Every vessel pitching hard to starboard

I was having weird stomach pains pretty much all day today. I suspect this might be my body’s way of telling me that Heineken, a kitkat, an aero and donuts are not a suitable weekend diet. So I had to suck it up and make a proper meal this eve - and by proper I mean fry up the last of my potatoes in an attempt to recreate the surprisingly delicious potato meal from two weeks ago. It worked too, the were golden and crispy and nommish.

But I was again struck by the fact that, except for the times when Abbi feeds me, I pretty much live entirely off bread, cheese, pasta and potatoes. I am, for all intents and purposes, eating like Martin Crieff.

I can't afford to go out, to buy nice food - I live on toast and pasta - sometimes, for a treat, I have a baked potato!

This is my life. I am more of a student now than I ever was when I actually was a student. I'd like to think it's character building. And good practice for next year when I will be student again, without the benefit of living at home. If I get in, of course, which is highly unlikely if I don't start doing some research instead of just sitting around in the evenings, watching movies.

But this chair is so uncomfortable. Moan.

Anyway. Tomorrow I have a full day of induction, it'll probably involve some sort of hideous team building exercises. Joy. But on one hand, it's good that I'll be away since I've finished all my assigned work and nothing else has come in that they can give me. Oh, the curse of being too efficient.

I need to find a place I can loiter during lunch that is a) not at my desk, and b) not somewhere I have to buy something. I suspect this will prove tricky. I kind of miss the library I used to frequent back in north London - so convenient!

In other news, last week of the month means I am completely and utterly broke. Hate this monthly pay business with a fiery passion. I just hope my old job don't forget to pay me otherwise I will be completely screwed *crosses fingers* Can't wait for the end of the month - pay which means food and new things, bigger room, and tax refund time back home. All positives!

Oh, hey, spoke to the parental unit last night and discovered that they were embarking on a road trip with my aunt and uncle, driving all the way to Cape Town. 'Driving?' I exclaimed, in horror. 'Jesus. Why?' Cue manic laughter from the other end of the phone. Now, I know lots of people who have driven to Cape Town. I personally have never done it - coming from the aviation-privileged life that I do - can't say I've ever really wanted to either. But whatever. Their plan is to do it over three days (I suppose 1,603km isn't so bad divided) I'm envisioning some sort of Darjeeling Limited family quest of sorts. It's giving me novel ideas.

Actually, I just spoke to them and they are here now -

The Three Sisters. 1,066 km from where they started. In one day. So much for taking it easy and stopping along the way. Although knowing them, it was all probably achieved by excessive speeding (speeding runs in the family, we are terrible. In SA, pretty much all of my dad's side consider a good average to be 160km/h on highways. I think my dad once drove us to the coast in four and a half hours, a 630km journey which according to google should take 7-8 hours.)

Now they have to drive through the Karoo -

Which should be... different. I am sort of jealous, except for that bit where I'm terrified of deserts. Not desserts, for they are delicious. (Haha, I'm so witty. No? Oh. Okay.) Anyway. I'm quite interested to see how this little adventure pans out. They're having another ceremony for my granddad in the Cape and scattering the ashes. It's very appropriate since it's the place he was always the happiest and where he always wanted to go back to, but couldn't. So that should be special. Will see, I suppose.

Anyway. I suppose I have procrastinated as much as I can on this blog. Time to write something...

(This chair really is uncomfortable though. Severe back pain. Gah.)

Music: Don't carry it all - The Decemberists

Put another dime in the jukebox

I’ve had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster of a week – all internalised of course because I clearly have issues. But I don’t really feel like getting into it. Let’s just say it was my grandfather’s funeral yesterday and it was quite tough to find myself sitting on the other side of the world to my family and being unable to support them. That’s really what upset me more than anything. I mean I feel pretty useless in those situations in general, but now it was a thousand times worse. Who knew that was possible? But yeah. Not getting into it.

So what have I been up to this week? Um. Good question. New job is still going well, I’m definitely enjoying learning new stuff…although learning more stuff right about now would be a plus. The team is really nice too, which is always a bonus. Friday was pretty hilarious as we were all working away so we could leave early, resulting in some classic one liners.

