Thursday, November 16, 2006

I Went To London and All I Got.....

I was actually feeling a bit depressed for Saturday, I awoke stupidly early at Guy's at around 7. I lay awake, thinking about how awesome this holiday was. I was with a good mate, and - well - I was thinking about something else. But we'll get onto that a little bit later on. It just felt like a different world down in London. I'm not sure if I was thinking "yes, this is where I want to be" as Celeste put it, but I was thinking "yes, I'd like to experience it more". Four days was just not enough.

Anyway, I got the train at 10 to meet Han. The nerves were replaced by a sense of happiness - Han really was fantastic company, and we got on so well. She even said her night out was canceled - so if I didn't screw it up, the opportunity was there for her to spend an evening in London - something she'd never done before. She said that Covent Garden is full of good restaurants and bars, with the opportunity then to take the second of my bunk beds in my room.

I admit, I was late - some Frenchie was being an arse and I also respectfully observed the two minute silence. I got a text off Han with two words - "BEAT CHOO!!", which just made me smile. We met in Waterloo, and headed to the Tate Modern. Now. I never told Han why I wanted to go there (she had no idea), so I let her in on the secret.....Slides!

She quite cowardly sacrificed her go on the slides to take a picture of yours truly...

It was fast, and it actually hurt my knee going down, my legs were to long to make the turn. As I was nursing an injury from the day before on my right knee, and the slide re-aggravated it.

After seeing the globe, and walking over the millennium bridge, I stole Han's virginity.....her Subway Virginity, that is! She paid for mine too! Though, I was skint, and I did pay her back as we headed for the Trocadero.

The Trocadero has the biggest amusement arcade in London, with some of the best games around. One of them I saw - I had to go on. Mario Kart Arcade. I've never seen it before! Not in Blackpool, not in Llandudno, not anywhere. I just had to play it. It also had extra characters in it from the Pac Man Universe. I was Pac Man, Han was Mario. Like the day before, I won.

Han then said I had to go and do a little bit of shopping. We went to Hamleys, the biggest toystore in London, which was fabulous. They had a Street Fighter 2 Machine for £2,800! Unfortunately, Han declined a challenge. There were far too many cool things in there, which makes this self confessed grown up re-discover his childhood. I took a picture of Han underneath a giraffe, which seemed to piss off a number of Londoners.

Obviously somebody had been dragged in.

We then went to the Apple Store, as Apple Han demanded I'd go there. They had free internet! Though it was too busy. It was one of those cool stores I heard about. Han wanted to buy the Sims, but she couldn't afford it.

Han wanted to show me Camden Market, which is North of the city. I'll be honest, it was like a gothic Eastenders, with lots of scary people dressed up. Some cool t-shirts though. We then found a ungothic cafe, and sat down for a tea/hot chocolate. She said that she would like to go to Covent Garden for a night out, so I said we should head back to my place to drop off my bag, before heading out.

Then what? Well, that story is between myself, Han and the pervy pigeons.

One thing I will say: we never did make it to Covent Garden.

Sunday I awoke early and rather rudely woke up Han. Fuck it, I wasn't going to see her for a while. May as well make use of the little known 7am-8am hour. At around 10, I kissed her goodbye from Waterloo, and prepared for my hugely long journey home.

I admit - it won't be easy being far away from each other. However we do speak loads (we've now progressed onto Skype. It sounds odd but it felt like she was in the room with me!), I'm chuffed to bits with what's happened - Han truly is fabulous. I'm going to Canterbury in Decembertime sometime to see her (and a few of the sights). I've pencilled in a long weekend away from work to see her, and I cannot fricking wait.