brayza in the UK

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).

“We Are Exeter, we-are-Exeter!”

// April 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Trip information

Well I finally got to see my first live English football game on Tuesday night. Albeit Coca Cola division 2. Saw Exeter City take on Port Vale at Exeter’s home ground, St James’ Park. The stadium had a great atmoshpere of about 4500 people. Behind the goals were where the ‘hardcore’ fans go. I don’t think they stopped singing or chanting the whole game. It would have been great for the home team, however I feel sorry for the poor away goalkeeper who copped it in the second half.

I thought Exeter were doomed when they had a player sent off in the first 15-20 minutes.(it had to be dissent, because it was a nothing challenge) But to Exeters credit they played really well with 10 men and they were definitively the better side. Their persistence paid off with great play through the middle of park. One touch play between a couple players freed up space to the left and a pinpoint cross lead to a port vale own goal with about 5 minutes remaining in the first half.

The crowd had mix emotions at half time, with the crowd cheering the lads off the park, then absolutely hammering the ref for the sending off.

The second half was much of the same with Port Vale not offering much attacking flair to the play, and the Exeter lads held on for a 1-nil win.

Good luck to the Exeter City lads with their push for promotion

Totally addicted to Superdry

// March 30th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // random

I have loved the clothing brand Superdry ever since I first saw it in Sydney last year. I bought myself a Superdry T-shirt in the Sydney store, but was never able to find a good Australian supplier. I remember viewing the online collection whilst in Australia, but I don’t really buy clothes online unless I am 100% sure of my size

Is there a point to this?

….anyway getting to the point, there is a Cult store in Exeter that is a Superdry supplier, I have been in the store twice since arriving, and I am afraid that I will keep buying clothes every time I go to Exeter. So far I have bought 3 t-shirts and a windcheater totaling over 150 pounds. So, Superdry, please ban me from your store, or please supply me with incredible discounts. Thanks

Quiet week and weekend

// March 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Trip information

Exeter Cathedral

Well the first week and weekend were pretty quiet. We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday looking for jobs (still no luck on that front). Mel and I caught the train to Exeter and did all the touristy things. We saw the Exeter Cathedral, and also the historic Quay. On Saturday Mel and I went for a walk to Exmouth. It is a really nice walk, took an hour to get there, walking along the picturesque coastline. After an hours walk we were quite hungry, so we stopped in to get fish (well hamburger) and chip, and it only cost us 3.50 each which is the cheapest meal we have had to date.

We were both wrecked so we did the lazy thing and jumped on the train back. Only 90p to get back.

I then watched Man Utd lose on the TV, very disappointing!!

Sunday/Monday

Both days were quiet as well. Took that time to finish my website, which is now online www.brayza.com

On Monday Mel, Bianca and I went to Exeter, and Bianca and I got a haircut. Bianca then went home and Mel and I went to the Exeter Underground Passages. Under Exeter there are these passages that were built in the 1100s that the Medieval Church built to run water to the Cathedral. It was amazing, and the tourist guide was fantastic. Just before WWII the city ran their own tunnels that latched onto the cathedrals one for water as well. They are pretty amazing, they dug up all the ground, then put the blocks down, ran the pipes under the ground, then covered over with the soil again. They then changed this in the 1400s cause the pipes would spring leaks very often and they had to keep digging up the road to fix them. Thats when they invented manholes to get into the tunnels. The tunnels were very small but fascinating, apparently over 400 people hid their in WWII and they all survived the bombings.