My London Trip - Day 2
Dec. 6th, 2005 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castalieWoke up this morning quite sick and I was already writing a whining entry in my head to post later - as you do - but then I checked the mail and we got some bad news and it kinda put things in perspective. Then, almost by magic Babycakes called me and she made me feel so much better, so big hugs and kisses to my sweetie *hugs and kisses* Though I might have killed her for a nanosecond when I told her about the bad news and she didn't know what to say after that *facepalm* But she found her voice soon enough and knew how to distract me, so yeah, perfect :-)
I'm also accentuating the positive as they - I love that song, btw - so I decided I would writethe remaining days Day 2 of my London trip while listening to Christmas songs... this will do *nods* Er yeah, I thought I would do D2 D3 and D4 but D2 got a bit long so D3 and D4 will come later.
Our schedule first:
Saturday
Forbidden Planet, Shaftesbury Ave
Harrods
Japan Centre + Waterstone's
Regent Street Christmas Lights
Day 2
I had quite a good night sleep the previous night so felt quite rested and ready for a new day. Still no snow but I could forgive the UK for that, anyway. It was colder than the day before though and I dressed accordingly. Thank God I brought tons of long-sleeved shirts to put under my shirts - it was perfect :-)
Yeah anyway, after a cosy little morning at mommy&daddy!Tai's, we were en route to the station - both quite excited at the idea of meeting with the Brit Posse. Walking to the station - in daylight, too - was nice as I could see more of the town that way, which is always of the good. That's something that is so great when you go abroad, how everything always seems So Exciting even when it's the most mundane thing. But being in a foreign country makes everything much more exciting, know what I mean? So you can't ever get bored, even when walking to the station. And anyway, Tai and I were busy talking about slash and LJ and kinks, so... we couldn't have get bored anyway lol
I also had a funny moment as we saw a town crier at one point - he was all dressed up in a red costume and all. I don't think I ever saw a town crier before - I mean, not in the street, like that. That was quite fun! Incidentally I also saw a parrot in a animal store but it didn't beat the town crier thing, believe me :-)
So we arrived at the station, took our train, arrived in London, took the underground and then... a nice announcement was made about Bank station being closed because of a security alert. Yes, that was our stop, thanks for asking. I mean, it wouldn't have been fun if we'd arrived in time, right? lol We had to make a detour. Tai got quite busy exchanging text messages with the girls, then.
In the end, I don't think we arrived that late... or did we? Well, maybe, I don't remember *cough* We met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rhianne first - she's quite lovely if I do say so - and then it was the turn of the crazy popslashers, namely seiyaharris,simply_fly_away, saffronra and armabee. The Ss are... they're something else, alright lol Crazy as they come. With Rhi and Tai, we wondered whether popslashers were all crazy or if the three girls - Rachel was definitely quieter and calmer - were just crazy and they happened to be popslashers too, ie this was just a coincidence ;-) But seriously, they made us laugh like you wouldn't believe. So yes, when I say "crazy"? I mean it - of course - in the most affectionate way *g*
I also had myself a sappy little moment as I decided it was like "meeting"turps33 through seiyaharris.
Anyway, after everyone introduced themselves we found a place to eat because apparently we were hungry. We ate in a Pret A Manger, which made me smile because, well, French name, you know? I had a nice sandwich but I have to say for the record that English people have the tendency to mix their meat with, like, marmalade or something - wait, I just remembered, that's chutney! And it always takes me by surprise.
It's like at the British Museum on Monday. So I took a goat cheese sandwich and bam! I was like "Er Tai? There is something marmaladey in my goat cheese sandwich" and she was like "Yes, it's chutney" to which I replied "Oh okay, then." Note to self; pay attention when you pick a sandwich. Every single word is important!
Back to the Pret A Manger lunch though, it was cool, really lol And the conversation at our table would have made up for a crappy meal if that had been the case, anyway :-)
But I'll fast forward to the after-lunch because I guess there are so many details about lunch a girl can make, right?
We went to Forbidden Planet as it was the first, major thing we'd decided to do together. Forbidden Planet for those who don't know about it - like me before I went to London - is a sort of mecca for all the geeks in the world. This is a haven for comics, anime, manga, tv, sci-fi lovers. You find just about everything you want in there that has to do with geekdom and nerdland. I treated myself with Yellow v.2 and Descendants of Darkness v. 4 and 7. Technically, I truly think you could empty your bank account in that store but I guess everyone needs to be strong once in a while, right? Right. We stayed for some time but it's huge and there are so many goodies to ogle... you could lose yourself in there, really.
