~ ANNE! ~

oh man... feeling pretty tired today! It's been an interesting weekend so far and has gone a long way towards getting rid of the feeling that I don't have a social life. On Friday I got a call from Rob, a friend of my ex-roomie Steve's. He's from Onoway (just outside of Edmonton) and is on his way to Sweden to visit relatives. I was quite pleased to hear from someone from home, and we hung out on Saturday as well. We meant to go see Westminster Abbey and visit my flatmate Rob (who works there) but managed to show up just as it was closing for the day. That was okay, though - it was a gorgeous day so we just wandered through the parks of London instead. We hit St. James, Green Park and Hyde Park in our travels. Saw some very cool birdlife, including some pelicans! I've never seen a real live pelican, but they're huge and kind of scary. These ones were two feet away from us.

We also saw a strange little black waterbird with a white shield on its head. It had enormous feet, and its babies were fuzzy with orange heads. If anyone knows what this is please tell me! It was the funniest little bird ever with its giant feet.

Ended up laying under the trees eating ice cream and gossiping about home, which is a very nice way to spend a hot day.

Last night went out with Nicolas (plus Rob, Francis, their American friend, and a Spanish girl & a French girl) to a house party down in Clapham. It was crazy! People wall to wall, mostly speaking Spanish (from Spain or South America) but also a lot of Irish people and various others... There was some crazy Aussie DJing and dancing wildly about, and after a while all the Spanish people starting tangoing! (in someone's kitchen!) It was crazy and great fun.

We didn't show up until midnight (due to straggly French people taking forever to get ready!) and I got home at 5 am. Nicolas was off in the corner kissing some girl, Rob took off with a Spanish girl to an illegal after-hours Spanish bar, and Francis herded me and the other American guy together so we could catch the bus home. Everyone made it back eventually, though. Was definitely an interesting night!