Monday, August 23, 2004

Aw

It's 20 minutes past 1 in the afternoon and my sister still isn't up.

Sometimes I really wish I had a social life. But having one would probably make it worse, hah.

(I'm such a lonely girl *sniffles*)




At least I've got a new camera to keep me company :p

The electronics store in my town has superb service, it was cheap and I won't have to pay it until January !

(I wonder if they would sell me a b--... *shifty*)

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Saturday, August 21, 2004

- click -
Mmm, today was one of those days where the bed just sucks you in and is more comfortable than usual. Most of the waking hours was spent just snuggling and feeling ridiculously relaxed, not even close to being remotely bored or depressed or anything like that.

Just calm ^_^
But I did do some biking and sit-ups in the afternoon, which made me feel better about missing yesterday (though the double workout on Thursday made up for that one day, hehe). It's really nice that, ever since coming back from London, the workout has been extraordinarily easy. That trip did wonders for my general state of health, lol.

Now that I'm getting fitter it's just a matter of fighting the paranoia that sets in every time my hands or feet itch. Because that's how it started last time, with the whole sickness. Some weird rash came out of nowhere and was gone within a week or so. Then a couple of months later my health died.

The most frustrating thing about that whole ordeal was the fact that I was on the right track, with everything, and to have all that hard work wiped away like it was nothing more than a tiny speck on a glasstable .... makes me a bit antsy now that it's going so well again. Better than last time, even.

Still, I'm trying to enjoy what I've accomplished so far. It's wonderful to know that anything's possible and not roll your eyes, sigh and wave with the hand when someone suggest that. Here on out I get to know how it feels to be on the other side of the encouragement line, lol.

*jumps up and down with pom-poms and cheers people on*
Hmm, today was also the last day of the Olympic swimming. They didn't show much from it though, favouring other things going on. Bah. I missed the first day and most of the second day too, unfortunately. Guess it's a matter of waiting for the next championship, which I have no idea where or when it is, haha.

Last year, when the World Championships were held in Barcelona, I sat glued to the screen even though I had no previous interest in that particular sport before. Funny how random things can catch your interest (and either keep it or lose its *gestures* allure).

My sister, unexpectedly, showed interest in the swimming too. Possibly for more superficial reasons, lol. But it's intriguing to see how similar we are.

*compares pictures of siblings to look for family traits*
Which brings me to the post Solo did yesterday, in which he spoke of protectiveness (among other things) and how it manifests itself.

It reminded me of my relationship with my younger sister and particularly how sharing interests/objects with her was (and to some point still is) a sore spot. It seemed that whenever something caught my eye, it did the same with her. For example: If I got into a certain animal and borrowed books to learn more about it, she also expressed interest.

For someone like myself, who felt that everyone else but me had something special going for them, having someone "stepping into my territory" was aggravating. Normally I'd happily share with others, but the moment there was a deeper attachment to a subject and my sister once again steered her attention to it, I got murderously possessive. Having something that was only mine was terribly important.

So instead of being happy that she shared my excitement, I'd feel robbed of ... my unique and personal 'niche'. Add to the mix that her behaviour/attitude seriously got under my skin, you got a pot that had some bitter potion in it.

And yet again, we did connect really well. There were times when we'd be roaring with laughter together or play silly games that didn't allow anyone else to participate. In the instances that someone treated her badly, I'd rush to her defence and fight for her. It must've been terribly confusing for her to have me going from one extreme to another and there were countless times that I made her cry from my treatment.

But she never gave up on trying to be my sister and friend.
A few years ago I made a conscious decision in really working on our relationship. That included apologising for all the years of evilness on my part. After that it's only gotten better and better, though there are still the occassional hick-up but it's not more than it can be resolved. Sibling quarrel is almost unavoidable anyway, lol.

So yeah, I love all my sisters and I'm lucky to have them _^_

( ... even if one of them reads the Naruto manga and gets ahead of the anime >_>;;; )

In the event that my sister asks dad to drive her back to her apartment, I shall have to tag along and check out some of the electronic shops they've got in that town. (During a search of their online sites I noticed some good deals on digital cameras, hehe.) Sometimes it's good to have credit cards [to certain shops] and this is definitely one of those moments :p


That's all for today, thanks for tuning in !

