Thought that i should actually get out and do something - despite the disgusting weather - i don't think i could live in england - its a bit dull because of the weather, and it sort of infiltrates everything like a bad smell.
But on saturday i ventured back into london, and actually went inside St Pauls Cathedral. it was amazing... the dome roof is one of the biggest in the world - and the paintwork and plasterwork was extraordinary - all the gold finishes and statues and latin and ah!! i sat and stared at it for fifteen minutes straight.
then you look down through the knave at even more gold finishes on the seats and the altar. its indescribable.
there are so many famous people buried in the crypt:
Alexxander fleming (penicillin man), horatio nelson (the reason why the english don't speak french), william blake (the writer whose photo i used to stare at in English at school), christopher wren (town builder and architect and planner after the great fire of 1666), william turner (can't remember - NOT the pirates of the caribbean character though), florence nightingale (pioneer of nursing), arthur duke of wellington, joshua reynolds, william hunt, lawrence of arabia...
Then i climbed the hundreds of stairs up to the whispering galleries, where you can stare down at what you were looking at before - the dome. the people were so small.
then i climbed evenfurther and went outside and got a 360 degree view of london, seeing the thames snaking through the clutter of modern and old buildings, red double decker buses and lots of people.
After that i caught a series of tubes to the Imperial War Museum, and i spent 6 hours there until it got dark and time for tea. the holocaust section, in which i spent two hours, was gruesome but fascinating. they had clothing and shoes and stuff from the people at Auschwitz, copies of Hitlers' Mein Kampf, and thousands of letters, guns, and gas pellet cans. worst of all was the footage, illegal to be shown to the public for private use - the mass graves and bodies being bulldozed , literally into the graves. it felt alot closer to home than just reading or hearing about it.
they also had a Crimes Against Humanity video, which also had some awful footage, but was very powerful, discussing whether any justification exists for genocide, and how genocide aims at creating a utopia.
Anyway, my week at work went very quickly, despite also doing two mornings and an evening in residential. my best day was wednesday, when Victoria was hysterical. we put her in her standing frame after physio, which normally knocks it all out of her, but she was crazier than ever. afterwards, sitting in class, we were talking about what we had done today which was healthy. i said "victoria, did you go in your standing frame, yes or no." and she signed yes and straightened up, head up, looking very proud and cocky. and thought it was the funniest thing ever. every time we said "standing" she would do the 'cocky sit.' We were playing with stuffed animals in french, and we had fun with the dancing rooster, and the monkey, which i gave to victoria and we were playing with it and i was making the monkey kiss victoria and i said "kiss it" and she kissed it. very cute. i love it when she is so responsive like that. that lesson a three year old girl came in to see teh school, and she was frighteningly dysmorphic in her face, but she started laughing when we played the chicken, which was very heart-warming.
Daryl had another hissy fit, this time sitting naked and shouting in the playground - in november!!!!!
In the evening when i was working, we went to the ball pool and had a lot of fun with jynne, amy kennedy and daryl. they are so brave. daryl launched himself off a platform onto a giant ball and fell off it. it was fun being buried in the ball pool and stuff.
On Friday, my last day, Victoria was sick, so I had to work with Fiona, glad that I was at least in my normal class. It was a shame though because I didn’t get to say goodbye to Vicky, who I have really bonded with in the last week.
In music we had fun dancing around, and I was spinning Fiona around in her chair in circles and did it so fast she did a side wheelie – awesome. They gave me a package of moento’s – drawings which the kids did, a card, and some brilliant B&W A4 photos of the girls.
That afternoon we got to the pub at 3pm and i was a bit apprehensive, thinking, geez, the English do anything for a piss-up. It was fun though – I mainly talked to carrie, but also to jay, mark and Mr Todd and Karen. It was interesting what they were saying about the kids, and I hadn’t realised it before but a lot of the kids have degenerative conditions and won’t be there in ten years time. Its disheartening that they should be cursed with such a life. Like, apparently fiona’s family went on a ‘normal’ holiday for two weeks, putting their two disabled kids in respite care and lying about it.
Anyway, I felt a bit funny that night, getting home early (9pm ish) and falling asleep but then waking up really early at 2am thinking it was morning, so I sent an email or two, had a shower etc… it was so weird.
On Saturday I went to the school fair, then headed into town to see Madame Tusauds – a real kitsch tourist drag-in. waited in line for over an hour, paid a packet, and then got in there and realisefd that going alone was not good because I didn’t have anyone to take photos of the stars for me. I did get some though, eg the Queen and Royal Family, Johnny depp and orlando bloom, and Julia Roberts. They are totally amazing how realistic they were.
I had the most frightening experience too, in the Chamber of Horrors Live! Exhibition, where you walked through a dark execution and prison scene with waxworks of dead people and criminals, and real live actors. You weren’t allowed to touch them, but they came EXTREMELY close to you out of the dark corners and made a clicking noise and scared the life out of you. I was screaming, but everyone else was. Hands reaching out to touch you from the prison bars, demented prisoners , face covered in blood jumping around your heels and then retreating into the shadows. Also saw a wax work of the Dracula, and of marie antoinettes head and the very guillotine blade that did it.
Then walked down oxford street, buying kitsch but necessary souvenirs such as London umbrellas.
It was magical – one of those moments of travelling, where you realise that you have got yourself there.
Imagine:
Thousands of people pounding the pavements doing Christmas shopping on Oxford street. Buskers ringing out tunes on the saxophones and bongos, whole building facades covered in colourful but tasteful lights. Strings of black cabs and red double decker buses and men riding minipedicabs (bicycle carts), ringing their bells looking for service. I leant on a rail outside the oxford circus tube, a main intersection, and watched the hustle and bustle. It was cold but beautiful. Met Emily in the madness and we walked through the back streets of soho looking for a nice restaurant for a late night dinner. We accidently stumbled across the gay sex district. You’d think the dvd shop windows and the G-A-Y bar and the pink glow resonating down the cobblestoned streets would have at least given it away. It was funny.
We ended up having a beautiful Japanese meal in a basement restaurant, talking non-stop until we finished at 10:30pm with green tea ice-cream. We then walked to the nearest tube, again realising just how diverse this area is in terms of types of people.
The next day I slept in, made and received some phone calls, and then went to the Russian fair in wimbledon village. It was biting cold, windy, and ethan and jonathan looked cute all wrapped up. They had carol singers, carousels, an ice tree, and a stage for Russian dancing and a Russian fashion show. Another ‘moment’ of English? culture. Im glad that I have been able to experience the English Christmas season and will see Europe xmas aswell.
The next day I just packed and cleaned and organised myself in general.
Hi ho, hi ho, its off to Europe I go. First stop , Amsterdam.
