Oop the Toon

As I sit here again on my way out of London yet again, tis time to add the next post.

A bit of a football week this one with the Russian team, Spartak Moscow coming over to play Tottenham in the UEFA Cup competition on the Thursday night. A win or draw would see Spurs through to the next stage of the competition and a loss could see them knocked out altogether, so when they went 0-2 down by half time, things weren’t looking good. A very entertaining second half saw the comeback to level the match at 2-2.

Friday saw four of us; Husky, Kels, Andrew and myself packed into a Peugeot 206 with Gibson (Kel’s King Charles spaniel) and all our bags for the trek to Newcastle for the weekend.
We would be staying in nearby Durham again. Arriving at Jools n Andy’s at around 7.30-ish we relaxed with them over a few beers and a late night game of scatagories.

Saturday saw a lazy relaxed start with everything gearing up for a big night out on the “Toon”. Newcastle is renowned for its nightlife, previous times up there did not disappoint. This trip was no exception. Jools, Kels, Husky, Michael, Andrew and myself headed out to our first stop - Shearer’s, where we warmed up and were joined by Debra and a bit later by Petter. We finished up there after a couple of games of pool where the Aussie showed that we’re better at pool than English or Norwegians!
On to The Gate, which is one of the major nightspots. It is a large complex full of shops, restaurants and clubs/bars/pubs. As the night progressed we ended up going through about four of the clubs/bars/pubs for what was a great night out before crashing back at Andy n Jools’ place. The Newcastle folk are a hardy bunch as the one thing that is noticeable on the night out was that no one wore a coat or jacket, and I mean no one! (that's Petter, Jools, Kels n Husky in the pic)

Sunday started VERY slowly as we prepared for the trip back into Newcastle for the main event of the weekend - Newcastle v Tottenham. With both teams level on the league table and not really as far from the relegation zone as they’d like it had the makings of a good game. Usual pub gathering before the match saw many of the same faces from other away games as the number of Spurs fans increased in the Ballantynes pub. I even met a fellow who had brought his son over for the game - from Chicago of all places!
At the match, both sets of fans were in fine voice although it was only a small section of the Newcastle faithful as they have a fair bit of political issues at the club and many are still boycotting their matches. A very entertaining match with the scores locked at 1-1 for most of it until (unfortunately) Newcastle scored a winner with only two minutes left in the game. Back to the pub for the post match lamenting, but that continued on for a fun evening that continued on back at Andy n Jools with a couple of their neighbours dropping in to make a bit of a night of it.
One of the fun things about staying with the locals is the neighbourhood community that goes on here. Everyone knows everyone and the kids all just go over to whoever’s to play. It really does remind me of growing up back home before all the ‘stranger danger’ type things made life very different in the city suburbs today...
Monday was yet another slow start before eventually making the drive back to London...

Work continued for the next two days including christmas eve, with the usual work 'party' carry on for that afternoon, which soon led to the pub next door. Shortly after that and I'm here on the train to suffolk for christmas with my cousins.

Have a good, enjoyable and safe christmas people!!

Better Late Than Never

Now, where was I...

Wednesday week ago, I got a text from Kiersten saying how she was disappointed that everyone that was going to the Wallabies v Barbarians had pulled out due to how cold it would be, as well as a few other reasons. “Spare tickets then?” I asked. And so with a bit of rushing around, in the space of time between work finishing and kick off, Kiersten had met up with her brother to obtain one of the other tickets and I’d flown home on the bike to then get myself to Wembley in more appropriate attire to brave the single figure temperature of the night.
Kiersten was looking forward to this game as “payback for you lot beating us last week”, which for those in the know on rugby union will know, the Wallabies beat England. We had great seats being only 9 rows back from the field, as we watched and ribbed each other as each side scored. As it turned out the Wallabies won again this night, so she didn’t get her payback as hoped. Still, once the game was over we hightailed it to a warm pub for a few drinks to thaw out. ;)

Thursday night and it was a chance to see another band whose music I really enjoy. Almost never heard off back home in Australia, Coheed & Cambria, are a band I discovered purely by accident several years ago. I was also very lucky to discover that they were playing in London this week too. They’ve recently released their fourth album, which is actually the 'first'. Confused? Don't be. All four albums tell the one story, however, the first album released was the second part of the story. The shows they were doing this week were all four albums in order of release (ie; story parts 2, 3, 4 & 1) with each album performed in full on each night. Unfortunately, I only found out that they were doing the four shows on the night of the second show, and the third night was already sold out. Not to worry. While I like the third album (part 4) the best, I still like the fourth album, and considering it would be the final show there was a high chance that there would be that bit more for the final show. I wasn’t wrong and they played more than just the final album for us all. An absolutely awesome show from what I thought was a small band from New Jersey. Their sound was superb and far better than I thought it would be after seeing a live recording of them on a dvd a few years ago. It also helped that I met nice woman from Brisbane on the night as well.
That’s two of my favourite bands ticked off in less than a year now, and with neither of them ever likely to make it to Australia.

On the way home I was treated to another small musical show by a pair of buskers - one drummer using only buckets and plastic containers and a saxophonist. Very good too.

Friday night turned out to be a fun evening that was truly unexpected or planned. A text from Shar and I met up with her and Sam at a pub near Westminster for several afterwork drinks, before moving on to Leicester square for dinner. After that we were walking through the actual square itself that is now the winter fair that it has become. A bit of maniac driving on the dodgem cars had us having a good laugh with the next ride to prove even funnier, although not for Sam. Wurlitzer or something similar it was called and basically had the three of us in the one rotating ‘carriage’ that also went around the ride as well. Both Sam and I were rather apprehensive about this one, but I ended up having a ball, as did Shar. Sam actually videoed the ride on his camera, which is impressive considering that the longer it went, the worse he was feeling. A bit of a breather afterwards for Sam as we made our way up to Soho to be joined on the way by Kiersten. Bar Soho was the venue eventually chosen, probably more for the fact that they let us in and didn’t charge us, and we kicked on into the wee hours. We even met some of the folks there, as you can see in the pic with myself, Kiersten and Shar - unfortunately I've forgotten the other two fellow's names...
Naturally Saturday was both a very late start, but one in which the flu decided to show itself, which meant that both the Santa Run in Battersea had to be abandoned as well as the Santa Crawl later that evening.

