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Effluvia John Cusack is 34 today. He's dreamy. In London? You should read the newspaper while you ride the tube. And Time Out has all the information if you want to go raise some hell. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Duran Duran mullet. Bygone
Days 75 YEARS AGO Billings, Mont. - Nearly the entire state of Montana was given a vigorous shake by two series of earthquake shocks last night. Literally tens of people were disturbed by the earthquake. Boss Kenny 
"Pre-nup...you protect me from my thieving ex-wives, and I love yooooooou..."
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06/28/2000 The Last of London And finally we come to the end of the London diary. I hope you've enjoyed it as mush as...well, as much as I enjoy something enjoyable. I think we're selling Sonya's car tonight. That may mean buying a new one tomorrow. I'll keep you informed. 22 March 2000 Ah, there's a delay while they clean up the plane. I've got three pounds in my pocket and I've drunk my last Stella Artois. I am bound for Detroit. Tuesday afternoon we got off the train from Salisbury and straight on to the London Eye, British Airways' colossal ferris wheel across the Thames from Westminster. Kent and I wanted to ride; James and Sonya were dubious. Of course it was sold out for the afternoon, but that hardly mattered to us. As soon as we were turned away from the box office we were approached by a woman with four tickets she couldn't use - there were three people, see, and the fourth never showed up. She didn't scalp, either; I gave her thirty bucks and we boarded immediately. Spectacular view, though vertigo-inducing if you looked down into the murky waters far, far below. I snapped aerial pictures like a fool while Sonya sat stone-still on the bench in the middle. It's cool, too, that the individual gondolas (is that what they're called?) don't swing at all. They're totally enclosed and slide around slowly, with gravity keeping the floor facing in the right direction. Obviously popular, too, since it was sold out on a Monday afternoon. Dinner at an Italian joint near Parliament (where they made the most curious milkshake out of chocolate milk, whipped cream and ice cubes) and then we tubed to Picadilly Circus to see the big electric signs and browse the record stores there. We left the hotel early Tuesday morning to go to Madame Tussaud's, which everyone said we simply must visit. Apparently we didn't get up early enough, though, because the line was out the door and around the block. I wasn't going to stand in a line that long unless I got a wax person to take home with me, and my travelling companions agreed. After souvenir shopping and lunch we split up - Sonya and I to shop further and pack, James and Kent going to Westminster Abbey and the London Dungeon. Last night Sonya and I met Jayne (Sonya's friend from the Saturday Night Brawl) for dinner at Alfred, a swank little English food joint near Covent Garden. Sonya and I spent the better part of an hour trying to find the place in central London's tangle of narrow, winding streets. [At one point I stopped and asked a cop directions. He took off his tit-shaped hat and shrugged sadly. "I've got no idea," he said, "this isn't my usual patrol area."] We finally found the place, though, and had a lovely dinner with Jayne, who is a jewel. She patiently answered all of out cultural questions ("Why is there lemon in the Coke?" "Do you watch EastEnders?" "Do locals get lost, too?" To the last she answered yes, which made me feel much better.) and she and Sonya bonded even further over their mutual admiration for Eddie Izzard. It was a nice and very sophisticated way to spend our last night in the country. And now I'm on the plane. We caught the train to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so we claimed a table at a cafe across from from our gate and set about spending our last few pounds on beer, smokes, coffee and books for the flight. I gave James my phone card to make a call. He put it in the phone, but it's the kind you don't put in the phone so it got eaten. It's okay, though - it wouldn't work in America anyway. Then we left England. Final thoughts? A great, for the record book kind of vacation. I don't know if I'd want to live in London (though given the chance I probably would) but I think it's a place you could visit again and again. The hustle and bustle of London seem a bit strange to my relaxed Southern nature, but I could get used to that eventually. L.A. is like that, too, but everyone there has a much better tan. Some words for London:
I had fun.
As I noted above, this last section was written in the airport and on the plane. I was bone-tired and harboring an advancing sinus infection. All I wanted was to get on the plane, sit down and read my new Q Magazine. It's almost hard to believe, now, that we lived in London for two weeks. A dream come true, I tell you. And, aside from one long distance phone call, Sonya and I didn't use any credit cards on this trip. Pretty impressive, huh? It was all savings. |
