The Batmobile is Totally Sweet

I spent the day in Camden Market with Michelle and her friend Kristen. Camden is an open air market that has been squeezed into a number of alleys. There are a few proper buildings with the market inside them, and then a bunch of little alleyways surrounding them with stalls all along it. Lots of goth/hippie/alternative stores, lots of Indian, import, whathaveyou stores. They have a great food court, with food of every country you can think of. I bought a didgeridoo for 5 pounds, which is a GREAT price. It will be very nice to have that outlet again. I’ve missed it. I really want to take it down to the Tube station and find a nice resonant corner of the halls. I had it with me coming home today, but there were other musicians there that I didn’t want to intrude upon.

That’s something I really dig about the Tube. They have specific places dedicated to musicians, and they have to be authorized. I don’t know how they sign up or what the qualifications are (skill certainly isn’t one of them). Half of them seem to just do it because they enjoy it. The money certainly isn’t the reason, as I don’t think I’ve seen one with more than ten quid in the hat in front of them. And that’s the really good ones.

After Camden Market we went to the London premier of Batman Begins. It was at the Odeon. The Odeon is kind of like Man’s Chinese in LA, only for London. We joined the throng of celebrity-worshippers fairly late, so we weren’t close enough to see anyone. Not that I really cared. I have never been one to think that celebrities are all that important, and certain family ties have only served to increase that apathy. I did get to see the new Batmobile drive by, and that was totally, totally sweet. We couldn’t get into see the movie or anything, of course, but it was fun to say I was there.

Let me take a moment to point out that that movie better be really fucking good. I expect nothing less than “Batman: The Apology.” After the tripe thrust upon us by every other Batman ever, this is their last chance. And yes, I include the first two Batman movies in that sentence. They weren’t awful, but I didn’t think Tim Burton did all that hot a job. It was really all about Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

Anyway.

I’ve been kind of boring lately. I don’t have a lot of money at the moment, and there are more trips coming up, so I’m trying to save a little. I’ve realized that a lot of my Canadian friends here will be leaving in a month and a half. It will be odd. There are still a few people I’ll have in town, but that puts a major dent in my social scene. I really need to make friends with more Londoners. It’s a little hard, though. I’ve never had to make friends in a big city before, and I don’t have an “in” with anyone. That’s why most of my friends here are Canadian: we all met through BUNAC. I need to come up with a brilliant plan to insert myself into some kind of “scene” here. Of course, I haven’t been here very long so I guess I shouldn’t worry about it too much. And my roommate Jeremy is a Londoner, so that’s a start. I just need to get him to let me tag along on a Friday night some time. We get along famously, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve tried to hang out with Jade a few times (he’s my local friend from College), but we haven’t had very compatible schedules.

I’m out of things to say again, and it’s time to go to bed. Back to work tomorrow. Yay.

The workload has been pretty light lately, but there will no doubt be a glut from the weekend waiting for us. Since we have been finishing early lately, they have moved us up to Retentions as well. Trying to convince people that they don’t want to cancel their service is less fun that it sounds. There is a sick part of me that enjoys it when someone wants to cancel but is still in contract. They get all pissy because they didn’t read our Terms and Conditions, and don’t want to pay the early cancellation fee. Or whatever. I’ve had some really angry emails, and I get to respond with “You should have read the T&C. Dumbass.”

You know how after you’ve waited tables you become the best resteraunt customer you can be? You stack you plates, you tip well, you try to help out. And then when the service is bad, you find it inexcusable. I’m that way with Customer Service now. If it’s bad, I just don’t have patience. And I’m really nice to whoever I have to talk to, because I know it isn’t their fault. Customer service is kind of a new concept her in the UK, so you don’t run into it very often. Odd.

Hmm. Guess I did have more to say. But now I’m really going to go to bed. No, really. I’m going, See? This is me walking away from the keyboard, brushing my teeth, and going to bed. So stop reading. There’s no more. Stop reading right now. (Haven’t we been through this before?)

I’ll be waking up just as y’all are going to bed, so I’ll send any sweet dreams I have your way. Hope you receive them in time.

Damn, I just typed “y’all.” I’m WAY too American sometimes. Meh.


Cheers.