Went to all the various markets in and around Brick lane yesterday. We started out around Wentworth Street which was crowded but otherwise a little underwhelming. We did buy some stuff that we needed – some sunnies for me and a double adapter – but everything else was a just a bit ordinary. Maybe if you put a lot of time into it you could find some half decent clothes buried in there somewhere, but there are easier ways.
As we made our way through Spittlefields towards Brick Lane things began to pick up. Just outside these markets we came across a furniture shop with probably the coolest furniture I’ve ever seen (Elemental on Brushfield Street). There was a low, iron coffee table with train wheels! And this massive office desk with iron draws which when you opened and closed them made a sound like a robot farting. In the actual markets were good clothes, food and artwork, and even bits of old circuit board made into cufflinks, lamps, clocks and coasters! Made me wish I hadn’t thrown away all my Pentium IIs. There was heaps of other stuff we didn’t get time to see, including the Museum of Mechanics or something, which looked interesting. We’ll have to pick it up next time.
We then met up again with our old friend who’s living in France and the two very nice people she’s staying with in London. We had some spectacular curries (my first vindaloo!) then took a strole down actual Brick Lane. This is more your strokes-of-retro-genius hidden amongst the neatly-stacked-piles-of-junk market. For instance there was an old Atari console with some cartridges (space-invaders, pong, pacman, all the classics). I don’t know if it was a 2600, 2800 or what but it was woodgrain (!!) with big toggle switches. I could have had it all for £30 but I don’t have the time nor the space to take proper care of it (playing with it every day etc).
Welcome to my first entry in a long time. Everything’s been pretty hectic in the last few months. I guess I’ve got some gaps to fill in. We’re settled down now into a little flat. I’ve got a job that I’m pretty happy with. But lets start with the best bits first.
Our Contiki Tour
We left London not sure exactly what to expect on a bus full of randoms. As we crossed over the Thames we got our first real postcard view of London with a handful of world-class landmarks plus sunrise and fog. Pretty soon though the fog got so thick we could hardly make out the trees by the side of the road and everything else was just white. We caught a ferry from Dover, where we saw those famous white cliffs, to France (Calais I think). For the time being we were just passing through, bound for Amsterdam.
We arrived there at nightfall, just in time to take a cruise down the canals. This gave us a great view of all the beautiful architecture, complete with 4 storey houses literally leaning on each other. The tour then took us on an … err … enlightening strole through one of Amsterdam’s more famous districts. We also saw the Heineken brewery and the Van Gough museum and bunches of other cool stuff while we were there.
The next major stop was Switzerland. We jumped straight off the bus and onto the gondolas that took us up to the top of Mt Pilatus, 7000 ft, where our hotel awaited us. That ride was arguably the single most amazing part of the trip. As we passed through forests of snow-covered pines it looked just like Narnia. The view from the top was amazing, just a sea of clouds with large chunks of mountain jutting out. Unfortunately the gondolas stopped running much sooner than we expected so we didn’t get as much time in the snow as we would have liked. So most of our free day in Switzerland was spent exploring the city of Lucerne which was ok, but a bit of a snooze fest compared to the fun we could have been having in the snow. Anyway we plan on getting back there eventually to do it properly. Contiki’s good for that – getting a taste of a few different places so you know what you want to come back and spend time on. Oh and there was this Swissco thing which I would only recommend to those looking to spend a lot of money on alcohol and possibly pick up.
Well I guess that’s about enough about our tour for now. More on that later.
In other news: Woohoo!! We just scored free tickets to go see the filming of an episode of The IT Crowd 
We applied for them online a couple weeks ago. There’s apparently going to be another episode with Noel Fielding in it and we put him down as our favourite comedian so they may have chosen us for that one.
Well we’re in London! And we’re absolutely loving it. All the little houses are so cute. Every street is like a little villiage of its own, just like you see in all the photos and movies. The shopping and fashion – something I’ve never given a rats about before – is pretty incredible. So much variety in everything. So much good stuff to wear. We went to Harrods yesterday but didn’t get far cos the place was packed (was a Saturday). Didn’t even get to try a Krispy Kream but will be doing so ASAP!
We’ll probably go on a bus tour today and see all the touresty stuff like the Bridge, the Eye, the Palace, maybe do the Monopoly tour. The weather’s been kind too – sunny both yesterday and today. I’d heard that you can’t feel the warmth of the sun on your face in England, which thankfully isn’t true. We’re not finding the cold too bad yet either. It is kind of a novelty though, so time will tell. Anyway there’s only one internet access point in our hotel and I’m hogging it. More to come later.
Went to Rob and Viv’s combined birthday party on the weekend. It was a fancy dress do with a “Heroes and Villians” theme. I went as Steve Zissou from The Life Aquatic, which some mistook to be Papa Smurf. That’s a fair call. Since you could go as your own hero (and because the similarities were too convenient to pass up), Aimes went as the very beautiful Meg White. Rob also made a pretty convincing Bernard from Black Books.
Went out last night to see Gerling play at the Zoo. It was unbelievably awesome! They played a good mix of new and old stuff, the absolute highlight being the encore – Ghost Patrol!! Anyone who’s never seen them or doesn’t know who they are should get out and see them next time they’re in town. They’re a mad live show, doesn’t realy matter what you’re into. They were supported by Dappled Cities Fly whose insane dynamics and accents earned them instant respect in my books.
We met up with a couple from the Goldcoast. They were realy friendly and we ended up all staying out till the 3am lockout, just talking and experiencing the wierdness of other people in general. We swapped numbers and stuff so hopefully we’ll see them again.
The only regret of the night was that I left without getting one of those wicked Gerling benies.
Also discovered a new band a couple of weeks ago. A friend of a friend described them as “cooky pop”. That got me interested, and as soon as I hit their website I fell in love with their artwork. One of their album covers features one robot handing love to another on floppy disk! And the track listing takes me back to the good old days of BASICA on the TRaSh-80.
Musically they sound a bit like Grandaddy but with one major difference: Whereas Grandaddy will throw in shameless pop-candy to relieve the otherwise brooding nature of their songs, Sekiden tend to feature it more as a main ingredient. This makes for some pretty catchy songs, you just have to be in the right head-space to appreciate them.
They were supported by the Zoobombs, a nutzoid Japanese “funk hardcore” band. Nuff said.
