December 21, 2006
wee choo
I love trains, especially overnight ones. Just going from Point A to Point B and rushing through the scenery...
My first experience on the Caledonian Sleeper, a 7-hour overnight train ride from London to Edinburgh. The only other sleeper I had been on previously was the three-level metal India train, but it was awesome! Sure there were 3 levels of bodies stacked up on metal coroner-like slats, (if you didn't include the people that slept straight on the floor). But it was so cozy and familial to sit next to all those people and just chit chat.
The Caledonian was much more plush, (only two bodies stacked high on actual mattresses with bedding, pillows, tartan woolen blankets)... breakfast, tea, Scots accents and Crown jewels...
Metal
versus
LUSSHHHHH
But each loved for different reasons.
December 15, 2006
spoken word
So I've started this relatively "new" habit of making an effort to read the paper every day... I know sounds kinda lame, but usually I read online articles, etc. and I really discovered that I like the UK papers and the physical act of going to to local newsagents and getting my Guardian for 70p.
They have this interesting thing here where, unlike the US where the Sunday paper is the one chock full with stuff, here it's the Saturday paper that bulks up the recycle bin and is to blame for global warming... (sorry, have been watching the last episodes of Planet Earth)
And they have an odd "thing" here where they give you stuff with the weekend papers. Not just coupons and comics (which sadly, they do not), but books, DVDs, stickers, maps, ... (!!) They do that with the magazines too, at any one moment, you can get yer Vogue with a little spangley purse or flipflops...FLIPFLOPS!! attached to the front cover.
Still haven't figured that one out yet, but each Brit must have a hidden drawer somewhere filled with a lifetime of chatchkeys. And flipflops.
But it's also that the paper is literally stuffed (10-font) with the most randomly-connected information. Behemouth articles which themselves are an exercise in ocular marathoning, interspersed with wee snippets of information no more than a few paragraphs, perfect for an ADHD's daily intake.
All this really has nothing to do with what I was originally going to write about... the fact that I got complimented on my English when I went to my newsagents guy yesterday. He said, "your English is quite good". It reminded me of another time when I was complimented on my English in Alaska, and THAT was what I was going to write about - the whole international/minority thing in London, but will save that for another time.
Instead, I'm going to do my eyeball stretches and go out and get the paper.
