June 17: Welcome to Larndon

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June 17th: Thank YOU loud English couple... no, no by all means have a ridiculously loud argument about who packed what, FIRST THING IN THE MORNING so that i can hear it through the wall... you shouldn't have to worry about the sleep of others, have your argument and godspeed.
Not feeling the jetlag yet but hey, it's early. Now I have to work out the London transportation system.
~later~ London's transportation system is bloody expensive, don't think i'd fly into Gatwick again, with Heathrow at least you can jump on the tube into the city, but with Gatwick it was an £18 train into Victoria and then onto the tube to get to Earls Court where i was staying.

I had the usual stress of "which line do I take, and where?" with a big pack on my back looking every bit the tourist! I think though that with London, once you figure out the tube system you're set... in fact it is incredibly liberating because you can wander around as much as you like and if you get lost you can just find the nearest tube station and return to a familiar station (near your hostel say) so once you're down with the underground it's fine, but first impressions tend to be AGGGHHH!!
Now here's the rub; the joy of jetlag and an instant switch from winter to summer is lethargy, the combination of heat and lack of energy is that you just want to snooze at your hostel but then (a) you risk not solidifying your new sleeping pattern and (b) of course you miss out on doing things, and snoozing is something i could do in NZ without spending any money for the privellege!
So, after meeting one of my roommates, who is a friendly Italian guy (totally wussed out on practicing mia Italiano on him) i have ventured out into the crazy neverending streets on Londinium. The excitement is slightly dulled by fatigue but I'm still loving just walking around in this place (the many beautiful women from many different countries obviously help). The weather is nice, it's pretty overcast but it's easily shorts and t-shirt weather.
I walked through the Brompton cemetery which is very long, very old and beautiful. Trees line the path and there are SQUIRRELS!

lots of people are just hanging out in the cemetery, drinking coffee, reading books, taking the kids to go look for SQUIRRELS, which might seem weird except that it is so peaceful (like the grave) and beautiful... plus they have this weird thing here where there are gardens (as in parks, rather than someone's vege garden) that are gated! You have to be a keyholder to enter. They tend to have signs saying "no dogs, no ball games, children must not make too much noise or disturb other garden users" which is ridiculous because there's a play area in there, so kids are expected to play quietly, be seen and not heard.

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Photos

view from the top
Out the window of my hostel room in Earls Court