I lied. I just can't stay away from the nerd blog. And so, still in England, I present post #3.
This trip up to UDs place has felt more like a holiday, and less like Canada, than London did. With the thick "brummy" accent (that I quite enjoy!), no tourists (that I've met anyways..), narrow roads, accessible countryside, and doing more everyday things, I've relaxed here and now wish I could stay longer!
Things I wanted to mention but forgot:
1. The traffic lights turn orange BEFORE turning green.
2. Every grocery store sells Canadian maple syrup.
3. I have the best tan in the land.
4. I saw a Tim Horton's in London. (This deserves an exclamation point, but it doesn't go with the style of this list.)
Oh, and before I forget, 4 points to the first person who tells me where the suffix "ham" comes from.. BuckingHAM, BirmingHAM, FeckenHAM...
This morning I went to UDs church. Ecumenical. Not too far from the house. Later in the afternoon we drove to FECKENHAM, which sounds like a combination of Buckingham and rudeness. Feckenham is a village near Redditch, which is a town south of Birmingham. UDs wife (who is in Canada visiting Claire and Raffi right now) has a sister. Her and her family live outside Feckenham. Sounds confusing, but re-reading the paragraph while making a small diagram will help.
While there we went for a walk in the rain into the village. The church there was built in 1216. No big deal to Feckenhammers, but I thought it was pretty cool. The whole village was just like out of a movie.. I have never seen a movie with a village like Feckenham, but there's probably one at your local Blockbuster.
Behind the really old church is the grave of the family's daughter (Claire and Mike's cousin) who passed away last fall.. She was only ten. It was very sad. Her dad (UDs wife's sister's husband) took us on the little tour. He's a nice man who grew up on a farm outside F-Ham and built their house with his uncle. Pretty cool. I saw bunnies and horses and cows at Feckenham Palace.
We ate a delicious feast and drank tea and wine.
UD and Mike have been terrific hosts. Today I enforced a good ol' Google Fight (if you don't know what a Google Fight is, you should probably google it) to determine if I could climb up the ranks. We would Google Fight 'Emily' against the other cousins to see who would win. I was pleased at my fifth place rank, a huge jump from the former position of second last. And if it weren't for that weirdo protrusion on the male neck, I'd have my brother beat fo sho.
Tomorrow I have to get up at 530am to start my journey to Rennes. I decided to write tonight because I might not get online for a few days and I have had such a good time in the Queen's England that I wanted to close it off with a blog, instead of having split-blogs. You know?
I can picture you all, gathering around the computer, laughing and enjoying the blog together. Bronwyn and Raffi sharing a chair, Ian and Deeks with their arms around each other, Schadinger and Loanne trying to memorize the funniest jokes, and on and on...
And just so there's no confusion: Yes, I did go to church twice today. Twice.
Love to all.
Feckensam I am,
Hincks.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Chapter 2: BirmingHam and Cheese
Harry Potter Nerd Blog 1000 Post #2
Birmingham and cheese is a much nicer city than I remember, and I'm not sure why that is.. I was thirteen when I was last here and my uncle, Doug (UD), says it's changed quite a bit. I guess that's why. Anyways, I caught the bus yesterday morning to the downtown core where I poked around and then met UD at a pub for a delicous meal and pint. After lunch I went to the museum and art gallery. No dinos. I inquired. And ... no dinos.
If you're into shopping, Birmingham downtown is great, but I'm more into boys so I met one named Henry and we hung out for a couple of hours. I learned some fun facts about the city and we walked through the main part which is like an outdoor, pedestrian-only Eaton Centre. There's also this obnoxiously large shopping centre called the Bull Ring. I can't wait to post pictures. My favourite part was this outdoor/indoor market where everyone is yelling and throwing food. Three points to anyone who has seen the AMS good attitude video featuring the fish market. It was JUST like that, plus fruits and veggies.
My cousin, Mike, got back from rugby camp last night and the three of us made 'zza and chilled and went to bed. Mike is one of the funnier people I know. He once ranked me his SECOND LEAST favourite cousin. ME! That was over ten years ago and I'm still offended. I'd like to take this week-end to climb the ranks. I'm cool and older.
Today we went to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was there when I was eight, but before I dug theatre. UD was a good guide. We saw Shakespeare's birthplace and grave. The grave was quite powerful for me this time around - the man had no idea of the impact he was making.... Anyways.. I could go on about this, but I don't want to bore my readers.
Then the three of us hit the strip club.
Just joking - glad you're still with me. Then we went for a delicious Indian meal. GET THIS. Table naan is the biggest piece of naan I have ever seen. I was blown away. It was literally bigger than a sleeping pillow. That, and a couple pictures of Shakespeare's grave were the only ones I took today. Unreal. Table naan. Everyone should see and then eat it.
