Alright, only 8 (or so) days since I last wrote in my blog- I'm doing much better than last time! The problem, though, is now that I've more or less settled-ish for the time being (wow, what a precise statement) my blog entries are going to be a lot less colourful than they have been in the past. In fact, they might even resemble something (gasp) normal!!! So, to avoid that I will have to stir up as much local chaos as I can.
Since I last wrote not too much has happened. I have too little memory to pin-point exactly what happened each day since then, but I can regail you with the highlights of my past week. Last week I had Wednesday and Thursday off, and Friday I had a late-shift at work, so this gave me the chance to force Nikki to book Friday off so we could go party it up in London on Thursday night. On Wednesday I took the bus to the nearest large city (Kingston), which is a very adorable city on the Thames river. I spent the day walking through the shopping area, walking along the river, and getting yet another over-seas cell phone (hopefully my last). In the evening I ducked into the McDonalds to use their bathroom without buying anything (bwah ha ha) and who should I see but my dear friends Nikki eating french fries? "What the hell are you doing in Kingston?" I asked, bemused. Apparently Nikki had been working at a school near Kingston that day (she's a sub teacher and moves around a lot) and had come to the city do to a bit of shopping. Delighted by the providence of seeing each other so randomly, we decided to go to dinner at an adorable Italian restaurant in the city centre. After that I took the train back to Cobham, arriving late, and then went for drinks with Tytti and Dave (who work at the Inn).
The next day I also had off, and I spent the morning dyeing my hair and being otherwise slovenly, before I finally got off my ass and headed out. I went to meet Nikki at Wimbledon station, and whilst waiting for her I went to the most kick ass used book shop ever and bought really amazing European vintage postcards! Yippee! After that Nikki and I went back to her place, made dinner, split a bottle of wine, and then headed out to a pub in Soho to meet up with her two friends (whose names escape me, because I suck at names). We shared drinks and a few hours of conversation, then her friends went home and Nikki and I went off in search of this bar that was supposed to have a live 60s covers band all night, but they wound up ending super early, so we went and took out our frustrations by hitting up a chippery, then heading back to Soho in search of another bar. We went to a super swanky downtown bar and had a drink before waiting in the freezing cold rain for the bus back to Nikki's place. The next day we went back to Wimbledon so Nikki could show me the coat she wanted to buy, and then I finally had to take the train back to Cobham and go to work.
The days passed as per usual once again with working, reading, watching telly (it's wierd having a TV again, and kind of disquieting), and going to the local pubs. Oh yes, I said pubs, because we found another pub that was secretly hidden away and now have 2 choices for our nights out (oh small towns). Then for my Wednesday, Thursday days off this week I decided to go to Leeds and stay with my friend Mike who I met through couchsurfing. Leeds is a crazy city full of malls that is 4 hours north of London. Beside it (where Mike actually lives) is Jewsbury, which is a city-town that has the highest Asian population in England. Over 50% of the inhabitants are from Indian or Pakistan. About a half hour north of that is the gorgeous and super historic city of York, which has one of the oldest intact castles in England (10th century) and used to be the Northern capital of England where many wars were fought and many kings and queens lived at least part-time.
On Tuesday night at work it became apparent that I would finish work early, so in the interest of not waking up at ridiculous oclock to catch my 8am bus in central London, I took the train to Nikki's place after work, and then left in the early morning from her place. I arrived in Leeds in the early afternoon, and while Mike was still at work I walked around the city. There are some nice buildings and churches, but much more new development than I'd like to see in an English city, and I was honestly the most impressed by a rad comic shop I went to where the cleric gave me a free comic magazine showing all the comic shops in England (I'm in trouble now!). When Mike finished work I met him at the train station and he took me to his place where I met his roommates, then we headed to a nearby town and went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Then Mike was trying to show me this cool rock site called "the Cow and Calf" but the half hour drive took about four hours due to getting insanely lost. Normally this would suck, but Mike in the hilarious Scottish way was cursing to high heaven through frustration, and I couldn't stop laughing. Eventually we made it to the Cow and Calf, just in time for it to be completely obscurred by fog, but cool in an eerie way. After that it was relatively early to bed due to tiredness.
The next day my intention was to go explore Jesbury when Mike was at work, but it was miserable outside and I hadn't been lazy for a while, so I stayed inside and shared my time between reading and chatting with one of Mike's roommates, Kim, who was home for the day. When Mike came back we headed out to York and walked around for hours. exploring the gorgeous cobblestone streets, old buildings, gorgeous Cathedral, ancient castle, and historic city wall. We ended the night by hopping a fence and climbing on the city wall for a very cool walk along the wall's platform. After that we dashed back to Mike's place to grab his roomies and head to the grocery store to buy food and a whole bunch of booze, and made dinner whilst drinking copious amounts and listening to good tunes. The next day I had to get up at 8am and enjoyed a nice and deadly hangover for my 4 hour bus-ride to London and subsequent train-ride back to Cobham; only returning to a normal state in time for work that evening.
More days passed as always, and then today (Sunday) at work I found out by about the mid-afternoon that I have tomorrow off, so since Sunday always ends relatively early (no dinner shift) I high-tailed it to Nikki's place, where I am now, so that tomorrow I can rock London again. Also tonight when I arrived it started snowing in London for the first time since I got here. Nikki and I went for a walk, through snow-balls, slid on the icey streets, helped some poor blokes push their car up a hill, and got some baileys and whiskey to make boosey hot-chocolate. What a good night!
