Sorry to keep you waiting. I bet you are all wondering what zany and craaaaazy adventures I have been up to of late. OK, here goes.
Three weeks ago it was a bank holiday weekend. You gotta love the bankers round here (Even if they do take 3 months to make a simple eftpos card work. Actually while I'm at it - that banking here actually does suck really bad. It takes a few days for a simple eftpos transaction to show up in your accounts. At which stage I have quickly checked my balances online, get stupidly stoked thinking I have more money than I really do and go on spending sprees, only to find I am in hard core overdraft in a few days time when the bank decides to get round to updating my accounts).
That gripe gone, I do like there holidays. They have one - we all have one. Everyone wins!!!!! Apart from employers, they don't win.
So, for that long weekend, Pedro (flatties boyfriend) said that he was travelling to Oxford to sort out a house of his and offered us a ride and a place to crash. "YOU KNOW IT" we said and travelled out to the town famous for its sprawling university. In fact it is more like the university is famous for its town. The university basically is the town as each campus is scattered across the landscape with a few shops in between. After a spot of Burger King (I know) we tried to get into universities to see their prestigious campuses and immaculate lawns. Most were closed but we did break into one by jimmying open a back window with the pinch bar I brought along.
Whoa - only kidding.
After strolling the streets, we came across a university that hired boats out to the public, so we grabbed one. It was a pedal boat and worked the calves, glutes, and upper thighs in one easy motion. Some people hired those boats that have to be pushed along with a stick. Idiots. We burnt passed them, splashing water on their faces and laughing whole heartedly.
It was a nice wee boat ride through the surrounding rivers of Oxford and we pedalled for an hour.
After that we had a spot of dinner and tucked into some booze.
The next day Pedro took us out to Blenheim Palace for the day. He showed us a back entrance so we didn't have to pay the ridiculously overpriced £18 entry fee. The place was huge, the gardens alone were bigger than New Zealand (slight exaggeration). There were lakes and secret gardens and a hedge maze, and mini put and a butterfly enclosure. It was pretty awesome. So we spent the day there, milling around and causing trouble.
We finished the day off and drove back home, keen for work the next day.
The weekend after Oxford was a nothing weekend. Tried to save money. Did meet up with my long time mate Richie who currently resides in Sweden. My strolled through Camden markets and planned my own trip to Sweden in September.
Last weekend, Renee and I flew to Ireland for the two days. I booked the flights to leave London at around midday and lucky I did as when you take off waiting time, and transport time to get out to the airport we had to leave the house by 7am. We flew into Belfast and checked out the town. I was expecting the buildings to still be smoking and troops of soldiers in riot gear patrolling the city limits. Not the case however. In honesty, it was quite a boring city. We had a money scare and found out we only had £14 between us for the whole weekends food and drink. I made sure I got a Guinness from the tap and the rest we spent on noodles and meal deals.
That night, whilst staring out the window in the dorm, we noticed an old man get basically booted out of a bar before he could even step foot in there. "Piss off" they said "We don't want you round these parts".
Then this even older guy held him back on the ground and reiterated "Yeah, piss off". Renee was like "Oh my god, that poor man" and I explained that he was probably a catholic or something trying to walk into a protestant bar. So it is still fairly bad round here. That night, at around 4 in the morning I was awoken with
"No one stands on my friends fookin' head and gets away with it", said by some batty lady who must have been mental as she kept yelling it out about 100 times at the top of her lungs. Then this guy tried to bottle a girl nearby. The Irish get crazy when they are drunk!
On the Sunday we said "see ya later" to Belfast and drove out into the country to go see the Giants Causeway, a collection of very cool rock formations arranged so they look like hexagonal and octagonal steps everywhere. Its hard to describe. We crossed an ancient rope bridge and our driver, who was VERY Irish kept making jokes about it.
"300 years ago, when the rope bridge was built, you see, they had one handrail on it, as you well know. Nowadays however, they have NO handrails".
He paused for a few seconds and then finished his stories with a
"No, I'm only joking, eh"
Imagine this in a leprechaun voice and you can see why I nearly had to be admitted to hospital to have my split sides stitched back up. Hilarious.
We flew back into London and got home a little after midnight. No more weekend trips I decided as I was wasted for work, and I came in especially early to get stuff finished.
So now we have Renee's brother and his girlfriend staying with us for the weekend and then Renee's Mum and stepdad arrive for a few weeks so it is busy busy with them for a while. I am thinking that July is going to be quiet on the travel front and will probably be taken up with getting this apartment building out.
A few concerts coming up may be interesting including
Roxy Music
Paul McCartney
Blink 182
Pearl Jam and Ben Harper
Kings of Leon and Florence and the Machine together
Roger Waters THE WALL - which I have already purchased tickets for, sweet
Cool. Talk soon in a couple of weeks