Nearly two weeks into my life in Berlin and most of my time has been filled with moving, unpacking, going to IKEA and Bauhaus (the German Bunnings) and putting stuff together in the house or bolting it to the walls. Hence Paula decided that is might be a nice change to just take it easy one evening and go to a “Therme”. It’s like a health spa, where you pay to get in but can then use any of the spas, saunas and pools in the complex on top of the building in central Berlin. It wasn’t too far away from Paula’s work so she had done all the research and wanted to go. I was happy to come along as I could do with a spa and felt like swimming a few laps.
It was cheaper after 8pm, so we waited til then, paid our 14euro to get in and got changed in our separate change rooms and I then walked up to meet Paula in the main pool area. I noticed straight away that this is not a pool for swimming laps, as it was more in a Roman bath kind of style, but it still looked very cool with the heated pool extending under the glass wall to the area on the rooftop outside. I waited by the pool, wearing my boardshorts and holding my small towel.
While waiting for Paula, I saw a couple of dudes walk up to the water, remove their towels, revealing them to be completely naked, and then get into the water. I figured, no problems. I’m in Europe. I’m used to seeing people naked and if that’s how they want to swim, then good on them. I then saw Paula and walked up to meet her. I walked into the shower area and saw that she was going topless. Again, no big deal. It was then that I was hit with the news. This Therme, unlike the ones Paula is used to in Hamburg, is Nude Only. I was gonna have to get my junk out.
I’m more than happy to walk around at home in the nude, even if the windows are all open and people can easily see in. I’ve also regularly got nude in public when drunk, but this was going to be the first time I’d done it stone cold sober. I stood there in the shower area with Paula and had a brief conniption regarding having to drop trou and get the boys out for all to see. After deciding that there really wasn’t a decision to be made and that it shouldn’t be a big deal, I removed my swimmers while Paula took off her bikini bottoms and we briskly walked to the nearest pool and got in.
I sat there for a while, feeling very self conscious and reminding Paula that not only was I brought up in Australia, where unlike Germany, public nakedness while sober is not commonplace, but I was also brought up Mormon, where any nakedness in front of anyone except your Wife would be frowned upon. It was all very foreign to me, but all that kept running through my head was “Welcome to Germany”.
It made matters slightly worse that I had brought such a small towel which wouldn’t wrap around my waist, so while others walked between pools and saunas they would be covered in either a large towel or a dressing gown, I was using my gym towel which did not quite make it around my waist, so I would be showing at least my ass or a leg to the world while walking about. I also didn’t have any sort of footwear, so was slumming around in bare feet while everyone else had slippers. I couldn’t have looked any more out of place if I tried.
But, after a while it all just becomes the norm and I started to enjoy the experience and the novelty of it all. I swam outside, under the full moon completely nude in a heated pool on a rooftop in the middle of Berlin. I had a shower in full view of the surrounding apartments, and I ran, nude from the steam room, to the cold pool, and then to the hot pool. All lots of fun and before long I didn’t give the fact that my penis was out in the wind a second though.
Paula and I had been into plenty of saunas over the night but she wanted to go into one that had the scented water put on the steamer. This one would be over 90’C and full of people, as most of the punters would have a similar idea to hers. I obliged, now fully enjoying the fact that nobody cares and nobody pays attention to anyone else. We sat in the 4mx4m sauna, in definitely the hottest climate I had ever endured with twenty other naked people and all that kept running though my mind was the song from “Flight of the Conchords” – Too many dicks on the dance floor.
After getting out of that sauna after 6 minutes of feeling like my skin and eyeballs were about to spontaneously combust, I jumped in the cold pool for a bit and actually started to feel light headed. I don’t think my heart took too kindly to all these massive changes in temperature. By the time it got to 11pm we were ready to end our nude adventure as we headed for the showers and made our way to our separate change rooms.
