Cape Town - London - Scotland - London

Welcome back,

As it is a bit of a rainy day here in London i thought what better way to spend the day then to get you up to speed with life OS.

I spent the rest of my time in Cape Town with some cool blokes from Perth. They had had their own "Frothing" tour going for the entire World Cup. Complete with matching shirts, jackets, shorts, you name it. It was very very clever. And by the sounds of it, a lot cheaper then the Fanatics and they stayed in Hotels, not camping in tents! Well done lads, hats off to your ingenuity.

Before i get to London, i must tell you about my time spent in the Joburg airport (waiting for my connecting flight). I sat in the Club room and read my book (The Book Thief) and pretty much wept for like 45 mins whilst finishing the book. I tried to cover my face from all the people in there... I don't know whether it was the sadness of leaving SA after three tremendous weeks or the the way the story was told. Probably a combination. But girls, if you loved the "Note Book", You'll love The Book Thief. Ok, i know that sounds pretty girly of me, but i just really enjoyed the story.

Now once in London, i got myself a SIM card for my phone and headed to one of the other terminals to meet up with The Doff (mate of mine who i travelled with in 06). That all went swimmingly. Went for a long walk through Hyde Park to get to my mates (Trav) place in Paddington and put on my Hawks strip for a kick in the park. It was all going well until Doff kicked one off the side of his boot and the ball and i ended up in the pond in the middle of the park! I grabbed one of the circular flotational devices (can't think of the proper word) which was attached to a rope and decided that we could throw it over the ball and drag it back to the edge. Nice in theory. I think it probably took us about 20 mins to get the ball. Doff with quite an expert throw lured the ball back to safety. We had gathered quite the crowd us by this stage and there was thunderous applause at the end of the saga. Even the copper, who had stopped to watch, seemed to be pleased. She said she would have fined us if we had've jumped in. haha!

I checked out Les Mis with one of the Jonas Brothers in it during my first week in London. It was just simply spectacular. I loved the staging and the darkness of it all. I don't think i would've liked it 4 years ago, but now, i feel i have a better understanding and appreciation for the style. I got fairly emotional at the end with Jean Val Jean, as this was the role that Rob Guest had played for many a year and the lead guy looked alot like Guesty. I urge you all to see it. I would love the chance to play Marius some day.

I checked out Tap Dogs as well here in London which was really really cool. My mate Sam, who you may have seen in Wicked, was kind enough to organise some tickets for me. It was only his second show but damn he was good! They all were. Jesse Rasmus, you're a little freak. And Adam is just spectacular. Make sure you check it out when it comes to Australia. Doff, who is not a big theatre lover, sat spellbound. He loved it, we all did. Had a cool little catch up drink after the show as well and saw some familiar faces from theatre back in OZ. I really like the vibe here and could definitely see myself fitting in ok in the London theatre scene.

Because London often has the stigma of drinking sessions attached to it, Doff and i were unlucky enough to be caught up in one of those sessions the night before our flight to Scotland. Needless to say, after getting home at 4am and needing to be up at 4.30am, we should not have gone to sleep that night. I slept through my alarm and the taxi man who had called to say he was out the front. Not cool. We did our best to try and make the flight but basically were laughed at by cab drivers saying "You'll never make it". They were right. With our heads down, we booked another flight for the next morning and decided to cut our losses. Fast Forward to arrival in Glasgow. We are in the wrong airport to where i had booked the hire car for pick up! Doff and i exchanged a few words and glances. "How was i to know?" i remember was the best defence from Doff. Earlier in the day at Gatwick we were informed that there would be a £20 fee to print our tickets as well. Damn you Ryanair!

Anyhoo after a £60 cab ride to the other airport, we picked up the car and starting driving out with Doff, Cam and some new Canadian guy we picked up in the plane called Greg who had an incredible moustache, to LochLomond to watch our mate Marcus Fraser in the Scottish Open.

It was wet, windy and pretty miserable to tell you the truth. But watching Marcus was very very cool. He ended up -1 for the tournament and finished in the top 20. We headed into Glasgow and drove around for a bit (with Greg the moustached Canadian) looking for a hotel. After comparing a few we dropped off our bags and i parked the car. I was left to share a room with Greg. Thanks boys. He was harmless, although just a little strange. I never trust a man with a moustache, unless he's my Dad.

We found a pub near by to watch the World Cup Final but didn't stay out too late... To tell you the truth i think i had driven for about 2 hours that day, walked for a bout 3 hours and had been up since 6am... It was nice to have a quiet one. Just not what i had invisiged for the Final after being in SA for the lead up to it. Not one person did the Waka Waka in Glasgow that i saw. And i couldn't hear one Vuvuzela (not necessarily a bad thing).

After dropping Greg back in Loch Lomond and deciding not to go to Edinburgh (i'm still a bit shattered about that. I was out voted 2-1) we started the big drive back to London. We did however have a stop over at Anfield Stadium for Doff. And we had a really awesome pub meal at a local pub near the Stadium. We given a few dirty looks as we sat in the pub by the locals mind you. I guess judging by our teeth they could tell we weren't from around there.

I have spent the last few weeks here in London just seeing some cool sites and doing a bit of shopping. I went and saw Get Him To The Greek which is ridiculously funny. I also saw Inception which is definitely worth a look also. I saw a great comedy act called Vinegar Knickers as well which was hilarious.

I had a really cool Xmas in July party with my mates friends in little Venice on Saturday and am now ready for a few meetings and a few shows this week.

I watched the Hawks play the Saints live on TV at a Walkabout pub last friday morning which was quite devastating. A DRAW!!! Bring on Extra Time i say.

Oh and a friend of mine got me tickets to the Knight and Day premiere last Thursday night which was a bit of fun.

Speak soon everybody.

Rob x