WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY
11 2004
Kingsley’s Birthday Invite
by
Kings
Greetings all! Due to Valentines Day related inconveniences I am having my birthday party on Sunday the 15th of February at BRB (Bar Room Bar).
DETAILS
Time: 7ish
Location: BRB – 32 Gerard Street, Soho, London W1D 6JA
Map: CLICK HERE
We will have an area set aside for us. They do really good wood fired pizza and pasta and have a really cool bar for afterwards.
Everyone is welcome and I hope to see you there!
Ciao,
Kings
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY
9 2004
Saturday's at the Gen and a new job
by
Kings
saturday's at the gen are always entertaining; the night starts with a few fairly quiet beers, and then gradually grows into a drunken party of friends that normally ends in the small hours of sunday morning...
and this past saturday was no exception, except one thing - everyone went...well, a little crazy. maybe there was something in the air, maybe it was the excess of alcohol, or maybe everyone was just getting our some frustration, but one things for sure, it was a night to remember and laugh about for a long time to come.
and that's because for some reason, around 10 or 11pm, everyone just started kissing everyone else. it started in one small group by the bar, and eventually it engulfed most the the residents (and non-residents) who were in the bar.
unfortunately there are no photos, because no one had a camera with them, however i will say that it was both hillarious and disturbing all at the same time.
today marks my first day at my new job with the internet team at work. it's pretty much the same as i have been doing the past 3 and a half months, except with internet orders and queries rather than telephone.
anyway - enough from me for now. i'll post more news soon :)
- mike
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY
9 2004
Cruising the Thames
by
Kings
 Last weekend Leah and I took a lunch cruise down the Thames as part of Leah’s 23rd birthday and a semi-valentines day so as not to conflict with my birthday. The cruise left from the Embankment Pier and headed up to Westminster and then down past Tower Bridge towards Greenwich and back again. As you can see from the photos here we got to see all the famous landmarks while enjoying a really yummy lunch. The weather was almost perfect with about 2 minutes of rain and blue skies for the rest.
Did I mention it is my birthday on the 14th? :)
Ciao,
Kings
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THURSDAY, JANUARY
29 2004
Let it snow; let it snow; let it snow.
by
Kings
 Well, after a particular gruelling day at work I headed for home. The evening was clear and crispy cold – colder than I had thought. For as I walked home it started to slightly rain. That rain turned into sleet – yuck. The sleet turned into ice – ouch! And the ice turned into a blizzard of snowy goodness! In a period of no longer than 3 minutes  the weather went from clear to winter wonderland with a vengeance. Naturally I was delighted and made the most of it. I hurried home to get my camera and found myself encased in snow and very very cold.
 On the way to work this morning the snow had half melted and then re-frozen into lovely layers of ice. I walked out of my building to see someone fall flat on their bum. I nearly followed the same fate twice but managed to avoid it somehow.
Anyhow, check out all the photos here!
Ciao,
Kings
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY
28 2004
It’s frickin’ freezing Mr Bigglesworth
by
Kings
 Man is it cold. They have been forecasting snow for all this week. Unfortunately not much falls in London but there are a hundreds of cars covered in the stuff. He is one I spotted on the way to work.
The cold weather here is caused by winds from the north coming from the artic circle. Its only about -5 degrees here at the moment and since I don’t have a scarf I am having to defrost my facial features. Fun fun.
Ciao,
Kings
UPDATE: It just snowed in central London. And it was fasntastic!
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SATURDAY, JANUARY
24 2004
Birthday celebrations
by
Kings
 wesdnesday night saw the first birthday celebration for mikeandkings.com - yes, i turned 23 on wednesday. firstly a big thank you for all the messages on the guestbook, emails that i got, and fabulous presents!
the days started nice and early with my first wake up call coming at 6:45am from my mother, then at 6:55am from dad, then another at 7:30 from paulie, and then finally at 10am, again from mum. so needless to say i didn't get to sleep in! but that's ok - it was great to hear from so many people.
another call came from erez at about 12, asking where i lived because he had a birthdya surprise for me. so after going through directions, i hung up the phone, then frantically ran around cleaning my house in wait of people coming over (i had no idea who was coming over, but i thought i'd better at least clean a litte -- i am my mothers son :)
prue was next on the phone, with me half way through the dishes. so we chatted for about an hour, then i get a knock at the door...so i put the phone down, and standing there with a huge sign and a cake with candles was erez and kate and steve! now kate i met way back when i was living at the generator and steve is her brother. anyway - this made my birthday so much better becuause i had no plans of doing anything until the evening.
 so we ate the cake, and walked down to camden to wander around. i almost bought some funky records with that old mo-town sound but didn't find any i liked...ANYWAY -considering the bar didn't open until 6, we had a few hours to kill so we walked around, had some food then walked back to the generator and waited for 6 to roll on.
and since i've been hanging around the gen for so long, and know a lot of people there, including the bar manager...well i saw a lot of free drinks.
