Giggidy Giggidy Giggs......

Casey was in the Ballard neighborhood this morning and gave me a buzz. I do like the pop-in....it is unexpected, but always a pleasure. It is nice having a friend or two that also have some weekdays off to hang out. On the itinerary today......football (soccer) at The George & Dragon Pub in Fremont. According to their website, they are "Seattle's Only Authentic English Pub"...learn something new every day.

Little did I know when I woke up this morning at 10am, that I would be drinking a beer an hour later. Good morning Manny's Pale Ale, nice to see you. I barely finished my decaf espresso before starting in on this pint o' libation. Interestingly enough, the place was jumpin' at 11:30am. Two games were on the "telly"..... Manchester United v. Aalborg BK and Arsenal v. Porto. You know my penchant for soccer players.....check out Cristiano Ronaldo. One word: attractive. Casey and I were saying Giggidy Giggidy Giggs all morning for Ryan Giggs, midfielder for Manchester United. Apparently in the world of soccer, 35 years of age is old. He's been playing for MU since 1990, that seems like a LONG time. Both Ronaldo and Giggs weren't playing this game, unfortunately. Check out this dude, Wayne Rooney, he looks like Flea from the Chili Peppers.

One the menu? Shepherd's pie for me, and fish & chips for Casey. I'm not sure if you can see in the photo, but the shepherd's pie had a thick layer of melted cheese over top the mashed potatoes. I had to scrape that away. Not sure if that is shepherd's pie blasphemy, but that cheese shealth was wiggin' me out. Other than that.....delicious.

Casey drizzled his fish & chips with HP sauce, which I had never tasted before. It is like A1 sauce here in the states. On the menu, they had translations for some British terms, it was pretty funny. A couple examples (verbatim, from the menu):

bollocks = testicles

fanny = it's not your backside

I never knew that fanny didn't mean rear. Huh.

Something else I learned today? Even at 12pm on a Wednesday, a pint of beer goes down incredibly smoothly. And another thing? It's fun to say bangers & mash.

Venice Beach

John and I spent the afternoon exploring all that Venice Beach has to offer. Beach? Check. Densely populated street vendors? Check. Entertaining street performers? Check. Random, crazy people? Check. Possibly the best people watching in California? Double check!! We arrived around noon and strolled down Ocean Front Walk, taking in the sights and smells along the way. It was awesome until I had to use the public restrooms. Yikes. Not good. I will have the vision of the restroom burned in to my memory for quite awhile. Note to self: do not drink coffee while driving to Venice Beach. I'm sure I'll get over it, but I'd like to get a full physical and gynecological exam as soon as possible.
John and I enjoyed lunch, beers, and more people watching at an outdoor cafe at the north end of Ocean Front Walk. There was live music and plenty of dogs for me to go ga-ga over. This little lady was sitting next to us. She was just chillin', taking in the scenery.
Can't read the sign? Let me clear it up for you. It says 'eat shit and die satan'. I'm not sure what was going on in this street vendors booth. The general theme seemed to be peace, love, earth, faith, and poo eating by the underlord. Any way you slice it......awesome.
Check it out! It is C3PO and R2D2. John and I found these super cool Star Wars characters at a shop. There are constructed out of nuts and bolts, and other tiny pieces of metal. They had other characters, but these ones were by far the coolest.
More Venice Beach to follow.....