Later that night...

From Westminster we took a little trip to Harrods, where Banana actually SNIFFED the shoes... Something about the smell of leather... I chose not to question her preferences!! We had to rush out of there in the end, as we were meeting someone for a quick drink before doing a Jack the Ripper walking tour.

It was a bit gory I guess, but it was certainly entertaining. We walked through Whitechapel, and saw places that were actually standing when the murders occurred. It's amazing what is still standing, given the history of the place and it's vicinity to the City of London. Plenty of the places have since been knocked down, but there are still clues to what was one there. For instance the photo below shows a gap in the guttering, and that gap was the doorway to where one of the victims lived and died. It was the last victim, the one who was fully mutilated in her room. We saw photos - glad we hadn't had dinner beforehand! It was easy to imagine the overcrowding that would have been prevalent at the time, although it was difficult to imagine actually living in those conditions.

It's a bit hard to make out in the photo, but there is a gap in that gutter...

This was painted in one of the alleyways, just near where another victim was found, dying but not mutilated. Jack had been disturbed... He then went on to murder another woman and pull her body to bits. This was the 'double event' - the only time he killed twice in one night.

Gory though it may be, I loved it!

Westminster

From Tower Hill we moved on to Westminster. I'd been there before, but hadn't seen all that I saw that day. We came out of the tube station at Big Ben, and Banana took the obligatory photos. We had planned to go on the London Eye that day, after having such spectacular weather since she arrived in the Motherland, however it was overcast and hazy, so we put that off for another day.

After Big Ben we walked around the block to Westminster Abbey, which I hadn't seen previously. It didn't seem to be as big as it did on the TV, which was surprising. On the other side of the road from the abbey was the House of Parliament, which was cheerfully decorated with men in fluorescent yellow jackets carrying machine guns. Needless to say, we didn't dally.

We headed further down the road, as, nerd that I am, I wanted to see Downing Street. Unfortunately there were more men with their big guns blocking me from seeing Number 10. I had thought that you could actually get closer to it than I did, but I'll have to investigate that one further. I still managed to get a photo of the street sign, just to prove that I'd been there.

Where to put the lairy gits...

Banana and I went back into London for another day of roaming the streets. This time we started at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We didn't actually go into the Tower, as we'll do that another time. I did manage a picture of an actual Beefeater though, which was cool. I wish the moat still ran around the Tower, but I guess we can't have it all.

We then walked around towards the river, to see Tower Bridge. One day I'll plan a trip there when I know the bridge is going to be lifted, so see that too. It's amazing that something so old can manage to operate with all the modern pressures - it sure wasn't built to take the buses and trucks that it does.

Back to the city

When we headed back to central London, we went to Leceister Square, which was still decorated for Chinese New Year. We wandered around for a bit, had some lunch, then headed through Picadilly Circus (where we saw the Beefeater bear) and on to Buckingham Palace, so that my friend could see a few of the sites.

After we dodged the Kiwis who were out in force for Waitangi Day (there were literally thousands of them on the District Line), we went to Oxford St for a spot of shopping (even if my friend did manage a five-finger discount on a Tina Sparkles umbrella from an unnamed High Street store...). We pretty much saw every possible women's clothing shop on the street, and a few on Regent St as well. We also saw two almost-naked men in Selfridges - they were models who were spruiking Calvin Klein products, wearing only a pair of tighty whitey CK jocks. It totally made our day - they were HOT. We will go back to Selfridges just to see if they have them there again! Eventually we gave up on the shopping, but only when we could walk no longer and were ready to pass out from hunger. We headed back to Liverpool St for some dinner, then home, as we were completely shattered.

London town

Now that my friend has arrived from the good old land of Aus, it was time to head out for some more site seeing. We headed into London with the plan of going to Camden Markets. We got there with no problems, having negotiated several tubes and of course the overland (it was the first time on the tube for my friend). Stepping out of the tube station, it seemed we'd stepped into a different world.

For the uninitiated, Camden is kind of Kuranda meets Byron Bay meets somewhere filled with punk/goth memorabilia and people. It was surreal, to say the least. We wandered up the street, past stores selling what is best described as bondage and S&M gear, past stores selling weed paraphernalia, and into one section of the markets. It was cramped and crowded, but we found some interesting stuff. We bought some postcards and prints of various aspects of London, which were so cheap it was ridiculous.

Then we headed up towards the canal markets. Let me say at this point, we did NOT burn them down. Turns out that later in the evening, well after we had left, those exact markets were on fire, requiring over 100 firefighters to attend. We checked those out, headed further up to another section that included the Horse Tunnel Markets, and further around to the lock. It was all a bit confusing really, as every which way you turned there were more stalls. I know that we missed a fair bit, but we can always go back (providing more of it doesn't burn!).

Cultural Learnings of England to Make Benefit.... Oh, sod it.

I haven't been anywhere exciting since my trip to Wales, but I figure that doesn't have to stop me from updating. There won't be any further trips until my mate arrives in February, so this should tide over my masses of adoring fans (thanks Mum!).

I thought I'd do a bit of a 'separated by a common language' post. This comes up a lot in conversation; more so in teaching as we frequently have to translate what we're saying (I translate for the kids and they translate for me). I'll write in Standard Australian English, and put the Essex/South-East England/London translation in brackets.

1. There is a severe weather warning issued for heavy rain (Oh dear God! Move to higher ground! There will be approximately 15mm of rain!). ** Note that we had this particular warning at the same time as Bowen and Prosperpine received 180mm in 15 hours.

2. I am going to sit on the couch (sofa) under my doona (duvet).

3. I wear pants (underwear). I wear thongs (underwear). What we mean when we say pants is what they call trousers. What we call thongs, they call flip flops.

4. You are an annoying person (lairy git).

5. Put the rubbish out for the garbo (binmen) to collect.

6. I am in grade (year) 10.

7. I am going to drive to the Lake District in one day (I am going to do something that is considered superhuman and virtually impossible without it taking at least 4 days to travel in each direction). **Note that it was a 300 mile trip.

8. I do not like zucchini (courgette).

9. I would like to have a social life (have more meetings, set more targets, work harder and longer).

That's all I can think of for now, although I know there's more out there... In the meantime, I'm going to go and have a shower (bath).

I went up the mountain

Just after Christmas, I jumped on board a train (and a bus and a train and another train) and headed over to Wales to see some of the family. The weather was pretty damn awful, as it rained all the time and was just a little chilly. It was good to meet family that I'd heard about, and to catch up again with those that I'd already met. I didn't have a lot of time to go site-seeing, but I will do that next time I go back.

I went to the Rhonda Valley in South Wales, not too far from Swansea. I stayed in a village that was once a mining town, as the pictures of the houses below show. There are rows and rows of terraced houses, which used to be cottages belonging to the miners. They're all built into the sides of mountains - amazing to think about how miners used to walk up to 10 miles a day to work backbreaking shifts underground in the coal mines.

My grandmother's ashes are buried there, beside the graves of her mother and father. It was the first time I'd been able to see where she ended up, and I have to say, I'm jealous of the view!

One of the mountains had a Welsh dragon on the side of it. There's some dispute as to whether or not it's actually a dragon, as some claim it to be a pegasus. What the reasoning is behind that I'm not sure, but hey, they're Welsh!