The week following was a work free week. Why? Well, I was saving my annual leave up for next year so that I could use it both for travelling Europe but also have a decent visit home. Unfortunately, the English don’t work that way and you can’t carry over your leave to the next year. Rather annoying, but I only found this out when I was told to take this week off. Starting it off ill wasn’t a great plan, but it worked for the first day anyway - sort of.

Monday afternoon I got a pleasant surprise when my housemate Paul came up with a spare ticket to the Spurs v West Ham game that night. We caught up at Liverpool St station that evening and ran into Petter and a few others on the way to Upton Park. A great entertaining game to be at in which Spurs won 2-0 in style. The real fun, however, began on the way home. To say that the West Ham fans weren’t happy would have been an understatement. They really don’t like Tottenham at all, and we were rather happy for the multitudes of police in the area on the way to the tube station. One problem being over 30,000 football fans all trying to use the one tube station. We escaped this chaos and the few ‘spats’ that we saw the police break up, by heading further up the road to a curry house for dinner. Once finished, we made our way back to a now far quieter tube station for the trip home.

Up early the next day to help Shar get all her bags to the airport for her trip home. They were a “little” overweight, by about 10kilos, but we still managed to get them checked-in and on board with plenty of time for breakfast in one of the airport cafés before "til we meet again".

Having the week off also meant that I could finally finish off all xmas shopping/wrapping/packaging as well as almost all the cards. A ‘quick’ trip to the post office turned out to take far longer as I didn’t realise just how many cards I’d written out. This didn’t really register when I paid for all the stamps despite paying nearly fifty quid for them. What did make me realise it was the fact that along with the air mail stickers, I had to put three stamps on each envelope! It took a while...

Thursday evening I caught up with Kiersten and we headed along Oxford St amid the crowds and Christmas lights, which I must say are fairly ordinary along this street. Kiersten led me down St Christopher’s lane, which you can see here, where the crowds were less and the lights much nicer. Plenty of restaurants and cafés here, so we settled in to while away the evening in the casual atmosphere of the place.

Friday afternoon and it was time to finally get back on the bike again. I headed north up to Enfield at stopped off at the Waterstones book store. It was here that I met another old player for Tottenham as he was signing copies of a new book. Steve Perryman IS a club legend, who captained the side through several cup wins, in a career that went from 1969 - 1986 and saw him play 866 matches for the club. He was also a really nice guy to talk with in the few minutes that we chatted. No photo this time as I felt the signing of the book was enough. The ride home proved interesting enough as well thanks to both the rain and forgetting about two rather steep hills in that area.

A good bit of rest that night and Saturday had me heading back to one of the pubs near White Hart Lane for a bit of a xmas gathering before the match against Manchester United. A truly typical (and miserable) English day, which was still the same rain from the night before. But the pub was warm and full of folks I knew so it made for a good afternoon. It was almost a shame to have to brave the cold to go and see the match, but that was very entertaining thanks to a stellar performance from several of the Tottenham players to keep Manchester to a draw.

From there it was back to the pub for one more pint, before making my way to Suki’s cocktail party down in Beckton in east London. This, however, took several hours to get to thanks to the many parts of the London tube and light rail systems being closed for upgrade work over the weekend. So, after 4 bus rides, 3 tube rides and 2 trips on the light rail, I finally made it for what was a fun night (even if I was late). I met a guy that night who was a film director, who was most interested in the short film I wanted to put together several years ago, and told me that if I ever resurrect the project to get in touch and he’ll help put it together! Time will tell I suppose... Oh, and that’s Suki dancing with Troy, if you’re wondering who that is in the pic.

Where'd the Last Week Just Go?

Ah, Monday, that perennial day that let's you know it's back to working life after the weekend. With the temperature in the single figures for the day it was a sudden crash back to reality after a top weekend.

Not a lot on during the week thankfully, except to help Shar move to her new temporary place where she'll stay for the next week and a half before heading back to Melbourne.

Thursday turned out to be a fun afternoon after taking out the "brokers" that I'm involved with looking after out at lunchtime. Liquid lunch, and an hour and a half late back to work. And after about five pints in that time, the remainder of the afternoon was pretty much a write-off. Entertaining though, and I used one small trick to avoid copping any flack over the late (and state) of return - bring along one of the senior folk from our office.

Friday and after a good lunch time run with one of the guys from work, it was back in the pub with some other workmates after 5 before heading off to catch up with the 'new friend' I mentioned in the last post. As she wasn't feeling like heading out for the evening, we made do with a quiet night in with takeaway, an open fire and some good entertainment from her cat's antics - and people think only kids have ADD! (and that's not 'add', it's Attention Deficit Disorder)

Saturday and I returned to South Bank to walk from Waterloo to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London itself. Thankfully it was only overcast and not raining or drizzling, although it was still "cool". As I mentioned in the last post, there was the "German Xmas" market stalls along south bank near Waterloo, and it was here that I was returning to in an attempt to finish off my Xmas shopping. A little early you say? Not really, as I need to get it sorted within the next week and a bit to send back to Aus. With all sorts of things to see along South Bank, including some interesting people watching, it made for a pleasant exploration even if I have been along here numerous times - you'll always find something different. It turned out to be worthwhile for myself as well - poking through one of the book stalls, I found a near mint condition copy of Steve Martin's book 'the pleasure of my own company', and for only 3 quid I grabbed it. Well, purchased it might have been a better phrase. Quite good so far having read a good portion of it on the bus home later.

