Wales

Before I start with my wee adventure in the weekend, I will cap off last week.

On the Tuesday, went to the pub with a few workmates for ONE pint. That one pint turned into a few more than desired and I ended up stumbling onto the tube and feeling dizzy, wondering why it seemed to take a much quicker time than what it normally did. I couldn't help it - one of my bosses turned up and started forking out for drinks and telling these ridiculous stories about the office. It is crazy the things that have happened here.

Got me kinda worried.

Anyway, the next day, it was fair to say that I wasnt in the healthiest of head spaces. It was OK though because most others in the office were like that also. By Friday, with a lack of sleep, and a pounding head from too much computer screen action, I was fairly spent. Nevertheless, I always find a way to dig myself in deeper and I discovered that the weekend I had decided to go to Wales was the exact same weekend that the London Council had decided to complete uproot its entire underground network.
So, to get to Paddington station to catch the 7:30am train to Wales, we had to wake up at around 5am to catch all these alternative underground routes that will get us to a destination that should have taken 15 mins.

I am getting fairly over this underground. Its the whole 'over-the-under' situation.

Anyway, we got to Wales on time and felt like we had already been up for half a day. What was to happen? you wonder. Well, someone was found dead on the tracks. So that inevitably meant that all trains were shutdown until the police could investigate the situation. So, after all our mucking around, we could have slept in longer anyway. Its that Murphy's Law thing.

We finally got on our train and relaxed into a table seat, playing cards, as we were hurtled through the English countryside at break neck speed. They really have ramped up train efficiency over here. We stepped off the train in Cardiff at around lunchtime. Now, I realise that Cardiff is the capital of Wales but what I didnt realise is how tiny it is for a capital city. We walked the whole town in little under half an hour. Strolling out to the harbour, we decided to forego a bus tour and opt for a water tour. "Forget the bus" I said to Renee "Water is where it is at!" and I jumped on board having paid my £4 in excitement.





This was possibly the most boring boat ride I have ever been on. Instead of a tour boat it was more like a ferry with some guy rambling on about plants. "As you can see to your right, those bushes over there is what the harbour had by its water edge before they decided to clear it". Some people took photos. Of a bush.

I almost cried.



We headed back to the city after a spot of eating and found Cardiff Castle, which we paid over £10 to get in. It was fairly cool, I guess. I took heaps of photos and then bought a small Welsh dragon in the gift shop, as well as a tiny pencil sharpener fashioned into a working catapult. I cannot describe how cool it is, and for £2 I thought 'why not'.





Renee and I then headed to a local bar and sat down for some ciders. The sun was scorching and the ice evaporated quickly. It was then that I noticed something very strange. Everyone was walking around fulfilling at least 1 of the following descriptions; wifebeater singlet, tattoos, hot pants and/or, no top on at all (unfortunately it was only the guys). It would seem if you didnt adhear to these strict codes then you obviously weren't Welsh, ala myself. I stuck out like a sore thumb, what with my jeans, t-shirt, ink free skin, and sunburnt nose.

So, we got back on the train, had an interchange at a station in Bristol, had a smart ass kid try to tell me that my seat on the train was actually his before I started to position myself in boxing stance and he quickly moved. Idiot.
Got back home around midnight and fell into bed.

The next day wqas an absolute scorcher so the flatties and I headed to Wimbledon park for some beers, tennis ball petanque and dark glass observing. The place was packed, I would love to see it when tennis is actually played there.

So that weekend was great. I have Oxford this weekend (available funds permitting) and we have just booked tickets to Ireland in a few weekends time. They were £3 each way.

Nice

Whats new???

I have had a few comments recently asking why I havent put up a post in a while. Gee wizz, its only been a couple of weeks!!!.

Anyway, truth is, nothing much has happened. I would like to say that I flew to Kenya but, sadly, that hasnt happened. So, I will fill you in from where we left off.

OK. Seeing as it is summer and I still have to rug up in my oversized ski jacket to make the commute to work, I have been trying frantically to find an awesome coat to rock out in. I have looked everywhere. And nothing. I actually found a really nice one but found that it was too tight across my broad shoulders. I could have hulk smashed something, I was so angry. I did feel like the hulk in that jacket anyway; one tense of the arms and the thing would have torn at the seams.

So, my jacket hunt has taken me to Oxford St on two occasions, and Kingston Town a weekend ago before I gave up and decided to wait till winter, when they apparently come out of hibernation. Kingston Town was nice, I think UB40 wrote a song about it. Really big shopping town and it was a nice river winding through it so we grabbed a lunch on the rivers edge.

