Pug’s Place

Today was “visit everything we need to see before leaving tomorrow” day. So we: Saw Parliament, Westminster Abbey, rode the London Eye, went through the Tower of London, walked an enormous distance to find some shops Christi wanted to visit (but the glass-blowing place was not open for public visitation!), went to the Tate Modern Art Museum (which I mistook for a power plant!), then went to some street full of stores (more later) and Buckingham Palace. A lot. Ow.

Unfortunately I ripped a callus on the ball of my right foot today. Haven’t told Chris and Christi since I don’t think telling them would be productive. This had made most of the day’s walking increasingly difficult and extremely painful. Luckily I did not bleed, but I spent the last half of the day in an ill humor. I’m grateful to be sitting here on my hard roll-away with its too-thin blanket. I don’t think Chris nor Christi noticed my slight favoring of my left leg, but I know they noticed that I had trouble keeping up. Oh well.

I’m sorry to report that there’s nothing special to say about seeing the crown jewels or the palace. They’re just places, symbols of power. Cool symbols I must say, but there’s little to write.

Well, just talked to Mom on the phone for a minute and now Chris and I are going to get dinner and bring something back for Christi.

On Tuesday after I finished writing the above we arrived at old Sarum Castle, the ruins of one of Britains first stone castles build by William the Conqueror. The walled keep is not nearly as large as I thought it would be, but the walled town around it was massive. It felt strange parking our bus atop some peasant’s house. Following that we went into Salisbury and visited its cathedral, walked around the town a short while before heading to a pub next to one of Sting’s houses in the countryside for lunch. Tastiness.

After lunch we had two more stops: Stonehenge and Avebury. Stonehenge was exceedingly impressive, and on top of its natural coolness there were 40 (or so) druids there in the center of the circle celebrating the first noon after the solstice. Cool to watch in addition to looking at those small bluestones, the barrows and the huge standings stones. But Avebury was just as interesting even though I hadn’t heard of it.

Look up Avebury - it’s a massive circle of stones (actually 3 circles) that must have had some cool purpose. And these stones weren’t roped off so we got to touch and poke them. I got pictures!!

Yesterday we woke up, went to Harrod’s (which was better than a normal department store, but only due to its size and expense. It, too, would get boring, just not quite as quickly), wandered around Picadelly a bit. Christi though was not feeling well and after lunch caught a cab back to the hotel leaving Chris and I to search for Europe’s (or is it just England’s?) largest bookstore. We found it, I don’t know the name though. The Sci-Fi/Fantasy section was roped off due to “flood damage” so we stormed across the street to Border’s before going back to the hotel.

Speaking of storms, it rained all day yesterday with a bitterly cold, strong wind. It’s as cold or colder than winter in Gainesville which is crazy since it’s $@#^ing June!

This especially sucked last night at the Globe Theatre. At least we were in the tower boxes - the poor Groundlings stood in the 54 degree Fahrenheit cold rain! The show - Much Ado About Nothing - was very well performed and it was performed by an all-female cast. Some of them were more convincing than others but to keep things short, I enjoyed it! Unfortunately, Chris and Christi buggered out at the intermission to stay inside in the warmth, as did a quarter of the Groundlings. I enjoyed the conclusion of my first viewing of Much Ado… by my lone and got to see a 10:20 sundown plum-colored sky over the bowing cast for my pains (or chills!).

After the show I met Chris and Christi back in the lobby and we kept missing cabs that we called for! It took us 45 minutes to get a cab - everyone seemed to catch ours before we could get to it.

Yesterday was full and I need another 2 hours of sleep. At least. At 7:30 a bus will fetch us to go on our “5,000 years in a day” tour of Southern England. But first, yesterday: Wimbeldon and the Phantom of the Opera in Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Chris and I got in the queue at nearly precisely 7:00 am on the southern grounds of Wimbeldon. There were only 1170 people in line before us for the starting of the games at noon. Since around 5,500 “ground tickets” are sold each day for the fortnight, we made it in to the outer courts without problems. We really did not see much tennis since play was suspended 3 times in 2 hours due to rain and ~20 are required to resume.

(8:13 am now, and tour bus begins driving from London)

I’ve gotten a little sunburned from the hour of sunshine yesterday between the clouds, plus some free stuff waiting in line - Chris bought swag in one of the stores. So we each have something to show from yesterday! Oh, and speaking of the line to get in & the free stuff - Near the gate were people wearing 3-foot orange juice cartons hooked up to bar tabs on their backs, pouring free Tropicana orange juice for us. Remarkable!

We were in Wimbeldon from 7 until 4 pm, during which time Christi shopped and caught up on sleep. Then there was Phantom, which was was worth the year’s wait. Katie, good news: It’s showing now until 1 Jan 2005 so you can see it here too!! It’s fun to find that I know most all of the songs by heart, even though I’ve never seen the show before.

