Thursday, December 22, 1988

Canterbury Tales ...

First, some very good and relieving news... we found out that Bits is OK, and that she and her family were not aboard Pan Am Flight 103. Sid connected with her brother and he let us know they arrived in America safely. As it turned out, she and her family flew to America on an earlier flight. Here's the scary thing, though... they were offered a package deal to take the Pan Am flight that blew up.

By the grace of God, they turned it down. Even though it was a better deal, the only reason they didn't take it was because they wanted to leave earlier. That was a stroke of luck. I'm sure they are counting their blessings right now!

Today J.P. and I took a late morning train to Canterbury, which is a 45-minute train ride south of Sid's house in Longfield. It was well worth the time spent traveling!

We arrived in Canterbury shortly after 1 p.m., and began the tour by walking along the wall around town, then up a hill that overlooks Canterbury. From there we could easily see the famed cathedral off in the distance. We hopped back on the wall, and followed it until it led us into the town center.

There we soon found the entrance to the cathedral, as well as a gift shop, where I bought a tea towel featuring characters from "Canterbury Tales" for my senior high school English teacher, Mrs. Rogoff. (Last year I visited her class and mentioned I was studying in England for the year, which she thought was a fabulous opportunity. Then she gave me some money and asked if I would buy her some literary things for her classroom. This was the first time I found something useful.)

We entered the cathedral, which of course was quite majestic. We spent about a 1/2 hour there, then walked into town where we eventually stopped to eat at a Poppins. Later we came back to the cathedral shop to buy a few more knick-knacks, then walked around town again, looking for the King's School. We eventually found it, once we discovered that it was actually attached to the cathedral.

From there we entered a different section of the cathedral, which included the cloister. It was dusk by this time, and I was able to get a few good black-and-white photos of this part of the cathedral.

After buying some fudge, we headed back on the train to Sid's house, and after dinner, J.P., Sid, Viv and I watched "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan." It was a good movie, and interesting that never once did they actually call him "Tarzan."

When the movie finished, Sid's parents came home quite drunk, which was quite amusing. It was getting late and we were getting tired, so this was a good time to go to bed.

Pictures: #1, The Daily Mail, with more details on the plane crash, one day after it occurred. #2, Rick on the hill that overlooks Canterbury. #3, Canterbury Cathedral, with tiny J.P. walking through the gate. #4, A close up of the sculptures outise the cathedral, in B&W.

Wednesday, December 21, 1988

London, "Chess," and Terror in the Air ...

Today started out to be a fabulous day, but it ended tragically for passengers aboard a plane bound from London to New York.

I woke up later than I expected, and since J.P. stayed in Brighton last night, Viv and I decided to go into London on our own today. Sid travelled with us on the train for part of the journey. After arriving at Victoria Station and finding a bank, we went to Buckingham Palace, because Viv had never seen it, and I've never seen it when there wasn't a huge crowd surrounding it. Since it was not near the time for the Changing of the Guard, we got a pretty good look at the palace.

It was after 1 p.m. when we got back on the Tube bound for the Tower of London. We spent about two hours there, taking the guided tour and hearing all of the fascinating stories about the torture, imprisonment and execution that go along with the Tower. It was quite interesting, and I wished we had more time to spend there to explore everything in greater detail. We did manage to see the Crown Jewels, and there was no queue, which was a pleasant surprise, since its not unusual to have to stand in line for a considerable amount of time to see the jewels.

It was getting dark, and we were getting hungry. Plus, we were hoping to get tickets to see the musical "Chess," a show I have wanted to see for a long time. So shortly before 4 p.m. we left the Tower and headed to Leicester Square, where after another stop at the bank, we went to a kiosk and purchased tickets for "Chess" - at half price, no less!

So it was £22 for Viv and I, total, in row AA... wow! Now at first, I figured that "AA" meant we were in the first row after "Z" (zed). So I was fully prepared to watch the show from the 27th row.

