Wednesday, July 24, 2013

New Friends, Old Friends and Learning New Tricks

After my little train escapade of the last post, I continued on my journey to London. Well, after lunch and presenting the hat to its new owner and such, but that story isn't as fun as the afternoon and night... and next morning....

Before I actually started my afternoon of museum hopping, I had a fixed schedule of what I was going to accomplish. Beginning at South Kensington station, I was going to finish my tour of the Natural History Museum. This is after beginning the exploration of the museum in April after my Internal Medicine shelf. That was three visits ago. Then, I was going to visit museums along the way to Covent Garden station where I would make it in time for dinner at 7 at Guanabara.
Main hall of the museum from above
Instead, I met a pair of (probably drunk) teenage boys in the special exhibits room. As I went around the numbered items and read the interactive histories and insights on each display, I could see the two boys debating whether or not to touch a set of plaster replicas. The sign clearly stated "please touch." In their defense, they were very right to be afraid. After all, most of the time, plaques tell visitors "Please do NOT touch." They were squabbling over whether or not one of them should do the despicable act when I butted in and told them to just do it. It got even more fantastic when I placed my hand over the plaster shell cast. Then it just all went downhill from there. Continuing on my route of reading the displays for the different items, ranging from an original copy of Darwin's Origin of Species to a piece of the moon, I was interrupted when the boys returned and accosted me (alright, so it was more of a jovial accosting), laughing and whispering loudly "Don't touch!"

Next thing you know, I managed to stay in the museum until the 5:30 closing bell when everyone was told to leave. But before I left, I got to start the precious metals/stones gallery.
Two of my stones: Jade for my bangle and Turquoise for my birth month
Guanabara was partway between Holburn and Covent Garden tube stops. I decided on the latter only because I had yet to venture into the area and it was one of the places I wanted to wander through. Granted, whenever I read about the gardens, it was in the dark of night, preferably the midnight hours when women of ill repute met with men of class for assignments, so to speak.

Did you know that the staircase has 500+ steps? That is, if you don't want to wait in the giant crush of people hoping to take the lift. Which, I did not. So upwards and onwards I went. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. The best part of the trek is actually the announcement which the tube station makes about the number of steps and the approximate time to reach the top. (It doesn't truly take that long... if you have a good set of lungs and strong legs.)

In any case, I was definitely ridiculously asian and arrived early. So as any good college student does, I ordered a drink as I waited. Thankfully, another person soon arrived, although our guest of honor had yet to appear. In time though, the entire party was present. The food was actually pretty good, and not a single complaint about the chocolate cake. Too bad my tummy was already full. Sadly, I don't have pictures of the food like a good Asian. :(

It was a lot of fun though. Drinking and dancing and meeting new people from London and beyond. And I even got to speak in Cantonese!!! How cool is that? Alright... so perhaps not as exciting as I make it sound, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the night for me. It's rare for me to be able to speak in another language other than English while on the British Isles.

oOo, and here we are before the revelry started on the dance floor in our masks. :D

I must say that the most informative time of the night was at 2 am the following morning/night, however you want to call it. But I'll get there in a moment.

It was only about 11 when we decided to leave. The birthday girl was drunk, admitting to it and wanted to leave with her other half. I had a tube and train to catch. I know, I know. A bit sad given that it was Saturday, the night was only beginning and we were all leaving to go home. But you know what, we all had a good time and that's what matters the most.

I watched the clock slowly tick away as I waited for the Victoria line after taking one tube to another station. 58... 59... It was agonizing because I knew that there was no way I would be able to make the train. And yet, I still held out hope. After all, perhaps the clocks were wrong, or maybe the tube would arrive earlier.

When we stopped at Victoria tube stop, I ran. I pushed and shoved, wove my way between groups of people and sprint my way up the stairs only to find that I had missed the last train to Worthing by one minute. ONE!

After cursing the slowness of the tube, I sat and thought awhile, conferring on possible alternatives. The final verdict became the 1 a.m. train to Brighton which would get me much closer than waiting in London and then taking the next train down at 6 am.

Lo and behold, the most miraculous news of the night when I arrived at about half past two in the morning. Nighttime party bus - Brighton. I do believe that I perked up 400x when I saw the brochure sitting in the train station. Even better, the next bus would be at 3. The only problem would be figuring out the stop since it merely mentioned a street but nothing else.

As I walked down the main road from the train station, I was simultaneously excited and miffed. excited that I would be getting home before eight in the morning but miffed because I was no longer under the influence of alcohol but everyone around me was happy and buzzing off the drink.

