Okay, so I have much to catch up on, and I plan on doing it all (more or less) in one foul swoop, let us see how successful that proves to be.
5 October 2005
So a couple days after Rome, I decided to do something during my off hour between classes and that is to visit the home of one of my great linguistic heroes of all ages, that’s right you guessed it Dr. Samuel Johnson!! Okay, now I realise no one really knows who that is, so allow me to explain in a couple sentences his vast contribution to humanity and more specifically the English language. What Dr. Johnson did was a rather unique thing and that is he wrote the first dictionary! Now wanting to be a lexicographer myself (a person who writes the dictionary), I have a great amount of respect and admiration for this giant among scholars. Anyway, his dictionary became what is now called the OED or Oxford English Dictionary (the definitive word source of British English, vs American English’s Webster Dictionary). What Dr. Johnson did was not so unique in writing dictionaries, because some had been written before but they were generally of technical jargon and often times they simply were more like thesauri rather than dictionaries, offering synonyms rather than definitions. No, indeed what this brilliant or at least original man did was to define common words and publish it in a two part volume. He was also apparently a very interesting person aside, because he lived during the middle of the 18th century, and the slave trade was still active and legal by British laws. Dr. Johnson was an abolitionist and apparently would make toasts at his dinner parties anytime he heard of slave rebellions or the like. Also, he was deaf in one ear as well as being blind in one eye (I think), and he nearly died of disease when he was a lad. Furthermore, the first modern biography was written about this man simply called “The Life of Samuel Johnson” and this was by a Scottish bloke who got to know him some during life and was apparently pretty interesting himself named James Boswell.
Anyway, when I was there I went to the garret where Dr. Johnson and his clerks worked to publish the dictionary and they actually had a first copy edition on the table which I actually leafed through and was amazed about how much some fonts (particularly for the letter ‘s’) and spellings of words have changed, or rather how little it really changed in the last 200+ years. I also took several photographs, and then left and went to the place of my favourite tea in the world, that’s right Twining’s. Twining’s was located right across from the Royal Palace of Justice near Aldwich on Fleet Street, or possibly the Strand, not that it matters much, but suffice it to say it was not very far from Dr. Johnson’s house. In the Twining’s tea shop, I found every conceivable tea that the company made, including but not limited to Queen Mary and Russian Caravan. It was great I actually bought four types there, and I actually bought that biography I mentioned at the Johnson house, so I spent too much money that day. That night I went to see a concert at Wigmore Hall, by the Academy of Ancient Music and they all played period instruments, meaning generally their instruments were well over 200+ years old and they are fairly famous and published in CDs. Anyway, that was pretty fun to hear, and they played mostly Bach, CP and JS, as well as some other composers.
7 October 2005
That Friday, I went on another school field trip to Dover (where the blue birds were hanging out above the cliffs), as well as the worst place in England (in my opinion) called Dungeness. At Dover we went to Dover castle and that was really enchanting. They had the oldest pharos (Roman lighthouse) in England, and probably the oldest building in the country, so I took a picture of that to send to my mom for her lighthouse collection. They also had the wartime tunnels that they began construction on during the 18th century, I think for the Napoleonic wars, but they made them far more extensive and necessary during World War II, as Dover was extremely heavily bombed then. It was really fun to go through that because they had a theatrical thing that ran you through the hospital with little props and things set up throughout, including smell simulators and the like, and it had an audio track that you listened to as you went so you heard the doctors and nurses and everyone talking it was a really cool thing I thought. After that we went back through the castle and to our coach. We then went to Dungeness which was basically a big sandy flat land that did not have much on it. We went to a lighthouse and there the view was incredible as it should have been, but there was a nuclear power plant in the way... it was neat though, because they had the lighthouse we were in which was built in the early 20th century and that was practically attached to an older lighthouse from about two centuries earlier... and across the way there was a new lighthouse that was built within the last decade or two.
After that we went on a walk along the beach and happened upon a lot of drift materials and such like that. It was actually a bit putrid to walk by all of that. Afterward we stumbled upon these rather odd characters wearing giant heads and they were very cartoonish, and I have no idea what they were doing there, but I presume they were filming something. We started to walk back to the coach via a dead guy named Derek Jarmin’s house. Now, for those of you who have no idea who the hell that is, including me, let me explain what little I do know of him and his house. He was a fellow from probably the mid 80's and perhaps earlier who was a film director, he made mostly avant-garde films and was never received at all well in the US. Because of this, no one knows who the hell he was in the US, but apparently throughout the commonwealth and the UK they do, so there you are. So, Mr. Jarmin was apparently a homosexual and contracted AIDS and died thereof. Before he did die however, he bought a little place out in Dungeness called the Fisherman’s cottage for £750.00, what a steal! This place needless to say was pretty bloody barren, as well as not at all elaborate, but with some effort and the clever use of drift material, he and his partner made a very fancy garden especially for the soil-less landscape they had to work with. They painted the house black with yellow trim and that kind of changed the atmosphere of it, but basically it is still a house in Dungeness and having said that, it is not entirely attractive to me, but who knows maybe other people love it.
8 October 2005
So the day after my little southeastern excursion, I went to the Banquet Hall of Whitehall, which was supposed to be the original place of the King’s palace, and was supposed to be rather grand... unfortunately they only actually built the banquet hall, and neglected the rest due to political reasons I believe. It is right across from most of the government offices and is very very close to Downing St. It is also right across from the Horse Parade Building, not coincidentally , because that used to be the gate of the palace, and that is why the horse guard are still there. When we went in to Whitehall (I went with my architecture class) we happened to go there when that was being filmed for something, so there all sorts of sets and things of that nature about us. Anyway, it was very fascinating, because it was designed by a fellow named Inigo Jones as his first go at designing anything, and it was the first renaissance building in England. It was neat also, because it has a bunch of paintings by Jean Paul Rubens (the most famous painter of his time) on the ceiling. After learning much of the history of that, we left and watched the changing of the horse guard at the horse parade, I went back home and did not do too much of note the rest of that day, or at least nothing I really remember now.