*Huggles Everyone*

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Friday, August 20, 2004

Spinning around - I'm such a cop out
Juuthena: It's amazing how tormenting flight prices can be, cheap or pricy. Ugh.

hEvN: Aw, don't be jealous. There's plenty of skirts and pants in the world for all of us !

Zidargh: I promise I'll inform you of my next visit, showing respect to your rights :p

Shijin13: Yeah, I'm a lucky girl *grins*

Chie: "Want to" being the main two words >_>; London is a cool place, at least the parts of it that are cool, lol. Mmmm, Kensington Gardens *_*

DDG: My eyes have spotted a nifty digital camera and I shall try my best to get my hands on it and fulfill my promise of picatoors !

Solo: Or you could sneak me into college ~_^

Becky: *hugs* Only because you said so *giggles* ;p

SG: Yes ! Get your ass over there ! And bring me while you're at it, lol.

EDIT

My older sister moved out last week, my younger sister will go back to her apartment this weekend.

Anyone wants to invite me over to their house and play with me ?

EDIT 2

I can afford 3 days in London 28th of September - 30th of September (unless the prices suddenly go up by the end of the day).

The problem is ... it's in the middle of the week (Tuesday - Thursday).

Weekend prices are too high and the only way to go over a weekend would be if I came up on a Thursday, spent a couple of days at someones house (the other days at a hostel) and go home on a Monday/Tuesday.


What say you guys ?


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Thursday, August 19, 2004

*whimper*

Gothenburg - London
(29th Sep - 5th Oct)

= Less than 30 £


Excuse me whilst my head explodest.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Change of heart
Bweeeh, I deleted the post. Thanks to Rustym and Tae for their comments though ^_^

And because there's little else to say ... here comes a picture of the skirt ! :o



Are you sure you're not going to say anything about it Solo ?
*puppy eyes and innocent smile*

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Picture this

Solo's color is addictive, but I shall practice my self-restraint and go with my own standard darkblue ;p

Not many pictures were taken during the London trip and even less turned out decent, but I figure I'll put up the ones that are recognizable ^_^;;

There'll be no pictures of Solo or me. Remember, I was busy staring at him and I don't stick well on photos, heh.

---

Squirrels - There were plenty of squirrels in Kensington Gardens, but they were all rather rude ! They'd stand still for a split second and then turn their back on you as you tried to take their picture *growl*

Peanuts - Thanks to some peanuts we were able to capture the evilness of Squirrels. Just look at those eyes ! :O

*stare* - Last squirrel picture, I promise. Fear it O.o;;;

Daisy and owner - This is the charming gentleman and his loyal friend I was talking about. So cute ^_^

Daisy posing - Awwwww.

Peter Pan - It was difficult to get a good shot at it, since the sun was behind it and people were sitting around it *sigh* (Further away from it was this really cool fountain/ building that I want to check out next time.)

Mini Globe - This was in a display case inside the reception building.

THE Globe - Next time I will make it inside ! Who's coming with me ?!

St.Paul - We passed St. Pauls Cathedral on the way to The Globe Theatre and I snapped a quick picture.

DAMP - That huge hole was in the bathroom ceiling. I'm just glad nothing crawled out of it ^_^;;;

Sore feet - Last and least of all, my feet. Taken after I got home. My pinky toe was the only one that sustained any major damage, hence the band-aid around it. And my feet look like that, so it's not down to swollen-ness. Very rectangular and chunky feet, I have.

---

I will take a better camera with me next time and be more sincere in my photo expeditions. That's a promise !

My sister is talking about going again in October ... Hehe ~_^

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Tuesday, August 17, 2004

- giggle and bounce -
In honor of writing about my meeting with Solo, I'm stealing his color. Because, as much as I'd have loved to, I didn't get to steal any items of clothing from him ;_;

---

Gather round and Wednesday shall be told !

We'd agreed to meet at Hammersmith station at 11 am. The time was my idea, since I didn't know how long it'd take him to get into London and it felt evil to make him get up super early just for my sake. For some reason I also thought I'd sleep in that morning and would need extra time to get ready. Which, of course, never happened. My eyes refused to go shut again after waking up around 7 am, lol.

