Hello all,Well, have nearly been here a week no and so far, so good. Might be easier to just break it down day by day.
Monday: Arrived with a minimum of fuss. Pretty long flight but not as draining as I thought it'd be. Abu Dhabi looked like the desert it was. I imagine that people trying to smuggle anything in through customs just get taken out to the sands and either shot, or made to walk home. Either way, they'd be buggered.
Got to my friend Tim's place easily enough. The tube here really is as efficient as people has said it is. It's quite pricey, but you can buy an 'Oyster' card which allows you to swipe a piece of plastic at the turnstiles, rather than put a ticket in the slot and it just deducts money from it, (that you top up like a prepaid card).
Tuesday: Birthday - a bit tired from the flight but went to Lords and had a really good day. Unfortunately the Black Caps lost and to be honest, in both games (Holland vs Pakistan, NZ vs South Africa) were a bit substandard. Hardly any fours and sixes at all! Not much of an advert for the 'exciting' version of the game. Was sitting beside a Scottish couple and chatted to them during the day. Also went to the Lords shop and bought a polo shirt, a deck of Lords cards and a tea towel. What a tourist. I'm planning to collect little knick knacks here and there and put them in a box and send them home at some stage. Not sure when though.
Bumped into a girl I went to Uni with while I was there, so had a chat to her for an hour. Small world, etc...
Wednesday: The first of two day's tube strike, so getting around was going to be a problem. Went for lunch with Tim's girlfriend who is a photographer and works from home a lot. Had lunch in Camden Town, the real Camden town. The part where they live is on the outskirts and very close to Great Portland Street tube station and not that far from places like Oxford St. They're actually quite central. So, had a wander around the real part of Camden Town and if you've been to Newtown in Sydney, it's pretty much the same. You're just not normal unless you have a minimum of six facial piercings or consider a dog collar standard attire. It's not as gay as Newtown though, but very similar. Markets, lots of food places and trendy shops.
Thursday: Second day of Tube strike. Chose to take it easy and ended up going for a walk down Oxford st (lots of shops), Oxford Circus (more shops), Leicester Sq and a bit of Soho. Very good stuff. Bought four coaster mats for 5 quid. They're going in the knick-knack box.
Friday: Quite a busy day, went on the tube properly (to go from place to place, rather than just from the airport to Tim's). Had lunch again with Claire, did a bit of walking around and then went to Oxford st to pick up my SIM card for my phone (haven't put it in yet, just picked it up). After that, went to my bank appointment and set up my English bank account, so that's all done. It's a little pricey, 10 quid a month but offers lots of services and free transaction withdrawals, some travel insurance, benefits etc... it'll do for now.
After that, went down to Covent Garden which is a very nice area and met up with Tim Dove, Nick Jones, Gareth Larson, Tim Coughlan and another Kiwi guy Dave who is friends with Tim. Was really great to see Nick and Gaz again, they're both enjoying London, although Nick seems to spend a lot of his time working and he's going home at the end of next month, I think -- but not until he's done a couple of months around Europe. Anyway, had a night out with the fellas and it was predictably drunken but was a very good night. Ended up crashing over at Tim Couglan's place in Islington which is a very nice area. The streets in London are often tiled or paved, which is good because it looks nicer than plain old asphalt which cracks and breaks up as it gets older.
Saturday: So yeah, stayed at Tim C's place in Islington and had a fry up in the morning after watching the All Blacks lose. Headed to Hyde park for a birthday picnic that some of their friends had organised. Hyde park is very big and going to the park seems to be the thing to do here in London (I read somewhere that London has the most parklands of any major city in the world). It's cheap, you can have a few drinks and just chill out and the parks here are beautifully maintained and really picturesque to look at, littered with statues and walkways and stuff like that.
Went back to Tim C's, had a small bbq and watched the Black Caps get thrashed by Pakistan. Then played a bit of backyard cricket ourselves. Tim Dove came around and joined us too. Afterwards, I went back to his place in Camden Town and just played a bit of tennis on Playstation 3.
So that's the news from the week. Have been easing into it and enjoying it so far. I think today I'll be going over to Nick Jones' place in Clapham and staying there for the week. Not sure yet.
Sunday: Went to Regents Park and played heaps of football and frisbee with Tim and some other Kiwi guys. Parks are a great way to spend the day (as I've said before). You don't even know you're in the biggest city in the world.
Jono
PS - some photos have been put up in the photo section so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.
