Mike and Kings News

London (again and again)

mike — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:54:38 GMT

Hey all,
As you may be aware, Kings has been living in London for the past couple of years and as such m&k.com hasn't really been getting much love of late. But with him (and many other friends) living on this side of the world it gives me the opportunity to occasionally visit (as moving is pretty damn tough!)

So just shy of 2 weeks ago I flew out of cold, wintery Perth into slightly less cold summery London...althought the weather the past 5 days has been outstanding! I think I may have even got a slight tan.

Both Kings and Andy have been working during the week so I've rediscovered my love for London with many long walks all over the city, visited some old favourite spots and caught up with friends. Some highlights so far:

- Funday last Sunday with Dion, Kings, Ayesha & Andy; starting at The Church in Kentish Town at midday before heading to Covent Garden and some Blueshi's action before 2 for 1 cocktails at b@1 and topping it off with a couple shots and more beers and cocktails at the Gen. I think I'm getting too old for 12 hour drinking sessions!

- Catching the tube over to Camden, wandering around (no funky records) for an hour or so then walking all the way down to the Thames (about a 40 minute walk), along Embankment to Westminster & Parliament, past the Abbey, through St James's Park, past Buckingham Palace, through Green Park, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, along Tottenham Court Road, down Denmark Street (With all the guitar stores - heaven!), past the British museum, thought Russell Square and back home. That's one hell ass long walk

- Catching the tube to Bank and walking along to London Bridge, up to the Tower of London and across Tower Bridge, all the way along the Thames to the Tate Modern for some lunch, across the Millenium Bridge and up to St Paul's Cathedral, down along Chancery Lane to High Holborn and all the way down Gray's Inn Road back here, a walk i've not ever taken, it was really nice.

- Dinking up at The Big Chill in Kings Cross with Ayesha and meeting up with Jim, my old team mate for Quiz night (and room mate for god knows how long) at the Gen. Kings (and eventually Andy)came and met us and we had dinner at La Porchetta when Scottie, another old Generator mate and quiz parnter met us for a drink. Kings, Andy & Ayesha headed home so the old Gen crowd headed to, where else but the Generator for an old school drink in the bar. Reliving old times, so much fun!

- Dinner, drinks and a quick poker game with former Generator owner, my old boss and good friend, and now professional poker player Louise at her place. We chatted for hours about everything and nothing, London really does feel like coming home again (though unfortunately Louise beat us on the poker front, though not surprising since we are far from professional). She's now in Vegas competing in the World Champs - good luck Lou, kill it!!

But by far the highlight was Friday when I FINALLY made it to Wimbledon. I've wanted to go to SW19 for the Championships since I was about 6 years old, so I woke up nice and early, jumped on the train and made my way to Southfields station and to the ground. Unfortunately, 9187 people thought to do this before I did, so at 9.30am I was the 9188 person in line. We were told initially we'd be in by around 1pm, I thought cool, I can hack that. But 1pm came and went and we'd only moved a little closer, not even inside the grounds. As I was by myself I made friends with those around me and actually had a pretty decent day waiting, listening to the commentary etc.

When we finally made it inside the complex (not the grounds of the championships, just the surrounding) we realised it was still going to be a long wait - there were signs saying "you're now only 600 yards from the turnstills"...and we moved at around 150 yards per hour! But time passed, conversations continued and finally at around 5.30pm, after waiting a little over 9 (yes NINE) hours I made it inside Wimbledon. I'd made friends with Emma (from Sydney) in the line so we decided since her friends had left (at the 6 hour waiting point) and we were both there alone why not hang out for hte evening. We grabbed some Pimms and headed over to watch some of hte outside matches; doubles & a mens singles match before trying to brave it in the 're-sale' line for the main courts.

Basically, when people leave their seats are resold by Wimbledon for 5 pounds, with proceeds going towards tennis charities. And since we got in after 5pm our tickets for ground entry were 6 pounds cheaper so we were still up. We jumped in line for Centre Court, and about 6 minutes later had our tickets, fantastic tickets in fact, about 20 rows back from the court. We grabbed another (I think our third) Pimms and ran into Centre Court to catch the last 2 sets of the Fish vs. Djokovic match (which Djokovic took out 6-4 6-4 6-4).

This was also the last match of the day on Centre Court so headed out to grab a beer and to watch some Mixed Doubles on Court 18 (sitting almost on the Court, it was awesome). That finished up so we bought one more Pimms, walked over to the Hill and watched the Haas vs Cilic match that had been going for about 2 hours. It was slowly getting darker and at 2 sets all, 6-6 they stopped play due to low light. Was so very annoying!

But all in all it was an amazing day, I got to live out a childhood dream and was so happy to have finally done it! Now just to see the other 3 grand slams.

