Saw My First Fox! England's Urban Pest

Instead of ugly possums and burglar-faced raccoons, England has urban foxes. Kinda cool, huh?

About a month ago, when I arrived in England, there was fox hysteria. News services did constant updates on the recovery of two little twin girls who had been bitten in the faces by a fox in their London home in early June. Just two days ago even, a 13-year-old girl was also attacked by one after it chewed a hole in her tent while she camped out in her own back yard. Scary little things.

And tonight, while riding home on my bike with Ashley from his nan's house (nan = grandma, and she makes the best English roast!), an orange-brown fox scurried across the street. Finally! I've spotted one! Quickly, I raced towards the home it disappeared by but only to get a fleeting glimpse of its bushy tail turning the corner. Oh well. I'm bound to spot another one.



>>>A picture of a fox spotted next door to the house where the twins were attacked.


>>>The twins who were attacked. Poor things! To read about their attack click HERE.

♡-Kristen

So Proud of My Man! BMX World Premiere: London

'This Is United' Trailer from Channel 4Down on Vimeo.

Sunday night in a hidden nightclub near London Bridge, BMXers and invited guest witnessed the world premiere of the highly anticipated video from United. This video is a collaboration of the riders sponsored by United, including Ashley, and their trips over the last three years, which includes Ashley's recent trips to Canada and South Africa.

Ashley, Aron, Oli and our friend Stef and I crammed into Aron's volkswagen and we made the two hour drive to London from our house. The ride in itself was a treat for me! We rode past the busiest streets in London, whizzing right by Big Ben and the London Eye, which is this GIANT ferris wheel located on the Thames River.

When we reached our destination, I couldn't help but smile at the parking lot. It wasn't filled with cars, but instead there were two huge heaps of BMX bikes, strapped in or locked together on the wide wooden beams any which way the bikers could manage apparently.

It certainly was a sausage-fest with only a handful of girls present, most girlfriends of riders, like myself, which I had the pleasure of meeting later while the dudes crowded around my boyfriend.

There was free booze, so we all enjoyed that. And by the end of the night, with a lot of liquid courage, some guys got on the dance floor and let loose, which was hilarious to watch from the sides. Ashley and I danced for a bit too until my cheap shoes completely fell apart and someone, from out of nowhere, rushed out with tape and offered to tape my shoes all together. How nice!

The video "This is United" was actually quite impressive, artistic, and entertaining, Ashley's section being the most bad-ass of them all, of course. And without having knowledge or first hand experience of the complexity it takes to pull of the gnarly and dangerous stunts, I could tell the guys in the video really made an impression, as the audience gasped and shouted after certain tricks. And it certainly doesn't take an expert to realize how crazy it is when watching a BMXer hurls himself over a 10ft drop railing only to catch the other side with a mere peg of his bike. INSANE!

The drunken ride home was nice. London at night is pretty. And Oli was our SOBER designated driver, Mom!


















>>>Ashley and BMX legend Fids, one crazy mo fo.




>>> My broken shoes







♡ Kristen

Rollercoasting: Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park is England's self proclaimed thrill capital of the nation. Not quite Six Flags Magic Mountain, but not bad at all. At first glance, I'm a bit disappointed because I don't see the mountainous peeks of steel and wires that I've come accused to in Southern California.

Stealth, the rollercoaster pictured above, is the only retardly-high ride, which goes 205 ft up in the sky and launches from 0 to 80mph in under 2 seconds. I've been on rides like this before, like Superman at Six Flags MM, or Mr. Freeze at Six Flags St. Louis, but Stealth surpassed them because instead of just going up and then backwards down the same way, Stealth goes all the way up and over, which gave us an incredible and frightening view.

Also, I was impressed by Colossus, which has a mean corkscrew like I've never experienced.



Overall, X2 still remains the scariest coaster I've ever been on. But Thorpe Park was a lot of fun, and I'd definitely go again.


>>> Me and Oli!


The boys before the water ride.


The boys after! (I went too, just no picture.)

