And Back Again

“Alas that journals so voluminously begun should come to so lame and impotent a conclusion as most of them did!”
--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

I’m typing this on Air Canada Flight 857, non-stop service from London Heathrow to Toronto. It’s about an eight-hour trip, so we get a meal, a snack, a dessert, and no fewer than two in-flight movies. Unfortunately, those in-flight movies are Ice Age 2 and X-Men United. I know it probably seems like I’d be pleased with that, but what I’ve sampled of Ice Age 2 (on now) is pretty lame – it’s the writing – and one time through X-Men 3 is enough for this geek, thanks.

I may tune in for the part where Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge, but that’s where I draw the line.

(Hey, good news – it’s X-Men, not X-Men United, so I win.)

No delays or problems at the airport, although the new restrictions regarding baggage were a bit of a problem for me when it came time to pack. See, when I came here, I was allowed two carry-ons, and they weren’t especially picky as to their size, so both my backpack and my laptop bag were filled to capacity. Even with the spare suitcase Jill left for me, it was a challenge. The one carry-on you’re allowed now is basically limited to the size of a laptop bag anyway, which meant that in addition to the excess I’d accumulated in my two months here, the spare had to also hold everything that used to be in my backpack as well. I moved all my books from my duffel and backpack into the spare, along with a jacket or two, my towel (Hitchhiker’s Guide be damned; I never once needed that towel!), a pair of shoes, and whatever souvenirs I could fit in the cracks. I didn’t get it all sorted by the time the taxi arrived, so I was in the backseat frantically trying to shove a single shoe into my backpack on the way there. Even so, I needed about 15 minutes outside Terminal 3 to repack one last time. It obviously worked out eventually, because, well, I mean, here I am, but I’ll be glad to unpack for the last time in hopefully a while when I finally get back home.

Speaking of getting back home, I’m going to wrap this up mid-air and post it online when I get a chance (hopefully in Toronto, but we’ll see). In a way, it’s difficult to let the ol’ blog go, but I have to face up to the fact that now that my summer abroad is over, the day-to-day minutiae of my life simply won’t be novel enough to require a running commentary. In other words, things will go back to being the way they were, more or less, and I can’t say I’m not looking forward to it. I’m eager to start in on my last two quarters at UCI, work on my new radio show, finish what I’ve started for Scripps, and see friends, family, and familiar sights again.

I told the taxi driver today that just when I’d gotten used to England it was time to leave. That was not entirely true: I never quite got used to it, no matter how much I wanted to. Sure, I was able to find my way around in London without too much difficulty (unless I were looking for the British Museum...), and the Underground didn’t present the challenge it did four years ago, but I always felt a little out of place, try as I might. That disorientation was certainly part of what made it interesting, but nonetheless, it’ll be good to feel out of place in the U.S. again.

I’ve been reading The Innocents Abroad here and there, as you may have guessed from the quotation that began this entry. I’m going to end with another, from the Preface, that’s equally applicable.

“I offer no apologies for any departures from the usual style of travel writing that may be charged against me – for I think I have seen with impartial eyes, and I am sure I have written at least honestly, whether wisely or not.”

Thanks for reading.

Latter Days

Jill and I have spent out last few days here together with Lynn, a friend of hers who lives in Egham, which is close enough to London to just call it London. Lynn's originally from South Africa, but she's been living abroad for eight years now. She and two of her friends, Karen (her housemate) and Jenna (may as well be too), have kept us entertained. They're a robustious bunch.


I would be remiss if I didn't put this video of Lynn trying to pantomime the phrase "Saved By The Bell" online.



When we weren't playing Cranium or eating an enormous Full English, we took in some local scenery. Jill and I arrived a little on the early side on Saturday, so we went to Windsor, had lunch alongside the Thames, and walked around town a bit. Windsor is every bit as charming as you'd expect the Queen's home to be.









The next day, Lynn showed us around Great Windsor Park itself, which, again, is as beautiful as the royal park should be. I can't get over the sky here. I think it's the ever-changing weather. Regardless, I'm easily suckered into taking a picture of anything as long as it's green and leafy and under a blue sky full of a thousand clouds.






It was a good little hike, actually. That statue of George III took me by surprise. You're walking along through a nice royal park, and then suddenly boom -- a huge bronze statue of a king on a horse. It's right at the end of the Long Walk, too, so as you stand in its shadow and look out, you can see all the way down the promenade to the castle.

Afterwards, we retired to the Fox and Hounds, the "local," where we met up with Graham, another friend and former co-worker of Jill's, who brought along his son Adam. Nice guys.


