Clubs Days are Crazy Days

So, the past couple days have been crazy with all the student societies setting up crowded booths to get new participants.  I have have gone overboard.

Clubs I am now on the e-mailing list for:

Circus Society
Speleological Society
Mountaineering Club
Dancesport Club - Ballroom and Latin Dance Society
Tae-kwon-do (ITF, not WTF,  weird)
Rifle Club
Officer Training Corps
National Trust Association (not a club, but worth mentioning)
Polo Society
Vegetarian Club
Boardgames Society
A Capella Choir

So, uh, a little overwhelming.  I turned down my audition time for the a capella choir, and I don't plan on following through with tae-kwon-do, but I'm not sure what else I'll need to drop.

I honestly want to try all the other things.

Circus Society is a must; I really want to do more poi.  The boy I spoke with was even talking about how he wants to coordinate some "group" poi.  He handed me a poi, and walked me through a partner weave, and I was amazed at how intuitive it actually was.  (We did a poi technique together, each of us holding one poi and weaving our arms around each other).

Shush... I think it would be really classy to learn ballroom dancing...  :)

As far as the Polo Society needs to know, yes, I am a confident rider.  *cough cough*
Really, the question she asked was, "Are you confident riding a horse?"  Heck yes I am.  Have I ever ridden in an English saddle?  Nope.  Can I do any sharp maneuvering?  Hell no.  But I'm confident! So, really, I didn't lie.  Right?  We'll see how this goes.

As for everything else, we'll see what I have time for.  Jaime highly recommended I try the local caving around Leeds, so I definitely want to check out the Speleological Society.

Hurray for participating!

P.S.  Other clubs I have information for, are Judo, Self-Defence, Pentagram Society and some weird running thing.

Day 8 - Return to London Part 1

Okay, I'm really sorry if I leave things out, or don't write in as much detail as I should, but I've been very stressed with the moving, and my memory is getting a little fuzzy.


Day 8 - London

Part 1 - Holland and Holland



Matthew and I returned to London, from Windsor, where we were happy to encounter the familiar transit.  Tired from our excursions, we were pleased to return to the B&B in Barnes, which had almost become a form of home base for us.  We were equally happy to discover that our rooms had been upgraded, given that we were the only clientele Stella received for the evening.

Matthew spend the day in, sorting out his personal travel planning, while I decided to dress up and hit the town.

I had two goals in mind for the day, Holland and Holland, an upper class store highly recommended for me to visit by Donald, and the Camden Market, a crowded collection of booths on the opposite, fringe end of the spectrum, recommended by my cousin Austin. 

I took the train in to Waterloo, then transferred to the underground, which took me within a few blocks of Holland and Holland.  I was pleased with myself, being able to easily navigate London transportation.

Upon leaving the station, I walk pass the Ritz Hotel, and make my way up the streets for a couple blocks.  I admire the class and dignity associated with these boutiques and stores, very high end indeed!  I think to myself, "Wow, I must be in the Ritzy part of town! ... Oh, right,". 

As I get close to Holland and Holland, I start to get very nervous.  I check to make sure all my clothing is sitting right, and that I look decent.  I begin to realize that I probably look very out of place, but I hadn't come this far to back out now.

I enter the store.  Well, that is an understatement, because a gentleman in a suit opened the glass door for me, and I'm promptly greeted by four other men in suits. 

"Can I help you?"  asks one.
"May I admire your wares?" I inquire with less confidence than I ought to have.
"Certainly," he responds with a smile.

Then they promptly ignore me.

Okay.  So I'm out of place, but they are tolerating my presence, maybe?

I don't know.  I don't know how these things work, but it certainly reminds me of when Auntie Marlene changed her shoes before entering a Parisian Gucci(?) establishment, so they would take her seriously.  I now understand why.

The place is outstanding.  Absolutely wonderful.  Everything is very neatly placed, there are stuffed pheasants perched on shelves, a table made in a ring of deer antlers. 

I'm not even really sure how to describe the place.  I sneaked a couple of photos off of my camera, but they really don't do the place justice.

So, if you're curious, watch the video from their website instead.

http://www.hollandandholland.com/

This video definitely catches the feel of the place.  All the scenes that took place inside the store (mostly at the beginning) are things that I saw.  I was there.  Wow.  I want more money.

