GenesisDreams

Flower of Scotland

Friends - Fun - Travel I made the trip up to Edinburgh on the weekend. That makes it five times in a row that I haven't spent a full weekend at 'home'. My new friend and next-door neighbour Bruce is from Edinburgh and he invited me to go up with him to watch the England vs. Scotland match of the Six Nations Rugby Championship which was to be played at Murrayfield stadium. The name Bruce is a lot like Fosters' Larger, both are supposed to be stereotypically Australian and yet, just as nobody in Australia actually drunks Fosters', nobody I knew (until now) was actually called Bruce. Despite being Scottish, Bruce is a great guy (Scotland lost the game, so I'm still in the 'pay Bruce out about Scotland' mindset). Bruce, Graeme, Ben and I got a train up to Edinburgh Friday afternoon. Graeme and Ben are two scousers who also live in Newark Hall (I'll get around to talking about all my new friends properly sometime soon).It was an easy five hour trip, during which we managed to watch almost a whole season of Friends on Bruce's notebook. The trip was also made easier when Graeme convinced some friends of his who were getting off at Newcastle to get the friend of theirs who was picking them up to bring a carton of beer with him. So when we rolled into Newcastle a quick exchange was made and as we pulled off we were a rolling in the beer. Ten minutes later we finally got a bottle opener and the drinking began. Suddenly we were in Edinburgh, and it was freezing, and I had to pay to use the toilet at the train station. 20p! Bruce said that when I go to London I'd see that it was pretty standard. We were staying at Bruce's house for the weekend, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the station. This place was huge, even for Australian standards. It had four floors and seven bathrooms! It was also completely empty. Bruce's parents were in Dubai (that's where his dad is currently working) and his brothers both live elsewhere. I don't think anyone realised before how minted (British slang there) Bruce's family is. Anyway the fridges were stocked, lots of beer and Irn-Bru (the Scottish soft drink that apparently outsells both coke and pepsi) and we all had beds to sleep in. You couldn't have asked for a better base camp. Bruce and Graeme went out for some deep friend food and returned to fish, chips and haggis. I didn't have any haggis, the normal stuff puts me off, deep fried... no thanks. We stayed up drinking and watching TV late into the night before deciding to get some sleep. The game didn't start until 5:30 the next night so we didn't have to be up particularly early. Cut to 1pm the next day. Bacon cooking, eggs cooking, a good fry-up breakfast. After we ate our fill we went down to this pub called The Standing Order, where we promptly ordered some pints of beer. This pub was packed, people lined four deep back from the bar, and it took about 20 minutes to get served, so when we did we bought three drinks each. On of Bruce's friends showed up, and as we were talking we suddenly heard bagpipes playing. Out of nowhere this troop of Scottish Bagpipers marched into the bar and started playing all the tradition bagpipe songs. Soon everyone was singing along. It was fantastic! I really wish I had brought my camera along because it was a sight to behold. I was ecstatic; bagpipes, kilts, Scottish accents and good beer, it doesn't really get much better. We had a few more pints (well more than a few) as well as some food, and suddenly it was 4pm. The game started in an hour and half and we were well on our way to being very very pissed. We decided that was enough for the pub. Edinburgh before an England vs Scotland rugby game is similar to Kyoto before a Gion festival. In Japan it's rare in normal circumstances to see people wearing Kimonos, however on the eve of the big Gion parade you see them everywhere. Likewise in Scotland it's rare in normal circumstances to see men wearing kilts, however on the eve of a big international rugby game you see them everywhere. The rugy brings out the patriotic Scotsman, in particular a battle against the English brings out the patriotic Scotsman, and on Saturday night, in the freezing cold, before a big game, the tartan abounds. Bruce didn't wear his, which is a good move, because we would have surely lifted it up for the world to see if he had. Murrayfield stadium, with the Scottish flag, the bagpipers, the atmosphere, the spectacle. Scotland lost, 35 to 13. At Bruce's place again, drinking the rest of the beer in his fridge. Ran out of that, so we moved onto the Scotch (this is Scotland after all). Eventually we worked up the energy to go out, so we walked up to the castle (a long and cold walk) and then down to this pub called The Three Sisters. We had way to much to drink here, but we did meet up with Bruce's brother, who is a policeman, and who had his jacket stolen at the pub. Lots of jokes were made. The pub closed up shop at 1am, so we moved onto this club called Faith that was just down the road. This place cost a whopping £7 to get in (that's almost $20!!!) but by that point we were all extremely inebriated, so we didn't really mind. The club was pretty cool, great music, real dance music, not like the Cheese they play in Nottingham, and the drinks were expensive. More drinking ensued. The club closed at 3am and so we began the long walk home. Arrived home. Went to Sleep. Good night. Next morning I get up while everyone else is still asleep and I go and have a look around the city. I go to all the famous places, the important places, take lots of pictures, get caught up in the history of it all. I'm tired now, so I'm not going to go into all the details but let’s just say it's a beautiful city, I loved being there, blah blah blah. Ok cool, so we did more stuff and later we went home. Sorry about being abrupt. Normally I leave these sorts of things if I haven't got time to finish them and then resume writing later on. But right now, I'm so close to the end, and I'm so late already for this thing I'm supposed to be at. So there it is. I've been humming the Scottish national anthem recently; I actually know the words now as well! Flower of Scotland O Flower of Scotland, When will we see your like again That fought and died for Your wee bit hill and glen. And stood against him, Proud Edward's army, And sent him homeward Tae think again. The hills are bare now, And autumn leaves lie thick and still O'er land that is lost now, Which those so dearly held That stood against him, Proud Edward's army And sent him homeward Tae think again. Those days are past now And in the past they must remain But we can still rise now And be the nation again! That stood against him Proud Edward's army And sent him homeward Tae think again. O Flower of Scotland, When will we see your like again That fought and died for Your wee bit hill and glen. And stood against him, Proud Edward's army, And sent him homeward Tae think again.

