Des n Tam >>>> tHe BiG tRip >>>>>> hOmE: August 2005

Notting Hill Carnival 2005

Well well well... We had a long weekend over here full of glorious sunshine and perfect blue skies. So we trucked on over to the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday and Monday. The Notting Hill Carnival is held every year over the August Bank long weekend and has been apparently going strong for about 40 years. The guidebooks say that if you're living in the area you either have to pack up and leave for the weekend or join in the party. The area is freaking huge and spans Notting Hill, Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Park, and some other towns. They close up all the roads around it and also a few of the tube stations close by and divert buses around it so you pretty much have to walk there (its in West London, so we just walked there from home). Some of the residents who have packed up and gone on holidays have boarded up there gates and extended their fences. This could've been to deter revellers from trespassing or people setting up stalls in their front yard.
Sunday was Kids' day and the news said about 200,000 people rocked up. Monday was the big one and they were expecting up to a million people. For that many people, the stuff on show and to do was a bit below par. Sure there was lots of dancing and reggae and dance music and a parade with costumes and all that sort of stuff. But where were the rides? the sideshows? What kind of carnival is this?
To me, a carnival ain't a carnival if it ain't got no rides. Seriously, we mostly spent out time walking around, pushing through people, getting pushed through by other people, looking at the caribbean food and other people, trying to get into the party atmosphere, but didn't really take. Same thing on the Monday. It's like clowns you see. Everybody likes clowns. Except people like me who are terrified of them. Clowns are 'sposed to be funny and make people laugh and stuff. That Ronald McDonald guy. He's a terrible clown. He ain't funny at all. All he knows is hamburgers, and he isn't too good with them either.
Anyway, back to the carnival. We ate jerk chicken and rice and peas and shared a saltfish pattie. Didn't see anyone remotely famous. Tam and I each bought a souvenir shirt for 2 pounds each. Bargain.
Verdict: Typical London, lacking in *pow* and excitement. Could've been better. Food was good, but needed rides. Missing the "you had me at hello" factor.

Check out the following website for more info and for photos of the 2005 Notting Hill Carnival: http://www.mynottinghill.co.uk/nottinghilltv/carnival1.htm

househunting and celebrity-spotting

Well, another week has come and gone. Although we haven't updated the blog in a while (since having our minds blown away by Weezer), we've been very busy and have even spotted a celebrity.
Our week has mostly been spent househunting. I didn't have any work this work (got rejected for that interview last week and no temp appointments except for some possible contract appointments in September, and Tam hasn't heard back from her interview on Tuesday yet) and so we devoted most of our energy and time to finding somewhere to live (which for those who have experienced this painful delight, is not fun, and at times can be stressful, exhausting and even utterly gross). Our temporary home here is only for another week and we've decided that a houseshare (similar to now) is the best for our situation while we continue to settle down and look for jobs. After viewing dozens of places in Shepherds Bush, Ealing, Hangar Lane, Hammersmith, Willesden Green, Fulham, Barons Court, and West Kensington, we've come to the realisation that we've been really lucky. The place we have at the moment, for the price we're paying, is almost palatial compared to some of the smelly, dingy, old squats some other people have decided to stew their filth in. We've had it pretty well for the last 5 weeks. Our search came to an end yesterday arvo. Just up the road from where we are now and around the same price. Not as nice as here, but it's the best one we've seen so far. A houseshare with 2 kiwis and an aussie (our househunting mission has taught us that we don't really care too much for the saffa's - South Africans, and that we need to take what we want, otherwise someone else will beat you to it). The room is smaller than this one, and we share the bathroom and toilet with the other 3 people. But it's decent and clean and got broadband, and no contract, so we can move out whenever we want. Gives us that flexibility when we find jobs and can afford a trendy place of our own where you can come and stay with us. Thinking about the cost of living here, it's crazy, with what we're spending on rent for a room we could easily afford to get a one-bedroom flat in the most expensive part of Sydney.
OK. Now to the part that you were really hanging out to hear about: celebrity-spotting!
Well, after a particularly bad day looking at flats and rooms, we went into Nando's (yes, just like the ones in Sydney - but they're full-on restaurants here) for dinner. Tam will tell the story here... Tam can't remember. Wasn't an exciting story, really. He came and sat at the table next to us. It was a table for six and he sat at the end away from us by himself...
but he did get up and moved Des' seat while he was up ordering and I was waiting at the table..that's when i thought who's this rude person moving the seat without saying excuse me..then i realized that the person who moved the seat was...Guy Sebastian...wow...our Australian Idol..who would have thought we'd see our Idol in downtown SheBu in Nando's..hahaha..anyway was all excited and had a big grin on my face when Des was ordering at the counter..then Des came back to the table and I say 'look look it's Guy sebastion..'...*Des looking around, trying to spot him*, Des response, 'Shit it is..what do we do..??' hahaha very funny...so i told des just to sit down and he didn't have to do anything..so there you go...funny he was eating alone on a 6 person table and we were wondering when his entourage were gonna join him...yep big things happening for our Guy...but he's just your average guy enjoying some nandos chicken.. eating with his fingers and everything. classy.
It's only after he left that you think up all the cool or funny things to say to him.
"Hey, aren't you the Australian Idol?? Shannon Noll?"
"Hi Guy, I'm like you're number 1 fan. You still owe me a thousand bucks for those phone calls I made"
"Like, where are your mates?"
"Can I get an autograph?"
"Excuse me, can I get a photo? Yeh, just of me and my girlfriend here. Try to get the chicken in as well"
Well, it's almost time for lunch. We'll be heading up to the Portobello Road markets in Ladbroke Grove. Then go to the net cafe there and post this blog. We've got a long weekend here. A bank holiday. We'll be heading over to the annual Notting Hill Carnival, which starts tomorrow (Kids' day) and finishes on Monday. Its one of the biggest street festivals in Europe and has been at it for about 40 years. We'll try to take heaps of photos if possible. From all reports, it'll be jam-packed. Might be safer to leave the camera and everything at home. As the signs say in Hong Kong, "Don't Be A Pickpocket Victim". But we'll see. We did fine in Rome.

