Random thoughts Wednesday

Last Sunday our new lodger arrived. It hasn’t been a full week since she’s been here, but I have to say that everything has been going quite well so far. She loves her new room and seems to be adjusting quite well. She also seems to get along very well with JJ. They knew each other, but not that well.

This Sunday it’s my birthday and I’m having a few friends over our place on Saturday. It’s not going to be a massive party, just some friends meeting for drinks. What better way to spend a birthday than with a massive hangover, right? I’m also planning on offering some nibbles / finger food. It’s been a while since I last organised something like that. I hope it goes well and people will have fun. Typically, I learnt today that there are planned underground engineering works this weekend and by tube station will be closed! Fortunately, the one before my stop will be open. It causes a bit of inconvenience, but I hope not too much and people will attend.

Recently, there was an offer on Amazon, about a book published by the eggheads of the TV show QI. I had to buy it. I just love trivial knowledge. How can you progress in life not knowing that kangaroos have three vaginas? Or ignoring the fact that earning more than £14,000 a year puts you in the 4% richest people of the world? Talking about perspective…

Speaking of Amazon (wow, this turns out to be an advertisement for them), I was happy to learn that they joined forces with other colossal companies like Google and Facebook against cancer, forming a collaboration with British charity ‘Cancer Research UK’. Although I wasn’t able to get lots of information on this matter, it appears that a new smartphone application will be released soon that helps the battle versus cancer. We’ll see…

Ea(s)ter Weekend.

I hope you all had a nice Easter break (for those of you who had one)! For me it was a nice long weekend, but not Easter. The Greek Orthodox celebrates Easter the following weekend. So, technically, for me, it’s Good Wednesday today, but of course I didn’t mind the days off from work. They were a nice much needed break.

We did organise a small gathering on Sunday to celebrate (don’t ask me what exactly)! We invited 8 people over, mostly Greek. Poor JJ had to put up with that. Unfortunately, he had to work till the afternoon, so the invitation was for early dinner. I spent the morning cleaning the place and cooking. I did food for more people than invited, as the custom commands. JJ prepared a potato salad the night before and I made a tray of red sauce baked meatballs, sausages, 2 chickens and a variety of boiled vegetables, salads, dips etc. When inviting people over for dinner, I can’t help it but cook for at least twice as many.

Now you can see the duckie, now...

The evening went smoothly. We laughed a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot. Among the guests, there was a four year old girl demanding our attention. So, we were taking turns to entertain, play with her. I really don’t know how people do it. Maybe I’m too selfish but I’m not sure I could have a child. For a few hours having one can be a blast. Permanently having one must be so much harder. JJ played with her a lot. The language barrier wasn’t really a problem. She’s learning now how to speak English and will attend a grammar school next September. However, that didn’t mean that she didn’t fell in love with JJ and his games.


I think that the guests liked our food. There was a lot of it left, but that was expected. The house is still full, especially with cakes and chocolates. We had bought some for the guests, but they brought even more. It was bliss though. I spent all day yesterday on the sofa with JJ watching DVDs and munching!

We had an extra reason to celebrate. Earlier last week I gave notice to our guest to leave. He was starting to get into our nerves with his constant whining, dramas and questions. He was by far the most tiring guest I ever had. I did allow him to stay a week more than originally agreed, so my conscience is at ease. He’s now staying at a hotel waiting to get approved to move to a flat he found. So, since last Thursday he’s gone!!! It’s so nice having the house just to ourselves again after three weeks!

Road trip

As narrated at my previous posts, we had guests staying over at our place. They were here for a total of 12 days, which were more than enough to visit the most important monuments, museums and central areas of London, especially at the pace they were running around. So, we decided that it would be nice if they could travel a bit outside the Capital to see Britain’s countryside. We rented a nice cool car (Audi A1) that JJ would drive and made plans about which places to visit.

