Vertigo

When I take the tube to the campus of my university, I have to transfer trains at a station to catch the District line. But I get such terrible vertigo getting onto the train at this station. You know the over-tourist-ized "mind the gap" phrase that everyone wears on their shirts when they come see London? Well, it's more than just a slogan. The gap between the train and the platform here is real. And it's gaping. I could easily fall through. As the train pulls up my eyes can focus on only what looks like an ever growing abyss. I start getting dizzy. When the doors open, I try my best to just look straight ahead, so I focus on the floor of the train at the other end. But each time, without fail, the train appears to stretch further away from me. I imagine myself slipping because my poorly soled shoes can't take the sleek floors of the London Underground. I know it's all in my head, though. I don't know if I've ever experienced such terrifying vertigo. Maybe it's because the woman over the speaker says, "Mind the gap, mind the gap, mind the gap" about 8 times before we actually take off, which makes me think that this gap is ESPECIALLY menacing. It's funny though how a second of walking onto a train can stretch out into an eternity in your mind.

What else can I say? Think I might be getting a gig or two lined up for next month. Jim Carrey turned on the famous Oxford Street lights, which I did not attend. And Guy Fawkes day (or "bonfire night") fireworks were great. I got to sit in my kitchen, and because we live towards the top of a tower, I saw about 5 different shows going on. 'twas almost magical. The weather is getting bloody cold, though. My toes definitely reached new levels of popsicle last night.

Oh, yeah and the Brits love to mark what food comes from their royal land. Seriously, ANY food grown in Britian is clearly marked, "English semi-skimmed milk" "British Eggs" "Real British Beef." It's like they're trying to erase all the stereotypes about how the English have terrible culinary tastes. It's not all that bad, though. :)


Veronica
xx

LA Woman...

I wouldn't say that I experience a constant, abstract homesickness. But rather, it comes to me in little waves and through small familiarities. I was walking through Hampstead the other day when I happened upon a small delicatessen. I wandered inside and to my pleasant surprise they had an entire American section. The tobasco sauce, the pop tarts, the lucky charms, the refried beans, all of these items suddenly became symbols of america. I don't know if "homesick" is the proper term to apply to the feeling I got looking at these items. But they did take on a different glow than they would have, had I been walking through a Los Angeles market. Back in LA, English restaurants, English foods, the people, they were sort of novelty to me. My eyes and ears would pique in interest when I would run into something quintessentially English. Now I find that the reverse is happening. Now American items, or American language feels quite novelty-esque. It's almost a nostalgic thing. I am living in a different reality now, and it's almost as if I have to relearn how to live daily life.

I feel detached from America. And at the same time I feel like I'm gaining a bit of a perspective on it as well. I am losing the sense of what it feels like to live in America, and more specifically, Los Angeles. LA is turning into a symbol, just like they show in the movies, just how foreigners imagine the city when they've never been. Like the food on the shelves at the Hampstead deli, American images (whatever they may be) take on more of a representative meaning. Suddenly I understand the essence of the California Dream. I GET that feeling. I don't know that I MISS LA per se, but I long for the general feeling of LA. I think of the Sun, the laid-backness of it all, the wide open spaces. LA is special. I love my home and the people in it.

Veronica
xx

Absolutely brilliant

I think this song will go down in history as not only one of the best songs in the world, but also as one of the greatest pieces of American literature.

What Britons like a bit too much...

I've never seen so many winding stairs, halls, and so many god damn doors in buildings as I have since coming to London. I know there was the Great Fire of London, but that was like 400 some odd years ago. How many fire doors do you need in buildings?! The King's College campus is like a labyrinth. You have to walk up stairs just to wind around some corners and then walk back downstairs. And the library is terrribllllyyy set up. You have to walk through so many doors that you could easily die in the building, and no one would ever know you were there.

The Brits also LOVE light switches. You know in the states you have outlets and then you have light switches? Well, here every outlet has a light switch on it. You have to not only plug in the thing and turn it on, but you also have to turn the outlet on. This is the same for stoves. Every stove (or "hob") has a light switch, and sometimes I forget that it's off, and I wonder why my food doesn't get warm... But I will say their outlets and plugs seem much more stable. Not janky like the American ones, you know, like, when a plug gets bent out of shape and you have to bend it back into place, hoping sparks don't fly when you plug it in? Yeah, that just wouldn't happen with UK plugs.

They also ACTUALLY compare the signature on the back of your card with the receipt you sign. I've been questioned a couple times because I didn't sign my name exactly as it was written on my debit card.

