On the buses
If you are going to familiarise yourself with a big city, a cheesy bus tour is definitely the way to go. Today I spent most of the day riding an open air double decker bus around the traps of London. It was called The Original Tour. Most sensible way to go about, although the commentary was a bit spotty I got a better sense of where I was including:
* Yesterday at Covent Garden I was a block away from the Strand
* Trafalgar square isn't that far away and Lord Nelson looked quite impressive way up there
* The British Museum had not lost any of its charm (but then again today was a smoggy day rather than a foggy day in London Town
* Margaret Thatcher has a police man outside her door still. Maybe it is to remind her nowadays where she lives since the press here love running "Maggies gone dotty stories". Like this one...
The tour included a complimentary £5 fish and chip meal at the Sherlock Holmes pub and that was edible. Alas it wasn't served with peas. Have made a mental note need to cook that meal when I find a place of my own!
Also included in the tour was a trip on the Thames. Well it almost nearly didn't happen as Skye caught up with me for that leg of my grand day out and presenting the same ticket that we bought two days earlier together to the wanker at the ferry he was going to make an issue about it not having the words "the original tour" on the ticket. And he added how much trouble that would create when this ticket gets back to central control er head office.
We could have argued all day about the finer points of this guy not knowing his own job since this ticket was part of his company's promotions, but Skye was much keener on just clobbering him with her bag. In the end having a copy of the flyer sold him on the idea that we had ponied up the dough for one of his shitty tickets and he had to give us one.
It is interesting that in a city where you can buy beer in a corner store you have to have a photo id to buy a weekly rail ticket (for no reason) and you have Original Tour ticket sellers not knowing their own tickets and then starting to complain to you about the problems of their job! Ah well its London. Mental note to fight and complain and get aggressive with unhelpful service workers... it seems to help!
Making the most of the internet terminals near Victoria Station tonight... Needing to go home and rest. Interview tomorrow at 11 which will bring my touristing to a brief halt. Since it is on the Strand though I might just take in a museum or two.
Other useful things to know:
* On hot days when drinking bottles of evian it is good to know where all the public conveniences are.
* Good looking joggers pop out of the Savoy hotel when you don't have your camera ready.
* Covent Garden may have been nice once... but it smelled too much like a tourist trap to me... I just noted where the theatres and museums were before quickly moving on.
* Stripey deck chairs in parks are very comfy
Monday, August 11, 2003
Back in London...
Found a link to Kingsgate Castle. The road is a bit better now than it was then and the beach has a lot more litter on it nowadays but you should get the general idea. That's what I spent a lot of time on the weekend looking at when I was down at the beach.
Trying to master the local dialogue... Offie, the minicabs the underground or the tube (not the subway or the train)... Its all good as they say... I felt better yesterday when I saw the cover of this week's Economist magazine. The article was titled The world comes to London. Amen to that!
Things to do today.
1. Try not to stare at people with flabby bodies and man boobs even though it is hard not to! Yesterday a man took off his shirt in the Victoria Station mall and continued eating. I was eating too and the sight of his pasty white skin and inverted nipples was a bit off putting. Really. Maybe Australians are way too modest and too high maintenance. I would have to Veet and Clip before feeling comfortable about doing that. Well maybe it is just me. Havent seen any handkerchiefs on top of heads yet though...
2. Drink plenty of water as I am delicate... Still haven't found San Pelligrino much around the traps. The punters prefer to go for some Scottish mineral water, which is almost as good.
3. See the sights around Covent Garden... including the
Donmar Warehouse
4. Try not to eat fish and chips for too many meals. Haven't yet eaten it out of a cone shaped paper thing though so I am going to have to do that soon.
5. Have fun and cheap laughs (well I can do that wherever I go)
6. Bought my own music. Listening to March of the Falsettos right now. It has nothing to do with London but works for me anyway.
Found a link to Kingsgate Castle. The road is a bit better now than it was then and the beach has a lot more litter on it nowadays but you should get the general idea. That's what I spent a lot of time on the weekend looking at when I was down at the beach.
Trying to master the local dialogue... Offie, the minicabs the underground or the tube (not the subway or the train)... Its all good as they say... I felt better yesterday when I saw the cover of this week's Economist magazine. The article was titled The world comes to London. Amen to that!
Things to do today.
