A bit of something exciting to report...

I guess you're all wondering "what's this guy on about?". Well, I'll tell you. Last night, Pete and I had the privilege of going to a recording of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (thanks Ange and Karen!), who is basically England's version of Rove, but he's actually funny. Well, it started with me having to find my own way to the BBC studio's as Pete was working, so that was a bit of a journey in itself. I had to catch a train, then two tubes to get there. I won't excite you all with the details as I think you just may wet your pantaloons, but suffice to say it was exhilarating! Anyway, we got there, got our tickets and made our way to the green room for pre-show drinks. That was a bit of alright. Then we got shown to the studio and got our seats. Pretty good ones too - only about 4 rows back and centre.

Now I had no idea who was going to be on the show, but from guests he's had in the past, I was quietly confident that there would be at least SOMEONE that we would have been excited to see. And boy was I right! First up, there was Shane Ritchie, who is an actor here in a soapie. Nothing to complain about. Then came Jimmy Carr, who is a British comedian for those who don't know. Quite a funny guy. Then came the two biggest guests of the night, Cameron Diaz and our very own Toni Collette, who were there promoting their new movie which the title escapes me. I have to admit that I was a bit star struck. Ah, what the hell. I was in the same room, only about 10 metres away from some very famous people! Woot! Alright, now that's out of my system, on with the story.

They were really funny to watch, and the interview was quite laid back. Jonathan Ross somehow got on to them talking about how they can burp really well, and halfway through the interview got them to start drinking champagne to try and help those burps out. So by the end they were quite on their way to getting pised, which was very funny for all! They were on for at least half an hour, pretty much just chatting away. It was very cool.

Then to finish the night off Green Day treated us to one of their numbers. Now, while I'm only a Green Day fan of old, I'll admit that they played very well and by about halfway through the song, my feet were a tappin'. But yeah, enough of me trying to be a tv critic. It was just damn fun alright?? Get off my case!

So again, since we were production guests, we got to go to the green room for post-show drinks. Only Jimmy Carr came in to talk with some people, but that was alright. I didn't really expect the others to come wandering in. But Pete and I got a chance to talk to Karen, who's a producer on the show (she's the one who got us tickets). She was such a lovely lady, and even gave me 4 bottles of beer and a bottle of wine to take home with me. She also said to me that I could come back to the studio to have a look behind the scenes while they do a rehearsal run, which would be friggen awesome! Watching the show really got me thinking that I would love to be involved in something like that. So at the moment I've got a new goal in life to work on a tv show. Movies are fun, but this just looked much more like my cup of tea. But knowing me, this is probably just another fad I'm going through.

The only bad thing about the night was that there was absolutely NO photography of any kind. Otherwise I would have gone mad. I was quite tempted though to bring out the diggie and switch it to video... So yes, we ended up getting out of the studio around midnight, caught the tube to Chinatown and got some dinner. Then I realised on the way home I managed to lose Pete's keys, so once again typical hopeless Jaan has made an appearance. But we got home, went to bed, and today I spent doing my washing and watching tv. Hmm, that was quite a anti-climax. Who cares...

So health is still going good. I've just about finished my course of Cipro, so I'm hoping I'll keep good once I'm off them. I'm going to Scotland tomorrow night, so looking forward to spending the weekend there and catching up with Tamara, a wicked girl I met in Montreal during the Kino Kabaret. So yes, that's all from me for now. I think that's quite long enough anyway...

Raiting - 7.4

Another update from London

at picadilly
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Believe it or not, but I've actually been doing some stuff (all the credit go to Pete and Truds for getting me out of the house), so I thought I would let you all know about it. Yesterday I was treated to a... well, a treat. You see, at the same time every night, without fail, there is the ceremony of the keys, which is where they lock up the place where the Crown Jewels are kept. So at 10 o'clock every night, they go through the same ceremony as they have been for the last 400 or so years. It's pretty impressive. And to make the night even more perfect, there were fireworks going off all over the place because it's Guy Forks night, which is a celebration of a guy kinda like the English Ned Kelly. So every year its celebrated by blowing lots of shit up. Heaps of fun! So imagine being in the castle, watching these guards in ye olde clothes and what-not passing the keys and locking up the huge doors, and hearing all this explosions and bangs. It really felt like it was back in war times. Very cool.

So yes, we did that. Then today we went to Hampden Court to have a walk and look around. Now, this being my first palace, I was quite impressed. I'm sure there are many more impressive ones, but I loved it. I'm also sure after seeing a few they will all lose their novelty, but for the moment, it's pretty cool stuff. So hopped on a train, drove there, walked around for a while, then came home. Wow, that sounded much dumber than I thought in my head. Anyway, I put a couple of photos up from today and when I went to that circus place.

