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Published: October 9th 2008
New best friend
Ballerina Statue near the Royal Opera House in LondonBusted! I got caught! I have been using some of these blog entries as journal entries for one of my classes and my professor found out. She left a comment 'hmmm.. this has a different tone to it, are you using this to write to friends back home?' The she went back and read my previous entries on different threads (because it is online) and I thought I was dead for sure. Turns out she 'really enjoys my enthusiastic, colourful, and witty writing style.' Now if only I could apply that to research paper.
Oh and good news, our shower drain is finally unclogged! That thing was starting to be a pain in the butt. Every 2 minutes or so, you would have to turn the shower off and wait 5 minutes for all the water to drain. And it was getting worse every time. But all solved now. I'm not really sure how it got fixed, but it is.
Anyways, Tuesday I saw the best play I have ever seen in my life. I'm sure I have said this a few times by now, and I'm sure I will say it again, but really, it was the best.
Martyr's column
Spot where 'Bloody Mary' had many heretics burned. It was a play called 'the Walworth Farce,' and if you fancy giving it a read skip this paragraph because I will give a few things away. The basic plot is an Irish family of a father and 2 adult sons living in a run down flat in London. It is very hard to understand at first but throughout the play you learn about their past. Basically, it begins with the three of them acting out a very silly play. One of those 'comedy of error' types, they each play several characters, except for the father. They are obviously doing it only for themselves and they start to let on that they are some of the characters in the play. The father is playing himself and at one point the boys pretend to be children that are supposedly them. They keep getting interrupted and when they are truly themselves this is when the play is most perverse. You learn that they never leave the house, and haven't since they arrived in London, for the younger son Blake, this means not seeing another human since he was 5 years old. The oldest son Sean does go to Tesco's every morning to
Pie stand
I will miss pies when I go home get the required groceries for the play that they reenact every day. That day he grabs the wrong grocery bag and his father throws a fit that it isn't the right stuff. At the very end of Act I a girl named Hayley who works at Tesco's brings him the right bag, obviously she has made friends with Sean from seeing him every morning. They don't allow her to leave and force her to become part of the play, much to Sean's protests. There is a particularly taboo scene in which the father covers her face with lotion in order to make her look white, as she was of African-american...err... african-british? We learn that the play is an over exaggerated version to why they initially left Ireland, in fear that the father will be blamed for the death of his siblings. But the truth is, he really did kill them and was sent to London by his wife. It's very touching how he explains that the 'farce' they do was created because he needed to tell his questioning sons something, and he couldn't tell them the truth. The play always ends with Blake, playing their mother, sending them off with
Butcher shop
in the covered market in Oxford. kisses saying 'get out of here my love.' Anyways in the end Blake realizes that Sean and Hayley love each other and that their father will never let them go, so he stabs him. He then lets Sean out of the closet where he was being held, and pretends to attack Hayley, Sean thinking this is real, in turn, kills his brother. This is because Blake knows he will never be able to leave the flat, brought up being told he must never leave, he knew he couldn't. As long as Blake was alive Sean would never leave him, Sean would never be able to go out into the world like he wanted. So Blake, forever the actor, stages a scene in which he knows Sean will have no choice but to kill him. Hayley is obviously shaken by all this and as soon as Sean opens the door, she leaves without a backwards glance. Sean stands in the door way for a little while, watching the rain, his family's bodies lying around him. You think he is going to follow her, but he shuts the door. He slowly begins to reenact his fathers play by himself, not saying a
word, just going through the motions. At the end he puts on Hayley's coat and purse stands in the doorway, with his back to the audience, he covers his face in shoe polish to make himself look black. It was like a new chapter to his play, or Act if you will. It was the most erie thing I have ever seen. I understand that is probably really hard to follow, and I probably did not do the best job explaining it, but it was AMAZING!
Wednesday I spent the day in Oxfordshire, I just picked Burford on my location because that was the last place we went. After what was almost a two hour coach ride (coach being bus, not something pulled by horses) we arrived in Oxford. Maybe I missed the mark when I decided to study in London, because every time I go to another town I fall completely in love with it. But Oxford, will probably continue to be my favourite. The college is absolutely beautiful, check out all the pictures because I have tonnes of them! We also spent alot of time in Christ Church which was part of the college. A lot of
Harry Potter was filmed here, so see if you recognize anything. We then went to this little covered market, and all the fruits and veg made me smile. Dana and I talked to the man and the cheese stand, who we call the Cheese Chap, for a bit. He was so nice! Really enthusiastic to hear where we were from and what we were doing in Oxford. Dana wanted to get some cheese but had no idea about the different kinds, he asked us questions like if we liked, strong or mild, soft or hard, he was an expert. Finally we found the perfect one. Dana didn't have much cash on her, so she asked if she could just get £1.50 worth. He gave us at least £6 worth, even cutting a piece for me and I didn't pay a thing. After all this we went into the Ashmolean museum, a little disappointing after becoming so used to the huge British Museum but cute non the least. It is supposedly the oldest museum in the country? Or maybe it was Europe?
We then took a coach to a place called Bourton-on-the-Water. We only spent about an hour here, got
some afternoon tea and scones (my first time since I have been here!!!) at this cute little terraced restaurant. Public conveniences are very convenient. Our last stop of the day was Burford, also a little village. Both of these villages are part of an area in Oxfordshire known as The Cotswolds. They are quintessential countryside. Take note of the pictures of the stone walls, they are built in a unique way known only to the Cotwolds. They are constructed without any sort of mortar, and some have been standing for centuries. I took some picture at an old church we walked to and the 18th century graveyard. Apparently there were come radical parliamentarians that were executed here during the English civil war... that's 1600's. The musket balls are still in the church wall where they were lined up and shot. But The Cotwolds is really a seeing place, you will just have to look at the pictures. Especially the one of my chocolate hedgehog. Emily, I thought of you in the chocolate shop in Burton, I was reminded of the one we went to in St. Augustine.
I love how excited people get when you give them money. There
was a man outside Sainbury's (our grocery store) a few days ago with a collection jug. I had seen him there a few times, so I gave him my change. He became so excited, he stopped me and told me that I was very and kind and he continued thanking me until I was on the other side of the road. Dana gave some man playing some crude looking flute some change in Oxford and he stopped playing, and in the cutest Liverpool accent he said 'bless you love.' It makes you want to be rich, so you can give away more money, people are so cute!
Last night we got off the coach and went directly to the tube, not even going up to our flat. Jess, Rebecca, Meredith, and I went to go see a play called 'Round and round the garden' which is the third part to the Norman Conquests trilogy of plays. I was laughing so hard... Norman will always have a special place in my heart, though he did have to move over and make room for the Cheese Chap.
observation: Standing Ovations are an American thing, they don't do them here.
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Mama
non-member comment
Wow!!!
I love all the pictures of the beautiful places you visited. I'm starting to become very jealous. The Yorkshire pudding looks great too. Love you lots!!!!