I have now been in London one month...
June 1, 2005
11:00ish
This place is festooned with cats. Not inside, thankfully, but the backyard. My wonderful landlady live directly next door, and I share a backyard with her. She “rescues” cats, and there are a good dozen or so adopted wildchildren roaming the place. It is quite a thing to sit on your second story windowsill on a warm London evening, framed by a light fuscia sunset off to the left, and have a staredown with a cat. The solid white one seems to be a bit above the scrappy, territorial cats on the ground engage in. It keeps to the rooftops and fences, which are thick and abound. Urban nature is of a kind I have never experienced before. There are mourning doves everywhere, along with songbirds of varying talent.
My traveling roommate is going back to Pakistan. (He works for a company that sent him here to set something up or something. I asked but I don’t remember. Nice guy.) That means I get his much bigger room. I haven’t looked inside yet, but it’s big enough to raise the rent by 10 pounds. Which is fine by me. That’s still hella cheap rent. The other place is supposed to let me know tomorrow, I think. They were gong to see their last people today and make a decision by tomorrow. The place is quite a bit smaller than here, but I remember it being much nicer. The view is certainly a downgrade, from garden to large street. But they have a drier, too. Drying clothing on an outdoor line is impossible nearly as often as it is possible in London. And I would be much closer to everything and everyone. It would make buying a bicycle a very real idea. That would be a great way to get to know this city. The Internet tells me London is actually rated really highly as a bikeable city. You just have to know all the correct routes and shortcut, etc.
Listening to Smoking Bill. Haven’t done that in a long time. Always just caught them live when I wanted to hear them, before. If any of the band (or people “with” the band) is reading this, I’ll see to disseminating some albums in London. And if I can find you a gig, you better be ready to uproot in a goddamn minute. ‘Cause that would be sweet.
Hmmm, that’s a good idea. CDs are cheap as hell now, right? Burn a shit ton, put ‘em in crystal cases with the necessary literature and contact info, and leave them on Tube trains. Put a little sticky note or something on it that says “I’m free. Take me home and listen to me!” Ooh! Or an mp3 vending machine. Walk up, plug in your USB player, pop a few coins in and download today’s hit or featured artist. Bring a whole new meaning to, “Don’t pick up anything in the subway. It’s probably crawling with germs and viruses.”
…
Right. What was I saying? Oh, yes.
Anyway. Went to Jazz at Night with Michelle last night. Not much jazz, but decent food and fantastic company. Randy was right about losing perspective on prices here, though. When I paid the bill for dinner and some drinks, it wasn’t bad until I converted it into American dollars. Yowza. But then I guess that’s why they’re paying me in pounds.
About an hour before work was over, we lost our Internet connection. Permit me to remind everyone that I work at an Internet Service Provider. You have never seen a full office come to such a screeching halt. Took about ten minutes for Unreal Tournament to appear on three different computer screens. Got to know some of the co-workers from the other side of the room. It’s funny to see the group dynamics when no one has anything to do. It was a lot of fun. Then it was time for office poker.
It’s about time I got a decent hand or two. This is a cash out whenever game that isn’t lasting more than an hour anyway, so out of five people and a #5 buy in, I walked away with #14. Not bad. (You all get that #14 is 14 pounds, right? ‘Cause that’s the only thing on this keyboard called “pound”…). And I beat Justin nicely. He’s kind of a hustler and a cocky little one at that. He’s really no worse of a hustler than Horn was (hey, they’re both Justins. Hm.). It was fun to finally get some good cards and dole out a spanking to the table.
I’m surprised at how many of these Smoking Bill songs I can’t name off the top of my head.
I’m still writing not because I really have any more to say, but I’m not ready for bed yet and I don’t have anything to read. I bought Neil Gaimen’s Stardust, but I finished it in a month. Probably the worst thing I’ve read by him, but that only gets it an “awesome” rating rather than a “totally fucking sweet” rating. By the way, if you haven’t read Neverwhere, do it now. Not now as in soon, now as in Stop Reading This Blog Right Now And Go Read It. Now. Stop Reading. Neil is much more interesting reading than I am. Go. Now. You know you want to.
Are they gone? Excellent. Onwards.
Actually, I can’t remember what I was going to say next.
OH! If anyone hears from Kelsey Hammond, would you please let me know? I hear she’s in Brussles, but I don’t have any contact info and the only news I have heard is that she wants out. I don’t know what’s up, but I’d like to find out. Thanks.
Anyway. I guess I should go to bed. Work and stuff. Gosh, blog posts are a lot longer when I’m just bored at home, rather than trying to hammer one out quick in the middle of a hostel.
Right. When I post this tomorrow morning, you all will just be going to bed. So sleep well. May your dreams be filled with shade and sweet water, and may the world be an ever so slightly better place when you wake up.
