Tiggy's Graduation And Touristing In London
All a bit sketchy, since most of this was written 3 weeks too late. An updated post will come eventually...
Missed LJ around June 15th to 17th.
On Sunday (24th June), I felt horrible for most of the day, and slept at around 4 AM.
On Monday, finally got up at 11:30 or noon. I spent most of the morning hours on the LJ rant. I then failed to do stuff. Slept late (2-3).
On Tuesday, got up at around 9, sorted some stuff out (like clothes, and rooms over the summer, and at some point, flights, I think). And spent a lot of time trying to call Jess. I think I came back and napped. Went to the kambar in the evening. Finally slept at about 3.
On Wednesday, I think I got up at 10 or 11. There was some packing. Then there was laundry, and ironing, and I just made it to graduation dinner. There were some interesting fellows, one in Russian History, and another in Religious Philosophy or something like that. Afterwards, there was a lot of hanging around outside and in the JCR until late (about 1:30?). Finally went to bed at 3.
On Thursday, I got up at around 9, cursing the little sleep, and then there was the graduation picture. And a lot of photo-deleting to free space. Then there was the usual speech things and hanging around until the rehearsal, the ceremony itself, hanging around outside while the university tried to sell us expensive photos and frames (they were successful, bah).
The ceremony was interesting, since there was someone on the list who was removed. But I didn't know that and I thought either it was his name, or it was my name pronounced really badly. I went up anyway, got my degree (ceremonially), and as I was leaving, heard them call my name. Apparently they sent the college an apology. I do have the correct degree certificate, though.
On Friday, there was a big packing fiasco, since I really should've started a lot earlier, but they didn't get too mad at me since they had other people's rooms to clean. Then I think we walked around Cambridge a bit, bought graduation photos, and at some point I ran around and just managed to change my bank address. There was a lot of waiting-for-coach, and it was nearly full but I managed to get a seat.
But it's stupid - they outsource the end-of-room cleaning and bring people in. And to make it simple, they throw everything away. Milk and stuff is understandable. Cutlery? Crockery? Food that lasts more than 3 months? It's completely pointless and wasteful. Would it be too hard
On the way back, there were a lot of sunbeams coming out from around clouds, a strange building which looked as if the bottom half was unfinished (it was about 1/2 to 1/3 the width at the bottom, and looked unstable), a few pretty churches, and a building which I thought looked like the Hong Kong Central Library but doesn't really (Globe House, the head of some tobacco company). The Tube continues to impress me with cable coils dangling from the ceiling. The hotel was nice, but no free internet (strange country). Spoon's for dinner.
On Saturday, I got woken up by housekeeping and wondered if they'd discover me sleeping on the floor; fortunately they didn't. We also extended the hotel stay by a day, which saved some trouble, though it's expensive. We went to the British Museum which was nice, and there was a lot of fun trying to find free internet. Eventually, I got online-4-free in a McDonalds. Then, Mom was off to the airport.
For the evening, we went to Covent Garden, which had a few interesting acts, including the guy painted silver, the usual bunters, and some magicians (or so) who weren't that good. I ended up buying one of the guy's CDs. Dinner was at a greek chain, though I forget the name, and wasn't that good.
It's also slightly amusing to see a shipping container perched high on scaffolding (proper steel girders, though), with windows. Presumably it's where the construction workers live: Scaffolding House.
On Sunday (1st July), I woke up to my computer acting up. Apparently trying to packetlog all night isn't a good idea if there's suddenly a lot of traffic, and after a lot of poking my veeery slow computer, I managed to kill KisMAC. It was still screwy though, and while saving things to restart, my browser crashed. Lost LJ, anyone?
There was a hotel breakfast, and then moving to a different hotel. Then there was trying-to-get-internet, I imagine, Edwins (I think) for lunch, and then wandering around the National Gallery in the afternoon. After about 6, there was a long wander down towards Westminster, and then along the Thames. Somerset House is ... odd. So's OXO tower.
And then, going across Waterloo Bridge, there were weird naked brass people. There was a chinese (I think) couple, and the guy was taking a picture of the girl. And I immediately thought that there was a more interesting pose she could be in...
Wandered around the London Eye for a bit. Went back across Westminster Bridge, and then back to Spoon's for dinner, I think.
Monday involved St Paul's. It was pretty, except there's the annoying admission fee, which I think is silly for a church. Voluntary donations seem to work for other places, even if they don't allow photography without paying money. Then we went over to outside the Tate Modern, Nando's for lunch, and Southwark Cathedral which was pretty and goth (which I prefer to St Paul's architecture anyway). There was some wandering around. The market was closed, since apparently it's only open on Fridays and Saturdays or something like that.
And then Not Going To The Tate Modern Because It Was Closing (well, we were inside for a bit and I got some pictures of St Paul's).
I forget which bridges we went over.
Usual dinner at Spoon's. Or possibly Lloyd's No. 1 Bar, which is pretty much the same thing.
Tuesday ... involved going to South Kensington and meeting up with my sister, which gave me one (1) Mini-USB cable, to finally offload a full memory card. Deleting loads of pictures is fun. Then we wandered around the British Library, and called it a day at around dinner time. There was probably Spoon's.
On Wednesday, we got out, and started around Westminster. Some nice gardes. Then the traditional bridge, and Not Going Into The Garden Museum (or whatever it was). Instead, we went to the Imperial War Museum, with some apples for lunch. That took aaaaages, eventually we got back, possibly had dinner, and went to
The flight wasn't too bad. I got a front-row seat, so the centre-non-aisle bit didn't bother me too much. I slept most of the way back, and most of the other time was spent reading the news. The movies seemed a bit crap.