There was still time before the show started, so we went to eat a delicious Mexican meal at Chi Chi's. It was Viv's first Mexican dinner, actually, which was a bit surprising to me, considering Spanish is part of her major. But I guess Spain and Mexico are two very different things. She enjoyed the meal.

Then we walked around Leicester Square a bit more, taking in the sights and sounds of London: the street bums, the buskers, the mimes, and the shops. After walking through the city for awhile, we returned to the theater at around 6.40, 50 minutes before the show started. We went in to the bar, had some drinks, and then took our seats. Turns out, I was wrong about "AA" being the 27th row.

They were front row seats. FRONT ROW! That was an awesome revelation. I thought it was a fantastic show. I love the music, the story is intriguing, and the acting was superb. In one of the scenes the actors threw out these foam "Chess" frisbees, and I managed to grab one of them. I'm not sure Viv enjoyed the show quite as much as I did, but she said she liked it.

When the show was over, we hopped back on the Tube to Victoria Station, and then caught the train back to Longfield.

Pan Am Flight 103 Disaster

Tired and happy from our day's activity, we relaxed on the train ride back to Sid's house. But as we were riding, we learned some very distressing news from another passenger who was reading a late edition of the newspaper. Earlier this evening there was a plane crash in Scotland. We took a look at the newspaper, and there weren't too many details as of yet.

It was a Pan Am 747 jet that left Heathrow, heading to JFK airport in New York. It apparently exploded in the air and when it came down it devastated part of Lockerbie, a small Scottish town.

My first thought was worry for Doug. But after thinking it through, I realized that Doug couldn't have possibly been on that plane, since he flew out two days ago. Whew, and thank God he did!

But then, after we got off the train and walked back to Sid's house, we were reminded that our friend Bits was flying over to America today with her family, and we had no idea what flight they were taking. Hopefully we'll find out soon if she's OK. This is just awful.

Yet another British disaster before Christmas. Coincidentally, we were traveling near the site of last week's Clapham Junction train crash when we learned about the plane crash. Flight 103 left Heathrow at 6.25 p.m., and the disaster happened about a half hour later... right about the time Viv and I were waiting for "Chess" to begin.

I'm starting to wonder if this is a safe place to be right now.

Tuesday, December 20, 1988

Today is Brighton Day! ...

I woke up early again, and Viv, J.P. and I prepared for our trip to Brighton on the southern coast. We planned to meet up with Neil for the trip, but Sid decided not to go along, and Bits couldn't join us, as she and her family are preparing to fly to America tomorrow for their Christmas holiday. Viv initially wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but decided in the end that she would join us.

We caught the train from Longfield to Victoria Station in London with just a few seconds to spare, then we found where the train to Brighton was (leaving in one minute), and sprinted over to the terminal, just making it in time. We weren't sure if Viv's train ticket would be valid (she has a CapitalCard), but no one checked our tickets so we had no problems on the ride south to Brighton.

Once we arrived there, Viv and I set off to find a bank, while J.P. waited at the train station for Neil to arrive. By the time Viv and I got back to the station, Neil was there, so the four of us walked to a deli and had good and reasonably priced sandwiches for lunch.

Following that we walked to the beach, which was beautiful... and different. Instead of sand, it was actually a pebble beach, with two piers - one defunct and one in operation. We walked along the beach until we reached the new pier, then walked along the pier until we reached the end. On the pier there were amusements, as well as a pub named Horatio's, so we went inside. There was a fabulous jazz combo playing in the pub... just two guys, a guitarist and a sax player. They were excellent, so we sat and listened to them perform for awhile. After a game of pool (J.P. beat Neil), we left the pier, but not before taking a few more photos. Got a lot of excellent photos today. It was a cold but lovely day to be outside.

