6 posts tagged “london”

Ray LaMontagne is by far one of the most wonderful performers I've ever seen.

For a man who can belt out an amazing song - something that is really sung from within, his normal speaking voice is soft and tender.

November 6th, 2007 at the Royal Albert Concert Hall in London, I finally got to see Ray Live. It was worth every cent and more.

If you haven't heard him before, you simply must. His songs send goosebumps down your spine.

Oh and watch out because my lovely talented friend, Krista Polvere will be touring along side him in the USA in 2008!

And one of my favourites from the night....

Hold you in my arms forever

When you came to me with your bad dreams and your fears
It was easy to see that you'd been crying
Seems like everywhere you turn catastrophe it reigns
But who really profits from the dying
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you in my arms forever

When you kissed my lips with my mouth so full of questions
It's my worried mind that you quiet
Place your hands on my face
Close my eyes and say
Love is a poor man's food
Don't prophesize
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever
And I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever

So now we see how it is
This fist begets the spear
Weapons of war
Symptoms of madness
Don't let your eyes refuse to see
Don't let your ears refuse to hear
Or you ain't never going to shake this sense of sadness
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold on forever
And I could hold you in my arms
I could hold forever

I can’t go into too much detail about this one (due to loss of memory), but… J.Ro, Gabs and I went out for a masssssive weekend. Friday night started off at WAX with a few (maybe 4) lovely Long Island Ice tea’s, following by a bottle of Mumm Champagne, several wines…. Then the rest of the lovely young lasses came to meet us J.Ro had invited us all out to some special VIP night at a new bar that had opened up in Soho… however I don’t really remember leaving WAX and ending up at Zebrano’s. I also have no idea who broke the toilet in the ladies that night – it wasn’t Bonnie (J. R’s housemate). The night finished off late and in a dark alley eating MacDonald’s before catching the night bus home. A fun time was had by all.

 

Saturday was a whole new experience…. My Fabric cherry was popped. Having all forked out £16 to go to Fabric (can you believe how expensive it is to go to a nightclub?? Umm hello, ever heard of a guestlist? I mean, do you KNOW who I am?), we decided we should all meet in Farringdon and have a few bevies at the local pub before all heading towards the club – good idea! I bought a bottle of wine all to myself, and then discovered that they had PacMan, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong… this makes Sarah very happy. I entertained myself with that for a while and then heard the word ‘olives’, as someone left a whole bowl of these deliciously dark bundles of joy at our table. I pretty much devoured the entire bowl. Oops.

It was after I had pretty much topped off the entire bottle of wine that we decided ir was fabric time… again, I don’t really remember the walk to Fabric, but I remember entering. Fabric in my mind is like a dark underground demonic club… I kept disappearing and making all sorts of strange new friends… Anyways… I lost everyone and ended up sharing a cab with a bunch on fellow Fabricians on their way to Clapham (not really where I live)…

 

Fantastic weekend… 2pm Joey Jo Jo (my housemate) and I decided vodka and tequila shots were a great idea, followed by red wine shots… It was amazing – took my hangover away pretty much instantly.

 

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

It’s exactly 3 months today…

Until I leave London and come ‘home’, I depart on December 17, arrive on December 18. Strangely enough it’s both a good feeling and a bad feeling. Good because I miss you all so much and can’t wait to get back for an Australian summer, the simple thought of barbeques, ice cold pinot grigio, sunburn, trips to the beach and sitting in your own sweat whilst being surrounded by those that you love most is the most wonderful feeling! I really can’t wait to come home and hug you all and catch up on everything that there is to talk about, I miss my late night D&Ms with Miss Vegas, and hugging the local bouncer ‘George’ at ‘The George’, stumbling home in the early hours of the morning singing “Maybe I, oohhh Tony’s on fire, take his picture, oohhh Tony take one too!” And late lunches at The Banff with my crew, breakfast at Leroys (mmm blueberry pancakes and marscapone!!), visiting my family and having Buxton jump all over me, and the nice drive to the farm – hanging out with my cousins and family, feeding the horses, toasting marshmellows and eating the most wonderful salads made by Katie D herself! These are what I look forward to most upon my return… seeing Vegas, Maree, Jackie, Jagga, Cable, Nerissa, Kate, Scott, Natty and Mark, Davos, Jen, Krista, Spanky, Matty T, The Irish boys, Olly, the old EY crew… and my family! This summer will be the best summer yet!

