Hey there,

a much belated happy new year. And a much belated chinese new year.

Needed some time to myself over the dec-jan-feb period so stopped the pics.

Anyway all’s back on track now.

Big news though – I’m leaving London 30th June – so if anyone wants to bunk over at mine, the living room’s open till June4th ..then I’m off travelling for a month. Most weekends I’ll be trying to go somewhere – I have a list of European countries and will try to get to one country each weekend. Next weekend will be Edinburgh, last weekend was Dublin…next next is Stockholm.

So yeah, I’m doing ok.

Credit card is not doing ok though, it needs some resuscitation.

I’ll be making a stop london-kl to pack up some stuff then onwards to sydney.

Going to be a busy next few months.

London is as gloomy, cloudy as ever. Bring on spring!

Hope you’re well..
Shi.

Hey,

More stuff from the Jan-Feb filing cabinet – NME Big Gig (Klaxons, Bloc Party, Kaiser chiefs, Manic St Preachers, Cribs), Linkin Park concert, V day Vauxhall Roller disco, Carwash 70s disco on Old Street, Science Museum, Barbican, rappers from China, Sundays at Spitalfields markets..

Horrible week of wind, rain…

Sun came out today!

Hooray!

Hope you’re well
Shi

]]> http://misstraveler.com/postcards/blonde-wig-in-the-london-gale/feed/ 0 http://misstraveler.com/postcards/mulled-wine-is-good-for-you-or-so-i-tell-myself/ http://misstraveler.com/postcards/mulled-wine-is-good-for-you-or-so-i-tell-myself/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:30:00 +0000 http://misstraveler.com/?p=40 Heya

Concerts were good. Kaiser Chiefs was mosh pit fun (got a spot right in the front of the stage!) nice nice nice – they are good in concert. Jumped, shoved, sang my brains out. Shoes totalled. Brilliant night. Turin Brakes was a more “mature” crowd so more karaoke session-ey.

Frost Festival was very good too. Best view just eating pie, (choc-covered) churros and mulled wine and looking at the river. Lots of little stalls, performances, stilt walkers, acrobats… Globe Theatre had an open day and that was fun too – actors running around everywhere overacting Shakespeare’s pieces.

Kew Gardens also had open night. Audience carolling, fun fair, carousel, snow dome (turned out to be foam) and Henry Moore sculptures. I lost a lot of feeling in my face, legs and toes that night.

Heliosphere at Covent Garden finally came out after 2 weekends of lousy weather. It’s an acrobatic performance involving a female acrobat attached to a big balloon and she flies around the square, occassionally touching people on the ground. Either thrilling or sappy, you decide.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQLOfAO1Upg

It’s getting pretty painful to stand outside for hours like I’ve been doing all weekend. According to BBC’s average temperature, it is actually now 3 celsius colder than last year. Not that I would know, because I wasn’t there last year so I’ll keep on trying to freeze my toes off every night.

Everyone has started leaving London for the hols…my turn next Sunday! woo!

ho ho ho
Shi

nice that in london there is so much choice to do the conventional xmas stuff and the unconventional xmas

like:

shopping: John Lewis,Debenhams (conventional) v Spitalfield markets, Brick Lane flea markets (unconventional). Acryllic jewelley is all the rage atm, even Chanel & Tate Modern have gotten into it :p I wonder if Mexican wrestling masks might make good gifts…

xmas cookies: Design Museum where I made my own rainbow gingerbread men. Meet Selvi the Indian gingerbread woman and Frieda, the cross-dressing (at the same time) gingerbread transgender

There were also girl go-go dancers Actionettes – they were swingin!

St Martin in the Fields are having Christmas concerts. On Sat was audience carols & my favourite (ever!): Vivaldi’s 4 seasons! Divine to hear & see the fantastic skill of the lead violinist, I was in heaven.