Upon leaving the Therme we made our way back to Neukolln and went out looking for food. As we got back there well after midnight the only things that were open were the late night kiosks, and it was out front of one of these kiosks that the night had its appropriately weird finale. Paula had just opened to door to the kiosk and I was standing on the pavement in front of it, when a dude riding along the pavement on his bike must’ve grabbed far too much front brake and sent himself sailing over the handlebars, not 4m away from where I was standing. There was nothing in front of him, and nothing to avoid, so I have no idea why he applied the brakes at all. He got up and swore at himself and said he was okay when I asked him how he was. I assume he was drunk but we’ll never know. I then bought myself some bread and went home and made myself some pasta.
Welcome to Berlin.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Berlin – Moving Time
After fighting through larger than normal trains on the London tube system due to a few line closures, I finally made my way to Heathrow and settled in for another long wait, as once again, my flight had been delayed. Once we got up in the air it was a very quick and painless flight, especially as I had the whole row to myself because the plane was only about forty percent full.
Upon landing at Berlin Tegel, I waited for my luggage to come out of the carousel and could see Paula waiting on the other side of the glass. It was great to see her again, and I must admit I was relieved to see her, as I would’ve had nowhere to stay and no idea of where to go if she hadn’t been there. I was excited about my new start here in Berlin, but still knew that there would be many challenges, both in my relationship with Paula, and my relationship with the city of Berlin.
The next two days were made up mostly of just spending time with Paula, sleeping, packing and checking out the new apartment. By Neukolln standards, it is pretty sweet. It is not falling apart, nor is it in urgent need of renovation, but the hall floorboards are a different colour to the rest and all the lights come out of the wall rather than the ceiling, so it has plenty of its own ‘character’. Neukolln as an area is nicknamed “Little Istanbul” due to the fact that the population is predominantly Turkish. It is however an area with many students and expats due to the cheapness of the rent and close proximity to the awesome areas of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain.
Monday morning we were out of the house by 7:30am to get a van in order to drive to Hamburg and pick up all of Paula’s stuff from storage. Unfortunately the place where Paula had booked the van would only accept drivers with EU licenses, and hence would not let me take a van. We then had to search around for someone who would let me drive it and hence wasted two hours with that. By the time we got the van, picked up the washing machine, and dropped everything off at the new place, including getting that heavy-as-fuck washing machine up the stairs it was nearly two and the drive to Hamburg was at least three hours.
As it turned out, we would not be making the storage facility by closing time, hence we would have to stay with Paula’s Mum in Hamburg overnight. We spent the early evening getting Paula’s wardrobe, and some other stuff from the basement of the Irish pub she used to work at, and then went to her Dads storage locker too get more stuff before driving around for an hour near her Mum’s place looking for a parking spot. As it turns out, Paula is not a very good navigator, and has a fuse that is probably even shorter than mine, so we spent most of the night arguing about directions and yelling at each other before getting over it when we finally found where we were going. We finally got into her mums at 10pm after parking a suburb away and catching the train back. We had a little to eat, and then went to sleep as we had another stupidly early morning ahead of us.
Getting up at 7pm we had to rush to get the train, then jump in the car and hope that we could get to Paula’s storage facility without getting too lost. By some small miracle we got there without a problem, and then saw the sheer amount of crap Paula had put into storage and realized that she, like me, is a self-denying packrat. After playing Tetris with everything in the van for an hour and a bit, we finally got everything in and were ready to make our way back to Berlin. We unfortunately lost ourselves a bit on the autobahn network coming out of Hamburg and cost ourselves another hour and many more arguments. We eventually made it back to Berlin and the apartment at 3pm, and spent the next hour and a half moving stuff in. Paula went van to foyer and I went up the three flights of stairs, giving my legs a workout the likes of which they haven’t seen in five months. We then had to take the van back, which ended up being directly through the center of town and in the middle of peak hour, which wasn’t terribly fun.
Paula then had to go directly to work and I came back to the apartment to try to organize some things like the kitchen and the bed. I also saw blatant theft when I went to the supermarket as a dude walked into the store in front of me, then grabbed a crate of drinks and then walked straight back out the exit as I walked in. I walked around my new home neigbourhood for a while and thought of the many challenges that lie ahead for me. I have many things planned for my time in Berlin. I have a book to write; a language to learn; a marathon to train for and then run; and a job to get. Anything less than accomplishing all these things will be viewed as a complete failure on my part. I’d better get cracking.
