|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well I've never had a famous author staying here before.
Poor Lenny was a bit wet and dejected when we met last night, but it's amazing what a nice plate of fish and chips can do to raise the spirits.
English weather is predictably unpredictable, but never fails to take our public transport systems by complete surprise. In the autumn, the trains stop because there are leaves on the line. In winter we get "the wrong kind of snow". Yesterday it rained a bit. And the signals failed. Great.
But it all worked out in the end.
Lenny, the sun DOES shine in London. Sometimes. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
It was really nice to chat with you and drink our fiery ginger beer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
Sounds like a wonderful vacation in spite of the rain. Three places I want to go, perhaps more than anywhere else are Australia, England, and The Filipines. Hearing you talk about your vacation is really making me jealous. The nearest I'm going to get for another couple of years will be my vacation this September to Williamsburg, VA. Well, it was a colony, hehehe.
The ginger beer would have been brewed, but not fermented. Making it is much like making tea. I used to do a bit of home brewing and it is done using the same process as beer, but skipping the fermentation. Of course it can be carbonated naturally with just a little fermentation in the bottle, but I have a keg system and found it was easier just to artificially carbonate. Of course the best way I found to use ginger in brewing was to add a gallon of honey to the batch, ferment it, and then put it in kegs to be carbonated. The result is a ginger-flavored sparkling mead. Yum!
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have been home for a little over twelve hours actually, but this seems a good time to talk about it, now that I've had the chance to rest and calm down after the trip.
I am very fortunate in that everything proceeded extremely smoothly from start to finish. No missed buses (or planes, LOL!), no scary moments, no forgotten important items (minidisc player, passport, head! ), etc.
Anyway, start of day:
No morning glory when waking up. Lucky me, or else things could have gotten a wee bit embarrassing. ...Or not? I'm not sure! Only Nick could tell you that...!  (Is this more detail than you really wanted to know? If so: TOUGH SHIT! Here it is anyway, heh heh heh! )
Nick then provided me with a simple yet enjoyable breakfast in the morning (aren't those the best ones, really?). Whadda guy! He showed me the direction to the train station before leaving (less than 100 meters I would think, very convenient), and there was even a northbound train on the platform when I arrived. I made my way to Victoria Station to scout out from where my bus was supposed to leave but did not find it since I remembered I had to turn in my key to the hostel before ten in the morning. OOPS! Just 25 minutes to go! I rushed back to Rotherhithe, but the journey + walk took like 40 minutes, so I was late. Fortunately, nobody cared much anyway. And I forgot to return my one remaining breakfast voucher also, but that's no biggie.
I collected my stuff and went back one last time to Tottenham Court Road to surf some internet and write yesterday's goodbye post, then went back to Victoria. It wasn't TOO difficult to find the coach station, and the airport buses left frequently also so no problems there. I slept for a little over half of the two-hour journey I think, and it was more enjoyable than the arrival since we didn't make any stops on the way (I think! Not sure since I was sleeping...).
I was present at the airport well in advance of take-off - which was scheduled for 18:35, not, 18:00 like I thought. So I had even more time to spare! Excellent, like I said, I hate NOT being early and having to hurry...
I shopped for some taxfree. I had exactly £3.50 after buying postcards and stamps, so one 300gram Swiss milk chocolate bar and three king-size snicker bars later I was clear out of foreign cash! I even bartered the price down by 3p, since the Snickers cost £0.51 apiece, heh heh!
I had one of them before the plane took off, which it did just a little late. Not much, but a little. Ate another on the plane itself. Bought a memento on the trip. I could not help myself telling Tim about it, but to the rest of you, it's going to be a secret. Read my stories, it will make an appearance there...!
Arrival was actually AHEAD of schedule, by a full ten minutes! WOW, imagine that huh! (Yup, we're efficient in Sweden, good at building motorways and marching in line... Ooops! That's the Germans... LOL!) Anyway, my early arrival meant I had to wait even LONGER for the airport bus to take me back towards the city, but really, it was no big deal. Unlike London, the air was nice and warm without being damp and clammy, and the clouds were high up, and no threat of rain! (Don't take this as if I'm knocking it; I'm not! City and its people impressed me, but the weather did not. Sad but true.)
The one stop the airport bus made on the way allowed me to switch directly to the bus line that stops right where I live (about 150 meters of walking) to my front door). Very convenient, except I had to wait another ten minutes for that bus to arrive. I spent some of my time looking at a cutie, but he left after a few minutes along with a friend of his I think.
So I got home, checked email, checked site and board (which was screwed-up initially but sorted itself out later), chatted with Tim (hi Tim! ), then surfed for a while until I was tired enough to sleep. Woke up at nine thirty today.
Will go back to gym tomorrow, NOT today. Feel lazy now...
So in finishing, take care everybody, and to those that helped to make this trip the success it was (including Tom and Setras of course!!! You guys ROCK!), I just want to say LOVE YOU!
Thanks again, and yours truly:
-Lenny
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...That leave lasting impressions.
Sandwiches are always square with a diagonal cut in England it seems. You guys seem to prefer white bread also.
I bought my watch from a Swedish girl working in the watch store. Weird coincidence...
You have almost no trashcans in your city. Strange, since every day it's trash collection day you just toss out your garbage bags on the sidewalk for pick-up. IRA or whomever could fill a couple bags with plastic explosives and steel balls and stick it amongst the rubbish and that would be all she wrote...
Your movie commercials are LAME. I mean, REALLY LAME. Worse than what I'm used to, and that's pretty fuggin bad!
There's like ONLY colored people working in the fast-food joints. And most of them speak bad English... Weird.
Like I said to Nick on sunday, nine words to describe the London underground: "Mind...the gap. Mind...the gap. Mind...the gap."
What IS 'bushing' anyway, and why does it cost £20 to do it?
I'm sure there's things I've forgotten, but this will have to do for now.
-Lenny
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So... It's back to basics now. Visited the gym today, didn't do any cardio, just weights. I might be coming down with something, dunno what yet (if, at all actually). My throat feels slimy and coughy and weird. Hadn't lost my edge, despite an almost two-week long break. Good!
Tried googling up a pic of Ian McKellan's boyfriend (who's supposedly young and gorgeous). I failed, help please!
Found a stupid post today in a newsgroup. "Unreal Tournament 2003 demo finally released! Download here!", it said, or words to that effect. It pointed to a Danish server. When clicking the link, of course there wasn't any demo, I figured as much from the start. I expected it to be some "me-too!" website desperate for hits or something. But instead I got a flash animation blinking in black on white: "YOU ARE AN IDIOT!", plus two happy smiley-faces, while a stupid song played: "You are an idiot, ha-ha-haha-haha-hahahahaa-haa!", or something like that. Over, and Over and OVER again, because I was laughing so hard I could not close the damn window to get rid of it! Way funny!
I forgot to give Tom a CD I had promised to bring him. Damn!
Btw, really like my MD player. It's so small and light. Very nice!
-Lenny
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
Fish and Chips! 
Re: Ginger Beer 
Alright, I'm back home now... 
