom and his friends having a Sunday arvo picnic. Tom is an old friend of Jeff's, having met each other on a bus tour of Western Australia back in 2005,
...parklife
man falls out of plane? and stayed in touch through emails and the occassional mixtape. This was my first meeting with the much talked about Tom, and I could now see that yes, he does resemble a ginger-haired Harry Potter (as a mine worker in Port Hedland had first commented)! The downside of the fine afternoon in the park was that somewhere in the exuberant game of french cricket, i lost the stone from my brand new indian ring. the shopkeeper in india had gone to great lengths to assure me that it was real silver, and the stone was lapis lazuli... unfortunately he apparently hadn't put much thought into the quality of the glue that held these together....ah well, easy come easy go...
Our first week in london was an excellent mixture of doing the typical sightseeing during the days and catching up with friends and family at night, once they'd finished work, poor buggers. so, to get the sightseeing out of the way, we've been to: big ben, westminster, stopped for a chat with gordon at number 10 - told him she'll be right; sang the kinks as we crossed waterloo bridge; went to the london eye, but in what is turning
into a distinct pattern, were too stingy to ride on it; went to covent garden; went to camden markets and bought some funky stuff; went to portobello rd and bought some more funky stuff - 6 quid for a pair of shoes and a jumper ain't bad!
Nights out in London town
One night we went round to russell's house - jeff's older brother. Russell really likes the blog, and reads each entry at least 3 times - don't you Russell? In true aussie in london style Russ put on a barbie for us, and invited some mates around, including his friend Richie who some of you may know from sydney. Everyone was in fine form despite it being a school night, and a good time was had by all.
The next night we went to watch tom's band at an open mic night, but sure enough when jeff saw that blank paper beckoning he couldn't help but put his name down, so within 3 days of landing in a new country was already treading the boards in a dark pub backroom. It was the strictest open mic either of us have ever been to, for example you
have to stay quiet while each performer is doing their thing, and if you don't stay for every single act you're not allowed to play there again....ever. it was really good though, and both jeff and tom's band were excellent. The best two acts by far, even if i may be a wee bit biased.
On the friday night we jumped on a tube to Brixton to dance up a storm at a ska night (ska is kind of like reggae, quite energetic and danceable). We went with clare and rob, and met tom and co there, so it was a big bunch of us in the end. A lot of cider was consumed and rob got heckled by the beautiful diva on stage much to all our amusement. A great night was had by all, despite rob's earlier run in with the bill (apparently they don't like you pissing on trees in london, luckily rob convinced them that in australia we have a lot of parks and you are allowed to wee in whichever ones you like....ha).
On the sunday, we headed out to a much loved, and incredibly dodgy aussies-in-london institution known as 'the church'. Basically
it's a big empty old theatre, which opens only for 4 hours on a sunday afternoon. We lined up outside with many other aussies, kiwis and south africans, some of whom were dressed up as all manner of things. Whilst in line, guys come up to you and sell you drink vouchers, so you have to try to calculate how much you'd be drinking in the next four hours (we underestimated - no suprises there). Upon entry, you take your vouchers and grab your 3 drinks at the bar. These drinks come in a plastic bag, which you then tie to your belt loops and wear as you work your way through the beverages for the rest of the afternoon. Inside, there is much dancing, a huge amount of drunkeness, and a couple of activities on stage, but the less said about those the better! All in all a very fun day, but a quite horrible indictment of the australian in london....hmmm. we had a great time though, and it was very bizarre to be catching the tube home a little worse for wear at 4:30 on a sunday afternoon.
Twenty seven, feels like heaven
But the best day
by far was definitely thursday - the day i turned 27. I've spent years complaining about how i've never been in a pedalboat, so jeff organised for a suprise trip to hyde park to pedal around the lake with the swans and schoolchildren. it was great fun, and easily as fun as it looks! We then took a turn through the rose garden on our way to buckingham for lunch (ed: we had disembarked the boat by this stage). despite jeff's best intentions, lizzie did not want to join us for a beef sandwich out the front, but lunch was still nice. We headed to harrods and hit up the gourmet food hall where we bought ridiculously expensive, and thus ridiculously few, chocolates. we then went and savoured them in a nearby coffee shop - lovely!! the next birthday treat was a trip to the natural history museum (i know i'm a nerd - but it really was a treat!) we didn't have much time before closing, so will definitely head back when we return to london next week. We'd mentioned to clare and rob that we wanted to go and see a show called 'la clique' so clare set
about using her theatre connections to get us some kind of deal. after a delicious japanese meal we were walking down the street next to the theatre when clare rang her friend to find out where to go to get our tickets. 'Stay right where you are' she was told, and next thing you know the wall next to us opens and a man dressed in circusy attire ushers us quickly into the darkness. Suddnely we're inside an amazing theatre called the hippodrome, surrounded by circusy vibes and miraculously holding a glass of red. lovely! the show was amazing with a strange mix of cabaret, burlesquey stuff and circus, including a rubber man from norway, an incredibly camp juggler and a couple who wore rollerskates and spun each other round in a dangerously small space. brilliant! after the show we hung around and partied for a bit, before heading to much deserved bed. If 27 carries on this way I will be one happy lady!
Next time your happy heroes head to Village Neuf in France, then to Chamonix to stare at mountain goats, then to germany for delicious dinner treats. All the while in the company of the
lovely susie and marc! hurrah!
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kerry
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Please tell Rob that each week in the Manly Daily crime and court review, that urinating all over Manly is apparently the most favoured apres pub activity.