Got back on Thursday evening.
I wonder what happens if I use directional formatting...
Missed LJ around June 15th to 17th.
On Sunday (24th June), I felt horrible for most of the day, and slept at around 4 AM.
On Monday, finally got up at 11:30 or noon. I spent most of the morning hours on the LJ rant. I then failed to do stuff. Slept late (2-3).
On Tuesday, got up at around 9, sorted some stuff out (like clothes, and rooms over the summer, and at some point, flights, I think). And spent a lot of time trying to call Jess. I think I came back and napped. Went to the kambar in the evening. Finally slept at about 3.
On Wednesday, I think I got up at 10 or 11. There was some packing. Then there was laundry, and ironing, and I just made it to graduation dinner. There were some interesting fellows, one in Russian History, and another in Religious Philosophy or something like that. Afterwards, there was a lot of hanging around outside and in the JCR until late (about 1:30?). Finally went to bed at 3.
On Thursday, I got up at around 9, cursing the little sleep, and then there was the graduation picture. And a lot of photo-deleting to free space. Then there was the usual speech things and hanging around until the rehearsal, the ceremony itself, hanging around outside while the university tried to sell us expensive photos and frames (they were successful, bah).
The ceremony was interesting, since there was someone on the list who was removed. But I didn't know that and I thought either it was his name, or it was my name pronounced really badly. I went up anyway, got my degree (ceremonially), and as I was leaving, heard them call my name. Apparently they sent the college an apology. I do have the correct degree certificate, though.
On Friday, there was a big packing fiasco, since I really should've started a lot earlier, but they didn't get too mad at me since they had other people's rooms to clean. Then I think we walked around Cambridge a bit, bought graduation photos, and at some point I ran around and just managed to change my bank address. There was a lot of waiting-for-coach, and it was nearly full but I managed to get a seat.
But it's stupid - they outsource the end-of-room cleaning and bring people in. And to make it simple, they throw everything away. Milk and stuff is understandable. Cutlery? Crockery? Food that lasts more than 3 months? It's completely pointless and wasteful. Would it be too hard
On the way back, there were a lot of sunbeams coming out from around clouds, a strange building which looked as if the bottom half was unfinished (it was about 1/2 to 1/3 the width at the bottom, and looked unstable), a few pretty churches, and a building which I thought looked like the Hong Kong Central Library but doesn't really (Globe House, the head of some tobacco company). The Tube continues to impress me with cable coils dangling from the ceiling. The hotel was nice, but no free internet (strange country). Spoon's for dinner.
On Saturday, I got woken up by housekeeping and wondered if they'd discover me sleeping on the floor; fortunately they didn't. We also extended the hotel stay by a day, which saved some trouble, though it's expensive. We went to the British Museum which was nice, and there was a lot of fun trying to find free internet. Eventually, I got online-4-free in a McDonalds. Then, Mom was off to the airport.
For the evening, we went to Covent Garden, which had a few interesting acts, including the guy painted silver, the usual bunters, and some magicians (or so) who weren't that good. I ended up buying one of the guy's CDs. Dinner was at a greek chain, though I forget the name, and wasn't that good.
It's also slightly amusing to see a shipping container perched high on scaffolding (proper steel girders, though), with windows. Presumably it's where the construction workers live: Scaffolding House.
On Sunday (1st July), I woke up to my computer acting up. Apparently trying to packetlog all night isn't a good idea if there's suddenly a lot of traffic, and after a lot of poking my veeery slow computer, I managed to kill KisMAC. It was still screwy though, and while saving things to restart, my browser crashed. Lost LJ, anyone?
There was a hotel breakfast, and then moving to a different hotel. Then there was trying-to-get-internet, I imagine, Edwins (I think) for lunch, and then wandering around the National Gallery in the afternoon. After about 6, there was a long wander down towards Westminster, and then along the Thames. Somerset House is ... odd. So's OXO tower.
And then, going across Waterloo Bridge, there were weird naked brass people. There was a chinese (I think) couple, and the guy was taking a picture of the girl. And I immediately thought that there was a more interesting pose she could be in...
Wandered around the London Eye for a bit. Went back across Westminster Bridge, and then back to Spoon's for dinner, I think.
Monday involved St Paul's. It was pretty, except there's the annoying admission fee, which I think is silly for a church. Voluntary donations seem to work for other places, even if they don't allow photography without paying money. Then we went over to outside the Tate Modern, Nando's for lunch, and Southwark Cathedral which was pretty and goth (which I prefer to St Paul's architecture anyway). There was some wandering around. The market was closed, since apparently it's only open on Fridays and Saturdays or something like that.
And then Not Going To The Tate Modern Because It Was Closing (well, we were inside for a bit and I got some pictures of St Paul's).
I forget which bridges we went over.
Usual dinner at Spoon's. Or possibly Lloyd's No. 1 Bar, which is pretty much the same thing.
Tuesday ... involved going to South Kensington and meeting up with my sister, which gave me one (1) Mini-USB cable, to finally offload a full memory card. Deleting loads of pictures is fun. Then we wandered around the British Library, and called it a day at around dinner time. There was probably Spoon's.
On Wednesday, we got out, and started around Westminster. Some nice gardes. Then the traditional bridge, and Not Going Into The Garden Museum (or whatever it was). Instead, we went to the Imperial War Museum, with some apples for lunch. That took aaaaages, eventually we got back, possibly had dinner, and went to
The flight wasn't too bad. I got a front-row seat, so the centre-non-aisle bit didn't bother me too much. I slept most of the way back, and most of the other time was spent reading the news. The movies seemed a bit crap.
Got back on Thursday evening.
I wonder what happens if I use directional formatting...