The London Standard...

London...

Drews tour through Camden Markets was awesome, but pretty sure my brain was still at the bar from the night before...



London January 2011
After a few days of not relaxing in Salisbury I headed into London town to catch up with an old mate from the glory days of Wollongong circa 2005-07, Andrew Florence. Absolute ripper. Spent the next few days cruising the town with Drew who ensured I see all the sites by day and DESTROY brain cells by night although i needed no encouragement for the latter. I was happy to see the lads partying habits haven't changed a bit since in the 3 years I hadn't seen him, a testimonial to this would be the morning after his birthday celebration night where he and his missus the lovely Michelle took me into their room and apologised profusely for their loose behaviour the previous night, to which I could only reply 'thanks but I have absolutely no memory of last night'. So rad to catch up with some aussie lads and party like we only can!

Salisbury...

So I thought I would be relaxing in Salisbury but instead I spent the days wandering the streets amazed how old everything was and how people keep warm in this frigid place!
Still clocked into Saudi time I would wake up religously around 5am in the morning regardless of how many pints was still swimming in blood stream. But instead of just rolling over and catching up on much needed sleep, I decided it would be an awesome idea to venture out in the morning light and lovely minus 5 degree chill to see what I could capture. Never has a 30second exposure felt so long, and never have I felt so awkward giving the good morning nod to people heading off to work. I'm sure they thought I was mental, probably largely due to the fact I had many a thought I was mental, seriously who takes photos at 5am in the middle of winter in England??

Pretty glad I did.

Salisbury Surrounds...

Salisbury January 2011
First trip back to the 'real world' from Saudi Arabia, I figured I would head out to the country for a few days relaxation before heading into old London. A daily dose of English breakfasts and a few ales to wash down the tastey bacon was the order of every morning. It had been 5months since my last feast of bacon at the Beanstalk in the Gong so I didn't waste time making up for it.

Salisbury turned out to be an interesting little place, to the north of Salisbury lies the Stonehenge and an old school castle ruin that hosted an awesome view of Salisbury. Hung out with King Arthur the present day Druid King at the Stonehenge a very eccentric man who even wore his crown and robes when getting his passport photo taken. Dudes a bonified bizzarro but super nice and funny as hell! He's one of those guys that has pretty much tried everything legal and illegal and has somehow lived to tell his crazy tales, kept me laughing for a good 40 minutes whilst I waited for my bus in the lovely minus 2 degrees English winter heatwave...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Uther_Pendragon

Salisbury is definitely a place where the elderly come to holiday and the youth bail at the first chance they get. Everyone here was either 20 or younger or 60 and older its like a town that a whole generation has just vanished from. My breakfast haunt sometimes looked like a nursing home I was forever dodging the old fogies and their walkers.