At 10.30 I didn't feel like waiting in the room any longer, so my sister and I walked down to the station (a mere 2 minute walk). She had planned to lunch with a friend of hers in Camden and meant to leave at 11. I guess she was kind of hoping that we'd be able to help guide her there, but the lunch date required her to leave at 11 the latest and she couldn't wait for Solo to come in. So I hugged her off and proceeded to run up and down stairs, go back and forth the two departure/entrances for the tube and generally wait around for Solo to appear.

It turns out that he was waiting at one departure/entrance and I at the other, lol. Thanks to some text messages and a phone call, I got his position and headed that way. And I must confess, if it weren't for knowing what he'd be wearing ... I probably wouldn't have recognised him. At least not straight away. It's not the same to see a person from a picture, where you freeze them in one angle in certain clothes, and seeing them from all possible angles in a different outfit, heh.

By this time the heat and humidity had dehydrated me quite a bit, so when I walked up to hug him ... I sort of lost balance and more or less tumbled into him -^_^- At least he wasn't completely knocked over. That would've been a fun sight, no doubt *giggles*

After I regained my balance I explained that I was in dire need of water, upon which he pulls out a water bottle from his backpack. From there on in he spoiled me rotten, which I was totally unprepared for but was very happy about *spins on chair, blushes and smiles*


Once the pleasant introduction and supply of water had been taken care of, we headed off on the tube to the Natural History Museum. At this point I was still very quiet. Partly because it was the first time my English skills was put to the test on the trip (along with my horrible accent/inability to speak) and secondly because ... well, it was so enjoyable to just be with him that I forgot about talking and ended up staring at him/his hands -^_^- Hrm, besides, it's virtually impossible to keep a conversation in a noisy carriage. Yes.

Thanks to Solo's excellent guiding (and immunity to my ability to get myself and others lost) we got to the museum safely. And that was one impressive building ! My jaw dropped considerably, as did my vocabulary. 'Wow' was all that came out, lol. There were these really cool looking gargoyles of different animals, carved into the stony building which reached way up to the sky.

The inside was equally stunning, though without a map it came off as quite the maze. My sense of direction is obliterated in museums *cough* Luckily Solo got his hands on a map (while I played a quick game of hide and seek *giggle*) though I can't say it did much to clear my head about where to go. Apparently there was an exhibition about 'hair', but neither of us could figure out where. Not wanting to waste time looking for something that sounding a bit dubious, to me anyway, we followed our noses and wandered around.

It was really interesting to see these huge skeletons of dinosaurs and just how big/small some [now living] animals are in real life. I said it was a surprise that elephants weren't bigger, though it probably would've been a different story had they been alive and moving >_>;


After that we figured it'd be a good idea to eat and headed off towards Hyde Park. I, being absolutely in love with Kensington Gardens, was thrilled that we 'dined' there and was thoroughly amused by the 'baseball joke' that came up as we ate. (You can read it at Solo's place.) It took me a while to stop giggling but no one had to perform the Heimlich on me though ^_^;;;

While I didn't get to steal any clothes from him, he let me check out the shirt he brought with him (in case he needed to change). He'd worn it in a picture and I'd commented on how cool it looked, so getting to hold/feel it was a major bonus of the day. But boy was it ever tempting to not give it back and snuggle it all day ^_^;

Moving along :p


Next up was the Science Museum, which we passed on our way to Kensington Gardens. In between the staircase, inside the building, resided this gigantic pendulum. It was 'controlled' by gravity and told the time really accurately. Cool thing.

There were simulator rides on the 3rd floor, so we (read 'Solo') bought some tickets for us and we trecked upwards. Luckily the stairs were quite broad, so by staying close to the wall I could avoid the side effects of looking down a dwindling, swirling, .... eh, stupid being afraid of certain heights combined with heat >_>;

Had it not been for the .... *foul language* .... people at the back of the ride (it seated two rows with 4 people in each row, I think) and the murderous hotness in there (not talking solely about Solo here *grins*), I'd have enjoyed it more. We all know I'm in muchly need of anything that resembles amusement park rides, heh.

