Monday, April 10, 1989

Back to the Routine ...

Well, I slept very well this night, waking up at 11 a.m. with the realization that my Social/Political Structures essay on journalism is due tomorrow. No mail today, and I spent my remaining change to purchase two sausage rolls.

I don't like being broke.

Went to my 3.15 class, which was on T.S. Eliot with Dr. McLauren, so it wasn't too exciting. When we returned I was able to have my first full meal since breakfast yesterday... meat and potato pie. And it wasn't too bad. Cleared my plate and left satisfied.

I did my laundry and put the clothes away, then began to continue working on my essay. It was going well for awhile, and my coffee maker made the last of my remaining coffee for me, but soon I hit the usual writer's block, so I stopped a little less than half way through the rough draft, and went to bed. It was late, besides.

The picture is of St. Martin's Hall at The Grange in Hull. Look closely in the window, and you can see me and Sam waving from my window.

Sunday, January 22, 1989

The Sunday After ...

I woke up (surprisingly) at 11 a.m. this morning. Felt relatively well, despite getting very little sleep. Ate a marvelous breakfast, and then read for awhile until it was about time to leave Dr. Morrison's house and head back to Hull.

Just then, Mike Unger (pictured) stopped in to see how the Burns dinner went. He normally goes to this celebration, but unfortunately he had to attend a dinner where Peter Ustinov was speaking. I do believe he made a good choice. One amusing thing he told me that was an utter surprise. Even though he attends the celebration of Scotland's most revered poet, and even though he's the editor of one of the country's largest newspapers, and even though he lives less than two hours from the Scottish border... Mike has never been to Scotland! That just seemed so impossible to comprehend. He's been to many places all around the world, but said it just never came up as a destination of choice. Wow!

Well soon after, Dr. Morrison and I left for Hull, and we only got stuck in one traffic jam along the way. Once we arrived at The Grange halls, Dr. Morrison joined me for dinner in the refectory. That was a sorry mistake, although he got a little sample of what I am forced to eat every day.

He left shortly afterward, and it was back to face the reality that I had a paper due tomorrow. So I began to work on the paper a bit later, with Viv graciously offering to help me, after watching an episode of "Cheers."

Hey, the Super Bowl was on today, and though it started a bit late here (time zone differences and all), I was still able to watch it on Viv's TV in my room, which was very convenient. We continued working on my paper during the game (and offering some explanations of the game of football to Viv.) We were actually able to get a lot of work done. The San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, but it was a very good game and won by only 4 points in the closing minutes - one of the best Super Bowls I've seen in years!

It was very, very late when the game finally ended (almost 4 a.m.), so when it was over I fell asleep.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "Especially for You" - Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Two Hearts" - Phil Collins

Monday, January 2, 1989

On to the Lake District ...

It's another day of traveling today... this time from St. Andrews to the famed Lake District of western England. After gathering our gear and saying our farewells to the Pruntys for their generosity, Mr. Prunty drove J.P. and me to the train station, where we caught the train.

It was crowded, but we still managed to waggle ourselves two seats, which were free but were reserved for other passengers once we arrived at Edinburgh. Well, when we gave up those seats, we were fortunate enough to find two seats that were only reserved from Carlisle.

But once we arrived in Carlisle, our luck ran out. The train by now was completely packed, and at this point we had no choice but to stand in the "cattle car" for the bulk of our trip.

During our trip south through Scotland we passed by the Lockerbie train station, site of the Pan Am Flight 103 crash 12 days ago. We didn't pass by the crash site (picture #2 is of the Lockerbie crash site from the newspaper), but that's just as well.

Well it was a relief when we were finally able to depart that train and climb aboard the train that would take us to Oxenholme, and from there we caught another train to Windermere, the small town right in the heart of the Lake District, perhaps best known as the home of famed British poet William Wordsworth. (Picture #3 is me acting like a nerd at the sign welcoming us to Windermere. Yes, I said "acting." Shut up.)

J.P. and I first found ourselves a Bed & Breakfast room, then walked around Windermere for a bit. We found a trail to hike, which was very scenic and followed a stream (photo #4, below).

We soon happened upon the tiny hamlet of Bowness and began our search for a place to eat. Our search failed miserably, so we returned to Windermere, where we met with no more success. After resting in our room for about an hour, we returned to Bowness at about 6 p.m., and this time we found an open restaurant, Gibby's, where we could dine. Whew! We were starting to think that all of the restaurants were closed for the season.

We had a 15-minute wait, but that was nothing considering how long it took us just to find a place that was open. And it was worth the wait. J.P. had haddock while I opted for the turkey dinner. I paid for it with my Access card.