So, I took a few walks around the clothing areas, before starting to look at the guns.  The craftmanship on them is incredible.  I was disappointed to see that there were only hinge-action shotguns and bolt action rifles.  Silly English gun laws

Here's the price tag on the most expensive I found

Here are some of the incredible hing-action shot guns

Now, after viewing that price tag, keep in mind that this is in Pounds, so multiply by 1.6 to get the price in CAD.  Now, multiply by 1.2, because the tag does not include the 20% VAT (service tax).

So, now imagine my surprise, when a young man my age, 20 years old, just waltzes in and buys a nice gun.

I checked his coat, and at least felt better because he had elbow patches, like the tweed jacket I was wearing.  Maybe I do blend in somwhat.

After he left, the staff talked about how he's, "such a nice boy," and how he's from Italy, and is just spending some time in London, shopping, meeting girls, buying toys, and when he needs more money he just calls his parents and they send him more.

I...  You always hear of this, but, I didn't realize that it actually happens until I saw it.  He's my age, and just bought a gun that was probably, (given the average price there, not the most expensive) about $100 000 CAD.  Just like that.  Sure, he tried it out and stuff, and had probably been trying it out for a couple visits before the final purchase, but, wow.  Just like that. 

I asked one of the men in suits about the metallurgy of the some of the shot guns.  I thought the assorted colours were from a patina, but it is apparently part of the hardening process of the steel.  I then asked if there were any semi-automatic rifles, and was promptly disappointed.  This engaged a short conversation about Canadian vs. English gun laws.  

After thanking him, I browsed more, and found this vest I really liked:

 

Pretty...

Squee!

But, here's the price tag

So, of COURSE I had to try it on!

Yeah, that was easily the most audacious thing I've done all trip.  I tried on the $2000 vest, absolutely terrified of damaging it the entire time.  But, my, it really looked good.

I thanked the gentlemen helping me, and said, "I'll have to think about it, maybe next time,".

That was fun.

They barely even looked at me when I left.

Beginning in Leeds

Considering how incredibly behind I am with the posts of traveling with Matthew, (there are two left, before Leeds), I'd like to give a brief synopsis of my residence experience so far.





Pros Living in Bodington Hall

• High water pressure in shower
• Surrounded by other international students
• Nice people I'm living with
• Bed is okay
• Heater works
• Nice staff
• Wild bunnies hopping around

Cons of Living in Bodington Hall

• High water pressure in showers begins to hurt after 5 mins.
• Small space
• Every room is very closed off from other rooms
• Zero soundproofing
• Very, very far away from the University
• Even further away from the city
• In the middle of nowhere
• Ran out of hot water in the shower
• Black mold in the shower
• Very ugly, puke-y yellow green doors
• No British people
• Very crammed
• Incredibly small shower stall, with no place to put your things
• No way to turn the heater off, so it gets sweltering very quickly
• I wanted an ensuite, and I got this place

I want to move, but I'm not allowed to apply until the 1st of October.

Day 7 - Windsor

I’m beginning to write this again from the train from London to Chester.  I just plowed through that Oxford post.  I’m glad this is giving me the opportunity to catch up on writing.  If there are significant delays with the posting, please keep in mind that going through all my pictures, selecting them, and formatting the post takes almost as much time as the writing.

Day 7 – Windsor

Getting off at the Train Station, Castle

Windsor!  I loved Windsor!  We only spent a day there, but I was enthralled.  Immediately upon exiting the train, I looked right and BOOM!  The castle is right there!  Right there!  Absolutely splendid.  We disembarked from the train platform, and were surrounded by nice shops and boutiques.  We took a few wrong turns, but finally made our way to the B&B, and were greeted by an absolutely lovely lady. 

-Interruption: OH MY GOSH SHEEP!  The train just passed by fields of sheep, and a little stream with a bridge over it!  Cute!-

Our Hostess, Dee, was very warm and welcoming.  We felt very comfortable, there.  In the lounge area, there was a framed overhead photograph of Windsor Castle.  I took a picture of this photo, because I know I won’t have the opportunity to capture the castle the same way otherwise.  We headed off into the market area, with the intentions of getting some lunch before headed up to the castle.  We were not disappointed.  There was an extremely long vendor’s booth, with Italian foods ranging from olives to nuts to fine pastries.  It was all sold by weight, so Matthew and I pick and choose from the spiced almonds, smoked cashews, European macaroons (different than what we call macaroons) and other baked goods.   We may have had a disproportionate amount of sweets versus nuts.  

