The last 24 hours
As myladyswardrobe wrote this morning, yesterday was lovely. Absolutely, purely, wonderful. If you're not on her f-list, I'll try to synopsize (oh! it is a word!) the evening, but since edmndclotworthy endeavored to make sure I had a consistent supply of alcohol in me for most of the night, I might have missed a thing or three...
So, it all begins with me taking the train from Forest Hill to London Bridge, which turns out, is a big arc between Victoria and London Bridge stations. I met E in his building (no, not personally *his*, but you know what I mean) and we waited a few minutes for Bess to arrive. Once we had ourselves together (and E's glasses were in one piece again) we started off. They wouldn't tell me precisely where we were headed, but after a bit I figured it had something to do with Shakespeare.
First we went to The George and that's where E began with the alcohol. He ordered me a rum and coke and I got very happily relaxed very shortly thereafter. I did manage to retain the bit about The George being one of the few remaining 16th c. pubs in London, and something about it being one of the earliest performance venues for plays. It was a lovely place, very picturesque, if you just ignored the weird modern building that was apparently constructed to look something vaguely like the 16th c. building across from it.
Next we did a brief tour of Southwark Cathedral, but since it was right about time for Evensong, we were prevented from seeing the Elizabethan effigies that Bess assures me are really fantastic.
From Southwark Cathedral, we wandered by the original sites of the Rose, the Globe and the Bear Garden. We also got to see the replica Golden Hinde, which is possibly the same one I remember seeing in Sacramento when I was about eleven years old. Just around the corner from where the Hinde was docked was the new Globe theatre, and we trotted inside for a peek. Well, first, we made a bee-line for the gift shop, where I bought, er, a lot of stuff. A repro map of 16th c. London, several dozen postcards of pretty costumes, two books of 16th c. songs and a bag for my mom that says "Thought is free." After that, E got us tickets to see the inside of the theatre. I joked that I didn't want to see it since I'd already seen the one in Ashland, OR. LOL. For the record, I think the Ashland Globe is actually bigger than the "new" Globe. At least my memory wants to insist that it is... It's been about 10 years since I've been to Ashland, but the theatre here is pretty intimate compared to my recollection of the on in Oregon.
At around 7:30 we left the theatre to go to the restaurant on the premises where E had booked us a reservation. We ate and E again kept me buzzed on some excellent Pinot Grigio. The view, though... Wow. Just beautiful. The Thames right below us, St. Paul's across from us... Just perfect. We must not have left until around 9:30PM or so, and we walked across the Millennium Bridge and then found a pub and had some more drinks, good conversation and general silliness. :)
E hailed me a cab (my first time in a black cab!) and we all hugged good night. I got in around eleven or so to a building overrun with drunk frat boys. Sigh. It didn't spoil my good mood, however, and I fell asleep easily and slept well the entire night. I am definitely looking forward to this weekend... Least of all because I'll be trying haggis for the first time ever. Hehehehehe. I'm really experimental when it comes to food... I'm not experimental in any other area of my life, just with food. So, who knows? I may actually like it!
As for today, I just want to say that the tube is an utter nightmare now. With all lines except the District line suspended from between here and, well, everywhere, EVERYONE is packed into the carriages like human sardines. I actually noticed the carriage groaning today from the weight of all of us crammed in there! I mean, there literally is no end. The District is taking the brunt of the traffic since the Circle and Picadilly lines are out of commission. It sucks, pure and simple. I keep trying to tell myself that it's just two stops, but that's a full ten minutes in Tube Time and being shunted into a fully packed carriage with no air conditioning and 8 zillion people in there with you, it kind of exhausts you. I think any other route, however, is just as bad. I could try to find a bus to Victoria Station, I suppose... But other than that, I just don't know if I can avoid the "sardine experience" as Rick Steves calls it. Sigh.
