I found this little gem by Van Burren and Rank 1 – “This world is watching me”. It’s been on auto play in my head lately, even without my cans. Scary…
Archive for May, 2007
Playing the tourist
Weekend just gone, not the standard two day break. In fact, at least twice I had to slap myself to ensure I wasn’t really on a holiday – although Monday would provide me with the biggest slap of all (the working class slap). So I enjoyed it while it lasted, hence I’m writing this entry to prolong the feeling :)
So, we had a guest at the flat who had a jolly old time. The weekend was jam packed with some of London’s finest tourist events, albeit on a tight schedule. I was never going to catch up on my diminishing reservoir of sleep over this weekend.
Saturday morning began with a ridiculously early start – 7:15am out the door to queue for “Wicked” tickets (my first real London theatre experience). Following up from that was another first at Portobello market – lots of old school antiques and wicked German burger food! Really amazing value, for the taste. With a few hours of downtime we camped out at Borders in the city – bringing back uncanny parallels to Borders in Auckland. I’m not much of a book reader but I gathered a few heath books – Chinese medicine, homeopathy and detox. My Chai Tea/Latte was super sweet; shortly after I passed out on one of the purple sofas. Bliss.
6.20pm. I had an interesting encounter on the tube. I saw a familiar, yet mysterious face in the cabin window as the train arrived at my feet. Stunned and surprised I hustled my way through the packed train to say “hi” to her. A rather PC conversation – but remember, it’s not what you say it’s how you say it (i’ll give myself a 4/10 on this attempt). The train was naturally hot and sweaty, which didn’t help. Anyway, a hug and kiss good bye I was all smitten… and ready for our main event at Apollo Victoria.
Rolling up at 7.25pm, we were seated for Wicked. Front row seats, not the best (some of the worst, hah) but it was a class act and I enjoyed it immensely. Wicked is based on a novel, which offered a prequel to the “The Wizard of Oz”. The lead girl was fit with a fantastic voice – nothing wrong with green girls I say. Totally blew me away. A long bus journey home for a well deserved Tiramisu dessert, followed by some moonlight longboarding action. I gave our guest a few lessons on how to ride the longboard, needless to say, she enjoyed it very much (the board’s already showing it’s potential, woot).
Summer time, Sunday
Sunday’s are for rest and sleeping in. So, Sunday’s agenda was much lighter – meeting up with a friend of a friend in central London. My lack of knowledge/research made our tourist event to the “Tower of London” less insightful; but it was definitely nice to walk around and chat about kiwiana in the summer sunshine. We saw the Crown jewels plus some other rather large, shiny specimens…
Cost analysis:
- Amazing chicken schnitzel burger at Portobello Market: £3
- Random market gifts: 3.50 + 5 = £8.50 (stamps and a rubber stamp)
- Wicked: £25 (discounted)
- Wicked icecream: £3 (Strawberries and Cream)
- Tower of London: £8 (2 for 1 deal)
- Dinners (Nandos, home BBQ): £20
Total cost (for this weekend away but not really): £67.50
Concluding remarks:
When it comes to sightseeing, I’m definitely more into views and satisfying my stomach, rather than historic facts. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it’s just me and I have to accept it. Sad to see you go, Chris :/
Stains of glory @ the home of cricket
Wow what a match, we lost by 3 runs, batting second. Out of all the things I’d planned to do in London, playing cricket was never on the list. However, a fantastic day out with overcast and breezy conditions. For under £20 I was able to get fully suited in whites plus a box for £1.19. It’s a strange feeling, at school I always had the technical game but never the mental strength – it’s definitely more fun now than I recall back then. Oh wait, the opposition were pants, our fielding was poor and many bowlers were throwing pies (which just made me look good).
Our captain, “Jimmy James” scored his maiden one day 50 with some trademark strokes and text-book blocking. I dropped a scorcher (hence my bruised hand) but effected a superb run-out, ending the opposition’s innings. Here’s the stains to prove it (excuse the smelly foot, what was I thinking):
Score card (opposition / us):
- 166/10 (29.3 overs)
- 164/10 (35.4 overs)
My figures (bowling / batting):
- 2-25 off 5 overs, 1 maiden, 0 official wides
- 6 runs – 1 four, 2 singles (LBW, boooo!)