 plus, i was takled into playing limbo once again. there has only ever been one winner of limbo since i've been at the gen - and that's mitch. but, not tonight my friends! mitch and i both got down to 72cm, but couldn't clear it (this could have something to do with the vodka shots we had to have after each run...) so richie who was running the limbo told us the first to bring him a FREE whisky + coke would win the free drinks (yes...more free drinks!) and of course, it was my birthday, so i got the first free drink, and won!
on top of this we had 2 other free jugs from winning the quiz a week or so ago. so we drank these, and the rest, and...well...the night is a little blurry. i do remember fabio (bar manager) giving me 2 yajar-bombs. for those who dont know, this is basically a can and a half of redbull, and a shot of jagar (in a shot glass) dropped into a pint glass, which you then have to drink very quickly.
  jimston was meant to take a photo of the first one but couldn't work my camera, so fabio had to make me another one, and this tim jim managed to take a few snaps!
i think the night ended with me NOT yacking!!! and i eventually made it back home after breakfast at about 12pm on thursday, where i proceeded to sleep for another few hours, before showering, getting dressed and heading back to the gen for dinner and a few drinks.
saturday will see the birthday dinner at la porchetta; a great little italian restaurant down in queens square. and after dinner we'll either head off to a bar to continue celebrating or get an early start on australia day celebrations at the gen.
 you can find all the photos from wednesday here and photos from saturday will go up next week :)
thank you again to all the great messages and presents from everyone!
until next time...
- mike
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MONDAY, JANUARY
19 2004
soon he'll be 23...
by
Kings
firstly i have to say a happy (slightly belated) birthday to noelle...her birthday was on saturday, 17th, but i was at work all day and couldn't get to a machine that would let me update the page...but...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOELLE!!!
i hope you had a ball whatever you did! oh, and when you get back you have to cut my hair...i am starting to look like a 1980's bon jovi!
saturday also saw my work Winter Party - which was in place of the xmas party for a few long, boring reasons i wont go into right now. but, yes, we took a coach for an hour and a half (past oxford) to i think northampton and drank the night away until the small hours, with me eventually arriving home after a very strange stagger from north acton (work) to shepherds bush (with some friends) to a house party with people i didn't know, then a night bus, an early tube, and a bit of a walk...i stepped through the door at about 7.30am! - i have a few photos that i'll try to get online soon...
and then woke up at 11 to go into town to meet up with shannon and kings because shannon is heading back to perth tomorrow (tuesday) for her brothers wedding...but that does mean she can bring me back goodies from home!!!
and the event of the week, of course, is my birthday!! wednesday will be interesting, being away from most of my friends and family but...xmas was good so...maybe my birthday will be ok too!? i have 6 days off work too so...at least i can sit around and relax for a while...i might even go and sunbake at the tate modern (i'll explain more of this later). dinner is 7.30 on SATURDAY now not sunday because la porchetta is closed on sundays for some strange reason, so if you are coming, let me know because i've only booked for 12!
and one final point - we had our first donation to mikeandkings.com the other day. it came from our good friend paul (who's back in sunny perth) and the amount was £2. if you're wondering what £2 can buy you in london, here's a small list...
* 2 pints of carling between 6 and 9 at the generator
* 1 pint and a little change after 9pm
* a one-way 2-zone tube ticket
* 4 chocolate bars from a vending machine
* about 2 or 3L of coke, sprite etc..
* a few loaves of bread
* about 2L of OJ
* almost a smallish tub of vegemite from safeways
* half a ticket to a mid-week movie
* about an hour and a half online at easyinternet
* you could pay someone to do a dance?
...the list goes on and on...so i have to say thanks to paul for his donation!
ok well i have to run, but i expect a few calls/texts on wednesday - oh, and don't expect a reply to a text, becuase i have about 8p credit on my phone, and don't get paid until the 30th.
until next time....
- mike
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TUESDAY, JANUARY
13 2004
it is the months of birthdays
by
Kings
firstly, i have to say hello to everyone, because it's been so long between posts. so what's been happening? well, a lot of work, work...um, more work. and of course having fun, going to galleries and all that other stuff that you do when you have no money and live in a foreign city.
but anyway i'm getting off the point...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRUE!!!and yes i know that back home it's over, but hey, i cant get online very often. i know that you had a great night and day (after all i did call this morning!) and i hope it stayed that way!
and not to be out done, i have to say send one message...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!! i know that your birthday is tomorrow, but i probably won't get online tomorrow, so have a great birthday, sorry i cant be there, but maybe next year? :)
ok well i have to run now...i promise to post more soon...it's a little hard at the moment but i'll try :)
- mike
ps: dont forget, my birthday is just around the corner. oh, and if you want to come to dinner mail me for details. it's probably going to be on sunday 25th, because we are waiting for miss noelle to come back from the states...
