Today, I had the honour of brushing shoulders, and sipping champagne with Royalty, or as close as you can get really, at the Henley Royal Regatta. Not that any members of the Royal family was actually present at the event, or that I actually got to drink champagne (the latter was ridiculously overpriced). But anyhow, it was really great fun to be at the posh-est regatta that I've ever been to, and probably will ever be.

Being a guest of a Steward friend of mine (you apparently have to go through a very stringent application process and wait about 9 years - if you're lucky, to become a member of the Henley Boat Club), I got to put on the following "ticket", which gains us access to the Stewards' Enclosure, and is a little bit like an "Access All Area" backstage pass - very cool.

Or you could fork out £32 to pay for it.

The Stewards' Enclosure: Situated on the Berkshire bank near the finish of the Course, this is a private Enclosure and admission is only available to Members and their Guests. There are three Grandstands as well as many rows of deckchairs along the river frontage.

Let me give you an idea on how "posh" this event is:

Those attending the Regatta in the Stewards' Enclosure must dress in accordance with long-established tradition. Gentlemen are required to wear lounge suits, or jackets or blazers with flannels, and a tie or cravat. Ladies are required to wear dresses or suits with a hemline below the knee and will not be admitted wearing divided skirts, culottes or trousers of any kind. Ladies are encouraged to wear hats - click here for more information. Similarly, no one will be admitted to the Stewards' Enclosure wearing shorts or jeans. Members are particularly asked to bring this custom to the attention of their Guests, to ensure that the standards are maintained and to avoid the possibility of embarrassment of a Guest being refused admission.

The use of mobile telephones is prohibited within the Stewards' Enclosure. This is to minimise the disturbance and annoyance that mobile telephones cause to other Members and their Guests.

Children under the age of 10 years and babies are not admitted to the Stewards' Enclosure.

(quoted from the Henley Royal Regatta website)

I'd write more, but I'm quite exhausted from all the packing and moving (they moved me to an ensuite room for 3 days! hurray!), so I shall leave it at this for now.

Wikipedia has a long (albeit boring) article on the Henley Royal Regatta, if you're interested.

Labels: Henley Royal Regatta, Rowing

It's been a surprisingly sober Boat Club Dinner for me, considering how hammered I was at the last one, and having to fly off the next day. =X I guess it helps when I'm sitting next to the Master (yupz, the Master of my college). In fact, I was even sitting in the Master's chair, since I was "presiding" over the dinner, which makes it all the more interesting for the Master i guess.

But all in all, a really enjoyable dinner. My speech was certainly much better than last term's I must say. hopefully we'll have the results to show for it in Mays.... =) will post pictures soon enough. (i say that all the time but it doesn't usually happen... ;p)

Labels: Cambridge, Rowing

A little bit of boatie inspiration.. I thought it was quite nicely done - in trying to inspire...

Labels: Rowing

WAH! Post #200 already. Well, actually not that fast considering it's been almost 2 years now. Still, that's about 200 posts in about 450 days. A post in 2.25 days isn't too bad at all!

It's amazing how another two weeks have gone by again. But of course, I've actually been doing real work!

As demonstrated by this geological map laid out on the table in my room. Yes, it's actually a real map of a place in Britain called Newtown.. hehe.. (in Singapore we just call Newton)

Photos of snow taken on film also came back already! I kinda liked this one... It was taken just outside my college, but it looked like it was in some part of Siberia... where you have those snowhounds with the snow sledges..

Valentine's Day
well, it wasn't much of a Valentine's day for me, although i thought it was quite nice to see people walking around with flowers and presents.... instead of having a candlelit dinner for two, we had a threesome!

the kenny's prawn specials...

with Darryl and Chris (who couldn't quite stay still for the photo.... ;p)

Halfway Hall
And last Friday, we had Halfway Hall. It's some Cambridge thing where we get together (in our own colleges) to "celebrate" that we are half way through our undergrad studies. But really, it's just another reason to get drunk and wasted. I did have quite a lot to drink, because Sarah managed to empty the remains of the 2nd bottle of wine we were sharing into my glass!

It was quite fun actually. There were gummy bears and sweets on the table which you'd just pick up and eat... Of course, some gummy bears eventually landed in wine glasses and coffee cups... (you wonder why.. *rolls eyes*)

Pembroke Regatta
And as if the night before hadn't been crazy enough, I was supposed to be up early the next morning to cox Pembroke Regatta, which I actually managed to suppress the hangover with enough adrenaline to last me through... hehe.. We lost to Emma, who were third in the division, so it wasn't a big deal really.... ;p

Kenny in the PINK boat!!!! (the weather looks nice and warm but guess how many layers of clothes i was wearing!)

Then at night, some of the 2nd year NatScis gathered for a Reunion Dinner at Tianyi's place, with Ivan cooking. Was quite nice I thought, just to be eating together, even though it was nothing absolutely elaborate....

Labels: Halfway Hall, Rowing