Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

things i do lately.

Yes, it's true that I have been absent from my blog as of late. BUT it's with good reason as my two friends who are better friends than the average friend, commonly referred to as "best friends," are here for a week visiting! So I've been acting as a tour guide (kind of.. not that I would ever consider myself an adequate tour guide of London) (but I do okay) and getting up to all kinds of cool and interesting things with them. So I thought I'd give you a small preview of what I've been up to lately. Because that is why I have a blog. So you can see what I've been up to lately.

Books at the book market on Southbank!

The gold glittered in real life. :)
Spitalfield's market on a Sunday morning.

Fur fur fur coats. So much great vintage, so little finances in my bank account.

Street art on Brick Lane.


Chromeo show! :) :) So amazing!

Got grabbed by this guy when walking down Southbank.. I yelled "I don't want you!" at him.. it didn't work.
Gates of Kensington Palace

Vintage bottles on display in the Room of Tears inside Kensington Palace in the 'Enchanted Palace' exhibit.

Metal outfit designed by Boudicca on display inside Kensington Palace.

Another Enchanted Palace installation.. hundreds of toy soldiers!

By far the coolest thing.. in person all this looks like is a thin row of blinking LED lights.
You can see the image of a woman in your peripheral vision. It's completely insane and awesome.
The Prime Meridian! Yeah, I was in two hemispheres at once.. no big.
View of Greenwich from the palace there.

Wreaking havoc on London... :)

If this does not suffice for you.. a) Don't read my blog! Go away! You are unwanted! or b) Hey, I'm going to Barcelona this weekend, alright? Is that foreign enough for you? Cripes.


Pip, pip.
x

heaths and dead people.

Okay, so my title might be a little misleading since I didn't actually see any dead people, and it might possibly get construed in google searches that this is about Heath Ledger (too soon?) but alas, it is not about seeing the ghost of a delicious-looking man. No, good people of the Internet and mostly Facebook Friends, this post is all about HAMPSTEAD HEATH and it's surrounding area, including HIGHGATE CEMETARY. Nothing wrong getting your heath on, you know? The only thing that could have made it a nicer trip was if I was also eating a Heath candy bar. But those are so hard on the teeth.. *sigh*

At any rate, (that is one of my favorite lead-in phrases, have you noticed? Fun game: count how many times I've used this phrase in my blog. You'll win a piggyback ride from me!! So tempting, I know..) Hampstead Heath is gorgeous, full of rolling hills, grassy knolls and big-ass trees. (Pardon my language. It's true.) It's also full of DOGS. Lots and lots of dogs. Everywhere. It's awesome. It's like a little slice of heaven on earth for dogs too because there's lots of other dogs for them to sniff buttholes with and to mount gleefully without being judged. Even though I was definitely judging the Golden Labradors who were doing the latter.. I mean come on. You can't escape inappropriate PDA no matter where you go here. Even the dogs are ruthless.

But, back to talking about non-crude things, Hampstead Heath is absolutely a must-see if you're in London, just because it's so.. un-London. It's a nice change of pace, and is similar to Richmond in that sense. It's also the highest point in London, so you can get some pretty nice views of the city down below. Another awesome place that's a bit tucked away is Highgate Cemetary. It's the final resting place of Karl Marx and lots and lots of other people who I am not familiar with. But it's so stunning and peaceful, with many parts overgrown with ivy and trees. All in all, it was a nice trip up to Hampstead and a nice way to spend a Monday. Even though my buttcheeks got a workout from climbing up and down and up and down hills the whole morning..


Beginning of DOG HEATH. Or Hampstead Heath.. Whichever.

Woody. Like my dog.

Hipster Tree: uprooted, because standing upwards is too mainstream.

Leaves :)

Ladybug + bark.

  
Cottage in the heath.

Overlooking a pond and 'bridge.'

Dew still on the grass :)

There's a dog in this photo..

Highgate Cemetary

The top of Karl Marx's grave/statue.
Fern! [gully]

Overgrown gravestones.

There's plenty more where that came from.

Two brother's graves with a tree growing around them.

R - I - P

   

Until the next time I do something note-worthy;
x

brits vs americans.