I have a heap of photos that I'll hopefully get around to uploading (probably on facebook.com/traveldeskguy though) but i'll post a note when they're up.

And now we're off for the final Sunday session as I leave for Bali on Tuesday for a couple days then over to Jakarta to visit my sister Em who's living there. Dee & Steve are coming in to London to catch up (also old friends from the Generator) so we're sure to make a good day of it!

But for now it's off from me, I keep saying I'll update this more so maybe I'll give it a crack at a weekly update - there's been a fair bit going on so who knows.

Until then...

mike

koh chang

mike — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:28:43 GMT

this is probably the first on-the-road update in a couple years! and will be brief cause i want to get back outside to the beach. kings, andy and i met up last saturday in bangkok and after a long night of drinking caught an early (and long) bus from the capital down to trat before jumping on a ferry over to koh chang where we've spent the week.

back to bangkok on saturday before heading home unfortunately, but it's been a lot of relaxing fun so far.

more from us soon :)

mike

Thailand

mike — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:34:39 GMT

With Kings back in London and me working away here in Perth, not much has been happening here at mikeandkings.com. I keep saying I'll start writing more, yet I seem to be getting pretty slack in that department. So...I'll say it again, I'll TRY to keep this place a little more updated.

Tomorrow, Sept 13th, I'm heading over to Thailand for 2 weeks. The main reason for the trip (according to work anyway) is for the team leader conference on Sept 19th, but the real reason is to have some fun!!

8 of us are heading out a week before the conference to head to Koh Samui and on Sunday to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party - around 10,000 people dancing on the white sand beach. We're spending a couple days around the islands before flying up to Bangkok for the conference, and on Saturday Sept 20th Kings and Andy (who are living together in London...no, not in that way) are flying down from London to meet me up!

We're then going to spend a week drinking and relaxing on the beaches of Koh Chang and the surrounds. I honestly can't wait for this trip - it's only been 3 months since Vietnam (which was fantastic by the way - photos are on facebook if you haven't seen them already, I'll link to it soon) but I'm really looking forward to getting back to Asia.

With any luck I'll actually remember to update the page over the next 2 weeks, but if not I will post photos on facebook (and here if I get around to it) and post any stories that can be told.

If anyone is going to be around thailand in the next 2 weeks shoot me an email, maybe we can cross paths :)

til then...

- mike

On the road again...

mike — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:28:08 GMT

I'm sitting in the Orchid Club Lounge at the Park Royal Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, folks - I'm back in the world of the travelling! Sure, it's a reasonably short 2 week trip that'll take me from the comfort of the currently not-so-sunny city of Perth, up here to KL and then into the elongated 'S' that is Vietnam.

I'm not doing it alone this time round though - since it's such a short trip, I've employed the help of some travel professionals (apart from myself) to get me there; on Tuesday I'll be starting a 2 week trip with Intrepid from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city taking in all the sites Vientam can throw at me!

I'm only spending today here in KL, and I do plan on making the most of it so will keep this short. This morning was spent relaxing before taking a stroll down to the Starhll Gallery and then over to KLCC at the Petronas Towers. I was here a little over a year ago and have taken in most of the sites but it's still fun to revisit it all.

I'm also in the process of trying to get some more writing done - not of the blog variety, more something in the vain of travel writing, or maybe a book. It's still early days - but I'll try to get this site updated if anything comes of it. After all, it's the stories in these pages that brought it all on.

But more on that later...for now I have to sign off and head over to the spa - it's time for my massage.

Until then...

Mike

::Update::

mike — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:47:31 GMT

OK, so it's been a long time between drinks, but that's what happens when you stop travelling the world. It's also the case when your computer mysteriously blows up one afternoon and you don't get a new one for a few months (yes, my new laptop is arriving in two days, to say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement).

Anyway, this is the first of hopefully a lot more updates, but will be brief. Kings is back in Perth until Saturday so we've managed to catch up a few times. I'm currently in a 12-week health/fitness challenge through my work, depending on results before and after pics MAY be posted in late May - more on this later.

I have tentative plans to jet off again this year, possibly to work in Canada for a year or two. Nothing is set in stone as yet, but I'm thinking September-November to leave and travel for 3-6 months and then figure out what's what.

If anyone is still reading this, drop me a comment below with something :)

til later....

mike

By the by, I'm in Dubai

Kings — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:22:49 GMT

Hello everyone! Hot on the heals of Mike's Dubai post I am also in Dubai but not in the business lounge like Mike. Instead I am sitting on the floor near the gate that I will go though in about 45 minutes on my way to London! The Dubai airport is a little strange, there are a lot of people sleeping on the floors - I am not sure what the deal is with that.

Oh by the way, I'm moving to London again - yeh - I have been pretty slack with the whole mikeandkings thing over the last say two years - but since I am living overseas again perhaps I'll start posting again.