Jumping Jacks

Fun We went to Jumping Jack's last night, which is this club that contains a jumping castle. It was crazy fun! I had a few drinks, listened to some really cool music (the guy played the Ghostbusters’s theme!) and danced a lot of the night away. Coming home we got split up. Aussie Nick, these two Welsh girls and I got in one taxi, but Bruce, Ben, Graeme and the others had problems with theirs. We got home safely, but the other guys weren't anywhere to be seen. Anyway I got some sleep, until about 4am when Bruce woke me up banging on my door. Ben had gotten jumped by some guys and had a massive black eye. I'm not going to go into the whole story, but anyway I went down to the ER of the Queen's Medical Centre with him and we waited around for ages and in the end he was diagnosed with a 'head injury', but other than that he was fine. He can't see out of his left eye, but he is fine. Don't panic anyone who is reading this, and certainly don't tell my mum! ^_^ Anyway Ben, Bruce, Graeme and I are heading up to Edinburgh tomorrow. I'll relate the adventures of that trip when I get back.

Incomplete Story

General I realise that I missed a bit of my initial story, in particular my first weekend in Nottingham, however it has been too long now since the actual events to write a full comprehensive tale about it. So I'll very quickly summarise. I awoke Saturday morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. I went downstairs to have some coffee and toast, and while I was eating, Jessica and Emily overcame their fear of me and jumped simultaneously on my lap. They started tickling me (I am incredibly ticklish) and so a tickle fight ensued. After being completely tired out by two kids who have enough energy to power the north side of Brisbane, I started packing and got read to venture forth to Nottingham! I arrived at John's place with one bag. My second (lost) bag arrived the next day. When I left John's for Nottingham I had the following extra items:

