Just a Quiet Week

So back to Tuesday we go, and after work it was off to Shepherd’s Bush (cut that out!) to meet Marty n Paul before going to see Australia vs South Africa at the Loftus Road Football ground.
Paul was late, so Marty and myself decided to grab a couple of beers and some dinner in the nearby Walkabout Pub. Walkabouts are basically Aussie pubs, and they do tend to overdo it a bit with the Aussie-ness of the place, despite not having any Coopers. I’ve steered clear of them simply because if I’d wanted to mix with other Aussies I’d have stayed home.
Must admit that it was kinda cool to be listening to a heap of Australian 80’s music again. It must be said that they didn’t need Khe Sanh so early in the evening - well before midnight which is just plain wrong. The place was full of Australians all geared up for the upcoming game.
We met Paul on the way to the ground before settling in for the match. All up the game see-sawed a bit with each side taking turns in scoring until it finished at 2-2. It wasn’t the greatest displays of football, but then again this was only a ‘friendly’, and it’s not like either nation is noted for its footballing prowress. The highlight of the game was probably the nutter with the beachball. Naturally it ended up on the pitch only for a security guy to hurl it back into the crowd, only it got stuck in the wedge of the I-beam pylon holding the stands roof up!

Wednesday was the first day with the new seat on the bike - don’t you love summer sales!! A much nicer seat and far more comfortable ride to work!
Anyway, lunchtime and it was to be my second game of 5-a-side with Marty’s workmates. Looks like I could be a more regular fill-in... A quick bit of internet mail order and I had a pair of boots and some shin guard s this week. Quite good for £20 and they did the job as I scored again for them. Far less rust this time and still enjoyable, so all good.
That night while Marty had diving, Karyn and myself caught up for a few drinks and a chat about this and that. Always a good night and a fun natter. We discussed a few things from the Friday before deciding what we already really knew about a certain toxicity level and how the removal of it was the best thing I’ve done. Thankfully that didn’t take too long so we could talk about far more interesting and frivolous topics.

With two staff members leaving our floor at work, Friday night became a bit of a work do. All good when there are cards on the bars! A free night out and a fun one at that, even if I did end up with half a glass of someone’s red wine splashed on my jeans when they struggled to grasp hold of their glass when picking it up. But that’s what washing machines are for I guess...

Saturday and it was a quiet morning before heading off down to White Hart Lane to catch up with a few folks before the game between Tottenham and Sunderland. I hadn’t bought a ticket and the match was sold out, so I was only going along for the social side of it all in the nearby Bricklayers Hotel. On the way there I ran into a guy selling a spare ticket, so bought it and sat with him for the game - his son was not coming today.
“So you’re from Australia?” he says, “I have a mate in Perth who runs the supporters club.”
“That’s not Lawrence K*** is it?” says I.
“You know Lawrence?!!”
Small world this one.
A top day out in the sunshine for the game sitting amongst Adam’s group of friends - such a funny bunch! A good thing as the game, while entertaining was another loss. But at least I have a new contact should I ever need a ticket to a game with no fear of getting ripped off.
Afterwards it was back to the Bricklayers for the evening and to catch up with Husky n Kelly (who you may remember from last week), as well as Wil n Sue and several others.

Sunday - sloth day and much needed. Still managed to get through plenty of stuff that was either domestic or going through a certain guidebook to work out things to do around next weekend’s main event. Chilling out with either a book, movie or TV (Olympic closing ceremony) also filled in the day. I kinda missed the Olympics really - just switched off from all the British media carry-on and you don’t hear anything about anyone else really.

Today and it’s off to the Notting Hill Carnival...