Faithless concert in Brighton

I finished work early on Tue and headed to Brighton to catch up with Al, Jules, Karl, Elmy and the whole crowd from Imperial College. I arrived early on the train from London, which only took about 1hr, then walked around thinking 'damn this town is nice! small and laid back and yet its still got quite a lot of character and a pretty hip crowd and nightlife. Would it be cool to live here and commute to london?'

Anyway. So I headed down to the beach to have a drink and watch the sunset while these guys turned up, then everything happened really fast, everyone arrived in groups and we were heading to the concert hall to watch Faithless. I got an offer to stay overnight in one of the beds because someone hadn't turned up. And then after a couple drinks the main act started. Wow. Their music is good but they are much much better on stage. I took a pic of what it was like (right). Then after the concert we headed to a nightclub which was packed until 2 or 3 am... on a tuesday. Morning staggered out of bed to be greeted by the view of the sea and a hazy sky. Breakfast was bacon and eggs on toast with coffee by the pebble beach together with a couple guys. And then it was back to london at midday!

Tango in Holborn

Friday night I went to check out Negracha, someone I met recommended this place in Holborn as the top venue for learning and dancing Tango in London. Its quite a small scene and when you go there you realise that most people who come for the open dancing that starts at 10pm already know each other.

Tango is very different to Salsa, for starters its a lot harder to learn, but its also more dramatic and amazing to watch. Negracha is not a pick-up venue which is a welcome change from the typical club in the City, so people there are openly friendly and genuinely warm. In fact its a real shocker to leave the tango venue and walk past a London bar at midnight on a Friday.

Concha (aka. Conchis)

Here is a pic of me and my friend Concha at one of our year 8 school gatherings in Madrid. Concha is a pretty special girl, she is to me anyway. It feels a bit odd putting her up on my blog I hope she doesnt mind too much. She is a very good friend and has been so for a long time, we met in junior school when we were both 11.. more recently she's looked after me when I've been feeling down - always giving and never asking for anything back - and she has also delivered me the occasional kick up the backside when I really needed one. If it wasnt for her I would still be feeling like the mess I was after my last relationship. There is a big spot in my heart that is for her alone and if I could be with someone now it would be her. So yea, Concha if you are reading this: eres una chica guay! Muchos besos. Esteban.

Salsa at Bar Rumba

Found a decent salsa venue in London at last..

Its small, has a crowded class with wooden floors and does dance lessons followed up by free dancing til late in the evening. The catch is it only happens on Tuesdays. The address is 36 Shaftesbury Ave and time is 7.30pm, £8 gets you in, lessons go til 9pm and free dancing runs until after midnight. There was about 30 or 40 people in class when I went there, divided up into Beginners-Intermediate-Advanced.. I went on the beginner class and the teacher was brilliant, learnt more in 90 minutes than I have in years. But I made the mistake of telling the guys when I got to work the next day... and so they went and gave me a new name... 'Ricky the Hips'. I hope that one doesn't stick for long.

Fencing in Finsbury

Had my first fencing class on Saturday morning near Old Street with my friend Chris. We both cycled there from south london so I got a bit of a warm-up.

I have to say the class is a lot more physically demanding than I thought, you train with a practice blade called the Foil, which is thin and flexible and has a blunt end, although the blades are light (500g) what really takes it out of you is having to squat and move/jump backwards and forward while you are in that position for hours on end. It was a lot of fun, can't wait for the next class where we actually get to learn some parrying and counter-attacks.

Work work work

And back into work full swing now.

Holidays are finished and I'm sitting in front of the computer and doing the hellish commute all over again. In a way I can't believe my luck, back from a 12 week stint travelling round the world and I've got into things again without missing a heartbeat. Just drop the bags on the floor, suit up, jump on the tube and go to work like nothing happened.. One productive little busy-bee all over again.