After eating, J.P. and I walked back to the room, watched "Desperately Seeking Susan" on TV, followed by a Woodie Guthrie special, and then went to sleep. We plan on checking out more of the scenery here tomorrow.

Thursday, December 29, 1988

On to Inverness ...

Woke up early and took a bath in preparation for our biggest "adventure" yet. J.P. and I gave the Grantham family a gift of appreciation (chocolate ginger) for letting two American college students invade their lovely home for two nights, then headed for Kingsknowe. There we caught the 10.55 a.m. train to Edinburgh, and there we caught the 11.35 train bound for Inverness (picture #1), the furthest north I've ever been.

It was a beautiful journey through the Scottish highlands. When we arrived in the town of Inverness a little past 4 p.m., J.P. and I made our way through town. We stowed our gear in a locker at the train station, and then began our search for a reasonably priced bed and breakfast. We came across a tourist center, where we were able to make a reservation at a place just 10 minutes walk away.

So we gathered our gear, crossed the Suspended Walking Bridge (picture #2) across the Swift River Ness, and eventually arrived at the home of Mrs. E. Mactaggart (picture #3 is her business card). It was a comfortable place, and we got a room with coffee, tea and biscuits in the morning for only £8.50 each.

We unloaded and rested, then went into town for some dinner. We found a Pizzaland restaurant, where we had a ham and pepperoni pizza (forgetting that here, "pepperoni" is actually "peppers"), which was good. We then walked around town a bit, but there wasn't much to see because it had long since been dark in town. The one thing we could see was the castle in town (picture #4, on the hill in the background), which was beautifully lit.

With nothing much to do, we returned to our room in the bed and breakfast and sat talking and reading for awhile, drinking a bottle of wine that J.P. had purchased. At 9 p.m. we went downstairs to watch TV. We opted to watch "Gremlins" over "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" because J.P. had never seen it. During the movie we started playing a partial game of Monopoly, but stopped midway through because J.P. just wanted to watch the movie. So we did until 11.45, when we went back up to the room. I read a chapter, then went to sleep.

Friday, December 16, 1988

A Quiet Day in Neston ...

Today is Beethoven's Birthday, as Schroeder from Peanuts has taught me. Had a lie-in until about 11.30 a.m., when I awoke just in time to prepare to head down to the Wheatsheaf pub for lunch, where Dave was working. Fiona, Zoe and I went, and sat at the bar talking with Dave for awhile. Fiona and Zoe left, but I remained to have some gammon. It was infinitely better than the gammon they serve back at Humberside College.

Afterwards, I came back to the Morrison's house for a bit until Dave stopped by after work. We walked to his house to wait for Fiona, and I got a chance to meet Dave's mother and grandmother. When Fiona arrived we went out and got some Chinese take-away and frantically rushed back to the Morrison's house so that Fiona and Dave could watch the Australian soap opera "Neighbours." I have yet to see two people more engrossed in that crappy show than those two! Granted, it's still better than "East Enders," a dismal soap opera. Suddenly American soap operas don't seem quite so bad by comparison.

Following that we watched the news, then Dave and I searched through Dr. Morrison's video tapes in search of his copy of Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam." We couldn't find it, so we settled on "Octopussy." Can't go wrong with a good ol' Bond flick.

Later, when Dr. Morrison arrived home, we all watched an excellent movie called "Someone to Watch Over Me," starring Tom Berenger. It bore some similarities to "Fatal Attraction," but I liked "Someone" better.

Following that, Dave and I played a game of Trivial Pursuit (the British edition), which I won, despite my disadvantage of not being British. Finally got to bed after reading some more of the book "Ikon."

Wednesday, December 14, 1988

Rediscovering the Pubs ...

Dr. Whooooooo! Nothing to do today, so Doug and I went into downtown Hull so he could buy some more records (his last hurrah!) and I bought a scarf. We ate at McDonald's and then walked back to the Grange via the longer but more interesting Newland Avenue route.

We stopped at The Final Frontier comic book store, where I hoped to buy Batman #428, where Robin dies. It's selling for $25 already in the States, and it's difficult to find here in Hull. Fortunately, the graphic novel featuring all four books in the Death of Robin series was here, so I bought that, as did Doug. Came back to the room and read it... excellent! Did a good job expressing Batman's anger, vengeance and frustration.

After dinner, which was actually a pretty good Christmas meal of turkey and trimmings, we watched "Dr. Who," which was part one of the four-part series, "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy." It was alright, and has potential, but it could be botched, so we'll see. Well, I'll see. Doug is leaving in less than a week, so he'll miss the last three episodes.

