Day 4 already? really?

hello and welcome to another blog post thing. i'm your humble host, Jacob. let's get to it, shall we?

yesterday recap: there was a beautiful, absolutely perfect cloudless sky in the morning. but then later in the day the weather realized where it was and the clouds came back. can't have a cloudless London, after all.

i know what the sky looked like in the morning because yesterday i went out shopping with some of the other hostelers: two Latvian girls, about age 20. not a great choice, but i needed something to do. of course, since they're from Europe, we went to Abercrombie & Fitch. i abandoned them shortly after that. they're not talking to me anymore, i think.

a quick note here, i've had it written down for days, but just haven't posted it yet for reasons unknown. i never loved the Wolf Parade song "No More Dinnerbells" until i was on an airplane with it at 7:45a.m., unable to sleep.

i've been getting around London in kind of an odd manner, i haven't really been using a map. maps look like tourists. but i've got a little map of the tube system, and before i set out every day i make a mental note of where i want to go and where it is. so i get off at the correct tube stop, then sort of wander in what i think is the correct general direction of what i'm looking for. it means i'm walking more than i need to, but i'm seeing so much more than i would otherwise. especially when i walk in the wrong direction.

yesterday i ate at the Chinese place down the street again. i had "Kung Po Chilli Chicken", which actually was spicy. hooray. it was a good meal, but i'm not sure what it would be called on another menu, and that's okay. i honestly don't remember what else i ate yesterday. oh well.

i attempted to go out drinking last night. i've been told that Camden is a good place for it, so i went there. as usual, i'm pretty sure i went in the wrong direction for the bar/club i was looking for, and eventually settled on a random pub i passed. said pub happened to also be a hostel, so i ended up talking to a couple Australian guys about our various travel stories and why we were drinking what we were drinking.

the pub closed, so i headed down to another pub, and tried to convince the barmaid i'm unusual. she didn't buy it, so i finished my beer and left.

figured out at about that time that the tube stops running at around midnight, so i was in for a hell of a walk. more on that later, though.

started walking in what i hoped was the right direction for my hostel, passed an actual bar. stopped in, had some beers with the local kids. some random girl stole my hat, flirted hardcore with me, then made out with her boyfriend beside me. typical. i got my hat back, then stole away into the night.

now comes the very long walk. Google says it's about 4 miles, but google's a filthy liar. i stopped for directions several times. i figured i'd have a better chance of getting to the River Thames (the big frickin' river that runs through the heart of London.) so i asked which way to the River Thames instead of Lambeth North tube stop. what are the chances that someone who lives in London wouldn't know about the BIG F***ING RIVER THAT RUNS RIGHT THROUGH THE CITY?!? apparently pretty good. sorry, it's a bit of a sore spot with me. literally. it hurts to walk today. i got back to the hostel around 4am, and i assume i fell asleep, i honestly don't remember. woke up this morning and had to discover where i'd stored the stuff i kept in my pockets. ate two pieces of toast, drank a cup of instant coffee *shudder*, then went back to sleep. bleh.

so. now it's about 4:30pm, i'm just now leaving the hostel for the first time today, and i'm taking it very easy. i googled the place i'm going, took screenshots of the maps on my phone, and yeah. let's hope i don't screw this one up. i'm supposed to be meeting up with some friends of friends at 7, so i'm hopeful. and that's pretty much that. i've bought one more night at this hostel, which means i'm a free agent on Thursday morning. we'll see what happens.

one last thing: while i was walking last night, i ran across a guy who asked me for a cigarette. at least, i think that's what he asked for. he opened his mouth and spoke complete gibberish at me (not really complete. i'm pretty sure it was a really thick dialect. pretty sure.), and put two fingers to his lips in the near-universal sign for "hey man, got a cigarette i can have?". i said no, we kept walking. i chuckled a bit at our exchange.

oh, one more thing. i affected several British accents when talking to people last night, because i was a bit lost and freaking out and somehow thought i'd get more/better help if i didn't sound like an American. nobody said anything, so i assume i was convincing. but damn if i could keep an accent going for any real length of time. maybe they thought i was just nuts? dunno. oh well. ooh! time to eat!