A Rat in London - Day 1.5 to 2.5

Well, here I am in the same Chinese buffet/Internet Cafe just over one day later. My feet are dead tired, but I've got a ticket to Fabric tonight to see Hype, LTJ Bukem, Mampi Swift, and a dozen other DJs that could each justify their own headlining spot if playing in the US on any given day. I've got to check out at 10 am tomorrow, which means I may not get much sleep for my epic Westfest party south of Bath tomorrow, but I'm so jet lagged I don't think it will matter.

Every day brings new insight. Londoners, I love them, but they run each other over on foot just as often as on the road. New York is a friendly city when you actually talk to people, but London? The jury is still out.

Today I started off in Camden Town, which I'm really glad I got a chance to see. It's a more youthful, more bohemian area than Oxford Street, which I walked yesterday. I bought some stuff at Camden Market... two DJ tees and a nice wool hoodie. Hint: if you don't want a lower price but don't want a bargain at Camden Market, just try something on and then say you'll think about it while you walk away. The negotiation will be done for you as you leave. Return one minute later and the deal is yours! The only drawback is that now I have to figure out how to ship a package home, but as this is a learning experience, that's worth learning.

I just realized I've been staying next to the British Museum, which was bumping today. This hostel is really in a fantastic location... think I said that already.

After Camden Town I returned home to drop off my bounty, and left quickly for Hyde Park. The sun sets early, and will only set earlier after daylight savings expires this weekend, so I've got to take advantage of all the light I can. Hyde Park is enormous... not Central Park or Forest Park enormous, but big enough to lose the din of the city. I saw a man swallowed by pigeons and swans, and Japanese children getting attacked by birds of a species I had never seen before.

I checked the map for the nearest tube station and realized I was a few hundred metres away from the Natural History and Science museums. Both were mobbed, and mostly geared towards children, but the mineral exhibit (as in every city I visit) was epic. The British exhibits on man's effect on the environment differ from those in the states, with scary, evocative imagery and stark predictions. The statistics on simple, undisputable destructive forces of man such as garbage disposal, and the lack of available proposed solutions was sobering. Walking around London (where every street feels like Times Square to me) is a reminder that there is only so much room here for us and our stuff, only so many minerals and so many disposal sites. It's the main thing that keeps me from loving London... the feeling of being a rat, unnoticed by anyone because of your smallness and the quickness of life's pace.

That said, there's a lot that I am enjoying enough to warrant a longer stay (hopefully with more socializing). Yesterday night I wandered into Leicester Square, which is a huge pedestrian-only area stuffed with restaurants, clubs, and theatres. I passed a dozen clubs, each thumping uplifting house/club music... with occasional breakbeats for good measure. Had I not been so exhausted, I would have braved the club-hopping experience alone. I doubt my ability to attract London girls, though, who cosmopolitanize me under the table. On a related note, I'm thinking goatees are not cool here! I've only seen one and it was accompanied by a mousetache.

Before I'm completely off the topic of the pedestrian-only zones I must say, it's my favorite part of this city... the feelings that it's grown organically over a thousand years, with many streets, alleys, circles, and squares developed long before autos rules the streets. It's damned confusing, a topic worthy of it's own entry, but armed with a London A-Z map (as I have been blessed by my English friend Chris Hughes... cheers Chris!), it's quaint, interesting, and highly stimulating to the navigational and social senses. Every city should have pedestrian zones... doesn't have to be large areas, could just be large enough to let delivery and emergency vehicles in from time to time, but it really creates a wonderful atmosphere where socializing with your entire community becomes possible.

So let's see... other than that I spent a fair amount of time in the Virgin Megastore yesterday, which as expected has a massive dance music collection, and after Leicester Square I ran into a bar my hostel recommended called The Crown (at one corner of a tiny seven-corner circle), which sells pints for £2, a steal here. I tried a bitter and the most disappointing IPA I've had in my life, and I can now say for sure that the Northwest brews rule. My mother warned me against the strength of the brew, but I had forty ounces of it and let me tell ya... it's pretty watered down. Most of you know that last call is at 11pm, which (plus!) encourages early clubbing but (minus!) encourages heavy happy hour consumption and drunk post-rush hour tube riders in business suits.

After the museums today I caught the tube over to the South waterfront of the River Thames and walked past the Tate, the Globe, and crossed over at the pedestrian-only Millenium Bridge for views of London Bridge at night, then saw St. Paul's Cathedral. It's dark out now, but I had to hit up the 'Net again to check in on my way home. I'm hoping to grab an Indian meal (the Indian food here is fantastic and omnipresent) and pack up before I head out, maybe figure out the postal system enough to send a package tomorrow.

Next time I'll have at least one club experience... pretty much the main reason I'm here. Cheers until then! Enjoy those Pacific Northwest hops!