Tuesday, December 8, 2009

lucky london


we returned from the idyllic environs of the far west to the cold/rainy/grey and yet still homey environs of london for a few days. on the first night of our return, we incited a fight. we got dropped off at victoria station (central london) and had to board another bus to leo's (south london) to pick up our things which we then transported to the lovely far west side apartment of prem and danny (prem is a dear friend, that melissa made while in japan and danny is her beau. danny is also the first person i have ever met from perth, australia. lovelies, both. yes indeed. so incredibly generous).

(ten second timer!)


the long bus ride from victoria to leo's was made even longer because of traffic and the close confines of an overcrowded bus. at one stop, a mother got on with her pram (stroller) and seemed content to have it in the aisle. the next stop, though, the bus driver got out, walked around and told melissa and i to move our things so that the mother could put her pram and child in the designated (uknown to us then, quite known to us now) pram/handicapped people area that our bulbous satchels were occupying. with nowhere to move, i told the bus driver thus and he proceeded to tell us to exit the bus. having paid for said bus, i told him no and then a man behind me chimed in and stated (quite aggressively) that the bus driver should just get back to work and drive because "we are all tired and just want to get home." this then, put a woman to our left on the defence of the driver (because she is a driver) and soon enough people were cursing and belittling each other all around us, while we diligently constructed a totem pole of sorts with our belongings so that the mother and pram were able to move in safely to the disputed space that we had vacated with our rearrangement. we took to staring out the window as people exhausted their arguments around us and soon enough our bus resumed its course and we eventually made it to ealing (the far west).

london plus leisure time equals museums. this you should expect of us by now and most of the time in london between cornwall and our next destination was spent trolling about them.

(hockney tree)

(twins + twins + melissa)

(lanterns)

(me + box)

(leo, melissa, prem!)

before we left for cornwall, during our stay in cornwall and while we were in london after cornwall we were able to take part in bonfire night(s). along with treating us to many lovely feasts, attending museums with us and regaling us with stories of interest/humour/beauty the whole world over, prem and danny also walked us to perhaps the best night of celebration over the demise of guy fawkes (if only because they played queen during the finale).

this period of time also saw myself (thanks to the generosity of one nate rose) attending a chelsea vs. manchester united football match along with nate's lovely lady lindsey and her friend in town from austin.

(nate and i, PUMPED for the match)

(the beginning)

(the ending, chelsea won)


our lucky streak continued with the arrival/tavel overlap of the tempster and the tempsteress, who were passing through london on their way to the art world of northern mainland europe. they graciously treated us to a vegan feast and we in turn kept them up so as to keep them on schedule to outsmart jetlag. amazingly inspirational and insightful people.

(edward explains his recent finger explosion and subsequent healing)

(more ten second timing!)


(baby, its getting cold outside)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yay! [Real] football! Did I ever tell you guys that I'm completely obsessed with it? I was in Italy during the last World Cup and it was insane - after every game (even the beginning games) when Italy one, there would be parties in the streets until the sun came up - everyone, old and young, would be out celebrating! And unfortunately, I returned to Denver before the final game against France and thus held a World Cup party. But only 4 people were interested, and everyone there wanted Italy to win. So my friend's boyfriend *pretended* to cheer for France so we can have some pseudo tension and fighting!

(PS: Ted, if you guys come back to Chicago, let's go to Smart Bar on Division in Wicker Park - they're a soccer bar and they serve Poutine!)

Anonymous said...

*when Italy won, rather. Oi, grammar!