This is the closest I'll get to the Olympics...

I can't believe it's only been a month since my last post! I couldn't even remember what I wrote about so I had to re-read it!

As usual, there have been highs and lows in the past four weeks; the lows being the same old Mo-Town being shit boring except for Friday nights, but at least the highs are different! 

So what's happened since last time? I basically moped around for a week after the Monmouth School rowing camp.. the weather was atrocious and I couldn't muster any motivation to go outside to do anything except to buy £1 frozen pizzas from the super market.. Sam was on Paddywagon in Ireland with his mates from Oz and Andy was skiing in France so I was left alone.

I eventually met up with Andy in London for the final weekend of term break and despite him being in London on about six different occaisons, had never actually seen any of the place! Our first port of call was Buckingham Palace, then Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Yes.. all that mandatory touristy bullshit.... but you gotta do it.

Next came something a little more unusual... we walked through Green Park and were amazed at all the squirrels out! Andy happened to have a packet of gummy bears open, so, I'm sure you can picture what happened... for those of you who can't, have a look at this.

Then came something even more surprising! Everyone who has seen Fenton chasing deer through Richmond  Park would have had exactly the same reaction as me... A woman had let her dog off of it's lead in the park and it had decided to chase after one unfortunate little squirrel. The lady ran after screaming at the dog in vain hope it would stop. All I heard was a woman crying "FENTON! OH JESUS CHRIST!". Andy and I were in hysterics as this little grey furball was hurtled through the air, limbs flailing!

Oh Jesus Christ!

The very first time the three of us were in London was to go to a party at Walkabout in Sheppard's Bush. On our stumble back home that night we stopped in at a pizza shop.. we thought it was absolutely amazing and the best pizza we'd ever eaten! We weren't sure if this was just because we were a little socially lubricated or if it was actually amazing, so we headed back to the little pizza shop on Bayswater Road which we now know is called Mr Pumpernick. We ordered a large double pepperoni and true to expectations, it was bloody good! Seriously guys. It's about 5 minute's walk from Sheppard's Bush station towards Bayswater. It's worth the detour, and even better if you are in the vicinity! 

The rest of the night was filled with the usual... things Mummy doesn't really want to read about..

The next day we continued on the tourist path - we headed to 221B Baker Street to solve a couple of mysteries. Or Andy did at least; learning that Sherlock Holmes never actually existed. This was followed by a short ride on the Tube up to Abbey Road to the famed Zebra Crossing - backing up traffic as we pose, lamely trying to recreate the Beatles' album cover.

Our visit to this area of London was really for one reason - the above were actually distractions from the true mission - Lords; the Home of Cricket. Unfortunately, the weather packed in as we arrived, so we called it quits for the day and hid inside Starbucks for about two hours until the rain eased off.

The next day was considerable more successful as the Lord shone down on Middlesex as they took on Durham. It wasn't exactly a cracker of a match, but a few England test players featured - Strauss, Collingwood, Onions and Mustard (yes...)

That night we decided to be incredibly frugal and slept at the airport before we picked up boarders the following morning. WORST. DECISION. EVER. It was a horrible night; I had next to no sleep and had to keep buying food at the coffee shop so we could sit on their seats - the only couch in the whole airport.

That's London over until tomorrow for Six60, so I'll truck on with the rest of the details. It's basically been rowing and swimming, tennis and cricket lessons with the prep school. Last Sunday I was at Dorney Lake with the senior rowing squad as they competed in their first 2000 metre regatta of the season - the build up to National Schools in three weeks and Henley in 7 weeks. The 1st VIII came fifth in the final - very commendable considering the River Wye looked more like Wellington Harbour in a howling gale rather than the serene stretch it had been in March - there was no water time at all, so this was literally the second outing this crew had together.

It also happened to be my 18th on Sunday so when I got home at 11pm, Andy, Sam and Sam's mate Matt AKA "MALLEN" sprinted off to the pub for a couple of birthday brews - the first legal ones of the year! We had the Monday off since it was a public holiday so there were laughs all into the morning - only to be ended (for me anyway) when I copped one in the nether regions from Mal playing indoor cricket. With a hard ball. Lesson learnt... for the night!

No regattas on this weekend so Andy and I are headed to London again for Six60 on Saturday night. The fourth show of their world tour, and there are going to be familiar faces for both of us, so we'll all catch up afterwards! Sam isn't coming this weekend because, in true Sam style, he was too late.

"Dude. Have you got your Six60 ticket yet? They'll probably sell out"

"Nah I reckon it'll be sweet as. I'll get them in a couple of weeks."

The next day...

"Dude. Six60 just sold out. Did you get your ticket?"

"F*************************K"

Some parts of this are true.

Anyway, that's tomorrow night so we'll be hitting it up hard with the rest of the kiwis in London.

Talk soon
exohexoh