Trafalgar’s square’s Xmas Tree & Menorah (Chanukka this Tuesday)

Company Xmas dinner last week. We had it at a middle-eastern restaurant, stand-up buffet with dj & free flow drinks afterwards. Can’t say it compares to a pirate xmas party, but by the end of the night you could have been a 6ft peg-legged parrot & no one would have noticed.

Lion King was both gorgeous (costumes, make up, props) and disappointing (plot line, lead’s singing, some set design).

Comedy Store (Picadilly Circus) improv Sunday night follows the same format as “whose line is it?” and I have learnt a new word to love and cherish: “Tosser!” I’m sure it must mean something good because they only said it 50 times during the show.

And they’ve got more xmas fairs set up in front of City Hall and Leicester Square.

Turin Brakes & Kaiser Chiefs this week. Looking forward to it. Woo!

It’s still been raining all week.

Hope all is well,
Shi

ps: yes, I know what tosser means so please don’t send me emails suggesting how I might integrate using it into my daily life…
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=A+-+Tosser

1. Jack the Ripper walk – very good, the guide (an actor by profession) did voices (horny wretches, toff, Cockney, fire truck (??)) , sang, danced – it was a good night. www.walks.com

2. Syon Park Enchanted Woodland Walk – very very pretty – they put up lights & effects in the park and it just turns into something else. It’s also the home of the Duke and Duchess of Northcumberland but unfortunately Their Graces are not part of the exhibit http://www.syonpark.co.uk/

3. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Ice rink is fully booked til Xmas (I’ve been told) but it’s more like a sandy watery rink..better to go to Somerset House. Excited kids, parents, couples, teens – everyone in London had turned up. Ferris wheel, tube slide, carousel, haunted house, rides, food, stalls for pressies, Santa

4. VIP shopping weekend – they closed parts of Oxford Street for shoppers – jugglers, entertainers etc. There’s this Argos ad on the telly now that has people sommersaulting over bollards, pushing, shoving…that was probably based on this event :p

5. Columbia Street Flower Market – oh the glorious smell of pine needles…mmm 25 pounds for a 5 ft xmas tree..sigh

6. East London Design Show – it was good. Didn’t find any xmas pressies tho

Oh yes in my previous email I said that it was Richard VIII – it should actually have been Henry VIII – my bad

Interestingly, Henry VIII was eaten by the estate dogs at Syon Park – considered divine judgement for turning Syon Abbey into Syon House.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syon_House

Got soaked in the rain, it’s been raining all week. And the story behind that nice graffiti is here:

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/horizontal_1.htm

It’s located above the bus stop at the Old Street tube station and the story behind it is worth a read.

That’s it for now..I’m absolutely knackered.

zzzz
shi

My goldfish bowl (london) is getting colder!

The new St. Pancreas train station opened few weeks ago and they had a performance/circus act/parade on Friday night called Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). We started from a street off the main road near the station and followed this parade of lanterns and bands to a “secret spot” where there were 3-4 stages set up with tv screens, “wheel of death”, tight ropes with people abseiling in, acrobats, orchestra, breakdancing, rappers, singers, beatboxer, bollywood dancers…it was awesome!

Of course we couldn’t feel our feet or fingers afterwards but it was so worth it.

Checked out Somerset House (lots of bling bling), the ice rink there, hayward gallery, more London Jazz Week.

Today went to Hampton Court Palace where I got really excited in anticipation about getting lost in the garden maze! I didn’t get lost, but I tried my best and was very disappointed when I found the centre. Good fun though. The ticket guy suggested that I should walk through with my eyes closed next time. And there were a lot of excited children racing through with their disgruntled parents leading the rear.

Hampton Court Palace is best known for Richard VIII & his many wives. I’ve heard about him (not educated in Britain, thank you very much!) but still feels like a harsh way to break up with someone. He should have just converted to Islam that permits 4 wives at a time. Very plush interiors, but very spooky when it gets dark (sun starts setting at 330pm now).