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER
30 2003
MikeAndKings.com Present Christmas 2003
by
Kings
  T’was the night before Christmas and all through the flat not a creature was stirring except Mike in the kitchen preparing everything for our Christmas day lunch. I meanwhile – while playing Nintendo – provided emotional support with the occasional ‘smells good’ shouted towards the kitchen. Since Mike had made it clear that it was ‘his kitchen’ and I had made it clear that it was ‘certainly not my kitchen’ the arrangement seemed to work out well for both of us. That night the coveted Coca-Cola cake was prepared and the table set. The turkey was seasoned and its ‘giblets’ were removed – quite a sight I assure you.
  The next day Mike and I woke up and opened our pressies. We really didn’t have much to open. I got one from my mother and another from Mike. And Mike got one from Prue and another from myself.
Everyone was due to arrive at 10am and – naturally – everyone was late. Obviously no one bothered to consider Michaels ‘cooking schedule’ but somehow the disaster was obverted.
 Eventually everyone arrived and were greeted by Mike, myself, a warm house and a huge wok of punch – a wok being the largest thing we could find in the kitchen.  Everyone sat down and had croissants and got fairly snozzeled on the vodka surprise pineapple pieces. A short while later lunch was served which included brussel sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli cheese, some sort of potato bake thing, roast veggies and a massive turkey. After everyone stuffed themselves silly we all sat down while Mike and Kelso prepared desert. Mike unveiled the Coca-Cola cake and Kelso provided an apple crumble and fruit biscuit pizza.
 After dinner everyone sat down to laugh at ‘Star Wars: Episode 2’ and continue drinking late into the evening.
Everyone ended up leaving around 2am and so began my time to shine – quite literally. It took me no less than two hours to wash all the dishes, pots and pans and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors and sweep the living room and hall but eventually the place started to look clean once again.
Mike and I would like to thank everyone who came along for a very enjoyable orphan Christmas!
The complete collection of Christmas 2003 photos can be found here.
Now for New Years!
Kings
 Oxford
The day after Boxing Day I took a trip to Aylesbury and Oxford to visit Derek and his parents. One of the major highlights was taking a tour around Oxford and seeing the location where Hogwarts Hall (see right) from the Harry Potter movies was shot in Christchurch College.
And this photo (as in click this place) also kept me quite amused for a while - see if you can see anything fishy about it.
Check out all the other Oxford photos here.
Thanks for the hospitality and lovely dinner!
Kings
I did a search in WebCrawler and found that searching for 'Mike and Kings' does not produce this site as number 1. Instead, someone known as 'Mike King' has a website that sits above ours. I thought you'd all get a kick out of seeing WebCrawlers number 1 entry for 'Mike and Kings' - Mike Kings very own Website! So, who's up for some huntin'?
from mike: yes, xmas is over for another year, but everyone had a great time at our little orphans xmas! kings did forget to mention the song written for the occasion (of course by me) entitled 'the orpahn xmas blues'...with lyrics that included everyone that was there. while it wasnt a huge success (possibly because i was a little too drunk, in true long-rainey-carter fashion, to sing the lyrics properly) but it still made me laugh :)
in other, non-xmas news, you may have noticed the new 'donate' link at the top of the page. dont let this scare you off...and if considering whether to donate us any money, remember that i have £11 to last me until january 31st (after paying rent that is) so if anyone does want to buy me a meal one day, my door is always open :)
oh, and one more little bit of news. i have been trying to open a bank account (yes, even with no money i still need one of these...) here in london for about 2 months now, but with no success. the reason seems to be somethign to do with the fact that i was firstly living in a hostel. ok, you say, you've moved out, so what's the problem now? well, the banks seem to think that all the 10 documents i have from home with my bank details in australia, plus a letter from my employer and a letter from inland revenue (both of which have my address here on it) aren't acceptable. so...the fight goes on! hopefully i'll get an account soon, so finance at work stop yelling at me to get an account. as it stands now, my pay goes into kings' account...first he gets the money, then he gets the womens, then he gets the POWER! or somethign to that effect.
i hope everyone had a merry christmas! look out new years -- we'll keep you all updated as to how we fare tomorrow nite :)
- mike
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MONDAY, DECEMBER
29 2003
Donate today!
by
Kings
as it is the festive season, it's about time that everyone around the world who loves mikeandkings.com start to get busy with the money, and sponsor your favourite travel website.
yes, that's rite, sponsor mikeandkings.com has finally arrived! you asked for it, and now here it is! with the help of your sponsorshop, mike and kings will never have to go scrounging around for tube money.
and sponsorship allows you to see where your money is going, with weekly or monthly updates as to what your money has bought, and how it is improving the lives not only of mike and kings, but everyone they know.
so go on, you can part with grandma's xmas money this year -- sponsor mikandkings.com today...
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MONDAY, DECEMBER
29 2003
Snow!
by
Kings
It is snowing in London! Well it is sleeting. Sleet is like really gooey rain. Imagine a constant stream of small bits of watery ice spat at you. That’s sleet. But I can see it right now out the window in the office. It is fluttering down quite nicely. Everyone in the office was fairly ho-hum about it. As soon as I realised what I was looking at I grabbed my coat and ran outside! I don’t think it is going to cover anything – except in ice. But it is still nice to look at.
