Notting Hill Carnival

It was Bank Holiday weekend. They don’t call it a public holiday over here, banks are also closed hence the name ‘Bank Holiday’
Jakey and I attended the Notting Hill Carnival to gain our London experience. Over 1.5 million people will be at this festival over the weekend. The people that live around Notting Hill are mainly Caribbean’s; you do get a few whities but Asians are a myth around this area, other than groups of Japanese tourists. So the Carnival is based around the Caribbean theme, bongo drums, steel bands, traditional music (which was awesome) and of course some Hip Hop & Dance to keep the crowd happy. The food there was amazing as well, BBQ chicken, skewers you name it. Anything that could go on a BBQ was there.
Pics from the Notting Hill Carnival can be viewed here

Since I am still unemployed, I have been spending a lot of time watching the Beijing Olympics. Don’t get me wrong, I love New Zealand but we are so shit. I have even come up with a new slogan that marketing NZ may be interested in.

New Zealand, We have more bronze that you!

With a population of around 4.2 million; you would think that we would walk away with more Golds. NZ government agencies spent $80 million since Athens 2004 to get 9 medals in Beijing 2008. Prime Minister Helen Clark says New Zealand got fantastic value for the money it put into its Olympics team.
But let’s not stop there, since NZ is already in recession why don’t we burn more money for London 2012; maybe we can get 6 or even 7 bronze.

I see an easy solution to get more medals. New Zealand is one of the fattest populations in the world. Look at the likes of Valerie Vili and Beatrice Faumuina; they are big strong girls. Let’s make use of our potato/kumara diets by burning off the fats to build lean muscle. Get away from mainstream sports and spend more time on Weightlifting, Judo, Boxing and even Fencing.
One athlete that I was most impressed with was Sarah Walker in the BMX, although she came into the Olympics as the World Champion, no one in NZ knew who she was until they saw New Zealand embroiled across the chest.
NZ, take off your tunnel vision goggles and broaden your horizons.

Notting Hill – 3.3 MB

Dr Soh

7 ft Jakey










Everyone on the lash








foot train

I want to fly away, yeah yeah yeah

Eileen got tickets to Lenny Kravitz on Wednesday night. He is touring to promote his new album 'It Is Time For A Love Revolution' and I must say, it's pretty good. His voice was amazing, the guitarist, drummer and bass all put on a great show for the crowd. I have uploaded a small clip for all to experience the crispness.

It was Eileen's 28th Birthday on Saturday so we had to get out on the piss. We went to a very pretentious rooftop restaurant with a beer garden. I felt so out of place, everyone was in a suit and I'm standing there in jeans and a t-shirt. At around 12am, my mate Jakey from Australia and I left the bar to get some food. We managed to approach two beautiful girls from Czech Republic and convinced them to come see the view from the rooftop. It was all downhill once we started chatting. Conversation went something like this:

Girls: We have no respect for people that take drugs, they are a waste of time! You don't need it.
Us: If your friends took drugs, does that mean you will disown them.
Girls: Yes

Then we started ripping into them with stuff like people have rights to do whatever they want, its their life, who are you to tell them what to do, blah blah blah.
It got pretty funny but what a stupid conversation, should have turned my back and walked away. Anyway still unemployed but that has not stopped me from booking trips. Currently booked is Amsterdam, Munich, Iceland, France. Will need to try to squeeze a few more in before Christmas.

Lenny Kravitz - 5.7 MB

Sam




Lenny is the man









Still the man

Theatres everywhere

There always seems to be something on at the theatres here, whether it be musical, comedy or live acts. We attended a Hip Hop theatre show last Wednesday call 'Into the Hoods', the storyline and choreography was awesome. It was all a mixture of hip hop, jazz and even break dancing. Thursday night came around and Eileen got home all stressed out so we decided to head out for a few drinks and dinner. After a few rounds of Tequila, it was time to get a kebab for dinner and stumble home. One thing I forgot to mention was that I had a interview the next morning. I was late for the interview and no amount of cologne could hide the tequila stench. I was not surprised when they didn't offer me the job.

On Saturday, we walked around the streets to check out the amazing street art in random back alleys.
Street art gallery can be viewed here

Saturday was messy as usual but on Sunday, we attended the British Motor Show. The super cars and concept cars are amazing in the flesh. A Ferrari F430 Scuderia has now been placed on my 'To Buy' list. Some of the super cars there were:

Ferrari Enzo - $1,000,000 USD
Pagani Zonda C12 F - $741,000 USD
Mercedes SLR McLaren - $455,500 USD
Koenigsegg CCX - $600,910 USD
Ferrari F430 Scuderia - $230,000 USD

British Motor Show gallery can be viewed here

The week flew by and on Thursday night, a play was on the cards. This time it was 'King Lear' by William Shakespeare. Although I do not have any knowledge of King Lear, the play was very well done. It did however go for 3.5 hours but all well worth it.

Its past 3am and I need to get some shut eye.

ca va

Sam




London Burning








Mooning Mona Lisa








Koenigsegg CCX








Pagani Zonda C12 F