Continuing on to Borough Market was definitely worthwhile for a fresh ostrich burger and a good poke about before a bit of time getting out of the weather in a nearby bike shop. From here it was over to nearby Hay's Galleria which links the river bank to nearby London Bridge station. Not only is there a rather bizarre looking iron sculpture of a 'ship' in the fountain there, but a very large sparkling Xmas tree. Along the sides are all the shops of this 'laneway' and I discovered the small book shop in the corner of the galleria. It was here that I discovered what promises to be quite an interesting book - "The Philosopher and the Wolf". About a professor who obtains a wolf cub as a pet, who in-turn proceeds to teach the philosopher a great deal about life, death and quite a lot in between as they spend nearly all their time together. But I digress...

Back out on the river bank and it was across Tower Bridge, up past the Tower of London and onto the bus home. Oh, and with the obligatory taking of two tourist photo's for people. Interesting that I pass for a local and not a visitor or tourist nowdays.

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent with Kiersten in Hyde Park at the Winter Wonderland. You may recall me mentioning this last year when I did it with Matt Beale and you-know-who. Well, this year it was bigger again, with more rides and stalls and much more to see and do. The large ferris wheel was back again (luckily it was because I didn't have my camera with me so this is one of last year's pics). The Funhouse's glass walled maze provided some good entertainment as people went all round in circles trying to work their way out of it, and with the occasional person walking straight into a glass panel. I'm sure the one guy who managed to do it twice wasn't too pleased that those on the outside could see everything going on in there. Yep, we had to give it a go, and it wasn't as easy as we first thought it might be! We did manage to get through it without leaving the imprints of our faces on the glass panels too. Continuing the 'lets just be a pair of big kids' bit going, it was onto the two storey ghost-train before going through the market and food/drink stalls. After reaching the large outdoor ice rink, we headed into what you could call 'inside' by a roaring pot-belly stove that was inside a small group of makeshift wooden huts. Hot mulled wine it was as we warmed ourselves on both the inside and outside.

We rounded out the day by heading in to Leicester Square and a nice little Italian restaurant before having 'one for the road' in a nearby pub before they closed.

Catching Up

So it's been a while since I've blogged what's going on.
The past weekend kicked it off with the first long morning ride I’ve done since January last year (not counting the Cambridge ride). Nearly 60kms up to Hatfield and back. Okay, I wasn’t planning to go that far, but I was just enjoying the countryside as the sun rose and all the autumn browns, yellows and oranges came to light amongst the greenery of the countryside and forests. Including the spattering of several hundred year old houses. With the ipod giving me all the right tunes it wasn’t til I reached Hatfield that I remembered that I still had to travel all the way back home. Not to worry, that was just as enjoyable as the trip there. I could have done without it being only 3C but I was wearing all the right gear for it so it wasn’t a problem after the first couple of kilometres.
Naturally the afternoon was a little less active as it was just a bit of a domestic day and considering I’ve only recently had a bad flu, I wasn’t going to stay out in the cold when I didn’t really have to!
Sunday and it was a trip into Southbank (of the Thames for you Melbournites) to catch up with Lise for both lunch and to check out the Christmas markets that are now set up there. A good couple of hours as we strolled in the fickle London weather - blue skies n clouds, then howling wind n rain. Thankfully the later came through while we were inside having lunch!
The rest of the evening was spent in Gordon’s Wine Bar with a ‘new friend’ I met a few weeks back...

Now I guess I need to fill in the last few weeks with all that’s been going on, as things have been rather hectic to say the least. Plenty of nights out here or there, and other things on as well. The Silly Season leading up to Xmas has definitely begun!
I won’t go into a blow-by-blow list of each night, but just a bit of a highlights package...
We had Guy Fawkes with the customary fireworks going off everywhere for the two weeks surrounding it, and no doubt with countless missing eyebrows and fingers off the kiddies or other muppets. The night itself was pretty cool. I left work late and had what amounted to a fireworks show for the entire ride home with people letting them off everywhere! This was taken simply by sticking my head out the door with the camera...
Been to Manchester. Caught the train up there with Petter to meet a small group of fellas up there for what turned into a top night out. Seems a pairing of one Norwegian and one Aussie are adding up to some good fun when mixed with some English. No - what happens on the night stays on the night!
The next day was Man Citeh away, so it was off to the City of Manchester Stadium to watch Spurs beat citeh. The day itself began with breakfast in the pub where all the Spurs folks were meeting and the day continued on from there. Nice stadium too if you recall the commonwealth games from a few years back. 2 minutes silence for Armistice Day and you could hear a pin drop - impressive for about 40,000 football fans. Could have done without the 5 hour drive home in the rain storms, but you get that - all part of the adventure.
There’s been other football matches, like the win over Liverpool in the League Cup, which is the one Spurs won last season. Or watching the England v (someone) football match in a pub with Daniel, who is the brother of a friend living in Sydney - Hi Sheryl! A fun night.
Quite few nights out after work with mostly the work crew or Shar, who’ll be heading home soon thanks to redundancy, which means that the move is off for now unless we can find a third person for the place we are meant to move into this coming weekend.
Been for a few runs with the ARS (Axa Running Society - in case you’ve never noticed the English fascination with innuendoes ) as some sort of preparation for the upcoming Santa Run, which is a 5km run through Battersea Park with all runners being in a Santa suit. Should be a good laugh and fundraiser at the same time.
Other than most of these it’s been some fun juggling the calendar for December which is pretty full already with only two days left from all the weekends til the second weekend of Jan! And several of the weeknights are already gone too!!
Anyway, that’s about it for now. If more of what’s gone on in the last few weeks comes to mind that’s particularly notable I’ll be sure to pop it up here.

And while I think of it, Sime, Chels, hope all goes well with Wilfred’s impending arrival!! From memory he’s due this week.

PS. Can’t wait for you to get here Cuz! “We’re gonna have us some fun!”

Well, it’s been a bit of a busy time, and I’ll get to that later, but here’s...

