Farewell to Highbury
It's been too long since I last posted, and now I'm having trouble remembering what I've done the past few weeks and why its taken me so long to update this. My social life still hasn't picked up much which is a bit depressing, but there are many people much worse off than me, so I will stop with the 'whinging'. Everyone promises that the Brits change when the sun comes out. We'll see.
Now I don't really consider this whinging, but more of an observation. There is much more of an anti-American attitude in Britain than I have ever witnessed before. It's interesting, and sad and strange. I think it's part of why I'm having more trouble here than I expected -- people really dislike Americans these days. I blame Dubya. I was actually chastised earlier this week by some of my workmates for nothing majorly wrong having happened in the US since 9/11. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. It was almost like they were blaming me, or something??
Some highlights of the past 5 weeks...:
- Seeing the Flaming Lips at the Royal Albert Hall--incredible! Words cannot describe this show, but all I will say is that there were 10 santas on one side of the stage and 10 aliens on the other side of the stage - playing tamborines.
- Traveling to Bournemouth for the first May bank holiday weekend to visit Johnny M and Adrian. Spending an afternoon there on Brownsea Island, searching for red squirrels. Having lunch with Alberto and his adorable Spanish mum (a homecooked roast chicken meal - in a real home!!). Being amused by Adrian's absolute obsession with the TV-series Firefly. Pic from Brownsea island below:
- Watching the band Goldfinger at the famous Camden Electric Ballroom with Adrian.
- Witnessing Jens Lehman's penalty save against Riquelme--one of the world's best footballers--in the 90th minute, that got us into the Champion's League final for the first time in Arsenal's history.
- Grey's Anatomy finally starting to air on TV over here (yes, it's the little things...)
- Tierry Henry saying 'screw you Barcelona' and committing to stay at Arsenal for 'as long as his legs can still run'
- Receiving a free subscription to LoveFilm (the UK's equivalent to Netflix) through work.
- Getting a letter in the post letting me know I have been granted a season ticket at Arsenal's new stadium next season (!!!!!!!!!!!!).
- Wandering into Virgin Megastore on my lunch break and finding the new Snow Patrol, Grandaddy AND Pet Shop Boys albums all on the same day!
- Watching Corrie and EastEnders over tea & biscuits with my mom, who visited me for a week.
- Renting a car (a Vauxhall Astra) to drive to Devon for the weekend. Driving on the left-hand side of the road for 3 days and not killing us!
- Attending the farewell match at Highbury thanks to Johnny Harber. Words cannot descibe how amazing and how emotional it was to be a part of the celebration before the doors to Arsenal's historic stadium closed after 93 years.
Chloe's last day with Playback was Friday (sniff), so she and I went out for a few drinks to celebrate. It was so nice to actually be out with a girl again so we could laugh at snicker at the boys. Deciding to get away from Soho for a bit, we ended up going down to the Chelsea/Knightsbridge/Sloane Square area, starting off at the bar at the Mandarin Oriental, then moving on to a club called M1NT. Decor was nice, clientele were a bit pretentious, but we had some tasty cocktails and just sat back and people-watched. It seemed odd that nearly every guy was in a suit. I asked 'we're pretty far away from the city, why are all of these guys in suits?' It seemed that these were not city (banker) boys after all, but instead these were 20- and 30-something guys who actually dressed up in suits to go out for the evening! A little different from the norm, but I guess that is what we were looking for! From there, we went to an after hours bar called '151'. I swear I felt like I had stepped into a movie. This was a total dive, but filled to the brim with public school boys ('public' here is the term for 'private'--think Eton). One guy was a 'burned out skater set to become a Lord when his father dies' - think young guys in pink button downs, sweaters tied around their waists and jackets with patches on the sleeves thinking they're all cool for being in an 'exclusive' dive bar. If ever there were a good case to use the word oxymoron... Still, we had a blast and it was really nice to be out having fun again.
After weeks and weeks of everyone saying 'this cold spell is going to end soon...' it finally turned nice this weekend. I spent this afternoon walking around Hyde Park for a couple of hours, stopping for a bit to lie in the sun and catch up on Mr. Vertigo that I'm reading at the moment. I even sat on my balcony for a bit and planted my herb garden. Better run now, Coronation Street starts in a few minutes... :-)