Market booth with tasty things

We walked around, looking for a place to sit.   It took us awhile to find somewhere, because the place was packed with people. Across from the booth we enjoyed, is a Thornbury’s chocolate shop.  I noticed one of these in Bath (but it was closed) and was pleased to find another.  It appears to be a chain, similar to our Purdy’s.  Mum can expect some treats from here once I settle down in Leeds. Eventually we came upon the Long Walk, (which is indeed, very, VERY long), and noticed that there was a car show going on.  We picked a tree along the Long Walk, and had our picnic there.

European Macaroon

We then made our way to the castle, and waited about half an hour in the line to buy tickets.  The couple in front of us were dressed rather inappropriately, which is what lead to the inside joke from two posts ago, “You’re dressed too trashy for the Queen’s residence!  She’s crying in shame!”

We eventually made it to the ticket counters, and I discovered that there was something I needed to attend to back at the B&B.  Fortunately, the man said that I could buy a ticket, and then skip the line when I return.  When I did return, (about 20mins later) the lineup had completely vanished.  There was no one there but me.

Now, I’m very confused as to why you are not allowed to bring scissors or knives or anything sharp into the castle.  You might think this is obvious, but I would like to point out that within the castle, there were sharp swords, hanging on the walls within arm’s reach. I don’t understand anything anymore.

Proud, Dignified Statue of Queen Victoria outside Castle

I absolutely loved the castle.  I’m not even sure where to begin.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed within the rooms, so I only having pictures of the castle walls and towers.  I was touring around near closing, so there was a security man ushering a group of us through the rooms, giving us brief descriptions of what we were seeing.  I really appreciated this, as I much prefer a live guide to an audio commentary.  I’m not really sure what to say about the castle, because as Donald knows, when I find something overwhelming, I often don’t really like talking about it shortly afterwards.

Old Car Show within Castle Walls

There was a massive malachite basin that really impressed me.  It was about 3 feet tall, including the malachite platform.  To put this into perspective, we sell ~1” pieces of malachite for $4.00/each.

What appeared to be the center point of the castle

There was a room with a painted ceiling, the painting showed one of the queens in a chariot in the sky, being pulled by swans.

There was another room, damaged by a fire, which was redone.  The intricacies on the walls and ceiling were all completely redone with new gold leaf to match the original.

 

All and all, the castle was really amazing.  I didn’t get to see everything I would have liked, because I ran out of time, and it was closing.  Fortunately, I was able to get my ticket stamped, enabling free entry into the castle for a year!  I would love to return.  Also, I heard that there are more sections open to the public in the winter versus the summer; more reason to go back.

 

 For dinner, I went to an odd, cafeteria style Japanese/Thai restaurant.  I had a craving for noodle soup, which was the reason for this choice.  While there, I asked a young couple how much it was customary to tip at a place like this, (nothing), and we struck up a conversation.  The young man had graduated from the University of Leeds in 2008, so we discussed the university and the surrounding area.  He told me the good places to visit, what pubs and clubs to frequent, and the like.  It was good advice.  The girl he was with knew Dee from the B&B, so I had to go say, “hi,” for her. 

Small world.

You know you’re in England when:

Day 6 - Oxford

I write to you now, from the train from London to Chester.  Supposedly, there is Wifi available on this train, but I’m having trouble with the connection.  The girl next to me is reading, “Fifty Shades Darker,” I want to let her know that there is much better quality smut on the internet for free, but I can’t figure out a way to do that politely.  Maybe she’ll read this off my screen and save me the trouble.

Day 6 – Oxford

These things are awesome.  I found them at the convenience store on a train platform.  I really want to try one.

We arrived in Oxford with high hopes, but I’m dismayed to say it was one of the less interesting stops on our trip.  Matthew and I decided to do another commentated bus tour, and used this to get partway to our B&B.  We were greeted by a disgruntled gentlemen who spent the rest of our stay retreated in his room immediately after giving us the key.  He did, however, recommend that we walk along the channel instead of the road to get into town, and it was admittedly much nicer.  There was a greater variety of waterfowl than we encountered at Dumbleton, and Matthew mistook a white duck for a mute swan.  In all fairness, it was a rather large duck, and at first I thought it was a goose.  Further along, there were indeed mute swans, much to my glee.  I’ve noticed that in Canada, cyclists approaching you from behind will shout out what direction they are passing you in.  Here, however, you’re lucky if they ring their bell, instead of just rushing past within a foot of you.