Rome

After Shar n I met up at Liverpool St station it wasn’t long before we were on the express train to Stansted Airport for our flight to Rome. Ryannair did their best to delay us with all their check-in machines packing it in, but we still made it with good time to spare.
Upon arrival to the airport, we had some ‘fun’ with the cabbies and trying to get one that had some limited English and knew where we wanted to go. He did his best to get us there in the shortest possible time that he could. I was half expecting Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear to appear at one point during our cabbie’s attempt at breaking the sound barrier. If you think I’m being silly, this fella literally ‘flew’ us to the hotel - we did not go below 120mph and spent a good amount of time at 160mph! He didn’t exactly slow up for traffic either as he just took the emergency lane when cars did not move over when he flashed his headlights at them!
A good adrenaline rush, although that really only worked for one of us, but we did reach the hotel in one piece to catch up with the other two members of our weekend group - Michelle and Jules. Yep, it was a bit of a ‘Man about the House’ gig in our room (for those who remember or know of the show - the rest of you can google it if you're curious).
Michelle, Shar n I then headed out to find some dinner, and eventually found somewhere that was open. Quite good food, and I was very surprised that the decadent dessert made from nutella and a cheese was very good.
As Michelle was only with us for the Saturday, we had a big day ahead to try and see what she wanted before having to head off, so staying out wasn’t an option.

Saturday, and after a rather lavish buffet breakfast in the hotel, we hit the streets to try and get through all on Michelle’s list. It was 25C and sunny!! Finally a chance to actually use the sunnies since Germany back in June! We set out towards the Tridente area. A quick bus ride and we were a few blocks from a certain fountain, and one that was pretty impressive at that! A bit of milling around, some photos, some entertainment from the antics of other tourists, tossing our coins in the Fontana di Trevi, and we were back making our way through the narrow laneways. Past ancient walls, to modern shops, as well as the obligatory McDonalds, we went before eventually reaching the Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps.
Not passing up a chance to enjoy a mid morning coffee and some lounging around in the sun, we just had to spend some time on the Steps themselves, with yours truly getting told off for not sitting on the actual steps, but the balustrade to the side... it wasn’t like I was in anyone’s way while enjoying the sun and view.
Once at the bottom of the steps again, and with the underground market closed, it was time to make our way to the Vatican. The decision was made to take the Metro so as to make the most of our time there, and after getting lost in the tunnels, we did manage to get onto the train. Compared to the Tube these were luxury and we even had some impressive violin played for us by a busker. Pass the grapes please!!

Okay, lame references to Nero and Roman decadence aside, it was nice to be back outside in the sun again as we made our way to the Vatican. We soon passed a couple of streetside cafés and restaurants, so it was decided to at least enjoy a ‘vino’. A table in the open window it was before moving to a table in the street. So many varied folk walking past too, which made for an interesting bit of people watching. (above is Shar, Michelle n Julia with yours truly avoiding the lens)
Anyway, from there we headed further down the Via di Porta Angelica to emerge onto St Peter’s Square. Being a Saturday, things were in preparation for a mass of some sort as a good portion of the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica was cordoned off and full of chairs. It took nothing away from the place itself as we took it all in. It was then time to head through the security checks and into that aforementioned Basilica.
Talk about ‘Holy Monumental Church, Batman!’ as inside this building was very impressive. Considering how quickly bored I become in art galleries when there are lots of religious scenes, I was quite impressed with this building and the works and sculptures that it was comprised of. An amazing amount of work taking over 150 years to build what is basically a gigantic church that can hold more than most football stadiums: 60,000 people!
That’s the view from the front above on the right, and on the left is just one of the many archways you go through as you move about inside. Neither really does the size of the place any justice, but hopefully you can see what I’m getting at.
We spent a fair bit of time here to go through it, including some time in a very impressive little prayer room (quite eerie in there too) as well as finding another tunnel that was like a little museum to all the previous popes who had presided over the Vatican.

Once back outside, we made our way back out of St Peter’s Square and back up the street we entered it from. Stopping to grab gelati, we continued along the walls of the Vatican until we reached the entrance to the Vatican Museums. It is in here that you will find the Sistine Chapel (eventually). The signs pointing the way to the chapel itself will lead you through the museums themselves in one of several routes. These museums are huge and to give you an idea, there are six hour tours through them - and that won’t cover everything in them either! On the right is one of their hallways...
So after trekking through all sorts of works of art, tapestries and sculptures, we came into a ‘small’ room with some more paintings upon the walls and ceiling. It was full of people and included the “Camera Nazi” who was the poor sod trying to stop people taking pictures and videos. You weren’t supposed to speak in there either, but many did respect that. All a bit much really, but then it was time to take notice of Michelangelo’s work - it is impressive to say the least. Four years of painting to do the job, which can’t have been easy considering just how dim the light is in there. Something truly cool to just bask in its magnificence (below).

From there it was then a matter of finding our way over to the next place on Michelle’s list. A bus that took us past both the Castel Sant’ Angelo and the impressive Vittoriano, along the Tiber and also past other ruins, was the way we went. Unfortunately, it didn’t lead to our destination too well, so with the help of an Asian Father (as in priest) we were back on the metro for two stops to emerge at the Colosseum. Pretty amazing spot amongst the building itself and the surrounding ruins, that are over 2000 years old - and I thought dealing with a building from the 1300’s at work was old...
We arrived just in time to make the last group to go through, however Shar got grabbed by one of the Roman Warriors for a photo shoot. Basically, the deal is they pose with you for some photos and then charge you about €5. Unfortunately, once free of this fellow, we turned to see the gates closing. Talk about a ‘not happy Jan’ moment. Time to have a look around the area though and take a good look from the outside. You can actually see right through it in parts, however, for some reason when two of us attempted to take photos through the fencing, we were shooed away - go figure!