• A Samsung A300e mobile phone (email me if you want the number). I never had a mobile back home (to the annoyance of some of my friends), but within two days of my arrival I got one.
• A PII 333 computer. It's slow, but it meant I could get on the net quickly.
• A nineteen inch monitor (see guys, I had to come to the other side of the world to get a decent sized monitor).
• An Epson Stylus Color 740 printer.
• A CD player. I haven't used this much as I brought a whole bunch of mp3 CDs with me.
• A subwoofer and speakers, which are hooked up to my computer
• A hot water bottle, which I had to be shown how to use (yes there is a trick to it!).
• A kettle, which I later found out we weren't allowed to use in our rooms.
• Assorted other bits and pieces, cloths, power boards, etc.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my cousin John is such a legend. So anyway Jackie was taking the kids up to see her parents for the weekend, so John and I drove down alone to Nottingham. It was a pleasant drive and we made good time until we got to Nottingham itself. The place is a maze of one-way streets! We eventually found a park and walked along to the Lace Market Hotel, where we were booked in for the night. We met Simone in the Cock and Hoop, the bar next to the hotel and had a few drinks before checking in. It was good to see Simone again, and we had a lot of catching up to do, even though I had seen her less than half a year ago when she came across to Australia for her honeymoon. That afternoon and night went by like a whirlwind, we went out to the Quilted Lama, but they couldn't make good Bloody Mary's so we went to the Living Room, where they could. Then we went to Wagamama for some noodles but it was packed full of people, then we wandered around a bit, and then I woke up the next morning. Interesting night. So after checking out of the hotel we made our way to the University. We went to University Park first (which is the main campus) and then tried to find our way over to Jubilee Campus (which is five minutes away). We got here, found my hall, I signed a few forms, paid a bit of money (key and damage deposits) and then I went to move into my room. I'll write another entry soon (during a boring period... whenever that will be) about what my room is like, but for now lets just say I moved in, unpacked a few things, said goodbye to John and Simone, and then fell promptly asleep. And that's the story of my arrival in Nottingham.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Books - Japan - Quotes

"I saw myself as the wind-up bird, flying through the summer sky, lighting on the branch of a huge tree somewhere, winding the world's spring. If there really was no more wind-up bird, someone would have to take on its duties. Someone would have to wind the world's spring in its place. Otherwise, the spring would run down and the delicately functioning system would grind to a halt. The only one who seemed to have noticed that the wind-up bird was gone, however, was me."
--Haruki Murakami, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"

I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Harukai Murakami last weekend, I've just been too busy until now (when the hall bar is closed on a Sunday night) to write about it. It was the second of Murakami's book's I had read (see my Midori entry for more details) and I like this one the best so far. It was incredibly dark in places, but I that was one of the things I liked the most about it. At some points it made me want to physically go out and find a well (read the book and you'll understand). I don't really know where I found the time to read this book. Most of it was devoured during the long train trips to and from Liverpool, or the bus trips to/from Milton Keynes. Between those points, as much as I wanted to read it, I didn't really find the time. I’ve gotten a hold of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but I think I’ll leave off reading that for a while. Murakami is fantastic, but I think I need a break from him.