I guess the only other thing worthy of mention is that I'm still improving in health, which I can't tell you how happy I am. However, today was a bit crapper, as I had a late night last night, and I haven't done too much physio the last couple of days. My bad. But I promise I will get back on top of it this week. So yes, lungs are getting much better and I'm not feeling nearly as crap as I was before.

The weather is also starting to get a bit colder now as well. Today was filled with clouds and drizzle. Not the most happy weather, but I guess it's what to expect from London. I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest way to get to Edinburgh, it may have to be a combination of bus and train. I don't know why I just said that, but I'm too lazy to delete it (and I am aware of the irony of it taking me more effort to type all that out rather than delete it, so don't point that out to me!).

Better head off to beddy now. Keep those emails coming. It's very nice to hear what's going on from everyone reading this thing...

Raiting - 7.3

Word verification

Ey,

I'm just writing to apologise for making you all do that word verification thingy that pops up when you want to leave a comment. It's just that I'm getting so many crap comments about weiners wanting you to see their intolerable sites, it's just got too much. So sorry, but don't let that stop you all leaving your hilarious statements about the world and bananas.

Pommy land

someone's cathedral
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Hey all,

How ya all been? Well I'm coming to you live from London, England. I haven't been doing a whole lot since arriving, but I will let you all know what that nothing has been since it's been a while.

My last day in Toronto was pretty cool. I went to the Human Body exhibition at the Toronto Science Centre. It's an exhibition where there are all these models of people's insides that have been made with real organs from dead people. Pretty impressive stuff! So there are all these manaquins that are made from real people: some sliced up, some stripped back to muscles, some with nothing but bones. Very interesting. So I had to leave there at 3 to make sure I could get to the airport by 6 or so. Man it sucks living in a big city - so much organising for things like flying. Nothing like lil' ol' Adelaide! Oh, how I miss that place...

Anyway, so I got to the airport, and to my surprise I wasn't allowed to check in with the luggage I had. Apparantly my suitcase that had all my meds in it was too heavy. So I had to try and repack all my stuff so that the suitcase was reduced to 6kg from 12kg. I took out all of my books as well as everything else that was in the suitcase apart from the meds. It still came to over 8kg, and I was starting to stress. But luckily the lady said that would be alright and let me on. Only thing is that Paul had to take home a huge collection of books and crap which he'll have to post me. So annoying.

So then the plane was delayed - more fun. But finally we left and were on our way to London. It was only a 6 and a half hour flight, so not too long. However, it was one of the crappiest flights. Not turbulent or anything like that, but the air condition really affected me something chronic. My throat was so dry, as was my nose, even though I was drinking like a fish. Was quite uncomfortable. And I've come to another conclusion - I can NOT sleep on planes, no matter how tired I am. I was watching tv on there, was falling asleep, but then as soon as I actually tried sleeping, I was just stuck in this semi-conscious state where I was aware of my surroundings but felt totally out of it.

Finally landed - now for the next hassle. Because I didn't have Peter's address, no proof of how much money I had in the bank, and couldn't convince the customs people that I just wanted to travel around here for about a month, I was held back in customs for about 2 hours trying to get checked in. They had to go through ALL of my luggage, which meant unpacking my gear that took me half an hour to pack in Toronto airport, then for them to just say "Yeah, that's alright." Oooh, so annoying! But eventually I got through and met Peter with a very pissed off look (I had the look, Peter just laughed).

This is where it kinda gets boring, so I'll be quick. Went back to his place, went on a train to see some of the city, including some palace, some cathedral, some square, some grass, etc etc. Since then I've spent most of my days in front of the tv watching either Chappelle's Show, Family Guy, Simpsons, Extras (a new show by The Office guys) and entire seasons of Scrubs. VERY fun! And I think because of it my health is getting quite better. My cough has certainly dried up a bit, and I don't feel so sick on the inside. But still a bit of a way to go...

The weather here also is heaps warmer than Canada. Man, that place was cold! I couldn't believe it! But anyway, things here are alright. It's cool to see London after hearing and seeing so much about it on tv and movies and stuff, but I don't really think it's my kinda city. I think because I knew nothing about Canada, it was all so new that I just loved every minute of it. Whereas here, especially since I'm staying with more friends, it's reminding me more of home and making me miss it even more. That's alright though.

I have conformation that I have a bed in Scotland, so I'll be sure to take that up sometime soon, as well as catching up with Becky, a friend who moved over here quite a few months ago. But apart from that, I don't think I have too much planned.

I have a few more pics, but not many as I haven't had a chance to reduce the size. That may not happen until I get home... so you guys will just have to wait.

Rating - 6.2