Weezer Rocking Out!

Rivers right in front of us!

After the main set and the boys left the stage, we saw the ushers and heavies bringing a mic out and setting it up right in front of us on the balcony. We instantly made the connection and knew that something special was going to happen. It wasn't the Mick Jagger-style entrance I was hoping for (coming out into the crowd mid-song), but it was still very special. He came up and did a solo acoustic rendition of "Island in the Sun" (hip hip). Nasty thing was that he was facing the wrong way, but I managed to blind him with the flash when he was working his way back downstairs to the stage (that's him in the blue with evil eyes). Sorry Rivers.

=W= T-shirt

...I don't get it either... But I still think it's cool. ;)

Weezer - 22 August 2005 - Hammersmith Carling Apollo, London

Set List
1. Don't Let Go
2. Undone - The Sweater Song
3. Peace
4. My Name Is Jonas
5. Why Bother? (Brian on vocals)
6. El Scorcho
7. No One Else
8. Perfect Situation
9. Fall Together (Scott on vocals)
10. Death and Destruction (instrumental)
11. Say It Ain't So
12. We Are All On Drugs
13. Beverly Hills
14. Buddy Holly
15. Photograph (Patrick on vocals and guitar, Rivers on drums)
Encore
16. Island In The Sun (Acoustic - Rivers solo - up on the balcony right in front of us!)
17. Hold Me
18. Hash Pipe
19. Surf Wax America

Asian Photo-taking Stances 2

5 Asians, 5 cameras, 5 different stances!
OK, some are a variation of a theme...

The Oxford Castle Mound (Or Freddo Frog's head?)

At Christ Church College

Corpus Christi College

View of Merton College

Gargoyles!

Inside one The Queen's College

Examination Schools

One of the Colleges...

Bridge of Sighs sigh

Oxford Punts

Tam chilling out with a 99 Flake

The Rose Garden

Catching the Oxford Tube home

Going to Oxford

We caught the OxfordTube to Oxford yesterday. It's called the OxfordTube but it's not actually a train and it doesn't actually go underground. It's just a red double decker bus and it was about $20 return (student rate). It was a brilliantly bright blue sunny day and we caught the bus at around 9:30 just up the road at the Shepherds Bush Hilton (there's about a hundred Hiltons in London). The bus was packed and we managed to get two seats next to each other on the top deck at the very back. I was sitting next to some British couple and it was quite uncomfortable, not only because they were quite large, but they were making funny noises and moving around a bit. Gross. But we didn't have to sit next to them the whole trip as people vacated seats we changed seats as soon as we saw the other people getting up, and they got off soon anyway. The bus that is.We arrived at the Gloucester Green coach station around 11ish and located the Information Office up one of the main streets where we got a visitor guide and map.We were originally going to hire some bikes and ride them around checking out the sights, but the lady at the Info centre said that the bike shops and hire places don't open on Sundays. So we planned a walking tour around the town and set off. We checked out Oxford Castle (and the gigantic hill/mound next to it, which we thought was more impressive than the actual broken down castle), some colleges (Christ Church, Corpus Christi, Merton, University, The Queen's, New, All Soul's and Magdalen), the Examination Schools, the Covered Market (which was closed), the War Memorial Gardens, the Botanic Garden and the Rose Garden, the punting boats, Hertford Bridge (Bridge of Sighs), the Radcliffe Camera, and the History of Science Museum. A lot of the places there you have to pay to enter so we mostly just checked things out from the outside, or as far in you can go in without having to pay. we would have gone punting but a "chauffeured" ride was about $50 for half an hour, and I'm not brave enough to steer the punt with a 5m stick and try to keep my balance on an "unchauffeurred" $30 ride. We all know what would have happened if I tried... We'll just go on the ones in Venice. It's probably nicer and more romantic there anyway. A lot of the good stuff is free anyway. The town itself is quite pretty with the old buildings and cool gargoyles everywhere. Lots of fresh air, beautiful gardens, and blue skies.

