So here I am

At a cost of £1 per hour, I may have to cut my creative potential short and try to give you a good idea of how things have been since I left Newfoundland, Canada, North America. I don't expect people to be interested in this but some have requested it, and the blog seems to be ''the new forward'' taking the impersonal message to a new level by eliminating the tedious process of selecting from a long list of contacts which ones you care about. Now I we don't have to specify who we do or don't care about, we can just throw ourselves out on the table and see if the cat licks it up; but I digress. So I left my home land of St. John's, Newfoundland at 6am and made my way to Montreal where I picked up my bags and made a fateful choice to entrust them in the hands of homeland security. From there I made my way to where my next flight would be leaving and had a snack. After a few hours I boarded another plain and made my way even further west in my East bound journey to the UK. In New Jersey I wondered if I had to pick up my luggage as I made my way to another plain terminal. After talking to two informed individuals on the phone I could rest assure the I probably didn't need to, and that my luggage would be tagged all the way to the UK. I then made my way to where my flight would be departing some 5 or so hours later. I took this opportunity to lay down on the floor and sneak a nap. Every now and then I would wake and see a few more people around me until it became crowded and I decided it would be best to get up off of the floor. I don't think I snoor very often in these situations but I'm pretty sure I woke myself up more than once. Maybe you know me and maybe you don't, but at this point you may gather some understand of my level of self confidence, or lack of shame, however you want to justify my actions in light of your own comfort level. Basically I'm in an airport with people I will never see again, and as long as I am not causing a disturbance to their lives, I don't mind bunkering down in my own share of the airport, under a bench where I shan't be tripped over. So eventually I am on the plain on a much longer flight than I anticipated, which was fine because I spent the better part of the first 2-4 hours talking with a woman beside me. She turned out to be a Christian as well, and so she gave me the address to some friends of hers who have a church/shop where they provide people with different needs. I haven't made it there yet, but I do intend to. I mean that, really, despite the bad reputation intention has built for itself, or we have built for it...... and that statement isn't meant to be deep or any rubbish like that so leave me alone. So I'm on the flight and I do some reading, some writing and some watching Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, I also do a fare bit of educating my co-traveller on the history of Newfoundland. Early morning on the 17th of July, the day after I left, I land in Copenhagen, Denmark where a PS3 game cost €300, and I don't have a clue what the conversion is. I bought a nice chocolate bar which did not last long during my 2-3 hour wait. During my wait I noticed a few things. Firstly I noticed how many people were blond haired and blue eyed, and that a lot of the boys had long hair. I also noticed that there were a lot of attractive females in the airport, which I found quite distracting as a single heterosexual male. I tried not to see them but I couldn't help but see them, they were all around me. Soon my plain was ready for me and I could purge my mind of all the pretty faces and get back to thinking about more fruitful things like what I was going to do with my life, how I would find a job and such. When I landed in London at 11am the situation was no better for me here. As it turns out, the United Kingdom is also well stocked in pretty faces, but they tend to lend from many different colours and not just blue eyed blonds. Perhaps you don't understand me, so let me explain. If a girl catches my attention they have the potential to be on my mind for the rest of the day or even longer, so try not to clutter up my head with girls I will never see again, it's just a healthy practice of mine as there are enough necessities in the run of a day to clutter up my processor. It's like when you were a kid and you got a Sears Wish Book Catalogue. There were so many toys that you wanted for Christmas but you knew you couldn't have them all so you would choose a few. Even better an example is the swim suit section which may occupy space but had no rightful space in the dome of an 8 year old. So I'm in London, waiting at the baggage area, longer than anyone else. After it becomes clear to me that my bags have not made it out I go to the counter and find out that they have not arrived and so they will be delivered to me at a later date. This was a disappointing thought at first, considering I had not packed any extra clothing expect for a basketball jersey. So I give the Airline my info, at which point I discover that