Big long update

Ok, so I guess I got kind of lazy with my updating, but I see that as a good thing - I have been having such a great time that I don't want to waste time fiddling around with computers.

I think what I must start with is the soccer which is nearly 3 weeks ago. Dad had mentioned to George I wanted to see a soccer match while I was in Dundee and it just so happened Dundee United (George's team) were playing a home game that saturday and his neighbour/fellow-season-ticket-holder was away. Dundee United had gained the nickname of The Arabs due to some incident many years ago to do with a planeload of sand and their football/soccer field. We went to this match and the battle ensued through the first half with neither side managing to convert their hardy efforts into points. Half time was over and the drunkard who usually sits next to George (he kindly offered me his seat and took his neighbour's) had decided to turn up. Some friendly banter between him and I followed until I noticed Dundee United had a corner kick. The kick was beautiful, flew through the air like a leaf on the wind and collided with an Arab's head to soar past the goalie into the net. 1-0 Dundee Utd. and as you with see in the video the crowd were ecstatic. The rest of the match followed scoreless to seal the victory, unfortunatly for me the vicotry was overshadowed by England beating Australia in the rugby so it wasn't all daisies and sunshine.

I met up with Darryl the following day and did some shopping/catching up. I bought myself a DVD, which dad will have to get for me when he goes over cause I left it in her handbag. The next day followed uneventful, bar an incident where neither George of Margaret could figure out how to either turn on their laptop or use a mouse. After a good nights sleep I departed for Leominster on train meanwhile discovering the beauty of a railcard- I saved myself £20 ($48) even considering the card cost me £20.

On the wednesday I took a trip up to Ludlow to see the castle and wander it's quaint little streets. Allegedly the lovliest town in England, it lived up to its reputation, but that isn't saying much considering I haven't travelled to many English towns.

Salisbury was the next destination and my first close call on the British rail system as I only realised it was my stop 20 seconds before the train departed. While visiting this nice town I visited their large cathedral and visited the very famour stone henge. I managed to interest myself for 1h30 at stone henge as they had a fancinating audio commentry facility. The previous night I had hit a few pubs with a Melbournian salesman and this night I stayed in an chatted with a 68 Londoner who was cycling down to somewhere in Europe who had a billion different stories to tell us.

London. I spent two nights here and amazingly managed to see none of the sites for the following reasons. I arrived around lunchtime and spent that afternoon doing general tasks that I needed to do. That night I went out with a Melbournian, Canadian, Perthian and an Englishman who turned out to be gay, hmm how did I guess this - he took us to two gay bars, the second of which had a cover charge which I payed before I knew it was a gay bar, but hey you can't win them all. The next day I moved over to a different hostel which I thought my 12 day tour took off from, but I will elaborate on that later. I immediatly hit the underground to go meet Marisca and amazing we got off the same train. We then proceeded to "The Chruch", which is a club filled with Aussies, New Zealanders and South Africans. It opens sometime in the morning and closes at 4pm so it is original in every sense of the word. You get three bottles at a time and they give it to you in plastic bags which most people tie to their pants for obvious reasons. I remember paying the cover charge then having Marisca say to me "Arvid did I tell you there is a stripper here". It was quite an experience and I would recommend it to any young people looking for a good time in London. We got some dinner then tried to find somewhere to see South Africa VS Argentina. Finally something went my way in the world cup and for those few who don't know South Africa won. I won't go into the ordeal I had checking into Earls court that night because what followed the next morning was much worse.

The next morning I got up early after a late night and was ready to go at 6:30am for what I thought was a 7:00am start. I thought to myself "Hmmm...isn't this odd that no one else for the tour is here and it's - what!? 7:10am". I was feeling rather distressed and decided to ring dad and see if he could shed any light on my conundrum. I eventually got onto the internet and relised that the site I booked on wasn't up to date and they had given me a different place to meet in the email they sent. I rang them up and was told to head for Oxford and they would meet me there. I got to Oxford, rang them up and turns out they had left an hour before I arrived - Hooray! I was then instucted that if I got myself up to York, that's where we were staying and all would be fine and dandy. I did so and met up with the tour group there. That night we had a "traditional" viking feast and then went on a ghost tour of York led by a hilarious and ominous guide.

The next day we visited places such as the angel of the north, a giant metal angelic statue, Hadrians wall, another cathedral (about the thousandth I have been since coming to Britain) and Newcastle. We arrived in Edinburgh where 4 of us were to break apart from the English roadtrip tour and be "whisked away" by Wild in Scotland tours. Apparently being whisked away involves walking to the train station heading to Sterling and waiting half an hour to be picked up, but this didn't really phase me. There were four fellow tourers already on the 16 seater bus along with our tour guide, James, and another person from the office coming along on her day off. That night we stayed in a real castle (not sterling castle) which was really great. Usually the castle costs £1700 pounds to hire out, but the owners and the Wild in Scotland owners know each other and get an amazing deal, considering is and is priced as a backpacker tour. The way dinner works is we have a kitty, which we pay at the start of the tour and our guide uses that for a lot of the expenses including dinner. We cook it ourselves and eat together (and drink together) which gives a great sense of community. That night was spaghetti bolognese, which goes very well with a hungry stomach

The next day we visited The Wallace Monument (again for me) and many other different sites in the vicinity. Everywhere we went James would tell us about historically and even some stories or myths. He was a master storyteller and had everyone captivated while telling them, but more importantly he was part of the group, he was extremely approachable, wouldn't lie about something he didn't know and stay up late with us all. That night we spent our last night in the castle and ate bangers and mash for dinner which I made a diane sauce for.

Ok so 1 day ending up being more like 10 and I don't even intend to properly update as I am too lazy. Anyway on the tour we went up into the highlands and Wild in Scotland was totally amazing. We then had a couple of days in Edinburgh, then we headed down to wales then London. I spent a few days in London then went to Bath. I just arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon today and am going to Liverpool on friday to see Tom (my cousin) and a couple of blokes from Adelaide I befriended on the tour. I then intend on going back to Jims (if he will have me) as my last port of call before heading back home. I will probably write this entry properly when I am back in Australia aswell as post a load more photos. Anyway all is well here, hope the same for all back in Australia.