In any case, long story short, I saw the dawn. But I got home before 5 am!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

A TARDIS on a train

TARDIS on a train. :D What I wouldn't give to see that while I'm gallivanting around England. Granted, that's not exactly commonplace even if the show is filmed in the UK, but hey, a girl can dream.

Sorry, ladies and gents, but this TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) is knit and not manned by the Doctor. I know, I know, what a disappointment. But I promise you, this story is a bit epic.

So I was traveling up to Epsom one Saturday several weeks back on a short stop to visit a friend and gift him with a handknit TARDIS hat. I had to travel up to London anyway for a birthday dinner and why waste a perfectly good day travelcard which includes all of London's six zones. (Yes, I realize there are no names, but I figure while reading the book Watching the English, I should be a bit awkward and English about the whole matter since, my dear readers, you may not be exceedingly close to me, and well, for those who are well acquainted with me, you know all the sordid details already.)

Back to the story at hand...

I switched trains from Worthing at Clapham Junction and headed toward Epsom. On the train between Clapham and Epsom is when this little episode occurred. I sat with my back to the closest door opening of the car that I was in with my bag to my right. There were perhaps ten stops or so until Epsom.

About three stops after we left Epsom, I noticed a guy get onto the train. Trains are actually one of the best places to people watch. And when you have an easy project on the needles, watching people becomes additional entertainment hidden by the fact that it seems like you're fully focused upon your knitting. People always seem to stare when I KIP (knit in public) but this was pure audacity on the part of the new passenger. I could see him watching me from the corner of my eye, so finally, I looked up and met his eyes.

Clearly, he wasn't ashamed because he didn't bother to look away. Seeing as he seemed interested, I pulled out the finished TARDIS hat I had in my purse. The knitting in my hands was the hat for me. Since I had bought two balls of blue, and I only dipped into the second ball for the last few decrease rows of the top and the bind off, I figured there should be enough yarn to make a hat for me. The black and white I had plenty of; it wasn't a problem. Okay, confession time, I had the urge to steal back the first hat I finished despite promising it as a present.

When a guy (truthfully, anyone, male or female) says that he's going to wear a handknit TARDIS hat if you make it and then also promise not to throw it into the washing machine (yes, I would consider murder if that happened) and handwash it when needed, clearly they are knit-worthy. So I couldn't take the hat back. But this was the finished hat I threw at my watching stranger.

Taking it in his hands, he looked it over thoroughly before moving across the aisle and into the seat facing me. And if you haven't noticed yet, yes, it's true, not a single word has yet to be spoken.
"Did you make this?" He turns the hat around in his hands, feeling the yarn.
"Yeah, it wasn't hard." I push my stitches onto the cable and stretch out the bottom of my work in progress to show him. "I'm actually making another one for me. I really wanted to keep it after I finished it, but I figured that would be mean since I promised it to my friend."
"It looks hard. It's really amazing." His accent makes him sound sincere; definitely not British, I think to myself.
"Really, it's not." I'm smiling, an unfortunate habit of mine when I don't know what to say. But my watchful stranger doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he doesn't seem to want to let go of my knitting or move.
Unfortunately, his stop comes up and he hands the hat back to me.
"This is my stop, I guess I'll see you around..." The farewell is mildly awkward, but then again, we never truly introduced ourselves, another one of those little things that make the whole situation so English.
"Yeah, see you later." I bend my head back over my knitting with a knowing smile. Definitely one of the most amazing things to happen on a Saturday morning. And it definitely made my day. Getting hit on because I was knitting on the train. The best part was that I didn't know it was going to get even better.
About two seconds later, my watchful stranger popped his head back round the seats.
"Do you have time for coffee?"
Oh how I wished I could have said yes, but I had already made plans.
"I'm sorry." His face fell. "I have to meet a friend for lunch."
"No, no. It's okay."
I wished I could have said yes, but I made plans for lunch and I was late as it was. Granted, it didn't make a difference to my mood. The little exchange had already made my day. 

So, how was that for a TARDIS on a train? Here's a picture of the finished blue box the Doctor travels in.

For those of you who are not following some of the crafting crazes of popular culture at the moment, let me just say that knitting is not just for little old ladies. Knitting might seem like something grannies do in their rocking chair while sipping tea and having cucumber sandwiches, but oh no. It definitely does not have the same connotation anymore.

After all, I did get hit on by a guy while knitting on the train. As the Doctor would say to this little adventure - Allons-y!