Also guess what? Terry Pratchett was doing a signing that afternoon! Not kidding, he was there! Well, not when we were visiting the store but two hours later he was doing a signing inside. How cool is that?
Somethings else that was awfully cool was doing an extra "visit" afterwards - we all went to Harrods, which wasn't originally in our program. And dude, it's amazing that place! Wow, I had no idea. I mean, no, I knew it was something, Harrods is quite famous around the world, I guess - besides my parents went there when they stayed in London and they told me I should check it out but I'll admit it wasn't one of my priorities at all. But I seriously don't regret going.
See, I never try to be cool when I'm abroad - also technically, I don't think I could be cool. I always have that wide-eyed look and I'm always looking at everything around me, and I'm always aaah'ing and ohhh'ing because everything is always so incredible and/or beautiful and/or interesting and/or fun... and Harrods was no exception. But it's so HUGE and so... I don't know, so classy, so rich? Just not the kind of thing you're used to seeing in your everyday life, seriously.
The Ladie's Accessories on the ground is insane! So many outrageously expensive jewels in just one place? That's quite fun, really. It was so sparkly - hey! I bet the Ss were just at home lol Then you have the Food Halls which is like a dream, I have to say. Not so much for the food itself but for the decorations... I mean, first there were Christmassy food and stuff everywhere, there was this chocolate sculpture that kept looking at me for instance - I'm sure it wanted me to taste it or something. Or what about the candy shop on the left with its shiny colours and its gazillion candies teasing me? Dude, that area is evil I tell you! Also, there was a reason in particular why the Ss had dragged us to the Food Halls and that reason is Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
People were, like, trying to kill each other to get those doughnuts. Or maybe not, but almost. Though after eating a piece of one - I was really not hungry if I could pass one of those, wasn't I? - I had admit I totally got the crazy part of it because it was so incredibly SWEET! And so sugary too, dude, it's like round sugar with a hole, ya know?
So we left the Food Halls to try the elevator stairs. I have to say for the record that we were all dying of the heat by then - the store was packed and we were so very hot *fans self just at the thought* Anyway, we took the elevator stairs and ohhhhh! Egyptian decoration, everywhere! I took some pics, of course - they're fun, they almost look like a museum pic only no, it's from a store :-)
And there was music as well. In the food halls Christmas songs could be heard - I won't ever get tired of those - and in the elevator stair it was a woman singing opera. And I thought it was a cd, you know? I mean, what kind of store actually has a real woman singing for their customers while theydie of the heat do their shopping? Well the kind of Harrods obviously because at one point Rhianne was like "hey look at that! That's a real woman singing" and it was! There was this woman in a balcony in a shiny and classy red dress singing for us and just - that's original!
We stopped at the fourth floor, which is the children floor and oohhhh so many toys! Organised in categories and all: costumes, plushies, nursery, book etc etc... Neato. At one point, Tai, Rhi and I lost the others so we had to text them again and we finished our tour in the plushy area where Rhi zeroed onJim and Blair's spirit guides a wolf and black panther plushies and she might have bought them. She said she would blame me for it - big surprise - but all I did was give her the rational answer, ie yes she needed to buy them for a) they were incredibly cute and pretty and soft and b) every TS fan needs to have a couple of those, so there.
Finally our little visit to Harrods was over and we finally left the furnace.
