Rantin' like a git, but there you are

So me Mum's friend Veevs and her mate Mark agreed to put me up at hers Saturday and Sunday night. Felt like I was back home, I did, with this kind of hospitality. After I worked through some rubbish with me mobile, I rang and met them in the park in Richmond. We had the most brilliant meal and it was a real classy, real memorable time, that was. Blooming nora, it was hot, but naught like we get in the South with the humidity and all, innit? Decided we'd head to hers before we got too pissed and knackered out there in the sun, and I finally had me first real British cuppa, cuppa Rosy Lee as they say. After the hostels and all I was the minger of the bunch for sure, so I had a right fancy shower and slept for what seemed like a fortnight. Blimey, Veevs wasn't takin' a mick when she said she'd take care of me, as she got me all through Sunday and the fantastic Peruvian Independence Day event in Northeast London. I salsa danced like a real plunker till I was knackered all over again and drank loads of Cusquena and Inca Kola (had a right day pass to the loo, I did). When we got back home we watched some South Park on the telly--cheers, America--and ate some smashing British pizza. So a thousand cheers for the marvelous Brit and Peruvian-gone-Brit Mark and Veevs for showing me the earthier side of London town. Bloody hell what a weekend.

Coffee is the new tea, London

Talking to you from my third hostel in a week, the hostel called Clink. It's a converted court (I'm sitting in the "witness" chair). It's also very hot--they say they have air conditioning but I don't believe them. Anyway, it was only £11 last night, not bad ATOLL. I'm having a fine time and spending most of my days walking the busy streets or watching people in the beautiful parks. London has some of the best parks I've ever seen, and they are all enormous. My favorite moment in the city was a few days ago. I was sitting in Hyde Park, watching the sun go down, and playing my ukulele a ways from a path. I got some good practice in and drew many looks. A couple people caught my eye and smiled, and I couldn't have been happier. I feel like a real busker! This town has the best buskers I've ever heard--all easily good enough to have a recording career.

The more people you meet, the more things happen. I've spent my days with people from all over the world, but by far the most frequent London hostellers are Aussies. Any given hostel contains about 40-50% Austrailians, then a good number of Spainiards, Italians, Germans, Americans, and so on. A really nice Aussie named April almost had me a $10 (that's dollars) per night week on a cruise ship on which her sister dances, but she couldn't secure it.

London is one huge place. 35 miles across, the Brit-gone-Philly brother told me. That's insane. How would you not already be to the next city? More than your typical English place, I'd wager, it's simply your typical 21st century city. That means, if I'm correct, that Britain is breaking me in carefully, so I don't freak in the scrubby fields of Ireland or something. I suppose London is damn near the perfect place to start. It's certainly the best place to be if you want to get anywhere else. I can feel myself growing, I can feel myself maturing. Subtly. I'm only one week in, I keep reminding myself. And I've been spending way too much money. Painfully aware each time. If the next town I come to is as expensive as London, I'll stay a day and be on.

I spent two days ago with an Aussie named Erin. She also was travelling alone and looking for work to finance. We had been talking about The Alchemist when a job at our hostel, Generator, suddenly fell into her lap. "When you pursue your Personal Legend, all the Universe conspires to help you," we said.

Some other things I've done:
Walked down Fleet Street at night (with others!) and found a barber shop.
Drunk at pubs
Ridden the Tube a lot
Accidentally stumbled upon the birthplace of William Blake and one of Charles Darwins' homes
Met a Georgian (that's the one in America) bartender who was so happy to see a Southerner that he played Sweet Home Alabama (everybody is aware of this song) and subsequent Southern Rock for the rest of the night
Helped an Aussie girl write a song. Then she read my tarot cards
Been on a pub crawl and danced in a club
Been incredibly tempted by the enormous ads for The Dark Knight everywhere

The mountains and cairns of Wales are next

Muttering Small Talk at the Wall

Well I'm in London. Not that I expect the internet to be a big part of my trip, but at least in this hostel, it is proving very difficult. I just typed a longish entry and it all got erased, and I can't upload pictures. Hopefully this will change.

In a nutshell, London greeted me in a slightly unoriginal way: overcast skies and drizzling rain. However once its joke was spent and my feet on Eurosoil, it stopped and it's been rather beautiful in the upper 60's (F). I stole a ride on the Gatwick Express into downtown London because I found a forgotten ticket in the printing machine. Omen! My current hostel is located in the Soho district, and it's absolutely one of the hippest places I've ever seen. Marvelous architecture, little black London cabs giving merry "beeps!", fashionable people in droves, no less than five independent record stores within two blocks. And I mean RECORD stores. I was in my room with the window open and on the busy street five stories below, I heard somebody blasting "Sweet Home Alabama." WTF? I have to say I had never been happier to hear the song though.

The main difference between this town and somewhere like Charleston in America is not that people have British accents. It's that people don't speak English at all. I've heard that London thinks it's the capital of the world. There's about a 50% chance someone on the street speaks English. Today I just walked around Soho with my enormous backpack and tried to be a local: I sipped tea and read on a street corner, I bought fruits from streetside vendors, I sang along to The Verve in a coffee shop. I shared dinner in the kitchen first with a Swedish mom and daughter and then with two German ladies. I think now I'll teach myself some chords on my ukulele and get my first sleep of the last couple days.

Last Thoughts on America

Goodbye to my friends, allies, loves, lovers, teachers, students, brothers, brothas, enemies, polite acquaintances, parents, family, friends of strained relation, oldest friends whom I cherish the most, and newest friends who lead me to the unknown. I respect all of you in your unique way--even my enemies--because everything and everyone has a place under the sun and we can all learn from each other. Why would I regret a single relationship? Life is growth and growth is experience. So thanks by the way for your time. I think it's time for me to take a bit of time for myself, but it's only for a little bit and I'll be back in a tick. Bye everyone!

Welcome to the BLAWG

T-minus 16 days and counting until I leave for Britain, Ireland, France, and wherever. Hell, tell me where to go and I will. So you and I can get used to the time difference, you'll notice that all times are in Greenwich Mean Time (which apparently isn't called GMT anymore, so I'm sorry...all are in Coordinated Universal Time, in the Common Era).

There are Eight Planets.