The first day we spent in Warwickshire. We drove up M40 and firstly visited the Warwick Castle. I hadn’t been there before but I was told it was nice. I found it more than that. The Castle sits on the edge of the hill next to Warwick overlooking the Avon River. It was built in the 11th century and a symbol of power for many years. Now it is run by Mme Tussaud’s and a visitor can take a glimpse of the way of life in the castle. As you can see it is beautifully preserved and the views from the tower are breath taking. I highly enjoyed the experience.

The entrance to the Castle

The views from the high tower

The cage they used to lock people

                                   Henry VIII                                                      A guard

After spending a couple of hours at the Castle we decided to visit the village. However, it was getting slightly late, the weather wasn’t very good and since it was Sunday evening the place looked a bit miserable and deserted. I think that on a bright sunny day the architecture of the village would be sufficiently portrayed and its beauty more apparent. We did pay a visit to the medieval Church of St. Mary’s that’s prominent in the village.

After Warwick we drove down to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Stratford-Upon-Avon is much bigger than Warwick. There’s a lovely big pedestrianized high street where the Shakespeare museum and house are located. When we arrived there, the museum was closed but we did take some pictures of the house and walked around the area. Unfortunately it started raining, a lot! We got drenched on the way to the car. While driving back, it seemed like buckets of water were being thrown on our windshield. Fortunately the motorway wasn’t very busy and drivers were careful. It’s so dangerous going on high speed on such conditions. We arrived home safe and sound though.

Shakespeare's house

The next day we drove to Oxford. One of the girls studied there many years ago and we had to pay a visit. The weather was good and we enjoyed walking around. I hadn’t been there either. I’ve been to Cambridge many times but not to Oxford. The latter is quite bigger and the university buildings are distributed in the City and not joined together like Cambridge.  However, the grandeur and history of the place is obvious.

Oxford

On the way back from Oxford, we stopped at Windsor. It’s one of my favourite places outside London. I love the old train station and walking around the high street or towards Eton. Unfortunately, once again we arrived late and there was a drizzle. Not many people were around and the place looked a bit gloom.

My guests left yesterday! I believe they had an amazing time and I’m very happy for that. I’ll probably see them soon on my visit to my hometown, this holiday season.

Oxford

Guests

Sometimes having guests can be a pain. Especially when they are being difficult, not appreciating the effort you put to make them have a great time and having a complaint about almost everything. I think most people and some point had guests like that over.

Luckily that is not the case for me now. The girls arrived as expected Friday night. I’ve known them for many years and I knew that they can be a bit peculiar about their eating or living habits. However, they’ve pleasantly surprised me.  They’ve been so happy and excited to be in London and delighted with everything. They loved my new living arrangements and the room me and JJ prepared for them. They’ve also loved JJ whom they met for the first time.

a random encounter at Tower of London

Since, I’m not working during the weekend I decided to show them around. I tried to take them to as many places as possible since I know my way around the city by now and they would benefit from having a local ‘guide’. On Saturday we started with Notting Hill and Portobellon Road Market. From there I took them to the city centre and we walked in places around Regent Street, Carnaby Street, Soho, Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the pedestrian bridge of Embankment overlooking Big Ben and the London Eye.

The spice shop at Portoballo Market

On Sunday we started from London Bridge going west towards Tower Bridge, Tower Hill, St. Catherine’s Docks and then returned to Monument and St. Pauls. From there we took the tube to Holborn to walk around Covent Garden and then we headed towards Westminster to finish our walk through the South Bank Christmas Fair around BFI and National Theatre.

 W

Charring Cross Station

 

All these are quite a few destinations and I have to admit that we did walk the past two days a lot! However, they’ve highly enjoyed it or this is how it looks like! I’ve tried to infuse them some of the love I have for the country and the city. I’ve told them stories of the great London fire, the notorious Henry VIII or various other little bits of history I know. London can be a fascinating city and it’s nice to be reminded of that through the eyes of a tourist.