Afterwards, I began writing up some Christmas cards, and a short time later, Sam (pictured) and I went to the Mainbrace Pub... it was the first time I'd been to a pub in ages, it seems. It was refreshing, for I'd almost forgotten how much fun they were. We had a great conversation, talking about topics like Christmas, movies, books, music, and other things. Sam is quite an interesting guy!

Came back at around 10.30 p.m. to finish writing out some cards, then passed them out. When I got to the door of St. Michael's, it was locked, so I waited until it was opened by the next person to use it... and that person happened to be Viv, who was coming over to visit me. She had finally finished all of her essays!

We went back to her room so she could get her Christmas cards, and we passed them out together. We talked to Doug a bit as well, then played some cards before I went back to my room for the night.

My "26-Day British Adventure" officially begins tomorrow.

Saturday, December 10, 1988

Farewell, my two babies ...

Dog day Saturday. Woke up for breakfast (Wow!) and hung around the residence doing nothing of any great worth. I cleaned out Shannon the Hamster's cage in preparation for Viv's parents coming to visit.

When they arrived, we showed them Shannon, and then we went for dinner at Cheekie Charlie's, an Americanized pizza place. It was a pretty good meal, and I got to meet and talk to Viv's parents.

After dinner I bought a newspaper ("The Times," naturally), we came back to The Grange, and I helped the Schofield's load up the car with Shannon and my stereo, so that they can watch them both during Christmas break. With my two babies gone, my room looks quite naked (although the guitar is still here.)

Later I went to the TV room, where they were watching a movie called "North Sea Hijack," although it was called "ffolkes" in America. It starred Roger Moore, Anthony Perkins and others. I thought it was pretty entertaining. It had a few memorable lines, such as, "I bet you're one of those people who do the Times crossword in 10 minutes." "My dear sir, I have never taken 10 minutes." Doug was partial to the lines related to ffolkes's cat.

Pictured: Kurt, Corrinne and Kenny goof around in Kenny's room. The room was well plastered with bog roll.

Sunday, November 27, 1988

A Little (American) Football ...

A lazy Sunday. Woke up around 11 a.m. and trotted off to lunch at noon (the usual, roast beef, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding.) Spent the day just loafing and actually working a bit on my "Importance of Being Earnest" essay.

At 5.15 p.m. I watched some American football. They were broadcasting the Eagles-Giants game this week, so I had to watch. It was a good game, and they slipped past the Giants, 23-17 in OT on a freak blocked-kick touchdown.

Spent some quality time with Viv, and basically spent the day trying my best to not spend any money. That was a good thing to do, especially considering how much I spent yesterday. Went to bed early in order to try and get up for breakfast, and hopefully get some more class work done. We'll see.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "The First Time" - Robin Beck
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley" - Will to Power
  

(Pictured: From two days earlier, this is a photo of the City of York and York Minster, taken from the wall that surrounds the city.)

Saturday, November 26, 1988

A Lucky Man Who Made the Grade ...

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a stupid comb across my head. As you may have already guessed, it was just another Day in the Life.

But not just any day... it was Viv's birthday. She went to see "Hamlet" (one of her favorite plays) with Liz and some other friends. So that gave me some time to go into town and get her a birthday gift. I went with Doug and Jodi (one of the American students from Juniata College), but I soon strayed to do my own thing. First, I bought some transfer letters so that I could rub them onto my Yokel tape. It's looking more "professional." The sound, however...

Then I bought Viv a birthday card and a teddy bear (which she eventually named "Eugene." Guess where she got the name!) Then I bought some lunch. Boy, do I hate Christmas crowds!

I walked around town searching for Chaplin's Restaurant, a place I heard was quite good and thought it would be a nice place to take Viv for her birthday meal. But lo, it was not to be found. (Later I found out it is outside the center of town, so I gave up my search and just headed back to The Grange. When I returned to my room I worked on the Yokel tape for a bit, and then got ready to go out with Viv. We went to a nice Chinese restaurant instead, where we dined on won-ton soup and chicken dishes. I had kung po, which was excellent, and she had the Peking chicken.

After her birthday meal, it was off to see the new Bill Murray movie, "Scrooged." Unfortunately, we were 15 minutes late, but it was still an excellent movie. Well worth seeing again (especially to catch the parts we missed.)

When we left the theatre, Viv was thirsty, so we stopped at a nice pub for some drinks and chatted for awhile before catching the bus back to The Grange, where I finally gave her the gift. She loved him and gave him the name I mentioned above. (Figure out where it's from yet? It's my middle name.) Good name! I tolder her that he was a Conservative bear and that he, my own Russell the Republican Bear and I were going to start a conservative club. However, she insisted that he was actually a socialist bear. An expensive but infinitely worthwhile day.

(Pictured: A photo of York Minster and an entrance to the wall. Taken a day earlier during my visit to the City of York.)