 We found another large cathedral that was one of the highlights of the town, (I’m dismayed that I’m beginning to become desensitized to the wonder architecture in Cathedrals,) and considered paying the admission fee.  We were put off upon discovering that the cathedral itself was closed, and they were asking 15 pounds in order to see some halls.  No thank you.

Dinning Hall in St. Merton's College

We wandered around instead, entering one of the St. Merton’s College, one of the many that make up the University of Oxford.  Each college is where the students eat and sleep, as well as attend classes.  The dining hall reminded us of a very Christian Hogwarts.  We ended up getting lost around the grounds, but found our way out of the labyrinth eventually.  It was indeed very nice, but now I don’t feel jealous of Oxford students the way I did before.  I wasn’t actually that impressed. 

We took the sightseeing bus again, around the city.  I was pleased to hear that the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum were free admission, but they were both closed by this time.  Matthew and I wandered around a nice market area for a bit, finding a magnificent hat store, which was closed, and an even more amazing cake shop.  The cake shop had both impressively made and designed cakes, as well as cake decorating supplies.  What intrigued us the most were the large bags of “cake ends” that were being sold for one pound per bag.  This shop was also closed.

I’ve named this the Oxford Problem, where everything seems to close at 4:00pm.

We opted for a cheap dinner, and milkshakes at “Shakespheare’s”.  We were both very impressed by both.  We bought “pasties” at this strange, pirate themed Cornish pasty place that I keep seeing everywhere.  We were both amazed.  For about $5.00 CAD, I bought a vegetable and cheese pasty.  Now, imagine a hot pocket.  This hot pocket is 2-3 times the size of a normal hot pocket, and is made with real pastry, and is stuffed with stew.  Yessss…  So good.  Very dense and filling, at a great value.  I was also impressed at the range of vegetarian options, about 4 out of the dozen or so choices.

The milkshakes were also pleasing.  The variety of options of mix-ins was outstanding.  I had caramacs and cookie dough in mine.

We also checked out this place:

Shout out to co-workers at Mountain Gems:  It's like a gem store in here!

We took the nice scenic walk back to our B&B, and that is about all I have to say about Oxford.

-Found the problem with the train wifi.  They expect me to pay for it.  Nope! -

P.S. If you appreciate reading my blog posts, find anything particularly interesting, or funny, please let me know.  I don’t know what you guys like, dislike or what to hear more about unless you tell me.  Comment!

You know you’re in England when: 

These are everywhere

Bye~

- Elise

More Pictures from the Cotswolds

I only recently found my camera charger, so I am able to show you more photos that I would have like to in the last post:

Dumbleton Hall Hotel

Me outside Dumbleton Hall Hotel

These game birds were all over the Dumbleton Hall Hotel grounds

Black Swan

Big tree!

Peak-a-boo!

Day 5 - Cotswolds

Day 5 – The Cotswolds

I begin typing this entry from day 7, on the train from Oxford to Windsor.  We, and a lovely New Zealander couple, accidentally seated ourselves in the First Class section.  Given that it is mostly empty aside from us, that our tickets are “self-seating” (albeit, in standard class) I insisted we stay until someone comes and kicks us out.  We’ve past the first stop, and so far so good.

Day 5 began from the train ride from Bath to Glouster.  Neither Matthew nor I have anything particularly nice to say about Glouster, especially compared to the other amazing places we’ve visited.  There, Matthew rented a car for us, and the terror began.  Driving here is a little crazy, even aside from the cars and streets being mirrored.  People drive very quickly along narrow, winding roads.  We now understand, and fully appreciate the vehicles in Barnes parking partially along the sidewalk; there is no room to drive otherwise.  Here and into the Cotswolds, parked cars take up from half the lane to the ENTIRE lane, leaving very little room to pass on the two way street. Why don't they park on the sidewalk, like civilized people?

 

The Cotswolds themselves are composed of rolling hills and farmer’s fields.  It is defintitely the picturesque countryside we often associate with England outside of the hustle and bustle city life.  I was also impressed with the amount of wildlife here.  Back in Barnes, I was thrilled to see two foxes on our way home on Day 1.  I apologize if I neglected to put that in.  Here, I’ve seen hawks, wild pheasants (or partridges, not sure), ducks, swans, rabbits, and signs for foxes and deer.  For domesticated animals, there are many herds of sheep, cattle and horses along the hill slopes.  There are black and white birds that I think are magpies in every city so far.  They are quite beautiful.

