Friday began with an early morning birthday phone call to Australia! The BFF checked off another year and took another step towards the
big 3-0 – not long now.. (Lol, I joke, I joke..)
After a busy day in work and ahead of the packed weekend
I had planned I arrived home to Michaela and friends who were preparing for a
night at CatFace. I said no, said I didn’t fancy it, said I couldn’t, wouldn’t,
shouldn’t… then… MEOW.
And I’m so glad I did go! I had such a good night. The Star of Bethnal Green hosted CatFace for the first time. It was a perfect venue. Just the right size, reasonable drinks prices and excellent music. After
several hours dancing, a slurred call from Australia (to let me know how I would feel in a few hours), chicken, chips, a drunk
American who didn’t realise our lager is NOT Bud Light, and an argument with a
cab driver… I was home, in bed, drunk but happy, after a crackin' and unexpected start to the weekend.
On Saturday I had to work. Which I did through a slight
haze and whilst consuming as much water as possible. Once rehydrated, I got
myself together and cracked on with the fun stuff. That’s right; I made my way
to the London Transport Museum at Convent Garden. The only other time I’ve been
to the museum was during induction in September but the main reason for
visiting on Saturday was to see the Mind the Map exhibition. What?!
IT WAS ACE!
The museum was really busy but it’s so big that you
couldn’t really tell. I’d definitely recommend it as something to do for anyone
visiting London. Or for anyone who wants to find out more about the history of
the Tube and Transport system here. And the shop!.. Ohhh the shop – fantastic! Ok,
enough, now let’s move on…
I returned to Canning Town to find a full house! A group
of 6 were setting off on a 2 week road-trip through 8 countries towards a music
festival in Croatia. So we had a farewell dinner courtesy of Papa John’s and
off they went, hoping to make it in time for the ferry over to the Netherlands
– first stop, Amsterdam!
And speaking of Amsterdam...
On Friday this week I’m flying out to Amsterdam for a few days of shenanigans with some of the Manchester gang. Cam decided that she
deserved to treat herself as she graduated (today, in fact!) and when I heard
the dates of the trip I just could say no – Oh hai BIRTHDAY IN AMSTERDAM!! I’ll
be telling you more about that in the next post. Or maybe what happens in ‘Dam,
stays in ‘Dam...we'll see.
Anyway, back to Sunday. I’d seen via Twitter/the news
that HMS Ocean was arriving in London on Friday evening and would be moored at Greenwich. The Royal Navy were holding a public viewing of the ship between 10am-3pm and I thought I’d go and have a nosey around a bit. I was just going
to see what was happening and head home. I didn’t. After being ferried to the
ship from Greenwich Pier I was on the ship, talking to sailors and looking at
all the cool stuff for well over an hour. It is MASSIVE. The biggest ship in the
Naval fleet in fact. I couldn’t count them all but I’d guess there were at
least 8 helicopters, 4 JCBs and a tractor on board. I did everything – although
I did draw the line at getting my face painted this time, because I thought I
might stay out in London in the afternoon to take advantage of the LOVELY weather (don’t be jel,
it’s turned crap again now).
Once I got the little boat back from the ship to the pier I had decided I was
going to head into town to catch up with Surprises: STREB and their One Extraordinary Day. A gymnastic/dance group of 32 were running around London appearing at
secret locations every couple of hours and the locations could be found first on
Twitter (of course). I made it in to town in time to see surprise 3, 4 and the
warm up of 5 but the day began at 7.30am at Millennium Bridge where 16 of the
gymnasts threw themselves off in the ‘Waterfall’. Then at 10am they walked down
the outside of City Hall in ‘Sky Walk’ - pretty spectacular too. But realistically,
it was all about the grand finalé at the London Eye. There were a lot of
brilliant photographs taken and you can read more about what other event London
has planned for this summer at the MOL Presents website.
And then it was Monday again. But not just any Monday, oh
no. This Monday was the first Monday of the 9-week Olympic Shift Rota period,
during which time TfL's IT department is going 24/7 to support the increased
demands during the Games. Luckily for me, my volunteering and annual leave was
agreed before I took this position permanently and so I won't have to do any of the 12hr night shifts(!) and only have another few days
in the office then I’ll be out for over two weeks! Friday to Tuesday in Amsterdam then on to
Manchester and back here just in time for the Opening Ceremony…which I’m still
deciding whether to head to Hyde Park or Victoria Park to watch on a big screen
to avoid returning housemates. I like ‘em and that and I really do want to hear
about their trip but, COME ON, I’ve been waiting for this for SEVEN YEARS. And now there is only 10
days to go…
Until next time,
Bren x
Ps, (Highly)
Recommended Reading:
Enjoy a few more pictures from the weekend:
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