Monday, February 06, 2006
why oh why cold kai?!
Kia Ora Whanau! Hope you are all happy and having beautiful summers! I have been just fine, things are ticking along lovely for me, since the last post I have been working and groovin same as really.. Highlights include going to the ballet to see the Moscow company perform Swan Lake, Going on the January Critical Mass - and having SNOW fall as we rode (brrr it was friggin freezin!!), finally getting out of London and going to Reading for the weekend for a Rising Tide (climate change campaign) meeting and then this weekend just past - which I will go into more detail about... Lowlights include the horrible 24 hour tummy bug that got passed round everyone in the squat and when it was my turn knocked me out for a whole weekend. Boohoo.
So, Amy (cousin that I went to stay with in Germany) came to visit this weekend, so had a fine excuse to go do some of the more touristy things I haven't done since coming to London.. On Saturday we really did "do London" - first stop the Borough market to get free food tastings of fancy stuff, I found a beer stall that sold me Mac's Gold for my Waitangi Day goodie bag (more on that later) and also got some bottles of REAL scrumpy cider.. we also chanced upon Jamie Oliver by the pheasants! He was out and about with his family. Prolly the most famousist person I've seen in London (unless you count Nelson from shorty street who I saw at the airport!).
From there we went to the Globe Theatre - the third one actually - a total reconstruction of what it was like in Shakespeare's day right down to the brick recipe. Went on the tour and actually learnt quite a lot... Think I'll try see a show there in the summer. Then we had a quick skwiz round the Tate Modern next door, saw the huge installation of giant sugar cubes.
Across the river and over to Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster abbey etc walked through St James park complete with pelicans through to Buckingham Palace to giggle at the funny guards doing their marching up and down in silly hats, then up to Trafagler Sq and the National Portrait Gallery - saw lots of old school paintings and managed to see Van Gogh Sunflowers through the crowds. On to Piccadilly Circus and the hunt for cheap theatre tickets - we thought it would be neat to see a big show so went round a few theatres to see if we could score a bargain. Got the timing wrong to pick up 'returns' but got to see more of central London walking round everywhere, and then, just when we thought all was lost, we were offered standing tickets to Les Mis for £10! Choice!That's like $25 for a show usually over $100 to see. So we stood at the back and leaned against the wall for the first half, then a nice usher let us sit in the aisle for the second half, super. The show was fantastic, really slick and professional and great performers - lovely that it was so spontaneous and unexpected that we got to see it too. Afterwards we did a bit of an "Amazing Race" (TV show) type mission to make the 20p curry place by 11pm but tube lines not running foiled our plan. Good news was that we were in Brick Lane, the curry mecca, so after a feeble attempt at haggling we went and ate at another place, not quite the bargain we were after but I woofed it down. Scrummy ending to a massive, fun day.
Then woke up on Sunday with the pressure and anxiety of my much promised and looked forward to Waitangi Day celebration! I had told the squat I would have a hangi and had requested instructions from back home, and had gone to 'kiwifruits' the NZ shop in London to spend £10 on bugger all really, but much missed items such as pineapple lumps, L&P, peanut slabs and bluebird chips. Anyways it all started OK, got folks to help dig a hole and light a fire in it, and it was a suprisingly mild day for London in deepest darkest winter so nice to be outside listening to NZ tunes and sitting by the fire. Had lots of veges to put in it, which we wrapped up, put on top and the covered up with earth again.. then sat round the bonfire (the other one!) had some drinks and waited. I was pretty pessimistic however, and sure enough when we dug it up it was all warm but raw! Just not hot enough and don't think we got the timing right. Ah well, we took it all inside and stuck it in the oven. And people were pretty drunk by that stage and didn't seem to mind too much, they all went on about "Wai-Tang-ee Wang-ee Hang-ee Daya lotot though! And the maggi onion soup and reduced cream dip I made was a total hit! No one could believe how simple it was too. So, although it didn't quite go as planned, had a great Waitangi Day (well, we did it a day early seeing as it was the weekend) in London, think I managed to share a bit of my culture with everyone, although I do feel like I let the team down a bit!
So yeah, whats comin up? Off to Nottingham this weekend, be great to see everyone and hang out at the Sumac Centre where I worked last summer. And after talking to Amy gonna book the Eurostar train and go to Paris for the weekend next month when her dad and sister are over, so got another international trip to look forward to!
