20120704

Happy 4th of July! "America Day!"

So, got up, made"bacon", eggs and mashed potatoes. Had some tea, went out for a pipe and locked myself out again, leaving my keys in the kitchen. Luckily my flatmate Katharina was still home and she let me in after I buzzed repeatedly and got her attention. After breakfast a group of us meandered down to class, today is London and its Literature. We chatted about The Beggar's Opera and I tried to find a book that had a symmetry with a line of conversation that came up from TBO but was unsuccessful. Maybe you can help? It is from the long 1800's and is written about a woman of class who finds herself in love with a man without. She disguises herself in many ways throughout the book in order to get this mand to sleep with her repeatedly. At the end, I believe, she ends up pregnant and, perhaps dying, perhaps, imprisoned, perhaps disowned and homeless. I can't remember for certain. Anyway. Break for lunch!

The walk home

 Now THIS is a minivan

 After lunch we went in to the John Soanne Museum in his old flat. It's beautiful! If you have never been, put it on your bucket list! No pictures, sorry everyone. :( And I won't spoiler it for you, just trust me, the entire house is a Cabinet of Curiosities!

After class I went to find a bookstore and passed these places on the way.

 Now I have to find Capulet Avenue!

 I wonder if I was related...

 Found a hat for my cousin!

 It's at this place in Leicester Square.

 A beatboxing piano player. Check him out! He's really very good!

 Here it is! I found one, may or may not be related, in San Francisco as well!

 Cafe Rio is a shop or two in from this intersection.

 Anyway, found a bookstore but not my books... Blast... I figured, since I'm in downtown London I may as well meander around for a while. About two hours later I was just walking down the street, listening to music and minding my own business when a man, walking on the far side of the sidewalk, and, mind you, these sidewalks are fairly wide, when he looks up from his path, notices me, cuts a hard right to swerve in front of me and stops before fully cutting in front of me so that I can't help but shoulder check him. Now, I'm thinking this guy is incredibly rude so I don't apologize or anything, just shoot him a sideways glance as I continue down the street checking my pockets in case he was a pickpocket. Either he wasn't and just wanted to start a fight with a brown person that stood a head taller than him in a kilt and fingershoes, or he was and he sucked at picking pockets because all was accounted for. Well, this random encounter put me on alert so I figured it was time to call it and go home for food in case I picked up a tail and ended up meeting several of his little kilt-wearing-mexican hating friends. Found a tube to Waterloo, caught the Express home and went to Sainsbury which had just closed by a few minutes so I wandered around and got a little lost in Surbiton finding this place.

 And then, a little while later, a fox in a park.

 A sweet little cut through back to Surbiton downtown area.

 As I came out of that into Surbiton again I saw some friends crossing the street and followed them, getting creepily close and making them uncomfortable until finally one looked at me and noticed who I was. What fun! They invited me to the pub with them and I accepted. I had one overpriced gin and tonic, called the place to rich for my blood and headed home as they were being served their meals.

Margaret with her "Chicken and Salad"

Yeah, a chicken and a salad.

Sweet!