Wednesday, November 23, 1988

We Bailed ...

Woke up around 8:30 a.m. for what was to be my final class until Monday. At some breakfast and then went to the class, followed by a leisurely day of not really doing anything.

Later that evening, J.P., Neil (pictured) and I went to a drama workshop in Hull, which we had hoped would have been some sort of acting troupe. It turned out to be nothing more than a group that occasionally went to the local theatre and occasionally held workshops with actors and actresses.

Well we didn't find that out at first. We signed our names to join the group, and then realized what it was all about (plus, we learned that we'd each have to pay £1 to join). So we waited for an opportune moment and bailed on the group, returning to The Grange just in time to catch the next installment of "Doctor Who" on TV. Tonight was the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the series (as well as the 25th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy). It was a good episode... Part 1 of "The Silver Nemesis."

Later on, Doug and I went to The Haworth Fisheries, where I bought some fish 'n chips. Greasy, but alright.

Monday, November 21, 1988

Smart Trenchcoat ...

Oooh, nothing quite like the feel of a brisk aerosol can of deodorant on a cold morning to get you ready for the day!

We had a good snowstorm today, and with it being the coldest day since I got here, I decided that my Gore-Tex jacket was no longer enough. So, before class, I went into town (in the snow) and, after walking around a bit, went into the Army-Navy Store and bought a nice trenchcoat. It was only £8.70! It keeps me a lot warmer, and looks really smart.

Happy with my purchases (which included a cassette of "Bolero"), I returned to the halls to prepare for my Poetry and Drama class. It was a good class. We discussed Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," and watched part of the film as well. This is probably one of my favorite books, so it was quite an interesting discussion for me.

I spent a good bit of the evening with Viv. Then at about 10 of 12, I decided that I was hungry. So we took a walk up to Cottingham Road, only to find all of the restaurants closed. These are the moments when I miss Millersville. There's always someone ready to sell food to a hungry college student there. We walked back, dejected and hungry, and we bought a candy bar in the hall vending machine.

A Twix bar.

Satisfying.

*****
(Pictured: Rick and Doug in downtown Hull. Rick is sporting the trenchcoat he purchased 20 years ago today. He wore that thing for about 12 years before finally replacing it with a newer, significantly more costly trenchcoat. Oh, and this is one of my favorite photos from England. It was taken by J.P.)

Sunday, November 20, 1988

A Good Day to Stay Inside ...

Well, it snowed today. I thought that was pretty cool. It was also very cold today, so since there wasn't anywhere I had to go today, the only time I went outside was during the brief moments it takes to walk from St. Martin's to St. Michael's and back. (Pictured is St. Michael's hall, from the point of view of the front door to St. Martin's. This was taken on that "snowy" day.)

The first thing I did today was eat the classic English Sunday lunch in the refectory: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding, which wasn't too bad. Then I returned to my room to finish reading "The Importance of Being Earnest" (it had been a couple of days since I last picked it up.)

When I was done I took one of those brief walks outside and crossed over to Doug's room, and gave him the book so he could read it. Oh, but when I got their I found some of the guys were in the midst of a game of Risk, so I jumped in to help Big Jon, who was struggling big time in the game. I salvaged what I could and helped make him a minor threat in the game, but his losses before I had gotten there were too great. Andy was the first player wiped out (naturally).

After the game came dinner (makeshift), then some studying and reading of the newspaper, followed by a little writing. Dad called this evening, so I got to talk to him for a bit and find out what was going on back home in Camp Hill.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "The First Time" - Robin Beck
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Bad Medicine" - Bon Jovi

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.

Thursday, October 13, 1988

The Significance of ‘Heart of Darkness’ (Is There Any?)

I was awoken this morning by one Douglas Schoener, who was slightly brain-fried from reading “Heart of Darkness’ last night. He did about as well as the rest of us attempting to read the book. At 11:30 a.m., Kenny, J.P., Doug and I headed out for some lunch, and after stopping at a deli for some garlic loaf (excellent), we stopped at a fish ‘n chips take away restaurant and had one of the greatest meals I’ve ever had. At least, considering what I’ve had to eat of late at the college, it felt that way.

While we were out, Kenny bought some speakers for his stereo and he was eager to try them out, so he headed back to the residence while we stayed at the restaurant and ate.

As we were walking back to The Grange after lunch, we were greeted by a jogging Kenny, who mentioned to us that the store forgot to include the plug for the speakers with the purchase. Anyway, after awhile, it was off to class (oh that’s right, we’re students!), with J.P. opting to stay behind. Class didn’t go too poorly, considering none of us fully understood the significance of “Heart of Darkness.” Of all of the classes, I think this literature course is going to be the roughest.


