Near Nude Street Performers, Fulham Football at Craven Cottage and a Walk through East London

God has a sense of humor.

The second that I hit "send" on my last blog, the weather instantly got better and has been sunny ever since. The past three days have been busy, to the point where my feet are literally blistered to hell because of all of the walking that I've been doing. Let me tell you about my past three days.

Friday - May 8th

I set out at about Noon on Friday with no particular ambition. I got to the tube station and decided on a whim to head to Picadilly Circus. This would turn out to be an excellent decision but more on that in a bit.

The first thing I see after I leave the tube station at Picadilly are the big bright billboards that are seen on all of the postcards. It quickly dawns on me that this area is the "tourist" area of London. There are shops galaore and there are many kiosks available to buy London specific souveniers.

The first store that I wandered into was one called Lillywhites. It was essentially London's version of Sport Chek. They had one of the biggest shoe-walls that I've ever seen. This place had shoes galore; Adidas, Nike, Diadora, Reebok, K-Swiss - You name it, they had it!

I bought a stunning pair of Nike's for 35£ (70 bucks) and immediately put them on my feet and continued walking. I should have asked for a size up, because my feet are covered in blisters now. I guess sometimes style does persevere over comfort, but I digress.

My next stop was to a major London souvenier store where I found some gifts for Julie, and they had a very impressive wall of funny t-shirts. The street also featured a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" building, and the whole street setup was eerily similar to Hollywood Boulevard in California.

I then made my way in Leciester (pronounced LESTER) Square where I was greeted by theatres, casinos and restaurants a-plenty! I found this placed called Hamburger which served me the second best burger that I've ever tasted (The best being a Double-Double from In N Out in Hollywood, CA).

I decided at Leicester Square that I wanted to go and see another movie. At this time it was around 3:00 and I didn't know what else to do. I went and saw Grand Turino, and I was extremely impressed.

After the movie I walked down to Covent Garden where there was a very lively indoor market filled with kiosks. If you proceed further into the Garden you'll notice a great big gray theatre which was showing a performance of Romeo and Juliet. In front of the theatre though is this huge area designed for street performers (more on that in a moment).

I found a three-floored pub called the Punch And Judy. It was here where I began drinking Stella and mingling with the locals. I went out onto the patio and immediately noticed a man wearing a Calgary Flames hat. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was from Calgary, he said no, and introduced himself as Marcel. He was British, and had been to Calgary on a business trip a few years ago. He introduced me to his friends Ben and David, and I chatted with them for about fifteen minutes.

I then found myself talking to Dan and Darren, two other British blokes. These guys were going to a concert and were stopping by for a few pints. Together the three of us watched the street performer.

This guy was something else! He was juggling chainsaws, and riding around on a giant unicycle. The only problem was that whenever he finished a stunt, he'd take an article of clothing off. I know. Wierd. He ended up stripping completely down to his purple briefs, and then went around to everybody with an open backpack encouraging them to give him some money.

He then climbed the stairs and came to the top of our patio, where he walked up to the three of us with an open backpack.

PERFORMER: Hey mates, any of you see my show?

DARREN: Yea, and I thought it was shit!

PERFORMER: Well obviously the other people didn't. (He shows us his backpack that has pennies, nickels, dimes, and one five pound note.)

DARREN: Oh... I think you might have 30 Quid! (Meaning, the guy barely had thirty pounds and his display of change did not impress us).

The performer walked off in disgust and tried to finagle money from other patio watchers. I found the altercation hilarious, but it was definitely one of those instances where you probably had to be there to witness the hilarity.

When Darren and Dan left, I walked to Maxwell's Steakhouse and ordered myself a 10 oz Sirloin, with onion rings and a Peroni beer. The meal probably cost me about 30£ or 60$ CDN, but it was brilliant and worth every penny.

After my scrumptious steak I took the tube to Mooregate Station where my cousin Anselm was waiting for me. I found him in a nearby pub, and together we proceeded to have a lot of fun.

My cousin (his sister) Marie joined us about a half-hour later with her college professor. He was an older fellow with gray curly hair, and it looked very old-school. I forget this man's name, but he certainly was a character and I wish I had talked to him more.

My cousin Anselm fancied one of the girls sitting next to us at our table, so being me I decided to initiate conversation with these girls. Anselm and I chatted them up for a little bit, and I got a great photo of my awesome cousin posing with four British Girls. He owes me for that one. I don't think he got any digits.

Marie kept trying to pursuade me to stay in Britain. She's an awesome girl and a really fun girl to hang out with, and I was flattered that she seemed to enjoy my company so much. She left at around 11 because she had to work, but Anselm and I headed back to Picadilly Circus. Our night was not done yet.

We found this night-club at Picadilly that was really fun! We danced a bunch, and he kept coming back to the dance floor with shots of tequila. Anybody who knows me well knows that sometimes tequila and I get in fights, and I rarely come out the winner. This night I prevailed and I didn't let tequila get the best of me.

At around 1:30 we left the club because no girls wanted to dance with Anselm! I'm kidding, I actually don't remember why left - I was probably hungry.

Nowhere good was open so we settled for a 24-hour McDonalds, and I'm happy to report that UK McDONALDS is less rubby, and their Nuggets actually tasted like chicken. I spilt ketchup on my new hoodie though, and I was not happy with myself.

We then debated our next stop. Anselm was quite keen on heading to a club called the Rainbow. He really likes to dance at clubs and apparently this one was really good. The only problem was that he didn't remember where it was, and niether of us wanted to spend all hours on a bus trying to find it. Instead he went up, and got 20 more Chicken Nuggets and we sat and chatted some more.

I want to stop here for a moment and say specifically that Anselm is a beauty, and I'm lucky to have a cousin like him. I know you'll probably read this eventually mate and I want you to know that I really enjoyed your company over these past two weeks.

Oh yeah, and he now knows what the word "broad" means.

We decided against the Rainbow and we took a double-decker bus back towards Kensington High Street. We chatted up a bar-bouncer (who's name I forget) but I remember that he was very impressed that I was a music DJ.

We finally stumbled our way back to the flat that I was staying in at around 3:30 am or so, and he crashed for three hours on the couch and I went straight to bed.

This was one of the most fun nights I've had with anybody in a long time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Saturday, May 10

My mouth felt like a speakeasy the next morning. Somehow I woke myself up at around 10:30 and visited briefly with cousin Julia and her roommate Georgie. (sp?)

After I showered, Julia and I went to a nearby coffee shop to meet up with her friend Clem. Clem and I met many years ago when I was in England with my family. I actually spent a few days with cousins Julia and Patrick a long with Clem and her family (I was 10 I think) way back in the day. It was cool to see her after so many years.

It was Julia, Clem and her friend (who's name I forget) and I sitting in a coffee shop, and I've got to give all three girls proper credit - They all have wicked style. A lot of girls in England are into wearing skirts or dresses with the black leggings underneath. I've decided that I like this look.

At that point, I parted from the girls and headed on to Craven Cottage for Premier League football!

Craven Cottage is a gorgeous facility with a ton of football history, yet it's a pain in the ass to get too! I got off the tube at Fulham Broadway, and it quickly dawned on me that I will still nowhere close to the football ground.

I'd like to thank a very patient bus driver, several pub goers and a very nice old lady for helping me arrive at the cottage. I ended up walking through a park near the River Thames in order to get to the stadium, and the walk through the park was very scenic and nice.

My first few moments at Craven Cottage were a nuisance because none of the security people were very helpful to me. I wanted to go to the team shop so one of the security guards kindly walked me towards it's vicinity. I then find out from a different security guard that I can't go in until after half-time! Arrgghh. So then I try to find my seat. Turns out that three different guards had no clue where the "Johnny Haynes Stand" was. I admit that I was quite frustrated because they kept sending me around and around until finally I spotted the gate entrance to my seats.

Any frustration quickly subsided when I finally reached my seat. I was nine rows up from the Pitch, and the weather and field were pristine. I got some excellent photos of warmup, and once the match started I instantly became a proud Fulham FC fan.

COME ON YOU WHITES! That was yelled often during this 90 minute display of brilliance. Aston Villa came in as the favored team, but they looked stunned by Fulham's tenacious defence.

The first goal of the match came in the sixth minute, when a Fulham striker recieved a Penalty Kick and he fired the ball low right corner. The diving keeper nearly stopped it, but it rolled in for a 1-0 Fulham lead.

Aston Villa tied it in the 16th minute with a very nice passing sequence down the right side of the pitch. Villa has a very young, fast team and they showed that to perfection on this particular rush.

It was 1-1 at half, and I admit that I was worried that I wouldn't see another goal. Boy was I wrong.

