Wed, Sept. 22

So today was a big walking day for me!  I walked from the place where I am staying (near the Angel tube stop on the Northern line) to school (the Holborn stop on the Central line).  Then I walked down Oxford Street (a big shopping zone that caters to normal people rather than Regent Street, which is like 5th Avenue in NYC).  I, of course, bought a few things on the way (including jeggings, which are a cross between jeans and leggings.  Let's see if I am brave enough to wear them).  I then had lunch in Hyde Park (a lovely pre-made sandwich from the grocery store and some British blackberries I bought from the local vendor near school).  It was a beautiful day in London today.  The temperature was in the lower 70s and sunny.  After lunch I continued to stalk Tony Blair (if M15 is reading this, I am just kidding!) and walked by his house.  As an aside, this is one of the times that security can really work against you.  I would have had no idea which house was his (I just knew the street name), except that there were two armed guards posted outside.  A bit of a chatch-22 there!  I then walked from the Marble Arch tube station back to Angel.  Check out a tube map.  This is a long way!

I realized I forgot to tell y'all a few things in my last post.  I have had several interesting encounters that involve the British and their drinking culture.  On my first day in the UK I ran into a man walking down the street drinking from a nearly empty bottle of vodka.  While this guy did not look like a businessman, he was also clearly not homeless. He seemed content with his bottle and just walked on by. That same day I also saw a man (who may have been homeless, or "sleeping rough" as the British say) nearly get hit by a car as he meandered down the street).  He yelled a little, but then basically continued on his way.  My most recent experience occured on Sunday night when I was sitting at a pub.  I was alone at a table for four (my room is not a good place to hang out and a pub only requires you to buy one drink to get a table) when a Russian man with a pint of vodka and some kind of mixer in a bottle asked if he could sit down.  It was clear he was a little worse for wear, but I said sure (it is not uncommon for people to ask to join your table).  Almost immediately he asked me if I would like to move to Russia and  bear his children.  I kid you not, he asked me about 50 times.  Finally, there were two guys sitting at a table next to us so I just moved to their table.  I told them to just ignore me, but I needed to move.  One of the guys said he had been about ready to ask if he could join my table in order to save me from the Russian.  These guys were really nice and even bought me a drink.

Essentially I guess I am saying there are both good and bad sides to the UK drinking culture, but overall it is good to be in London!