Diagonally

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I woke up late.. once again. 1pm. I really need to get over this jet lag business. It’s starting to drive me bloody mad.

I went on the Harry Potter tour and got to see some of the filming locations. It was rather neat. I then proceeded to go into a red telephone booth to call Blaine but the payphone wouldn’t take my money. I heard it going down the “return” chute but there was nothing in the bin. So, I did some investigating just to find the some bloke shoved a pen up inside there to wedge it shut. I unwedged it and became 9.22 pounds richer. So, no I did not find five dollars, I approximately found nine pounds, which is way better given the conversion rate. I’m not even sure what it is.. I just know that it was 1.60 dollars to the pound when I arrived a few days prior.

I’m starting to fall in love with the city. I had to take a drunk lady to the Barnes Bridge Station last night and looked over the Thames at night. It was breathtaking. I made the walk through the alley back and saw a couple of foxes and it felt refreshing just to be out. I’ve been meeting people from all over the world (Of course I’ve been watching my back, I saw a little boy get pickpocketed by Big Ben yesterday).

I found out today why people in Britain drive on the left side of the road. Apparently, back in the day, they all rode horses and the majority of them were right handed. So it was easier to greet someone and shake their hand when traveling on the left side of the rode (also good if you wanted to swipe at them with your sword). The old romans used to do that to I assume. They said their cart tracks coming out of the quarries were deeper on the left. The means they were arriving with an empty cart and leaving with a full cart…traveling on the left for both ways.

Americans had the covered wagons and drove their horses in sets of four. When they sat, they sat on the back left of the horses and if they were to drive on the left, they wouldn’t be able to see the wheels of the cart coming their direction. If the drove on the right, they could make sure the wheels of the carts didn’t bump into each other and had more control. I always just thought Americans did it to be stubborns or Great Britain decided to do it just to be weird.

Learn something new every day.

Anyways, I’m having a grand time. I’m leaving my host here tomorrow for a different one for the next couple of days. I still have to get to the zoo but I’ve logged so many miles in my new TOMs shoes (which, by the way, are the most COMFORTABLE shoes I have ever owned) and I think I need a rest day. I’ve been going non-stop.

I still miss home but I think that I’m starting to break out of my comfort zone. I’m still glad that I haven’t broken the language barrier yet, I still need to adjust to the way they do things here, but it’s been a fantastic learning experience thus far!

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Photos

Entrance to the Leaky Cauldron
Film location

Diagon Alley
Film location