Buggered plans turn into OK day.
Another long one!
Hi all. 'Nother week, 'nother post. Since I had finally caught up on sleep and R&R from my travels to Amsterdam, I decided to make a say trip out to Canterbury last weekend. Right now I am pretty much stuck in England because of my invalid passport. Getting hard to cross borders with a passport that is destroyed =( Besides, I don't want to do any major travelling until it is warmer, and hopefully a bit sunnier. So for now I am limiting my self to day trips close to London. This weekend I intended to see the small town of Canterbury, home to what I hear are good museums, old abbeys and churches, and winding "Olde English" streets.
Friday night I went out with a friend from the States in Camden. After 20 minutes and a bit of confusion we finally met up and downed some pints at a few different pubs. Turns out we had both planned on going to Canterbury the next morning, but by different means. We decided to make it an early night and split around midnight. The next morning I woke up at 7am (I was actually serious about going!). Ate a quick breakfast and packed all my day tripping stuff. I got down to Charing Cross station and bought my ticket right at 9 o'clock. As I was looking at the schedule to see where my train was, I saw the display for my train flip over as the train pulled out of the platform. Bloody Hell! I knew that trains ran only once an hour, so I sat down and started reading a book. The next time Canterbury came up, it was for a 9:53 service where I had to switch at a station and take a special limited service coach transfer from there. I didn't really want to do that and thought there was another train going direct to Canterbury shortly afterwards. There wasn't. Turns out that there was engineering work taking place on the rails that went there. I blame myself and Southeast rail equally for sitting in a train station reading a book for an hour and a half. So after having missed two trains, I knew I wouldn't reach Canterbury til at least noon if I were lucky. That left me about 5 hours for sights and a lunch, and a walk around the city in the dark. I decided that it wasn't worth going out there for so short a day and went on my way home in disappointment.
I was sitting on the train when I heard the call for Central line transfers, which made me think of the Notting Hill Gate station, which made me think of Portabello Road market. I dashed off the train with a new, spontaneous set of plans. I walked from NHG station to Latimer Road station via Portabello Road. I actually had something in mind to buy for a change: a few candles for my room (it came with candle mounts on the wall). I didn't find any candles, not there at least. Instead I bought nutella crêpes, tupperware for leftovers, Yam Chaa green tea, and once I saw the organic patiserrie, I went nuts. A fresh loaf of Ciabatta, muffins and apple tarts are now stuffed into my food shelf.
After unloading my purchases at home, I set off for IKEA. I had never been before, and had a sort of dual purpose in mind for my visit. First, I still needed some candles, and a tea infuser for my new green tea. Second, I had in mind it would be like a museum trip, but on a sociological level: I wanted to see what IKEA had, and also wanted to see what it was like shopping at such a massive store. There are about 4 IKEAS serving 20 million people. It is statistically impossible to NOT be a zoo at this place.
To get to IKEA, I went two stops from my tube station, and walked for about 30 minutes through a rather derelict area of scrap metal recyclers, industrial plants and what had to be low income/council housing. Welcome to Neasden. The north circular road (think I-494/694) serves as an artificial barrier from this derliction and the new super shopping centres. I am not sure how it works in the states, or other IKEAs, but as you go in, you are supposed to take a big yellow shopping sack that seems closer to a fancy garbage bag. I didn't take one - I didn't need that many candles. I rebbernecked my way around the store for about a half hour and finally came across the kitchen and living sections. I found my infuser and a large pack of candles, contemplated buying a rug and some glasses (I guess this is why you are supposed to take a sack) and stood out of the way and watched people consume. It's quite rediculous if you just look at it as an outsider or observer. People buy and buy and accumulate their wares until they are satisfied or have no money. And because everything is produced in the People's Republic of China, you get a lot of "satisfaction" for your quid. I spent less than £5, but could have spent 10 times that. I understand now how this IKEA shopping can be quite addicting, but I don't quite understand how they manage to do it, or why it is psychologically. Bloody markerters! I timed my walk to the checkouts. For 13 minutes I followed a long stream of people through what had to be everyother dept in the store. I stood in queue for another 10, purchased my goods and emerged into a cafeteria where cheap hotdogs and teas and coffees were being sold. At this point I had had enough and frantically looked for an exit. It was quite dark and looked as though a storm was coming, so I decided to walk to the new Wembley Park.
