Family Visits
August seems to have been the month of family visits. HD's sister was here for a few days and went off to traipse through Europe for a few weeks and then came back, leaving this morning. My sister and family touched down in London for a few hours on Thursday en route to Italy for a wedding. I met them at Stansted for about an hour, got to see my little nephews, and grabbed some items that Sisy had brought for me from home.
The visit was fast and both Sisy and D were wiped out - dark circles under the eyes and all. The boys were fine though, playing, talking and a little hyper but overall happy. It would've been nice to have more time with them but early this coming Sunday morning they should show up at FP for a day and night.
By the way, Stansted has got to be the most chaotic of all the airports in London. I've been to all of them now and Stansted was just a big mass of people having no idea where to go and no one to help them out. It didn't help with all the heightened craziness since those arrests for airport terrorism plots a few weeks ago. Anyway, after what seemed kind of touch-and-go as to whether or not they were going to make the flight, they were able to check-in before the boarding gate closed so I suspect they are having a great time in Italy right now.
Notting Hill Carnival
It's Tuesday and the long weekend is done. It's not just the end of a nice few days off but it also signals the end of summer. Although for me that doesn't really hold the same connotations as it used to like going back to school, back to work, etc. "Temporary worker living in London with the aim of travel" doesn't really hold the same weight.
Anyway.
This weekend was the famous Notting Hill Carnival, purported to be Europe's largest carnival and indeed it was very, very big! I think the news said there were over 1 million people there and from what I saw it was probably true. Yesterday we went to Notting Hill to check out the parade. Took the tube and got off at Westbourne Park or Grove, I can't remember, met up with some other folks and started walking and walking and walking. I think we walked for about 5 hours in total.
The parade route ran in a circle and along the connecting streets inside this circle were soundsystems (live music performances) and food stalls set-up, so it was like a series of smaller fetes going on inside the one big one. We stopped at a few and listened to the tunes but I didn't get anything to eat, it was just too much bother!
Live performance
Crowds at a soundsystem
We finally made our way to the parade route, I think we were on the main strip on Ladbroke Grove, and the crowd was fairly thick. So from the barricades to where I was standing I couldn't see very much since I'm short. We tried to walk through the people but it was ridiculously crowded so we all turned around and I think most of us were a little fed up at the commotion.
People everywhere!
More walking.
Then luckily, we found a much less crowded area and was able to watch some of the parade, saw some colourful neat costumes and heard some good music, and that was about it. I had fun for the few hours I was there and there was no way I was not going to go to this event that I've heard so much about. I wonder if the people who live there stay every year or go away? Some of the homes capitalized off the event by charging a £1 to use their toilets and selling their own food. One house even set up their own soundsystem in their front window.
Home cooked meals
Overall everyone seemed to be having a great time enjoying this massive party. I didn't see anything bad happen, except for one guy who got arrested, nor did I experience anything bad. The weather was also in my favour because it wasn't too hot, in fact it was a little chilly but that was fine with me.
And what is Carnival without a Trini section?
As for partying we went to the Busspepper fete on Saturday night at Wax Bar in Central London, right by Oxford Circus. That was fun too - got all dressed up and had a good time. Here are a few more pics from the weekend!
The Parade
Costumes!
Non-humans included
Dance dance dance
Big Bruth-ah
Oh yeah, Pete won! But Aisleyne came in 3rd place, and was the #1 woman, so yeah her!
Southall
On Saturday I went with Supa to see his parents who were visiting from sunny Trinidad. They were here for almost a month and stayed in Southall, in Middlesex, which is also in London and I don't really understand anything else about the geography. Anyway, the area is predominantly South Asian so along the main street is a mix of fruit stalls, jewellery stores (I now know what a mangal sutra is!), sari shops, and other clothing shops galore. It was nice to see Supa's parents as well, I haven't seen them in quite a few years. As usual, no camera, so I have no pics to show. But since I can now go whenever I want, according to Supa's mom's sister, which is where we went to in Southall, I'll go back and take a few photos.
This week Sisy, D, and the boyz are leaving for their trip to Italy with a quick stopover in London. I'm going to meet them at Stansted to say hi, hug, and pick up the items from home that Sisy brought over for me. Luckily, I'll get them again for a little over a day on their way back.
