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!"