Anyway on more important matters… Bel & Cheryl’s bro Nat supported a peaceful political demonstration in Kuala Lumpur city 2 weeks ago that resulted in them being tear gassed several times. It’s illegal to have mass gatherings or criticising the Malaysian government. Nat walked to support the rights of the economically disprivelledged Indians in Malaysia and how they are being ignored by the government. Financial & economic assistance from the government in Malaysia is racially legislated when it should be based on actual needs rather than racial terms.

Participation estimated to be up to 30,000 people. Nasty way that the government dealt with it : tear gas & riot soldiers.

Pics of the incident & Nat’s personal experience are at his webpage:

http://jelas.info/

Al Jazeera footage (1 1/2 mins long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6558tY58E&feature=related

Kinda shocking for anyone who’s visited/lived in KL because it’s always been peaceful. Malaysian controlled media is doing a fine blanket job on the issue..

Life still goes on in KL I imagine. I was pretty surprised that John Howard’s finally going… Gordon Brown is doing ok so far. And England lost against Croatia?

Hope your part of the world or your gold fish bowl.. is good

Shi

Forgive the fragmented nature of this email, I don’t think I’ve had time to process the varied stuff I did over the weekend.

Weather’s gotten cold, rainy, windy and dark. Feels heaps better to get into a warm concert hall & listen to some jazz during the London Jazz Festival. Southbank’s beautiful in the rain huddled under an umbrella and wrapped in a warm coat.

Went barn dancing for laughs in London in a kitschy town hall with cherubs and chandeliers and an all-english country western band. Steel capped boots would have been handier than the prescribed cowboy hats and gingham togs.

Feeling horrified by the (admittedly very good) Holocaust and the Crimes Against Humanity exhbitions at the Imperial War Museum.

Laughing at the Camouflage exhibit.

Feeling bored at the V&A museum, then impressed at the broad spectrum of exhibits and then loving the cafe with the high ceilings and beautiful lights – the most stunning cafe I’ve ever eaten in.

And all the normal Friday & Saturday night shennenigans.

And titled “1 experience never to try in London” is dropping your Ipod onto the tube tracks, having a train pass over the Ipod and lying on your chest on Waterloo platform to pick it up. No, I don’t know why if you do touch the metal bit you do not turn into a smouldering cinder. Possibly the dumbest thing I’ve done in a long time. Yes I deserve a good scolding.

Stupidity aside…

I’m going to Malaysia and Australia for 3weeks from xmas, so really looking forward to warm weather, clear waters, the sun setting at 7pm and sunshine.

Have fun viewing the pic
Shi

After last month I’ve been quite happy to stay in london & not move. Coincidentally the last 2 weekends I spent it mostly around the Thames River, except for last weekend when I went down to Corwall, Newquay, St Ives etc.

Thames Boat Festival was good fun – about 200 boats (dragonboats, rowboats etc) went down the thames. Personally I get quite thrilled by dragonboats (proper dragonboats go really fast, and they have drums!) but I stayed for the funny costumes.

Best costume(s) was the orange dutch rowboat with blond pig-tailed milkmaids, matching orange dresses and tulips; going down the thames. And of course, I didn’t take a pic of them

Oyster & seafood festival too, and that was good..yum. Went cable wakeboarding & flopped about not being able to get a good take off then shivered like a puppy (how embarassing).

Cold water & cold weather kills me, I’m always the person looking very cold on the side of the field/beach/office/bar/anywhere in london.

Last weekend was a toss-up between the Lord Mayor’s festival or Cornwall – picked cornwall. Saw St.Ives and the 5 hr ride was sooooo worth it.

St Ives is a beautiful little english coastal town but we didn’t stay long. 1 invisible green bunny rabbit later (long long long story) & we had to take the train home to london.

I’m feeling kind of wrecked at the moment. Mostly work-related but sleeping in a car on sat night didn’t help.

Need sleep now, hossegor next weekend – hope that goes alright.

Later,
Shi.