And the weekend coming is the last summer Bank Holiday Weekend. Ok, that's something that sucks about here because at home, there's at least one long weekend a month from the time we have Easter to Thanksgiving. Here, they got one long weekend in May and now this one. That's kind of crappy if you ask me. Regardless, I am looking forward to having Monday off, although I don't get paid for it so that's always a bummer. Notting Hill Carnival is the big "do" so HD and I are looking foward to checking out whatever the heck happens during this time. It's purported to be the largest Carnival in Europe. I don't really care about the size, I just hope it's fun.
TGIF
It's the weekend! Almost. 3.5 hours to go for me and I can leave work and begin what will hopefully be a nice weekend. Not much has been going on since I last blogged. Last weekend HD and I just chilled in Finsbury Park - doing groceries and laundry, buying hair for her braids and checking out some more of the area. We found a really nice pub/bar not far from our flat so we went there on Saturday night and had a great time.
The past week has been fine too. Actually it's been very busy, but not of the touristy-type, no no, it was all work. This week has probably been the busiest I've had since I began working here. No complaints though, it makes the day go faster! Weatherwise it feels like autumn. Low to mid-20s all week, with rain here and there and sunshine making an appearance as well. However, this is supposedly a typical English summer, so that heatwave we had a few weeks ago was the anomaly.
It's Friday so we should really be going out and toasting the weekend. But due to HD's influence on my tv tastes, we are staying in to watch the FINALE of Big Brother 7 - or should I say Big Bruth-ah! It's quite exciting - my vote is for Aiseleyne but she won't win - it'll be Pete or Glynn probably. Anyway, I'll keep all of you informed because you're all just as interested in this as I am. :D Maybe once it's done we'll venture outside and see what's going on for the rest of tonight.
More pictures of The Regent's Park
The Regent's Park is the largest grass area in Central London. Henry VIII used the grounds for hunting back in his day. The current landscape was designed in 1811 by John Nash and includes more than 30,000 roses of 400 varieties. Here are some more pictures.
The River at Regent's Park (well I don't know if it's really a river)
Bar inside Open Air Theatre
Fountain at The Regent's Park
Bridge at The Regent's Park
Lady in the Water
The plan last night was to meet up with HD and her sister and sister's friend at Leicester Square to have dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant we always go to - we have to find a new place. When I got to LS there was a crowd of people outside the Vue theatre, which could only mean one thing...PREMIERE!
It was the London premiere for The Lady in the Water - M. Night Shyamalan's new movie. I hadn't really thought much about seeing it, nor was I really excited to check it out, but a premiere is a different event. I got there at 6pm and stayed until 7pm - didn't know what time it was going to start but I thought what the hell, it's a premiere. I was able to see Bryce Dallas Howard and took some dodgy photos of her with HD's sis' camera, I'll ask her to send them, and Paul Giamatti but didn't get any shots of him. After that we left so I'm not sure if there were other celebs but probably. There'll be more premieres anyway!
Fruitstock
Friday afternoon I was checking out Time Out online to see if anything was going on this weekend - which is silly because there's always something going on. Anyway, I saw this festival called "Fruitstock" put on by Innocent, a company that makes smoothie drinks for "nice people" - that's their marketing gimmick.
It looked cool so HD and I decided to check it out. It was being held at Regent's Park and when I said it was massive I had no idea the park was that huge when we went back yesterday. This time we walked in the opposite direction from the Open Air theatre and just kept walking and walking and walking until we crossed the street and thought we were finally at the festival sight, but no, we had to keep walking and walking some more and following the signs and the people. Needless to say we got quite a good workout.
Anyway, the place was absolute madness! There were so many people and this was a large space they had but it seemed like there was no room at all. We didn't end up staying very long because, well it was just okay, nothing spectacular. After that we left and went to find some hair dye to lighten up HD's hair.
The sorry state of gum
There's a sad selection of gum here in London. I like a variety of gum. But here, so far as I can tell, they only have minty gums - Extra and Orbit. Orbit is a pretty good mint gum and HD brought enough of it to stock her own store, but the Extra, man it takes like it's Buckley's in a chewy form. And when that's your only 2 choices - soft mint and gross mint - it's a little sad. I've been looking for cinnamon and can't find it. I've looked for the fruity kinds but they only have bubblegum types! There is no Trident and Dentyne in sight! Yes, there's Juicy Fruit but really, how long does that last? A lousy 5 or 10 minutes! I didn't realize what a gum freak I've turned into. So, to appease my chewing needs I've emailed Sisy to ask her to please please please bring me some proper gum! In the meantime I shall continue to search in every Boots and Superdrug and Tesco I pass!
