So it begins

Thieves and Carnivals

Published Date : August 31, 2003

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  A couple of weeks back, a few of us went to My Place for some drinking and dancing.  That bar is probably one of the most sketchy places I have ever been to, but they have cheap drinks and decent music so we went.  Marco managed to talk the owner into giving the two of us free drinks, so there was much sambuca consumed.

Back at hostel, someone stole some money off Marco.  It turns out that the thief – we found out later it was a South African named Sal – has gone through two other hostels in Earl’s Court.  He’s ripped off credit cards, wallets, watches, and about £1000 cash that we know of.  We think he still may be in London, but if anybody who was ripped off gets a hold of him, it won’t be pretty.

Notting Hill Carnival

Hanging with the boys at Notting Hill

Last Monday (25 August) I went to the Notting Hill Carnival with Jess, Deb, Chris, Tom (Aussie), Peter (SA) and Marco.  The carnival is supposedly Europe’s biggest street party.  I don’t doubt it.  It was a bit of a rough start to the day as I was feeling particularly short-tempered.  It was taking the group much longer than necessary to organize and I let people know it.  Rocky beginning aside, once we got into it, things turned out really well.  There were tens of thousands of people on the streets and on the rooftops and balaconies of buildings on the route.  Basically the carnival is a parade of a sorts, with several floats and trucks with sound systems and dancers.  There was everything from steel drums to trance music.  We soon discovered the best tactic was to find a truck with good music and follow them around the route.  We ended up walking around with peacock feathers in our hair and down the back of our shirts.  The feathers served as decoration and a good way of spotting each other in the crowd when anybody got lost.  It was a great day!

I went to a couple of birthday parties on Saturday night.  Hayden’s 25th was at Cheers in Piccadilly, and Bernice had hers at the Walkabout in Leceister Square.  Cheers looked just like the TV show, and the Walkabout was just a giant meat-market.  I was hit on and groped every time I left Marco’s side.  I now know where to go if I’m on the prowl for a new guy.

Speaking of looking for a new guy, Marco left the day before yesterday.  He went back home to Madeira after running out of money and not having much luck finding a job.  I’m planning a trip to Portugal and Spain for Feb/March and I’m going to try to stop off and pay him a visit.  Deb, Bruce (SA) and Henry (SA) dragged me out to drown my sorrows in rum and coke.

Somewhere in those last two weeks I managed to get a bank account open as well.  Finally!  Thank you HSBC for deciding that I’m not a terrorist!

In other news: Cynthia, one of my college classmates, is going to be heading this way in a couple of weeks.  She and her fiancé are going to work inMalawi for a year, and they’re stopping off in London on their way over.  It’ll be nice to see a familiar face for a couple of days.

All quiet

Published Date : September 13, 2003

The seasons are changing.  It’s starting to get dark a lot earlier now, and the temperature is dropping rapidly.  Winter is on its way.

I applied for a beginner’s Portuguese class with CityLit, an adult continuing education provider in London, but the course was already full.  I’m going to keep learning it on my own though.  I picked up so much from Marco and the Brazilians that I figured I might as well keep going with it.  It’ll be helpful when I visit Portugal next year too.

Chris and Jess are going to Egypt next week.  They’re going for a month.  I’m jealous!  They’re going to have such a good time.  Deb is off to Spain in a couple of weeks as well.  A couple of others have moved on, and some others have come back, so the atmosphere at the hostel is completely different these days.  It’s going to feel really strange when Deb, Jess and Chris are all gone, but such is life when you live in a hostel!

I was meant to go to dinner with Flavio (Italy) and Shaun (Kiwi) tonight, but Flavio didn’t show up.  Shaun and I went to the Maple Leaf, the only “Canadian” pub in Britain.  I had some poutine.  Mmmm…poutine.  Damn that tasted good!

Moving on

Published Date : September 25, 2003

Tower Bridge

I’ve been limiting the socializing over the last couple of weeks.  While the pub hopping has been fun, it’s just not something that I can afford to keep up long term – either physically or financially!  I don’t want my entire time here in London to be a drunken boozefest.

Cynthia and Arash made it over to jolly old London for a few days.  It was great to see them, but it felt a bit strange to see them over here.  They arrived in town on Thursday afternoon, and we met up in Earl’s Court later that night.  We went for some dinner at the Tavern then headed out to see some of the sights.  I really do enjoy seeing London at night.

David Blaine in his box

Friday, I took off from work early to meet up with Cynthia and Arash again.  We spent the afternoon wandering around and saw David Blaine in his little box down by the Tower Bridge.  We took a bit of a stroll along the river then headed back into Trafalgar Square.  Saturday, they continued on to Malawi.

Now, for the big news.  May I have a drum-roll please?  I am actually going to do some travelling!  Woohoo!  Well, at least for the weekend.  I decided that it was high time to get out of London and spend some of my hard earned cash, so I’m going to Wales for the weekend.  I would have preferred to spend more time there, but limited vacation time and money means I’ll have to do it the efficient way instead.  I’m taking a Shaggy Sheep tour – hope it’s as much fun as it sounds!

Flavio was completely off his gut today.  I haven’t seen him this drunk in a long time. He had a fight with his girlfriend and decided that he would rather have a girlfriend just like me.  Luckily I was on my way out with Sian (SA) to meet one of her friends at the tube station when he started hitting on me.  He was passed out by the time we got back.

I spent the evening sitting in the garden with Sian and her friend, Charlotte (new French roomie) and her friend, Wil (SA), and a group of Kiwis that just moved in.  Wil is getting kicked out of the hostel, so tonight was a bit of a going-away party for him.  I never did hear why he’s being given the boot, but he’s moving into the Nevern, a hostel around the corner, so it’s not like he’s going far.  It was a nice night.