Oxford

Travel I went to Oxford yesterday with a bunch of guys from NESS (the Nottingham Exchange Student Society). After a nice scenic two hours bus ride south we were unleashed on this famed University town. It was a mess to start with; everyone got off the bus, and the guys in charge weren't really in charge, so people just milled about a lot, we eventually got moving, trying to find a pub that would be our meeting point at the end of the day. On our way though we lost about half the people (yay!). We finally found a pub, dicked around for a while, and then after too more discussing alternatives that I could stand, I grabbed the other Aussie guys and a few of the Brits and we went off by ourselves. Walking through the city was a very interesting experience. There were old buildings everywhere and wherever you looked something had a piece of history attached to it. Oxford is very much a university town, and there were students everywhere. There were also tourists everywhere. It was easy to tell the difference between the two because the students would walk right by a famous landmark, while the tourists would flock round it taking pictures (speaking of pictures I took over 200!!). I admit I was a tourist, and looked like a tourist too (thumbing through my Lonely Planet guide) but that's ok, I think everyone in the town is accustomed to it. So one of the first places we visited was Christ Church, the University's largest college. It has a number of recent claims to fame (which I wasn't particularly interested in) and some older ones (which I was). Starting with the recent ones, a number of scenes for the Harry Potter films were shot at Christ Church, the staircase in particular was featured, and the 500 year old dining hall was replicated at one and a half times the size in a studio. I wasn't really interested in that though, I was intent on seeing the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dogson, who was a mathematics tutor at Christ Church from 1855 to 1898. During his time there he made friends with the daughter of Dean, whose name was Alice. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass grew out of the stories Carroll made up to entertain Alice and many of the characters in the book were inspired by Christ Church people and objects. In particular, one of the stained glass windows in the dining hall shows portraits of Alice and a number of creatures from the book (though I couldn't get a picture that looked alright using my camera). The dining hall also contains a fireplace bracketed by two brass "firedogs", which guard the fire and have long necks, supposedly the inspiration for Alice growing a long neck in the story. Also the White Rabbit was based upon Alice's father (the Dean) who left dinner every night down a narrow spiral stair behind the raised "High Table" at the front of the dining hall, and thus the rabbit in the hole in the story. The whole place was fantastic and I imagine it must be really strange to study there. When we first arrived we couldn't get a look at the dining hall because all the students were in there eating lunch! Here is a picture of some of the students who were wandering around from Nottingham. As Christ Church was one of the big attractions, a whole lot of people did eventually end up there first. After checking out Christ Church we walked over to Corpus Christi College, only to find that they were closed to visitors. This didn't actually stop us of course, because if we put away out maps and guide books we could pass fairly easily for university students (which of course we were, just from a different University). So in we strode, confident in our place there, and past the porters we got, into the depths of the college. It was beautiful. We walked through quadrangles of some of the greenest grass I've ever seen, over old stone bridges and across quaint cobblestone paths. We bumped into a few other students, but they just nodded to us and we went on our way. This college was huge, surrounded by a big stone wall. We walked around for ages inside; opening all the doors we could, going up stairs, checking out everything we could get into it. After a while though we started trying to find a way out, this was when it would have become plain to anyone watching us that we didn't belong. We were lost. We tried doors, walked down dead ends, got stuck in small rooms that went no where. We eventually found a gate which we could exit through, but we had to wait for a legitimate student to come along and open it for us so we could get out. After that, even though we still ignored "This college is closed" signs, we made sure that we could at least find our way back the way we came. So after that (according to the pictures of my camera, the order they are taken in is such a good way to recording what you did in a day and when you did it) we went to Magdelen College (pronounced 'mawd-len' here for some reason) which is where Oscar Wilde studied. This is the rich kids college, it even has it's own deer park. It's got some gargoyles that were supposed to be the inspiration for the stone statues in CS Lewis' Narnia. Here is a picture of the central quad and the bunch of guys I was knocking around with for most of the day. We then made our way to the Magdelen great tower, which is just under 500 years old and about 50 meters high. We tried to find a way up, but all the doors were locked. We went and asked the porters and they said the only way to get up there was to find a student willing to accompany us (insurance reasons apparently, all the students need to sign something before they can go up). Being midday Saturday though we couldn't find anyone willing to take us. We even tried knocking on a few doors to no avail. Oh well. We went to a pub for lunch. I can't remember it's name, or anything interesting about it, and I don't have any pictures either, so it must not have been very important. We then wandered around some more; saw a whole lot of other landmarks (which I am just too tired right now to write about, but I do have pictures of) before finding our way to The Bear, the oldest pub in Oxford. It was crap so we went elsewhere. We saw a library and a museum, and another museum, and too many other colleges to count, and then it started to rain slightly so we decided to go for a drink. We then made our way to the Turf Tavern which, according to the Lonely Planet, is "a perennial student favourite". It's tucked away down this little side alley off one of the main streets in the city centre. There are no elaborate signs to tell you the way, just the words Turf written in black on the alley wall. The place had was great, it had brazier's out the back and you could buy marshmallow’s to roast (though they were £2 a bag!) It was also home to some famous events, featuring notable figures such as Bill Clinton and Bob Hawke. He drank a few pints there until it got too cold to sit outside (even in front of the fires) so we decided to make our way to the pre-organised meet up point of O'Neil's pub. Everyone who came on the trip was supposed to meet there first before we made our way back to the bus. We arrived at O'Neil's, had some dinner, drank some more beer, and then all of a sudden it was time to go catch our bus. Somehow everyone arrived on time, so the bus left on time, and we started our trip home. Nick, one of the NESS reps who I had been hanging out with for most of the day had a bottle of pre-mixed vodka with him, so that tided us over until we go back to Nottingham. The bus stopped right outside the Ark, which is the student union bar, but there was a big line of people outside waiting to get in. Originally we were going to relax for a couple of hours there (it was only 10pm at that point) but nobody really wanted to stand in line for an hour. All of a sudden the fire alarm went off, the back door opened, and everyone started pouring out. We all tried to get inside the back door afterwards (and thus avoid the lines), but in the end a couple of us gave up and walked back to Jubilee campus. On the way back we bumped into Bruce and Graeme who were walking home from the sport centre after playing some squash, so we kicked a football to each other for the rest of the way home, then went to the hall bar to warm up. After a few drinks I hit the sack, thoroughly exhausted from a very long but very enjoyable day.

