Stag Do!

OK I know you're all hanging out to see photos of me in a kilt but you should by now know that I like to keep you all in suspense...remember how long it took to release the Bollywood party #2 photos?

Anyway, before you have the wedding you have the stag-do and the hen's night right? Oh, they call it 'stagette' instead of hen's night in Canada. Go figure...

So I present to you the photos of the stag-do. The day started with catching a train out to Brentwood, Essex (yes, where people speak with a Cockney accent like Jamie Oliver) for go-karting! Then to Audrey's house for a late lunch. Went into London to a very cool teppenyaki bar (where the chef cooks the food in front of you). After that we tried to get into a couple of jazz clubs, ending up at the every exclusive and trendy Ronnie Scott's in Soho where Kyle Eastwood (son of Clint) and his jazz band were performing. Brilliant show, very talented performers.

Audrey gets ready to take on the guys!



























Mike 'The Stag'



























Peter













Formula 1 Racing Team?










































Relaxing after the race!













A very long truck?













Walking back from go-karting




























Lunch at Audrey's




















































































Dinner at teppenyaki bar




















































































The Stag @ Piccadilly Circus




























Jazz at Ronnie Scott's (Kyle Eastwood is the one with the green bass guitar)

AUSTRALIAN OF PERSIAN DESCENT NOW LIVING IN CANADA WEARS KILT AT SCOTTISH WEDDING

Friends, the moment you've all been waiting for. Some of you had even thought that I'd already been to Scotland and not released the photos! Wait no more, here I present to you my memorable experience of wearing a kilt. No apologies if you think my legs aren't nice. Oh, and do excuse the boxers, I didn't realise that I had pulled up the kilt so high. At least you know that what they say about what's underneath the kilt isn't true...

Just in case you're remotely interested (I'm sure) the photos were taken outside the hotel where the groom's party were to meet before the wedding. Not far from the church where the ceremony took place. The black car that you see is the Vauxhall Zafira (no idea what the Aussie equivalent is) that I hired in London and drove up to Scotland in. A far cry from the zippy VW Golf that I was supposed to get, instead the Zafira chewed through gas like it was nobody's business and felt like a big London black cab. Try driving in one of those on the hottest day in London ever, with traffic as slow as 9 miles an hour!


































OK now that you've seen me in a kilt I must admit that I have been quiet of late, let's say that late August and all of September were a period of 'consolidation' where I've re-settled into Vancouver, made lots of friends, and even found myself a job! Stay tuned for commentary and pictures of my trips to Germany, Sweden, San Francisco and Vancouver Island, all of which took place during July-August.

Soccer madness

Hey guys. I'm still in Europe. I'm actually in Berlin, the capital of World Cup this year so I thought this would be an appropriate place to release this blog. I know World Cup fever is long and truly over but wanted to share photos of what goes on in Vancouver after Italy wins a game!

These photos weren't taken after the Italy-France final, although I arrived just after the win to see the madness and mayhem on the street. The funniest thing was walking through the crowd to find my friends, with incredible noise around me, and my cell phone rings incessantly. I keep rejecting the call because of the noise. Turns out to be a potential employer who wanted to do a phone interview! Luckily they emailed me later that day and we rescheduled a phone interview in the peace and quiet of my apartment...

The photos are actually taken during and after the Italy-Ukraine game the week before. As you will see, the Italians go absolutely nuts after they win, so you can only imagine what went on after they beat France...

This is inside the famous Cafe Roma, where all the Italians go to watch Italy play. Italy hasn't won the game yet.
















Watching the game with my mate Sep...













Italy wins so everyone takes to the streets and the party begins...

Stanley Park

Hi! I'm in York now, nowhere near Vancouver. But I thought I'd share some more photos of Vancouver. You probably had a bit of a laugh at the Bollywood party #2 photos, so time to get into 'scenery and landscapes' again rather than photos of me Punjabi dancing! And I thought I'd keep things ticking over until the Scottish wedding where I'll be doning a kilt...what a crack-up that's going to be!

Anyway, here's some shots of Stanley Park and surrounds. Saw some cute squirrels (not as cute as the sea otters though). It was another beautiful day. Stanley Park is the largest urban park in the world or something like that, and for those of you from Perth, it makes Kings Park seem like a local children's playground. Honest.

View of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park. In the distance, to the left is Canada Place, where you can get awesome views of the mountains.











This is the rowing club at Stanley Park.












Another view of the rowing club, with Stanley Park behind it.












Here's that squirrel:














Another view of downtown from Stanley Park. This area is known as Coal Harbour.












Stanley Park and the mountains, taken from near Kits Beach.












Stanley Park, taken from downtown.