my seemingly clear accent is not so clear outside of North America. Now I've had people tell me that my L's and R's sound Newfoundlandish, but I've never spoken so slow and pronounced before and still have someone not understand my postal code. From here I take a long walk down to the Tubes where I have another delightful conversation with the ticket vendor who eventually just sold me a full day pass for all zones. If you know London public transport at all you will understand that I wasn't long buying an oyster card, it saves you lots. On the tube I get, and I'm thankful at this point that I did not have to carry my 90lbs of luggage. When I arrive at the hostel I sign in and discover as I open the door that I am sharing the room with someone else. Now, he told me his name when i first arrived but I never bothered to ask it after that, nor did I remember it. He was a nice guy none the less with a Romanian accent, born in Transylvania. We got along fine but nothing of interest happened in this time. I spent the day walking around and getting lost in the tubes, because that seems to be the Best way to find your way anywhere. I would ask for directions every once in a while and I soon learned that I would get a better response if I put on a British accent, which I have been told by my British friends is pretty good. Growing up with British Television influences such as Red Dwarf, Monty Python and later David Brent has helped me along. I also accredit the genealogy of my father who always seemed to be doing accents in my youth for my interest and ability in this way. The next day, July 18th, I went to the BUNAC office for orientation. After that I did some other things such as locate the address to my new Flat in South Norwood. Not much to say about this day except that it involved much more wondering around and getting lost. July 19th I signed out of the hostel and bid farewell to my room mate as we both made empty promises to keep in touch. I called the airline again about my bags and they informed me that they would arrive in 3 days, but after a quick check this error was corrected, my bags had arrived! This was exciting news for a boy walking around Commando in the unusually hot city of London. I left with all I had to my name and chose to walk rather than take the tube. 2.5 hours later I made it to the the BUNAC office where I discovered they are closed on Saturdays, I thought that was neat. With my bags arriving at this location I had to make some new plans, so I called my soon to be friend Grace, she is a friend of a friend. I had been invited to a BBQ at her house for that evening so I made plans to have my bags delivered to her flat and then made my way there as I had nowhere else to go at this point. Grace assured me that her flat mates would be notified of my arrival, but the look of confusion on their faces when they opened the door assured me that she had not. I felt bad about showing up so early so I spent most of my time out in the back yard. I was just happy to not be lost, and to know my luggage was on its way. If you've ever been a reforestation tree planter you will understand the term, ''hurry up and wait'' and I accredit tree planting to much of my later sanity in life as it taught me that nothing a human tells you is ever for certain until you see it come to pass. Sitting down at your final destination is where one can relax. That night the BBQ was great as I got to meet people from all over the place. I met another Canadian and a couple Americans whom I got along with quite well. Perhaps that is a bit of a backward statement as I didn't confront anyone who I didn't like. At 7pm my luggage arrived and I was happy to change my cloths and put on deodorant. A lot of people brought bangers, or sausages, but most of them were pasty white and looked like the bulk was composed of fat and saw dust, I brought a whole chicken as it was on sale. I thought it was a good idea, but as it turns out, a whole chicken was not conventional enough for my new friends and I only ended up baking the two legs and leaving the rest behind. The North American Posy directed me to my bus and gave me some directions which got me to me home. Needless to say, it was an interesting venture. I arrived at my new home where Peter, my flat mate greeted me and we had a chat before I settled in. I didn't meet my other room mate until i got up at 4am to go pee and didn't bother to lock the door, as 4am is not often a high traffic time and I figured the light on was enough indication that the toilet was not vacant. Shortly after I began to was my hands my second flat mate, Malcolm, came storming in. on my way out he reminded me of the lock on the door. I did not know that Malcolm had to get up for work at 4am, but I do now. I'm sure all of this is a little boring for most, but I am trusting that my life will get more exciting. There are more adventures that have taken place in the past 3 weeks, but I've had enough typing for now and I'm coming up on the £2 mark at the cafe. That is all for now