Will sign off there.. oh, I got me-self another digital camera off a trading site over here, cheapish and goes fine - actually got it off a guy from Chch! So going to try post more pic's soon.
Love ya's miss ya's write me your news!
claire x
So, Amy (cousin that I went to stay with in Germany) came to visit this weekend, so had a fine excuse to go do some of the more touristy things I haven't done since coming to London.. On Saturday we really did "do London" - first stop the Borough market to get free food tastings of fancy stuff, I found a beer stall that sold me Mac's Gold for my Waitangi Day goodie bag (more on that later) and also got some bottles of REAL scrumpy cider.. we also chanced upon Jamie Oliver by the pheasants! He was out and about with his family. Prolly the most famousist person I've seen in London (unless you count Nelson from shorty street who I saw at the airport!).
From there we went to the Globe Theatre - the third one actually - a total reconstruction of what it was like in Shakespeare's day right down to the brick recipe. Went on the tour and actually learnt quite a lot... Think I'll try see a show there in the summer. Then we had a quick skwiz round the Tate Modern next door, saw the huge installation of giant sugar cubes.
Across the river and over to Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster abbey etc walked through St James park complete with pelicans through to Buckingham Palace to giggle at the funny guards doing their marching up and down in silly hats, then up to Trafagler Sq and the National Portrait Gallery - saw lots of old school paintings and managed to see Van Gogh Sunflowers through the crowds. On to Piccadilly Circus and the hunt for cheap theatre tickets - we thought it would be neat to see a big show so went round a few theatres to see if we could score a bargain. Got the timing wrong to pick up 'returns' but got to see more of central London walking round everywhere, and then, just when we thought all was lost, we were offered standing tickets to Les Mis for £10! Choice!That's like $25 for a show usually over $100 to see. So we stood at the back and leaned against the wall for the first half, then a nice usher let us sit in the aisle for the second half, super. The show was fantastic, really slick and professional and great performers - lovely that it was so spontaneous and unexpected that we got to see it too. Afterwards we did a bit of an "Amazing Race" (TV show) type mission to make the 20p curry place by 11pm but tube lines not running foiled our plan. Good news was that we were in Brick Lane, the curry mecca, so after a feeble attempt at haggling we went and ate at another place, not quite the bargain we were after but I woofed it down. Scrummy ending to a massive, fun day.
Then woke up on Sunday with the pressure and anxiety of my much promised and looked forward to Waitangi Day celebration! I had told the squat I would have a hangi and had requested instructions from back home, and had gone to 'kiwifruits' the NZ shop in London to spend £10 on bugger all really, but much missed items such as pineapple lumps, L&P, peanut slabs and bluebird chips. Anyways it all started OK, got folks to help dig a hole and light a fire in it, and it was a suprisingly mild day for London in deepest darkest winter so nice to be outside listening to NZ tunes and sitting by the fire. Had lots of veges to put in it, which we wrapped up, put on top and the covered up with earth again.. then sat round the bonfire (the other one!) had some drinks and waited. I was pretty pessimistic however, and sure enough when we dug it up it was all warm but raw! Just not hot enough and don't think we got the timing right. Ah well, we took it all inside and stuck it in the oven. And people were pretty drunk by that stage and didn't seem to mind too much, they all went on about "Wai-Tang-ee Wang-ee Hang-ee Daya lotot though! And the maggi onion soup and reduced cream dip I made was a total hit! No one could believe how simple it was too. So, although it didn't quite go as planned, had a great Waitangi Day (well, we did it a day early seeing as it was the weekend) in London, think I managed to share a bit of my culture with everyone, although I do feel like I let the team down a bit!
So yeah, whats comin up? Off to Nottingham this weekend, be great to see everyone and hang out at the Sumac Centre where I worked last summer. And after talking to Amy gonna book the Eurostar train and go to Paris for the weekend next month when her dad and sister are over, so got another international trip to look forward to!
Will sign off there.. oh, I got me-self another digital camera off a trading site over here, cheapish and goes fine - actually got it off a guy from Chch! So going to try post more pic's soon.
Love ya's miss ya's write me your news!
claire x
# posted by claire @ 6:42 AM 