I'd like to title this segment "Things The British Don't Do That Americans Do" ..It's kind of a long title, maybe I'll think of something more clever as I go along. Maybe. (Probably not..) (Sadly.) (Edit: Couldn't find one.. SHUCKS.) But regardless, in talking with a cameraman at work today, I discovered one of these things (#1 on the list) which spurred me to think.. hey. The Brits don't do some things that Americans do. Go figure, right?*

*Just to clarify, being English (United Kingdomish? No.) actually is a different culture than 'American' ..Just in case you weren't aware or have the perception that just because we use the same alphabet means that we are one with eachother. [Please play chorus of 'When 2 Become 1' by the Spice Girls here for emphasis.]


Moving on.. to the LIST.. of THINGS.

#1: Brits Don't Eat While Driving.
I asked Brian the Cameraman if he ever eats while driving. He looked at me and said "Do I what?" I repeated said question, and he looked at me horrifyingly. I said "Eat food.. you know. Like have a burger while driving. It's quite common." and he replied "Common indeed!" So that about sums that whole situation up. Although, who doesn't like a nice burger while driving.. it's so much fun to navigate the roads with a big ol' meat patty in your palm. Juicy.


#2: Brits Don't Worship At The Altar Of Thanksgiving.
Yes, yes, I know that this is all in celebration of the Pilgrims leaving England to settle in the colonies and eating a nice hearty "gifted" meal of stale corn and gamey meat that was probably not cooked adequately. But if anything, I think the English are the ones who should be celebrating this one moreso than the States.. I mean, come on. The Pilgrims sucked. The Brits should be happy they left the country! They were boring (obviously), wore homely clothing, didn't like anything "fancy" ..I mean they didn't even celebrate holidays, yet there's a holiday dedicated to them. It makes me sad that no British person will ever know the joys of eating copious amounts of delicious meat, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatos with marshmallows and GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE and then taking a nice long nap on a chair in a corner by yourself. Plus get a break from classes. To quote an outdated Twitter phenomenon.. " #winning "


#3: Brits Don't Think Of Austin Powers When They Hear The Word "Shag."
They just don't.
 Although to be fair, in my mind I think of shag carpeting, then Austin Powers, but then I think of Austin Powers on the shag carpeting, and then I can hear his voice speaking Austin Powers words, and then I just shut my mind off because well.. I don't really want to think about that.

#4: Brits Don't Have The Joys Of Junk Food.
I miss dearly my Cosmic Brownies, Pop Tarts, Cheez-Its, Star Crunch, Twinkies, Fruit Snacks.. Potato Oles and Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supremes. And free refills on soda. I dearly miss these things, and I bet British people would too if they ever got to taste their sweetly saturated caloric goodness. They just really don't have comparable things here. Even their "naughty" cereals are just like Cocoa Krispies (well, they're called Coco Pops) or they 'frost' something that is usually unfrosted. Our "naughty" cereals are small cookies that you happen to pour milk onto. This also means that.. #4.5: Brits Don't Often Look Like Contestants On "The Biggest Loser." and #4.55: Brits Don't Have "The Biggest Loser."

#5: Brits Don't Get To Say "Like Oh My God Totally."
Not entirely true, because they can say it, but they really can't get away with it like us Americans can. Let's face it. We assimilated Valleygirl speech into our normal vocabulary, everybody from every other country assumes we speak like it anyways. So just embrace it. Because no matter how hard anybody with a non-American accent tries, they just can't perfect it in like, such a totally right-on way. Ohmygod, I'm so right! So just like, own it! (Or don't.. hahaha. Or DO.)


Please note. 3 out of 5 of these have to do with food. Not saying it might have been biased because I'm hungry but.. I'm a little hungry.

Tomorrow I'll be traipsing off to Brighton for the day, weeee! So I'll most likely do a post on it this weekend. Until then, my little fatties!!

x

scrumming, tries and a pitch.

So the *other* thing I did in Richmond, which I didn't want to disclose in my previous post because well.. let's face it, I haven't been doing anything too terribly cool lately so I've had to make some pretend climactic event and this post is it.. But anyways. To continue, the other thing I did in Richmond was go to a rugby game!

Ah, rugby. That elusive cross between football, "football," and MMA wrestling. That sport in which the players tote around the "big giant egg." To be quite honest, I really enjoyed it and I think after I've gone to a few other games, I might be ready to call myself a *fan.* ..gasp. Anyways, rugby is completely different than "American football" and is way more physically demanding as well.
I'll outline some of the things I learned from Bill about rugby;


- No forward passing of the ball. Period. Every pass has to be backwards, and then once you have the ball in your possession you can run forward. Even when you're laying at the bottom of a pile of men, you have to pass weasel the ball out of your fetal position backwards to your teammates.