The Salutation Inn

Friends - Fun I went out to the The Salutation Inn tonight to have a few pints with wertperch and Ferenczy, two noders from Everything2. It was my first time meeting other noders in the flesh, and the after effects have caused me revert back to my old noding habits of copious linking (see first sentence). I had a good time overall; the Inn was cosy, the company was great and the beer was well... interesting. Thanks for inviting me out wertperch and introducing me to this fine city of yours (which I was informed is the murder capital of the UK!). I don't mind though, becuase at night it's "like wading through a sea of erect nipples". Cheers guys.

Shoes

Fun Ok for some reason I hung out with the First Rugby Team of Newark Hall tonight. And I talked to a girl, which meant I had to drink a pint out of my shoe. So now my mouth tastes bad. We went out to ISIS tonight, and that was cool, but now I really need to get some sleep. My shoe is still wet.

Littlewing's Adventure

Friends My good friend Littlewing returns from her three and a half week trip around Europe tomorrow. She's returning to a place I don't call home anymore, so I can't welcome her back personally, but I hope she reads this and knows that I'm thinking about her and that I wish her a safe trip home. I hope you've had a terrific time.

Address

General If anyone wants to send me something over the coming semester (post cards, money, Red Cross care packages) address your correspondence to:

Newark Hall
The University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB

The Works

Fun Went out to The Works last night, after having pre-drinks in the hall bar (which included the Frisbee Challenge). You can find a bunch of pictures here, though those are from last week's "School Daze" night, they haven't put up last night's ones yet.

