Said weekend started last Friday, we each took the day off and took our quick and usual route into the centre; meeting outside Leicester Square, cases in tow, ready to be tourists for a couple of days. After apple juice and lunch in St James’ park we took the Northern Line to Old Street and checked in, electrified by the overwhelming trendiness that is both the hotel and surrounding area.

Note the scissor, paper, stone pillows. With pre-booked tickets for Avenue Q at the 5:30pm matinee it wasn’t long before we were back on the streets, exploring Hoxton and Shoreditch and grabbing a Tortilla (potato quiche) and roasted veggies from the excellent and delicious Food Hall on Old Street. We LOVE this place and would spend a fortune here if left unaccompanied.

Middle of the middle in the stalls we watched the well praised Avenue Q as the Gary Coleman references whisked over our heads and the ‘grab your dick and double click’ line resounded. Though we enjoyed it, the abundant acclaim meant it did not meet our high expectations. Away from the Noel Coward theatre and back to Hoxton Square where we had reserved a table at The Apprentice, as recommended by a friend. A little unnerved at the emptiness of the place we perused the night menu’s offerings, opting for the spicy leek and carrot soup of the day starter and the “Osso Bucco with risotto Millanise and gremolata sauce” as main, with Sam choosing the Salmon and spinach dish. Osso Bucco is a dish of tasty veal shanks and it was pure bliss — I didn’t need my knife to cut the meat, it simply fell apart, all juicy and scrumptious — it was perfect.

On Saturday we considered rushing to Leicester square to grab theatre tickets early in the morning; but rising late at 10am we quickly abandoned this notion, instead just following our noses. Up ‘n’ down Brick Lane, past Les Trois Garcons — too eccentric for Sam’s tastes, to the Food Hall for caramelized garlic bread, cheese, spinach tortilla and anchovy cauliflowers, respectively devoured by the canal off Upper Street near Angel.

Darting back in via tube we saw the sites; Trafalgar square, Buckingham palace, Hyde Park and all that. After a tea/cappuccino recuperation stop spent watching the passing horses and cyclists in Hyde Park we tried to find an evening event. All the movies at the BFI film festival were sold out, as were any shows we’d planned to see — judging by the boards in the square. Music events were the next option but of course the weekend doesn’t have free papers to look these up! Going out on a limb, we headed to the Apollo Theatre looking for tickets to Rain Man starring Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley; luck would have it they still had some and for £31 each we grabbed upper circle seats for the 7:30pm showing. With two hours to spare we had a set menu Chinese dinner at Mr Kong’s in Chinatown — the usual duck pancakes, sesame bread, seaweed et al.

Neither of us had seen the Dustin Hoffman movie, we went in without any expectations and without grounds for comparison. We left absolutely stunned — wow; the play was brilliant with Godley and Hartnett supremely leaving us on tender hooks. This was the first straight up play we’d seen together and no doubt we’ll be back for more of the same.

Sunday took us to the areas of London we wouldn’t normally go, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and later South Kensington for lunch and the museums. We stopped at the Hoop & Toy in Kensington for a relatively cheap but tasty steak/burger with a bottle of red ‘Cape Promise Pinotage’. With alcohol fueling our system we pleasantly stumbled around the Victoria and Albert museum, napping by the large middle Eastern carpets, and then later to the Natural History Museum — through Geology, past the birds and into the realm of the dinosaurs, before being ushered out at the close of play.

More tea breaks back at the Hoxton Hotel where we picked up our bags and aimlessly chatted as the time whisked away, soaking up the coolness of the vibe, shoes off and relaxed. Then home and an end to our wonderful weekend; looking forward to the next one.

Heading over appeared easier on paper, short flight to CDG, Paris then an 11 hour Air France flight to Salt Lake City (do not go to the Travelodge near Heathrow and certainly do not taste their food — if you must there is a nicer looking pub just around the corner). Looking online beforehand we noted the movies we wanted to watch, etc. Unfortunately the flight was with an Air France partner, Delta, without a sophisticated in flight entertainment system — instead giving us in the aisle airings of the awful “Little Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” and “Kung Fu Panda”, leaving 7 hours to spare. No doubt the complimentary Kronenbourg 1664 helped the trip go a little faster. All in all it felt like a short haul flight — just really really long. Leaving the dull London 12C we were treated to a basking 88F on arrival, where we picked up our 4x4 Suzuki rental and proceeded towards Park City in the mountains.

