RSS 2.0First Impressions From London
First Impressions From London
So I landed in London about 5 hours ago. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to make the clocks jump ahead by an hour the very first night I'm here. Hah. Hah. A few thoughts and first impressions:
1) As my sister just found out, having a valid passport is very much required to go to England. Uh. Doh.
2) Fish and Chips at the Duke of Perth in Chicago totally kicks the crap out of random "Fish and Chips" stands in the middle of Kensington.
3) Sometimes, when British people speak, it really does sound like they're just saying (imagine ridiculously overrought British accent here) "British British British British." I think he was telling the young man that all they had left was chips and chicken mushroom pies, but I'll never be totally sure.
4) Man, a cute girl with an accent (any old accent will do) is just that much cuter. Think of it as something to work on while you've got the apartment to yourself Liz :)
5) Strongbow cider is awesome. However, it's more awesome with food, and while a sign may say "food served until 11pm" it in no way means the establishment intends to serve food until 11pm.
6) People drive really crazy here. It's not just that they drive on the wrong side of the road. They drive totally without fear. Sort of the way Douglas Adams describes the Chinese bicyclists in Last Chance to See. As if death were an impossibility. (Book is in Chicago or I'd find a good quote.
7) Google knows I'm in the UK! Creeeeeepy.
8) I'm just starting to plow through On Beauty, and it was pretty cool to read a chapter beginning about getting out of Heathrow on the tube and making fun of all the tourists who don't know that it never gets cold in London - immediately before leaving Heathrow (by car service) and seeing many tourists totally overdressed, and having it be really sort of pleasant out.
Alright, time to try to sleep so I can be on crazy British time.
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My passport will be renewed Monday morning and I'll give this another try.
Good to see that my big brother is relishing in my first "and you go to Harvard?" moment. Quoth Conan O'Brien: "You see, you're in for a long lifetime of, "And you went to Harvard?" Accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction and it's, "And you went to Harvard?" Ask the guy at the hardware store how there jumper cables work and here, "And you went to Harvard?" Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants and it's, "And you went to Harvard?" Get your head stuck in your niece's doll house because you wanted to see what it was like to be a giant and it's, "Uncle Conan, you went to Harvard?""
So mock on... At least Conan is on my side.
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03/25/06 @ 22:43 
Haven't you seen Fargo, man? It's exaggerated, sure, but
And you can't complain about crazy british time until you've fallen asleep multiple times, sitting straight up, on the open top of a big red, double decker tourist bus.
And Laura, if you get tired of hearing "and you went to Harvard" you can just hang out with a bunch of U of C people. We wouldn't throw that one at you (I spose Dan might just for torment's sake) - we'd just quietly shake our heads that you went to such an inferior school.
Also, I really liked the article about Conan being big in Finland. It makes me want to go visit one of those towns in the upper peninsula that are hugely Finnish.
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03/26/06 @ 17:36 I like the way Liz speaks as it is. I would hire her to narrate my first novel on tape.
Paul, I love the Northern Midwest accent. I'm sorry you can't appreciate it. I wish more people spoke like that here, but I guess one has to travel outside of the "cosmopolitan bubble" of Madison to find it in abundance. Perhaps on a roadtrip to the UP...
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03/26/06 @ 19:24 So Julie, does this mean your long-awaited first novel is finally being written?? Can I have an advance copy? Would you donate the Julie C******** papers to the special collections library at U of C or at Madison? Or somewhere else entirely?
Dan, why are you attempting to eat British food? In the UK, the choice is clear: Indian.
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03/26/06 @ 19:51 Fish and chips are what British people do right, though. He should be drinking Guiness instead of Strongbow, but we'll let that slide. I'm sure he has enough sense to avoid the bizarre organ meats. Actually, this is reminding me that I wanted to make a blog post consisting of nothing but the descriptions of insane British "candy" from Harry Potter and Gravity's Rainbow, right next to each other. I never wrote it, because I figured that it would be incomplete without a description from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and that wasn't close at hand.
In solidarity with Laura, I will note that on the way back from Victor's (::sniff:: his brother's all grown up!), I was reading my book, and uhhh, got on the wrong BART. And by the time this was realized, there were no more trains. As much as paying the taxi hurt, it sucked more that it was too dark to read in the cab, and so I had nothing to do but sit and contemplate my stupidity.
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03/27/06 @ 05:06 The first time you stand at a major intersection and watch, you are convinced that you are about to witness major carnage. Crowds of bicycles are converging on the intersection from all directions. Trucks and trolley-buses are already barrelling across it. Everyone is ringing a bell or sounding a horn and no one is showing any signs of stopping. At the moment of inevitable impact you close your eyes and wait for the horrendous crunch of mangled metal but, oddly, it never comes.PS My blog Another Chance To See is all Last Chance To See related of course...
It seems impossible. You open your eyes. Several dozen bicycles and trucks have all passed straight through each other as if they were merely beams of light.
Next time you keep your eyes open and try to see how the trick's done; but however closely you watch you can't untangle the dancing, weaving patterns the bikes make as they seem to pass insubstantially through each other, all ringing their bells.
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03/30/06 @ 09:35 Leave a comment: