Look, a Distraction!

What day is it? I've lost track. My internal calender is broken. On Saturday I thought it was Tuesday, and Monday I kept thinking it was Friday. Clearly sleep is in order.

I do have knitting to show you, but photos won't get taken until this weekend. In the mean time, may I present early color footage of London, 1927. Someone shared this over on Facebook, and I could watch it over and over again:

London in 1927 from Tim Sparke on Vimeo.

Typewriters at Bedtime

Reading: Treasure Island
Watching: Get Smart the Movie

Just to clarify: When I mentioned the podcast, I was intending to do it myself. The think is, with being so new to the hobby, I would like to see more listener participation than I have with the podcasts I've produced previously (writing in, comments/questions, things like that).

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I had an awesome dream last night and had to share.

In the dream, I was back in London, walking through St. James Park, and someone had created a huge typewriter display for the public. These weren't normal typewriters, though. According the posted historical information, they would be provided in airports or train stations for travelers to write letters, similar to the way they now provide wifi or internet cafes. Most of them were portables, only about eight inches wide, with a coin slot at the top over the type basket and another out in front where the keyboard should be. One would insert a dime, and a tiny disposable keyboard would pop out (I have no idea why they were disposable. I imagine it was for sanitation issues since hand sanitizer didn't exist in the 1950s and my brain was trying to compensate).

This bit of the dream was followed up by myself and two friends fighting a demon, and the only one powerful enough to banish it back to hell was the Queen. Which of course meant that we had to kidnap her (because she wouldn't be willing to defend her country on her own? I dunno). She was a lovely woman and quite feisty.

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Also: my cat has the hiccups. It is adorable. I didn't even know cats could GET hiccups, but he seems to regularly. He might not be amused, but I am. :)

Bath and Shower

Bath was lovely. We went on two walks: The first was Bizzar Bath, which runs every night is a comedy tour of the strange and weird in Bath. Not historical, just funny. At one point our guide was talking about lay lines and nodes and how they affect Bath. Right in the middle of his explanation a man on a bicycle rode past, dressed as Death. We all stared at him (he had one of those "won-key" sounding horns, which he honked all the way down the road). Caught us all off guard. The only comment the guide could make was, "Obviously, he's looking for Stone Henge."

Speaking of which, we saw Stone Henge yesterday. It was lovely, but very blustery. Afterwards, we took our second walk, the Haunted Bath walk, which was very interesting. My favorite stories surrounded a dueling ground and a specific Holly tree that we visited, but I'll get into that another time, probably when I make my ghost hunting post once we're back in Italy.

Today we're back in London. Catching up on our last few sight seeing stops before we go back. Only a few more hours of relative freedom, then it's back to school. Not complaining. At least I won't have to share a shower with 14 other people.

Chill

Busy, busy days. We have seen so much stuff in the last few days. Buckingham Palace, Parliment, Westminster, the Tower Bridge, Picadilly, China Town. Alice swears that she saw Bill Nighy when we were in Picadilly, but I was facing the wrong direction and she didn't want to say anything. I guess he was about two feet behind me....yeah. Never going to forgive that one.

It looks like today we might be taking some time off. We went to see The Vampire's Assistant this morning. Not great, but it was a good way to kill two hours or so.

Last night was the L13 tour, which involved a riverboat cruise (kinda cold), a Jack the Ripper walk, and a bus tour. We got to see the building where Sweeny Todd had his barber shop (!!!) and the corner where Mrs. Lovette's used to be, among other things. Honestly, I had no idea he was a real person. I knew that there were stories (several) of murderous barbers, and I thought the movie was just based on one of them--not that he actually lived and it ws based on a specific person. The things you learn when taking macabre tours of foreign cities.


The biggest problem we have right now is that we've run out of things to read. I know, I know, we're on vacation, why would we be sitting around reading when there are places to go, people to see? Well neither of us is really up for dawn to dusk site seeing. I've done that before, and it isn't fun. Normally we go out a little in the morning, then come back sometime after lunch, chill for a an hour or two, then go back out again. We're usually back by 9, and then we just chill. It makes for a much more relaxing trip, since this is VACATION. Maybe there aren't any white sand beaches or nice boys bringing us drinks with umbellas in them with their shirts off, but we are still here to relax, and oh my god, it has been wonderful. I absolutely adore London, and I want to live here. After living in Columbus and London, Ohio, and Florence, it us such a change to be in a city that is so full of life. Those other cities are dying--Ohio because of the economy, and Florence through a combination of polution, economic woes, and the general age of the population (which I think is somewhere between 50 and 60. There's an average of 4 elderly people for every child born, and the birth rate is on the decline). That and the vast majority of Italians I've met have been rather rude and inconsiderate, while the Brits have been friendly, helpful, and all around pleasant.

I'm going to go kick back and finish up my last book. Maybe I'll go out later and seek out a new one...

Soup

There were three things that we desperately needed yesterday, and didn't manage to find until after I made that last post. The first was deoderant. Neither Alice nor I had one small enough to qualify for a carry on. We found a Boots (pharmacy)directy across from the mall, about a block from our hostel. It's a gorgeous mall with lots of interesting shops, and inside, wouldn't you know, there was a huge bookstore that was going out of business! I got a Torchwood novel for £5 (they're $10-12 in the States, and with the exchange rate it was only about $7-7.50), a new deck of tarot cards (one that I can actually read! This is so exciting!) and a present for a friend back home. Everything was only £20, and would have been about double that back in Ohio.