We walked around the shops for awhile, then J.P. and Neil decided to head back to the pub while Viv and I went back to the shoreline. We sat along the beach until it got too windy, then went back into town for a meal. We ate at Burger King... Viv's first time. After eating we went back to the beach a third time, though by now it was quite dark, and unfortunately the lighting was not very impressive.

We decided to stop in a coffee shop to warm up with a hot cup of cocoa, then walked back to the station, stopping to buy postcards along the way. We saw Neil and J.P., but they had met up with a friend of Neil's and decided they were going to stick around in Brighton tonight.

So Viv and I left on the 5.55 train (almost the "5.15," as referenced in The Who's "Quadrophenia" song, but not quite.)

Along the way home, we hit some trouble.

While we were on the train, the conductor came through to check tickets, and when he spotted Viv's ticket, he informed us that it was improper, and then charged her £14.63, full fare plus return for the journey. He was pretty much a heartless bastard about the whole thing. It put a damper on our trip for awhile, but soon everything returned to normal ass memories of our day hopefully made the unexpected charge worthwhile.

We finally arrived in Longfield shortly after 8 p.m., and then walked back to Sid's house. That evening the three of us sat and talked, watched "Rocky," ate some food, and then watched an old thriller called "The Body Snatcher."

This was definitely a worthwhile day. I'm so glad we decided to go to Brighton, and I'm glad Viv decided to go along.

Pictures: #1: Neil and J.P. walk along the pebble beach near the new pier. #2: Neil and Viv on the beach. #3: "Oh, I thought you meant 'To keep.'" #4. The sun sets on daylight in Brighton.

Monday, December 19, 1988

Farewell Douglas ...

Well, we woke up early today in order to bid Doug a fond farewell, as well as spend the day in London. It's sad to see him go after only 3 months here, especially because he was so looking forward to spending the year in England. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the experience he was expecting. He'll be missed.

Well, for J.P. and I, today was an experience we will not soon forget, and gave us a harsh lesson in some of the challenges of international travel.

Before leaving Sid's house, I gave Doug his "going away/Christmas" present (a Dr. Who Crossword Puzzle Book, which'll give him something to do on the plane.) Mrs. Bajaria was driving Doug to the airport, and since we couldn't all fit in the car, J.P., Bits and I took the train to Heathrow Airport while Sid, Viv, Doug and Doug's stuff took the car. Soon after they left, J.P., Bits and I took the walk down to the train station, but when we finally got there we had just missed the 9.50 a.m. train, so we had to wait for the 10.18. So that put us back nearly a half an hour right off the bat.

Well, we caught that train and headed into London, travelling past Clapham Junction along the way (it was one week ago today, a little bit earlier in the day, when the Clapham Train Disaster occurred). We finally arrived at Victoria Station at around 10.45 a.m. There we had a runaround trying to get a travel card. We started at a booth that told us we could go upstairs and get one with our BritRail passes. But then we went upstairs and they said that we couldn't get one to ride the Underground trains. So we went back downstairs, having wasted 15 more minutes on this unsuccessful venture, eventually buying a ticket from the first booth we visited.

Finally caught the Tube to Heathrow shortly after 11 a.m., now with little chance of catching Doug before his plane left... but still hopeful we could catch his entourage there. We finally arrived at Terminal 4 at 12.05 p.m., just as Doug's plane was leaving... and we saw no sign of the others in our group, either.

Frustrated, we finally left the terminal, realizing that we had wasted most of our day (since it starts getting dark now at about 3 p.m. We caught the Tube back to London, arriving at 1.15 p.m. to start our travels and try to make the most of our afternoon.

Unfortunately, neither of us had Sid's phone number, so we had to call Information (twice, because we were unable to write down the number the first time we called, and by the time we could, we didn't remember what the number was.) After we finally got through and talked to the gang, explaining what had happened, we felt like an enormous load was lifted off of us. So we enjoyed some shopping in stores such as Hamley's, the world's largest toy store; and Virgin Records... totally revamped from when I was there a year and a half ago with my high school class, and amazing. J.P. called it the most incredible retail store he had ever been in. I bought an Elvis Costello discography book. We also went into HMV, as well as a little record shop where I bought a nice Genesis poster.

