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podlingSo already the details start to blur, like it was an event from the long ago
age of wonder. And it's been only a week plus two-ish since I've left.
So in a long-ago time and a not-so-far-away place I went to England to visit
friends (or freeload, you decide) and satisfy recent wanderlust cravings. I
went many places and did many things... hmmn. How to best sum up?
Well, firstly, almost every brit I met had some sort of issue with the fact
that I don't eat normal portion sizes, and that I'm not really that picky,
well, that's not true. It's just that I don't care all that much. Food is
food. Ever since I had no money a while back, I'm a lot more open to variety.
It took forever to get to JFK. This is half of the reason my roommate & I made
a pact never to fly out of there if given a choice again. The flight itself
was much like other flights, you go up, you come down. Okay, so I slept much
less than one would've thought on account of the super nintendo games. Upon
arrival, I was questioned by customs as to how I knew brits if I'd never been
there before. I was tempted to ask if this was a trick question, but
refrained, instead just looking at him strangely and saying that I met them in
the US (apparently brits travel for no apparent reason less often than
americans, who knew?).
Right, so eventually Richard showed up and we traveled upward to where he
lives. It was a long drive, but I really don't recall it taking that long. Of
course, my internal clock was probably some shade of not correct. And I'm sure
I babbled for most of it, so it likely seemed much longer to Richard.
So I stayed with Richard for several days (hi! btw) and we did many things.
Not that! Perverts... can't escape the peanut gallery here. Anyway, we went
to a cool mine (I also bought a fabulous ring in that area), the royal armoury,
York (funny postcard thing here), several movies, and umm, other places too,
including castle type formations. And I avoided hiking in the countryside,
that whole 5000 pound fine was a bit steep for me. Richard tried to impart
lasting impressions of England on me, things like castles, battles, and
domino's pizza. It was funny, it really reminded me of New England, or rather,
New England is in some ways similar to England. Oh, and Richard was asking for
it when the phone totally accidentally fell on him. He and his friend were
attacking me, I swear! Eventually I had to leave, if only to escape without
being prosecuted for the whole phone thing. This is where the weird,
almost-constant travel begins.
So on to British Rail, which is fairly easy to navigate. It was also more
roomy than the trains of the evil empire (Amtrak). Luckily all my trains were
late for approximately the same length of time, so I ended up in Brighton well
before anyone expected, where I met Gill & Allan. They were easy to find, and
not just because they're tall. We actually planned where to meet and sort of
described each other (which is not always a given for various housers, you know
who you are!). It was determined that I am still the Snow Queen, and we all
wandered for part of the afternoon, Gill took me to the tackiest palace-type
structure I've ever seen (with fabulous decor!) then I found a place to crash.
And the guy at the B&B gave me the evil eye, like he couldn't believe anyone
would be dumb enough to go outside 3 times in one night. I had much fun with
Gill & Allan, boring them with stories of corporate culture, and the freakiness
therein, even if I was compared to a small creature (thank you to Rick, for
resubbing me when I became a topic!) and didn't get to spend much time there.
Oh well, next time, I suppose. In fact, that was a familiar refrain for me, I
didn't get to spend enough time anywhere! Half a day in Brighton, the Isle of
Wight, and London really wasn't enough to see much.
Next day, caught a train to Portsmouth and the ferry to the I.O.W. Again, it
was remarked upon how fast exactly that happened. Maybe I actually have the
opposite effect in other countries, making trains run near on-time instead of
hours off. Hmmn. Thought to ponder. Anyway, it was on the boat that I
realized I'd traveled by bus, plane, car, train, and boat. I was impressed. I
was feeling a bit edgy on the ferry, wondering how great of an idea this
actually was, after all it'd been six years since I'd seen my friend, our lives
had changed in vastly different ways, for instance, I've never been married, in
fact, my longest running relationship was approximately a month, and it wasn't
a good one. So anyway... Alan was waiting for me and we had a blast. We saw a
bit of the Isle, hung out with several of his friends, and I don't think I've
laughed that hard in years. He and his friend started planning a trip to the
U.S. to visit me, so they can pick up american girls who'll go mushy on hearing
their accents. I'm not kidding. So eventually, me and these two guys may end
up at Universal Islands of Adventure, be on the lookout! Again, I felt I
hadn't quite planned enough time to hang out at the I.O.W., but had to move on.
Okay, this is getting long, I'll try to be less verbose here.
Another ferry, and I'm at Ian's, where I planned to mooch off him for a few
days. We chatted, watched Jaws 3 (heh), and stuff. Stuff including trying to
figure out how to find a Zorb place. Next day, my friend Andrew picked me up
to go to Legoland. And I don't care how lame you all think it is, I had fun!
But then, I like legos. The truth is, I'd considered going to the one in CA,
but it seemed like a bad reason for a whole trip, but it did seem like
something fun to include in this one. Andrew and I had never met before, but
it really felt like we'd hung out every day of our lives together, so that was
pretty damn cool. There weren't that many kids there that day, it being
off-season, so we had the run of rides, jungles gym things, and video games.
Heh.
