London 2005 - Site Seeing/U2 Twickenham/Brighton Beach

20th June 2005

Well hello all,

Here I go again on the merry go round of holiday adventure stories for 2005....I'm in London at the moment and so far so good with the weather, music and adventures.....and so much more to come...

Arrived last Wednesday after a gruelling 24 hour flight which wasn't too bad despite the fact there was a guy next to me on the plane who got absolutely plastered on alcohol for the flight between Sydney - Bangkok. He was quite rowdy and did a good job at keeping everyone awake...was kind of annoying but it was very satisfying watching the air hostess confiscate his duty free alcohol he had been digging into...she put him in his place well and it provided some light entertainment on an otherwise dull leg of the journey...anyway, got here ok Wednesday and things have been A.O.K ever since.

Wednesday to Friday were pretty much spent shopping and catching up with Colin, Frix and Colin's flatmates, James, Pete, Jo & Sarah, Kate and Miles and his mates Drew & Ross....has been great seeing everyone so far and will get to spend a lot more time with everyone at Glastonbury this week....looking forward to that and I know it is going to be awesome!

Saturday was highlight number 1 on the trip though as Colin, Frix, Miles and I went to watch U2 at Twickenham Stadium and as all of you know I am a pathetically obsessed U2 fan so I thought I was in some sort of U2 heaven as it was a perfect summers day here at 32 degrees, we had awesome seats and had a whole bunch of obsessed fans around us as well so at various points it felt like I was in the "U2 Church Choir at Twickenham" as we all sang along to various songs and it was just AMAZING!

Of course I took loads of photos and some video footage which I will no doubt bore you all with when I get back to Oz but it was so worth it....they started with Vertigo, finished with another rendition of Vertigo and in between played hit after hit from their many albums....the 70000 strong crowd were up for it big time and it was just a brilliant night....in fact, it was so good I am now considering going to see them in Zurich or Rome as they are playing when I am there....would be silly to miss out on the chance I think....I'm not here everyday.....

Yesterday we took advantage of another day of fantastic weather and headed down to Brighton Beach for a BBQ. In fact it seems that the whole of London was there as well as it was packed....the first weekend of sunshine and the English folk make way for the seaside....is quite interesting watching this part of their culture at work as they all make a pilgrimage to the beach and then fry themselves in the sun until they are red as lobsters....don't think the slip, slop, slap message has quite made it here yet....

The BBQ was great as Frix had a bunch of his mates there as it was the London - Brighton bike ride yesterday so a bunch of them had done the ride and then met us for the BBQ....was a lovely day and capped off an awesome weekend really....

And here I am back in London on a Monday that is a bit grey but dry so hopefully the dry weather will continue and Glastonbury will be dry this year....have a few last minute supplies to get for Glastonbury so it is a comfortable stay and then Wednesday we head down there for 5 days of musical festivities which should be another highlight....there are so many great bands playing this year that I know it will be great....as long as it isn't a mudbath like last year....

So that's about it for update number 1 I suppose....a great start to my holiday and with many more things to look forward to including Glastonbury, Wimbledon and then Live 8 in the park my time in London is going to continue to be great.....not sure I'd cope with so much London has to offer if I lived here.....I'd be exhausted!!!

Love to you all and hope you are well...

Dave