With a little time to spare before we collapsed in a heap of jet lag, we nipped to Ruby Tuesday’s at the Kimball junction for our first dose of American dining alongside the odd tipping culture and the first of the auto-free refills — auto in that they always come back to fill you up. Dr Pepper, overly salted fries and a glorious Bison burger with ranch sauce nestled nicely in my tummy when I slipped into an unconscious 11 hour nap, bringing me nicely into Utah time.

Our rooms were conjoined at the wall, with handy inner door, to form a cozy, large and homely ‘mega room’ of duplicates. Full kitchen, half kitchen, washer dryer, one of those ‘garbage disposal’ grinders, balcony, three sofas, one jacuzzi, one shower with steamer and seat, one bath, four televisions each with cable, a large dining table, luxury bed robes, two safes, two king sized double beds and to wrap it all off a free newspaper in the morning (USA Today)! We were also treated to a heated half in-half out pool with two hot tubs aside it, pool tables, table tennis tables and a basketball net. Though most of my holidays are about getting out and seeing as much of the culture as possible, on the days we had nothing planned or didn’t feel like going too far, these facilities made staying ‘at home’ a lot more enjoyable.

First stop, Walmart and then Smiths for much needed groceries, bagels, drinks and Peanut Butter M&Ms! After a green chili and cheese bagel and something I prefer to call plastic yellow rather than cheese filling, we nosed around Park City’s old main street, with a little bit of shopping and a gander at some puppies in an antiques store with old native, hunting and skiing memorabilia. Eleanor cooked a very tasty roast for dinner, though she was too tired to eat most of it.

Day 2 and the Indian summer continued as we drove down the valley into Salt Lake to pick up a map, visit the “This is the place” monument and carry on towards a small Mall with a terrible food court and Antelope Island. The island sits in the middle of the great lake and is home to a herd of Bison, ‘wave cut platforms’ and a lowly little ranch with some informational plaques. The second shot below was taking from the eating point where we enjoyed some juicy refreshments before heading home.

Wednesday became an outlet store shopping trip complete with red Vans shoes, a lot of relaxing, some pool side sunning, swimming and a meal at the local Good Thymes. Home cooked bread and butter, Brie and Roasted Chicken Quesadilla and Down South Nachos prior to some local Rainbow fresh water trout; all lovely but shame about the over peppering. The meat loaf was also palatable.

With morning pancakes and syrup I packed my bag for a trip up Mount Timpanogos to view the caves. Of course, no one else in my family was up to the 1300ft hike up the paved track, so I did it alone. The thin windy road towards the entrance of the path granted stunning beautiful views of the mountains and foliage complete with autumnal colours — at the cost of nail biting corners; Eleanor was having none of it and was later glad to escape to the safe confines of another shop. Meanwhile I trekked up the mountainside for 90 minutes, past sheer drops, rattlesnake habitats, chipmunks and spray painted red areas you aren’t allowed to stop in, to reach the three large cave systems at the top. Through the ragged limestone formations, out the other side and back down in half an hour and I rejoined the troupe. In the evening we met a local named Elaine and her family in Ogden where we were treated to turkey and other tasty treats. Back at home I caught the highlights of the Vice Presidential Debate, impressed by Biden.

The weekend brought with it rain, lots and lots of rain. In it we drove around Heber City and up the monument for those in the region that have fought in wars, before going down the valley and stopping at University Mall to buy yet more things — Eleanor finding that Nordstrom had in stock some beauty products she’d been looking for.

Luckily enough, the sun made its return on Monday in time for a day out with an old friend of Stuart’s; from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and views of the Wabash front we were taken down into Salt Lake to see temple square and the other latter day saints monuments and the view from the top of state street. Then a stop off at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, a quick trip to the air field to see the aircraft he pilots ($25m Challenger) and back home for a fine BBQ and a game of Ticket to Ride with the family.

