Saturday, April 21, 2007

Picnics, Vertigo and Agressive Stupidity.

SO….

The Contiki experience extravaganza starts tomorrow morning, and at the slightly un-godly hour of 6am at that. First stop will be the White cliffs of Dover – and spending the first of 3 nights in Paris, France. Can’t believe it’s come around so quickly.

Anyway I just thought I’d write a quick note saying “hi” and that I obviously don’t know when or where I’ll pop up from next – depending on wireless capabilities of the places I visit… I would assume that there will be internet in most places, but I can’t be sure. So I’ll probably end up writing entries and posting them all at once when I find a hotspot.

The last couple of days have been mostly nice. Two days ago Jadine, Peri and I went to Green Park for a picnic. Stopped by a Tesco’s on the way and got some sandwiches and some fruit, sat down on the surprisingly nice grass and ate, then dozed for a while in the uncharacteristically warm spring sunshine… Then we went to St Paul’s cathedral where I was attacked by a thing called Vertigo for the first time since I’ve been on my holiday; we walked up the 430 odd stairs to the first viewing thing and I got the cold sweats and had to sit down. Then head straight down the next flight of stairs back to the safety of the cold marble floor. Was odd… I mean, I did the London eye which is a little pod on the outside of a gigantic Pushbike wheel… not a moment of fear, and then I get to the top of a building that’s stood solid for several hundred years – survived the Blitz and all sorts, and I panic. But Peri and Jadine were very good – they hardly laughed at me at all *rolls eyes*. I have noticed that women are less affected by a fear of heights than men… or so seems to have been my experience so far… I mean, there are women that are scared of heights, but… meh, maybe I’m rambling…

Yesterday I woke to an interesting and invigorating situation – one of the guys in my room came in at about 6am munching on a packet of chips and talking to people who were asleep in an effort to wake people up… I looked at him and he said that he’d eat outside, but then about half an hour later he came back in and started talking and waking people up again. So I told him in no uncertain terms (which basically just means that I swore) to shut up. Well. He didn’t take that very well… I’m pretty sure he’s been drinking for 3 days straight, if not longer. And he went off… started swearing at me and threatening me, told me to watch where I sleep etc etc… pretty funny looking back at it now, especially when he started smashing his skateboard against the ground and screaming that I couldn’t hurt him. I’m pretty sure he wanted me to get up and take a swing so I’d be the one to get kicked out. But Security heard him and they kicked him out. Which was nice. Needless to say I was a bit confused when they let him back in, although at the time he was being nice and apologizing etc, afterwards he was giving me dirty looks. Me and one of the girls in the room that told him to get lost too… so yeah, that was interesting – my adrenaline was pumping for a good hour afterwards…

Today we’re going to Camden Markets before I have to be at the new hotel for my pre-Contiki meeting at 7pm… going to go down there soon and drop my bags off.

Hopefully will talk to you soon




"There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. -
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

6 comments:

Liney said...

I love Camden - I lived a 10 minute walk south at Warren St. station. I'd always pop up there to wander around the markets on warm days. Happy Contiki!

Anonymous said...

I think the vertigo must run in the family...I have to hold someone's hand (or whatever I can get a hold of) if I stand on a chair!!

Enjoy your contiki trip.

Carley
x

Anonymous said...

hi its charlotte from earls court hostel...finally found your blog! (interweb stalking begins now).
sorry i havent been in touch, very farcical few weeks involving broken phone and damaged sim card etc but anyways. youre probably on your contiki tour now, but when you have a minute (if you want), u can blog-stalk or email me (chucky dot b dot lame at gmail dot com).
hope youre having a great time, hopefully hear from you soon!

non-Blondie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kymbo said...

hey Troy
I do occasionally read your blog. It's good to know your still alive you foul beast of burden ;o).. I still haven't got my postcard. It's so depressing, i check my mailbox everyday but to no avail (as if! i'm not that pathetic haha) i do, however, miss you. write to me some time, i'm old fashioned.

Liney said...

Hey - it's Caroline. I'm blogging now in your absence!