17.07.06
Posted in
England
at
10:54 am
by
Andy
I flew into London on Fri night on yet another one of my fleeting visits on my way to Poland. This time, though, I flew into Heathrow at a reasonable hour instead of Luton at midnight so I was able to go out for the evening.
Off the plane into the car of the ever reliable parents. A quick stop at the local chippy before being dropped off in Harrow. It’s been a while since I’ve walked around Harrow at night, and I’d forgotten how bad it was. Littered with wanna be rude boys, half of them dressed up as though the were in some r&b video (only lacking the Hummer and scantily clad gyrating arses).
I met up with Nina, Kuntesh, Has, Kieren and Nina’s cousins (out celebrating her birthday) and went to a bar of which the name escapes me. Music wasn’t to my taste, and I must admit I can’t remember the last time I was the racial minority like that. Not a problem in itself, but there seemed to be a lot of attitude (something you just don’t get in Spain), especially when trying to get past everyone to get to the toilets. Apart from that it was a nice night, which I spent most of it talking with Kuntesh and Ketal about travel in India and Thailand.
Saturday was a nice quiet day. I spent most of it sorting through the piles of boxes and old clothes that were shipped back from Spain over a year ago. I’m going to need the space come December. Going out on Sat’ night wasn’t an option as I had to be up at 5 on Sunday, so instead I headed over to Hayes to get a few photos of something that caught my eye the previous evening on the way back from the airport. Once again the Canon 30D showed its worth as I was able to play about with the settings after getting instant feedback on the display. I took over 100 pics learning the camera as I went along. I’ll post a couple of the best pics once I get them off the camera.
06.06.06
Posted in
England, General
at
10:10 pm
by
Andy
Stepping off the plane having flown from Krakow to Luton I was welcomed by a wonderfully sunny evening. On Saturday I met up with Nimesh for a lunchtime bite to eat. We ended up eating in a wonderfully British beer garden and chatting over several beers in the sunshine. He’s off to Taiwan for two weeks as part of his increasingly successful career.
In the afternoon I headed down to Clapham to meet up with Jon. We spent several hours on the thoroughly crowded common, people watching and chatting over a few tins.
On days like these I really want to live in London. It’s a great city with so much to do but as Jon rightly pointed out that I shouldn’t get to enthused, as this was the hottest day of the year so far. In Spain the great weather is taken for granted, in London I love the way most of the city make their way outdoors to enjoy the good weather when it comes.
Later on in the evening we went off with Jack and Harry to meet up with some other friends who were having a BBQ at their local. Next up we moved onto a house party in London Bridge. Held in Jack’s cousin’s flat (with large roof terrace) we continued the slow but steady drinking while socialising with all sorts of random people.
Having started so early, the night was guaranteed to end in disaster and Jacks improved ability to fall over was probably a good sign to leave. On the long walk home Jack was up for a bit of play fighting from which Jon sensibly backed away. Harry, however, did not. After a few friendly punches they both got a bit to involved resulting in Jack getting a clean strike to his poor little brothers head. The result? Well see for yourself:
13.02.06
Posted in
England
at
5:41 pm
by
Andy
Off to Cambridge for the eagerly awaited First Meeting of the People of the Rickshaw Run. We arrived in England to be greeted by a 35 minute queue to get through customs. Things got worse when our luggage turned up damaged… We then had to wait 25 minutes for someone to turn up at the baggage claims desk.
We got to the hire car center an hour late to find the staff running around in a panic as they had run out of cars… This wasn’t as bad as it sounded as I was given an upgrade from a Mongol Rally worthy Daewoo Matiz to a brand new, 16 miles on the clock, VW Golf Turbo Diesel.
We finally left the airport at 1am, two hours after arriving, just in time to tune into Fabio on Radio 1. This combined with the car upgrade instantly put a smile on my face (Thankfully it was Fabio and not Grooverider who over the last couple of years has just started shouting rubbish on the radio, detracting from the Music).
The journey home was made a little more interesting by helping a lost Ukrainian Tesco truck driver find Tescos…
On Saturday we had an early start to get up to Cambridge and then find the Orchard in the stereotypical old English village of Grantchester.
We were a little late and met Justin of Mongolia or Bust as we arrived in the car park. We entered the orchard to find a huge turn out for the meeting. Some 25-30 people had turned up. I think Tom was expecting less than 10…
Cream Teas and much banter about the route, charity and dates ensued. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Leo and Liz had also made the trip over from Madrid for the meeting, and also took the opportunity to speak with David Johnstone who I’d not seen since I was in Kyrgyzstan!
We later moved onto a pub in Cambridge where the discussion switched onto all things Mongol Rally. Mainly due to the fact that the people who remained were Rally ‘veterans’ (most of whom I’d never met before) or people planning on doing the rally this year or next.
That evening we headed out of the city to Swaffham to visit my uncle and family, who as ever were wonderfully receptive. I spent the evening explaining the wonders of the Rickshaw Run to Malcolm, being beaten and a memory game by my 6 year old cousin Philippe, and talking to the respective pets of Emma and Chantal. This was all complemented by my uncle’s usual excellent cooking (gonna have to learn how he made that salad).
After a hearty English Breakfast we spent Sunday wandering about Cambridge and then met with Tom & Jenny for afternoon Tea. What a wonderful city Cambridge is. So beautiful and peaceful (I didn’t hear a single reversing bleep all weekend), small yet full of history and great architecture, if only we could have had a couple more days there.
They seemed to have nailed the traffic problems associated with most cities as well with pedestrians zones, park and rides and cyclists everywhere. In fact, in two days I think I saw more cyclists in Cambridge than I’ve ever seen in Madrid.
All in all an excellent weekend, marred only by the weather on Sunday and Espe’s ongoing tooth pain.
Now I’m back, time to get on with finding a flat, planning the Rickshaw Run and translating the Mongol Rally site into Spanish.
