I Spy with my Little Eye

This week I played the role of the classic tourist, the local shopper, and the embattled Londoner.

Phase 1 – Tourist

My roommate (henceforth called my flat mate) had his parents visiting from Calgary so we had decided it was a good day to be tourists. Now my flat mates parents have visited London in the past so they've already done quite a few of the attractions so our choices were somewhat constrained. What they haven't done was the London Eye and Westminister Abbey so that was what was on our docket for the day. We hopped on the tube on our way to a stroll over the bridge to the Southbank where the Eye holds its residence. A behemoth of a structure that was built in 2000, and was conceived as a metaphor to represent the turning of the century, towers over the Thames River and can been seen from over 40km in every direction. Needless to say, although it impressive in size and quite smart in designed, the thought that ran through my head was "…how is it that I'm going to enjoy myself on a over-sized Ferris Wheel". Well, I've got to admit to being quite wrong in this situation. It was definitely entertaining. Be able to finally see London from above as opposed to seeing it from the tube stop names rushing by as I rode the London Underground was quite refreshing.

Just a few interesting facts about the Eye:

1. Each rotation of the 424m circumference wheel takes 30min….that translates into it travelling 26cm per second, 0.9km/hr which apparently is twice as fast as tortoise in heat trying to run down it's mate in a lighting fast sprint.


2. The Eye was 7 years in the making before its completion date


3. Maximum capacity of 800 people per rotation which is the equivalent of 11 full double-decker buses

After walking off the rolling capsule, we made our way over to Westminister Abbey. Now, there is far too much history to for me to even start to talk about but you'll get the idea if I tell you that I we must have visited at least 60 coffins of royalty and honored individuals who lie there. It was definitely a beautiful site and it's quite impressive that they continue to hold services there. After a solid day out in the city and checking out the sites in the somewhat bitterly cold weather (there's no comparison to the Canadian weather reports I'm getting over here) we had a bite to eat at restaurant right off of Trafalgar square then made our way home for the day

Phase 2 – Local Shopper

Sunday turned out to be a low key day where I took the opportunity to sleep in and have a pretty satisfying breakfast. After a relaxing morning of staring out of the window at the torrential rain pour that dissipated as quickly as it appeared, which happened to be surprisingly quickly, I made my way to Sloan Square to visit my friend Karen. We had a long satisfying coffee sitting in comfy chairs at a coffee shop…and then we were off to check out the shops. I must say the style here is far more exciting then back home. It's sad to say, but my best casual gear makes me look like I live in a refrigerator box down an alley way…not that can't find stylish homeless folk, but you get the drift. Fat Face, White Stuff, Ted Baker, Pink are just some of the essential shops down here. Style also changes extremely quickly here. I wouldn't be surprised if the items I bought were out of date by the time I walked out of the door…but at least I'll look like a stylish homeless person. Karen and I also had the opportunity to witness a double-decker bus side swipe a BMW parked on the side of the road as it rounded a corner. I have to give full credit to the bus drivers here because I'm not sure how they don't hit cars more often with the streets being so impressively narrow. I would be highly concerned I couldn't get a normal sized car down these roads, yet the bus drivers here have consistently gotten me to my destinations unscathed. Poor BMW that definitely took the brunt of the force, and poor bus driver who was probably marking off in his calendar how many days he'd made it without destroying a parked car.

Phase 3 – Embattled Londoner

After all of the events of the weekend, I was hoping to get a little break from the fray of the Monday morning tube ride…which was a pipe dream of course. Fortunately I had been warned of the rush hour tube rides from a friend of mine back in Calgary so I was prepared to what was necessary to get on the tube in the morning…and it goes something like this. Get a solid grip with both hands on something inside the tube car (preferably something bolted to the inside and not someone standing on the inside), Pull with the necessary force to get the majority of your body on the inside of the closing doors, As the doors are about the crush your body, suck in and push the mass of people inside an inch or two further to clear the doors. Voila, you're inside the tube. One word of advice if you're in a similar position…don't leave your hands anywhere near the doors…it hurts to have them crushed – just a little nugget for those of you who are as bright as I am.