A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
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The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
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The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Monday, September 23, 2002
Hiya. As people are still visiting the site, and i've not got around to finishing off my new site, i thought i should keep posting on here for now.
Well, there is life after New Zealand. It's just a bit different.
I've gradually caught up with all my old mates, and seen all my old Lestar haunts, so the novelty of being back is wearing off, and i'm having to get back to having a 'normal' life again. Happily this doesn't mean i've not been doing funstuff though.
Last week my comrade in kayaking, James Hieronymus Gates, phoned me from London village and asked, "Fancy coming down to London to see Hope Sandoval play, and stay over in my bitching Loft Style Apartment?".
There really is only one answer to that question, so the next day i was on the train down to London, and had a great evening with James, Hope and the drummer out of Supergrass (Who i bumped into in the toilet at the gig, cor!). Some of you may not be familiar with the work of Hope (Singer out of Mazzy Star), but that fact that James and I both almost fell asleep at the gig shouldn't put you off her. She ROX! If it is possible to ROCK! in a dreamily, hypnotic, seductive way?
Hope Sandoval - schwing
I would have spent the whole weekend in the smoke with James, if i didn't have to return for the ultimate confrontation in the world of Association Football - Leicester City Versus Derby County. As well as being my first City game for a year, it was also my first game at our new 30,000 seater stadium, which was so nearly called the Walker's Crisp bowl! (Which would have been quite cool if you ask me. But they didn't). I didn't really have high expectations for the new ground, but it and the team were much better than could be expected. There was a great atmosphere in the place, with songs coming from all areas of the ground, rather than just from the kop, like at Filbert street, and just the simple fact of having 30 000! people at a Leicester home game was impressive. Oh, and the team? They twatted the sheep-shaggers 3-1!! COME ON!! :oD
And on a slightly more relaxed note, Mother and I went to (almost) the last Cricket game of the season at Grace road, a day / night one dayer against Somerset. Poor old Leicestershire never really looked like winning, (despite Somerset being without Trescothick and Caddick) after a rather horrible middle order collapse. But Somerset had an attack of the jitters themselves, so it did end up going down to the last over. It was still very enjoyable, but in more of a 'flask of tea and fruitcake' way, than the test matches i went to in NZ.
For anyone with access to digital TV, and who doesn't have a job, or any interest in leaving the house all afternoon, i would heartily reccommend tuning into Eurosport's coverage of 'La Vuelta', or the Tour or Spain. Cycle racing is infinitely more interesting than say Formula One, not to mention anything else on TV in the afternoons. As a further bonus, the commentator on Eurosport, David Duffield, is possibly one of the most entertaining men on TV. Imagine a cycling Alan Partridge, only slightly less coherent (but in a nice way).
David Millar - UK's best hope in la Vuelta. Who today crashed into a ditch. Bugger.
Another reccommendation, 'Insomnia', starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. Went to see it tonight with me sister. Very good stuff. Would say more about it, but it's now 4am, and i don't suffer from Insomnia, so i really should be asleep. So i can get up early and open all my birthday present! (No plural required sadly - sniff).
4:13 am Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Despite doing my best to miss my plane home, i'm now sitting back in "good old" Leicester.
I spent far too long in an internet caff writing the last two posts in Vancouver, so i didn't leave myself much time to get over to the North shore, to do the Grouse Grind. But, i really wanted to do it, and finish my year off in style, so i went for it anyway. I managed to knock 4 mins off my last time, clocking in at 58mins this time, which was pretty respectable. However the ferry back into downtown Vancouver didn't set any records, and by the time i got back there were only 60ish mins till my plane left, giving me the perfect excuse to hail a cab and say, "Airport driver! And STEP ON IT!"
The airport was a 30 minute drive from downtown, so by the time i'd picked up my bags from the hostel, got to the airport, and got changed out of my sweaty rambling togs (No time for a shower before the 9HOUR flight! Yuk, stinky me!! :oS ) there was about 20 minutes till the flight when i checked in, which pissed off the airline staff no end. Neverthless i got the last seat, and was driven across the terminal at break neck speed, on a golf buggy, with a similarly late French couple. And you thought i'd learn from my Christchurch airport experiences? Pah!
For the past week i've been getting over jet lag (Well, using it as an excuse to stay in bed all day) and catching up with all my mates and family here. I was really nervous about seeing everyone again, and even got choked up just driving into Leicester on the National Express. But without exception, after 5 minutes of chatting to people it felt as though i hadn't been away at all. Weird.
Things i've noticed about the UK since my return include:
- Everyone has mobile phones, and seem to be using them all the time
- People drive really fast
- There are traffic lights everywhere, and they're usually on red
- Rugby isn't on tv all the time
- Curries taste GREAT! And the poppadoms are free - There are no mountains anywhere - Digital TV is mostly crap (But still better than NZ telly)
As this website was designed to keep my UK friends updated on my NZ activities, i suppose it's really come to the end of it's current life (Tho' fear not NZ - i shall return). But, as i've come to enjoy fiddling around with my website (Despite fiddling with websites for a living too), i think i'm going to set up a new one, to bore all my NZ / Aussie / Canadian mates, with my UK activities. So stand by for details of that in the near future.