Back to Ian's, then off to Glastonbury the next day. It was really cool there,
and I can completely understand why Ian brings people there. I would do the
same. And there was much to see and many cool stores there too. That thing
about "vaulting the choir" was odd, you have to admit. Whenever I mention it,
my friends all have the same thought I did, so it wasn't just me. Oh, and the
other comment I made was actually "the arch of the covenant" (little Indiana
Jones moment there) and something about arches to nowhere. I took many
artistic photos there, which I have yet to develop. Eventually we came back
and I watched my cds that had been delivered to Richard's house way back when,
and I was very happy with that whole scene.
Next day to London, which I think Ellen &/or Ian mentioned already. I'll just
say a few things. One is that I finally have the complete works of Michael
Marshall Smith, as well as the cd I was looking for. (Aside to Adam here, did
you read the short story one? I'm halfway through it, it totally kicks ass!)
The other thing is a memorable quote, or conversation frament, really. Ellen
said something like, "Let's go up that way, do the virgin, then get something
to eat." Ian readily agreed, and off we went. Ahem, figured you'd all enjoy
that one.
I'm compressing the rest of the time there, you've heard part of it. Got to
see, and sleep at, Ellen's dorm at TASIS. I eventually went home, sadly
leaving Ellen & Ian at Heathrow. Another plane ride, up, super nintendo, down.
Took me forever to get my luggage, after being one of the first people off the
plane. The customs guy asked if I'd been horseback riding or golfing. I
looked at him, said, "Golfing?" in a slightly incredulous tone, and he said,
"You know, golfing." I said no, of course, and he said, quite joyously, in
fact, "Welcome home!" It was surreal. Cara was waiting, and glad to see I
wasn't lost in JFK, because she'd been late getting there as it had taken her 3
hours to get there. This is the other half of why we made the pact. On the
way home, which took us much less than 3 hours, strangely, we discussed the
need to move, how she missed my sarcasm, how I'd actually heard someone call
out the name Nigel, and how we now had the books and cds I wanted.
To end, let me say that I had fun with everyone I hung out with, housers and
others alike. It was a great time, relaxing for the most part, and a good
running away from life experience. I must do this more often. The only
downside was that my one friend didn't move to London until 3 days after I'd
left. He claims he'll import me one day though. So, hi to everyone, miss you
all already! Hope I see you again.
So that's it, in a rather large nutshell. Hope you all enjoyed it, almost like
you were living vicariously through me, or watching the world through my oddly
skewed perspective. Questions, comments? Umm, make them all you want, I
suppose... :)
~Andrea
=====
"He had a weird voice. Not angelic host weird, I mean, there was no shattered
glass or burst eardrums, but it was weird all the same."
age of wonder. And it's been only a week plus two-ish since I've left.
So in a long-ago time and a not-so-far-away place I went to England to visit
friends (or freeload, you decide) and satisfy recent wanderlust cravings. I
went many places and did many things... hmmn. How to best sum up?
Well, firstly, almost every brit I met had some sort of issue with the fact
that I don't eat normal portion sizes, and that I'm not really that picky,
well, that's not true. It's just that I don't care all that much. Food is
food. Ever since I had no money a while back, I'm a lot more open to variety.
It took forever to get to JFK. This is half of the reason my roommate & I made
a pact never to fly out of there if given a choice again. The flight itself
was much like other flights, you go up, you come down. Okay, so I slept much
less than one would've thought on account of the super nintendo games. Upon
arrival, I was questioned by customs as to how I knew brits if I'd never been
there before. I was tempted to ask if this was a trick question, but
refrained, instead just looking at him strangely and saying that I met them in
the US (apparently brits travel for no apparent reason less often than
americans, who knew?).
Right, so eventually Richard showed up and we traveled upward to where he
lives. It was a long drive, but I really don't recall it taking that long. Of
course, my internal clock was probably some shade of not correct. And I'm sure
I babbled for most of it, so it likely seemed much longer to Richard.
So I stayed with Richard for several days (hi! btw) and we did many things.
Not that! Perverts... can't escape the peanut gallery here. Anyway, we went
to a cool mine (I also bought a fabulous ring in that area), the royal armoury,
York (funny postcard thing here), several movies, and umm, other places too,
including castle type formations. And I avoided hiking in the countryside,
that whole 5000 pound fine was a bit steep for me. Richard tried to impart
lasting impressions of England on me, things like castles, battles, and
domino's pizza. It was funny, it really reminded me of New England, or rather,
New England is in some ways similar to England. Oh, and Richard was asking for
it when the phone totally accidentally fell on him. He and his friend were
attacking me, I swear! Eventually I had to leave, if only to escape without
being prosecuted for the whole phone thing. This is where the weird,
almost-constant travel begins.
So on to British Rail, which is fairly easy to navigate. It was also more
roomy than the trains of the evil empire (Amtrak). Luckily all my trains were
late for approximately the same length of time, so I ended up in Brighton well
before anyone expected, where I met Gill & Allan. They were easy to find, and
not just because they're tall. We actually planned where to meet and sort of
described each other (which is not always a given for various housers, you know
who you are!). It was determined that I am still the Snow Queen, and we all
wandered for part of the afternoon, Gill took me to the tackiest palace-type
structure I've ever seen (with fabulous decor!) then I found a place to crash.