Off we went again, to see the Christmas lights on Regent Street. I liked them but it seems they're usually better and all. Still, shiny Christmas lights *g* We stopped at the Japan Centre which was nice too. The restaurant part of the building was quite appealing :-) There was this yaoi magazine that caught Tai's and my eyes and Becca made us laugh when we saw she'd bought it.Pervie Great minds do think alike *g*
Then we tried to go to a Starbucks - there truly are Starbucks everywhere in London, it's awesome - but, well, there were seven of us and we couldn't find enough seats so we gave up. Tai promised me we would try again the next day though so I didn't pout or anything lol
Finally we went to Waterstone's which is the largest bookshop in Europe - no less - with café and wine bar. Café which we tried, as a matter of fact. It was nice drinking something hot, believe me, and my chocolate with cream was really yummy. Tai and Rhi both had a Firefly drink which, you know, has to be a drink for geek, really - except not because according to the bottle, it should enable you to do karate or something. Don't ask :-)
Then we wandered in the aisles - only maybe not as such as we all pretty much zeroed in on the gay and lesbian section of the bookshop lol But it was so cool! First, there was quite the nice choice of books, second they had a lof of kinky books and even a s/m interest section! I mean, wheee! There were D/s books and even spanking books... displayed for me to ogle and read and just - kinky heaven, yay! A book in particular caught my interest but I was strong and decided to wait to try it at Amazon cause I had the feeling I would find it cheaper, which is exactly what happened, so me happy ;-)
Then it was time to say goodbye - The Ss +armabee went their way and Rhianne, Tai and I went our way, which means we had Rhi with us a little more since the three of us took the same train. Lovely *g* One station before ours, Rhi left us and that's how our day ended with the Brit Posse :-)
So now, I described what we did and it's all fine and dandy but you need to fill in the blanks with the most insane slash talks you can think of... which pretty much all happened in very crowded places with non-slasher people around us and there's always something special about that, isn't there? So there was a lot of fandom talk and slash talk and sex talk, including the whole "using lava lamp as an anal dildo is just 'wrong'" convo in the middle of a crowded underground which is quite surreal, no matter how many times you think about it. But Rhi and I mentioned bestiality including Blair being fucked by a dog and a snake and there was also horse sex mentioned at one point, I think... well, your regular slash talk, I guess? lol
Also, at the Waterstone's café I got to make a late Christmas drabble request toseiyaharris which means that I'll get Hustle slash for Christmas, wheee! Mickey/Danny, of course *g* And Tai got to read the beginning of a Spooks fic which was the centre point of the whole scorching v not scorching debate, which yeah okay you need to have followed the whole thing on Becca's journal in the first place to get it, I'll admit *g*
But anyway it was a great and crazy day with great and crazy girls, all very friendly and just - I had an awesome time *happy sigh*
The only thing I missed was the kiss thing. They really don't kiss - so I was kinda deprived. The hug is nice but... there's something missing when you can't kiss, you know? Well maybe you don't, so I'm telling you, there is *nods*
When I told you I had the best of time, I wasn't lying to you, was I? *beams*
PS: Since I'm listening to Christmas songs, it reminds me. Last year I downloaded a version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sang by Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies and when Clark died I lost the file so would one of you kind flist!people have the song and would you be willing to share it with me, please? TIA.
I'm also accentuating the positive as they - I love that song, btw - so I decided I would write
Our schedule first:
Saturday
Forbidden Planet, Shaftesbury Ave
Harrods
Japan Centre + Waterstone's
Regent Street Christmas Lights
Day 2
I had quite a good night sleep the previous night so felt quite rested and ready for a new day. Still no snow but I could forgive the UK for that, anyway. It was colder than the day before though and I dressed accordingly. Thank God I brought tons of long-sleeved shirts to put under my shirts - it was perfect :-)
Yeah anyway, after a cosy little morning at mommy&daddy!Tai's, we were en route to the station - both quite excited at the idea of meeting with the Brit Posse. Walking to the station - in daylight, too - was nice as I could see more of the town that way, which is always of the good. That's something that is so great when you go abroad, how everything always seems So Exciting even when it's the most mundane thing. But being in a foreign country makes everything much more exciting, know what I mean? So you can't ever get bored, even when walking to the station. And anyway, Tai and I were busy talking about slash and LJ and kinks, so... we couldn't have get bored anyway lol
I also had a funny moment as we saw a town crier at one point - he was all dressed up in a red costume and all. I don't think I ever saw a town crier before - I mean, not in the street, like that. That was quite fun! Incidentally I also saw a parrot in a animal store but it didn't beat the town crier thing, believe me :-)
So we arrived at the station, took our train, arrived in London, took the underground and then... a nice announcement was made about Bank station being closed because of a security alert. Yes, that was our stop, thanks for asking. I mean, it wouldn't have been fun if we'd arrived in time, right? lol We had to make a detour. Tai got quite busy exchanging text messages with the girls, then.
In the end, I don't think we arrived that late... or did we? Well, maybe, I don't remember *cough* We met
rhianne first - she's quite lovely if I do say so - and then it was the turn of the seiyaharris,simply_fly_away, saffronra and armabee. The Ss are... they're something else, alright lol Crazy as they come. With Rhi and Tai, we wondered whether popslashers were all crazy or if the three girls - Rachel was definitely quieter and calmer - were just crazy and they happened to be popslashers too, ie this was just a coincidence ;-) But seriously, they made us laugh like you wouldn't believe. So yes, when I say "crazy"? I mean it - of course - in the most affectionate way *g*I also had myself a sappy little moment as I decided it was like "meeting"
turps33 through seiyaharris. Anyway, after everyone introduced themselves we found a place to eat because apparently we were hungry. We ate in a Pret A Manger, which made me smile because, well, French name, you know? I had a nice sandwich but I have to say for the record that English people have the tendency to mix their meat with, like, marmalade or something - wait, I just remembered, that's chutney! And it always takes me by surprise.