I also managed to finish three books in a week and a half, so I’m pleased with myself. It’s been so long since I’ve just read. It amuses me that one of the books (High Fidelity) actually dates back to January – I bought it in Paris when we first started our trip. But then I was of course sucked into reading A Song of Ice and Fire so it was forgotten. Lugged all over Europe, but forgotten. It’s so similar to the movie though, dialogue is virtually identical. One of my uni tutors once remarked that Nick Hornby didn’t write novels, he wrote screenplays. You can see where he got that idea from. The other two books I read was for book club - I’ll save my discussion for that. One of them is Fifty Shades of Grey so it'll no doubt be lively o_O

What else? I am terribly disappointed I missed the All Blacks game yesterday. I wandered down to my local pub to watch a replay of the Australia v Wales match, hoping they’d play the AB game afterwards but no, it was not to be. See, I would go to see it live but since it’s in 8.30 in the damn morning, it’s kinda hard to find a pub that’s open. I should just trek out to the Walkabout but…but…but. So. Yeah. I suppose I should be glad that it’s almost Tri Nations (Four Nations? What is it called now?) time, at least when they play in South Africa it’s a reasonable time here.

Other than that, I’ve spent this weekend watching movies. I feel like I watch a lot of movies lately. Since last Sunday, I’ve watched Rock of Ages (soooo much fun), Fast Five, The Muppets, Ratatouille, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (so good, I don’t understand how people think it’s boring), War Horse (despite my better ‘this is going to be so emotionally manipulative’ judgement), and Breaking Dawn Pt 1 (skeletal Bella is kinda terrifying.) I’m also still working my way through Homeland (oh, Damien Lewis, you are so amazing) and trying to finish off Merlin season 4 – that’s taking a while mostly cause I’m lazy and they’re just recycling the same story tropes which is a bit frustrating, but the show still has some desperately awesome adorkable moments so I’m trying to persevere.

And…yeah. That’s about it. My friend A was in town on Monday so we had dinner and I did one of those blitz tours – I’m getting quite good at those. It amazes me that since I’ve been here, I’ve had four sets of friends visiting. The world’s really quite a small place. But sadly she was the last of the planned visits. When I was first organising this year away business, there was talk of my parents dropping by in June/July but that’s obviously not going to happen now.

I have to do some writing today but I’m going to have to build up to it slowly, I think. Bit of a headache. Bit of an extreme laziness. Might watch another film first…



Music: I love rock n roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Throw out your bouquet

When you're little, they tell you all this stuff about growing up. And you think you understand but all you see is a mythical sense of freedom. You envy it, you crave it, you look forward to it. You enter your teens and growing up becomes invested with other meanings when they tell you about 'responsibilities' and 'decisions' and 'your future.' It seems daunting and complicated and involved. And it really isn't. It's simple. Growing up is merely realising and understanding, deep down in your heart where it hurts to breathe, that everyone you love, every single person you care for, is going to leave you. And there's no way around that.

You can count the passing of your existence by the number of people you lose.Welcome to life. It's started, and it's over.

"I don't want to have to cope with the sort of unhappiness Laura's feeling, not ever. If people have to die, I don't want them dying near me."


Music: At the bottom - Brand New

Let the casting of The Hunger Games begin...

About two weeks ago, I was absolutely outraged by the rumour that Cedric would play Finnick Odair in Catching Fire. Twitter nearly caught alight from my ire. It then led to pretty much a whole day of trawling IMDb at work in search of a better option (read: anyone). I mean, Finnick’s supposed to be this bronzed beach god. In no universe can that description ever apply to Robert Pattinson. Just, no.

Since then, it has emerged that he will definitely not be in The Hunger Games films but since the casting for Finnick still hasn’t been revealed, here’s my list of 10 actors who could possibly pull it off (although to be honest, it was incredibly hard to even come up with 10 and I have yet to find someone who actually feels like a perfect fit…Finnick is a difficult one to place, he’s almost otherworldly.)

Art is better than people. By the amazing AliceXZ.

To the list portion of events...

1. Bradley James
Aka Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, the most oblivious of all kings.This came to me as Abs and I were watching a Cary Elwes film (yeah, apparently Cary Elwes makes me think of Bradley…I don't understand either.) Granted, he is not the most brillant of actors but he is very pretty. He’s got that whole golden boy aura thing about him and he has stunning eyes. I could deal with this.

It's been four seasons and yet I have no idea the person I spend most of  my
time with has magic powers...even though said person is probably the least
 subtle or stealthiest  person on the planet. Good work.

2. Chase Crawford
Kinda the same boat as His Royal Obliviousness up there…I’ve never seen him in anything other than Gossip Girl so not too sure how his acting skills will hold up on the big screen. But he is very pretty also, and could pull off a more androgynous vibe which is sort of important to Finnick (is he, essentially, a veela?)

I think the only way to describe his look in most of the pics that
came up in my image search  is smoulder. I went for smile instead.

3. Ian Somerhalder
I don’t know why they’re all tv actors but bear with me here. I don’t actually watch Vampire Diaries so I have noooo idea whether he can act, but the dude has amazing eyes. And bone structure. I’m being entirely shallow with the casting of this but physical appearance is so important in this instance, surely I can be forgiven…right? He’s also early 30s which is a plus when you consider Finnick is supposed to be 10 years older than the others…and they’re all played by 20-22 year olds.

I have chosen this pic because he is on a beach.
See how much thought I'm putting into this?

4. Zac Efron
Things we know about Zac Efron: can pull off a tan, can bulk up, can be very cheeky. Could work. I mean, he's good-looking in that swoony way, and Finnick does have a bit of that going for him too.

I have also chosen this pic because of the ocean. Yeah. I'm making an effort.

5. Armie Hammer
Probably too chiseled for the role? But he was very good in The Social Network and he could probably do justice to some of that inner depth Finnick gradually reveals.

And I have chosen this pic because I have no idea what this photogapher was
thinking when he came up with this. Yes, hold two sheets of plastic. Brilliant!

6. Jensen Ackles
Because of the eyes, and the smile. Yes.

Okay, okay, I’m struggling with this list... but he is adorable.

7. Taylor Kitsch
I haven’t actually seen him in anything, I only know of him cause a friend of mine fancies him. He does kind of look the part. Oh, wait no, I lie, he was Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine... not that it says much.

Gambit, for the record, is awesome. When is he getting his own movie?

8. Kevin Zegers
Same friend fancies him too. Saw him in Dawn of the Dead but that’s about it. If Zac Efron can be on this list though then so can he. Same basic look happening.

I...huh.

9. Nicholas Hoult
Thanks to Skins we know he can play arrogant and yet be likable and vulnerable. He’s quite versatile as an actor and I think pretty solid as well. Not exactly conventional beach god material, but it could work? Maybe.

Bow ties are cool.

And, finally, dare I say it…

10. Jake Gyllenhaal
Well. He’s Jake Gyllenhaal. Right age. Cheeky. Gorgeous. We could do way worse.

Yes alright, Mr Gyllenhaal, that's quite enough.

Another possibility: Brandon Routh 

Brandon strikes me as underappreciated, mostly because his Superman film never took off, but I thought he was rather brilliant in his small bit in Scott Pilgrim so on that merit, I’ve included him in this list. 

Also, Alexander Skarsgard. Because if you look up blonde adonis and/or perfection in the dictionary, this is what you'll find:

The reason he's such a convincing vampire is because he is clearly not human. 
While everyone stands around drooling, he will destroy us all.

But, realistically, I can’t help but feel that the part will probably go to Alex Pettyfer (who is actually much more palatable when he uses his natural accent, who knew) or Garrett Hedlund (who I like, but for this? I don't know.)

This was all too hard. Let’s move on to casting Beetee…yes, he’s supposed to be in his fifties or something, but we can all agree we want Matthew Gray Gubler, right? 

Music: Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs

Shopping time!

