Bonfire Night and Kevin Spacey

Well, I can safely say that I definatley prefer the kind of jobs where you're not at a computer all day, typing mindless stuff. Yup, that's my job (reformatting people's CVs, mostly). It's not too hard, and the people are fun, but the job is definately not something I'm passionate about. However, it's money (BIG FACTOR!!!), and since a few others that I know are not having as good of luck finding jobs, I'm pretty lucky. It's also quite weird having people getting very excited to see that you're American, since apparently that's what they least expect when they come in for an interview at a British recruitment agency. I did have one guy ask if I was from Canada, so I'm not sure what that means but I laughed a lot. Work's not bad at all, but I'm also glad it's only for 6 months. I also realized that this job is the first time that I've had to be out of the house by 8am on a regular basis! No wonder it's been a bit of an adjustment...

Anyway, this week has been kind of dull. I went out after my first day of work for drinks with some coworkers, then Tuesday went out with my flatmates just to hang out. We're all trying to lay low since we're pretty broke and waiting for the paychecks to come in. Wednesday we watched "Rome" on the BBC, which was quite exciting since we've already exhuasted all of our movie options from flatmate Sam. Thursday we went out for Chinese, but then came back to do not much of anything again. Friday was a welcome treat, though we spent our night planning our day on Saturday. Also, Kate's friend Hannah came Friday (she's studying abroad in France), so we hung out around the flat that night and watched a show about the history of Bonfire Night/Gunpowder Plot. (v. interesting! Apparently the day is a celebration of religious oppression of Catholics, torturing of Guy Fawkes and those that tried to blow up the King and English nobility, Jesuit conspiracies, and all sorts of uplifting things.)

Saturday was chuck full. GP and I got up and went to try to find the Nelson and Napoleon exhibit that ends next week. We couldn't find it listed anywhere, but since we'd seen adverts for it all over the Tube, we figured that we'd have no problem finding it. Just our luck, no such adverts anywhere to be seen. We then figured that there were two museums worth trying, so we headed for the Imperial War Museum. The front hall was full of tanks, bombs, and planes (all v. interesting), and the museum did more thankfully to explain the multiple facets of war, instead of just tanks, bombs, and planes. There was a neat walk-through trench WWI exhibit, as well as an exhibit on the effects of WWII on children in Britain. GP was just excited for the tanks.

After the museum, we picked up some lunch before catching the matinee of Shakespeare's "Richard II" at the Old Vic Theatre (the oldest in London), starring Kevin Spacey. We got some 10-pound bench seats that meant we had to lean and stand to see most of the show, but the tickets were cheap and the theatre relatively small and Kevin Spacey doing his thing, so it was all worth it. We then walked across the river to catch some views of the city at night before stopping back at the flat. We then made our way to Alexandra Palace (north of the city) to catch the fireworks there. Since it was on a hill over the city, we could see dozens and dozens of firework shows. (photos: Imperial War Museum; the coolest hood ornament ever (on an old omnibus c. WWI); Big Ben and Parliament at night; and a view down the river including the Eye)





Today's Harry Potter Day, but it's cold, rainy, and blustery. Adding this to the fact that I caught a bit of a cold yesterday, I decided not to go with Hannah and Kate to stand outside the theatre to catch a glimpse of the actors for 8 hours today. Hannah called Kate around 11am, saying that she should come soon since there were tons of people there already. It's pouring now, but I think I'll take a swing by the theatre to see what all's going on. Trace said there's apparently a huge Hungarian Horntail larger than 2 cars outside the theatre, and tons of flags, etc. Hmmm...

Anyway, this weekend's the Lord Mayor's Show (ceremonial procession of the Mayor through the city and a parade), but we try to get out of the city for a weekend and get some fresh air. We might try the Stratford trip again or do something different. We'll see...