Notting Hill & the Weekend

I actually was convinced that Notting Hill is actually a place in London, when I did go there!
I didnt get to go into the area much, but I had noted it down as a place to visit in my next trip, so I could see places that had come in the movie that shared the same name!
Also, I am a regular walker with the London Walks, and they have a Notting Hill Walk.

I want to digress here and discuss the London Walks. It was introduced to me by a colleague, Naveen. I took the first walk at Old Westminster, with him. It is a wonderful concept and now there are a lot of other walking tour firms. But the guides with London Walks are really special!! Do go with them when you are in London. You can get the details from their site, or the pamphlet that you can get from any of the guides, or ask me, I can get some for you, if you have means for getting them from me later :)

So far I've been to the following with them:
1. Old Westminster
2. Little Venice (Warwick Avenue tube)
3. St Albans (Explorer day walk, a full day walk on a Sunday)
4. Tower of London

I missed the Greenwich walk which I wanted to take so badly. And this long weekend, I am not going for any of the walks. Planning to catch up with more of them during my next trip.

Coming back to the topic, I was reminded of Notting Hill, since I watched the movie yesterday.
I was never a "fan" of Hugh Grant, and I dont think I will be, though I like him. And this movie, one of his better ones, is a very interesting movie if you watch it for the first time, and if you havent watched a lot of bollywood flicks before. Because the plot is very similar to bollywood flicks and ofcourse many of the scenes from this movie are copied in Indian films by now.

It is ofcourse a very good time pass movie, and a good one to lift your moods up. It isnt a "great" movie, but a nice one. Julia Roberts is good as usual, but I found her a tad monotonous in the movie. Maybe the role was like that. Others fit the cast, though might not have been perfect fits. All in all, a movie worth its while. Now, my interest in Notting Hill the place is even greater and probably one of the first things I will do soon.

And at last, my last weekend in UK during the first visit, is just around the corner. And it is a long weekend because of the bank holiday on Monday. I just cannot wait to get over with the remaining days here. It is getting to a point of being restless now.

However, the weekend is probably going to be very interesting. Saturday is dedicated to shopping. My roommate and I would go to Stevenage. Got to check out the Tesco Extra there. Havent been into a hypermarket before.

Sunday ofcourse, is Raceday. Monaco!! Looking back, this is the 9th consecutive year that I am watching almost all of the F1 races. The first time I watched a full F1 race, was in 1999. In the holidays after my 12th and before I joined college. And immediately got hooked to it and started following it religiously, just like we follow Cricket in our country. This is the 7th time I would watch Monaco. I have missed a few races inbetween for various inevitable reasons.
So Sunday is dedicated to the race and some bigtime cooking :D

Monday morning, am meeting Harsha at Harrow & Wealdstone, and in the afternoon, and meeting Anila and Vineesh. Its their last weekend in London before a small sabbatical.

So, I am hoping the weekend will look like a quick one and then the next week is going to be excruciating, to get through the last few working days that separate me and India.

I have exhausted all the movies I have downloaded here and the ones I copied while in India, and there are no new ones from the websites I can access from office. So got to depend on the TV for movies. Coming to think of it, I am watching a lot of movies these days. Atleast 5 a week!

Alright then, got to get through the remaining of Friday first, before I jump into the weekend.