My Best Friend in London

I know, I'm lame but you wouldn't believe it. Have I always been so spoiled? Honestly, how does the cliche go, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone?" Well amen. This little fellow, whom you see as just a humble, boring, simple coffee mug, *as I anticipate many of you feel this way about me* is so much more. This guy acts as my water glass, potato chip bowl, soup bowl, and wine glass. Yes, he is a well traveled, talented, multiculturalist. He adapts and does each job well enough to get by *as I anticipate many of you feel this way about me.* I was planning on throwing him out so I didn't have to pack him, but if you can't tell by my picture taking, paint touch-ups, and babbling in this blog, I have grown quite fond of him. Name suggestions anyone? Again, there is not much to report. I kind of took it easy this weekend. I finished off Of Mice and Men, started Farewell to Arms, went through a list of things I had to do while here, did some work for the Pillar and am know enjoying a sub-par glass of Shiraz. But hey, it's not because of the glass. I planned on going to the Sigmund Freud Museum today but, being Sunday, the hours were limited and it's a 40 minute train ride. Until next time, I promise something more exciting will happen. Cheers.

All's Quiet on the London Front



View of Big Ben from South Bank and Westminster

Nothing much has happened since I last updated. Yesterday I caught up on some sleep, did some reading and relaxed. Today I had breakfast, was going to take a nap and decided to grocery shopping instead. *Yay* I'm back now and am going to heat up the two little pizzas I got from the store and have some lunch. I don't know what I am planning on doing later either. I will just wait to see what happens. What I do know is that the European men I see could not possibly get any tighter pants on. I mean really, I want to stop and ask them if everything still works. It's even the older men too, god bless them. You would think by this point in their lives they would want to be comfortable. Hmmm. I know that the only way I could get into pants that tight is if they were jeggings. Thursday night a bunch of us went out. We went to dinner, took the subway over to the Southbank, which is beautiful, took a double-decker bus back to our side of town, went to a pub, ran into more people in our program and headed to a club in Soho. Then we came home. All in all, a pretty good day. It was interesting to think that that was the first time I ever went out with Australians, Canadians, Americans and British people all in one swoop. Fun stuff. On a side note, back to grocery shopping, why does every country feel they need to divulge from the perfectly adept potato chip flavor market we have established. I saw prawn cocktail flavored 'crisps' in the store. Come on, prawn cocktail. Get it together will ya.

*Update I'm Alive

I made it through the protest. The picture above is of the small section the cops had blocked off as can be seen from my other pictures. (I got closer than I remember.) It was pretty wild. Evidently it was for public service workers however, the tube(subway) was still running. Squibs I suspect. I guess these protests can get pretty dangerous from what is referred to as gate-crashers, people who just go around to incite a riot. Wild. On a side note, the British police cars all have the American sirens. I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping to hear the funny sounding ones. Cheers.

Annoyance So Far...

This is my biggest qualm with Canada and England. I HATE the Canadian dollar or pound coins. The picture above is 8 pounds and 5 pence and it is ridiculous. If you go out and do some shopping, maybe a coffee and croissant in the morning and two beers on your way home from class, you sound like your wearing a cow bell when your walking. Ridiculous I say. I miss the feeling of disgust us Americans feel when we are handed an American dollar coin. That oh so familiar phrase that sounds of in your mind that says "where can I use this?" The American dollar coin doesn't feel like money. We, or I for that matter, always feel as though this is some special coin not to be spent. Here, or in Toronto, by the end of the day, have more money in change in your pocket, than bills in your wallet. I am starting a holding a vote  here with my 21 friends(followers) and want to know, "should we ban all coins worth the equivalent of one dollar, one Canadian dollar, one Pound, or one whatever cookey currency there is in the world?" Vote no or yes (you better vote yes or I will block you from my blog, or will I, probably not but maybe) in the comment section under this post. Cheers, until next time...

Here's the Email I Just Got.

Google Photo of Trafalgar Square

I have ten minutes until class is over and just got this email.

Dear All,

Marches and demonstrations are now in full swing.  Main protest is in Whitehall and Parliament Square (approx 12,000). Breakaway demonstrations are taking place in Trafalgar Square (600) Police have evoked local powers to stop and search which tends to suggest some trouble is expected.

Steve

I go to class in Trafalgar Square. Uh-oh. Should I take pictures of the protesters or put my head down and get out of here? I'm pretty sure you all know the answer to that. Until next time... if there is a next time... muah-muah-muahhhhhh....

Class Today

On our walk today, Ahmed and I came across the British phone booth. Naturally, we had to get pictures of ourselves in it. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for today but I will definitely let you know.

Long Shots Do Pay-Off

Center Court

Un-freaking-believable!!!! I don't know what to say. (Wait, yeah I do.) We made it into Wimbledon. From what I heard it was a pretty wild feat considering who was playing today. Being the quarterfinal, the top four tennis players in the world were up today. Rafeal Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray. I know of Nadal and Federer. That is the extent of my knowledge of tennis, but this place was surreal. We took the forty minute train ride, arrived their at 8am and waited in the queue (line). *not sure why they didn't just say that* I was number 3,513. However, after standing around for 3 & 1/2 hours our line began moving. The doors to let us in opened an hour earlier. After much reassurance that we would get in, I was still extremely skeptical. We walked in line for about 40 minutes before reaching the ticket gate.

Que, there are five of these lines!!!

In all, I think it would be an understatement that the line was two miles long. Wimbledon, which I was unaware of, is a town just outside of London, that for all intent and purposes, is this event. The complex is massive and acts as a tennis club, restaurants, event center, golf course, you name it. It was described to me by our British 'tour guide' as "very posh." Ya think? He said that it costs tens of thousands of pounds a year to be a member, and you don't even get a ticket to this event. Curiosity struck me when I first learned of the possibility of going, so I checked the website. Tickets are thousands of pounds. No way did I think we were getting in for 17 quid. No way. But we did and it was astounding. There are two major courts, center court with the square stands and court one with the round. Nadal played in court one and Federer in center court.



Screen

On the back side of center court is an enormous screen where people can watch the match of the day on a hill.

When I saw it, I thought of a movie theater at Pine Knob. In all, there is approximately 15 courts at Wimbledon. Because the tickets are thousands of pounds to get into the big matches, we went to one of the smaller courts.

 We watched a men's doubles match which was pretty entertaining. *I'm not sure I would watch it on t.v., but entertaining in person.*

Roger Federer

 We did however get to sneak into center court and get pictures of the Federer match. It was insane in there.



Rafael Nadal

Also, we did get to see Nadal warm-up on a small court which was really cool. I was about 30 feet from him and let me tell you, the chicks love this guy. For a minute I thought I was at a rock concert. The "I love you Rafael's" coming from the girls and the "Please stop pushing's" from the security guards was surreal. Who'd a thunk, a tennis player? I took some video of his warm-up.

In all, the whole experience was amazing. From the crowd to the size to the sounds and sights, was just astonishing. Looking back at it now, I still can't believe I was there. I never in my life thought or said to myself, "man I want to go to Wimbledon" but know I think and will say "man I want to go BACK to Wimbledon."

Center Court Judges Chair

Enjoy the pictures of Wimbledon through Flikr by clicking on the photo gadget under the about me section. Until next time...