Getting out of that thing was pure bliss, as was stocking up on more water. I felt like such a thief though, robbing all the liquid, heh. At least the bottle occupied my hands ~_^;;


While sitting down to consume some water, it hit me that we needed to bowl before it got too late. I wasn't too sure if I should press that idea, because Solo looked kind of drained and it would've been fine to spend the rest of the time sitting wherever and talk. But I really wanted to bowl and I dared to suggest it *bites lip and smiles widely*
It earned a smile from him and before he could say more I had bounced up and was ready to go, hehehe.

(Oh, and on the way down again we saw some people fencing. Nothing for lazy people, I tell ya.)


Funland, where the bowling alley was, turned out to be the old Sega-something-place. And that place is loud (at least upstairs where the games are). Not to mention pretty crowded. And like Solo mentioned, next to a bar. Turns out we would have to wait for about 45 minutes and, tempting though it was to go someplace else, there really were no guarantees for finding another alley in time. Determined to go through with it we booked a lane and went downstairs again, trying to come up with something to do in the meantime.

That included sitting down on the uncomfy stairs for a little while, even though it was forbidden, naughty me *giggles* Sitting in Solo's lap would've been comfier, but that might've been an offense too. Hrm.

A security guard came and ushered us away soon after that, cutting our rest short. HMV was right next to the stairs though and we browsed around there the rest of the time. Originally I had only planned to find Princess Mononoke, but Solo (the tease) kept finding more items for me and reminding me of more stuff to look for ~_^

* Princess Mononoke DVD
* Empire Records DVD
* Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack (FINALLY)
* Princess Mononoke Soundtrack
* Nightmare before Christmas Soundtrack

He let me use his student discount and by doing that also came very close to being glomped to death by my happines of getting so much goodly goodness all in one strike ^____^ I opted for bouncing happily and smiling :p


Now.... the time had come .... to BOWL !
(At least after some waiting and worrying our lane was given away >_>;;;)

It was less crowded when we bowled, which was nice, but I agree with Solo that the setting could've been better. Most of it was blocked out for me by the sheer joy of bowling though, lol. We both earned a couple of strikes and some gutterballs, which we believed was due to the lane not being fed on a regular basis :P And gravity had a hand in it too, I'm sure.

Looking at Solo's update I notice that he kept the score, claiming I won *blinks* It felt pretty close though and main thing is that we had a lot of fun shaking our fists at those evil pins that refused to go down and allow more strikes >:o


Throughout the day I was more thirsty than hungry, but after the bowling it felt like a good idea to stack up on energy. Eating at Pizza Hut might not be the best way to do it, but hey :p
While waiting for our food we compared nails, played around with various objects on the table and I tried to talk a little instead of just staring at him ^_^; My speech came along a bit towards the end but it was still affected by simply enjoying being where I was and soaking up as much as possible _^_
He had me literally eating out of his hands, tsk. I'm not sure if I was supposed to use my hands for that though, heh.


*pause for happy sigh and giggle*

Continuing after much needed rest was another long walk, with Solo forced to lead the way. He did a great job with that, once again. So great, in fact, that we ended up at Forbidden Planet. A place that deserves a whole day dedicated to looking through the shelves, because the place was pretty big and filled with yummy anime/manga-ness *drool*

Upon spotting some Kill Bill action figures, we both said (almost simultaneously): "James" !
There were actually several instances during the day when you'd be reminded of other myO/OB peeps. Like at the Natural History Museum, with the Pandas there. Or a restaurant by the name of 'Benjamin'. Oddly fun ^_^ (The best was walking past the 'Hugo' restaurant ~_^)

Sadly it closed fairly soon after we came there, but next time I go to London I'll be sure to spend more of the day there *grins*


It was getting pretty late, we were both tired from all the walking and decided it was best to head back to Hammersmith. It was quite a way to go by the tube and keeping my head off of Solo's shoulder was close to impossible, heh. We arrived at the station around 8 o'clock and unfortunately (.... well, it depends on how you look at it ...) my sister wouldn't be at the station until 9. She had the key, which meant I couldn't get into the room and I didn't want to wait in the reception building since there was a bar there. Drunk people and girl in skirt does not make good combination *nods*

Solo was wonderful enough to stay way longer than he should've had to, helping the time pass by lending me one of the earphones to his cd player and (sitting on the stairs next to the toilets in the station) listening to Princess Mononoke. Once again, his shoulder seemed to want to pull me in, lol.