Since I last wrote not too much has happened. I have too little memory to pin-point exactly what happened each day since then, but I can regail you with the highlights of my past week. Last week I had Wednesday and Thursday off, and Friday I had a late-shift at work, so this gave me the chance to force Nikki to book Friday off so we could go party it up in London on Thursday night. On Wednesday I took the bus to the nearest large city (Kingston), which is a very adorable city on the Thames river. I spent the day walking through the shopping area, walking along the river, and getting yet another over-seas cell phone (hopefully my last). In the evening I ducked into the McDonalds to use their bathroom without buying anything (bwah ha ha) and who should I see but my dear friends Nikki eating french fries? "What the hell are you doing in Kingston?" I asked, bemused. Apparently Nikki had been working at a school near Kingston that day (she's a sub teacher and moves around a lot) and had come to the city do to a bit of shopping. Delighted by the providence of seeing each other so randomly, we decided to go to dinner at an adorable Italian restaurant in the city centre. After that I took the train back to Cobham, arriving late, and then went for drinks with Tytti and Dave (who work at the Inn).
The next day I also had off, and I spent the morning dyeing my hair and being otherwise slovenly, before I finally got off my ass and headed out. I went to meet Nikki at Wimbledon station, and whilst waiting for her I went to the most kick ass used book shop ever and bought really amazing European vintage postcards! Yippee! After that Nikki and I went back to her place, made dinner, split a bottle of wine, and then headed out to a pub in Soho to meet up with her two friends (whose names escape me, because I suck at names). We shared drinks and a few hours of conversation, then her friends went home and Nikki and I went off in search of this bar that was supposed to have a live 60s covers band all night, but they wound up ending super early, so we went and took out our frustrations by hitting up a chippery, then heading back to Soho in search of another bar. We went to a super swanky downtown bar and had a drink before waiting in the freezing cold rain for the bus back to Nikki's place. The next day we went back to Wimbledon so Nikki could show me the coat she wanted to buy, and then I finally had to take the train back to Cobham and go to work.
The days passed as per usual once again with working, reading, watching telly (it's wierd having a TV again, and kind of disquieting), and going to the local pubs. Oh yes, I said pubs, because we found another pub that was secretly hidden away and now have 2 choices for our nights out (oh small towns). Then for my Wednesday, Thursday days off this week I decided to go to Leeds and stay with my friend Mike who I met through couchsurfing. Leeds is a crazy city full of malls that is 4 hours north of London. Beside it (where Mike actually lives) is Jewsbury, which is a city-town that has the highest Asian population in England. Over 50% of the inhabitants are from Indian or Pakistan. About a half hour north of that is the gorgeous and super historic city of York, which has one of the oldest intact castles in England (10th century) and used to be the Northern capital of England where many wars were fought and many kings and queens lived at least part-time.
On Tuesday night at work it became apparent that I would finish work early, so in the interest of not waking up at ridiculous oclock to catch my 8am bus in central London, I took the train to Nikki's place after work, and then left in the early morning from her place. I arrived in Leeds in the early afternoon, and while Mike was still at work I walked around the city. There are some nice buildings and churches, but much more new development than I'd like to see in an English city, and I was honestly the most impressed by a rad comic shop I went to where the cleric gave me a free comic magazine showing all the comic shops in England (I'm in trouble now!). When Mike finished work I met him at the train station and he took me to his place where I met his roommates, then we headed to a nearby town and went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Then Mike was trying to show me this cool rock site called "the Cow and Calf" but the half hour drive took about four hours due to getting insanely lost. Normally this would suck, but Mike in the hilarious Scottish way was cursing to high heaven through frustration, and I couldn't stop laughing. Eventually we made it to the Cow and Calf, just in time for it to be completely obscurred by fog, but cool in an eerie way. After that it was relatively early to bed due to tiredness.
The next day my intention was to go explore Jesbury when Mike was at work, but it was miserable outside and I hadn't been lazy for a while, so I stayed inside and shared my time between reading and chatting with one of Mike's roommates, Kim, who was home for the day. When Mike came back we headed out to York and walked around for hours. exploring the gorgeous cobblestone streets, old buildings, gorgeous Cathedral, ancient castle, and historic city wall. We ended the night by hopping a fence and climbing on the city wall for a very cool walk along the wall's platform. After that we dashed back to Mike's place to grab his roomies and head to the grocery store to buy food and a whole bunch of booze, and made dinner whilst drinking copious amounts and listening to good tunes. The next day I had to get up at 8am and enjoyed a nice and deadly hangover for my 4 hour bus-ride to London and subsequent train-ride back to Cobham; only returning to a normal state in time for work that evening.
More days passed as always, and then today (Sunday) at work I found out by about the mid-afternoon that I have tomorrow off, so since Sunday always ends relatively early (no dinner shift) I high-tailed it to Nikki's place, where I am now, so that tomorrow I can rock London again. Also tonight when I arrived it started snowing in London for the first time since I got here. Nikki and I went for a walk, through snow-balls, slid on the icey streets, helped some poor blokes push their car up a hill, and got some baileys and whiskey to make boosey hot-chocolate. What a good night!
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