Well, the r4nger5 London Invasion was great – we all had a great time and got to do some interesting things.

PART 1

Day 1 – travelled down to London and met Kevin at Kings Cross, then went over to Waterloo to pick up Peekok. Then went over to Sloe’s house – hung out for the evening.

Day 2 – went Over to Gatwick Airport and finally found Avagdu at the hotel (they wouldnt let us film) . We did have to wander all over the place so meeting up was delayed for a while.

We then went to Camden Lock, found some surplus places to look at and generally wandered about. Peekok picked up some new stuff, as did Avagdu. Had some lunch etc. Then off to the Info shop in the Elephant and Castle, which was a pretty interesting anarchist bookshop. I picked up a catering manual , designed for protesters. We then walked back from there to the South Bank and explored Namco Station, which, with apparently free WiFi and customer power outlets, looked like a good place to go for the second part of the London Invasion a few weeks later.

We dropped Avagdu back at London Bridge station and saw him safely on a train for Gatwick (although he had a bit of an adventure getting there) and wandered back to Sloe’s for the night.

Day 3 – Sloe was working in central London early and offered to give us a lift to Waterloo, which we gratefully accepted. However, it was really early – We got to our destination by 06.30, and decided to Hike to Victoria to drop off Peekok, via various london landmarks. Kevin and I then hiked across London to Kings Cross (about 10km – not bad with packs). Then Kevin and I went and got our trains north.

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PART 2

Day 1 Met up with Kevin at about 16:00 at Kings Cross then went to our chosen lodgings the thamesside YHA youth hostel. It wasnt bad, but having to pay to share a room with strangers is a bit of a hassle. We stowed our gear, discovered there was no free WiFi, and only 2 power sockets, and headed out into London central to get food.

We wandered about looking for somewhere cool to hang out, went for a drink at a covent garden bar and decided to go to TGI fridays and have a burger.

It took a long time.

2 hours later feeling very full, and having had a reasonable amount to drink, Kevin and I headed to the Walkabout bar on Tottenham Court road and tried to get drunk. Drinks expensive and relitavely lame music flowed together, and some very strange sights took us to 1.30am, when we wandered back to the hostel and slept for a few hours.

Day 2 – Got up early, got a great breakfast at the hostel and headed into London Bridge station to find out when Avagdu would make it in – Peekok was also on his way in, and we went to Waterloo to get him. Unfortunately, he had left his boonie hat on the coach and had to return to get it, so we went back to London Bridge, got Avagdu and headed back to Waterloo again, met up with Peekok and went to the Ranger surplus store for some gear porn and a photo opportunity. Found some cool stuff there (I bought an Opinel #9 knife and Peekok bought a very serious head torch by Petzl) and wandered back into London to go to Namco station for lunch. When we got there, we plugged all our stuff in and got on line. I had a new toy to test out in the form of an iPod from Kevin(hiss, boo!) and wanted to try it out. Our stuff had bveen plugged in for less than 10 minutes, when we were asked to unplug it by a humourless corporate cop, even though each booth had 4 power points, and we were paying customers! We won’t be going there again.

After that, we wandered to Camden Lock and explored all the bits we didnt get to see, including 2 more surplus stores, Kev got an issue Camelbak and we had a general wander about, we then repaired to a local pub and had a drink. By this time it was about 8pm and we decided to prop Peekok off at Victoria coach station to get his bus.

We stopped off at Victoria rail station and had coffee at Starbucks, breaking another personal rule (starbucks and Apple are 2 companies I try to avoid), in order to get power and WiFi – and found there was no WiFi (not free, at any rate). We had coffee and then 10 minutes before his coach was due to go, we set off for the bus station, following Peekok.

Who was not entirely sure of where it was – leading to a hilarious chase sequnce that we captured on video. We finally got there, the bus was delayed, fortunately, and saw Peekok safely on it, then we took Avagdu back to London Bridge and a train to Gatwick.

Kevin and I then went to the youth hostel and settled down for the night.

Day 3 – Got up, got breakfast, and took a leisurely wander over to Kings Cross and boarded the trains for the frozen north.

Sorry about that worrying post. I’ve got myself together now – new rule – don’t read depressing news stories when you’re in a bad mood or tired – they just destroy any hope you might still have.

I’ve recorded a bit of a rant. There was video, but I had trouble uploading it. You can get it here

Or just click play here:

Sorry guys, but this is the news story that has taken all the fight out of me.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115736/Sin-bins-for-worst-families

I’m going to need some time to come to terms with this one. It might be the reason we go off air. There really doesn’t seem to be much point to all this any more.

Well, we,re on our way back from part 2 of the London r4 nger5 meet. A great time had by all and every one seems to have got home OK. Expect a full write up later today.

Right, Kevin, Peekok and I are all heading off to the big smoke to meet up with Avagdu again. We’ll be staying at the Thamesside Youth Hostel.

If any r4nger5 listeners are within range, let us know and we’ll try to meet up – we’re there from 4pm today and all of tomorrow.

We’re planning a run round some army surplus places and Camden Lock again, so give us a shout, if you’re free and we’ll meet up!

Sorry for the lack of new content for a little while. I have been off sailing, in Scotland, and then immedfiately attended the r4nger5 London meetup wiith Avagdu, Kevin, Sloe and Peekok, Which was great.

So, back to the grindstone. I have just assembled the next running order (thanks to all who sent stuff in – sorry to anyone who sent stuff that couldn’t be included – these submissions will be on another show, so please be patient). Recording should take place by the end of this week.

I have loads of footage that will be edited quite soon from the sailing, r4nger5 meet and the London invasion, as well as wild camping video and other stuff.

We’re still looking for submissions for the Campaign log.

R4nger5 America is going from strength to strength and becoming a real contender

Outside of that, it’s a return to business as usual. Please keep sending in all your stuff. It will be used as quickly as manpower permits.

Here’s episode 4 – I don’t know if i’ll get it inserted into a show, so I thought I’d post it here, so you might hear it in a future show, but I don’t want to miss it out.

10n3 r4nger5 episode 23 is now up – hopefully that will tide you over whilst i recover episode 54 from my computer’s garbage disposal!

You can get it HERE or use the payer below

Much as I hate web 2.0 bollox, I have decided to get a Flickr page, so’s I can link to photos etc – you can access the photostream here