After dins we drove down the club street and looked at girls dressed like me at TWT. Now home again, home again.
I'm already not looking forward to the travel day on Monday. I leave B-Ham at 645am and have to face London again and then (and this is news to me because I thought I would bypass it) take the metro in Paris to change train stations before going to Rennes. Too much large and strange city subwaying. It makes me want to quit. I arrive in Rennes after 6pm. Ah, well. One more leg and then I can unpack.
I won't write again until I'm in Rennes. And once things fall into place there, my posts will become shorter and maybe less frequent. And hopefully more fun.
God Save the Queen,
Hincks.
I forgot to talk about the weath. For those who are into the weath, it's been fine since I've been here. Some sun, no rain. The Brits can't get their tan on, though. That's out of the question.
Birmingham and cheese is a much nicer city than I remember, and I'm not sure why that is.. I was thirteen when I was last here and my uncle, Doug (UD), says it's changed quite a bit. I guess that's why. Anyways, I caught the bus yesterday morning to the downtown core where I poked around and then met UD at a pub for a delicous meal and pint. After lunch I went to the museum and art gallery. No dinos. I inquired. And ... no dinos.
If you're into shopping, Birmingham downtown is great, but I'm more into boys so I met one named Henry and we hung out for a couple of hours. I learned some fun facts about the city and we walked through the main part which is like an outdoor, pedestrian-only Eaton Centre. There's also this obnoxiously large shopping centre called the Bull Ring. I can't wait to post pictures. My favourite part was this outdoor/indoor market where everyone is yelling and throwing food. Three points to anyone who has seen the AMS good attitude video featuring the fish market. It was JUST like that, plus fruits and veggies.
My cousin, Mike, got back from rugby camp last night and the three of us made 'zza and chilled and went to bed. Mike is one of the funnier people I know. He once ranked me his SECOND LEAST favourite cousin. ME! That was over ten years ago and I'm still offended. I'd like to take this week-end to climb the ranks. I'm cool and older.
Today we went to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was there when I was eight, but before I dug theatre. UD was a good guide. We saw Shakespeare's birthplace and grave. The grave was quite powerful for me this time around - the man had no idea of the impact he was making.... Anyways.. I could go on about this, but I don't want to bore my readers.
Then the three of us hit the strip club.
Just joking - glad you're still with me. Then we went for a delicious Indian meal. GET THIS. Table naan is the biggest piece of naan I have ever seen. I was blown away. It was literally bigger than a sleeping pillow. That, and a couple pictures of Shakespeare's grave were the only ones I took today. Unreal. Table naan. Everyone should see and then eat it.
After dins we drove down the club street and looked at girls dressed like me at TWT. Now home again, home again.
I'm already not looking forward to the travel day on Monday. I leave B-Ham at 645am and have to face London again and then (and this is news to me because I thought I would bypass it) take the metro in Paris to change train stations before going to Rennes. Too much large and strange city subwaying. It makes me want to quit. I arrive in Rennes after 6pm. Ah, well. One more leg and then I can unpack.
I won't write again until I'm in Rennes. And once things fall into place there, my posts will become shorter and maybe less frequent. And hopefully more fun.
God Save the Queen,
Hincks.
I forgot to talk about the weath. For those who are into the weath, it's been fine since I've been here. Some sun, no rain. The Brits can't get their tan on, though. That's out of the question.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Chapter One: London Bridge is Falling Down
Captain's log. Stardate 1545935. Nerd blog post #1.
I was in London for about 30 hours, and in true Hinckster style, it was a whirlwind.
Wait.. I should preface this nerd blog before I jump into it too far. Facebook notes are lame and mass e-mails beg for replies. This is just a little travel log. If you get bah-red, you don't have to visit! I do, however, want to have a more popular nerd blog than my scientist brother, Adam D. Hincks, so I will make popular references and shout outs to keep the readers happy. Whoever collects the most shout outs will win a free DQ something different cool treat upon my return. A shout out, Raffi, is when I make reference to something only YOU would understand! If I am in a place where I can't put up pictures, you will see: *** and can look latron. If google image search provides a better picture than I can take, you won't see one (ex. Buckingham Palace). If it can't be google searched, I'll put it up (ex. me in front of B. Palace). If you ask questions that you wouldn't ask in front of my dad, I will lie or ignore them. If you read every post, I will buy you a chocolate bar. Enjoy!