With the sky darkening we headed to a nearby restaurant to grab some dinner, which certainly could have been better, but it was more about just sitting for a bit really. Back outside and it was night-time around the now lit up Colosseum, which is a pretty good sight as well. Onto the metro again, and it was PACKED. That day had seen a mass rally for one of the political parties, and it had a huge turnout, which is why the metro and the rest of the streets were awash with thousands of people with banners and flags. By the time we made it back to the hotel, the plan of then heading out into the nightlife was replaced by a couple of bottles of wine in our room as some of us were rather tired. I did have to chuckle, as I doubt the girls would have survived the day had we travelled by foot as I prefer... No matter, there’s always next time.

Sunday morning came and while it was a late start, Michelle had already left on her early flight back to London. Only Shar, Julia and myself for breakfast, but when her cousin arrived shortly after it was just the two of us for the day and a much more relaxed pace.
We headed out into what was again 25C and sunshine to make our way to the Trastevere area and the Porta Portese Market. After some fun on the bus, we arrived to cross the Tiber and head into the market itself. Big? Yes. And I thought only big was in Texas, but so far everything is on a grand scale here in Rome. All sorts of things to find in this market, and it did seem to go on forever up the main street of the Trastevere area. After spending some time here we did make a rather impressive purchase. Shar was quite taken with a certain leather jacket in one of the larger leather seller’s stalls, and during sizing and trying on, another jacket caught my eye. Soon enough it was my turn to be trying on a jacket in front of the mirror and taking compliments. It was described by the guy as a ‘Cannavaro style’ and is a very good jacket (naturally). I can still picture the guy’s face when I asked “Fabio or Paulo Cannavaro?” He wasn’t expecting an Australian to know anything about Italian footballers. Naturally, it was Fabio - the better of the two brothers. After some haggling (and purse n wallet checking) we settled on a good price, and the fact that I’ve seen one of our jackets in a store for around the same price we got the two, we’re happy with them. With big grins, we continued to wander through the market in the sun.

Once done, we crossed the Tiber and had some fun trying work out which bus to take to get back to Via del Corso. It was almost a disappointment to have to get out of the sunshine by boarding the correct bus. I ‘correct’ as it was the one that got us the closest to where we were going. It actually dropped us off by the Vittoriano, which is massive and houses more than just Italy’s Unknown Soldier (left). A leisurely walk through a couple of Piazza’s (Venezia and di San Marco) and some dodging of traffic saw us at the bottom end of Via del Corso.
After a bit of window shopping along this main street (it was full of good clothing stores), we came across a laneway with a restaurant on the corner and in the lane. It was here when we discovered both the time and our hunger. A very late lunch it was, and with far better food than the place by the Colosseum! I’d use the word ‘proper’ as it was very close to the little place in Florence that I enjoyed with Anka and Katrina several years ago.

Feeling much better, we headed down the lane to discover that it led to the Fontana di Trevi, which explains the number of tourist groups passing by the restaurant. Having been here before, we knew the way back to the store that we were actually heading for - a shoe store by the Spanish Steps. Available sizing being an issue and Shar had to go without for now. It didn’t stop us heading back towards Via del Corso and the other shops though, which is where we both ended up with more to fit into our luggage! There’s something to be said for strolling through historic laneways with both street sellers and excellent stores inside...
With the sun now set, it was back to the hotel with our ‘stash’ and on the way we stopped past what turned out to be a very good patisserie to pick up some items for ‘dinner’. Once back, we unloaded and did a bit of sorting for the following morning before heading down to the hotel’s courtyard to sit, chat and partake of our recent purchases over a bottle of red. In the balmy weather of the evening it was a really nice way to finish off the weekend.

Monday morning and it was an early start to get to the airport in time for our 6.30am flight home to London. We arrived back at Stansted after a bit of a sleep on the plane to head to Liverpool St station before heading off to our respective works - not the best idea, but still, it’s all part of the adventure.

Well worth the visit, and while I’d have done Rome a bit differently, I’ll definitely return to spend more time on foot exploring and discovering what’s about.

A Special Message for A Special Little Lady

Frase, Tine, if you wouldn't mind showing and reading this to Klaer, that'd be great. Thanks guys - hope you're both well too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KLAER

Hello Klaer.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday and a fun time at your party. I look forward to seeing some of the photos! I also hope you got some great presents, because there is still one more present that you are about to get!

I have a little friend here in London, and his name is Paddington. I've told him all about you, and he is looking forward to meeting you. He is a very friendly fellow and he would like to be your friend too.

At the moment, he is travelling to Sydney to meet and stay with you. When he gets to Sydney, he will need a friend, and I'm sure you will be good friends. I know you'll look after Paddington and take care of him. I hope you like him.

Happy Birthday Klaer!

Lots of Love and a BIG Hug,

Uncle Simon.

And now to relax...

PHEW!! Sunday night’s here at last and hopefully a quieter week to come. And now to catch up with things...

Backtracking a bit to Thursday week ago, which is near enough to where I left things here, and when the chaos of the last week and a half kicked off. Although, I say ‘chaos’ it’s been far from it - it has just been VERY full on...
Okay, so last Thursday week, it was finish work then head over to a pub just off Oxford St to catch up with Sue, Wil n Dave for the evening. After a pleasant night together, it was back home to pack for Friday.

Friday for me finished early so that I could meet Shar at Liverpool St station where we caught the Stansted express to Stansted airport. A two hour flight followed shortly thereafter and we were in Rome for the weekend. An evening and two fantastic days of sun and 25C weather! But, more on this later. Leaving Rome on a 6.30am flight Monday morning and it was straight back to work after touching down, customs and the train back to Liverpool St.

Tuesday night was the Monkey Shoulder Appreciation do with free cocktails all night and the guest speaker being the author of the Hedonist Travel Guides. Naturally, hedonism was his topic - the do’s, the don’ts and quite a few ‘how to’s as well. Tim, Belinda, John, Sam and myself then moved to the restaurant downstairs for what turned out to be a very nice (although late) dinner.

