Free plays! Freeplay...

(photos: awesome man at speakers corner.he has a fantastic sign. i should have spoken to him; inside the Horse Guards...he seemed to be ok with photo taking , but still not sure if its acceptable that i put that on the internet, to be honest...so let's hope the bobbies don't come knocking on my door; downing street. poor tony; tower bridge at night.)

I had big plans for Sunday, but they seemed to fall through for the most part. Though i suppose i did do quite a bit....

In the morning, i went to hyde park to try to find this area where "Horseman's Sunday"
was taking place. I never did find it, so i was a bit upset. I really wanted to see that...but it's ok, with some extensive counseling, i made it through that difficult period in my life. No, i really was a bit disappointed. I did happen to catch some crazy people on soapboxes and stepladders, proclaiming their beliefs to a crowd of bystanders. Man y arguments ensue, and i don't like confrontation so i did not stay to long. Unfortunately, i did not talk to the man pictured above, i regretted that. He looks like an interesting fellow; instead i just took his photo. Oh well...next time...i will go back with some pretty tough questions. For example; "What do you think the world would be like if denim was, in fact, red, not blue, and that was the common choice of trousers?" I am curious to see how he would respond.

I walked a bit down Portobello Road and looked in some vintage clothing shops, which i shall be going to. All i could think of was the fantastic Cat Stevens song called "Portobello Road." I do not have it in my computer, so i am unable to listen to it..but you should all find it and listen. I jumped back on the tubes...however i seemed to pick the wrong eastbound line, because by east they meant east for one stop then very very south. Threw in a little switcharoo. My fault though. So i had to get off at some place far away and switch to another eastbound line...where an old ish man was being very disorderly. He stormed up to the conductor, yelled out " are you going to move this train?! i paid my wage , i am in a hurry! now stop sitting there doing nothing and start it! this is ridiculous!! BAH ! i am old and english and angry! BAH!" with a whole lot of colourful language thrown in. Then they called the police on him and made him get off. It was fairly entertaining.

I got off near Whitehall so i could at least get to the Horse Guards while it was open to the public for the weekend. I waited about45 minutes to an hour before being allowed in with a large group. The Horse Guards is the building that is the headquarters of the British army, and also, the building you technically have to ceremoniously pass through to get to the Queen. We went up the stairs and met a tour guide/ soldier man who explained a bit about the building and the uniforms. The big furry hats worn by footsoldiers are called " bear skins" because they are made out of ....bear skin. Apparently they copied the Russians with that one, because snow just shakes off of the bear skin, where as with the Brits hats it would just pile up a few inches. The other hat we were shown was a busby, which is shorter and made of seal skin ( now synthetic) which is waterproof. So when the soldier needed a drink , he could tie a line on it and just throw it into a river, drin some, let his horse have some, and be off on his way. The tunics the soldiers wear now are almost exactly like the originals, very ornate, complete with hand embroidered gold thread. We were not allowedto take photos of that, so i have nothing to show you, but i really enjoyed this man's speech. it was quite informative.

We then went to the conference room, where a new fancy soldier type guy gave a speech, ignoring the fact that the guards were changing in the tiltyard and yelling loudly every few seconds. After discussing some of the paintings in the room, and the bust of the Duke of Wellington above the door, he led us through the central room underneath the dome (which is significantly smaller then they had planned because they ran out of money during construction, which was quite common back then). We stopped in the general's office, and he discussed some more things. Such as how the couch and a chair are shorter than the rest so that the queen, who was a bit small, could sit on them and not look ridiculous with her feet dangling in the air. The paint is also modeled on what was found there; they passed around a sample of all of the coats of paint the room had been through ( it was about an inch thick). The actual general's desk was clever as well, seeing as it had four recesses in it for his visitors to sit in. This way they could all be fairly close if they needed to look over maps or .. do the crossword puzzle together. I am pretty sure thats the actual reason. But yes. Wow, i did lots of things ....

So then i walked past the PM's house again, across Westminster Bridge and down to the open air Scoop Theatre by the Tower Bridge. That is a long walk when there is a crowd of people at the river festival. At least an hour. But i worked through the foot cramp ( i think my arches have fallen) as my friends laughed at me on the phone, until i found them. We first saw a farcical modern adaptation of Euripides "Cyclops" which was very fun and cute. The puppet Cycolps was unbelievable; i was very impressed. Then they took a break before the same cast and crew began the next play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle." I enjoyed that very much, considering i did not think i would like it...but it was great. I did, ,however, miss the fireworks, because the short, but probably awesome display, took place during the second play and i am incapable of leaving during a performance. No worries though....there's still
Guy Fawkes day ...mmm fire.

Today was dull. Just stayed around campus. Went to class and all.
Tomorrow may be dull too, but i'll see if i can think of a fun story...or make one. cheers