100 metre dash

Everyone at one point or another has had to make a mad dash to catch a bus, make it to an appointment, catch a cab, make it the bathroom before you soil yourself. In my opinion if you’re running you’re probably geared with remotely proper shoes to do this. At the very least you’re wearing flat enough shoes so you’re not putting yourself in the awkward situation of bailing in public and fear injuring or making a complete fool of yourself. That being said, I imagine there are a few “daredevils” in the world that could care less what they’re wearing or if they injure themselves for that matter. Following my daily path of walking over the Southwark Bridge on my way to the Tube station after work you get a wide range of travelers. Those in their work digs finishing a solid day of work, those on their bikes making the trek home, runners trying to get in a bit of exercise before they eat their greasy Fish ‘n Chips…..and then you’ve got a few gems who don’t fall into any category and leave your confused and holding your breath. I had a couple of joggers putt past at a fairly leisurely pace, and I’ve got to admire these folks. At the same time I hear the familiar sound of Londoners high heels coming up behind. Oddly though, it wasn’t the normal rhythm of a walk. It was of a machine gun. This lady came tearing by me like she was going out of style. This lady was running like she was trying to break the 100m dash world record and all the while wearing high heel boots. Not only that, but she maneuvered around the runner ahead of me who was geared up in proper running shoes.

My question to all you females out there who wear high heel shoes.... how on earth are you able to bust out into a fully fledged run with shoes where the heel is balancing on little more than a half inch of surface area. I’m fairly certain there are physics rules that are being broken here. I have a feeling that Newton is turning in his grave.

Wii @ Wardo Avene

We at Wardo Avenue are the proud owners of brand new Nintendo Wii. Was it a good idea?….I’m not sure, but more importantly, does it really matter? It is true that our world has been inundated with laziness that is only perpetuated by video game consoles and the ever expanding use of the internet. I haven’t owned a console in ages but ironically enough my last console was a Nintendo so it’s quite fitting that I’ve continued the trend. I’ll admit that we’ve been keeping an eye out for available Wii’s seeing as they’re a hot commodity right now and very hard to come by. When we made a random call to Zavvi and discovered they had a shipment coming in the adventure began. We threw on our coats and we were off to the store. The Zavvi salespeople had smirks on their faces as a myriad of people were mulling around having the discovered the same information about the Wii shipment…..and finally the word came. They shipment had arrived and we were the proud owners of brand new Nintendo Wii. That’s how it all began and this is how it progressed. The games are interactive and truly do make you move to dig that tennis ball, or go for that upper cut in the boxing ring. I’ll admit, it’s nothing like the real physical activity but it comes in at a close 17th place (with 1st – 16th being actually forms of physical activity).

This obviously only applies to the sports games….but as you can see we’ve also picked up the infamous Guitar Hero III which also has been difficult to come by. How it all panned out for us I’m not sure but needless to say the rendition of Dance Dance Revolution in the form of flittering fingers on a fake guitar is extremely addictive. I’ve battled a virtual Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine as well as Guns N’Roses’ SLASH and inevitably come out victorious…albeit on the Easy setting. Practice makes perfect.

I also understand the warnings that are heeded my Nintendo about ensuring adequate space between players when negotiating two players game. All I have to say that Jeff’s arm is gonna hurt for while after our vicious tennis match.

Playing chicken on the sidewalks of London

If there's one thing I learned today, it's that it doesn't matter how small you around, if get a good solid elbow shot to the kidney you're going down. I'm not small fella but after I tried playing chicken on a sidewalk in London against a small woman whom I was sure was no bigger than 5'4" I realised error in my ways. She wanted to get by me, she was in a rush, and she had WAY better technique than I did. It was pretty much a sharp jab with her elbow to my torso and she was gone. I didn't even know what happen to me. Now, I'm on jerk, and I would have gladly moved half way if she had done the same, but this happened way to quick for me to react. For some reason I feel like she had been gunning for me 20 feet earlier. She found her target, locked on, and then like a smart bomb with laser guiding, took me out of her equation of trying to get to her destination. I'm in the process of searching online for an armour plated vest to protect the kidneys for the next time this happens.

Table Footy

I had my first opportunity to play a little 2 on 2 table footy with a few of my Conchango peers. I needed a break from work, they needed an extra play, it was a match made in heaven. Now I'm no table football pro or foosball as us North Americans are going to call it up I had a few moves up my sleeve. Here are some examples of moves I pulled.....



...yep, that's all me....I didn't just go onto YouTube and steal someone else video and claim it as mine.

I Spy with my Little Eye

This week I played the role of the classic tourist, the local shopper, and the embattled Londoner.

