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.

Wednesday, December 7, 1988

Halloween in December? ...

Pearl Harbor Day... although for George Bush it was three months ago (ha ha!).

I was planning on spending the day working on my Geography report, which is on the subject of the Central Business District. So I went to the library and got some books out and did some writing, but not too much. Hardly any, actually. I'm not really worried, though.

I got the package from my Grandma Reitz that I was expecting (finally!) It was postmarked Oct. 13. Good old quick service, huh? Her package had a Halloween card in it, as well as a lot of food (hooray!) (Pictured is the letter I received from Grandma, after I told her the package had not yet arrived.) I also got a letter from Shannon (my friend from Millersville, not my hamster.)

I ate a bit for dinner, then I hung out with Viv for the evening. Shannon is doing great (my hamster.) So is Shannon the person (from Millersville.) Maybe I should pick less confusing names for my pets.

Watched "Dr. Who." It was the third and final installment of "The Silver Nemesis."

Tuesday, December 6, 1988

The Importance of Finishing 'Earnest' ...

Missed most of my classes, except for Soc/Pol Structures, in order to work on my report... and to be honest, I shouldn't have even bothered with that worthless class.

I finally finished my report on "The Importance of Being Earnest," so that was an accomplishment!

Hung out with Viv later in the day. Really, that's about it.

Photo: J.P. and Malcolm, or "Mousey," check out something interesting on the floor.