Upon landing at Berlin Tegel, I waited for my luggage to come out of the carousel and could see Paula waiting on the other side of the glass. It was great to see her again, and I must admit I was relieved to see her, as I would’ve had nowhere to stay and no idea of where to go if she hadn’t been there. I was excited about my new start here in Berlin, but still knew that there would be many challenges, both in my relationship with Paula, and my relationship with the city of Berlin.
The next two days were made up mostly of just spending time with Paula, sleeping, packing and checking out the new apartment. By Neukolln standards, it is pretty sweet. It is not falling apart, nor is it in urgent need of renovation, but the hall floorboards are a different colour to the rest and all the lights come out of the wall rather than the ceiling, so it has plenty of its own ‘character’. Neukolln as an area is nicknamed “Little Istanbul” due to the fact that the population is predominantly Turkish. It is however an area with many students and expats due to the cheapness of the rent and close proximity to the awesome areas of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain.
Monday morning we were out of the house by 7:30am to get a van in order to drive to Hamburg and pick up all of Paula’s stuff from storage. Unfortunately the place where Paula had booked the van would only accept drivers with EU licenses, and hence would not let me take a van. We then had to search around for someone who would let me drive it and hence wasted two hours with that. By the time we got the van, picked up the washing machine, and dropped everything off at the new place, including getting that heavy-as-fuck washing machine up the stairs it was nearly two and the drive to Hamburg was at least three hours.
As it turned out, we would not be making the storage facility by closing time, hence we would have to stay with Paula’s Mum in Hamburg overnight. We spent the early evening getting Paula’s wardrobe, and some other stuff from the basement of the Irish pub she used to work at, and then went to her Dads storage locker too get more stuff before driving around for an hour near her Mum’s place looking for a parking spot. As it turns out, Paula is not a very good navigator, and has a fuse that is probably even shorter than mine, so we spent most of the night arguing about directions and yelling at each other before getting over it when we finally found where we were going. We finally got into her mums at 10pm after parking a suburb away and catching the train back. We had a little to eat, and then went to sleep as we had another stupidly early morning ahead of us.
Getting up at 7pm we had to rush to get the train, then jump in the car and hope that we could get to Paula’s storage facility without getting too lost. By some small miracle we got there without a problem, and then saw the sheer amount of crap Paula had put into storage and realized that she, like me, is a self-denying packrat. After playing Tetris with everything in the van for an hour and a bit, we finally got everything in and were ready to make our way back to Berlin. We unfortunately lost ourselves a bit on the autobahn network coming out of Hamburg and cost ourselves another hour and many more arguments. We eventually made it back to Berlin and the apartment at 3pm, and spent the next hour and a half moving stuff in. Paula went van to foyer and I went up the three flights of stairs, giving my legs a workout the likes of which they haven’t seen in five months. We then had to take the van back, which ended up being directly through the center of town and in the middle of peak hour, which wasn’t terribly fun.
Paula then had to go directly to work and I came back to the apartment to try to organize some things like the kitchen and the bed. I also saw blatant theft when I went to the supermarket as a dude walked into the store in front of me, then grabbed a crate of drinks and then walked straight back out the exit as I walked in. I walked around my new home neigbourhood for a while and thought of the many challenges that lie ahead for me. I have many things planned for my time in Berlin. I have a book to write; a language to learn; a marathon to train for and then run; and a job to get. Anything less than accomplishing all these things will be viewed as a complete failure on my part. I’d better get cracking.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Liverpool and Wigan – Surprisingly awesome.
I arrived in Wigan and was immediately impressed with the size of it. I assumed it would be some tiny little village, but found that it was a proper little city. The bars and clubs in the city centre were mostly in the old English style and as I made my way along the road to my hotel, I saw that it would not be a bad place to go out, as the town seemed to have plenty to do.
By the time I got to my hotel I was happy to be able to sit down for a bit and chill out. I tried to call my cousins on the number Mum had given me, but unfortunately it didn’t work. Therefore I spent the next few hours on family history websites trying to get an address for where my Dad grew up. I did manage to find my Grandma’s extract from the 1901 census, but unfortunately this did not have an address, so I accepted that I would probably not find the house on this visit, and went off to explore the town instead.
