Happy New Year to everyone! Brewski, it sounds like New Year's in Perth was a good deal rougher than here in London. We didn't see any brawls at all, but we did see an unconscious bloke being attended to by ambulance staff. But he was probably unconscious as a result of heavy drinking. No blood, y'see.
D. and I have had a great 11 days, which is the amount of time she took off work between Crozzle and the New Year. Didn't wake up any earlier than 11am each day. Had a few fry-up breakfasts, and generally vegged out. Life in the slow lane. That will all change tomorrow of course, when I begin work. And I've just realised that I haven't bothered to learn C++ yet. Whoops.
Let me now attempt to give you an account of what we've been up to.
Christmas Eve was spent mostly at home, due to the abysmal weather. D. and I had been left alone, with the other Perthians taking a week's trip to Prague for Crozzle. We weren't much into that, due to the fact that the weather over there was worse (we're talking blizzards, people). So we spent the afternoon at the Tate gallery, which is literally a five-minute walk from where we're staying.
Allow me to segue. We're staying in Pimlico, which is quite near the Thames. The Tate gallery is nearby, and a tube station is also five minutes walk away. As is the Thames, and the Vauxhall bridge. On the other side of that bridge is the MI6 building which James Bond abseilled down (apparently, I've not seen the fillum) in the latest Bond moofie. Follow the Thames east for a while (five minutes) and you reach Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and all that guff. Head north for five and you reach Victoria Station, which is quite central. So it's a nice convenient place to be at. Unless, of course, you want to work in Guildford.
Anyway, that's enough Geography for one day. Back to the Tate. They were exhibiting works by a particular artiste, can't remember whom, but I thought they were mostly crap. The landscapes were just fine, but heaven forbid that the bloke should attempt a human figure, or even a horse! Although I suppose that horses may have been all lumpy with extra big heads in those days, with evolution and all that. And I couldn't fathom why the oil paintings were so dark. I mean, has there really been that much dust and soot and pollution in the last one and a half centuries, or were they like that originally? Because you could hardly see what was going on. And that's another thing... this bloke isn't content with painting a shipwreck in action, with heaving seas, drowning sailors, debris flying through the air and so on, but there always has to be a bird which is mysteriously just taking off in flight, with wings half-unfurled, and a dog and a cat chasing each other, and so on. Too much action, man! Give me a peaceful landscape any day. The highlight of the Tate was the Salvadore Dali (the one with the hand, flower and egg, can't remember the title), and the crying woman by that bloke what cut off his ear.
Dinner that night was at a randomly chosen restaurant in the touristy Chinatown, and the less said about that the better.
Christmas was extremely lazy. D. and I awoke, unwrapped pressies, and then unsuccesfully tried to call home. The link to Aus was jammed the whole day. So many expats over here, and vice versa. We went to the tube station to find that the entire Underground network was closed. Bugger! So we satisfied ourselves by walking to Victoria to pick up some groceries, and alcohol, and we spent the day at home, and cooked for ourselves.
On boxing day we had a big fry-up breakfast. We then headed out to the Barbican Hall, not far from King's Cross, to see a performance of the best bits of the Pucini opera's. Quite entertaining, and you'd be surprised how many songs you know already. That was the second show I've seen in London, the first being "The Complete Works of Shakespeare", put on by three American comedians. I can't work out whether Glynn Nicholas rippen them off or the other way around (doesn't he do this show in Australia)? Earlier that day we lunched on some sensational Thai food at what is reputed to be one of the best Thai places in London. It's kind of weird sitting inside an authentic Thai restaurant and looking out the window to see black cabs and double decker busses driving by. The food really was great, and there were half a dozen Thai waitresses fawning over us, but we were surprised to find out that the head waiter, and perhaps even the owner, was a sprightly Italian gent whose knowledge of Thai food was extraodinary.
On our return from the Barbican, we saw a most singular and peculiar event. We were at one of the outdoor tube stations (which makes waiting for the train a cold affair), and, when the train pulled up, we entered and sat down. As the doors threatened to close, a rather cheeky pigeon scurried on, and happily began to peck at the floor, picking up morsels of food. At the next station, as the train pulled up, he walked up the aisle to the door, and hopped off again, leaving a smile upon the faces of everyone who bore witness.
Shit, am I talking like a toff or what?
December 28 was spent at the Natural History Museum, which is great if you like dinosaurs. We started out by having a Dim Sum brunch at a very popular restaurant, where the line of people outside begins to grow an hour or so before the doors open. After lunch, we walked across Hyde Park to the Royal Albert Hall, then on to the museum. The next day was spent at the *crazy* post-Christmas sales in Oxford Circus. The shops were *so* unbelievably crowded, but the bargains were amazing. We're talking 50%-80% off clothes. I picked up quite a few items, but there's only so much shopping I can take, and we soon left and made out way back to the Barbican to watch the Glenn Miller Orchestra play all of the classic wartime songs from the 1940's. You know the ones, "In the Mood", "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and all that sort of stuff. Most of the blokes in the band played with Glenn Miller originally (along with many other famous stars), so it looked a bit like Dad's Army up there. One of the saxophonists was the very bloke who played the tune at the end of Benny Hill, and he gave a well-received solo performance. I wanted D. to strip down to her underwear so I could chase her around the auditorium, but she'd have nothing of it. I did manage to pat a bald guy on the head, though.