Anyhow, back to work.
Kings
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER
24 2003
Merry Christmas Everyone
by
Kings
 | Mike and I would like to wish everyone at home and those we met along the way a very enjoyable and safe holiday.
Merry Christmas from Mike and Kings. | |
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER
19 2003
CMGL Christmas Party
by
Kings
 Last night was the CMGL Christmas party held at Gibson Hall. I’d write more but I am currently paying the price one does when a Christmas party is held on a Thursday.
The full collection of photos can be found here.
Kings
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER
19 2003
moving right along...
by
Kings
ok, so i have taken the plung and moved into a flat! yes, i have finally left my home for hte past 2 months - the gen - in replace of a smallish room in a fun little flat.
i'll get some pictures up at some point, but just to get all your minds working, the area is fantastic, with a small church across the road. the street is one way, and if it snows this xmas, the trees will be stunning...again, i'll get some photos up at some point.
i'm living just a few minutes from the camden markets, and 5 minutes from the caledonian road tube station. so it's only a 12 minutes trip back to the gen to visit friends and have a cheap drink!
anyway -- just thought i'd let you all know! if you want to send me mail, money or house warming gifts, email me and i'll send you the address :)
xmas this year will probably be at kings' place - i plan on cooking up a storm, getting merrily drunk and singing many a christmas carol.
i hope everyone is well. kings and i will both post again before xmas, so until then...
- mike :)
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER
9 2003
Wapping great flat
by
Kings
Hey everyone. Well, I’ve moved into the new flat. It was eerie sleeping without 7 other people in the room and a night club on the floor above – but I still managed to get one of the best nights sleep in quite a while. To top it all off – my shower this morning was hot! I have to charge my camera before I can put photos up – but I’ll probably have something to show tomorrow.
The flat is situated in the suburb of ‘Wapping’ – I have no idea why someone would name a suburb that but at least I’m not living in ‘Cockfosters’.
In London, the rule is anyone living east of the Tower of London is an East Ender - which I’m afraid to admit that I am. So I had better catch up on what’s been happening on the show now. :(
If you’d like my postal address so you can send Mike or I some mail, email me using the link in the top right of the page.
Ciao!
Kings
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER
5 2003
Seasons Greetings!
by
Kings
 Firstly, as I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering what on earth happened to Mike’s clothes - or where on earth to be more precise – the clothes have arrived safe and sound. The occasion was marred by the wrong pants having been sent – but at least everything else arrived as prescribed and otherwise intact. I’m sure the courier company – whom I’m sure Mike will name and shame soon - had a simply made a type-o when they wrote 4 day delivery when they were meaning 4 week.
Another exciting (at least for me) nugget of news is that I’m outa the Generator! And I tell you what – it hasn’t come soon enough. I am fortunate to have found a fantastic flat within minutes of my work! I’m sharing a room in a three bedroom 4th floor apartment with a Kiwi couple situated adjacent to the News Limited press – publishers of the ultimate in trash: The Sun. I hopefully will move in on Tuesday evening having – at long last – somewhere to call home.
 Last night Leah and I went to Trafalgar Square to watch the City of London’s Xmas tree being lit. We sung a few carols, lost a few limbs to the cold and retreated to the warmth of the tube station and ultimately the Generator.
Lastly, for all those in London – or will be on the 12/13th of DECEMBER – you are here-by invited, pending future flatmates permission, to my house/flat warming celebrations. I can’t guarantee a swinging shindig however I’m will ensure to keep you all entertained for the evening. If you’d like to come – send me an email and I’ll let you know the finer details.
Ciao!
Kings
mike: ok, yes, the package arrived. but it only took 5 weeks, about 25 phone calls and the threat of a hissy fit to get them to me. but after i yelled at a manager for 20 minutes, the package arrived the next day. so now i have toasty warm clothes, and vitamins from my grandmother :) i'm still here in the gen, and i will be moving at some point. when that is i don't know. it's too easy to stay here for the time being. i am hoping to pick myself up a cheap guitar tomorrow to keep me sane, and...with my planned trip to rome this weekend unfortunatley not happening, i need all the 'keeping mike sane' devices there are. and a guitar is just about as good as they come.
keep the emails coming people, and sign the guestbook :)
- mike
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MONDAY, DECEMBER
1 2003
We're back!
by
Kings
Hey all. As you can see we are up and running again. Due to a small database outage on Friday the site got a little confused and required some TLC. We didn’t loose any data so everything is okay.
On Friday night Mike and I went to see Cass’s off at her going away party. It was held in a small club/pub/bar called Indigo near the Clapham Common tube station and was the furthest I’ve been out of London in some time. In true Cassie fashion she was late for her own party but it didn’t seem to matter too much since the music was pretty funky and since Mike and I have been paid we could afford to buy few drinks. We also happened to run into Jess Fowler – another Perthie living it up in London – who’s also heading home soon, but just for xmas.
