Aug 29, 2003
saints and sinners
Hi everyone,
havent been in contact for a while.
Things going well over here. really busy at work which is always good. making plans for our trip to germany/austria/italy in sept. lauren and i have decided to go to berlin before we head to munich, so really looking forward to that - loved berlin last time that i was there... we have also booked a weekend away for the two of us to paris - for my birthday [which is the 8th of sept as i am sure you al have remebered, and you will need to send presents soon so that they arrive for me on the day of my birthday] and our anniversary. getting the europstar (train) first class, so should be the business...
had a good couple of days with mum and dad stopping over here before they head to the continent. was really good to see them and show them around our place and london. been to some wicked resturants in the last week also. you can see some of the pics by clicking on this link [here]
btw: i have finally set up all my pics from my phone online, so that i dont fill up ppls inboxes with images. the main link is
http://uk.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mic_is_os/
but i will put links through the emails for the corresponding pics.... let me know if you cannot see the pics also....
ok, so back to the weekend... headed to portobello road markets on saturday then had a wicked dinner down at putney with mum/dad/lauren. the resturant was right on the river and the nite was really carm - the food was excellent also.
went into the city with mum and dad on sunday and had a look around westminster abbey. even went to a church service there - which was something else. the inside of the church is nothing short of amazing. unlike most churches, i definiately didnt fall asleep at this one
sunday nite headed to a rooty party put on by basement jaxx and tayo in brixton. this was set up next to a rail bridge in the old arches of another building. such a wicked party. not too many ppl and just a really good setup/music. once that finished we headed to another club in brixton - which was the official warm up party for norman jay and the notting hill carnival.
monday we (me/lauren/laurens friends/marcus) headed to notting hill carnival. now this is kinda hard to explain, but i will try. it is a mix between the mardi gras/easter show/vibes on a summers day/a niteclub/the bronx all mashed in together to create on the best carnival/street parties ever.
the carnival is a celebratioin by the Black Caribbeans in london and is full of colour/sound/steel drums/rum. the street parade was unbeleivable with so much detail going into the [costumes]. so the street parade is the mardi gras part, but one of the other major attractions for carnival is the sound systems. basically every corner has a massive sound system set up playing everything from soca/hip hop/ragga/house/breaks/whatever. so the whole of notting hill is pounding with music and some of the top djs in the world play at the some of the ss's. the most popular ss was norman and joey j's [good times]. norman was set up on the top of a bus playing wicked house to about 10000 punters. up the road at the [sancho panza] ss the likes of layo and bushwacka sasha. so this is the niteclub element.... and it was like trying to cross a niteclub when you wanted to walk through the streets - they were rammed with people.
so the day was unreal ----> until the sun went down, and that is when all the drunk ppl start to casue trouble. carnival is renowned for having the highest amount of crime - for one w.end - in london. and for the 500,000 ppl the on the monday, there was a massive 10,000 police. most of the day was fine, you just stayed away from the shifty looking black ppl. but on the way out it was so packed, there was no where to go when the guy 2 metres away from us pulled out a knife. ppl were running everywhere and i was only able to grab lauren and push her/us through the crowd away from the trouble - but it kinda kept coming towards us. things settled a little and we made a bline for the nearest tube stop. we saw the police take the guy with knife (and now a massive blood stain, from where he was stabbed) away... pretty crazy stuff...
a amazing weekend regardless. two things you should do if you are in london - church service at westminster abbey and carnival - the good times ss, not the stabbing part (but that is part of its charm really)
i have loads of other photos up now, from underwater nites, brighton, g-a-y and de la soul
let me know if they come out alright
hope you are all well
mic "still stuck in the ...... UK!"
Aug 5, 2003
sunburnt adventures :: the good|bad|ugly of weekend away
hey all, hope that you are all well and enjoying your winter - casue it is so damn hot over here.
temps of about 30 degrees and expected to hit 35 tomorrow. they call it a heat wave - we call it heaven. the odds for the temp hitting the majic 100 degree F have shortened to 7/2 - the shortest ever.
well i have had a cracking weekend, thanks mainly to the excellent weather - was cloudy and rainy all last week and then the sun was hot and bright on sun morning for us.
we (me/lauren/mic/brooke) hired a car and headed off to explore the south of england.
headed to bath first for a quick look around the roman baths. some pretty amazing stuff. they are similar in principle to hot springs in new zealand, where water that is about 45 degrees bubbles up from the middle of the earth, only difference is that the kiwis just put a rope around it and called it a tourist attraction - where as the roman built an entire town above it full of lavish baths and hot houses. so crazy things to see... including the fact that they still use the original drainage system that was built about 2000 years ago. only a quick look around bath - would like to go back and see more of the place, but was really nice, nice architecture due to the roman influence.
from bath headed to stone henge. loads of people there due to the nice weather. parked the car and headed to the rocks. they are really amazing, considering the history behind them. but we were shocked to find out that you have to pay a fiva to get in.... so we did what any struggling tourist do - took photos through the fence....
headed to brighton after that. this part of the drive was long, due to the amount of traffice going into brighton. finally got to the water and started driving along the main road to find our hotel, which was on marine parade. loads of traffic so the going was pretty slow. did a coulpe of laps and the map that i had printed was not helping at all.... so in the end we call the hotel and ask for directions.... this is kinda how the conversation went - lauren was talking while i drove
L: hi we want directions, we are in brighton on marine parade
H: we are in worthing.
L: oh, ok, fine so is that just near brighton
H: um, no it is about a 15 min drive form brighton
L: oh, really *mic sinks into drivers seat, as i booke dthe hotel on the net
so turns out that the hotel was on marine parade worthing, not marine parade brighton..... the car trip from worthing to brighton was a little bit tense...
get to the hotel and i try and put on a sob story and ask is there any way of getting out of the room - the says no, it is too late to cancel, ut her would give me the room for half price.... so that is not bad
we get ready and sneak brooke and mic into the room (as we only had twin for the 4 of us). had dinner and headed back to brighton. thought that we would get the train to save money casue a cab would cost about £20. bad mistake. train cost us £4 for a damn single....
SO - finally get into brighton and head for a cool little bar for a few pints and then went to a club after that. place was rawking. laods of ppl around brighton - and loads of drunk geeeeeezas. met some cool ppl at the club - as ppl from brighton are a lot more friendly then their london counterparts.
got a cab back to the hotel after the club - another £30 - damn it
thought that we would have trouble getting into the hotel with the 4 of us - NO WORRIES. the guy loved us casue we were aussies - we even got room service for pints and wine, at prices cheaper then a bar.....
up in the morning, pretty happy with our little scam and looking forward to a good day. went to pay the bill and quired the guy on the amount, saying he said he was going to give it to me for half price (this is where is gets bad/ugly). the guy turned into a total dik and said that he was only going to give it to me for half price if i cancelled to room - but becasue i used it it was full price.... dik head. think that he knew that we ahd the four of us in the room....
anyway, had a really nice lunch in a little park up from the beach and then headed to the beach - well rocks..... strange sitting on the rocks/pebbles whilst at the beach. feel like i am sititng on someones driveway or garden.... oh forgot to mention (this is the really ugly part) got shat on by a sea gull - why do ppl say that is good luck???? you should see the size of the sea gull also - they would give the crows on the f6 a run for their money - massive....
sooooooo many ppl at the beach. went for a swim and the water was beautiful - even got sunburnt - in the uk - unheard of....
checked out the pier and then headed back to the car for the drive home......
so a wicked weekend all in all (apart from the hotel and bird poo)
sorry for sucha long email, hope you are still reading
better jet
as always -----> mic