Visitors
Some friends of mine came to stay with us for a few days this past week and it was great to see them. K & C were on the last legs of their trip through Europe where they backpacked from Amsterdam to Italy in 3 weeks. They were dead tired when they arrived but after some rest we went for dinner to a Vietnamese restaurant in Leicester Square and then to All Bar One.
They then continued on to a club and HD and I went home. Last night was their second and last night with us but I had booked the tickets for the play so we didn't get a chance to spend too much time together. When I booked the tickets I didn't clue in to the fact that that was the same date that they were going to be here, I wish I'd remembered because it would've been nice to spend more time with them.I've been friends with K since Grade 4 - that's like age 9-10, so it's been almost 20 years! She always makes me laugh and we had such a good time together that we became roommates in university. She's a teacher but I think she should become a food critic because no one can taste quality like her! :)
On a practical note, HD and I bought an airbed mattress for occasions such as this. It's got a foot pump so K, C and I took turns pumping it up. I think it worked out well because they said it was comfortable this morning.
Anyway, we all woke up bright and early because I had to go to work and they had to catch their train back to Manchester from Euston and from there get the flight back to Toronto. We said a quick goodbye on the Euston platform and off they went. The visit was too fast!!
Here's a pic of K packing up her stuff in my room. I didn't get one of C but maybe I'll get K to send me one to post.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Last night HD and I went to see Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the
Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park. It was totally cool! The show was at 8pm and we arrived at the park around 7:15pm so we had some time to wander and around and sit by the fountain.
Regent's Park is absolutely beautiful. It's massive too! It's not just a large mowed lawn with some random trees here and there. No, there's a river that runs through parts of it, bridges to walk over, a gazebo to do who know what in, trees of all different types, flower beds everywhere, benches to sit on - I mean it's a park so it's got all the park things - and it's all landscaped very prettily. It has a very calm feeling there even though there were quite a few people in the park.
The Open Air Theatre isn't very large, so it has a nice intimate feeling. Being outdoors is an experience I'd recommend, there's something cool about watching a play while the sun goes down and then seeing how the technical lighting takes over and creates an ambient mood.
It was a long play and I didn't get up to stretch my legs at the interval, neither did HD, so by the end of it we had slightly sore bums.
I'd go again for sure - but there's no point in getting the £20 tickets - might as well just go for the £10 since those were the seats probably right behind us! A lesson for next time.
Mini Road Trip
This past weekend I went to Oxford to hang with Supa. I went up Friday night and we just chilled with some of his school mates in a pub. The next day we left for Chippenham in Wiltshire county to attend his cousin's engagement party/bbq. We took the train from Oxford and it took about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. It was a nice evening - I didn't know any of the other guests but they were friendly.
The next morning we were supposed to return to Oxford and then I'd go back to London. Instead Supa's cousin convinced him to partake in a little mini road trip down to Swansea, in Wales. I went along for the ride because what else am I going to do? So - off we went to Wales - the point of the trip being that his fiancee needed to pick up her shoes for her wedding.
Anyway, the drive was pretty cool. It was about a 2 hour drive and the scenery was primarily made up of lots of green hills and fields. Once we crossed into Wales the signs changed to English and Welsh - the Welsh language looks like a bunch of random letters to me, but of course it makes perfect sense to the Welsh. We went to a mall - The Quadrant Centre - to pick up the shoes and clearly, a mall is a mall is a mall - I could've been standing in Erin Mills Town Centre. There aren't many malls here in London; it's mainly store-lined streets.
I didn't bring my camera with me so there are no pics to post. Sorry this is a little lacklustre posting, I'm a little tired right now because yesterday my friends K & C arrived fresh from their whirlwind European tour and we went out for dinner and drinks last night. Tonight HD and I are going to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park. The heat spell we've been having here has broken and today is a cool and rainy day, which means there's a good chance we're going to be damp sitting outside for almost 3 hours. Not the ideal way I was hoping to see my first English outdoor play! It's all good though.
I'll go to the internet cafe and post some pics on the weekend. HD's computer has been fried by a virus and mine doesn't detect the wireless very good. We really need to set up that phone in the flat and get our own internet!
