Hey Ho!
Hey there Blog Fans,
I'm back with more Blogarities.
When I left yesterday to rush home to watch Life on Mars (three or four weeks in and it still puts the hairs on the back of my neck up at least twice an episode) I'd just finished mentioning how good Strength Through Joy was.
But I hadn't mentioned the reason that I didn't actually get home until Sunday Night.
The reason being that after STJ I got invited to an after party by James and a bunch of other STJ regulars that was being held in a terrace house a few streets away.
The after party was actually pretty chilled. Somebody fired up the I-tunes on the PC at one end of the living room and people sat around talking about history and stuff. The people there were all either students, or held philosophy degrees or even MA's.
It was a strange turnaround. Call me arrogant, but I am used to being (or at least feeling like) the smartest person in the room, most of the time. In this room, I wasn't even in the running.
Just a note about London: the stereotype of the well educated Londoner is becoming more of a lie year by year. The English Educational System is pretty damn terrible, not necessarily by fault of the teachers either. But the fact remains, if I ever have kids, given the choice I'll send them to school in Australia. Or Sweden, 0r Norway, or somewhere where people actually value an education.
Come to think of it, most Scandinavians I have met actually speak better English than so many people I meet in London, so maybe I would send my kids to school in Scandinavia.
Anyways, all of Sunday people were kicking back on couches, swapping notes, sipping drinks and at one stage playing a version of University challenge (refer: the Young Ones) where anyone would yell out a question and anyone could yell out an answer.
At one point I offered to keep score, until someone pointed out to me that it didn't really matter.
I did hear a lot of stuff I didn't know.
Trippy.
Later I took the Bus to Liverpool Street then took the tube back to Leytonstone. Neato.
Something I forgot to mention: on the trip from Leytonstone to Tottenham Court Road on Saturday Night, the driver came over the Tannoy and annouced: "Due to an incident outside Stratford Station, this train will not be stopping at Stratford Station". Bizarre. Since 7.7 there have been numerous stations shut down because of security alerts, but this was OUTSIDE the station.
As the train went past, before it submerged into the tunnel at the east end of Stratford Station I saw 8 police vans, lights flashing, lining the bus station road. Weird.
Yesterday, as I was at Stratford Station (I had to have the chip on my card sorted at HSBC) a newspaper seller told me that Saturday Night there was a riot at Stratford Station where 100 strong Riot Police turned up to quell it. Black youths running rampant, at least two stabbings and one person got shot.
Nasty.
This is the same night that Somali Drug Gangs murdered a man outside Camden Station.
London can be weird.
Other news: Yesterday morning I woke up with not one but TWO short story ideas, which I wrote down immediately.
Other than that, all else is normal.
Gotta go.
Over and out.
J
I'm back with more Blogarities.
When I left yesterday to rush home to watch Life on Mars (three or four weeks in and it still puts the hairs on the back of my neck up at least twice an episode) I'd just finished mentioning how good Strength Through Joy was.
But I hadn't mentioned the reason that I didn't actually get home until Sunday Night.
The reason being that after STJ I got invited to an after party by James and a bunch of other STJ regulars that was being held in a terrace house a few streets away.
The after party was actually pretty chilled. Somebody fired up the I-tunes on the PC at one end of the living room and people sat around talking about history and stuff. The people there were all either students, or held philosophy degrees or even MA's.
It was a strange turnaround. Call me arrogant, but I am used to being (or at least feeling like) the smartest person in the room, most of the time. In this room, I wasn't even in the running.
Just a note about London: the stereotype of the well educated Londoner is becoming more of a lie year by year. The English Educational System is pretty damn terrible, not necessarily by fault of the teachers either. But the fact remains, if I ever have kids, given the choice I'll send them to school in Australia. Or Sweden, 0r Norway, or somewhere where people actually value an education.
Come to think of it, most Scandinavians I have met actually speak better English than so many people I meet in London, so maybe I would send my kids to school in Scandinavia.
Anyways, all of Sunday people were kicking back on couches, swapping notes, sipping drinks and at one stage playing a version of University challenge (refer: the Young Ones) where anyone would yell out a question and anyone could yell out an answer.
At one point I offered to keep score, until someone pointed out to me that it didn't really matter.
I did hear a lot of stuff I didn't know.
Trippy.
Later I took the Bus to Liverpool Street then took the tube back to Leytonstone. Neato.
Something I forgot to mention: on the trip from Leytonstone to Tottenham Court Road on Saturday Night, the driver came over the Tannoy and annouced: "Due to an incident outside Stratford Station, this train will not be stopping at Stratford Station". Bizarre. Since 7.7 there have been numerous stations shut down because of security alerts, but this was OUTSIDE the station.
As the train went past, before it submerged into the tunnel at the east end of Stratford Station I saw 8 police vans, lights flashing, lining the bus station road. Weird.
Yesterday, as I was at Stratford Station (I had to have the chip on my card sorted at HSBC) a newspaper seller told me that Saturday Night there was a riot at Stratford Station where 100 strong Riot Police turned up to quell it. Black youths running rampant, at least two stabbings and one person got shot.
Nasty.
This is the same night that Somali Drug Gangs murdered a man outside Camden Station.
London can be weird.
Other news: Yesterday morning I woke up with not one but TWO short story ideas, which I wrote down immediately.
Other than that, all else is normal.
Gotta go.
Over and out.
J
posted by the.exile at 8:40 pm
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