I have been paid, I have a new job, it’s a loooooong weekend and I want to buy a t-shirt. This is how I celebrate (well, I also celebrate by having too much rum, but we took care of that last night SO! Moving on.) Problem is I am still a skint backpacker really, so I can’t go nuts and buy ALL the things, like I really want to. And that’s where you lot come in. Opinions pleeeeease, dears. Vote for the shirt you like most and help me pick the latest addition to my geek arsenal.

The only qualifying remarks I will offer on this is that I am leaning towards a Sherlock tee, and also that I don’t particularly want another black tee as pretty much all the tshirts I have with me are black - a little diversity would be good.

Anyway, here goes. Ten shirts to choose from. Yes, I know that’s a lot but it took me ages to get it down to even that. Yes, I have issues. That’s why we’re here people! (Also I had nothing to do at work this morning and too much time on the internet leads to too much choice. What can I say.)

Elementary - The first of the Holmes options. You can't really see it here but the shirt is like a creme
colour which I'm not very keen on, but it's a Threadless tee so at least I know it's decent quality.

Moriarty Crown - probably the most expensive of my selection but also kinda my favourite.
I like shirts that are more obscure in its references.

Spruce Moose - Absolutely cracked up this morning when I saw this. Classic Simpsons moment. 

Avengers Assembly - I was amused.

Loki - I do what I want Thor! Quite fond of this one too,
again cause it's kinda random.

Starfleet Academy - I do worry that I'd feel like too much of a fraud if I got a Star Trek shirt.

Princess - I do not own any Star Wars tees. This seems like an oversight.

Sherlock - Third of the Holmesian options.

Travelling Lemon - Again, love it for the obscurity. Unless you're a
Cabin Pressure fan this will make absolutely no sense. Brilliant.

Harry Stardust - I just really like this design.

Clothe me!
	Elementary
	Moriarty Crown
	Spruce Moose
	Avengers Assembly
	Loki
	Starfleet Academy
	Princess
	Sherlock
	Travelling Lemon
	Harry Stardust
pollcode.com free polls

Music: Cherry bomb - Joan Jett

A Note to Myself

Dear Self,

You know that thing you read this afternoon? That thing that made your skin itch because you wanted to be in that situation too? It wasn't even in the spirit of envy, but simply in the way it encapsulated the rewards of what you want to achieve. So you say 'one day', but what does that even mean? Why put it off and then give yourself reasons why you'll fail?

Stop giving yourself excuses not to try.

You are not too old. You are not too inexperienced. You are not too anything. You're simply afraid of disappointment. While that's a very real fear, it's not a reason to hold back or, worse, never even give yourself a fair shot at it.

You know what you want. You're afraid to admit it really, but you know, deep down. And that's what happened today, and it's that tingling you get when you read things. That's your motivation. Hold onto it. Hold onto the aggression you experienced reading that article, the one made you want to berate yourself for sitting on your ass all day rather than working towards what you wanted. Because you know what? For the first time, you actually believed you could have it, if you just tried hard enough.

You actually believed in yourself. Who would have thought?

And why shouldn't you? You're not a child any more. You have three degrees. You have been endorsed by people who didn't have to say nice things about you. You have been published in over 30 magazines, and yes okay, it's not going to win you a Pulitzer, but it's still something. And next year this time you'll actually be a published author contributing to an academic field. Really, it's not shabby for a 24 year old. You should embrace that.

Go out there and get on with it. You know what you want, so go for it. All the writers you admire, all those artists, none of them waited. Not for experience, not for training, not for the mythical right moment. They had something they wanted to express, and they just went out and did it. They doubted themselves, other people doubted them and I'm sure many people told them they were doing it wrong. The didn't let that stop them, and they certainly didn't let the thought of it stop them from even starting.

This is one of those things you can't wait to perfect. Don't get bogged down in the semantics and technicalities. You've learned the rules, it doesn't mean you have to live by them. There is no right or wrong way to do things here, you can't fail as long as you're true to yourself. You are the only thing that's holding you back. Stop being so scared of yourself.

