Arriving in an English speaking nation for the first time in a little over a week I was both relieved and slightly apprehensive. I’d learnt to slow down and observe the goings on around me far more readily when I didn’t understand the language and quite enjoyed the freedom that this gave me. That said, it was nice to get to a location where you didn’t have to apologise for not having local language comprehension. Thankfully the nordic countries are amongst the most friendly I’ve met, and everyone I met spoke english more fluently than many native speakers.

Thanks to the groom-to-be I had been given the details of a friend of his from his time in The Hague and had a couch to crash on for the first few nights that I was in town. Unfortunately for me, my host Cord was having a night out on the town and upon arrival at Heathrow and the subsequent deep-end learning of the London Tube I ended up making my way to the infamous Camden Lock without any contact from Cord. Hoping for a meal I headed to The Hawley Arms Pub as she’d suggested in emails (apparently once frequented by a few famous musos), however the kitchen closed mightly early, so luggage in tow I headed out on the town looking for food. Thankfully there was a not too dodgy looking Vietnamese not too far away, so some Pho and a beer was had before returning to the pub for a pint and hoping that my host would give me a call or message.

Luckily Cord messaged me after her night was wearing down and she checked her phone, and when she arrived apologised profusely for the delay in contacting me and along with her housemate we had another pint before heading back to crash out.

Next day I headed into the city with my host as she headed to work. Despite school still being in, or because of it, London was filled with people, so I contented myself with playing tourist for the day, visiting Westminster Cathedral, the house of the Horse Guards, Hyde Park and general wandering around. I discovered Cord was an avid live music fan, so she took me out to a little gem of a venue, The Luminaire (wait for the shock – I was there sans-camera!). The place is awesome and reminded me a lot of The Annandale Hotel, but with a bit more polish. The best part were the signs on the walls:

QUIET
If you’re talking when a band is playing we’ll tell you to shut up.

and

SHUT UP
No-one paid to listen to you talking to your pals. If you want to talk to your pals when the bands are on, please leave the venue.

One word to sum that up: Gold! Their devotion to promoting live music, especially local live music, was to be looked up to! On stage that night were The Travelling Band with support from The Draytones and Echotone. A great night out was had, and got to enjoy the treat of cider – an english spring drinking staple.

Saturday I kicked up the tourist in me another notch as I wandered around the city of London, heading out along the Thames river to the Tower of London, Millenium Bridge and various other locations in the area. I also used this as an opportunity to work out what to do with my spare day in ol’ London Town. Sunday morning I shifted camp to a Hostel on the other side of London (and thankfully closer to Heathrow), not wanting to stretch the new friendship and onto the next part of the adventure in the motherland.

On the way however I made sure I purchased myself one grey woolen old man driving hat to augment my beanie (keeping my balding noggin’ warm).

Also ran into a few inline skaters doing some video work so I hung around to do some shots with them.

More Flickr Photos from London