As it got closer to 9 it really was time for him to leave, and rowdy people began storming the toilets, so we went down to the platform and sat on the bench there. It had been a long day (an extremely fun day, but long none the less) and poor Solo looked like he would need a week to recover. Once again I resisted the urge to run my fingers through his hair and cuddle him until the train came.

(Being a physical person, who hugs a lot, can be quite straining if you're not sure how far you can go, lol. And the question "How physical can I get with you ?" would've come off very weird XD)

I did however squeeze as much out of that goodbye hug as I dared and managed not to cry when he hopped on the train *pose* Silly as I am I even did the classic Hollywood scene, where you run after the train and wave *giggles*


My sister showed up shortly after that and we went back to the hostel together. She only stayed for a couple of minutes to check if I had had a good day, because she was meeting up with some friends to go to the pub. It was nice to get some time by myself and let the day sink in. A few text messages later and the day was officially over, being the best I had during my London visit ^______^

---

All in all I don't think I've ever felt so at ease with someone as I did with Solo. And strangely enough it never entered my mind once how I looked, despite being with a gorgeous guy. Though the thought of whether or not he could see up my skirt raised itself a few times. Especially since he sometimes went up stairs and escalators after me, heh ~_^;;; But I didn't ask about that since, if he wasn't aware of it, I didn't want to make him conscious of it >_>;;;;

Hopefully my accent still enabled him to understand some of what I said, dreadfully bad as I was at communicating. But I really had a blast and there weren't enough words to relay that _^_


So take anything nice you can say about him, multiply by a million .....
and you'd still end up with an understatement of how wonderful he is ^_______^


EDIT: Forgot to say this, but I got to touch his sword ! ....
The one on his necklace of course, you dirty people ~_^
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Monday, August 16, 2004

Wednesday, August 11th - 2004

^______________________________________^


I met Solo and spent the day with him !

^______________________________________^


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Sunday, August 15, 2004

Sing me a lullaby and kiss me goodnight
Ngh, I'm completely out of it. And the rest of me isn't doing anything to help me. It's actually doing a mighty fine job in helping out to mess me up even more, hah. So I'm going to take it out on everyone else and write about the two most boring days (which was Thursday and Friday) :p

Besides, we all know the best must be saved until last *nods*

---

Thursday, August 12th - 2004

and

Friday, August 13th - 2004

Our checkout time was at noon, so we tried to get as much rest we could possibly get and still I woke up around 7 am, unable to fall back to sleep. A bit annoying when you know you'll be spending the night at the aiport and probably won't get much more rest =\

After tossing and turning for a couple of hours, trying to laze about casually (lol), I got up and started to get things ready. That went quick, so the rest of the time I just sat on the bed and waited for my sister to get ready. She's much better at dragging things out than me, or "managing her energy" :p

Around noon we were on our way to Victoria station to dump our bags, because running around with those wouldn't be very practical. The friend we were with on Tuesday wanted to tag along as well, but wouldn't be in before 2 pm. And what do you do when you don't have very much time to get anywhere special or do anything special ? You go to an internet café and waste time on the internet :D It works very well, haha.


2 pm came and so did the friend + baby boy, allowing us to be on our way to The Globe Theatre. We took the tube to Blackfriars (in hindsight we should've gotten off a station later, at Mansion House, since it would've been closer *shrugs*), and then it was a matter of following the signs that were put up for us poor tourists.

Getting there took about 20 minutes. On very sore feet. It also began to rain when we were only a couple of steps away from the building. (Wearing the skirt that day was not the best of ideas, but what can you do when it's too hot to wear clothes ? :p)
It cleared up within a few moments though, so no one got drenched and we could go around to where the entrance for the exhibition and tour was.

The exhibition was open. The tour wouldn't start until 5 pm, due to the fact that there was a performance going on. My clock said 2.30. Waiting wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that my sister wanted to meet her husband at 6 pm.

