London!
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
I can finally take a break and update my blog. Yay! I bought a ticket to London with Ryan Air, and hearing all the horror stories, I was a little worried that everything will be delayed or the plane will fall out of the sky or something, but for 3 KR:- (Aus $0.80), who can complain?
Ryan Air wasn’t that bad, apart from the 2 hour bus ride from Stockholm till Skavsta, in which I slept, everything went smooth as silk, and would fly with them again. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones.
So I got into London at about midnight on Friday/Saturday, and having gotten used to being able to drown out conversation for lack of understanding, the first thing that happens while I site on the train is get bombarded with drunken Australians. I was praying they wouldn’t talk to me as I think my social skills in terms of communication with other native English speakers is now somewhat limited, especially when you speak Swedish-Australian, it’s hard for people to pick if I’m full of it or not!
Saturday afternoon was the TCR BBQ in Camden Town. Man, I forgot how crowded London is. Camden was packed to the rafters, you coudn’t even walk down the footpath, we were walking on the road to beat the slow plodding tourists. It has been raining so it was very humid and no wonder the swine flu is getting about in that type of environment.
I caught up with “G” B.L.I.M whom I hadden’t seen in a few years, also Rennie Pilgrem was playing a lovely selection of breaks as well. Nice to hear breakbeat again. We then left and managed to taxi it over to the Lot 49 Boat Party, where I was catching up with other old DJ aquaintances and mates. Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes and Evil Nine were all playing on the boat which summed up a mad day of music and good times.
I also caught up with another ex-Melbournite Mr Dave Valuetime who is enjoying the quiet life of looking after other Australian larrikins like myself.
The next day I picked myself up and went down to the pub to meet up with a very old friend from Brisbane, Sarah, and also Fi’s flatmate Dan (above) happened to be in town for a single day, and made the effort to swing all the way out here for a beer, great to see you dude!
That was a long day…
Yesterday, I hooked up with yet, another ex-Melbourne personality, Mr Brendan Brogan (E-55, Blackcat, Workshop creator) and we hit the pubs again. I saw a lovely exhibition of students (which school I can’t remember) final graduation graphic design work. I saw some the best typography and fine art that I’ve seen in a long time and picked up several business cards so I can head hunt them all back in Stockholm.
We went from there to Tam’s house a little further East from here. She has a lovely Victorian style house with a garden and was growing the spiciest rocket that I’ve ever eaten. In fact, it was like eating chili lettuce. Lovely though. I also caught up with Chris Carter and G again and had a nice chat in the sunshine. Carter and I will be watching the Ashes together later in the week, should be lovely.
Sarah and I then left and went to watch Brüno, which is unbelievably shocking, funny and in some places, awkard. It’s genius, but don’t take your mother to go see it with you! You have been warned! I made the stupid mistake of leaving my wallet on the seat, and only realised when I didn’t have my Oyster card that indeed I am a fool and had to race back to the cinema in hope of Good Smaritanism. Turns out it was right where I left it (thank-you, God!), and we could continue on our way.
On the way back I got a message from yet, another ex-Melbournite, Trish, who invited me to an exclusive rooftop bar with a pool. Turns out it’s impossible to get into this place (even the cab driver was willing to wait for us outside while we get denied), but turns out once a month it’s open to invitation. This is where the celebrities get up to mischief, and no cameras are allowed, but I managed to fire this off. Lots of people swimming at midnight on a Monday being very drunk. The funny thing though is that the staff are super tolerant, and were always tending to your every need, no matter what state you were in. It’s £500 per year for membership, but it comes with rooftop pool, bowling alley, bars, hotel rooms, you name it… Shoreditch House, look it up.
And that’s that! 3 days of catching up, I’m a little exhausted. Can’t wait to kick back, watch the Tour and relax.
Speak in a few. x