We returned from class at 4:15 p.m., and at 5 p.m. went for another disgusting refactory meal. At least the apple cobbler was good, though. Then it was laundry time, which ate up a good bit of the evening. Afterwards, I went over to Doug and Kenny’s room, and a group of us just sat around and talked awhile about nothing in particular. After all of that, it was time to head back to my room for some sleep.

Tuesday, October 11, 1988

'Write My Girl…'

Today is my sister Angie’s 11th birthday. It’s also a very busy day for classes. I woke up and casually got prepared for my Literature in Context class at 10:15 a.m. It was a pretty good class. Following that, J.P., Doug and I went over to the Inglemire Site Refactory for lunch. We then returned for our 1:15 p.m. class, which was Social/Political Structures.

I’ve been noticing some extreme left-wing tendencies (or at least slight) in most of my teachers. Oh well, grin and bear it, I suppose. It might be kind of fun.

After class, we returned to The Grange in preparation for, ahem, “dinner.” Following that, it was off to St. Hilda’s, where we were planning to play the board game Risk. Unfortunately, the game never occurred because the people who were going to loan us the game board weren’t in.

So we decided to play a little live action Risk, mimicking a war in the hallway, using fake guns, grenades, “petrol bombs” and dramatic death scenes. It was highlighted with lines like: “Write my girl… tell her I love her.” And my favorite, “Hey look, it’s a dud…!!BOOM!!” This game ended when we got a noise complaint.

We proceeded to break up into various rooms for chat, and Sid even bought me some chips before I retired to my room. I hope Angie had a good birthday.

Saturday, October 8, 1988

A Lovely Day in London Town

We woke up around 8 a.m. in preparation for our day in London. By 8:45 a.m. we had begun our brisk walk to the Longfield train station, which took us about 25 minutes. From there, Doug and I caught the 9:45 a.m. train to Victoria Station, where we arrived at around 10:10 a.m.

Not long after that I had a bit of a stroll down memory lane. It was a little over a year ago when my high school sponsored a student trip to England, a trip that was all too short and definitely sparked my interest in wanting to come back and spend more time here. Doug and I walked past the King’s Arms… a pub where my friend Justin Tappan and I had our first pint in England; The Reuben’s Hotel, located across from Buckingham Palace, where we all stayed while in London; and then Buckingham Palace itself.

Doug and I timed it perfectly and we were able to catch the changing of the guard ceremony. Quite a spectacle to witness… lots and lots of people gathered around the giant fence at the palace to see the changeover. When that concluded we walked back toward Victoria Station, where we stopped to have a good ol’ American meal at Burger King. Had another flashback to my high school trip in April 1987, when we walked past the Scotch Steak House, where Mike Straub, Molly Sherman, Pete Farrell, Debbie Jackson and I ate our first meal. We also saw the video arcade that lured Josh Weinberger and I, keeping us from going to Harrod’s with the class. Ah, memories!

With a slight drizzle falling from the sky, Doug and I returned to Victoria Station, and with our capital cards (pictured, right) in hand (£2.50, and you can ride on any train or bus in London all day, which has already saved us a bundle), we headed into Camden Town, where there was a market and smaller shops that we wanted to check out.

That’s where I found a cassette tape of Prince’s rare, bootlegged unreleased "Black Album", which my friend Scott Reed had asked me to try and find for him. I was hoping to find it on vinyl, but just in case I don’t see it again, I bought it. Scott is a big Prince fan and has been unable to find it in the States. He’ll have to hide it well since his Mom disapproves of Prince and will confiscate it if discovered (she already swiped his Prince tapes… but he found those and gave them to me for safe keeping… which isn’t a bad deal for me!) Scott’s at Liberty University right now; but unfortunately for him, I don’t think Jerry Falwell thinks any more highly of Prince.

I also found a rare bootleg Genesis LP called “A Trick of the Tail, Outtakes,” but it was £10 and I couldn’t afford it, so I had to pass. Hopefully I’ll see it again soon.

While walking around this area, we were continually approached by foolish socialist students peddling copies of the Socialist Worker newspaper. It wasn’t long before we’d had enough of that annoyance, and we hopped back on the Tube to head to Pimlico, where we went into the Tate Gallery. It was a fabulous art gallery, which featured so many different artistic styles. The highpoint of this venture came when I found Andy Warhol’s famous “Marilyn Monroe” painting, of which I have a copy back home. It was quite large, actually.

Well, after leaving the Tate Gallery (and witnessing Doug tell the gathering pigeons outside to “Get a job!”), we walked along the Thames River in search of a phone to tell Sid that we were coming back to her house at around 8 p.m. However, when we finally found a phone box, we ended up waiting 10 minutes before leaving because there was a knobhead suffering from malignant plumber’s butt calling car dealers galore.

