Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Next stop, Liverpool aka the last time I will refer to anything I do as a pilgrimage

My apologies for dropping off the planet, I seem to have had a sibling infestation. We're in the clear now though. For now, some notes on the past few weeks:

My brother came for his February break, and then the next week my sister arrived to spend her spring break here. There were a precious few hours in the airport where the three of us hung out and ate and took pictures (because really what else do we do?), as my sister's flight got in at 7am and my brother's flight did not take off until 3. And since we come from farm country none of us really know how airports work so I saw each of them to and from Heathrow.

1. While my sister was here, we saw Equus, or what we have fondly termed "The Naked Harry Potter Play." Unfortunately (fortunately?) we had the nosebleediest of the nosebleed seats, and I didn't want to look pervy so I didn't use the opera glasses provided, even though we paid 50p to use them. Whatever, that's what The Superficial is for. The play itself was really intense, and Daniel Radcliffe gave an impressive performance. And let me just say, the boy has got some... uh... chutzpah for being only 17 and giving the city of London a really good look at those chutzpahs.

2. Being at Heathrow three weekends in a row without actually flying anywhere is not something I'd ordinarily choose to do, but now I can navigate Terminal 3 with my eyes closed.

3. I declined the "voluntary donation" that they tack onto your ticket price at the London Zoo, since they were soaking me enough--10.50 student price grumble grumble--but then proceeded to feel really guilty about it for the rest of the afternoon so now I want to go back, find the cashier who sold me my ticket, give her 1.50 and beg her not to think of me as a horrible person. Because even if she doesn't remember who I am, that lion TOTALLY KNEW I didn't give a donation AND I caught a glimpse of his Master Escape Plan before he hastily shoved it under a rock.

4. My brother and I trekked down to Brighton for a day, where there is a building called the Royal Pavilion which could have been featured on an 18th century version of Pimp My Crib.

5. It has been pushing 60 degrees for like 3 or 4 days in a row. I'm not complaining but it really makes me want to go out and buy skirts and sandals which is rough on Mr. Visa, and it also makes me go out midday with no jacket, which, by early evening, becomes a poor choice.

6. Finally, I have made The Pilgrimage Of My Life: I walked across Abbey Road. It's actually a very busy street, and we and other tourists holding up traffic with identical tourist photographs probably managed to make a couple hundred people really hate the Beatles. But if you aren't clever enough to have found an alternative route by now, all you posh people driving around St. John's Wood, maybe you should just stop and wait for me to take my picture, pshhaw.

Then I graffitied on the studio gate. Fandom drives me to criminal behavior.