Weekend Update: Rugby Rugby Rugby

Last weekend, I went to the Six Nations match at Twickenham and got the itch to play some rugby again. With that in mind, I got in touch with Ealing squad about playing this weekend with their social side. Turns out they needed someone to play weak-side flanker which is my favorite position.

UPDATE: For rugby info, Ealing has posted a match report

Of course, it poured rain on Friday night so the pitch was soaked. Cold and wet is apparently the only way to play here. I must have been a bit optimistic by even packing my firm ground cleats. The match was fun and my knee held up surprisingly well for the full 80 minutes. I made a couple of great plays (and even scored once) and a couple of really dumb plays. All in all, they seemed happy to have me and even asked me to play with hem again if I could. The drink up was fun and much more civil than my Wake Forest daze days. I left from there and went to a Crossfit BBQ at CrossFit Central London.

Another tube trip across town and I met up with some friends for a drink in Notting Hill. Then, exhausted, I went home. Fin.

On the bright side, they have asked me to play again this weekend. And I don't have to practice!


On a fun note, try The Aggression Questionnaire

Public Transportation in London

Note why my iPhone says the Central line (my train) is delayed:

Good enough for government work

I had a nice long walk to the office this morning (an hour or so) courtesy of the London Underground workers union = no trains running on the tube this morning. Stew and I are wondering if this is a monthly occurrence that long-term Londoners are getting used to as it seems to happen with some regularity. It's almost worth getting one of those razor scooters.

The interesting part is that they don't seem to picket or rally, they just give about 12-24 hours notice and then don't show up for work. Europe is funny.

Last Night's Adventure in London: Indoor Ice Climbing

At this point it should be clear that I had one shot too many in my Americano this morning. I'm also pretty jazzed about my experience doing some indoor ice climbing. I've done plenty of rock climbing, but I've always been fascinated with the idea of scaling a frozen waterfall. Turns out you can do that right in the heart of central London (ain't cheap though).

I rented crampons, axes, helmet and harness and got a one hour private lesson. By the end of the hour I had scaled their overhanging wall, which was pretty freaky. It is amazing how well the ice axes support weight on a seemingly thin penetration of ice. Like most other climbing though, the feet are by far the trickiest part and front-pointing witht he crampons takes a bit of practice. It was also four degrees below inside the room. 

Check out the Vertical Chill video below for a look at the wall (I neglected to take pictures):

London Can Be a Cool Place to Run

To interrupt my marathon session of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on my brand new (to me at least) Playstation 3, I threw on my Vibram FiveFingers and went on an aimless run. Ended up running for an hour.

In that brief period I was able to run through: Hyde Park, Kensington Palace & Gardens, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, The Wellington Arch, Horse Guards Parade Grounds and around St. James Park. I was about 100 yards from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. All in the span of an hour, on foot.

In Dallas I would have seen... Highland Park and the Katy Trail. Check it out:


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Kind of cool that in mid-August I can run for an hour at 4pm and not have any heat issues here as its only about 70 degrees outside.