No Gigs & A Weekend In London

After finishing off Glastonbury pack down, we headed back to the farm, unloaded the gear and attacked our very overdue washing, and showering. We had a few weeks off, with our next gig, Secret Garden Party, north of London. It was really weird to have time off, and be out of the 18 hours per day work mentality. We took a few days off just to recover, and then started repairing gear, sorting out the rubbish around the farm, repairing the caravan and generally potting about.

Midweek, ‘Bro’, another Australian who had worked with us in Australia, joined us at the farm, to assist with building some kids toilets and possibly fitting out our new shed. Squeak was with Hamish building some crew loos at Standon Calling so Mattia, Bro and I decided to go to town for dinner, to the always quality and cultural Weatherspoons. We ended up meeting some guys on the next table that had recognized me from V Festival last year, and had apparently had a conversation with me about living around the same area, I didn’t recall, but they were friendly.

One of the guys needed to get back to Bruton for an ‘emergency’, so we all went on a roadtrip to drop him off, so that Bro could see the countryside. We got back to the pub and that was when the fights started. There was one inside between two dudes, then 3 couples had a massive brawl out the front, which ended in one guy going to Hospital and about 4 police cars attending. We took that as our cue, and left for home.

On the way back to the car, we ran into a group of girls all wearing tracksuit pants and hoodies but with really done up hair and make up, I said something in passing and they asked if we were Australian. This happens a lot, especially in the country…
Them: Are you Australian?
Me: Yep
Them: Like Neighbours
Me: **Sigh** Yes… Like Neighbours… Toadies my cousin, and Carl is my dad’s golfing buddie
Them: OMG really?!?
Me: … No, but I am Australian
They then follow that with something like

Them: “Throw another shrimp on the Barbie, maate”

To which I reply

Me: We call them prawns

Them: PRAWNS????

Me: **Sigh** Nevermind…

Or claim that they do the best Australian Accent, and then fail shamelessly, or they say things like…
Them: I’ve got relatives that live in Australia
Me: Where abouts?
Them: Somewhere near Sydney… or Perth…  They’re close yeah??? I dunno actually, I’ve never met them…

Or they just ask for a hug and want a photo, like I’m some kind of awesome stuffed character at Movie World or something. Anyway, we actually ended up standing on the corner eating chips from a place called ‘Munchies’ and chating for about an hour and a half. They ended up adding us on Facebook, much to the envy of their other friends… Maybe in Somerset, Australians are like YoYos, only the cool kids have them…

Bro was heasing to London the following weekend, to his friends birthday party, and coincidentally, holding an impromptu birthday party for himself. We liked the idea of a weekend off, and so when Friday afternoon rolled around, Bro, Mattia and I headed off to Yeovil Junction Train Station, Squeak would meet us in the city.

The train was pretty cheap as we booked through Megatrain (megatrain.co.uk), the same company I traveled on in the US last year. They pretty much rent seats on low capacity, off peak services from the train operator, then sell a lot of them cheap. Great if they can make money from it, and even better as it means we payed about 12 pounds each way, compared with 40 normally.

We arrived at London Waterloo Station, had a much needed cigarette break, then boarded the tube to Brixton. We headed to get a cheap meal at the local Weatherspoons, a chain of very cheap and often very dodgy pubs. It was very much a cultural experience, but when you can order a Glenmorangie and Coke for two pound fifty, who’s complaining? Squeak managed to get in contact with me and shortly after we arrived he strolled in. We didn’t stay long, as the crowd were getting dodgier and dodgier, and Squeak and I desperately needed to make ourselves un-smelly. Squeak managed to leave his hat there, and we had to wait whilst he sprinted back to get it, then returned looking like a dickhead. We specifically asked him not to wear it, because in London, Australians are parasites in London. On the way, we dropped by the 24 hour Off Licence (Bottle-O), and picked up 4 x 440ml cans of Carlsberg for 3 pound, gotta love England.