I will get into London at about 12:30pm and about 30 minutes after that Mike will be arriving from Dublin so we're gonna meet up at the tube station and head into London together - just like 4 years ago.

So anyhow, for those of you who still monitor this site - stay tuned over the next few weeks for my adventures of getting a flat, job and all that stuff.

Kings

posting from the Emirates Lounge, Dubai

mike — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:57:59 GMT

hi all,
i'm here in the business class lounge in Dubai. it's about 5am local time and we're cracking into our first beers of the morning...yes, this is going to be one hell of a trip!

in case you don't know, i'm on my way to dublin for the flight centre ltd global ball. my store won our tickets through a 6 month incentive, and received business class tickets with Emirates to get us there. a driver picked me up last night and after check-in i went straight for the lounge in perth to meet up with sean (my manager) and a couple other FCL people.

the flight here was fantastic-i've got some great pics of the food and the cabin. the seats didn't fully recline, but it was the best sleep i've ever had on a plane. the food was amazing! entree followed by mains and desert with wines and beers and ports and...well, you get the idea.

next flight is in a few hours to birmingham and then on to dublin! i'll be in london on sunday afternoon to meet up with kings and andy and start the week of celebrations for andy's birthday.

so that's it for now...i'll try to post some more as the week goes on.

til then...

mike

This found on Google Ads

mike — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:41:39 GMT

I found this on one of the ads from google at the bottom of this pag. "Own Mrs Mike on DVD" it read, so I just had to click to see what came up. A film from 1949 starring Dick Powell & Evelyn Keyes, "Mrs Mike" is a classic that you just can't afford not to own.

Dick Powell stars as Canadian Mountie Sgt. Mike Flannagan. When Boston-bred Kathy O'Fallon (Evelyn Keyes) marries Mike, she is immediately nicknamed "Mrs. Mike" by her new friends and neighbors. Unprepared for the hardships of life in the Great White North, Mrs. Mike nonetheless perseveres through minor inconveniences and major tragedies, including the death of her child during an epidemic. The film lays on the sentiment rather heavily, but stars Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes manage to cut through the treacle with their first-rate thesping. Based on a true story, Mrs. Mike was adapted from the best-selling novel by Benedict & Nancy Freedman
taken from here

Yes, this is a very random post.

Kings is moving back to london in 2 weeks. I'll be meeting him at heathrow at around 12.30pm on sunday July 22nd, after spending the weekend in Dublin for the Flight Centre Limited Global Ball. From the airport we head into town, dump our bags and make our way to Covent Garden for some good old time Funday action - 2 for 1 Corona's at Blueshi's before heading for B@1 for 2 for 1 cocktails till 10.30pm. Ahhhhhh good times, how I miss those days.

Spending a couple days in London then off to Amsterdam with our good mate Andy to celebrate his birthday, before heading back to London for "Garyoke" at the Generator (where i lived for the better part of 2 years). Hopefully we'll get a game or two of poker in (with my old boss, Gen owner Louise, who is currently in Vegas competing at the World Poker Championships!!) and head out to a few fav spots in 'sunny' London. I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone, so if you'll be around London, drop me an email, I'd love to catch up!

I'll be leaving London July 29th to come back to work, and as of August 1st I'll be taking over my shop (Student Flights) as manager. It's going to be a tough ride but should be a lot of fun.

So with Kings moving back to the UK I'll have even more of an excuse to head back over there, not that it's going to be a frequent thing, but maybe some time next year I can pay another visit. I'm still considering what I'll be doing a year from now - Canada, Ireland, Italy, back to the UK? There's a few options, I mean I could even hang around Perth! Kings will (hopefully) be updating this site a little more, but you can always find either of us on our emails, and more recently on Facebook (yes, even Kings has bowed to the pressure of 24 million users).

I'll definitely be updating over the next month or two with more news on Europe, the FCL WA Ball (tomorrow night, should be a heap of fun!) and any other things that come to mind.

But until then...

- Mike

Phuket

mike — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:18:45 GMT

since i'm not really travelling that much the updates have become a little less frequent. but this week (thursday night in fact) i'm flying off to phuket for the long weekend.

i'm going over with the 4 guys from my store: sean (our manager), zanda, quentin and mary (who's recently moved to the freo store). we won an incentive back in jan/feb so get to go away for 3 days...where better to spend some time than relaxing around the pool in phuket?

i'll do my best to get some new photos online soon, a lot has happened in the past month or two that i should write about. so be patient, drop me an email, leave a message, and in the meantime let us know what you've been up to :)

cheers!

mike

a story...

mike — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:53:56 GMT

today is my rdo for working last saturday. i've had breakfast, watched 2 eps of lost, gone for a run and workout on the foreshore and i just though what better time to finally get around to adding an update. hi - it's been a while.