So we left and continued to walk along the Thames until we came upon Parliament and Big Ben. We took a few pictures here (including the picture of Doug in front of Big Ben, top), then went into the Underground where we finally found a phone to call Sid. However, she wasn’t in, so we left a message that we would call back later, and continued our walk along the Thames to Trafalgar Square. Once we got there, we attempted to find Hamley’s, the world’s largest toy store, on Regents Street. However, we never quite made it. We stopped at Garfunkel’s restaurant in Piccidilly Circus for dinner, and afterward decided to skip Hamley’s, skip London, and head back to Hull tonight instead of tomorrow, as originally planned. The meal at Garfunkel’s was exquisite, and I had chicken kiev and Doug had a kabob. Doug also treated for the meal, which was very kind. Doug, I’m starting to notice, also has a way of confusing and disorienting waitresses.

Anyway, we left for King’s Cross Station, where we called Sid to tell her that over dinner (which we ate at 5 p.m., or noon Millersville time – I wonder what they had for lunch??), we decided to go back to Hull, so not to expect us. We then caught a 6 p.m. train to Doncaster. When we got to Doncaster, we fortunately had a few minutes to spare, because our train to Hull was 10 minutes late. Had the train been on time, we would’ve missed it. Thank heavens for late trains!

We arrived in Hull at 9 p.m., a three-hour trip again, and took a bus back to The Grange halls… tired, broke and happy. Doug was in very good spirits today… best I’ve seen him since we arrived. I guess a little journey to London was all he needed to break out of his funk.

However, the night was still young.

After checking the mail and unpacking, we went to Kenny’s room to talk for awhile. Kenny is a nice guy from St. Andrews, Scotland, who has one of the double rooms in St. Hilda's with a guy named Sean.

Then I returned to my room for a bit, because I wanted to listen to the “Black Album.” It was weird, funky, dirty, evil, and very black. Scott will get thrown out of college for sure! After that, I popped in “Sign O the Times,” then fell asleep until about 11:15 p.m. I walked over to the TV room in St. Hilda’s where theywere watching “Monty Python's The Meaning of Life” – on regular TV, unedited. That was on until 1:30 a.m.. Afterward I talked to a few people in the hall, including J.P., who had had “a few” and was very surprised to see that Doug and I were back.

Then I went back to my room, popped in an Andreas Vollenweider tape (or "Andre Volkswagen," as Greg Swartz calls him) to mellow out to some New Age music, closed my eyes and went to sleep. It had, indeed, been a very fine day.

Thursday, October 6, 1988

An International Gathering and a Good German Beer

Doug's birthday is today. It started out to be a relatively decent day, waking up around 10 a.m. to go into Hull. We picked up our BritRail Young Persons Railcard (pictured) to save money, and walked around for a bit. We caught the bus back in time for our 2:15 p.m. literature course, which was quite dull.

Following that we pretty much dogged around, ate dinner, then waited for Karin to show up. When she arrived at my room at 7:30 p.m., Doug, J.P., Karin and I left in Karin's car to her flat, where we met some others and took a bus into Hull so that we could go to a pub that Karin insisted "served a good German beer."

It took awhile and the walk from the bus stop to the pub was quite windy, but we finally got there. We met other friends of Karin's there, and had a table of 10 in the pub. It was quite a lot of fun, but Doug was a bit hostile at first. I assumed it was because of it being his birthday and this not being exactly how he wanted to be celebrating it. But he cooled down after awhile. Later, he and J.P. left the bar because of "prior commitments," but I opted to stay at the bar.

We remained for quite awhile, and I mainly talked to Suzanna (from Germany), Lieselots (from Denmark), and Karin (from Germany, of course.) And yes, the German beer was quite good. These are the classic moments that I'll never forget from this experience.

We left the pub after the final round, and after a walk in even more brisk weather, we caught a taxi to the Supabar Chinese Take Away, where I got sweet 'n sour chicken and ate it back at Karin's flat, along with everyone else.

When I was done eating, it was time to head back home. I entered the cold once again with Lieselots and Suzanna (Lisa and Sue) to walk them to their flat, and then continue my perilous journey (25 minutes in all) back home towards sleep.

I found out that Doug's "prior commitment" was a party that was still going on. I decided not to attend, because I was quite tired, and Doug and I were getting ready to leave on a weekend trip to London tomorrow. I hope the party was good, because Doug needed it.

Monday, October 3, 1988

Sack Edgar Page

I'm getting a little worried about Doug. Today we went into town where he bought himself a stereo, but that seemed to only be a temporary remedy, as he soon receded back into melancholy. He read me some of the poetry he has written while here in Hull, and it's rather depressing, and often frightening. I'm sure Doug could overcome it, but I'm not sure he wants to.