And the guy at the B&B gave me the evil eye, like he couldn't believe anyone
would be dumb enough to go outside 3 times in one night. I had much fun with
Gill & Allan, boring them with stories of corporate culture, and the freakiness
therein, even if I was compared to a small creature (thank you to Rick, for
resubbing me when I became a topic!) and didn't get to spend much time there.
Oh well, next time, I suppose. In fact, that was a familiar refrain for me, I
didn't get to spend enough time anywhere! Half a day in Brighton, the Isle of
Wight, and London really wasn't enough to see much.
Next day, caught a train to Portsmouth and the ferry to the I.O.W. Again, it
was remarked upon how fast exactly that happened. Maybe I actually have the
opposite effect in other countries, making trains run near on-time instead of
hours off. Hmmn. Thought to ponder. Anyway, it was on the boat that I
realized I'd traveled by bus, plane, car, train, and boat. I was impressed. I
was feeling a bit edgy on the ferry, wondering how great of an idea this
actually was, after all it'd been six years since I'd seen my friend, our lives
had changed in vastly different ways, for instance, I've never been married, in
fact, my longest running relationship was approximately a month, and it wasn't
a good one. So anyway... Alan was waiting for me and we had a blast. We saw a
bit of the Isle, hung out with several of his friends, and I don't think I've
laughed that hard in years. He and his friend started planning a trip to the
U.S. to visit me, so they can pick up american girls who'll go mushy on hearing
their accents. I'm not kidding. So eventually, me and these two guys may end
up at Universal Islands of Adventure, be on the lookout! Again, I felt I
hadn't quite planned enough time to hang out at the I.O.W., but had to move on.
Okay, this is getting long, I'll try to be less verbose here.
Another ferry, and I'm at Ian's, where I planned to mooch off him for a few
days. We chatted, watched Jaws 3 (heh), and stuff. Stuff including trying to
figure out how to find a Zorb place. Next day, my friend Andrew picked me up
to go to Legoland. And I don't care how lame you all think it is, I had fun!
But then, I like legos. The truth is, I'd considered going to the one in CA,
but it seemed like a bad reason for a whole trip, but it did seem like
something fun to include in this one. Andrew and I had never met before, but
it really felt like we'd hung out every day of our lives together, so that was
pretty damn cool. There weren't that many kids there that day, it being
off-season, so we had the run of rides, jungles gym things, and video games.
Heh.
Back to Ian's, then off to Glastonbury the next day. It was really cool there,
and I can completely understand why Ian brings people there. I would do the
same. And there was much to see and many cool stores there too. That thing
about "vaulting the choir" was odd, you have to admit. Whenever I mention it,
my friends all have the same thought I did, so it wasn't just me. Oh, and the
other comment I made was actually "the arch of the covenant" (little Indiana
Jones moment there) and something about arches to nowhere. I took many
artistic photos there, which I have yet to develop. Eventually we came back
and I watched my cds that had been delivered to Richard's house way back when,
and I was very happy with that whole scene.
Next day to London, which I think Ellen &/or Ian mentioned already. I'll just
say a few things. One is that I finally have the complete works of Michael
Marshall Smith, as well as the cd I was looking for. (Aside to Adam here, did
you read the short story one? I'm halfway through it, it totally kicks ass!)
The other thing is a memorable quote, or conversation frament, really. Ellen
said something like, "Let's go up that way, do the virgin, then get something
to eat." Ian readily agreed, and off we went. Ahem, figured you'd all enjoy
that one.
I'm compressing the rest of the time there, you've heard part of it. Got to
see, and sleep at, Ellen's dorm at TASIS. I eventually went home, sadly
leaving Ellen & Ian at Heathrow. Another plane ride, up, super nintendo, down.
Took me forever to get my luggage, after being one of the first people off the
plane. The customs guy asked if I'd been horseback riding or golfing. I
looked at him, said, "Golfing?" in a slightly incredulous tone, and he said,
"You know, golfing." I said no, of course, and he said, quite joyously, in
fact, "Welcome home!" It was surreal. Cara was waiting, and glad to see I
wasn't lost in JFK, because she'd been late getting there as it had taken her 3
hours to get there. This is the other half of why we made the pact. On the
way home, which took us much less than 3 hours, strangely, we discussed the
need to move, how she missed my sarcasm, how I'd actually heard someone call
out the name Nigel, and how we now had the books and cds I wanted.
To end, let me say that I had fun with everyone I hung out with, housers and
others alike. It was a great time, relaxing for the most part, and a good
running away from life experience. I must do this more often. The only
downside was that my one friend didn't move to London until 3 days after I'd
left. He claims he'll import me one day though. So, hi to everyone, miss you
all already! Hope I see you again.
So that's it, in a rather large nutshell. Hope you all enjoyed it, almost like
you were living vicariously through me, or watching the world through my oddly
skewed perspective. Questions, comments? Umm, make them all you want, I
suppose... :)
~Andrea
=====
"He had a weird voice. Not angelic host weird, I mean, there was no shattered
glass or burst eardrums, but it was weird all the same."
