Journal 5
October 18, 2004

Saturday:

We started out Saturday getting up pretty early, well, early for a Saturday seeing as how it was our first day to relax since we arrived on the 9 th . We still got up and stuff around 8:30 or so I believe. Ian and Sue had put cereal and crumpets (our usual breakfast they provide for us) out on the table for when we woke up. Justin and I were both surprised since we were told (by the staff) that we had to provide our own weekend breakfast. We ate and got ready to leave for the day. I remember wondering if I should bring my laptop downtown to school to d/l my email, or do it all web based for the day. I decided not to bring it, which is a good thing since the AIFS offices were closed and we couldn't check our email anyway. Before that though we were leaving the tube station and there was a girl wearing a George W. Bush mask handing out Anti-Bush flyers, Justin and I both got one to take home. They HATE Bush here, it's great. We keep hearing “let's just hope you get the election right this year…” to which I respond with “Hey, I'm from California . We didn't mess up, Florida did.”

Anyway, when we got to school AIFS was closed but there was a rally going on at the school. We went to check it out, maybe it was an Anti-Bush demonstration (we had heard there was one coming up soon). I was shocked to read the signs and flyers and learn that it was actually a Socialism rally. Some guy came up to us and was talking about how we should join there campaign to bring back Socialism. He said he was from Texas , yet he had absolutely no accent, twang, or anything remotely Texan. Dee and Kyle would have been offended. Justin picked up as many flyers as he could to bring home. I want one of the posters with Bush on it that says “World's #1 Terrorist”. After that we got back on the tube to go meet up with Courtney, Jenny, and everyone to go to the Palace.

We got off the train and walked the couple blocks to Buckingham and took some pictures. I seriously thought it was going to be bigger than it was, maybe just cuz it was far away… but still. We walked through the park next too it afterward and saw the Canadian WWII memorial. We passed some street vendors, one was selling political cartoons – those were great too. We walked everywhere and saw a bunch more old building and castles, a couple cathedrals too I believe. Justin and I took pictures standing like one of the guards with the big hats and red coats. After that we stopped at an Italian sandwich shop for lunch. I had a Mozzarella and Tomato sandwich, it was damn good and worth the two pounds I had to pay. After that we all parted ways and Justin and I decided to try our hand at the busses. We rode one of the double decker busses; you know the big red ones you always see. After we got off we saw another street march/demonstration thing and followed to see what it was about. We caught up to it, but as the street curved around we got pushed into it. Turns out it was a church ceremony that's been going for years and years. Annually or something the church goes out and marches around their community borders and sings hymnals and stuff. It's called “beating the sticks” or something strange… Ian explained it to us when we got home. After that we took the Tube home to chill before going out again later.

That night we went to O'neils; O'neils is actually a chain of Irish pubs here, but this one happens to be in an old cathedral. It was pretty cool though, the inside rocked. If I could take the smoke out of all the pubs here, I'd be a much happier person. We chilled there for a while. I took a break to walk down the street to the little market/store thing and buy a Pepsi. I was really thirsty and didn't want to buy a soda at bar…seeing as how it would have probably cost me two pounds. So Jenny went with me and we chilled outside having Chinese pears, which I also discovered last week – in London of all places. I gave Jenny all the reasons that I've chosen to not drink and not smoke; everyone on the program asks me when they find out I don't. After going back inside we sat there til last call… which in London is at 11o'clock. From there we waited for the bus to the tube station, and managed to get off at the right stop (which is good cuz we weren't really sure). On the way back to the station though we passed another a pub which Sam ran into right away since she knew guys who worked there. I had to drag Justin out though since we were going to miss our trains home; it was going to take three trains and we only had 30 minutes make our final connection. If you don't get on your final train by midnight , you're screwed – cuz that's when they shut down. Justin was pretty drunk and wanted to go get Burger King, but I made him head for home instead. We went back into the Tube station doors we came out of the other time, apparently it was an exit only. There was only an “up” escalator, and we needed to go down. “FUCK IT MAN, I'M GOING FOR IT” yelled Justin, after we discussed (for two seconds) the idea of running down it. He started to run down the escalator….so I of course decided to follow. Now, take a normal mall escalator, and double it… that's about how long this one was. I was taking two steps at a time… which was fairly difficult even sober. Justin was stuck trying to take one at a time drunk. He made it down though, but it took him twice as long as me. We found out later that Sam had tried to do the same thing later that night, drunk, fallen and scraped up here legs really bad.

We got on the Tube (first of three connections) and Justin immediately says “gotta meet some locals”. He walks up to the first couple he sees, “HI, I'M AMERICAN!” Well, that's one way to strike up a conversation I guess. We ended up talking to these two for quite a while; they were on both our first and second trains. He was from London , and she was actually from San Diego , CA . She was telling Justin that he was from Lake Tahoe , Nevada …because Lake Tahoe isn't in California … that went over like a ton of bricks.

The third train connection was interesting, only cuz Justin almost got stuck on the train itself. He crashed almost right after we boarded, and I told him I'd wake him up when we got to our stop. I smacked his knee a few times when we got close to try and rouse him. When I got no response I shook his leg. “Justin, this is our stop”. Nothing. I shook harder this time. “JUSTIN, WAKE UP”. I got a mumble as a response. “JUSTIN, GET UP”. “I'M UP” he grunted back, eyes still closed as he stayed laying against the window. The doors opened at our stop and I got off the train. I looked back at Justin who was still sleeping. “JUSTIN, WE'RE HERE. GET OFF THE TRAIN” I yelled. He jumped up immediately and hopped off as fast as he could.

As we were walking the exit, or “way out” as the signs here say, Justin tried to put his coat on. He did…but upside down. “Is this on right” he said as he turned to me. “HAHAHA, No, it's upside down” I told him. We walked the half a mile or so home and got inside. “Oohh, we can watch Southpark” Justin said as we got up to our room. “I guess I'm going to have to sleep backwards tonight then” he continued. Justin was going to set up his laptop on his night stand so I could watch to. “It's cool bro, you can sleep normally. I have some typing I can do.” I told him. “….oh…but I thought we were going to watch Southpark…” he said, obviously disappointed. I then went to brush my teeth and when I came back Justin was laying on his bed. His laptop was open, with Southpark playing, headphones still in his hand, Justin himself passed out on his pillow. I turned his system off, moved it to the floor, and then went to sleep myself. A long day, finally over.