Aaron Around The World

Another typical weekend day in London: sunny in the morning, overcast by lunch time, and pissing with rain in the afternoon. After struggling to think of somewhere half-decent and easy on the eye to cycle to, the only suggestion I got was a little area southwest of London called Kingston. However, after a sunny start to the day, it was overcast when I left, and half an hour and 10'ish kilometres later the heavens began to open. I was going to press on regardless until I hit this big bitch of a hill and decided fuck it, and fuck this. So, after another typical day of London weather, and after another row with another London driver, and after listening to another cacophony of car horns on the road because someone cut someone off or someone was going too slow for someone's liking or someone was just bored with their life and felt like tooting about it, I realised I am fast getting sick of this place. All people do in this city is complain (much like what I'm doing right now), and then a theory suddenly dawned on me: people in this city have absolutely nothing to look forward to, absolutely nothing to get excited about - all they have is a myriad of stuff to be unhappy about! I can't think of a single thing that a Londoner can look forward to. The weather is always crap and summer lasts for just two whole weeks in July, the roads are chaos and full of pricks and it takes forever to get anywhere if you want to get away, New Year's is a non-event, there's nothing but rubbish on TV, everything (and I do mean everything) is a complete rip-off, the politicians are as crooked as grandma's back, and the place is as ugly as Betty!

However, due to circumstance, it is in my best interests long-term to stick it out until at least next year, after which I'm thinking about buying a van, sticking a mattress in the back, and road tripping around Europe for the three months of summer that the rest of Europe actually gets before moving to Canada. And I can't wait! Who wants to come with me?!


Nice or not, even Wimbledon can't avoid the cliché conformity of London housing. Every house looks just like the neighbours'!		And right around the corner, oh wow more of the same. Wimbledon: a nicer version of Coronation Street (with nice cars parked in every driveway).


Oooo bugger. She won't be allowed to borrow that again.		And this chick got highly annoyed with the automatic gate that wouldn't respond to her remote-control doohicky. Good cheap entertainment :)


After the initial shitting of pants and wondering whether I'd turned the oven off this morning, this is exactly what I love to see right outside my flat as I'm biking up road from work - five fire engines lining the street and water everywhere! The old duck across the road managed to set fire to her flat somehow, and although I arrived too late to see it there was apparently smoke pouring out of the window up there where Fireman Sam is. Late or not I could certainly smell the aftermath.


This got put through our mailbox today - how are us whities meant to read that?! I tell ya, they're taking over - by 2020 this place will be renamed to Londonistan!


Davydd, my wonderful but terribly Australian flatmate, is starting to make many an appearance on this site. This morning he decided on a big greasy fry-up for breakfast. In the process he wore half of it, burnt the rest of it, and melted our spatula.				Bon appetite.


Court 2 on the left and Centre Court on the right, this is The All England Lawn and Croquet Club in Wimbledon (as in the tennis Grand Slam in July). It always seems to be under construction when I see it, and short of paying umpteen quid to get into the Lawn Tennis Museum (as riveting as that sounds) I couldn't get any closer than the fence.


Tennis and croquet aside, there's a golf course across the road, and the Wimbledon Club enjoys cricket, hockey, and even a spot of squash. Hoorah old chap!


As well as sport, Wimbledon is also full of South Africans - they seem love it here! The suburb itself is one of the few nice ones I've found in London so far, and the houses even have names hehe.


Wimbledon Common - probably really nice in summer, but a bit too Blair Witch for me in winter.				After getting lost in the woods, I thought I had emerged in Holland...


...but no such luck - I was quickly reminded of where I was.				What are you looking at?!


It's been fucking freezing all weekend, and there were random flurries this afternoon before it finally had a good old dump tonight :)


I know we've all seen snow before, but when it's the worst dump London has seen in two decades it is kind of a novelty.


