London calling

I just came back from London. I went there last year for four days and did all the touristy things, but this time I went to celebrate my friends 30th birthday. He is australian and on the same visa as me.

I arrived in london after flying down from newcastle (cheaper than a train) I found my way to Greenwich to a little bar/hostel called belushis where nic works, lives and drinks. We started the night off with getting ready and sharing a bottle of vodka with the crew. We then went down to the bar to get the party started. We danced and drank downstairs before venturing out into London and soho, riding on a tuk tuk with four people plus the driver before ending up in Sway. We danced the night away, shot lots of jager and vodka and then went upstairs with the staff to drink beer and talk til 7am when we hoped in a taxi, shoes in hand and headed back to the hotsel.

Where we arrived in time for breakfast which was vegimite on toast (two aussies, can you blame us) followed by a jager bomb, a fosters and bed for four hours.

then we woke up and did it again. down to the bar for a couple of jugs of fosters, curly fries, vodka oranges, more beer, more curly fries, playing with cock rings from the vending machine in the bathroom before realising we needed dinner and headed out for a mammoth thai feast. We ordered way too much food and then came back to the bar for more drinks before retiring at around 2am the following morning.

The next day I woke feeling suprisingly fine. Went downstairs to say my goodbyes, went shopping on oxford street and then got on my plane home.

yes its frunk upside photo

yeah drunk frunk – its all the same after copious amaounts of alcamahol

York

Since being in Newcastle for over two months I had yet to do any real travelling. I had not even seen the angel of the north or been to whitley bay. I hadn’t even been to the metro centre! So I decided to take Kris on a weekend away choosing York as our destination.

Now most people in England, when you ask them where you should go on a weekand away always direct you to somewhere with sun and beaches so you can relax. Firstly, I have just moved from a place exactly like that but better. And secondly, I don’t really do anything that interesting during the day, so relaxing didn’t seem to be that heavily on the cards. I wanted somewhere visually different to Aus and highlighting how I see england as an outsider. So York was the perfect place.

And it was. This beautifully old city, surrounded by a stone wall and inclosing cute cobblestone streets. It is exactly how I pictured england to be.

On our first day we walked around the streets of York, buying preserves at little markets, fudge from a quirky sales man, pastries from one of the million bakerys and a book from a cluttered book shop. We had dinner at a bar and grill to kris’ delight before hoping on a night sightseeing cruise before having a few drinks out and heading back to our hotel. Where we were woken up with a message from our housemates at 4am saying that they were on a train to york!

The next day we woke up and called our crazy housemates to see why they were in york. Turns out to be a drunk decission from the night before and that we would meet them later for a few drinks. We then hoped on a sightseeing bus that travelled all around York. We had Lunch at an old fashion fish and chip restaurant running since 1917. They brought us out a pot of tea and a basket of bread before serving us with two massive plates. One had the biggest piece of battered cod and chips, the other (mine) a meat pie (aussie craving) that was smothered in gravy with chips and mushy peas. After this massive meal that we could not finish we were not hungry for the rest of the day. We then climbed the tower of York Minister before joining the boys for a few drinks and convinced them to stay until the last train that night. 

We then left them and went to the York Dungeon. A quirky and slightly educational comical guide through the history of york. We then quickly went back to our hotel to change and go see Chicago at the grand opera house. Kris happy to sing along to “both reached for the gun”. Now I just have to get him to start enjoying spring awakening, wicked and title of show so I can make him come see these with me.

After a very busy day we headed to see our friends and found them ontop of a strangers boat, totally mortal, drinking and singing outloud with their new found friends. You had to laugh as we sat down with them drinking cider and chatting to the folks of York on the edge of the river Ouse. After they crawled off the boat and staggered down the street to the train Kris and I kept on drinking, cocktail jug after cocktail jug until we ended up winning £8 on a quiz machine and I had a glass full of wasabi peas. Hunger finally kicked in and we stumbled along the road up to maccas before getting a taxi back to the hotel. 