I rode my first subway yesterday. The London underground is fast, but not always cheaper than a cab. A cab from the Grovesnor House to Her Majesty’s Theatre was 6 pounds 20 door to door. Three people on the tube from Picaddelly Circus (~5 min walk from the Theatre) to Hyde Park (~10 minute walk from hotel) was tough… The 6 20 plus tip was worth the 15 minutes of walking, even though the masses of people celebrating last night’s victory in the football were amusing to watch!

It’s cold here. The solstice was yesterday and yet the temperatures are the worst Ganesville was last winter. I’d hate to be here in winter - especially when the Atlantic conveyer shuts off in the next 10 years…

It is 9:35 am at present, 3:35 CDT. The sun is out here and you are all asleep. I’m on Motorway M3 heading to Salisbury, Stonehenge and more…

This is an intriguing place. The sky was still lit at 10:15 pm last night and Chris and Christi tell me that it was light at 4:30 am this morning. It is really that far north.

We did not do much exploring yesterday - we arrived in Gatwick at ~ 8 am and rode a “speedy” electric train from there 40 miles to Victoria Station. It wasn’t all that speedy - the train stopped twice, giving us good views of graffiti-covered walls, buildings and houses, old rail platforms with equal numbers of old and young people looking hurried, even on Sunday.

I did not get much of an impression of Victoria Station because we hurried to the taxi queue as directly as we could find our way. Seemed ornate, though (for a glorified bus stop). It is now 6 and Chris and I must depart for Wimbeldon - oh, it is too early!

(Post note, all of these travel logs are in local time, so GMT and then French.

I’m heading off to London, Inverness, Swansea and Paris. I’ll be back on Independence Day, but until then expect no updates and infrequent (if any) email responsiveness.

But I’ll be thinking about you! Expect a half-hearted report when I get back! And lots of pictures!!

Weather in London, Weather in Inverness, Weather in Swansea and Weather in Paris.

Two things here regarding packing:

First, I’m mostly done packing for my trip to Great Britain and France in 5 days. Absolutely amazing, no? I just have to pack shoes, shaving kit, slacks and camera. It’s amazing how close at hand my trip is.

Second, I’m now as far as I can go toward getting my Florida Concealed Weapon or Firearm License. I just have to be fingerprinted next May and postmark it on my birthday. Hey, the government already knows I’m a gun-owner, so that’s not an issue. A CW permit is a useful thing to have - trivial things that could otherwise get you a 3rd degree felony are legal when you have that little card, like accidentally driving within 1000 feet of a government building, school, university, etc. with a firearm in your car. I won’t be walking around everywhere I go carrying a .357 revolver behind my hip, but there are situations when being capable of packing would be a useful thing. Besides, it’s my right, and I’m not gonna watch America fall into the same trap that Great Britain has regarding gun crime. The criminals will always have guns. So should the citizens.

Also news, this morning Jay and I went Off-roading in various places. He’s got a real 4×4 SUV that he uses exactly for its intended purpose: lock the center and rear differentials and take 50 degree climbs in soft clay, smashing through foliage, taking punishment and in general fording through mud, undergrowth and forest. This morning was bad-ass as hell, bro! Thank you a bunch. I had a blast!

Today’s my Dad’s 61st birthday. Huzzah!

I love you, Dad!

I just don’t. I don’t have anybody else here. Being excluded happens. However I do not appreciate even jokes regarding being excluded due to my sex. I don’t reciprocate that behavior more often than a blue moon, and there exists a reason for that. It’s not a painless prod, Tae.

Take a look at my nation, The Armed Republic of the Moonites, at NationStates. It’s amusing, at the very least. Enjoy the flag, too. I made it myself. With a little help from pop culture.

Okay, so I have nothing fun to do tonight that I want to do. Sucks, eh? Going to work and then coming home without extra-family, extra-office interaction day after day is as monotonous as the Badger animation. I have 10.5 days until I leave for Europe and I’m tempted to go pack my suitcase. How lame is that?

I realize that many people live their life like this, just going to and from work. I gotta go somewhere other than work in my car, even if it’s just another city. It’s not that I feel trapped, but rather I feel idle. Sure, I can hack on some free software, but at present I’m coming home from work with a brain that’s entirely tired of reading poorly-written Ada. And tired of looking at source code. So I want something else to do. Thus I’m slowly learning a little French. For example, I know now to say Je ne parle pas francais. I can also recognize a very small vocabulary. Maybe I’ll know something in 10 days.

Then again, maybe not. I’ll pretend I’m German, and avoid crying out something unhoeflich (impolite) like “Ich werde die franzoesische Arschen vor mich verdruecken!”

My spoken German is a bit better than my written, since my grammar mistakes are less noticeable.

*boredyawn* Wake me up inside, wake me up inside. Call my name and save me from the dark. Bid my blood to run before I come undone. Save me from the nothing I’ve become… actually, wake me up outside.

Want to do something. Perhaps I’ll just go and prove that idle hands are the devil’s workshop…