We were staying with a friend of Bro’s in a very large (7 bedroom) share house, in an almost entertainly stereotypical English street, where all the houses looked the same. Lucky for us, the house we were staying in was on the very end, otherwise I think we would have ended up knocking on a few strangers doors.

We met the residents and settled in the backyard, getting to know the mix of people from the house. Squeak disappeared for a while, showering and generally making himself bearable to be around, then I did the same. We didn’t know what to expect of the night, or whether we would go anywhere else, or anything really. So we did what all good Australians in London do, drank a lot of beer. The party got pretty crazy at points, with new people coming and going. We commandeered the iPod and put on a series of crappy music, including the new Pendulum ABC News Theme Remix, much to the entertainment of two of the housemates, both Australian.

I ended up crashing pretty early, compared to everyone else, and was positioned on a mattress in the hallway, as I hadn’t made it as far as the Lounge room. I was looked after by two girls who ferried me water, and gave me back massages, so I was pretty chuffed with my position. I was told in the morning that at one point they checked to see if I was still alive, as they couldn’t believe the number of people stumbling past me and tripping over the mattress, and that I didn’t wake. I thank my Father’s side of the family for the ability to sleep through a Nuclear blast.

The next morning was pretty tragic. Mattia and I were very hung over, and squeak had managed to chew up his gums and tongue, Bro was nowhere to be found. We stumbled down to the shops, and brought some food. Squeak was unable to eat anything even marginally hard, and settled for a protein drink and a bit of a banana.

By this stage, the day was a write off, so we sat around in the Lounge and watched movies for the rest of the afternoon, then ordered amazing pizza from around the corner and watched some more films. I was intent on us actually doing something the next day, and drummed up the boys for a reasonable start.

True to form, it was an absolute shitfight to get the boys awake in the morning, but I managed it. We collected some breakfast pastries and had some very large coffees at a local café, before boarding the tube and heading into the big smoke. Mattia had never been to Camden, so we started there, and I showed both the boys CyberDog and a few nice places within the Markets. I haggled some aviator sunglasses, and squeak managed to find a joker (Batman) shirt similar to the one he had worn to shreds. We ploughed on, having to Walk to Chalk Farm due to Camden Tube Stop being closed in the middle of the day. I discovered the Crumpler store, which has been becoming a habit of traveling (alongside Bubble Cup), and purchased a new camera holster. We wondered around some park, can’t quite recall which one, then got on the tube to Covent Garden.

This was where one of the highlights of the weekend occurred, The Australia Shop. This is pretty much a store that stocks food, drink, clothes and such that are Australian or only available in Australia. We went a little bit crazy and I went to buy two slabs of beer, Coopers Pale Ale and Little Creatures, when they offered delivery for 8 quid. This was an offer too good to be true, and so we loaded up on other stuff instead, Arnotts Pizza Shapes, Barbeque Shapes, Jatz, Milo, and we all got a Bundaberg Ginger Beer. My two slabs would arrive at the farm within a week, and I was amazingly excited!

By that stage it was very overdue for lunch, and so we headed up to a place that Gabrielle and I had lunch at almost 3 years ago when I visited her in London, Wagamamas. The boys had never experienced it, and we were all pleasantly filled, even through the staff didn’t appreciate our BYO Ginger Beers. Because Leicester Square was so close, we decided to wonder over and show Mattia. Half the Square was blocked off for some corporate event being built, but we chilled on the grass for while, before deciding it was time to return to Brixton and vist the Off Licence once again.

We managed to get up in time to miss McDonalds breakfast, so we ate cheeseburgers and headed to Waterloo Station to return to Yeovil. It had been a nice weekend of only doing what we had the energy to do, and eating and drinking a lot. It was also nice to just have a house to hang out in, and watch cable TV. London has grown on me so much, it’s crazy. I hated it the first time I came here, and now I just want to explore it even more. Despite the cost of living there, I really think I would like to live there for a bit one day, and uncover the locals side of London.

P.S. I got my slabs eventually!