Another eventful day, it began in being aroused from idle slumber, and waking up to discover my roommate apparently did show up and I believe he was sleeping in my bed the day before I arrived, because he was in the bottom bunk of one of the neighboring beds. Well, I showered, shaved, dressed, ate some fruit and after brushing my teeth I was off to Paddington station. When I arrived there I purchased my Heathrow Express ticket for 9.00 because of my Young Person’s Rail card, so that was nice. I then got on the Bakerloo line and switched at Oxford Circus to the Victoria line, where I rode until Pimlico station where I got off and walked to the Tate Britain. When I entered this museum, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured it would be to some extent like the Tate Modern, which is an awful and unattractive collection of rubbish, in my opinion. Well I was certainly far more impressed with this one. It had so much great art, in it was many lovely statues and wonderful painting including Waterhouse’s Lady of Shallot and Malais’ Ophelia. Both of these were breathtaking to see in person and it made me more than glad that I went. Strangely enough, as I walked into a particularly British room ‘Rule Britannia’ came on my MP3 player, it seemed so very appropriate. Also, when I arrived there it was funny because they have maps of recommended tours for various sorts of people including the: “I’m Hung Over”, “People Who Like the Colour Yellow”, “First Date” etc tours. They had several paintings by Hogarth and so forth, and mock Nazi propaganda pictures, presumably by a contemporary communist named Heartfield.
After the Tate, I walked along the Thames, towards Paddington and finally got a picture of Big Ben, I had always forgotten to do this before. It was actually very nice scenery along the way and I almost always feel at ease near the Thames. I eventually went into Westminster station and up to Bond street via the Jubilee line. Once there, I searched for a map of Johannesburg, first at Waterstone’s, then Borders but to no avail. They had much on South Africa generally and Cape Town, but oh well. It seems the dreads of this city from the few descriptions of it I did read will be confirmed, such is life.
Well, I eventually caught Oxford Circus’ Central Line to Holborn and entered the house of Sir John Soane. A very wealthy and extremely eclectic gentleman who lived from 1753 to 1837. There were more sculptures, vases, paintings, antiques, furniture and everything stuffed in this most awe-inspiring house than I would have thought possible. It was a true hidden gem of London, I barely knew existed. It is surely something I’d recommend to anyone coming to London. They had there two serial paintings by Hogarth with descriptions and I felt they were absolutely brilliant. In fact, I think it is safe to say that William Hogarth is my favorite painter. He is a great moralist and stuffs his illustrations with so much wit, I adore it.
Well after this lovely visit, I went to Sainsbury’s to buy some food. There I got some hot chicken legs a baguette of French bread, cheese and lemonade. I planned to eat them at school. When I came there, however, the gate was closed, so there was no chance of that. I went to a nearby children’s park and ate the chicken and cheese, and of course drank the lemonade. After this I went back to Holborn and caught the Central line back to Oxford Circus where I switched to the Bakerloo and back to Paddington. When I got back to my room in the hostel, I noticed my roommate again switched beds, but again no sign of him. I ate some more fruit, meat, cheese and bread and dozed off for a long nap after a while. Around 19:00 I woke up and wrote my letter to the Pott’s in the common room near the reception desk. The problem was this was difficult because music was blaring and some bloke near me was blaring different music, making discord and concentration difficult. After finishing the letter, I dropped it off in my room. I then walked by a pub I was intending to eat in, but was turned off to it after hearing ‘La Bamba’ coming thence.
I decided to go see, as now would be the best time, the Volunteer, a pub two houses down from 221 b Baker St. So I took the Hammersmith from Paddington to Baker. Once there, the atmosphere was not as good as I expected, loud music and dark lights filled the air, but such are all pubs. I ordered a steak and mince pie, and fr ti beer. I waited a bit for the food to come, and sat next to some common English parties, but didn’t bother to engage them. The food finally arrived with my final bill coming to 12.70, I figure it better be damned good, and luckily it was, still I wish I hadn’t paid that much for it. Well after this, I set off back to Paddington, via the Bakerloo. When I came near the window I noticed “Dead Again” was on the television, so after I came inside, I watched that, but after the first commercial began, whoever had the remote control changed channels, and settled on a station playing the ‘year in review of British politics’ which was fascinating. After this program concluded though, I realized that ‘Dead Again’ would not be coming on again, so I left. At my room, I met a new roommate, from Australia I’m guessing, fetched my writing materials, came to the common room and wrote this entry.