Peace
11:00ish
This place is festooned with cats. Not inside, thankfully, but the backyard. My wonderful landlady live directly next door, and I share a backyard with her. She “rescues” cats, and there are a good dozen or so adopted wildchildren roaming the place. It is quite a thing to sit on your second story windowsill on a warm London evening, framed by a light fuscia sunset off to the left, and have a staredown with a cat. The solid white one seems to be a bit above the scrappy, territorial cats on the ground engage in. It keeps to the rooftops and fences, which are thick and abound. Urban nature is of a kind I have never experienced before. There are mourning doves everywhere, along with songbirds of varying talent.
My traveling roommate is going back to Pakistan. (He works for a company that sent him here to set something up or something. I asked but I don’t remember. Nice guy.) That means I get his much bigger room. I haven’t looked inside yet, but it’s big enough to raise the rent by 10 pounds. Which is fine by me. That’s still hella cheap rent. The other place is supposed to let me know tomorrow, I think. They were gong to see their last people today and make a decision by tomorrow. The place is quite a bit smaller than here, but I remember it being much nicer. The view is certainly a downgrade, from garden to large street. But they have a drier, too. Drying clothing on an outdoor line is impossible nearly as often as it is possible in London. And I would be much closer to everything and everyone. It would make buying a bicycle a very real idea. That would be a great way to get to know this city. The Internet tells me London is actually rated really highly as a bikeable city. You just have to know all the correct routes and shortcut, etc.
Listening to Smoking Bill. Haven’t done that in a long time. Always just caught them live when I wanted to hear them, before. If any of the band (or people “with” the band) is reading this, I’ll see to disseminating some albums in London. And if I can find you a gig, you better be ready to uproot in a goddamn minute. ‘Cause that would be sweet.
Hmmm, that’s a good idea. CDs are cheap as hell now, right? Burn a shit ton, put ‘em in crystal cases with the necessary literature and contact info, and leave them on Tube trains. Put a little sticky note or something on it that says “I’m free. Take me home and listen to me!” Ooh! Or an mp3 vending machine. Walk up, plug in your USB player, pop a few coins in and download today’s hit or featured artist. Bring a whole new meaning to, “Don’t pick up anything in the subway. It’s probably crawling with germs and viruses.”
…
Right. What was I saying? Oh, yes.
Anyway. Went to Jazz at Night with Michelle last night. Not much jazz, but decent food and fantastic company. Randy was right about losing perspective on prices here, though. When I paid the bill for dinner and some drinks, it wasn’t bad until I converted it into American dollars. Yowza. But then I guess that’s why they’re paying me in pounds.
About an hour before work was over, we lost our Internet connection. Permit me to remind everyone that I work at an Internet Service Provider. You have never seen a full office come to such a screeching halt. Took about ten minutes for Unreal Tournament to appear on three different computer screens. Got to know some of the co-workers from the other side of the room. It’s funny to see the group dynamics when no one has anything to do. It was a lot of fun. Then it was time for office poker.
It’s about time I got a decent hand or two. This is a cash out whenever game that isn’t lasting more than an hour anyway, so out of five people and a #5 buy in, I walked away with #14. Not bad. (You all get that #14 is 14 pounds, right? ‘Cause that’s the only thing on this keyboard called “pound”…). And I beat Justin nicely. He’s kind of a hustler and a cocky little one at that. He’s really no worse of a hustler than Horn was (hey, they’re both Justins. Hm.). It was fun to finally get some good cards and dole out a spanking to the table.
I’m surprised at how many of these Smoking Bill songs I can’t name off the top of my head.
I’m still writing not because I really have any more to say, but I’m not ready for bed yet and I don’t have anything to read. I bought Neil Gaimen’s Stardust, but I finished it in a month. Probably the worst thing I’ve read by him, but that only gets it an “awesome” rating rather than a “totally fucking sweet” rating. By the way, if you haven’t read Neverwhere, do it now. Not now as in soon, now as in Stop Reading This Blog Right Now And Go Read It. Now. Stop Reading. Neil is much more interesting reading than I am. Go. Now. You know you want to.
Are they gone? Excellent. Onwards.
Actually, I can’t remember what I was going to say next.
OH! If anyone hears from Kelsey Hammond, would you please let me know? I hear she’s in Brussles, but I don’t have any contact info and the only news I have heard is that she wants out. I don’t know what’s up, but I’d like to find out. Thanks.
Anyway. I guess I should go to bed. Work and stuff. Gosh, blog posts are a lot longer when I’m just bored at home, rather than trying to hammer one out quick in the middle of a hostel.
Right. When I post this tomorrow morning, you all will just be going to bed. So sleep well. May your dreams be filled with shade and sweet water, and may the world be an ever so slightly better place when you wake up.
Peace
posted by BAA at 12:50 AM
2 Comments:
Hey papa awesome-
Things sond like they are going mighty well for you.
Just started IRT today- fun in a can, you know (a very small can).
Enjoy your Londoning.
an L works for a # sign Brett. as in L25 or L3 or whatever.
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