One of the girls had never been to London before and she doesn’t generally travel abroad much. I think she’s only been to Finland once many years ago. She can’t speak any English. She simply loves the experience though. She must have taken around 400 photos during these two days only. She takes pictures of EVERYTHING! It’s quite funny! What’s even funnier are the ‘conversations’ she’s having with JJ. She can understand only some English words from movies and TV series. She is quite extravert though, so she’s trying to talk to JJ using body and sign language. They do  enjoy themselves.

St. Paul's

Busy like a bee…

I had visitors staying over for the past days. For me and my housemate, that is not great news. We frequently have people coming and going and we enjoy having them. We laugh about creating a guest log to know when we are booked and for how long. Of course we enjoy some people more than others. That mostly depends (apart from how much we like them) on how dependant or independent they are, whining about everything and tiring they can be.

The people we had now visiting, used to live in London for a long time which means that they knew how to commute in the city, had their own friends to see and things to do. That was a huge relief since I am getting closer to my exams and I am spending lots of time studying (or sitting on top of my laptop trying to concentrate to study). However, we were meeting each evening to go out. We went to a nice restaurant in central London, got drunk in an amazing Greek restaurant in South London (that was an amazing Greek-South African night), had Persian food and went to a party on Saturday night. Yes, I am not complaining. We were busy.

Especially the Greek restaurant night was great. A South African friend of my housemate took us there. I don’t normally go to Greek restaurants and I don’t know which ones are good. He used to live close to it and was a regular customer. There were 9 of us (4 South Africans and 5 Greeks). What I loved about the place was the fact that it was slightly rough, a family business run by the cook and his daughter being the waitress. It didn’t have a menu and the only option you have is between a vegetarian and a non vegetarian option. The difference between the two is simply the main course (vegetarian moussaka vs meat) since all side dishes (a dozen of them served freely) are vegetarian traditional Greek dishes. We had lots of retsina (white resinated wine) and stayed there for more than three hours. We must have had a bottle each and we laughed so much. I highly recommend this place if you want great food but you don't mind the slightly bad service and decoration.

The last one of our visitors left yesterday. Now, I am back to my normal routine and I’m trying to prepare myself for my exams which will take place the following Saturday, on the 13th of November. Unfortunately, there is nothing else I can think about. With my visitors and everything happening I’ve stopped running and going to the gym. I didn’t have the time or the energy. I’m also eating a lot, taking breaks from studying to nibble on everything there is in the house! I’m getting rounder by the day. In addition, I feel like I’m losing my social skills. It’s like when you watch some hours of TV and you simply can’t sustain a proper conversation. I have to pass my exams the first time I take them because it is bad for my mental and physical health.

On a much happier note, I’m thinking that I’m off to Copenhagen the weekend after. I’ve still haven’t realised that I’m going. I haven’t checked tourist attractions, restaurants, the weather etc as I normally do. I’ll probably do that some days before travelling.

I just love my bed…

It’s so nice sleeping in your own bed after spending the week sleeping on an air mattress in the living room! I am not complaining though. The air mattress is nice. You have to love the squeaking sounds and rough surface, or sleeping so close to the floor which you actually hug while sleeping.I was also able to wake up without having to sneak into the bathroom for a quiet shower and I got dressed in my room and not in the kitchen! I’m so happy for small everyday tastes of happiness!Yes, that means that my guests left me and my housemate in what now appears as a very big and empty flat! Going from 7 people back to 2, is something we’ll have to get used to again. It was very nice having them around though.

For the last day of my two friends staying here (the family had left earlier in the morning) I took the day off work. I wanted to be with them and show them around the town a bit. First thing in the morning we headed to the Old Spitafields Market. We had there an amazing breakfast and spent the rest of the morning browsing through stuff:


From there we headed to Canary Wharf. That’s a fairly new developed area where the big money is now being played. It was quite fun, because we arrived there around lunch time and most of the suit dressed people were storming to get something to eat.


Changing the scenery completely we headed to Greenwich. I just love that area. I like its nautical character and the observatory:


The day ended with a visit to Westfields and dinner in a local pub.