It's time you got this shit done because it's now or never. Wasn't that sort of the point of coming halfway across the world? It won't happen if you keep giving yourself out clauses. Remember this feeling the next time you feel like giving up, the next time you're too tired or the next time it's all just too hard. Remember the anger and the frustration and the terrifying depth of wanting. Don't waste the potential.

Now stop wasting time. Honestly.

Love,
Me

Music: The Ship Song - Amanda Palmer (cover)

Adventures in Fangirling

The great thing about Europe is that travelling from one country to another is not the arduous, logistical nightmare it is back home. So it was entirely possible for Kat, a friend from Spiders Group (for those not in the know, that’s my writing group back home that I shamefully under-attend), to come over from Germany for the weekend. I forget how it all came about – we were talking on twitter one minute and planning the next. And I admit there was potential for it to be weird cause we didn’t really know each other that well (due to my aforementioned under-attendance) but turns out that was just my social awkwardness manifesting – it was totally not an issue. To use the descriptive prowess of Arthur Shappey, the weekend was, in one word, brilliant!

Things didn’t start ideally with her flight being delayed, but we were not to be put off and met up Friday evening all the same for dinner and a wander around town. We walked a lot. No, really. I cannot stress this enough. With the weather playing along, delivering blissful sunshine all weekend, it was really nice to soak up the vibe in the centre of town – everyone is just so happy and life spills onto sidewalks, it’s really just a whole different buzz around here when things heat up. Kat exercised some magnificent self-restraint in not purchasing bags, tea pots and other awesome things. She is to be commended, really. The day ended with us being foot-weary and sleepy, but I thought it was a really good effort on our parts.

Alas, I was working on Saturday and while I was slaving away (read: staring into space), Kat was off enjoying Camden markets (I warned her about the corsets, let it not be said I didn’t) and we eventually met up at Euston Square. Why, you might ask? Well, when the opportunity presents itself to indulge in your beloved fandoms, it is the duty of every self-respecting fangirl to make the most of it. As we’re both avid Sherlock fans, we were honour bound to put our fangirl game faces on and see all the things! So naturally we went to Speedy’s Café.

You don’t need to be a consulting detective to see where this weekend was heading. Our wanderings around town took us to Baker Street, New Scotland Yard, St Barts, The British Academy (aka the Diogenes Club) and Eaton Square (aka Irene Adler’s house and, as Kat astutely observed, the location for the house in Upstairs, Downstairs.)

Pavement of angst, anyone?

Of course we also fitted in other things such as visiting awesome bookshops like Daunt on Marylebone High Street, stumbling onto street markets, cooing over amazing things in obscure little shops and rummaging around vintage shops (where we may or may not both have exclaimed “It’s a John sweater!” at the same time. We are cool like that.) Obviously, I also had to take her to Forbidden Planet – what sort of fangirl would I be if I didn’t? There was also much indulging in Starbucks frappuccinos and some pretty hilarious people watching.

During our shenanigans, we realised that along with sharing a passion for Sherlock, Who, Black Books and all things British, we also both really, really like cars. Cue two hours wandering around Chelsea and Kensington sports car spotting, also known by the game title of ‘How many Aston Martins can you find on one street?’ This wasn’t really the aim, but it turns out there are an obscene amount of Astons around so it sort of just happened.

Did I mention the weather was glorious? Because it was.

We decided to take it easy on Sunday and had a late start at St Pauls, before wandering across the Millennium Bridge and along the south bank. Here then we came to the crowning glory of this weekend of fandom as the BAFTA Television Awards were on and they were still handing out wristbands for people to watch the red carpet. Like we’d miss such an opportunity!

We actually found a really lovely beer garden to chill in for a bit before it was time to stake our claim in the fenced off area next to the “red” carpet. This was the most painful part but thanks to my handy umbrella, word games we’re equally terrible at and Starbuck’s frappuccino happy hour, we managed to survive with minimal discomfort. There were some moments of barely suppressed rage when other people got pushy and annoying, but such is the way of the line-up. In retrospect, I choose not to waste my energy on that because we actually did really well for ourselves…

If I can only have one caption, let it be said that Andrew Scott is just too adorable for words.