...bored at work...

Slow day at work today... And there really isn't much to do (and probably nothing to do tomorrow either). I fired off an email to my boss asking if I can do anything but haven't received any reply back for an hour. That's what you get for being highly efficient. Today is the second last day of time here. I've had a good run. A 3 day appointment turned into 8 days. Money in the bank. And maybe a top reference as well. If I'm still temping in October I may even get a chance to come back and work for 6 months here, as the sick lady (who's now better) is preggers and will be on maternity leave then. At least I've got a job interview tomorrow morning (and Tam has one next week). It's *gasp* at another "university". I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully it will work out fine or else I'll find some more temp work, otherwise I'll be unemployed again, which may not be such a bad thing for a little bit. Tam and I will be needing to move out soon so we've just started looking at places to rent. We're thinking about staying kind of in the same area (West London) and a bit out of the city centre. Although it's not Newtown, it's alright. Hopefully we'll be lucky and find something decent. A couple of the other places we've looked at already are too small, very shabby, or are just plain crap. The major factors we're considering are rent, fixed expenses (council tax, water rates, electricity, etc.), location and proximity to public transport and shops. We're not really asking for much ;o). One of our flatmates said to try and find a place that's advertised that has people currently living there (i.e. will be available soon). He said that the ones that are vacant and available are like that for a reason. Either they're just bad or the landlords are asking for too much. Good advice. So, we'll have to be in the right place at the right time and hope we get there before anyone else does. Fingers and toes crossed.
We haven't really got much planned for now besides trying to find a nice little crib. If it's a nice day on Sunday we'll probably have a day trip into Oxford. I can hear you laughing. "Nice day"?! in England?! No, I'm not joking. The weather here has been pretty good for us. Very hot and hasn't rained too much yet. And you can see patches of blue sky around in between the puffy white/grey clouds that dominate the sky. The sky seems so low here and packed with clouds. And then, Monday night we'll be walking down to the Hammersmith Apollo to watch Weezer (one of the best bands in the world right now). Can't wait. What? You've never heard of them? Do yourself a favour and go to the music shop (or download them from the net you cheapskates).
Just told people here in the office that tomorrow's my last day. They got all excited and were yelling out "leaving drinks!" Apparently I'm having to pay. Yeah right. "...And none of that Fosters shit". C'mon, really. Who drinks that stuff anyway? I've always been led to believe that Fosters is one huge practical joke that we Aussies play on the world.

Italian Junk Food

A selection of delicious pastrie

s from Castroni (where we had cappuccinos most mornings)

Pepperoni pizzas

A Nutella Crepe (...which Tammy inhaled)

Yummy hungry hippos

Italian Twisties!

First Temp Assignment

I wrote this blog entry already but when I tried to post it at the net cafe their network connection died, so it was lost and I'm having to type it all up again. It was originally entitled "First Day at Work", but now that its the weekend, I've just finished my third day at work. I'm temping with a telecommunications company (Thus) as a Facilities Assistant. It was originally meant to be a three day assignment, and I'd like to think it was some inherent characteristic of myself that made them give me another week of work, but I think the pregnant lady who is sick (that I'm covering for) is still sick, so I still have more work. Which is good, as I'll soon be receiving some pounds to spend. The first day was soo boring. Couldn't really do much as they'd only set up my computer account and I couldn't access most things as it takes about half a day for the access to kick in. What my role consists of is taking room bookings (there's only been one so far and the other facilities assistant at a different site took care of that), walking around the building, getting the meeting room ready, and checking that things seem to be ok (no lights are broken, there's no stuff on the floor that shouldn't be), and covering for Bernhard (the German security guard/reception) when he steps out for lunch. The cool thing is that I've got a security pass and can get into any part of the building. The dumb thing is that there's not much to do, but hey, at least I'll be getting paid. The other cool thing is that its an independent role and I'm supposed to keep myself busy. My manager is located on another site and I've only seen her once (on the first day), and there's not many people in the office and they don't really care what I get up to. I'm also allowed to check emails and use the internet when its not busy. The other tasks I've been given to do seem so mundane, I think that I'm overqualified for this position. I've had to order water for the water coolers, check electronic mousetraps, make and laminate signs to put up, and escort contractors to various places in the building. Fun.

