Anyways, one I checked out of my hotel, I got on my train and headed to Swansea. There are some beautiful scenic views of West English countryside, I mean absolutely stunning. I wished I could have stopped the train and gotten some pictures. Much of the area is still relatively green (green enough for sheep to graze), though there were patches where snow is still stubbornly refusing to melt completely. Then again, I did see automotive junkyards, high power lines, and areas of urban sprawl as well, so it isn’t all amazing. But it’s good to know that those rolling green hills where sheep and horses graze are still in existence on the English countryside. It looks an awful lot like New England, only less built-up. The main difference seems to be that the trees are all twisty and gnarled and there’s a whole lot more brush and vines and briars.Also, just so you know, first class rail travel is great.
I like Wales from the window of the train, but once the exorbitantly-priced taxi was taking me out to the castle it lost a lot of its romance. Driving through all the beat-up little towns that look like they haven’t been maintained since 1845, you see some beautiful neighborhoods and some that are less awesome, shacks with aluminum siding for a roof and that sort of thing. The kind of thing a neighborhood association would never allow.
Wales is also friendlier than London by the simple fact that I have actually had two conversations in the course of three hours, and only two in the previous three days while in London. But it’s still pretty restrained. Looking forward to Ireland’s much-reported hospitality!
Overheard on the tube:
Boy: “What is our stop? Is it Artist Grove?”
Daddy: “We’re going to Covent Garden today.”
Mummy: “And that station’s called Arnos Grove. Arnos, like Davros.”
Boy: “Davros! You are arrogant, Doctor!”
Girl: [cackles madly]
Boy: Silence, Dalek Caan!
Moments later, an Eastern European (we’ll say Russian for simplicity) couple next to me:
Man: “russianrussianrussian Davros russianrussian”
Woman: “russianrussian Doktor russianrussian”
Both: “hahahahaha”
Doctor Who has, apparently, completely permeated British culture.
Things I saw today: a guy who looked like what would happen if David Cross ate too much Burger King; bilingual signage for monolingual people; a bowling alley in Bristol called the Hollywood Bowl (get it? GET IT?); a building in Cardiff which said BRAINS in huge letters on the side. Hopefully I’ll figure that one out tomorrow…
Things I smelled today: the New Haven Coliseum. The walkway over Neath Station had the exact pigeon-poo/rotting concrete/decaying steel smell as the Old Barn (I have never called the Coliseum “the Old Barn” until just now).
