big cities

As i begin to write this 3 year old that i live with is bouncing a bunny rabbit that he made at playgroup out of paper all over my head and my arms..these are the hurdles i must jump to write this blog..and learn the valuable lesson of multi tasking - entertaining a 3 year old and writing the tellings of my trip to London...and the Jeremy Kyle like scene that happened outside 133 drop in yesterday afternoon...it was classic Jeremy kyle scene - yelling, swearing, threatening...But anyway lets get back to London..which was the most intense packed day of my life..but all so amazing

Im sure im a master of the train system by now..im an expert at buying tickets, boarding the train, and if not sure, asking where the train is coming in (which has happened every journey i've been on lol i like to think of it not so much as asking for directions, but testing those who should know where they're going and see whether they know the answer lol) but apparently i havnt mastered the art of finding first class and economy class...
WARNING FOR TRAINS: If there are empty seats do not assume you can sit in them, even if they look like every other seat. These may indeed be first class seats in disguise. As I found out. The conductor comes round through the journey and checks your ticket to make sure you're not trying to skive a lift to London. Me being very happy with having got on the right train and merrily on my way to London I handed my ticket proudly over to the guy, who just starts looking at it and tapping things into his little hand held computer thing.. Next thing i hear is 'that will be 10 punds please' me just quivering and being like 'why?'
The conductor then informs me I am sitting infirst class (note: the seats are just as bad as the economy ones and you dont even get more room..) an i have to pay extra..thats like $30..so gutted..i just handed the money over but getting all bitter and twisted on the inside lol

I met Rach ( a friend from church in NZ) in the train station and after much hugging and exclaiming over the new happenings and how we couldnt believe we were meeting in london radaradara we she led me on my way to seeing everything London had to offer...
First stop was the London Tower and while I was trying to conjure up any knowledge i had left in my brain from history last year she bought me breakfast and coffee and we sat looking at the tower bridge (and beign such tourists snapping away) and planning the rest of the day..
We fitted in so much..and i think i must have had a blatant label on me saying tourist coz everyone kept coming up to me and asking me to take photos of them by different monuments..lol show off my world class photography skills

She took me to the tower of London, London Bridge,
Buckingham Palace (not as impressive as first hoped but we saw the changing of the guards), Leicester square (where all the big movie premieres are held - HSM3 premier had been there 2 days before and so had ZAC EFRON ahhh),
Oxford Street (the most amazing street for shopping ever)
Piccadilly circus (which has the New Zealand house and a shop that stocks nz treats that arent sold in normal stores like black forest chocolate and pineapple lumps..),
St. James park (where we fed squirrels peanuts and became closely acquainted with the wildlife),
Horse Guards palace (where all the gaurds on horses are and the home of millions of statues),
Westminster Abby,
The London Eye (which I think was my favourite), AND
Covent Garden markets

So funny though coz when we were in St. James park Rachel was showing me how friendly the squirrels were..they just come up to you..so there's me prettending ive got peanuts in my hand trying to get these squirrels to come closer to me and me making these high pitched noises hoping that somehow this would make a difference lol this worked for a little while..until all of them clicked on that i didnt acually have peanuts..so they all kept well away..except for this one that leapt on my leg and clung to my tights..this just freaked me out so im jumping around shrieking trying to shake it off, much to the enjoyment of the others in the park..and it shook off and ran off..im sure it gave me rabies coz it was the mangiest one of the lot..had like a stub of a tail and stuff lol ive still got scratches on my leg..lol

Also at the Changing of the guards there are guards on horses that ride past aswell..and theres one at the front that blows a trumpet in this tune thats meant to sound all royal..anyway this one guys horse was totally playing up so he was trying to keep his pride, blow the trumpet and keep his horse under control at the same time..which wasnt really working oout for him at all..the trumpet was so awful and out of pitch and wrong as he was trying to control his horse..and that is my memory of the horse guards that ill keep forever lol everyone was trying to control their giggles coz there were so many tourists there watching..oh poor chap..

But I do have to say that London is quite possibly the most amazing place ever at night...(and might i add the perfect night date city?! hmm) because the lights are all on and there's so many amazing things to see...from the bridge you can see the London eye all lit up and the city and all th amazing buildings and things lit up..We went down to the London eye because I really wanted to see it at night and go for a ride on it (it does a complete circle kindof like a ferris wheel that takes about 20 minutes and yousee the whole of the city from high up) but we got there just as it was on its last round..so disappointing but we walked down by the river on the little promenade with the fairy lights and all the benches and things whihc was just so cool..
We then went again to Covent Garden..its like an outdoor area with heaps of dining places and old buildings and street performers and we just sat on the cobbles and listened to this street performer guy sing cute songs..it was truly perfect...i want to go there again..

I ended up catching the train back at 11:10pm abd managed to catch the train that stopped at EVERY station all the way back to Gillingham so instead of taking 50 minutes it took about an hour and a half..lol good times..

Its so crazy though coz even then i was exposed to a totally different way of living coz this guy in really scruffy clothes came up to me and was like 'ello darling. you care to spare a few coins so i can have a place to sleep tonight'..so i gave him some change..to which he proceeded up the train to continue his begging..Its really sad coz i dont know whether back home things like that would have happened..or whether its just that here im in a situation where im more aware of things like that...i just dont know but it does make me kind of sad..
Because initially I was thinking that they guy probably only wanted the money for booze or drugs..But even if there was the slightest chance that any one person giving a few coins could improve this guys quality of life then why dont we do it?!

So that was my day trip to London.
It is a city I love.
And a city I will no doubt return to.
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