Well, anyway, this day started like any other... by waking up. Since we still didn't have any lectures to attend, we spent the day in Hull, after getting Doug squared away at Lloyd's Bank.

We then experienced a most unusual event, as we watched teachers from Hull University who were on strike, as well as other supporters, march through town, carrying signs that read, "Save Edgar Page". They were marching in protest of the recent "sacking" of a tenured philosophy professor named Edgar Page. They, of course, are worried that if this firing is allowed, then their jobs could be in jeopardy as well.

From what I was told, he is the first tenured college professor to ever be sacked in Britain. Of course, I don't know what he did to get fired, but considering he's the first ever, I figure it must be pretty bad. Personally, I think this could set a good precedent, since it would force tenured teachers with cushy jobs to make themselves an asset to the university, or risk being fired. Later, I decided to hang a "Sack Edgar Page" sign in my room.

OK, well, after the march, the three of us went into Hull to do a little shopping, and to register with the police (required of all of us questionable American students.) And that's pretty much what we did.

We found an excellent record store called Sydney Scarborough, where I bought a Genesis EP ("Throwing It All Away," "Invisible Touch (Live)" and a previously unreleased track, "I'd Rather Be You."), and a Peter Gabriel EP ("Big Time" and an unreleased track, "Curtains.") Doug broke down and went wild buying here. J.P. didn't, but only because he didn't have any money with him.

We continued to walk around (I bought batteries for my stereo to make it functional... still haven't found an adapter that will work for an American stereo) and then returned home (Home, Home on The Grange) by bus, arriving just in time for dinner. While at dinner we saw Kofe Kari Kari and another student, both of whom had studied last year at Millersville University, so we chatted with them for awhile.

When I got to my room, there was a note on my door from Karin (from Germany), which made my day, and included a phone number where I could now reach her. I tried to call the number using the community pay phone on the second floor of our residence, but I had a bit of trouble and I was never able to get through. I'll go visit her tomorrow.

At around 7 p.m. I decided to just relax and write a few letters to friends and family back home. I didn't do much else this evening other than head over to visit Doug to try and cheer him up, and then take a walk with him to the same Chinese take away restaurant I went to yesterday, Double Happiness, for some more chips and gravy. If this doesn't put a smile on Doug's face, I don't know what will. Ironically, while we were there we saw Sara and Louise stop in... guess they had the same idea!) We talked to Sara and Louise for a bit, then returned to our rooms.

I made an unsuccessful attempt to call home, but when I called, my 10-year-old sister's friend Aiden answered the phone, if you can believe it, and my sister Angie was the only member of the family that was home at the time. Since this call costs a fair bit of money, I said hello and then said that I couldn't talk now, but that I'd call back again.

I returned to the room, and with little else to do and with visions of sleep in my mind, I felt compelled to oblige.

Humorous anecdote of the day: This morning, while visiting a slightly catatonic Doug in his room, we heard what we thought was J.P. fumbling at the door. It was at that moment that Doug uttered the now immortal words, "It's open, ya boob!" A moment later we realized it was the cleaning lady. Needless to say, Doug was quite embarrassed and apologetic.

Sunday, October 2, 1988

Discovering Double Happiness

The day began for me around 10:30 a.m., with Doug coming to my room to see how I was doing. Apart from my sore throat, I was fine. Doug (pictured in his room) also mentioned to me how depressing his room is. I am trying to cheer him up, but it’s difficult when the person doesn’t seem to want to be cheered up. But then again, I still think this phase will pass him in a week or two.

Around noon Doug and I went to lunch (which they actually do serve here on Saturdays and Sundays), and it actually wasn’t too bad today. The biggest problem I have is the fact that we are limited in our portions. I was used to Millersville, where you go in and eat until you are full. Here you are given a budget, and if you go over, you have to pay the difference. As a result, I couldn’t even afford the bread and butter to go with the meal, which was quite frustrating.

We were originally planning to make a trip up to the City of York, but we decided to take it easy instead and just hung around the residence. One thing I did was fulfill my promise to start running, and so I joined Karen on a four-mile run, which is quite a distance to start running the first day back. Needless to say, she is in much better shape than I am, so I was completely unable to keep up with her. Oh well, the important thing is that I keep up with it. I also did something that I was never able to really do before… run a well-paced final mile after slowing down to a walk. I guess that’s something.