1. Try not to stare at people with flabby bodies and man boobs even though it is hard not to! Yesterday a man took off his shirt in the Victoria Station mall and continued eating. I was eating too and the sight of his pasty white skin and inverted nipples was a bit off putting. Really. Maybe Australians are way too modest and too high maintenance. I would have to Veet and Clip before feeling comfortable about doing that. Well maybe it is just me. Havent seen any handkerchiefs on top of heads yet though...
2. Drink plenty of water as I am delicate... Still haven't found San Pelligrino much around the traps. The punters prefer to go for some Scottish mineral water, which is almost as good.
3. See the sights around Covent Garden... including the
Donmar Warehouse
4. Try not to eat fish and chips for too many meals. Haven't yet eaten it out of a cone shaped paper thing though so I am going to have to do that soon.
5. Have fun and cheap laughs (well I can do that wherever I go)
6. Bought my own music. Listening to March of the Falsettos right now. It has nothing to do with London but works for me anyway.
Sunday, August 10, 2003
Its hot up here...
Well today I lived a little bit of London history. It was the hottest day on record. I was out of town for most of the pleasure but I did manage to sweat it out on an un-airconditioned connex train on the way back from Broadstairs. Only the hot dusty breeze coming through some of the windows could make it somewhat more of a cooler experience. It took two hours the train ride but for me it was all new and exciting I just kept watching the scenery whiz by on the train.
As for the rest of the time this weekend. I managed to travel to this castle for my first weekend. I think I can be forgiven for again forgetting where it was, but it was near Viking Beach which was voted the best beach in the EU... Well it was very pretty and very English but it still was more amusing this weekend seeing all those pink brits roasting themselves. When I could get away with it (and even sometimes when I couldn't) I just had to take a few happy snaps of the whole experience...
Phew, hold everything Skye has emailed me and told me yet again that I had gone to Kingsgate Castle in Broadstairs which is part of Kent shire...
The weekend was also the weekend of a folk festival which meant that this quaint little village was a little more quaint and intimate than usual. There were hundreds of thousands of people there to savour the artless craft and the sun and the sand and the slight waves.
It was nice to see that folk means crap the world over, but Skye her dad and I managed to go for fish and chips at the Charles Dickens Tavern. I would have to say it was the best of fish and chips and it was the worst of fish and chips... and I did until Skye started hitting me as she thought that was a real dull joke. She is probably right but I think there is nothing like a few cheap laughs.
I did enjoy the fish and chips. Serving it with peas was a nice touch and it made me realise that I wasn't in Australia anymore. I was by the sea in Britain!
At the castle which was built as servants quarters and stables before Australia was even colonised I managed to savour the view of the white chalky cliffs. The castle was a hotel until just after the war when it was divided into separate flats. One of the occupants of the flat invited us over Saturday night to watch the sunset over the hills while having a foine white whoine and some cheese and crackers. It was a very sophistimicated way to spend a Saturday night.
Well today I lived a little bit of London history. It was the hottest day on record. I was out of town for most of the pleasure but I did manage to sweat it out on an un-airconditioned connex train on the way back from Broadstairs. Only the hot dusty breeze coming through some of the windows could make it somewhat more of a cooler experience. It took two hours the train ride but for me it was all new and exciting I just kept watching the scenery whiz by on the train.
As for the rest of the time this weekend. I managed to travel to this castle for my first weekend. I think I can be forgiven for again forgetting where it was, but it was near Viking Beach which was voted the best beach in the EU... Well it was very pretty and very English but it still was more amusing this weekend seeing all those pink brits roasting themselves. When I could get away with it (and even sometimes when I couldn't) I just had to take a few happy snaps of the whole experience...
Phew, hold everything Skye has emailed me and told me yet again that I had gone to Kingsgate Castle in Broadstairs which is part of Kent shire...
The weekend was also the weekend of a folk festival which meant that this quaint little village was a little more quaint and intimate than usual. There were hundreds of thousands of people there to savour the artless craft and the sun and the sand and the slight waves.
It was nice to see that folk means crap the world over, but Skye her dad and I managed to go for fish and chips at the Charles Dickens Tavern. I would have to say it was the best of fish and chips and it was the worst of fish and chips... and I did until Skye started hitting me as she thought that was a real dull joke. She is probably right but I think there is nothing like a few cheap laughs.
I did enjoy the fish and chips. Serving it with peas was a nice touch and it made me realise that I wasn't in Australia anymore. I was by the sea in Britain!
