Sheffield, AFL Granny, first day at Brent Mind and Edinburgh '06
Hello everyone
Well, it feels like it has been a long time since I last wrote on my blog.. without sounding like a broken record a lot has been happening over the last few weeks..
A couple of weekends back I visited Joe (a mate of mine that I met in Egypt) in Sheffield where he is studying.. I caught the train up after work, which took about 3 hours north of London.. you can tell as soon as you get off the train the change of weather.. that little bit cooler!
He took me back to his house to drop my stuff off before venturing out to his university.. (he has been here for 2 years studying) We went to the university bar for a few drinks and to catch up with his mates, to me it was a slight time warp as it has been a while since I mixed with the university crowd.. (but not that long!) The following day we went to a local pub for a cheap student lunch.. (Ive forgotten the great deals you get when you're at uni) we then spent the rest of the afternoon with his friends chilling at the local. That night we went to a house party and as the sole Aussie there, the cricket and rugby mad boys were soon on to me how the English were going to annihilate the Aussies in the upcoming Ashes series... one of the boys even had the Ashes DVD highlight package.. As I was running solo, I put a good fight for us Aussies and I must admit I do feel sorry for these disillusioned English who are living in the past! :) ha
The following day we went into town to check out the sights of Sheffield, in all honesty there isnt a whole lot to see in this place but its worth a visit.. One of the highlights of Sheffield was trying the worlds strongest beer, its from Austria and is only brewed once a year.. lets just say it was the hardest beer to put down in my life and I think my head is still spinning from it!!
After this beer I caught the train back to London and a much needed rest on the train!
The following week I had my first session at Brent Mind, which is volunteering with people with mental illnesses.. they are located just up the road from me and I will try and get there on most Tues nights.. great organisation and the users there are really friendly and by all reports they liked me..
The following weekend was the AFL Grand Final, so I decided to stay in London.. it was going to be a big affair as they game was shown at 5am on Saturday.. early start or late finish depending which way you look at it! I had a Kristy's bday on Fri night, so I tried to go home and have a quick powernap before going out.. I stayed out until 1 and then got a couple hours of shuteye before catching a cab to the Slug and Lettuce in Fulham to watch it.. very strange experience getting up this early in the morning to watch the game.. it cost £10 to get in which included a drink on arrival and brekky (not the greatest by the way).. I must admit the atmosphere was as good as being at the game (well nearly anyway!), as a few of the boys had a few drinks in them there was plenty of screaming and yelling..
As we all know the match was an absolute corker, probably the best Ive ever seen.. (not quite as good as when the mighty Pies won in '90) I left after the game about 9am to go home for a sleep after an exhausting day! Funny enough there were people lining up outside to get in as soon as the game finished the music started pumping... this was way too much for me at this time of the morning..
On Sunday, I went to the screening of the Sharon Osbourne show.. a friend of mine got some tickets to the filming of one of her episodes.. I was excited about the prospect about seeing a celebrity but I must admit I was disappointed.. all they had was some bloke from Changing Rooms and a story on plastic surgery and anorexia.. (they did have Adam Sandler.... - via satellite) On the positive side, I found out thanks to Case that I was on TV as they were doing flashes to the audience.. thats two times that Ive been on British TV in 3 months.. bring it on!!!
The following week, I started my Performing Arts class ( I thought I would put this in here as by this stage not many people would still be reading my blog entry) . At TFL (where I work) they have a performing arts club and they will perform at the annual Christmas party in late Dec. I thought I would sign up for the 4 week workshop, that includes dancing, acting and wait for it... singing!! My first class was heaps of fun, we did 30s style dancing and then I had the singing class.. lets just say my voice is literally tone deaf!! I cant sing, which I made perfectly clear to the poor teacher and fellow students that have to put up with my voice.. I was a little nervous about it all but I must admit I really enjoyed the class and now we have to know a chorus for next weeks class.. (I even sang a few lines with another guy from the class) The last session was acting and Im playing the son in a dramatic play.. all in all heaps of fun and Im looking forward to the rest of the classes..