On Sunday night Mike, Jim/Jimbo/Jim-jimmy-jim/Milston/Jimston/Milbo, Dee and I went out for dinner and then headed into West End to see Elf. Unfortunately Elf is classified as a childrens movie and so we missed the last showing so we headed round the corner to the ‘Slug and Lettuce’ for a few glasses of Australian wine and a chat.
-kings
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER
26 2003
Protests to walk by
by
Kings
 i have no idea if this made international news or not, but last week george w, president bush himself made his way to london...and it only cost the tax payers (which kings and i are now part of) £5.5m!!! and that was just for the extra police. and to show what that meant to the people of england, around two-hundred thousand people took to the streets of london to tell bush just how welcome he was. and of course, i just had to take part.
and while there were a hell of a lot of people there, it really wasn't the most impressive rally...but that could have had something to do with the fact that i wasn't taking it all that seriously. i was just taking photos, and walking along singing 'we're not gonna protest!'
and after walking with a few friends (2 of whom were american (names withheld for fear of waking up minus an eyebrow) and one who was trying to start a pro bush rally!) for about 2 or 3 hours, we gave up the march and headed back home for some food...at least we took our own advise of not protesting! you can find all the photos here.
so how does everyone like the new design? you can check the the photos in the media section - there's finally some photos of some of our friends from here at the generator, plus a few shots from around london.
so kings and i are still at the gen, living in room 016 (in the basement if you want to come and visit). we are hopefully moving out soon...depending on when we can find somewhere for us (and shannon) to live. but that will hopefully be soon, because a lot of people are leaving here soon so we'll probably get bored a lot easier.
 i should tell you all the great things that have been happening. on saturday night i told emily, katie and andrew (3 americans who were staying in our room for a few days; they are studying in rome at the moment...)to come to the bar for a drink. and after a while i introduced a them and jimbo and jeebs to skittle-brau (do you have any of that beer with candy floating in it? you know, skittle-brau?) and after a few rounds, skittle-brau turned into beer with chocolate in it, and then finally, jeebs added a whole heap of tabasco to one of my beers.
 and the place being as it is, i was dared to drink it as quickly as i could. of course soon enough money was on the table, and once it hit almost £4 i just couldn't resist (hey, i'm poor, give me a break!). so...this is a shot of the collected money from the 5 or so people who witnessed the occasion. and might i add, it wasn't all that bad!
our american friends had to leave at 5am to go back to rome, so i took it upon myself to keep them all up until at least 1am - i suggested they stay up all night, but...that didn't take...
sunday this week saw a huge amount happen. kings fell sick on friday afternoon, and is only just now recovering. so he was sleeping most of the day. i think i spent most of the day wandering around looking for something to do, with very little success. i ended up watching a movie at 4 and...well...that was pretty much my enjoyable weekend (i worked all day saturday too!) oh, and the rain has begun, and i guess that means that it won't stop now for another 4 months or so...so stay tuned for plenty of 'mike and kings get wet' pics in the coming weeks.
but until then, keep signing the guestbook, send us emails, texts, call us...or just have a drink for us this weekend :)
- mike
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER
24 2003
Shannon has been published!
by
Kings
Following an enjoyable yet disappointing World Cup final, a heavily intoxicated Shannon was interviewed by an Independent Newspaper reporter and wound up being quoted in the article!
…"Well, the best guy won - Jonny Wilkinson was your team. I feel sad, though. We lost." Shannon Sears, 25, was also trying to focus on the positives. "What's losing anyway? We came second - that's not losing," she insisted. "I'm still proud to be an Aussie, and that's what counts."…
Click here for the complete article.
I, unfortunately, did not have a good weekend. I was stuck by a sudden illness – something which I can only describe as having glass shards thrown down my throat - early Friday evening which landed me in bed ALL WEEKEND! I recovered just enough to manage to get myself into work on Monday. It was perfectly timed to destroy any plans I may have had for the weekend – a strategic illness it would seem.
-Kings
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER
20 2003
A special day!
by
Kings
 Firstly, let me just say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my (Kings) mother! I called to this morning (evening from her perspective) and took this photo while I was talking to her.
Secondly, today is also the launch of the first proper re-write of the site. It features over 40 new banners at the top – all photos which Mike and I have taken during our travels. The media section has had a few problems sorted out and the overall site design has had a revamp.
LET US KNOW what you think of the new design!
Hope you have a great birthday Mum!
Ciao!
