Stonehenge and Bath

Yo, we did a day trip coach tour to Stonehenge and Bath on Sunday. We caught the coach from near Baker Street (of Sherlock Holmes fame) and were blessed with a crying, screaming baby for most of the trip down. Our tour guide was Liz, and our crazy driver was Eddie, who freaked us out no less with his weird British humour and cheerful disgruntledness. The fact that he was an old bugger and that his hands kept shaking also freaked us out a bit, but we noticed they steadied up some when he had a cigarette before leaving. It's only a 2 hour coach drive down to Stonehenge. We were lucky that the weather held out for us when we got to Stonehenge. We stopped for about an hour while we circled the site. They no longer let you get close enough to touch it or see anything to any detail. Tam dared me to run the (about) 50m and touch it (guess its so that stupid drunks will stop trying to push the columns over), but the wandering guards in vests with walkie talkies scared me off. The tour guide told us that Stonehenge pre-dates the Egyptian pyramids, and that it was not constructed by the Druids, as popular belief holds, but by stone-age farmers as a calendar tool to figure out when the days would begin to shorten. She added that no one really knows what it's for and who really constructed it. Tam and I reckon aliens. A more plausible theory. C'mon, hyper-intelligent aliens equipped with funky shiny machines or little farmers and shepherds? D'uh. Anyway, it was cool and exciting being there and seeing it, but because we were so far away, it kind of lost a bit of mystique. We took lots of cool happy snaps anyway. Here are some of the best ones.

Next stop was the postcard perfect city of Bath. We passed some other little towns on the way, like this ghost town which the military use for training purposes. But, Bath is really pretty. Jane Austen used to live there, but apparently she hated it there and was quite depressed and didn't write a thing there. It started to rain as soon as we got off the bus.

The more famous thing about it is the Roman Baths. They're mostly ruins now and most of its covered from the elements to preserve what's left. The water in the hot springs is original and untreated. In its day, people used to believe that the water had magical healing properties and would bathe in there to cure their ailments. You can imagine what kind of sick soup is brewing now. Although you can reach out and touch the water, they now have signs that tell you not to touch the water as there's all sorts of icky bacteria. Our guide said that one of the pubs in town have tapped a clean bore where you can drink a glass of the Bath water for 50p to sample its magic. No doubt, we passed. After checking out the baths, we were free to roam the tiny city and check out its local charms. We walked along the River Avon and checked out the local shops and everything. It's such a nice town. Very unlike London. It can be easy to forget that you're only 2 and a half hours away from the hustle and bustle. It's quainter and quieter and much more pleasant to the eye. It's the place where rich people now live, where celebrities used to party, and where the Royals used to go on holidays. We had a nice time there and I can't think of anything else to add so that's the end.

Day at the Footy

I won tickets to see the AFL here in London last Saturday! Those who know me will know how much I'm into free/discounted/won things. West Coast Eagles vs. Fremantle Dockers. I know, AFL? Who cares? But, it was at The Oval (where they played the Ashes) and we were up in the members stand. We drank some pre-poured Fosters and Scrumpy Jacks and I wore my Swannies scarf (even though they weren't playing), which attracted some choice comments like "Swans fans aren't real footy fans". Guess people like that are just unhappy cos their teams all suck (why else would we have won the premiership?). Other people were wearing Wallabies jerseys, South Sydney jerseys, West Tigers jerseys, Brisbane Lions and all the rest. Just like at being back at home. They even had a stall where they'd sell redskins, jupiter bars, twisties, burger rings, and toffee apples too. Despite the inflated "imported" prices we got some. A touch of home.
I only know one player from each of the two teams - Jeffrey Farmer and Chris Judd. And Chris Judd wasn't there, so I was going for Fremantle. In the end, the Eagles were two-time losers (having also lost the Grand Final to the Swannies). Best parts of the game were when all the scraps broke out. No major biffs, just a lot of handbags being thrown around.
Not much else exciting happened. Took some photos so thought I'd put up a new blog. Tam started work this week. At Imperial College too. Just like me, but different location. Good thing too, cos now we got double income now and can ease off the savings a touch.




Members Stand Tickets to AFL in London - Free
Beer and food - £25
Participating in pitch invasion and avoiding arrest and £1000 fine - Priceless

Anyway, hope you're all well. If you're bored and have some time, why don't you email us or something. It'd be great to hear back from you. Tell us what's going on. Cos we miss you heaps, and, of course, we hope that you feel the same way.