Wednesday, and after a very convincing win playing 5-a-side on a snow affected pitch, (did I mention that it was getting colder here now?) it was off to a pub near Angel to meet up with Husky n Kel. Husky had managed to score tickets to the Arsenal v Spurs game at arsenal’s home ground. Arsenal ‘away’ is one of the biggest games of the season regardless of where either side is in the league (the other being at ‘home’). The north London rivalry goes back almost a century now and it is still VERY fierce.
On my way to the pub, I got a text from Husky saying that Graham Roberts was at the pub waiting to meet me again (as you’ll recall from my meeting him up in Newcastle about a month ago). I thought Husky was pulling my leg on this one, only to walk into the pub and be greeted by Graham himself!!
A couple of beers later, and we all set off to the Emirates Stadium for the game. The atmosphere outside the ground was seriously buzzing, and it really felt like something was about to go off despite the massive presence of police. Inside the ground, and despite the highly likely prospect that Spurs would lose, the fans were in fine voice from the start. This was greatly assisted by Spurs scoring early on in the first half, as you can well imagine. Either side of the half time break and arsenal scored to make it 2-1. Not long after and it was 3-1, with the usual effect of the arsenal fans then “giving it the biggun”. 3-2 and things were looking better for Spurs as they still weren’t out of it, and our turn to make some noise. 4-2 and things weren’t looking good at all with the arsenal lot singing “one nil and you f*cked it up!”...
With 5 minutes to go and people starting to leave, it all happened. Within the space of 2 minutes, Tottenham scored twice to level the game at 4-4 - cue pandemonium in the stands amongst the small contingent of Spurs fans, chants of “4-2 and you f*cked it up!” and the end to an amazing night. Even if it actually ended several hours later after around 60,000 people all trying to go home at the same time!

Thursday night was the work Halloween party, and my plan of heading along for one or two pints before calling it for a much needed early night went out the window. After quite some time there, a few of us headed out for some more drinks as one of the guys was finishing up that day.
Halloween itself was actually on the Friday night, and it was time to join Karyn, Marty, Row, Mark, Suki n Troy for the RBS Halloween party. This one was more of a proper Halloween party being complete with costumes. I did Uncle Fester of the Addams Family. The pics are Karyn, Marty n Row (left - and yes, that is his moustache that has emigrated to his forehead!), and then on the right is Row, Mark, Suki, ‘gatecrasher’ n Troy. We kicked on through the night with many of the other RBS staff before ending up in another bar where we were the only ones in costume. This had a rather interesting effect, and one that certainly had its moments! A top night out all round, and another ‘new friend’ as well - don’t you just love it!!

A slow start to Saturday (as you can imagine) and upon reading a certain email to discover that I had a very important day marked in my calendar in the wrong month, it was off to Hamley’s in Regent St to find a special little fellow. The Hamley’s toy store is an amazing place extending through six floors, and well worth poking around for a few hours.
Upon leaving Hamley’s to discover that it was pouring outside, it was a quick trip round the corner into Carnaby Rd to find a pub to wait out the rain. Pub found, and it was time to settle in with a pint to watch the football with the rest that had gathered there. Good thing it was Tottenham v Liverpool too. Rather amazing the way something like this brings people together because in no time, I was practically best mates with a small group of about six people directly around me.
Part way through the second half and it was time to head off to Oxford Circus tube to meet Shar who’d just finished work. I met her and one of her workmates, Kiersten, then proceeded to a nearby pub for a few quiet drinks together. Quiet probably isn’t the right word as this pub was gearing up for its own Halloween do during our stay there.

Sunday also had a slow start, as keeping up with the current week was taking its toll. Still, it didn’t mean that the day was spent doing nothing. In the early afternoon, I met up with Karyn and we spent the afternoon at Camden Market. My purpose was to find a cheap overcoat that could be left in the office at work for use during the cold winter months, and at £20 for one that I’ve seen in the retail stores for well over £150, who was I to argue. We found several other bargains throughout the afternoon as we both managed to find some Xmas bits as well.
Marty joined us as evening closed in, and we proceeded to move through the area to find somewhere for a few drinks, then dinner to round out the day...

Stoked

A busy last two weeks it has been, with much on the go...
The arrival of Stef’s new book ‘I Dream of Magda’ is a welcome addition to the library. For those of you who don’t know Stef, he won the Vogel award with this book, so it will be well worth the read. I’m sure you can find it online at either the publisher’s website, Dymocks or Angus & Robertson...

As for me, well, I’ve been catching up with that ‘new friend’ I mentioned a while back. After discovering a place that we were looking at was more trouble than it was worth to get to by using the Tube and Overland trains, we aborted the viewing and decided to peruse nearby Borough Market. We headed over to Covent Garden from there to be entertained by the street theatre in front of the Punch & Judy bar that overlooks the main square of Covent Garden. An Aussie, and quite a funny one at that - complete with mullet wig and stereotypical footy shorts...
Once he was finished, we moved from there to the nearby Roundhouse Pub to spend the afternoon in the sunshine enjoying a few drinks and some of the items we’d picked up at Borough Market - not to mention something from the nearby Australian Shop. (you have to like a girl who likes her Toobs, as you can see below).
Sharon-lea’s friend Okanya joined us a little later. Not long after this, I got a text asking me where I was. It was Darian, who you will recall from Paris (the Canadian that I teamed up with get into Parisian nightlife). He was over with another Canadian, Mike, and was looking for a place to spend the afternoon. So, about a half hour later we had a group of five of us enjoying the afternoon outside the pub in Covent Garden. (That’s Darian, Mike n me above)
As the evening came, Darian and Mike headed back to Mike’s parents place as this is who he was here to see. Meanwhile, Okanya, Shar n myself headed into Chinatown for dinner. It didn’t take long to work out which restaurant to pick. Side by side, and one had a queue of elderly Asians in the door while the other looked rather empty. We joined the queue, and weren’t disappointed with our selection as the food was excellent. A short walk into Leicester Square and it was a couple of shared jugs of Mai Tai’s to round out a very late evening in a club.

