Weekend Recap

Last Friday I went to a club in Bricklane with my flatmate Rhitik. For those of you who do not know Bricklane, it is a very...different part of London, or at least what people think of London i.e. the West End, Picadilly and such. I had been before during the morning markets; this is the sort of place you go to when you want to buy back your stolen bicycle or get pirated/foreign advance copies of DVD's for a couple dollars. Friday night is a completely different place. All the tents and market stands disappear revealing block after block of curry and balti houses. There is a part of Bricklane that literally for about 400 or 500 metres, every other door leads to a curry house. I would say there are more Indian restaurants on this block than in the state of Minnesota (although I suppose that isn't too hard). After the curry houses come the clubs and coffee houses. Rhitik and I went to a place called Blue Mesa where his cousin was djing/mixing fusion. It was quite interesting: a mix of Western music underlaid with Indian beats/rythms/drums. Did I mention this place was BYOB? Did I mention it is also a curry house, along with the woman selling somosas and other tasty appetizers? Did I mention Rhitik's cousin works for Cobra distributers, so along with the beer and wine we brough, there were an additional 5 or 6 bottles of South African wine for consumption? Did I mention Rhitik paid for my feast of a meal? I had 3 large plates of food + lassi + tall boys of London Pride + free wine infront of me while watching and amazingly beautiful --but taken-- belly dancer. If heaven exists, I was probably there. Then a guy played this instrument called the Tabla. Imagine a 30 minute rapid fire drum solo...sorta like that but on really fancy bongos. I think what I like most is that even though lots of people were smoking sheesh, I didn't walk out of the place reeking of cigarette smoke!! Infact there is hardly an odor that sticks to you in, at least, that sheesh bar. Nice way to spend the night after a long week of work. After putzing around on 4 night buses, we made our way home around 02h30 the next morning.

Saturday I worked out some bank problems. I still don't have access to my accounts via cashpoints. It has been over 3 weeks! That afternoon I went to the London Transport museum only to find it closed due to renovation. Bah, can't win! Walked over to the River Thames and looked at all the little markets and exhibits that are always there on the weekend. Made my way home by way of a kebab shop and had a deliciously large Chicken Doner and watched movies the rest of the night with Scott and Ang. I managed a jog in there at some point, and all I remember is the kebab not agreeing with me too well.

Sunday was the standard routine: be lazy til 14h00 then went to Hyde Park for some Ultimate. London has had a rediculous cold snap recently so not many showed up. 30 or 40 points later we were sitting at the Pub. Today is back to the daily grind, but this weekend is Amsterdam! Only for two days though. Though that should be more than enough time to do what I need to do.

I hope some of you are still reading this (I know a few of you are) as it is turning into a pain to update. Just don't feel like it after 8.5 hours of work, plus one commuting, and another home. Ya know? Ta.