There wasn't any time to take the tour and that was sort of the point to going to The Globe. So instead we went down the street and had food at Express Pizza, where we stayed for quite some time. I would be lying if I said it didn't matter that we missed out on the tour, but what can you do. Hopefully next time I'll be able to experience it to the fullest.

We parted ways with the friend after getting back to Victoria station and when it was half an hour to my sisters meet-up with her husband, I went across the street to the internet café.


Thanks to Juuthena, I knew that I'd be able to get onto AIM. (I think she wrote about AIM Express at some point anyway *blinks*)Tremendous thanks to her *hugs* Sitting alone and feeling alone isn't so bad when you've got good friends to talk to :)

*hugs everyone who kept her company*
It got horribly cold towards the end, so it was nice to get inside the station again and catch the tube to Liverpool Street station where we'd catch Stansted Express to ... Stansted, lol.

The train pulled into Stansted shortly after 11 and our flight wouldn't leave until 7 am. Most of the seats were already taken up by sleeping people, meaning it'd be a loooooong night at the airport. After some scouting we found somewhere to sit at least and I commenced being bored out of my brain ... while my sister tried to get some sleep. The night might've been somewhat bearable if she had been awake to be bored with me, but nooo. Meh.

Time passed (however slowly) until 2 am, much thanks to my cd player and the cd's I aqcuired on Wednesday ^____^
After that, several eternities seemed to pass between every 5 minutes I checked my clock -_-;;;; (long hours at an airport in the middle of the night, without anyone to pass the time with, is never fun.)

I didn't get one wink of sleep and my mood that last day was ... beyond bad >_>; My sister is usually the Queen of snappyness, but I gave her some serious competition. It just felt like I could've spent that last day differently, gotten more/something else out of it.


By the time our plane touched down on Swedish land, I desperately needed to lie down on the ground and bawl my eyes out. Being a [sort of] well behaved person can be testing sometimes, haha. I held it in the best I could and tried to speed up our journey home, very fed up of the responsonility of having to keep track of where we were and where we were going and getting us there. (Until this trip I hadn't really thought about my sisters handicap and how much it affected her. Quite the eye opener.)

My system went numb after a while on trains, thankfully, so when we arrived home I had calmed down fully. Walking from the train station to my home was really de-stressing and just what I needed. Going from having to mind every step, to walking wherever in the street you wanted to, was refreshing.


And meeting my younger sister again was wonderful. Mom told me that she had missed me and had been terribly bored *aw*. Poor thing couldn't get any Naruto while I was gone (yes, I've created a firm grip on her soul through Naruto *evil laugh*) but that wasn't the only reason she'd missed me, naturally :p

Later on mom and dad came home as well and we all sat down and talked about the trip, which was nice ^_^ Turns out they were more surprised at the fact that I hadn't bought anyone any presents (something I always do) than they were about anything else O.o;;;
Haha, the first time I decide to not think about others is the first time they expect me to XD


For a while (during most of the journey home) I thought it would be impossible to stop being sad that I had to leave London, but it did pass. It was just a matter of getting back into the old routines again. And I can always go back ^___^

---

Sidenote: I lost almost 2 kilos during the London trip :o
and I've got loads of bruises :(
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Saturday, August 14, 2004

Can someone get a mop and wipe me off the floor ?
Heh, I'm absolutely exhausted today. You know how when you're about to fall asleep and every single muscle in your body relaxes all at once and you jerk/flinch because it feels weird ? Even after 9-10 hours of solid sleep my body does that. But then again, that's what I get for being up more than 24 hours and being on the move.

So. I'm not the best story teller, but let's see if I can fill you in on how the trip was. And yes, I shall shamelessly copy Shin's technique by inserting a line break and other stuff *flinches and eats a Rollo*

---

Tuesday, August 11th - 2004

5.15 am: Wake up call that either wope me up or reminded me I was awake. I can't remember which, haha. After eating some breakfast and making sure everything was packed, dad drove us to the bus and train station in Gothenburg.

(And if you've remember an early post you'll react to the fact that dad drove us. Why ? Because the car was broken. Which poses the question of how it could take us anywhere. Well, it magically got fixed in an expensive garage/repair shop/whatever the place you get your cars fixed is called.)

