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Showing posts from July, 2008

I hope you are hungry!

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So after my best mate's blessing I decided to take off to Paris. I had only been once before. That was for an Iron Maiden concert. Since then I have rediscovered Anthony Bourdain. This is not a good thing because I can be a bit of a gobshite on a good day and he has just taught me to be a pompous gobshite with a lust for travel, booze, and food. OK, I had two of the three already covered. Still not into the booze thing, give me a nice cup of coffee and I'm a happy camper. Provided I've put some Dr. Pepper in my system first. Woe be the person to get me WITHOUT the Dr. Pepper. It's not pretty. What is gobsmackingly pretty is Paris. Everything is so ornamental. The buildings are amazingly old and gorgeous. It's eye candy for an amateur architect. There are some cool fountains in random places. I like fountains. I'm obsessed by them. It's the sound of rushing water that draws me in. I can sit by them for hours (as I did at the Louvre) and just listen to them. O

Day trip to Bath, UK

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Bath - Roman Bath's and Pumphouse alongside of Bath Abbey. OMG!! Tourists galore. Just wall to wall people and school groups. It is amazing that a lot of the baths are so far underground. Years of dirt and sediment excavated. The dirt between the stones is thousands of years old. The plants grow there must be from "old" spores and seeds. They call the Celtic/Roman Goddess of the Water Sulis Minerva. The main pool that you see in all the pictures is stagnant. It actually smells like poop. For the most part, it is standing water with pigeon droppings littering the sides. Pretty darn gross. The colour reminds me of runny pea soup, but is actually due to algae. There is some water streaming in. The sign says don't touch the water. I was moved to do so anyway. Besides, I watched several other tourists touch it so what can it hurt? They said the water was "hot". As this is a bath/spa type thing and the Romans and Celts used it vociferously, I figured it may have

Wot are you doing?

July 6th I'm sitting in my dorm room in Way the Frak East London on a cool breezy sunless Sunday with Iron Maiden at the Forum, 19/02/08, blasting from my MacBook. My shoes are off, of course, and my toes are in charge of rocking me gently back and forth in my chair as I peruse the pages of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". The only light gracing the pages is what little precious radiation the sky is willing to part with through the gray clouds and said light is peeking in through my open window.

Don't Waste Your Time Searching for Those Wasted Years

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OK - I'm obsessed. Two of my mates have used the word "stalker". I still contend that five Maiden shows in 5 months, with 3 of them coming within four days of each other, and the 5th only two weeks later in another country is NOT anything special. As a matter of fact, I lag way behind most 28 year Maiden fans. Yes, I've been listening to them nearly thirty years and I've not even seen them live thirty times. I'm somewhere in the mid-twenties. I blame Metallica and Henry Rollins. LOL I've only so much disposable income and so much good product vying for my hard earned cash. I woke up in a Maiden mood. The soundtrack for the morning included: "The Prisoner", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "The Evil That Men Do", "Tailgunner", "Wasted Years", and "Drifter". I was so excited I couldn't eat! I exist on Dr. Pepper!!! Cut me and not only do I bleed blue (GO CHELSEA FC) but I bleed DP! ...So, understan

July 4th Part Two

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I realized: I DONT HAVE A SHARPIE ON ME!!! Not that this is important in the grand scheme of things. It's just that I normally have a Sharpie at the ready. Just in case. Oyster Cards are lovely things. They cap at L6.50 or so if you are running around all day. This is a good thing as that's cheaper than a day pass of L6.80. Met up with D at the Tower of London. Someone on the IMOFC boards "organized" a huge meet up for a photo opportunity. LOL It looked like well over 50 people came, mebbe even closer to 100. I didn't actually count. I only knew D, who in turn introduced me to her friend. So the three of us pretty much stuck together. Nothing against Maiden fans, but the mood was a bit "chilly". Nobody interacted with each other. Everyone pretty much stuck to their little groups. We did meet one lovely lady who is obsessed with her ironing. Miss P was sweet enough to take some pictures of D, her friend, and me. Other than that, Maiden meet ups are the

Leicester Square July 4

Oi - Vey!!! I got "kicked out" off my room at 10am. I can't check back into the other room until 1400. Funny enough, the room is only next door! Gotta love it. So I headed into the city, as Queen Mary College is way East end (how funny! but no Albert Square nearby) to find the infamous London Free Wi-Fi! I headed to Leicester Square stop on the tube, but couldn't get my bearings. I think A's bad sense of direction rubbed off on me. I ended up walking to Picadilly and chilling for a bit. Sitting by the fountain (it was being worked on). I only stayed a bit because the Community Support Cops were harassing tourists. Asking for papers. Taking names and addresses. It freaked me out and I had to move on man!!! So I figured worse case scenario, head for a McDonald's. Luckily I found the Leicester Square park just 50 yards beyond the Micky D's. So that is where I am currently sitting. Outside. In a Park. In London. Nice breeze. Shade. Pidgeons. Wi-fi internet. Fo