Snap and Scribble

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The last week has been completely deranged. After a couple of weeks of nothing happening – not even any work – everything seemed to happen pretty much at once!

I worked the Saturday afternoon and evening. It was a job in South Woodford, which is on the outskirts of north east London, near Epping forest. They were pleasant people and the job went very smoothly.

Then on Sunday i went to London for Sanjar’s birthday. Sanjar’s a friend and workmate from Afghanistan who’s been living and studying in the UK for a while. We were supposed to meet up at Richmond park and the plan was to go on a boat trip on the Thames, but it was raining and the venue changed to Sanjar’s sister’s place in Westminster.

I had a very pleasant afternoon in London that day. Getting there and back by train went smoothly and getting around was easy as it was a Sunday and central London wasn’t too crowded. Somehow i managed to get there an hour and a half early though. I’d checked train times online when the venue was Richmond and it didn’t register that those times were earlier than necessary anyway.

We were supposed to turn up at about 2pm, but i got to London at about 12.30, so i decided to get off the train at Stratford and catch the Docklands Light Rail (which i hadn’t been on before) to the river somewhere and then get a boat up the Thames to Westminster. I’d been thinking about going to Greenwich, but i changed my mind and got off at Canary Wharf instead.

My brother works at Canary Wharf, but i’d never been there and didn’t really have any idea what was there. It turned out to be a hideous jumble of high rise architectural disasters, thrown together on a bit of the old London docks. The buildings were obviously designed by some moron who thought Gotham City in the Batman comics looked cool! But at least you could get to the riverside and look out onto the open water.

Here’s a picture of the other side of the river. As you can see, it was a very grey day – sort of classic London, really! Anyway, i caught the ferry from there to Waterloo, which is just across the river from Westminster. The ferry reminded me of the Brisbane River “City Cats”. It was a similar design, but possibly slightly bigger.

I hadn’t been on a boat on the Thames since i was the mate on a small freighter back in the mid 70s, so it was nice to get out on the water and check it out – even on a grey and rainy day like last Sunday (it’s the same today, too!). It always strikes me, mostly when i’m in Brisbane, the similarity between the stretch of the Thames that runs through central London and the stretch of the Brisbane River that runs through the city. I’m sure that’s why they decided to build Brisbane at that point on the river.

The architecture along the river in Brisbane isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s a million times better than the hideous buildings that have sprung up like a disease along the Thames over the last couple of decades. London really must have some of the most appalling architecture in the world! Which is hardly surprising, really, as they don’t seem to be able to manage to do anything properly in this ridiculous country.

It was good to see Sanjar and Sonia again, and i met some really cool people and had some interesting and entertaining conversations. It was the most pleasant trip to London i’d had for a very long time!

I went to London on Monday, too! After months of successfully managing to avoid the place – i think i’d been there twice in 9 months – i was going to be in London three days in a row that week! On Monday, i’d arranged to meet Terry, and old friend from Australia. I’ve known her for twenty years now, but i hadn’t seen her or had any contact with her for at least the last ten.

Terry runs a cafe in central London and i met up with her there. This time, the trip to London wasn’t quite so smooth. The train there was alright, but the Circle line was out of action due to signal failure and the other underground lines were overcrowded as a result. So i spent the underground journey crammed in like a sardine.

It was really good to see Terry again after all that time. She had the day off work and we spent the afternoon together, walking around looking for somewhere to eat, eating, and then sitting on a bench by the river and talking.

The trip back to Liverpool Street station on the underground was sardine can style again, as the Circle line was still out of action! And the train ride took a bit longer on the way back, because i didn’t catch the direct train from Liverpool Street. And then, when i got back to North Fambridge station, i found some bastard had given me a parking ticket for not being fully inside the marked parking bay – only there were no markings on the bay, because they’d worn away on all the bays in the carpark! I took some photos with my phone, as evidence, and drove home in a slightly less good mood than i’d been in when i got back the day before…

On Tuesday, i had to go to London again – only this time, i had to drive. I took my mum up to visit an old friend of hers who had a knee operation the week before. She lives in Hammersmith, which is right on the other side of London, so it was a long trip. I don’t like driving at the best of times, and i can think of lots of things i’d rather do than drive around London. But the journey wasn’t too bad really – if you call driving for five hours for a two hour visit, not too bad! But it was good to see Monica and i was happy to be able to take my mum there, as she couldn’t possibly have made it on public transport, and her eyesight’s not good enough for her to drive herself any more.

After three visits to London in three days, i was worn out on Wednesday and i didn’t really do much at all. On Thursday i managed to get some work done on a couple of the three web sites that i’m currently working on for other people – but not as much as i would have liked. I also spent an hour or so writing a strongly worded letter to the evil car parking conglomerate, NCP, about Monday’s parking ticket.

On Friday, i worked nearly eight hours chopping vegetables. And yesterday, i did another five hours work in the morning and then, after a few hours break, i worked five more hours in the evening, doing a hog roast, at a 40th birthday party not far from here. The party was good, and there were about half a dozen of us working, which was nice – as i mostly work on my own. But it was a bloody long day!

Today, i’m trying to catch up! I’ve spent about an hour writing this – and i guess it will be another hour doing the podcast of it. And then i really want to write the last part of the Basque Country story, that i started ages ago! After that, maybe i’ll get round to doing some work!

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