A Little More London Time

We arrived back in London just in time to catch Sir N. Warkentin passing through on business.


(tuff plaidz)

And Sir W. had the good fortune of arriving just in time join us and Lindsey in being served an amazing vegan feast, courtesy of our New Zealander and Québécois friends.

Warm hearted and full bellied, we went back to Rose's with our very own jar of authentic Marmite.
(thank you guys! youre the best).

The following day, our perfect timing continued to tic, and we met up with Sir Su and Lady Jessica.


(friends! so many friends!)

Jessica was in town from Switzerland to check out some graduate schools.
We hope she finds the perfect fit.

Mid Land

when i first ventured across the pond some three years ago, my mom alterted me to the fact that in the middle of england there resides very distant relatives of ours and that i should try and contact them. contact them i did, and the time spent with them (called sue and arthur from here on out) back then was incredible. adding in the years and correspondence between then and now, they have become less distant and more like family in the truest sense.

the day after our night with the temptsters, we boarded yet another bus (buses being the cheapest transports around for those whose planning doesnt reach beyond a few days), this time to the middle of england to see the relatives. the bus ride and wait thereafter saw the most heavy and prolonged rain storm we bore witness to while in england. somehow, they found us amidst this storm, the secretly re-located bus stop (truly, it had moved so recently that there were no signs pointing drivers to it, anywhere along the inbound routes to it) and bad senses of direction all around. the lovatts (s & a) have purchased a newer/fancier VW camper van since the last time i saw them and they treated us to picnic of sorts in it while we waited out the traffic that stalled them for a good few hours on the way down to pick us up. eventually we made the way up to nuneaton, the town of residence of said lovatts. the first day in nuneaton, we travelled to the warwick castle and learned all about warwickshire, the war of the roses, the torture techniques of medieval times, how to trap eels, medieval machinery.

(castle, sue & arthur and melissa. i lovatt!)

(busted!)

(arthur flanked by st. george's cross)

(shootin the townspeople)

(huggy)

(kill!)

we then drove to conventry to see the ruins and renewal of their cathedral.
the next day held the black country living museum. one of the best museums we went to, hands down. the black country is in the midlands, but the exact boundaries are quite loose. it served as the industrial (specifically mining) headquarters of england for many years. coal mining, steel mills and iron foundaries grew in size and prominence as the years went by, thus producing an atmosphere blackened with that mining and milling and refining and a landscape gouged, stripped and devoid of any of the natural beauty of the midlands that we were able see while taking in that history. the living museum is comprised of buildings from the golden (or greyish-black) era of the black country mining times, tore down and rebuilt brick by brick on a few acres in what used to be a train yard.
(coal mines)


(candy presses)

there was also a boat ride through the old limestone tunnels.

(warp speed)

(opening, then more tunnels)

(legging the crap out of those tunnels)

(the stranger ive locked necks with was probably bummed on my odour)

(slade is from the black country)

along with the eden project, this museum served to impress the importance and beauty of preservation, reclamation and history while also reminding us of the ugliness of history and the cost industrialization can incur on landscape, people and communities. after the lessons of the black country, we picniced in the camper van until we got kicked out of the parking lot and then we retired for a lovely vegetarian feast.

(so long, farewell)

another bus to victoria station and we had just over forty eight hours in London before boarding a plane to the continent.

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)

Three Notes

on a happy note, today marks the birthday of tom waits. on a sad (very sad) note, i recently learned that pelt guitarist/solo acoustic/old timey raga extraordinaire has passed away today. he was only 38. last year, i got to see him in chicago and it was a very soothing/engaging expeience, indeed.

and one more note to remind you, go here.

The West

breaking through the outer membrane of the city via bus once again, we were eventually placed back into london for a few days surrounding halloween. ushering in november, with the days getting shorter and shorter, we browsed even more museums (national portrait gallery. what a hefty endeavor. among other things, in that gallery is housed an incredible history of this little island, via portraits of its kings/queens/important religous people and its all for free. why is this so novel?..), but the most prominent memory from this point in time comes in the form of a film. on halloween, melissa and i watched a pirated version of lars von triers new work on a laptop screen. it left melissa speechless for a good ten to fifteen minutes afterword...misogynist? egoist? a whole slew of bad words? genius? im not sure what to think anymore. i just want to watch breaking the waves again...thanks to missing ireland (as has been said), we made our way to brighton. because of brighton, we were then lead to the far, indeed, the very end of the south west of england. cornwall is a magical land of palm trees and moderate climate...in england. the bus ride out was quite grueling and left us in penzance a good ten minutes too late to catch the bus out to st. just, where our couchsurfing host resides. due to the fact that cornwall serves mainly as a summer time attraction, visiting at the beginning of november does not bode well for trying to navigate the peninsula via public transport. waiting a good two hours for the next bus, we found some curry (which i proceeded to partially spill onto my crotch) and sat by the ocean. we found our way to st. just and settled in nicely.
(curry crotch and achy bus sleep)

the next day held exploring lands end minus the tourists (due to the gale force winds and rain, that eventually gave way to epic clouds and little snippets/blessings of sunshine among the sheer cliffs and craggy outcroppings).




(crush you! little house)

riding buses among the extremely tiny lanes of this extremity of england (it was incredible watching the double decker buses navigate within inches of buildings/other cars, continuing unscathed), making our way down the coast to the glorious confines of the minack theatre.




(Rowena Cade, the BA creator of the minack)

enjoying the end of the island to its fullest, we soon found our way a bit east to falmouth, into the home of more loving couchsurfing friends. welcoming us with open arms, our hosts (ingo and sharmilla) also presented us with a large home made indian feast the first night (along with various meads and ciders of the land, also sharing delicousness the rest of the time spent with them, morning and night). they also shared (seemingly) bottomless kindness and knowledge of their adopted portion of england with us.
(melissa, myself, blade of bourboun, sharmilla holding ingo).

the day(s. i hesitate calling it days because time wise it wasnt much more than one, maybe one and a half, but emotion/knowledge/amazing-wise, the time spent in falmouth could have been weeks. months even) we spent held the eden project and st. just and at least one pasty a day. actually, the whole time in cornwall, we consumed one of these tasties a day (and most places had vegan ones too!)
(tasty pasty)

(eden project!)

(me learning about the central valley. poor immigrant labour!)

having a good month or so between then and now, it seems that cornwall has had the most impact on us both. not really sure what to attribute that to, just the overall experience of the environment and people and history of this small jetty into the atlantic ocean has rooted itself deeply into our memories as an amazing/inspirational/beautiful/extremely positive place. thanks to missing out on ireland we've now covered the south and far west of england. stay tuned to see where else this lead us...