The next morning I got on a train to Liverpool and although I was eagerly awaiting the trip to Anfield on Monday night, I can’t say I was terribly excited about going to Liverpool, due to the towns reputation of being ugly and unsafe. When I got there it was bigger and prettier than I had imagined. Certainly much prettier that Manchester and seemed to have a lot more history to it also. I walked around the city centre for a while as I waited for Richard to come and pick me up from the train station.
When Richard arrived he took me on a quick tour of the town, showing me the restored port area and shopping precincts before we drove out to Anfield to have a look at the stadium (and Goodison Park). We did the stadium tour and went inside the ground where I was able to sit in the Kop and hear storied about the ground and the clubs history. After leaving the ground we went through the Museum and saw more about the clubs 117 year history.
That evening we went out for a few beers and a meal at a pub near Richard’s house and watched Chelsea beat Manchester United. I would’ve preferred a nil all draw, but it is always nice seeing Man U lose. We then went out into the city to meet Jack and Nick at some University party thing called ‘Carnage’ that Nick was involved in due to him being a student at Liverpool University. Jack and Nick are two of the three guys met for about 30 minutes outside the five story nightclub in Prague on my first crazy night there. So while it was a bit weird to see them again, they are good lads and we had a top time. The night definitely lived up to its name as I got belted and apparently disappeared for over an hour before Richard managed to find me and get me home. The next morning I woke up feeling perfectly fine, but then went back to be and woke up a few hours later with the worst hangover of my life. I guess that means I was still drunk when I woke up the first time.
I finally dragged myself out of the house around noon and made my way into the city. I walked all around the city and made my way down to the port where I just sat in the sunshine for a bit and enjoyed the lovely view across the Mersey river. Down the river I could see a thick fog rolling in like a giant white wall, and within half an hour the entire city was engulfed in the whiteness and about 10’ colder. It still wasn’t raining though, and was really beautiful as I walked back to the train station through the gardens and museum district.
It was a Monday night game and Anfield with Liverpool desperately needing a win as they lined up against the lowly Birmingham, who they had not defeated in the last 5 years. We got the first goal but then a lack of defensive pressure let Birmingham go into half time 2-1 up. It was an absolutely freezing night, but the last halve was doing its best to keep us warm. Liverpool attacked mercilessly and every time the ball go close to the goal line we would all stand up in anticipation, with all that standing and sitting keeping me quite warm. Midway through the half Liverpool got a dubious penalty and Gerrard slotted it, however we were unable to get another goal and found ourselves coming away with only a draw. Oh well, there’s always next year.
The next morning I said farewell to Richard and caught the train back to London. I will definitely miss Liverpool, its culture and beauty was not what I expected and I will definitely go back some day, and possibly even live there. After all, I’ve got to see a Liverpool victory…
By the time I got to my hotel I was happy to be able to sit down for a bit and chill out. I tried to call my cousins on the number Mum had given me, but unfortunately it didn’t work. Therefore I spent the next few hours on family history websites trying to get an address for where my Dad grew up. I did manage to find my Grandma’s extract from the 1901 census, but unfortunately this did not have an address, so I accepted that I would probably not find the house on this visit, and went off to explore the town instead.
The next morning I got on a train to Liverpool and although I was eagerly awaiting the trip to Anfield on Monday night, I can’t say I was terribly excited about going to Liverpool, due to the towns reputation of being ugly and unsafe. When I got there it was bigger and prettier than I had imagined. Certainly much prettier that Manchester and seemed to have a lot more history to it also. I walked around the city centre for a while as I waited for Richard to come and pick me up from the train station.
When Richard arrived he took me on a quick tour of the town, showing me the restored port area and shopping precincts before we drove out to Anfield to have a look at the stadium (and Goodison Park). We did the stadium tour and went inside the ground where I was able to sit in the Kop and hear storied about the ground and the clubs history. After leaving the ground we went through the Museum and saw more about the clubs 117 year history.
