that's a postcode. hilarious. it has letters. it has numbers. it's all good... well, me mam called this morning, and told us to get our sweet behinds into gear and update... i know you are all wanting us to do so as well... you know it, beeyatches. wow, seems like melbourne people get all the luck with the celebs. have not managed to score with any of the people/characters/coats/pubs mentioned by anyone, but have driven past the street where the Spaced house is/was... and also past Slough - where The Office is set (Eliot has kindly allowed [forced?] us to watch the first 6 episodes... will start on the next set today or tomorrow)... also yesterday did a few things for the FIRST TIME. in fact, i think i'll write a THINGS I HAVE DONE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE I'VE BEEN IN ENGLAND list for your perusal.
1. Landed in Heathrow airport... OK, that's just silly.
2. Went on the London Underground for the first time yesterday... the trains are very cute and wormy and clean. And the system is great! It makes sense! It goes all over the place. The tube shits all over Melbourne and Sydney trains. But as yet nothing comes close to the trams.
2. Tate Modern. Also a product of yesterday's travels. Only got to look at one floor's worth of stuff, but it was great. The setout of the gallery is actually logical (Who'd have thunk that would work? Obviously not the NGV or Feddo or the NGA in Canberra)... the art was arty. We will return, possibly tomorrow.
3. The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. HA! This was so cool (actually, freezing is a more appropriate adjective)... basically, the person who was locking up the tower one night in the 1600s or something got bashed by a bunch of yobs, and so he refused to do the lock-up without guards. So they devised a cunning plan, whereby a bunch of the (HILARIOUS) soldiers with funny hats would march around with him while he locked up. They yell some stuff at each other, such as "WHO COMES HERE?" "the keys" "WHOSE KEYS?" "queen elizabeth's keys" "SHE WANTS THEM BACK" etc... and bugle the Last Post, and that's about it. As I said, cunning. Foolproof. Dan's grandmother Lorna organised it, and Margot was very impressed by the soldiers' bottoms. Mums are the same the world over, obviously.
4. English wedding. OK, so I don't know if there was anything typically English about the wedding, but it was a wedding, and it was - surprisingly enough - in England. It was quite fun; smallish, a good mix of olds and youngs, cute girl in a hot pink dress... good conversation about cricket, nice food (I am SO HAPPY that we have arrived in time for asparagus season!)... nice couple... nice trip home with Mike and Uly... I should explain that it was in the 'countryside', just out of Reading, and that we got lost on the way back to London. Pretty much as soon as we left the car park. Hilarious! From this I have learned that is IS actually possible to get lost in England (though it is very small), but that it is impossible to stay lost for long, because pretty much every intersection is signposted, and eventually you WILL get to a sign that points to London (much to Uly's delight).
5. Football in the pub. Oh yes, my dearies, I have been fully initiated into the ways of the Brits! Notice I'm calling it "football", not soccer! Watched the Arsenal-Blackburn game at The Royal Oak... Arsenal winning (is that news?) 3-0. Eliot and Adam happy, as they are Arsenal supporters. Me delighted, because I was able to combine this first with my first pint of Guinness in the UK. Tastes better, somehow... maybe the closer you get to the source the better it tastes... Also, football: hilarious! More on this another time.
did i mention yet that there are about 7 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! available to watch EVERY DAY?!?!?!?!? yeah, weep with envy, guys!... esther von j, hope interflora is treating you well - we saw an interflora florist just over the street from the Phoenix Cinema (from Black Books). esther noo, how is the garden? you would love the parks and heaths and suchlike over here - so many flowers! and GIANT holly trees!!! and while i'm on esthers, esther autograph, how are the teaching rounds? are they brats? have you disposed of any yet? and everyone else... i promise to personalise a message to you sometime in the future! thinking of you, your weather (which even if it's cold is surely not as cold as here!), sending our love!
that's it for now, but i'll write more in another few days... or when people get impatient and call us up insisting that we update. xxx.
hello,
ReplyDeleteif i wasn't jealous before i am now - smite you!
but on another note, go here and do this quiz. specifically YOU, rachel! it's like it was MADE FOR YOU. i do not jest.
http://www.sparklesparkle.net/quiz.html
i was a fridge. hmm.
ciao ciao.
much love, esther the enigma
ps. yes, your mum has the right idea. update more! or else i'll phone! (run away, run away!) we hang off your every word.
Yeah, update more. Don't you know we are living vicariously through you! MORE! MORE I SAY!
ReplyDeleteI have nothing else to say. That is all. Boo. Whores.
Oh yar, forgot stuff.
ReplyDeleteEs is teaching the little ones and it is good. Stressful and tiring but good. She will probably drop by your blog at some point and let you know how it is going.
NEW POTTER PALS: http://members.lycos.nl/likwi/potion.htm
hee.
you guys are in england, that's so exciting. i'm sitting on my couch a lot which is not so exciting, except for when you have some golden syrup dumplings to go with it. i had these the other night. there were four of them for each of us and they swelled up nearly to the size of cricket balls. english cricket balls. there is still a whole lot of syrup sitting in a saucepan somewhere.
ReplyDeletekane also says to say hello, i saw him the other day in his big fast manly car with fluffy dice, he's been coming down to melbourne to hit the gay bars a lot lately (he went to the exchange the other night with a whole bunch of guys from orbost (the closets are bursting) and kept telling me how great it was hehe) AND he's probably moving to melbourne soon. I'M EXCITED!
i wore the orange stretchy checkered shortshorts in public the other day. an old bag lady told me i was filthy, a really fat old man nearly fell over (he would have just rolled over really, he was that fat), and a WHOLE GAGGLE of old people shouted at each other that they thought i must be in my undies. there was a man there who was so old he was nearly a ghost, and he made the kind of noise a ghost would have if it were having a heart attack. i'm not sure if old people are rude because they just don't care any more or if they're all deaf or insane. one day i might be old too so i guess i'll find out then.
rachel have you found out yet if the furry soldiers are called BEEFEATERS? i think they should be, even if they're not. also, is there any way of knowing if they're real people, or if they make them in bottles or something, huxley style.
do they have walls along the side of the "country lanes" made out of rocks put there by oak worshiping druids? or hedges? AND have you seen any exciting fauna such as HEDGEHOGS or OTTERS? the squirrils sounded good. can you post me one?
finally got around to reading the dispossessed by ursula le guin, thanx for recommending it. one of the kids he meets on urras has a pet land-otter, it made me think of you guys.
anyway i wrote too much, should have stuck it in an email. SORRY EVERYONE! :)
love you guys lots ~ esther (the real one, not like the others who are just faking it!)