Wembley is being reconstructed for the 2012 Olympics I think, and is sort of like the Metrodome of London, but a lot bigger and has a bit of goofy architecture to it and no canvassed roof. I can see the stadium from the hill in the park I live next to and it doesn't seem too far away. It also appeared close when I saw it from IKEA so I thought it wouldn't take long at all. After finally finding the proper road on which to get there, I had a direct view of it for the rest of my walk. I realised it was one of those buildings that never gets any closer no matter how far you go. 40 minutes later and having seen absolutely NO ONE (where in a city of 8 million can you walk for 40 minutes in one direction and not see anyone?!), walking through more derelict areas, I finally made it to the construction site boundaries. It looks most impressive and by my rough estimate put it at twice the size of the metrodome. But that could be because of the giant metal arch thingy that makes it look so huge. Anyways, I snapped a few pictures and went to find a bus that might put me relatively close to home.
What a day! I passed out on the couch once I got home. Most everyone wsa still out of town so I made a nice big dinner for myself, watched football and rugby and took it easy the rest of the night. Out too late and up to early for Friday-Saturday.
Sunday I made an early afternoon trip to the supermarket and got ready for Ultimate in Hyde Park. When I left my house the weather was fine. When I came out from underground at Knightsbridge it was pouring. Perfect for layouts =)
Sunday, muddy Sunday. (OK, that is probably inappropriate. Think N. Ireland conflict). A slew of people turned up for this week's pickup match. It was cold, blustery, rainy and windy. One of those days where points can last 20 minutes. It had been a few weeks since I last played so I had loads of fun! I came home completely drenched and muddy, had what was certainly the best shower I've had since being here and ate my leftovers. All my flatmates and Patrick were back by now and we watched a movie called "The Long Way Round." I highly recommend it! It is a documentary, but broken up into episodes, probably meant for a TV mini-series. Ewan McGregor of StarWars fame and his friend Charlie take two BMW GS1150 adventures and ride 20K miles in 115 days from London to New York via Eastern Europe, Mongolia, Siberia, Canada and the US. A third person, Claudio, rode along, though I hardly think you can call what he did riding. It was closer to falling, wrecking and delaying the trip, more than anything else. He was the camera man. If I ever have the financial/logistical resources to do something like this, I would do it in a hearbeat. This lead into discussions of possible future plans with Patrick to hire a couple of motorbikes and ride through Wales for a long weekend. Expensive, but potentially well worth it.
Well, not a bad turnout to my weekend. Back at work today and have plans made for midweek. More running and training before I probably end up getting pissed at the pub quiz night on Thursday.
Stay tuned!
Hi all. 'Nother week, 'nother post. Since I had finally caught up on sleep and R&R from my travels to Amsterdam, I decided to make a say trip out to Canterbury last weekend. Right now I am pretty much stuck in England because of my invalid passport. Getting hard to cross borders with a passport that is destroyed =( Besides, I don't want to do any major travelling until it is warmer, and hopefully a bit sunnier. So for now I am limiting my self to day trips close to London. This weekend I intended to see the small town of Canterbury, home to what I hear are good museums, old abbeys and churches, and winding "Olde English" streets.
Friday night I went out with a friend from the States in Camden. After 20 minutes and a bit of confusion we finally met up and downed some pints at a few different pubs. Turns out we had both planned on going to Canterbury the next morning, but by different means. We decided to make it an early night and split around midnight. The next morning I woke up at 7am (I was actually serious about going!). Ate a quick breakfast and packed all my day tripping stuff. I got down to Charing Cross station and bought my ticket right at 9 o'clock. As I was looking at the schedule to see where my train was, I saw the display for my train flip over as the train pulled out of the platform. Bloody Hell! I knew that trains ran only once an hour, so I sat down and started reading a book. The next time Canterbury came up, it was for a 9:53 service where I had to switch at a station and take a special limited service coach transfer from there. I didn't really want to do that and thought there was another train going direct to Canterbury shortly afterwards. There wasn't. Turns out that there was engineering work taking place on the rails that went there. I blame myself and Southeast rail equally for sitting in a train station reading a book for an hour and a half. So after having missed two trains, I knew I wouldn't reach Canterbury til at least noon if I were lucky. That left me about 5 hours for sights and a lunch, and a walk around the city in the dark. I decided that it wasn't worth going out there for so short a day and went on my way home in disappointment.
I was sitting on the train when I heard the call for Central line transfers, which made me think of the Notting Hill Gate station, which made me think of Portabello Road market. I dashed off the train with a new, spontaneous set of plans. I walked from NHG station to Latimer Road station via Portabello Road. I actually had something in mind to buy for a change: a few candles for my room (it came with candle mounts on the wall). I didn't find any candles, not there at least. Instead I bought nutella crêpes, tupperware for leftovers, Yam Chaa green tea, and once I saw the organic patiserrie, I went nuts. A fresh loaf of Ciabatta, muffins and apple tarts are now stuffed into my food shelf.
