So it begins

United Nations in Fulham

Published Date : September 13, 2004

Saturday night was party night.  Our two Kiwi housemates, DJ and Rob, threw a huge bash on the weekend, and it was quite an event.  We moved all the furniture from the lounge into the backyard, got a couple of bamboo lamps, cleared out 3 fridges for drinks, put up the flags of all the nationalities in our house (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Egypt and Sweden), set up DJ’s decks in the lounge with speakers all over the house, locked all the valuables in DJ’s and Rob’s rooms, and waited for the fun to start.

Actually, Gray and I didn’t stick around because we had another party to go to across town in Willesden Green.  It was a going away party for one of Gray’s buddies and we ended up at the Walkabout at Finchley Road.  It was a very fun night with much dancing, drinking and debauchery.  The trip home was the biggest event.  Gray was loaded and barely functional.  With much cajoling, pushing, shoving, pleading and a bit of hurling, I finally got him back to Fulham.  A very entertaining trip!

The Great River Race

We made it back to the house at about 1am to find the party still in full swing.  The house was packed and the music was thumping.  Any other night I would have joined in, but I had reached my limit for the night, so to bed for us.  I think the party finally wound down at about 6am.  The empties perched on every available flat surface, and the beer-soaked carpet were evidence that it had been a great night.

My other entertainment for the weekend was watching the Great River Race.  It’s a 22-mile race on the Thames starting in Richmond and finishing off in Greenwich.  Participants can race anything that floats, so long as it’s powered by oars and the seats are stationary.  There was everything from Dragon boats and traditional fishing boats to a Viking whaler and a rowboat full of pirates.  While Gray slept off his hangover, I parked myself on Wandsworth Bridge in the sunshine and watched all the boats sail by.

In other news, my plane tickets have arrived, and I’ve got an appointment set up with Occupational Health for next week.  Things are coming together!

Shao Lin: The Wheel of Life

Published Date : September 20, 2004

The Shao Lin Monks are Zen Buddhist Monks from the Hannan Province of China.  They are the creators of Kung Fu and various fighting techniques based on the movements of animals.  They are also renowned for their displays of strength, flexibility and mental toughness.  During the Tang Dynasty they were betrayed by the Emperor and all but 5 were killed.  Those 5 survivors returned to their temple and Shao Lin was reborn.

On Saturday, Greg and I went to the Peacock Theatre and saw the performance Shao Lin: The Wheel of Life, which demonstrated their skills by re-enacting the events surrounding their betrayal.  There were about 20 monks ranging in age from about 5 or 6 up to 30+.  They set the mood from the moment you entered the darkened theatre with a massive statue of Buddha centre stage and incense filling the room.  It was a two-hour performance with several demonstrations of the various animal techniques they employ – the cat and the scorpion were easy to spot, but I couldn’t begin to guess at the rest of them.  It was especially impressive watching the two youngest monks sparring, and also a bit disconcerting to realise that these two pint-sized warriors could easily take down a grown man before he even knew what hit him.  They finished the show with some mind-boggling stunts including one monk performing a hand stand on his index fingers.  And we got all that for the ridiculously low student price of £15 each.  If you show up an hour before the performance starts, the Peacock offers students the best available seat for a flat rate, so we got our seats for half-price.  Good deal!

 

Frustration of the nation

Published Date : September 21, 2004

Frustration doesn’t begin to cover it.  I had my appointment with a doctor at Occupational Health this afternoon. The doctor I saw today, not only refused to give me a prescription for anti-malarials, but he also told me that I shouldn’t have been given half the vaccines I received there.  Since my travel is personal and not work-related, he said that my vaccinations aren’t the hospital’s responsibility.

The fact that another doctor in OH had told me that I would receive a prescription meant nothing to him.  I tried the guilt trip, “But I was told I would get them here, so I didn’t budget for them.” Also laid the moral responsibility trip on him, “So, you’re refusing to give me medication that I’m entitled to, so that I will now go away and get sick then come back and infect other workers and patients in the hospital” (they don’t have to know that I’m not actually coming back :P).  Actually that bit about infecting others in the hospital is the only reason that OH offers travel vaccines in the first place.  It makes sense.  You don’t want your staff to catch a tropical disease then come back and infect half the hospital when you can prevent it for the price of a postage stamp.

Alas. the doc was completely unimpressed by my arguments.  So, it’s off to 1st Contact for a private prescription that I have to pay for myself.

To finish things off on a positive not, we had going away drinks for Bertha today at lunch.  The boss-man took us to a really posh little pub for a round, not expecting any of us to actually want to eat lunch on our lunch break (we’re silly that way, wanting to eat lunch at lunch time).   He felt guilty about us all having to pay so much, so he paid for most of it, and we all only had to chip in a fiver each.  £5 for a £15 meal.  I’ll take that all week long!

Change of plans

Published Date : September 29, 2004

We were supposed to be travelling up to Leeds last weekend.  My brother was going to come down from Edinburgh so we could see each other one last time before I leave on my trip.  Because of rail repairs it would have taken him 6 hours to make the trip from Edinburgh to Leeds.  He wouldn’t have gotten there until midnight Saturday, and then he would have had to leave early in the afternoon on Sunday.  That’s just not enough time to justify spending all that money, especially when we both could put it to much better use.

Gray and I have planned a trip down to Cornwall, but we are having money issues on that one as well.  We’d forgotten just how expensive it can be to travel in the UK.  Accommodation is the killer at the moment because we don’t want to stay in hostels.  For now the trip is still a go, but final decision is pending.

Nothing else to really add.  Same same.  Work, sleep.  Only 7 days of work left, 15 days until I leave.  Not long to go now.  Getting very excited, I am! [/yodaspeak] ��