J.P., Bits and I stopped at McDonald's for dinner at 6 p.m., then caught the train back to Sid's house around 7 p.m. Back at Sid's, reunited with the gang, we relaxed and watched two movies on TV, "The Blues Brothers" and "12 Angry Men." During that time, J.P. and I ate another dinner, this one a curry and beef dinner prepared by Sid's mom that was spicy and good.

Went to bed a bit late, but a bit wiser. A day that started out to be a huge disappointment ended up OK. Still, I would've liked to have been able to say one last goodbye to Doug before he got on that plane and headed back to the States.

Sunday, December 18, 1988

From Liverpool to London ...

Woke up for my last day at the Morrison's to prepare for my journey down to London via BritRail I started using my BritRail Pass (pictured below), which gives me carte blanche to travel anywhere in Britain. So who knows where that will take me? Makes one feel powerful!

Dr. Morrison drove me into Chester, where I caught a bus to Crowe, which was a replacement for the train I planned to catch. At Crow I caught a train straight to London, no changes, and arrived a 3.00 p.m. I first walked out of Euston Station looking for a bank, but failed in that quest, so I hopped on the Tube (pictured above) and headed to Leicester Square, where I met up with Viv, Doug, J.P., Bits and Sid at 3.45 p.m. We later hooked up with Neil and began to traverse London.

Bit of excitement to start off this journey, however. There was a fire in one of the shops, where a fire bomb went off. J.P., Viv, Doug, Sid and Bits were all in the building at the time the fire started and had to be evacuated. It was set off by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a fanatical group of militant animal lovers that have already set numerous other fires in similar fashion, inlcuding one in Harrod's department store. What a bunch of nuts. Makes me want to go out and buy a fur coat and eat an oversized cheeseburger with a side order of another cheeseburger. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but coming that close to a terrorist attack was a bit spooky.

So after walking around and eating at Pizzaland, Viv and I walked down to Picadilly Circus and back, eventually meeting up with the rest of the group in front of the Odeon Theatre to watch "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Our seats were kind of lousy, and the theater was packed. But it was an incredible sound experience and well worth the bad seats. One of the neatest things about this historic theater is that it featured an organ player up front, who played music while the audience found their seats. Then, before the movie began, the organ decended into the floor to give a clear view of the movie screen. Of course, it was a fabulous movie.

Following that, we went back to Euston Station, where I picked up my bag, and we headed to Sid's house in Longfield, County of Kent. After a cramped but amusing car ride from the station to Sid's house, we watched "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on TV, something very unusual for an American such as myself, as it is pretty much exclusively shown in theaters at midnight (where I have participated in the festivities many times back home.) Watching it on TV without all of the audience participation, not quite as fun.

During the movie, my friend Greg back in Camp Hill called me, so it was great to talk to him again for awhile. He told me that both the Eagles and the Seahawks made the playoffs, which was cool news. Finished watching TV, and then we all skipped off to bed... Doug's final night in England.

Oh, and it was J.P.'s 21st birthday today.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "Mistletoe & Wine" - Cliff Richard
  
• Numer One Song in America This Week: "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" - Poison
  

Monday, October 24, 1988

‘…it was a Monday…’

Well, this day was significantly less confusing… thought not at first. It didn’t really get started until noon because I was sick, and also because I didn’t really have anything else to do. I grabbed some lunch at the refactory and slowly got ready for class.

We went to Poetry and Drama class, where J.P. were placed in a group with a girl we thought looked like Margaret Thatcher. After class, we went for dinner, and then I went up to see how Liz and Viv were doing. Viv (pictured) was, again, very friendly toward me (platonically, folks!) Liz was doing a bit better, but basically still hurt from losing that guy she really liked.

