Its nearly the end of August, so i thought I better get a post in, despite the slackness. But I don't really have much of anything I can be bothered saying. Life is good, so I don't feel the need to post. I have a life now and thats about it. Just no time, desire or creativity left for me to post something interesting.
So Farewell blog... until we meet again..
Monday, August 27, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
A few days in history
Well there has been a lot happening over hare lately, a new prime minister, 2 car bombs and one aimed at an airport. Then there is the job offer I have to consider and the good news that i got my visa and can stay for another two years of dreary rain.
Summer this year hasn't materialised yet, it has been a month of rain, whereas this time last year I arrived into a heatwave of terrible sweltering conditions. But I am confident summer is on its way! Seriously, I am!
So I have been offered my contract position as a permanent job. This does of course mean a pay cut, but then there are benefits as well. It is conditional on me getting my visa, and on us agreeing to a pay level. Fortunately I have received my visa, miraculously, after it survived the flooding in Sheffield affecting the Home Office, the Royal Mail office getting flooded, and finally the Postal Strike on Friday. Turns out it was delivered on Friday anyway, despite the postal strike. But the home office did have the good grace to tell me over the phone (with a bit of pushing), that I was successful, literally just in time for work to offer me the full time job.
So anyway, that just boring personal stuff about my future... More importantly, 2 car bombs were found in the West End, firstly on Haymarket, just a couple of hundred meters up the road from New Zealand House (i.e. the NZ Embassy), and secondly, a few blocks further south towards Whitehall. Plus there was the jeep driven into the airport at Glasgow. It strange, since this is the first time something like this has happened in London since I have been here, though it is a bit of an anticlimax in a sense because (fortunately) no one was hurt and half the perps have been caught already. But the terror threat remains "critical", meaning an attack is imminent. Not that they really know, but its probably a fair call. But life goes on - nobody is doing much of anything different, though maybe the west end was a little quieter last night. If anything, it could just as much be the rain that kept people away.
Living where I do, on a busy street with various "western" fast food outlets at my doorstep, I am half waiting for something to happen and find myself coming home to my room being blown away. OK, very unlikely I know, but more plausible that it could happen to me rather than someone else not on such a busy street. Perhaps the multiculturalism of the immediate area will stop it from being a target though? But I guess bombs and bombers don't discriminate when it comes down to it.
The fact is my "moments of danger" this week were the fight on the platform at Moorgate where one guy was threatening to throw another on tracks (after the other declined to "take it outside"), and then the P-high Brazilian on the tube who couldn't stop fidgeting, sweating and generally looking like he was about to completely go nuts!
I thought I might have something intelligent or all encompassing to say about these terrible events, but alas I do not. Its just as simple as get on with it, your more likely to be stabbed by a hoodie than bombed by an equally disaffected immigrant.
Summer this year hasn't materialised yet, it has been a month of rain, whereas this time last year I arrived into a heatwave of terrible sweltering conditions. But I am confident summer is on its way! Seriously, I am!
So I have been offered my contract position as a permanent job. This does of course mean a pay cut, but then there are benefits as well. It is conditional on me getting my visa, and on us agreeing to a pay level. Fortunately I have received my visa, miraculously, after it survived the flooding in Sheffield affecting the Home Office, the Royal Mail office getting flooded, and finally the Postal Strike on Friday. Turns out it was delivered on Friday anyway, despite the postal strike. But the home office did have the good grace to tell me over the phone (with a bit of pushing), that I was successful, literally just in time for work to offer me the full time job.
So anyway, that just boring personal stuff about my future... More importantly, 2 car bombs were found in the West End, firstly on Haymarket, just a couple of hundred meters up the road from New Zealand House (i.e. the NZ Embassy), and secondly, a few blocks further south towards Whitehall. Plus there was the jeep driven into the airport at Glasgow. It strange, since this is the first time something like this has happened in London since I have been here, though it is a bit of an anticlimax in a sense because (fortunately) no one was hurt and half the perps have been caught already. But the terror threat remains "critical", meaning an attack is imminent. Not that they really know, but its probably a fair call. But life goes on - nobody is doing much of anything different, though maybe the west end was a little quieter last night. If anything, it could just as much be the rain that kept people away.