The next day was Hooi's birthday, Rob Yu's girlfriend. We dined at a nice Chinese restaurant, and had the Christmas/New Year banquet, with complimentary Champagne (which was quite delish). Imagine Turkey and Venison done Chinese style. Weird fusion food. Very nice, however, especially the lobster, which was sensational. D. and I managed to track down a Vietnamese restaurant called Viet Hoa, which is the same name as the one her family runs in Perth. We had the cheapest and best meal I've had so far in London. Very nice, although a little bit out of the way, and in quite a run-down area of town.
On New Year's Eve the whole gang came over, and D. and I cooked up a bit of dinner (bruscetta and Mum's creamy pasta) before cracking the Champagne and playing a bit of Monopoly. The guys soundly thrashed the girls, by the way! After eight we walked around the streets for a while, taking in the atmos of three million people wandering around with no particular destination in mind. Eventually we made our way to the middle of the Vauxhall bridge, which afforded a good view down the Thames towards Big Ben. The fireworks, named "The River of Fire", were put on by that Aussie guy who always seems to do them. They had sixteen barges on the river (remember the Australia Day fireworks in Perth has three or four barges). We could see about six of the barges. The display went on for about sixteen minutes, after we'd waited in the one spot for a while, smoking hogies and entertaining ourselves by singing classic Australian songs. Remember that I'm the only non-Chinese in this group: the sight of a bunch of Orientals (as is proper to say in London, Asians are generally from India and the Middle East) singing "Khe Sanh" must have surprised a few passers-by.
A short, stocky, vacuous English geezer behind us had the time of his life at the fireworks. "Oh my God, look at that", he'd cry. "It's the synchronisation, it's amazing! This is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen in my life! You can see it all the way down the river! Look at the synchronisation! All across London! It's incredible! Wow! That's fantastic! Can you see the synchronisation? There! How do they do that? Oh my GOD!"
Afterwards we walked around the extremely crowded streets, but it began to rain, so we walked back to our place about 3am or so, and watched it all again on television. The next day was spent indoors. Another game of Monopoly was had, and this time the guys soundly thrashed the girls even more than before. An astounding victory.
The next day, D. and I returned to Viet Hoa, as she was beginning to get withdrawl symptoms. We then attempted to find the Berwkick street markets, where you can apparently get some good fresh fish.
Segue time again. Fresh fish, or seafood of any kind, is extremely difficult to find in London. I have no idea why, were on a bloody small island for crissakes. Anyway, we'd been hankering after some fish, so we thought it worthwhile to try to track some down. We haven't been eating a lot of meat, because beef and lamb is so expensive (seven pounds for four lamb cutlets seems severe, even before you convert it across to Aussie dollars (you see, we find it better if you pretend that the prices *are* in Aussie dollars, because then they're pretty much comparable to Perth)).
Sorry about the three level push-down there. Have no fear, we're out again. Anyway, Berwick street was devoid of markets, but we did see an unprecendented number of dinghy doorways, lit with seedy pinkish lighting, with badly mispelled handwritten signs reading "Karen is in Today", "Top Model" and so on, and a vast number of lone anoracked gentlemen walking up and down, looking at the pavement all the while. I'm beginning to think that "Fresh Fish" was a euphamism.
That evening we tried to meet up with a party of 22, including our flatmates, who were out at dinner. Didn't manage it, though, because no restaurant they went to could handle that number of patrons, and we always seemed to be one step behind. Eventually D. and I settled on a superb Tappas bar, where we ate out fill, and drank some nice Sherry (Fino, Amontillado *and* Olorosso) with the meal.
Yesterday D. and I cooked a big fry-up breakfast again, and then set off for Madame Tusseud's (the wax museum). Spent a few hours there. It's surprisingly entertaining, especially when you spot John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, and pose for a photo, pretending to put the boot in. In fact, we have quite a number of amusing photographs to show you guys from that little excursion. Perhaps the most embarrassing part of the day was me staning behing a circle of was figures, and getting quite irate when they didn't move to let me past, not matter how many times I bellowed "excuse me"! Afterwards we went to the Planet-ariam, which is right next door, and briefly checked out 221b Baker Street before heading home.
D. and I have been reading Sherlock Holmes, which I know mostly by heart anyway, since I've used the Sherlock Holmes texts in my research these last six years, and it's surprising to see the number of authentic London addresses Conan Doyle mentions. We plan to visit some of them. Fatuous, I know, but kinda fun at the same time.
Today everyone has returned to work, leaving me free to surf the 'net (one pound for four hours... at least *one* thing is cheap over here) before running some errands and cooking dinner. Tomorrow I go in to work for the first time. Should be heaps of fun; half the time I'll be making little beasties talk to each other, half the time I'll be working on various aspects of the game, whatever needs a spit and polish before release. A dream job pretty much, apart from the hour commute each way. If you want to know any more about the game, talk to Dave or Drew, or pick up the January issue of EDGE, with the game on the cover. Incidentally, D&D, they've published two different covers of EDGE, the good edition and the evil edition. And it contains a history of computer/console/handheld hardware, and a list of the top hundred games of all time. Get it! In three months! Bwahahahaha!
Hope you all had a great New Years. Take it easy, enjoy yourselves, and drop us a line from time to time. We're off to Amsterdam next weekend (yep, for two nights). Got ourselves free accomodation directly opposite Anne Frank's old house in the centre of town. Should be excellent. Will let you know what transpires. Bro, can you print this out and pass it on to mum and dad? Thanks. Cheers all,