Monday, December 20, 2004
England pictures, part 1
Here are some pictures from the drive down from Aberdeen. This one shows the sign telling us we're entering England, but it's too dark to make it out clearly. Still, I entered England. Woo!
The first day I was here Louis took me to "downtown" King's Lynn. It was...extraordinary. I didn't know that downtown anywhere could be so absolutely silent. It was totally dark by about 3:20 PM that day, it was raining, and the town was just...purgatory. Time does not exist here. It's totally chilling.
This is Louis's cat, Ray. Louis said to me about this feeder thing, "I think it must be broken because it keeps on releasing all the food at once instead of a normal amount at a time, and now Ray's gotten all fat." Then he told me they bought it in America, and I told him I didn't think it was broken.
I don't play the piano. We took this picture to try and fool you into thinking we had something to do for at least part of the last few days. But it didn't work because I just told you it's a lie.
This morning, Louis and I were trying to think of something -- ANYTHING -- to do today, and then Louis asked me, "Want to go see a castle?" He said it the same way I might say to you, "Want to go see a Safeway?" Of course I wanted to see a Safeway! I mean, a castle. I came to this country to see castles, but the only one I've seen so far was off in the distance when I was in Edinburgh. It was a really, really nice one though, and as if to make up for this, the castle we visited today wasn't actually a castle at all but the remains of one. Not exactly the same thing, but still very cool to me.
I still can't get my head around how long everything around me has been around. I'm not just talking about the elderly people who take their sweet ass time walking down crowded streets directly in front of me. I'm also talking about buildings that have been around longer than my country has existed. I've been amazed by the differences in ages of structures just traveling from the west coast to the east coast of America, but castles? Real ones? They're like sheep to me: I've only seen them in picture books.
And I reacted to this newfound respect by doing this.
They had to cover this old well with a grate because people could fall in and it's a very, very, very long way down. Louis tells me that when the castle was still in use, they used to throw people down there for punishment. Shudder.
Louis's and my castle adventure only lasted about 15 minutes before we drove back to his house to sit around and moan about our situation. We're driving out to Laura's house in Wetton tomorrow, so we'll actually be interacting with people besides each other and eating real food for the first time since leaving Aberdeen.
Two things I have to clarify about the last few days I've spent with Louis in Marham: (1) It really is that bad. Believe me, even if Louis suggested the lamest possible thing you could ever do to get us out of the house, I would have made us do and I probably would have loved it because everything is awesome to me right now. (2) It really hasn't been that bad because the alone time is really giving me a chance to catch up on sleeping and thinking and settling down after a solid month of partying. Sure, we've moaned, and I'm looking forward to leaving, but being totally and utterly cut off from the rest of the world has also been genuinely nice in a weird way.
Louis and his pet snake, whom he kisses and cuddles. A lot.
Me wearing The Hat against the Red Wall of Sex in Louis's bedroom.
The first day I was here Louis took me to "downtown" King's Lynn. It was...extraordinary. I didn't know that downtown anywhere could be so absolutely silent. It was totally dark by about 3:20 PM that day, it was raining, and the town was just...purgatory. Time does not exist here. It's totally chilling.
This is Louis's cat, Ray. Louis said to me about this feeder thing, "I think it must be broken because it keeps on releasing all the food at once instead of a normal amount at a time, and now Ray's gotten all fat." Then he told me they bought it in America, and I told him I didn't think it was broken.
I don't play the piano. We took this picture to try and fool you into thinking we had something to do for at least part of the last few days. But it didn't work because I just told you it's a lie.
This morning, Louis and I were trying to think of something -- ANYTHING -- to do today, and then Louis asked me, "Want to go see a castle?" He said it the same way I might say to you, "Want to go see a Safeway?" Of course I wanted to see a Safeway! I mean, a castle. I came to this country to see castles, but the only one I've seen so far was off in the distance when I was in Edinburgh. It was a really, really nice one though, and as if to make up for this, the castle we visited today wasn't actually a castle at all but the remains of one. Not exactly the same thing, but still very cool to me.
I still can't get my head around how long everything around me has been around. I'm not just talking about the elderly people who take their sweet ass time walking down crowded streets directly in front of me. I'm also talking about buildings that have been around longer than my country has existed. I've been amazed by the differences in ages of structures just traveling from the west coast to the east coast of America, but castles? Real ones? They're like sheep to me: I've only seen them in picture books.
And I reacted to this newfound respect by doing this.
They had to cover this old well with a grate because people could fall in and it's a very, very, very long way down. Louis tells me that when the castle was still in use, they used to throw people down there for punishment. Shudder.
Louis's and my castle adventure only lasted about 15 minutes before we drove back to his house to sit around and moan about our situation. We're driving out to Laura's house in Wetton tomorrow, so we'll actually be interacting with people besides each other and eating real food for the first time since leaving Aberdeen.
Two things I have to clarify about the last few days I've spent with Louis in Marham: (1) It really is that bad. Believe me, even if Louis suggested the lamest possible thing you could ever do to get us out of the house, I would have made us do and I probably would have loved it because everything is awesome to me right now. (2) It really hasn't been that bad because the alone time is really giving me a chance to catch up on sleeping and thinking and settling down after a solid month of partying. Sure, we've moaned, and I'm looking forward to leaving, but being totally and utterly cut off from the rest of the world has also been genuinely nice in a weird way.
Louis and his pet snake, whom he kisses and cuddles. A lot.
Me wearing The Hat against the Red Wall of Sex in Louis's bedroom.
