rakka and leff do europe 2012, days thirteen and fourteen, london + return to seattle (boo hiss)

after looking through photos last night, i decided that this needed to be another double day post. i'm sure you're fine with that.

day 13 was really slow. we started the day with heston's hot cross buns.

do click on that link. i didn't know of heston til shed clued me in (as he always seems to be doing. (thanks, shed!)) and now i'm working my way through his feasts. you should too!

due to double spraining my ankle the day before, we decided to stay in islington instead of heading to southbank centre to see the shrigley/deller shows. ah well. i'm always missing great exhibits. (anonymous rich person from yesterday? i would also like a ticket back to the uk before these shows are over, if you would be so kind. THANKS SO MUCH!)

after scouting around online for a bit, leff found the swimmer at the grafton arms which he deemed to be worthy of investigation. HE WAS SO RIGHT!

before we had our lunch, we wandered around a bit trying to find a guardian. we scoped out the council flats across the street (could not find the newagents that was supposed to be there) and went into an off license (had the daily mail, ugh. did not have the guardian) before just giving up and heeding the call of ale.

this is never a hard decision to make.

do you know what they have at the grafton arms on sundays? yep, SUNDAY ROAST!!! i got the veggie version, an aubergine and mushroom pie with a stitlon sauce. i die, i'm telling you. it was AMAZING.

and those vegetables were so fresh that you could taste sunshine? idk, people make jokes about british food all the time and, honestly, those people are morons. one of the things that i miss the most about the uk is the food. nothing here compares.

before moving on, i will tell you that the bar tender guy looked like russell brand. he kept staring at us i think because he was bored. or maybe because i had given up all pretenses of trying to not eat like an american at this point. (FORK AS SHOVEL, Y'ALL!) eh, it was funny but i guess you had to be there.

anywho, after lunch we slightly staggered past a newsagents that purported to have the guardian BUT IT WAS CLOSED, of course. le sigh... waitrose was open though so we stocked up on supplies for dinner and breakfast as it was early closing day.

here's the massive parking lot, btw. I AM SERIOUS!! IT IS STAGGERING!! (and it's a really terrible picture.)

the rest of the day was quiet. we packed and i think that i read part of pigeon english while drinking g&ts on the patio which, holy shit, you should read that book. drink some g&ts too. i mean, they ARE the greatest. DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT THIS!!

day fourteen, our last day in the uk.

we had booked a minicab through addison lee at our host's suggestion. (it's a good service. bonus points for letting you know how many pounds you will be spending in advance.) yes, we were heading back to paddington station for the heathrow connect. le sigh...

on the way, i FINALLY got a picture of the tv conversion robot that groc thinks resembles james murdoch.

also spotted this bit of graffiti on a building that was under construction.

there's nothing good that i can say about the trip to heathrow other than to mention that it was uneventful. my last day in the uk is always sad. in fact, this is me on my second connect train (transferring to terminal 5) trying not to weep in public. ugh, i am such a drama queen. 

bah. terminal five. no one ever has anything nice to say about this place. i don't really either. IT IS SO FAR AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE AIRPORT!

and security spits you out in what is basically a shopping mall. ugh. eh, at least they had a pret so we were able to eat lunch for less than 20 pounds. which, honestly, is a major achievement at an airport.

we were not assigned a gate until about an hour before our flight was scheduled to leave. as such, i spent a lot of time watching bbc news, staring at the giraffes

and READING THE GUARDIAN!! because leff is amazing and managed to track one down at a waterstones.

it would be great to say that our flight was on time but, no, we were an hour and a half late because they could not detach the luggage loading equipment from the side of the plane. UGHFAL;KJFAL;KJAF!!1

at least i got to watch kiera knightly being whipped every five minutes in "a dangerous method". (that movie is SO FUNNY!)

so, plane to light rail to ferry to cab. on the ferry i managed to get a migraine so i wasn't able to eat the delicious food that rhys had made for us. as such, i slung my luggage on the floor

and crawled into bed. misery, thy name is return to the states. sigh...

but let's not end these posts on a downer! i'll bullet point some stuff that i want to remember! here we go!

* i stunned a wasp at the city arms in cardiff. it was entirely by accident but i hope i played it off like i wasn't surprised that i did it. (shed finished killing it the rest of the way so, yay. nobody was stung while we were drinking.)

* one morning during rush hour on the tube, the doors would not close. the driver made an announcement: "ladies and gentlemen! i would love to take you through this great land of ours but i will need your help! something appears to be blocking the doors so let's check and then try this again!" *brief pause. doors close* "exceptional! here we go!"

* another morning, another tube, there was a man who looked and sounded SO MUCH like malcolm tucker that i could not help sneaking glances at him. he kept catching me and i got embarrassed but it was ok because he was pretty bemusedly amused by the whole thing. when he and his colleague left, he gave me a small wave. aww!

* the order is always "two medium filters, please. one black, one white." unless there is another person with us and then it is "three medium filters, please. two black, one white." saying please will get you the best coffee, i swear. (also, i still drink filter coffee like a girl. *shoulder shrug*)

i'm sure that i am forgetting SO MUCH but i need to get back to life in my own wee britian. (rhys to me and leff: do you realize that ALL THE SHOWS we have watched today have been british!? me and leff to rhys: yes.  why?  is it a problem?) i'll have posts about rhys in the next few days which should be nice and distracting and might help me forget how much i miss everything and everyone. haha. it won't. :(