Last weekend, I had another weekend away this time to Edinburgh to visit Coachy.. I left on Fri night after work.. I was lucky to catch the plane as I got a little confused with the right train to catch to get to Gatwick.. I got up there around 9pm and Coachy was already on the turps, and his mate from Perth, Andy, had also come up for the weekend.. we checked out the local nightlife on Fri night ( mental note, always wear a jacket in Rdinburgh.. its cold very cold!!)
On Saturday, we got and made the walk up Arthurs seat which gives you a superb view of Edinburgh and a great way to shake a hangover! The other boys didnt make it to the top as they were feelin the effects from the night before! After having a break after the walk we went into the town to have a look around.. first impressions of Edinburgh were a beautiful old time city that hasnt lost any of its character (especially in the Old town) .. easy to get around and a lot more relaxed than London.. The people are very friendly and there is heaps to see and do.. It was a great walk around the city and that night we checked out Frankstein Bar for a few drinks.
The following day, we went to Edinburgh Castle (as you have to do), which was superb but I think Ive seen a few too many castles now.. afterwards we checked out Saint Marys Close, which is an underground city.. oh yeah, and I bought myself a local Scottish top, I was going to get a kilt but wasnt sure what exactly I would do with it..
There is so much history in Scotland and what really stands out is the character of the place and people and how patriotic the locals are ( as was shown on Saturday after the Scots won against the French in the soccer) . Got a really good feel about it and Im sure I will definitely be back here again soon to see more of this country..
Well, thats it for me.. this weekend Im checking out Newcastle to see a few friends of mine that live up that way.. by all reports it supposed to be a place like no-other..so be sure to tune into this channel in a couple of weeks for an update!
Hope everyone is well..
Post a comment
Signing out
Troy
Well, it feels like it has been a long time since I last wrote on my blog.. without sounding like a broken record a lot has been happening over the last few weeks..
A couple of weekends back I visited Joe (a mate of mine that I met in Egypt) in Sheffield where he is studying.. I caught the train up after work, which took about 3 hours north of London.. you can tell as soon as you get off the train the change of weather.. that little bit cooler!
He took me back to his house to drop my stuff off before venturing out to his university.. (he has been here for 2 years studying) We went to the university bar for a few drinks and to catch up with his mates, to me it was a slight time warp as it has been a while since I mixed with the university crowd.. (but not that long!) The following day we went to a local pub for a cheap student lunch.. (Ive forgotten the great deals you get when you're at uni) we then spent the rest of the afternoon with his friends chilling at the local. That night we went to a house party and as the sole Aussie there, the cricket and rugby mad boys were soon on to me how the English were going to annihilate the Aussies in the upcoming Ashes series... one of the boys even had the Ashes DVD highlight package.. As I was running solo, I put a good fight for us Aussies and I must admit I do feel sorry for these disillusioned English who are living in the past! :) ha
The following day we went into town to check out the sights of Sheffield, in all honesty there isnt a whole lot to see in this place but its worth a visit.. One of the highlights of Sheffield was trying the worlds strongest beer, its from Austria and is only brewed once a year.. lets just say it was the hardest beer to put down in my life and I think my head is still spinning from it!!
After this beer I caught the train back to London and a much needed rest on the train!
The following week I had my first session at Brent Mind, which is volunteering with people with mental illnesses.. they are located just up the road from me and I will try and get there on most Tues nights.. great organisation and the users there are really friendly and by all reports they liked me..
The following weekend was the AFL Grand Final, so I decided to stay in London.. it was going to be a big affair as they game was shown at 5am on Saturday.. early start or late finish depending which way you look at it! I had a Kristy's bday on Fri night, so I tried to go home and have a quick powernap before going out.. I stayed out until 1 and then got a couple hours of shuteye before catching a cab to the Slug and Lettuce in Fulham to watch it.. very strange experience getting up this early in the morning to watch the game.. it cost £10 to get in which included a drink on arrival and brekky (not the greatest by the way).. I must admit the atmosphere was as good as being at the game (well nearly anyway!), as a few of the boys had a few drinks in them there was plenty of screaming and yelling..