Yes, it was a very busy day. I don’t know how many miles we covered. The girls loved it though (I think) and I had a very nice break from work. Unfortunately, now comes the part where I’ll have to clean / tidy my place and catch up with stuff I haven’t done all week. I still have magazine articles I want to go through, comic books to read, study a bit, go to the gym and go running. My Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived 3 days ago (my parents’ birthday present) and I’ve only opened the box once just to take a very quick look at it. I haven’t even charged it.

That for me is outrageous!

Queen of the desert

Yesterday I met my friends after work centrally. I took them to Chinatown to try the ‘local’ Chinese cuisine and then we headed to the Palace Theatre to watch ‘Priscilla: Queen of the Desert’ as planned. I had booked the tickets two weeks in advance and we had fairly good sits in the stalls. In general the play was brilliant. The story is not something phenomenon. It’s just a road trip of 3 drag queens. However the music is very uplifting and the actors have nice voices.The thing that really is captivating is the costumes! I have no idea who made them, but to be honest they are a work of art! You have to see them to believe them:



To good thing is that the girls loved it. It was a big West End production that mesmerized you. On the way back I took them to see ‘Waxy O’Connors’ pub which used to be a church. There is inside even the tree that used to be outside the church’s entrance.



By the time we got back the family was already in the bedroom trying to put little ‘C’ to sleep, so I didn’t see them at all!

I’m now thinking today’s course of action…

Arrivals…

I’ve always enjoyed having people over. My house is always open for my friends. I love to have them staying for dinner, coffee, just a movie or a board game. I loved the fact that while I was studying my house was right in city centre, close to the university and I had people passing by all the time.

I’ve been trying to do the same while I’m in London. I always invite my friends from Greece to come. I believe it’s an opportunity not to miss since I can accommodate and provide free tours of the city.

So, this weekend I have one of my best friends coming to London with her sister. Her sister is quite younger and has never travelled outside Greece. I hope it will be as amazing for her. They had this trip planned since before Christmas.

Lovely London in March

I have mentioned about them coming a while ago. What I think I haven’t mentioned before is that my housemate (‘hm’) also have people coming. She’s having her brother, his girlfriend and their two-year old daughter with them!!!!

OK, I’ll help you count:
Two of us already living in that house: 2 +
My friend and her sister: 2 +
The family: 3
Total: 7!

So, we will be 7 of us living in the same roof. My flat is not that big. Thankfully it’s a two bedroom, two bathrooms flat. Having two bathrooms I hope means less queues. The family will go into one room, the sisters will go to the other and the permanent residents (us) will stay in the living room.

Different version of a Full House

I’m not worried as much for the number of people living with us as I am worried with the two-year old. I’ve heard that she’s pretty spoiled and can be a pain in the ass. She’s used to do things like waking up in two in the morning screaming demanding her milk or toys. I know how to handle adults but I am not used to spending so many days with a toddler. Please tell me you have some tips to give me!
(I just hope that not knowing me and the beard will scare her a bit to be more well behaved). OK, don't get me wrong. I love children (as long as we keep our safe distances)...

My friend’s been here before but her sister hasn’t and she would like to see as many London sights as possible. That means that their day will start early and they will try to cover each day as much “distance” as possible. I’ll be going to work as normal and I’ll be meeting them after that. I might only take one day off next week for a day trip or something.

I’ve booked tickets for them to go and see Priscilla – Queen of the desert. They wanted to see a big West End musical and I haven’t seen this one. I heard it’s quite enjoyable.

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On a slightly different subject following my birthday,
I bought yesterday the UK based gay magazine called Attitude. The theme of this month’s issue is about getting old. There is a huge article about how a ‘gay man’s life starts at 30’! I haven’t read it yet but I’m quite interested in going through it. Knowing the magazine I know it’s not going to be top journalism or something to think about for long. However, I’d like to see their point of view.

Even before reading the article I know that this statement contains true facts. I truly believe that the next decade of my life will be great. Let’s wait and see…