Hey guys,
No updates recently because I haven't done a lot lately! It's pretty good having lots of free accomodation as I housesit my friends places. The downside is that I'm house-sitting on my own which means having to talk to the voices in my head.
Which would be great, if I didn't already know what they were gonna say.
I wondered sometimes if there's much point in being over this side of the world if I'm not doing much with my days apart from portfolio/job-related stuff. I did read a Buddhist quote somewhere though that life is like waves in the ocean that rise and fall. Life has natural rhythm with ebbs and flows that we should go along with rather than fight. It just so happens that my current flow is lying on a couch eating chocolate raisins from Sainsbury's and watching cricket highlights.
Didn't end up going to the Notting Hill carnival or to Wales with mates on the camping trip. Just as well, it rained torrentially and tents got flooded. The Notting Hill festival can apparently be a bit much, if you're going on your own. Over a million people and lots of pushing, shoving and "excuse me, your fingers are touching my testicles."
Apparently there has been quite a bit of violence at the NH carnival over the year. My mate Craig was saying one year, five or six people died from stab wounds. Brilliant (!). Anyway, I gave it a miss because it sounded like it was gonna be a bit of a mission and most of my mates were doing something else, so I just played some football with some guys who use the same video game forum as me.
So I stayed in Clapham for a couple of weeks, then after that, I went out to Southampton to visit Ferg, a friend from Aussie, who had gone back for a holiday.
Thursday 10th September: Southampton isn't a particularly exciting place. Honestly, I'd have to say it's like Invercargill, but with more people (a few hundred thousand) but probably not as pretty. Not that I'd call Invercargill a pretty city, but it does have it's moments.
It was good to catch up with Ferg, Arran (Ferg's "little" brother) and Liz (Arran's GF). First night I got there, we went to a pub called the "Jolly Sailor". I didn't see any sailors there, although it was on a wharf, where we could see boats sailing around. Apparently they used to film the tv show "Howard's way" here which I suppose it's of interest to people who can remember the 70's. Anyway, it was a good catch up and I had some traditional English cuisine; chicken and ham pie and it was superb. I could literally feel myself gaining weight.
Friday 11th: Went into town and had a look around, met a mate of Ferg's, Vince, and went out for lunch in town. Saw a statue dedicated to engineers on the Titanic who carried on doing their job so that others could get off the ship. Pity the designers didn't do their job and design a better ship. Also got the memory-lane tour from Ferg who pointed out various places he got kicked out of or venues he saw bands at. Cool.
Later we went around to Vince's house and he cooked us a meal. Now Vince is probably the most intense person I've ever met. He doesn't just like something, he 'FUCKING LAHVES IT!!' and swears and smokes more than everyone I've ever met in my life put together. But he was a good guy, and a very gracious host, cooked us a lovely meal and shouted some beers and we stayed up talking to the early hours.
Still, it cracks me up thinking about his swearing. His idea of censoring himself is saying "I fucking told that 'beep', fuck you, you 'beep-ing' 'beep'-headed fuck.' Apologies for the profanity, but that's literally how he spoke.
His fiancee Anna, by contrast said nary a peep but was a lovely lass. Didn't like foreign people though. Apparently they're stealing everyone's jobs. Better not tell them I'm not from around here. Ha ha ha.
Saturday 12th: Back to Ferg's for a BBQ and got to meet a lot more of his old school friends. Most of them are married with children now. I think Southampton is much like Invercargill if you stay, you'll get stuck there. It's really interesting meeting friends of friends as you hear a few stories and you can kinda see which ones have had an influence on them.
So yeah, the BBQ was really good and I created a malteser salad which is basically a whole lot of M&M's in a bowl with a few maltesers thrown in for good measure. Ferg's Mum, Terri (a very lovely and welcoming lady) put on a great feed and Ferg worked his usual magic on the BBQ.
Sunday 13th: Once Ferg finally woke up, we set off to Winchester, two hours behind schedule, so it was possible that I wasn't gonna get to see Stonehenge at all.
Anyway, we had a roast lunch in Winchester and had a look around the town and saw the Salisbury cathedral, considered one of the nicest in England. Very impressive and stands up well to a lot of the cathedrals I'd seen so far.
On the way back, I managed to convince the others we should really go and see Stonehenge. People had told me it was a bit of a let down, but I thought it was really quite cool. The stones were much smoother than I thought they'd be. They were transported from Wales apparently. Anyway, it was good to see a major historical site. Didn't see any druids though.
In the evening we got a few dvd's -- all of them pretty good. Was nice to sit down and watch a dvd. Hadn't done that for a few months.
Monday 13th: - took it easy and booked my train ticket back to London as Ferg wasn't going to have the car and was unable to drop me off, which was our original plan.
Tuesday to present: Have been housesitting at Craig and Linda's place in Raynes park. Craig, as I may have mentioned, owns his own independent film production company and has a pretty amazing dvd collection. Lots of gangster, murder and action flicks, plus a bunch of foreign films I've never heard of. Needless to say, I've been ransacking his collection.
So that's really all the news lately. I'm nearly finished with the website. Jones has got a half finished version up which I'll link you to when it's properly finished.
Not sure where I'm living next. Craig and Linda get back on Sunday I think, and I reckon I can squeeze and extra day or two out of them. I'm mastering the art of bumming off others like a real vagabond. Maybe I should grow a beard to match my transient lifestyle. Money is going okay but slowly dwindling thanks to my Australian tax bills. Soon I will have the financial ruin to go with the beard, worn out clothes and lack of abode.
Hope all is good with you lot. Love
Joe
