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Day two started with a continental breakfast and I swear that there's been swaths of my life in which I had regular breakfasts (as opposed to erratic eating), but less full than this.  Then again, this would be times in which a bag of popcorn and a glass of milk qualify as breakfast. 

I attempted to take a co-worker's advice of going to your embassy to leave an itinerary, even though she admitted that it's more useful for politically unstable countries.  See me get lost several times and say to myself, fuck it, Great Britain isn't going to fall apart while I'm here when it's nearing or is midday and it's the only embassy in the neighborhood with people queuing at it.  Also the only embassy I saw guards on duty. 

So back to getting lost and doing so on my way to Trafalgar Square to meet LJ blonde_in_black on the steps of the National GalleryDespite being unable to dial her mobile fast enough from a pay phone to tell her I'm on my way, we do meet-up.

We decide to get a cup of coffee after introductions at a place called Bagels and Baguettes since I wanted to avoid traveling to Britain only to get Starbucks.  I was describing Dunkin Donuts to her right before and someday I should send her a package of it for her to try.  We went to Leicester Square for lunch and she taught me how to order from pubs. 

Sausage and mash was ok and she told me the only way you could get more British would be fish and chips.  Since I don't like fish, I wouldn't be having that all trip long. 

She commented that Britain must seem smaller than the US.  I told her that since I'm usually in one area, most of the time I don't get to actually see it.  Inwardly I noted to ask my boyfriend which country he stood on a mountain at one end and could see the other end.  blonde_in_black, Aruba is a small country.  When walking to the Tube, I told her I wish I had a traveler kid to set on her since they're a set that has seen most of the country and could better comment on all the regional differences. 

So I went to visit reddragdiva on his lunch hour. 

He was right in that I would probably spot him first when I was getting-off at the White City stop and bought me a Starbucks coffee with his, mighty British pound against my puny American dollar, as he put it.  Any other options for drink on grounds weren't very interesting. 

The previous night he was telling me about the ugliness of the BBC building.  He needs to google image search Boston City Hall. 

I was joking that even the pigeons have cultural differences since I normally don't see pigeons sitting on the ground like this one bird, but he told me that they're deformed from the pollution and that's why it was acting like that.  A male pigeon started to try to get her positive affect and he gave anthropomorphic commentary that got labeled as Australian mating rituals.  Told him someone should film the deformed pigeons mating and sell it as deformed pigeon porn.  "There's something wrong with you," from him got a "Thank-you," from me. 

Got his directions of how to get to Camden and got told to behold all the shops that look all the same and shut-down at 6 and the most bored-sounding drug dealers in the world asking, do you want to buy some skunk?, in a job even the devil would hate. 

At Camden Town, the first words I heard was a dealer saying to someone else, do you want to buy some smokes? in the most disaffected voice ever. 

From an issue of Razorcake when I was in the states, I wrote down the address and hours of All Ages Records and proceeded in what was the wrong direction (self-described, London's only punk and hardcore store.)  Passing-by the hippy-looking teens and twenty-somethings in front of a closed store was when I thought that this is probably the equivalent of Harvard Square and Britain's version of traveling kids. 

After getting directions from a punk holding-up an advertising sign, I finally went the right-way.  They definitely do specialize in CDs and vinyl of what they say and if I was in the area longer, I'd take a closer look at event flyers. 

So I returned what was originally the wrong direction and the background yells of a random preacher to look at least at the store fronts as I was going through the shock of the sheer mass of it all.  There's a shop whose basement is all Gothic/Industrial/Synthpop music that I need to return to.  Took a quick look in a shop labeled New Rock and enjoyed the scent of leather jackets, but I was definitely followed by the employee on duty.  Not returning there. 

Finally wandered into the stalls and the sheer shock was amped besides reddragdiva's words since a part of me is frustrated over how much clothing to non-clothing stores there are.  At least I'll have Resurrection Records to wander back to someday. 

After getting mixed Chinese food, small, for 2 quid and a Coke for 1 (<3 real sugar soda), the stalls were around closing time.  Middle Eastern (?) guy at the stall selling stones got into a conversation with me.  He says he's never heard of Boston, US.  Inwardly I twitched since it should at least be known for Logan International and 9/11.  Told him Oklahoma (where his brother lives) is about half of the country away.  I accepted writing down his e-mail, but I've lost it. 

A black guy comes up and gets into conversation who introduces himself as BooBoo.  I gave him my e-mail, but haven't heard from him since.  He and the other guy definitely knows each other and exchanges a quick thought in German (?.) 

Random wandering around means I get a litre of Sainsbury's tropical juice to drink and walked into a Zavvi's.  Since, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, has been updated since I last read chunks of it, I buy a copy (5 quid I believe.) 

Time to retire in my hotel room. 
---
Persepolis (English language version) was actually advertised at several tube stations with a slogan about, family, revolution, punk rock, all part of growing-up versus the zero ads I've seen here. 

Jack Daniel's was the other tube ads I saw quite a bit of. 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Boston_City_Hall.JPG

Date: 2008-05-28 08:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pope-ant.livejournal.com
Boston City Hall looks like it was heavily influenced by Thunderbirds and Lego.

she taught me how to order from pubs
I'm confused - surely you just walk to the bar and tell them what you want? - perhaps this is just my British conditioning :-).

Date: 2008-05-30 12:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tenshikurai9.livejournal.com
Yes it is your British conditioning. We're used to having a waiter or waitress come-up to us if we're sitting at a table and I wouldn't say anything here would cue us to different behaviour if we've never been to a pub before.

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