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Sorry about the delay in my first blog everybody but I’ve been moving around a bit and haven’t found the time to sit down and write about what’s been going on but hopefully you can get an idea of what I have been doing from this.
Day 1 - 3 LONDON
I flew in to London with Singapore Airlines, the flights were packed full and I didn’t get an aisle or a window seat so sleeping was pretty difficult. The second leg of the flight from Singapore to Heathrow was 13 hours which dragged on but luckily I only had a 2 hour stop over at Changi Airport.
My first few days in London were pretty uneventful. The first guy I met in my hostel was from Margaret River, go figure and I spent most of my time down in the bar. I was pretty annoyed at finding that the hostel had got rid of the roof top hot tub from my last stay but on second thoughts it’s probably a good idea as you can imagine what goes on up there. I met some really cool people and luckily didn’t end up with jet lag as such which maybe
my 3.30pm arrival time helped with.
On the third day I went to the 20/20 World Cup. England must not have any rules on ticket scalping because there are literally hundreds of them on the 2 minute walk from the tube stop to the ground. I saw Pakistan play Ireland which you can imagine was dominated by Afridi and Pakistan. The second game was England and West Indies (was supposed to be Aussies but they couldn’t manage to get through the first round, don’t get me into the Australian 20/20 Team Selection Policies) but the rain clouds were coming in so I decided to go back to the hostel to watch it which worked out well because there were severe rain delays and the game ended up being decided by the Duckworth Lewis system. After the game I gave my wrist band to an old guy out the front (quite possibly homeless) who wanted to try and sneak his way in.
Days 4 - 7 WHITBY
These days were spent visiting family and friends in Whitby where I was born. I didn’t do a lot except hit the town a little bit, or maybe a bit more than I
should have. I made friends with a barmaid called Charlene (easy to remember, Kylie Minogue’s character in Neighbours apparently) because one day I spent about 5 hours sitting at a bar drinking. Met some pretty crazy people, a guy wearing an Aussie Rugby top who was only wearing it because he liked the colours, apparently he had a South African one too. It was also like walking through a time warp too because there were the exact same people in the pub in the exact same seats as the last few times I have been over (maybe they thought that about me?).
So other than catching up with family etc these few days were pretty uneventful.
Days 8 - 9 LEYLAND
I went across to Leyland, a small town just outside of Preston near Manchester. I have some more family and friends there so I went to catch up with them and hit the town. We had a pretty good night out and got told all the stories about the last time I was there and was getting just about kicked out. I blame it on the Chartroise (if that’s how it’s spelt). Once again, these few days were
pretty uneventful except for the amount of Stella I consumed.
Days 10 - 11 MANCHESTER
I went down to Manchester for a few days with the initial intention to drop in my resume to a few recruitment places and make contact but that didn’t happen. I spent the two days once again under the influence of alcohol. Last time I went to Manchester I was not a big fan of the place but I have to admit, this time I really warmed to it. Yes, it’s a big city but it doesn’t feel anywhere near as busy as a London, etc. It’s obviously busier than Perth though but seems to be on a similar scale. There must be more pubs here per capita than anywhere else I have been but they must also have more people asking you to sign up for charity, phone deals, etc on the street also. I met some really cool people at the hostel that we went out with and had fun.
While I was in Manchester I managed to get out to Manchester United Stadium and do a guided tour. I’ve done a lot of sports ground tours around the world but I
must admit that this one was one of the best (not quite as good as the American Stadiums though). The history of the club itself is pretty amazing and the ground also, which is nearly 100 years old. As much as I enjoyed the tour I still hate the team and found it funny that they still have the largest room in their museum dedicated to ‘The World’s Greatest Player’ Christiano Ronaldo who as of about 5 or 6 days previously had been sold for 80 million pound which is the record for the largest transfer fee and also makes him the world’s most highly paid player. But wait a few days on that because the papers over here are all talking about a 40 million pound move for John Terry to go to Manchester City but his weekly wages of 300,000 pounds a week will make him the world’s highest paid player. Ok, enough about football, sorry, I mean soccer. I tried doing a tour of the Old Trafford Cricket Ground but Take That were playing that night so I couldn’t do one. And yes, I am expecting smart comments about how I should have gone to that instead.