The bus ride to the airport (Säve, not Landvetter) went just as smoothly as the car ride had. [... In fact, the entire trip to London went like a clockwork....] After waiting in a very stuffy room for our departure, we got on the Ryanair plane and took off 20 minutes after supposed take off. So you can't really talk of any delays there.


The security check at Stansted airport went super fast and we didn't have to wait that long to get our luggage. Though I almost took someone elses suitcase >_>;

(You see, it's pretty new and I haven't travelled a lot, so I hadn't really thought about how it looked. To me it was just blue and rectangular, haha.
So when a rectangular darkblue suitcase came up at the belt I grabbed it. Then the comedic thought that it might not be mine entered my mind, which I would've laughed about if it hadn't been for the fact that I simultaneously found it strange that the color of the suitcase seemed off. Should it really be that shade of blue ?

I decided to play it safe and quickly put it back on the belt, thinking it would be funnier to laugh at the fact that I almost took someone elses luggage than to spend my stay in London with nothing to wear. Shortly after that my suspicions turned out to be justified, when my lightblue suitcase slauntered its way towards me on the belt. I'll never forget the color of it now XD)

It felt good to know that I wouldn't have to spend my money on getting new clothes and we proceeded to the express train that would take us from Stansted to Tottenham Hale. There we got our/my second scare of the day.


(There are two platforms there and the announce board said that the train that already stood on the second platform when we got there wouldn't go past Tottenham Hale. It didn't read "Stansted Express" on the carriages either. But when my sister looked again, after noting that some people from our flight got on the train, it suddenly said it would go past that station. Meaning we got on it and just as the doors closed we saw a train roll in at the other platform with "Stansted Express" written on it....

So there we are, sitting on a train we don't have a ticket for and not sure if it'll take us where we need to get to. Great way to start our trip in England, no ? After some nervous laughs about the situation and attempts to look at the situation as fun and adventurous, we found out from the conductor that we were indeed on the Stansted Express that would be stopping at our desired destination *BIG SIGH*)


My third scare was going on the tube for the first time. [Not the first time ever, but for a long time.] I cannot remember it going that fast and for a while it satured my desire for a theme park visit, lol. And it was soooo hot/humid/stuffy, something I wasn't physically prepared for. Sure, people had said it would be but it's one thing to know it and another to actually feeeeeel it ^_^;;;

But anyway, from Tottenham Hale we took the Victoria Line on the tube to Finsbury Park and switched to the Piccadelly line to get to Hammersmith. After going outside and realising we had no clue what street to take (because I had looked at a map on the internet and read that the road our hostel was on would be right outside the tube entrance/exit... which it wasn't), my sister cleverly suggested we go back inside and look for a map.

(It was actually thanks to her that travelling was so easy, since she had looked up routes, to most things we were meant to get to, on the internet.)

Sure enough, there were pamphlets of both the tube and the Hammersmith area available inside ^_^
After taking the wrong street for a short distance (and having a guy walk straight into me, haha) we found the right street and the hostel pretty much immediately afterwards. That was a bit tricky though, because the reception and breakfast area was in a separate building from the rooms. Main thing is we found it without killing ourselves/each other, heh.

The hallways in the hostel was even worse than the tube, with no circulation at all to speak of. That got us a bit worried about the room and we wondered just hot unbearable it would be to sleep there. It turned out that it was really cool in the room (the sun never hit that part of the house, luckily) even though there was no wind outside nor aircondition inside. The condition of the room wasn't high quality, with wallpaper flaking off and damp stains here and there (there was a huge hole in the bathroom ceiling, which I've taken a picture of), but there were no cockroaches or icky insects around. All in all it was a decent place for the price tag it had: 41 £ each for 2 nights in a room with ensuite. That price included breakfast.

(Originally we planned to stay 3 nights but because the plane left so early on Friday morning, and I had no intention of wandering the streets of London during the night, we decided to spend the last night at the airport. We hadn't cancelled it before we got there, so we expected to pay in full but the lady was nice enough to give us a small deduction on the price ^_^)


After dumping our luggage in our room we headed back to the tube and to Victoria station. The plan was to meet a friend of my sisters there and hang out with her + her baby. Only problem: no set meeting place had been decided on. It turns out that they had just said to meet at Victoria station (which is rather large). Whee.