Happy Birthday To Me…

Friends It was my birthday yesterday. I am now an ancient twenty-two years old. I spent the weekend at my cousin’s place near a little town of Stony Stratford, which is just down from Milton Keynes. Stony Stratford is has been around since the fourteen hundreds, Milton Keynes is about twenty-five years old. Simone picked me up from the bus station Saturday morning after a quick one and a half hour bus ride down from Nottingham and then took me back to her place. She and her husband Toby live in an old converted mill called Stratford House. Here’s the view out of my bedroom window . It’s a fantastic place, out in the countryside with the river running past just out the back (and part of it still right underneath the house). It was a nice day outside so Toby and Simone took me on a twenty minute walk into Stony Stratford where had a drink at The Cock Hotel (that’s the carpark out the back by the way). The Cock Hotel is just up the road from The Bull Hotel. Now during the late 18th, early 19th, centuries, during the height of the greaty coaching era, Stony Stratford (which is in the north of Buckinghamshire and is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street) was an important stopping point for coaches travelling between London and Birmingham (at the time England's two largest cities). Those in the two regarded the travellers on these coaches as a great source of current news from different parts of the county. This news was imparted in the towns two main hotels, The Cock and The Bull. Stories would flow and change between the two until a rivalry would develop as to which could come up with the most exaggerated and fanciful takes. And thus you have the saying, 'A cock and bull story'. The UK is great. You just don’t get anything vaguely historic like that back home. So we had a few drinks, walked back to Stratford House, had dinner, and then went out on the town. First we went to which is home to a heap of clubs, pubs, shops, as well as a massive snowdown, which boasts two 175 metre slopes and a 135 metre nursery slope of real snow, all indoors. Simone said she would take me skiing next time I was over, but tonight we were headed for Revolutions which is a vodka bar. They have so many different types of vodka’s I couldn’t even begin to list them. I only managed to sample a few before we left, the drinks were good but the music was crap that night, so we decided to head on over to Sim and Toby’s regular hangout, The Slug and Lettuce. This place had better music, and a more laid back atmosphere, and after seeing that they had cheap After Eight’s (a shot of Kahlua, a shot of creme de menth and a shot of Bailey’s layered into a shot glass in that order), we decided to stay. The pool table was hideously expensive at one and a half pounds a game, so we gave up on that (which is good because I was losing all my games). We stayed there until final call (11pm, how crazy is that!), and then went back home. Sim had a close to fully stocked liquor cabinet so I raided that to make an almost-after eight (Kahlua, Bailey’s and Cointreau) then we listened to Morcheeba’s Big Calm while Toby played along with it on his guitar. All of a sudden it was 1am, our birthdays had arrived! I rang home, but only got the answering machine, Simone rang her parents, talked to them for a while, and I said hello to them too. We crashed out soon after that and I feel asleep to the peaceful sound of water flowing outside my window. The next morning I woke up around 11. I had had a great night sleep and was looking forward to a good birthday day. We exchanged presents, and then headed out to this little English pub to have “Sunday dinner”. Toby drove us in his Black Porsche 968 (like this one). It’s a great car, small, fast, but so unlike Fragma’s 180sx in the way in handles. I can’t remember the name of the pub where we had lunch; I almost banged my head entering it though. After lunch we went to have a look at a traditional English canal and section of locks before heading back home. That night we had champagne, roasted marshmallows on the fire, listened to music, watched Pulp Fiction, and talked about old times. It was fun. The next day I slept in again, before borrowing a heap of books from Sim (she is a huge Murakami fan) and then getting dropped down to the bus stop. I’ve been home for about four hours now and I’m just about to head down to the hall bar for a drink before going out tonight. It’s traffic light night at the Works. If you’re wearing red you’re taken, orange and your not looking but could be tempted, while if you’re wearing green your single and ready to go! Time to find a green shirt.

Pool and Pints

Friends We had a rather quiet night tonight, spending most of it in the hall bar drinking pints and playing pool. I'm heading off to my cousin Simone's place tomorrow. We share the same birthday, so I'm going to celebrate it with her. Speaking of birthdays, it is my brother Edward's birthday today. He is two years and two days older than me. Happy birthday Eddie! Anyway I need to get some sleep. I have to be up early tomorrow to catch my bus down to Simone's place.

Voting

General My friends inform me that I'm supposed to vote in the state election today (well Saturday, today their time). Of course I can't, because I'm not there. I just hope they don't fine me. I'm on IRC now, which is the way in which I always kept in touch with my friends back home. It's strange now though because there is such a time difference. It's like it was before, but slightly different. It's good though because we can chat like we always used to do. I'm just annoyed it took so long to get hooked up. Even though I've been really busy here recently, there were a number of times when I felt lonely and I really wanted to just get on the computer and chat with my friends.

