Odds and Ends

After my last post I didn't do much outside of teaching, visit London again, and a few interesting odds and ends involving school. We went to another seaside village called Selsey on a field trip to learn about the lifeboat (coast-guarding) program they have there, which is one of many throughout the country. I was surprised to find that the national program is run entirely by donations, with no help from the government. The day was very blustery, indeed, but sunny and a nice break from the classroom. The kids mostly behaved themselves and were of course excited by the harrowing tales of rescue from the volunteers, but even more so by the treats and assorted "crap" (because that's what it all really is, let's be honest) that they could buy from the gift shop. It was much more enjoyable than the net-ball tournament that I helped out at, where I mostly stood freezing my butt off and attempting to take good action shots with my frozen, numb hands. It was fun to see the kids play this game though - it is like basketball without dribbling and backboards. They did get 2nd place, too!

Selsey Beach & Pier

During my second weekend in London, the weather was atrocious, but I managed to find some interesting things to do nonetheless. On Saturday, I was able to join a tour with Jon that was specifically for the UW students there, but the tour guide was a gem and let me come along! She was lovely, and really knew her stuff. We started in one neighborhood I can't remember the name of (fail) and saw some buildings with famous associations, as it is an affluent area. We then ended up in "Little Venice," which is more or less a canal. It was a pretty area though, and we got to take a 40 minute journey on one of the canal boats over to Camden town, which has a huge open-air market. It's also interesting to note that there were many houseboats on the sides of the canal in which people actually lived, and the boats are allowed to be no larger than something like 6ft across. Talk about cramped quarters. But back to Camden Town; it was freezing and drizzly, but we tried to make the best of it. Jon was able to use his high-tech iPhone to find us this nice little Japanese restaurant where we had hotpot, which is more or less the Asian (and much better) equivalent to fondue. It was so tasty. I even found that I loved the flavor of this weird black stuff which I later determined to be a type of seaweed that OF COURSE doesn't have any solid health benefits, it just tastes delicious, and is somewhat of a known carcinogen. Damn sea plants. After warming up with some food and tea we went to check out the market place which had a huge variety of goods, including many vintage stores. I went in search of some Shelley Pottery (my family is directly descended from the owners of this famous English pottery company) but I had no luck. It was still interesting to putz around and see everything that was up for offer. Lots of delicious smelling, greasy street food was available as well.

Canal at "Little Venice"

 On Sunday, I attempted to go to a contemporary art gallery but once I finally trekked all the way there I found it to be closed for a private event. How rude. That night before I left to come back to Falpham, we went down to see the festivities for the Chinese New Year. It was cool to witness, but the freezing cold and drizzling rain drowned out most of the enjoyment. One of the big draws to it was the fireworks at the end, which ended up being about 2 disappointing minutes long. Oh well. In terms of the weather, I have found that although it may be a solid 30 degrees warmer here than back home, the more constant sunlight at home makes up for the lack of temperature.

That day I also figured out that my boots are indeed not waterproof. And I still have yet to invest in those Wellies...

Crowd at Chinese New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square

Next time, my adventures in France! Complete with much better weather and scenic beaches.

Cheers to changing positions of latitude in the world.

AKA almost every day on the Big Island