July 1st; A new month, waking up late. I am more than content and just a little proud to say as much! When each night you sleep is actively eating at diminishing coffers you rarely let a morning go by. That’s the way we’ve been living. Maybe I should take that approach to life more often? Maybe smokers could take that advice. Maybe everyone should. Maybe I should stop pushing opinions around like a pram? Everyone likes to sleep in, and no one likes babies.
We caught the train from the far away shops into town. We got off at the Westminster stop, about fifteen minutes from our place. I bought a week long Oyster Card for use on the train. The others got daily passes for a fifth as much. They will rue that choice! The subway is definitely a one up that London has over New York. Whilst New York’s subway may be filled with ‘character’, character being defined as rats, mild flooding and insane people, the London one is super clean, pretty futuristic looking and used largely by ordinary working folk. Let’s not forget that it has stops that overlap with each other in convenient places and it turns a generally disorganised and curvy town into something manageable. New York’s tends to turn a town which is all straight lines and order into a bend filled chaos. Maybe that’s why so many crazies embrace the subway? Sometimes literally.
We checked out Westminster Abbey first. It was right there. Looking across the road, at Parliament, I couldn’t remember if the big gold clock was Big Ben or not, at first. It has been four years since I was in London, and I swear it was bigger. My memories of everything then don’t seem to match up with what it is now, and it really hasn’t changed at all. In fact, it’s probably among the most persistent cities in the world. The Abbey was closed for tours and entry, but we went around the side. Kate led us inside after talking to a guy for a minute. It turns out we’d been pulled into Evensong – free entry if you stay for the service.
It’s not entirely my thing. The choir was very good, the organ was very mediocre and the rest of the time I was looking at the Architecture. I like Architecture, but not architecture. It has to have the capital letter. I haven’t seen anything modern which has particularly taken my fancy – at least anything which isn’t largely based on something very old. For all their great engineering feats and scale, the big water cube in China looks stupid and the Saudi Palm Islands seem a bit silly. Surely there’s a better shape than a palm? Too much walking! And they all have to go up within a year! Spend a few generations on that temple my friend, or at least a lifetime. And the simple Roman arch! Few things can match the versatility and beauty of what was probably an accidental invention. Stick a few hundred together and you have the Coliseum, tamer of the people and greatest stadium of its time. No one uses enough stone either. Stone columns with a big mantle above them, that can impress me.
The service ended. Religion is a funny subject with me. If I wasn’t spending all my time writing, I’d probably spend my time writing about Religion. It’s a great interest, and I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I’ve pretty much figured it out. Just because I know I have doesn’t mean I have, but it’s good enough for me. It would take a good day to explain my beliefs and views, though I could condense it to ten minutes if you don’t talk and don’t mind walking out with a mildly puzzled look on your face. We did a walk around the Abbey. They had free viewings of Parliament debates or some such thing, with an hour wait. I was in no mood to spend more of my first proper day in London sitting down. We dropped The Lady off with the promise of picking her up in a couple of hours and set off down the mighty Thames.
I’m not quite sure why they call it a river anymore. I think they should call it a Gloop. That’s the sound it would make if you dropped your pocket-watch in, or maybe your foot. We walked for a very long time. Past the aquarium, past a few bridges, past a lot of galleries. We collected brochures on the way. We made it to Shakespeare’s Globe and had a quick peek around. By then it was getting late, time to get Kate. We crossed the Millennium footbridge and had a look at St. Paul’s Cathedral very quickly. We also had a look at Cleopatra’s Needle very quickly, and the Victoria Embankment very quickly. We were practically powerwalking. When we got there, seven minutes late, it turned out that she had been outside for nearly an hour anyway. Apparently the wait was much shorter than they said.
One last look at cruise prices and times and we were back on the tube. Down all the stairs, past all the stops, to the station, down the road, back home. We had picked up Chicken Cottage for dinner. It is perhaps best described as KFC, but wrapped in a completely unmarketable brand. It was pretty expensive, and my Spicy BBQ Chicken Burger, whilst tasty, was not spicy enough. It left me in the mood for Tom Yum Goong from the Thai Orchid. Followed by Chili Fish, perhaps…
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