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February 25, 2007
The Killers at Wembley Arena and off to Morocco
Just got back from The Killers gig at Wembley Arena. It was really good, The Killers certainly know how to put on a good show. Expensively staged, a fitting treatment for the full capacity 20,000 crowd at Wembley Arena, The Killers captivated the (mostly) young crowd for over 1 half hour. They played all their big hits and ended (as I guessed) with All These Things That I've Done.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club opened, never heard them before, not bad but not my favourite and from the reaction of the crowd most of them haven't heard about them either.
I'm off to Morocco later on today for a week of surfing (yay!) finally another surfing session, the last one was at San Sebastian months ago. I'm flying direct from Gatwick to Agadir and will stay there for the whole week with a surf camp run by English (fun).
Posted by vhadiant at 12:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 21, 2007
Delays on the Circle Line due to ...
It's becoming a bit of a hobby of mine to document some funny line incident messages on the London Underground. Another great one today:
LONDON UNDERGROUND:
Line Incidents
CIRCLE LINE: Minor delays are occurring due to lack of available trains.
At least they're honest about it.
Posted by vhadiant at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2007
To Bath and Beyond
Went to a nice weekend trip to Bath and the surrounding area. We left London last Friday night from Europcar Heathrow. From there it's an easy less than 2 hour drive to Bath on the M4 and through really narrow country roads to Bath.
Bath is famous for its reconstructed Roman Bath, a ultra-comprehensive audio guide tour gives you a lot of information about it. It was one of the most amazing Roman site ever built in Britain. The entire city is listed in UNESCO's World Heritage list, it is one of the nicest town in Britain. The University of Bath & the tourists keeps the night life going with a few night clubs and trendy (and dodgy) bars/club dotting the city.
This was my first experience in England's country side. It is beautiful. It may not be as lush as the tropical countries, but there's an odd beauty about England's country side, full fields and paddocks as long as your eyes can see, with a low overhang rain cloud forever in the sky. I think the grey skies and its stark contrast with the green fields gives the strange beauty feel. Somehow I think this is what Tolkien imagination of Middle Earth would have been rather than Peter Jackson interpretation on the movies.
On the Sunday we left Bath to visit the Cheddar Gorge and its cave. On the way home we stopeed to visit the Stonehenge. We just stopped on the side of the road and took photos from the fence. Didn't bother to come in as it was raining and we were running out of light. I have to say I thought the Stonehenge was a lot bigger than it was, but I think you really need to be inside within the complex itself to experience it.
Good trip overall, need to do this more often while I'm still here!
Posted by vhadiant at 09:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 08, 2007
Aus 1 - Denmark 3
Last Tuesday night we went to watch Australia getting trashed by the Danes at Loftus Road Stadium, home of the Queens Park Rangers.
The location couldn't be better (for Australia), in the middle of Shepherd's Bush, it was pretty much a home game for Australia. There are so many Aussies & Kiwis in Shepherd's Bush, you'll be hard pressed to find a local, especially in the Walkabout.
The first goal was so quick I didn't even see it happened. I was checking out the Danish crowd when suddenly they scored. Apparently it was a mix up by our captain Bret Emerton. We had 2 disallowed goals and the Danes made 2 other world class goals. All in all, we were outclassed and outplayed. It was a fun night seeing so many Aussies (and some Kiwis) at the same place, in London.
Posted by vhadiant at 10:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 05, 2007
Where to get Flat White in London
One of the most distressing aspect of living in London is the unavailability of flat white coffee. Now I'm a huge flat white fan, to the point that I don't drink any other coffee but flat white in the past few years, and I do drink a large amount of coffee every day (trying to it down but).
Well a friend said that there is a place in London where you can get flat white, I googled this and found it! (description is wrong though, it is nothing like cappuccino)
Flat White
The large numbers of Aussies and Kiwis who live in London have been known to raise a few grumbles now and again. One of their major grievances has been the lack of a ‘flat white’. No, I didn’t know what they were on about either. The Antipodeans' contribution to caffeine consumption is in fact a very tasty coffee, much like a cappuccino with less froth. Two bright Kiwis have spotted the gap in the market and set up shop in Soho.
Posted by vhadiant at 11:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cambridge
We went to Cambridge last Sunday to visit the famous university town. Cambridge is a really nice town, with tiny little Sunday market when we were there.
We took the walking tour which I recommend, our tour guide was extremly knowledgable, if somewhat a bit over enthusiastic about her job. It's a small enough town to walk around and very picturesque. Definitely worth a look for a day trip out from London.
Posted by vhadiant at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Portobello Road
Made a lot more famous by the movie Notting Hill, I really enjoyed my outing to Portobello Road Market, well after battling the throng of tourists trying to take the same photo that will somehow has the road sign Portobello Road in it. It's a short walk from Notting Hill tube station, you can't possibly miss it, just follow the crowd.
This is one easy market to navigate, it's just one long road. So you can start from one side of the road to the end, and switch across. It was a brilliant mid-January day, thanks for global warming, temperature was incredibly warm for January, it felt like a Sydney winter.
I really love browsing through the 'antiques' ranging from statues claimed from 7th century china, old watches, still working old telephones, old books, old photographs, jewelry (old and new), shirt, the flea markets and almost all knid trinkets that you could possibly think off. It was really awesome, of all the markets in London, I think this is my kind of market. At the end of the road (if coming from Notting Hill station) is the fresh produce. Restaurants, cafes and tiny little pubs dotted the road, no wonder it is one of the most visited tourist site in London. Of course in the movie Notting Hill, you are completely sheltered from us, the tourists.
And no we didn't have time to find Hugh Grant's bookshop and the house with the blue door from the aforementioned movie, but I heard that you can do a special Notting Hill walking tour that will take you to the said places.
Posted by vhadiant at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 01, 2007
Greenwich
Finally went to Greenwich last Sunday and jumped from one side of the world to the other. And I found legit Havaianas at a reasonable price (£10) too at the market - kinda hard to find thongs during winter here in London. Learnt a lot about time and the importance of time during the age of exploration. Come to think about it, without the effort of the early navigators & explorers we won't be where we are now.
Posted by vhadiant at 08:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