♡ - Kristen

Southampton: New & Old Wierdly Meet

Today, my roommates and I went for a little trip to Southampton. The guys wanted to take the 30 minute drive to a certain BMX bowl to have a ride about and so we piled into Oli's awesomely crummy old Volvo.


This battle axe of a car is so bad, it's good. He bought it for a cool £200 from a painter/decorator. The roofing, well, it's pretty nonexistent, the upholstery is badly worn and torn, the mirrors are held together with zip-ties, and the entire inside and outside is covered with paint splatters. LOVELY.

We roll into Southampton like ghetto kings, park the old beast and make our way into the city. Immediately, I notice the very ancient tower in the center of the populated market place. Behind the Slush It tent and across the street from Burger King is the historical monument The Bargate.



With two large carved lions as protection, this castle-like structure served as Southampton's main gate entrance circa 1180 AD. Although still intact, The Bargate's grandeur and significance is lost in history as its modern surroundings (like BURGER KING!) close in on it. Near The Bargate also lies the ruins of giant medieval walls, which used to guard the city.

Even though I know there are plenty of historical gems hidden in the growing cities of America, the mere age of these English fossils make them strike out at me that much more. As my roommates pass up these giant structures with familiarity, I can't help but be awestruck and then amused by how new & old come together so easily and regularly in England.

Even more intriguing, Southampton is where the famous RMS Titanic steamship set off on its maiden voyage and, as we all know, found only a watery grave. In my head, I can just picture Leonardo DiCaprio running through the streets of Southampton towards the great Titanic. Lame, I know.... but just little bits of history like this, I find exciting!













♡ - Kristen

England's Cinemas

Odeon is one of the many movie theater chains in the UK. The picture above is of the one in Bournemouth. Last night Ashley and I rode our bikes into town and enjoyed Inception, which I highly recommend (it's like a less-morbid Matrix!)

Firstly, theaters are referred to as cinemas, and movies are films. Anyhow, I was particular perturbed by the slightly different way in which seating for the film is divided and sold. Take a look at the prices and seating chart below and notice the last line reading Premier Seats as an upgrade.



These premier seats are basically the best seats in the theater, not too close to the screen and in the middle section. The theater charges £1.50 more for these premier seats. Going to the cinema is already expensive with the high priced snacks and drinks, and I see this as just another way to rape the wallets of the public.

Ashley and I came earlier in the day to buy the tickets and the premier seats for the film were already sold out, and it was a good 6 hours beforehand! So as we entered the theater we were stuck, like the rest of the general viewers, scrambling for the crappy seats in the front rows and the sides. It's not that big of a deal, but I think this premier seating kinda of kills the spontaneity of movie going. You can't just randomly decide to go to a film and expect good seats, you have to plan a movie days in advance and book decent seats. LAME.

BUT.... when you do get premier seats, you can rest easy knowing however late to the screening you arrive, your pre-paid nicer seats are waiting patiently for you.

In all fairest though, this WAS the premiere weekend of Inception, so it was bound to be busy and sold-out. And also we went on 2-for-1 Wednesdays, because it was cheaper, and that also had a lot to do with the crowd.

We ended up seating four rows from the front and on the right side of the theater. It wasn't too bad. We enjoyed the movie. And I don't know if it's just this particular theater, but both of us were hot as hell! I was literally breaking into a sweat half way through the film! Also LAME.

Okay, I'm done with my rant.
♡ - Kristen

London Weekend Day 3: Camden

Camden is to London as Venice Beach is to Los Angeles or as Haight/Ashbury is to San Fran. It's basically a street vendor haven, with jam-packed shops with junk and cheap souvenirs galore. It's a magnets for tourists and a place where you can definitely find the weird and wonderful.

There is a canal that runs straight through the busiest portion of Camden where the water levels are controlled manually in order to let the boats pass by. Along the canal are these great little eateries specializing in exotic foods from around the world. I met up with my friend Greg once more in Camden and we enjoyed some hearty food from the Hong Kong getup. I had a veggie tofu stir-fry with some noodles. We ate our meals on two of the many neat and colorful motor-scooter seats which stretched along the canal sides.