Second Day

General I awoke in a strange (but incredibly comfy) bed. I’d slept for about 12 hours and was feeling pretty good by this stage. I went downstairs, with crazy morning hair, bits sticking up and out everywhere, and encountered Jessica and Emily, John’s two little girls. They were four and three respectively and they were quite freaked out by my appearance. Jackie made me a cup of coffee and I had some vegemite on toast (Aunty Marge and Uncle Eddie were over here from Australia for Christmas, so they brought a whole lot of it with them, even though you can buy it in the stores here). The plan for the day was quite laid back, we were going shopping in order to get me all the warm clothes I needed (I brought practically none with me), but we also had to wait around for the courier to arrive with my other bag (it had arrived from wherever it was last night). I gave the courier place a call and they could only tell me ”Sometime in the afternoon” but thankfully they came just after midday so then we proceeded to go shopping! I got a big winter coat (with fur on the hood, which Jackie said was really “trendy”), some gloves a scarf and a couple of jumpers. John bought them all for me saying it was an early birthday present (he is such a legend). We wandered around for a bit more looking at stuff. Cut to that night, John and Jackie’s from Joe (Aunty Joe-Joe) arrived in a cab and we all went to a pub called Brass Monkey in Liverpool. It’s a place where all of John’s work mates go on a Friday (John’s a partner of a big law firm in Liverpool, so most of the guys there actually worked for him). Anyway I had some pints of Foster’s, played a heap of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” on this little arcade cabinet/ pokie-machine thing, where if you get all the questions right and win the million you get twenty quid. All of the young guys were standing around playing it, and we got pretty far a couple of times, winning a couple of quid back. I was hopeless at half of it though, because many of the questions were like “Which Arsenal player…” or “In which county is…”. All of the British-centric questions threw me completely. The pub atmosphere was pretty much like it is back home, just with a whole lot more people wearing jumpers and coats. I had a whole lot of pints of larger, and a few of bitter, but it really isn’t my cup of tea. At about eleven we left to go to this place called Stop, because there was a live band playing, and Joe fancied the lead singer. Joe, John, Jackie, a guy called Fuzzy and I got a cab there, and it was pretty crowed when we arrived. The band had just started playing their set, so we went to get some drinks leaving Joe to sit right up the front next to the singer. We spent a couple of hours in this place, the music was good and the drinks were cheap. One thing that I couldn’t get over was how little the girls all wore. It was freezing cold, but most of them had extremely short skirts, and tiny little tops with not jacket. Totally nuts. Eventually we got a cab back home; minus Joe (she thought her chances were good with the lead singer). We got out at this fish and chips place where John and Fuzzy ordered kebabs. After inspecting the meat Jackie and I thought better of it, so we walked down to the Chinese place and ordered some food there, and then walked home across the street to wait for it to be cooked. Once we got all our food we sat around talking and drinking and eating until the small hours of the morning, when we all finally decided to crash for the night (I was in the spare bed, Fuzzy slept on the couch). And so ended my second day in England.

Gummi Bears

Friends Ok, it's 3am in the morning and I'm pretty drunk again. We went out to a bar called Dogma tonight. It was pretty cool, though a bit expensive. Before that though we were sitting in the hall bar (where you can get 1.5 pound pints) and all of a sudden they started playing the Gummi Bear theme song. Gummi Bears! Bouncing here and there and everywhere! High adventure that's beyond compare! They are the Gummi Bears! Anyway I had already put away about five pints by that point so it totally blew my mind. I'm having lots of fun here! ^_^

