London and N. Ireland

Hiya all,
just kicking it in the north of the ireland with pals bry, bre chud and matt walton. we had a great time in england. gareth, my littlest brother and i performed an all-nighter in london-town, where we saw the sights in the dark and were jolly the whole time.
With over 9 hours of hanging out to spare we did a lot of people watching
We had a nice jaunt 'round the palace as well. This shot's on the palace steps.
We also went to burger king and had "angry woppers", which sent gareth over the edge with fury. As i said in the last post, it was wonderful to see him at Holmsted. He is really having a great time there and has some great co-students with him. we also had the chance to go to camden market and eat some wonderful food for cheap (a rare thing in london) and go for some nice walkin along the canal.


After saying goodbye to gareth, we moved on to our visit with Ailsa's sister, hilary and her boyfriend, quinten for a few days. we had a wonderful time there. They suprised Ailsa and I for both of our 30th b-days with dinner and theater in downtown london. we had a wonderful meal and afterward attended a play called, "swimming with sharks" starring christian slater. it was very impressive. i think the theater is something i would have to frequent often if lived in a city like london. We were able to meet up with karen and rod, who were on vacation from halifax, which was also sweet. Ailsa and i spent a day browsing and the victoria and albert museum with aurence, ailsa's cousin. after a few hours of art we made our way to a pub that had a 2 for 1 pizza night, plus 2 pound beers (unfortunately not what they weigh but what they cost). we had a nice night there, chatting over 2 pints of tetley's and 8 mini, wonderful pizzas.


the next morning, we took off for london victoria where we caught a bus to london stansted and flew to belfast. we were picked up by bry and bre and arrived just in time to catch england lose to russia in footy and then drive to another pub, where we watched a couple other matches. can i just say that i am so glad to be back in the land of football, where games in wonderful public houses are plentiful. bry and i caught up over a pint of guiness and the girls caught up over a happy meal. we've been here two nights now. last night i followed our old college mate, matt walton to his training with the dungannon swifts, not before shooting around a bit with him first. what fun that was. i haven't gotten over a ball for such a long time and it was nice to hit a couple. matt is doing well in the irish premier league playing with a team that look quite impressive, at least on the training pitch. after his practice, we were off to the pub to watch some traditional irish music and have a pint. i video recorded a song that was sung by a man, acapella. it was done beautifully. i wasn't able to get on the irish drum as those already playing were very good and there was really no room for an amatuer.




so, tonight we look ahead to a nice evenning out for the wifey and i as it is our FOURTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!! CHEERS!!! will will dress up in our finest hiking gear and have a bite to eat somewheres that compliments the budget we must remain within. afterwards, we'll be heading up to the north coast of ireland for two nights, staying in bry and bre's friend's cottage.
tomorrow is the liverpool derby and that will be watched at a wonder pub...LIVE!! for those who don't know, back in '96, '97, '98, watching footy at the pub here in the UK was the event that cultivated my current love for english football and i feel blessed to be back here with the chance to do it again. family, i miss you and i so wish we could be together during times like these. we will have our time.
{for those doing fantasy footy with me, here is my current line up that is definately subject to change (just for fun) : torres (hope he plays), rooney, fabregas, petrov, ronaldo, koumas, dempsey, bale, moekena, corluka, kirkland. GOOD LUCK, ALL!!}

it looks like, with my computer broken, i will only be able to post once a week, but that should work out fine as i am not good at doing little posts often. sorry these are so long for those who enjoy the shorties. of course you probably aren't still with us by this point now, are you?

take care all. much love. i imagine i'll be chatting to you next right before leaving for amsterdam. look forward to seeing you marieke!

ps. ailsa's belly is betting bigger all the time and we felt our first kicks just a week ago. thrilling stuff!