Tower Bridge

by chris cunningham

Chris Cunningham

Yep, hitting all the touristy sites.

After work this week I headed down to the Emirates Air Line. It’s basically like the old sky buckets at Disneyland. Or a ski gondola up Mammoth. You choose your childhood experience. Anyway, ran out of work at 6:30 since it closes at 8:00. Eventually got to the Jubilee line and over to Greenwich peninsula. Again by the O2 arena… Whoa look at all the people. Must be a show on… Walking, walking…. BeyoncĂ©! Ha. Not my thing of course, but I briefly entertained the idea of getting a ticket. Oh so briefly. Would have been a big spectacle show, right?

I made my way over to the Air Line, stupid name, and paid for my ticket with my Oyster card and hopped on. I really don’t think this is going to be around very long as I was practically the only one on it. Views are okay, but mainly of the O2 and Canary Wharf. I rode it round trip and then walked along the river walk up to the Thames Clipper service. A boat taxi of sorts. The next boat would be an hour so I went to Nandos and had dinner and then walked back to the ramp and boarded. It was about the same cost as the Air Line, but waaaaay better views cruising up the Thames. So amazing at night. I even saw a group of kayakers. I suggested that as a lighting team activity some time after work. Everybody seemed into it. We went under the Tower Bridge, and at night it’s really spectacular. I got off the boat at Embankment and walked the rest of the way home. Was nice out, and really my only venture out this week. Although, on another night I did get over to Harrods for 15 minutes before they closed. Even London closes early. So frustrating sometimes. Everybody’s just at pubs, not really doing anything.

At lunch I sometimes go over to Denmark street where all the music shops are located. Guitars, guitars, guitars, galore. I didn’t bring any guitars over here so I sometimes go to the stores and play a little bit. On the way over to that street I pass Trident Studios which is where Bowie recorded Ziggy Stardust and Queen recorded their first albums. Then a little further along is MPL. McCartney Productions Ltd. Yes, Sir Paul’s office. Soho’s a bit crazy with music sights. Even the underground toilet right outside of work is an exclusive club where John Lennon use to “work”. [LINK]

Back on the train from Liverpool to London. I got in Friday night at about 11:15. Think that’s the earliest by a few minutes. Liza met me at the door but Xavier wasn’t awake. Chatted for a bit and we made plans for Saturday to have breakfast at The Carvery and then head into Liverpool. Went to bed and got up and did just that. Had a full English breakfast. It was me, Liza, Xavier, Soraya, and their mom. I wasn’t in the mood for it really but it ended up tasting better to me than all the other times we went. Go figure. After lunch we headed down to Liverpool 1 for some emergency shopping. Xavier’s pram broke this week and while usable it’s a bit wobbly. Also we needed and new car seat. Which is about 4 months over due. He outgrew his first one very fast. I knew we were getting the car seat this weekend but the new pram was going to be a few months because it is expensive. Well, I had to bite the bullet and get it before his stroller collapsed beneath him.

What did we get? Well… drumroll…. The Bugaboo Buffalo. Gulp. Had to be done really as it’s the biggest stroller made, and he’s off the charts for growth so we needed something industrial. Watch a group of hipsters, with their hipster beards, in their hipster video, be hipsters with their Bugaboo Buffaloes. [LINK] Oh man, I hope I don’t look like that. It’s like Mumford & Sons all had babies. We also got the Axxis car seat which turns towards the car door so you can sit him down and strap him in then rotate him into the car. So much easier. He also made out with a little car walker and a new bed thanks to grandma. Quite a day for him. The real relief was he actually fell asleep in the new car seat. He wasn’t doing that anymore in the old cramped seat.

I’m now back in London and checked in for the night across from St. Pancras station. It’s beautiful, so I might have breakfast in the station tomorrow. Because I can. Nope, didn’t happen.

It’s Thursday night and it was an uneventful week. I’ve now had a few good meals out in London, including a Lebanese place tonight. I leave for Liverpool after work tomorrow. Taking an earlier train which will be super busy, but then a later train Sunday evening to be able to put Xavier asleep before heading back to London. Now that I’ve been in London a bit I’m rereading a lot of events that make much more spacial sense to me now. Particularly the London bombings in 2005. I was reading the Wiki on the history of King’s Cross and St. Pancras stations. Of course the usual Harry Potter history comes up… Platform 9 3/4 and the outside locations of St. Pancras, but I came across the section about the starting point of the London bombings being King’s Cross. I’ve ridden both the tube lines from there and the bus route the bus bombing occurred on. So strange that it’s so close, but so far away. [LINK]

I was supposed to do some laundry tonight, but I’m still at work using the web access to write, and catch up with a few people. If I didn’t catch up with you, I might not have because I wrote the above.