It's like at the British Museum on Monday. So I took a goat cheese sandwich and bam! I was like "Er Tai? There is something marmaladey in my goat cheese sandwich" and she was like "Yes, it's chutney" to which I replied "Oh okay, then." Note to self; pay attention when you pick a sandwich. Every single word is important!
Back to the Pret A Manger lunch though, it was cool, really lol And the conversation at our table would have made up for a crappy meal if that had been the case, anyway :-)
But I'll fast forward to the after-lunch because I guess there are so many details about lunch a girl can make, right?
We went to Forbidden Planet as it was the first, major thing we'd decided to do together. Forbidden Planet for those who don't know about it - like me before I went to London - is a sort of mecca for all the geeks in the world. This is a haven for comics, anime, manga, tv, sci-fi lovers. You find just about everything you want in there that has to do with geekdom and nerdland. I treated myself with Yellow v.2 and Descendants of Darkness v. 4 and 7. Technically, I truly think you could empty your bank account in that store but I guess everyone needs to be strong once in a while, right? Right. We stayed for some time but it's huge and there are so many goodies to ogle... you could lose yourself in there, really.
Also guess what? Terry Pratchett was doing a signing that afternoon! Not kidding, he was there! Well, not when we were visiting the store but two hours later he was doing a signing inside. How cool is that?
Somethings else that was awfully cool was doing an extra "visit" afterwards - we all went to Harrods, which wasn't originally in our program. And dude, it's amazing that place! Wow, I had no idea. I mean, no, I knew it was something, Harrods is quite famous around the world, I guess - besides my parents went there when they stayed in London and they told me I should check it out but I'll admit it wasn't one of my priorities at all. But I seriously don't regret going.
See, I never try to be cool when I'm abroad - also technically, I don't think I could be cool. I always have that wide-eyed look and I'm always looking at everything around me, and I'm always aaah'ing and ohhh'ing because everything is always so incredible and/or beautiful and/or interesting and/or fun... and Harrods was no exception. But it's so HUGE and so... I don't know, so classy, so rich? Just not the kind of thing you're used to seeing in your everyday life, seriously.
The Ladie's Accessories on the ground is insane! So many outrageously expensive jewels in just one place? That's quite fun, really. It was so sparkly - hey! I bet the Ss were just at home lol Then you have the Food Halls which is like a dream, I have to say. Not so much for the food itself but for the decorations... I mean, first there were Christmassy food and stuff everywhere, there was this chocolate sculpture that kept looking at me for instance - I'm sure it wanted me to taste it or something. Or what about the candy shop on the left with its shiny colours and its gazillion candies teasing me? Dude, that area is evil I tell you! Also, there was a reason in particular why the Ss had dragged us to the Food Halls and that reason is Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
People were, like, trying to kill each other to get those doughnuts. Or maybe not, but almost. Though after eating a piece of one - I was really not hungry if I could pass one of those, wasn't I? - I had admit I totally got the crazy part of it because it was so incredibly SWEET! And so sugary too, dude, it's like round sugar with a hole, ya know?
So we left the Food Halls to try the elevator stairs. I have to say for the record that we were all dying of the heat by then - the store was packed and we were so very hot *fans self just at the thought* Anyway, we took the elevator stairs and ohhhhh! Egyptian decoration, everywhere! I took some pics, of course - they're fun, they almost look like a museum pic only no, it's from a store :-)
And there was music as well. In the food halls Christmas songs could be heard - I won't ever get tired of those - and in the elevator stair it was a woman singing opera. And I thought it was a cd, you know? I mean, what kind of store actually has a real woman singing for their customers while they
We stopped at the fourth floor, which is the children floor and oohhhh so many toys! Organised in categories and all: costumes, plushies, nursery, book etc etc... Neato. At one point, Tai, Rhi and I lost the others so we had to text them again and we finished our tour in the plushy area where Rhi zeroed on
Finally our little visit to Harrods was over and we finally left the furnace.
Off we went again, to see the Christmas lights on Regent Street. I liked them but it seems they're usually better and all. Still, shiny Christmas lights *g* We stopped at the Japan Centre which was nice too. The restaurant part of the building was quite appealing :-) There was this yaoi magazine that caught Tai's and my eyes and Becca made us laugh when we saw she'd bought it.