Well, the rest of the fortnight has been some house hunting as well as going out and about. Whether it’s been joining the folks from work for “a few” or just Shar n me. Well, we did have to test out some of the local pubs near the places we viewed because that is a pretty important part of where you live! I must admit that it really was refreshing (okay, so I can’t think of a better word) when Shar offered to pay for dinner one night. It’s been a while since it’s not been me paying all the time, but I’ll leave the past there.
I can also vouch for the ride from work out to Wembley Park. Good fun to head out on new roads, even reaching over 50kmh on the Harrow Rd underpass! The place we viewed there was excellent albeit with one minor flaw - the third bedroom was a shoebox with a single bed in it... Hardly suitable.
Other than that, it’s been a bit of planning for this weekend’s trip as well.

Last Sunday, I joined some mates on a coach trip up to Stoke-on-Trent to go see Spurs ‘play’ Stoke. An early start for Paul and myself as we bussed it up to Palmers Green, where we met Petter n Greg. After a quick breakfast we headed down the road to where the coach and everyone else (including Husky n Kel) were.
As you can imagine, on a private coach with a bunch of folks (yep, there were some women onboard), beer flowing and everyone in good spirits, it was a fun trip up to Stoke. Locking ourselves out of the onboard toilet didn’t help, although, 5 guys doing little jigs in a line was pretty funny til someone managed to get it re-opened.
We arrived at Stoke to make our way to a small local football club and bar. Not a huge look around Stoke, but from what I’ve ascertained, there isn’t too much to see here. Considering that it doesn’t get even a paragraph in my Rough Guide to England!!
But I digress... Junction15 basically caters for Away supporters with a full bar and barbeque out the back by the club’s two pitches. And yes, that did mean that there was not only time for a kick around, but a very entertaining one as there wasn’t exactly too much in the way of skills being shown. It does make me laugh when the English are always surprised when an Aussie can kick a football with them...
We did eventually make it to the Britannia stadium for the match, and with a police escort with some of the other coaches from Junction15. The less said about the actual match the better, as it really was “one of those days”, and that goes for the entire game as the ref really did turn it into a farce for both teams. Still, we made our own fun in the stands as the two groups of supporters traded insulting chants and songs...
The trip home had its own moments as well with both the M1 and the M6 having serious car accidents. Being Sunday night, you can imagine the flow of traffic returning to London. Probably not helped by the driver (I suspect) getting lost at one point. Still, I must admit I was surprised when the songs turned to the Sound of Music and Marry Poppins. I’m not sure which was more scary - the few guys that were singing them or that I knew the words! It was very funny though!
2.30am and we finally walked in the front door of home...

Monday was a slow start, although the day improved when we learnt that we were successful on a new place. One that puts me very near too good spots for riding too! Perfect timing with the Hillingdon Criteriums (Crits) due to start a week after we move in! And dare I also mention that my new commute route looks like I'll be riding past Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace each day? (is that bragging?)
Add to this, that a local bar/restaurant in Leadenhall Street has picked Axa as it’s company of the week, so after today’s 2-4-1 burger meals today (I’m here all week... try the Cajun chicken burger...), it’s free steak night tomorrow night!

Happy Days!

Paris (Day Three)

A bit of a sleep-in to start off Day Three. Missed breakfast again, but I was happy to pass on it anyway to head back to another café for what was now to be brunch.
A lovely sunny day, and sitting outside with ‘brunch’ just opposite the Gare de Lyon planning out a way to fill the day. All sorts of Parisians and others going by doing their thing... Certainly made for a nice start to the day, before heading off up Rue de Lyon towards Place de la Bastille. From here the plan was to head through the Marais and those areas north of the River Seine before heading up to Montmartre. With that, I finished off the last Ladurée macaroon, paid the bill and headed off.

After passing Place de la Bastille, I headed towards the river along Boulevard Henri IV, which was a pleasant enough walk in the trees and sunshine. I emerged at the end of it to be at the end of the two islands on the Seine to grab the photo you see at the top of the page.
Heading along the river, I passed and perused the street sellers and their wares, before reaching the square that the Hôtel de Ville resides. From here I headed directly north to make my way to the Pompidou Centre (left). It certainly stands out, as it really is a building with its insides on the outside, and as you can see isn’t quite in tune with regular several hundred year old Parisian buildings in this region. It’s actually a massive gallery and arts centre with a very interesting square out the front that’s full of people doing not a lot or trying to sell you what they have.
Having threaded my way through some of the sellers, I took a wrong turn and ended up at the Tour St-Jacques tower instead of my intended target of the Fontaine des Innocents. It’s not like it mattered, but it did mean that I ran the gauntlet of what would have to be a most unnerving street. As I made my way along it, you could constantly hear small splat noises on the pavement - some nearer than others. A quick look up and I had the answer: trees full of pigeons! Both of the two people in front of me got hit, but I managed to get to the next corner completely unscathed. So much for back tracking, I decided to head down another street and make my way back to where I was going.

It turned out that this wasn’t a bad move either as it took me through some interesting streets (above right), again with all sorts of vendors and cafés lining the way. Especially the crêpe and baguette sellers - damn, they smelt good!! I emerged from one of these laneways into a small square to see the monument you see here on the left - Fontaine des Innocents. This led me to Les Halles, the major (and unsightly) shopping centre. Les Halles gardens opposite were far nicer though, and with the sun out, I decided on an early lunch. A quick trip back to the baguette sellers and a little later I was chilling out in the Jardin des Halles by the flea market just enjoying the sunshine...

