Out and About in London

Rock on people,

This week has been a pretty good week as I've finally got to spend some time in London again, which means that I've had the chance again to get out and see some stuff. The weather hasn't been that cold either, most days are like winters in Perth at the moment - reasonably sunny but with frosty dragon-breath, and not too windy or anything like that artic week a couple back.

So last Saturday the migration went so well, half of the team were given the Sunday off (that is a MAJOR first for the group, I think it shows that we're getting our stuff sorted). As I had a day off, I went for a beer with a few mates in celebration. Next thing I know, friends of friends rock up, things get more rowdy.... there's some blanks to fill in :). This meant that I did waste a large proportion of the day on Sunday sleeping! (yup, I was soft).

That Sunday also happened to be Guy Fawkes day, which is actually celebrated in the UK (I think in Aus I'd heard of it, but no one ever did anything about it). Here they have several fireworks displays around the city, and people seem to just set them off randomly in their backyards. Michelle had invited me to climb on to the roof of her hotel (five stories plus two ladders up) and watch. It was really good, but really COLD! :) There were a number of large displays going off near us, plus we got a nice view over the city at night. Here are a couple of poor photos taken just to prove that I was there, and there were fireworks!

Monday's work went off without a hitch (following the perfect migration over the weekend) and so I got sent home early (3pm, a record!). To make best use of the time, I headed to a store called TK Maxx (discount clothing store - sells last seasons fashion etc) looking for a snowboarding/skiing jacket. I managed to score a last season jacket for 60 quid, 50% off.. bargain!!! It's fairly bright red and rated to provide protection in a full on blizzard, so hopefully it will do me in Canada. We'd talked to a girl on Sunday night who lived in Canada for a while... she certainly put me on guard with stories of frostbite etc of friends who were skiing. Fingers crossed!

In another unprecedented event, I had Tuesday off too! (two days within a week even). I spent a lot of time sleeping as I've not had a lot of it lately and need some credits in that department. Then that night, I met up with Michelle for the Jet concert (wooo!). It was at a place called Brixton Academy and it was a pretty good concert. I don't remember being that impressed previously, so it was nice that they stepped up. When the favourites like came on, the whole crowd (lots of Aussies of course) all took up song. Oh yeah, and the cost? 16 quid.. BARGAIN! One of the most amusing things about the concert though was that as we were in an unreserved seated area, when the good songs came on and people stood up to dance, the security guards tried to make people sit down again! Kind of stupid at a concert if you ask me, and people would sit for a second, wait till the guard moved away, then jump up again anyway.

The Living End are playing here this Saturday, but for some stupid reason they aren't headlining! (*shock*) They are only billed for a 30 min set or something, so stuffit, I'm not paying for that!

Tonight I'm going to see Charlie Pickering (comedian from TripleJ) somewhere in Soho - another bargain for 10 quid! Unfortunately I'm working for the rest of the weekend, so no more fun probably until next Tuesday when the Socceroos take on Ghana. We've reportedly got good tickets, so that is gonna be awesome!

Saw the photos of the puppy Sars, so cute!

Anka