Summer in the city of overcast days and rain

Hey all, sorry its been a long time in coming, but once you read this, youll see why, a mixture of either nothing to write about, or being too busy to write it.

So since the last installment ...
Touch rugby kicked off (and has subsequently finished) - not novelty being kiwi there, which is a funny feeling, going from being one of very few Kiwis in Japan, to going to Acton and almost being back in Kaitaia. I have hence coined the acronym J.A.K.I.L. - Just Another Kiwi In London. Remember, when it spreads, you heard it here first.

Our old family friends from home come to London on their world tour - so we went and had dinner with them at O'neills, an Irish pub. Funny that we were Kiwis in an Irish pub run by Polish, in Chinatown in England.

I went to Twickenham for rugby 7s - the Saturday was a little slow, but interesting seeing all the costumes. Sunday was more interesting, final was between England and New Zealand. NZ lead 19-0 at half time but England clawed back to win in sudden death in overtime.For about a week, I helped out at Hillsong, working on their database.

It got a bit busy there with a week full of interviews, before starting a temporary assignment at Original travel - where I was for 7 weeks. Needless to say it was good to be working again - having money, but also socialising, especially with actual English people.I went to a friend from Kaitaia's anniversary of being in London party in Hyde park - it was Queens birthday, so saw jets and planes flyover (probably equivalent to the NZ airforce) also saw some friendly squirrels, and the naked bike ride (a protest for better conditions for cyclists.

The next day went to battersea park for a picnic with Suzanne, Bevan, Christine and Chris.

I went and stayed a week at a friends, while he was away in the USA attending another friend's wedding, as there was a free bed, and gave Suzanne & Bevan, and their flatmates a break.Similarly, the following fortnight, Suzanne & Bev went to Italy so I used their bed and room while they were away.

Around that time I went to a toga party on the Thames - a cruise, in togas, on the river Thames.

I also went to Avenue Q - a show at the West end - awesome, and funny as, albeit a little rude (but hence the funniness).

The good thing about London, is people actually come through it to visit, or on their way somewhere, so I have seen several people from home since being here, which is always nice - hence I had a visit from Melissa and Brent, who were on their Honeymoon.I went to the dukes headliners - a weekly comedy night, one of the guys is a dead ringer for Sanjeev from the kumars at 42, but isn't him. I'm glad I didn't ask him, as he gets it all the time.

I went to Canada day at Trafalgar square. Alright, but the food I wanted to try wasn't available.Went to a thing called Laughter in odd places - at barbican museum - not so funny.

Went to Bastille day at Battersea park. Which was alright, kind of interesting.

Similarly I went to a Colombian day by the Thames on the Southbank - again interesting, but as a Kiwi, I go to these things expecting a free lunch, but of course it doesn't work that way.

In saying that, though - I did go to something which gave away free Ice Cream - the Ben & Jerry's Sundae at the common. Nice.

As soon as my 7 weeks at Original travel was up, I went straight to work for a month on the swine flu hotline. It was a cool job as everyone in same boat - ie everyone was new, so chatted away to each other, and because we got not many calls, we generally just played games and talked. I believe that they employed so many of us so people wouldn't have to wait for us to answer, because otherwise they would just hang up, and still have swine flu to spread around. However it got shut down/downsized, due to lack of demand/use - and the government wouldn't want to be seen wasting money on workers who only had to take 3-5 calls a shift.

So, once I found out that I was again jobless, I decided to go do Europe while it was still Summer, especially as I had enough time to organise it before La Tomatina - something I was keen to do. As Im writing this, Im currently withering in Valencia, Spain - the plan at the moment is to make my way to Barcelona, through the South of France, Switzerland, to Austria, where a friend lives, stay with them for a bit, go to Munich in Germany, then north through Germany to Denmark, where some other friends live, stay there, then make my way back to London via Belgium, Holland, and Paris. Anyhow, watch this space as I will update it hopefully rather soon (in comparison to this entry)