Huge update

Saturday

Saturday was Ed's BBQ, which is always great. This year was no exception and the range of costumes was excellent. I went as the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, with Rob as the Scarecrow, Andy as the Tin Man, and Em as Dorothy. My costume was a bit shit really, just a brown top with a lion thing off Ebay and a tail. There were some really amazing costumes there, with Wez's Two-face costume being much admired. I have got quite a few pictures from it, some of which I don't remember at all.

Sunday

Sunday was the scene of probably one of the most annoying train journeys I have ever experienced. The tickets were for the usual Rhyl-Crewe-Euston journey. Upon arriving at Crewe, we found that the train from Crewe to London wasn't listed. The information desk was not helpful, just saying there had been “alterations” and refusing to elaborate.

So we had to get a train to Birmingham International on which the shop closed just as we decided we were hungry, and then had to literally jump from one train to another directly opposite. So finally we were on the right train. Unfortunately we somehow managed to get into the carriage that had air conditioning failure, causing water to trickle and sometimes gush from light fittings and gaps in the ceiling panels. The train manager appeared, handed out a few serviettes and went away again.

So finally we arrived in London and got to the hotel. Nothing especially wrong with it except it has no air-con and the weather in London is really, really hot. After the stressful train journey we didn't feel like going far to find food so we got some food in a pub round the corner, and it was pretty decent too.

Monday

First day of the course today which was interesting. We found the place reasonably easily, as it is a very short walk from Bank tube station. After some fairly diabolical sandwiches, we decided that the next day we'd get vouchers instead.

That evening consisted of a wander round the south bank and a Chinese buffet which was pretty good and reasonably priced.

Tuesday

The course continued as normal on Tuesday. Lunch was McDonald's because we took the vouchers out but got lost.

The evening consisted of the Dark Knight on the IMAX. It is a pretty decent film and it was a great introduction to IMAX.

Wednesday

Lunch was Pret a Manger, which I'd never been in before. It was what they called a sandwich without bread, with falafel, humous, salad and various dressings. Really pretty decent.
1
After that I took a wander up to Tottenham Court Road where there are various electronics shops. I was vaguely looking for an Asus Eee PC, as I hadn't brought anything with me and I know they are cheap and decent. Bizarrely, I ran into a guy from the course in a shop, who had taken a totally different route to get there and was also shopping for an Eee. He was after the new high-end 901, while I was after the basic 701 with the smallest 7” screen. I had a change of heart though at the last minute, and I ended up with a 900, in black, with Linux. The Windows version is the same price but only has a 12gb SSD while the Linux version has a 20gb. The 901 has some significant improvements, a 1.6ghz Atom processor and a better battery and power management, but the cost is also more. I wish I'd got the 701 though it was quite a bit cheaper. Still, I'm happy with it and it really is a anti-behemoth after the Inspiron 9400.

After a horrendous journey on the Piccadilly line, I dropped the Eee back at the hotel and met up with my colleague again at Covent Garden. We went to the nearby Belgo's for a meal as recommended by Rob. It is a brilliant place. I had the Wild Boar sausage and mash, which was fantastic. This was followed by proper schnapps, none of this Archer's crap. The place also has really bizarre and interesting toilets.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday evening basically consisted of a visit to Hamburger Union which was pretty good, and the frustration of just missing an east bound Piccadilly line train, and then being told that the east bound line was shutting down. Friday was another crappy train journey, with a far too short overfilled train, but at least it was direct this time.

Today

I had been planning to have a lazy day but when Rob texted me that the Ospreys were training in Rhyl, I thought it might be interesting. It was actually pretty cool and the weather was really good. It was slightly bizarre to see the players close up, they looked huge but also surprisingly human if that makes sense. The undoubted highlight was seeing Vicky getting all flustered as she got her picture taken with James Hook. She said to him “You're very tall,” showing that humans truly do take to stating the obvious under stress.