And then the’s the bad… I don’t think I will be able to see enough of the world intime for my return, and I certainly can’t afford to do it on an Australian wage. I turn 30 in 4 ½ years (thank you Terence for correcting me), which quite frankly is scaring the living shit out of me, and I don’t want to still be doing the single girl travelling around the world thing then… (God! Am I seriously hearing myself – harden up woman!). London is starting to get a lot better (despite the shitty weather, and intense Heathrow injection that I’m struggling to shake!), I’ve started to meet some really great people over here that have made an enourmous difference – it has been hard not having my closest friends to have a whinge and hug with. I need to start making some decisions about what I’m going to do, a 5-year plan (Jackie I can see you laughing now!!). I never thought I’d be one of those people who actually stops and thinks ‘damn, I really need to assess my life and what I want to do with it’, and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up – London certainly hasn’t handed me the career growth and development that I dreamed it would, but it can offer a nice salary in my field, so perhaps I should just stick with that, earn some good cash and hope that someone picks me up and delivers me into an amazing career where I’ll shine and sparkle! Please! Oh Please!

I don’t want to lose the most wonderful apartment I’ve ever lived in, number 69 – I miss you! Maybe I can have both??? I don’t know. One thing I do know, is I am very pov right now, and I certainly cannot afford a ticket back to London (credit card perhaps???), but, if I do decide to come back to London, it will be for much longer than 7 months.

Someone please help me make a decision!

Lots of love,

Sarah

xoxox

Many of you will be please to know I have finally settled in my own place in Hammersmith,

London. I have to admit, it certainly was not my first preference of liveable locations having fallen completely in love with leafy and leisurely Maida Vale, but it meets all my budget requirements and is very central to a plethora of bars, restaurants and theatres.

 

Hammersmith in one of west London's key transport hubs and commercial and employment centres, home to several multinational company offices, so hopefully my International Business degree will come in handy! Just some of the surrounding business offices of Coca-Cola, Disney, EMI, L'Oreal, Sony Ericsson, World Wrestling Entertainment, AOL UK, and Accor UK are all found in Hammersmith!

 

There are also a number of attractions situated right on my doorstep including Riverside Studios, The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Hammersmith Apollo Concert Hall & Theatre, The Dove" riverside pub - the oldest surviving riverside pub in London with, reputedly, the smallest bar in the world, frequented in the past by Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene.

 

So it’s a relatively exciting place to live! Just this morning as I was on my way to the tube station to go to work (I will get onto the new job later), I walked past the farmers market. The sweet smells of freshly baked cakes and breads, berries and all sorts of local produce was wafting through the air… I simply floated along the footpath in awe of the amazing aroma’s that were filling my nostrils.

 

As for employment, I am currently contracting with a company called BUPA, a global health and care organisation, which is also the UK's leading provider of private health care insurance, hospitals and health care services. I am PA to the Group Information Systems Director, who is an incredibly busy man, and keen Arsenal enthusiast. I am settling in well and only after 4 days was offered a permanent role within the firm, which can also lead to career advancement as a Project Manager in International Business should I wish to stay and live in the UK. So at the moment I have to make a lot of choices as to what I want to do.

One huge part of me is aching to get into an industry where my creative talents can flow (those who know me well will understand that if I’m in a creative environment I will be in my most achieving area and will blossom!) and also where I can progress my career, grow and develop. I don’t want to be an assistant forever, and God knows I’ve studied long and hard to become anything but, yet in Australia the opportunities are far and few between and in London I do have slightly more opportunities – plus they love the Aussies! So I am contemplating staying – coming home for Christmas of course, but as I’m sure you can understand it is a huge decision to relocate my entire life to a whole new place, and the fact that I’m missing all of you so incredibly, it’s become one of the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make.

 

I’m positive that whatever decision I do make it will be for the best, and earning the British Pound means it is so much easier to save money and fly home – I’m taking 6 weeks and I will have saved enough! So if everything turns to absolute rubbish, you can expect me on the next plane home.

On May 20, 2007, I will embark on a potentially life changing journey. As I pack my suitcases (with various amounts of unnecessary crap) and head to Melbourne Airport, London being the initial destination, I imagine a million things will sprint through my head like a white water rapid smashing against rocks.

Although the much needed voyage ahead will be full of excitement and great opportunity, behind me I leave some very special and dear people – wonderful friends, incredible family – all that have contributed to the person I am today. So I apologise if I become all mellow and sentimental on you, majority of who know me well know I’m not one to show a great deal of emotion – however the very thought of leaving you all, even if only for 5 months saddens me slightly as I know I’ll miss each of you in my own distinctive way.

SO! Little Sarah, vigilant yet meek, sets her sights on Ol’ London Town to party it up with the likes of Kevin ‘Killer’ Porter and Hysni ‘Ranquist’ Kaso… amongst many others…. Let’s watch and see where this impulsive expedition leads….

Stay tuned!