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August 06, 2007
masters of disasters
First the floods, now foot and mouth disease. Last time I was in the UK, an epidemic of foot and mouth ravaged the countryside. They wouldn't let us walk through sheep pastures to get to town or visit the Lake District or Stonehenge, and when we returned to Atlanta, they asked too many questions and dogs sniffed our bags to ensure the absence of infected meat.
This blog has not adequately documented my London experience - indeed, it hasn't given even a good sense of it - but I think that's okay. I have now spent all the money I want to spend here, and I shall tell you how I spent it: day trips to Oxford, Cambridge, and Canterbury, a long weekend in Ireland, Mary Poppins (I laughed, I wept, I felt chills - sooooo the best musical I've ever seen), many an ale or bitter or blonde at one of hundreds of old unadulterated pubs, wasabi peas, Mahiki (favorite haunt of Prince William), picnic food to take to Hyde Park or Hampstead Heath, contributions to dinners at Lauri's flat, outings with Julie, Keri, Lauri, and Anna, groceries from ASDA in Clapham, Indian food, Harry Potter, Ocean's 13, The Simpsons Movie, a tour of Parliament, Othello at the Globe Theatre, cushions and seat backs necessary for surviving the Globe Theatre, and finally, coffee...takeaway.
Of course, this list doesn't include dozens of the free delights - museums, walks by the river, walks in the parks, walks by 10 Downing Street, sightings of Stephen Merchant and possibly Billy Boyd and even less possibly Christopher Hitchens (still not sure about that one), laughing at Brits behind their backs, laughing at Brits to their faces - inducing looks of condescension - and not caring a whit about it, suffocating on the Tube, live jazz at the wine wharf and Lauri's beer garden, and general strolling about under the coy English sun.
Here we are with roomie Rachel, drinking Pimm's courtesy of our cheery professor:
and on the windy Tube:
Heidi trying to sort it all out while Lauri admires the sunset:
So despite the natural disasters, the summer's been a success. I have a week and a half left and am not spreading myself too thin. I'll attend one of the BBC Proms this week, finish my internship Friday, go to Brighton this weekend, maybe visit a couple more musems, write a paper, take a final, and attend a graduation dinner at Kettners, even though I'm not graduating. Cheers to that. And cheers to summer terms that are more like long holidays.
| By laurajuanita | 03:34 PM
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Comments
Oh, oh. Have fun at the Proms. I'll be seeing you in Boston come Sept., after I defend my thesis.
Posted by: funke at August 6, 2007 04:43 PM
I'm confused about your chronology, when you say "when we returned to Atlanta" are you speaking of a future event?
Posted by: linnea at August 6, 2007 04:55 PM
Linnea, Laura is talking about last time she was in the UK, not this time.
Posted by: funke at August 6, 2007 05:17 PM
ah, it all makes sense now.
Posted by: linnea at August 6, 2007 08:37 PM
The Wine Wharf is capitalized because it's the name of the place. You make it sound like there's an actual wharf consisting of wine, which isn't a bad idea, in any case.
Posted by: heidi at August 7, 2007 04:50 AM
Yay, Funke, I'm so excited!
Posted by: laura at August 7, 2007 03:27 PM
And I will be bringing 3rd season of Slings and Arrows, too. :)
Posted by: funke at August 7, 2007 10:36 PM
Hooray! I'm not even going to say hi to you when you come: we are watching that as soon as you get there, no questions asked, no words exchanged.
Posted by: heidi at August 8, 2007 12:07 PM