Fulham scored in the first minute of the second half (46th minute) on kind of a flukey low shot that seemed to trickle through the keeper's legs. They would then add another in the 61st minute to ice the match at 3-1.

My new favourite footballer is Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey who I understand is a staple on the US World Cup team. I now have a reason to keep track of soccer, and it's safe to say that I am now a Fulham fan.

I went into the gift-shop after the match and I searched frantically for a Fulham jersey, and I was unable to find one. But I think I'm going to buy one online and that will be from my Aunt Trissa who kindly gave me some money to spend on my trip.

I did buy two match programs. One for me, and one for Peter Schaad. It's too bad he supports Villa because they got their asses kicked!

The rest of my Saturday was actually quite uneventful.

I left Craven Cottage and walked towards Putney Bridge. I'm sad to say that it didn't look too familiar to me. My grandpa used to live moments away from Putney Bridge tube station, and I had trouble remembering the exact whereabouts. I bussed and tubed my way back to the flat, where I called Julie and relaxed for a bit.

Cousin Julia was out at a party until about 8:30, so I decided to set out again to Picadilly Circus. I regret to inform that Saturday was much less fun than Friday.

Everybody at the Circus was dressed to kill and ready for a night on the town. I was all set to go back to the pubs in Covent Garden and grab a nice meal somewhere, but everything was just so bloody busy. It would have taken me forty minutes to even get a table at any place that I wanted to eat at, and the Punch and Judy was just too crowded.

To be honest I felt lonely. Nothing seemed to be working out. It was the first and only time on this entire trip that I was genuinely sad to be by myself. I watched all of these well-dressed people walking around, heading to their plays and nightclubs, and I really wished that I had Julie with me so that I could show her this part of London. I don't think I've ever missed anybody quite as much I missed her right then and there.

I killed some time at a Casino for about an hour and had no luck there (Don't worry Dad, I used my own money and no one elses). Luckily cousin Julia texted me around 10 and invited me back to the flat just to hang out and watch DVD's.

The most rewarding part of my night was watching an English show called Extra's with Julia and Georgie.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Sunday May 10


Sunday was tremendous. It was tremendous, yet so simple.

Julia and I had lunch at this burger place that was dedicated to the Rolling Stones. We had a really good conversation about her work, and I left that meal feeling very optimistic about my day. Any feelings of lonely were officially gone!

I went to the Highstreet Kensington Tube Station and I bought a box of chocolates for my Uncle Sean. It was the least I could do for him being so hospitable and so financially friendly to me regarding this trip. I bought a birthday present for Julie as well, but I can't mention those specifics here.

I then took the tube to Liverpool St, caught a bus, and met my cousin Nicola and her baby girl (Sophie) at Queensbridge. We walked back to her place and then met up with her husband Rob.

The four of us drove into town and parked near their church. We then took a really interesting walk through a trendy, vintage area of East London. There were street performers, and a ton of panhandlers trying to sell bikes, shoes, dvd's and vintage clothing.

Apparently this area of London is known as kind of a "seedy" zone where a lot of gang stuff occurs. I could definintely see that by some of the run-down buildings and shady characters, but all-in-all I found the atmosphere to be quite chill and fun. I know that Dan P would have been right at home in this type of spot with all of the uniqueness.

We then walked through the Bangladesh neighborhood, and I've never been so overwhelmed with smells of Curry before in my life. It was so terrific. The scents of Indian Cuisine ingulfed my nose, and it wasn't long until the three of us (not Sophie, she can't talk) agreed on Curry for supper.

We found a pub near their church and we had a pre-church beer. We then went to an evening service which was really nice. The message was simple yet effective. The Hymns were all very old, but they were catchy, and I admit that I felt really happy to be taking communion with my cousin Nicola and my new pal Rob.

Afterwards we came back to their house and I showed them some of my radio work. We ate some of the most delicious curry I've ever tasted (North Battleford needs a Curry place asap!) and then we watched some Benny Hill on TV.

They went to bed at 10:30, and I've been blogging since then. The time is now 12:10 am, and it's time for bed. Only one day in England remains.

I will be meeting with my friend Heidi from Firwood, where we'll grab lunch and then see some more sites, and then I'm off to Tonbridge for my farewell dinner with my Uncle.

For those that actually read this whole thing - Thank you. It means more to me than you even know.