I came back, took a shower, ate dinner, and then fell asleep for awhile. I was awaken some time later by three girls (named Jo, Jane and “?”), who came into my room and started talking to me. It was quite odd, but after awhile I was finally coherent enough to figure out what was actually going on. So we all sat and talked for awhile, during which time two other girls, Sara and Louise, came in to talk as well.
A little later on we all went over to see Doug and J.P. to see if they were interested in heading over to the Welcome Back Disco being held at the Student Union (about a 10-15 minute walk from the Grange). When it became apparent that Doug and J.P. were planning on staying at The Grange, the group of us (minus “?”) headed over to the Disco. That turned out to be good fun, and I saw several people that I now knew, as well as some that I met for the first time that evening.

Aftter dancing and chatting a bit at this dance, we decided to leave and walk over to the nearby Hull University Union. It was much bigger, but also much more crowded. In fact, it was annoyingly overpacked, so we didn’t stay very long. It was a nice complex, however.

Anyway, I left with Louise and Sara, and we headed back to The Grange. Sara was wearing her Bros. jacket – “rubbish music” as she calls it. I have to agree with her on that one). But before returning, we stopped at Double Happiness, a Chinese take away restaurant located a few blocks from our residence... and at that moment defined my new staple in the food department… chips ‘n gravy. Chips ‘n gravy from a chinese restaurant are outstanding! We finished the walk around the corner and back down to The Grange, where we each returned to our respective rooms for some sleep.


****

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" - The Hollies
  
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Love Bites" - Def Leppard
  

Saturday, October 1, 1988

Beverley, and "How About Some Coffee?"

It was another amazing, fun-filled day. Woke up much later in preparation for our visit to Beverley, a small town about 10 miles north of Hull. Doug and I took the bus into town, and once we arrived proceeded to walk through the shopping district. We had to wait awhile to enter Beverley Minster because a wedding was going on that the time. Actually, we soon found out it was the largest wedding ever held in Beverley Minster, as over 600 people were in attendance. (Who knows 600 people?)

We shopped until noon, when we found a pub to have some lunch. Doug and I both had chicken kiev, which was excellent. I'd never had it before, but now it's one of my favorite dishes. Afterwards we shopped a bit more, where I bought a mug (now I have two for coffee with guests in my room!), tacks for my wall, Q-tips and more candy bars. I can't get over how inexpensive candy bars are over here. I've been buying Twix bars for about 18p (roughly 25 cents each) whenever I see them.

Doug and I trekked back to Beverley Minster (pictured above, with Doug admiring the main entrance), and with the wedding now concluded, we were free to walk around for a bit. Although it wasn't quite as magnificent as Chester's Cathedral, it was still very impressive. We walked inside andh outside, snapping several pictures (naturally) of the outside of the minster. After that, we caught the bus (one way trip cost 1 pound 5 pence) back to Hull. It was about 3:30 p.m. when we left Beverley, and when we returned, I was rather tired. So after a meal at the Grange, I came back to my room (located in St. Martin's one of the three buildings that makes up the Grange) and slept for awhile.

I awoke at about 8 p.m., wrote a bit in my journal, and then went to J.P.'s room over in St. Hilda's (the building on the other side of the Grange) for a little get-together he was having. Doug was there, along with David Hart, one of the students from Juniata, and a few other folks. We sat and talked for a bit, but then decided to take the party on the road. We eventually stumbled onto a gathering in a room on the second floor of St. Martin's. There were just a few people there, but after we showed up, more people began to come in and out, including the hall resident assistant, Steve. To be drinking in a room, with the RA right there drinking with you, is unheard of at Millersville! In addition to having a conversation with Steve, I met a lot of people here, including two guys named Alex and Ian, a girl named Jane, and then Karen, who is from Bristol. She came to the party later, and I started a good conversation with her after finding out that she's a long distance runner. Having run cross country for four years at Camp Hill High School (and not at all ever since), she sparked my interest in finally getting out there to run again.

We talked there for awhile, but when several rugby players arrived, it got annoying, so I unsed my new catch-line, "How about some coffee?" And she accepted, so we headed down to my room for some coffee and continued conversation. Again, I discovered that she is also a conservative, which provided for some interesting conversation. As we were sharing our various running stories, she invited me to join her on a run tomorrow, which I gladly accepted. That should be good. If I have someone to run with, I can do it, so I'm jumping at the opportunity. I just hope I can keep up! I think it will take me about two weeks of continuous distance running to get back into shape. Anyway, I was glad to meet Karen (another attractive, intelligent, interesting and friendly girl.)

After I left and returned to my room at about 4 a.m., it took me very little time to fall asleep. Well, tomorrow's Sunday, so it should be peaceful. I just hope that Doug cheers up soon. Between J.P., Doug and myself, Doug is having the roughest time adjusting to life here. Perhaps he's just trying too hard, but I think he'll adjust in due time. "Take it as it comes," I reiterate.