After unloading my purchases at home, I set off for IKEA. I had never been before, and had a sort of dual purpose in mind for my visit. First, I still needed some candles, and a tea infuser for my new green tea. Second, I had in mind it would be like a museum trip, but on a sociological level: I wanted to see what IKEA had, and also wanted to see what it was like shopping at such a massive store. There are about 4 IKEAS serving 20 million people. It is statistically impossible to NOT be a zoo at this place.
To get to IKEA, I went two stops from my tube station, and walked for about 30 minutes through a rather derelict area of scrap metal recyclers, industrial plants and what had to be low income/council housing. Welcome to Neasden. The north circular road (think I-494/694) serves as an artificial barrier from this derliction and the new super shopping centres. I am not sure how it works in the states, or other IKEAs, but as you go in, you are supposed to take a big yellow shopping sack that seems closer to a fancy garbage bag. I didn't take one - I didn't need that many candles. I rebbernecked my way around the store for about a half hour and finally came across the kitchen and living sections. I found my infuser and a large pack of candles, contemplated buying a rug and some glasses (I guess this is why you are supposed to take a sack) and stood out of the way and watched people consume. It's quite rediculous if you just look at it as an outsider or observer. People buy and buy and accumulate their wares until they are satisfied or have no money. And because everything is produced in the People's Republic of China, you get a lot of "satisfaction" for your quid. I spent less than £5, but could have spent 10 times that. I understand now how this IKEA shopping can be quite addicting, but I don't quite understand how they manage to do it, or why it is psychologically. Bloody markerters! I timed my walk to the checkouts. For 13 minutes I followed a long stream of people through what had to be everyother dept in the store. I stood in queue for another 10, purchased my goods and emerged into a cafeteria where cheap hotdogs and teas and coffees were being sold. At this point I had had enough and frantically looked for an exit. It was quite dark and looked as though a storm was coming, so I decided to walk to the new Wembley Park.
Wembley is being reconstructed for the 2012 Olympics I think, and is sort of like the Metrodome of London, but a lot bigger and has a bit of goofy architecture to it and no canvassed roof. I can see the stadium from the hill in the park I live next to and it doesn't seem too far away. It also appeared close when I saw it from IKEA so I thought it wouldn't take long at all. After finally finding the proper road on which to get there, I had a direct view of it for the rest of my walk. I realised it was one of those buildings that never gets any closer no matter how far you go. 40 minutes later and having seen absolutely NO ONE (where in a city of 8 million can you walk for 40 minutes in one direction and not see anyone?!), walking through more derelict areas, I finally made it to the construction site boundaries. It looks most impressive and by my rough estimate put it at twice the size of the metrodome. But that could be because of the giant metal arch thingy that makes it look so huge. Anyways, I snapped a few pictures and went to find a bus that might put me relatively close to home.
What a day! I passed out on the couch once I got home. Most everyone wsa still out of town so I made a nice big dinner for myself, watched football and rugby and took it easy the rest of the night. Out too late and up to early for Friday-Saturday.
Sunday I made an early afternoon trip to the supermarket and got ready for Ultimate in Hyde Park. When I left my house the weather was fine. When I came out from underground at Knightsbridge it was pouring. Perfect for layouts =)
Sunday, muddy Sunday. (OK, that is probably inappropriate. Think N. Ireland conflict). A slew of people turned up for this week's pickup match. It was cold, blustery, rainy and windy. One of those days where points can last 20 minutes. It had been a few weeks since I last played so I had loads of fun! I came home completely drenched and muddy, had what was certainly the best shower I've had since being here and ate my leftovers. All my flatmates and Patrick were back by now and we watched a movie called "The Long Way Round." I highly recommend it! It is a documentary, but broken up into episodes, probably meant for a TV mini-series. Ewan McGregor of StarWars fame and his friend Charlie take two BMW GS1150 adventures and ride 20K miles in 115 days from London to New York via Eastern Europe, Mongolia, Siberia, Canada and the US. A third person, Claudio, rode along, though I hardly think you can call what he did riding. It was closer to falling, wrecking and delaying the trip, more than anything else. He was the camera man. If I ever have the financial/logistical resources to do something like this, I would do it in a hearbeat. This lead into discussions of possible future plans with Patrick to hire a couple of motorbikes and ride through Wales for a long weekend. Expensive, but potentially well worth it.
Well, not a bad turnout to my weekend. Back at work today and have plans made for midweek. More running and training before I probably end up getting pissed at the pub quiz night on Thursday.
Stay tuned!
posted by Eric @ 20.2.06
1 Comments:
At 21 February, 2006 09:52,
makeisweet said…
What a life :)
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