I just got back from a walk to the supermarket with my Mum. It turns out that she only invited me because she was going to buy a microwave and wanted someone to carry it home! Shame!
posted by James 6:17 pm
Jessica and I took Auckland for a walk in the woods on Thursday. Auckland is such a playful animal and gets very excited when she understands that we are preparing to take her for a walk. She paces around the front door and as soon as the door is opened, she runs to the car, impatient to get in. (We drive to the woods for the walk). She is supposed to lie down in the back, but can't resist poking her head out of the window as we drive.
When we get to the woods, we let Auckland run around for a while. It's a great way to release all of that pent up energy. She would be running at me, at full speed, from 50 metres away and veer away at the last moment. This is freaky if you haven't experienced it before and it is best to stand still.
We walked with the dog in a circle along paths through the woods. Auckland was not on her leash, just walking in front of us. She is a curious dog. I would throw big sticks for her to chase, and if they interested her, she would retrieve them for me.
With Auckland being such a big dog, I asked Jessica if she had ever been dragged along by her before. She replied, "No". But barely five minutes later, when we were nearing the car, Auckland was distracted by another dog and moved to run towards it. Jessica was holding on to the leash, but her resistance was not powerful enough. She was dragged along for a few metres getting her clothes covered with clipped grass. She wasn't hurt, just annoyed. I laughed at the entirety of the incident.
We spent last night watching a video and eating Chinese for dinner. There is a Chinese restaurant literally five steps away from Jessica's house. (To be accurate, the five steps were of the "leaping" variety, done by me when I wanted to see how few steps I could take to reach the restaurant). We watched "Adaptation" and I liked it.
posted by James 11:38 am
On Wednesday, I made a trip to London to catch up with Vincent, a friend from school.
Lloyd was picking up someone from Heathrow airport in the morning, so I would get a lift from him. Then, I would buy an "all zones" pass for the Underground and meet Vincent at the Kings Cross train station. The plan was to get there by 10am. However, there were unexpected traffic delays on the way to the airport and my estimation of Underground travel time was way too optimistic. After a few SMS warnings from me, I ended up meeting Vincent just after midday! Shame!
We decided to go to Picadilly Circus for lunch and promptly chose the Underground car going in the opposite direction. Oh well, these things are easy to correct. Just get out at the next stop, cross to the other side of the Underground station and get on the next car.
Over ground, London was as busy as I had remembered from my last trip. It is good that there are instructions to "Look right" painted on the road by the pedestrian crossings. From my seven months in The Netherlands, it is becoming natural for me to look left for traffic when crossing the road.
After lunch, we couldn't decide what to do next! So much choice and we were as decisive as each other. So, it was a good thing when Vincent suggested we look at the shops around Covent Garden. It is not so much a "garden" but a collection of small shops like "Victoria Park Market".
Later in the afternoon, we caught a bus to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich village. We had arrived too late to go to either the Maritime museum or the Observatory, but there was still plenty to look at outside. The Observatory building was atop a hill which gave us a good view of where we had been that day. I compared my watch to the clock which is set accurately for Greenwich Mean Time. My watch is 2 minutes and 20 seconds too fast (but I knew that already). We found the line of zero Longitude which separates the Eastern and Western hemispheres. I played the "pushing game" with Vincent across the line.
We caught the bus back to the Millenium dome and looked at it from the outside. (It was closed). From there, we caught the Jubilee line to London Bridge, got out and went for a random walk. Or more accurately, a walk inspired by random ideas.
I suggested that we walk to Fleet Street. I thought it would have some interesting things related to law, and it was the only "red" Monopoly property that we hadn't seen that day. On the way there, we saw so many "Starbucks" shops. I took a nice photo in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. We took a detour and stared at the Thames River from the Millenium bridge. We played hacky (rather badly) in front of Deloitte & Touche. We ran through a fountain at Somerset House. I drank a huge chocolate milk for dinner.
We continued our walk through the city streets. Despite being a Wednesday night, there were many people out. We got to Euston station just before 9pm and I bought the cheapest ticket back to Milton Keynes (which was actually a return ticket!).
I read one of my books on the way home, and got a train station pick-up from Jessica.
posted by James 12:00 pm
My birthday was a relaxed day. I had a sleep-in. For most of the morning, I did a combination of book-reading, DVD-watching and e-mailing. Jessica took me out for lunch at a nice restaurant in Olney. We talked about each other's plans for the next year and beyond. I had one and a half lunches, as Jessica didn't feel like finishing hers. In the evening, we all had dinner at "The Leathern Bottel". My godmother, Nicky, joined us. We caught up on what she has been up to and I told her about my traineeship in The Netherlands.
posted by James 6:27 pm
Jessica, Mum and I went birthday present shopping today. We went to a huge shopping complex about 10 minutes drive away (if you drive at the speed that Jessica does).
My Mum suggested a thick warm coat. I agreed seeing that I will be spending some winter time in Europe. I have no sense of what is "cool" or "fashionable" so I left the general selection up to Mum or Jessica. I was alright with whichever coat felt comfortable.
Later, we were browsing in a book store, and I pointed out the new Bill Bryson book to Mum. She replied "Alright, we'll buy it." Cool. I'm not going to argue with that! I now have another interesting book to read. That makes five books where I am on "reading in progress" status.
Jessica gave me a birthday card tonight. She rationalised that I could open it tonight, because, technically, it was already September 23 in New Zealand. I asked her if she had written any profound advice for me for my 25th birthday. The card read, "Dear James. Enjoy being 25! Love, Jessica & Lloyd". Very simple, but probably more deep than what you might take it for, on first reading. I need to take more time to "enjoy" things than I have been doing so far.
posted by James 10:22 pm
There are so many cool electronic gadgets around this house! For the past two nights, I have borrowed a small DVD player (about the size of a CD Discman) and watched DVDs in bed before going to sleep. I have also become taken by a small device (about a third of the size of my hand) with which I can take photos and record movies with sound. It's wicked! Apparently, it can store 90 minutes of movie with sound.
Yesterday, we went to a pub called "The Flying Fox" for lunch. I had the Sunday Roast - beef, potatoes, yorkshire pudding! Yum! I haven't had this for a long time. Before we had ordered, we were debating what was written on the blackboard outside. I had made a movie of us walking into the restaurant, so we just looked at the movie instead of walking outside to check!
Later we went to Lloyd's parent's place. They have a very small dog which is so energetic and likes to play games with a tennis ball. I would throw the ball to the other end of the yard, the dog would bound after it, leap into the air, and catch the ball in its mouth. Then, she would run back to me and drop the ball at my feet, waiting for the next throw. Jessica made a movie of me playing this fun game.
In the evening, Jessica and I went to the movies. Mum stayed at the house because she was too tired. Lloyd was working. We saw "The Italian Job". It had some entertaining scenes. It's nice to be back at the movies where it isn't stopped halfway through for an intermission.
posted by James 11:53 am