brayza in the UK

Catch-up with friends

// April 20th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Trip information

Thursday (9/4/09) morning was a bit of a struggle. Mel and I walked down the Tesco store, which is about 15 minutes away. Well that place is huge (apparently it is one of the smaller branches!) and about 3 hours we walked out with a trolley full of food. My mate Luke (Fruity) called me during the shopping trip and arranged to meet up afterwards.

Mel and I were figuring out the logistics of taking the groceries home and decided to try and take the shopping trolley with us. Well we got to the end of the carpark and the trolley anti-theft device kicked in and the trolley stopped.

The Struggle

Mel and I struggled back home with the massive amount of groceries in hand. It was so difficult, and we stopped so many times but we finally made it home with very sore arms, backs and hands. After we unpacked I headed off to meet Fruity in Notting Hill.

Catch-up

Well it was really good to catch up with Fruity. He disappeared to the UK about 2 years ago and it was really strange to catch up in London. We headed to a nearby pub and began the drinking/catch up session. After we consumed a few Stella’s, one free, we then headed for the classiest restaurant in town, the big M! After a greasy pound of meat Fruity suggested we go and meet Stu Lacey (The Bald Swan). Lacey was playing football in Shepards Bush so we jumped on to a bus and heade there, Ooh but not before we had a very intriguing conversation with a lovely lady about Christianity

Shepards Bush

We got off a Shepards Bush where there is the biggest Westfield in the Northern Hemisphere!! It was massive. From there we ventured off to O’Neills pub, we went Irish instead of Australian pub the Walkabout. After another beer and 3 ciders, Lacey made his way in without knowing I was here. Fruity picked Lacey’s expression to a tee. It was good to catch up with Lacey as well, as I hadn’t seen him for a longer time period. After a good catch up and more ciders we were kicked out of the pub because they were closing.

Home time

Fruity was very tipsy and Lacey and I parted from Fruity as he was going the other direction. Lacey got me onto the bus I needed, and I was stoked when I arrived in Bermondsey. Lacey however missed his stop at Marble Arch, and Fruity fell asleep on his bus, and missed his stop by a couple of miles. Well done Lads!!

Tower Bridge & Monument

// April 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Trip information

Tower Bridge

On Wednesday (8/4/09) Teneale had to go to work to support the children, so Mel and I decided to do what any tourist would do on a lovely sunny day in London, go outside!

We caught the tube one stop down from us to London Bridge. From there we found a nice little courtyard that overlooked the bridge and we took a few photos. We then trekked up the road onto the bridge to begin out tour.

Tower Bridge

Mel and I had a lovely walk inside and around the tower bridge, and also down to the old boiler room where the power was generated to lift the bridge. After about a thousand photos were taken of the bridge we moved on for a bite to eat. We chose one of the fanciest places in London for a feed, Boots. A sandwich, packet of chips and a drink and we were back on the road.

The Monument

When we purchased our tickets to the Tower Bridge we paid an extra £1 and we got included a trip to the Monument. We walked to the Monument from the bridge and lined up. Well 311 steps later we were on top of the Monument. It was a fantastic view and very squishy. They manage to squeeze a lot of people up there. We took some more photos walked back down the 311 steps and went back to the tube station to head home.

Big spend up in Harrods £ £

// April 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Trip information

Photo-Shoot for BBC

Tuesday (7/4/09) was another really nice day. Mel had an interview at a Nanny agency in Notting Hill, so Mel, Teneale and I went with her. Teneale and I left Mel at the agency and walked a little bit further down the road to find a place to grab a morning coffee. (Geez I miss my morning ritual coffee in the morning whilst working back in Australia). We managed to find a place just down the road and we had one the roughest latte’s yet. YUCK! Anyway moving on. Mel rang shortly afterwards and we went and collected her.

Our plan was to go to the Natural History Museum for the rest of the day. We walked from Notting Hill through a part of the lovely Kensington Gardens, and popped out at the King Albert Statue. Whilst we where there, we caught the shooting of a new BBC show “Fashion”. There was a car on top of another car just out the front of the statue. We hung around a bit to see if anything would happen, and just when we were about to leave they let loose with the flames and they begun the photo shoot. I took a few photos of the cast with flames bellowing out of the cars behind them. We then continued on to the museum.

Well little did we know that it was school holidays in London, and the line to get in was absolutely massive. It pretty much went across the front of the building; there was no way we have gotten in before they closed.

So, we had to reschedule for another day when the school holidays are over.
We decided that since we were close we would check out Harrods.

Harrods

Upon arrival I felt very under-dressed for the occasion. I knew I should have brought my tux with me.

Well Harrods is massive! I couldn’t believe the awesome array of clothing to furniture to music to restaurants. It is about 5 times the size of Myer. We ended up in the CD/DVD area and I bought a game for the PC. I bought PES2008 for the massive amount of £2. I thought it was an excellent purchase. Who says Harrods is expensive…

After we had finished wishing we were millionaires we ventured to the food hall, which is funny because even in the food hall you are not allowed to eat. Mel, Teneale and I splashed out a whole £2 each on 3 miniature cupcakes. We consumed them across the road in our favourite coffee place (NOT!)Starbucks. The cupcakes were very sugary and rich for such a small thing, so I ate the rest of Mel’s.

Picadilly

After our snack we went to the massive sports retailer in Piccadilly, LillyWhites. We managed to squeeze our way around the store, and I resisted temptation and bought nothing. All the Premier League shirts were on sale, but I’ll hold out until I make it to Old Trafford.

Once we finished there we made our way home and stopped off at a local pub for a quick cider.

Unpacking and 1st interview

// April 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Well Monday (6/4/09) was the unpacking day. Mel and I have a heap of storage in the room which is awesome! No arguing over space here. After we unpacked, we did a quick tour around the area. Bermondsey is quite a nice little area.

In the afternoon I had a job interview to go to in Farringdon. They were a really nice bunch of people and it was quite a cool little agency. Haven’t heard anything yet, but I don’t think my Flash skills are up to scratch.

Exeter to London & Greenwich

// April 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Trip information

Greenwich

Sorry for the delay in posts. You will soon be inundated with posts from now on

Mel and I left booking a car till the last minute so we missed out and had to catch the train. Sunday morning we left Lympstone and caught a cab to the Exeter train station headed for Waterloo. The train ride was really good. We were on there for just over 4 hours but it was way better than catching a bus, and I preferred it to driving. The train only got busy as we were heading into Waterloo, so Mel and I were able to stretch out a bit before hand and managed to get some sleep in the sun.

We arrived at Waterloo and we met Teneale and Gemma there, so we could all cab it there together. The cab driver at Waterloo was absolutely useless. He didn’t offer to help us load all our massive bags in the cab, nor did he open the front door so we could put some smaller bags on the front seat. Instead he watched the four of us struggle into the back of the cab with our luggage. Jerk.

We made it to our new house in Bermondsey, which is really nice, met the landlord, drop of our luggage and headed to where everyone goes when it’s sunny, Greenwich! (Pfft call this a sunny day, you should see Bondi on a sunny day.)
We trotted around Greenwich and saw where all time is measured from. We also saw the line that divides east longitude from west? No idea what it is called? Meridian?

After that I ate some undercooked chips, we left Gemma on the tube and headed back to Bermondsey. Along the way I was able to drop in to a few pubs to grab the score from the Man Utd, Aston Villa game. I was extremely surprised when I got home to see that Man Utd won in stoppage time after being down 2-1. Woohoo (sorry Harley).