Kings
mike: also 2 more birthdays to add for this week...julls, happy 22 for the 18th! i will hopefully speak to you on saturday :) and barney...it's your 22 today aswell...where the hell are you boy??? have a great bday :)
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER
16 2003
everyone was right...
by
Kings
so living here in london is fun. we're having a ball, and were looking forward to moving into our own flat on tuesday...that is until today, when kings met with the estate agent again, who informed him that in order for us to have the flat, we would need to pay 6 MONTHS RENT IN ADVANCE!
not that i'm bitter, but that is not only a breech of the contract that we signed, it is also (so i have read) illegal in this country (apparently they can only ask for 2 months?) so, we are not moving on tuesday as planned, as we cant. pretty much, the 12 references we provided weren't enough, and the landlord thought that kings, shannon and myself were going to run off with his furniture...
as it stands, kings and i will stay here at the generator until something more permanent comes along (it's almost week 6 here might i add) and shannon is staying with her cousins.
i guess that the three of us having full time jobs just wasn't enough. we'll be looking once again for a flat, and with any luck will find SOMEONE who will allow us to pay them a huge amount of money to pay off their morgage...
anyways...it's not all bad - we have a big group of friends here at the hostel who can keep us (in)sane for the time being.
but moving on...work is fine, even though i worked my first saturday in a long time today. it's strange to be working again, but is working out really well - everyone i work with is fantastic and it's a fun place to be (well...most of the time hehe).
i hav eto run now - had a few drinks to cheer myself up and i'm out of time on the net. so take care and speak to you all soon...sign the guestbook!!!
- mike
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER
14 2003
Estate agents and tube strikes and bomb scares oh my!
by
Kings
 Living in London is great! There’s always something to keep you entertained in the mornings on the way to work – Prince Charles being bi-sexual, David Beckham plucking his eyebrows, George Bush coming to town. This morning was no exception. Firstly there was a tube strike – three of the main lines were not running, one of which I needed to catch. Then after formulating a cunning alternative route, my destination station – Tower Hill – had to be closed due to a bomb scare. Now I’m a good sport, and I leave for work with plenty of time to spare, but it seems like the tube was really out to get me this morning. Nevertheless, with my trusty London A-Z map book in hand, I took to the streets and made it to work with 15 minutes to spare.
 A few nights ago I took a walk after work and took a few happy-snaps of some of the famous landmarks near by. On the left (above) is the Tower of London - not much of a tower is it? – I see this every morning on my way to work but I haven’t managed to go in it yet. And on the right is Tower Bridge. David Blaine was suspended form a crane located just to the right of this picture – unfortunately he and his box isn’t there anymore.
You can find the rest of the photos HERE.
While taking these photos I was stopped by an Australian to take a photo of her with the landmarks, she then proceeded to explain to me – in great detail - where Brisbane was. After telling her that I was also an Australian she replied ‘So, what’s with your accent then?’. Perhaps I should stop pretending. After being told throughout Europe that I looked British, to then be told by an Australian that there is something ‘with’ my accent is pushing it.
Anyhow, must go. Enjoy the pics. Sorry they are big. The next version of the site should fix that problem.
-kings
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER
10 2003
photos and more
by
Kings
ok - i once again have less than a minute. but i just wanted to give a quick update...we finally have the photo of keri russell, aka felicity in our posession.
so...kings will be uploading it tomorrow - i cant do it from here.
so stay tuned, and wait for the evidence :)
- mike
ps: hi everyone :)
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER
6 2003
Our house, in the middle of our street
by
Kings
 Hey people. Not much has been happening this week. Mike and I have getting into the work groove. Shannon doesn’t start work until Monday which gave her ample time for her to find us this ultra modern and flat in Borough.
It’s a split level three room flat with its own little garden located fairly close to the Borough tube station. I can’t wait to move in but it won’t be available until the 18th which is quite annoying. To the left is our living room and to the right is our cosy kitchen. It is a little small but so is Mike and he usually insists on cooking. The flat come as you see it, all furniture included.
 Last night was fireworks night in London. The fireworks were good for about an hour then just got annoying. Everywhere we went it sounded like a gang war was going on.
-kings
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER
6 2003
birthdays
by
Kings
well..it's a little late, but i have 2 birthday greetings to send.
monday, november 3rd saw emma ferg turn 22...so happy birthday emma, sorry i couldnt make yiour party last weekend :)
and yesterday november 4th saw my fabulous sister, luarna, turn 35...you're so old now heheh
so happy birthday to you both.
ther are more birthdays coming up soon, but i guess they can wait for now.
i hope everyone is well - sign the GUESTBOOK and let us know how you are all going...
- mike
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER
3 2003
MikeAndKings.com Update!
by
Kings
Over the next few weeks the site will finally get a much needed update. Some of the new features include a new look media section and email subscriptions! I hope you’re all as excited as I am.
*update* The media section has had its first update. Let ME know what you think!