Living where I do, on a busy street with various "western" fast food outlets at my doorstep, I am half waiting for something to happen and find myself coming home to my room being blown away. OK, very unlikely I know, but more plausible that it could happen to me rather than someone else not on such a busy street. Perhaps the multiculturalism of the immediate area will stop it from being a target though? But I guess bombs and bombers don't discriminate when it comes down to it.
The fact is my "moments of danger" this week were the fight on the platform at Moorgate where one guy was threatening to throw another on tracks (after the other declined to "take it outside"), and then the P-high Brazilian on the tube who couldn't stop fidgeting, sweating and generally looking like he was about to completely go nuts!
I thought I might have something intelligent or all encompassing to say about these terrible events, but alas I do not. Its just as simple as get on with it, your more likely to be stabbed by a hoodie than bombed by an equally disaffected immigrant.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
My Glasto Review
Word of the Festival: Mud
Sound of the festival: A kind of squishy squelch follewed by a short sucking noise then a pop as wellingtons (aka gumboots) steps it out in the mud.
Band of the festival: The Who
Let Down: Fat Boy Slim
Best kept secret: DJ Yoda (though his Glasto Performance was way better than this!)
Price of dry feet: 9.99 quid
Luck in buying gumboots at the last minute: immense!
Would I go again? Yes for sure!
Glastonbury was amazing. I saw many different musicians, my favourite of course being The Who on sunday night, who totally rocked it out in the rain. From memory I also saw... Kate Nash, Lilley Allen, Fat Freddys Drop, Fat Boy Slim, Corb Lund, The Killers, Manic Street Preachers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cat Empire, and many more that I can't remember.
We were lucky in so many ways... In finding the last few pairs of welingtons availible in london, in our bus leaving just 20 minutes late compare to some who had a six hour wait, in arriving in the dry, and being able to walk and find a spot and set up our tents in the dry and on grass not mud. We were lucky it only rained a little each day and mostly rained at night when we were fast asleep in our tent. We were lucky to by two foldup chairs for just 10 quid. We were lucky to have a good spot on high ground and lucky to have architects for neighbours who needed help in putting up their tent. We were lucky to be up close for the Who and the Kaiser Chiefs, and we were lucky to have such good company. I was lucky to decide to take my camera, I would have regretted it otherwise! And we were lucky to come up with the brilliant plan of moving camp to one close to the bus station before the final concert, so we didn't have to trek for hours in the rain, mud and crowds with our gear. We were lucky to rock on up and get on a bus almost immediately, and then sleep for 95% of the trip back to London. And we were lucky to get back just intime for the first few tubes. We were lucky to see Michael Eavis, the owner of Worthy Farm, and the organiser of Glastonbury. He got a standing ovation just for driving past. There is a man who has by one generous act given more joy to the world than most could even dream of. And we were lucky in buying tickets to this event, though chances were 1 in 3.
All in All, I had a great time in Glastonbury. The mud and rain were all a part of the experience and not much of a problem at all. The Who were the cherry on the top, whose performance made the festival go from simply to totally awesome. (I think it was the best concert I have seen, better than the recent concerts I have seen - The Rolling Stones, Green Day or Guns n Roses.)
This weekend promises another interesting day - Wimbledon. It will be an early start on Saturday, but it should be a good one.
Sound of the festival: A kind of squishy squelch follewed by a short sucking noise then a pop as wellingtons (aka gumboots) steps it out in the mud.
Band of the festival: The Who
Let Down: Fat Boy Slim
Best kept secret: DJ Yoda (though his Glasto Performance was way better than this!)
Price of dry feet: 9.99 quid
Luck in buying gumboots at the last minute: immense!
Would I go again? Yes for sure!
Glastonbury was amazing. I saw many different musicians, my favourite of course being The Who on sunday night, who totally rocked it out in the rain. From memory I also saw... Kate Nash, Lilley Allen, Fat Freddys Drop, Fat Boy Slim, Corb Lund, The Killers, Manic Street Preachers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cat Empire, and many more that I can't remember.