That evening we went out for a few beers and a meal at a pub near Richard’s house and watched Chelsea beat Manchester United. I would’ve preferred a nil all draw, but it is always nice seeing Man U lose. We then went out into the city to meet Jack and Nick at some University party thing called ‘Carnage’ that Nick was involved in due to him being a student at Liverpool University. Jack and Nick are two of the three guys met for about 30 minutes outside the five story nightclub in Prague on my first crazy night there. So while it was a bit weird to see them again, they are good lads and we had a top time. The night definitely lived up to its name as I got belted and apparently disappeared for over an hour before Richard managed to find me and get me home. The next morning I woke up feeling perfectly fine, but then went back to be and woke up a few hours later with the worst hangover of my life. I guess that means I was still drunk when I woke up the first time.
I finally dragged myself out of the house around noon and made my way into the city. I walked all around the city and made my way down to the port where I just sat in the sunshine for a bit and enjoyed the lovely view across the Mersey river. Down the river I could see a thick fog rolling in like a giant white wall, and within half an hour the entire city was engulfed in the whiteness and about 10’ colder. It still wasn’t raining though, and was really beautiful as I walked back to the train station through the gardens and museum district.
It was a Monday night game and Anfield with Liverpool desperately needing a win as they lined up against the lowly Birmingham, who they had not defeated in the last 5 years. We got the first goal but then a lack of defensive pressure let Birmingham go into half time 2-1 up. It was an absolutely freezing night, but the last halve was doing its best to keep us warm. Liverpool attacked mercilessly and every time the ball go close to the goal line we would all stand up in anticipation, with all that standing and sitting keeping me quite warm. Midway through the half Liverpool got a dubious penalty and Gerrard slotted it, however we were unable to get another goal and found ourselves coming away with only a draw. Oh well, there’s always next year.
The next morning I said farewell to Richard and caught the train back to London. I will definitely miss Liverpool, its culture and beauty was not what I expected and I will definitely go back some day, and possibly even live there. After all, I’ve got to see a Liverpool victory…
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Oxford & Manchester
The trip out to Manchester actually began with a short stopover in Oxford to see the town and catch up with two girls I met in Prague who study there. Jess and Chenting are in their first year at Oxford University and while Chenting lives in the Gay college, Waldham, Jess lives in the toffee nose college, Christ Church, and because of this took us around her college showing me lots of stuff including the great hall, which they eat their meals in. More importantly, however, it is where Harry, Ron and Hermione eat their meals in all of the Harry Potter movies. It was a pretty cool hall, but in all honesty the main reason I went there is because I know so many Harry Potter nuts who haven’t been there, that it makes me laugh to go there and tell them about it.
After spending a few hours with Chenting and Jess, I had a quick look around Oxford on my own, finding a store called “extreme” which sold snowboarding and surf gear. But had an electric chair to get up four steps at the front door. I must say, I’m glad that those that are unable to walk up four steps are being looked after in their surf and snowboard needs.
And with that bombshell, it was time to jump back on the train and head up to Manchester.
Manchester is a great place to be, it seems. The vibe is pretty active due to it being such a student town, and also there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of tourists there. This is probably due to the fact that there is not one thing I saw in my three days in Manchester that I considered was worth taking a photo of. It’s just a town like any other. But, what it does have going for it is a great nightlife and incredibly cheap drinks. Font bar has cocktails for 2 pounds. All night. Brilliant. And even at the Mint lounge, which was a club we went to, the drinks didn’t go over 3 pounds. I could like this city, but my liver wouldn’t.
After spending a few hours with Chenting and Jess, I had a quick look around Oxford on my own, finding a store called “extreme” which sold snowboarding and surf gear. But had an electric chair to get up four steps at the front door. I must say, I’m glad that those that are unable to walk up four steps are being looked after in their surf and snowboard needs.
And with that bombshell, it was time to jump back on the train and head up to Manchester.
