London calling, yes I was there too, an you know what they said,
well some of it was true! The Clash
Monday 26th May
Its a damp London Monday morning. Its 5am and I'm lying on the top bunk in a tiny room in a teenagers hostel called the Generator in central London. From the bottom bunk comes the sound of a cross between a chainsaw and a wounded wookie. ....Ron has arrived ! "Hope ya dont mind snoring" ....."nah you're good mate used to it with the missus". I`m awoken around 2am, "F@#$K" (goodness me), the whole bed's vibrating , this is a whole new level........thank god for separate tents and ear plugs!
The lead up to finally flying out had been a little surreal. I worked up to the day before which was stupid and resulted in a mad rush to finalise stuff. Too much double checking left me so confused I did a weird denial thing in the end and on the last day avoided touching, packing or thinking about anything. The flight was your normal long flight to anywhere from oz spending 23 odd hours in the air scheming how to time the dunny in between the next meal ,movie and if your really lucky a weird medium call sleep in a plane. This involves sitting upright with airline socks, blanket, pillow, and mask on (you must wear the whole outfit and dont forget to stash the free toothbrush in your bag never to be seen again). You then close your eyes for long periods trying not to remember you've missed your poo. Several hours later when the lights come on you emerge feeling/looking like total crap but cant remember if you really were asleep. You then quickly whip on the flight simulator thingo and find that "b@#$$er" (rats) there's still ten hours to go!
So how can you tell me your lonely, and say for you that the sun dont shine
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to change your mind
Ralph Mctell
Tuesday 27th
Sunday and Monday are spent wandering about London in a jet lagged haze checking out all the old stuff, buying maps and getting wet. Its Tuesday we're waiting for. If you've ever watched the amazing race Tuesday was Dean and Ron's big episode. First up get up earlyish, use as much hot water as possible and demolish as much free brekky as can get away with. Next catch the tube to Picadilly Circus and ply the Kazakh consulate lady with visa applications and large quantities of money (not guaranteed to work). Finally hike over the Thames to Waterloo station, grab the train to Egham, grab a taxi to RJJ freight and liberate our babies. We meet Nick the warehouse manager and a great bike guy and set about decrating and assembling. The bikes are in great shape and fire up easy.....but there is a problem......we have way too much crap! We stuff our bags full, fire up the GPS and wobble off. We set sail for Liverpool in terrible windy wet weather but as we buzz along things kinda fall into place. We make it all the way to just outside Liverpool and pull into a place called Warrington. We head to the cheapest looking establishment (rough....very rough!) Ron heads in (due to his total lack of tasks and copious spare time and total lack of conscience I have promoted him to head of discount seeking) and comes out smiling - 45 pounds for a room AND brekky - score! That night a classic pommy meal (ale and steak pie washed down with cider) at the Dog and Partridge see us B!@#$gered (very tired) but content. (probably the cider!)
Monday 26th May
Its a damp London Monday morning. Its 5am and I'm lying on the top bunk in a tiny room in a teenagers hostel called the Generator in central London. From the bottom bunk comes the sound of a cross between a chainsaw and a wounded wookie. ....Ron has arrived ! "Hope ya dont mind snoring" ....."nah you're good mate used to it with the missus". I`m awoken around 2am, "F@#$K" (goodness me), the whole bed's vibrating , this is a whole new level........thank god for separate tents and ear plugs!
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| Mmmm King cross Station, double decker bus...I must be in Pommy land |
So how can you tell me your lonely, and say for you that the sun dont shine
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to change your mind
Ralph Mctell
Tuesday 27th
Sunday and Monday are spent wandering about London in a jet lagged haze checking out all the old stuff, buying maps and getting wet. Its Tuesday we're waiting for. If you've ever watched the amazing race Tuesday was Dean and Ron's big episode. First up get up earlyish, use as much hot water as possible and demolish as much free brekky as can get away with. Next catch the tube to Picadilly Circus and ply the Kazakh consulate lady with visa applications and large quantities of money (not guaranteed to work). Finally hike over the Thames to Waterloo station, grab the train to Egham, grab a taxi to RJJ freight and liberate our babies. We meet Nick the warehouse manager and a great bike guy and set about decrating and assembling. The bikes are in great shape and fire up easy.....but there is a problem......we have way too much crap! We stuff our bags full, fire up the GPS and wobble off. We set sail for Liverpool in terrible windy wet weather but as we buzz along things kinda fall into place. We make it all the way to just outside Liverpool and pull into a place called Warrington. We head to the cheapest looking establishment (rough....very rough!) Ron heads in (due to his total lack of tasks and copious spare time and total lack of conscience I have promoted him to head of discount seeking) and comes out smiling - 45 pounds for a room AND brekky - score! That night a classic pommy meal (ale and steak pie washed down with cider) at the Dog and Partridge see us B!@#$gered (very tired) but content. (probably the cider!)
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| Ok Ok.......I'll take the box |
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| Nick the warehouse guy meets a port power santa wookie - Ron passes on fashion tips in his new duds and port power body shirt! |
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| Arrrrr there you are my precious....preeeecious.....erm sorry |
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| This is a budget hotel and what can we say - we are budget people crap carpet, bad smells, squeaky stairs, rusty shower and only 45 quid with brekky - SCORE! |
Tomorrow Ferry to Isle of Man!!!
Reality Check
Imagine if you built your own bungee jump
You always wanted to
You even mix up the rubber for the rubber band from instructions on the web
You found the tallest stupidist cliff from pictures on google maps
you set a date.... it suddenly comes around....you hook up your ankles and step over
it takes three months of fun free falling before bottoming out
....and then you really find out how good that rubber band mix is
"GULP"