After horrific navigating, (we did much better the next day when I was in charge of the directions), we finally made it to Dumbleton.  We had to turn around and reorient ourselves a few times first, but we did eventually arrive safely. We were staying at the Dumbleton Hall Hotel, which Matthew persuaded me with the text message a few weeks ago, “SWEET JESUS, HARRINGTON WE’RE STAYING AT THE DUMBLETON HALL HOTEL AND NEVER LEAVING,”. 

-We’ve past the second train stop so far, and still haven’t been kicked out of our seats. -

Dumbleton Hall Hotel was indeed absolutely splendid.  We were every bit impressed as we expected to be.  The building is large, with magnificent interior as well as exterior.  It’s hard to believe that we payed LESS to stay here than we did for our previous B&B stays.

                                   

We decided to walk around the Hall grounds, following a note in our room saying that we could ask for bread at reception to feed to the ducks and black swans in the pond.  I was very excited about this.  Before anyone interrupts, yes, feeding birds bread is absolutely terrible for them, and yes the people at the Wildlife Rescue Association would be very cross with me, but I selfishly wanted to feed the birds, okay?  Matthew was surprised by the four slices of bread we were given, and kept pestering me to let him eat some of it.  Stay classy.  I definitely did not allow this, and kept it all for the birds.  The game birds that hopped around the grounds were not particularly friendly, and didn’t let us get close enough to feed them.  We got to the other side of the pond, where Matthew refused to hop the fence, even though that section of the pond is completely accessible to us from the other side.  I stepped over the 2.5 foot fence, and started my encounter with the black swans while waiting for Matthew to walk all the way around to join me.

I sometimes wonder if swans know they are beautiful.

What I did discover, is that swans are as aggressive as geese, but much, much bigger.

 

Once the bread was depleted, we decided to drive over to Pershore, another small town nearby.  It wasn’t quite as small as we expected, and driving there was equally invigorating.  We visited their local abbey, and I was surprised to see that they were offering tea to visitors, continuing the tradition hospitality shown by monks at the abbey centuries ago.  To show my gratitude, I purchased a couple cards from their gift shop, and the woman there was very friendly.  Matthew asked about the national speed limit.  The woman apologized for it being a mere 70 miles per hour (~113km/hr) along the winding narrow roads.  Matthew was mortified.

Thai Restaurant

We patronized a Thai place for dinner.  Once again I am surprised by the quantity of Asian food varieties.  There are nowhere near as many as Vancouver, but I expected there would be few to none.  We decided it would be a good idea to put more money in the meter, only for Matthew to discover parking became free after 6:00pm, and then become lost on his way back to the restaurant.  The Thai place was pretty good value, beautiful interior design, and very tasty food, but the service was awful.  We waited about 20 minutes after asking for the bill before getting up and paying at the front, (the couple behind us had their bill delivered to them,).

Naturally, we got a little lost on our way back to Dumbleton, but we managed, and that concludes Day 5.

I’m finishing the typing of this blog post from the train from Windsor back into London/Barnes.  (Day 8) The hostess we had in Windsor was very lovely, but I really don’t want to see an English Breakfast ever again.  I miss how at home, we cook scrambled eggs in a frying pan, not in the microwave…  I find myself longing for Stella’s French toast, which Matthew and I will surely enjoy tomorrow back at the B&B in Barnes.

Things Matthew and I should feel guilty about, brought to you by the Lizard of Guilt, to be read in the voice of a disapproving grandmother:

“You’re parents are dying of loneliness”
“Don’t feed the swans bread, you should know better!”
“You’re using money that should go towards school!”
“You’re going to get fat!”

“Stop making fun of the country that’s hosting you!”

“You’re a terrible girlfriend!”

“You dress too trashy for the Queen’s residence!  She’s crying out of shame!”  (This one is not about us).

“Don’t pour your own juice!”

“You’ve put other people in danger by driving!”
“You’ve broken so many social conventions that you weren’t aware of!”
“Don’t bring scissors to the Queen’s residence!  What were you thinking?”

“Zoiberg is distasteful, why are you mimicking him everywhere?”

“You J-walk all the time!  You’re corrupting Matthew!”

“Wandsworth isn’t that funny! Stop saying it in that voice!”  Oh, but it is.

“You secretly hate the swans and want to make them sick!  You’re just jealous that they’re prettier than you!”

"Don't make fun of the place names, people live there!"

Here’s my new section that will be featured at the end of every blog post from now on.
You know you’re in England when: