Advertisement
Published: June 28th 2012
Edit Blog Post
June 20th: Well we finally had a snorer last night, luckily; due to the tail end of jetlag and the fact I didn't get to bed till about midnight (hardcore, I know!) I was able sleep through it easily enough. Chowed through a large hostel breakfast which hopefuly means I won't need food for most of the rest of the day, especially as I'll be sitting on a bus for a couple of hours of it. Same as yesterday; I wouldn't mind staying here longer, it's not the hardest city to deal with once you get over the scale of it and how many people are around...I guess though that with a holiday like this it's kind of good to keep moving because you never know how cool the next place will be... plus i'm staying put in Leeds for nearly a week so that'll satisfy the "stop & smell the roses" urge.
~note to self~ not the best idea to buy new shoes the day before the trip and then end up getting blisters from the constant walking, having not worn them in first!
~Later grrr~ How to describe my current feelings towards the English coach service? How about
A right punt
me, with a bridge growing out of my head "arggghhhh!" or maybe just "shit!" As usual when travelling I was organised and left early for the station; the trouble started when the tube rejected my ticket several times and I had to get someone to swipe me through, then I got out at Victoria and headed for the coach station (which is much further away from the tube and train stations than i thought) managed to get there with a few minutes to spare but the bus wasn't at Gate 8 where it should have been, I tried asking staff where it was but none of them (not even the fella with the bus computer thing open in front of him) knew anything. Computer man directed me to the ticket office... which had a huge queue, so even if the bus was still around somewhere, it clearly wouldn't be by the time I got to talk to someone, so i joined the line knowing that I was going to have to buy a ticket.
I know queueing is the British passtime but i can't bloody stand it, it always annoys me when people sit at the counter for ages like they've suffered spontaneous amnesia at the counter and need to sit there and plan their trip out afresh! Finially I got to the head of the queue and luckily there was a bus leaving at noon (the one i'd come for was 10.30am) but the fact that i'd paid for my ticket and had arrived before departure time didn't much seem to matter and i had to fork out £12 for my ticket (my 10.30 ticket which i booked off the net only cost £6) not impressed at all.
I've texted Phil so hopefully he won't be at the coach station at 12.40 waiting for me!
~laterer~ Hmm on the noon bus now, it's leaving before 11.55, i guess they figure that as long as they're not late they're doing a good job. The bus ride is a good way to see a bit of London, I mean it takes an hour or so to get out of the place so if you look out the window you've no choice but to see London! Going through Stratford and seeing a few very oddly shaped structures that are presumably being built for the Olympics. ~latererer~
Well Cambridge is pretty damned beautiful, it is a real mix of old and new; buildings hundreds of years old (weird to walk through a building that henry VIII has walked through) mixed with somewhat tacky tourist shops, young men in striped blazers and vests sipping on bubbly and young girls wearing skirts so short you can see the bottom half of their arses.
I was bike-ambushed by Phil who then tooke me on a tour of Cambridge, unfortunately a lot of the colleges were closed for their balls as exams had just finished, took me past Darwin's old flat and explained the freedom of cows. We rounded off the tour by taking a punt (as it were). It is a slightly nervewracking experience to put all of your possessions in a boat, especially with tons of people falling in the water around you. It was a pleasant hour or so, I was secretly glad that Phil did all the steering and didn't ask me to get up on that narrow, wet and wobbly bit of boat. I saw a dead mouse floating in the water which was 'ech' but then I also saw some little fluffy ducklings, 'awww'.
After that, we had some food a few beers at the Eagle pub where Crick and Watson had nutted out that whole 'DNA' thing. After that we went back to Phil's for a cup orf tea and a movie (the Green Mile) which we watched and mocked in equal measure, which did rather take me back to our flatting days in Leeds.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 9; qc: 39; dbt: 0.0435s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Neil
non-member comment
How dare you!!
Don't mock the green mile, that was awesome.