Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2185

Well, I had been thinking for a while now that I might like to do something with my hair that a) looked cool and b) required little or no maintenance. So using a contact of Jules, off I ventured into the heart of Jamica in London - Peckam Rye to meet up with some hairdresser, the only description being that she was "black and fat" her words not mine!!! We met at the corner of her street and I think she was a little surprised that I was a whitey wanting my hair done black!!! So 6 hours later, much pain and a few tears, I walked out of her place with what felt like a wicker basket secured on my head!!! Taking Jules advice we all headed down to the local for a few vino's ... read more

I do admire the weather forecasters in England, if they predict rain, the are usually right and not only do they accurately predict that it will rain but if they tell you its going to start at 11am, four times out of five (my experience so far) they get the time correct as well. I didn't want to wander too far away from home today because of the forecast, so I again hit the tube and jumped on the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf (a five minute trip from here). My first impression of it was that it’s an ultramodern, thoroughly planned mini city though on arrival I though it lacked atmosphere, there were very few people on the streets and there was no traffic at all. It was only when I went back underground that ... read more

Liani, Luke and I headed into the city to do one of London's famous sightseeing tours on the open top buses. These are old red double dekker buses with an open top, which gives you an awesome view of all the main attractions. We did the combined bus and cruise on the river Thames. On board is a tour guide who runs a live commentary explaining the history and significance of each sight which is really interesting. For example, Green Park is so called because of a royal wife's discovery that her husband was picking the flowers that once covered the park, for his numerous mistresses. She found out about his infidelity and ordered the park to be cleared of all flowers to put a stop to his antics. Unfortunately, it didnt stop his cheating ways!! ... read more

After months of deliberating (procrastinating?) we have finally taken the plunge and decided to take a 'career break / mid-life crisis' to experience what the world has to offer beyond the familiarity of the cosmopolitan mecca known as Guildford. Having spent weeks taking advice from family, friends and visiting the quacks for many painful jabs (both physically and financially), we have ignored most of your warnings and booked our tickets anyway. We will be leaving London on the 15th Sept 2005 starting in St Petersburg in the Russian Federation and plan to spend a year travelling East through some of the lesser beaten paths whilst not forgetting some of the must visit destinations. Even NZ! Life is supposedly all about 'the journey', so we intend to travel by land wherever practical and stay in hostels and ... read more

Ahh, the land of greasy fried things, stuffy men in suits and rain! I got in at... some... time... or other... didn't really have a grasp on that sort of thing after probably 24 hours of solid travel. I definitely found it hard to beleive that I managed to leave Ko Tao one morning and be flung halfway across the world to England by the next afternoon! Surprisingly, though I don't have any jet lag today! Red met me at the airport and we come back to Fulham, got a bite to eat and a few beers (oh god! GOOD English Ale! REAL BEER! REEEEALLLL BEEEERRRRR!!!! GHAAGHGHGAHGHHHHH!!! :) and before I knew it it was 11pm and the world was starting to float around me in a strange, semi consciouss way - as a result of ... read more