Yup. Surely you can imagine how absolutely epic this was. Kat was blessed by Mark Gatiss, her writing idol. The only way the day could have gone better is if Benedict actually came to our little section – but the poor guy was obviously melting and so desperate to run away, you can’t fault him for doing just that. And now, hilariously, we can be found in the back corner of a lot of BAFTA footage, craning our necks and bouncing around, since we were right across from the cameras.

After cooling down with the help of pear cider, we giddily skipped off across Waterloo Bridge in a happy blur of adrenaline and eventually collapsed in St James’ Park, just as the last echoes of daylight faded from the sky. We didn’t want to call it a night but it was 10pm on a Sunday, there wasn’t much else to do. It was really quite sad to farewell Kat and wish her well on her merry way back to Heidelberg. Sigh.

So! Overall verdict: the weekend was quite the successful adventure and definitely one to remember.

PS: Let the record show that Joe Gilgun is frowning in that pic cause he is confused by the copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Kat has given him to sign - "What am I signing?"

Music: Qikitarjuaq - Cabin Pressure

Dreaming what I'm thinking

Stop press! Summer has come to London, for one week only! Step right up and make the most of it while you can.

Well okay, maybe I am being a tad dramatic...anyway, who knows if the promised week of good weather will even happen (previous experience favours answers in the negative), but today was actually nice and sunny, with the forecast predicting at least five days of much the same early to mid-twenty temps. Not hot exactly, but a definite improvement over the 12 degrees of last week.

Funnily enough, London is an entirely different place when the weather's nice. People seem to undergo some sort of Jekyll and Hyde transformation, where under the sun's watchful gaze they suddenly turn compliant and friendly. Even the giant clusterfuck that was the state of Waterloo this eve could not dampen their spirits.

Being entirely in love with summer, I of course joined in almost instantly. Despite my co-workers all carrying on about how hot it was this morning (I still had my scarf with me and the heater on, so you know, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on what actually constitutes hot. For future reference, it's anything over 30.) I spent lunch sitting in the local park with one of the guys which obviously ruined productivity for the rest of the day as only sitting in the sun can. Then one of the managers had the bright idea to go for an ice-cream run - cue the entire office devouring ice-cream cones and grinning like a bunch of school kids getting an early mark. Absolute insanity. But quite fun, so I'm not complaining.

In other news, I'm terribly homesick at the moment. The sunshine has gone some way to mitigate that, but still. Mope. At least there are things to look forward to, such as the weekly Game of Thrones eve with Abbi and Paul, and a friend from my writer's group back home is in town this weekend so we're going to hang out and fangirl like there's no tomorrow. And next month, another friend from home is over for a couple of days. I've seen so many people since I've been here. Crazy small world is crazy.

Currently trying to decide if I can be bothered making dinner. I don't think I can, but I do sort of need to eat. So cheese toast? Followed by Homeland? I've heard good things about it (well, Damien Lewis, how can it be bad?) so I got the first couple of eps and I suppose now that I've finished The Hour (amazingly, awesome, brilliant show - love) and Downton Abbey (needs more Sybil/Branson, come on), it's as good a time to start as any.

Right then. Plan. Food. Go. Here's hoping my house mate has actually washed his dishes tonight...


Music: She's a rebel - Green Day

Funny Cause True Moment #12883746

Music: Passenger Seat - Death Cab For Cutie

Turning of the seasons

As I mentioned before, I attended the Rugby Sevens at Twickenham last weekend – the final weekend of the world series. I know I’ve said it before but I really recommend going to a Sevens tournament if you ever have a chance. There’s always such a great carnival atmosphere and it’s actually just heaps of fun. Apparently the event had over 100k people over the weekend, pretty decent. Should be interesting to see how it does as an Olympic sport.

Anywhoodle, Twickenham was 70s themed for the event so there were wigs, sideburns, platforms and flares a plenty. There were also a lot of people in random costume (including a group of daleks) – the most popular being groups of Wallys and Wandas of Where’s Wally (or Waldo I suppose, depending on your frame of reference) fame. There was also a couple of guys dressed up as smurfs. I don’t get this at all but it does seem to be a popular choice as well – I see a group of smurfs pretty much every Sunday I pass through Clapham Junction (mind you, it could always be the same group of guys…which would be very sad, but not impossible.)