At this point it had been almost 9 hours since I last had anything to eat .... and with my delicate blood sugar system (despite not being diabetic, haha) things turned out pretty badly for a while. By the time we met the friend, I was feeling horrible (that word is such an understatement by the way, I need a more powerful word but I'll settle for this one for now).

Not only was I feeling queasy, weak and fading but a major panic/anxiety attack had come over me. Oh joy. When you're overcome by an inability to breathe properly and you feel like you're about to die, running around London isn't the first priority on your list. I was close to breaking down and run back to the hostel and hide, but being incredibly stubborn made me stick it out. After eating a little bit of baguette, drinking plenty of water and sitting down for a while and trying to breathe properly (which is so difficult when you actually have to do it, lol) I felt brave enough to start moving around.

(At this point I'd like to note that people with baby carriages don't have it easy when travelling on the tube. The stairs are troublesome to get down and people are in such a rush, you feel like an asshole when you inadvertently block their path.)


Our destination for the day was Kensington Gardens. It took ages to find it, even though several people gave us directions, and we had to make some stops for the friend to buy baby stuff in a shop, which slowed things down further.

But boy, oh boy, was it ever worth it.
That place completely erased my panic/anxiety attack and if it were up to me I'd still be there, haha. It's not easy to talk about it without going on tangents and end up with a smaller novel, hehe.

The squirrels were fun, though not entirely easy to take pictures of. They'd freeze for a split second and then be in a completely different spot. Zoom, baby :p
A friendly tourist gave us some peanuts to help me get a shot of the furry things, so let's hope they turn out ok (I haven't developed the roll yet).

There were a lot of dog walkers there too and this one older gentleman caught my eye. It looked like he was walking on his own, but he kept whistling and stopping to turn around. At first I thought the little dog that trotted behind him was just following him around. It took some observation (ie lovingly staring) to determine that it was his dog and they made the sweetest pair I saw in that park.

A little later on we crossed paths again and I simply had to ask him if I could take their picture. The gentleman was very cooperative and he even got the dog, whose name was Daisy, to pose for me ^______^

Our main reason for going to Kensington Gardens was the Peter Pan statue, which was incredibly hard to find. At least it was when you weren't sure how far away it would be and if you were going in the right direction (there were signs here and there, but I feel they pointed in a weird angle and thus made me unsure).
I had been appointed "sign reader" and the responsibility laid heavy on my shoulders, heh. It's one thing if you get yourself lost but when you have others to think about it's not quite the same. In the end we got where we needed to get and after taking a picture of the statue we fed the birds in the lake that was just beside it.

When the time came to go and grab some dinner (and consequently leaving the park *sobs*) I felt relaxed enough to try out my English. So I did that as we retraced our steps back to the entrance/exit. My accent was horrible, coupled with the fact that I was so relaxed my brain wasn't working properly, but hopefully it was possible to make out what I said -^_^-

(It was more fun/enjoyable to listen to the person I was talking to, which didn't help me to speak, haha.)


Dinner took place at Pizza Hut. *watches people who hate that place shudder to death* I ended up eating pizza all the three days we spent in London ! Twice at Pizza Hut and once at a place called Pizza Express. So even though I didn't get those pizza slices I've been craving, I'm not going to complain ^_^;

Once dinner had been taken in, we made our way back to Victoria station and saw the friend + baby boy off. Then it was back to the hostel for some more unpacking of things and sleep.


This is when I discover that the lock on my suitcase won't open ..... Everything I needed was in the suitcase which would not open .... That meant I would be forced to buy new clothes, toiletries (fun word) etc, the next morning .... in clothes that were heavily affected by the hot and sticky weather. Not the best way to end the day or start another one.

BUT luckily my sister came to the rescue and got it to open up. After figuring out why it had been refusing to open (the hooky thing had been pressed down too hard and had to be pulled up slightly before agreeing to dislodge from the rest of the lock) I deemed it safe to lock it and open it up again, to check if the coast was clear or not. Thankfully it was. A crisis was adverted and we both got a good nights sleep, ending the day on a good note ^_^

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That was Tuesday for ya, more or less :p
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