Apparently they sold out 5 shows in Manchester and 5 in London faster than any band in history, including Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Day 12 - 14 LONDON
Back in London town and this time I went out and did some sight seeing. I’ve previously seen quite a bit of London but this time I went out and had a look at a few of the attractions I previously have skipped. I was disappointed with The Tower of London, it was very repetitive but it does contain the crown jewels which I am sure some of my mates back at home would love to wear. You know who you are. I also went to Westminster Abbey and had a look at Isaac Newton’s Monument which was an amazing experience and no it doesn’t look like the one in the Da Vinci Code. The Abbey itself was full of amazing sculptures and was packed to the brim, I think they are going to need more real estate soon. I would have to say that if the Rosetta Stone was not in the British Museum, Westminster Abbey would be my number 1 attraction in London. Not including the Church Nightclub.
I
also went out and saw Buckingham Palace and the Prime Ministers Residence on Downing St. There was also a Bali Memorial that I was interested to check out as most people would know my families background with it. The memorial had all 202 victims listed on it which in Perth only has the Australians, one thing that shocked me was the name of one person, Mark Morton Parker, is that a sign or what? I’m certainly lucky my flight was for the day after.
On top of all this I spent a day out at Wimbledon sitting on Court 1 watching Dementieva destroy her opponent in the first game, Karlovic beat Tsonga in the second match and then left a few sets into Cilic losing to Tommy Haas.
Didn’t go out a lot at night but spent some long hours at the hostel bar which was open 24 hours.
Day 15 - 17 NEWQUAY
I went down to south west England for a few days as I have never seen this part of the country and let me tell you. If you get over here, make your way down, it’s a blast. Once again I didn’t get up to much else but party but that’s what this town is made for. It’s a surf town, not that there is much surf but that doesn’t stop the surf schools going out every day with full classes. I met some cool Australians living in Newquay who took me out one night and we ended up having a bonfire on the cliff overlooking the harbour, playing guitar and drinking beer. Couldn’t do that in Australia or the whole cliff would go up in flames, we struggled to find any dry wood that would actually burn. I wanted to stay longer in Newquay but unfortunately there were no spare beds so I pushed on and unfortunately I came to realise that in peak tourist season in the South of England, hostel vacancies are very low so I went back to London.
Day 18 - 19 LONDON
I spent the next two days back in London. This time staying in Swiss Cottage which is an area I have never been to. To be honest, there is not a lot there but a pub called you guessed it, Swiss Cottage. The backpacker’s hostel I was staying at was pretty cool though. I had an old German guy on the bunk below me and he had been travelling the world for 2.5 years working on organic food farms for free accommodation and was starting on one in central England in a few days. In the whole two days I was there I never once saw him leave his bunk, he had made it his little fortress and never left (I’m sure he did when he needed to but I didn’t see it). He had food, drinks, cutlery, books, etc all sitting on the floor and bed so he didn’t have to leave.
I tried doing a tour of the new Wembley Stadium but once again when I got there I was faced with my enemy Take That. They were playing that night so once again no tours were running but I must admit the stadium from the outside is an impressive sight.
OBSERVATIONS SO FAR
• Sir Anthony Hopkins rides the tube in London
• The Sunday Sport newspaper has about 6 pages of sport related news and the rest is naked women, not that I am complaining
• England is having better weather than Perth and 32 degrees in London with their humidity is not very pleasant at all
• Germans must be coming close to rivalling Australians as the dominant travellers in the UK
• Pear flavoured Cider is not good no matter how much someone swears by it
• Life is better travelling than working
Hopefully I’ll get the next post up quicker than I got this one up, hope all is well and good to see the Crows firmly entrenched in the 8 and knocking on the door of the Top 4.
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Katie
non-member comment
Thanks for the fun!
I still don't believe that it was Sir Anthony on the tube with us since you didn't tell me until we got off!!!!! Plus it was strinking hot, so why would he be on the tube when he could be in a nice air cond car??? Life is certaintly better travelling than sitting here at work looking back on how much fun I had over in London. Kensington Palace was really nice and I had heaps of fun in Harrods - I bartered for a pair of Gucci sunnies (yes I can hear you saying you don't need them just cos they are a label!!!). The pet shop was pretty cute in there too. I am thinking of China now for Christmas with Connections (no Contiki tour goes to China) and home via Bali for some cheap shopping. Enjoy Edinburgh - I miss that city. Katie