The rolling of cheese and MSN

the long trail of people hiking up the hill to watch the rolling of cheese
crazy men falling down the hill after cheese

Check out the video highlights.

The Cheese Rolling Festival on Bank Holiday Monday was an all-day adventure. I groggily boarded the tube at seven in the morning to catch our bus in Victoria. The drive lasted about three hours with a pit stop in some small town where most of the shops and cafes were closed due to the holiday. Our tour guide, Gary, was a ball of energy who entertained us from the moment he introduced himself. He provided contests with prizes and music the entire ride to get us fired up, including a "cheese and beer" song that was played at least six times on the ride there alone. We started to hit a line of traffic as we got closer to Cooper's Hill in Gloucester so we were let off the bus to walk the rest of the way. From ground level we could see that there were already crowds of people flocked on the hill awaiting the races that were an hour away. I had no idea going into this how steep the hill really was... and for some reason I didn't anticipate the hike. The incline started off gradually, passing by sweeping green pastures with tall grass and patches of yellow flowers. Without warning, it quickly turned into a steep upward trek. I was cold in my T-shirt at the bottom of the hill and a third of the way through the ascent I was sweating in the suddenly apparent humidity. I found out later that there were 5,000 people in attendance, so it was quite a mob scene. Races began somewhere around noon with many fake-out cheers from the crowd before the first wheel of cheese was seen rolling down. There were all-guy and all-girl uphill and downhill races as well as a kids uphill race. The guys were the most reckless, catapulting down the hill and losing their footing halfway down to finish the race on their backs and necks tumbling violently through the finish line. Girls scooted down on their bums. Ambulances and paramedics were lined up before the event even began, which was convenient because there were more injuries this year than there ever had been in the past. Two little boys who had participated in the race came and stood by their family who was standing in front of me. "I think we might be on the tele!" they kept repeating with excitement. The bottoms of their pants and hands were all covered in mud, but they looked like they had the time of their lives. Hilarious and odd, I'm glad I got out into the countryside to experience some true English culture.

I've begun my internship at MSN UK. Tuesday morning was a quick 'interview' which consisted of sitting on a couch beside Nic O'Neil, my Life & Style supervisor, sipping on fizzy water and discussing my family and other personal anecdotes. Thursday was my first official day. I spent it at my own laptop researching celebrity hairstyles spanning from the 50s - present for a gallery that's going up on the site. I attended one of the editorial meetings in the afternoon as well as a celebration that was taking place a few floors below us for the launching of "Bing," the new MSN search engine. There were cupcakes with 'bing' printed on the icing and champagne. Everyone seems overly nice and easy-going, and they're all fairly young so it's a great environment to be in. And I have an amazing view of London to gaze out at from the full length walls of windows surrounding the office.

Found this great little pub called Troubadour down the street that is a coffee shop-turned music venue. The tables all have candles, there is a garden out back and local bands play in the dimly lit basement for a small cover. Last night I saw Glenn Hodge who crooned about his 'beautiful but testy' girlfriend who was sitting in the back snapping lots of photographs (with the flash on) followed by the five-person folky Felix Fables.

British Life & Culture this morning was a bit more dull than last week as we sat in a stuffy room listening to a condensed version of Britain's history. Another gorgeous day full of sunshine and light breeze.