Men in Pinstriped Suits
PUB COUNT:5
So, we're here. We now realize in full effect that we are truly virgin travelers. What tipped us off? - you may ask. Perhaps we recognized it first when we left Seattle and as we walked down the strip onto the plane we noticed that there was a cart full of baggies with seat numbers on them and we thought that they were "goodie bags" meant for each traveler just to find out, after asking someone who laughed at us, that they were merely purchases from the duty free store. We really did, at least for a moment, think that we were receiving gift bags simply for providing the airline with our company for the next 9 hours, but we had been drinking so that may have been it.
Or perhaps it was when we landed at Heathrow airport (after not sleeping at all on the flight because coach seats on international flights, no matter how long they are, are the same as coach seats on domestic flights) that the toilets are not clap-operated, as Erin thought they were (a mere wave of the hand seemed to do the trick but evidently jumping about in delight and clapping also worked). When Erin came out of the toilet beaming and clapping and explained to me that the toilets were clappers, I truly did believe it but am glad that I examined the signage above the toilet that had the waving hand a little closer than she had.
It may also have been the sheer shock of encountering sinks that really only fit your hands (read: mini-sinks) or the fact that you have to actually purchase 50 pence matches when you buy cigarettes, or that you have to pay (we opted just to hop over the turnstile rather than to bow to the MAN) to take do your unmentionables!! I suppose there is a logic to having a sink that is that has what it takes to do the job and nothing more, but with separate hot and cold water taps, how is a girl suppose to wash her face at the correct warm, closer to hot, but not too hot, temperature? And seriously, I am going to pay to squat over a toilet, someone had better be standing there ready to hand me some tissue and give me a quick spritz of something special to keep me fresh-smelling, otherwise it's just not going to happen.
One thing that we has been completely foreign but we fully intend to try to incorporate into the Americas is the practice of drinking at pubs during lunch. The pubs are filled wall to wall with business people in suits during the lunchtime hours (all wearing pin-stripes for some odd, presumably English reason), with pints in their hands. They not only drain those pints faster than most I know (except for maybe L.J.), but they also don't eat. Hey, I'd take eating at my desk and working if it meant a pint of good Strongbow cider over my lunch hour. Especially if it meant that I could avoid the liver and kidney pies.
We have enjoyed every moment of our nearly 24 hours here in London, albeit bleary-eyed from a lack of sleep and waking up at 3am this morning and being out of the hotel by 6 since we were unable to get back to sleep - 18 hours of sleepless travel time does do its best to do you in. We have been to Westminster Abbey, which was truly a delight for both of us having English royalty buried alongside the likes of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Dylan Thomas, and Lord Tennyson. Buckingham Palace was a bore, but we quite enjoyed the Bloody Tower at the Tower of London. The Eye of London we have been certainly eyeing but have yet not experienced due to a certain trepidation. We shall soon be leaving for Herrods and 7 floors of extreme shopping, something one ought experience in one's lifetime. The multitude of coins in the currency of this nation has been quickly mastered and we're as quick on the trigger to pull out 20 pence versus a pound as the next clueless yank, and we are becoming well versed at pulling out the camera when needed and putting it away in mere moments so as to minimize the appearance of being blatant tourists.
Tomorrow we hit the museums and the London dungeon tour, and of course, more pubs.
- Drakey
So, we're here. We now realize in full effect that we are truly virgin travelers. What tipped us off? - you may ask. Perhaps we recognized it first when we left Seattle and as we walked down the strip onto the plane we noticed that there was a cart full of baggies with seat numbers on them and we thought that they were "goodie bags" meant for each traveler just to find out, after asking someone who laughed at us, that they were merely purchases from the duty free store. We really did, at least for a moment, think that we were receiving gift bags simply for providing the airline with our company for the next 9 hours, but we had been drinking so that may have been it.
Or perhaps it was when we landed at Heathrow airport (after not sleeping at all on the flight because coach seats on international flights, no matter how long they are, are the same as coach seats on domestic flights) that the toilets are not clap-operated, as Erin thought they were (a mere wave of the hand seemed to do the trick but evidently jumping about in delight and clapping also worked). When Erin came out of the toilet beaming and clapping and explained to me that the toilets were clappers, I truly did believe it but am glad that I examined the signage above the toilet that had the waving hand a little closer than she had.
It may also have been the sheer shock of encountering sinks that really only fit your hands (read: mini-sinks) or the fact that you have to actually purchase 50 pence matches when you buy cigarettes, or that you have to pay (we opted just to hop over the turnstile rather than to bow to the MAN) to take do your unmentionables!! I suppose there is a logic to having a sink that is that has what it takes to do the job and nothing more, but with separate hot and cold water taps, how is a girl suppose to wash her face at the correct warm, closer to hot, but not too hot, temperature? And seriously, I am going to pay to squat over a toilet, someone had better be standing there ready to hand me some tissue and give me a quick spritz of something special to keep me fresh-smelling, otherwise it's just not going to happen.
One thing that we has been completely foreign but we fully intend to try to incorporate into the Americas is the practice of drinking at pubs during lunch. The pubs are filled wall to wall with business people in suits during the lunchtime hours (all wearing pin-stripes for some odd, presumably English reason), with pints in their hands. They not only drain those pints faster than most I know (except for maybe L.J.), but they also don't eat. Hey, I'd take eating at my desk and working if it meant a pint of good Strongbow cider over my lunch hour. Especially if it meant that I could avoid the liver and kidney pies.
We have enjoyed every moment of our nearly 24 hours here in London, albeit bleary-eyed from a lack of sleep and waking up at 3am this morning and being out of the hotel by 6 since we were unable to get back to sleep - 18 hours of sleepless travel time does do its best to do you in. We have been to Westminster Abbey, which was truly a delight for both of us having English royalty buried alongside the likes of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Dylan Thomas, and Lord Tennyson. Buckingham Palace was a bore, but we quite enjoyed the Bloody Tower at the Tower of London. The Eye of London we have been certainly eyeing but have yet not experienced due to a certain trepidation. We shall soon be leaving for Herrods and 7 floors of extreme shopping, something one ought experience in one's lifetime. The multitude of coins in the currency of this nation has been quickly mastered and we're as quick on the trigger to pull out 20 pence versus a pound as the next clueless yank, and we are becoming well versed at pulling out the camera when needed and putting it away in mere moments so as to minimize the appearance of being blatant tourists.
Tomorrow we hit the museums and the London dungeon tour, and of course, more pubs.
- Drakey
posted by E-Rae | 8:32 AM
1 Comments:
I so agree, liquid lunches are something that should be mandatory for those not in AA.
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