Other than that relatively minor gripe, work seems to be proceeding along smoothly. I worked on some more research, and got lots of praise for my efforts, which feels good. I love that I'm finally doing something I love... Ok, so I'm not being paid for it, but maybe some day I will be! Here's hoping.
So, it all begins with me taking the train from Forest Hill to London Bridge, which turns out, is a big arc between Victoria and London Bridge stations. I met E in his building (no, not personally *his*, but you know what I mean) and we waited a few minutes for Bess to arrive. Once we had ourselves together (and E's glasses were in one piece again) we started off. They wouldn't tell me precisely where we were headed, but after a bit I figured it had something to do with Shakespeare.
First we went to The George and that's where E began with the alcohol. He ordered me a rum and coke and I got very happily relaxed very shortly thereafter. I did manage to retain the bit about The George being one of the few remaining 16th c. pubs in London, and something about it being one of the earliest performance venues for plays. It was a lovely place, very picturesque, if you just ignored the weird modern building that was apparently constructed to look something vaguely like the 16th c. building across from it.
Next we did a brief tour of Southwark Cathedral, but since it was right about time for Evensong, we were prevented from seeing the Elizabethan effigies that Bess assures me are really fantastic.
From Southwark Cathedral, we wandered by the original sites of the Rose, the Globe and the Bear Garden. We also got to see the replica Golden Hinde, which is possibly the same one I remember seeing in Sacramento when I was about eleven years old. Just around the corner from where the Hinde was docked was the new Globe theatre, and we trotted inside for a peek. Well, first, we made a bee-line for the gift shop, where I bought, er, a lot of stuff. A repro map of 16th c. London, several dozen postcards of pretty costumes, two books of 16th c. songs and a bag for my mom that says "Thought is free." After that, E got us tickets to see the inside of the theatre. I joked that I didn't want to see it since I'd already seen the one in Ashland, OR. LOL. For the record, I think the Ashland Globe is actually bigger than the "new" Globe. At least my memory wants to insist that it is... It's been about 10 years since I've been to Ashland, but the theatre here is pretty intimate compared to my recollection of the on in Oregon.
At around 7:30 we left the theatre to go to the restaurant on the premises where E had booked us a reservation. We ate and E again kept me buzzed on some excellent Pinot Grigio. The view, though... Wow. Just beautiful. The Thames right below us, St. Paul's across from us... Just perfect. We must not have left until around 9:30PM or so, and we walked across the Millennium Bridge and then found a pub and had some more drinks, good conversation and general silliness. :)
E hailed me a cab (my first time in a black cab!) and we all hugged good night. I got in around eleven or so to a building overrun with drunk frat boys. Sigh. It didn't spoil my good mood, however, and I fell asleep easily and slept well the entire night. I am definitely looking forward to this weekend... Least of all because I'll be trying haggis for the first time ever. Hehehehehe. I'm really experimental when it comes to food... I'm not experimental in any other area of my life, just with food. So, who knows? I may actually like it!
As for today, I just want to say that the tube is an utter nightmare now. With all lines except the District line suspended from between here and, well, everywhere, EVERYONE is packed into the carriages like human sardines. I actually noticed the carriage groaning today from the weight of all of us crammed in there! I mean, there literally is no end. The District is taking the brunt of the traffic since the Circle and Picadilly lines are out of commission. It sucks, pure and simple. I keep trying to tell myself that it's just two stops, but that's a full ten minutes in Tube Time and being shunted into a fully packed carriage with no air conditioning and 8 zillion people in there with you, it kind of exhausts you. I think any other route, however, is just as bad. I could try to find a bus to Victoria Station, I suppose... But other than that, I just don't know if I can avoid the "sardine experience" as Rick Steves calls it. Sigh.
Other than that relatively minor gripe, work seems to be proceeding along smoothly. I worked on some more research, and got lots of praise for my efforts, which feels good. I love that I'm finally doing something I love... Ok, so I'm not being paid for it, but maybe some day I will be! Here's hoping.