- Goal? What is "goal'? It's called a TRY. You still score points though, which is all that anyone really cares about at any rate.

- The play is continuous.. ie; once someone gets tackled, you just keep going. It goes until either a team scores a try or a foul is called. This is why it's way more demanding than American football.. You don't get to do a little quick "hut" and then stop after the person is tackled. It just keeps going, and going, and going.. But it's wonderful. They do have halftime.. it's broken into two 40-minute halves.

- What is this "field" you're referring to? It's called a PITCH.

- Scrumming! This usually happens after the ball bounces or is knocked forward (because nobody would knowingly pass forward.. duh) but basically about 5 players from each team get themselves in a nice close embrace/huddle and then, similar to reindeer or elk butting horns, they ram into eachother. The ball gets put down in the middle and the players kind of kick/shuffle it backwards towards another player who grabs it once they get it to the back of their huddle. Sounds complicated, but it isn't. Or maybe it actually is and I'm just not explaining it right..

- Did I mention that no padding is worn whatsoever?

- No padding.. These are like. Beefy. Meaty dudes. Tackling each other forcefully.. that's where the MMA comes into play. Sometimes they wear little head things to protect their ears. Compare that with the pillows that football players wear.. Pfffft.

I also know more things about rugby, so if you're interested at all I'm basically an expert after going to one game soooo... yeah.. NBD.

Anyways, hopefully some of my pictures will explain things better? Maybe?

The pitch. It was Richmond (yellow/red/black stripes) vs. Launceston (plain black)
Richmond ended up winning 38 to 15... Awww yeah.

A man laying on the ground while everyone else runs and doesn't care.

Getting their tackle on. Kind of.

They do this nice cheerleading bit when the ball is thrown in after it's been hit or kicked out of bounds.
The point is to be the tallest so you can get possession. This guy missed the ball. Cheers.

Tackling some poor soul. There is also a kicker (usually #10 or 11) who will kick the ball after scoring a try
for an additional 3 points if it goes through the goalpost.

Me and Bill (Director of the ICLC) who taught me all I know about rugby!

My attempt to capture scrumming.. Didn't reeeally work, but sort of!
Watching from the sidelines.
And tha-tha-that's all folks! (Yeah, I just typed that. My comedy tour starts next week.) For all the ladies out there, there's also some preeetty attractive guys who play rugby. If you're into that sort of thing.

Anyways, stay tuned for more cool things I do.. Maybe I'll do some impromptu scrumming with strangers and make someone document it. (No I won't, but one can always hope.)

x

richmond.

Richmond is a beautiful part of London, located along the Thames and home to many of the wealthier and elite set of Brits.. For example, Brangelina and their orphanage are living in the area at the moment. But it's expensive out there with a reason.. it's a very serene and relaxing place located within London, especially walking along the Thames river.

I've been out there twice so far, once to visit the beautiful Ham House with a class and the other was this weekend, but I'm not going to spoil that surprise (which isn't really a surprise, but kind of) (it's not even worth getting all hyped up in your mind about.. forget I said anything..) but both times it's really been quite a lovely area to be in, even when the weather is dreary and grey.

You also may be wondering how I acquired these photos; my darling roommate Mussels has generously let me use her "crap camera" to take photos with when I want to. :) So YAY MUSSELS, thanks for developing a sliver of a soul in your barren heart. (Wink)

But all in all, here are some outtakes from the Ham House trip and along the river Thames in Richmond! Hard to believe this is still well within the confines of London.. completely different from the hustle and bustle of Central London, that's FO SHO.

Seagulls, pruning their pathetic little feathers and getting ready to scrounge for food
or poo on some unsuspecting chap.

ALL BOATS FOR HIRE. (This is the Thames) (durr)

Walking through a nice tunnel.

"Thames, they are a'changin.." (heee hee)
Reflections, maybe where the British version of Mulan would have been able to sing her 'reflections' song?
Or perhaps where the British Pocahontas would talk to British Grandmother Willow?

Looking across a field towards Richmond.

Lone tree.

Ham House!

Ham House from the back.

In the formal gardens at Ham House. :)
That about wraps that up.. If you're ever in London and want a quick fix of country, the river, maybe some sporadic horses and cattle or a wild Brangelina sighting, go to Richmond!

Until my next post..

x