|
|
|
|
Wednesday.
Second-last day here in London... Weather was piss-poor like usual (at least when I'm around - LOL), so I wasn't keen on going on any tours around the city in an open-top bus like Tim suggested, or much of anything else really. I did a tour of shops to find a nice set of earphones for my new MD player, and that I did, for the not too expensive price of £10 (same ones cost £25 in other places).
They sit hooked behind the ears, and they're made of blue plastic, so they match my new watch, and the player itself. 
Rest of the day wasn't very remarkable at all until it was time to get over to Nick's place (I mainly surfed the web and checked out guys. Lots of people visiting gay sites here, some of them are quite good-looking!), and the trip turned out to be quite an adventure!
You're probably asking yourselves how a trip in the London underground can be adventurous, being one of the most boring places on Earth and all, heh heh. Well, start out with the mother of all rain storms flooding a signalling center, and me discovering a man writing on a whiteboard as I walk towards the District line at Embankment station:
"No service beyond Putney due to signal failure."
Of course, Nick lives beyond Putney... I HATE when crap like this happens!!! Don't they KNOW it rains a lot in this city? So why build traffic signals that die when it rains??? Aaagghh!
So there I am, coasting (slowly) towards Putney Bridge station, seeing my nice 45-minute time budget rapidly tick away. When it's six o'clock - when I'm supposed to be knocking on his door - I've only barely reached the buses. And when the bus I'm told to get on arrives, I have to shove my way through like half a billion people because you can't fit six railway cars of commuters onto one silly little bus of course, even though it's a double-decker.
But fortunately I manage to get on the bus, and the journey resumes, only to stop frequently due to the streets being absolutely jam-packed with cars. Each of them with only a single occupant! That made me really really angry, as I stood there sweating in the stuffy top level of the bus. You'd think they would think of installing some VENTILATION in those things when they build them, but apparantly not...
Time moves along both slowly and quickly. Slowly, because we don't seem to be getting anywhere, and quickly because each time I look at my watch I'm even later than the last time!
When another 45 minutes has passed I get a bit desperate and try to call Tim. He answers, but doesn't have Nick's phone number. Nor is he able to send him an email, telling him of my plight... I had his number of course since the previous time we met, but I managed to misplace the piece of paper I wrote it down on! Clumsy me! (And I phoned from a public phone too, so my mobile didn't have it stored either, sigh.)
I finally arrived at the end of the train line about an hour late. Bus didn't stop at Nick's station of course, so I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do. I have to take another bus back towards his place, or walk. I choose to walk since I can't find the bloody bus stop and nobody seems to know where it is. Bus travel is supremely complicated in this city compared to where I live...
I begin to walk (and it's raining pretty bad again), but end up on a dead-end street and have to turn back after about 150-200 meters. You can all imagine in what kind of mood I am at that moment I would think, being hot, wet, and very very late... Fortunately, at about 7.15, Nick phones me. I'm almost back at the train station then, so he quickly offers to come and pick me up in his car. Aaahhh! What a relief!
We immediately proceed to the fish and chips restaurant he likes best, it's run by a person with a peculiar accent (to me at least), who upon hearing I'm from Sweden tells me there's good fishing there. I think he's right. Not that I would know because I haven't tried my hand at it for like eighteen years or so and I didn't catch anything then, but yeah, he's probably right.
Me and Nick both select cod instead of halibut, and a 1.5 liter bottle of fiery ginger beer (which despite the name probably isn't brewed at all, and alcohol free). We then head back to his place to eat, because the fish & chips place is a takeaway joint only.
Nick lives the life of a bachelor. Not that it's messy or anything, it was actually rather neat, but you can tell anyway. You could tell that I'm one too, by looking at my apartement! His flat is in a house that is a hundred years old, mine is about 25. His has aged with more dignity than mine...
Anyway, we ate our food - which was very enjoyable I might add - and drank tea and fiery ginger beer (which is a pale yellow in color). It was a really good combination! YUM!
We had considered going out to see a movie, but could not find one that appealed to us. So we ended up staying where we were, talking instead. That was probably a nicer choice actually, since you really don't get to know one another at a movie theatre...
Suddenly, it was bedtime, and I didn't much fancy going back to the youth hostel and sleep there (due to all sorts of reasons, some being really long travel time, hard uncomfortable bed, lack of air circulation and snoring strangers)... I was introduced to his really nice fold-out bed which also serves as a sofa when not a bed. I slept like a king, hehe!
So after parting ways and going back to the hostel to pick up my stuff, I find myself here, writing this report. I'm off to Victoria Station to catch a bus to the airport when I'm done. Plane takes off at six, but I like to be there in good time. Better to be bored out of my skull at the airport than missing my flight, LOL! I can always gobble taxfree candy or something to keep myself amused...
So to wrap things up, THANK YOU EVERYONE that helped to make my stay both a memorable and pleasant one! Nick and Tim, you have both been such excellent hosts and really good company. (And I was green yesterday wasn't I, Nick? )
Lots and lots of HUGS to everyone, and anything else too that you fancy! 
-Lenny
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
[  ] |
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
Fish and Chips! 
