Canada Day (2004-07-04 - 6:17 p.m.)

My last Sunday in London, and I finally achieved my ambition to go to the Church. (Thanks, Aussie Scott, for taking me!) It's basically a crazy Aussie club that runs from noonish till 4:00 on a Sunday. It was pretty crazy, I'll give it that. I've been curious about it ever since hearing about it from Michael, who got dragged there by his mates hours after he stepped off the plane his first day in London - and it lived up to all expectations.

So this week has been great. Of course, the best time I've had in London so far started the minute I booked my ticket out of here. However, I suspect to some extent it's cause and effect, so I'm not going back on my decision. I fly out with EasyJet on Tuesday. Still trying to work out how to get my luggage down to the allowable 20 kg! Should be interesting. John has talked to the landlord and paid my damage deposit, so I can move right into 117 Dunluce. As he told me, I'm more or less sorted, so I'm not too stressed about the whole thing (just dreading packing.)

Canada Day, of course, was last Thursday. I had an incredible time. I brought Nanaimo bars into work and wore maple leaves galore, as did the other Canadian temps. After work, I went down to the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden. Not that you could get in the pub - it was crammed and there were 2000 people outside on the street! They just blocked the entire street off from one end to the other. It was all people milling around in Canadian flags drinking Moosehead beer and generally having a big old party. I brought Aussie Scott (sorry, couldn't find any Canucks on short notice) and met up with Emily, Joe and Janice, the other Canadians from BUNAC. But by the end of the night, we were just talking to anyone who happened past. It was a very polite crowd (go figure) - you couldn't move without stepping on someone, but all you heard was "excuse me, excuse me, sorry man." Even the police were very polite about telling us to get back behind the barrier, and they were wearing maple leaves as well!

The next day at work was kind of interesting, though. Of course it was my last, so I got away with being a little "tired". At the end of the day I got a card from the department and each of the temps got a bottle of plonk - the traditional BUNAC parting gift, apparently! However, I am going to a BUNAC event tonight, their traditional 4th of July cruise on the Thames. (I'm justifying going despite the fact that it's an American holiday with the fact that my ticket was free!) So I will see the Incoming Programmes people today, at the very least.

Last Wednesday was the Tube strike. It stopped the whole city in its tracks. Poor Rob took three hours to get home! I didn't fare much better, as I'd been at Heathrow repping a flight and had to work out how to get back to Bethnal Green from Paddington, where the Heathrow Express ends, afterwards. However, it was worth the aggrevation as the previous night BUNAC had put me up in an airport hotel. Julie, the other rep, and I got to TAKE A CAB (a black cab even!) out to the hotel, then eat on BUNAC's tab and catch the bus to Heathrow in the morning. It seriously felt like a holiday, and was the lap of luxury compared to how I'm used to travelling. So thank you, London Transport.

backwards ~ onwards

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Missed anything?
moved! - 2008-05-12
Sunday = time to ramble on - 2008-05-11
apparently I'm doing monthly updates these days. Sorry. - 2008-05-04
watershed - 2008-04-06
end of trip - 2008-03-31

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