Ciao!

Well we’ve made it back from Roma in one piece and probably each of us 5 kg heavier too. I have to say Rome was pretty amazing…it’s pretty cool they have these ancient structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain etc... alongside their current surroundings. I’m not that into history at all but I was awestruck all the same... so much time and detail must have gone into it all… and it’s still standing even after all this time.

Of course the food was amazing too…mainly bulked up on the carbs like pasta and pizza, and also tomato with mozzarella salad…but it was so good…and since it was so hot we also had to cool down with some gelati…3 times a day that is! We’re definitely having food withdrawals. Them Italians sure know how to enjoy food…

There was a great local deli/coffee shop around the corner from where we were staying and we’d go every morning for our caffeine hit and pastry (my favourite was the custard filled croissant!! YUM!)…just as the Italians do..have breakfast standing up at the counter (they charge more to sit down!!). Not a bitter, burnt, aftertaste once..perfect..

Pretty much walked everywhere even though we could have bussed or trained to most places but all the sights are in pretty close proximity to each other plus with all the food we were eating…a bit of walking wasn’t gonna kill us..though the cobble-stoned streets were at times a challenge..good thing I don’t wear stilettos coz there was many a time we saw ladies getting their shoes caught! We also did the walk up to the Dome of St Peters Basilica..was a big climb but well worth the effort of 500 steps.. good view of the city up there..and also could see the storm that was about to hit us! Bit scary hearing the thunder from up there..

It was summer when we got there and really, really hot, so almost all of the locals had left and gone for their summer holidays and some shops had also closed for the holidays. It was just us, a handful of locals, and more tourists, which was ok as it meant that places probably weren’t as busy as they normally would be. You didn’t have to line up or fight with anyone to take a good photo of something. And, it was sale (saldi) season as well for the shops that were open. But, besides a top for Tam, most of our money was spent on accommodation and food. And we did spend a lot of money of food.

GELATO!
Five days and these are all the gelati flavours (that we remember) that we managed to eat (though we did have some choice flavours twice like wildberry and hazelnut and we did also have a nutella crepe). We only did one gelato shop twice .
Apricot
Banana
Berry Yogurt
Champagne
Chocolate
Chocolate Chip
Coconut
Cream
Egg
Grand Marnier
Hazelnut
Honey Chestnut
Kiwi Fruit
Lemon
Mango
Marscapone
Melon
Mint Chip
Mixed Berries
Mozart (a very very rich chocholate)
Orange
Orange Chocolate
Pannacotta
Passionfruit
Peach
Pineapple
Pistaccio
Strawberry
Wildberry
Looking back at list now and hmm that sure is a lot of gelato for 5 days…what *oink oinks* we were…

SOME PLACES WE ATE AT:
Zio Ciro Mangianapoli
Baffetto 2
Caffe’ Tazza D’Oro
Giolitti
Pellacchia Giovanni
Castroni
Da Gino (lovely Italian waiters who would break out in song now and then..)
Bar Valorani
La Dolce Vita
Libeccio

Gelataria Artigianale
L’Angolo del Gelato
Gelataria “Ara Coeli” (my fave!)
Da Quinto Bottega Di Gelato (nice champagne flavoured gelati)

Highlights of the Trip
Trevi fountain was really spectacular and beautiful..could just sit there for ages..
Piazza Navona was a great place to sit and people watch and enjoy gelati, nice atmosphere..though there was one too many of them fake handbag sellers..
Colosseum was awesome but would be more appreciated more if I knew more of the history I think
Sistine Chapel probably didn’t live up to expectations as by the time you get to it…you’ve seen the whole museum which pretty much has similarly amazing paintings on the ceiling etc..and there are so many ppl walking thru, tourguides talking (even though it’s meant to be silent), camera flashes (no photos allowed..) in the Chapel that it loses some of its spiritual atmosphere