The flight was good. I was on the plane for over nine hours as it made a stop in Scotland, but I slept about eight of the hours, thanks to my travel pillow. Arriving at Gatwick, I took a train from the airport to Victoria Station, downtown London, and then the tube to Piccadilly Circus to find my hostel. This whole experience would have been smooth if it weren't for my luggage which weighed close to a hundred pounds, all told. No one offered help, which reminded me that I wasn't in friendly Canada anymore, where even a pregnant woman in a wheelchair would have stopped. But that's alright.. The hostel elevator was broken, but luckily a trio of Frenchmen helped me carry my bags up to he seventh floor, where I chose the cheapest room available - a ten person, co-ed room. Standart.
The African in me has made me an overly cautious traveler, so I locked my suitcases AND locked them to the bed. I then wandered Piccadilly Circus and its surroundings, decided I would see a show, and bartered a Lyceum theatre ticket down to £12. I think Doctor will be the only one to really understand what I mean when I say that I dressed up in high heels because I was playing a game and went for curry and then the play. It was a lot of fun. I think I'll get heckled if I say what show I saw, but I'll give a clue that it included a replica of my mane man (except this one had to wear a headpiece to prove his lionhood). It was a fun thing to do, and the first time I've seen a show alone, without any affiliation to the production. The Lyceum Theatre was beautiful.
Returning to the hostel, I met two guys from Washington DC and we hung for awhile. The pubs close at 11pm and the clubs stay open until 3am. Not wanting to dance with my dorky safety pouch under my clothes and with my laptop and camera in my purse, and too nervous to leave anything anywhere, I opted to just chill with my new friends at the hostel. Also, I had misunderstood the many people who invited me clubbing, mistaking "£1.50 drinks!" for "POUND FIFTY DRINKS!" and thinking it would be way too hectic.
I went to my room to go to bed around 1am, which is when I met my roommates for the first time. Five Germans, two French, two Americans. All men. Thanks, St. Christopher, patron saint of travel! They were all nice, and I immediately enforced a name game and then some other games that I made up. I got to practice my French and German and it was all good.
I met the Americans from the night before in the morning and we went to the National Gallery. There were tons of really famous paintings there, most notable, perhaps, was Van Gogh's "Sunflowers." We spent a couple of hours there and then I left them to check out Big Ben, the bridge, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace. If you're into shopping, London's great for that. I'm more into horses, so I took the tour of the Royal Mews, and wore one of those stupid headsets that tells you what's what. I saw her carriages, Rolls Royce's and, of course, horses. It was great.
Photos of me with officials. I love officials. Especially when they're wearing silly hats:
By this point I'd seen a ton and was tired of walking, so returned to the hostel to chill a bit. I bumped into the three Frenchmen who had helped me with my luggage. They're straight up Parisian gangstas, complete with tons of bling like it ain't no thing, who invited me to the casino to play billiards. I went. The tables were waaayyy smaller than what I'm used to, so I dominated. Obv. It was good to speak French and I found out a lot about Paris. One of them, Alexandre, is a semi-pro soccer player who often plays in Rennes, and he says the people there are really nice. They offered their place in Paris and to show me around whenever I like. They also helped me truck my luggage back down the stairs.
Here they are:
I tubed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Birmingham (where my dad's brother, Claire's dad, lives). After a harrowing journey, the ticket man told me they were sold out for the 630pm bus, so I had to change plans and tube to a train station to get the train. Being that I don't graduate until November, I've milked the student discount wherever possible, and the train ended up being fairly cheap. My uncle met me in Birmingham and brought me to his place.
I'll explore Birmingham today and take my first shower since Canada. Even I know that's gross, but the water at the hostel was icy cold and I couldn't do it.
So London was great. It was the perfect balance of doing things on my own, and meeting new peeps to do things with. I was going to make a list of the highlights, but everything was great, except trucking my stuff around, and that was inevitable, given that I'm going for so long. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing time here in Birmingham, and then settling into Rennes.
And so, my readers, Chaper 1: London Bridge is Falling Down, is over. I don't know if it's too much information or not. This is how I'd tell the news to my mom, who likes the long version. Whenever I start to tell a story to my dad, he asks for the short version, but I'm not good at that one. SLS prefers the short one, too. I'm new, though. They can only get better.
Love to Canada. It was a sad goodbye, but I'm happy to be here now, and haven't been homesick. I'm excited to see what the next couple of weeks bring.
Signing off,
Hinckster.
I was in London for about 30 hours, and in true Hinckster style, it was a whirlwind.
Wait.. I should preface this nerd blog before I jump into it too far. Facebook notes are lame and mass e-mails beg for replies. This is just a little travel log. If you get bah-red, you don't have to visit! I do, however, want to have a more popular nerd blog than my scientist brother, Adam D. Hincks, so I will make popular references and shout outs to keep the readers happy. Whoever collects the most shout outs will win a free DQ something different cool treat upon my return. A shout out, Raffi, is when I make reference to something only YOU would understand! If I am in a place where I can't put up pictures, you will see: *** and can look latron. If google image search provides a better picture than I can take, you won't see one (ex. Buckingham Palace). If it can't be google searched, I'll put it up (ex. me in front of B. Palace). If you ask questions that you wouldn't ask in front of my dad, I will lie or ignore them. If you read every post, I will buy you a chocolate bar. Enjoy!