At the castle which was built as servants quarters and stables before Australia was even colonised I managed to savour the view of the white chalky cliffs. The castle was a hotel until just after the war when it was divided into separate flats. One of the occupants of the flat invited us over Saturday night to watch the sunset over the hills while having a foine white whoine and some cheese and crackers. It was a very sophistimicated way to spend a Saturday night.
Friday, August 08, 2003
Well there are worse things than sweating at the airport at Narita...
After an emotionally driaining flight to Narita where only the calmative properties of Maxolon could soothe the savage headache and everything else that I had, I was looking forward to the hotel stay at Narita to at least get a shower. A pity that the transfer bus was a little late and so we all had to wait outside in the heat and the smog for the next bus. As beads of sweat dripped from me everywhere I thought I was about to pass out. Only the Sondheim song "It's hot in here" kept me amused and conscious.
By the time I got to the hotel I was too exhausted to contemplate a trip to Tokyo. Maybe next time when it wasn't so bloody hot I thought. Fortunately the Japanese excel themselves with the wide range of isotonic drinks they have available. I spent the next 20 hours savouring them in mass quantities.
The next leg to London was bloody long but amusing enough. Although everywhere I went there were little reminders of Brisbane. The inflight movie was "Breakfast at Tiffany's" so that was a little sad to watch.
By the time I arrived at Heathrow I was just glad. Getting through immigration was surprisingly quick. The bureaucrat behind the counter asked me,
"So whatcha come to Britain for?"
"For a holiday?" was my reply
He looked though my passport and saw my visa and then corrected me
"... a WORKING holiday"
"Yeah"
"Okay off you go then"
So that was the surprisingly quick exchange that occurred.
Skye met me there at Heathrow and laughed at my baggage (my real baggage not my emotional). We stayed and had more isotonic drinks and Skye enjoyed a cheesy lasange.
After waiting an hour for the peak to subside and having her in tears about my final weeks in Brisbane we went on the tube. I was chatting to her and being very untube like in my manner which got us a few looks but apart from that things were okay.
Then when we had to change trains I had a laugh about the announcement that "due to somebody being under a train, all services for [such and such a ] line were cancelled".
For Skye she found it interesting that I laughed at it. Maybe all will be good here.
I slept at Lish's place and it was so nice to have a sleep.
After an emotionally driaining flight to Narita where only the calmative properties of Maxolon could soothe the savage headache and everything else that I had, I was looking forward to the hotel stay at Narita to at least get a shower. A pity that the transfer bus was a little late and so we all had to wait outside in the heat and the smog for the next bus. As beads of sweat dripped from me everywhere I thought I was about to pass out. Only the Sondheim song "It's hot in here" kept me amused and conscious.
By the time I got to the hotel I was too exhausted to contemplate a trip to Tokyo. Maybe next time when it wasn't so bloody hot I thought. Fortunately the Japanese excel themselves with the wide range of isotonic drinks they have available. I spent the next 20 hours savouring them in mass quantities.
The next leg to London was bloody long but amusing enough. Although everywhere I went there were little reminders of Brisbane. The inflight movie was "Breakfast at Tiffany's" so that was a little sad to watch.
By the time I arrived at Heathrow I was just glad. Getting through immigration was surprisingly quick. The bureaucrat behind the counter asked me,
"So whatcha come to Britain for?"
"For a holiday?" was my reply
He looked though my passport and saw my visa and then corrected me
"... a WORKING holiday"
"Yeah"
"Okay off you go then"
So that was the surprisingly quick exchange that occurred.
Skye met me there at Heathrow and laughed at my baggage (my real baggage not my emotional). We stayed and had more isotonic drinks and Skye enjoyed a cheesy lasange.
After waiting an hour for the peak to subside and having her in tears about my final weeks in Brisbane we went on the tube. I was chatting to her and being very untube like in my manner which got us a few looks but apart from that things were okay.
Then when we had to change trains I had a laugh about the announcement that "due to somebody being under a train, all services for [such and such a ] line were cancelled".
For Skye she found it interesting that I laughed at it. Maybe all will be good here.
I slept at Lish's place and it was so nice to have a sleep.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Getting it together...
Well I had to set up this web page ahead of my farewell party tomorrow which is titled Mad dogs and Englishmen. Need to let the punters know where I will be. I have no idea who is coming to my farewell tomorrow, but it will be all revealed tomorrow I guess!
Well I had to set up this web page ahead of my farewell party tomorrow which is titled Mad dogs and Englishmen. Need to let the punters know where I will be. I have no idea who is coming to my farewell tomorrow, but it will be all revealed tomorrow I guess!
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