The Changing of the Guard & Stonehenge

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My first full day in London was packed. I fully expected that the second day would be equally as aggressive, however the first day’s evening festivities got the better of me. I spent the majority of the day in bed, recovering in my normal sleep-until-the-pain-stops routine. This is actually the best time to sleep in a hostel. No one is snoring through the afternoon and you aren’t interrupted by assholes (such as myself) stumbling in at 4 AM. People walking in during the afternoon use much quieter voices and are generally sober & respectful of those sleeping. The same cannot be said for those walking in during the middle of the night.

The evening of Day 2 was spent in great conversation with a lovely Irish lass, who sympathized with my condition from the night before. I must say I am a fan of the Irish lilt, though I have a hard time differentiating between serious and sarcastic tones. These distinctions are important if you are going to have semi-serious conversations with an intelligent woman during the cusps of a hangover’s transition to sobriety. It doesn’t do much for the American reputation when you laugh at the wrong thing repeatedly. I am pretty sure it isn’t cute after the second or third misunderstanding.

Thus Day 3 began with a frantic journey to Cheapside near the London Bank. The London financial district is a completely different world than the tourist areas. If we think New York is a busy jumbled mess, then it is purely out of our American arrogance. London’s financial district simultaneously reminds us ants that we are in the presence of history / historic architecture and that no one has enough money to afford what this street is selling. Fortunately for me, I found a subterranean grocery store with the sign “Food That’s Good To Go” just passed the T-mobile store I was looking for (I got there a little early, because you are not allowed to walk at a normal pace in the financial district - you must scurry like the ant you are...). I didn’t expect much from this good-fast-food place, but was pleasantly surprised. I had a great BLT for breakfast and a glass of fresh squeezed OJ. It was quite fantastic and inexpensive (unlike all of the pastry shops above ground).

After the tasty BLT I hit the EE store to activate my UK phone number (for those family members reading this, I am not accepting international calls on this number). This store, specifically a clerk by the name of Lay, was recommended to me by a family friend and London local. The T-Mobile plan for iPhones includes free internet / data usage (super helpful for iMessages and Google Maps) and flat rates on minutes and texts. It is a pre-paid plan with a minimum top-up of 10 Pounds per month (until you cancel the plan). On the recommendation of Lay, 20 Pounds will normally serve the average user all month long. Knowing that I would be in Dublin for a few days, and that international rates would apply, I had him load me up with 30 Pounds. I was in and out in 20 minutes. The best part was I didn’t have to memorize Underground stops and cross streets anymore. Thank you Google Maps. My sherpa instincts were tested without the digital crutch. Funny how certain skills resurface when you’re used to certain luxuries. It’s like riding a bike, as long as you are alone no one sees when you fall off (or get lost repeatedly).

My tour of Stonehenge was scheduled for 2:00 PM so I had some time to kill - why not catch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace? This logic seemed reasonable at the time, and in hindsight I am glad I did it, but damn it was boring. Billed as the premier display of military precision, I expected some grand choreography and maybe some aerial drops onto pinheads atop elephants standing on one foot. No such luck. What I did see was groups of well trained uniformed marching black fur hats following behind a couple military bands. I also saw, conservatively, one-thousand tourists and one or two people that I was certain were thieves. I had been warned to watch for thieves, and especially accidental coffee spills. Everyone here is carrying Starbucks (it’s worse than Seattle), so a spill isn’t uncommon, but watching one was kind of humorous. I didn’t see the pick, but the whole thing seemed too clumsy to be real. There are other things I was told to watch for, but I didn’t see any of those take place. If anything was impressive, it was the crowd around the Queen Victoria Memorial and the massive size of Buckingham Palace itself. The guards could have been performing their normal duties as far as I was concerned, but I killed an hour and a half in the chilly London wind. What’s not to love?

The tour bus for Stonehenge left out of the Victoria Coach Station. Given that this bus station is in the heart of London it took up an impressively small amount of space. The company that I used for the tour was Premium Tours. We were ten minutes late departing and the driver wasn’t particularly informative about how / what we were supposed to do. There was no information or tour given during the drive out, which took about an hour and forty-five minutes. Once we arrived the driver rushed a set of hushed instructions that amounted to, “you have an hour to get back here or I am leaving you.” Needless to say, he was a very New York -esque Londoner.

We proceeded through the gates for the self directed audio tour. There was a healthy crowd, which grew within 20 minutes of our arrival to 200+ kids. The wind carried the playful screams of the children to some distant place. All that was left was the roar of the wind and the ancient stones with long shadows stretched over the sheep fields in the evening sun. People say there is “something” about this place. I feel a simple connection to our most human instincts. It is a reminder of a time when man was pure in purpose and raw with the land. It’s impressive; the work that went into the erection of this place, the worship or observance that took place here, on ancient grass lands probably very similar to the way they are now. When I think about things like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and other great places of ancient times, I wonder has our modern society accomplished anything as grand or massive? Perhaps the only two achievements of recent history worth comparison is our journey to the moon and the splitting of the atom. 4,000 years from now, will those accomplishments still stand as markers of an era long since forgotten? Will the purpose of our endeavors today be lost, but the majesty of our accomplishment recognized by peoples of the future? Seeing these ancient stones brings into perspective the potential for lasting contributions to the world. Seeing the erosion and vandalism reminds me that the likelihood of a truly lasting contribution surviving our own superficial pleasure seeking bullshit is extremely low.

I am pleased I went, but I didn’t feel electricity running through my bones because of some hidden spiritual force. All I felt was a strong connection to something incomprehensibly old. I wish I could have touched the stones.

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