Just when we were about to despair, we happened across what we thought was a grocery store but is closer to a miniature Target and discovered our holy grail--£3.50 bath towels. Our last hostel provided us with daily linens free of charge, but this place charges £5 for a tiny, un-absorbant towel. (Later, I went back to this same store for shoes and socks. My boots are great for site seeing and traveling, but not after four days in a row. I was going to back a second pair, but there wasn't room. Alice and I have purchased a third bag, both to replace the one whose zippers all burst yesterday as we were about to get on the plane--not her fault, honestly. Cheap bag construction--and also so we could sew the openings closed and use the broken bag as a checked item for the stuff we're bringing home (mostly books, but there will be chocolate and snacks that we've missed from home and can't get in Italy as well).

All of this meant that we could get the third thing we really needed, which was a shower. We chilled out at the hostel for a while, then went for dinner, which was Burger King. Italian burgers are good in their own right, but they're different. And we both wanted chedder cheese.

Since we were now clean and refreshed, we went back to the mall to look around more slowly. We carefully avoided the book store, since it was very dangerous for the health of our bank accounts, and this was when I got the cute little ballet flats that I'm wearing right now.

I went to bead early, and didn't wake up until 4:30 when seven of our roommates came back from night clubbing. One of them at least was drunk enough not to care if he lowered his voice or not. I didn't get up again unil 8:30, and it feels wonderful to finally have slept more than two or three or five hours.

On deck for today is another stroll through Hyde Park, since we know roughly where to find Peter Pan now, followed by a site seeing bus. In Edinburgh, this was the cheapest, best way to see the city, and it's a reasonable bet that it's the same here. Often you can buy one ticket, get on and off at will through the day, and see more sites in one day than you would otherwise. We're going to get our obligatory touristy shots today since it's Sunday and a lot of things will be closed.

Well, my 50p internet has about run out. Now I just need to find an ATM. While this trip has been cheaper than I thought it would be, I still think we're going to be surviving off of bread and soup for the next few weeks to make it through the end of term. At least all of our supplies and things have been bought now. And I'm determined to make anything else we might need if I can.

Landing

Alice and I arrived safely last night...at 3:30 in the morning. Our flight was delayed by an hour (which was kind of funny, since I'd never flown with Ryan Air before, and their sign at the airport said "The On Time Airline" (Their literature, however, read "The Low Price Airline". I Thought that was a rather convenient save, on their part). We met two lovely girls in the airport, also studying in Florence and staying just on the other side of of the Kensington Gardens from us. We hung out in the airport, caught a bus together, and then tried to navigate our way to our hostels. Since we had to go different directions, however, they managed to catch a direct bus while Alice and I caught a cab (only about £13, which isn't bad since our last cab in London was £40).

It was an uncomfortable night because we basically just dumped our stuff and then climbed into bed. I laid on top of my blanket, just covered up with my sheets. I didn't have a pillow so I used my coat and my backpack.

I have to say that I prefer the Smart hostel in Edinburgh. This place nickle and dimes you for just about everything. You have to buy a towel (the other place provided us with fresh every morning); The rooms aren't as neat and all of the public areas are bright red with black trim, which, while interesting, makes it kind of hard to relax. On the bright side, the beds themselves are comfortable. Now if only the bathrooms were large enough to actually move in. I will say though, that when I told the girl at the front desk that I didn't have a pillow, she gave me the pillow and a half hour of free internet to make up for it.

On brighter news, Alice and I walked through Kensington Gardens this morning, after brunch of eggs with toast and mushrooms and milk tea at a local cafe. It was so nice to see trees and grass and more animals than just pigeons after being stuck in stone cold Florence. As the age of the Florentines increases, and their birthrate continues to fall, you really get the impression that the city is dying. Being in London is like getting a breath of fresh air. There are kids and dogs and birds and squirrels, and I love it. The leaves are changing and everything is beautiful.

After the gardens we went down to the V&A--The Victoria and Albert Museum. Since we got in so late, we didn't go through much, just bits and pieces of the first floor. But it is probably one of my favorite museums now. They have so many textiles, and I scoured their bookstores for books to help with my thesis (the topic of which has yet to be decided, other than the fact that it will involve textiles). If I'd bought every one I wanted, I would have spent close to £300, so I settled for a single text that examines garments from all points of history from all over the world, since I'm pretty sure that I'll being working with garments of some kind.

We figured out the underground for the ride back. It was a little bit of a hassle in the station since it was so crowded and busy, but it was a quick ride. I think we're going to take a break here at the hostel before heading out again. There's plenty to see, and we are in no hurry.

Loose Ends

I'm trying to get everything done today. Took my last exam this morning, which is a huge relief, so now I'm trying to do research for my thesis. Went back and reserved a book from the local library back home and put in a vacation hold so that it will be waiting for me in December (only a month and a half until I go home? Really?)

I've only got one more class, and it's a practical (no exam!) so no worries there. Then I need to finish packing. I've also got to hunt down some 3 oz plastic containers to take on the plane. I saw some every day at the grocery store, but of course now that I need them I can't find them anywhere. Even better, there's a train strike scheduled for tomorrow, so we may or may not have an easy ride to Pisa, which is only an hour away by rail.

But we leave tomorrow! I'm so excited. I just can't wait to see London. The last time I went, I slept for sixteen hours and only managed to leave our shitty hotel room for a burger from the BK down the block (yeah, I know. I got four thousand miles for a Burger King. And it was so expensive...)

Alice and I are making a list of all of the museums we want to go to, since most of them are free and we are on a very limited budget.

I'm not going to take my laptop with me, since I don't want to have to carry it everywhere and I'm kind of scared to leave it in the hostel. I'll take lots of pictures, and I'll try to update from the hostel computers. I'm so looking forward to this!