After Stuart hurt his ankle, probably playing table tennis with me, the rest of us drove down to Heber (after topping up the rear tire with a little bit of air, following the prompt on screen warning we were given) to go on the valley railway. We didn’t get the steam train, instead a more forceful looking engine, and for $30 we each rode down into the valley. Having driven this route a couple of times now this wasn’t the most exhilarating of trips though it did give a welcomed break to the road, and from the rear cart, which was open to the elements, you could see the snow capped mountains (they had a dusting overnight it seems) and the autumn leaves.

That evening we tried out the Hapa Grill; a sushi bar. Here I was treated to a very tasty thai beef salad; the beef and crushed peanuts really did the trick. I also took the opportunity to introduce mum and Eleanor to the wonders of sushi, starting first with the much loved California Roll (crab, cucumber and avocado) and later trying the Eel which didn’t go down too well. Stuart of course stayed well away from it all; instead sticking to his faithful root beer and refills.

It was about this time that Eleanor developed a severe pain in one of her rear teeth, leading to severe agony, many painkillers, sleepless nights and an eventual trip to a dentist on our last Friday. For $350 we found out that her root canal was infected, needed cleaning out and refilling. Loaded with powerful but nauseating painkillers, antibiotics, a syringe and some X-rays, Eleanor made it through the rest of the holiday dosed up, docile and puffy faced. Though nothing but positive things to say about the dentist she saw.

That kind of put a damper on our plans for the end of the week; later that day Eleanor caught up on her sleep whilst we visited the Utah Olympic park; I conceived of many ways to beat the ball bearing slalom games at the visitor center and get the top scores before checking out the freestyle ski jumps and the bobsleigh run from a distance.

We ate at Squatters along the way from Westgate towards PC, the Polygamy Porter ale was scrumptious but the food was distinctly lacking.

Friday turned bitterly cold and with Saturday came snow. A couple of inches falling in just an hour. Armed with a list of targets to be met, we set off with a mission; first heading North to a “Super Target”, then back down through Salt Lake, Provo and eventually Ogden, to visit a proper Steakhouse and see Elaine again; Eleanor and I opting to do some last minute shopping and picking up some fantastic bargains in Aeropostale. The succulent 9oz filet with jacket potato was delicious. Before packing we made one final stop at Walmart for treats and the Vans outlet so I could buy 3 more pairs of radiant but glorious shoes at cheap cheep prices.

More overnight snow led to our death defying down the mountain trek into Salt Lake to catch our 8:30am flight, where the lanes were unclear, the tracks hard to follow and the car ready to escape from beneath us, though helpfully warning of icy conditions. Through mum’s excellent driving and nerve we made it to the rental drop off point, boarded our plane and we were flying away home, this time with in flight entertainment (Indy 4, Must Like Dogs and The Baker) and empty seats to lie down on — oh what a difference it makes.

The end.

P.S. … Pumpkin Ale is disgusting:

And this guy is really cool looking:

Importing 5 years worth of posts from Blogger and then categorizing them was not a pretty task. Though I did notice a gradual descent into immaturity as I worked backwards. In celebration of this achievement, and bringing this blog inline with my other projects, the site has changed hosts and lives on its own domain as a separate outlet for unprofessional blurbs, rants and whatnot; www.mrfofr.com. The Mr. bit is new, I’d be pretty lucky to bag a four letter domain name.

After 5 years, my AMD Athlon 2700 XP with 1.5gb of RAM and LG 17″ screen was growing weary. Time for an upgrade, and the new 24″ iMac model took my fancy — I grabbed one from John Lewis in July and its now sitting pretty as the focus of my front room, coinciding with a big rearrangement of furniture.

Good timing really, considering that I had multiple and simultaneous hard drive failures on my PC shortly thereafter as I tried to transfer 40gb or so to the mac.

Having been through the old posts, I noted that, in hindsight, screenshots of my projects are very helpful for when the original source material has since vaporized into the mists of some internet purgatory. And on that note:

Here it is. My spangly new flat, complete with computer desk and leather sofa…

… TV, Wii and plant …

… a table and another sofa thing …

… door and drawers …

… bedroom and double bed …

… a spangly tiled bathroom …

… and checkered floor for chess …

… kitchen with microwave, toaster and washing machine …

… fridge, freezer, cooker …

… and acres of worktop space …

… and finally my well constructed desk!

