London 30th Sep-7th Oct

London has been a little different for both Pete and I. For Pete it’s been a new experience going through similar experiences I had first time I was here. For upon arrival London IS exactly as you expect it to look, all the houses are the same and the weather IS grey. For me it’s been a bit of a nostalgic trip, the smell on the tube took me back 7 years and running from tube to tube seemed natural. So far it has been great seeing old friends, and being the one who isn’t new to it all, I have been showing Pete interesting sights and offering up often useless bits of information.

We started off in London shattered. I slept none of the 13 hour flight to get there and so by the time we made it to Sheree’s place (my best mate from high school whom we haven’t seen for a couple of years) I was knackered. We had a real quiet Thursday night and Friday day, slept in and went for a walk which was lovely. Such a change from HK. No one around, cool, crispy, windy and drizzling, and we could get a real cup of tea!!! Friday night found us at Pete’s old friend Ricky’s for a home-made beef stew. Ricky lives in the smallest flat I have ever seen. It was just one room, no separate bedroom or anything, quite amazing!! Too much wine and too much great conversation made us stay up too late.

Jo Mango playing at Union Chapel

Union Chapel Stained Glass

Saturday we went and saw a musician playing in a church. It was Union Chapel in Angel and Islington, Jo Mango was her name. She had such a beautiful voice, and her music gave me goosebumps all over. The sound from the church was simply amazing. Sat night was a catch up with old faces: Clare an old friend that I haven’t seen since I last lived here over 6 years ago, Bec who we hadn’t seen since almost a year ago in the Bay, Ricky and his girlfriend Anna from the night before, and Sheree who we’re staying with in London. We all met at the local pub had a great catch up. Getting buses home we experienced our first London brawl which is always pretty eventful, I got told off by Pete and Sheree for getting too close yelling at them for being dickheads. Personally I didn’t think I was too close, but I guess it’s a mater of opinion. Same wankers/different city.

Roch, Bec, Pete, Sheree and Clare, Sat night drinks, Fulham

On Sunday Pete and I separated for the first time in over a week. We have done pretty well I think, we hadn’t torn each others hair out….yet!! I went to a jumble sale with Sheree and her flatmate Beth, and considering what was on offer I did pretty well and only bought a little bit of jewellery. Beth bought the coolest little wooden chair which I was so jealous of!! This was followed by beer at a pub then dinner at home, a pretty quite night for me. Pete meet up with an old- old friend for a drink: Patricia Turk, which turned into a bit of sight seeing around London, pie and chips for dinner and a few drinks, a good catch up and some London city scenes to boot. He should’ve taken the camera, but isn’t hindsight great!!!

Pete & Big Ben

An amazing artist, Southbank

Graffiitti and tagging, skateboard area, Southbank

On Monday Sheree had organised the day off work so we went sightseeing. The sights we had decided to see ended up being the same ones Pete had seen the night before! So lucky for him he got to see them in day and night .We went for a walk along the Southbank, starting off where Big Ben and Westminster is, and along past the London eye (the really big wheel for really big views) where there was a lady doing an amazing painting of the eye and Big Ben. We took photos of a skate area under a bridge, where graffiti is all over the walls, everywhere, but the great part about it is that it is the only area that I saw that did have graffiti. The walls are really clean of it. We then stopped at the Tate Modern Museum. We had a look at the impressionist art, which Sheree and I didn’t quite get but Pete loves, so we opted to go to the bar in the top floor and have a glass of wine with some free nuts while we waited for him. We had the best view of St Pauls Cathedral from there too.

Afternoon drinks at the Tate Modern, overlooking St Pauls

Pete doing Hamlet outside the Globe

From there we kept walking along the river to the Globe Theatre and a little shopping village with heaps of wooden carved seats/animals/people and an old pub where we had to stop in for a drink (funnily enough, the same pub Pete had had a drink in the night before). Its too easy to drink in London. Or maybe it’s because we’re on holidays? The rest of the walk was filled with old churches and interesting brick buildings. The thing I love about London is that it doesn’t matter where you are you will always have some history tucked away in the middle of bars and shops and offices that everybody else just walks past on their way home from work. Just by reading a plaque you get the real story of an old building and it’s significants in history and that’s so cool.

Ruins of Winchester Palace

Southwark Cathedral, oldest Gothic Church

After having a pint at the pub I worked at about 8 years ago!! Kings Cross

So, back to the novel, Tuesday found us having another rest morning and heading out to see a band that evening. We stopped in to Kings Cross to have a drink at the O’Neils Irish pub there, a pub I worked at and lived in at least 8 years ago. It hasn’t changed at all and that was weird. From there we walked to Angel and Islington to go to Relentless Garage to see the Posies play. We stopped into the Famous Cock for one of the best burgers I have had in ages, before heading to the venue where I just about fell asleep as I was so full! We left after about an hour, half because I was almost asleep, and the other because they had only really played 2 decent songs (I figure if the songs where better they would’ve kept me awake yeah?!?!)

Watching the Posies at Relentless Garage, Angel & Islington

Roch & Tower bridge

Wednesday morning we awoke to rain. We had another lazy morning (we’re on holidays-what can I say!) and by the time we decided to do something the sun was out!! This in itself is pretty rare. So we went on a cruise up the river Thames. It took us past the usual suspects, Big Ben (again), London bridge, the Tower of London, Tower bridge, but we also got to see Canary wharf, the business district, and some pretty impressive houses along the river.

Tower of London

Millinium Dome

We went past the Millennium Dome also, a big eye sore they made to hold huge events. It really is quite ugly. The boat trip ended with taking us past the big river flood gates, these things are high tec. When there is a threat of a flood, there are big hydraulic arms which move around half cylinder walls from resting on the bottom of the machine (which lies so low that boats can still cross over them), to acting like a wall across the water and stopping it all from coming in a flooding the Thames and all the people. My explaining sucks but it really is quite clever. Our day ended with a home made dinner at Bec’s in Elephant and Castle (the name of some of the places here!!) and of course, drinks.

Thames river flood gates

Flood gate mechanics

So that’s been the journey so far. Next stop, Isle of Man and upwards through England!!

London 30th Sep-7th Oct

London, United Kingdom