Hastings, England

Pics:

1) 229 Old London Road, Dad's first residence

2) Me at the Channel

3) The East Hill lift

4) The beach of Hastings

5) The Old Town

6) Hastings Castle

7) Great view for fish n' chips

8) The pier

9) My feet in ocean water, that's right...I took a dip haha

10) Me on the beach

11) The pier close to sundown

Now that the kids are back in school, it's dead at work. So instead of working six days a week like normal, I'm now only working 5! Because of this, I got two days off in a row, so I took the chance to make a day trip down to Hastings on the Southern coast of England, where my Dad was born. Turns out it's actually straight across the channel from Dieppe, France where Jordan and I were not too long ago. It was a beautiful sunny day, such a relaxing atmosphere (great compared to the bustling, tube strike streets of London...not sure if you heard, but there was an Underground strike, much like the one in New York which brought on all sorts of problems for Londoners...luckily for the worst of it, I was in Hastings!!!!) The beach was beautiful, the people were actually friendly, and I just had an overall great day. It's a real fishing city, and most of the touristy stuff is along the beachfront. They've got 3 minigolf courses, go-carts, swan paddle boats, a miniture train like the one in Galaxyland, fisherman's museum, etc. I even dipped my feet in the COLD ocean water in the evening. I did get stranded in Hastings (missed the last train to London), but luckily I was at a nice neighbourhood pub and the bartender offered me his couch. He was a fellow traveller, and knew what it was like to get stuck somewhere, so that was nice. Other than that, the mini-trip went off without a hitch. One week until my last day at Planet Hollywood, then it'll be time to travel again!!!!

Random London

So I know I really haven't given very many updates lately, and I do apologize. The reason being simply the fact that life isn't that interesting at the moment. I've been working 6 days a week, I've kind of fallen into a Londoner routine (ie. catching the tube, putting my iPod on, ignoring everyone, sleeping, eating etc.) Not the most glamourous life in the world, but that's alright. The good thing is working so much has kept me out of trouble, so I haven't been spending a lot. In the meantime though, my friend Kirsty arrived from Canada (she's living with me), a friend from high school was here (Jenna), and just yesterday another friend, Tom, has arrived. He's on his way to Slovakia to go to theatre school, but decided to visit Kirsty and I (and brought me root beer and Crown Royal..yeah!!) So here's some random pics, hope you like! PS: also found a Canada store yesterday, bought some KD, Mr. Noodles, Barq's Root Beer, and Twizzlers. Very Nice!! If I don't get the pics up right away, I apologize. My battery's almost dead in my camera, will do what I can!

Pics:

1) View from my tube station at work

2) Planet Hollywood London (work)

3) The 'Gurkan,' neatest modern architecture in London business district

4) Kirsty and I at our neighbourhood pub, the Prospect of Whitby

5) Me at Tower Bridge

6) Kirsty and I on Tower Bridge

7) Jenna and I

8) My Street

9) My shopping at Canada Shop: KD, Mr. Noodles, Twizzlers, Barqs

10) Me making KD

11) Tom and I with CR and A&W

12) St. Paul's Cathedral at night

13) St. Paul's Cathedral taken from Millenium Bridge at night

Visiting family in Stevenage and Cambridge

A few weeks ago I went to visit my Dad's Aunt Jean and his cousins in Stevenage. It was really great seeing them all again, I haven't seen them since I was a little boy when they came to Canada. And I tell ya, I haven't drank so much tea in my life!!! It was really nice, we had a good visit, Rob and I went up to Cambridge for the day, took a 'punt' boat tour (punt is like the gondola's in Venice, or similar at least). Cambridge is beautiful, I think even better than Oxford.

Pics:

1) King's College Chapel in Cambridge

2) Mathematics Bridge

3) King's College

4) Mark, Aunt Jean, Simon and Rob (L-R)

5) The boys and I

6) Mark, Aunt Jean and I

My Flat

Got a place. Send me mail!!!!

Flat 10

69 Johnson Street

London, England

E1 0AQ

Random junk: Bed bugs scare, mmm Milk, haircut

This is how excitin life is. I had four big bites on my leg...got a little nervous. See the pic below. I also bought some milk when I was staying at my friend's place. I was excited, hadn't had milk in a while. And yes, I got a haircut. My ears were being overtaken with sideburns, so I thought it was time since I'm actually working somewhere.

Canada Day

Celebrated Canada Day at Trafalgar Square on the 29th. They had Alberta bison burgers, Moosehead beer, info booths for Edmonton (not Calgary haha), BC, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, etc. Played hockey against Grant Fuhr (sorta), watched a native drum group, and there was even road hockey on the big screen. Got a tatoo on my forehead that said Canadian Girls Rock, it was a good time! Then on actual Canada Day, went to Covent Garden to celebrate at the Maple Leaf. Met all kinds of crazy Canucks, had a great time!!

Pics:

1) Edmontonian guy promoting Edmonton and I (not a stereotype at all!)

2) The handshake after the final road hockey game

3) Mel (NZ) and I cheersing to Moosehead

4) The native drum group from NWT

5) I believe my first picture with mounties (mom correct me if I'm wrong....note the beer in hand)

6) My chance to score on Grant Fuhr (or so it looks...there's actually a guy in net, just can't see him)

7) He shoots, he scores!!!!!! The crowd goes wild!

8) The boards...Oil country at it's best, except in this picture is Ryan Smyth (gone), Todd Marchant (long gone), and someone else I can't tell

9) Alberta bison burgers stand

10) The crowd at Trafalgar in front of the National Gallery

11) The party at the Maple Leaf

Finished Training, still on the job hunt...

Not too much exciting news here. Yes I'm alive, no problems with the whole bomb threat thing. They were both diffused, so on one was injured or killed. It is a little unnerving though. Anyway, on a lighter note, I finished my training at Planet Hollywood tonight. On Saturday I finally work on my own, and yes, make my own tips!!! Plus I get my first paycheque tomorrow, so that's exciting too. I finally made the pound, can't wait to use my bank card tomorrow. I'm still on the house hunt, I have 3 viewings tomorrow and a few other good leads, so hopefully it happens soon. I'm staying with a friend right now in Fulham, which is a nice friendly suburb in London. Zone 2 for those of you who understand. I did go to celebrate Canada Day on Sunday in Covent Garden at the Maple Leaf, had a good time, met some great Canadians. I also went to the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes show last Friday!!! That was a great time. Finally saw the best cover band in punk music. They are extremely entertaining, because their latest album was all country music, they wear the cowboy hats, tight jeans, big belt buckles, and cowboy-like shirts. Good times indeed. They played showtunes, country, 60's music, 70's music, and even some R&B and soul. Other than that not much new, life is boringish these days cuz my travel days are over for the time being, but I'm looking forward to spending the summer in an exciting city like London. There's always a lot going on. Tour de France starts here on Sunday, but I'm working so I'll probably miss it. Might catch the end of the preliminaries on Saturday after work, but we'll see. I hope all of you are doing well, miss a lot of you (probably most actually haha!).