Last weekend, I decided to head to the Battersea powerstation and get some photos of the building made famous by Pink Floyd for their 'Animals' album cover. It is an awesome building but pretty derelict. After that we attempted heading to some food markets but found to our dismay that they were all closed up on Sundays. 'Damn it' I said aloud and decided to stroll along the Thames and visit the Tate Modern. We then went to Camden town for the third time since we have been here. Camden is so much fun. I ate a Churro, which is heaven in a donut. Renee got chocolate covered stawberries, with three types of chocolate, hold the nuts.



I recently purchased a monthly travel card (for £116 per month!!!!!! It hurts). It means I dont have to muck around with individual tickets and I can travel basically anywhere in main London, whenever I want for a whole month. Its good. Having it means that I am keen to go out and check the London hotspots every weekend. Coming soon: the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing from the Beatles cover. Maybe Notting Hill some other time

This coming Saturday, Renee and I are travelling to Wales. Why? you ask. Why not? Its £30 for a return train ticket to Cardiff, which is pretty good value. The travel time is 2, 3/4 hours each way so it will be a long day. The weekend after that, one of our flatties boyfriends, Pedro (his real name is Peter but he prefers Pedro because Peter is a pussy name, and he looks Spainish) is going to take us to his hometown of Oxford. Would be good to check out the university campus and hit the pubs up. Maybe challenge a few college students to a boat race of beer.
Its hard you know - literal humour.

So, The next post will be in 2 weeks time. Can you all handle the wait??? Im not so sure.

Just be strong.

Would actually be good to know who is reading this. Drop me an email to let me know what you are up to if you are. Would be keen as English mustard to have some chats

A month in......

So. It has been a month since we arrived in the UK. We have managed to do all the settling in stuff so it is smooth sailing from here which is good.

Work is going well. I have just been given an entire 40 unit apartment building to work through with one other guy. Yes, just he and I. I have to get the drawings out by the end of July so that will be a mission. Should be fun though and if I do well with it I should enevitably be looking at a promotion. I think they have given me the project to test the waters so to say, so I will be pulling some long and busy hours to get my head around it all.

Last weekend was a massive one. caught up with a few old universtity friends and we partied at a bar directly beneath the swiss re tower (the Gherkin building - Im sure you know of it). That was fun. The next day we went out in Soho and had a massive one, starting at around 4 or 5 to celebrate a friend of ours birthday. That Sunday was the actual celebrations so we all hopped on a river ferry and travelled to Greenwich to do some bar hopping. The ferry was really cool and the guy on the boat knew heaps of facts about all the buildings on the water, especially the pubs. He had done some in depth research into those pubs apparently.

It was fair to say that by the time I got to work on Monday, I was fairly haggled. The computer screen was blurry and eminating a soul destroying white glow. It was at 5:30 that my boss offered me a ride home, as he lives over the road from me. I gratefully accepted and skipped out of work half an hour early and knowing that I would miss my one hour ride home on the tube in favour of a much brisker 25 min car ride.

We drove past heaps of places in London I didnt even realise were famous. Like the fact that about 300m from my work is a massive building that marks the spot that William Wallace was killed. And that the gateway I walk under every day to work is around 800 years old. I also noticed that when I get to the next street across from my work, St Pauls Cathedral looms over me with its grandoise brilliance.

We pulled into my bosses driveway and I was like "Wow, thanks for the ride. That was awesome". and he was like "well, are you going to come in for a drink". So, nervously, I accepted.

That night was the biggest of all the 3 nights preceeding it. I got smashed with him and his wife. Renee came along later and we all went out for Indian, which I have discovered is considerably more spicy than back in NZ. I had the spice hiccups straight away and I checked my tongue in the mirror and it was blood red.

I found out that I am actually working in a bloody good office. My boss was one of the 40 under 40; a term describing the top 40 architects in the world under the age of 40. His practice that he had before this one had 200 people working under him. Now he has 17 but they have just received a massive contract and looking to double that staff number in the next month.

It was good to hear what he had to say about architecture, though I didnt remember it. I walked into work the next day purposefully early and asked him how he was feeling. He replied "Fine" rather nonchalantly, which basically meant that he wasnt hungover at all, so I quickly replied "yeah Im fine too" and painfully sat myself down at the computer screen.

Just watched the Black caps win against Sri Lanka in the world cup last night. Good stuff. Hope they do well this tournament. Was supposed to be going to Salisbury and Stonehenge etc this weekend but the weather is crap so we have decided to wait and will go shopping on Oxford St instead. Maybe watch Ironman 2. What am I saying 'Maybe'. Definately.

I need to buy some more undies too.