Manchester is a great place to be, it seems. The vibe is pretty active due to it being such a student town, and also there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of tourists there. This is probably due to the fact that there is not one thing I saw in my three days in Manchester that I considered was worth taking a photo of. It’s just a town like any other. But, what it does have going for it is a great nightlife and incredibly cheap drinks. Font bar has cocktails for 2 pounds. All night. Brilliant. And even at the Mint lounge, which was a club we went to, the drinks didn’t go over 3 pounds. I could like this city, but my liver wouldn’t.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
London Days and Nights
Friday came around and finally it was time to get out and do a bit. Luckily Kate had organized a night out with Erin and a few of their friends. I met Kate at Bethnal Green and we then went out for lunch in Shoreditch at the Spittalfields market. We walked back to Bethnal Green vshe had via Brick lane and some other well known spots along the way. Before too long it was time to start drinking, so we started on the wines and talked as we waited for some of Kate’s friends to arrive.
Ilsa rocked up first, she’s a stunner from Latvia, but strangely speaks with what is nearly an Australian accent, due to the amount of time she spent with Aussies while learning English. She’s apparently always had a thing for Aussie guys, but has recently turned to the darkside, getting herself a Kiwi boyfriend. Ilsa had recently got a little bit sick and then found that chowing down on Aspirin made her feel better, unfortunately she had forgotten that she is allergic too Aspirin and had since got a very sore and swollen tongue which she needed to apply Bonjella too every few minutes. She was never originally planning on coming out with us, but being as she had already been drinking all day, it didn’t take many more to convince her to come out with us.
Shortly after that Erin, and then David rocked up and the evening got rolling. We had ourselves in stitches most of the evening due to the fact that Ilsa would say “this song changed my life” to nearly every song that came on the stereo. And we would all laugh hysterically until we cried, then Erin would have to go re-apply her eye makeup. Then she came to me ask what it looked like, and I replied, “It looks fantastic Erin, just don’t look in any mirrors tonight”.
We made our way out to ‘cargo’, which was a cool club that was playing shithouse music, so we made our way somewhere else. I have no idea what it was called, and the music wasn’t a whole lot better, but it was free entry and we had a good time until we all rolled out of there at about 2am. We then walked to brick lane for a Bagel, before jumping on the bus and heading home.
The next morning Kate, Erin and I walked to an amazing food market. It was one little street with heaps of stalls, most of which being food. I got a fantastic meat pie, a muffin and a slice of brownie. I could’ve got a lot more if I was taking it home, rather than eating it that day. We then all made our way back to Kate’s place and watched “Drag me to Hell” in honour of it being Halloween. After the movie I made my way back to Jax and Belle’s, and was greeted by all the people on their way out to Halloween parties. Hannibal, bloodied Nurses, Vampire rock stars and Cutesy little witches were all there to greet me as I boarded my train.
Sunday morning was an early start as Belle, Jax, Belle’s student, Andreas and myself all jumped in a hire car and drove out to Stonehenge. It was absolutely atrocious weather until Jax asked Belle to wish for good weather when we were about 30 minutes away from Stonehenge. To my surprise it had totally fined up by the time we got to the ancient monolithic structure, and it remained fine for the rest of the day.
After taking some hilarious jumping photos in front of Stonehenge, we made our way to Glastonbury for lunch. It’s a very cute little town, although the lunch was a little overpriced for the quality. It’s still a little weird to be eating a meal in a building that was built two hundred years before the Europeans settled Australia however.
We left Glastonbury and I decided to let Belle drive, being as she hadn’t driven in 18 months and she does break the stereotype of how an Asian female drives. She started fairly promptly with a stall, but got the hang of it again before too long, and just as the sun was going down we arrived in Bath. It is a beautiful little town, and I do wish we got there in the daylight and got a bit more time to look around.
The next day I made myself angry by going to the Tate Modern and looking at all the modern art. Some modern art is great, but unfortunately most of it just makes me furious that such an unartistic pile of shit is being hung in a gallery next to Andy Warhol and others who are actually artists. The final straw was when there was a mirror. Nothing special about it. Just a mirror. With a little white card next to it sprouting some wank about it turning the art around and making the viewer part of the art. No. I’m sorry. No matter what crap you put on the little card, you have hung a mirror in an art gallery. You, good sir, are a wanker. That is all.
