To Blog or not to Blog?

Hello again, i really am aiming to update this blog but as you could possibly infer from my title, the wonderful works of Shakespeare have been keeping me busy so apologies. I've been rather busy in the interim however and have lots of things to show you so i do hope that this post may be interesting.

Firstly, despite the apparent Shakspearean title, i haven't actually been studying it in my course, at least not yet, no the title was inspired by my visit to the globe theatre in London and how amazingly brilliant that was. For those of you who don't know, the Globe is the most realistic reconstruction of the theatre that William himself composed his works for and consequently, the place is pretty big on him. Me and my freind Reece, who you will meet in a short while, payed (student prices ;) for me at least) for the full 40 minute tour and access to the exhibition that holds lots of cool stuff to look at and read. I seriously recommend the tour as it turns out the guy knew loads about the Globe (shocking i know!) and was like a pick n mix full of information about said place. The exhibition was also pretty cool aswell, loads of reading about the Globe's history, Shakespeare's impact on language (i imagine he is turning in his grave at some of my expression) and lots of other stuff you stare at in musuems and the like (you know, not taking any of it in but just looking to appear intelligent and, dare i say it, cultured. Fortunately for you, i snapped some photo's so here they are :D

This is the main stage of the Globe, and it is seriously incredible that it is all so meaningfully built and specifically designed to help the performances!

In addition to our day of culture at the globe, we sampled the most amazing culture (for me and reece at least) because as huge music fans, the Hard Rock Cafe is pretty much the best restaurant in the world! I would seriously recommend the 'legendary' burger, it does actually live up to it's name and is well worth the 'London' (student speak for anything not free) prices that it charges. Best try and get there in between rush hours however because the wait for table isn't really that rocking.

For the ultimate clash of tourist cultures...we actually hopped up to Buckingham Palace before we eat at the Hard Rock and for me, a slightly old fashioned English eccentric, this pinnacle of the monarchy was rather amazing. We then added to this with afternoon tea in Harrods, again quite expensive for the student but our eccentric Englishness got the better of us!

This hilarious paradox of the artfully scruffy Reece (invisible are the dapper shoes however) compared to the oh so neat and proper palace tickled me!

In this case it's better not to ask how much one small pot of tea can cost!!

With that i think i'll finish this blog, however more will surely follow. I hope you enjoyed reading about  my slightly cliched adventures around London and if not, well that's not really my fault is it?

Ps. Check out the new Tom Waits album....'tis rather lovely!!

the dodger ;)

Ancient Theme park rides and the Lion King theme song!

Hello again! I apologise for the delay in posts but once again the prospect of a free, by free i mean with nothing actually to do and then finding plenty to do for no cost, weekend in London got the better of me. I do feel somewhat compelled to tell everybody about the national treasure that is the British Museum! Seriously, after some members of the flat recovered from a particularly lairy friday night we decided to head out on Sunday (i told you Friday was messy) to this fine institution to sample a number of different exhibits, and to imagine the theme song from the Lion King...more on that later.

Like i said....the museum is Big!!

After crossing London on the tube (from the lovely south eastern New Cross ... the less said the better) we found ourselves staring up at one of the more typically 'London' buildings that houses the museum. In a small tribute to Steve Jobs and let's face it, being a complete whore to modern gizmo's i checked our little group into the museum page on Facebook (because obviously the university age friends i have actually give a shit don't they).



This just gave me the random idea that this must have been what ancient world theme park rides must have been like....you know the sort, complete with the horrible overpriced photo's that show you 'enjoying' the unbelted, vertical drop ride!

The Museum is HUGE!!!! Put simply we spent around 3 hours inside before our brains began to hurt and the sounds of sensible tourist shoes on the hard floor starting to grate, and actually saw only a fragment of the things to see. In a weird way (think 'Sixth Sense' revelations) one of our group became enamoured with the idea of dead people and consequently a highlight was the mummies of Ancient Egypt, by far one of the busiest parts of the museum and the hottest, those dead guys really want to be warm! We also saw lots of fun things about the Ancient Greeks, Vases, Romans, Vases...oh and some lovely Vases.

All in all it was a lovely way to spendan afternoon of course designated extra reading procrastinating and i heartily advise anybody to go and potter around amongst the old stuff!

And finally.....try and view this without thinking about at least, the first few bars of the Lion King theme song...can't do it?? well, you may aswell finish the song....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc

and with that i'll leave it for know,

see you soon! The Drifter!

Tip of the hat to you, welcome to my blog!

I've actually thought for quite a while about starting a blog but it's only been now, this moment indeed that the starts have somewhat aligned and i feel compelled to start publishing. The aim of this blog is to chronicle the time that I'm fortunate enough to spend in London as a student and what the daily musings of my life include. I can only hope that as a student of both the media and English none of my posts are grammatically offensive to the grammar Nazi's out there (i know I've probably already made countless blunders but whose counting?).

Being from the very central city of Birmingham in the UK, London has always held a special sort of position to us midlanders. Too close to be considered a completely different place, yet far away enough to allow some degree of the unknown about out fine countries capital city. Nevertheless, as a hopeless romantic i can only hope that my life in the city is mildy interesting to you the reader and does not purely become an over the top tourist information document..(the horror)!!!!

Not only will i ramble on about London Town and what obscure goings on i get involved in, but i may also throw in a few anecdotes about the whole student experience as a whole. Ofcourse this won't include moaning about the usual student garbage about money and food (readymeals are only 3 for a fiver in iceland, what more nutrients are neccesary??) but more about the BIG issues such as when is a bad time to play the Rolling Stone's while living communally (ed- that time doesn't exist).

With that i shall end this first post, for those of you still breathing at the end of it...Thanks!! for the rest, well i can't say i blame you...some chickens just don't cross the road!! 

Be good!