Baggage

Travel So I had gotten through immigration, now I just have to collect my bags. Note the plural. I checked in two bags at Brisbane. Only one came out at Manchester. I waited around for half an hour for my first bag to come out, and then stood around for much longer than that waiting for the second. People started to drift away, until I was left with a handful of other people. The baggage guys came out from the back and said ”That’s it. No more.”. So after another half an hour waiting in line to see the lost baggage people I discovered my other bag was in Perth. Terrific. I filled out some forms, gave them the address of where I was staying, and then finally, more than twenty-six hours after I left Australia, I was free, and in the UK. My cousin John was there to meet me. He’d been waiting for two and a half hours, but he seemed happy to see me. I was just glad he hadn’t left and gone home already. It was about 2pm Thursday afternoon local time by the time we were in his car, driving through the English countryside towards Liverpool. It was overcast, there were funny road signs, and I was bloody freezing, but overall it seemed a lot like home. I hadn’t seen John since he came over for Pa’s funeral in September last year, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It was a nice drive, but I had a bit of trouble not falling asleep. John lent me his mobile and I rang home, but I only got the answering machine. It would be late Thursday night back home, but everyone was out! Mum was probably celebrating my leaving ^_^ I dozed on and off for the next half an hour, until we arrived in Oxton village, on the outskirts of Liverpool. John lives in a two story townhouse, right next door to a pub (but it is an “old person’s pub” according to John) and across the road from a Chinese restaurant (which sells chips!). Jackie (John’s wife) was waiting for us (we were two hours late after all), and she made me a large cup of coffee while I got settled. After putting away my bags (minus one) they took me into Liverpool for the afternoon to get a drink and see some sights. The idea was to keep me active and doing stuff so that I wouldn’t fall asleep and suffer from serious jetlag when I awoke at 3am the next morning. We drove through a two mile tunnel under the River Mersey from Birkenhead to Liverpool, and then we were out into the city itself. It was cold, and my Aussie jacket wasn’t helping me much, so we went into this little café on the waterfront and I got introduced to English beer… Yes well after that I started ordering Foster’s (of course it is brewed in Edinburgh, but it’s still about as close to an Aussie beer as you can get). After spending the afternoon in Liverpool we drove back to Oxton Village and then walked to this little Jazz restaurant just down the road from John’s place. John and Jackie are regulars there, and so even though they were holding a function later in the night, we managed to get a table at the back, and sat down to some terrific food. I had this extremely thick blue cheese soup as an appetiser which completely wiped away any memory of airplane food. I followed that up by having a large lamb roast, but I couldn’t finish it all in the end. By this point I was drinking double espressos to keep me awake. While we were there this TV crew had shown up to interview some female politician that was supposed to speak at this function later in the night. I had no idea who she was but John and Jackie said she was the former health minister or something like that. Anyway I for a while we were totally oblivious to them being there, and at one point one of them started talking really loud, and so I of course raised my voice. Now those who know me know that I have a very loud and very distinctive voice. It’s quite common for someone to hear me coming far before they see me. Anyway Jackie told me afterwards that the TV guy was actually interviewing this politician live, and that I was drowning her out in the background. Woops. I wasn’t the only one who stuffed up there though. In the middle of the interview the politicians mobile phone rang. She let it ring out at the time, but afterwards we overheard he saying that it was her friend ringing her to say ”You’re on TV!. Stupid. So after a great dinner we went back to John’s place and sat down to watch some British TV. It’s much like TV back home, expect with different accents. I was practically falling down at this point, but I stayed awake a little longer and gave mum another call. I actually got onto her this time, and reassured her that I was ok, I had arrived safely and all was right with the world. Then I promptly fell asleep. My first day in England had come to an end. I’ll continue the rest of the story soon. It’s been two weeks now since I left home. It feels like forever. I’ve been listening to Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers a lot recently. Looking at the countryside fly by during my train trip back from Liverpool reminded me of the film clip (I love having broadband in my room! Oh I haven’t explained about that yet fully. More details to come!).

Home

General Oh yeah I forgot. I'm back 'home' now. Got the train back from Liverpool this morning.

Cheese

Friends Well I'm pretty drunk at the moment. Went out with some of the guys from my hall tonight. Went to the Mode, then the Works clubs. They are really huge compared to Aussie clubs. I got really drunk off double vodka's and redbull's for 1 quid each. Some of the girls from the hall were trying to explain to me what "Cheesy" music was. There was a whole room for "Cheese" at the Works. It was "School Daze" night there too, so everyone was in imitation school uniforms. I wore my while shirt and grey tie. Anyway I should go to bed. I've got class at 9am tomorrow morning. I'll finish off my tale of the first week sometime later when I'm not so drunk. I'm having so much fun! ^_^