One of the most fascinating stores in Camden was Cyberdog. The entrance of the store was guarded by two imposing shiny colossal robots. Inside, we were no longer in England, but in some crazy bondage-wearing techno club of the future with black lights, loud bass music, odd clothing, and nipple baring fetish mannequins. The workers, both sexes, had florescent mohawks and buzz cuts, futuristic face jewelry covering one or both of their eyes, and were clad in the bizarre rave-wear of the store. I liked it. Pictures were unfortunately not allowed inside.























♡ - Kristen

London Weekend Night Two: Lovebox Festival

You would think that after getting zero sleep I would take the following night easy, um... no. That did NOT happen. I ended up attending the final day of the three day musical festival called Lovebox that is held in Victoria Park in London.

The reason why I ended up going to this ginormous crazy hippy-loving event was because Claire, who is Ashley's brother's girlfriend, was working that event that night. In order to stay the night at her house instead of spending more money on a hostel, I had to go to the event and party with her until it ended, and THEN go back to hers and sleep. Although I was extremely tired, it was a lot of fun.

When the music stopped, we hurried to the nearest tube station in a sea of half naked, drugged up festival-goers. We all clammered into the hot underground. We had to race from one train to the next and actually made the final midnight train back to Claire's. I finally got to rest after a 48 hour bender.






>>> Do I look tired?


>>> Yes, that is an energy drink cocktail in my hands. I know they're bad, but I NEEDED IT!

London Weekend Night One: Hostel

This past weekend a good friend of mine named Greg was in town so I booked a hostel for the night and came to the city to see him. It was my first time traveling alone in London without Ashley, so I was a bit nervous about taking the tube (the subway) around. Once I made it to my first destination, however, I found the tube exciting. I even had an Oyster card, which you put credit on then simply swipe and go on your way. It made me feel like a pro. haha The tube is much easier to get around since the roads in London have no apparent grid pattern.




The hostel I stayed at was called Palmer's Lodge, which I booked on hostelworld.com. It was a huge brick building with random doors and corridors, low beams darting from the walls, slanted ceilings, shady elevators, grand chandlers, fireplaces, and twisting narrow staircases. There was a bar in the basement, a beer garden in the back, a massive cafeteria and lounge.

My room, which I shared with about 20 other females, was located on the third floor and was crowded and long with rust colored carpet, tangerine tapestries and a small window. To get to my floor I had to walk through a community bathroom/shower area on the second floor, where oddly enough was the stairway to the third.

Once I met up with my friend at the hostel, in true Greg fashion, we proceeded to get immediately fucked up, make new friends and get crazy. After shots of tequila we mingled in the cellar bar with other hostel guests. Ironically enough we ended up befriending the seemingly only other Americans. Our new friends Mike and Matt from Florida and Alex from New York were leaving in the morning and were determined to stay up the entire night and finished their two extra-large bottles of Jameson. Between the five of us, we finished both bottles within 15 minutes!

We spent the night dancing at an 80s themed bar, which I think was called the Monarch? haha. The bar did not feel very English to me. I new all the songs. I drank the same drinks. And I was in the company of other Americans.

By the end of the night, Greg was M.I.A. off with some hot little Asian chick he met at the bar. Matt, Mike and I had to babysit Alex who had far too much to drink. We took a bus back to the hostel about 4 in the morning, but not without making a scene. Immediately after the bus driver told us we would have to clean the bus if our inebriated friend blew chunks, well, he did. I couldn't help but feel bad, not just because we had brought a friend to stink up the place and leave the helpless passengers with a mess and the stench, but also because we were THOSE obnoxious Americans. oh well

About 4:30AM I sulked back into the hostel and proceeded to be extremely hungover until check out at 11. Lets just say, I did NOT sleep.


















>>> Greg and his woman


>>> Alex from New York