Blurry daleks are blurry cause they never stand still.

Walking to the stadium was an experience in itself – pubs were spilling over with revellers and the sidewalks were littered with stalls selling all sorts of things, including one house that was hosting a braai in the front garden. It sounds so silly but it was actually really nice to find myself surrounded on all sides by Australian, New Zealand and South African accents. See, this is the benefit to having ties to all three countries (even if the NZ one is just in my own mind), I always feel at home.

Even though I had access to the press box, I didn’t really hang out there. It sort of defies the point of being at the event for me. My main concern is always the people and the atmosphere. So I was chilling in the stands, first with some English supporters who I quickly abandoned (it is my humble opinion that English fans kinda suck, further affirmed by all the cricket fans I've had to deal with this week since work is just up the road from Lords) in favour of a group of kiwis and Samoans. Much better. I'd also just like to point out that being able to wander wherever you like in a stadium this size is pretty awesome.

Do not let the sun fool you, it was still very chilly.

I then transplanted to the section next to the tunnel entrance which appeared to be populated entirely by family and friends of players. Cue players clambering over the railings and chairs every two seconds. I seemed to be surrounded on all sides by Welsh supporters which was actually very nice as the Welsh team members visiting them were all so lovely to me (I only later realised that one I was flirting with only turned 19 this week. 19!!! Jesus.) Too bad they had such a terrible day on the field.

There were a couple of moments where I was just amazed while eavesdropping on conversations. Like when guys behind me were perplexed why a couple of guys dressed as the Mario Brothers and draped in NZ flags were hanging out with members of the Samoan team. ‘But they’re obviously from New Zealand,’ one guy remarked in clear confusion. Dude. Seriously? I though everyone knew the islands are all one big family. I was also very unimpressed by the booing happening every time NZ or Aus scored a try though. Oh, and France, but that I expected. So not cool.

Rhys, a Welsh player sitting behind me, described England's gear as "impressively ugly kit" and I
wholeheartedly agree. The purple/green monstrosities are way worse when seen first-hand.

Funnily enough, the main thing I took away from the tournament, other than a cold that has gotten steadily worse during the week and a further cemented belief that southern hemisphere teams just play more exciting rugby, is that I’m really looking forward to studying in NZ. It seems completely random, but it’s true. I love kiwis. I don’t know why, but I do. And I miss New Zealand. I miss rugby. I miss home too, more this week because the weather here has been so unbelievably shit.

I can handle a lot of things about living in London. Like being alone 70% of the time. And being at the mercy of public transport which generally means being squashed into trains every morning. And even being completely broke and generally relying on the kindness of my utterly amazing friends here. But I simply can't handle the weather. I struggle to understand how anyone can put up with this for long periods. And I know for a fact that London is actually capable of nice weather and prolonged periods of sunshine, but that doesn’t cancel out that it can also be utterly miserable for weeks on end. And even when the sun is out it’s still cold. It's freezing and the nutters at work have the door open and the aircon on the minute the sun peeks out. I cannot understand it. My mind does not compute. I cannot wait to get back to 38 degree summer days and 90% humidity, when even walking from your car to your front door leaves you overheated and the only thing you want to do is lie around in your swimwear watching Top Gear. Bliss.

And yeah, I know if I study in Dunedin, I won't have that either. The weather will also be sub-arctic and rainy most of the time...but it's only a three hour flight from home (and a five hour drive to Christchurch, three and a half to Queenstown. Love.) That's closer than if I studied in Perth, even.

As much as I love the UK, and Europe, it's just too far for me to cope with on a permanent level and the weather does my head in. I'm a summer child and this *indicates through window at the solid expanse of grey sky* just won't cut it I'm afraid.

I think we have to face it, NZ. I think I love you. 

But probably not as much as I love this place. It's where all my stuff is.

And it's also where this furball is waiting for me. Hard to compete with that.

Music: Don't carry it all - The Decemberists