Later I left the room and traversed the halls a bit to visit others, but afterward I returned to my room. It wasn’t long afterward that Liz stopped by again, and she and I had another lengthy discussion. However, it was during this visit that Doug stopped by to tell me that he had talked to Viv and told her where he stood, and that he was not interested in being any more than friends, and that his feelings wouldn’t change.

Well when he left, it gave Liz and I an entirely new topic of discussion. (I had since told Liz of my affection for Viv.) She then left my room to return to her own and talk to Viv, while I remained in my room.

After awhile I was shanghaied by some friends to join in a game of Scruples in Bits’ room, but I took a detour first to pay a visit to Viv. That may have been a mistake. She was in a confused but not quite upset state, almost angry at how many people knew about her dilemma. It was an awkward situation for me, being in that room at that time, and I really wasn’t quite sure what to do.

A few awkward minutes later, we all left for Bits’ room for that game of Scruples. Viv and Liz didn’t play, but Paul, J.P., Bits, Sid, Little John, Lisa, Neil Roberts (from south London), Irish Johnny (from Ulster), and I played. Sid was the eventual winner. During the game, Viv and Liz left to visit some other friends. After hanging out in St. Hilda’s for awhile, I wrote a note to Viv and Liz inviting them to stop by my room if they so wished, and placed it on their door.

Sure enough, a little later on, a tap came on the window and it was little Liz. When I went out to let her in the building, I saw Viv walking down the hall. They both came into the room for a little while, but then Liz left. It was then that Viv told me she had changed her mind about us. Needless to say, I was very happy to hear that. Things are looking pretty good right now. Cheers!

Saturday, October 15, 1988

'Risk' Taking

Doug woke me up around 10:30 a.m. so we could get ready to go into Hull for a Record Fair. Bad news, huh? I took a shower then caught the 11:30 a.m. bus into downtown with Doug and J.P.. We first stopped at Midland Bank for J.P., then the photo store to pick up a batch of photos. J.P. and I overshot the store and were walking all over Jameson Avenue before we realized our error. Then we finally made our way to the Record Fair.

Awesome find #1: I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when I found one of the record albums I was hoping I’d find here… Prince’s rare, bootlegged unreleased “Black Album”on vinyl, which is what my friend Scott really wanted. So I bought the vinyl copy of the record for £12. I guess I’ll keep the cassette tape I bought in London for myself.

Awesome find #2: Next I found something that I’ve been looking for over a year and a half – the original Genesis “I Know What I Like/Twilight Alehouse” single, and for only £2! I left nearly broke but tremendously happy. Shame I don’t have a record player in my room to check out my find. Hopefully someone in the residence has one I can borrow at some point.

We then found a toy store where we all chipped in £1 for a Risk board of our own. That game has fast become our latest obsession. Next we hit a deli for some sandwiches, then took the bus back home. I went to my room, but it wasn’t long before a game of Risk broke out (already!) in Doug’s room. After awhile, I stopped in to watch. We then broke for dinner, where I had what qualifies as the worst meal I’ve ever had anywhere. So we came back to Doug’s room and split a garlic loaf, which helped.

Then it was back to the game. I helped out Paul Crowley, who was down to one country and on the verge of elimination. Through creation of various treaties, I was able to help him get back into competition, even controlling North America, before we were eventually eliminated. (Sorry, that would’ve been a better story had we won the game.) Then Jon Whalley, who was doing quite well in the game, had to leave, so I took over his troops. I was then able to conquer and destroy Andy Croxhall, and then, after a few aggressive moves, wiped out Kenny Prunty’s army for total victory. Of course, I couldn’t qualify it as my victory, but at least I helped.

It was time for another break, during which time Doug and I took a short walk up the street and around the corner to Double Happiness for some actual food. Man, they have the best chips and gravy there! The gravy has a nice oriental flavor that cannot be beat.

