Windsor Castle

Patrick UK Life

State Apartments at Windsor CastleOn Saturday I spent the entire day walking around the town of Windsor, one of the places to go and visit the Queen. According to the flag that was flying on top of the round tower, we were also lucky enough that the Queen was in, though we didn’t get a chance to see her.

Windsor castle is stunning and its entry price reasonable considering you get an audio tour and walking tour included. The gardens are stunningly kept and guards decked out in big tall black hats bright red uniforms tromp continuously throughout the grounds. The castle has a very long history, once a wooden fortress strategically placed atop a very big hill, now built up significantly into a series of stone buildings and churches. I found it fascinating to see all of the historical artefacts related to generations of knights, kings and queens all throughout the visit.

Being quite warm and summery we decided to take a slow boat cruise around the Thames where we saw the Windsor racecourse, one of two island racecourses and the only one with its own marina in England. It was a great day and many other people thought the same, as indicated by the large number of boats moored to the side of the river (and sometimes to each other). Plenty of people were picnicking, swimming or just sunning themselves excessively red raw. We finished off the day by visiting Eton college a brief walk away, most famous as the preferred institute of education for the Royal family. Check out more pictures in the gallery.

The Rakes @ Islington Academy

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

The Rakes (Capture Release)The last two weeks finally caught up with me midweek, and though I managed to recover from it with a record twelve or so hours sleep in, I think I’m still in recovery mode. Due to this, Tuesday was my last night out this week where I spent it watching The Rakes perform at the Islington Academy. They are yet another awesome British rock band – part punk, part indie and part alternative. Their lyrics are simple, entertaining and extremely catchy. Definitely check out their latest album Capture Release if you can, or better yet, see them live if you can find any tickets to their ever-popular gigs.

I had never been to the Islington Academy before, and I was quite impressed as it was a good sized venue (not too large) and had air-conditioning to boot! Admittedly the venue was probably not as full as it could have been, but I was thankful it wasn’t on our particular night. The Rakes definitely filled the venue that night and put on a performance that pleased the crowd, and the best part about the night was that it was free because it had been sponsored by Converse – bargain!

Lior at the Spitz

Patrick Music, UK Life

One of the great things about London is that sometimes good things from back home come over to visit, such as Lior. Last night was the third time that I’d seen this Sydney-based song writer and artist, and it was great to see that his popularity reaches across the globe (okay, well with many other Aussies who happen to be living across the other side of the world). The event was held at The Spitz, one of the smallest venues I’ve been to so far, but was a great atmosphere easily filled with 200-300 of his fans as well as new listeners of his amazing vocals and music.

Lior at the Spitz

He started with his two most popular songs, Autumn Flow and Daniel and interweaved a number of newer songs with a number of his very popular songs from his album. Lior enjoys interacting with the crowd, and last night was no exception with a number of close tales and jokes shared along the way. I think everyone was very impressed by his performance, all amazingly acoustic and stunned by the vocal range he achieves when he performs. He even tried to get the crowd involved with his Superficial song but I think failed to evaluate the (lack of) talent in the crowd – after all, we are there to listen to him. He finished the night off with his hauntingly stunning song, Grey Ocean and finished off with a Hebrew prayer.

TheKua.com Rating: 8 out of 10

Not Much Luck in Travelling

Patrick Travel, UK Life
Heathrow Express?

This weekend I was going to be in Portugal but I missed my flight last night thanks to the not so Heathrow Express. What was supposed to be 15 minute journey ended up as just under an hour long one and meant I missed my check in by a few minutes. Thankfully I’ve been able to reschedule a flight for lunchtime today, but it does mean my weekend break is even shorter. Oh well, looks like it pays to leave buffering when you depend on three types of public transport to get to the airport.

Pete Murray at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Patrick Music, UK Life

Pete MurrayI just got back from watching Pete Murray perhaps at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Out of the number of venues I have been to in London so far, this is one of my most favourite since it is relatively intimate and close to where I live. Pete Murray’s concert was announced a while back and sold out quite quickly. He soon announced another one, to which I fortunately got tickets to go and see.

I remember when Ben invited me to see Pete Murray at The Rev, a much smaller and even more intimate venue in Brisbane. I was impressed with his tunes back then, and it was just before he got really big. The next time I saw him play was two months later where he played for a massive crowd at Splendour in the Grass after which his then album, Feeler, rocketed through the charts.

His latest album, See the Sun, has seen the same success as his previous, and as of this writing, currently one of the top ten albums in Australian charts. This album is filled with the same husky vocals and acoustic guitar sounds as his previous album but the tunes and lyrics tend to take a more summery and brighter feel.

Tonight’s concert was a good mix of good and old, starting with a classic and finishing with a classic all backed by another awesome band, The Stonemason’s. The venue was completely packed out with a good mix of English, Canadian and other antipodean people all taken by the set lasting for almost an hour and a half. Pete himself seems fairly timid, unlike your typically flamboyant rock star, but he still manages to play a mean song.

Definitely one of the best gigs I’ve been to this year!

The Arkansas Cafe

Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

Located in one of the corners of the Spitafields Markets is a small innocuous café serving up southern-style American foods. A flame grilling BBQ stands tall as you walk into the dining area, a small gathering of rickety tables surrounded by older, yet remarkably comfortable chairs all covered by a patio, in an endeavour to recreate what you might imagine a restaurant in the ‘Deep South’ might seem like. Each table contains all you might need to eat your food with various hot sauces, napkins, plastic cutlery and little packets of Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

The Arkansas Cafe

We arrived at lunch time and the fire was only just starting to get cracking. Though we weren’t expecting a real American, we were eventually greeted by what seemed like a straight-to-the-point Londoner whose looks alone said the, ‘wadda ya want ta orda?’

Prices at this café are not cheap, my Beef Brisket sandwich costing £7.20 and the pork rib platter costing even more. Strangely enough you have to pay as soon as you order and you don’t need to ever worrying about paying service since that’s also included in your total.

After shortly paying, our waitress delivered our meal on small paper and plastic plates, still keeping in touch with the ‘theme’ but hardly looking like the good money we had just handed over. My sandwich was literally just that – a load of beef brisket crammed into the middle of a bread roll. I found the beef brisket tender but definitely could have done with some additional BBQ sauce to give it more flavour. I think the platters seem like a more balanced option, served with several types of salads, but apparently all of them not particularly special.

The pork rib (note that there was only one big one) was also tender but unfortunately lacked the smokiness you might expect from a proper flame BBQ and dry without any additional BBQ sauce.

I’ve read that the steaks are the best things to eat here, and regrettably I didn’t try it since they were rather dear as well. Unfortunately I can’t really recommend this place to anyone and I won’t be returning to anytime soon.

Details: Arkansas Cafe
Found On: 107b Commercial Street, Old Spitafields Market, Liverpool St
Highlights: Good variety of American beer
Improvements: Tender but flavourless meats that are overpriced for what you get. A wider variety of offerings and improved service would be welcomed by patrons.
The Kua Rating: 5 out of 10

Summer’s Finally Arrived

Patrick UK Life

The last week has seen London in a great bout of weather with bright blue skies and warm temperatures (today a scorching 31 degrees!). People are out in the park (or watching the world cup in some pub) and it’s a great time to be in London. Yesterday afternoon we went up to Primrose Hill for a picnic, an awesome place for watching the sun set at 9pm overlooking the rest of London. Spectacular!

Primrose Hill at Dusk