The pub wasn't still serving food, though, so we made reservations at this great place called the Belvedere Arms for dinner. It is not named after "Mr. Belvedere," the regrettable TV show about the English butler living in the U.S. Great food, though. Jill couldn't stop talking about her olive mashed potatoes. Simple enough concept -- mashed potatoes with bits of olive -- but neither of us had ever seen it before. Then it was back to Lynn's for more madcap fun with the girls.


Today was Jill's last in England. Her flight was at 4:50, so this morning we went to Staines (big ups for Ali G's hometown -- for reals) to do a little last-minute shopping. JJB Sports not only had a ton of great deals, it also had Jill's initials. Then it was back to Lynn's just in time to get the bags together and follow Lynn (mostly) to Enterprise to drop off the car. While there, I saw this sign, and took a picture of it for some reason.


We kept Jill company for a while, but eventually it was time for her to board, and we had to say goodbye. Of course, I'll be seeing her in a few days, but for her and Lynn it's a different story.


I went straight from there into London to see it one more time, since I fly home myself tomorrow. Again, I didn't necessarily see the big landmarks, but just some little things that interested me.




On a whim, I also saw Severance, which has been called "as witty as Shaun of the Dead and as scary as Descent." I haven't seen Descent, but I'm sure I disagree, and the comparison to Shaun is, at the very least, unwarranted. Nevertheless, it had its moments, but was otherwise a pretty bog-standard slasher. Who knows when it'll show up on the other side of the Atlantic. It's from the Isle of Man, after all. Not exactly a huge movie. It does star Tim McInnery, though, TV's Lord Percy Percy, so that was something.

It was a good last day in London, but I still have a list of things I would've liked to have seen or done, like seeing the Rosetta Stone again or a show at the Globe. Next time.

Because of the movie (and a chicken doner kebab at Dionysis after) I was a little later than I'd anticipated, so Lynn was kind enough to pick me up at Egham Station. It's so great to be somewhere with a good public transit system (and, failing that, a friend who'll pick you up at the closest train station). Came back here to discover a couple hours of "Bottom" reruns followed by Adult Swim on Bravo, so TV isn't letting me down on my last night here.

Official last entry coming tomorrow. As for tonight, time for bed.

Reunited

Jill's here! And she brought a car!

We're at the Briskers' house right now, so I'm going to give just a quick rundown of the past few days to let you know where we've been and what we've done. From Heathrow we went to Oxford, as the picture above indicates, where Jill used to live.




From there we made our way, with some minor difficulty, to Hillcrest, Main Street, Cleeve Prior, Near Evesham, home of Emma and Tim, friends of Jill's from back in the day. Tim, unfortunately, was out of town, but Emma was a welcoming, hospitable host who spared no expense to see to our comfort and happiness. Plus she has a lovely 400-year-old home that used to be a bakery, so that's nice, too.



The chicken tikka masala at the Balti Hut in Bidford, by the way, is to die for.

While there, Jill and I drove up to Warwick to visit Warwick Castle, which was a little Disneyfied (there was a guy dressed as a dragon...), but still cool. We trudged up 530 steep stone stairs in the rain to see the view from the top of the ramparts, and also went inside to check out the various historical exhibits.




At Emma's recommendation, we visited the little village of Broadway in the Cotswolds, since it was on our way to our next destination, and we didn't regret it. We stopped in for a proper English tea at Tisanes, then checked out Broadway Tower, a Victorian "folly" which was, in a word, breathtaking, and made for some pretty incredible pictures.





Amazing. I still stare at those Broadway Tower pictures.

Enough of that, though, because from Broadway we headed all the way to the Pewsey Vale, on the Salisbury Plain, to see David and Jennifer Brisker, two more of Jill's England friends. She and Dave used to work together when she was here with Xelus, her old company. The Briskers live in a cozy little brick cottage they completely renovated themselves. It's really something what they've done with the place. Our first night here, Dave took us down to the Barge Inn (which, for my money, should've been called the Barge Right Inn), which is apparently crop circle central. The Salisbury Plain is where all the crop circles show up, you know, and from what Dave and Jen have said, the Barge Inn is where the "cereomancers" gather to plot and scheme.





Today, Friday, the 25th, we took a drive out to Glastonbury, the New-Agey alternative mystical energy capital of the world, to see Glastonbury Tor and Glastonbury Abbey. While there, we also visited Chalice Well, purported to be the burial site of the Holy Grail, the spring waters of which are said to have healing powers. Whatever the case, it's a beautiful garden. The tor and its tower, which is all that remains of a church that fell into ruin, were very cool, but it was something like a mile climb up a steep incline to get to the top, which, for us, was a challenge.







Tomorrow we're off to... I don't know where. There's just too much to see. I mean, we drove past Stonehenge today. It's that kind of place. Stay tuned.