We were lucky in so many ways... In finding the last few pairs of welingtons availible in london, in our bus leaving just 20 minutes late compare to some who had a six hour wait, in arriving in the dry, and being able to walk and find a spot and set up our tents in the dry and on grass not mud. We were lucky it only rained a little each day and mostly rained at night when we were fast asleep in our tent. We were lucky to by two foldup chairs for just 10 quid. We were lucky to have a good spot on high ground and lucky to have architects for neighbours who needed help in putting up their tent. We were lucky to be up close for the Who and the Kaiser Chiefs, and we were lucky to have such good company. I was lucky to decide to take my camera, I would have regretted it otherwise! And we were lucky to come up with the brilliant plan of moving camp to one close to the bus station before the final concert, so we didn't have to trek for hours in the rain, mud and crowds with our gear. We were lucky to rock on up and get on a bus almost immediately, and then sleep for 95% of the trip back to London. And we were lucky to get back just intime for the first few tubes. We were lucky to see Michael Eavis, the owner of Worthy Farm, and the organiser of Glastonbury. He got a standing ovation just for driving past. There is a man who has by one generous act given more joy to the world than most could even dream of. And we were lucky in buying tickets to this event, though chances were 1 in 3.
All in All, I had a great time in Glastonbury. The mud and rain were all a part of the experience and not much of a problem at all. The Who were the cherry on the top, whose performance made the festival go from simply to totally awesome. (I think it was the best concert I have seen, better than the recent concerts I have seen - The Rolling Stones, Green Day or Guns n Roses.)
This weekend promises another interesting day - Wimbledon. It will be an early start on Saturday, but it should be a good one.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
hobnobbing it with the stars
So whats this all about then, these stars signing autographs right in front of me? Well it goes back many many months early one sunday morning hen i was sitting around at 11am and miraculously got through online to buy tickets for the Glastonbury festival. If it hadn't been for that stroke of luck, (brought on by a determined perseverance), I wouldn't have had the honour of standing amongst a crowd of professional autograph hunters while they bayed for the ink of Dames, Sirs, and Mr's.
But it wasn't only that - the fact the weather forecast fo the next five days varies widely between light rain and heavy rain, and that for 3 of those 5 days I will be living in a tent, prompted me to hike to my favourite outdoor shop mountain warehouse and buy a big tarp so we can sit on our chairs and use it to fend off the elements whilst wurrounded by glorious mud and music.
So I found myself fed up with the heat and the crowds at Holborn, so I walked out of the station and went down the road, not really sure which way to go but knowing I had to turn right. As chance would have it, I stumbled across the premier to The Lord of the Rings Musical, complete with celebrities, stalkers, police, doormen, red carpet and randoms like me.
Somehow I got right in the middle of half a dozen people who seemed to know each other and whos conversation consisted of who autograph they had and what celebrities they had seen at other recent premiers. Not that I am complaining too much - I have of course stalked many an All Black, Black Cap and even the odd Primeminister back in the day, except I was probably only ten then and not in my mid twenties! Each to their own though!
It was however a brilliant spot - these guys had all the balls and no sense of shame and every celebrity got a freindly persistent calling of thier name (as if they were personally known to the crowd/autograph hunters), until they came over and duly signed some autographs. As luck would have it, every celebrity that did come across started with the person right in front of me, so I was able to reel off a few photographs for each of them as they signed various peoples pads and autographs books. All this while guarding one of the few pairs of wellingtons left in London as stocks sell out in preperation for the Glastonbury mudfest.
There were a couple of other stars I didn't post from my phone - Brian May of Queen, and Terry O'Quinn (aka John Locke) from Lost. (Who is pushing the buttons in the bunker!?!?! Ok yes I am a bit behind...)
So what were the stars like? Very Freindly - Dame Judy Dench seemed to really enjoy herself and was relaxed and having fun. Brian May just ignored everyone. Terry O'Quinn Enjoyed it but seemed to be doing it as a chore. Kevin Spacey was lapping it up, and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was enjoying it too.
Finally
Andrew Lloyd Webber, the master theatre composers. Finally saw some stars in london and all by an unforseen random chance that saw me walk instead me taking the tube to a place i wouldn't normally be going. THIS is London.
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