Then we tried to go to a Starbucks - there truly are Starbucks everywhere in London, it's awesome - but, well, there were seven of us and we couldn't find enough seats so we gave up. Tai promised me we would try again the next day though so I didn't pout or anything lol
Finally we went to Waterstone's which is the largest bookshop in Europe - no less - with café and wine bar. Café which we tried, as a matter of fact. It was nice drinking something hot, believe me, and my chocolate with cream was really yummy. Tai and Rhi both had a Firefly drink which, you know, has to be a drink for geek, really - except not because according to the bottle, it should enable you to do karate or something. Don't ask :-)
Then we wandered in the aisles - only maybe not as such as we all pretty much zeroed in on the gay and lesbian section of the bookshop lol But it was so cool! First, there was quite the nice choice of books, second they had a lof of kinky books and even a s/m interest section! I mean, wheee! There were D/s books and even spanking books... displayed for me to ogle and read and just - kinky heaven, yay! A book in particular caught my interest but I was strong and decided to wait to try it at Amazon cause I had the feeling I would find it cheaper, which is exactly what happened, so me happy ;-)
Then it was time to say goodbye - The Ss +
armabee went their way and Rhianne, Tai and I went our way, which means we had Rhi with us a little more since the three of us took the same train. Lovely *g* One station before ours, Rhi left us and that's how our day ended with the Brit Posse :-)So now, I described what we did and it's all fine and dandy but you need to fill in the blanks with the most insane slash talks you can think of... which pretty much all happened in very crowded places with non-slasher people around us and there's always something special about that, isn't there? So there was a lot of fandom talk and slash talk and sex talk, including the whole "using lava lamp as an anal dildo is just 'wrong'" convo in the middle of a crowded underground which is quite surreal, no matter how many times you think about it. But Rhi and I mentioned bestiality including Blair being fucked by a dog and a snake and there was also horse sex mentioned at one point, I think... well, your regular slash talk, I guess? lol
Also, at the Waterstone's café I got to make a late Christmas drabble request to
seiyaharris which means that I'll get Hustle slash for Christmas, wheee! Mickey/Danny, of course *g* And Tai got to read the beginning of a Spooks fic which was the centre point of the whole scorching v not scorching debate, which yeah okay you need to have followed the whole thing on Becca's journal in the first place to get it, I'll admit *g*But anyway it was a great and crazy day with great and crazy girls, all very friendly and just - I had an awesome time *happy sigh*
The only thing I missed was the kiss thing. They really don't kiss - so I was kinda deprived. The hug is nice but... there's something missing when you can't kiss, you know? Well maybe you don't, so I'm telling you, there is *nods*
When I told you I had the best of time, I wasn't lying to you, was I? *beams*
PS: Since I'm listening to Christmas songs, it reminds me. Last year I downloaded a version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sang by Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies and when Clark died I lost the file so would one of you kind flist!people have the song and would you be willing to share it with me, please? TIA.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 03:08 pm (UTC)Harrods!!! I've only been to London for something like six hours or so but one of the places I visited was Harrods! A little bit like the KaDeWe in Berlin. :-)
Sorry that I can't help with the song. Maybe someone else on your flist has it.
One advise for sick people: Hot Lemon!!! Sure helped me! My sinusitis is much better!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:42 am (UTC)So, should I go to Berlin, you recommend my going to KaDeWe, then?
Someone uploaded the song for me, yes, thank you ;-) Also if you're curious, it's in one of the comments below.
That's a sickness of the tummy ache persuasion so I'm not sure it would help but thanks cause there's a cold in there somewhere too, so yeah it'll come in handy *g*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 03:46 pm (UTC)I'm sorry you got bad news, darling. *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:43 am (UTC)And thanks, Jem *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-08 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-08 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 04:15 pm (UTC)http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1A4PDFIGS643C3568RK51U31GC
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:51 am (UTC)I'm glad you're not too deeply affected then.
*hugs back*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 08:22 pm (UTC)*pouts*
You made me hungry with your Harrod's talk!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:46 am (UTC)Sorry about the hungry thing *g*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 10:23 pm (UTC)I loved reading your summary, I don't know how you remembered so much! I'm going to have to mark these posts as memories ^_~!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 09:47 am (UTC)Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying them - after all, they're also for you :-) And remember when I took notes every night or morning? I would include as many details as I could remember then... then when writing the report, other details suddenly pop up in my mind et voilà *g*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 05:17 pm (UTC)We ARE crazy. And also, no, we don't kiss, but if you have expressed your sadness at it's lack, we could've *g* We're very amenable lol
no subject
Date: 2005-12-14 12:13 pm (UTC)you allthe popslash thing *snicker*Well, I got to kiss you at least - I guess it's something lol
no subject
Date: 2005-12-14 12:17 pm (UTC)You did indeed, well, you got to kiss the best person, so you didn't miss much elsewhere ;) lol