In the meantime, i'd better get to bed at a reasonable hour for once (I can't really keep using the jetlag excuse now i've been back a week). Oh, and can i leave you with a piece of hair related advice - Never get your hair cut, whilst drunk, by a devious drunken friend and a devious-er sister. Or your head will end up looking like a lumpy bowling ball covered in velcro. Trust me.
1:21 am Sunday, September 01, 2002
Without wanting to get too nauseating here, by way of a bit of a conclusion for my years travelling, i'd like to quote Jeff Tweedy (Lead singer of Wilco) who last night sang,
"There's so much less to this than meets the eye".
Can't remember which song it was from (I'd had several pints of Kokanee by then), or what on earth he actually meant by it, but to me, it sort of summed up how i've come to feel about travelling. Before i left it seemed like such a big, scary thing to do, but in fact it's been one of the easiest, and most rewarding things i've ever done. So hopefully people reading this, may take some kind of inspiration from the fact that, if i can manage to get my ass round the world in one piece, then literally anyone can do it.
And if you ever get in trouble on your travels, just do what i do when i'm a bit lost - put on your best English accent, look a bit hapless and more often than not someone will come along help you out. Trust me, it works!
11:15 pm
Sorry for the total lack of updates lately. My only excuse is that i've been having far too good a time here in the land of Bryan Adams and checked shirts, to be faffing around in front of a computer. And i'm sure i'll be getting more than my fair share of computers when i go back to work...
What's been going on then? Well some of the edited highlights follow....
The weeks cycling round Vancouver.... Had a great time, didn't see any bears, but at one point i was forced to engage asquirrel in Mortal Kombat! (No really, it was throwing those pine cones at me with a passion). During the week we also met an Inuit Princess, shared a hostel with an 11 piece latino band (Who were up till 5am in the spa bath, getting pissed(er) and singing La Bamba, grrr) and i discovered they joys of Power Bars (For me, they had a similar effect to drinking 5 cups of coffee, and 3 litres of Lucozade).
Martin was great company too, not to mention doing all the route finding, shopping and cooking! Allowing me to crash out, and be a total lazy arse, after cycling 70-90k each day, why aren't all my other friends like that? (Guess i don't pay them enough i suppose :o( )
Although the cycling was great fun, the highlight of Canada has to be getting to know a whole new branch of the Edward clan, that until now were just names on Xmas cards. The 16 hour Greyhound journey over to Edmonton was hard work, but after that i was completely looked after, firstly being whisked off to Allen & Myrna's famous "House by the lake", where swimming, canoeing, Margeritas, pizza and pool were the order of the day :oD
Oddly my visit coincided with the Women's under 19 world cup, which is being held in Edmonton. Even more odd-er-ly, the day after i arrived England were playing Canada in the quarter finals! Naturally we attended, though Allen, Myrna and Tibor seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the big, nasty Canadian team were bullying the poor little English team, the only reason they won, er, 6-2. Humph. Once i'd cheered up after the loss (Took about 15 mins) it was off out for a slap up feed at the local Country club!, followed by Allen, Tibor and I going for an impromptu rally around the golf course, in a Golf cart clearly made for two people :o) [Late Footy update - The Canadians went on to kick to the crap out of the poncey Brazilians in the Semi, hurrah! All is forgiven]
I also discovered that the genes for Snowboarding and Musical ability are all on the Canadian side of the family :o(
Although i never got to see her in action, clearly Ainsley is slightly more advanced at the art of snowboarding than Alison and I - she wears a helmet, and does tricks. The only trick i managed whilst snowboarding was to scythe down an entire ski class of five year olds in a single turn (Sort-of on purpose).
And judging from the cd that Alexis, my personal tour guide to the groovier bits of Edmonton, gave me, she certainly has all of the vocal / guitar talent in the family. She's just back from a European tour with her choir, as well as singing & playing gee-tar in a band (I do hope you've sent that cd off to a few record labels Alexis? Crawlspace ROX!). (Alexis - "shut UP!")
Oh, and the Wilco gig last night was certainly worth putting back my flight for, sorry once again to everyone who's plans i messed up :o) Only a few hours to go before my flight now, so what should i do for my last activity on my travels? Well i'm going to take the ferry over to the North shore of Vancouver, home to the worlds most extreme mountain bikers, and go..... Rambling! Actually extreme, speed rambling to be precise, and try and beat my last time up the Grouse Grind. I can't really think of a more appropriate way to end my year (Apart from big-pants trekking maybe, but i think i'll save that till i get home :o)
10:58 pm