Ciao,
Kings
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MONDAY, OCTOBER
27 2003
working men and hostel life over for now
by
Kings
 tomorrow marks the day that kings and i start work - yes, that's right, it's been over 3 months now but it's now time to head back to the grind of gainful employment.
you may have noticed that there is are a few new images on the site. pictures from the OKTOBERFEST and also some from our first few weeks here in LONDON are now in the media section.
you may notice also that there are a few images of cat and tasha - two new friends of mine i've made here in london. tasha is set to be married in december, and had to head back to the states last week, but before she left, her and cat wanted me to get some photos, so here they are :)
kings and i have left the generator hostel now, and are staying with shannon at her cousins place for the week. we didnt get to say goodbye to everyone at the generator, but hopefully we'll be going back there for a drink some time soon and catching up with everyone. i won't try to mention everyone, but i do have to say hi to cat, jimbo, jeebs, pat, loopy, chloe, everyone in room 007, all the staff...well you all know who you are :) i can't speak for kings, it really did feel like home there at the generator after being there for almost 3 weeks. but with any luck we wont have to stay there again, and will be getting an apartment this week! but if not then i'm sure we'll take up residence once again in the basement in room 007.
we will let you know how our jobs work out - we are both a little excited about starting work again...it will certainly be different. don't forget to sign the GUESTBOOK or drop us an email at the usual addresses.
stay well, and we'll let you know how this week pans out.
- mike
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER
21 2003
Lifestyles of the poor and infamous
by
Kings
It's been 2 weeks and 2 days since we arrived in London and things seem to be slowly progressing. In that time I've managed to get a mobile phone, two suits, some new shoes, a nice warm coat and most importantly a job tho be it with a touch of drama due to mikeandkings.com.
The thing about having an email address at mikeandkings.com is that people often wonder 'what is mikeandkings.com all about?'. So like most computer literate people out there they would plug the address into a web browser and behold. Computer literate people such as potential employers for example. So when applying for a position, employers don't seem to like the travel overtones of mikeandkings.com and get a little nervous hiring permanent staff which may leave the country in a matter of months. The result wasn't all that bad and most importantly I have a job.
The entire experience left me with a rather strange feeling; suddenly my reputation preceded me with striking detail. Instead of inviting people to see out site, people were discovering it by themselves. I had a complete strangers (and now to be co-workers) talking to me about things such as a certain Spanish train adventure and the 'stalking' of an American actresses in a London bar. Could this be what it's like to be famous?
kings
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER
14 2003
i can't believe they kept a secret for 3 months
by
Kings
 so on sunday we had planned to get kings fitted out for his job interview, which required heading down to this little suit store that is closing down and picking something up relatively cheaply. nicolas (or jeebs as we call him now, because he is EXACTLY like our good friend back home alan, whom we also call jeebus or jeebs - long story...see pic) also needed to buy a few shirts for his job, so he tagged along. the last member of our little group was leah, whom kings and i met in rome but we happened to cross paths again here in london, so she's spent most of this week with us! ANYWAY...there were 4 of us...
so we FINALLY get out of the hostel, head down the road and eventually make it to the store. about to go in, kings tells me that we have to go to trafalgar square...now, it's sunday, i'm tired and a little hungover, and we had spent every day that week at trafalgar square. 'what the hell is in trafalgar square? we've been there all week', i ask kings who replies with a simple 'we just have to go, now trust me.'
no way! i wasn't going anywhere until i found out why i was walking for another 20 minutes to go somewhere i had been all week...but i knew something was up, so reluctantly stumbled on.
the 4 of us arrive in trafalgar square and walk towards the stairs, between the two huge fountains. then i get a little tap on the shoulder, so i turn around, and who is it but miss shannon sears, myer carousel VM whore herself! (for those who don't know, before i left perth i worked for a department store as a visual merchandiser and shannon and i were the VM team for the carousel store...) shannon has been bitching about coming to london for so long i never thought it would happen...but there she was, standing in front of me!
so how did this all come about you ask? well...when kings and i were at the airport in perth, about to leave the country, shannon tells kings of her plans, and to keep it a secret. see up until then, i think her plan was to be here in january, so i was completley in the dark!
so kings knows about her plan - fine. he doesn't tell me and manages to keep it a secret for 3 months -- fine. but then i find out that there's more in on this little secret than just kings and shannon. my MOTHER, too, knew and didn't tell me! in fact she tried to convince shannon to bring me a jacket. then i find out that people who we had known for all of 3 days even knew, BUT NOT ME!!!
now i don't consider myself daft in any way (prue stop laughing!) but i didn't see this coming at all! how everyone managed to keep this a secret from me for so long i still don't know. but it was a good surprise, and i now have another friend here in london :)
kings did eventually purchase his clothing - 2 suits, 2 shirt and 3 ties - all for only £250! oh, he also bought some new shoes yesterday (work shoes) and is now sporting a great english haircut. his interview was this morning, but i haven't really spoken to him about it yet - he'll be on his way down here shortly.
my good news is that i have 2 interviews this week - one tomorrow and one thursday, so with any luck i will have a job very soon, but i'll keep you posted :)
well it's just about time i ate something so i'm heading downstairs to subway for a footlong tuna on parmesan. don't forget, we both have phones over here so drop us an email if you want the numbers.
oh, and speaking of emails, my mikeandkings.com account currently isn't working for some reason, so until i can get kings to fix it for me, please use my 'europemike' hotmail account. i will post a message when it is working again :)
please disregard the above - the problem with the account is now fixed, so send mail for me to m.i.k.e@m.i.k.e.a.n.d.k.i.n.g.s.c.o.m (remove dots)
- mike
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER
9 2003
...I'm seeing STARS!!!