Well, at 8:30 p.m. we started The Game of the Century II (no hyperbole here!), featuring myself, J.P., Doug, Paul, Andy and Kurt Dross, with a slightly intoxicated Jon joining his team for this go-around. Well, Kurt was eliminated in about 5 turns, which left 5 superpowers remaining. J.P. and I had established a non-aggression treaty, so we were able to concentrate our efforts elsewhere. Paul and I got into some fierce battles, but soon Doug went on the offensive and whittled Paul down to three countries, though he chose not to wipe him out. Doug also knocked Andy out of the game during this offensive, which screwed up J.P. strategy.

So J.P. and I got together and decided to sacrifice J.P.’s armies for the win. He took his armies and knocked out as much of Doug as he could. Meanwhile, I took advantage of Doug’s tactical error in not wiping out Paul by wiping him out myself and taking his cards. With seven cards in my hand and J.P. on my side, we had no problem taking Doug over. So I was the victor, with the significant help of J.P. But then, all is fair in love and war, right?

During this game, Jon’s termination of two full bottles of Thunderbird wine and a bottle of Concord wine began to take its silly – and then violent – toll. He told Bonk that he loved him, wore a towel on his head and called himself “The Virgin Mary” (which he did last night as well, even wearing the towel out to a store), and kept asking “What happened to the red armies?” (which were Kurt’s pieces.) He sat in a closet for awhile, continually asking “When can we have a serious talk?” and other humorous anecdotes. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be in agony tomorrow.

Then I popped into J.P.’s room, where Sindy "Sid" Bajaria (pictured above with me, photo courtesy of J.P.), Liz Ortega (from Manchester), Vivienne Schofield (from the small seaside town of Skegness) and Bits (London, I believe) were hanging about. We sat talking for awhile, and then, when J.P. wanted sleep, Liz and Viv came back to my room for some coffee. It was finally 4 a.m. before they finally decided they needed to go back to their room (they share one of the double rooms.) I loaned Liz my jacket, and we walked back to their room (after some problems with the key) and I bid them good night. Viv seems to fancy Doug, and I think I’m moderately attracted to Liz, but I’m not about to say too much about it yet. Oh well.

Friday, October 14, 1988

It’s Curtains for Doug. Curtains!

I woke up around 8:30 a.m. for my first class, a Social/Political Structures Seminar that begins at 9:15 a.m., which wasn’t too bad. Following class with Ms. Roz Billington, Doug and I took off for Newland Avenue, where we stopped at Lloyd’s Bank to withdraw a bit of cash from our accounts, then at a bakery where we purchased some garlic bread (our latest obsession). Then it was off to a curtain/blanket store, where Doug bought curtains and a sleeping bag/comforter for his bed. I’m going to have to come back here and get some things for myself!

Well, then it was back to the residence so that Doug could install and check out his new “toys.” After lunch, we more-or-less relaxed. We finally got a hold of a Risk board, so we played a few games of that for awhile. The first game we played, I finished second to J.P., who played quite well. Next, I helped Kenny finish second to Andy Croxhall, a native of Huddersfield and a fanatic for his hometown football team.

Then, after dinner and some supplemental food, we travelled up to Sid’s friend Bits’ room for what was to become the Risk Game of the Century. It all started at 10:30 p.m. with Kenny, Doug, Andy, a friend of Bits’ who’s name I don’t recall, a myself leading our respective troops into battle. There was some fierce battling through the night. Apparently it got a bit too loud for some, as an annoying downstairs neighbor came up to our room to complain about the noise (the nerve!) and then got the hall assistant (who was on our side in this battle) to ask us to turn our radio down. That was amusing, since we hadn’t had the radio on for about two hours.

We completed the game at 2:15 a.m. with Kenny working out of Australia to defeat me at the very end. Once again, I was the bridesmaid. Oh well! After the game, it was off to my room for some much needed rest.