My near-death experience in London

So I was working at the First (cricket) Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's Cricked Ground in London. I was working all 5 days for Fine Burger Company, and this was Day 2. My friend Tony had just arrived in England after his travels through South America, Germany, and the Greek Islands, and I had got him some work at FBC with me.

Tony and I taking a break during another busy shift of flipping burgers

After our shift, we decided to go for some Friday night drinks and kick back. After some walking, we stumble upon a nice bar called the Stonehorse. We get our beers and sit down at the outside tables. Everything was going well until after about an hour or so...then the 2nd "O" in the Stonehorse sign fell, missing me by only centimetres, bounced off the ground, hit me in the leg, then rolled away. Now this big "O" was a fairly heavy metal sign. If I was sitting directly underneath the sign, my skull probably would've been cracked open. Unbelieveable.

After I realised what had happened, I took it into the pub and did started an impromptu cheer - "Give me an O!"

Me with the "O", a guy calling his friend telling him what had happened, and a waitress trying to work out what was going on

After all that, we didn't get any free drinks for our troubles. What a disappointment.

Another waiter, me, and Tony - still alive and kicking

If you look at the picture, our stuff is just to the right of the door, that's where we were sitting. If the S had fallen, it would have hit Tony in the head.

The view of the sign from my seat

So we're still alive - just. I now have 8 lives left to go. I'm considering returning just before I leave for New York for some final drinks (literally).

But it's got great atmosphere...

DN

A weekend in Sweden

Hello everyone,
Now, back to this trip to Sweden.

My first real trip outside London, and it was adventure just trying to leave! After leaving home for Stansted Airport, I had given myself 3 hours to get there, and I should have given myself 3 1/2. I missed check-in deadline by about 10 min, which meant I had to catch the next flight to Gothenburg. About 3 hrs and £40 later, I was off to Sweden.

I actually stayed in Falkenburg, which is about an hour south of Gothenburg. I stayed at the lovely cottage de Jenny, who along with Richie looked after things. First night went to central Falkenburg, and had dinner in a pub, and watched the World Cup 3rd place game, Germany v Portugal.

Next day and we're off to the local beach, just a 15 min walk down the road from the cottage. And my first game of kubb, a traditional Swedish outdoor game involving wooden blocks. It involves strategy and accurate throwing of these blocks, and it's pretty cool, as long as the blocks don't hit you.

That night had a good 'ol Swedish BBQ at Jenny's parents place and watched the World Cup final. It was so boring, I was falling asleep. The result was not what I wanted either, the diver in the Australia game scoring the winning penalty.

Next day off to Gothenburg to see the sights for a little, then another BBQ at a friend of Jenny's. Final day more sightseeing before heading back to London.

Notes:

• Almost everything they say about the Swedish is true. NO, not everyone is Sweden is blonde. But YES, most people in Sweden are attractive. YES, most Swedish are friendly. YES, the cities and countrysides are beautiful.
  
• The cities are really nice, with cobblestones, large plazas, few cars. The people just seem quite content, as if life is good. No homeless on the streets, nobody looking like trouble. As Tony and I said, we think they have worked things out up here.
  
• In summer the days are LOOOOOOONG. It doesn't really get dark, just navy blue. The sun comes back up at 4am or so, it's nuts.
• It has to be one of the more expensive places to live. More expensive than England.

Overall, Sweden was an awesome place to be. I am fortunate to have friends in Scandinavian places, I probably would not have been able to go otherwise. And I can only remember one word in Swedish - but I cannot repeat it here...

DN

A Day Out in Wimbledon

I never made plans to go to Wimbledon, if things worked out that way, then so be it. And so they did - I had a day off between my two jobs on the one cloudy day during Wimbledon - and rain was forecast. Nevermind, I was set on going to at least see the famous tennis grounds.

I got to Wimbledon Park around 10:30am. Normally you are expected to queue for HOURS before getting entry, some sleeping overnight to get Centre Court tickets. But today there was no queue, and I walked straight into the gates without stopping! Not only that but when I got to the gate, there were still show court tickets available (again, highly unusual). So got a Show Court 2 ticket and I was in.

After entering and buying a program, that forecasted rain starts to fall. I rush to find some cover under the nearest building. To my luck I realise that I'm under Centre Court! There was no security guarding the entrance, so I walked right in. There were some other people wandering around the stands too, but it was generally empty! So I sat on Centre Court for about an hour until the rain stopped.

Inside Centre Court at Wimbledon - but not much court action

The scoreboard on Centre Court

Then it was off to Show Court 2 where I saw (in a rain-interrupted day):

• Aussie Rennae Stubbs playing in a women's doubles match (won)
• Part 2 of the longest men's doubles match in history including Aussie Todd Perry (lost)
• Marcos Baghdatis beating Lleyton Hewitt on the big screen
• A Chinese pair beating Martina Navratilova

When I bought my ticket I did not pay attention to the seat position. Once I got in, I realised I was on the FRONT ROW! Amazing. I talked to the guy next to me, who said he had queued since 4am for his seat! I must have taken a spare one on the front row.

So many cool things about Wimbledon:

• This history and tradition can be seen everywhere. The way the linesmen and ballkids enter and exit the court, the geeky uniforms, the scoreboards done by hand, I could go on and on.
• Strawberries and cream. Yum.
• Pimm's and lemonade. Glug.
  
• Henman's Hill or Murray's Mountain or whatever they call it these days, nice way to kick back and enjoy the matches on the big screen.
• If people didn't get a ticket to Show Court 2, it's not a total loss. If you buy a ground pass, you get access to SC3 next door. If you get to the top row, you can actually look over the top and watch SC2!
• Walked next to John Fitzgerald (Aussie Davis Cup captain) for about 5 min as he walking in grounds. I don't think too many people recognised him.

Out of 8 hrs of possible play, we got about 5 hrs, so it wasn't too bad. All in all what could have been a total rainout turned out to be an amazing day on the hallowed home of tennis.

DN