Hoorah!

This final year was spent in Redfern campus accommodation, with old friend Steven and new flatmates Jo, Madhumita and Robert. It has been a great year. Here is a short but happy-memory inducing list. Ten pin bowling — both real and Wii based, massive marathon video game conquests (Burnout Revenge, Katamari, Bomberman, Wii Sports, Red Star), birthday celebrations, the adventures of Bobby Green and Snowy Bob, talkative fridge magnet nonsense, watching Planet Earth, fridge and freezer space mayhem, the rotting celeriac, Madhumita’s bell ringing and superstitions, the donkey-film fiasco (and the associated eeyore jokes), New Year celebrations, Christmas decorations, Madhumita’s quotes and blue tac sculptures, outings to Zizi’s and Piccolini’s “I could be a vampire — but you’re vegetarian”, eating two meals at once in Wetherspoons after Oceans 13, sharing artsy fartsy films with Jo, going on walks around Heronbank (to my secret pond), taking trips to the perfect Arts Centre Cinema (£2.50 student ticket for films such as Zodiac, This is England, Infamous and others), buying bargain £3 DVDs from the now defunct Fopp, juggling in the kitchen (3 ball, 4 ball, mill’s mess, 5 on the floor), the faulty Xbox 360 issues, completing that Mars EBM assignment, Future Electronics “big time” and “for sure”, kitchen visiting sparrows, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and a single fox, Warwick Art Centre’s tuna jacket potatoes with salad garnish, my internet ban and resulting scrubs marathon, basement lab concrete slab testing for hours on end, painful all nighters on 300 page project report and poster, my poor tummy and appendicitis, rewarding revision marathons (and missing the Bristol Rovers promotion), learning mandarin chinese, the lunar eclipse on the night of Steven’s birthday meal and wii competition, watching Liverpool knock out Chelsea on HD projectors outside in the garden after feasting on a BBQ, reading Graeme’s friday evening “weekend joy” texts and laser/smell of burning eye stories, eating fresh French baguette and Camembert after returning on a long hard bike trip to Tescos, the mounting rust problems my bike suffered as a result of being left outside in the rain, the magpies attacking the bin bags, the “cost-cutter” chime, the incredibly wet summer, playing Frisbee on the green outside, watching films with the TV at the foot of the bed, watching the cleaner rotation as ours was off sick again, building up recyclable skyscrapers in blue bags, playing corridor golf with the plastic golf set and Steven losing his ball under my bed, playing long range corridor darts and skittles, being solemn as Madhumita rushes away for the last time, doing that 1000 piece puzzle on top of my drawers, buying fans and creating custom made wasp nets, seeing Madhumita play Halo, boiling up the kettle and having a nice coffee and croissant breakfast before starting revision, playing Scattergories and LOTR Risk (too geeky?), rearing my grape found caterpillar to a full fledged moth, indoctrinating Sam in the ways of BSG, taking down my posters for the last time, Jo’s regular parsnip-carrot and mince meal, Steven’s toad in the hole and chips, Roberts plastic cutlery and balloon antics (see: Madhumita’s cupboard), Madhumita’s smelly night time thing and yoghurts left in the microwave, the 2 for £3 tesco pizzas that got me through, weekend trips to Leicester to visit Sam where we would shop at Fenwicks or on the off chance go to Riley’s or cook something wonderful and inspired. And taking pictures for the last time as I pack up the car and prepare to go home.

Oh the nostalgia. Looks like Sonic is driving today.

In a nice little park in Bath Spa.

]]> http://www.mrfofr.com/2007/02/great-snow-of-2007/feed/ 0 http://www.mrfofr.com/2007/01/30-random-artist-images/ http://www.mrfofr.com/2007/01/30-random-artist-images/#comments Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:18:00 +0000 Paul http://www.mrfofr.com/?p=97 These change every time you load the page and are pulled from my new site http://artists.trivialbeing.org

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