by
Kings
as kings posted yesterday, we had a run in with a certain celebrity by the name of keri russell. as many people back home know, i absolutely LOVE the TV show felicity, and used to watch it religiously, and as keri is the STAR of the show...this was an amazing event! so i'll give you a brief (long) outline of what happened.
we arrived in london on sunday afternoon, and found our way to our hostel, the generator. after getting settled, we called miss cassie alp who said she was at work and why not drop in for a drink? so...we found a map and wandered down the road to the pub.
we chatted and drank a few beers, watched the football on tv and were having a great time sitting in our first real english pub, when this really attractive woman walks through the door with about 3 guys. i leaned over to kings and said 'that really looks like keri russell, you know, from felicity?' and kings agreed. so we tell cass that we think felicity is in her pub.
cass walks off, but comes back and says 'that's not felicity, her name is keri, i just heard it'...then i almost fell off my chair. like a little school boy i was all giddy. there, sitting only a few metres away was keri russell, someone whom i have watched for far too many hours on a great tv show.
i knew i had to talk to her, because kings kept saying that i would regret it later on if i didn't, and then told me he was going to talk to her! well, i couldn't let that happen, so i sucked it up, walked up there, stood next to her and........ordered another drink...i wasn't quite ready.
anyway...i did eventually turn around, tap her on the shoulder, and start talking to her. she was so nice, and a little surprised that anyone recognised her, considering the show wasn't played in the uk for some reason. she told me she was in town shooting a new, independant character film called 'THE UPSIDE OF ANGER' that will be out some time next year.
it was so great talking to her - if there was a list of 10 celebrities i have to meet in my life time, she would have to be on there. if you want more information about keri, visit THE IMDB or for information on felicity visit A FELICITY PAGE.
i did have to interupt keri one more time to ask her if there was any chance we could get a picture (cass had her camera with her!!!) and of course she said yes, so we will hopefully get the picture up here very very soon.
this was possibly the most exciting encounter i have ever had. i'm sure i sounded like a really annoying fan bugging her in a pub, but i just couldn't resist - she's so fantastic!
cass marked the moment by eating a pint glass full of shrimp.
...oh, job hunting still going. if i dont get a job in the next week you may see me around the streets of perth in november. i hope not, but...well, the money situation is awful at the moment. that won't happen, i will get a job...i'm just being melodramatic as usual!
ok, well will let you all know if anything more interesting is going on. but in the mean time, i hope you are all well - keep in contact with us and let us know what's new!
- mike
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER
8 2003
stuck in the u.k.
by
Kings
firstly, i have managed to get myself a mobile phone so EMAIL ME if you would like the number.
it has only been 3 days but mike and i are already exhausted from looking for work. we have become permanent residents of a fairly cheap net cafe in central london. we're also looking for somewhere to live that isn't going to send us broke but it's a slow process. so far we've seen nothing of the city with exception of trafalgar square, leicester square and big ben (from a distance).
one thing we did see up close was keri russell (aka tv's felicity) but i will leave that for mike to describe since it was the greatest moment in his life. :)
-kings
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER
5 2003
I'm in London still...
by
Kings
maybe you can tell from our, accents on the phoooooone...? no, well, we have only been in london for about 3 hours, so that's not surprising. we finally made it here after a gruelling hour and a half in the sky haha. and we actually found our way through customs, to the tube, and 27 stops later to russell square...and then finally to our hostel (the generator...if you have been following our travels you'll remember that the generator in berlin was our first hostel).
so we have a modest task ahead of getting new phone numbers (and a phone for kings), finding employment, a place to live, and getting everything we need to survive here in (currently) sunny london - and that includes an entire new wardrobe, because all of our clothes are summer related (we did spend 3 months in europes heat-wave of a summer remember).
munich was great fun, it was a shame we could only spend 4 days there, and most of that time was spent at the oktoberfest consuming huge amounts of beer. but we can always go back, what with all the cheap flights and all (easyjet.com, ryanair.com etc).
i have to say thank you again to andrew, my uncle, who donated to me £11 in coins when we were in amsterdam back in august. this came in very handy when attempting to purchase tickets for the tube from the airport. it meant we didn't have to phaff around looking for an atm and somewhere to get change. so thanks uncle - your contributions to my epic travels are not forgotten :)
nothing else to tell you at the moment, except to say that there needs to be more messages on the guestbook, oh, and to tell you all that there are now almost 90,000 hits on the site...yes, thats ninty thousand. so keep on visiting, and soon we will unleash some new features, as soon as kings gets himself setup with a laptop. when 'soon' exactly is, well...this year :)
but until next time, be well, and call your mother to tell her she's special...
- mike
one last thing...click HERE if you want to see our trip unwind from start to present day. otherwise, there's a SHOW ALL NEWS link at the bottom of this page, if you haven't already found it :)
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