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.

Tuesday, December 13, 1988

An Interesting Class ...

Got up for breakfast and did make it to what turned out to be the most interesting class I've been to this year... Literature in Context, with a discussion on the Spanish Civil War with a substitute professor (and believe it or not, a conservative one!) He was very interesting and full of life, with great comments like, "I don't know why we gave up that island to the Spanish. It would be a lot easier for the British to have kept it so that our tourists wouldn't have had to exchange their pounds for pesos." He was excellent.

(Editor's note: In the margins of the journal, Viv added a quick comment here: "A lot of good my course would be then. - Viv." She's a European Business Major with her concentration in Spanish).

I didn't go to any other classes today, but I had a good conversation with Doug, talking about any and everything. He's leaving in a little less than a week.

After dinner I didn't get anything accomplished, but I did watch MASH and talked with Doug some more, as well as with Martin Brabazon, the college's Labour Club secretary. I had not talked to Martin at all before today. We didn't get into politics, but I imagine we will eventually.

Next I went up to rescue Viv from her evil essay work. She still has some work to do, so it will be an all-day work session for her tomorrow.

Monday, December 12, 1988

Tragedy at Clapham Junction ...

It's the beginning of a week of decadence and pointless frivalties. All of my work is done, other than having to go to a few classes, so it's fun time and preparation for my journey ahead... 26 days traveling around Britain. I'll be spending some time in London, and Christmas at Viv's home in Skegness, then traveling around with J.P. to, well, wherever we happen to wish to go.

The day started on a sad note, however, with the train disaster at Clapham Junction in London. Two trains collided, killing 33 people. The first reports were saying that 52 people died, so fortunately that number was wrong. We sat around for awhile listening to the radio to find out the details about the crash. I was listening intently because of my future travel plans on the train. And actually, we will be traveling along this route (assuming that we can) to get to Sid's house, where we will be staying while in London.

Ironically, I received my 22-day BritRail pass from my parents today, which will give me the ability to travel anywhere in Britain at any time while it's active. I also received a letter from my sister Angie, in which she enclosed a school photo and asked if "my girlfriend would be her pen pale." It was cute.

Went to perhaps the most interest class I've attended this year. No, that's not true at all. It was yet another "We didn't realize what we were supposed to read so we didn't" class with Allen McLauren. Yippee!

Afterwards, J.P. and I rented (or as they say here, "hired") two videos to watch, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "After Hours." We also reserved the library's video room, and after dinner we gathered some people and headed over to watch both films. Everyone enjoyed "Ferris Bueller" (of course). Reviews were mixed on "After Hours," and Jodi said that she didn't understand it. To make matters worse, we ran out of time in the video room with 10 minutes to go in "After Hours," so when we got back to The Grange, J.P. and I had to explain what happened at the end of the movie.

Next I went up to visit Viv in her room. Unfortunately she has four essays to finish by Thursday, so while this is a light week for me, it's exactly the opposite for her. She had one essay finished, so she celebrated by stopping for the evening and came back to my room for awhile.

A little later on, I called my parents to let them know that I received the train ticket, and also to let them know that I was OK and not anywhere near the train crash. Mom will worry about things like that, of course.



I snapped this picture of Clapham Junction from the train I rode from London to Sid's house, one week after the train disaster here.

Sunday, December 11, 1988

'Magnificent' Sunday ...

I was going to do some letter writing today, but I only managed to get one done. Watched a lot of TV today. At 1 o'clock, "Lost in Space." At 2.30, "ALF" (which inspired me to write that one letter, to fellow ALF fan Mark DeVito back at Millersville.)

Then at 3.00 we watched "The Magnificent Seven," starring Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson. I'd never seen it before, and it was quite good.

After dinner I spent some time in a nap, then I spent time with Viv. Later I visited J.P. where we discussed, among other things, possibly creating an alternative newspaper next year on campus at Millersville. Later we watched "Spitting Image," a somewhat revolting British show featuring bizarre puppets, but it can be entertaining at times.

Went back to my room, wrote that letter I mentioned earlier, and then Viv came for a visit. A short time later, we both fell asleep.

Pictured: Alisa, Andy and part of Neil, in the hallway of St. Hilda's near J.P.'s room.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "Mistletoe & Wine" - Cliff Richard
  
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Look Away" - Chicago

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.

Friday, December 9, 1988

Relief! ...

Eight years ago today, John Lennon was assassinated. The big story of the day in the news was a horrible Armenian earthquake, which may have killed as many as 100,000 people. But on the brighter side of things... I got my report finished!!! No more work until after Christmas break!!!

Doug and I went into downtown Hull for awhile, and I bought a pare of gloves, a newspaper, and some blank cassette tapes.

After dinner, Viv and I went to the offie to buy two bottles of wine, one of which we consumed this evening in celebration of my work being completed.

Watched "Bilko" on TV.

Thursday, December 8, 1988

Snapper Day! ...

Got my first shipment of The Snapper, the Millersville University student newspaper. Man, it was great to get that package! Thank you, friends at The Snapper (Shannon and Michele, mainly). J.P. and Doug also enjoyed taking a look at life back in Millersville (where Doug will be returning in a month), and I got to share a bit of American college life with Viv through those pages as well.

*Reading the paper* Heh heh, good old Dan Waterman, still sparking a furvor on campus. My first week as a freshman last year, he got me involved in a protest of Joe Biden when he came to campus during the Judge Bork hearings. Then Dan caused near riots last year when, as a student senator, he voted against school funding for Veritas, a gay and lesbian organization. It wasn't so much that action that caused the firestorm (since the measure passed overwhelmingly), but rather the letter to the editor he wrote following that vote that got everyone on campus fired up. Well, it looks like he's bringing it up once again!

Reading the papers made me start to miss some things about Millersville. Can't get a good greasy Sugar Bowl stromboli around here! I also got a letter from Grandma in the mail with Christmas money... $25 (or, after fees and exchange rates, about £2 - a joke!) That'll come in handy.

Blew off class in order to work on my report (and read a few Snappers). I spend a good deal of my day working on the report, and I got the rough draft finished, as well as the first two pages of the final draft. I spent the rest of the day doing this, with breaks to see Viv.