Tuesday was a particularly cruisy day where I did very little, but did hear from Paula that she had been accepted for a property in Neukoln. This means I have a place to live in Berlin, and along with that I’ve been getting some interest from a few of the jobs I’d been applying for so I’m starting to feel much happier about the upcoming move, even though I still know that it’s crazy. Now, at least, I feel like it’s good crazy.
Ilsa rocked up first, she’s a stunner from Latvia, but strangely speaks with what is nearly an Australian accent, due to the amount of time she spent with Aussies while learning English. She’s apparently always had a thing for Aussie guys, but has recently turned to the darkside, getting herself a Kiwi boyfriend. Ilsa had recently got a little bit sick and then found that chowing down on Aspirin made her feel better, unfortunately she had forgotten that she is allergic too Aspirin and had since got a very sore and swollen tongue which she needed to apply Bonjella too every few minutes. She was never originally planning on coming out with us, but being as she had already been drinking all day, it didn’t take many more to convince her to come out with us.
Shortly after that Erin, and then David rocked up and the evening got rolling. We had ourselves in stitches most of the evening due to the fact that Ilsa would say “this song changed my life” to nearly every song that came on the stereo. And we would all laugh hysterically until we cried, then Erin would have to go re-apply her eye makeup. Then she came to me ask what it looked like, and I replied, “It looks fantastic Erin, just don’t look in any mirrors tonight”.
We made our way out to ‘cargo’, which was a cool club that was playing shithouse music, so we made our way somewhere else. I have no idea what it was called, and the music wasn’t a whole lot better, but it was free entry and we had a good time until we all rolled out of there at about 2am. We then walked to brick lane for a Bagel, before jumping on the bus and heading home.
The next morning Kate, Erin and I walked to an amazing food market. It was one little street with heaps of stalls, most of which being food. I got a fantastic meat pie, a muffin and a slice of brownie. I could’ve got a lot more if I was taking it home, rather than eating it that day. We then all made our way back to Kate’s place and watched “Drag me to Hell” in honour of it being Halloween. After the movie I made my way back to Jax and Belle’s, and was greeted by all the people on their way out to Halloween parties. Hannibal, bloodied Nurses, Vampire rock stars and Cutesy little witches were all there to greet me as I boarded my train.
Sunday morning was an early start as Belle, Jax, Belle’s student, Andreas and myself all jumped in a hire car and drove out to Stonehenge. It was absolutely atrocious weather until Jax asked Belle to wish for good weather when we were about 30 minutes away from Stonehenge. To my surprise it had totally fined up by the time we got to the ancient monolithic structure, and it remained fine for the rest of the day.
After taking some hilarious jumping photos in front of Stonehenge, we made our way to Glastonbury for lunch. It’s a very cute little town, although the lunch was a little overpriced for the quality. It’s still a little weird to be eating a meal in a building that was built two hundred years before the Europeans settled Australia however.
We left Glastonbury and I decided to let Belle drive, being as she hadn’t driven in 18 months and she does break the stereotype of how an Asian female drives. She started fairly promptly with a stall, but got the hang of it again before too long, and just as the sun was going down we arrived in Bath. It is a beautiful little town, and I do wish we got there in the daylight and got a bit more time to look around.
The next day I made myself angry by going to the Tate Modern and looking at all the modern art. Some modern art is great, but unfortunately most of it just makes me furious that such an unartistic pile of shit is being hung in a gallery next to Andy Warhol and others who are actually artists. The final straw was when there was a mirror. Nothing special about it. Just a mirror. With a little white card next to it sprouting some wank about it turning the art around and making the viewer part of the art. No. I’m sorry. No matter what crap you put on the little card, you have hung a mirror in an art gallery. You, good sir, are a wanker. That is all.
Tuesday was a particularly cruisy day where I did very little, but did hear from Paula that she had been accepted for a property in Neukoln. This means I have a place to live in Berlin, and along with that I’ve been getting some interest from a few of the jobs I’d been applying for so I’m starting to feel much happier about the upcoming move, even though I still know that it’s crazy. Now, at least, I feel like it’s good crazy.
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