Departing Vienna for a slightly warmer England and it's straight down south to jolly Portsmouth by the sea. Land ahoy & shiver me timbers, there's some ye olde ships there like Nelson's flagship ‘Victory’ (surely I don't have to explain that one), the Mary Rose (it sank), HMS Warrior (world's first ironclad) & plenty more.
All up it makes me glad I wasn't a sailor on any of them.
The pub-wide conversation in the small pub I stayed at in Portsmouth was quite interesting... all about who's lad could beat the pulp out of someone else's lad (with or without broken bottles). Got very heated, especially from some of the females bragging about their lads. I wisely kept quiet.
London seems more civilised & not too cold. Caught up with Clare & Ed & Mandy & Fran & Hels. Many thanks to Mandy for putting me up while in London. I've been doing day trips in & around London to places I haven't been on previous trips here, like the Planetarium (good fun!). Also saw Lord of the rings at the movies, it's great (nah nah nah to those still waiting for it to arrive in oz)
I have splurged a bit and have gone and bought myself a Mandola - it's like a mandolin, only bigger and an octave lower in pitch(also related to the middle eastern OUD and a bouzouki). It's handmade in Scotland, looks fabulous & sounds beautiful. They didn't have a proper custom case for it, but it fits snugly into a banjo case, so thats what I got. I'll have to see if I can work out how to play 'duelling banjos' now...
Anyway, the plan is to head to the US of A, hopefully able to survive getting through LA customs. Possibly difficult while looking like a ragged traveller, with a passport full of recently visited middle eastern countries, carrying a sub-machinegun-sized hard case, an Arab head dress & a shish pipe.
After that, it's back to Sydney (at least for a while)
So hopefully I can catch up with all you Sid-en-ee based people in the new year!
So on that note (G#), I hope that you all have a verry merrry christmas and a ripper of a new year!! (or else yule be sorry!)
