Hung out the rest of the afternoon at Emma's, she is some sort of crazy cheat at Scene-It (the movie trivia game) and played some Xbox FIFA with Jerry when he got home where he got me back for football the previous night.
Lewis picked me up on his way to London from somewhere and we brought each other up to speed on our respected adventures before he dropped me off in Winchester and Flick and Gerry's (another of my aunt and uncle sets). Flick is lovely and reminds me hugely of Mum (except with better literary preferences, sorry Mum!) and Gerry seems to be doing much better now, he struck me as very intelligent, and very interesting and we had some fantastic conversations.
The next morning, while waiting for the rain to abate (which it was supposed to be finally doing) I did a bunch of washing then around lunchtime walked down into central Winchester. Winchester is awesome, I loved it, its big enough to have a good variety of pubs (and/or shops if that's what you prefer) and very cool olde English architecture, plus a nifty set of tourist attractions and sights. The statue of Alfred is surprisingly hard to photograph in a way that properly conveys its size and coolness (at least, if your me) but is both large and cool. Then there's an old mill which has been restored to make flour and looks awesome (but I didn't go in as I am against the idea of paying to see inside things, half due to being a poor backpacker and half because it usually seems overpriced). Across from the mill is the start of the path along the river which takes you past the ruins of the old castle (I think technically it was a Bishop's residence, but it's totally a castle) and the new Bishop's residence and then through an old gate where the city walls used to be then onto the Cathedral, which is huge and awe inspiring. The rain came back when I got near the Cathedral so I ducked into an alcove on the side which turned out to hold a second hand bookshop in this little ornate alcove. Then on the other side of the town there is the great hall, which is indeed quite great, and contains (I believe there is debate over its legitimacy) King Arthur's round table of legend, which is big and round, funnily enough, as well as having a wall covered in a huge pattern of what appears to be the royal family tree and some awesome stained glass windows.
After my sightseeing I went to the first pub I could find for a drink before I met up with George again and found a little place called the Wykeham Arms. If your ever in Winchester go to this place, it's the best pub I have ever seen, every wall, the roof and every flat surface is covered in collections of items like beer mugs, walking sticks, royal nostalgia, old maps etc. Bought a book and then met up with George for a drink at the Slug and Lettuce before heading back to Flick and Gerry's, stopping only to find a bathroom in a pub which turned into being assailed by a drunk (at 3pm) for half an hour before I managed to escape.
Spent most of the next day at Flick and Gerry's, aside from a brief sojourn for lunch, washing and reading before heading down around 8 to Winchester for dinner and then to see how the nightlife was (the girl serving us at the Slug and Lettuce had said it was big on thursdays) and once again making the mistake of trying English maccas. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Went to the Slug and Lettuce and bought a drink, wandered around for 5 minutes before asking a couple of people playing pool where the best places to go were and immediately finding 3 new friends and people to hang out with for the night (being Australia is socialisation easy mode). Hung out with them and the rest of their friends (2 of whom I will be showing around Sydney in January) the rest of the night, playing pool and drinking at the slug (£10 for 5 jagerbombs is fantastic) then onto a place they called Pitcher which was a much more crowded, more club than pub, sort of place. Eventually we all spread out, got separated and I walked back for much needed sleep.
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