Buses were suspended all over the city until this afternoon, and I'd never seen the roads so quiet - just the occasional taxi a few other idiots looking to create the next accident of the day.				Nice morning for a jog.


		London Black cabs (the old hunka-dunka black-smoke-out-the-exhaust models; they probably wouldn't start hehe).


				Not everyone had the option of going out and causing accidents today.


Little Venice and the Regents Canal - I hope those house boats have good heaters!


No more of the white stuff fell from the sky overnight unfortunately, so it's just leftovers on the floor. The forecast is for more later in the week, so here's hoping. It's funny watching a country grind to a halt in a climate it should have learnt to handle by now!


And a nice morning for a bike ride to work ;)		In most cases the road was safer to walk down than the footpath.


		Yummy.


Hyde Park. The snow was about five inches deep here, and I ploughed right across the field on the right for shits and giggles and came out the other side soaked (snow is wet stuff!).


With no buses and the Tubes all delayed or suspended I was one of only eight people that made it into work (compared to about the usual 50). I was cold and covered in shit and the bike wasn't looking much better but damn it was fun! :)


Kia ora to all my bros in Aotearoa, ke te pehea koe?! Happy Waitangi Day eh, much aroha! Ka kite :)


Another typical weekend day in London: sunny in the morning, overcast by lunch time, and pissing with rain in the afternoon. After struggling to think of somewhere half-decent and easy on the eye to cycle to, the only suggestion I got was a little area southwest of London called Kingston. However, after a sunny start to the day, it was overcast when I left, and half an hour and 10'ish kilometres later the heavens began to open. I was going to press on regardless until I hit this big bitch of a hill and decided fuck it, and fuck this. So, after another typical day of London weather, and after another row with another London driver, and after listening to another cacophony of car horns on the road because someone cut someone off or someone was going too slow for someone's liking or someone was just bored with their life and felt like tooting about it, I realised I am fast getting sick of this place. All people do in this city is complain (much like what I'm doing right now), and then a theory suddenly dawned on me: people in this city have absolutely nothing to look forward to, absolutely nothing to get excited about - all they have is a myriad of stuff to be unhappy about! I can't think of a single thing that a Londoner can look forward to. The weather is always crap and summer lasts for just two whole weeks in July, the roads are chaos and full of pricks and it takes forever to get anywhere if you want to get away, New Year's is a non-event, there's nothing but rubbish on TV, everything (and I do mean everything) is a complete rip-off, the politicians are as crooked as grandma's back, and the place is as ugly as Betty! However, due to circumstance, it is in my best interests long-term to stick it out until at least next year, after which I'm thinking about buying a van, sticking a mattress in the back, and road tripping around Europe for the three months of summer that the rest of Europe actually gets before moving to Canada. And I can't wait! Who wants to come with me?!				London personified.


According to this news article (and video which I found hilarious), the number of cases of motorists and pedestrians taking dangerous and illegal risks at UK level crossings is at a four-year high. If this wasn't a miniature model for a newspaper advert, that scooter would be racing that train ;)		In line with my big moan about London and the UK yesterday, it seems I'm not the only one to have a gripe. That chick is the Russian girlfriend of that dude who plays soccer (football, sorry) for Arsenal. She's been in London just a few days but has decided that Londoners are a "dirty and scruffy" bunch of dickheads. She thinks English food is disgusting, English beer tastes like piss, and London is a very dirty city. "The women there don't care about themselves and what they look like [she got that right!]. Often you see a woman in a street gobbling up a hamburger with grease dropping on her dress." Hahaha!		I'm sure you're all aware of my love of cycling. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, or shine - I'll cycle in it! With my odometer approaching 4,500kms, I never like to see this. This chick got taken out good and proper by a truck in Notting Hill, less than a ten-minute ride from my flat and an area I pass through often. The truck driver has been charged with dangerous driving causing death. I've had a lot of near misses but never been hit (touch wood), and with London drivers being the arseholes that they are, this is something I never take for granted.