So I have been in the good ol' UK for just over a week now. And it is quite different to what I had expected, but in a good way, I suppose. The never ending flight via Dubai is something I could easily do without re-living, but on the plus side, the flight from Dubai was aboard the wonderful new A380. It was undoubtedly an upgrade from what seemed to be a coal powered 2nd World War people carrier which took us from Durban to Dubai.
Anyways, I landed at Heathrow terminal 3 on Saturday morning, and was greeted by some very unfriendly British faces, who seemed less than enthused about more foreigners entering their beloved country in order to steal their jobs and the food from their children's mouths. After passing through border control, it was all worth it when I finally saw my lady, she put the hugest grin on my tired looking mug. Ah, I missed her so.
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| First tube ride |
So we hopped on our train back to her cousins place, who lives in a suburb of London called Colliers Wood, which I think is now the haven for South African Londoners. It was all a bit surreal, and I felt quite dazed from a lack of sleep, as it is biologically impossible for me to sleep aboard a plane. After lugging my rather large baggage through the public transportation of London's underbelly, we finally broke into daylight and made the 10 minute walk to Gary and Shawn's place, where I had myself a very much need shower, and my first English cuppa. Tea, that is. We had planned on heading out to sample some of London's nightlife that evening, but plans changed when I crashed on the couch while Kends skyped her parentals.
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| British National Museum |
The next day we walked London flat, I worked out (thanks to my beloved Google Maps) that we walked 16km's, give or take a couple meters. We saw the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, The Tate Modern, Shakespears Globe Theatre, Saint Pauls Cathedral, The British National Museum, took in some lunch in Soho square and finally ended off the day with an organ recital in Westminster Abbey. What a busy day it was. We hopped aboard the tube and headed back to Gary and Shawns, knackered.
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| Westminster Abbey |
The next day, due to our combined incredible lack of fitness, we only managed a walk to Harrods and back from Embankment Station, which was not too bad as it was around an 8km walk (thanks again Google Maps).
Later that evening we ventured into Camden to watch a band I'd been waiting to see for a very long time, The Chariot. Shawn met us at Underworld, where the band was playing, and we knocked back a couple pints and a few Snakebites, which are incredible, South Africa take note!
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| John "KC Wolf" Kindler |
The Chariot were incredible, the tightest, rawest, loudest, craziest and most chaotic live show I have ever seen, and all this in a venue not much bigger than the Winston. I love smaller shows like this. The crowd getting really involved, stage diving, mic grabbing. Ah, I really did enjoy that show. And Shawn did too. Kends is awesome for tolerating my music taste and coming out with me. Listener performed "Wooden Heart" during a technical difficulty with the drums.
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| Dan Smith AKA Listener |
The next day we took a leisurely stroll through Wimbledon. We made our way to the South African shop, and bought some Cream Soda, Fanta Grape, Ghost Pops, and Frisco of course. On the way back, we stopped in at the local curry shop and had a Bunny Chow, which was actually really good. Apart from the £5 price tag. Cough. Later that evening we caught the tube into Paddington station and hopped aboard our train to our new home for a while, Plymouth.
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| Our home made Bean Bunny! |
Now Plymouth is a lot bigger a town than I had pictured, and parts of it remind me quite a bit of Cape Town - the Barbican (or harbour front) and there is a place near Kends' uni which is a lot like Long Street.
So it is quite rad. The week that I have been here has been spent job hunting and learning my way around town. The weather has been fantastic, and has only rained a few short hours the entire time I have been in the UK. I have met a couple of Kends' mates here and they all seem really genuine, and we have been out and sampled some of the student nightlife o offer here. It is really hard for me to grasp this, but
THE place to be on a Saturday night is the student union on campus. The place honestly puts to shame any club I have ever been into. Huge dance-floor, crazy sound, massive bar and it is all super clean and well maintained. Hi-5 University of Plymouth, good on ya. Oh, we also managed to make ourselves our first Bean Bunny, completely from scratch!! And, it was way better than we thought it was gonna be.
So, now that I have finished the first entry, I must get back on the hunt. Jobs are like faithful Toti girls out here, hard to find. Haha.
Adios,
Keags
