A Weekend in the City

Since I posted my last entry on Wednesday, I feel like I have lived a month. Every day here feels like a week- and this weekend marks our second month as London residents, yet it undoubtedly feels like we've been here for six instead.

On Wednesday morning, an old friend of mine arrived in London from Canada. I was stoked when Steph sent me an e-mail late the previous week to say that Scott would be in London for a couple of days, and he would like to catch up. Steph, Scott and I all attended St.Mary's High School in Vegreville, back in 1997, and I caught up with him when I went back for a few weeks in 2004. Scott called a bit after 11am in the morning to say that he had landed, and Caitlin and I arranged to meet up with him somewhere in the city later that night. Scott didn't have a mobile phone with him, and so Caitlin and I decided to meet in Leicester Square about 6 pm, and wait for him to call back. I hadn't been into Leicester Square before (only passed through in a black cab late one Saturday night), and it was so busy- I think there was a film premier happening somewhere in the vicinity, and there were people everywhere. I even struggled to find Caitlin when I got off the tube, despite the fact we were standing on the same street corner within metres of each other! We grabbed some pizza and sat in the little park in the middle of the square, amongst the hoards of pigeons and people, awaiting Scott's call.

Scott called around about 6:30pm, and he told us he was chillin' in Hyde Park, near Speaker's Corner. It didn't take us long to get to Hyde Park from Leicester Square, but we got off the train at Hyde Park corner station, and we ended up having to walk quite a way, past the signs to Mayfair, until we reached Marble Arch. We managed to find Scott, sleeping on his backpack, at the edge of the park, and off we trotted down to Oxford Street for pints of Super Chilled Fosters (it is really important to seek out the chilled beer, otherwise you'll wind up with warm beer, which is dreadful and pointless).

It was simply fabulous to see Scott again, and to catch up on old times in the Great White North (which I so love and miss) and to hear ab-oot how everyone is. Scott was in London towne til Saturday lunch time, when he flew out to Germany, and my liver was a little worse for wear by the time we waved goodbye at Victoria station...but this failed to deter Caitlin or myself from heading out to Greenwich later that Saturday afternoon...

Shortly after we arrived in the UK, I received a facebook wall post from Alex, a friend Brother Mark made during his stint in Japan, saying that she would be journeying down from the North the weekend of June 26th to see AC/DC. Alex texted us early Saturday morning, suggesting that we meet at a bar called the Gipsy Moth in Greenwich. It is quite a hike from Battersea to Greenwich, I tells ya, and seeing as the Jubilee line was closed for works that particular day, we had to get on and off about three different trains, and switch to different train lines in order to make it out that way. On our journey to London's South East, we managed to find ourselves caught in the middle of an awesome thunderstorm, with cracking thunder and fork lightning all around us, massive rain drops that quickly created huge puddles, and drains struggled to cope with the extensive down pour. It was quite a novelty to be in the exact place from where time is measured, and the surrounding area is gorgeous, and the places are less crowded- you kind of get the sense that you are moving out into greater England. Alex told us that the pub was very close to the place where the Cutty Sark (what a Pirate name, eh?! I've been using my best pirate accent whenever I say it!) used to dock before it was badly damaged by fire in 2007- it was an iconic ship, and visitors flocked to see it, as well as walk along the banks there, visit the markets and take boat rides along the Thames: which they still do of course.

Given that we didn't make it there til around four, and the rain was biblical by that stage, we didn't make a boat ride, or get to check out the markets, but I'm sure I'll return back there sometime in the summer. Still, it was great to see Alex, and her Northerner mates, and we're planning to head up to Manchester and the Lakes District to visit her in the very near future. We ended up having an early night, and made it back to Battersea well before midnight, and I watched Michael Jackson tributes 'til I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

The following day, being Sunday, Caitlin had managed to score us free tickets to the Toast Festival, which was taking place only about a ten minute bus ride from our place, down at the Clapham Common (a space I have mentioned many a time on this here blog). The festival runs over three days, featuring food and wine and entertainment from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Sunday was the allocated 'Australia day', and there was plenty of Australian c[h]ardonay, champagne, red wine, VB, Tooheys and Carlton Draught getting about the place, and lollies, biscuits and chips that you can only find in Australia, as well as plenty of BBQs and seafood. In the end, I opted for a Kudu Burger (South African rather than Australian!), and a good ole Wagon Wheel. T'was bliss.

We found a space on the Common lawn, and sat and watched the Polo on the centre lawn for an hour or so, and checked out some Indigenous Australian singers and dancers from far North Queensland until the main Australian music act for the day, Sneaky Sound System, started up around 4 o'clock.

I've always kind of liked Sneaky, but wasn't really expecting much I guess, but I have to say, they were so good. Both their singers are class acts, yet entirely different in style and sound from each other. They did several Daft Punk mixes, and mashed them with their own material, and did some awesome cover tracks, such as 'Sweet Dreams' (Briony, you would have loved it!). It was totally rad, and mostly, because I really wasn't expecting it...

...A Weekend in the City.