Two great things about London: 1. my big brother Nick lives here, and 2. my big sister Bec will soon be living here...
What a fantastic place, the vibrance, the diversity and the history. This time I made a point of appreciating more of the landmarks and architecture, and of walking around the city rather than using the tube to get everywhere. And doing so much walking I noticed for the first time that in London you can hear dozens of languages everyday just walking the streets and eavesdropping people's conversations. It's incredible
Nick rents his own apartment in Islington, London with a bunch of cool stuff he's bought on Amazon including a toilet seat warmer for winter (you read correctly) and the bluetooth keyboard I'm using to write this post which he gave me for my travels. It was a great pleasure to sink a few beers with you after work at your favourite locals and watch reruns of 'Bottom'... Rik Mayall you will be missed, an absolute genius who filled our teenage and adult years with many many laughs. Thanks for making me so comfortable at your place, being generous with your time, it was great to spend time with you and celebrate your birthday with your friends. Love ya bro!!!
Also in London Jas showed me round Soho, including a great cafe with GOOD coffee and pastries, and then a really cool bar. Had a fantastic time hanging out for a few hours, next time I hope to be in your city at the same time as Robbo. Am so lucky to be shown round by a true Londoner born and bred!!! Am excited to hear more about your music performances and projects when we next meet
Also while in the UK I visited Cambridge to see my old friend Mark and meet his wife Lucia. Mark is the only person in Australia to have been awarded not one but two full-funded PhD scholarships to Cambridge... haha, it's a long story. He also drinks 50% whiskey and I think this is the real reason he's so relaxed about everything. Lucia's best friend made a video about how they met so I managed to catch up on a lot as it's been a while between drinks. Lucia is one of these Europeans who learns languages easier than I make my breakfast each day and makes me wonder why the world is so unfair when it comes to language learning abilities
Finally this was the first time I visited the north of England, Manchester to be specific. Cool music, great football culture and fun people. The city's football museum in the centre of town is seriously out of this world and the best I've ever visited. Now I understand why certain of the english boys in my football team in Australia are such fun characters... they're from the north! so they love a laugh and a party.
Incidentally I had a plane to catch early on the morning of my departure to Mexico and made a bit of noise getting my bag packed at 4am and managed to PISS OFF this crazy, huge guy from Slovenia, but fortunately he didn't break my head and I got on the plane
Ok, time for Mexico, fingersccrossed, here we go!