The flight was good. I was on the plane for over nine hours as it made a stop in Scotland, but I slept about eight of the hours, thanks to my travel pillow. Arriving at Gatwick, I took a train from the airport to Victoria Station, downtown London, and then the tube to Piccadilly Circus to find my hostel. This whole experience would have been smooth if it weren't for my luggage which weighed close to a hundred pounds, all told. No one offered help, which reminded me that I wasn't in friendly Canada anymore, where even a pregnant woman in a wheelchair would have stopped. But that's alright.. The hostel elevator was broken, but luckily a trio of Frenchmen helped me carry my bags up to he seventh floor, where I chose the cheapest room available - a ten person, co-ed room. Standart.
The African in me has made me an overly cautious traveler, so I locked my suitcases AND locked them to the bed. I then wandered Piccadilly Circus and its surroundings, decided I would see a show, and bartered a Lyceum theatre ticket down to £12. I think Doctor will be the only one to really understand what I mean when I say that I dressed up in high heels because I was playing a game and went for curry and then the play. It was a lot of fun. I think I'll get heckled if I say what show I saw, but I'll give a clue that it included a replica of my mane man (except this one had to wear a headpiece to prove his lionhood). It was a fun thing to do, and the first time I've seen a show alone, without any affiliation to the production. The Lyceum Theatre was beautiful.
Returning to the hostel, I met two guys from Washington DC and we hung for awhile. The pubs close at 11pm and the clubs stay open until 3am. Not wanting to dance with my dorky safety pouch under my clothes and with my laptop and camera in my purse, and too nervous to leave anything anywhere, I opted to just chill with my new friends at the hostel. Also, I had misunderstood the many people who invited me clubbing, mistaking "£1.50 drinks!" for "POUND FIFTY DRINKS!" and thinking it would be way too hectic.
I went to my room to go to bed around 1am, which is when I met my roommates for the first time. Five Germans, two French, two Americans. All men. Thanks, St. Christopher, patron saint of travel! They were all nice, and I immediately enforced a name game and then some other games that I made up. I got to practice my French and German and it was all good.
I met the Americans from the night before in the morning and we went to the National Gallery. There were tons of really famous paintings there, most notable, perhaps, was Van Gogh's "Sunflowers." We spent a couple of hours there and then I left them to check out Big Ben, the bridge, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace. If you're into shopping, London's great for that. I'm more into horses, so I took the tour of the Royal Mews, and wore one of those stupid headsets that tells you what's what. I saw her carriages, Rolls Royce's and, of course, horses. It was great.
Photos of me with officials. I love officials. Especially when they're wearing silly hats:
By this point I'd seen a ton and was tired of walking, so returned to the hostel to chill a bit. I bumped into the three Frenchmen who had helped me with my luggage. They're straight up Parisian gangstas, complete with tons of bling like it ain't no thing, who invited me to the casino to play billiards. I went. The tables were waaayyy smaller than what I'm used to, so I dominated. Obv. It was good to speak French and I found out a lot about Paris. One of them, Alexandre, is a semi-pro soccer player who often plays in Rennes, and he says the people there are really nice. They offered their place in Paris and to show me around whenever I like. They also helped me truck my luggage back down the stairs.
Here they are:
I tubed to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Birmingham (where my dad's brother, Claire's dad, lives). After a harrowing journey, the ticket man told me they were sold out for the 630pm bus, so I had to change plans and tube to a train station to get the train. Being that I don't graduate until November, I've milked the student discount wherever possible, and the train ended up being fairly cheap. My uncle met me in Birmingham and brought me to his place.
I'll explore Birmingham today and take my first shower since Canada. Even I know that's gross, but the water at the hostel was icy cold and I couldn't do it.
So London was great. It was the perfect balance of doing things on my own, and meeting new peeps to do things with. I was going to make a list of the highlights, but everything was great, except trucking my stuff around, and that was inevitable, given that I'm going for so long. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing time here in Birmingham, and then settling into Rennes.
And so, my readers, Chaper 1: London Bridge is Falling Down, is over. I don't know if it's too much information or not. This is how I'd tell the news to my mom, who likes the long version. Whenever I start to tell a story to my dad, he asks for the short version, but I'm not good at that one. SLS prefers the short one, too. I'm new, though. They can only get better.
Love to Canada. It was a sad goodbye, but I'm happy to be here now, and haven't been homesick. I'm excited to see what the next couple of weeks bring.
Signing off,
Hinckster.
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