Yeah, and they realllly love CCTV cameras. I mean, they're EVERYWHERE. Talk about Big Brother is watching you. I thought America was bad, but you really don't feel alone in this city. There are signs posted everywhere that CCTV is in use. I even saw a CCTV on WHEELS. It was a CCTV vehicle, can you believe that? It looked like a Google Maps car, just driving around with a camera on top. Sketchy. They're on buses, in tube stations, outside of businesses, in businesses, on street corners. You really can't escape it.

I forget what else I was going to put on this list....

But on another note, I met Laura Marling last night! This guys Alan Pownall was doing an in-store performance at Pure Groove records, and Laura was DJing. I finally got to ask her the name of the song she plays on this MTVU advert:

http://www.mtvu.com/music/ahead-of-the-curve/laura-marling/

And she said it's from her new album. She was lovely, too. I expected her to be maybe a bit stand offish, but she wasn't at all. Also saw a couple of the Mumford and Sons guys.

Yep yep. All is well.

Veronica
xx

Some simple observations

London transport is great, I'll give it that. But sometimes it's just plain stupid. Take, for example, this scenario that happened to me just the other night. After a long day on my feet at work, I decided to take the bus home, as opposed to the tube, just to save a few pence. Well, first of all the bus took bloody forever to come. When it finally came, midway through the journey I hear the lady voice on the speaker say, "This bus has changed destinations. It now terminates at Moorgate." WTF. I needed to get all the way to London Bridge, how the fuck does a bus just decide NOT to complete its journey when people have already paid to get on the overpriced thing! So, I had to get off and take the tube anyway. Oy vey.



On another note,
I love going for walks. It's during the quieter walks that it really clicks in that I am living in London. The streets smell like gas, I don't know if that's because the cars emit more, or if its just that I'm always so close to vehicles, as opposed to LA where nobody walks. There's just a distinctive gassy smell to London, I can't explain.

My walk to class is great. I walk across the river, then I pass a landscape that includes the London Eye and the Big Ben just beyond the Thames. I love this city.
I still don't feel completely settled in, though.

xx

Who put the bomb on the bus?!

Today, my second day working at The Diner, I believed I was in the depths of my last living moments. I was already nervous enough from my first waitressing blunders. But to add to that, a police officer comes rushing into the restaurant, says to lock all doors, no one is allowed to leave the building, and STAY AWAY FROM THE GLASS. Umm....what the fuck is going on, officer??

They shut down the streets, I sort of hid in the kitchen for a moment. But we continued business as usual. After 15 minutes or so they open up the streets again, and people are allowed to come and go as they please. But for those few minutes I pictured massive explosions, showers of glass, fire, and just plain fear. I suddenly realized (not for the first time, however) how precious life is, and that I really really like being alive. (Please God, not now, not here, not in the kitchen of The Diner!!) It didn't help that for some reason lately I've had dreams of apocalyptic explosions, my last one being the biggest of them all.

Yeah, and I fucked up a few orders. C'est la vie.

On a side note...a few little things I like about Britons:

• their orange juice with pulp is labeled "orange juice with juicy bits"
• they don't have high fructose corn syrup!!!
• their dishwashing liquid is labeled "washing up liquid"
• their bacon is fucking delicious.
  

What don't I like?
Barely any mexican food. Can't find some goddamn corn tortillas in any supermarket. Come on, people!!

Oh, yeah and nothing like Emergen-C available. What am I suppose to take at the first signs of sickness?!!

Lectures are OK. I'm kind of over school. And I miss Ethnomusicology.

xx

It's been a mad, mad, mad, mad week

Since coming to London I have barely had a moment to breathe. I may be pushing my body a bit further than It needs to be pushed. But all in good fun. In the space of a week I met the lead singer of The Kooks (had no idea who he was until after I had a chat with him) and Ms. infamous Amy Winehouse. Yes, London is great.

I was in a pub in North London, just as we were about to leave Martha says, "Amy Winehouse just came in." I turn around, and sure enough Amy has leaped onto someone, embracing this person madly. She then proceeded to jump up on a bench, looking eagerly around the room. Later, I went into the bathroom, and she was hairspraying-up her famous beehive, then went out and continued to dance.

I went up to her and told her I love her music, she's been an influence, blah blah blah....she thanked me. Cool.

I finally got dishes and cookware yesterday. Finally got groceries today. I bought loads of groceries, which cost me only 37 quid. Yeah, it's a lot when you think of it as compared to the American dollar....

I got a job! A place called The Diner, supposed to be american diner food. I'll add the authentic American air to the restaurant. fo sho.

I'm living by London bridge, just south of the Thames. South London is growing on me, I must say. God damn I love this city.

And I have yet to take a single photograph. Gotta get my camera situation worked out.
xx