And that was basically our trip in York. I have taken a few pics that are on my facebook, but they don’t do justice to our beautiful the streets and sights of this story book town.

roots be gone

new hair cut

After about a month of regrowth and having two characters from the york dungeon point out my roots I thought it about time to get my hair back to an un-skanky state. The reasons I let my hair get so skanky was that I didn’t know how to choose a new hairdresser. At the end of the day my boyfriend ended up choosing for me, even ringing the salon and booking the appointment and offering to pay himself. I know, I got myself a good one So the haircut above is my new look as I sit here in the dark watching the westwing. Below is the picture of me from York, sporting my roots and eating wasabi peas.

roots

Eventually I want to end looking like these pictures below, but I will again need to find a hairdresser willing to do this to my beautiful barbie blonde locks.

a whole new world in pink

I have just purchased my very own pink dell laptop. I am very happy about this, not only because Miss Pink (as I will call her) is indeed uniquiely pink making her as cute as a button amongst this house of boyish objects, but also because it is the first time I have had use of my own computer that has not been handed down the ranks or shared amongst the household. A whole new world awaits in this little piece of joy in pink.

miss pink

From the motherland

As I sit here tapping away at the keyboard with my flaking red nail vanished fingers and drinking my ever-so-sickly-sweet lemsip I am to conclude one thing. This being my first post to communicate with the other side of the world and I have nothing to say.

I did have plenty on my mind when I sat about writing this blog but the webpages of the modern day distracted me from the task at hand. For more than an hour I amused myself on hotmail deleteing several useless messages and unsubrcribing to things i found intersting at the time apparently. Before venturing to facebook where after checking how popular I was started to stalk everyone i knew finding more than one person younger than myself that i knew in highschool had popped out a child or two. Then dilly dallied through msn and somehow found a whole lot of celebs in the nude before finally settling down to write this first blog entry. trouble is i still have several other webpages open to other tempations. 

Something else I have noticed apart from my hands smelling of garlic ( i made soup from scratch) is that even though i am making this blog page i now have to tell everyone about it. It being my aim to connect myself to the friends that I have misplaced on the other side of the world as I venture back to the motherland (thanx jimmy) to find whatever it is I am looking for. So far all I have found is a different version of aus. Which I constanly compare everything to what I have back home, all the time. Not because I want to be back home. But only to justify to myself that I am not in aus and to recognise the differences in a more accessible way.

For example: Fish and chips

in aus – we have a range of around 5 different fishes to choose from, the most popular concluding as flake or butterfish. and of course a portion of chips which can include chicken salt or regular. We then havea selection of scallops, calamari, fish sticks, corn jacks, spring rolls, chiko rolls, a variety of battered sausage, potato cakes, pumpkin cakes, pineapple fritters, bananna fritters and of course the faithful dim sim either fried or steamed. not to mention most shops offer chips and gravy and usually hamburgers aswell.

in the uk – two fish are availablecod or haddok.  a portion of chips. then they move on to such items as battered hamburger, sausage or something called a fish cake. they also have battered mushroom. They then have sundries such as gravy, curry sauce or muchy peas and to be quite honest that is about all fish a chip shops here have. not a dim sim or potato cake in sight.

but then again they serve chips in their chinese takeaway shops aswell.

And even though it sounds like I have just slandered the uk way of life a little, i didnt mean it at all. Sure I miss my steam dim sims and pumpkin cakes but where in Aus can you go to an old fashioned fish and chip restaurante opened in 1917? you just can’t! Our fish and chip shops are situated on the beach where we can mistake sand for large bits of salt. One of the reasons I came over to England was to see the world and its differences, no matter how small they be, and enjoy them. I always have the sun and surf to go back to in aus whenever I want. For now I am exploring the world around me.

I find that I could write about nothing forever so I must bid you farewell for the time being. I shall find something grand to write about next time, or quirky at least.

Living your dream…