Waitangi Day Pub Crawl 2008
Much the same as last year and, I imagine, the years gone by before it the traditional Waitangi Day Pub Crawl around the Cirle Line on the London Underground was a huge amount of fun for all!
This year my university friend Shariar (aka Glenn) was over in the UK and joined us for the festivities. The photo below is of Glenn and my flatmate Gwen who was an honorary Kiwi for the day.
For those of you unfamiliar with the event, the task is to get from Paddington to Temple via every stop on the circle line in between where, at the designated pub nearby, a beer is consumed. The difficulties arise when several thousand Kiwi's join in and these pubs just cannot cope with the numbers....
As you can see, the roads surrounding each of the stops get absolutely packed with people dressed in black both actual Kiwi's and honorary Kiwi's alike all joining in to mark the day of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. So everyone carries with them a supply of beer and stands around outside drinking beer, singing NZ songs and generally having a fantastic time whilst onlookers stream past wondering what on earth is going on.
It's amazing how may Kiwi's there are in London and what a small place NZ really is. On the day I bumped into several old friends from Uni, an friend from CanTeen from back when I was a teenager, high school friends (admittedly I already knew these guys were in London) and of course my sister, her boyfriend and their friends who we'd already arranged to meet up with on the day.
The event is rounded off with a stop at Parliment Square where, at 4pm, an en masse haka is performed. As always there were sevral attempts (some successful!) to climb to the top of the lamposts on what was a cool but beautifully clear winter day.
Without a doubt, any New Zealander travelling to London must make sure that the Waitangi Day Pub Crawl is a 'must do'. It's a wonderful day, the atmosphere is friendly and exuberant as we all express I pride to be New Zealanders.
This year my university friend Shariar (aka Glenn) was over in the UK and joined us for the festivities. The photo below is of Glenn and my flatmate Gwen who was an honorary Kiwi for the day.
For those of you unfamiliar with the event, the task is to get from Paddington to Temple via every stop on the circle line in between where, at the designated pub nearby, a beer is consumed. The difficulties arise when several thousand Kiwi's join in and these pubs just cannot cope with the numbers....
As you can see, the roads surrounding each of the stops get absolutely packed with people dressed in black both actual Kiwi's and honorary Kiwi's alike all joining in to mark the day of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. So everyone carries with them a supply of beer and stands around outside drinking beer, singing NZ songs and generally having a fantastic time whilst onlookers stream past wondering what on earth is going on.
It's amazing how may Kiwi's there are in London and what a small place NZ really is. On the day I bumped into several old friends from Uni, an friend from CanTeen from back when I was a teenager, high school friends (admittedly I already knew these guys were in London) and of course my sister, her boyfriend and their friends who we'd already arranged to meet up with on the day.
The event is rounded off with a stop at Parliment Square where, at 4pm, an en masse haka is performed. As always there were sevral attempts (some successful!) to climb to the top of the lamposts on what was a cool but beautifully clear winter day.
Without a doubt, any New Zealander travelling to London must make sure that the Waitangi Day Pub Crawl is a 'must do'. It's a wonderful day, the atmosphere is friendly and exuberant as we all express I pride to be New Zealanders.
posted by Ricardo at
2:02 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home