Hello ye all!

As I'm sure you have read in the blogs of the other duds (unless you read this one first, simply because it is so much classier and written so well) yesterday was a jovial jaunt into London. I had previously missed earlier such trips, for a variety of reasons, but yesterday I managed it!

I woke up, (and managed to stay awake) at 8:30 and walked to the station at 9:15, meaning I had to wait almost a quarter of an hour until the got there. I then got on the furthest carriage back I could, and walked back through the train to find Jon. A few stops later Baz and Dave got on, and we travelled to Charing 'X' (Cross, as in noughts and crosses).

After about 10 minutes standing around talking the last member of our party arrived (Sarah) and we set off. We hadn't even left the station when Dave sheepishly told us that he, like the incompetent cretin he is, had forgotten the map.

Sigh. Still we had some fun walking around in circles trying to find our way to Lie-sester Skwar (American pronunciation) where we found a shop called Switzerland, which was curiously titled, since it sold a lot of London memorabilia, such as:

• T-shirts, with such classic slogans as "My (INSERT RELATION) went to London and all I got was this t-shirt"
• Toothbrushes in the shape of London guards (feet included)
• Lots of things with peoples names on them

After leaving Switzerland, we went along the road to Covent Garden, where we stood for a while watching a man perform many a feat with a Diabolo and a unicycle, the latter of which I photographed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0709.jpg

As you can see, his juggling act was made even more spectacular since he only had the one arm (he didn’t really. The photo just came out like that). Then, as we walked to find some lunch, I took a short video clip of Jon dancing off merrily into the distance (no idea how to put it on here. Ask on MSN if you want it.) Then, we found a Prêt et Manger (sp?) where we purchased lunch. To my amusement, I read this on the bag:

"Please do call me...about anything to do with our shops, the food or our hardworking, wonderful people. The good, the bad, and the ugly."

So, the shops (the good) the food (the bad) and the hardworking, wonderful people (the ugly).
What a charming shop... so anyway. We ate our lunch back in Lie-sester Skwar, opposite Switzerland, and then went off to The Monument, which I was led to believe was a monument of some description. After paying £2 to get in, we then climbed the 311 steps to the top, where I, in my usual mood around the possibility of a high place and a relatively large drop, was being rather nervous and anxious. After about 5 minutes my fear had lessened somewhat, and I was able to enjoy the rather splendid view from where we were:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0714.jpg

Actually, that wasn't a particularly nice view. Still, that was Dave looking menacingly into the camera. Then, I took some photos of the view that didn't come out as well as I hoped, but still, I thought this would be nice to own one day:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0715.jpg

"Yarr, I feel pretty." (XBot).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0716.jpg

The best looking face on the trip (well, excluding mine of course, hem hem), with Baz slyly picking his nose in the background. 101 Baz?

Then I saw a rather bizarre sight. It appeared to be that the Gherkin building was being used in some strange assassination attempt, that or the apparent gun emplacement was used to defend our great (snigger) country from foreign invasion. Still, decide for yourself:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0718.jpg

The next 20 minutes on the monument were spent reading a lot of the graffiti that various peoples had left. Rather diverse in its languages too. Korean, German, Chinese, Japanese, what seemed to be the alien language from Futurama (I'm not kidding) and Sindarin (I am kidding). Some rather fascinating names as well. For instance:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0720.jpg

That appeared twice. Either the named visited twice or they each wrote it once. I spent some time looking avidly for any that said "John Titor was 'ere, 2023", but to no avail. We then climbed the 311 stairs down again, with Sarah managing to count them correctly. Technically, my 326 was correct, since there were 15 stairs further up that we couldn't climb. But, no, I was wrong. Here's what those stairs looked like from the top:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0717.jpg

If I can be that scared of heights when there's no possibility of falling, imagine how I felt taking that photo... (shudder)

-

So, having returned to earth, we decided to go to Trafalgar Square, which I was rather looking forward to; it was my first time there since I was there with 14,999 other people. More photos I say!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0722.jpg

Sarah and Jon have obviously seen something in the air, while Dave seems to be indicating towards his genitalia. For some reason.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0723.jpg

Stylishly black and white, Baz, Dave and Sarah enjoy the company of a large aggressive feline. I didn't bother; I get enough at home:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0730.jpg

Cute, yes, but still dangerous!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0725.jpg

Finally for the Trafalgar Square collection, Charles I prepares to ride to take back Westminster! Go forth!

-

At this point the duds decided that they should go. We all walk to Charing Cross, where we bid farewell to the Duds, and Sarah and I went to find something to do for the next two hours. After a shortish tube journey to Regents Park we sat under a tree and reminisced, looking at the photos and films of the day, and after some sorting out of balancing and the self timer on my camera, this photo is taken:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Valmar/DSCF0729.jpg

Aww. Yes, well. We then went down to find the rest of Sarah’s family outside the Globe theatre, where I was having some rather nasty visions of a “Meet the Parents” catastrophe. However, it wasn’t so bad. The mainline problem with the evening was having to stand during a Shakespeare production (read, LONG), and my legs were in a rather large amount of pain. Still, a rather good production (‘Measure for Measure’ by the way) but it meant I didn’t get home until nearly half past 11, so I was out of the house for over 14 hours (take that Tera!).

-

Today has been rather strange. I woke up at 12, having not had a lot of sleep (kept dreaming, waking up, dreaming, waking up repeat ad nauseum), and came downstairs onto MSN. I checked my email, and began this blog at 1.30pm. I finished it at nearly 5 o’clock.

A good day yesterday. Kind of makes up for the mundane day I had today…

G'4 hours and 26 minutes after I started blogging
'Chard

Playing: Worms 2
Reading: Enid Blyton
Listening to: ‘Train’ – 4 Non Blondes
Watching: The Matrix Reloaded : Burly Brawl scene (in Gadget Shop)
Annoyed with: My cough
Confused about: School
Mood: Happiness :D
Song currently stuck in head: None really. Want to put one in?

Dave's Done!