and for no good reason apart from my lack of anything of substance to write. i feel like i've been lacking inspiration, stuck in a void of constant sameness, waltzing through the past few weeks without much change. but after thinking about this for a minute i realised that's complete shit and to just write something already.

there are a few things chaning. i'm running and working out more and more which is great - feeling a hell of a lot healthier for it. i'm getting ready to move house in about 3 weeks time - haven't really started packing anything yet, it will probably be a last minute dash of throwing all of my worldly posessions into a sack and attaching it to the back of my mini before hauling the lot back to my mother's place (hi ma, i know you're reading this :P ). i'll be looking after my sisters place (and cat) for about 6 weeks whilst her husband plays around on some mountain and she flys off to the east and the US.

my little car is all fixed and terrorising my neighbours as usual (for such a small car it does make a hell of a lot of noise). i just realised that i never eleborated on the story of my crazy neighbour...so here goes:

a few weeks back i had a party to celebrate andy's departure from this wonderful city as he made tracks for the rarely sunny but always fun times in london. i've been living at my current flat in burswood for about 10 months, have held probably six to eight parties in that time with roughly the same amount of people each time (ten to twenty-ish). this party was no different - there were about 25 of us out in the courtyard by around 9pm, the stereo was on to what seemed a reasonable level (the house is 3 storeys and you couldn't hear the music from the third floor). then at just around 9.15 my guests and i were a little startled.

a woman in her early 50s walked into my house (opened the closed front door and just strolled on in), stormed down the stairs to the ground level (where we were) screaming like a sailor that'd been at sea too long. without offending too many people, her rant went something like "EXCUSE ME!? EXCUSSSSSSSSSSE ME??!!!! WOULD YOU TURN THAT FUCKING MUSIC DOWN! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! TURN THAT FUCKING MUSIC OFF!"

obviously a little taken back (and slightly intoxicated) i walked up to her and asked her as nicely as possible what the hell she thought she was doing, and told her i'd turn the (already pretty quiet) music down a little. to which she said "WELL YOU FUCKING BETTER CAUSE I'LL BE COMPLAING IF I HEAR ANY MORE NOISE".

now, just to make sure you understand - we were having a party, at our own house, at 9.15pm on a friday night. nothing too unusual you would think, right? she had stormed into my house - trepassed - and started abusing us. it was honestly kind of amusing at first. we all had a bit of a laugh, called her a crazy woman, joked about how she was just pissed we didn't invite her over or that she was hopped up on jack daniels and goof balls, and went back to enjoying the evening.

during the course of the night my direct next door neighbout came home, so i told him what was going on - and his response was pretty much "you guys have been here for ages and i've never heard a thing during any of your parties, don't worry about it".

then about half an hour later, the door bell started ringing. so i go upstairs excepting a couple more guests, but no - it's crazy neighbour wearing what can only be described as the worst moo-moo ever made and the biggest sourpuss i've ever seen - hands on hips, face all tight and pissed off - standing there ready with another stream of abuse for me to turn the music down. i'd had a couple more beers by this stage and wasn't really in any mood for her shit, so i threw in my two cents about trespassing, private property, the fact it was 10pm on a weekend etc etc and she buggered off...but of course that wasn't the end of it. no, she came back again, this time ranting about if i don't turn the music off (which by this stage, and i', not exagerating, you could barely hear from our own backyard) then she'd call the cops. to which i yelled FINE! call the fucking cops, i'd like to have a word to them myself about you - and slammed the door in her face.

obviously a little wound up and slightly more drunk than before, i was pretty pissed off by this stage. this woman had pretty much ruined the going away party we'd planned for andy, and i wasn't happy. so being in the confruntation mood that i was, i stormed out my front door (with about 5 people behind me) and knocked on her door. i wanted to know what this music she was complaining about was, becase i couldn't hear anything from my house, and her place is two doors down. she pretty much refused to let me in to hear the noise yelled a bit more and went inside. we're still not sure, but she seemed drugged or drunk or something, the womand was a little crazy.

when i first knocked on her door, kings grabbed his phone and started videoing the argument (which i'll have to get online some time) - it'd pretty funny to watch, i start walking away the run back in the shot arms wailing around all pissed off any angry, it's hillarious.

anyway - after that the night got a little more quite, and it was then that we realised that what she was probably hearing was the sound of the bass carrying from the ruby room (the club at the casino about 600m from our houses), which you can hear every weekend (if only faintly). i haven't see or spoken to her since then, but we're having a leaving party in a couple of weeks so you never know, there might be a reprise of the hillarity in early may.

it's now time for lunch - i'll be at the wembley tonight from about 6pm if anyone's keen, but until then...

- mike

this is a re-post from my myspace blog