Having much fun, it's bloody cold here, though less windy than England.
Saw lots of stuff, did cool things and what.
What?
What.
Will be here for a few more days, then I believe it's Germany. Yeah. Sounds right.
Merry Christmas everyone.
December 2004 Archives
Nathan's work email address, could they send it to me?
I can't remember the domain, and I said I'd email him.
Not that I emailed anyone else...sorry If that means you.
There is an entry from our first day, but that is written on stationery from the hotel in Singapore. Will add later.
Used the Internets today. Checked email (though didn't reply), posted to blog and booked coach to Cardiff for the rest of the family (I'm not going). After that, we walked to the London Eye, which Jess, Sarah and I caught.It was great to see London laid out before me, something that you wouldn't get in a city full of view blocking sky scrapers. Got to see Big Ben, MI-5, the Palace and a whole slew of other buildings in some sort of greater context.
So far, I think London is great, full of people, always moving, nice urban density, however seen from above, it's not a very pretty city. It's mostly grey buildings pressed up against each other.
London is the converse of Sydney:
Sydney's monuments (think Opera House, Harbour Bridge) look beautiful and glamourous from afar but when actually view them up close they seem a little grimy and grey. London from afar seems ugly and squat, but up close the buildings are intricate, still large enough to loom and very beautiful.
After the eye, we moved on to the recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I decided not to take the tour since it's only a remake, and with London being the bloody expensive city that it is, there's no point paying for things in which you're not overly interested. After that, we were going to visit the Tate Modern, but after visiting the actual site of the globe, we returned home, and I went straight to sleep.
Saw Buckingham Palace today, walked around the gardens there. Have to say that everyone loved the squirrels much more than the palace. They (the squirrels) came up to us running up our legs and taking nuts from our hands. Greedy bastards (pronounces 'basstards', like the fish, not the instrument or the clef).
We walked to the underground headquarters of the War Cabinent and walked through it for a couple of hours. Was excellent, dad had an especially good time, seeing the rooms where Britain's (and the world's) fate was decided. The rooms were exactly as they were when being used, which was cool. (Ah cool, what a useful word for the lazy man).
From there, we walked to Leicester Square, to see The Incredibles, but the 1420 session was booked out, so the girls and I returned home for an hour's sleep and returned to catch the 1720 session. T'was very good. After that picked up some tasty pasta, returned home and slept.
Bought Sim cards.
Caught bus to Trafalgar Square. Saw the national Art Gallery which was cool. Have to stop thinking �1 = $3AUD since I'll wince whenever I buy anything at all.
Food so far has been ordinary, not that I came here for the food. Had my first macchiato, made me miss Blu. Had some sort of 'buffet' meal, Pizza Hut style from a random franchise. My fault since I refused to go to Pizza Hut, which couldn't have been any worse.
Sarah will be arriving around 4 or 5 this afternoon, it'll be nice to see her after a month of her traipsing around Europe and the Middle East.
Was nice. Need sleep.
Long flight. London has small trains. At least the ones I have seen so far. Skinny trains, with only one deck. They get quite full. From Heathrow at least.
Our hostel/bnb/flat/thingy is on Hugh street in Westminster just a minute's walk from Victoria station. When we arrived a dodgy looking bloke helped us find our street, all of us thought he might be setting us up. He wasn't. Talked like someone from Stella Street and smiled like Robin's old boss. He was from Kent. After that, got to sleep almost straight away. Trains go by periodically, but I didn't notice for the first six hours. Slept for almost thirteen hours. Don't know why people complain about jet lag, all you have to do is sleep until it's morning the next day. No problem.
Quick note of thanks to Lydia and Oliver for a kick-arse Christmas pressie. Hope I was allowed to open it early!
Okay, so here is where I'm at.
Friday was my last day at CVT. I was at work 'till almost 1 am finishing up a project I had been working on, making it ready for someone other than me to install it.
Saturday was the work Christmas party. My boss, William, cooked an amazing multi course meal with super amazing wines:
Dishes:
Crispy Spring role & Crabmeat Wanton
Garlic Butter White Bait
Oven baked king prawn and white scallop and a spring avocado salad with aged balsamic vinegar dressing
Papa's Duck or CVT House Quail
Star Aniseed & Cinnamon Fusion egg
Warm Duck Salad
Crabmeat & Mushroom Risotto
Selection of chocolate, cheese and fruit
Wines:
Champagne Bollinger
Coldstream Pinot Noir 2003
Orlando Jacaranda Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1986
Mt. Mary Pinot Noir 1994
Rusden Christine�s Vineyard Grenache 2003
Mt. Pleasant Vineyard Threesome Shiraz 2002
Whistling Eagle
Wild Duck Creek Wines
Wow.
Sunday I moved back to my parents house. Nathan was a great help.
Monday I dropped Jake (our dog) off at my auntie and uncle's house.
Tuesday I will be having breakfast with Jenni and Paul and Nat, then driving down to Sydney.
Wednesday we leave for Europe.
There will be posting. Oh yes, there will.
That's right suckers! The goat's only got one head.
On the Internets!
Eeew.
So, 24 now. A year older. A couple of fats fatter. Workin' . About to travel. Pretty excited about my immediate future.
Pretty sure that I'll turn 25 in Japan.
That's cool.
Yeeh.
So, what did I do this last year?
Moved to Sydney. Got a job. Worked many hours a week. Downloaded most of my entertainment. Wrote some small bits and pieces of software. Trawled the internets. Got a job in Japan. Made plans to spend a month in Europe. Ate my income. Ate my boss' income. Misused apostrophes. Saw many bad movies. Took photos. Saw some good movies. Spent a month in Melbourne. Spent weekends with friends. Got stuck in an elevator. Made insane jokes with Robin that no-one else thinks are funny or even gets. Said moogly a lot. Cooked and cleaned. A little. Wrote some blog entries...
Could have been worse.
One more weekend until Europe. So, did I do this, my second last weekend living in Sydney?
Watched tele.
Surfed the web.
Bought fruit.
Ate chips (crisps).
Slept.
Read a little.
And that's about it. I should have gone out on the town, I could have done something very Sydney, but whaddya gonna do?
Definitely next weekend.
Well, maybe.