It was all very nice, and I could have whiled away the afternoon there, but I had to move on. Through the flea market and onto the rue St-Honoré I went. Happily window shopping jewellery, watches and clothes in all the shops along this street - Cartier, Dior, Bvlgari, Hermés, etc, etc... Sure, I wouldn’t say no to some of what was in the windows, but I’ll leave it for those who believe the label matters.
Onwards and past the Palais Royal and the nice Rolls Royce parked out the front, past the Place Vendôme (a short sidetrack down another street), to Rue Royal and the Place de Madeleine. It was here on Rue Royal that I had to make a small stop. A little store that I’ve mentioned before called Ladurée. This is the original store that has a far nicer salon de thé (tea room). It was here that the line was literally out the door of this small shop. It also snaked back on itself twice inside as well. Unfortunately, even though I bought 20 this time, they didn’t last the week... but they were GOOD!

So heading north past a street painter and La Madeleine, it was off to Montmartre for the afternoon, and I have to thank the person who put me onto this as an area in which to hang out!!
It didn’t take long to reach St-Lazare and the large train station here, along with the masses of people along this stretch. This would have to have been the most crowded place in Paris (that I came across anyway). I continued north-east and then stumbled across an Axa branch, but no, I didn’t go in to see if they had any work there or see about a transfer from London - as tempting as that may be!
Soon I had passed by St-Trinité and its small garden to then head further north and UP towards Montmartre. I say ‘up’ because one description of how to get there is to basically keep heading uphill. Montmartre, and in particular the “Butte” on which is located is the highest point in Paris. The Sacré-Coeur being its crown, but more about that later...

For now, it was just walking uphill, and on a pair of legs that were rather tired after the last two and a half days of covering many kilometres around Paris! It was with that in mind that I took a turn up a street that was not as steep as the one I was currently on, and for that I was to discover somewhere that I will happily be returning to. Rue Fontaine, is where I found myself and this street seems to be the centre of the music stores in Paris. I passed dozens of them, even drooling over some of what was in the windows, however, the real drooling was about to happen.
One little shop that stood out simply by not being a music store was A L’ Etoile D’or, which is a Chocolaterie. Denise Acabo is the elderly woman who runs this small one room shop, and she positively bubbles with her passion for chocolate. Just the smell in the place was divine, not to mention the two samples I tried. Naturally, I ended up leaving with the “best in the store” - a block of Bernachon (Dark Orange), and at €10 for the 150g block it certainly didn’t disappoint! Seriously, who the hell is Cadbury anyway?! I truly have not had better (yet), and it managed to survive up until today!!
Anyway, with the unopened block safely stashed in my pack, I continued up, knowing that this is a store I will definitely return to, and not just for the entertainment of Denise’ eccentricities. After about a minute of walking I came to a large intersection only to see a rather famous location across the road - Moulin Rouge is what I was looking at. Nothing flash during the day without the lights on. Just a small hoard of camera happy tourists out the front and on the roundabout in the middle of the intersection. Seen it, move on, and that’s what I did.
Up Rue Lepic, which is full of little ice-creameries and crêpe shops as well as other cafés and grocery stores. This led me to rue Abbesses, which is one of the main streets of Montmartre, and a fantastic road to wander along. There were all sorts along this road. Street-side grocers, cafés, bars, restaurants and all manner of shops. Quite bohemian really and with a great atmosphere to it as well. Enjoy the “jazz” band on the roadside at Pl de Abbesses. Pretty much do as you want here. Even help an Indian family with directions to the Sacré-Coeur. I do like my Rough Guide - just brilliant for finding your way around!
One thing that it did say was that there was no wrong way to get to the Sacré-Coeur, so with that in mind, I chose a quieter street off Place de Abbesses and continued up. A very typical European street/lane really. Just something really nice about it, until I followed the bend in it that revealed the series of steps in front of me - and to think that I thought some of the streets were steep before!!
Nice that there were two pubs at the top of these steps!
From here I chose to go left instead of right only to discover another set of steps, which weren’t as long. At the top of these was (and still is) a small square which has both a café and a lookout, even if it is through the trees to see Paris below!
Round the corner and I was suddenly in the Place du Tertre, and what a fantastic spot this is! A square within a square. Restaurants, Brassieres, cafés, ice creameries & crêpes along with dozens of street artists and a street band. The less said about the mime, the better... I’ll give him credit for being out there, but I’ll leave it at that. Perusing the artwork on show, fresh chocolate & banana crêpe in hand before settling in front of the street band in the sunshine and shade of the trees - could it get much better than this for the afternoon? Possibly.
Eventually, the boys in the band took a break so I headed out of the square and up the cobbled roadway to finally reach the Sacré-Coeur. This is a very large ‘church’. I say it like that because I really couldn’t tell what denomination it was from its structure. If you mashed a mosque and a church together, then you’d be close to it (as you can see). Not much point in going in as it seemed it was all happening out the front on the main steps. And what a view from here!
Time to settle in on the steps with everyone else, with a drink and enjoy the view, the buskers and the sunset... Nice to rest the legs and what a way to do it. If you click on the pic (below left) of the view here to see a larger version, see if you can find the other busker. I’ll give you a clue: that’s not a statue down there by the lamppost.

With the sun eventually sauntering out of the sky and the temperature dropping, it was time to fill the void that the earlier crêpe had not, so back to Place du Tertre and the restaurants. Jaunty tweed caps, braces and typical long white aprons were the go for the staff, and while entertaining, the food was nowhere near as kitsch.
After a short stroll around the caricature corner of the square (the artists in this spot were all doing portraits or caricatures), it was time to head back down the steps and laneways to make my way back to where this had all began - Gare du Nord railway station. This time I went down the main steps that lay directly in front of the Sacré-Coeur amid the throngs of people.
Feeling pretty good, I continued through the street stalls along rue de Steinkerque and into the far more modern rue de Dunkerque. Thankfully this was all downhill or flat until I reached the station where it was short matter of going through ‘customs’ before boarding the Eurostar back to London.
A fantastic three days in a place that will be one to visit and re-visit many more times over. And for less than £60 return and only a couple hours door to door each way, why wouldn’t you?!