Aimes, St Pauls and the Millenium Bridge
Not to say that things aren’t going well here, the house is keeping us entertained, if a little crowded and noisy at times, and both of us are coping better than expected with work. Think we've had up to 20 people staying at our place some Saturday nights, but somehow it really doesn't feel as crowded as all that. We'll give it another couple of months, before finding something a little more intimate in which to hibernate for the winter.
Hobbes, Aggie and Kate don the Green & Gold for the World Cup
For the moment Summer is treating us very well (even if the pool took on a dark green complexion and had to be deflated). A few more BBQ's, many beers on the street outside the pub until 9pm and even a trip to 'the beach' in Shoreditch (if you try really hard you might even forget you just standing in a sandy carpark...). It also seems that summer has brought a real influx of people to this otherwise grey city, think we have visitors just about every second weekend until the end of September - which we are really looking forward to!
A Wall in Spitalfields
Aimes is now a full time employee, having started a job with Big Ken (Livingstone, i presume, the Mayor of London for those non-Londoners) working on some high profile, big budget projects which should keep her entertained into the new year. This will also allow us to start lining up those escapes out of London that we are craving, with Wales, Barcelona, Octoberfest and Austria on the not too distant horizon.
Rohie, Gerg and Hobbes - Cuban Festival, Southwark
So what else has been happening, well the past month has been pretty much dominated by the World Cup, probably even more so than at home… there was very little coverage of anything else for the whole month, even Wimbledon and surprisingly the poms being beaten by the Sri Lankans 5-0 in the one-dayers?
Pat & Em, Spitalfields
Aimes, 02 Festival Hyde Park
That was of course until England lost, after which the coverage basically ceased to exist (other than the Ronaldo bashing) and the St George Flags made a very swift disappearance. Not that it wasn’t expected, the Guardian front page on the day of the match proclaiming “Let the Misery Begin” – the poms really are an optimistic lot! Though the police vans speeding in every direction at the conclusion of the Portugal match were yet more evidence of what the English can’t avoid to include in the football & beer mix…
Festival Peoples - Aimes, Em, Pat, Bec, Brett
Flaming Lips, 02 Festival
The football-roos doing much better than expected resulted in a few opportunities to give the bundy rum shirt another outing and also a few excuses to get off work early. And it was all looking so promising, until they came up against a bunch of Europeans whom gravity seemed to regularly get the better of!
Rides
Dodgems
Also got into the summer festival action with the O2 Festival in Hyde Park. Despite that fact that the line up was a bit thin as a result of being spread over 5 days, a line up that includes Massive Attack, Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley and DJ Shadow is still pretty impressive. Massive Attack were by far the standout, due in large part to the fact that they decided to can the 100th window tracks in preference for some Blue Lines efforts notably the Hymn of the Big Wheel and Unfinished Symphony. Add in some beers and ciders in the sun and you have a pretty good Friday afternoon :)
Che Exhibition, V&A Museum
The Pool and Housemates
Not much else happening at the moment, except yet another HEAT WAVE in London (no.3 so far?), over 30 degrees for 5 days in a row – outrageous! Though the resulting hot, stinky afternoon tube rides are testament to a national aversion to deodorant and the legendary one bath a week… Looking forward to 35 tomorrow!!
Too much Fosters...
