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Published: September 29th 2007
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Tower of London
From a distance. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos of the Crown Jewels. Well, where to start! It’s been a month since I’ve been back in the UK and so much has happened. Most importantly, I’ve got myself a flat and a job. I managed to find a flat in a pretty cool area with a South African girl/Kiwi guy couple, and most importantly about the place, it has Sky! So I definitely haven’t been missing out on any sport. As for the job, I missed out on a job at Sky Sports by a cat’s whisker, which I was quite gutted about, but managed to get a 2 month contract at a Property Management company, Land Securities Trillium.
Following on from my previous blog, we said goodbye to Leah’s friend Steph, breaking up our little family (and pretty much ensuring I won’t be getting anymore chocolate chip pancakes anytime soon) and Leah and I headed out to check out Westminster Abbey. And for the fourth time in a row, Leah was denied because it was shut. She wasn’t impressed. We managed to console her with desert at Giraffe and dinner at Clay and Ange’s.
The weeks have got a lot less interesting now that I have started working, but I have
Picnic in Hyde Park
Steph and Leah, the pancake and cookie makers. managed to get out in the weekends and experienced a bit of London. Although saying that, the following weekend on Saturday all I saw was the inside of a pub, the Walkabout. This was due to the kick off of the Rugby World Cup, where the mighty All Blacks smashed Italy, followed by Australia scraping past Japan, and England beating Israel in the football. Sunday was much better as I got outdoors and went rollerblading in Hyde Park with Karen. It had been a couple of years since I’d been rollerblading, but it was like falling off a log and thankfully I picked it back up pretty quickly. I managed only one big fall and it was an awesome way to spend the day.
More work followed during the week, which is very good for the bank balance (at least it will be when they pay me!), and I attempted to spend it on the weekend by seeing my third London show, Avenue Q. I had heard quite a bit about it so maybe that detracted from it a bit, but still a pretty cool show. Think a cross between the Muppets and Team America: World Police (Matt Damon…..),
Platform 9 & 3/4 at Kings Cross Station.
For those of you who have read Harry Potter, this will make alot more sense for those of you who haven't. and had a fairly non-PC attitude with songs like “Everyone’s a little bit racist” and “If you were gay”. Sunday, I went with Clay, Ange and Leah out to Greenwich and saw the Meridian line and the clock, and finally got to say “I’m just passing the time” when I walked past the line. 😊
Next up the following weekend was my first ‘overseas’ trip since settling in London, when Leah, Hannah, Ben and myself went up to Edinburgh to watch the All Blacks against Scotland. We headed up to Edinburgh via train and arrived there mid-afternoon on the Saturday, just in time to watch the English just beat Samoa, but unfortunately just too late to see the Black Caps lose to Pakistan in the cricket.
After dumping our stuff, we went out to check out a couple of pubs and met up with some of Hannah’s extremely hammered friends, whom I happened to know from my school days. That kicked off a night off a bit of drinking, and more sport watching at the 3 Sisters.
The day of the game, we slept in a bit and had some breakfast and checked out the famous Edinburgh
Eating Ben and Jerry's
Clay, Leah, Ange, Hannah and myself castle before heading down Royal Mile and on towards Murrayfield. On the way there, it seemed like it would be a crowd of 100% Kiwi’s, but getting into the ground, it was probably about 60/40 in favour of the Kiwis, although the noise was more like 80/20.
The game itself was fairly average, which wasn’t helped by very similar jerseys, but it was a comprehensive 40-0 All Blacks win, which no one should really complain about. After the game, it was off out to the pubs and after a few drinks, a game evolved outside the pubs. It involved a rugby ball, and about 40 guys, and a couple of girls wrestling over a rugby ball, on concrete, whilst flying in for tackles. Completely mad and it’s a miracle no one was injured, but also a lot of fun. I’m surprised that there wasn’t anything in the papers as glasses were demolished as well astables and chairs catapulted everywhere. But that’s the Scots for you, if the cops had turned up, they probably would have joined in!
After another late start the next day, it was back to London to another week of work, with the countdown for
Astride the World
One foot in the Eastern Hemisphere, and one in the Western Hemisphere. me on until the ¼ final in Cardiff in a couple of weeks, most likely against the French. Bring on the Frogs!
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