Argh spazzy weekend... Waitangi Day plus more
Yesterday I was out and about in reporter mode with a mini disk recorder chasing Kiwis around the Waitangi Day pub crawl... it was absolutely insane. The crowds were unbelievably huge. How it worked was that you were expected to consume a half pint or more at each of the pubs on the circle line, starting at Paddington at 10.00am, going in an anti clockwise direction, and with a haka at Westminster at 4pm. I of course wasn't drinking, but instead I was trying to get sense out of drunken people. It was very funny, but also stressful at moments, and I'm not that happy with the sound I got out of the day. I of course had technical problems early in the day, just to top it all off, and lost two really excellent interviews. Grrr @ minidisk recorder! Also, I wanted the sound of the haka, but the crowds were so huge I couldn't get close enough to record it clearly. Plus I fell down a small embankment and whacked my knee and narrowly avoided dropping the MD recorder because the crowds were so huge at Westminster.
But there were some funny times. People were dressed up as sheep and were in all manner of crazy costumes. The poor regular commuters who were on the circle line couldn't believe it. The crowds grew so big at Victoria station the road was blocked, and they had to shut down Glocester Road station! (Apparently... that is what a rather drunk person told me, it was quite possible their Oyster card had simply run out of credit or something)
Everytime a district line train pulled up the huge crowds on the platform would booooooooooo loudly and jeer... you could only catch the circle line. Circle line trains were of course met with huge amounts of cheering, and usually more kiwis were pouring off the trains as others were trying to get on.
The fact that it is legal to drink in the streets in the UK didn't aid in crowd control... and it was funny, because most of the crowd were Australian!
All around it was very crazy. I was slightly hungover when I went, I didn't drink at the day, but by the time I got home I was so tired, and had many bruises from fighting through the crowds, all in the name of student journalism. I will post some pics of the crazy day later.
Then today I was on my way in to the city just to go for a walk and stuff and this guy starts chatting me up and I felt "too strong" vibes straight away, so when he asked for my number I said I was new in London and could only give out my email addy. But he starts talking to me, and is like "oh no you are going back home I am going to lose you I will pay for you to fly back here and visit me"... this is after we had talked for five minutes. Freaky factor was high. Then he is like "when are you going to ring me..."... argh why do I only attract people who are somewhat scary!!! Or people that steal a kiss and then dissapear in to the night? All I want is someone normal who I can hold a good conversation with and have some sort of connection, I don't ask for much in life. But no... not to mention that at this time of the year singles must all put up with all the Valentines Day crap that is all about.
What a chaotic and freaky weekend... some of those kiwis were cute, shame I had a date with my mini disk recorder instead.
But there were some funny times. People were dressed up as sheep and were in all manner of crazy costumes. The poor regular commuters who were on the circle line couldn't believe it. The crowds grew so big at Victoria station the road was blocked, and they had to shut down Glocester Road station! (Apparently... that is what a rather drunk person told me, it was quite possible their Oyster card had simply run out of credit or something)
Everytime a district line train pulled up the huge crowds on the platform would booooooooooo loudly and jeer... you could only catch the circle line. Circle line trains were of course met with huge amounts of cheering, and usually more kiwis were pouring off the trains as others were trying to get on.
The fact that it is legal to drink in the streets in the UK didn't aid in crowd control... and it was funny, because most of the crowd were Australian!
All around it was very crazy. I was slightly hungover when I went, I didn't drink at the day, but by the time I got home I was so tired, and had many bruises from fighting through the crowds, all in the name of student journalism. I will post some pics of the crazy day later.
Then today I was on my way in to the city just to go for a walk and stuff and this guy starts chatting me up and I felt "too strong" vibes straight away, so when he asked for my number I said I was new in London and could only give out my email addy. But he starts talking to me, and is like "oh no you are going back home I am going to lose you I will pay for you to fly back here and visit me"... this is after we had talked for five minutes. Freaky factor was high. Then he is like "when are you going to ring me..."... argh why do I only attract people who are somewhat scary!!! Or people that steal a kiss and then dissapear in to the night? All I want is someone normal who I can hold a good conversation with and have some sort of connection, I don't ask for much in life. But no... not to mention that at this time of the year singles must all put up with all the Valentines Day crap that is all about.
What a chaotic and freaky weekend... some of those kiwis were cute, shame I had a date with my mini disk recorder instead.
posted by Ashlee at 6:50:00 am
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