Phase 1 – Tourist

My roommate (henceforth called my flat mate) had his parents visiting from Calgary so we had decided it was a good day to be tourists. Now my flat mates parents have visited London in the past so they've already done quite a few of the attractions so our choices were somewhat constrained. What they haven't done was the London Eye and Westminister Abbey so that was what was on our docket for the day. We hopped on the tube on our way to a stroll over the bridge to the Southbank where the Eye holds its residence. A behemoth of a structure that was built in 2000, and was conceived as a metaphor to represent the turning of the century, towers over the Thames River and can been seen from over 40km in every direction. Needless to say, although it impressive in size and quite smart in designed, the thought that ran through my head was "…how is it that I'm going to enjoy myself on a over-sized Ferris Wheel". Well, I've got to admit to being quite wrong in this situation. It was definitely entertaining. Be able to finally see London from above as opposed to seeing it from the tube stop names rushing by as I rode the London Underground was quite refreshing.

Just a few interesting facts about the Eye:

1. Each rotation of the 424m circumference wheel takes 30min….that translates into it travelling 26cm per second, 0.9km/hr which apparently is twice as fast as tortoise in heat trying to run down it's mate in a lighting fast sprint.


2. The Eye was 7 years in the making before its completion date


3. Maximum capacity of 800 people per rotation which is the equivalent of 11 full double-decker buses

After walking off the rolling capsule, we made our way over to Westminister Abbey. Now, there is far too much history to for me to even start to talk about but you'll get the idea if I tell you that I we must have visited at least 60 coffins of royalty and honored individuals who lie there. It was definitely a beautiful site and it's quite impressive that they continue to hold services there. After a solid day out in the city and checking out the sites in the somewhat bitterly cold weather (there's no comparison to the Canadian weather reports I'm getting over here) we had a bite to eat at restaurant right off of Trafalgar square then made our way home for the day

Phase 2 – Local Shopper

Sunday turned out to be a low key day where I took the opportunity to sleep in and have a pretty satisfying breakfast. After a relaxing morning of staring out of the window at the torrential rain pour that dissipated as quickly as it appeared, which happened to be surprisingly quickly, I made my way to Sloan Square to visit my friend Karen. We had a long satisfying coffee sitting in comfy chairs at a coffee shop…and then we were off to check out the shops. I must say the style here is far more exciting then back home. It's sad to say, but my best casual gear makes me look like I live in a refrigerator box down an alley way…not that can't find stylish homeless folk, but you get the drift. Fat Face, White Stuff, Ted Baker, Pink are just some of the essential shops down here. Style also changes extremely quickly here. I wouldn't be surprised if the items I bought were out of date by the time I walked out of the door…but at least I'll look like a stylish homeless person. Karen and I also had the opportunity to witness a double-decker bus side swipe a BMW parked on the side of the road as it rounded a corner. I have to give full credit to the bus drivers here because I'm not sure how they don't hit cars more often with the streets being so impressively narrow. I would be highly concerned I couldn't get a normal sized car down these roads, yet the bus drivers here have consistently gotten me to my destinations unscathed. Poor BMW that definitely took the brunt of the force, and poor bus driver who was probably marking off in his calendar how many days he'd made it without destroying a parked car.

Phase 3 – Embattled Londoner

After all of the events of the weekend, I was hoping to get a little break from the fray of the Monday morning tube ride…which was a pipe dream of course. Fortunately I had been warned of the rush hour tube rides from a friend of mine back in Calgary so I was prepared to what was necessary to get on the tube in the morning…and it goes something like this. Get a solid grip with both hands on something inside the tube car (preferably something bolted to the inside and not someone standing on the inside), Pull with the necessary force to get the majority of your body on the inside of the closing doors, As the doors are about the crush your body, suck in and push the mass of people inside an inch or two further to clear the doors. Voila, you're inside the tube. One word of advice if you're in a similar position…don't leave your hands anywhere near the doors…it hurts to have them crushed – just a little nugget for those of you who are as bright as I am.

Music to My Ears

I've had the fortunate opportunity to explore the music scene here in London and there is no doubt that every artist has some sort of venue booked for their next show. A couple of weeks ago I hit up the David Gray concert at the Roundhouse, which I must say is a fantastic venue. Intimate, fantastic acoustics, and a great location. Mix that with a great artist and you have the makings of an a perfect evening of music. This week I had Interpol on the docket up at Alexandria Palace and I can only say good things about them. They are a band I'll have to see again.

Last week I had my first experience of puppets on a stage....yes, that's right...puppets. I went to the musical Avenue Q (a spoof on Sesame street) which definitely entertained me. It aired on a the crude side and is probably not the for the light hearted, and it was definitely an "Adults Only" show.