12 October 2005
The next day of note was last Wednesday, save to say that I wrote a paper for a class and again that is the only thing of note for the time between. On Wednesday, we wandered around and looked at many of Sir Christopher Wren’s churches and he certainly does have a diverse ability in his style. Also that night, my friend and I went to see the Woman in White, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s newest play. It was very good save to say that the sets were a little strange because they were sliding circles basically with video projectors shooting images on them, it was a neat concept but at the same time I think it needed work. The music was excellent and the story was quite good as well, and it was one of the four plays I wanted to see in London, so I am glad to say I did that. Afterward, my friend went back to a gaybar called g-a-y (being gay himself) and because I was bored and did not yet want to go home, I went with him and was quite bemused when this one guy approached me, because apparently his friends were boring him. Upon learning that I was American the guy told me that not many people liked us, but I was not really put off by this, but I am not sure why, and he was especially baffled that I was from Colorado, not understanding the ‘red-staters’ Anyway, I really could only tolerate so much of the atmosphere of a gay bar in central London before I needed to get back home, so I left, and my friend came out with me, and went back to his flat.
13 October 2005
Basically all I did that day was to get ready, went to King’s Cross and then got a ‘young person’s rail pass’ as well as a ticket to Ely (where Thomas told me to go) via Cambridge. On the train, I met a very nice man who works in London as well as a nice lady from Canada who I assume lives in or near Cambridge. Anyway, we had many pleasant conversations, and it was so nice to hear from this gentleman that he did not think Bush was evil right off to bat, not that he was particularly fond of him or anything, but he just thought he was a better guy than the British media plays him off to be. After they left, I finally got to Ely, where Thomas and his mother were waiting for me at the gate. I was happy to see him again, and they took me back to their home near Melton Hall (an RAF/USAF base) we ate supper (Jambalaya) and I was beginning to get sick that night, but nothing terrible. After supper Thomas and I basically watched telly with his brother Joe, and that was about it, before I went to bed.
14 October 2005 - Jason’s 23rd
This day Thomas and I (and his mother) went to Melton Hall and shopped around and bought food and such (I got a 24 pack of Ramen!), and we ate Taco Bell, something I have not had since the states, and boy did I miss it. Plus it was nice to pay for everything in dollars again, they may be an ugly currency, but damn it, they’re mine. When we got back, Thomas’ mother, Mary, was kind enough to bake me a cake for my birthday. After supper, we watched Team America, and Wallace and Grommit, as well as some other things. It was great, basically just a relaxing day in the country.
15 October 2005
This day, Thomas and I went to Cambridge and it was quite fun. We went to King’s College and went inside the chapel there, designed by one of the last three Henries, the VI I think, but am not positive, thus the name King’s college. Anyway, we walked about the university and it was pretty fun, and a very petty campus, much nicer in my opinion than Oxford, but we actually hung out more in the mall, I got an Edward Elgar CD (the guy who wrote Pomp and Circumstance [the graduation theme]) Anyway, he is probably England’s most renowned composer, and certainly the most patriotic, in fact he is on the £20 note here, the side opposite the queen. But the thing I must confess that I enjoyed the most was when Thomas and I went to see Serenity, a movie by Joss Wheadon, the guy who made Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was great, and it was based on a show that had a short run on fox called Firefly, an excellent series to be sure. Anyway that was great, and afterward we went back home, but that was fun.
16 October 2005
So this day (yesterday) I was very ill to wake up with, and much worse than the few days before that were not kindly to me either. I did however go to church with Thomas’ parents (Thomas had to work) and, it was pretty fun, because we went on base to the chapel there, and I do believe that was my first mass by an air force chaplain. After that, they took me to the other air force base near them called Locken Heath, which was a bit bigger. There we picked up Thomas for lunch, and again ate at Taco Bell, oh how great was that! We dropped him back off after we finished eating, and Thomas’ parents then bought me some soda, and we went back to his house. Later on they took me to the train station, where I caught a train back to Cambridge, and from there to London, getting on the tubes was hard because not only was I dying from my cold, but also my oyster card was out of time so I had to refill that, but the queue to do so was not moving, and they told us simply to do it when we got to our destination otherwise we would be waiting until the next morning. Wanting desperately to get home I just went downstairs and sure enough just got on, and from there got back relatively quickly to Ladbroke Grove. Once there, however, it was hard because I had to walk back home carrying my very heavy bag of stuff and my back pack which was far heavier still. I did finally get home, and after climbing the stairs I thought I was going to die, but luckily that didn’t happen. After resting much of the night, I talked to a few people on the phone, and eventually fell asleep on the couch (accidentally).
17 October 2005
So today, I woke up relatively early, tried to rouse the girls to go to the box office to pick up day seats for Guys and Dolls, which has Ewan MacGregor in it! Unfortunately we got there about two hours to late, and all the day seats were sold out as soon as they opened, we got there by early 10 something in the morning, but not early enough. So all that was left was £40.00- £55.00 tickets, and we did not want to pay that much, but we figured it would be just as easy to do that, so we eventually did and we went back and got the forty ones. Afterward we split up, and I came back home and basically worked on the computer,