As we all know the match was an absolute corker, probably the best Ive ever seen.. (not quite as good as when the mighty Pies won in '90) I left after the game about 9am to go home for a sleep after an exhausting day! Funny enough there were people lining up outside to get in as soon as the game finished the music started pumping... this was way too much for me at this time of the morning..
On Sunday, I went to the screening of the Sharon Osbourne show.. a friend of mine got some tickets to the filming of one of her episodes.. I was excited about the prospect about seeing a celebrity but I must admit I was disappointed.. all they had was some bloke from Changing Rooms and a story on plastic surgery and anorexia.. (they did have Adam Sandler.... - via satellite) On the positive side, I found out thanks to Case that I was on TV as they were doing flashes to the audience.. thats two times that Ive been on British TV in 3 months.. bring it on!!!
The following week, I started my Performing Arts class ( I thought I would put this in here as by this stage not many people would still be reading my blog entry) . At TFL (where I work) they have a performing arts club and they will perform at the annual Christmas party in late Dec. I thought I would sign up for the 4 week workshop, that includes dancing, acting and wait for it... singing!! My first class was heaps of fun, we did 30s style dancing and then I had the singing class.. lets just say my voice is literally tone deaf!! I cant sing, which I made perfectly clear to the poor teacher and fellow students that have to put up with my voice.. I was a little nervous about it all but I must admit I really enjoyed the class and now we have to know a chorus for next weeks class.. (I even sang a few lines with another guy from the class) The last session was acting and Im playing the son in a dramatic play.. all in all heaps of fun and Im looking forward to the rest of the classes..
Last weekend, I had another weekend away this time to Edinburgh to visit Coachy.. I left on Fri night after work.. I was lucky to catch the plane as I got a little confused with the right train to catch to get to Gatwick.. I got up there around 9pm and Coachy was already on the turps, and his mate from Perth, Andy, had also come up for the weekend.. we checked out the local nightlife on Fri night ( mental note, always wear a jacket in Rdinburgh.. its cold very cold!!)
On Saturday, we got and made the walk up Arthurs seat which gives you a superb view of Edinburgh and a great way to shake a hangover! The other boys didnt make it to the top as they were feelin the effects from the night before! After having a break after the walk we went into the town to have a look around.. first impressions of Edinburgh were a beautiful old time city that hasnt lost any of its character (especially in the Old town) .. easy to get around and a lot more relaxed than London.. The people are very friendly and there is heaps to see and do.. It was a great walk around the city and that night we checked out Frankstein Bar for a few drinks.
The following day, we went to Edinburgh Castle (as you have to do), which was superb but I think Ive seen a few too many castles now.. afterwards we checked out Saint Marys Close, which is an underground city.. oh yeah, and I bought myself a local Scottish top, I was going to get a kilt but wasnt sure what exactly I would do with it..
There is so much history in Scotland and what really stands out is the character of the place and people and how patriotic the locals are ( as was shown on Saturday after the Scots won against the French in the soccer) . Got a really good feel about it and Im sure I will definitely be back here again soon to see more of this country..
Well, thats it for me.. this weekend Im checking out Newcastle to see a few friends of mine that live up that way.. by all reports it supposed to be a place like no-other..so be sure to tune into this channel in a couple of weeks for an update!
Hope everyone is well..
Post a comment
Signing out
Troy
posted by Troy Aitken | 4:55 AM
2 Comments:
Hey ya troy, this is hannah in Vietnam, well actually I'm in singapore now killing some time till my flight back home. Thinking of living in Edienborough now??? not sure will fill you in when were both back in ozzy-land.
Hope this comment makes you all warm and fuzzy. Han
Hey you
I bet there are quite a few people who would pay good money to see you in a kilt!!
Thanks for updating
Louise
xx
Post a Comment
<< Home