More Reunions

6 September - Once back in London I got in touch with young James Templeman who was celebrating his new position as GM for a trendy bar and restaurant in a trendy area of London (i'm not sure if he was happier about getting the new job or leaving the old one). Had a small reunion with the CAmberwell household and had to recount my depressing marathon experience a few times but I was also reminded of how wonderful the Slovakian experience was so that offset the black mood somewhat but then I headed out to Swiss Cottage to see James and some of his expatriate friends (one or two i'd met before in Australia so that was pleasant to catch up again - made me feel slightly more at home to here some Australian accents). The night was slightly alcohol fuelled and I ended up crashing at Jame's very nice Primrose Hill house - twas a very large and comfortable couch that was my berth this time.
The next day went back to Camberwell and had a rather average café brunch (i really was spoiled on the food front in Slovakia) and then went to an Internet café to do some organising things - finally managed to purchase some SkyeOut credit so I can now fully exploit the solution.
Also in the afternoon I met up with Walber, a London based brazilian who i'd met in Chang Mai. He'd offered me a temporary place to stay while I was in London (traveller's are very nice like that) - very nice flat in Islington (very nice flat!), we headed out there from the west end on his moto - first time i've been on the back of a motorbike since THailand and it was a very different experience - still weaving in and out of traffic a bit but it's a far different experience when everyone on the road at least pays token attention to the rules. However, I was certainly feeling a far stronger connection to my own mortality than I did when I was in Bangkok. It's far more comfortable being on a moto with a helmet and clothes that could actually afford a little protection than shorts and sandles.
After this I headed out towards my old place of work/residence in Hampstead, the King William IV pub. The place hadn't changed at all - I don't even think they'd cleaned the carpet since I was there last. There was obviously nobody behind the bar that I knew (one would have to be pretty unambitious to stay there for eight years) but there were a couple of vaguely familiar faces holding the bar up - none worth knowing unfortunately. Did get chatting with the bar manager though, a Polish guy named Jaczek living over here, and he was very hospitable (discounting rounds and generallydrinking on my side rather than serving on this, he also excitedly demonstrated the bluetooth version of modern gaydar flirting) - later we were also joined by some beautiful Czech girls and our clique spent the majority of the night commiserating about how much we missed eastern europe compared to London. I am very glad to be back in London but there is something about Slovakia that has put its hold on me, maybe it's just that it was nice to be around such close family after such a long time (long for me) but i've got to get prepard for the next step and that step will be Canada.